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variousqueerthings · 4 years ago

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Tom Hardy Movies rated least to most queer

I made a list of some Tom Hardy movies and I rated them based on my own, non-specific criteria about what makes a movie queer. Results below the cut.

(Some films not included, because I haven’t watched them yet, because Mr Hardy’s only in them for a few minutes, because the subject matter doesn’t lend itself to this list, or because I just don’t want’em here. TV series also not included. The list is organised into both groups and ratings, because I’m doing The Most.)

Movies are divided into four groups and rated from 0 – 10 on the Queer-Scale, scroll down to the bottom if you want the ratings without the commentary.

Disclaimer: This list is subjective. Don’t come at me because I didn’t rate Inception higher, Nolan himself is as queer as cargo shorts.

1. This movie would make more sense if it were queer

If this movie were queer it… might not become a perfect film all of a sudden, but it’d make a hell of a lot more sense than what’s actually going on. With an occasional dose of “are the cis-straights okay?”

This Means War (2012): So Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are ostensibly both in love with Reese Witherspoon, but say “I love you” to each other pretty much constantly throughout the movie and their friendship is often presented as a domestic partnership. Cool, cool, cooool.

Queer Rating: 2 out of 10. This movie hate-crimed me by having Tom Hardy literally spell out his relationship with Chris Pine, only for the script to then have him say… “can you imagine all that… but with a woman…” Later on the movie explicitly denies polyamory is possible. Fuck this film.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012): Batman movies should always be queer. Mr. Hardy’s the only one who acceptably camps it up, despite Nolan’s best attempts to make him “acceptably gruff.” No matter what you do, Bane is a massive daddy in a mask and thanks to Mr Hardy’s honestly iconic fucking speech pattern in this film, it goes from pretty atrociously straight to just queer enough to imagine a future where Robert Pattinson plays batman and maybe adopts a bunch of kids.

(the only truly decent mask in this franchise tbh)

Queer Rating: 3 out of 10. Mr Hardy’s back is the one that’s actually broken carrying any semblance of fun in this overly long movie all on his own.

Lawless (2012): Wow, this really was the year of the not-queer-enough, wasn’t it? Look, it’s “based on a real story,” but it’s also a movie and movies don’t need to stick to the truth, and this one certainly doesn’t. Was the guy queer in real life? I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that it’s just kind of an eh movie and maybe being queer would add something to it. One of those “but why make someone queer? because it’s always more interesting to do so,” movies.

Queer Rating: 3 out of 10. It’s just not queer. But Tom Hardy wears cardigans and described his character as a “mother figure,” which adds an interesting dynamic to him.

2. Actually Queer but in a homophobic way

Tom Hardy plays a canonically queer character, yaaay. The whole movie contains a strange sense of the director being too not-queer to actually engage with that and everything around him is almost aggressively straight, noooo.

RocknRolla (2008): Honestly this movie has the funniest coming out scene ever + that familiar undertone of “all these manly men secretly want to fuck each other” is only heightened by one of them actually being gay and in love with his best friend. It’s such a fucking… it’s such a movie. Personally I find Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Thandie Newton, and, of course, Tom Hardy to be really hot in it, so that’s a plus. There’s a scene in which Strong’s character teaches another gangster how to do a proper backhand. It’s really gay of him. Also slow-dancing at a gay club. Butler’s character needs to get himself together, you really don’t think 2008 Tom Hardy is hot? Mate.

(left to right: functional queer, disaster queer, distinguished queer)

Queer Rating: 6 out of 10, for having an actual gay character who is played by Tom Hardy doing a sexy phonecall voice to another guy, but then there’s that feeling you can’t shake that the whole movie is vaguely uncomfortable about it, like a family member awkwardly patting you on the shoulder after they found out you were queer second-hand, but they’ve still got 50 years of bias to unlearn. Also Thandie Newton is killed, fuck that noise.

Legend (2015): If I had a nickle for the amount of times Tom Hardy’s played a gay gangster, I’d have two nickles. Which isn’t a lot, but weird that it happened twice (looks at Peaky Blinders and thinks it ought to be three times). I’ve watched Legend three times and every time it just… loses me. And because this is a biased list, I’ll only specifically mention that it fails to make Ron’s queerness anything but a way for him to shock others. Gangsters could be gay? Gasp! On the upside Tom Hardy has so much sexual tension with everyone in this movie, including himself (why would you do that? Asks Ron, bemused. Because I can’t kill you, no matter how much I fucking want to, hisses a blood-soaked Reggie right into his ear. It’s hot).

Queer rating: 5 out of 10 because the film is just not very queer for a movie with several queer men in it.

3. Straight as a forced family dinner

It’s straight.

Locke (2013): He’s a married man who had an affair and trying to deal with the fallout of it. This isn’t a spoiler for most of the movie, it’s a pretty neat movie where we look at Tom Hardy having a bit of a mental breakdown and taking lots of phonecalls (my personal hell). Is it queer? Not in the slightest.

Queer Rating: 2 out of 10 for Hardy’s face being in almost every shot.

The Revenant (2015): Yeah, yeah, DeCaprio’s and Hardy’s characters are obsessed with each other, yeah it’s a man’s world where the only women are dead wife, kidnapped sexually assaulted native princess, or background whore, yeah, they fight each other and there’s a ton of grunting, but also… I just fucking don’t like this movie. The thin line where a storyline like this one becomes queer might be crossed for others, but not for me. Fuck these guys and their stupid bear fights.

Queer rating: 3 out of 10 for it being about dirty men in the middle of nowhere (but you could just watch Brokeback Mountain or The Lighthouse or God’s Own Country or any Mad Max, or, or, or…)

4. Queer? Queer. Queer? … Queer…

The plots, aesthetics and/or characters played by Tom Hardy lend themselves to a queer reading, even if there is no overt intention towards queerness. Often this is because of a deliberate lack of heterosexual and/or cisgender writing, which in this day and age is still pretty uncommon not to include within a plot.

Inception (2010): Okay, I don’t even need to write about the added “darling,” or the “go to sleep Mr Eames.” I don’t need to go on about the absolutely bonkers amount of fanfiction written for Eames and Arthur, based on a few minutes of film and a boatload of chemistry. It’s queer.

Queer Rating: 7 out of 10, because the actual plot of the film isn’t very queer, but between the Arthur/Eames dynamic and Elliot Page, Nolan was really given a gift he didn’t deserve.

Warrior (2011): Okay, so first off, this might be my favourite Tom Hardy film, at least some part of my brain is fixated on it at almost all times and I’m considering watching it for the third time in two weeks. I don’t only consider it queer based on Mr. Hardy’s character, although he has no romantic or sexual interest and could be read as aroace, but because of the themes, especially those surrounding said character, who is coded as a caregiver to women and through close emotional connections to men. It’s got possibly unintentional deconstructions of masculinity and two men (brothers) who need to forgive each other and can only do so through the catharsis of violence. It speaks to me as a transmasc with several cis brothers, struggling with my own masculinity. It’s not at all written for me, but I find myself all over it. I could talk about this movie forever.

Queer Rating: 8 out of 10. I’m not allowed to say any more or I’ll never stop writing about it. I love you Tommy…

The Drop (2014): Bob’s lack of sexual and/or romantic interest in Naomi is so strange to her that she doesn’t know what he would want from her otherwise. Bob really just wants to raise a dog with her (and also forgiveness for past sins). Bob is such a rare ace and possibly aro coded character, it really throws me every time I watch this film how obvious it is. Bonus points for also being autistic-coded and not in the stereotypical ways.

(Tom Hardy’s most challenging role: pretending he doesn’t know dogs)

Queer Rating: 9 out of 10 because it’s so fucking rare to see ace and aro coded characters that aren’t, you know…. serial killers. Also Tom Hardy adopts a puppy and has a very cute, kinda lispy voice. How often does Tom Hardy play softer men like this?

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): Very deliberately no sexual or romantic writing included in Max’s and Furiosa’s relationship. Sure, there’s not a lot of time for that in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, but it was also done with a purpose! “It was always going to be two warriors on par, starting off with very little respect for each other and ending up with a massive respect for each other.” - Charlize Theron. “So of course they meet, of course there’s a relationship, an unspoken understanding. A recognition.” - Tom Hardy.

Queer Rating: 9 out of 10. It’s not just the characters, but the world and it’s apocalyptic BDSM leather scene, the questions it asks about sustainability and about people as tools, and the found family. It’s about overcoming violence through multiple kinds of love. And it’s about watching a guy playing flame-thrower guitar. What could be queerer?

Venom (2018): Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same… No, but Eddie is queer. The only question is whether the sequel will acknowledge that aspect or not, but even if not. Even if it manages to straightly bypass the reality of a symbiotic relationship with a genderless? genderfluid? being from another world that is linked to you down to your very cells and understands you more intimately than any other person possibly could… even if all that: Eddie is queer. Venom and Eddie are in a relationship. Any relationship Eddie ever enters into will automatically become a thrupple. He makes out with Venom in the movie! Eddie is queer.

(aw yeah that tongue is going down his throat)

Queer Rating: 9.5 out of 10, because it’s still coded by the creators in the language of bromance (hey, bro, is it gay if we’re physically and emotionally closer than any other people on earth?), but the movie is so, so camp and Mr Hardy’s acting choices are beautiful – the screaming? The lispy soft voice and lack of taking up space? The lobster tank? The only people who don’t know how queer this is are the people making it apparently. Fingers crossed for that sequel!

Hon. mentions:

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002): Star Trek – even at it’s worst (especially at its worst?) – is camp af + Hardy is a straight-up baby in this film.

Bronson (2008): It’s about a real person who’s still alive, so I won’t comment on the actual man. However the film seems to code the character Bronson along an ace line and also has genderqueering Vaudeville. Someone let Tom Hardy do more of whatever was going on in those stage-bits.

(this right here: this the good shit)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Another ensemble piece not massively about Hardy’s character, but it’s a movie that centers around queerness in a strange, depressing way. Tom Hardy’s character isn’t queer. Colin Firth and Mark Strong are though. The book makes me cry.

Peaky Blinders (2013-): Because it’s a TV series I left it out. There’s a lot of straight nonsense going on there, but Alfie Solomens is gay. There’s nothing in the series that disputes that and plenty that lends itself to the reading.

Dunkirk (2017): Tom Hardy plays an RAF pilot in a deep emotional connection with the other main RAF pilot. That’s immediately gay. However he’s not in the movie much because of the way it’s constructed, so I left it off.

Queer Ratings (least to most)

No queer to be found here traveller:

This Means War: 2 out of 10 - illegal movie, Tom Hardy swore he wouldn’t do another rom-com after

Locke: 2 out of 10 - straight Welshman and his straight problems. He pretty though

Lawless: 3 out of 10 - cardigan-Hardy being a mother-hen, but very straight for all that

The Dark Knight Rises: 3 out of 10 - a superhero movie that doesn’t deserve Mr Hardy’s camp talents (unlike Venom)

The Revenant: 3 out of 10 - doesn’t give me what I want out of a movie full of dirty, bearded men

Queer but we deserve more:

Legend: 5 out of 10 - timid homosexuality, considering the source material.

RocknRolla: 6 out of 10 - hey bro, is it gay if we kill the only female lead in our massive ensemble cast

The queerest of Hardy’s:

Inception: 7 out of 10 - Elliot Page and JGL kissing was an all-around terrible choice that made no sense, we know the truth, Nolan

Warrior: 8 out of 10 - I’m still crying, Edgerton’s crying, Hardy’s crying, we’re all crying, and I think that’s really emotionally healthy and queer of us

Mad Max: Fury Road: 9 out of 10 - non-romantic love in the time of BDSM post-apocalyptic wastelands is something that can actually be so personal

The Drop: 9 out of 10 - “Fucking punk. Go out to dinner dressed like you're still in you living room! You wear those big hippity-hoppity clown shoes! You speak to women terribly! You treat them despicably! You hurt harmless dogs that can't defend themselves! I'm tired of you man. I'm tired of you. You embarrass me!”

Venom: 9.5 out of 10 - Sometimes a relationship is an anxious reporter, the sentient goo inhabiting his body, his kinda-ex-girlfriend and her new doctor boyfriend, and I think that’s beautiful

#tom hardy #mad max: fury road #venom 2018 #inception #rocknrolla #warrior 2011 #legend 2015 #the drop 2014 #the revenant #the dark knight rises #lawless 2012 #locke #this means war

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occidentaltourist · 4 years ago

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The Unbearable Whiteness of (Comics) Beings

An excellent thread by Gene Demby, correspondent and co-host of NPR’s Code Switch podcast, on the deeply embedded whiteness of Marvel and DC comics characters.

From Droll Embiid.@GeeDee215:

A quick thing about Isaiah on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

About a decade ago, I interviewed Robert Morales, who invented that character for Marvel in 2001. The result was "Truth: Red, White, And Black" which recast the story of Captain America's origins as part of a Tuskegee Syphillis Study-like plot.

In Robert's story, the US rounded up hundreds of Black GIs in a segregated battalion during WWII to use as guinea pigs. The US is trying to re-create the procedure used to turn Steve Rogers into Cap.

They get it wrong — a lot. Almost all of the Black men they round up die.

Only five of the 300 Black men subjected to the super-soldier experiments survive the process; of that five, Isaiah is the only Black super-soldier who survives the war, and he is thrown in prison for decades.

"It was so depressing I didn't think they would approve it," Robert told me. ""But it was depressingly realistic. And *likely.*

"Robert died in 2013. But his revision of the Cap story was part of a wider on-page reckoning w/ the whiteness of the stories in the mainline MCU/DCU.

The Kents of Smallville, as one example, were reimagined as radical abolitionists — Free-Staters who settled in Kansas to oppose the state from becoming a slave state. Clark Kent, then, would be directly downstream from the principles of his forebears.

It's a very liberal inclination — positioning the Kents on the side of justice for a century-plus before the space-ship landed on their farm.

but it skips over some bigger, more important question about race and power: like how is it that whiteness was literally so universal that both a Kansan *and* a Kryptonian might possess it?

Much more under the cut.

Black mainline comics writers kept playing with these premises. The legendary Dwayne McDuffie, wrote his Black superman analogue Icon as having become Black upon imprinting on the enslaved Black woman in the American south who found and adopted it.*

*why this character was still -male- is...yeah.

anyway, a lot of mainstream superheroes, in their reimaginings, have to nod to the oppression in this country. (There was an aside in one of the Nolan Batman jawns that positioned the Batcave as originally a hideout the Waynes used for fugitives on the Underground Railroad.)

And i think that speaks to how deeply embedded the whiteness of these characters is.

The Green Lantern's power ring had to scan the earth for the bravest person in a world of billions of people and...decided that its rightful bearer was a white fighter pilot from the Midwest?

anyway, more later!

okay, so young Kal-El rocketed across the cosmos as a baby in a spaceship before crash-landing in a field in Kansas. He was Kryptonian but also, somehow, a white boy. Which brings us back to this question upthread: whiteness could literally span the cosmos?

in those Silver Age days, that's literally how they explained it: he could be a white American because there were white Kryptonians.

This was underscored by the fact that they created distinctly *Black* Kryptonians — who lived in a place called Vathlo Island.

Vathlo Island "retained its independence throughout history and did not join the planetary federation, though good relations were maintained."

Kryptonian Wakanda, I guess.(Yes, I know i'm mixing universes to make that metaphor work. calm down, nerds.)

Not long after that first (and one of the only) references to Vathlo Island in 1971, Neal Adams, a white artist at DC, asked his editor a q: what happens if Hal Jordan — the Green Lantern — dies? The editor told him that there would then be a backup Lantern.

The backup Green Lantern they had in mind was a white gym teacher who used to play Big 10 football.

Again: the bravest person in the world was a white USian dude.

Adams eventually pushed back, and along w/ Dennis O'Neil, created a Black character to take over the GL mantle: an ex-Marine named John Stewart.

(Adams told me his editor originally wanted to name the character Lincoln Washington, but he talked him out of it. Phew.)

Again, y'all see the problems here — the bravest person in the world is still a male, a USian and a member of the US, military? — but as representation went, Stewart was better than a lot of the other Black superheroes that DC tried their hands at.

In the 70s, DC created Black Lightning (who was black and electrical), Black Goliath (black and a giant), and Nubia ( black...and Wonder Woman). And at Marvel there was Luke Cage, who, in his earliest pre-dab incarnations, was a jive-talking powerhouse in butterfly collars.

Anyway, the upshot here is that John Stewart taking over the Green Lantern mantle...stuck with Dwayne McDuffie, who created the Milestone comics imprint under DC in the 1990s, featuring all characters of color.

(Milestone's Superman analogue, Icon, mentioned upthread, became a way to embody and critique a certain kind of ascendent respectability politics; he was, after all, essentially a Black cop. Milestone was already playing with chewier ideas around race than mainline DC.)

McDuffie would eventually become a the principal player in the DC Animated Universe. When they were creating the Justice League animated series, underlined that there way that the show could have a team in which everyone — even the aliens Kal-El and Hawkgirl! — were white.so instead of Hal Jordan, the original Green Lantern, taking his traditional place as at the Justice League table , the animated series launched with John Stewart in that role.

The show debuted in 2001 and became a huge hit. McDuffie often pointed out that, as a result, a generation of younger fans who were introduced to the character through the animated series had only ever known a Black Green Lantern.

(There were a lot of reasons the 2011 Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie failed, and the "who tf is THIS guy?" factor probably played some role in it.)

There's a lot more, obviously. But some of these IPs — Batman and Superman and Captain America, in particular — are 80+ years old. They're holdovers from a pre-Civil Rights Act America, a pre-Stonewall America, etc. They represent a bunch of stuff that is ever harder to update.

And it will be interesting to watch how that chafes against the the fact that they are more valuable and popular than they've ever been. Could a critique of the premises of the Cap origin story, like Robert Morales', even happen today?

#gene demby #the falcon and the winter soldier #superman #marvel #dc comics

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awellboiledicicle · 5 years ago

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TMA Statements In Chronological Order

But, not by when the events happened, by the order when the Statements were entered to the Institute. Because that wasn’t on the wiki timeline.

Below the cut because i’m not a monster.

Format is:

Episode // Entity // Statement Giver// Statement Given // Event Date

• #140 The Movment of The Heavens // The Dark // John Flamsteed // 1715 • #116 The Show Must Go On // The Stranger // Abraham Janssen // 2 November 1787 • #23 Schwarzwald // The Eye // Albrecht von Closen // 31st March 1816 // Winter 1815 • #127 Remains to be Seen // The Eye // Jonathan Franshawe // 21 November 1831 // April – November 1831 • #152 A Gravediggers Envy // The Buried // Hezekiah Wakely // 1837 - 1839 • #50 Foundations // The Buried // Sampson Kempthorn // 12th June 1841 // 1836 • #58 Trail Rations // The Flesh // Mrs. Carlisle // 10th November 1845 // October – November 1845 • #105 Total War // The Slaughter, The Eye // Charles Fleming // 1862 • #98 Lights Out // The Dark // Algernon Moss // 14 May 1864 • #138 The Architecture Of Fear // The Eye // Robert Smirke // 13 February 1867 • #7 The Piper // The Slaughter // Clarence Berry // 6th November 1922 // 1917-18 • #133 Dead Horse // The Hunt // Percy Fawcett // 27 June 1930 • #99 Dust to Dust // The Buried // Robert E Geiger // 20 February 1952 // April 1935 • #137 Nemesis // The Slaughter // Wallis Turner // 3 July 1955 // Winter 1942 • #29 Cheating Death // The End // Nathaniel Thorp // 4th June 1972 // 17th June 1775 • #60 Observer Effect // The Eye // Rosa Meyer // 12 July 1972 // April – July 1972 • #95 Absent Without Leave // The Slaughter // Luca Moretti // 2 November 1977 • #44 Tightrope // The Stranger // Yuri Utkin // 2nd March 1979 // November 1952 • #85 Upon the Stair // The Spiral // Unknown // 1980 – 1990 • #86 Tucked In // The Dark // Benjamin Hatendi // 2nd March 1983 • #84 Possessive // The Corruption // Adrian Weiss // 1 December 1990 • #125 Civilian Casualties // The Slaughter // Terrance Simpson // 19 July 1993 • #77 The Kind Mother // The Stranger // Lucy Cooper // 15 September 1994 //August 1994 • #93 Contaminant // The Corruption // Lester Chang // 5 March 1995 • #96 Return To Sender // The Stranger // Alfred Breekon // 15 May 1996 • #53 Crusader // The Eye // Walter Heller // 5th September 1997 // November 1941 • #2 Do Not Open // The Buried, The Stranger // Joshua Gillespie // 22nd November 1998 // 1996 -1998 (?) • #46 Literary Heights // The Spiral, The Vast // Herbert Knox // 21st December 1998 // September 1997 • #17 Boneturners Tale // The Flesh // Sebastian Adekoya // 10th June 1999 // 1996 • #66 Held in Customs // The Buried // Vincent Yang // 22 February 2000 // January 19 2000 • #78 Distant Cousin // The Stranger, The Web // Lawrence Moore // 12 June 2001 • #21 Freefall // The Vast // Moira Kelly // 20th October 2002 // 3rd-5th or 7th June 2001 • #35 Old Passages // All // Harold Silvana // 4th June 2002 // June 2002 • #9 A Father’s Love // The Dark, The Hunt // Julia Montauk // 3rd December 2002 // 1990-95 • #155 Cost of Living // The End // Tova McHugh // 3 December 2002 • #68 Tale of a Field Hospital // The Corruption // Joesph Russo // 3rd June 2003 // 1st June 2003 • #27 A Sturdy Lock // The Spiral // Paul Mckenzie // 24th August 2003 // July 2003 • #146 Threshold // The Spiral // Marcus Mackenzie // 1 September 2003 • #88 Dig // The Buried // Enrique MacMillian // 4 November 2003 • #70 Book of the Dead // The End // Masato Murray // 9th December 2003 • #52 Exceptional Risk // The Dark // Phillip Brown // 9th April 2004 // 1st November 2002 • #24 Strange Music // The Stranger // Leanne Denikin // 17th Jan 2005 // August 2004 • #59 Recluse // The Web, The Desolation // Ronald Sinclair // 29th November 2005 // Early to Mid 1960’s • #134 Time of Revelation // The Extinction // Adelard Dekker // 22 January 2006 // 2005, 1867 • #75 A Long Way Down // The Vast // Stephen Walker // 7 November 2006 // Early October 2006 • #139 Chosen // The Desolation // Eugene Vanderstock // 30 November 2006 • #115 Taking Stock // The Flesh // Michaele Salesa // 4 January 2007 // Autumn of 1999 • #8 Burnt Out // The Web, The Desolation, The Spiral // Ivo Lensik // 13th March 2007 // November 2006 • #67 Burning Desire // The Desolation // Jack Barnabas // 18 March 2007 // October – November 2006 • #3 Across the Street // The Stranger, The Web // Amy Patel // 1st July 2007 // 7th April 2006 • #51 High Pressure // The Vast, The Buried // Antonia Hayley // 7th January 2008 // August 2006 • #106 A Matter of Perspective // The Vast, The Eye // Jan Kilbride // 10 February 2008 • #49 The Butchers Window // The Flesh // Gregory Pryor // 11th March 2008 // June 2007 • #62 First Edition // The End, The Eye // Mary Keay // 3rd July 2008 // 1955 • #154 Bloody Mary // The Eye // Eric Delano // 21 July 2008 • #130 Meat // The Flesh // Lucia Wright // 19 December 2008 • #18 The Man Upstairs // The Flesh // Christof Rudenko // 12th December 2008 // 22nd October 2007 • #156 Reflection // The Extinction // Adelard Dekker // 4 January 2009 • #5 Thrown Away // The Flesh etc. // Kieran Woodward // 23rd February 2009 // 8th August 2008 • #97 We All Ignore The Pit // The Buried // Jackson Ellis // 3 March 2009 • #57 Personal Space // The Lonely, The Vast, The Dark // Carter Chilcott // 4 April 2009 // September 2007 • #145 Infectious Doubts // The Desolation // Arthur Nolan // 2 February 2009 • #114 Cracked Foundation // The Web Shtranger or Extinction // Anya Villette // 22 April 2009 // 23 April 2009 or 9 April 2009 • #37 Burnt Offering // The Desolation // Jason North // 6th August 2009 // August 2009 • #108 Monologue // The Lonely, The Stranger // Adonis Biros // 20 August 2009 // August 2009 • #144 Decrypted // The Extinction // Gary Boylan // 3 October 2009 // August 2009 • #126 Sculptor’s Tool // The Spiral // Deborah Madaki // 11 October 2009 // Spring 2004 • #72 Takeaway // The Flesh // Craig Goodall // 20 October 2009 // 27 September 2009 • #107 Third Degree // The Desolation // 1 February 2010 // January 2010 • #48 Lost in the Crowd // The Lonely // Andrea Nunis // 25th March 2010 // September 2009 • #10 Vampire Killer & #56 Children of the Night // The Hunt, the Web // Trevor Herburt // 10th July 2010 // 1959 (first event), Winter 2009 • #69 Thought For the Day // The Web // Darren Harlow // 18th November 2010 • #31 First Hunt // The Hunt // Lawerence Mortimer // 9th December 2010 // 30th November - 1st December 2010 • #33 Boatswain’s Call // The Lonely // Carlita Sloane // 2nd January 2011 // Late November 2010 • #45 Blood Bag // The Corruption // Thomas Neil // 9th February 2011 // Spring 2010 • #148 Extended Surveillance // The Eye // Sunil Maraj // 3 April 2011 • #14 Piece Meal // The Flesh // Lee Rentoul // 29th May 2011 // Early 2011 • #19 Confession & #20 Desecrated Host // The Spiral, The Web, The Desolation (Hilltop Road) & The Spiral, The Flesh // Edwin Burroughs // 30th May 2011 // November 2006 • #112 Thrill of the Chase // The Hunt // Lisa Carmel // 13 November 2011 • #113 Breathing Room // The End // Adelard Dekker // 2012 • #12 Page Turner // The Desolation, The Eye // Lesere Saraki // 11th February 2012 // 23rd December 2011 • #153 Love Bombing // The Corruption, The Flesh // Barbara Mullen-Jones // 2 March 2012 • #110 Creature Feature // The Web // Alexia Crawley // 14 March 2012 • #1 Anglerfish // Stranger //Nathan Watts // 22nd April 2012 // March 2010 • #38 Lost and Found // The Spiral // Andre Ramao // 6th June 2012 // March 2012 • #36 Taken Ill // The Corruption // Nicole Baxter // 19th November 2012 // August – September 2011 • #136 The Puppeteer // The Web // Alison Killala // 1 December 2012 // 2012 • #124 Left Hanging // The Vast // Julian Jennings // 11 December 2012 // 2012 • #149 Concrete Jungle // The Extinction // Judith O’neill // 13 May 2013 • #54 Still Life // The Stranger // Alexander Scaplehorn // 23 June 2013 • #4 Page Turner // The Vast, The Spiral, The End // Dominic Swain // 28th June 2013 // 10th November 2012 • #90 Body Builder // The Flesh // Ross Davenport // 7 August 2013 • #157 Rotten Core // The Extinction, The Corruption // Adelard Dekker // 14 August 2013 • #30 Killing Floor // The Flesh // David Laylow // 1st September 2013 // 12th July 2013 • #129 Submerged // The Buried // Kulbir Shakya // 4 September 2013 // July or August 2013 • #83 Drawing a Blank // The Stranger // Chloe Ashburt // 19 October 2013 // September – October 2013 • #42 Grifter’s Bone // The Slaughter // Jennifer Ling // 3rd November 2013 // Autumn 2013 • #32 Hive // The Corruption // Jane Prentiss // 23rd February 2014 // Pre-2014 • #63 The End of the Tunnel // The Dark // Erin Gallagher-Nelson // 31st March 2014 // 26th March 2014 • #102 Nesting Instinct // The Corruption // Francois Deschamps // 4 June 2014 • #103 Cruelty Free // The Flesh // Dylan Anderson // 2 July 2014 • #135 Dark Matter // The Dark // Manuela Dominguez // 14 July 2014 // 2007 • #87 The Uncanny Valley // The Stranger, The Desolation // Sebastian Skinner // 10 October 2014 // September 2014 • #15 Lost Johns’ Cave // The Buried // Laura Popham // 9th November 2014 // 14-15th June 2014 • #150 Cul-de-sac // The Lonely // Herman Gorgoli // 9 November 2014 • #6 Squirm // The Corruption // Timothy Hodge // 9th December 2014 // 20th November 2014 • #122 Zombie // The Stranger // Lorell St. John // 1 February 2015 • #11 Dreamer // The End // Antonio Blake (Oliver Banks) // 14th March 2015 // 12th March 2015 • #16 Arachnophobia // The Web, The Corruption // Carlos Vittery // 9th April 2015 // Early 2015 • #25 Growing Dark // The Dark // Mark Bilham // 19th April 2015 // January – March 2015 • #64 Burial Rites // The End // Donna Gwynne // 20th May 2015 // 2012 • #74 Fatigue // The Spiral // Lydia Halligan // 8 June 2015 • #123 Web Development // The Web // Angie Santos // 1 August 2015 // January 2015 • #13 Alone // The Lonely // Naomi Herne // 13th January 2016 //30th & 31st March 2015 • #22 Colony // The Corruption // Martin Blackwood // 12th March 2016 // March 2016 • #26 A Distortion // The Spiral, The Corruption // Sasha James // 2nd April 2016 // 1st April 2016 • #28 Skintight // The Slaughter, The Stranger // Melanie King // 17th April 2016 // January 2015 • #34 Anatomy Class // The Stranger // Lionel Elliot // 12th July 2016 // January – March 2016 • #39 Infestation // ATTACK ON THE INSTITUTE // 29th July 2016 • #40 Human Remains // Post Attack Debrief// 29th July 2016 • #41 Too Deep // Buried and Dark suspected // 2nd September 2016 // mid-august – September 2016 • #43 Section 31 // The Desolation, The End // Basira Hussain //19th September 2016 // August 2011 and 18 July 2014 • #47 The New Door // The Spiral // Helen Richardson // 2nd October 2016 • #55 Pest Control // The Corruption, The Desolation // Jordan Kennedy // 3rd November 2016 // 2011 & 2014 • #61 Hard Shoulder // The Hunt, The Stranger, The Buried // Daisy Tonner // 1st December 2016 // 24th July 2002 • #65 Binary // The Spiral, Extinction // Tessa Winters // 7th January 2017 • #71 Underground // The Buried // Karolina Gorka // 25 January 2017 // 6 January 2017 • #73 Police Lights // The Dark // Basira Hussain // 11 February 2017 // 10 February 2017 • #76 The Smell of Blood // The Slaughter // Melanie King // 13 February 2017 • #79 Hide and Seek // The Stranger, The Spiral // 16 February 2017 • #80 The Librarian // All // Jurgen Leitner // 16 February 2017 // 1994 • #81 A Guest for Mister Spider // The Web // Jonathan Sims // 18 February 2017 / 1995 • #82 The Eyewitnesses // The Eye, the Slaughter // Daisy Tonner // 18 February 2017 • #89 Twice as Bright // The Desolation // Jude Perry // 24 April 2017 • #91 The Coming Storm // The Vast, The Spiral // Michael Crew // 28 April 2017 • #92 Nothing Beside Remains // The Eye, The Lonely // Elias Bouchard, Barnabas Bennett // ? [Possibly 28 April 2017] • #94 Dead Woman Walking // The End // Georgie Barker // 29 April 2017 • #100 I Guess You Had To Be There // The Desolation, The Dark, The Spiral, The Web, The Lonely // Lynn Hammond, John Smith, Robin Lennox, Brian Finlinson // 2 May 2017 – 26 May 2017 • #101 Another Twist // The Spiral, The Stranger // Michael // May-June 2017 // October 2009 – 2011 • #104 Sneak Preview // The Stranger // Timothy Stoker // 14 June 2017 // August 2013 • #109 Nightfall // The Dark, The Hunt // Julia Montauk and Trevor Herbert // 29 June 2017 // July 2010 • #111 Family Business // Multiple, The End // Gerry Keay // 30 June 2017 // September 2008 • #117 Testament // The Eye // Jonathan Sims, Basira Hussain, Melanie King, Martin Blackwood, Timothy Stoker, Daisy Tonner // 2 – 4 August 2017 • #118 The Masquerade // The Stranger // The Unknowing Begins // 6 August 2017 • #119 Stranger and Stranger // The Stranger // The Unknowing Ends // 7 August 2017 • #120 Eye Contact // The Eye // Elias Bouchard // 9 August 2017 • #121 Far Away // The End, The Web // Oliver Banks // 15 February 2018 • #128 Heavy Goods // The Stranger // Breekon // 3 March 2018 • #131 Flesh // The Flesh // Jared Hopworth // 20 March 2018 // 2016 – January 2018 • #132 Entombed // The Buried // Jonathan Sims and Daisy Tonner // 24 March 2018 • #141 Doomed Voyage // The Vast, The Spiral // Floyd Matharu // 11 June 2018 • #142 Scrutiny // The Eye, The Buried // Jess Terrell // 12 June 2018 • #143 Heart of Darkness // The Dark // Manuela Dominguez // 16 June 2018 • #147 Weaver // The Web // Annabelle Cane // 20 July 2018 • #151 Big Picture // The Vast, The Lonely, The Extinction // Simon Fairchild, Martin Blackwood // 14 August 2018 • #158 Panopticon // The Eye, the Extinction, The Lonely // Martin Blackwood, Peter Lukas, Basira Hussain, Jonathan Sims, Daisy Tonner, Elias Bouchard, Gertrude Robinson // 25 September 2018 • #159 The Last // The Lonely // Peter Lukas // 25 September 2018 • #160 The Eye Opens // All // Jonah Magnus, Jonathan Sims // 18 October 2018 • Vigilo, Audio, Supervenio. The World Ends • #161 Dwelling // No // Sasha James, Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood, Elias Bouchard, Jonathan Sims, Jurgen Leitner // No Longer Applicable // Unknown • #162 A Cozy Cabin // No // Gertrude Robinson, Gerry Keay, Sasha James, Timothy Stoker, Martin Blackwood, Jonathan Sims // No Longer Applicable // 2013 – 2015 • #163 In The Trenches // The Slaughter // Jonathan Sims // No Longer Applicable • # 164 The Sick Village // The Corruption // Jonathan Sims // No Longer Applicable • #165 Revolutions // The Stranger // Jonathan Sims // No Longer Applicable • #166 The Worms // The Buried // Jonathan Sims // No Longer Applicable • #167 Curiosity // The Eye, The Web, Others // Jonathan on Gertrude Robinson // No Longer Applicable • #168 Roots // The End // Oliver Banks // No Longer Applicable

#tma #the magnus archives #timeline #tma meta #eldritch bingo au #tma reference #tma ref

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

HBO Max New Releases: April 2021

https://ift.tt/3kO4gS2

Fresh off the long-awaited arrival of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (a.k.a. the fabled Snyder Cut), HBO Max has no need to appease fandom culture in April 2021. But the streaming service is gonna do it anyway!

The most notable new release for HBO Max this month is the HBO series The Nevers. This show, created by Joss Whedon, is set in a 19th century steampunk London and finds a sizable portion of the population (predominantly women) having been “Touched” by mysterious paranormal powers. There’s an interesting bit of irony at play here, as HBO Max is following up the Snyder Cut with a show created by his original Justice League replacement. Or at least there could have been an interesting bit of irony here, if Whedon had not bowed out from the show and been enthusiastically left out of the marketing material by HBO.

Movies

From Man of Steel to Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A Complete DCEU Timeline

By Aaron Sagers

Fandoms Roil Online as Joss Whedon Suddenly Quits His New HBO Show The Nevers

By Kirsten Howard

Aside from the awkward showrunning situation at The Nevers, HBO Max has quite a few other irons in the fire for April. The well-earned Infinity Train season 4 premieres on April 15. That will be followed up by the Kate Winslet-starring HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown on April 18. Not to be ignored is the movie side of things, with Mortal Kombat continuing WarnerMedia’s policy of releasing all 2021 films to HBO Max.

Meanwhile, The New Mutants will take a turn in the HBO Max library on April 10…for some reason. And the streaming services continue their game of Dark Knight Rises hot potato when the film premieres on HBO Max on April 17. Now all three Christopher Nolan’s Batman films can be streamed in their entirety. It will just take both Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions.

HBO Max New Releases – April 2021

April 1 A Shock To The System, 1990 (HBO) Abandon, 2002 (HBO) Adam’s Rib, 1949 All Is Lost, 2013 (HBO) Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl Barbarosa, 1982 (HBO) Black Dynamite, 2009 Blindness, 2008 (HBO) The Bodyguard, 1992 Boogie Nights, 1997 Bringing Up Baby, 1938 The Butcher’s Wife, 1991 (HBO) Caddyshack, 1980 The Collection, 2012 (HBO) The Color Purple, 1985 Dante’s Peak, 1997 (HBO) Dark Shadows, 2012 (HBO) Dead Silence, 2007 (HBO) Dirty Harry, 1971 The Eagle Has Landed, 1977 (HBO) Early Man, 2018 (HBO) Easy Rider, 1969 Ella Enchanted, 2004 (HBO) The Evil That Men Do, 1984 (HBO) Eye For An Eye, 1996 (HBO) Fear, 1996 (HBO) genera+ion, Season 1 Part One Finale Ghost Rider, 2007 Goodfellas, 1990 The Great Pottery Throwdown, Max Original Season 4 Premiere Green Lantern, 2011 Hardball, 2001 (HBO) Happy Endings Haywire, 2012 (HBO) In & Out, 1997 (HBO) Kicking & Screaming, 2005 (HBO) King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, 2017 (HBO) Lassiter, 1984 (HBO) Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, 1990 (HBO) Let’s Go To Prison, 2006 (HBO) The Longest Yard, 1974 (HBO) Made for Love, Max Original Series Premiere Man Up, 2015 (HBO) The Mask of Zorro, 1998 The Man With The Iron Fists, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO) Missing In Action 2 – The Beginning, 1985 (HBO) Missing In Action, 1984 (HBO) My Super Ex-Girlfriend, 2006 (HBO) The Nanny The Natural, 1984 Now, Voyager, 1942 One Day, 2011 (HBO) Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, 1985 (HBO) Police Academy 3: Back In Training, 1986 (HBO) Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol, 1987 (HBO) Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, 1988 (HBO) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, 1989 (HBO) Police Academy: Mission To Moscow, 1994 (HBO) Primal Fear, 1996 (HBO) Reasonable Doubt, 2014 (HBO) Red Dawn, 1984 (HBO) The Return, 2006 (HBO) Risky Business, 1983 (HBO) Roger & Me, 1989 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939 Sneakers, 1992 (HBO) Space Jam, 1996 Speed 2 Cruise Control, 1997 (HBO) Spellbound, 2003 (HBO) Stuart Little, 1999 The Shack, 2017 (HBO) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, 2011 Wanderlust, 2012 (HBO) The Warriors, 1979 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) The Watch, 2012 (HBO) White Noise, 2005 (HBO) The Wild Life, 2016 (HBO) Within, 2016 (HBO) Wolves At The Door, 2017 (HBO)

April 2 On the Spectrum

April 3 Ted, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)

April 4 Q: Into The Storm, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)

April 5 Hard, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 6 Genndy Tartokovksy’s Primal, Season 1B

April 7 Exterminate All the Brutes, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO) South Side, Season 1

April 9 Intemperie (AKA Out in the Open), 2019 (HBO) The Other Two, Season 1 A Tiny Audience, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 10 The New Mutants, 2020 (HBO)

April 11 The Nevers, Series Premiere (HBO)

April 13 Our Towns, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

April 15 Infinity Train, Max Original Season 4 Premiere

April 16 Mortal Kombat, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021

April 17 The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 (HBO)

April 18 Mare of Easttown, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)

April 20 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

April 22 1,2,3, All Eyes On Me, 2020 (HBO) First Ladies, 2020 Princess Cut, 2020 (HBO) Rizo, 2020 (HBO)

April 23 A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 2 Premiere (HBO) El Robo Del Siglo (AKA Heist of the Century) (HBO)

April 24 Dreamgirls, 2006 (HBO)

April 26 The Artist, 2011

April 29 Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 1D

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Leaving HBO Max – April 2021

April 11 Reservoir Dogs, 1992

April 15 Lego DC Shazam: Magic And Monsters!, 2020

April 30 3 Godfathers, 1949 9½ Weeks, 1986 Above The Rim, 1994 (HBO) The Adventures Of Robin Hood, 1938 Adventures Of Tom Thumb And Thumbelina, 2002 (HBO) After Hours, 1985 An American Werewolf In London,1981 (HBO) Beasts Of The Southern Wild, 2012 (HBO) Being There, 1979 Bullitt, 1968 Bundle Of Joy, 1956 Can’t Buy Me Love, 1987 (HBO) The Candidate, 1972 Cast Away, 2000 (HBO) Catwoman, 2004 Chasing Liberty, 2004 Cheyenne Autumn, 1964 Cimarron, 1960 Critters 2, 1988 Critters 4, 1992 Dead Man Walking, 1995 (HBO) Diner, 1982 Dirt, 2017 The Exorcist, 1973 Femme Fatale, 2002 (HBO) Fool’s Gold, 2008 Get Carter, 1971 Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, 2019 (HBO) Godzilla Vs. Kong , 2021 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, 2011 The Green Mile, 1999 Grumpier Old Men, 1995 Grumpy Old Men, 1993 The Hangover Part II, 2011 (HBO) A Hidden Life, 2019 (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes II, 2007 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012 Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, The, 2014 Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, The, 2013 How The West Was Won, 1962 I Am Sam, 2002 The Invisible Man, 2020 (HBO) Jojo Rabbit, 2019 (HBO) Jonny Quest, 1964 Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space, 1972 Josie And The Pussycats, 1970 Just Mercy, 2019 (HBO) The Looney Tunes Show, 2011 Looney Tunes: Back In Action, 2003 Lying And Stealing, 2019 (HBO) Ma, 2019 (HBO) The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 Marvin’s Room, 1996 (HBO) Mildred Pierce, 1945 Mister Roberts, 1955 My Blue Heaven, 1990 My Dog Skip, 2000 My Favorite Year, 1982 National Lampoon’s European Vacation, 1985 National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983 The Neverending Story, 1984 New Jack City, 1991 New Looney Tunes, 2015 New York Minute, 2004 Of Mice And Men, 1992 (HBO) Open Water 2: Adrift, 2006 (HBO) Open Water, 2004 (HBO) Paddington Bear, 1989 Patriots Day, 2016 Presumed Innocent, 1990 Pride And Prejudice, 1940 Private Benjamin, 1980 Red Tails, 2012 (HBO) Reversal Of Fortune, 1990 Rio Bravo, 1959 Rise Of The Guardians, 2012 (HBO) School Of Rock, 2003 (HBO) Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo, 1981 The Scooby-Doo Show, 1976 Scooby-Doo Where Are You!, 1969 The Secret Garden, 1993 She’s All That, 1999 Snakes On A Plane, 2006 Son Of The Mask, 2005 Space Cowboys, 2000 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, 1995 Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 Tom And Jerry (Classic), 1967 Tower Heist, 2011 (HBO) Under Siege, 1992 Viva Las Vegas, 1964 We Bought A Zoo, 2011 (HBO) What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, 1962 (HBO) Where The Wild Things Are, 2009 The Wild Bunch, 1969 The Wind And The Lion, 1975 The Yogi Bear Show, 1988

The post HBO Max New Releases: April 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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idkthisisjustforfanfic · 5 years ago

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two years too late, chapter t h i r t e e n

It wasn’t the first time you’d said too much to Harry in a bathroom. Admitting that you had feelings for him the second time wasn’t as terrible as the first, so if anything, you’d take that as a positive.

Bryn handed you the beer you’d placed on the coffee table before she picked up her phone to change the song. When you folded your legs beneath you on the couch, she spoke.

“Remember Leah Putney?” A few nods from the others. “She’s pregnant.”

Adam shrugged, “shocking, innit?”

“Why’s that shocking?” Jessie asked.

“She seemed quite timid in high school! Now she’s knocked up before the rest of us?”

Jessie rolled her eyes, elbows pointing towards the sky as she fastened her hair in a bun on top of her head. “Didn’t one of you make out with her at the cinema in Year 7?”

Harry let out a snort, eyes looking up quickly to see if anyone would rat him out.

“He did,” Jake nudged his chin towards Harry. “Wouldn’t should up about it for months.”

“It was my first experience with tongue!” He defended.

“S’disgusting,” Bryn seemed to chastise. “We were children.”

“Oh relax, Mother Theresa,” Harry shot back. “I seem to remember you getting caught with pictures of naked women in your sock drawer at the ripe age of 15.”

“A closeted girl’s gotta live,” she raised her beer in the air, eliciting a laugh to fill the room.

Alyssa--who’d only gotten home shortly before the lot of you--emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her wet hair.

“Got you a beer,” Harry held up the still-full bottle that sat in front of him on the coffee table, an obvious attempt to prove his virtue.

“Thanks,” she said, her tone communicating the hesitance she felt. She’d complained earlier that morning about how tough it was. She was mad at him, sure--but she also thought you should hear him out and talk things through. She disappeared into her bedroom to dress.

“M’grabbing coffee with a guy for work next week,” you said suddenly, a casual attempt to gauge Harry’s interest. “Said he works with a social media firm.”

“What for? Like, a new job?” Adam asked.

“No,” you said. “Just a networking thing. He was the guy at the airport?”

“Hold on,” Jessie put her phone down and seemed suddenly interested. “The one with the hat and the scruff and the amazing smile?”

You let out a laugh, grateful for her excitement--almost as if she knew more than she did and had been planted to say exactly that, stirring up jealousy in Harry when he pulled his eyes over to you.

“Yes, that one--his name is Patrick. Think he goes by Pat, though--his twitter says Pat.”

“Pat,” Bryn raised her eyebrows. “So will he just help you be more cool on the internet?”

“I think so--I mean, social media strategy and planning, probably. I dunno. I have no information other than the name of his company.”

“S’exciting, though,” Jake offered. “Always good to network.”

Jessie leaned forward, a devilish grin on her face when she wiggled her eyebrows up at you. “Maybe it’ll become a date!”

Harry picked up his phone, scrolling through something to seemingly distract from Jessie’s comment. His forehead wrinkled, a finger tugging at his lip.

You rolled your eyes. “Probably won’t become a date, but, he’s cute.”

Jessie let out another excited noise, reaching over to pat you on the leg. Harry took it as a cue to change the topic.

“So what’s the actual birthday plan, then? I’ve got a few things to do tomorrow but I can try to be done early.”

“Let’s go to a club tomorrow night,” Bryn leaned forward, looking up at you from the ground. “I would definitely make out with American girls.”

“I know you would,” you patted her head. “We don’t have to do that though, I don’t really care what we do. You said you wanted to do the Met,” you reminded her.

“The Metropolitan Museum of Art is not how people are supposed to celebrate birthdays,” Jessie teased. “Don’t you want to be off your face and making out with hot guys?”

“I’m alright,” you nodded, a reassuring look promised that you’d live. “I’d seriously rather just go to the museum and do dinner or something. We can totally go to a nice bar for drinks.”

“Really not feeling the club scene?” Jake rested his elbows on his knees when he waited for a response.

“A club?” Alyssa reappeared from her bedroom. “Are we going to a club?”

“No! They’re not the same here!” You replied. “Girls are mean and they’re loud and crowded.”

“Girls are mean?” This seemed to deflate Bryn.

“If you look at someone the wrong way here they’ll tell you to fuck off,” Alyssa informed, coming to sit cross legged on the rug beneath you.

“Not all of them,” Harry replied, his voice steady and sure--his eyes still glued to the screen of his phone.

A snort escaped you--an eye roll from Alyssa before you even replied to him. “Maybe not when you’re Harry Styles.”

He looked up, lips parted to speak before Jake cut him off. “Yeah mate--not sure if you’ve had the typical club experience anywhere.”

He sunk into the couch cushions at that. “M’just trying to be supportive of the birthday girl.”

“She doesn’t want to even go to the club,” Jessie shook her head, furrowed brows when Harry readjusted, got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen to fetch a glass of water.

“Let’s go to the Met and we’ll go to this cute Italian place nearby for dinner. Super small--no one will even know you’re there,” you said, wondering if your words sounded too reassuring to the man who just broke your heart--for the second time.

He reappeared with a plastic blue cup in hand--one you’d stolen from an old roommate in uni. “Yeah--that’s good.”

Adam brought the conversation back to Leah Putney, scrolling through her facebook page to learn she’d been married for two years--bit young, don’t you think? He asked.

Alyssa laughed and laughed when Jessie told her about the time she put gum in Jake’s hair, leading to a Friday night hair cutting experience in your mum’s kitchen. Harry missed that one--it was sometime between the X Factor and their first album.

Remember when Y/N and Peter Willoughby were going at it and Katie walked in on them? Bryn seemed to think the moment was hilarious--definitely more so than your younger sister had.

Another one Harry didn’t remember--sometime before the second album, he was likely on tour for the summer.

“You and Peter Willoughby dated?” He asked with a tilted head, arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh did they ever,” Jessie proclaimed, excited eyes and a threatening giggle.

“We were, like, seventeen, it was only a few months,” your words were more of a warning to her than an explanation to Harry. You knew how funny your friends found the story to be and now didn’t feel like a good time to relive the whole thing.

“A few months? It was the most sexual time of your short life!” Bryn let out a squeal but gained composure when you shot her a glare across the living room.

“What?” Both Harry and Alyssa asked at the same time--their lack of involvement in that time period seemed to quickly align them in learning more.

“It was nothing,” you said.

“Yeah right,” Alyssa countered.

“The most sexual time of your life?” Harry’s eyebrows jumped.

“I didn’t call it that, they did.”

“Oh just tell them,” Adam laughed, waving a hand before finishing his beer. “S’not that bad.”

You let out a big sigh--something about the theme of embarrassing moments being rehashed for all to bear witness felt a bit overwhelming these last few months. “I was--” a pause, another breath before really relinquishing yourself to the vulnerability. “Quite determined to lose my virginity in the spring of 2011.”

“You lost your virginity to Peter Willoughby?” A smile threatened to pull at Harry’s right cheek--a dimple seemed to appear slowly before Jake interrupted him.

“Oh no--she tried to. Ended up being Nolan Truscott, right?”

Harry’s eyes bounced between you and Jake like a ping pong ball--an eager smile on his face as if he gained something from this meaningless fact. “Tried to?”

“The condom was on and ready to go,” Bryn stifled a laugh, “but poor Katie needed homework help and barged through the door to Y/N’s bedroom.”

Harry’s eyes were wide and he let out a sheepish giggle--as did Alyssa (though she was clearly trying to be more poised than he was)--when you let your head lean against the back of the sofa. “Alright, alright. As if I’m the only one who’s ever been walked in on.”

“Been there,” Bryn admitted. “My roommate had no clue I wasn’t straight--you can imagine her surprise.”

Harry’s eyes were still on you, though, a smirk apparently stuck on his cheeks when he licked at his lips.

“Why are you smiling like that?” You challenged, less amused by his demeanor now.

“I just--I dunno, missed out on a lot, I guess, so I’m just catching up. S’that alright?”

“No,” you rolled your eyes. “Should have stuck around.”

The words were more weighted than you intended. So weighted, in fact, that a silence took over the room and Jessie desperately tried to divert for you.

“Oh come on Harry--you’re the one who lost your virginity to someone old enough to be your mum.”

“She wasn’t that old,” he retorted.

“Yes she was,” Bryn argued, a look of disgust on her face, one that was all too similar to the night he told you in the first place.

December 2010

Your lips were parted, frozen as if the air from outside had seeped through Jake’s bedroom window. You sat atop his bedspread--navy with white pinstripes--as you watched Harry smile across the room. Luckily, Bryn and Jessie seemed just as alarmed as you did.

“I’m sorry--you said Caroline Flack?” Bryn’s arms were crossed as she leaned against Jake's desk.

Adam sat in the computer chair, a smile spreading over his face. “Like, the fittest presenter on the planet?”

“Yeah,” Harry said, a sheepish grin on his face before his eyes scanned over to you. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I--I just--she’s a bit old, no?” You stammered out a more polite version than what was actually in your head.

“A bit?!” Leave it to Jessie to be unfiltered. “She’s practically my mum’s age!”

“Alright, didn’t tell all of you to be put on trial--I shared because you’re my friends.”

“We’re not trying to be rude, Harry,” Bryn rolled her eyes. “We just don’t want anyone going to jail seeing as it might be illegal somehow!”

“He’s sixteen!” Jake raised both palms towards the ceiling, adding a new level of emotional charge to the conversation. “S’the age of consent!”

Harry’d been home for a few days--busy forming a band in London and you’d yet to really see him. At first he promised you’d all come to the finale if they made it that far. When they were eliminated, he didn’t even respond to your apologetic text.

“Are you defending him?” Jessie asked, her eyes wide--Jake immediately shrunk back on the bed beside you.

“She’s, like, at least thirty! So she’s thirteen years older than you?”

“Fourteen,” Harry’s voice was quiet--ashamed, even.

“She’s thirty-one?!” You asked.

“Yes--okay? It’s not a big deal. We’re friends. She’s nice and she’s normal and she’s not some crazy girl our age who just wants to sleep with me because I was on the show.”

“No--I’m sorry, you’re right. She’s just a crazy 31-year-old adult who wants to sleep with you because you were on the show.” Bryn’s voice was seriously disapproving--her eyes watching his every move as he shifted in the bean bag chair Jake had received for Christmas five years earlier.

“Okay, alright, we don’t need to shit on him,” Adam said, somehow bringing order back to the room. “S’his decision after all. His virginity, that is.”

You were quiet--you watched again as Harry squirmed in his chair and seemed to let his eyes wander through the room you’d all sat in so many times. Only this time, one of you now had a song on the radio and was sleeping with thirty year olds.

Times had certainly changed.

“M’gonna grab some water,” you hoisted yourself up from Jake’s bed and walked through the room--leaving them upstairs before you made your way for the kitchen.

Footsteps behind you on the stairs, you looked over your shoulder to see Harry behind you. “M’not trying to follow you,” he said. “Just--needed a minute from them.”

You nodded--unsure of how to reply. He looked different, older, even. His hair wasn’t long as it had been on the telly, a few inches taller since you’d seen him over the summer. He’d already told you about the parties he’d been to and the celebrities he’d been drunk with. Pubs with Ed Sheeran and Olly Murs were typical Friday night hangs.

You reached for a glass above the sink, filled it from the tap and let the silence spread through the kitchen.

“Do you think it was stupid?”

You turned around, lips to the glass. A sip. “Sleeping with her?”

He nodded.

You shrugged. “I mean--s’up to you, right? As long as you’re happy.”

You bit at your lip, so badly wanting to tell him that yes it was stupid, how could it not be? But you didn’t--you took another sip of water and wondered what he’d say if you told him it was stupid because you’d always kind of wished it would have been you.

“Alright well--I don’t think we have to rehash it,” Harry said. “It was short lived, anyway.”

“Right,” you said, standing from the sofa, “cause this group never rehashes things--but, closing time, yeah?”

Jessie stood and stretched--Adam let out a yawn and watched as Bryn sprawled out on the floor before she peeled herself off of the carpet.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

You shot him a look--annoyed by his sudden ignorance to the hell you’d been put through by the lot of them for the last two years being forced to relive that one night.

“She’s sick of us all reliving her embarrassing memories,” Jessie answered for you, pulling her jacket on by the door. Alyssa plopped herself on the couch, if only she had popcorn.

“Yeah--as if we haven’t all done enough rehashing to last a lifetime.” You moved towards the coat rack, plucking his off of a hook and shoving it towards him.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said, his eyes on yours as he took the jacket.

“Alright--okay,” you raised both hands in front of him. “I know it might be fun for everyone now that we don’t have to pretend it never happened but that doesn’t mean it’s up for discussion, got it?”

Silence. Harry had his phone in his hand--likely trying to signal Roger that now would be a convenient time to show up.

“Message received,” Jake teased, a two-finger salute before he pulled you into him. A kiss on the forehead before he moved into the hallway. Adam was next, then Bryn, then Jessie. Harry stood awkward in front of the door to your flat, his hands in the pockets of his black peacoat.

Alyssa had now disappeared to take a call from Owen--the others were heading down the stairs to find their way out to the blustering winds of Greenwich Village.

“Well--see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” you said, less anger in your fists and less hatred in your veins. “Tomorrow.”

“I miss you.”

You winced--as if he’d told you a sad story or reminded you that your sheets no longer smelled like him. You crossed your arms to ensure he wouldn’t move closer, shoulders up to your ears as if you could shrink away from him and hide beneath the fabric of your blue sweater.

When you brought your eyes up to look at him, he was already out the door, pulling it shut behind him. Footsteps down the hall, fading as you slumped onto the couch.

You missed him, too.

You smoothed out the skirt you wore--black and an appropriate length for a business meeting. At least--you thought it was a business meeting. Alyssa had gotten in to your head this morning when Pat had messaged you to move it up. Something came up next week, he said. Any chance you can meet this morning?

So sure--why not? You’d already taken the day off to spend time with your friends and you’d be shocked if they were awake and ready before 11am. So you’d called for an uber and taken it out to Long Island City--making decent time doing a reverse commute. You found your way into the office at Digitize fine enough--Pat had said you’d pick a coffee place once he could introduce you to his team.

There’s no way it’s a date if he wants me to meet his co-workers, you’d told your roommate, brushing mascara onto your eyelashes while she sat on her glorious work-from-home throne. Her hair was up in a bun and she had a spoon in her mouth--a cup of yogurt was beside her on the coffee table.

But now, right before you were set to meet Pat in a conference room on some 14th floor--the door to the bathroom opened and you were face to face with a dark-haired, red-lipped girl. You almost let out a laugh at how cruel and unusual the universe had decided to become.

You reached up for a towel to dry your hands, a quick smile in her direction. When she made eye-contact, you pounced.

“Hi, um, are you--uh, Nina Winters?”

A nod--a humble one, not what you were expecting. She seemed caught off guard, as if the last place she expected to be recognized was a corporate bathroom in LIC.

“Nice to meet you--I’m, uh,” you paused, unsure if giving your name was the right move. “I’m a big fan.”

“Oh, hi,” she seemed to soften at that--as if she’d expected something less pleasant.

“I’m a journalist--s’why I’m here, I didn’--like--sneak in, or something.”

Her eyes squinted a bit, a look at you up at down. You felt stupid and small and suddenly not very pretty.

“I’m meeting with Pat Martin--I work for The Scoop, do you know us?”

A smile pulled at her lips. “I do! Yeah--fun site.”

“We try,” you said, an awkward pause when she reached for a hand towel beside you. Curiosity poured out of your mouth, as you dug through your purse for come chapstick. “Listen--uh, I know this is none of my business, but--I’m writing a feature on Harry Styles, and I know you and him were friends.”

She laughed, tossing the paper into the bin and checking her reflection in the mirror. “Off the record, short lived--nice guy, but, ended it really soon.”

“Huh,” you nodded, arms crossed over your chest. “Off the record, any reason why?”

She looked at you with suspicion in her eyes--too personal of a question, you guessed.

“Sorry--not prying. I don’t--I’m not talking about his love life in the story at all, just trying to get to know him as a person.”

She hesitated again, brushed her long hair behind an ear and then shrugged. “Said there was someone else. Don’t know who--haven’t seen him in tabloids with anyone.”

You forced a nod--wondering if you didn’t count because you weren’t in movies or magazines. She tilted her head to the side, now her curiosity was getting the best of her. “Has he--has he mentioned seeing anyone to you?”

“No,” you shook your head, a casual tone laced around your words. “Hasn’t mentioned anyone.”

She let out a hum, standing up straight and taking one last look in the mirror, a look of sheepishness crossed her face. “Can’t help but wonder, you know? Said he really liked her.”

Of course he did.

“Well, sorry to bother you,” you said. “He’s just--he’s got me curious.”

She laughed, heading out the door. “Don’t be--what you see is what you get.”

So you were alone with a wet countertop, wondering why Digitize wasn’t more environmentally friendly--even The Scoop had the nice, new, air dryers for your hands that attached to the faucet.

And since you were early, you stared at your reflection in the mirror and tried to ignore the voice in your head that reminded you how hard it would be to always be the no one by his side.

But talking with Pat helped you get your mind off of it. He told you all about the things that Digitze did--grow your following, organize content and run analytics to tell you when to post what. They were an expert team of social media gurus, aiming to help you capitalize on the engagement you already had. They partnered with brands to initiate sponsorships, something you’d only been approached about twice before.

But the best part of your meeting wasn’t getting introduced to his co-workers or seeing his office (almost as nice as Whitney’s)--it was walking down the block to get coffee and hearing him tell you about his favorite part of the job.

“When I help people get more comfortable with their online presence and help them really solidify their own brand,” he shrugged. “That’s kind of a magical moment for me.”

“Yeah, I get that. Must feel good to know you’ve helped someone create something that’s unique and special to them.”

“Exactly. And a lot of people think it’s stupid, you know?” He let out a laugh when he held the door open for you to move inside from the cold air. “Social media is such a touchy topic. But it’s how we connect now. If I can help people connect with others that relate to them in one way or another, that’s cool.”

“I totally hear you,” you said, rubbing your hands together in the blast of warm air. “It’s similar with writing. If I can write something that makes people laugh even just quietly at their desks--that’s good enough. I just want to spread some joy and happiness.”

He listened when you told him about your hopes of one day writing more real news--though he also claimed you were already doing it. He laughed at the right moments and he definitely was educated about ways you could grow your own brand outside of The Scoop.

The coffee was good and people worked quietly on computers nearby, only looking slightly annoyed by the way you laughed at his stupid joke about Whitney’s bagel obsession. You twisted a napkin in your fingers when you admitted your biggest dream: a talk show. He didn’t even flinch.

Harry stared up at a statue--his lips pushed out just enough to block the light that came through the window. Dust danced in the evening sunlight, marble walls let even the slightest whisper echo.

“S’bit weird, right?” His head cocked to the side, ear almost to his shoulder before he turned to see you, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah,” you nodded, eyes still on the cream colored figure that stood, bent, in front of you. A woman, naked of course. Hey Brynnie, found your favorite wing, Adam had joked when you’d turned the corner.

It was quiet--apparently a Wednesday evening wasn’t a rush for the museum. But Harry still had a hat on, his curls hidden beneath the frayed edges of an old beanie that you swore he’d had for a decade. At least my headware keeps me warm, he’d said to Jessie--who insisted on buying a Statue of Liberty-esque foam crown and wearing it proudly all day.

It’d been cold outside and after dodging Bryn’s questions about your coffee date with Pat, you were thankful for the drafty halls and soothing colors--even if you had to trail behind the dimpled boy who always knew exactly how to make you forget why you were mad.

“Smalls,” he said, a grin on his face after he’d moved a few statues over, mimicking the panicked expression etched in stone. “Look--s’your face when you got the interview.”

“What interview?” Adam asked, a confused laugh bounced through each of them, what a silly face on that statue. Harry didn’t even realize what he’d done, a smile waiting on his face for you to return it. It didn’t hit him until you let out a noise--more of a squeak, really--and blinked twice.

A deep breath, inquisitive looks from the rest of them. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “I--uh, I’m interviewing Harry for work, but they don’t know that we’re, you know, friends. So, s’why I asked you all to delete any photos of him and I.”

“What?” Bryn stepped towards you. “You didn’t tell them?”

“No,” you shrugged, hoping the oncoming wave of shame wasn’t a tsunami. “I dunno--I wanted to be my own person, you know? Not just be the friend of someone famous--so, they don’t know.”

Harry shrunk at that, a look of guilt on his face when you locked eyes with him again. “She’s amazing at her job, though, so, how mad can her boss be?”

“Really mad, honestly,” you let out a feigned laugh, as if the upcoming deadline didn’t keep you up at night. As if your thoughts didn’t bounce between trying not to love him and wishing you could.

Jessie made a face--one that was nervous and confused all at once. “So you’re just going to tell your boss that you know him when you write it, or?”

“I mean--I will, yeah. Before I give her the story, I guess. But--I dunno--can we not talk about it right now? S’not a big deal.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake seemed to nod, a cue to the others to let it go. Adam pulled out a museum pamphlet, Harry caught up to you when you moved into a new hallway.

“Sorry, Smalls, I didn’t--it just totally slipped.”

“S’fine,” you said, mostly relieved that your friends hadn’t been more curious or less forgiving. “Just--don’t bring it up, okay? They don’t need to know any more.”

Hesitation--parted lips and a look in his eye that told you he had something else to say, but then, he didn’t. “Yeah,” he said, “okay.”

He hung back, waiting for Adam and Jake, three steps behind you on the polished floor.

“Is that why you’ve been so weird around him?” Jessie’s arm linked with yours, her head on your shoulder when she looked up at the painting right in front of you. Squares of color, melting together--a clear sign you’d left the statue exhibit.

“What?”

“I dunno--the fight the other night, spending all that time together for an interview. It’s seemed like you’ve been mad at him the whole time we’ve been here.”

“What are you talking about?” You shoved your hands in the pockets of your coat after snaking out of her grasp, thankful for the scarf wrapped around your neck that provided a hiding place from her question.

“Every time he talks to you it’s like you couldn’t be bothered.”

Her observation wasn’t wrong, but you weren’t about to admit that. “We’re fine, Jess.”

“Y/N--come on, you’ve been pretty shitty all week and now you want me to believe that nothing’s wrong when I find out you’ve been hanging out with him more than you let on?”

“I don’t know why you always think everything is your business,” you said quickly, Bryn appeared beside her, a confused look on her face when Jessie replied, a snarl on her face.

“It wouldn’t have to be if you weren’t such a liar all the time!”

“M’not a liar, you’re just nosy!”

“Whoa relax,” Bryn tried to raise a hand between you, Jessie pushed it out of the way.

“Well maybe I’m nosy because I know something’s going on between two of my friends but no one wants to admit it! So I’m left to make assumptions and wonder about what the fuck is really going on!”

Bryn was about to speak but you didn’t let her, words tumbling out of your mouth faster than you could have planned. “Fine--alright, we were having sex for a while, is that what you want to hear?” The echo on the smooth marble walls of the museum only made the embarrassment more staggering when you realized what you’d said.

Jessie’s eyes were wide--her stupid green crown still on her head--and her mouth hung open. After your eyes scanned her face, you turned to see the rest of them.

Bryn stood, face pale and round eyes. Jake and Adam both looked between each other, then quickly to you.

Harry--who’s arms were crossed over his chest, beanie pulled low over his hair--simply offered an uncomfortable smile.

“What?” Jessie finally broke the silence, her eyes still locked on your face. “The two of you?” She turned to see him quickly, a finger pointing in his direction before letting it glide lazily through the air until, finally, it pointed right at your chest.

You looked to Harry quickly--hoping for some kind of back up. Even Jake--the only one who knew that things had been heading in that direction--stood silent. A statue stood behind him, towering over the group of you in the one room in all of New York City to have perfect acoustics.

When your eyes locked with Harry, he shook his head, a slight shrug of his shoulders. “S’all you.”

“What’s all her?” Adam leaned forward, peering past Jake to look directly at you.

“I was joking,” you said quickly, a shake of your head and a small laugh. Harry’s face fell, his chest deflated and he broke his gaze from yours. “We’re not--there wasn’t,” you tried to find words, a way to take it back, to wipe the sadness from Harry’s face or the anger from Jessie’s.

“Have you two really been sleeping together?” Bryn’s voice was quiet, almost as if she was nervous to know the answer--like somehow that would change everything.

A look exchanged between you and Harry was all Jessie needed to know to storm out, a grunt from her lips before she took off, passing by the only other group of unsuspecting tourists nearby.

“Great,” you said, mostly to Harry, an afterthought as your legs carried you behind her, heading back down the hall you’d already wandered, the main room only a few feet ahead. “Jessie! Hold on!”

She didn’t listen--instead, she headed out and into the sun, stopping on the big steps when she realized she hadn’t the slightest clue as to where she was.

“Don’t make a scene,” you said. “Don’t bring attention to him and ruin the day for everyone.”

She groaned again--a loud and theatrical one--as if saving Harry the pain of being recognized was unbearable.

“I can’t believe this!” She said, arms sweeping by her sides when the others caught up behind you.

“S’not a big deal,” you said, eyes flashing to Bryn for some kind of support. “It was only a few times, it’s over though.”

“I don’t care if it’s over or not, Y/N, I care that you didn’t tell us--that you both lied!”

Harry kept quiet, his hands in his pockets and his hat pulled even lower than before. The streets of New York didn’t exactly feel like a safe space for this conversation.

“Oh Jessie please--as if I could have told you the truth without judgment or advice or something.”

“Maybe we should go back to someone’s apartment,” Jake suggested, a hand in the cold winter air when you both looked his way.

“No one else is mad about them being liars?” Jessie’s eyes searched the group, looking for a beacon of hope before she let out another dramatic sigh.

“You’re surprised, Jessie? Really? After all these years Harry and Y/N finally having a good shag is a shock to you?” Bryn seemed to be a bit more annoyed now, but you were unsure whether it was the scene Jessie was causing or the topic of conversation altogether. You hoped for the former when Harry cleared his throat.

“M’more than happy to answer questions about who I’m sleeping with, but--I dunno--maybe we can not do it on the streets of New York?”

In a split second he decided the Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side was a better option. A tiny place with only five tables--two pulled together to fit all of you. Every time Adam rested his elbows it would wobble, the walk over had been quiet and Jessie now held her menu in front of her as if she was hungry, but you all knew that 5:30 was a bit early for supper.

“Does anyone have anything to say?” Bryn’s eyes seemed to linger on yours, a knowing look on her face communicated that she thought you should start.

“I don’t know why this matters,” you said, hushed voice bounced off the light yellow walls. “We’re not, like, together.”

Harry looked up when you spoke, an unreadable expression on his face while he toyed with a sugar packet between his fingers.

“It matters, Y/N, because you,” Jessie cut herself off, eyes drifting up to Harry before they landed on yours again, a sigh from between her lips. You knew what she was going to say.

There were no secrets now, though. Harry knew how long you’d liked him and there was no use in dancing around things--especially if this was literally all out on the table for discussion. “Because I’ve always wanted it?”

Her gaze shifted to him momentarily, “yeah,” she said. “And because we’ve all been waiting for it to happen. I know you think I’m a proper knob for leaving you in the loo that night but--everyone just wanted it to finally be a thing.”

“Leaving us stranded probably wasn’t the best way to accomplish that,” Harry shrugged, eye contact with Jake who seemed too interested in your reply.

“We didn’t tell anyone because it wasn’t a big deal! And I mean--really not a great idea especially with me writing the story on him and so much time has passed and,” you tried to keep yourself from looking at him across the table, curious as to what he’d disagree with.

But he didn’t--he didn’t tell them that he’d wanted to tell them or that he’d been begging you to just come clean. He didn’t argue a word you said. Which only made you feel worse.

“So wait,” Adam tilted his head to the side and looked between the two of you, his hand around a glass of water. “You mean to tell us that it finally happened and now you’re just--not together and not shagging anymore?”

Jake stifled a laugh at his wording, both you and Harry shook your heads. “No.”

“Why’s that?”

You let your gaze lift to see him tugging at his lower lip. You wanted to say yeah, why’s that? but instead, you watched him stammer.

“I--uh--I was just, I fucked it up, I guess.”

Silence--apparently Jessie chose now to not be so nosy. Bryn folded her menu and leaned back in her chair. “Well--I appreciate the two of you coming together for our trip.”

“Thanks, Brynnie,” Harry’s voice was quiet beside her, you watched as he let his hand reach down to pat her thigh.

January 2011

Jessie had a hand in a bowl of crisps when your phone lit up on Bryn’s twin bed, you thought nothing of it at first. An instant message from Harry to the group. You clenched your jaw and focused your vision back on Bryn’s hair in front of you, but you’d never really been good at french braiding.

Music floated up from Jessie’s iPod on the floor, she laid beside it with a magazine open to a page about Justin Bieber. She spoke with a full mouth before making eye contact with you. “Harry said something.”

You had no idea if he was coming home--and it didn’t seem like he did either. His band had been voted off the show and while it certainly left you all gutted, a tiny, heart shaped piece of you was secretly thrilled that your friend hadn’t been showered in confetti and champagne.

“What’d he say?” Bryn asked, you kept your fingers working, ignoring the climbing heartbeat in your ribcage.

Jessie had already read it--a fallen expression on her face when she looked up at the two of you. “They got a record deal.”

Silence for a second, your fingers fumbled with the locks of Bryn’s hair you held. “That’s amazing,” you said, getting back up to speed. “Wicked exciting.”

“Y/N,” Jessie said, pushing herself up to be seated. “Who knows what it means, though. They might not do well or something--we never know.”

“They’re already doing ridiculously well and they lost,” Bryn reminded, scooting forward and out of your grasp. Her braids untwisted at the ends, but she didn’t seem to mind. She turned around on the bed and watched you for a second, picking at her fingernails when Jessie spoke.

“Maybe now’s a good time to tell him.”

“Right,” you laughed. “Let me text him in the chat room and say that he should turn down a record deal because I was hoping to go to the prom with him.”

“Well nothing is ever going to happen if you don’t tell him how you feel!”

You laid back on the bed, your head hitting a pillow with a thud before you closed your eyes. “Fuck me,” you said, your voice quiet and emotional.

“I’m sure he’d love to,” Jessie teased, a laugh escaping her lips when you opened your eyes quickly, shocked by her words. “He just doesn’t know you’d let him.”

Your lips pulled into a smirk, one that you tried to fight when Bryn leaned forward and hit you with another frilly pillow. “If he knew how bad you wanted to suck him off he’d move home in a heartbeat,” she giggled.

“No he wouldn’t!” You argued, squinting in response to her vulgarity. You pushed yourself up on the bed and looked at them. “It’s over, alright? I missed my chance and I should have told him before he left. Now he’s been deflowered by a thirty-year-old.” They laughed at that. “But it’s fine, anyway. Plenty of cute boys in our year and plenty of prom date options.”

They were both quiet for a second, almost as if they didn’t know whether or not to believe you.

But you didn’t know, either.

“Well good, then.” Jessie nodded, her tone confident as she pushed the magazine out of her way, likely thinking that if she really sold it, you’d all believe the lies you were spewing. “Gives you plenty of space to get over him if he’s stuck in London.”

You knew they hadn’t asked enough questions. You knew the silence on the ride back to Harry’s was too good to be true. So when Bryn and Jessie pulled you into the guest room they’d somehow made a mess of in just a few days, you knew you were stuck when Jessie blocked the door.

“Alright, so--we need way more details,” she said, her voice quiet.

Bryn had claimed she wanted to show you a new outfit she’d bought, Jessie had said something about using the loo.

You let out a dramatic sigh, partially relieved that it was out in the open, and totally freaked that now you had to tell them more about it. “Well I told you he had texted me in the beginning of December.”

They nodded.

“And Alyssa and I went to that show, and then him and I had Thai.”

“When did the fucking start, though?” Jessie cut right to the chase, a smile on her lips when you blinked three times at her bluntness.

“After Christmas, in January, I dunno.”

“So was this all happening when you both came home?” Bryn had sat on the bed they’d been sharing, sheets and blankets twisted into a ball at the foot.

“No--I mean, sort of. Not the sex.”

“What do you mean sort of?” Her head tilted to the side.

“Wait,” Jessie said. “Is that what was happening on New Year’s Eve when I came upstairs?”

“No,” you said. “I mean--I dunno. It didn’t happen. I was still trying to fight it at that point.”

“Why would you fight it you idiot?! You’ve been wanting this forever!” Bryn’s volume grew with emotion, you widened your eyes at her to remind that if she wanted any details at all, she’d have to be cool and collected.

“Yeah, Bryn, and you don’t think this is all too late? I’d moved on! I’d been over him and I moved here and this was my city and everything was fine!”

Jessie took two steps forward, apparently now she was satisfied that you wouldn’t try to bolt for the door. “So why did it crash and burn, then? Why is it not a thing anymore?”

“Because he was seeing someone else!”

“What?” They both asked in unison, utter disbelief.

“Who was that fucking wanker seeing?”

“A model,” you rolled your eyes. “Nina Winters!”

“She’s so fit,” Bryn mumbled.

“Not the point!” Jessie waved a hand at her. “You’re bloody joking, right? How did you find out?”

“Pictures on the internet,” you said, a fire ignited in your chest with the newfound support from your friends. “They were holding hands in one.”

“Is he still seeing her?” Bryn crawled towards the edge of the bed, her face muddled with confusion.

“No--said he ended it with her when we came home--like, after New Years.”

“Oh,” Jessie said, her eyebrows suddenly unfurled. “So, wait. He was seeing her before he was seeing you?”

“No--I mean, he said they met in August or something and were hanging out in the fall. Apparently in December he was making out with her but then drinking wine on my couch and buying my plane ticket home.”

“Y/N,” Bryn said your name slow, as if she was about to break some terrible news. “It sounds like he ended it with her when he realized there was something there.”

“No, there’d been something there. I mean, we were spending so much time together in December and then he kissed me in front of my parents' house and then apparently came back to New York and still saw her!”

“Do you know if he slept with her?”

“He said he didn’t.”

“So what did he say when you confronted him?”

“That he only saw her after the New Year to tell her he didn’t want to see her anymore.”

You knew something was wrong when they both watched you silently. You knew it didn’t sound as bad as it had in your head the nights after when you’d just stare at the ceiling and hope sleep would come.

“Honey, I think that’s all he could have done.”

Jessie’s voice was quiet, much more controlled and sweet than it usually was. Her eyes were soft and apologetic, you heard laughter from the living room.

“Did you guys ever, like, talk about what it meant?” Bryn’s expression seemed to mirror Jessie’s--fearful or hesitant or somewhere in the middle of the two.

You nodded, eyes on the floor of the guest bedroom as it flooded back. The bathtub, the trip to LA in general, the empty suitcase on his floor when you showed up that night to call it all off.

“Look,” you said, immediately trying to gain some distance from the emotions in your chest and the looks on their faces. “It’s fine, alright? It was a bad idea anyway. Unprofessional and just--living out a teenage fantasy, I guess. S’done, it was too much of a mess.” You let your eyes linger on Jessie’s for a second, a sigh before you continued. “I should have known, okay? I know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh come on, Jessie, don’t do this. I know you’re bursting at the seams to tell me I’m a fucking moron.”

Her face fell at that, eyes to the white shag carpet that you were sure someone else had picked out. “No--Y/N, I wouldn’t--”

“S’fine, alright? Honestly. I know it was dumb and now it’s over. It’s just a thing of the past and we can all move on and pretend it didn’t happen, yeah?”

“Just like last time,” Jessie rolled her eyes a bit, annoyed by your desire to drop it.

“Alright,” you sighed, not enough energy left in your bones to bicker any more with her. “M’gonna head home--I’ll see you both tomorrow? Still on for ice skating?”

They nodded, letting you slip through the door and down the hall without a goobye. The living room quieted when you appeared around the corner, Harry’s eyes searched yours for some kind of emotion. You almost thought they were about to ask: everything okay? Did you tell them all the details? What do they know? How do you feel? Is this still going to be awkward?

But you grabbed for your keys on the end table near the door, a spot where they once belonged. “Late, innit? I’ll see you lot tomorrow.”

Blank stares returned, faces twisted to each other, wondering who should acknowledge the tension in the room. “Night,” you said, heart beat only slowing after the lift doors slid shut behind you, feet on pavement for the walk home.

And with only a week left until your story had to be printed and placed on Whitney’s desk, you decided that instead of using the buzzing in your veins as a good reason to write, you’d channel it somewhere else. Organizing your closet, cleaning the bathroom, meal prepping, anything.

You didn’t want to be left alone with the taped conversations, interrupted by laughter and kisses and thoughts of what could have been. So you’d put it off, just like most other things that had to do with Harry.

come talk to me about tytl

read the other parts here

AN: woooohooooo finally a chapter closer to 8k wc! Took a minute but things are moving along here, aren’t they?

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rogerdeakinsdp · 6 years ago

Photo

Academy Award Winners for Best Cinematography: 2011 — Wally Pfister, ASC Inception (2010) Directed by Christopher Nolan Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

After reading the script for Inception‘s hotel scene, where dream-thieves fistfight in zero-G as the walls twist and tumble around them, Pfister jokes even he “had to have an immediate meeting with Chris to figure out what the fuck was going on.”

”Nolan’s concept: build a 360-degree rotating hallway, inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s sets for 2001, complete with hidden tracks in the carpet for upside-down camera moves and lighting fixtures strong enough to withstand actors falling and running over them. When he described how we’re going to physically execute the rotating set, I got very excited in trying to figure out how to light and shoot it,” Pfister recalls. “I wanted to create a specific warm orange color palette, but Chris also wanted to have ‘normal’ camera movement in there even though the whole set was rotating around.”

From the beginning, Nolan wanted Inception‘s dreams-within-dreams to feel as real as any earthly environment. “Our mantra was, ‘dreams feel real,'” Pfister says. To that end, he spent months in preproduction shooting still photographs of real locations in England, Paris, Japan, Canada, and Morocco, then manipulated them in Photoshop to create otherworldly-yet-believable looks — from metallic blue for the rainy van chase to stark whiteout for the ski battle. “Each dream has a different color scheme so Chris could cut back and forth without confusing the audience,” Pfister explains. Even the haunting setting of “limbo” is based on Pfister’s photographs of an actual half-built housing project in Morocco. “We wanted the surreality of the dreams to come from these strange but credible settings, rather than from any weird lighting or camera movement. Limbo is right outside of Tangiers where Chris discovered these wild white buildings where streets hadn’t been paved yet. We shot those buildings there, and it was enhanced by the crumbling CGI structures in the shoreline.” — [x]

#filmedit #userangela #winterswake #userverca #userfrancis #userrobin #userksusha #wally pfister #inception #cinematography #aawfbc #aawfbc 2011 #gif #*#when they tear down sand buildings and the real ones crumble in the background POETIC CINEMA

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newyorkprelawland-blog · 4 years ago

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Fast Fashion, Slow Lawsuits: The Rise Of Copycats In The Fashion Industry

By Melanie Nolan, Skidmore College Class of 2023

February 9, 2021

On February 17th, Kim Kardashian attended the Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles wearing a vintage Theirry Mugler dress with cutouts from their 1998 haute couture Spring/Summer collection.[1] On February 18th, fast-fashion retailer Fashion Nova released the “Winning Beauty Cut Out Gown” available for purchase on their website for $49.99. It appeared to be a nearly-exact replica of the hyper-specific vintage gown Kardashian wore the day before. Kardashian herself addressed the situation on Twitter. “Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site — but it’s not for sale. You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasn’t even been made to sell yet.”[2] In the span of mere hours since Kardashian was photographed in the dress, Fashion Nova had recreated it, shot it on a model, found a manufacturer, and uploaded it on their website for the public to purchase. Or did they?

Fashion watchdog Instagram account @DietPrada fired back at Kardashian. They posted a screengrab of the knockoff Muegler dress on a FashionNova model, taken days before Kardashian had even worn the piece. “Fashion Nova Mugler knockoff shot 4 days before Kim wore it on 02/18/19. Kim, you’ll never fess up to your sneaky lil collaborations, but we got all the receipts.”[3] This finding by @DietPrada raises a few questions. Not only does it call into question Kardashian’s previous statement, but it also raises questions about if Kardashian was in on this grift the whole time. If the eagle eyes of @DietPrada are correct, it means that Kardashian (or a stylist) has been tipping off FashionNova about her outfits before she wears them. If they are incorrect, it means that somehow FashionNova guessed that Kardashian was going to wear a hyper-specific vintage piece, shot it, styled it and manufactured it, all before Kardashian even wore it. Then, when Kim unveiled it on Instagram they uploaded it to their website a day later. Fans speculated in the comments about what seemed more likely. Again, Kardashian defended herself on Twitter, swearing that she had nothing to do with it, and condemned retailers like Fashion Nova for ripping off small designer’s works.[4]

To be fair, Kardashian has battled with fashion retailers about copyright before. She filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against Missguided for using her “name and image without permission in order to generate interest in their brand and website.”[5] However, she made no move to file such action against Fashion Nova. Was that an admission of guilt? Or, was it simply because of the ties Fashion Nova already has to her sisters?[6]

The jury is still out on Kardashian, but she is hardly the only one to be caught up in copyright issues with garments. There is a complicated history with fashion’s relationship with the law, and items of clothing often wrestle with complicated questions about what can be recreated, what can’t and how to take action about those who do.

Oddly enough, the debate and the laws about fashion start mainly with a lawsuit against two cell phones companies. The case was complex, but it boils down to this: in 2011, Apple sued Samsung for “slavishly” copying its products, namely cell phones and tablets. Apple argued that due to their patents, they were entitled to Samsung’s profits, and Samsung needed to promptly stop production of their infringing products.[7] Normally, a case like this would not be such a big deal for law, specifically law about fashion. But the patent that Apple claimed Samsung was infringing on was a design patent. A design patent is very different from a utility patent. A utility patent which protects what something does. A design patent protects the way something looks.[8] By filing this lawsuit, Apple claimed that their product’s design was getting ripped off, and thus they were wronged. Apple won.

Design patents protect the functionality of an object, but they also protect decorative aspects of it as well. As Fashionista described it, “If you have a shoe that has an interesting molded or sculptural heel that doesn't have any particular special function, but is part of this otherwise functional item, the shoe might have design patent possibility.”[9] Nike is by far the king of design patents. They filed for 867 patents in 2018, which is oddly only the second-most in the company's history.[10] But Nike, as a sneaker company is the perfect fit for something like a design patent. Their products clearly serve a function, yet there are clear decorative aspects as well that are unique to the brand. Handbags are another item that bears well to design patents, and the decorative hardware can also serve as the “ornamental piece” of a functional object. However, despite these useful instances of design patents working in their favor, many brands don’t use them. Instead, they focus their efforts on protecting their trademarks.

Patents are expensive. Trademarks are cheaper. To patent the design of a shirt can be up to $6,000-$8,000 just to start. To pay to trademark a little logo in the corner is much cheaper, and it can be incorporated into overall branding as well. This is all fine and good for big brands, like the aforementioned Nike who employs (and can afford) an army of lawyers to protect their designs. But some can’t, and in the age of Instagram this has become a massive, gaping problem.

For Madeline Pendleton, it’s just another day at the office. Only, her office is her garage, and her work is her small brand, Tunnel Vision.[11] Madeline and her best friend, who she dubs an “unofficial partner” run the brand, quite literally out of her home in Eagle Rock. They do small orders and small batches, and almost all of the designs on the website are Pendleton’s own original art. “I design ethically, and thus have a significantly lower profit margin than sellers of the sweatshop-produced copy, so it stings quite a bit knowing people make more money than I do off of my own artwork by just selling copies of it”[12] Pendleton isn’t the only one struggling with this. Many small businesses are routinely burned by the fast fashion market, and struggle to make ends meet while also battling with overseas manufacturers who often rip items almost as soon as they are created. But until then, she and other countless small designers will simply have to keep working, and try to keep up.

______________________________________________________________

[1] https://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/a26390312/kim-kardashian-vintage-thierry-mugler/

[2] https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/1097903684527091712

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/BuDB6RxlPab/

[4] https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/1097903481518616576

[5]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/kim-kardashian-sues-style-copycat-website-using-her-image-permission-1188517

[6] https://www.fashionnova.com/collections/kylie

[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/business/apple-samsung-patent-trial.html

[8] https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html

[9] https://fashionista.com/2016/12/fashion-law-patent-copyright-trademark

[10] https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2019/01/07/nike-continues-torrid-patent-pace.html

[11]http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2016/02/25/how-one-sustainable-fashion-brand-resuses-vintage-clothing/

[12]http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2016/02/25/how-one-sustainable-fashion-brand-resuses-vintage-clothing/

Photo Credit: VOGUE Taiwan

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cinemavariety · 5 years ago

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Cinema Variety’s Top 25 Favorite Films of the Decade

This past decade has been a monumental ten years for the state of cinema. To think that there were actually still video rental stores all around the country, to almost becoming nonexistent, is statement enough to show how vastly audiences have changed the way they consume media. Through much thought and careful deliberation, the following 25 films are my personal favorites of the decade and are what I think best represent all that indie, international and arthouse cinema had to offer over the past ten years. Honorable Mentions: Shame Green Room A Ghost Story The Lost City of Z Knight of Cups 20th Century Women Jackie Blade Runner 2049 The Lighthouse Ingrid Goes West A Hidden Life

#25 - Suspiria (2018) Dir. Luca Guadagnino

“It’s only hours afterward that Guadagnino’s film will cohere for you and yield its buried treasures: the bonds of secret sorority, the strength of a line of dancers moving like a single organism, the present rippling with the muscle memory of the past. It’s so good, it’s scary.”

#24 - Call Me By Your Name (2017) Dir. Luca Guadagnino

“The final beats of Guadagnino’s adaptation galvanize two hours of simmering uncertainty into a gut-wrenchingly wistful portrait of two people trying to find themselves before it’s too late.”

#23 - American Honey (2016) Dir. Andrea Arnold

“Part dreamy millennial picaresque, part distorted tapestry of Americana and part exquisitely illustrated iTunes musical, “Honey” daringly commits only to the loosest of narratives across its luxurious 162-minute running time. Yet it’s constantly, engrossingly active, spinning and sparking and exploding in cycles like a Fourth of July Catherine wheel.”

#22 - Post Tenebras Lux (2013) Dir. Carlos Reygadas

“Some metaphors score and some miss, but this is leap-of-faith cinema: the rewards entail some risks.”

#21 - The Revenant (2015) Dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu

“Pushing both brutal realism and extravagant visual poetry to the edges of what one customarily finds in mainstream American filmmaking, director/co-writer Alejandro G. Inarritu, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and a vast team of visual effects wizards have created a sensationally vivid and visceral portrait of human endurance under very nearly intolerable conditions.”

#20 - Her (2013) Dir. Spike Jonze

“What begins like an arrested adolescent dream soon blossoms into Jonze’s richest and most emotionally mature work to date, burrowing deep into the give and take of relationships, the dawning of middle-aged ennui, and that eternal dilemma shared by both man and machine: the struggle to know one’s own true self.”

#19 - Annihilation (2018) Dir. Alex Garland

“A shimmering example of what Hollywood sci-fi can achieve when the aim is high, Annihilation is a gripping, mystifying adventure and proof that a transportive experience is more rewarding than a story with clean-cut resolutions.”

#18 - The Neon Demon (2016) Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn

“Spectacular, gross and delicious (so unsavory it’s almost sweet), the film is more proof of Refn’s mastery of his trash aesthetic and more fun than anything this indulgent and empty-headed has any right to be.”

#17 - Waves (2019) DIr. Trey Edward Shults

“Propelled by color, energy, electronic music and a quartet of career-making performances, here is that rare sort of cinematic achievement that innovates at every turn, while teaching audiences how to make intuitive sense of the way it pushes the medium.”

#16 - Mother! (2017) Dir. Darren Aronofsky

“Mother! is something truly magnificent, the kind of visceral trash-arthouse experience that comes along very rarely, means as much or as little as you decide it does, and spits you out into the daylight dazzled, queasy, delirious, and knock-kneed as a newborn calf.”

#15 - Melancholia (2011) Dir. Lars Von Trier

“The vision is as hateful as it is hate-filled, but the fusion of form and content is so perfect that it borders on the sublime. Melancholia is a remarkable mood piece with visuals to die for (excuse the pun), and a performance from Dunst that runs the color spectrum of emotions.”

#14 - Song to Song (2017) Dir. Terrence Malick

“Any number of sequences find feelings both externalized and hidden intermingling within the same shot, continuing in a subsequent image that carries the impression, the feeling, without replicating the exact tenor of what has just been seen. They exist simultaneously as certain backstories and what motivations they may inspire delicately unfold. Malick has found a way to translate how a familiar song has the ability to transport you back to a particular time and conjure a specific set of emotions. Whatever he’s been exploring over the past few years pays off here.”

#13 - If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Dir. Barry Jenkins

“What Jenkins gets most right—what astonishes me the most about this film—is Baldwin’s vast affection for the broad varieties of black life. It’s one of the signature lessons of Baldwin’s work that blackness contains multitudes. In some ways Beale feels less like a movie than a well-staged, meticulously shot play; a period piece that floats beyond its specific time and place and into the realm of allegory.”

#12 - Samsara (2012) Dir. Ron Fricke

“Simply put, Samsara tells the story of our world, but onscreen, it is so much more than that. A darker and more ambitious meditation on impermanence, Samsara relies on blunt force and unforgettable imagery, overcoming the hazy logic of Fricke's editing to earn your awe.”

#11 - It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012) Dir. Don Hertzfeldt

“A highly original and utterly enthralling film that touches on staggeringly expansive themes - more typically expected in the work of master auteur and persistent award-winner Terrence Malick, than from animations. An existential flipbook and a heartbreaking black joke: stickmen have never looked so alive.”

#10 - Upstream Color (2013) Dir. Shane Carruth

“You may not be able to figure it out, but that's part of the point of this sensually-directed, sensory-laden experiential (and experimental) piece of art that washes over you like a sonorous bath of beguiling visuals, ambient sounds and corporeal textures.”

#9 - Hereditary (2018) Dir. Ari Aster

“It’s a supremely effective gauntlet of supernatural horror that’s also, at blackened heart, a grueling domestic drama about how trauma, resentment, and guilt can seep into the roots of a family tree, rotting it from the inside out.”

#8 - Spring Breakers (2013) Dir. Harmony Korine

“Spring Breakers seems to be holding a funhouse mirror up to the face of youth-driven pop culture, leaving us uncertain whether to laugh, recoil in horror, or marvel at its strange beauty. Full credit to Korine, who sustains this act of creative vandalism right through to the finish. Spring Breakers unfolds as a fever dream of teenage kicks, a high-concept heist movie with mescal in the fuel tank.”

#7 - The Master (2012) Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

“Two things stand out: the extraordinary command of cinematic technique, which alone is nearly enough to keep a connoisseur on the edge of his seat the entire time, and the tremendous portrayals by Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman of two entirely antithetical men. Written, directed, acted, shot, edited and scored with a bracing vibrancy that restores your faith in film as an art form, The Master is nirvana for movie lovers. Anderson mixes sounds and images into a dark, dazzling music that is all his own.”

#6 - Interstellar (2014) Dir. Christopher Nolan

“It’s a bold, beautiful cosmic adventure story with a touch of the surreal and the dreamlike, and yet it always feels grounded in its own deadly serious reality. An exhilarating slalom through the wormholes of Christopher Nolan’s vast imagination that is at once a science-geek fever dream and a formidable consideration of what makes us human.”

#5 - The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) Dir. Derek Cianfrance

“A brilliant, towering picture, The Place Beyond The Pines is a cinematic accomplishment of extraordinary grace and insight. The movie succeeds both as a high-stakes crime thriller as well as a far quieter and empathetic study of angry, solitary men proves that Cianfrance has a penchant for bold storytelling and an eye for performances to carry it through.”

#4 - Black Swan (2010) Dir. Darren Aronofsky

“A full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd. It centers on a performance by Natalie Portman that is nothing short of heroic. This is, no doubt about it, a tour de force, a work that fully lives up to its director's ambitions.”

#3 - Drive (2011) Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn

“From the beginning, it's clear this is not a standard-order action film. It takes its characters as seriously as its chases, shootouts, and fights. Drive dynamically merges a terrific film noir plot with a cool retro look. It's an unapologetically commercial picture that defies all the current trends in mainstream action filmmaking.”

#2 - Blue Valentine (2010) Dir. Derek Cianfrance

“Cianfrance and his actors, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, have not made a cold or schematic film. They aim instead for raw emotional experience, one that's full of insight into the ways a relationship can go astray, but mostly feels like a slow-motion punch to the gut.”

#1 - The Tree of Life (2011) Dir. Terrence Malick

"The Tree of Life is a film of vast ambition and deep humility, attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives. I wrote earlier about the many ways this film evoked my own memories of such time and place. About wide lawns. About a town that somehow, in memory, is always seen with a wide-angle lens. About houses that are never locked. About mothers looking out windows to check on their children. About the summer heat and ennui of church services, and the unpredictable theater of the dinner table, and the troubling sounds of an argument between parents, half-heard through an open window.”

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01sentencereviews · 5 years ago

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2010-2019

top 25, by release date:

Halloween II [Director’s Cut] (2010, Rob Zombie)

Black Swan (2010, Darren Aronofsky)

4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011, Abel Ferrara)

It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012, Don Hertzfeldt)*

Frances Ha (2012, Noah Baumbach)

Spring Breakers (2012, Harmony Korine)

The Bling Ring (2013, Sofia Coppola)*

Stranger by the Lake (2013, Alain Guiraudie)

Under the Skin (2013, Jonathan Glazer)

Maps to the Stars (2014, David Cronenberg)*

Unfriended (2014, Levan Gabriadze)

88:88 (2015, Isiah Medina)*

Happy Hour (2015, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi)*

Personal Shopper (2016, Olivier Assayas)*

Elle (2016, Paul Verhoeven)

Moonlight (2016, Barry Jenkins)*

The OA, TV Series (2016, 2019; Brit Marling + Zal Batmanglij)

24 Frames (2017, Abbas Kiarostami)*

Twin Peaks: The Return (2017, David Lynch)*

Assassination Nation (2018, Sam Levinson)

An Elephant Sitting Still (2018, Hu Bo)

“Beychella - Coachella Live Stream” (2018, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter)*

Vox Lux (2018, Brady Corbet)

“Fleabag” @ Soho Playhouse Theater (2019, Vicky Jones)

“The Irishman” @ Belasco Theatre (2019, Martin Scorsese)

+++, in alphabetical order:

“Adele - Hello” (2015, Xavier Dolan)

American Honey (2016, Andrea Arnold)

Annihilation (2018, Alex Garland)

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018; Scott Alexander + Larry Karaszewski + Brad Falchuk + Nina Jacobson + Ryan Murphy + and Brad Simpson)

Big Little Lies, Season 1 (2017, Jean-Marc Vallée)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017, Denis Villeneuve)

Boyhood (2014, Richard Linklater)

Breaking and Entering (2017, Kelley Dong)

Call Me by Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)

Cameraperson (2016, Kirsten Johnson)

Carol (2015, Todd Haynes)

Certain Women (2016, Kelly Reichardt)

Citzenfour (2014, Laura Poitras)

Climax (2018, Gaspar Noé)

Cosmopolis (2012, David Cronenberg)

End of the Century (2019, Lucio Castro)

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016, Richard Linklater)

First Reformed (2017, Paul Schrader)

The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, Web series (2016, Brian Jordan Alvarez)

The Girlfriend Experience, TV Series (2016-17; Lodge Kerrigan + Amy Seimetz)

Girlhood (2014, Céline Sciamma)

Girls, TV Series (2012-2017; Lena Dunham)

God’s Own Country (2017, Francis Lee)

Gone Girl (2014, David Fincher)

"Grimes - Oblivion" (2012, Emily Kai Bock + Claire Boucher)

Heaven Is Still Far Away (2016, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi)

High Life (2018, Claire Denis)

Holy Motors (2012, Leos Carax)

The House That Jack Built (2018, Lars von Trier)

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, Barry Jenkins)

In Chris Marker’s Studio (2011, Agnès Varda)

Interstellar (2014, Christopher Nolan)

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, Ethan Coen + Joel Coen)

"Kelela - Frontline" (2018, Claudia Matè + Kelela + Mischa Notcutt)

The Knick, TV Series (2014-15; Jack Amiel + Michael Begler)

Knife+Heart (2018, Yann Gonzalez)

Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)

“Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyoncé” (2010, Jonas Åkerlund)

The Leftovers, TV Series (2014-15, 2017; Damon Lindelof + Tom Perrotta)

Lemonade (2016, Kahlil Joseph + Beyoncé Knowles-Carter)

The Love Witch (2016, Anna Biller)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller)

Magic Mike XXL (2015, Gregory Jacobs)

Margaret (2011, Kenneth Lonergan)

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011, Sean Durkin)

The Master (2012, Paul Thomas Anderson)

Melancholia (2011, Lars von Trier)

Mistress America (2015, Noah Baumbach)

mother! (2017, Darren Aronofsky)

Mountains May Depart (2015, Jia Zhangke)

“My First Film” @ Metrograph (2018, Zia Anger)

Nasty Baby (2015, Sebastián Silva)

Neon Bull (2015, Gabriel Mascaro)

The Neon Demon (2016, Nicolas Winding Refn)

No Home Movie (2015, Chantal Akerman)

Nocturama (2016, Bertrand Bonello)

The Ornithologist (2016, João Pedro Rodrigues)

Pain and Glory (2019, Pedro Almodóvar)

Palo Alto (2013, Gia Coppola)

Paterson (2016, Jim Jarmusch)

Phantom Thread (2017, Paul Thomas Anderson)

Post Tenebras Lux (2012, Carlos Reygadas)

The Real Housewives of New York City, TV Series (2008-present; Andy Cohen + Megan Estrada + Pam Healey + Lisa Shannon)

“Robyn ‘Call Your Girlfriend’ Official Video” (2011, Max Vitali)

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Season 2 (2016; RuPaul)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010, Edgar Wright)

Shoplifters (2018, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)

A Star Is Born (2018, Bradley Cooper)

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official)" (2015)

Stray Dogs (2013, Tsai Ming-liang)

Sucker Punch (2011, Zack Snyder)

Support the Girls (2018, Andrew Bujalski)

Tangerine (2015, Sean Baker)

The Tree of Life (2011, Terrence Malick)

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Under the Silver Lake (2018, David Robert Mitchell)

World of Tomorrow (2015, Don Hertzfeldt)

World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts (2018, Don Hertzfeldt)

Young Adult (2011, Jason Reitman)

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loisfreakinglane · 5 years ago

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@queenofattolia tagged me in a movie meme thank youuuu :) this will be very off the cuff I’m not gonna think too hard here lol

favorite movie: amelie

movie that makes you remember your childhood: so many but a little princess, spice world, and splash stand out

favorite tom hanks movie: splash

movie that makes you cry: hmmm quite a few have but the most recent was wendy in a happy emotional tears kind of way that had me randomly bursting into tears whenever I thought about the ending for days afterward (but honorary shoutout to mustang in a sad emotional tears kind of way)

favorite 80’s movie: clue

favorite comedy: uhhhhhhh so many but lets go with..... one cut of the dead. such a wonderful surprise of a movie lol (tho spy had me screaming a few days ago just fyi)

favorite sports movie: bend it like beckham?????? i guess??????? or fighting with my family hey that fits too

favorite courtroom movie: lol legally blonde is the only movie that springs to mind

favorite war movie: ??? does pan’s labyrinth count???

favorite animated movie: into the spiderverse

favorite horror movie: OH GOD SUCH A HARD CHOICE. today i choose the lure bc it is mermay and it IS the mermaid horror musical of my heart

most overrated movie: oh my god an impossible question there’s too many overrated movies, but today have the nolan batmovies yes including tdk which isn’t even my favorite in that trilogy ok bye

favorite gangster movie: idk that I’ve ever seen a gangster movie that I’ve liked, unless I can be loose with that term and say inside man bc I love inside man

movie you can watch over and over: ibiza, on a loop, forever and ever until i drop dead

movie with the best soundtrack: birds of prey easily

most embarrassing movie you love: I????? don’t know?????? I mean I love the fast and furious movies so I guess that

favorite christmas movie: shazam tbh IF I’M BEING FULLY HONEST HERE but honorary mention to love actually which i have finally actually seen now!!!!!!!!!

favorite halloween movie: trick’r treat

favorite sequel: the most gratifying sequel experience to me thus far has been the last jedi n g l. tho oh oh oh having finally watched the first painted skin, I can say definitively that painted skin the resurrection is a better movie in every possible conceivable fashion and is such an amazing sequel it has no need for the first one to exist at all (maybe that doesn’t define a great SEQUEL but whatever I do what I want)

favorite shakespeare movie: lol oh god uhhhhhh I haven’t rewatched it in a million years but I was big on romeo + juliet back in the day. I love aesthetics. but i remember much ado about nothing 1993 being tons of fun too

favorite austen film: pride and prejudice 05 for true austen but in my heart it is eternally clueless

favorite scifi film: pacific rim

favorite swashbuckling film: the princess bride

favorite romance: I’m gonna agree with lauren and say ever after.

favorite fantasy film: the mermaid!!!!!!!!!!!!

favorite musical: cinderella 1997 or the muppets 2011

favorite noir: does john wick count

favorite thriller: hanna? if that counts? or ready or not

favorite mystery: knives out

favorite drama: hunt for the wilderpeople OR HUSTLERS

favorite western: ??? I don’t watch westerns typically and I haven’t been super into the ones I’ve seen. can I just say serenity

favorite romcom: crazy rich asians

favorite action movie: mad max fury road WITH A SIDE OF JOHN WICK MOVIES AND BIRDS OF PREY

AND NOW I SHALL TAG: @lexmurphy @bluetiefling @eleonoraditoledo @beavesaintmarie @karaazorel @iamgwenslongroadhome or if you want to do it say I tagged you I want to seeeee

#queenofattolia #meme

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justanoutlawfic · 5 years ago

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Coming Home: Chapt. 5

Summary: 23 years ago, lies were told. Now, part of the truth can finally be revealed. But will Emma listen to it?

Also on AO3/FF

August 10th, 1989

Snow stormed the mayor’s office. She could feel a white heat boiling over her entire body. Her eyes locked on Regina, her memories mixing. She looked so different than she had the day the curse was cast. Her hair was shorter and she dressed relaxed. Then again, everything in Storybrooke seemed relaxed to how things were in the Enchanted Forest. Her eyes narrowed as she thought of her husband bleeding out on the ground, not waking up no matter how many times her lips grazed his. The wardrobe being thrown open and her daughter being gone.

Her daughter.

Snow thought of the little girl that was currently being babysat by Ruby. Mary Margaret had been fostering her for the past 8 months. They had plans to adopt her. Emma was the savior, she was supposed to break the curse. Yet, no matter how many kisses on the cheek or goodnight cuddles, the town was still cursed. Even David wasn’t awake. Snow would still be her cursed self had she not noticed the blossoming flowers in the yard.

They didn’t look like anything she had planted over the years. No, they were bright pink, resembling a rose but her years of gardening told her they weren’t. They had been there since winter, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. They didn’t weed like the others. It took until summer for Mary Margaret to finally decide to pick a bouquet for the front hall.

The moment she grasped one, some glitter fell into her hand and her entire body shifted. Mixing in with Mary Margaret’s foggy memories of finishing college, marrying David and everything that came before Emma’s arrival were replaced by the reality: her life as Snow White. The day she met Regina. The moment she became a bandit. Falling in love with David. Finding out that one day they would have a child.

Most importantly: the day her baby was born. The curse enveloping them. The last thing she ever saw being Regina’s sick smile.

“You,” Snow seethed.

Regina looked up, confusion written across those big brown eyes. Then it must have clicked. She slowly stood up, folding her arms over her chest.

“Snow White.” She took a step closer. “You’re awake.”

“No thanks to you.”

“This shouldn’t be happening. You…”

“Were supposed to be miserable for 28 years?” A bitter laugh escaped Snow’s mouth. “I’m surprised you even know it’s me.”

“Mary Margaret never looked at me like this.”

“Mary Margaret didn’t know what you had done.”

Regina tilted her head. “So, what’s your plan here? I’m assuming you’re the only one awake or else I’d have a mob outside my door.”

Snow thought of Gold, no Rumpelstiltskin. He had been extra helpful to Mary Margaret and David when it came to trying to adopt Emma. There is no way that the Mr. Gold that had been asleep would be so willing. Rumple was the one obsessed with their daughter. She was the key to the curse. He had to be awake.

She wasn’t about to out that. No, that would put more people in danger.

“I don’t know how it happened either, but I won’t be alone for long. Emma is here. She’ll break the curse.”

“Your foster daughter?” Regina laughed. “What does she have to do with anything?”

Snow continued staring at her, until it seemed to click in her mind.

“She’s more than just your foster daughter, isn’t she?”

“Surprise.”

“How…I don’t…” Regina clenched her desk. “It makes sense how she made the way over the town line.”

“Your plan has failed.”

“And what’s your plan once your precious little girl brings magic to this town?” Regina cocked an eyebrow. “You think I won’t find a way to defeat you? You couldn’t stop me last time. Maybe my knights will actually succeed in killing your precious family this time.”

Snow didn’t know what she was doing until her fist was throbbing and Regina had her face covered. Blood dripped to the marble tile. It was both of theirs. Regina gasped, her hand over her nose. Her eyes narrowed.

“You’re going to regret that.”

“You stay away from my family or you’ll be the one that has regrets. This may be your town, Regina, but I know you. And I will not let you win. Not again.”

She stormed out of the office, shaking out her hand. Dammit. This was going to bruise. There was a cut from where her emerald ring had pierced Regina. It was all worth it. As she got out of the office and onto the street, she ran into someone. The tumble of a cane into her shin made her realize who it was.

“Rumple.”

He fixed her with a look. “You’re awake.”

“And I know you’ve been for awhile now. How?”

“Let’s just say Regina’s not the only one who can work things into a curse.” He looked down at her throbbing fist. “I take it you paid Miss Mills a visit.”

“The Queen isn’t going to win this time. How can we get Emma to break the curse?”

Gold sighed. “Snow, I told you before. It can only be broken after her 28th birthday. That’s when she was fated to return to you and your husband.”

“But she’s here now! There has to be another way.”

“I’m afraid not. Somehow, she ended up in your care again, but magic is specific. This town cannot have its curse lifted for another 23 years. And now that Miss Mills knows you’re awake, you’re all in danger.”

Arrogance had always been Snow’s downfall. If only she knew what she was setting herself up for. But she didn’t want to think about that. No, she could find a way. Rumpelstiltskin had to be wrong.

“I won’t let her hurt my child again. And I don’t need your help to break the curse. I’ll figure it out.”

She began to walk away and could hear Rumpelstiltskin let out a long sigh.

“Why don’t we go back to my shop and have a spot of tea?” He offered. “We can work this out together.”

October 26th, 2011

Rumpelstiltskin knew that Mr. Gold never had a customer. Over the past 28 years, only three people had ever entered his shop: Regina Mills and the Charmings. Gold had never minded it; the shop was hardly his only source of income. Ever since Miss Swan returned to town, however, and the clock started moving, there had been the nosy customer every so often, suddenly interested in purchasing things or trying to get money for something else. Miss Boyd paid him a visit quite often, trying to get him to reverse her contract.

Oh, the irony that Mr. Gold had struck one up with her as well.

As he polished silver that was already shiny, he heard the bell above the door open. He looked up to find Emma heading towards him. The file he had gifted her was tucked under her arm, ripped open at the top. Her eyes were tear stained. Rumpelstiltskin kept up appearances and didn’t smile, nor frown.

“Miss Swan,” he said. “I take it you’ve read the information I gave you?”

She slammed the file onto the glass case in front of him. “Is this real?”

“Real?”

“Did Mary Margaret and David pay you to put this together?”

Rumpelstiltskin finally allowed himself to smile. “Miss Swan, they have no clue I even spoke to you.”

She let out a shaky breath. “So…it’s true.”

“Yes. Miss Blanchard, then Mrs. Nolan, assaulted the mayor when she threatened to have you taken away from her. Madam Mayor reported this to social services, who deemed that Mr. and Mrs. Nolan were not the right fit for you.”

Of course, social services knew nothing of the curse or the fact that Regina had been punched for threatening to kill Emma and David. There was no proof of it. It was information that not even Mary Margaret could remember. Rumpelstiltskin had forgotten it for 23 years himself. Now, it replayed in his mind as if it were warm water.

Snow White sitting at a table in the back of his shop. He fixed them a cup of tea, finding the one bit of magic that had made it through the curse. He had written it in that way. It wasn’t much, but enough to make sure that if anyone ever woke up before it was time-himself included-they’d fall back asleep. There was only one vial, enough for two people. Magic couldn’t exist in Storybrooke, not yet.

He had watched her sip the tea. The fierceness in her eyes melted away. Her shoulder slouched. As she dropped the teacup to the saucer, that annoyingly adorable confusion that made her beloved by the kingdom fell over her face. She had looked around the backroom, blinking.

“What am I doing here?”

“Don’t you remember, Mrs. Nolan, you wanted to discuss Emma’s adoption. I told you there were some hurdles, but I’m working on it.”

She had blinked again. “Oh, yes.”

Once she left, Rumpelstiltskin waited. He hadn’t expected for Regina to call social services or for Emma to be taken. Had he known, maybe he wouldn’t have done what he did. There was no way Snow White would have let Emma slip away. But Mary Margaret and David didn’t know the claim they held on their daughter. They fell against the law.

Alas, it was too late. Emma was gone. He had to trust she’d find her way back. He used the rest of the memory potion to wipe away his memories of the 8 months she had spent in town. His mind had become a blur once more.

Until he walked into the bed and breakfast, where an adult Emma stood.

He couldn’t tell her any of that, though. Instead, he watched the woman’s mind reel at the information.

“They didn’t want to lose me,” she whispered.

“They fought for you. There was just nothing they could’ve done. Even my powers as attorney were not enough. Social services didn’t deem them objective enough to foster you.”

A single tear fell down Emma’s face. He reached into his breast pocket, extending a handkerchief that she refused.

“My whole life, I thought they had given up on me. But they wanted me.” Emma’s voice cracked. “Why wouldn’t they tell me this?”

“Social services removed you from school without their knowledge. By the time they found out you were gone, it was too late.”

“But even now…”

“Have you given them a chance?”

That shut her up. Emma stared at the file, another tear falling. She wiped at her face furiously, knocking her hand into the swan keychain that hung around her neck. Rumpelstiltskin was not sure why he felt the need to stare at it. Finally, he broke his eyes away to look back at her. She sniffled, trying to compose herself.

“If this is all true….I don’t know what to do with this,” Emma rambled.

Rumpelstiltskin shrugged. “Well, I’d at least say you owe them a conversation.”

Emma simply nodded. She picked the file back up and began to head out of the office. Suddenly, he remembered something.

“Oh, and Miss Swan?” She turned back to face him. “Since I helped you with something, I assume you’d be more than willing to get me out of a jam if needed.”

Emma blinked several times, before regaining composure. “What are you going to want?”

“Just as I said. If I need help, you’ll give it.”

Emma looked even more confused, but finally nodded. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Rumpelstiltskin waited until she exited his shop to smile gleefully to himself.

*x*

It didn’t take long to find Mary Margaret’s new loft. She was a bail bondsman; her job was to find people. After conversing with a few people, she found herself in a dimly lit hallway. A number 3 hung on the green door. The file was back in her bug, but the contents replayed in her mind.

She finally allowed her hand to rap on the door. When it opened, David stood on the other side.

“What are you doing here?” She blurted out. “Isn’t this Mary Margaret’s place?”

David suddenly looked defensive. “She asked me over to talk about…well, to talk about you.” He stared at her for a moment and it made her feel uncomfortable. “I still can’t believe you’re 28.”

“I need to talk to both of you.” She pushed past him, wanting nothing to do with his nostalgia.

Mary Margaret moved from the kitchen. “Emma…” She took in her face. “Are you alright? You look like you’ve been crying.”

“Did you really punch Regina Mills?”

Mary Margaret bit her lip. “She was threatening to take you away from us. I still don’t remember it that clearly…but…” She looked over at David, who was staring at the wall. “I shouldn’t have done it. We would’ve been able to keep you.”

“You defended me. You wanted to keep me.”

Mary Margaret’s eyebrows knitted together. “Of course we did.”

Emma’s voice caught. “You didn’t want to give me away. You…it….”

She tried to keep herself steady. It was bad enough she had cried in front of Gold, she couldn’t do it in front of them too. David moved closer to Mary Margaret, but neither said anything.

“My whole life, I thought you two just gave up on me,” she finally managed to get out. “But you fought for me.”

“Emma, we love you. So much.” David’s eyes were sincere and she hated it. “We never wanted to let you go. If we could’ve stopped it or at the very least explained it to you, we would’ve.”

“But they didn’t even tell us that they were taking you until Helen had already gone to get you from school,” Mary Margaret continued. “They said we couldn’t see you again, that it wouldn’t be healthy.”

She took a step closer to Emma, reaching out to touch her face. Emma didn’t pull away, despite her better instincts. Mary Margaret’s hands were always warm. Comforting. She had missed this. She had missed them. She had spent nights crying herself to sleep, just wishing she could be back in their arms.

Now there they were.

Her eyes burned with tears.

Don’t cry, don’t cry. You’re gonna look stupid if you cry, one voice told her. But it was overshadowed by a memory from when she had lived with them. Mary Margaret caught her crying one night and she had been embarrassed.

“Big girls don’t cry,” Emma told her foster mom.

“Oh sweetie, that’s just a dumb myth. Big girls and boys definitely do cry.”’

The floodgates opened and Emma allowed herself to cry. The tears hit Mary Margaret’s hand, but her former foster mother didn’t seem to care. She simply moved to wrap both of her arms around Emma. A hug. It had been 23 years since the last hug she received from her. She still smelt the same, of cinnamon and red pen. David wrapped one arm around her and then used the over to cradle the back of her head. Just as he had when she was little.

It was comfortable. It was familiar. It was home.

#coming home verse #snowing #charming famly #snow white #david charming #emma swan #rumpelstiltskin #regina mills #ouat #once upon a time

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mendelpalace · 5 years ago

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GamePro’s SNES Criterion Collection

Back in 2011, the now-defunct GamePro published a piece including Criterion Collection-style covers for a handful of SNES titles, along with descriptions of the hypothetical bonus materials that would come with such deluxe rereleases. Though the cover images are still floating around online, a bunch of the descriptions are probably lost, including those for games like Street Fighter II, Donkey Kong Country, U.N. Squadron, Desert Strike, and Chrono Trigger.

A few can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine though, so I decided to repost the ones I can still get to:

An old enemy brings bounty hunter Samus Aran back to Zebes, where she discovers that the Space Pirate threat is greater than ever -- and thus begins one of the most evocative games ever made. Thanks to its simple but powerful storytelling; outstanding soundtrack; and massive, lonely world, Super Metroid, created by Nintendo's well-known R&D1; team, is a masterpiece of design that has come to represent the Super Nintendo at its pinnacle.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

All-new 16:9 transfer optimized for high-definition televisions

Video introduction by writer/director Yoshio Sakamoto

Two Interactive Audio Commentaries: one by Yoshio Sakamoto, Satoru Iwata, and Shigeru Miyamoto; and one by producer Makoto Kano

New Leaderboards: Test your sequence-breaking skills against the best speedrunners in the world

DISC TWO

Return to Zebes (2011): A 90-minute feature documentary on the making of the game

From Zebes to the Bottle Ship (2011): A 30 minute documentary about the history of the Metroid franchise

Deep Red: Scenes from the film that helped to inspire Super Metroid

Sequence Breaking: Noted speedrunners offer a guided tour of sequence breaking in Super Metroid

Into Tourian Base: An interactive map of Zebes with developer commentary and notes

Play the complete, original Metroid for the NES

Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original press kit, and the U.S., European, and Japanese trailers

PLUS: Complete OST featuring original and remastered tracks from Super Metroid

A party of four child prodigies must band together to fend off a mysterious, malevolent alien force in this cult-classic role-playing game, scripted by influential Japanese copywriter and author, Shigesato Itoi. Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo embark on a fantastic adventure that spans a quirky, contemporary world, with a charming sense of lighthearted humor that shines through to the engrossing story’s awe-inspiring ending.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

Fully animated opening and ending cinematics from Studio Ghibli.

In-game commentary from director/producer/writer Shigesato Itoi, designer Akihiko Miura, and composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka.

Live recording of the “Earthbound Orchestral Experience.”

Excerpts from the new translation of Saori Kumi’s Earthbound novelization, read by the author.

DISC TWO

The Man that Fell to Earthbound – Retrospective Q&A; with Shigesato Itoi about Earthbound’s critical and commercial reception.

It Hurts -- documentary feature chronicling the troubled production of Earthbound 64.

Outgrowing Onett - A short film from director Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars) that bridges the gap between Earthbound and Mother 3.

Brand new trailer of “Mother 3DS,” the highly anticipated, “definitive” edition of Mother 3.

All-new localization effort overseen by acclaimed director and screenwriter Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant).

Complete HD reimagining of the original Mother.

PLUS: Concept art gallery, and interviews with the game’s development staff.

In a galaxy far, far away, join Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and even Wicket the Ewok as they wage intergalactic war against the evil Empire and the sinister Sith lord, Darth Vader. In this ultimate HD edition of Super Star Wars trilogy, you’ll experience the entire saga, including racing a landspeeder through Tatooine’s wastelands in A New Hope, battling colossal AT-ATs storming Hoth’s rebel base in The Empire Strikes Back, flying the Millennium Falcon through the Death Star’s core in Return of the Jedi, and many more memorable adventures from the classic sci-fi trilogy.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES DISC ONE

All three Super Nintendo classics in their original form: Super Star Wars, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Remastered 16-bit visuals and crystal clear audio optimized for high-definition televisions.

New inventory management menu allows you to hang on to your weapons and powerups through all three games.

Save system lets you save your progress at any time.

New beginner-friendly “Apprentice Mode” eases newcomers into some of the most challenging Super NES games ever mad

DISC TWO

Deleted Levels: Two new playable missions previously cut from the games including R2-D2’s battle through Jabba’s palace.

A History of Sculpted Software: A 15-minute documentary chronicling the developer’s daunting task of reenvisioning George Lucas’ epic science-fiction series for the Super Nintendo.

From Giant Scorpions to Frog Dogs: An all-new 10 minute documentary examining the genesis of Super Star Wars trilogy’s most bizarre enemies.

Digital Strategy Guides: Digital versions of the original strategy guides to help you master what are considered some of the toughest video games on the Super NES.

Ladies and gentlemen: Start your engines, and prepare to challenge some of Nintendo’s most famous gaming characters in a high-speed battle of skill, wits...and luck! A huge critical and commercial success, Super Mario Kart is a seminal race-combat game from the 16-bit heyday of the early 90s that is so well loved, it continues to rank highly on “Best Game Ever” lists almost 20 years since its first release. Its key to success is its finely tuned, beautifully balanced multiplayer battle system that feels as fresh and fun as it did nearly two decades ago. Now’s your chance to rediscover the multiplayer magic of one of the best Super Nintendo games in three different forms, including an all-new Director's Cut!

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

Director’s Cut: Featuring all-new polygonal graphics, the characters and courses are completely reimagined for a stunning, cutting-edge visual experience.

Enhanced Edition: A digitally remastered 16-bit version, with 1080p sprite-graphics taken from the original release, and authentic original gameplay

The First Cut: The completely untouched original version of the 1992 Super Nintendo release

Battle On!: Watch as the game’s original creators challenge one another in multiplayer combat and talk about their favorite weapons and characters

The Kart Legacy: A documentary on the legacy of Super Mario Kart, its numerous sequels and ports through the generations, and how it spawned an entirely new genre of racing games.

DISC TWO

Beyond F-Zero. The Making of a Two-player Racer: An in-depth interview with creator Shigeru Miyamoto about Super Mario Kart’s multiplayer design philosophies.

Unlocking Mode 7: Tadashi Sugiyama and Hideki Konno talk about the technical aspects of using Super Nintendo’s Mode 7 to deliver a great gaming experience.

Digitally remastered music by composer Soyo Oka

Bios and gameography of each Super Mario Kart character: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr., Koopa Troopa, and Toad.

Cities are living, breathing things -- just as much as the inhabitants that walk their streets -- and nowhere is this more apparent than in Will Wright's masterpiece. Providing one of the earliest examples of free-form emergent gameplay, Sim City for the Super Nintendo is a seminal work, grounded in reality but limited only by the player's imagination.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

Two editions of the game: The original Super NES classic and SimCity+, a specially optimized widescreen edition for modern high-definition televisions.

Social Play: Connect your cities to those of your friends around the world.

Video introduction by Will Wright and Jeff Braun.

Fully voiced tutorial and advice featuring Nolan North as the voice of Dr. Wright.

DISC TWO

Af Wubbas Do (2011): A 60-minute feature documentary chronicling the history of the entire Sim series, from City through Copter to The Sims.

Urban Canvas (2011): A 30-minute exposé of the radical computer artists who use the SimCity series' landscaping and planning tools to produce works of visual art.

The Full, Uncut Raid on Bungeling Bay for Commodore 64: The game that inspired SimCity's creation.

Interactive gallery of real-life cities modeled in the game.

Original press materials and trailers.

Digital copy of "Street Music," an album featuring music from and inspired by the series.

Years ahead of its time, Actraiser was one of the most loved games released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Genre-bending civilization-building simulation with side-scrolling action, the game didn’t continue as a decades-long franchise like some of its other contemporaries, but it was never forgotten. Stepping into the omnipotent shoes of “The Master” to save the land and its people from the evil Tanzra and his six lieutenants is not only many gamers’ first memory of playing a “god game,” for some it is also their fondest memory from the entire 16-bit era.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

All-new 16:9 remastered transfer optimized for high-definition televisions

Switch between the original 2D art assets and the all-new polygonal art with the push of a button.

Video introduction by director Masaya Hashimoto and writer Tomoyoshi Miyazaki.

Audio commentary track with the game’s designers.

DISC TWO

“The Creation Story” (2011), a forty-minute short documentary on the development of the game.

“Lightning in a Bottle” (2011), a roundtable discussion with Masaya Hashimoto, Tomoyoshi Miyazaki and Peter Molyneux about ActRaiser’s influence on game development and the “god games” genre.

The complete Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

An interactive gallery of over 100 never before seen sketches, concept art, and other design documents.

All that stands between a world’s freedom and its conquest by a ruthless tyrant is the intrepid pilot Fox McCloud and his dauntless friends of the Star Fox Team. Featuring the groundbreaking technology of the Super FX chip, Star Fox brought Nintendo into the world of 3D computer graphics. And flying through the sky and in space in the Arwing starship is perhaps the best way for Nintendo to bring polygons to its consoles.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES DISC ONE

Remastered audio and visuals, featuring Dolby Digital EX surround sound and a 16:7, HD presentation. Game’s original 1992 audio and visuals are also on the disc.

Two audio commentaries: One from the game’s executive producer, Hiroshi Yamauchi, and producer, Shigeru Miyamoto, and another with commentary from the point of view of Andross, the game’s villain.

Updated motion-comic version of the original Star Fox comic that ran in Nintendo Power from February 1993 to December 1993.

DISC TWO

“Defenders of Corneria”: a 90-minute documentary on the making of the original Star Fox.

“Fox Through the Ages”: A look at how Fox McCloud and the series has changed since their 1992 inception.

“Arwing Declassified”: A collection of other designs considered and rejected for the iconic Arwing starship.

“The Art of Star Fox”: Images of Fox McCloud, the Star Fox Team, and the memorable worlds from the franchise.

Original promotional ads from Japan, Europe, and North America.

PLUS: The Complete Original soundtrack.

#Video Games #Criterion Collection #SNES #GamePro

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