#Also sex scenes in TV and Film are just set up in such a way they're likely to be exploitative

[wellcomeoneileen]

Why does Randy Harrison deserve compensation? What happened to him? You can DM me if it's not okay to be public

Hey! No it’s totally okay.

⚠️disclaimer - I am a NEW fan and so I am NOT the most informed at all. Other people like @brian-kinney-apologist like really know shit. I initially found things bc watching S4 made me go oh there is bts shit going on for sure and googled, and then when I got on tumblr I saw a bunch of posts talking about it, too.

Lots of older sources are harder to find now bc they didn’t do a digital preservation or the website is expired, but here is what I’ve found, from heated Advocate articles whilst the show aired and then from more measured reflections from podcasts around 2016.

Randy was young and it was his first TV show - when he started he didn’t even have an agent, and really didn’t know what he was getting into. He had done sex scenes on stage and thought that he was pretty prepared for what was to come.

However, he has stated he ended up feeling pretty objectified, such as hearing “we need more shots of Justin’s ass” regularly or expressing a desire to not to go-go dancing type scenes (King of Babylon upset him) and then even more go-go dancing being added (S2 Sap scenes). He was also told to act less gay by casting directors for the show, and to “try to be more butch because Justin isn’t out of the closet”

The show pre-dates intimacy coordinators and there have been allusions, including from the actresses Thea and Michelle, that the sex scenes could be uncomfortable to film.

There was BTS clashing, with producer Tony Jones !!reportedly!!! Saying that Randy was a bitch to work with and “showrunners” “reportedly” saying they would never work with Randy again. There are two interview clips, one from when the show was airing, and one from 2016, when CowLip say they wanted all actors to be comfortable on set, and in BOTH clips , like 15 years apart, Randy kinda like laugh/roll his eyes and Gale looks at him very bemusedly. They had bigger reactions in the ~2003 clip.

He was openly pretty angry as the show went on. He told the Advocate that he would never be friends with or respect Justin if real. He disapproved of the Britin relationship. He said he had to fight to include the scene of Justin topping Brian, which was very important to him. Leading into season 5 he stated he hoped Justin was killed off by getting hit by a truck (obviously being glib, but like he was mad lol)

He has said that lots of scenes needed to be reshot because he struggled to do them so much, like the Cody sexy gun scene that made him so uncomfortable, and then either he or Gale said S5 sex scenes were reshot a lot because they just couldn’t stop laughing at that point anymore.

Peter and Scott recently have said the only time anyone asked for actors’ opinions was right after season 1 ended, and to ME they sounded kinda cheeky about it, all these years later, so perhaps it was a cast sticking point? Unsure, and it wasn’t even Randy who said that. Fat grain of salt.

He has more recently reflected on this time period and expressed regret he went out the way he did, and he understands things better and honors his craft more (heavy paraphrasing!) bc he was mentally checked out by the end and wishes he had finished strong instead.

Also, the cast didn’t realize when signing on how isolated they would be from The Industry. Randy has spoken about this in an unrelated podcast, as have the actors who play Ted and Emmett. NYC or LA are where you want to be for networking, and then signing on to spend the majority of the year in Toronto negatively impacted their careers, they feel. Randy has said he had to start from scratch after the show ended, and Peter and Scott have said Showtime had no idea how to market the show nor their stars, and so they had to just watch as all the initial hype fizzled and nothing was done with them. They were contracted to work too much to seriously be involved elsewhere, while simultaneously not getting good exposure, which I IMAGINE created a dire sort of mood and morale on set. < personal interpretation and fictionalizing history.

Meaning, Randy probably at the very least FELT like he had spent five years on a show that didn’t respect him and it was largely for nothing. He has since stated he appreciates the opportunity and it is the reason he was finically secure, for which he is deeply grateful.

And then finally the fans! He had stalker(s?) and tons of creepy people and was heavily typecast and people would come up to him frequently, which made him uncomfy, and would furthermore act like he was actually Justin, which made him super uncomfy. He was kinda like Chappell Roan!! He was like hey I’m not Justin I’m a person and y’all are freaks. He has publicially declined to speak on the stalking issues, which given his vocal responses to other issues, indicates to ME that it’s pretty personal and upsetting (I mean it’s stalking it’s obviously horrible but you know what I mean). During the show he had a boyfriend that fans like tormented online and even on posters (that bit comes from Tumblr or another forum, so not like verified info on my part at all) because they shipped “Gandy” so hard. I know I’ve read on tumblr about the insane Gandy people but all I remember is they were intense and insane and negatively impacted Randy’s actual real life. Again, that’s info from fans that I haven’t read in article or heard from out of his mouth. Secondary source lol.

This point is PURE speculation, but early interviews with the whole cast were super excited, and they all talked about how excited they were for something ground breaking. By the end, people were angry or giving fluff responses, or in Peter’s case; calmly stating the show was a soap opera and that’s okay. I FEEL like everyone thought they were signing up for something more real/gritty/positive impact to society and then were like oh I’m here to look hot in this show that only moms watch to get them turned on to have sex with their husband. Cool.

Now, do I agree with that - no. But, the show audience was vastly different than expected, and the artistic direction might have been too, both of which might have really disappointed people. Esp Randy and maybe Gale. Randy was a capital T theatre person, and Gale was too and had lots of experimental work and like performance art. Randy has ALSO expressed displeasure with some theater work he did because he didn’t think it was fresh and the audience was only older wealthy white people, so we do know that this sort of thing does matter to his sense of fulfillment at work.

TLDR; had to shoot scenes he didn’t want to, several times, felt objectified on set, disagreed with his character’s direction, maybe felt like he wasn’t being listened to artistically, was cut off from other work opportunities, didn’t appear to get along with leadership, had bad fans, was young and in deep over his head, and at the very least *started* with no career or social support system.

Again!! Am not the most knowledgeable person !!! I do NOT want to spread misinformation so hopefully I’ve tagged where I’m reading into things vs actual quotes but also people who have actually been around pls feel free to say 🙋um actuallllyyyyy

[curiousorigins]

I wish there were less sex scenes in stuff. Not because they're dirty or like somehow corrupting or whatever. But because they're boring and put me to sleep. There's only so many combinations that count. It's predictable. And boring.

[kookslastbutton]

just one kiss ༓ kth (m)

✑ Summary: You and your husband always seem to want each other at the most inconvenient times. Tonight, it happens to be right when you're about to sleep before your next work shift. You find it harder and harder to say no.

pairing: Taehyung x reader (f.)

genre/AU: PWP, fluff, smut, established relationship, married au, comfort

word count: 3.6k

warnings: softdom!taehyung, sub/minor switch!reader, swearing, kissing, asking for consent, f*inger*ng, ✨sensual✨ but also r*ough penetrative s*x (oc on the birth control), big d*ck, light neck b*ting/sucking, praise kink (both), body worshipping, pleading (tae just wants to please...), hint of possessiveness, hint of banter, m*ssionary/two ways, t*t sucking/f*ndling, impr*g kink (both), multiple org*sm, mentions of aftercare, Tae being a little whiny at first, he calls her baby/darling, mentions of vintage, rated R movie

now playing: Where I Belong by Bobby Bazini, Drops of Jupiter by Train

a/n: I have nothing to say other than I've been on a writing spree this week and this happened....heh 😅 Taehyung's Type 1 photos made me do it! Okay, bye! Hope you enjoy 🤍

Taehyung looked more than handsome when he came home tonight, the buttons of his dress shirt undone just enough to let your eyes greedily wander his smooth, tanned chest. The sleeves were neatly rolled up to his elbows too, displaying his rather muscular biceps.

He’s been working out with the guys more frequently the last few months and yes, you’ve been silently benefiting from it.

Of course, you loved the way he looked before too —he’s sexy either way.

Despite feeling very much teased by your husband (though it wasn’t his intent), your evening consisted of dinner and a movie instead. It's an old, vintage film he's been dying for you to see for ages—an underrated classic assigned by his college professor during his final semester. When you caught sight of the VHS tape in his hands earlier, you quickly connected the dots of what the evening would look like.

But while both of you initially immersed yourselves in the black-and-white film, things gradually changed about halfway through when a number of rather steamy scenes started playing.

"It's not exactly about the sex," your husband explains as matter-of-factly as he can. "It's passion between the two main leads who've been repressed for so long. Not only by society but also from their own set of social standards. They're finally breaking free."

"Gotcha," you nod, "I suppose it's a turning point for them then." You continue watching the movie until one of the leads begins climbing over the other, stripping the other of their clothes. "God Tae, they're really showing a lot here. I wasn't expecting this much action for a movie made in the 40s."

Tongue in cheek, he studies your somewhat taken aback facial expression. "You see why it's such an underrated film for its time?"

"Mhm," you reply, your throat suddenly feeling dry. "I'm, uhm, I'm beginning to see."

Once you're certain his attention is back on the TV screen, you sneak a quick look at him. He’s completely serious, appreciating the artistic direction of the film. Meanwhile, you on the other hand are suddenly getting very distracted by past images of your husband's naked body flashing through your mind (No thanks to the film he’s chosen).

Fuck __, get it together, you scold yourself.

You're never typically this affected by a cinematic sex scene for fuck sake.

"You okay?" His deep voice jolts you in surprise.

You smile, hoping you seem composed. "Uh, yes, fine. Just...enjoying the movie."

Taehyung hesitates for a moment, appearing somewhat suspicious, then responds with a simple, "Good. I'm glad."

Once the movie ends, you both climb into your shared bed, feeling mutually exhausted. You're rolled on your side now, him behind you with a hand secured around your waist. Taehyung's embrace feels so comforting with how close he holds you.

But then, you feel a subtle poke in your lower back and it tells you everything you need to know about where his next agenda is heading; he’s hard.

You’ve been pretty worked up since your head hit your pillow yourself, however, the movie took over three hours to finish. Your body is not nearly strong enough for any messing around tonight, plus you have work in less than eight hours. You simply do not have the time or energy.

Taehyung thinks otherwise.

“Baby?” his breath tickles your skin as he presses himself against your back. Long, gentle fingers find their way under the material of your shirt easily. The touch is cool against your warm skin, causing you to shiver ever so slightly. “Baby, are you awake?” he tries again, voice laced with the richest honey.

Fuck, you curse to yourself, he’s decided to use that voice; his seducing voice. Okay fine, who are you kidding— it’s his normal voice. After all, it doesn’t take much for him to turn you on with that naturally husky voice of his.

You can’t give in though. You seriously have work at the crack of dawn, and if you let him have his way now, you’ll be at it all night. Taehyung likes to take his time with you whenever you're intimate, per usual. Or, alternatively, the two of you end up abandoning all self-control, choosing to go round after round instead.

“Mm,” you let out a sleepy groan, “Not tonight, Tae. I have work in the morning.”

Subtly, you close a hand over his to stop his movements. Somehow, during all your thinking, they managed to travel dangerously close to your boobs.

“I haven’t even told you what I want yet,” he protests, a near pout.

You stifle an amused chuckle. “I'm no stranger to what you’re doing, Tae. We’ve been together far too long for me not to know. I can also feel you in my lower back,” you note, referring to how hard he’s gotten. “Tomorrow we can do whatever we want. Wait one more night.”

Your husband buries his face into the crook of your neck, attempting to snuggle into you. “Promise?” He presses a feather-like kiss to the delicate area and you can’t resist the faint moan that it elicits. Your neck has always been highly sensitive, which your husband knows all too well.

“I promise,” you barely manage to form a reply.

“Seal it with a kiss?” He asks as innocently as he can. Though, you have to question his antics. You really wanna turn your head around and kiss him like he wants, so badly. But what’s stopping you? The fact that his lips are always so soft and you know you’ll be after more.

Fuck, now you want him.

"We kissed plenty of times earlier, didn't we?" you struggle to keep yourself composed, voice cracking.

"Not nearly enough. Please, baby, I missed you the entire day. One kiss.”

God, you sigh inwardly, he’s too fucking hard to say no to.

“We’ll go to sleep right after,” you state as sternly as possible, twisting your neck until you're eye to eye with your husband. It’s dark in your bedroom, but you can tell by how lust-blown his eyes are that he’s just drinking you up.

“You’re so beautiful,” he rasps, catching you completely off guard. You blush instantly, cheeks flaring with warmth. You hope your husband won’t notice due to the pitch blackness of the room, but he does, given the cheeky smile that spreads across his face. “Oh god, I love you so much,” he says, then presses his lips firmly to yours in a passionate kiss.

Not another word slips out from either of you for the next half minute, your mouths instead moving against each other rhythmically. You both let out breathy moans as your tongues begin fighting for dominance (your husband wins easily). You didn’t mean for it to go this far, really you didn’t. Nonetheless, here you are in a heated make- out with your husband, one hand lifted above your head to thread through his silky hair.

Taehyung grunts the rougher you pull and slides his own hand to your inner thigh, gripping it tight and prying it open. Naturally, you roll on your back which he gladly takes as his opportunity to pull you towards himself.

With your bodies facing each other on your sides, his bare chest comes flat against yours, Taehyung lifts one of your legs until it comfortably snakes around his hip.

“Tae,” you struggle to catch your breath as he begins planting kisses up and down your neck, “We can’t…I...have to work.”

He doesn’t reply, choosing to suck along the delicate part of your neck instead. Your eyes roll up in response, every nerve in your body feeling like they’ve been set on fire.

“Tae, baby-” you start again, but he hushes you.

“Darling,” he coos, “we’re kissing right now. I’ll stop if you want me to, but don't you think work can wait for a while?” He then nips at your jaw before capturing your lips again. They’re going to be bruised if he keeps this up. “Do you really want me to stop? Say the word and I will.” He’s looking at you now, patiently waiting for your answer. You think he’s quite sneaky for leading you into his honeytrap, but who are you fooling…you want this.

“You’re right, screw work.” You then pull yourself over his body, forcing him to lay on his back as you sit up and straddle him. “I love you.” You then lift your top over your head, revealing your naked chest to him. He’s seen it a million times and each time he looks at you with such widened eyes, so full of awe.

“I-“ he starts, bringing his hands up to gently caress your sides. The pads of his thumbs circle over your skin soothingly and you hum in satisfaction. “I love you too,” he finally says. “You’re so fucking amazing. My best and worst dream wrapped into one giant tempt-“

“Okay Tae, shh," it's your turn to hush him now, sweet as you can as you roll your hips forward and into his. It's just enough to draw out a throaty moan. “I think it’s clear we both love each other quite a lot hm? Because I adore you too," you add.

He nods in understanding.

“Then,” you lean forward until your centimeters from his face, ass in the air. “Fuck me.”

A growl like you haven’t heard before instantly drops for his lips. Taehyung grabs your waist with sturdy hands and flips you both over, his body hovering over yours so closely as your back hits the mattress. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he says, fingers dancing along your sides. “May I?” You know exactly what he’s asking for so you nod.

“Please do.”

His palms move up to your breasts not a second later, thumbs rolling over the hardened peaks. Your back arches into hands at the friction, eliciting soft, drawn out moans from both of you.

“Shit,” he swears, hands tightening around you as he gropes your tits, “I want to suck them,” he deadpans and you nearly choke at the bluntness. Usually, he asks permission for a second time, but he doesn’t this time…not that you mind the subtle change.

“Go ahead,” you give him the green light and it’s all he needs before bringing his lips down to close around your boob. Your jaw clenches as his tongue sensually licks around a nipple, gently biting it now and then. It’s clear that the wetness between your thighs only increases with every movement. “Please, need more. It feels so good, but it’s not enough…fuck!”

You gasp when his tongue suddenly moves from your breast and latches itself to the ridge of your neck. You want to tell him not to leave marks where you can’t cover them up, however, he’s far too convincing that you don't.

“I know baby,” he hums, disgustingly seductive, “we’ll get there but let’s be patient, hm? Your body looks so perfect right now. Wanna savor it a little longer. Is that okay? Will you let me do that?”

The gentleness of his request, paired with his ridiculously deep voice, sends literal shivers up your spine. You want him to fuck you here and now, yet you feel yourself bending to his will. But no, that won’t work tonight. You hate to say it but you really are pressed for time.

“I-Taehyung if we don’t fuck soon, it’ll be dawn and before we know it I’ll have to leave and the last time we tried-“

“Alright, easy darling,” he relaxes you from your long winded argument with a small chuckle, “I concede. I’ll fuck you.”

You feel yourself clench in anticipation as you watch him get up to remove his pants, swallowing hard when his generous length meets your eyes.

You shouldn’t stare.

It’s not polite to stare.

You’re shameless, truly, because you can’t take your eyes off of him.

“Look at me, baby,” Taehyung calls you out of your daze, to which you quickly lift up your chin to meet his piercing gaze. “Tell me what you’re thinking in that pretty head of yours.”

“I…want to suck it,” you admit, no longer able to hold yourself back.

Your husband hums at your response and climbs back towards you on the bed, stopping near your legs.

“Suck what?”

“Uhm, well,” your voice wavers and you don’t know why, other than the fact that you are getting major distracted by the way his fingers smoothly guide your knees up, prying them apart.

“Yes? I’m still listening.”

Being that you’re wearing shorts, Taehyung moves his head between your spread legs and presses a kiss to your inner thigh.

“Say it,” he encourages, “we both know the answer anyway.” You can feel him practically smirking against your leg.

“Don’t be cocky,” you counter, not yet realizing the weight of your reply until Taehyung directs his gaze on you with an amused expression.

“I think we both concluded a long time ago that that’s pretty near impossible for me, don’t you think?” He replies, earning a brief chuckle from you. Not before a small, exaggerated eye roll of course.

“Alright, you win. I want your cock,” you say, “No more of this cat and mouse game, but I'm so riled up. I need you inside me. You’ll let me suck you off tomorrow though, right?”

“If that’s what you want, darling. I’ll do anything for you.” He grazes the band of your shorts before continuing. “For now, these are going to need to go.”

You nod and he slips the thin material, along with your underwear, off your body. “Fuck,” he swears, taking in your naked form. “I’ll never get over the fact that you look like this. So beautiful, and only mine to see. Fuck. I don’t deserve you.”

With a single finger, he begins tracing up your center, easily feeling the wetness that’s gathered between your thighs. You don’t have time to feel even a shrivel of embarrassment when he begins sinking into your velvety walls, all the way down to the knuckle.

“Oh god, n-no, you deserve it. You definitely deserve it,” you stutter, back arching into his touch as he curls his finger in you. He then slips a second finger next to the first, to which you involuntarily clamp down on. “Fuck, your hands feel so good, Tae.”

Your praise evidently encourages him as he moves his fingers faster in you, curling them against your sweet spot repeatedly until you’re sure your neighbor, the one who lives across the street from you, can hear you.

“I’m gonna come!” You suddenly shout, the first orgasm of the night washing over you in the seconds following. When Taehyung slips his fingers out of you, it’s no surprise that they’re completely covered in your come. Per usual, he cleans them off himself and your core clenches at the action.

“I need to feel you,” he says shortly, bringing his body over yours until he’s directly above you, eye to eye. “Please, I’m so hard right now.”

You nod eagerly, feeling similar. “I need you too. Please...please fuck me.” The tip of his cock drags along your entrance, sliding against your slit before finally pushing in. You immediately wrap your legs around his waist, hooking your ankles together.

"Shit," he swears, bottoming out in you, "So wet, you're so wet, baby."

He starts a slow, steady pace at first, fucking into you deeper with each thrust of his hips. It's not rough, but rather sensual, as he loves nothing more than sinking himself into slowly, until you're letting out moan after moan, his name the only word on your lips.

"Let me hear you, darling," he coos, dragging his length all the way out before pushing back in, "I want to hear all your pretty moans tonight. Fuck, you feel amazing, do you know that? Such a perfect pussy."

His praises make you absolutely delirious as you toss your head back, eyes fluttering shut to bask in the pleasure.

"Am I making you feel good, too?" he continues. "Let me know if I am. I wanna make you feel nothing but mine; my darling, my wife."

"Yes, fucking yes. You're making me feel amazing Tae-" Your arms wrap up around his upper back, nails digging into his shoulder blades helplessly. Taehyung winces at the slight pain but doesn't stop his movements, preferring to bury his face into the small juncture between your neck and shoulder instead.

He then returns the favor by nipping at the area with his teeth, not enough to hurt, but enough that you give a short yelp. He licks over it after, soothing it gently.

"Oh g-god," you moan breathily, "I-I think I'm gonna come again." You find yourself clenching around him right then, and it takes your husband off guard as his balance slips, his body falling into you immediately. His elbows manage to re-stabilize himself and to your demise, allows him a new angle to fuck you from—one that's deeper, faster, and causes your legs to wrap around him tighter.

"Come for me," he nearly growls, gradually picking up his pace as he thrusts himself into you rougher, "I wanna feel you come on my cock. Can you do that for me, baby? Fuck, don't hold back."

"I'm c—" You have your release before the words have the chance to fully form, your husband covered in you for the second time of the night. "Please," you start a plead. "I want you to come too. Tell me how you want me. On my hands and knees, yes?"

With a soft hand, Taehyung lovingly caresses your face and presses a tender kiss to your lips. "I want you just like this, actually," he says, not an ounce of demand in his tone, "that way, I can see your beautiful eyes when I fuck into you. But I want your legs over my shoulders....if that sounds good to you."

As if you didn't just have your release, you feel your thighs threatening to clamp together at his request. "Yes," you agree hurriedly, "Anything sounds good, I just want you. And I want you to come too.”

With that, Taehyung straightens his back, throws your legs over his sturdy shoulders, and starts fucking into you mercilessly. He's fucked you sensually, worshipped your body from head to toe, praised you, and now? He's gonna finish in you.

"Holy shit," his grunts are labored as he chases his high, desperate to finally have his release. "Too m-much...so fucking good! I'm going to breed this pussy tonight, tell me how bad you want it, baby. Tell me...please."

It's inevitable that his desire to get you pregnant slips out, as it happens nearly every time you fuck. You share the same desire too, however, contrary to what just fell from his lips, he most certainly will not be getting you pregnant tonight—you're still on the pill. One of these days you might just let both your dreams come true, but for now you'll play into the fantasy.

"I do, I want it so bad," you moan, legs shaking as his cock plunges into you, his hands gripping around your hips. "Give me your babies, Tae, I want the—"

"Shit, I'm gonna come!" he suddenly announces, his thrusts growing messier as he twitches in you. He's dangerously close to finishing, and so are you; for the third time of the night.

"Come in me, baby," you struggle to say, "You deserve it so much, fuck, come in me Tae! Don’t stop, I wanna feel you cover me.

"Fuck!" He thrusts in you one last time before the cord within him finally snaps, ropes of his come filling you up instantly. He then lazily fucks you a few final times, attempting to ride out his high before setting your feet back on your mattress.

"I can't believe," he pants, now laying on his back beside you, "we nearly skipped all of this tonight."

"Yeah well, I was tired," you reply. "But I was also extremely wound up and that movie we watched might have had something to do with it."

Taehyung turns his face to you with a playful smile. "I know," he says simply. "I could tell from how hard you were trying to concentrate on the movie that you'd rather be jumping me."

"I-What? When did I give that impression?" You meet his eyes in shock. You thought for sure you were keeping yourself pretty well under wraps.

"Darling," he draws your face towards his to peck your lips, "you can only sneak glances at me so many times before I'm bound to notice. Not to mention the amount of times you excused yourself to get a glass of water when you had one sitting in front of you, on the coffee table, the entire time."

"Oh," is all you reply with, warmth spreading on your cheeks.

"For future reference, if you want to pause the movie and hm, do other things," he exaggerates his words, lifting a corner of his mouth into a faint smirk, "you only need to ask. I'll never say no to you."

"Evidently, same here," you chuckle lightly, "I'll consider it for next time. I'm actually really tired now."

"Me too, we should clean up and get to bed. I'll get you a towel," he rolls off the bed and heads straight for your joint bathroom.

"I love you!" you call out, though you're unsure that he heard you until he pokes his head out from the doorframe.

"I love you too, stay there okay? I'll be back in a second," he flashes a grin at you, then ducks back in.

Well fuck, you think, you're never giving him up—ever.

a/n: yeah, he's my dream 🫠 Now, I'm going to be good and go continue my series lol.

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[endiness]

Debunking misinformation about Netflix's The Witcher (Part 7)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6]

"The writers were mad that Henry Cavill wouldn't do any shirtless scenes or sex scenes."

So. The origin of this is based off of an episode of the Deuxmoi podcast that alleges that Henry Cavill was ultimately fired for sexist behavior that caused production delays — which has obviously never been officially confirmed. However, just to entertain the idea for a second to debunk why exactly Henry Cavill not wanting to do any sex scenes and/or nudity might've been a problem as I've seen people bring this up against the show a lot…

Obviously actors shouldn't have to do any nudity or sex scenes if they don't want to.

She told us: ‘I had a body double for the sex scenes, and she was always there. Flora. But I didn’t, I only used her for the first sex scene because I realised very quickly in that first sex scene that actually, I didn’t feel comfortable anyone else portraying Yennefer, because it’s still acting isn’t it?’

And they don't have to. Anya herself, at least initially, used a body double for her first sex scene on the show.

"The first thing that happens is we sit with the actor, and we have a conversation [about the scene]. If the actor is not comfortable, that scene is rewritten. There is absolutely no way that we proceed forward unless everyone is comfortable. Of course, if at any time someone does feel uncomfortable, not even just the actors themselves, but anyone else on the set, we stop immediately and reassess."

That's Lauren's stance on the filming of nudity and sex scenes on the show.

Lastly, we have a rather curious addition to the crew. Lizzy Talbot has been tapped as the intimacy coordinator for the show. For those of you who don’t know, an intimacy coordinator is a rather recently invented position for film and TV and their duties involve ensuring the well-being and consent of actors performing in intimate scenes as well as making sure the intimate scenes are filmed according to a previously agreed choreography. What this informs us about the story is that yes, there will be intimate scenes in Season 2.

The show also hired an intimacy coordinator from season 2 onwards and they were also used for Blood Origin.

“Lizzy Talbot was our intimacy coordinator and she was just brilliant. She made it like a stunt, really,” O’Fuarain said of the intimate scenes.

So if this was a problem for production (which, again, we have no official confirmation of), it likely would've been because Henry Cavill was very controlling when it came to Geralt's physical depiction and didn't want to use any body doubles or stunt doubles and insisted that only he ever physically portray Geralt on screen:

"From the very beginning, he said he wanted to be involved in the actual stunts. He didn’t want to use movie magic or camera tricks to pretend it was him. Anytime Geralt is on the screen, even if it’s just his hand reaching for something or his hair flipping through the frame, it’s always him."

Which means that if he did shut down any nudity and sex scenes, he essentially would've been shutting down the idea of Geralt as a character (as opposed to Henry the actor) ever engaging in any of those scenes. (Which, if you know anything about the books, would've actually caused significant problems with the story later on.)

"The show made Henry Cavill go on a dehydration diet for shirtless scenes."

Henry Cavill talked about the dehydration diet on Graham Norton's show and at no point in time was there ever any indication of the role that production played in that decision. Now, is it likely production was involved in at least some way? Yeah, probably. But afaik there is still no indication either way of just how much it was their decision, his decision, both, or what.

However, I do have to note that given that Henry Cavill almost nearly blinded himself because he blew off the advice of his doctor who told him that he could not wear his Geralt contacts for an extended period of time without risking damage to his eyes:

"I was only allowed to keep them in for three hours at a time, well I supposed to only keep them in three hours at a time. […] My eye-technician was always pushing me to say like, “No, I don’t care. I don’t care what you need to shoot, take, take the bloody contacts out, because you will start to go blind after a while”. I was sure she was probably selling a slightly more dramatic version of the truth, because I do tend to be a bit stubborn like that. And I’ll say, no, it’s alright we can shoot couple more hours will be fine. And she said, we won’t be fine. You’ve got to take them out now. There’s lot of volcanic rock in the Canary Island, and when it picks up a lot and it’s all this stuff, which becomes very, very light and dusty. It got in behind the contacts, so my eyes ended up being scratched. I didn’t realise it was scratching so we went back to Budapest after our trip to Canary Islands. But it got to the point where I couldn’t really keep my eyes open, my eyes were watering, had to try and wash everything out. Very, very stingy, very painful, but I just thought it’s just because I’m tired and not getting much sleep and I just need to muscle through it. It got to the point where my technician found me hiding in the shadows of my eyes closed because it was was very bright. She said take them out. And I said, No, No, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine. Just give me some things to dab my eyes before a scene will be good. She put her foot down and said, “No, I’m stopping shooting until you take them out”."

And how he'd wear his armor practically 24/7 in order to break it in because he wanted it to look realistically worn down (and nevermind it's literally canon in the books that Geralt buys himself new clothes anyway 🙃):

"He wanted, for instance, for the armour to look like it had been worn for years and years. So he made breakfast in it and he would sleep in it. We were like ‘you don’t have to do that by the way’, but he’s that invested in embodying his character."

And how he insisted that only he ever physically portray Geralt on screen, including for things minute as closeups of his hand or shots where Geralt's just a blip on screen because the shot is from so far away:

"So for the action, if I’m going to take on a physical role, which has a lot of athleticism to it or whatever it may be, I’m going to bring myself up to that level so I can perform that role to the fullest. It’s important to me that the audience knows this and they see the character at all times. They see all the work that I put into designing this character in every single move, look, glance, shrug, walk, step. For the long shots, they were saying, we’re gonna save time because we don’t need you in the shot because it’s just so far away and I said well, has the person who you’re going to have double me studied the way I move as Geralt? And they were like, he’s your double, and this is so far away, it doesn’t matter, and I say, it does matter because that informs the audience about this character. What we, as human beings do, is we study people’s movement without even knowing it. We’re watching how humans interact with the world, how they interact with other people. We then make a decision upon them, whether it be minor or major decisions, it doesn’t matter. So watching Geralt, even from a distance, was very, very important to me and so with the action, it’s even more important."

Like, js, but I don't exactly think it's out of the realm of possibility that he had more of a hand in that than anyone and anything else given how weirdly obsessive he was when it came to the physicality of the role. (There's also Freya and Anya referring to the dehydration as "his" diet in this video, btw.)

[bloody-peach]

Straight to Video (Hazbin Hotel: StaticMoth x F!Reader smut fic)

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Now Playing: Get You Closer, Traumfrau, Government Hooker (d00nik remix) [slowed], She's My Collar (slowed and reverb) [PLEASE listen to any or all of these while reading this, with headphones preferably, you will thank me later]

Goodie bag: threesome (m x f x m), sex tape, voyeurism, masturbation (male), exhibitionism, girl on girl, foreplay, lingerie, oral sex (giving & receiving, M & F), vaginal sex, vaginal fingering, colored cum, flavored cum, double penetration, Spanish pet names, hypnosis kink, bondage, bukkake, creampie, Jacob's Ladder, ahegao [let me know if i missed anything!]

A/N: Hey! I fixed the fic! Enjoy! Have some links for visuals:

Your lingerie outfit (same set-up, but the color is a red/blue combo): X

The set: X

Lily: X

Nadia: X

Taglist: @omniuravity @fatgumsurpremacy-remastered @moths-and-mantids @neonvehk @pinkhimecat and other StaticMoth fans!

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“Hey, who was that bitch that writes for me?” Valentino asked. He was laying on the couch in Vox's office, bored out of his mind. “Which one?” Vox asked, at his desk, working though time slots for shows on his station. Valentino gestured with his hand, a cigarette between his fingers as he spoke, “You know, the one we hired who wore that cute pink dress.” Vox instantly recognized the image. “Y/N?” he asked. Val leaned his head back over the arm rest to look at Vox. “Yeah, that one. What’s she up to? Tell her to come over, maybe we can have some fun with her.” Vox sighed as he called her up from the main screen on his desk.

Valentino was always talking about her, even though he couldn’t even remember her name. They met her when she applied for a writing job at Vox’s studio. He looked over her writing and determined that it was more suited for Valentino’s business. To be fair, by how her body looked, she seemed more suited to be in front of the camera instead of behind the scenes. He couldn’t deny imagining what a cock would look like between those breasts or deep in her ass, and how cute she’d look with cum covering her face and how her mouth would look wrapped around a cock. No wonder Val immediately accepted her application. But then again, her scripts were pretty good too. The scenarios she could come up with and the detailed descriptions of the setting, plot, and characters were truly a godsend for Val. Vox also couldn’t deny that he found Y/N adorable, the way she flustered when she spoke to him, and how she always dressed in the cutest outfits. There were times where she was shy, but there were also times where she could be sassy, witty, and straight to the point, a side that Vox loved. And even then, he could tell from the look in her eyes that there was another side of her, a whole other woman just begging to be let out.

Maybe this was the time.

You were working on scripts at home when you heard a call coming from the TV. You had your TV set up so you could get video calls from anyone whenever you were needed, and it was very convenient since you always left your phone somewhere you could never remember. You set your laptop down and answered the call, smiling when you saw Vox and Val’s faces. “Hey, what’s up? Wait, lemme guess. You want me to work on another script?” Vox chuckled, saying, “Oh, Y/N. You know how to get to the point. I love that about you.” Valentino rolled his eyes, taking a sip from a glass of red wine that a servant brought to him. Vox continued, “We need you to come in for a special project. Valentino here has an idea for a new adult film series, and we need someone with your skills to write it.” He gestured to Valentino. “What do you think?” he asked the moth man. Valentino smiled, saying, “Yes, we need you to do the writing, but also…you’ll be the star of the show.” He crossed his arms as he continued. “I want everyone to know your face, pastelito. You are quite the sight to look at, after all.” Vox chuckled, shaking his head. Vox focused back on Y/N, assuring her, “As usual, Valentino has some great ideas, Y/N. It’s going to be a huge hit. Honestly, I don’t blame him for wanting you to be the star. I still remember when I interviewed you on my show, and you’re a natural in front of the camera. With your writing skills, this will be a smash hit all across Hell. What do you say?”

You were left blushing, flattered that they thought you were good enough for one of Valentino’s films. Just the thought of performing in front of so many people, admiring you and your body. Your flustered state was noticeable in your voice as you smiled and answered, “Oh my…well, sure, I don’t mind. When should I head on over?” Valentino perked up, clapping his hands together. “That’s the spirit, mi reina! You’re the best, Y/N!” He grinned, then gave Vox a victorious look. Vox nodded, a small smile on his face. “Excellent! Could you be here tomorrow morning? We have a few concepts to go over, and we want to hit the ground running.” Vox hesitated for a moment then chuckled nervously, saying, “Oh, and we may need to do a, uh, ‘casting call’ of sorts. To find the perfect co-star. Valentino has some…specific ideas about who he wants.” Valentino leaned back, sipping his wine. He added, “And if you could wear something…revealing? It’ll help us visualize. I want this to be the best it can be. We’ll have Velvette call you sometime today so you two can work out an outfit.” He batted his eyes, taking another drag of his cigarette. The smoke formed a perfect heart, which he blew towards Y/N, encircling her face when it hit their screen. You blushed red, secretly getting aroused at the idea. “Sure thing. Just tell me what to do when I get there and I’ll do it. See you then, love you!”

Vox watched as Y/N hung up the call, a smile growing on his face. He turned to Val, saying, “She loves it when you tell her what to do. Fuck, that’s adorable.” Valentino chuckled, shaking his head then saying, “Of course, mi amor. You know I can't resist the obedient type.” Valentino took another sip of his wine, swirling it around in the glass. “She’s going to be perfect for this role. I can already see the box covers,” Valentino said, already lost in thought. That was when there was a call coming from the screen. It was Y/N again. When it was answered, her face was flushed and she was so shy, avoiding eye contact. “Um…yeah…I have an idea for a costar, or costars. Do you think maybe..you and Val would be willing to join me? I’d be totally down for that, but if you guys don’t want that, it’s okay. Just an idea.”

Vox’s screen froze for a moment, his eyes wide, his screen glitching to his BSOD for a millisecond. He looked at Valentino, who was equally surprised. They didn’t have to trick you, you were asking for it. The moth demon gave a sly grin as he said, “Well, now that’s an interesting idea.” He took another drag of his cigarette and blew another heart, but then put a full heart on the inside, both more elaborate. “We’d be honored, Y/N. Honestly, I was hoping you’d ask that,” Valentino purred. The look in his eyes showed that he was already undressing her in his mind. Vox cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. “O-Of course, Y/N. We’ll do whatever it takes to make this the best it can be. Remember, any other ideas you have, let us know,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. You smiled, happy that your request was accepted. “Perfect! I’m so happy you agree! I’m down for any scenario you want. The only other thing I request is no hitting or choking. Abuse porn is not my thing. I’ll leave you to it, see ya tomorrow. Bye!” you said. The last thing you did before hanging up was blow a kiss to the both of them.

Vox couldn’t help but feel a slight blush appear on his cheeks. Valentino, however, pouted a bit. “How disappointing. I was really looking forward to a good slap or two.” He sighed and took a sip of his wine. Vox turned to Valentino and said, “Hey, she’s already willing to let us fuck her and she’ll do whatever we tell her. I think her request is reasonable enough.” Val shrugged, accepting defeat. Vox stretched his arms and said, “Ah man, I am so looking forward to tomorrow.” Valentino chuckled and took one last drag of his cigarette, blowing a heart and then an arrow, shooting through the heart. “Me too..”

The next morning, you headed over to the studio, excited while also aroused. You wore a long but stylish coat to hide the outfit you were wearing underneath. You reached the main room and knocked on the door before entering it, seeing Vox browsing through his tablet while Valentino was pacing back and forth, a cigarette in his mouth. “Hey, I’m here!” you cheerfully announced. The sound of your voice caused the boys to turn and smile, Valentino reaching you first. “Ah, perfect timing, Y/N!” He said, taking a drag of the cigarette, the reddish-pink smoke drifting around you like a snake coiling around its prey. Vox quickly finished his work on the tablet, before putting it away and walking up to you with a smile on his face. “Morning, darling. Let’s get started, shall we?” he said as he gestured towards the bed. Valentino flicked his cigarette into an ashtray, making a tiny heart shape with the ash. “Hold it, Voxy. I think Y/N needs to show us what she’s going to wear for the shoot,” he said. He then leaned close to you, saying in a seductive voice, “What do you have for us, sweetheart?” You blushed, but you cleared your throat and said, “Well..Velvette helped me with this one..I had it custom made yesterday.” The men sat in their respective chairs as you took off the coat and revealed what you were wearing: a very revealing lingerie set, colored in red and blue, with small bows covering your nipples and with matching crotchless panties, a bow on the front of them. The lingerie left very little to the imagination, due to the lack of fabric.

The instance they saw it, they had different reactions. Valentino's eyes widened in surprise and desire as he leaned forward in his chair, while Vox had an almost bodily reaction, his body tensing up and him having to grip the armrest tightly to keep him from cumming in his pants. You blushed from being so exposed, but felt so turned on as well. Valentino was the one to break the silence, standing up, gently grabbing your chin, and purring as his accent became more pronounced, “Oh, mi hermosa princesa .. You truly look like an angel fallen from heaven. What a divine blessing..” He turned to his boyfriend, saying, “What do you think, Voxy?” Vox’s eyes roamed hungrily over your body, taking in every curve and contour. You truly did look like a fallen angel, a beauty rejected by God and gifted to them personally. He gulped and tried to recover from the shock as he wiped the drool from his mouth. “That’s…quite the ensemble you have there. Very fitting for our project,” he admitted, swallowing thickly. He let out a deep breath, feeling his cock throb in his pants and a chill go up his spine as he let out a shaky breath. He then stood up from his chair, walking over to you. “Come on. Let’s see how you’ll look in our film.” His hand reached out, gently guiding you towards the bed. Valentino followed suit, his eyes never leaving your body as he walked with them. “Yes, show us how you move in that thing. I know you’re just itching to have our hands on you,” he growled, a sinister smile playing on his lips.

You looked at the set up, seeing the cameras aimed at the bed. The bed was large enough for five people, the black and red silk bedding reflecting in the harsh spotlights. The black curtains behind it absorbed the lights from the spotlight, leaving the bed and anything on it in the foreground. You could feel the plush carpeting under your feet, soft to the touch. You got on the bed and laid on your back, your arms over your head to show off your entire body. The men could see that you were already a bit aroused, some of your juices lightly soaking the edges of the crotchless section of your panties, making your pussy glisten under the lights. Valentino’s eyes widened at the sight of your arousal, his wings twitching in excitement. He took a step closer, inhaling deeply. “Oh, Peachy, you’re so wet for us. It’s intoxicating,” he said, his voice thick with lust. Vox cleared his throat, trying to maintain his composure, or whatever was left of it. “I see we’ve made an impression on you already. That’s a good sign,” Vox said, his gaze never leaving your body.

Vox grabbed a camera and looked through the viewfinder, almost drooling at the sight. “Now, let’s try a few different positions to see which one suits the scene best.” He walked around the bed, examining you from different angles. “Spread your legs a bit more, darling. We need to see how the lighting hits you,” Vox said. You nodded and spread your legs, showing that from the lack of fabric on the panties, your pussy was shaven completely smooth. Your pussy lips started to twitch slightly, your arousal growing by the minute. Vox moved the camera towards her face and she became shy, having to turn her face away as your face flushed. Valentino’s eyes narrowed as he smiled, his wings twitching again. “Oh, Y/N, eres hermosa. I can’t wait to touch you and make you scream my name,” he whispered into her ear, his voice filled with desire. Vox noticed your smooth pussy and he couldn’t help but lick his lips as he smiled. “That’s perfect, darling. Now, let’s see how you look from above,” he said, climbing onto the bed and positioning himself above you, camera still in hand. He noticed you avoiding the camera, and a spark of concern flickered in his mind. He moved the camera aside and asked in a slightly concerned voice, “You okay, Y/N?” You opened your eyes and said, “Yeah…I’m just..a bit shy…since it’s you guys.” Vox smiled warmly, “You look so cute, all flushed and embarrassed.” Valentino smiled as he agreed with his lover, “She is, and she’s all ours, mi amor.” She may have looked cute, but they couldn’t film a porno if their star couldn’t even face the camera. Luckily, Vox knew what to do in moments like these. Sometimes, the girls would need a boost of confidence to help them through filming, so Vox would come in and use his hypnosis to help them out. It wasn’t as intense as his usual hypnosis, anyone under it was still aware afterwards. They just felt more ready for any situation, including having sex in front of a camera. Today would be no different. Vox gently cupped your cheek and turned you to face him, saying softly, “Hey, hey, look at me.” You opened your eyes and looked at him. Vox activated his hypnotic eye and smiled, saying, “You can handle this, right?” You felt something influencing your thoughts, your shyness slowly start to fade away. You felt a boost of confidence deep in your mind and you were able to look at him more straight forward. “Yeah,” you said, your voice a bit more confident. “I can handle it..” Vox smiled, saying, “That’s the spirit, darling. I have no doubt you’ll do great in this project.” He then leaned in and kissed you, his lips brushing against yours. His tongue slid into your mouth, tasting your desire.

Vox broke the kiss, saying, “Now, don’t worry, babe. We may be in charge here, but we’ll take good care of you.” Valentino smirked, watching them. “It’s true, sweetheart,” Val chimed in. “We’ll make sure you enjoy every single moment of it.” Valentino took a drag of a cigarette he lit and blew it towards your way, the scent easing you into a more calm state. Vox got off the bed and backed away to stand next to Valentino, sitting the camera back on its tripod. “Oh, this movie will get everyone talking…now, let’s begin,” Valentino said. With that, he snapped his fingers and summoned two of his girls to come forward, women you recognized from the studio. They were both the same height, one was blonde with crystal blue eyes and the other a redhead with emerald green eyes. Both were of similar build, slim build with large and round breasts, wearing cute lingerie. “Y/N, you remember Lily and Nadia? I know how much you like them, so I brought them in to help us with the production. I’m sure you won’t mind playing with them for our film,” Val spoke, a chuckle in his voice as he recalled the look of awe on your face on that day. The girls had silk ropes in their hands and they gently took your hands and wrists, tying them to the bedposts, leaving only enough slack for you to move your arms slightly. ‘Must be part of the script,’ you thought. Valentino smiled and said, “Perfect! Go ahead, ladies. She’s all yours.” With a flip of a switch, Vox turned on the cameras and the girls got to work. The girls got on the bed, their hands trailing down your body, teasingly rubbing your nipples and caressing your stomach. “You look so cute, Y/N,” Nadia murmured, her breath hot against your ear. Lily leaned in, her lips brushing against your neck, whispering, “I bet you taste amazing.”

You could feel the girls’ hands roaming all over your body, their fingers and palms brushing along your sensitive areas, all of it causing a moan to escape your lips. Valentino walked up to the side of the bed, his hand cupping your cheek to turn you towards him. “That’s a good girl,” he purred, his Spanish accent thickening. “Now, let’s see how you react to this.” He leaned in, his lips brushing against yours in a hungry kiss. His tongue forced its way into your mouth, tangling with yours in a hot and sensual dance, a drop of pink saliva dripping down your chin. Meanwhile, Vox stood behind the camera, watching everything unfold, a smirk across his face. One of the girls, Nadia, trailed her tongue down your stomach, leaving a trail of saliva on your skin. Once Nadia got between your legs, she cooed, “Aww, even your pussy is cute.” With that, Nadia proceed to eat you out, which caused you to break the kiss to moan and arch your back in pleasure. Valentino grinned, admiring your reaction to Nadia’s skills. “That’s it, baby,” he purred. “Let go and enjoy yourself.”

Meanwhile, Lily moved up to your breasts, sucking on one nipple while her free hand tweaked and pinched the other. “You taste so good,” she murmured, her breath hot against your sensitive flesh. As you moaned from the pleasure you were receiving, you saw Valentino take his clothes off and show his hard cock. You marveled at the sight, admiring its thickness and its lavender hue that faded to a bright pink towards the head. He walked closer and took hold of your head with one hand while barely brushing the tip of his cock on your lips. You could already taste his pre-cum smeared on your lips, the taste of sour watermelon on your tongue igniting your hunger. When Valentino pulled back to test your need, he smiled as he saw you stick your tongue out just enough to barely touch the tip as you licked at the pre-cum. “Such an eager little thing… Now, open your mouth for me, mi dulce ,” Valentino said in a low and seductive voice. Valentino then brought his cock closer to you, opening your mouth as instructed, and watched as it slid so easily inside. He could feel you immediately starting to suck it, causing him to groan, a pleasurable chill going up his spine. “God, you're good, baby… Go on… Go on and take it..” he said, his voice soft with desire. “I can’t wait to fuck you..”

Vox watched, kicking his pants aside. “She’s incredible,” he said, stroking his own hard cock. “I knew she’d be perfect for this project.” The girls continued to tease and pleasure you, Nadia eating you out and fingering you. Your moans mixed with Valentino’s groans, filling the room with the sounds of your pleasure. “You’re gonna make us cum so hard, I can already tell,” Valentino said, his hips moving slowly. You sucked hungrily on his cock as you moaned from the girls’ actions. Vox walked closer to get a good look, admiring the view as he kept stroking his cock. He licked his lips, his eyes never leaving the scene in front of him. “She’s so into it,” he groaned out, his hand moving faster. “I better get to join in soon, it’s really getting hard to resist.”

Valentino thrust into your mouth, his hips moving in time with Nadia’s fingers as they pumped inside you. “That’s it, baby,” he growled. “Take it all in.” The girls continued their ministrations, their hands and tongues keeping the pleasure flowing. “Oh, she’s really getting off to this. Look how wet she is,” Nadia said as she moved her head out of the way and spread your soaked pussy, showing it to the camera. “I can’t wait to see her cum,” Nadia said before she continued her duties. Your moans filled the room, your body arching with pleasure as you took Valentino deeper into your throat and Nadia flicked your clit with her tongue. Every sound and movement was captured by the cameras, destined to be immortalized on film.

Valentino groaned, his hips moving faster. “Fuuuuck..” he said, his voice thick with lust. “I’m not gonna last much longer.” Vox felt that same sentiment, his hand moving faster on his cock. Your orgasm was like a tidal wave, your body shaking with pleasure. Your muffled moans echoed through the room, the vibrations sending Valentino in a frenzy, his hips jerking uncontrollably as he came. Vox came at the same time, his cum landing on your belly and breasts. You swallowed all of Valentino’s cum greedily, not missing a drop. When he finally pulled out, a few shots of Valentino’s cum landed on your face and breasts, mixing with Vox’s in the process.

Vox looked at the aftermath of Valentino’s fun with you, the man’s cock glistening with your saliva and his pink-colored cum. “Damn, Val,” he said, his voice showing he was impressed. “You really outdone yourself this time.” Valentino smirked and chuckled, “Thank you, mi amor. But I think it’s your turn with our little princesa .” Val snapped his fingers, signaling Lily and Nadia to leave. Once the two girls left, Vox walked to the foot of the bed, grabbing your legs and pulling them up straight as he held your ankles, a devilish smirk on his face as his cock rested on your mound. “I can’t wait to see how you take this,” Vox said, his voice dripping with lust. You felt a mix of desire and slight concern as you saw Vox’s cock. It looked even bigger than Valentino’s, his cock a deep black, but with an electric blue color towards the head, along with a Jacob’s Ladder down the underside of the shaft, which was brushing along your clit. “T..That’s so big..h..how will it even fit..?” you asked, but your hips were already trying to get his cock inside you. Vox’s screen flickered with anticipation as he watched your failed attempts, finding you adorable. He smiled, his eyes filled with desire. “Don’t worry, baby girl,” he said, his voice low and seductive. “I’ll make sure you enjoy it.”

He positioned his cock to prod against your pussy and he slowly pushed into you, his cock stretching you in the most pleasurable way. “Oh, fuck..You’re so tight,” he groaned, his hips moving slowly at first. Valentino watched from the sidelines, letting the two take the spotlight for a bit. “She’s amazing, isn’t she? She’s taking our cocks like a pro. And here we were, making her write shit while she was ripe for the picking.” Val purred. You moaned, your body adjusting to the invasion. Your hips moved in time with Vox’s, your face contorted in desire. “That’s it, baby,” Vox said, his pace picking up as he went deeper. “Let’s see how much more you can take.” You moaned at each thrust, “Ahh…ohh..mm…Vox…f…feels so good..ohh…aahh..” You could feel the Jacob’s Ladder rubbing along your walls, stimulating you with a mix of pleasure and pain. Vox gripped your hips and groaned as his hips moved faster. “You’re so fucking tight, babe,” he said, his voice a mix of breaths and moans. “Ahh…I could fuck you all day,” Vox said as his head tilted back.

Valentino watched, his cock hard in his hand. “This is perfect,” he said, his eyes never leaving the scene. “She’s enjoying every second of it.” The two men’s cum was still on your body, an erotic masterpiece captured forever on film as it dripped down your body. Your beauty was enhanced by the state you were in - bound and fucked, you were nothing short of breathtaking. Valentino got up and undid your wrists, setting you free. This caused you to use one of your hands to stroke Val’s cock and your other hand to help spread your pussy open so Vox could get deeper. “Ahh.. Ohh… Mmmm..” you moaned. Valentino smirked, chuckling then saying as he groped your breast, “Good girl. You sure know how to make us feel good, don’t you?” Vox groaned as he pulled you into his arms and held you as he fell to his knees on the bed, his hips moving faster, “Gahh…fuck…I don’t think I’ll be able to last much longer..” Val was surprised to hear this. “Really? Already? But you just started,” the moth man said, his eyebrows raised. Vox looked at his boyfriend and said, “It’s just too good, man.” Val smirked, now curious on how your pussy would feel around his own cock.

It wasn’t too long until you cried out, “Ahh..! V..Vox..! D..Don’t stop! I..I’m gonna cum! Please..cum in me! I..I need it..!” Vox groaned, the head of his cock hitting your cervix. “Oh, you’re gonna get it, baby,” he said. “I’m gonna fill you up.” Your moans were muffled as you buried your face in Vox’s neck. Your nails dug into his back, your hips moving in time with his. “Yeah..fuck me harder..almost there,” you cried. “She’s so fucking hot. I’m fucking her next,” Val said as he reached his orgasm, his cum landing on the ground. Vox’s orgasm hit, his cock pulsating inside you. He filled you up to the point of leaking onto the bed, his electric blue cum coating and dripping from your pussy. As yourr bodies relaxed and Vox let you fall onto the bed, he pulled his cock out of you and let out a few more shots of cum on your belly. You saw this and were curious on the taste, so you wiped some off with your finger and brought it to your lips, licking your finger clean. You smiled, tasting sour blue raspberry, which complemented Val’s cum deliciously. Vox looked at you with a satisfied smile on his face and his eyes half-closed in bliss, saying, “You’re perfect, baby girl..” You smiled at Vox before noticing Val walking up to you, his shadow casting over you and his wings unfurled in arousal. “My turn,” he said with a smirk. “You’ll definitely love what I got in mind with you..”

Val picked you up and sat on the bed, his back against the headboard and you in his lap, your back resting on his chest. He let his cock rest against your blue and pink stained belly and your hips were still moving slightly, trying to get as much pleasure as possible. It was obvious that you had reached the point in your arousal where the slightest touch on your pussy and clit would send electric shocks throughout your body, and the men were acutely aware of this. You tilted your head up to look at Val, begging, “Hurry up..please…give it to me..” Valentino chuckled, his eyes sparkling with lust. “Slow down, mi querida. I want to savor this moment,” he said, his voice soft. He reached down and grabbed your breasts, playing with your nipples. This caused you to whimper and moan softly. “So sensitive,” he growled with lust. “Now can you spread your legs for me, mi dulce ?” He leaned to your ear and whispered, “Be a good girl and let me claim what’s mine,” which caused a chill to go down your spine. You tried to spread your legs, but they were already starting to grow weak from the strong orgasms, so you could barely do so. Valentino and Vox chuckled at how cute you looked as you tried your hardest. “Here, let Papi help you,” Val said as he let his second pair of hands spread your legs and hold them open. Valentino positioned his cock to rub against your entrance, teasing you. “You ready for me, princesa? ” he asked, his voice low and seductive. You tried to move your hips to get him inside you, but he held a strong grip on your legs. “Yes..please…I need it..” You begged, your voice laced with need and desire. Valentino thrust into you until he reached the hilt, his cock stretching you out. “Fuck yeah, baby,” he groaned. “Take it.”

Val proceeded to thrust into you, his cock hitting your g-spot just right. “You’re so tight, so perfect,” Val growled. Your head tilted back as you cried out in pleasure, “Ahhh..ohh..! Yes..! So…good..!” Valentino grinned, his eyes wild with desire. “I knew you’d love it,” he said, his hips moving faster. “You’re so good at taking my cock.” Your moans filled the room, your body shaking with pleasure. Your face was composed of a blissful smile and eyes that showed that you were in pure ecstasy. You looked perfect, completely taken by pleasure. Vox watched through the camera, making sure to zoom in on your face and slowly cascading down your body to the action. “This is going to be a hit,” he said, his eyes never leaving the scene. Valentino’s pace increased, his thrusts becoming more aggressive. “Oh fuck, I’m close,” he said softly. “Now you get to feel my cum fill you, mi reina. ” When he said that, your orgasm rocked your body, causing you to arch your entire body, crying out in pleasure. “Gahh..! V…Val..! Don’t stop..!” He didn’t. He filled you with his cum, the pink color mixing with the blue creating a soft purple color oozing out of you.

Once your orgasms left, Vox got back on the bed and you could see that his cock was ready to go again. That’s when you got an idea and you lifted your head to look at Val, asking, “Um..Val..? Could you..please..fuck my ass? I wanna know what it feels like to take two at once.” Valentino smirked devilishly and chuckled, his arms wrapping around you. “Okay, baby,” he said. “Since you’ve been a good girl.” He pulled out, his cock coated in a mix of his, Vox’s, and your cum. “I’ll be gentle, I promise,” he said. With that, he entered your ass, his cock stretching you in a new way. As you gasped from the sensation then let out a pleasured sigh, Vox positioned himself, his cock throbbing with anticipation. “This is going to be amazing, I can already feel it,” The techno man said. Vox thrust into your pussy, his cock hitting you deep. The sensation of being filled in both holes caused you to cry out as you moved your hips, “Y-Yes..! More..!” Val let out a groan as he bit his bottom lip, moving his hips and thrusting into you. “Oh, fuck…you’re so fucking tight..” Vox’s pace increased, his thrusts matching Val’s intensity. “You’re taking us so well,” he panted, his eyes never leaving the sight of his cock inside you. “You’re so fucking addictive..” Your eyes started to roll back in pleasure, your breasts bouncing, your face a picture of pure bliss as you smiled wide and stuck your tongue out. “Oh yeah…fuck me like that,” you cried. They continued to fuck you, their cocks hitting all the right spots. Valentino’s cock rubbed against your insides, and Vox’s cock slammed against your g-spot. You could feel your orgasm building, getting closer with each powerful thrust. “Ohhhh fuck..! I..It’s so good..! I..I can barely think..!” Valentino chuckled, saying, “Oh, you’re going to cum for us, baby. I can feel it.” Vox started to chase his orgasm, his thrusts increasing. “Oh yeah..you’re so close, baby.” Your body shook, your orgasm hitting you like a freight train, your moans turned into screams. “Oh fuck..! I..I’m cumming!!” At the same time, Valentino and Vox filled both of your holes to the point of flooding and dripping onto the bed.

Once you all relaxed, Vox gently lifted your head and kissed you deeply. You returned the kiss, your tongue dancing with his. Vox soon broke the kiss, saying, “That was great,” he said, his breath hot against your lips. “You’re amazing, Y/N.” Valentino smiled and leaned in, his lips brushing against your ear. “Now let’s get you cleaned up. You’re completely covered in our cum.” You looked at Val, a chuckle in your voice as you spoke with playful sarcasm, “Gosh, I wonder why..” Valentino laughed and carefully pulled out of you, Vox following suit. “You’re such a perfect slut for us, Y/N,” Val said as he stood up. You blushed, your face filled with both embarrassment and pride. “Now, look alive, sunshine. We have cameras in the showers too, remember?” Val said as he grabbed your chin and tilted your head to look at him. You nodded, your body still buzzing from pleasure. You followed them to the showers, your mind already thinking about the next scene.

~~~♡♡♡~~~

[weirdgenetic-fuckup]

Can you do dave mustaine too (safe words)

I wrote this pretty fast but I hope it's still up to your standards of tumblr smut <3 If you want to see another artist for this prompt or any other's I'd be happy to write it (I'm very bored :'3) just let me know :3

Warnings: Smut, slight angst, use of a safe word, if you think there's something I missed please let me know :3

You and Dave had been dating for a few months now and decided that you would have date nights every Friday night. It didn’t have to be something big every week and you would take turns planning the dates in question, but there was always something.

The both of you had had a very long week and now just needed some time to relax so a movie marathon night was the best option in your minds.

Dave got snacks, drinks and a pizza for an actual meal on his way home while you set up a comfy place on the couch and got a set of DVDs stacked up in the order you planned to watch them. The genre’s ranged from cheesy romance to get you started and then psychological horror for later in the night. You also had a few comedies sprinkled in so you’d be able to sleep tonight, either way it gave you an excuse to cuddle up tight to Dave and that’s all that really concerned you.

Dave got home and you started on your night, watching and snacking and cuddling all the while. About halfway through one of the romance movies there was sex scene that you didn’t realise would pop up. It was probably one of the first filmed movies you’d seen ever and this scene was no exception to that.

You watched in discomfort as it went on, the dramatic noises and odd movements making you shift in your seat. Dave looked to you, chuckling softly. “What? This movie got you feeling something?” He teased. You shook your head, cringing.

“Can you fast-forward or something?” You asked, searching around for the remote. It was just on the edge of the coffee table, when you went to reach for it Dave kicked it off the corner and it landed with a soft thud on the carpet. “Oops.” He smirked and pulled you in for a kiss.

The kiss was a nice distraction from the film in the background. Dave obviously wanted to take it further and didn’t even ask before tearing your clothes off. To be fair, they didn’t break. Though you’re sure you heard a rip at some point everything did seem fine.

Dave was all over you, kissing up and down your neck, licking and sucking on your chest. Whatever he could reach he had his mouth on.

Soon he had you standing in front of him between the couch and the coffee table, facing the TV. Dave was standing right behind you, cock buried deep inside you and quick thrusts pumping it in and out of you at a pace that would normally have you seeing stars. Instead, everything just felt off. He wasn’t hitting the right spots, his harsh words just hurt you and if he tried being nice you felt awkward.

The movie seemed to keep getting louder and louder and you just wanted everything to stop around you. “Davie-Davie, I don’t-”

“Shut the fuck you, slut.” Dave interrupted you, continuing to rut into you. He seemed perfectly content with the scene, you felt as if you were recreating the scene in the movie.

“Davie, can we just-” You were cut off by a yelp when he slapped your ass.

“I said shut up!” He said in a much more commanding tone. That along with the slap, not to mention the embarrassment you felt at this moment, brought tears to your eyes.

“Davie, please...” You tried again. His hand raised and came down harder on your ass, leaving a bright red mark. That stretch he forced that always had your mind in a fog hurt, his harsh words that made you want to beg hurt, the slaps you loved counting hurt. The tears trickled down your cheeks and hit the floor. For a moment Dave’s hips sputtered and you took it as your chance. “Pumpkin.” You said, it came out no louder than a whisper.

Dave stopped completely. “What-what was that?” He asked, now just holding you close, strong arms wrapped around your waist.

“Please, stop, I-I don’t like it.” You stumbled out. Dave pulled out and reached back for a blanket to wrap around you. You got your shorts back on, Dave offered you his shirt and you happily accepted.

Dave sat you back down on the couch, holding you in his lap. A little cocoon of blankets and comfy things. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He said, pressing soft kisses to your cheeks and forehead. “I thought it would be a fun end to the week.” He explained. You nodded, resting your head on his shoulder.

“Next time do something romantic, not fake Elvis fucking Marilyn Manson.” You said with a soft chuckle. You aren’t even sure what movie it was. Hell you didn’t even know how you got it in your hands but it was never going to be played again.

“You wanna keep watching movies? Or-or I could get you a bubble bath, light some candles, give you a massage?” You knew he would do anything to make it up to you. It sounded like a good end to the week for you.

“Can we cuddle in the bath?” You asked, looking up at him, your eyes still slightly glassy. He chuckled and nodded

“Of course we can, you thought I’d let you get princess treatment alone?” He kissed the tip of your nose. “I am just as deserving of being a princess.” He stated as he lifted you up to carry you to the bathroom so he could set everything up with you.

[malorisaurus]

No shade, promise! I just don't really understand taking murderous and toxic couples that we love for those traits and putting them in scenes of domestic docility? In other contexts, I am perfectly happy to watch characters arrive at their conception of domestic bliss, so it isn't necessarily a problem of not jiving with the concept. Perhaps I get too hung up on my own ideas of what would make sense for a character?

For example, embracing while being gutted/gutting is definitely a penetrative sex act, and bleeding out on the kitchen floor is climax. Even when not doing a stab, characters that express intimacy as though it is a chess game to be won light me up. I am obsessed with that particular dynamic, and I don't really imagine scenes where they set those aspects aside to play out cultural ideals of domestic tranquility. I don't mind or judge people for imagining that, but I just don't understand it (literally). I am trying to! I will often like images that people create because they are so talented and it is clear that so much love goes into it. Plus, little snapshots like that are easier for me to wrap my head around. I struggle more with fanfiction.

To continue to use Hannibal and Will as an example (if it wasn't obvious in the above), I don't even anticipate them having particularly vanilla sex. Vanilla sex was a part that Hannibal played with the people that he was fooling (Alana). And hey, my dude still likes to get off. Good on him. With Bedelia, my personal interpretation was that their relationship flirted with wider exploration, but Hannibal was still playing a part. In my world, if Hannibal and Will even have sex (much of the time, I don't even get there and instead ruminate over their power dynamics as desire), they get absolutely freaky-deaky, and their growth is counter to everything that is held up as ideal culturally (in the US). No nuclear family, obsession as a feature not a bug, and a deep commitment to absolute depravity. And there is plenty of that to be had amongst the fans, to be sure.

I suppose for me, these characters are a vehicle to allow the exploration and expansion of something within me, becoming, as fiction always does, my own. This, of course, is also happening for everyone else. I think what confuses me is reconciling an attraction to these "depraved" aspects of these characters and then seemingly removing them entirely? What is happening for people there? What is it doing for them? What makes that exciting and what feelings arise? Is it a way to reconcile one's own attraction to those themes and dynamics with ideas of how relationships should look? Or is it simply a joy in placing characters in unlikely and varied scenarios? Of course there are probably a million answers.

I am glad that there is a diversity of expression through the characters and these shows, though. I think this is one of the reasons I so obsessively watched film and TV growing up. Going through this process has really helped me to understand a lot more about people. I despise not understanding! XD

[trekmupf]

"We're all mad here" 🐇👸🔫🐯

Pro

The famous massage intro

Sulu and McCoy taking a lovely little walk together

Sulu is such a botany nerd; I love these small character moments

McCoy thinking he's loosing his last marbles

Spock literally thinking that humans go on shore leave to run up and down meadows like dogs

The way Kirk smiles when he thinks Bones is pranking him is lovely

Kirk's facial journey when he realizes McCoy and Spock played him

The first time Kirk calls McCoy Bones

The way the running is filmed and the way they run – and boy do they run in this episode

Sulu, gun enthusiast

The easy friendship between Kirk and McCoy- the way they joke and laugh with each other is so beautiful

McCoy is so beautiful in this episode, I could screenshot every second. He smiles so much and is so at ease, I mean

Continuing what we know from E3 Kirk wasn't the super cool Bro at the academy but actually the bookworm people bullied

Kirk saying that Ruth hasn't aged a day since they last were together ages ago, and the actress being the same age as Shatner when we see her... canon Kirk being into older woman okay.

McCoy rolled a natural 20 on charisma

me @ yeoman Borrows being super into McCoy's flirting: same girl same

Also I actually like that for once McCoy is the one having a little romance and getting to flirt / be desired, which is rare (because he's older and not the leading man; Tumblr, of course, disagrees)

every time the tiger is on screen I remember that Shatner literally wanted to fight it and it makes me laugh

fake character death trope! (also Bones is a beautiful corpse)

Spock like no offence lady, I'm to gay for this, Spock out

“Did you have fun guys?” “Yes we did Mr Spock” wink emoji implied, like you guys know it sounds like you had group sex right

the setting and scenery is beautiful and a nice change

the score underlines the whimsy and lightness of the episode

the premise is so silly but works well. I miss episodes like this on modern TV, just some downtime with no large scale danger, war or plot, just silly crew shenanigans that gives us more time to spend with our guys

sometimes Sci-fi has great special effects, and sometimes they just hold an antenna really close to the camera and call it a day and I love that

I'm Yeoman Borrows; Look at him being all happy

Con

McCoy's death has no lasting impact on anyone, it's just a short time plot device and then gets shelved for more adventure / silly time; Even though he does come back, I wish it wouldn't have been so trivialized here

weird wind chime sound effects of the planet

Finnegan as a character is super obnoxious and too over the top (which is saying something in the episode with Alice in wonderland)

especially the second confrontation takes ages, especially as we now have more pressing matters in the narrative

treatment of yeoman Borrows (We already know weird things are going on based on what McCoy saw, yet Kirk doesn't believe her and shows zero empathy towards her distress), also her main purpose is damsel in distress

Kirk is a bit slow to unravel the mystery and almost stupid at times? It might be excused by him using the opportunity to let go of his responsibility and being with Angela / letting out his anger with Finnegan

the amount of references and jumping between visions is too jumbled and all over the place, which is why the pacing is off. some bits are so short, they'd better be cut (Rodriguez side adventure) and some just go on (Finnegan)

Counter: Shirt rip Kirk

Quote: "You've got your problems, I've got mine. But he's got ours, plus his, plus 430 other people" - McCoy about Kirk Moment: Opening Scene, where Kirk thinks Spock is massaging him and being super uncomfortable when its a female crew member

Summary: Silly and light episode with no deeper meaning but some great character moments, funny scenes and further development of the interpersonal relationships

In another universe this is a classical painting

Previous Episode - Next Episode - All TOS Reviews

[spicybylerpolls]

Here me out, I am not against a byler sex scene cause I don’t think it would be anything remotely explicit anyways so discussing it in depth for me feels pointless, but I have issues with tying a sex scene into the character arcs of mike and will as if it’s the only logical way to wrap up their story, only because had there not been a pandemic and multiple delays, byler would have happened while at least one of them was still a MINOR (maybe both I would have to do the math) and there’s no way the show woulda had a sex scene in those circumstances so it’s more likely to me that having a sex scene—while it would be interesting to go there now that the actors are older—it is not the end all be all for their character arcs and not something that *has* to happen for their end narrative to make sense, since it probably was not going to happen in the first place. So maybe let’s reframe the discussion away from “they have to bone or else all the build up and such makes no sense it’s the only way to end things because blah blah blah” and more as it would be fun/cool/hot to see something more adult now that they ARE actual adults, and it would feel satisfying to their story, but that’s it. cause some people are starting to feel so passionate about the idea that i am concerned they are going to make themselves very angry if there isn’t one …

Hmm, I kinda see your point, but I also feel like there's no real point in speculating about what might have happened in the hypothetical past where the pandemic and the strikes didn't happen because A) we don't live in that timeline lol, and B) the Duffers have always had the ending in the show in mind from the jump and many/most of the beats they knew they needed to hit along the way, BUT I personally don't think they've planned out literally every single detail from the start with no wiggle room.

The writers have said as much, like for example when they tweeted all the crazy things that were supposed to happen in season 2 like possessed Will killing Bob or El mercy killing her mom. They've definitely added and subtracted some things along the way.

Beyond that, regardless of the ages of Finn and Noah, it's not outlandish to argue that sex is still thematically connected to the characters and their arcs. Byler is a story about sexuality, of which sexual attraction and, well, sex play a huge role.

And ST is a coming-of-age show, of which sex often plays a huge role regardless of the age of the actors. During S3, the writers didn't shy away from including sexual themes such as Max's happy screams comment, and the actors were still minors then. Every season has progressed these themes further. The writers and filmmakers are the ones putting the sexual symbolism and jokes into the story, and we're just picking up what they're putting down, right?

Like, I don't think Murray using the phrase "experiment sexually" was accidental, nor was hosegate, nor was Mike checking out Will's ass lol. It's all fair game when you're telling this kind of story (as long as you're creating a safe and comfortable set, of course). Because of this, IMO, there's a high chance the ST writers would've still at least implied that Byler had sex even in your hypothetical scenario. There actually isn't a hard-and-fast rule that prevents actors who aren't legal adults yet from acting out light, non-explicit sex scenes.

You say that, "byler would have happened while at least one of them was still a MINOR (maybe both I would have to do the math) and there’s no way the show woulda had a sex scene in those circumstances," and I understand why you'd say this, but if you look closer at films and shows in media history, that's not always true. I can name several shows and films that call this theory into question.

While it's true that most modern shows with teen sex scenes do tend to also have adults already playing teenagers- there's a whole page on TV Tropes about this phenomenon called Dawson Casting- (and these tend to show a lot of skin, i.e. Euphoria), which makes it easier to explore sexual storylines, that's not the case across the board.

In your hypothetical scenario, the Byler sex scene obviously wouldn't have been an explicit one (and no one's saying it will absolutely be that way now either), but that doesn't really mean it wouldn't have existed in some form. There are many examples of coming-of-age shows/movies where the actors were technically still underage at the time of filming, and it showed them making out intensely before cutting out (and sex was implied) or it showed something slightly more (closer to Stancy) but still not anywhere near HBO-level.

McLovin's sex scene in Superbad comes to mind (his actor was still 17 at the time, and his mother had to watch while it was being filmed). Thora Birch was 16 when American Beauty was filmed. More recently, there was the Jevon sex scene in Chucky this season. Devon's actor recently turned 18, but Jake's actor is still 17. And yet the season was non-subtly building up to the scene, it was 100% tastefully done, and it cut away before anything super specific happened.

Now that both Finn and Noah ARE adults, and we know there will definitely be a time jump, this hypothetical is extra meaningless. And if the Duffers want to go further and bolder with a Byler sex scene, they can, even if this wasn't the original plan. And there's lots of brilliant analysis that argues the Duffers have been planting the seeds for a while for at least some kind of sexual resolution.

But your assertion that, "some people are starting to feel so passionate about the idea that i am concerned they are going to make themselves very angry if there isn’t one" doesn't seem based in reality either. Spicy bylers might want a sex scene, and many might believe there at least will be something implied like Jancy, but I don't think anyone will actually be angry if there isn't one. Correct me if I'm wrong? I think most people are just happy there's a space to talk about Byler in unfiltered ways, to analyze the mature themes of the show, and also to have fun while doing so, especially since the season is still a ways away. It's not like people will actually fist fight the Duffers if Mike isn't moaning and giving Will backshots in S5 💀.

What do y'all think?

[girl4music]

Never really done any meta writing on Aphrodite before or posted anything on here with Alexandra’s commentary in it but just so you guys know,… she’s also one of my favourite characters in Xena too. Some standout statements from Alexandra about Aphrodite and her relationships with Xena, Gabrielle and Ares come from the Mythology vs Xena featurette that was on the 10th Anniversary Anchor Bay released DVD set. I think you guys will enjoy learning all about the great significance of Aphrodite’s character in the show directly expressed by the actress that portrays her.

“I think people will be watching this TV show for a long time. I think it’s one of those moments in television history that’s really important because of what I said earlier about it’s really the first time that I can think of where you have two women who are really strong women action heroes who aren’t answering to men in some way or other or being dictated to.”

“I don’t think Aphrodite is homophobic. If you want to interpret the show that Xena and Gabrielle were lovers, Aphrodite was a complete cheerleader of their relationship, I think. It’s a big deal. It’s the first time that I can remember that a television show has had such a place for the lesbian community. I think that’s a really big deal too. And so to have this pink fluffy blonde bimbo-y girl is a little bit incongruous but I think there’s a little bit of genius in that because what you don’t expect in a show that’s kind of becoming a feminist icon is sex and humour and that’s what Aphrodite was and everybody likes sex and humour. Including feminists and lesbians. It’s kind of an overlooked part of life sometimes when people get very serious. So I think that maybe that’s one of the reasons she worked so well on the show and people loved her so much.”

“Surprisingly in some ways, the most pivotal episode for Aphrodite’s evolution in the show was ‘Punch Lines’ - which was almost an afterthought. They had already shot the show. I was done filming another episode and they asked me at the last minute ‘can you stay for a few more days and shoot a few more scenes we’re gonna put into ‘Punch Lines’’? ‘Punch Lines’ was a bottle show. It was really about Gabrielle. A story about Gabrielle and Lachrymose. And then they decided they needed a little bit of funny in there so they put in Aphrodite. But, again, here’s an episode basically with me and Renee. And that’s when Aphrodite gets into the hot tub. That’s when Aphrodite psychoanalyzes Gabrielle and there’s that slightly famous line about… what was it? Some possible repressed impulses - or something like that that became such a famous sort of fun fan line. Again, you’re gonna have to ask the fans what my line was. But I think that’s sort of the moment when Aphrodite got in there with Gabrielle and they created their own connection and their own friendship and relationship and Aphrodite started to take a personal interest in Gabrielle specifically and the love between Gabrielle and Xena.”

“We talk about Aphrodite and Ares and the Gods as if they’re human beings but they’re not, actually. They’re Gods. I think of them as archetypal human impulses. So in some ways you can look at the episode ‘Motherhood’ - the Twilight of the Gods - as this family crisis were Aphrodite is going against her family. Making a choice to betray her family in order to stand up for her friend - who she thinks is innocent, who pretty much is - Gabrielle. In another way you can look at it as all these different forces playing against each other and - of course Aphrodite, she is love, she is the embodiment of love, all kinds of love but certainly also magnanimous love, generous love, redemptive love. So she kind of has no choice but to stick up for Gabrielle. She can’t really… Ares would of course go try to kill her because he’s the God of War, but Aphrodite is the God of Love. She can’t. I think even if she didn’t already have this relationship she would have stuck up for her … nnngh might not be right about that, but certainly since she already had this connection, she had no choice. She had to fight for her, I think.”

I will leave you guys with this Xena confessions that perfectly describes the way I personally interpret both Aphrodite and Ares and the profound influence they have on our beloved WLW ship in Xena and Gabrielle.

[oonajaeadira]

So ok, here's a Patricio question ... what nights does he have free aside from Thursdays? Does he have clients every weekday, and then again sometimes on weekends? I know they're both going to try and make it work, but unless there's a way to get them both off of that 'schedule' where she has a set time slot to be with him, things could get tricky and not feel much different for either of them, even though they'll no longer be in the massage room. The first weekend they spend together is going to be an interesting one, I think ... and I hope that they're able to make it special.

Hello, my wonderful pal. <3

They very much made their first weekend special. I didn’t cover it in detail, but hinted at it in the previous session. The nice thing about the way their relationship works is that they’ve got the sex part kind of out of the way...although it’s different now that there aren’t any barriers or rules. So they just get to breathe in each other’s spaces now, be around the person they yearn to share time with.

As for the schedule question, you won’t find a logical schedule laid out here. His clients vary in needs and wants, some of them are long term, some only once. Some are on a fixed and limited schedule and others come and go as needed. A long-term weekly schedule is actually kind of unusual for him. If they’re long term, they’re probably on a monthly or bi-weekly at best. Whereas some need a weekly short term. And some only need one or three sessions total.

But this sporadic and erratic schedule is bound to cause some issues. It will just have to be one of the many things they work on.

Kiss and Tell: Priority Aches and How to Soothe Them (GTTT PATS)

FANDOM: Calls - Apple TV (PATS is a character from ep. 3. “Pedro Across the Street.” This is not RPF.)

As with all of my PATS installments, warnings abound for explicit content.

Thank goodness you opted for the wide couch. Your ex hardly ever wanted to cuddle it seemed, but damn if it isn’t coming in handy now. While some gorgeously-filmed spy adventure movie plays on the tv, Patricio spoons you from behind, obviously not paying as much attention to it as you are.

Bright sparks of pleasure run up and down your neck as he tries to break your focus, choosing at the moment to center on one quarter-sized spot just behind your earlobe, circling it with the tip of his nose, rotating between light nuzzling and kissing and licking and nipping there. Every time the cocky spy with the silly belt buckle and electric whip shows up on screen, Patricio pushes his hips forward. And if you gasp, he simply cups a hand over your mouth, urging your silence and calm. He wants to take his time.

It had just been a lazy Saturday on the couch with a little Netflix. But when a dark-haired, mustachioed cowboy showed up on screen and you mumbled a breathless “well, hello, pretty yeehaw,” the and-chill portion of the day began. He pulled down the back of your leggings to find you instantly aroused, whispering that he was going to help you enjoy your new cowboy crush, and pushed himself slowly inside.

Now every time this ridiculously handsome and corny character struts onto the scene, your new boyfriend drags himself slowly through you, lightly skimming mouth and nose, lips and teeth along the back of your neck, intent on creating a Pavlovian response for anyone dark-haired and honey-eyed, broad and tanned…just like himself.

Thank god he makes you come before the end of the film or it may have created a poor connection. Your cowboy’s death illicits shared groans and laughter as his boots disappear into a huge meat grinder. Sad, really. You would have loved to see him come back in another part of the series.

But you have your own brown eyes and scruffy man to turn to and snuggle into.

“Can we do this every weekend?” you ask into his chest. God he smells good. Clean and spicy all at once, a combo of some personal grooming product and detergent, but also just a healthy aliveness and warmth.

With all your concentration on his scent and burrowing past his open shirtfront to meet your lips to the skin of his collarbone, you almost miss the fact that he takes a long time to answer you.

“Ah,” he breathes reluctantly, “Maybe Sunday? I…have a client scheduled next Saturday.”

Freezing for a moment with your forehead pressed to his neck, you don’t notice how your fingers dig into the fabric covering his shoulder. “You’ve never had a Saturday client before. They...must be new?”

“Kind of,” his voice rumbles softly against your brow and you close your eyes as a swallow ripples past, letting the vibrations ground you as he explains. “Started her on Monday. She’s an author, been sitting a lot lately. But her mom isn’t doing so great and she moved in to help her. She has to lift her mother and do a lot of the housework and yardwork and isn’t in shape like she wants to be. So between getting her strength back up and the sudden amount of physical work she’s not used to, her body’s having a period of adjustment. I almost rejected her because she could go to any masseuse…but her application said her father passed last year and now her mother’s slipping. Between all of that, she hasn’t had time for relationships and has just let the need become so much that it’s bringing her morale dangerously low. She’s stressed. I can help her. But Saturdays are the only time she has until another family member can start helping next month. It should only be a few weeks. Then I’m moving her to Mondays.”

You war with yourself, not wanting to dig for assurances out of desperation. But this is part of the work, isn’t it? For you and for him. So you ask.

“You’re seeing her every week? Like you did with me?”

And if he really wants this, he won’t ever tire of answering, just to make you feel safe.

He wants this.

“Just for the time being. I’ll scale her back as she gets stronger and able to find ways to destress. She hurt her lower back shoveling her mother’s sidewalks and needed help getting up to the massage room. She’ll need some work. But she was so much better even after the first three hours. Needed less help getting back down.”

“Oh.” It’s all you can say into his neck. You know you’re special to him, but it would be nice if he would cap it with some reassurance. You should tell him that. Pride stops you. You don’t want to beg, so you give him slack instead. “If you’re too tired on Sunday then that’s okay–”

“I want you Sunday. And Friday if you’ll have me.”

“I thought you had a Friday client?”

“That one’s once a month.”

“Oh.” Once a month, once a week, he knows them all so well…how many are there? You’ve never thought to ask. Maybe you should….

In response to your silence, his hands begin to slide along your back, coming to your waistline as he tilts his chin to your ear, murmuring low. “This muscle group here attaches here,” fingertips slide under your top, press into an intimate curve near your spine, the pads leaving heated imprints on your skin, “and here,” he whispers, sliding a palm down to cup your ass. After giving it a firm squeeze, he keeps moving to the back of your thigh. “And here.”

As he lifts your leg and pulls it over his hip, you finally lean your head back to look at him. And he smiles.

“There you are. Welcome back.” But as you crane forward to kiss him, he pulls back a bit. “I’m gonna show you how I’m fixing her, but if I do that, no kissing. Because I don’t kiss my clients.”

“You kissed me.”

“Yeah. And look what kind of mess that got me into.” His expression is serious, but gentle, the comment’s both a little affectionate dig at you, but also carries the unspoken weight of I don’t know how to tell you that you’re special. I don’t know how to tell you you were the best mistake I made. 

But he’s trying.

“Okay. Show me.”

And he does. Explains what he looked for in his client’s wracked body. How he targeted the connections and radiated to other parts of the back, explaining how a muscle in your chest can pull at your rib cage which can twist your spine here, how a spot in the arch of your foot connects to your sacral area, how finger pressure inside the back wall of the vagina just here can cause these back muscles to naturally release and pull downward….

At certain times he points out how your structure differs from hers, that if it were you, he would also be prodding here (“And I’m coming back to that when this demonstration is over–what have you been doing this week that got you all knotted up here?”) and an inch or two higher here.

It’s all very technical and magical at the same time and it’s exhilarating to see how very well he knows the human body, how he’s made an expert study of it...

…and of course he’d want to work on different ones constantly, solve their puzzles, examine their differences.

Even see how it works when he fucks it.

Even a mechanic likes to take the cars they work on out for a spin afterward.

But they still drive their pride and joy home.

When he’s done with his demo he kisses you long and deep, your fingers no longer clutching. No need to hang on so tightly when you completely melt into one another.

“Go start the shower,” he mumbles against your lips. “Get warmed up. I’m gonna take care of that knot you’ve got going on.”

“You coming with me?”

“I’ll meet you there.”

As you move off toward the bathroom, you see him reach for his phone on the coffee table.

And once you have your clothes off and are climbing into the warm steam, you hear your own ding from the next room.

You’ll have to remember to check that out.

But you forget the moment you’re enveloped in the combined warmth of hot water and naked man. ________________

Sometime during the night, the glass of water he insisted you drink after your massage comes calling and forces you to slide out of his heavy embrace and head for the toilet.

Force of habit makes you grab your phone on the way, just to double-task and check the notifications while your body gets its needs out of the way.

Email: Subject: Patricio has shared a calendar with you.

A...calendar?

Curious, you tap the notif. And stare at the note attached.

--For your eyes only. You can have any and every night that’s free.

And there is his calendar, days sporadically claimed, no pattern that you can yet see, although it begins to make sense the longer you look.

Nikki. Agnes. Carol. Rumiko. Jamie. Jody. TJ. Autumn. Ness.

The next two Saturdays read “Theresa.”

Theresa. Her dad’s gone and her mother is dying and she has no one to help her right now. And everything hurts. And her name is Theresa.

Your thumb glides over her name.

The light of the screen helps guide you back to bed.

Back to a man who doesn’t wake when you climb under the covers and into his arms.

He only sighs in his sleep and holds you tighter.

It only takes a minute or two to fall easily back to a relaxed and blissful sleep.

______

NEXT

MASTERLIST

SERIES MASTERLIST

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

Rebecca Ferguson: "I'm done with super power women"

At the same time that Rebecca Ferguson is seen in cinemas in the blockbuster Dune: Part two, she dreams of making small films and acting in theatre. For Gunnar Rehlin, she talks about the sex scenes, the successes - and why there won't be more films with Tom Cruise.

Rebecca Ferguson is tired of playing "super power women".

-I'm good at it, but it's boring, she says.

Therefore, there will be no more impossible missions with Tom Cruise - she was asked to make another film in the series, but declined.

-For the first time I feel like a free agent (a player without a contract with a club, ed. note), she says and laughs.

Instead, she wants to enter the narrow world of cinema.

- And then I want to be on stage. I've never done it, I didn't study acting, I was almost thrown into it. So right now I'm sitting with the freedom, but I don't have any pieces. The other day I read a play for the first time, I haven't done it before.

Rebecca Ferguson wants to make smaller film and theater It might seem a little contradictory that we're sitting at the luxurious Rosewood Hotel in London talking about Rebecca's desire to make smaller, leaner films, as she's currently doing interviews for the mega-budget production Dune: Part Two, with an estimated production cost of over $120 million. This day I meet Rebecca and Stellan Skarsgård, the day after I meet Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and the director Denis Villeneuve, among others.

But Rebecca's desire to do smaller films seems sincere. She says:

- Just this morning, I received an offer to do a small role in a studio film, for a lot of money. But I don't want to feel like I'm working just for money. I discussed this with my husband. Many people say that you should strike while the iron is hot, but I don't want to. I'm very happy with what I'm doing now, I want to do roles that neither bring me down nor lift me up. I don't care.

Now, this shouldn't be taken as saying she doesn't want to make a third Dune movie. Number two ends with a cliffhanger that points to a sequel.

-I have spoken to Denis about it and I would very much like to do number three, she says.

In the Dune films, a powerful science fiction epic set on distant planets, she plays the mother of Timothee Chalamet's protagonist.

- But I don't just see her as a mother, in Dune: Part Two she is a person who wants to get her way, says Rebecca.

"A lot of talk about the sex scenes" And that is probably something that also characterizes Rebecca Ferguson as a person. She is an extremely nice and spontaneous person, who is really not afraid to speak up when there is something she wants to protest against, but also does not shy away from handing out spontaneous hugs.

She has a very Swedish way of looking at work and its consequences – such as doing nude and sex scenes, something that was plentiful in the TV series The White Queen.

- It's not particularly convenient to do sex scenes, man, I have control over the scenes I do and what I show. This couple that Max Irons and I played in The White Queen had many children, so there was as much battlefield as sex in the series. When I was interviewed in the US, there was a lot of talk about the sex scenes and I said: "How do you make children in the US? This is how it works in Europe". By the way, the series was made in two different versions, there is more sex and nudity in the American one than the one shown in England. Sex sells, that's how it is.

Nowadays, London is both home and the hub of her career. She previously lived in Simrishamn. Her mother, who is from England, had moved here and Rebecca followed. For a while she kept the home in Simrishamn (her former partner Ludwig, with whom she has a son, lives there) parallel to the apartment she got in Richmond.

Began his career in the TV soap "New Times" But let's go even further back in time, when Rebecca lived in Stockholm and her career began, with a role in the TV soap New Times. She says that it was a coincidence that she was cast in the series, that it was because she attended Adolf Fredrik's music school and could sing.

The job with New Times caused her to miss high school. She moved away from home, took different jobs, enrolled in high school later, ended up in the United States where she was in a Swedish-American TV soap.

-Imagine being 17 years old and spending a year in Miami Beach, where the biggest problem was whether it would be the pool or the beach.

After that year, she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do.

- I traveled around, was in Thailand and got a diving certificate and wanted to become a diving instructor. I love the sea, love to dive - even though I suffer from claustrophobia. To swim with fish and to float around...

In 2011, she was back in Sweden and met the director Richard Hobert, who asked if she wanted to be in his upcoming film En enkel till Antibes. In it, Rebecca played a cold-blooded woman trying to trick an aging man, played by Sven-Bertil Taube. The film received good reviews, a foreign agent caught the eye of Rebecca and not too long after that she had auditioned for and landed the lead role in the BBC series The White Queen, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Saying no to more Mission: Impossible Soon after, she caught the eye of Tom Cruise, which led to a contract for three films in the Mission: Impossible series. Since the third has been split into two films, number two (Mission: Impossible – Dead reckoning part two) will arrive later this year.

But there won't be a fourth film with Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, says Rebecca.

- I'm done, I've turned down part four.

What now occupies her most is the TV series Silo, which is filmed in a studio outside London. Rebecca stars in the dystopian sci-fi series about how humanity is forced to live in a large underground silo after the apocalypse. The first season was a great success, now the filming of season two is underway.

A few days before we meet, Rebecca was at the gala premiere of Dune: Part two in Paris. But while Stellan Skarsgård and the others went to the party, Rebecca had to take the train back to London in order to be there early the next morning at the recording.

-I film basically every day, it's a lot of stress. The others from Dune travel the world and do PR. I'm doing New York, I don't have time anymore.

Still getting starstruck Both Dune and Silo are sci-fi, but it's not like it's a genre that's particularly close to her heart. She says she enjoys the complexity of the worlds depicted and that the Dune films made this accessible in a way that the books they're based on couldn't.

- I like imagination, I'm at an age where you no longer fly on broomsticks. I want to go on adventures, and that's more than fantasy and science fiction.

A few years ago, she married Rory St Clair Gainer, with whom she has a daughter. Rebecca is keen to keep the family out of the limelight, although they sometimes accompany the filming around the world. The husband is a businessman and philanthropist.

Rebecca's work includes filming with mega stars such as Tom Cruise, Meryl Street, Hugh Grant and Hugh Jackman. Can Rebecca still be starstruck? Well, she became that, for example, during the filming of Dune: Part two, when an important role was played by the legendary Christopher Walken.

-I sat on my throne, with a cloth over my face, and did not dare to make eye contact with him. How could I dare speak to him? Then someone said he knows a lot about Marlon Brando, so when I got the chance I asked him to tell me about Brando - and he did.

Rebecca's career has long gone straight up. How does she herself view the successes?

- There are people out there who drive around with scripts and go to castings and never get any roles and who are probably better than I am. I don't mean that I'm bad, I work very hard at what I do.

- But I have never seen a future, I have never predicted that it would be a success. I haven't had sharp elbows to make it in Hollywood. I've wanted to do what I'm doing now for a long time, and it feels like such a damn luxury.

Translated from swedish for @rebeccalouisaferguson

[nickmakura]

Adult Scooby-Doo TV Show Pitch

So, the idea with my theoretical Adult Swim Scooby-Doo TV Show is to avoid any inclination this is a reimagining. I'm envisioning this is as being a sort of continuation of the concepts and story present in Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, and Alien Invaders. But, attempting to keep up the original episodic format of "Where Are You?" and breaking some limits of what you can put these characters through.

Part of the reason "Zombie Island" works, is because these are the same characters we grew up with. But they're a little older now too. They all have jobs, they're long past high-school, they have adult expectations. But for the most part, Hanna-Barbera doesn't change anything about Mystery Inc's personality, and instead drops them into a scenario that is dark and gritty. Which makes it far more terrifying.

But another reason is Zombie Island keeps the inherent comedy without sacrificing the horror. Good stuff.

So how do you take the concepts of Zombie Island, and transform it into a monster of the week Scooby-Doo show?

Coast to Coast with Scooby-Doo!

Part I: The Plot

After the harrowing experiences dealing with true brushes with the supernatural and the paranormal, Daphne Blake is now more convinced then ever that she needs live footage of a real honest to good ghost. If they can get one on camera, and report it, this will be the find of a century.

Sticking with the original plan, Scoob & The Gang travel across America investigating real folklore and horrors, in hopes of finding something real.

Part II: The Formula

So, Coast to Coast With Scooby-Doo is kind of a mix of genres. But for the most part, I want it to be a Horror Comedy Mystery show, but it's also a road trip show. One of the things I liked about Zombie Island, is that it took place in New Orleans, and introduced us to real New Orleans cuisine. From beignets, to po' boys, crawdads, gumbo and jambalaya. But it also told us about the voodoo scene in New Orleans.

I'm now dead set on heading out to New Orleans sometime just to try the food, and I think that's something that can really help drag Scooby-Doo down to earth. It makes you really want to visit these places, and maybe investigate a haunting while you're there too.

So, here's the setup.

Spooky Cold Open, probably a Murder

Theme Song

Scoob & The Gang ride the mystery machine into town, probably with some sort of banter. Velma brings up where they're going, and Shag is like "Yo man, it's been a minute since we've been out to New York! You guys think Trinidad Golden Palace is still open? Like they had one crazy Shark Sandwich dude!" Then another member of the gang brings up they're actually looking to go to the statue of Liberty, where, by the way, there is ACTUAL rumors of buried treasure and ghosts. This changes depending on local

The gang stumble upon mystery, ask questions, find out gruesome details, meet suspects. Daphne & Fred interview some people.

They film the hauntings as they're happening, and search for clues.

Then, as the episode progresses we figure out whether or not this thing is real or fake. If it's real, the gang have to find a way to take down the monster using ingenuity and what they've found in the episode, or they have to capture the culprit and breakdown the mystery.

Small things, but I feel like having a constant bet between characters whether or not it's real or if it's fake would be something really fun actually. I think the audience would have fun getting in on the question too, and guessing along with the gang.

Part III: The Adult Part

So, this is a show for adults, but the fact it's FOR adults will not override that it IS Scooby-Doo. Which is to say, that it will have murder, swearing, mentions of sex, but it will not go beyond what you expect in terms of tone from Scooby-Doo. It's a fun horror comedy mystery show about 4 friends and their dog who investigate spooky mysteries. You can't change that core premise or you risk it no longer being Scooby-Doo and something else entirely.

So if you need a member of the gang to swear for a scene, you can, but it can't breach too far out of character for the group. Like Fred can say fuck, but he's still the leader Dad type guy who likes Daphne, and likes building absurd rube goldberg type traps. Shaggy can smoke weed, but he's still the goofy moral center of the group. He makes fun sandwiches, he cracks dumb jokes, he's scared of getting stabbed, but he sticks around for his friends. Velma can be a lesbian, but she's still the quirky smart character who loves books and science.

But most importantly you need to make sure it's still abundantly clear to the audience that no matter how much drama or crazy shit they see, Scoob & The Gang are all best friends who love working together.

[emprcaesar]

just watched poor things!!!!

i find this movie so delightfully strange. in the beginning it really was such a fever dream with the fervent and colorful setting. l liked the black and white in the beginning to show her constricting circumstances without any color and then when she leaves with duncan color enters her life. she doesn’t understand the situation but she is filled with such curiosity.

her being her own mother is so incredible. it reminds me of that one ethel cain lyric.

she can never escape the melancholy of her mothers life the hopelessness and monstrosity of all of it. she slowly sees the horrors and understands why someone could be drawn to suicide. but the difference is she has a need to know more that draws her to believe in the good in people. she says multiple times that people can always improve. people can be awful but she believes they can always be better.

the setting and costumes and makeup in this movie is INCREDIBLE. i won’t be surprised if they win the oscar for best makeup and hairstyling. they explore this world through the costumes and makeup. this whimsical and futuristic edwardian made me fall in love. the way bella’s costume reflects her maturity when in the beginning her clothes are reminiscent of diapers and childlike silhouette. and as she matures her style changes and shows her own personality that is not influenced by whatever man she is with (when she is a prostitute in paris).

her father figure being called god because his name is godwin is so funny and deep. she relies on him and her religion and faith is dependent on him. but like any person who is raised with religion and didn’t anything different you begin to question it. she cares for him and so much of who she is (her vocabulary and way of thinking) is because of being “raised” by him. but she also develops her own ideas and beliefs when she meets new people and experiences new things. when she returns home at the end of the film and tells her he never made her she was a complete person before and after him.

the men in this movie is so interesting. harry was an amazing character. when he apologized for purposefully upsetting her because he just hates her blissful ignorance and happiness and she’s like it’s okay i understand and i’m glad you did it. and when she told him he’s a hurt little boy and that’s why he act in such cynical way.

duncan who is a crybaby that scream in bella’s face and flips out on her and she meets his emotions with complete apathy and reason. her past husband that said she was his property to conquer and she did not waiver in her determination and confidence in her own being.

i have to talk about cinematography the camera angles and the fisheye lens and the wide shots were so captivating and interesting. it gave this movie such a unique and singular look that you rarely see in film. those shots would only work in a movie as strange as this one. it truly was a marvel.

the movie was a bit slow in the beginning and the plot was fairly boring when she was just having sex with duncan ALL THE TIME. but it started to pick up when she was on the ship and began to question the world around her and her own morals.

i’ve seen a lot of criticism for this movie saying it was like a pedophiles fantasy and glorified it but i think you are entirely missing the point of the film if you believe that. yes all these grown men going for this women with the mind of a child is very disturbing but that’s the point. it’s calling out men for their strange sexually fantasies. duncan begins to hate bella when she begins to mentally mature, saying she lost her spark. the spark being her having a child’s mind and blissful ignorance.

there is A LOT of sex in this movie its one of the big plot points. i actually don’t really like sex scenes in film and tv so that’s my one critique but i do understand why it furthers the plot. the sexuality of women and how bella felt it to be liberating even when she was prostitute and felt indifference for act when she wasn’t given the choice who she would have sex with she still took pleasure in it like when toinette gives her head then cuddles with her. she likes sex but she loves the before and after as well. she wants to speak with someone and understand who they are and she wants the aftercare of sex as well. she doesn’t want sex to be this one sided transaction she want both participants to feel safe and happy.

also love the score for this movie. it was eerie and strange, but oddly beautiful.

i really liked this feminine twist on such a classic story like frankenstein considering mary shelley wrote frankenstein as a desperate plea to her father because she felt neglected in her childhood because of him. frankenstein has always been feminist literature. all in all i’d give this movie a 4.6/5 i really enjoyed it!

[deramin2]

If we're going for the definition of Christmas being "Movies that happen around Christmas where that setting frames some of what's happening in the broader narrative," then I have 3 gay Holiday movies to check out.

Directly Holiday Movies:

Bros (2020):

Romcom, 115 minutes

Bobby Lieber is a successful New York City queer history podcaster, failed children's book writer, and rejected screenwriter, who's just won a community award for Best White Cis Gay Man. He announced he will be the first curator of a new national LGBTQ+ history museum in Manhattan.

His new coworkers are deeply passionate about the work but also squabble over everything, escalating it with intra-community discourse squabbling about who's the most oppressed and therefore should be the person that gets what they want. As someone in Very Online queer communities I can't emphasis enough how accurate and real this is and is very well-handled as an affectionate joke from within the community. The subtext is that they aren't wrong and what they're experiencing is real and needs to be factored in, but also they're stopping anything at all from actually happening that could materially help their community because they're too caught up trying to perfect the details.

He prefers Grindr hookups to romantic relationships. He regularly hate-watches Hallheart movies while secretly longing to be truly loved in more than just passing.

Bobby goes to the launch party for his friend's new queer dating app. There he meets Aaron Shepard, a hot but boring estate lawyer and they hit it off and kiss. They ultimately meet up again and the romcom unfolds in unconventional ways.

Bros both play into the romcom genre and resist it, especially how it erases what queer relationships are really like even when the characters are the same gender. It's a queer movie really made for the queer community and not the straight gaze. It's our jokes for us. It has some of the funniest sex scenes I've ever seen. The ending is absolute perfection. Overall extremely funny and intelligent movie.

Holiday connection: Bobby and Aaron celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas together at one point.

Spoiler Alert (2020)

Medical Death Memoir, 112 minutes

Based on the memoir 2017 Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies by Michael Ausiello about his partner Kit Cowan dying of cancer after being together 14 years. (The movie tells you this is the end at the beginning.) It's basically in 3 acts.

Act 1, is a romcom about how Michael and Kit met at a gay club, and instantly connect. It's about the comedy of trying to integrate into each other's lives, insecurities, and weirdness. Like Michael's secret all-consuming fandom. This is the first long-term relationship either of them have had.

Act 2, the relationship 12 years into it and where they are now.

Act 3, Kit is diagnosed with cancer and they reconcile with mortality and running out of time.

This is a very poignant film about love, lost, and how relationships are never as perfect as movies and TV make them seem. One way or another they all end, and you have to reconcile what all those feelings mean. It's about the string of platonic and familial relationships that come along with romantic ones and how important that love is, too. How our networks hold us together. It's about forgiveness and making sure you really talk to the people you care about while you can.

Respect if you can't handle another film about queer medical death. But it's nice to have one that's not about AIDS. It's also a really good study of the reality of cancer for anyone. I found it to be a really powerful film that made me come away wanting to actually live my life.

Holiday connection: Christmas is Michael's favorite holiday that fills him with magic and wonder and the passage of time is marked by Christmases.

Holiday Movie Adjacent:

Big Eden (2000)

Romcom, 117 minutes

One of the first gay romcoms ever, and hugely influential. This isn't a holiday movie, but it's directly engaging with most of the tropes of Hallmark movies, so I think it deserves to be here.

New York City gay artist Henry Hart suddenly leaves his home and career to go to the remote mountain town of Big Eden Montana to care for his ailing grandfather Sam after a stroke.

Through the church gossip he hears his high school crush Dean Stewart has moved back to town with his boys after getting a divorce, and Henry realizes he still has feelings about him.

The widow Thayer offers to help cook for Henry and Sam. The meals are delivered by shy Native American general store owner Pike Dexter, who's been harboring a crush on Henry since high school. He's been ordering Henry's fine paints for him. The general store has a flock of old men who spend the whole day gossiping there.

Widow Theyer's cooking is dreadful 1950s white bread Americana stuff. Pike decides he wants to make things nice for Henry, so he teaches himself gourmet cooking and makes increasingly elaborate meals. Then more romcom stuff happens.

One thing I love about it is that Henry, Dean, and Pike are closeted. Henry and Dean both express fear about coming out. But everyone in the town is friendly with the open hardware store lesbians. As their being queer becomes more obvious, it's shown that everyone around them would actually love and respect them and would appreciate being let into their inner lives. It's outside societal conditioning and outdated assumptions that's made them scared. In 2000 this message was a big deal. Everything else we had was tragedies about how society hates us. This resisted all of that.

This movie leans into a lot of tropes with so much love and sincerity, but also interrogates them and makes them queer and really has something very intelligent to say about how we deserve to be viewed in stories. Gay Hallmark films attempt to recreate stories like this on the surface, but lack any depth or real queerness and just end up being a warped straight parody. Seeing the real deal makes you really see what absolute garbage lesser films are.

[nothingunrealistic]

New York City has been the backdrop for many TV series over the years, from “Law & Order” to “Sex and the City” to “Succession.” But the Showtime series “Billions,” which ends on Sunday after seven seasons, may have been the New Yorkiest of them all. It’s clear from the opening credits, which feature an eagle-eye’s view of Lower Manhattan — but no actors — that New York City is not merely a location but the star. The showrunners, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, planned it that way. “The city plays a central role on the show,” said Mr. Levien. “We always felt like being here and knowing the city was like our secret weapon.” Mr. Koppelman and Mr. Levien were both born on Long Island but eventually moved to New York City. (“Nothing makes you more desperate to be in Manhattan than growing up on Long Island,” Mr. Koppelman said.) The two first worked together on the screenplay for the 1997 film “Rounders,” set in the underground poker scene in New York, and they went on to collaborate on “Knockaround Guys,” “Runaway Jury,” “Solitary Man” and “Ocean’s Thirteen.” But “Billions” was their love letter to New York City. New York has been integral to the plot, which follows the endless battle between hedge fund billionaires (Bobby “Axe” Axelrod, played by Damian Lewis, and in later seasons, Mike Prince, played by Corey Stoll) and the U.S. attorney, Chuck Rhoades Jr. (played by Paul Giamatti).

The characters have visited hundreds of locations in the city, from the Thurgood Marshall United States Court House on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan to Morningside Castle in Morningside Heights and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Scenes have been filmed at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and Yonkers Raceway. “There was almost nowhere that we couldn’t shoot, that we wanted to,” Mr. Levien said. The neighborhoods where the “Billions” characters live also serve as shorthand for their personalities. Chuck’s father, Chuck Rhoades Sr., is an old school, blue-blood businessman, so naturally he lives on the wealthiest stretch of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, not far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chuck Jr., whose positions as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York (and New York attorney general) involve prosecuting financial crimes, lives in a Brooklyn brownstone (the exterior shots are of 49 Eighth Avenue, in Park Slope). “Chuck Sr. would not experiment with another neighborhood just because he could, financially,” said Mr. Koppelman. “He’s not going to go try a loft in TriBeCa.” And it makes sense that Chuck Jr. lives on an understated (but gorgeous) block outside Manhattan: “Chuck would have been a little bit rebellious to his dad’s ways,” Mr. Koppelman said. Brooklyn? “Senior thinks it’s like the frontier, basically.” Axe, the character played by Damian Lewis, is the CEO of Axe Capital, a multibillion-dollar hedge fund. His Manhattan home is an airy, light-filled penthouse, high above the city. “It’s this incredible glass box built on top of this building downtown in TriBeCa,” said Mr. Levien. “Because, you know, he is somebody that would go try some neighborhood, live where he wants, open himself up to new experiences.” The location was an actual apartment where the show filmed for a couple of years — and it impressed even the showrunners. “If you’re a New Yorker, it’s fascinating to walk through what a $60 million apartment is,” Mr. Koppelman said.

As die-hard denizens of New York City, the characters on “Billions” eat at all the best and most famous restaurants. There are scenes set inside upscale white-tablecloth rooms at expensive eateries like Keens Steakhouse, Babbo, Craft, Ai Fiori, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, Michael’s, The Pool and Marea. But the characters also visit more humble spots: Wo Hop, Gray’s Papaya, Joe’s Pizza, Old Town Bar, Costello’s Claddagh Inn. There are new favorites (Una Pizza Napoletana) as well as New York classics, like Peter Luger’s, Cibao, Second Avenue Deli and Barney Greengrass. Mr. Koppelman said that for New Yorkers, food information is a valuable currency. “Finding the best bao is as important as finding the best four-star flambé or something,” he laughed. “The show was absolutely trying to show you the real thing over and over again each time. Where’s the best hot dog, where’s the best burger?” New York City chefs — including Daniel Boulud, David Chang, Kwame Onwuachi, Tom Colicchio, Alex Guarnaschelli — have made cameo appearances in “Billions,” weaving the show intricately into the food scene. (The show featured so many restaurants that someone wrote a book detailing the locations.) “Because we’re New Yorkers and we care about New York, we care about these restaurants, we care about these people, we want to find a way to showcase what they love about their place and what they do,” said Mr. Koppelman. (And at some restaurants, it’s not just the food that the characters are into: In the first episode of Season 4, Chuck Jr. and the police commissioner visit Sparks Steakhouse and re-enact the 1985 murder of Paul Castellano, the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family — a hit that an F.B.I. investigator said was arranged by John Gotti.) In addition to celebrated places, the show features the occasional lesser-known gem — like Chartwell, “the world’s Only Winston Churchill bookstore.” When he needs some quick cash, Chuck Jr. sells his collection of Winston Churchill books. Being featured on a television show can be a boost for business and for a shop owner’s self-esteem. “Most places that we got feedback from that were featured in the show were extremely happy to be associated and to be recognized sort of like nationally and internationally,” said Mr. Levien.

Watching movies set in New York when they were younger inspired both of the showrunners. The Coney Island scenes in “Warriors” and the dinner scene in “The Godfather,” they said, were especially memorable. “The walking in the back door at the Copa in ‘Goodfellas’ is an all-time classic,” Mr. Levien said. Mr. Koppelman was in awe of the Sal’s Pizza scenes in “Do the Right Thing.” “I’ll never forget the extra cheese argument in that movie. It reveals so much about character,” he said. “It’s a very important thing in my cinematic journey as a young person wanting to do this — we thought over and over and over and over and over again about Sal’s Pizza.” There was only one downside of filming in New York, Mr. Levien said: “Sirens and car horns. Ruining takes. When these actors are locked in concentrating on some serious emotional monologue or moment — and you know, it’s like, ‘Hold for the police helicopter. Hold for the fire truck.’” For their next show, Mr. Levien and Mr. Koppelman may head to Florida. “We’re certainly really animated by the idea of making a show set in Miami,” Mr. Koppelman said. Still, Mr. Levien said filming in New York was “such a privilege.” Mr. Koppelman put it this way: “I do think, as is often the case for a Long Island-born New Yorker, who has been a New Yorker for 35 years, Billy Joel put it best: I’ve loved these days.”