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lettheladylead · 4 years ago

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avoid the unhappy ending (ch10)

ships/characters: Goldie, Scrooge, Scrooge/Goldie words (ch10): ~1800 summary: Goldie comes to town to see Scrooge. Instead, she somehow manages to run into literally everyone else. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108943/

[1 & 2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Chapter 10 under the cut:

There’s a lot of comic references in these next chapters. Nothing that couldn't fit into DT17 canon, so I’ll quickly summarize for context:

Scrooge and Goldie met in Dawson during the Klondike Gold Rush. She drugged him and stole his giant gold nugget. As punishment, he took her to his claim and made her work for him digging gold. Goldie stayed because she wanted to steal Scrooge’s lock box which contained the deed to his property, the giant gold nugget, and (unknown to her) a lock of Goldie’s hair that was cut off in a scuffle with a bear. They went their separate ways after falling in love and not wanting to admit it to each other. (‘Prisoner of White Agony Creek’)

Two years later, Scrooge made his first million dollars and decided to go back to Dawson to settle down. He went back to his claim in White Agony and grabbed his old stuff, then wrote Goldie a letter and bought her a box of chocolates. He lost them on the trip to Dawson and decided that trying to settle down was bad for him and he should just keep working instead. Fifty years later he found his stuff and she finally read the letter, but nothing came of it. (‘Last Sled to Dawson’)

Beakley gave her directions to the right spot. How had she gone all these years unaware of a Klondike Room? Maybe she wouldn't have anything to steal from there, but it'd be nice to explore and enjoy the nostalgia. And hell, maybe there was something to steal. A goose-egg sized gold nugget, perhaps.

The path she was going in took her towards the Other Bin, which Scrooge thought was a secret, but Goldie had been there more than a few times to borrow certain mystical items and even stored some of her own there. Having Scrooge keep them safe was much easier than trying to build her own magically fortified bin.

And it was kind of nice to have things of hers in his home. A bit more meaningful than a toothbrush, at least.

She could see the room that led to the Other Bin down the hall, and the one Beakley had mentioned should be just a few doors further. Goldie took a moment to peek inside and took note that the room was still as junked up as always. A housekeeper and a ghost butler, but Scrooge still managed to have rooms that looked that bad.

Four more doors and Goldie wondered if this was an elaborate, annoying prank Bentina was playing on her as revenge for...well, a lot of things. Didn’t seem like her style. But she supposed it didn’t matter, she was checking the room either way.

Opening the door as quietly as possible, Goldie’s eyes widened at the display in front of her. The room was chilly, but filled with some very familiar pieces of furniture. It felt like a cabin. Scratch that, it felt like the cabin. His cabin.

On the other side of the room, she (finally!) saw Scrooge - wearing his old coat and even older hat - sitting with his back to her on the edge of a bed (and based on how it looked, she was pretty sure that was the bed), looking into a little lock box on his lap.

Of course, it was the box, too. Walking into this room felt like walking into a time machine. And she wanted to say something clever and cute. Some reference to their first meeting or something that would send a shiver down his spine.

Instead, she simply said, “Hey, Handsome.”

Scrooge didn’t react right away, then slowly closed the box and put it to his side before turning around to look at her. “Goldie, Dear, I wondered when you’d find me.”

She closed the door and walked over to the bed, taking a seat on the other side. “So you did know I was here.”

“Aye, Gyro sent me a message about it a few hours ago.”

Goldie turned to him and scoffed. “It has not been that long!”

He just smiled at her and she felt her heart beat faster. Damn that man. She wanted to yell at him for all the trouble she'd gone through, but one look at the space made all her complaints melt away. Clearly there was something more important going on.

“So...how didn’t I know about this?” she asked, stretching out her arms and emphasizing the room.

“You never asked,” he responded with a shrug, moving the box down to the floor and under the bed.

Goldie fell back and spread out her limbs all over the mattress, sighing at the familiar creaks and groans of the old, worn thing. “I can’t believe we slept on this.”

“Don’t complain - you only slept on it for a month,” Scrooge said as he laid down next to her. “Feels terrible, doesn’t it?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, turning to the side so she was looking at him. “It could be worse.”

They stayed silent for a minute while Goldie stuck her hand out and started playing with his whiskers, enjoying the smile and blush that graced his face while she did.

“Seems like you talked to the whole family today.”

“Mhmm.” She kept playing with his feathers while she answered. “Everyone wanted to harass me about not marrying you.”

His face got a little redder. “I didn’t ask them to.”

“I know. You didn’t ask me to, either.”

Scrooge’s eyes darted around the room in a clear attempt to avoid looking at her until he sat up and cleared his throat, cheeks still very colorful. “Um...not in so many words, but…”

Goldie leaned on her arms and watched him, smiling and enjoying his nervousness. Together on-and-off for one hundred and twenty years and he still got like this around her. It was so adorable it bordered on annoying, but she loved it nonetheless.

She sat up next to him and planted a hand flat on his chest, leaning over and kissing his cheek. “I’m just kidding, Scroogey.”

He laughed awkwardly and tugged at his collar, not wanting to continue that specific line of conversation. He started playing with his hands and his eyes darted towards the side of the bed where he’d hidden the lock box.

Goldie smirked. “You know I already know what’s in there. If you think I’ll be weirded out about the hair, you’re a century too late.”

“Ach,” Scrooge grumbled and shrugged her hand off. “It’s not that. Being in here with you...it just brings me back. I feel like you could take the nugget any second.”

“Well I certainly could, if you’d like to chase me down,” she said smugly, started to crawl past him to the other side of the bed.

Scrooge quickly grabbed her wrists and roughly pulled her back to where she was before. “Not on your life, you heisting harpy!”

Goldie winced momentarily as her shoulder stung, but shook it off before he could notice. She smiled and leaned closer, nuzzling her beak under his. “So what are you doing in here, Scrooge? I've been looking for you everywhere."

“Oh, I heard,” he said with a chuckle, letting go of her wrists. “Duckworth stopped by a few times to tell me if you’d gotten close.” He laughed harder at Goldie’s irritated expression. “I cannae believe you went and asked Beakley for help!”

Goldie groaned and shoved her side into his, trying and failing to seem annoyed. “You’re such a lousy old sourdough.”

He shoved her back. “And yet, here you are.”

“Here I am.” She leaned her head onto his shoulder and stared at the furniture set up in front of them - it was his old table and chair set. She was pretty sure the pan she cooked him eggs and bacon in was there, too.

He sighed and leaned his head on top of hers. She could hear his heart beating faster at the contact.

“So…” she mumbled softly. “Why are you in here?”

There was a few seconds of silence before he finally answered. “...you’ll just make fun of me for bein’ sentimental.”

“That’s probably true, but my curiosity stands.” She scooted herself around him so she’d be facing him directly. “I don’t remember today being special for us, but your staff seems to think it is.”

“It’s not special for you,” he said with a shrug, not looking at her. “Just for me.”

“...why’s that?”

He blushed again and she raised an eyebrow. “Scroogey, just tell me. I promise not to make fun of you. For at least an entire minute.”

“It’s nothin’ ridiculous,” Scrooge grumbled. “It’s just...it’s an anniversary. Of me...buyin’ somethin’. For you.”

She gave him a curious expression. “That’s what all this embarrassment is about? I don’t remember you getting me anything.”

“I never gave it to you,” he answered with a shrug. “Lost it in an ice storm.”

Goldie huffed and put her hands on his cheeks, forcing Scrooge to make eye contact with her. “What was it?”

He put his hands over hers. “It was just a stupid box of chocolates.”

She smiled. “How romantic.”

“I suppose.”

“Do you spend the day in here for every mundane anniversary?” Goldie said with a smile as she pulled away, moving to the edge of the bed. “At your age, I’m surprised every day of the year isn’t reminiscent of something or other.”

“What about you?” he asked, genuinely curious. “You’re goin' to pretend you don’t have a million things to celebrate?”

Goldie stood up and chuckled. “Of course I do. I always visit you on the day we first met.”

“And you always steal somethin' gold.”

She turned her head to give him a sultry look. “Would you expect anything else?”

He stood up behind her and let his hands drift to her hips. “From you? Never.”

Goldie spun around and ignored the sparkle in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m glad I came today. I always enjoy when you’re nostalgic and this room really takes the cake.”

Scrooge pulled her a little closer. “Oh? Even with my family bothering you all day?” He smirked. “Don’t tell me ol’ Glitterin’ Goldie is startin’ to enjoy domestic life…”

She just hummed softly for a moment before closing the gap between them and pressing her beak to his very gently, gliding her left hand from the back of his head to his whiskers so she could play with them a bit more. She pulled away after a few seconds. “I think I could deal with this every once in a while.”

He broke out into a huge grin and leaned over to peck her beak quickly before squeezing her tight around her middle, lifting her up, and spinning her around.

“Whoa, hey!” she squeaked as she held onto his shoulders. “Watch your back, Old Man!”

Scrooge laughed as he lost his balance and they both fell back onto the bed - Goldie dizzy on her back and Scrooge winded on top of her. It only took a few seconds before Goldie started laughing with him and then they kissed again, losing themselves in the moment and the memories.

A few minutes later and they were back to where they started - laying on the familiar bed and staring at each other.

“Any chance you’re really plannin’ to stay for dinner?”

Goldie huffed and held back a laugh. “Come on, Scroogey. No one besides you and Della want me taking up a seat at that table. And she’s probably on the fence about it still.”

He reached over and grabbed her hand, holding it in front of his chest. “Just come anyway. I have a feelin’ we’ll just be talkin’ about you whether you’re there or not. Might as well come and defend yourself.”

She laughed again and tugged her hand out of his grasp. “Well with an offer like that, how can a girl refuse?”

#scroldie #ducktales #goldie o'gilt #scrooge mcduck #fic #fics #avoid the unhappy ending

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teejaysnow · 3 years ago

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I was tagged by the v nice @peacestew (thank you. I think... 😝💜😝) to do this tag game thing, so here we go.

Rules: Tag people you want to catch up with/get to know better

Three ships: Well, these two boys have pretty much been hogging my whole heart for the last few years, so... *shrug*

Last show: I found Dawson’s Creek on Netflix the other day and took a deep dive into the sea of nostalgia

Last movie: Finally got around to watching Saving Mr Banks last week. (And despite adoring Mary Poppins, loving Tom Hanks, and wanting to marry Emma Thompson, I ended up hating the movie - go figure.)

Last song: According to my mobile that was Only the Brave by Louis Tomlinson. (Unless alarms count, because my alarm is Tarjei singing Magiske Toner)

Currently reading: Have just bought You Will Get Through This Night by Daniel Howell, so it’s between that and rereading my big bang fic over and over and bloody over again (because editing is the bane of my life).

Currently craving: Food, ice cream and a toilet (and not necessarily in that order) - but there’s a hedgehog asleep on my chest so that’s not happening anytime soon, apparently 🙄

And since I’m nosy, I want to know more about all of you - so if you read this, consider yourself tagged!

#ot #tag game #my shit

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zalrb · 4 years ago

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Oh fun!

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I hear the song every Halloween in a Halloween store and I love it)

Season 3 being my favourite

youtube

Skins Series 1 & 2 (I have the song)

youtube

True Blood (It made me SUPER uncomfortable for about two seasons before I got used to it but it’s such a great intro)

Supernatural Seasons 1-7 (when I still watched. I used to always look forward to see what they’d do with the title cards).

Season 5 was my favourite title card

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (OF COURSE)

youtube

Friday Night Lights (it’s actually quite a sentimental opening and if I rewatch it, I will get misty-eyed)

vimeo

Not TV but I have to put the Harry Potter title cards (especially if Hedwig’s theme is play, I nearly RIOTED during the Half-Blood Prince when we don’t hear it)

My favourite would have to be to be Prisoner of Azkaban (LUMOS MAXIMA! but I do have a special place in my heart for the Deathly Hallows Part 1 because it’s a little trill and my friend next to me just whispered “oh my god” because we were just entering our 20s when it came out so it felt like we were losing our childhood and it was such a weird/great moment)

Not a movie but Lord of the Rings (after the first one, when I saw the other two in the theatre, without a fail, the audience would clap at seeing the title cards)

The O.C.

This is really more about nostalgia than anything else but I remember when I got a TV in my room AND my mom got me The OC season 1 DVD boxset for Christmas and I just spent my weekends watching it and rewatching it SO often that sometimes my mom will randomly hum the song now and go “Californiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, remember when I couldn’t get you out of your room at ALL over the Holiday break?” so I just love it now.

Grey’s Anatomy (seasons 1-2 when they still had an opening song)

I just thought it was the right kind of opening song, there was something slightly off-kilter and weird about it that I really enjoyed and that seemed to fit the kind of disorienting nature of the interns.

Third Watch

youtube

NO ONE seems to remember Third Watch but this was one of those adult shows I watched as a kid and couldn’t tell anyone at school that I was allowed to watch. The theme song got me SO AMPED and it’s SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 90s, I fucking LOVE it.

One on One (MAN, I need to find a way to rewatch this show).

Martin (OF. COURSE.)

I would go around as a kid just being like “Martiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin)

House

I always found it unnecessarily dramatic? It was awesome.

CSI MIAMI!

IT WAS SO FUCKING CORNY. IT’S AMAZING.

Rugrats

Look. That song slaps. To the point that Blackstreet and Mya made a song to it for the movie.

Entourage

Again, this is more oddly sentimental? Entourage was a show with so many fucking problems but I find it comforting to watch and whenever I do rewatch it and the opening plays, I kinda feel like I’m being reunited with like ... not friends ... but acquaintances?

Dawson’s Creek (ORIGINAL I DON’T WANNA WAIT DAWSON’S CREEK)

That shit is ICONIC. I remember when my cousin would start watching it and I would run to the TV.

The Sopranos (OF COURSE)

I’m going to go Canadian for a sec.

Student Bodies (this. shit. was. my. JAM.).

I still know all the words.

Breaker High (will never be able to take Ryan Gosling seriously, although this is Canadian-American, so,).

I wanted to go to this high school SO. BADLY.

Law and Order SVU (it has to be on here)

My Country: The New Age (I have the song!)

This is a fucking epic opening.

Sky Castle (I have the song)

It’s also a great, creepy opening.

Misfits! (Gotta love it)

Special shout out to Roswell for being 90s angsty OH MY GOD

AND CHARMED (I am the suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun, I am the aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir)

Also Saved by the Bell, for some reason TBS would ALWAYS play reruns in the morning so at my aunt’s house, I would get ready to Saved By the Bell.

Oh my God, I almost forgot early season Smallville. This is really more about nostalgia (somebody saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave meeeeeeeeeee)

There are more, lol.

I forgot Game of Thrones.

But to be honest, that’s season 8′s fault.

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chriscdcase95 · 5 years ago

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Halloween: Why the Thorn Trilogy was as underrated as "Twenty Years Later" was overrated

So yeah, I said it. And now I’m gonna explain it.

This may be some nostalgia of mine talking but as a long time fan of the Halloween series - I am talking when I was ten years old, when I was first getting into horror genre- I grew up on the old Halloween sequels consisting of the Thorn trilogy and the Twenty Years Later story lines. I know they are considered separate continuities and timelines, but y'know broad strokes, Easter-eggs, and the fact early script drafts for Twenty Years Later (Or H-20) intended to tie them together before they were cut from the final film, you can make the case they are ostensibly canon to each other, but that’s about it.

The Thorn Trilogy isn’t considered the best of the series; many fans looking down on the fifth and sixth film as being the least popular of the films. I think the only reason they aren’t considered by fans the worse in the series is because Resurrection exists, and was that followed by Rob Zombie’s remake duology. On the flip side, H-20 and 2018 are considered the golden calves of the franchise, and for the life of me, I never saw the appeal of the formers popularity. Now I can see why people have problems with the Thorn trilogy - especially regarding the cult and curse plot element of the sixth film. Unpopular opinion, but the sixth film was my favourite of the series - maybe has to do with my autism appealing me with both world building and the familiar - or that it seemed to tie up one storyline, but at the same time set up so much that I was disappointed that it didn’t continue.

For context, this post is partially inspired by Schaffrillas Productions video about Shrek 2. In this I will be using the criteria of what he describes as a “Perfect Sequel” which I’ll apply to the Halloween series, and as his Shrek 2 video says, there’s no such thing as the perfect movie; there’s too many variables to cover in a single movie alone, while a movie can preform it’s functions as a sequel perfectly even that doesn’t mean the movie itself is perfect. The “Perfect Sequel” criteria goes as such; expanding the universe; continue the story; introduce new themes or expand on old themes; leave an impact on the franchise.

Like Schaffrillas Productions, I will use this criteria to determine what the Thorn trilogy did right over H-20. Now am I gonna throw the 2018 sequel into the equation ? Maybe for compare and contrast purposes, but the 2018 sequel hits those same beats. There really is no competition between H-20 and 2018, I don’t question why the latter is considered a fan favorite. What I am primarily doing here is comparing the old sequels, and 2018 barely comes into the equation.

Does the Thorn Trilogy expand the films universe ? Does is continue the story ? As far as continuing the story goes ? Well that’s a no brainier; Halloween II begins where the original film ends; Return of Michael Myers picks up ten years later with Michael waking up from a coma after his seeming death in the second; Revenge follows Return and that leads to Curse. You get the picture, there’s an overarching story here.

“But does it introduce new themes that impact the franchise ?” You ask. Not the Thorn trilogy itself, but the second film does. Halloween II kinda sorta introduces a supernatural element to Michael by hinting a connection to the an ancient element of Halloween - more specifically the lord of the dead Samhain- but more importantly revealing that Michael and Laurie are brother and sister. The supernatural stuff is explored exclusively throughout Return to Curse, but ever since it was revealed the entire Halloween series hinged off of Michael and Laurie’s familial connection. Even in 2018 where they discontinue the sibling aspect, the theme of family permeates the plot, with the focus hear being on Laurie, her family drama, her need to protect them and how Michael not only affected her but her family.

In what’s relevant here is Michael and Laurie’s family connection is the focal point of the Thorn Trilogy, albeit not through Laurie herself; our lead character in Return and Revenge is Jamie Lloyd, the orphaned daughter of Laurie Strode and niece of Michael Myers, and she is what made their relationship the most plot relevant. Before Michael even wakes up from his coma, we are introduced to Jamie being haunted and even bullied over the fact that she’s and orphan and how her uncle is the infamous boogeyman. Her mother is gone, and she never even met her uncle, and yet both their shadows hang over her. Once Michael learns he has a niece that’s still alive, that’s all he needs to get up and at ‘em and nothings gonna stop him from getting his hands on her. And once he does in Curse ? It’s their baby he’s after next! Yes, their baby. Michael is the biological father of Jamie’s son Steven, who becomes his new target and finds an adoptive family in Tommy Doyle, Karla Strode, and her son Danny, who take the responsibility to protect Steven from not only Michael, but an evil cult that will no doubt be following them for some time. So we have something set up; a possible future confrontation between Michael and his vengeful son, and defeat the cult that has been mentoring Michael and orchestrating his rampages from behind the scenes.

So what comes next ? H-20 gives us Dawson’s Creek with a serial killer. One of the things I mark against H-20 was I felt it lacked the same kind of substance as the previous trilogy. For something that was conceived as the finale of the Halloween saga, I just couldn’t get emotionally invested, and maybe it had to do with the later release of Resurrection and the knowledge of what comes next. Maybe I was deflated that Jamie wouldn’t get justice, or that we wouldn’t find out what became of Little Baby Steven. Sure we got a plot about Laurie being a protective mother towards her son John, but for some reason I couldn’t really empathize with John in comparison to Jamie - not helping his case is that 2018 Laurie has a new daughter in Karen who has the same kind of baggage John had with Laurie, was a more interesting in characterization. John was a just a Dawson’s Creek student who serves as someone Laurie needs to fight for, only to be forgotten in Resurrection. Unlike Jamie or Karen, John was more of a plot device than a character.

As far as expanding on the previous films themes go, H-20 doesn’t really do this. It’s focus is on Laurie and her incoming “final” confrontation with her brother…but it doesn’t feel like it has the same weight. Laurie’s having her nightmares, she’s living in paranoia and the constant fear of her brother inevitably coming after her again, and how it took a toll on her relationship with her son. That’s all well and good, but the problem is the emotions feel underwhelming here. I’m not bashing the acting or anything, but I think I was supposed to take Laurie and John’s screaming match when they argue about Michael more seriously than I actually did (their second scene together by the way). Maybe they should have focused more on Laurie’s angst, and her relationship with her son, but it all felt rushed and emotionally underdeveloped in comparison to Laurie’s emotional scars shown in 2018, which felt like they had a little more weight here. 2018 gave us a slow burn with them, H-20 gave us the last three episodes of Game of Thrones.

Also the fact its Halloween night is barely a factor in this movie. There’s more focus on a trip to Yosemite Park than the actual holiday, and none of the characters don’t even go on the trip itself. Hell, this movie and it’s sequel were released in the summer.

“What about expanding the films universe ?” As I said above, I think the main thing I liked about the Thorn trilogy was it’s world building. It is next to 2018 with the most lore filled storylines in the series, (and I expect more to come from 2018’s sequels). And the Thorn trilogy not only captured the atmosphere, but tied the lore of the actual holiday of Halloween much better than H-20. And for better or worse, we dig in a little more into the mystery that is Michael Myers and his family. Or do we ?

Short answer is “Depends on what version of the sixth movie you watch.” Yeah I know the sixth movie introduces the Thorn cult and curse, but there is are differences between the Theatrical Cut and the Producers Cut on account of things that have been added, cut or changed outright between the two versions. The Producers Cut is the only version Michael being a puppet of the Thorn Curse and tool to this cult. The Theatrical Cut plays around with this idea but doesn’t explore it beyond a theory Tommy has, but isn’t verified in the cut itself. As far as the Theatrical Cut is concerned, Michael is just a rage driven psychopath.

And honestly I get that one of the supposed appeals to Michael Myers is the mystery of his character. Everyone goes off about how he was such a cool villain in the first movie was because of his mysteriousness and the questions left unanswered and go on and on about it. But here’s the thing, the point of a mystery is the need to solve it, the need to explore and find out more about this mysterious figure. Michael being a mysterious figure can work in one or two movies before it gets boring and he just becomes a blank slate, a carboard cut-out. And really that was one of the problems Michael had in H-20. The Thorn Trilogy gives three movies to find out more about Michael, and his familial connection to Laurie Strode is the focus, even with Laurie out of the picture. Some would say because we find out more about Michael, his status as a villain is cheapened, but I always thought he becomes more interesting the more we find out about him.

In H-20, we got nothing with Michael. We don’t find out anything really new or interesting, or anything that really makes him that much of a threat. The whole movie was about a showdown he was going to have with Laurie twenty years after his first rampage, but there’s no real substance with Michael this time around. And this isn’t the same as 2018 going back to basics by following only the first movie - H-20 explicitly follows the second movie so this is the same Michael who hints at a supernatural element, the same Michael who is revealed to be Laurie’s brother, but none of that is really important here. The brother and sister element - the crux of these two characters, isn’t of importance here as it was for the Thorn trilogy; the closest we get to that is the scene where Laurie kills someone she thinks is Michael, which leads to Resurrection.

Michael and Laurie felt more related in 2018 than they ever did in H-20. And speaking of 2018, I know they brought Michael back to his original form, but considering there’s two sequels to that movie in the works, there is only so much you can do before Michael becomes “cheapened” by finding out more about him or become boring by keeping him a blank slate. Like I said, Michael can only really get away with being enigmatic for one or two movies before it just becomes a crutch and excuse which would result in him becoming boring.

As far as world building goes, the H-20 storyline doesn’t really expand the universe besides taking us to a boarding school in California, but I can give it leniency since it was gonna originally be a follow up on the previous trilogy. Now onto comparing characters.

Laurie Strode as a Protagonist

While it goes with out saying that Laurie Strode is a runner up when it comes to being the OG Final Girl. In the same way Michael helped define the slasher villain, Laurie is helped define what the final girl is. In just about every timeline and storyline in the Halloween series, all it took was one night to shape Laurie as her fateful encounter with Michael. In the first two movies, Laurie was a great protagonist, she was the naive, inexperienced teenage girl, and even a sisterly figure to Tommy Doyle. She was a protective babysitter who risks her neck to not just survive the night against a psychotic stalker, but protect the kids that are in her care. And that was just the first movie.

The second movie (which takes place on the same night mind you) things get personal with the brother/sister relationship. In this movie, the family aspect did impact Laurie; Laurie was the first person who finds out the truth and has a dream induced flashback of when she met Michael when she was younger shortly after her mother told her she was adopted. Laurie wakes up and the revelation that the seeming stranger that just murdered her friends is her brother, it puts her into a brief catatonic shock…although she might have been faking it while planning an escape. Point is the brother revelation had an effect on her.

But watching II and Twenty Years Later back to back, I just didn’t feel that it the same impact as it did in the previous movie. Michael’s relation to Laurie wasn’t as important in this film as it did the previous films. If it wasn’t for the fact that the brother-sister thing was mentioned a few times, it didn’t feel like it had that much of a weight to it. It didn’t feel like Laurie was afraid of her brother here, but rather just the guy who terrorized her. Like I said, above, Laurie and Michael felt more “related” in 2018 than they did in H-20, despite that aspect being cut out. The closest we get to Laurie having a moment of “this is my brother” is the scene where she kills some poor sap she thinks is Michael.

The focus in both H-20 and 2018 is about Laurie’s trauma and paranoia about Michael coming after her and her children. But overall I felt 2018!Laurie was the better take on the character, especially in that aspect; we see how strained her relationship with her daughter is and how close she is with her granddaughter. 2018!Laurie’s life effectively went down the tubes and Michael never stopped haunting her, and has burned himself into her very soul, that it would be irrelevant whether or not they are blood related. It’s gotten to the point where her daughter barely has a relationship with her. Despite this and having little to lose, 2018!Laurie has spent forty years preparing for a showdown with Michael, and is just itching for him to come loose again, arming herself, fortifying her house, keeping herself in shape the whole nine yards. Because it makes her that much stronger, makes her a little bit harder, makes her that much wiser, so thanks for making her a fighter.

H-20!Laurie spent twenty years just living in fear of Michael that at some point to the point that she faked her death, but doesn’t do much of else. And honestly despite her trauma and paranoia in this movie, I was less sympathetic to this take on Laurie, because she has a lot more to lose. She hasn’t had her life ruined by Michael in the same way 2018!Laurie has, in fact she lived a more comfortable (dare I say) privileged life, as the headmistress of a boarding school in sunny California, and still has a considerably more positive relationship with her son, and it’s only after Michael catches up to her, she’s ready to confront him and (seemingly) kill him. And I just couldn’t feel the same emotions with H-20!Laurie as I did with the 2018 counterpart.

I thought that H-20 was a little rushed with her character development and arc. But I think what made me unsympathetic is because Resurrection made it hard for me to root for in retrospect, and the fact H-20 was originally going to be directly tied with the Thorn trilogy; keep in mind as far as the Thorn trilogy goes, Laurie was killed in a car accident, which left her daughter Jamie virtually alone, with her mothers death taking an obvious toll on her, which dear old uncle Michael is out to kill her. H-20 reveals Laurie faked her death, and considering the original plans to tie the two stories, this effectively means that Laurie faked her death, abandoned Jamie with seemingly no regard for her, and let Jamie go through Hell alone. And I’m supposed to feel sorry for Laurie because of twenty years of nightmares ? Yeah, 2018!Laurie is the mother that Jamie deserves.

Which leads us too…

Jamie Lloyd as a protagonist

Now Jamie was considered a fan favorite upon her introduction, and in my opinion is one of the most thematically important characters in the series. As I explained above, Jamie is the linchpin of Michael and Laurie’s relationship, being both Laurie’s daughter and Michael’s niece. From such, both characters shadows hang over Jamie, despite and because of Laurie being out of the picture. Despite being a child, Jamie is subjected to the trauma of her mothers passing and her relationship with the boogeyman being public knowledge (and other children bully her over it, I can’t get over that).

Now there’s two kind of protagonist dynamics that Laurie and Jamie fill that contrast each other; Laurie is the protector of the cute, Jamie is the cute. But Laurie’s not around, and Jamie would be completely alone if it where not for her foster sister Rachel, Rachel’s friends, the local and state police and a mob of vigilantes. Well unfortunately, the Jamie Lloyd Protection Squad are a non issue to Michael who had squad of his own in the form of the Thorn cult, and these fuckers don’t play around. The world will stop at nothing at kicking Jamie down, and kicking her while she’s down, just for existing. If that’s not enough, she is held captive for years by a cult, forcibly impregnated by Michael and disemboweled in the sixth movie.

Did I mention Jamie was an eight to nine year old kid in the fourth and fifth movie ? I can see why Danielle Harris is disgruntled that she couldn’t return. Fun fact, Danielle Harris wanted the sixth film to have Jamie die killing Michael once and for all to save her baby. But because this is Jamie Lloyd we are talking about, she’s not allowed to get justice. You could make the argument that Jamie gets points dying to save her baby in the actual movie…but it wasn’t Danielle Harris playing, so whatevs I guess.

As I already said, what made Jamie a little more interesting for me than H-20!Laurie is that her connection to Michael being more emphasized here than with Laurie. This was first shown in the fourth movie and expanded upon in the fifth, which implies Michael has some sort of psychic and emotional link with Jamie. Under Michael’s influence, Jamie attacks her foster mother, and is subsequently institutionalized, and is still terrorized by Michael through nightmares, visions and seizures, as Michael continuously taunts Jamie with the murders of her protection squad. That’s when it hit me; Jamie and Michael are Ying and Yang, and that’s why it worked. Where Jamie was innocence, Michael was purely evil.

Michael is the human personification of evil, it only makes sense he be connected to someone who is pure and simply innocent. These two effect each other, and compliment each other. I’m honestly curious how this connection played out during Jamie’s captivity, because despite everything she’s been through, she was still innocent enough to try to reach out to Michael a final time. In the fifth film Michael has a bizarre moment of humanity and feels brief remorse due to Jamie’s influence and on the flip side, Jamie has a brief moment of darkness due to Michael’s influence. So of course I’m going to avoid a certain Mad Titan’s quote about perfect balance, because the meme is too easy. It dawns on me that I may be reading into something that isn’t there, but dear reader is what all theorists and analysts such as myself do ?

And speaking of perfect balance, that is another reason why I think a storyline about baby Steven introduced in the sixth film is a wasted chance. Not only is his *ahem* “origin” anti-hero backstory material, but think about what Steve represents; he’s a living combination of Jamie’s innocence and Michael’s evil. He is someone who not only carries Laurie and Jamie’s legacy on his back, but Michael’s legacy as well. Thematically speaking, he is prime material to be the one to one day kill Michael once and for all. But we got more of Michael fighting Laurie, so I guess that’s cool.

Michael Myers as a villain

Okay, what can I say about Michael as a villain that hasn’t already been said ? I mean what movie does him best ? Many would say the first two. But what does a better job at “expanding” Michael. Many would also say the 2018 sequel, but that’s not primarily what I’m comparing here, so we are sticking with the old school sequels. Michael’s main appeal to the bulk of the fandom was the mystery aspect of him in the first movie. But “Michael is cool because he’s mysterious” can only work for one or two movies before it becomes a crutch and as a result turns Michael into blank slate. And considering that 2018 has two sequels in the work, Michael is likely to get some “expansion” to keep him interesting, and that’s because the appeal to a mystery is the inherent need to solve it.

But that is beside the point. In my personal opinion, Michael’s appeal wasn’t that he was a mystery, but that he was the human personification of evil, and from such I think the only way Michael can really be cheapened is if he was given something to humanize him like love, empathy or sympathetic qualities. And no, the single tear in the fifth movie ultimately means nothing considering what happens down the line. So as long as Michael is evil and doing inherently evil deeds, I don’t see it as cheapening him.

So how does one expand on Michael and his evil correctly ? Make him a bigger threat with each passing sequel, and give him more heinous deeds under his belt.

In the second movie, he massacres a hospital to get to Laurie. The fourth movie has him slaughtering an entire police force and a vigilante mob just to get to Jamie. The fifth movie has Michael track down Jamie’s friends and foster sister, and display their corpses as a way to taunt Jamie. Sixth movie, he disembowels Jamie after she gives birth - mocking Jamie for trying reach out to him no less! - before seeking out and trying to kill their baby, and massacres a group of followers for thinking they can control him. There’s also Steven’s conception, which is universally regarded as too far even for Michael. 2018 has Michael kill a child onscreen, exceed the body count of the first movie before he even gets his mask back -and just to get his mask back- kills several people in different houses in a matter of minutes, and uses a cops severed head as a makeshift Jack-o-Lantern. You see that ? In almost each sequel, Michael was more of a threat, and was more “creative” when it came to his evil. He fulfilled a function as a villain and evil personified with no real humanity and no moral restraint.

What about H-20 ? Compared to those other movies, Michael was boring here. He kills three people at the beginning of H-20 and three more in the third act, but isn’t really creative or spectacular (except for using a skate for one kill). The bulk of the movie is Michael just traveling to the boarding school Laurie is hiding in, but doesn’t really do anything of substance. I wouldn’t mind too much, but back in the day this was billed as the final movie. The only creative thing Michael does is fake his death and that isn’t revealed until Resurrection which was near universally disowned by the fandom. Give Resurrection this, it adds more to Michael’s rap sheet. We do get a brief montage at the beginning of H-20 that implies that Michael has gone on a killing spree across the country, but the problem is it breaks the “show don’t tell rule”.

I’ll give them this, we do get a comic book miniseries called Nightdance set in the H-20 continuity, that expands on Michael’s evil and menace in ways I won’t spoil here because I recommend it, and it’s not as well known as Resurrection despite being considered by some to be the better follow up. It’s almost a shame this wasn’t made into a movie, because in the actual movies in that timeline Michael didn’t feel as threatening or menacing, took a lot of the edge off his character, and made him especially weak compared to the previous sequels. You could make the argument that the movie was mainly focused on Laurie’s facing her demons, the problem was that everything was rushed and undeveloped in that department, so Laurie’s character arc doesn’t really make up for it.

Compare and contrast this with 2018, which gave us a slow burn focus on how Michael effected Laurie, Laurie’s relationship with her family and quickly shown us the stakes Michael’s threat poses. It really makes me question why H-20 was seen as such a golden calf back in the day. It seems to me that is was mostly because Jamie Lee Curtis made a comeback for that movie.

Conclusion

So that’s my reasoning for why the Thorn trilogy hits the “Perfect Sequel” beats over H-20; it had more lore and world building; had a greater focus on the themes introduced in the second film; a more sympathetic protagonist; Michael’s evil was empathized more; and an atmosphere closer related to the actual holiday of Halloween. 2018 had some of the same beats at the Thorn trilogy, but I’m not gonna a final decision until the 2018 sequels are finished. It’s a personal standard of mine to wait until the story is over before I make a final decision.

I will give 2018 points so far for building it’s new lore and developing it’s new characters in one movie, but I think it has it’s problems too. Mainly that 2018 felt more like a big “Fix It” fanfic brought to the cinema, and was a little heavy when it came to self referencing humor, call-backs and leaning on the fourth wall, and fandom wish fulfillment. 2018 isn’t a bad movie, it’s one of my favorite sequels, but even so I can’t get around the whole “fanfic-ish” feel I got from watching it.

Pretty much the one thing H-20 has over 2018 was that it didn’t try too hard to be Scream, which was a formula most late 90’s horror films followed. At most we were given a quick Scream cameo, that could possibly shatter the canon if I think of it too much. H-20 went out of its way by not copying Scream during the writing process. Little known fact, but while H-20 was intended to be the last Halloween film, the studio had this rule was that Michael Myers wasn’t allowed to actually be killed off, so a sequel was planned in advance to clarify he was still alive; the original plan was that “Michael” would be a obsessed fan and copycat; that idea was scrapped possibly for following the “Scream formula” too much, and what we got instead was the infamous paramedic twist in Resurrection.

#halloween #Halloween Return of Michael Myers #Halloween Revenge of Michael Myers #Halloween Curse of Michael Myers #Halloween Twenty Years Later #halloween resurrection #Halloween Nightdance #michael myers #laurie strode #Jamie Lloyd #Steven Lloyd #tommy doyle #John Tate #Jamie Lee Curtis #Danielle Harris #unpopular opinion

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thatswhenyourefrom · 6 years ago

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Sunday’s Best - “Poised to Break” & The “Californian”

I wanted to give insight into the checkpoints of the external forces that make me who I am today. I won’t deny that most of these pieces will mostly stem from my adolescence (and also mostly be music), but I still act as clay in the presences of art around me. The selected pieces (or collections of pieces) may be precise or vast, so expect varying lenses. Most of what I wanted to bring to this conversation were my hidden gems; pieces I hold so true to me and me only. I came to a realization recently that some of my favorite albums and some of my favorite movies do not stick to some of my peers. I don’t expect them too. I also don’t expect to sway any opinions or justify any of my opinions. The expectation is to usher you in to the closest parts of me.

I first heard Sunday’s Best in 2002 on a Canadian tv show called Undergrads before I was in the double-digits. It was a background song (reused again in the end credits), but the chorus stuck in my head. Whether it be hummed, sang, or just spinning around in my head, the song and the sound was stuck (and remains to be to this day). This song has built a house on top of my brain.

In the early 2000’s, the internet was picking up a lot of steam, and even though I was a young little guy, i started to learn my way around it at a young age. Yet still, there was difficulty in finding what I was looking for. I needed to find the artist of this song and the name of the song and download it on Napster or Ares or Kazaa or Limewire (or……). When a certain mood would strike, I would feel almost nostalgic and go on journeys to find a soundtrack list of the songs involved with this show. The hunt for the past is what I craved, and still do. One day I found the Undergrads website, put up by MTV when they used to make websites for each individual show on their rotation. It was a flash site and you could navigate around a little picture and highlight items for more information. One setting to navigate was a bar. In that bar was a jukebox. In that jukebox was the soundtrack list.

I began downloading every song I could. To be entirely honest, I think that these two Sundays Best songs were relatively easy to find, since the rest of the soundtrack was made up by obscure Canadian power pop bands. After listening to the first song I downloaded I knew I had found it; the song was called “Saccharine”.

I mark this song as my touch point for what I would later call emo music. The cul de sac that now exists with the houses of The Promise Ring and Texas is the Reason would most likely not exist is I didn’t hear “Saccharine” when i was nine years old. It fit right in with the other music I liked at the time like Jimmy Eat World who had just brought the light of Bleed American to the world. I get amped in the same way when I hear “Saccharine” as I do “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World; youthful, energetic, a little pain, and most of all nostalgia.

[If you would like to split hairs for a minute, I really love the poppy sound of this song and it‘s a much more of a power pop/college rock sound that I was attracted to than something classically emo, but it paved the way, so i digress.]

The hooks still get me. The riffs enliven me. At the very least, you can walk away from this song thinking it it is a catchy bastard. If anyone in the world can take a step back, look in on this song, and for even a second understand that this is the foundation for some person’s entire musical world, you have found me out. I am an open book at that point.

This is one song.

There is another Sunday’s Best song in the soundtrack for Undergrads and it also rang in my head, but to a much lesser extent. “White Picket Fences” is a much more reserved song by comparison to “Saccharine.” Quieter, yet way more dynamic. It grows so much. From what I remember from Undergrads, the audience only hears the last section, a theme that is bigger and hookier than the mood the rest of the song lays.

These two songs remained on my iPod for years.

When I was around the ages of fifteen and sixteen, I decided that i really needed to figure out all of this mumbo jumbo and really hammer down the music that has plagued me for years. What is that sound I am looking for? I want more Sunday’s Best. Can’t just search indie rock. Can’t search punk. Can’t search anything. The keyword “emo” was found and i had suddenly discovered a bible.

I spent a ton of time getting to know a ton of new bands which continue to dominate the music I like today. In this discovery of bands, I also learned much about record labels, including Polyvinyl records. Guess who put out Sunday’s Best’s music.

I decided that I would make the gamble and buy the CD “Poised to Break” by Sunday’s Best from the Polyvinyl store. I call it a gamble, because I have been severely bitten by looking in deeper to a bands output only to find out that the single I love is by far the only thing I could find likeable. This is not the case. This album is ten songs of exactly what I love.

“The Hardest Part” is a strange opener, because it’s kind of big and heavy. The chorus is yelled for Christ sake. It’s easily the angriest sounding song for an otherwise mellow band that I would call energetic at most. Partially uncharacteristic, but still a damn fine song. Track 2, “Bruise Blue” would fit right in with the soundtrack of Undergrads (and parallely my life). It’s calm, full of hooks, emotional. Great. Followed by “Bruise Blue” is “White Picket Fences” and “Saccharine”. At this point, my thought it “well I have all of the best songs out of the way.” “Indian Summer” blows that away with a track that I am so surprised isn’t heralded as an indie rock classic. This song wants be on every mixtape and MTV show until the end of time. “When is Pearl Harbour Day” is an awesome song about nostalgia, including the following line which rings in my head all of the time: “I hate nostalgia, it tries to hard to remember only the easy parts.” Track 7 and 9 are both energetic ones. Track 8, “Looks Like a Mess” is a broody, melodramatic song that I am undeniably in love with. “Winter Owned” rounds out the album and brings it back to the energy of track 1 and employs the same mixed singer chorus. The final track (and bonus track) is called “Congratulations”. Full of hooks, personal experience of naivety and confusion. The secret track is an instrumental song I am sure they used to open sets with. I am glad they included it because it’s loud, slow and cool. To me, each track is unskippable.

The whole album sounds like a soundtrack to a teen drama show that were hugely popular in the late 90’s going into the early 2000’s. Shows like Buffy, Dawson's Creek, 90210, and so many others were drenched in naive and intense emotions, stories of love and personal growth, and youth culture which made them a perfect place for this type of music. I am lucky i got to grow up in the times when I did where I can look up to those people on the screen, then be them, then look back on them with a familiar nostalgia.

Years later I would find that Polyvinyl holds a “Garage Sale” where they sell their surplus records and cd’s for next to nothing. While flipping through the garage sale, I had discovered Sunday’s Best had a second full length. I must have unconsciously ignored this release due to my fear of ruining the sanctity of my entire musical foundation. Do I risk it? What if it sucks and it’s ten boring songs? Or what if they sound like other more popular bands of now? It did come out in 2002 when this type of music was the mainstream. This is more than just a $3 gamble.

I bought it. It’s called “The Californian”. It’s better than the first LP.

Again hitting a ten song track count, “The Californian” is a succinct mood of an album. Much more consistent in tone, the songs are a lot more mellow than the ones on the first LP. This doesn’t mean that it lacks dynamics or moments of intensity. But it does mean there’s less yelling, head banging, and anthemic lyrics. What arises is my own personal therapy. Whether it be because I found a lot of this music (emo) in the autumn seasons, or if my mood just drew my to these sounds during fall, I always return to my classics around this time. Monday was a brisk day and I put in “The Californian” and it immediately hooked a line to the center of my heart. The air reminded me to being a young person and being in high school and college and time passing and old friends and how I used to feel so big, and the songs from “The Californian” were not there to yell at me; they were there to hold me like mother to her child. Therapeutic.

Quick track by track: The album launches into “The Try”. Coming off of the first album, you immediately know this album has more pieces to each song (production wise) creating a huge sound. But it’s not wasted. Every melody is catchy as all hell. “The Try” reigns that in. Track two, the title track, continues this pace. The chorus bops around a bit. “Don’t Let It Fade” is the single. Very quiet. Very somber. The bridge is my favorite part. “The Salt Mines of Santa Monica” has more energy than the last two so it sounds like a bigger “Poised to Break” song. The second singer has great contributions in the pre-chorus. He is really being used in a more calculated way. “If We Had It Made” comes in with massive church bells sound. One of my favorite songs. I love the bells. I don’t entirely know what the song is about, but the chorus moves me. Track 6 is a rocker. Even so, it’s consistent. “Without Meaning” was used in a Gilmore Girls and it’s directed melodrama fits that vibe really well. “Beethoven St.” is pure Sunday’s Best. If you wanted to write a song like them, copy this song. “Brave But Brittle” has a lot of the classic emo riffs. The way the intro falls over itself and then morphs into have arpeggios. Another favorite of mine. The last track is easily my least listened to song, but that’s because I usually reach my destination listing to this album in the care. It’s great though and I kick myself for missing it.

(I could give more in depth track-by-track if requested, but that isn’t necessarily the point of the writing.)

This band and these two lengths are an emblem of my growth. They are a tree that has stood my whole life and I am still sustained by its fruit. The sound that is contained in these albums is contains a definition of who I am and what I love. When you cannot articulate a feeling with direct words, you use art. That’s what artists do. Though I could never imagine conjuring this feeling inside of anyone else with my own art, I am glad I can direct others to this album and this feeling. It it’s hooks can get in and you let yourself get pulled, you can be me.

-luke

#r #by luke

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carolrance · 7 years ago

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have you watched 'everything sucks' on netflix yet? if not, you totally should. adorable baby lesbian alert, okay. ADORABLE. (also, the fashion will bring back the 90s in all the right ways.)

this got long lol

ehhhhhhhhhhhhh haha. i vagueposted about this a few days ago? (maybe a bit longer i can’t remember). i tried it. i think i made it about 3 or 4 episodes in when i gave up. it’s just not really my bag cos i’m fairly tired of shows about awkward geeky pre-teen boys. i can’t relate lol. also the whole 90s thing seems a bit forced? like i was alive in the 90s in north america and something about this just feels a bit tryhard? i honestly don’t know. it didn’t feel real to me so i can’t get into it. it was so stereotypically OTT american? i don’t really know how to explain my issue with it other than i can’t relate lol. i feel like it’s more Dawson’s Creek/Veronica Mars-ish than My So-Called Life/(original)Degrassi-ish. if you get me?? also i dunno… i feel like fashion varies based on country and in 1996… maybe i just don’t remember it well enough or maybe it’s more region-specific but i don’t remember it being quite like that. again i was in big-city canada, not small town USA, at that time so it could have just been a geography thing. perhaps? (except kate. i saw memories there.)

i will say however that the soundtrack is a trip down memory lane!!! props to the music choices.

i think about the only thing that was fresh was kate(?). i do feel you on the baby lesbian. she is super adorbs!! like that’s something we rarely get to see, and especially rarely in the actual 90s. and it’s just well done imo. (idgaf about any of the tropey boys and that’s my issue since the show is about them mainly lol)

the standout was when the popular girl (can’t remember her name) bullies kate in the locker room by making up the rumour that kate touched her boob. and then the rumour gets around and it blows up in her face when her boyfriend breaks up with her lol. i thought that was good. (i’ve seen spoilers about what happens later and i’m down with that direction cos that’s a new way to deal with it and i approve.)

if the show’s focus was on kate rather than the boring boys (like something more akin to “My So-Called Life” in its focus), i’d be way more into it regardless of whether or not it feels totally authentic or not cos it would be a fresh take. maybe it gets better??? but by the time the AV club and the drama club got into that ridic unrealistic feud i was about done (espesh as a drama kid myself i was just like “huh???”).

I AM SO SORRY I SEEM LIKE SUCH A DEBBIE DOWNER but when i saw the trailer i was really excited cos like…90s?! hell yeah. much better than 80s for me. but i was just disappointed it felt more like a stranger things ripoff than something truly authentic and original. and i’m just sad about that cos i live for 90s nostalgia lol.

i feel like i’ll prolly finish the series at some point when i have nothing else to watch cos like it’s not terrible or anything. i don’t hate it (now 13RW, that is pure hate) so i can see myself putting it on in the background sometime and paying attention to the kate bits only. i’ve heard it gets way better right near the end of the series and everything really comes together better so there’s always that to look forward to. and 90s nostalgia. i love it. :)))))))))

#olderbynow #i am so conflicted

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kentonramsey · 4 years ago

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Outfit Obsession: Katie Holmes in a Denim Skirt and Birkenstocks - Could She Be Any More '90s?

Leave it to Katie Holmes to grace us with her effortless street style just when I've been seeking inspiration to get dressed again. The actress, best known for playing Joey Potter on Dawson's Creek in the late '90s/early 2000s, largely sticks to a wardrobe of simple, well-tailored basics and live-in denim. Maybe that's something she's just taken with her through the years, having walked many red carpets in Zac Posen gowns and just preferring something more understated for errands. I certainly don't blame her for that. But her past few outings in New York have sparked serious nostalgia for me in particular.

"Even though it's been over 15 years since Joey Potter graced our screens, Katie is walking proof that her look reigns supreme."

I love the way Katie slipped into her Birkenstock sandals after tucking a white tee into a high-rise Levi's skirt with a slit at the back. She accessorized with a minimal gold bracelet and choker necklace, dark sunglasses, and a floral print mask. I instantly started combing through the Dawson's Creek archives, sure enough, to find Katie in dark-wash denim, leather slides, and plain live-in shirts. Her hairstyle has barely changed at all. Even though it's been over 15 years since Joey Potter graced our screens, Katie is walking proof that her look reigns supreme - and you should always give a second thought before retiring your Levi's. Read ahead to see how I was inspired by Katie's outfit and what I'm picking up to reconstruct the ensemble piece by piece.

Related: Katie Holmes Was Attempting a Different Kind of Sexy With THAT Cashmere Bra, and Honestly, I Can Relate

Outfit Obsession: Katie Holmes in a Denim Skirt and Birkenstocks - Could She Be Any More '90s? published first on https://mariakistler.tumblr.com/

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uclaradio · 8 years ago

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Interview with Julia Jacklin

Interviewed by Alexandra Ivanova

Alex: First off, how are you — I was told you were rehearsing all day!

Julia: Yeah, yeah, it was good. Playing with a new drummer and a new bass player on this tour, so we’re just getting everyone into the right space, playing the right songs and making sure we all know what we’re doing.

Alex: That’s super exciting because you’re kicking off your tour here in Los Angeles, but you also have a song called “LA Dream,” which feels like one of the most personal songs off the album. What was the process of recording that song like?

Julia: Yeah, that was the last song, I think I recorded on the album because I was struggling to get into the right headspace. You don’t realize when you are recording that you need to, kind of, perform the songs, more than just make sure you don’t mess it up. It’s more important that you actually perform them well. I struggled to get back into the place I was when I wrote the song. It’s one of my favorite songs that I’ve written, and I still enjoy performing it, which is good.

Alex: Yeah, you have these super poignant themes in your lyrics, but you’re also able to sprinkle in this really great amount of humor, like in your song “Small Talk,” where you compare your dad to Zach Braff. Where do you gather inspiration for all of your lyrics, and do they also draw on your personal experiences?

Julia: I think on that record especially they were all personal experiences, because at the time I wasn’t a professional musician or anything, so I was kind of just using music as a way to get things out and try and just figure out how to express things properly. I think that the humor… I am a huge fan of Fiona Apple and Leonard Cohen’s lyrics — I think they manage to both sing about big things like love, or loss, or life, but in a way that kind of is poking fun of it, a little bit, or at least just seeing the humor in the tragedy of something, and that’s the music I really like listening to, so that’s kind of what I try to do.

Alex: You also mention your musical influences include Bjork and Doris Day and Billy Bragg who are all incredible, but who do you listen to as your guilty pleasure music?

Julia: Guilty pleasure music…I’d say like… What’s my guilty pleasure… I don’t know. I like, I mean I guess, not to say it’s bad, I would definitely do a lot of nostalgia stuff like Mandy Moore and Avril Lavigne’s first record, which I actually think is a pretty good record, still. So I definitely listen to that.

Alex: I’ve also heard you say on an interview that you really like diners. What is the best diner you’ve been to while touring or traveling?

Julia: I wouldn’t remember any of the names of the diners, I think just more the experiences I’ve had in the diner. I think l had a really great night in a diner in Memphis— I think it was just a Denny’s actually, like a 24-hour Denny’s, and it was the Fourth of July, and I had nowhere to stay because I forgot to book accommodations and then I kind of got to Memphis thinking I would find a hostel and then realized everything was booked and so the people at Denny’s kind of were alright with me just sitting in Denny’s and eating pancakes every three hours until the sun came up.

Alex: You’ve spoken a lot about working through feeling good enough or not good enough in the music realm. How do you personally find your own confidence as a musician?

Julia: I think it changes a lot depending on the day and depending on who I’m playing with as well and how they treat me. That has a lot to do with it, because everyone contributes different things into a band and into music and I felt in the beginning I wasn’t contributing much, because I’m not technically very proficient in the way that I didn’t study music or I didn’t put in the hours of guitar playing that a lot of people around me have; but I think I’m now realizing that that doesn’t mean that you’re not contributing anything just because you can’t necessarily, you know, say you’re in music or something. I realize that songwriting is a big part of it, and that that shouldn’t be dismissed. Today I’m feeling pretty good, the band I’m playing with are all really lovely and really supporting and really keen, so that helps.

Alex: I read that you initially wanted to be a social worker and then you pursued music and then you worked on a factory production line making essential oils. What was the timeline of all of that like— when was the turning point when you knew music was what you wanted to fully invest in?

Julia: I finished uni when I was 24 and I stayed at the factory for two years, I think (so when I was from twenty four to twenty five) and I made my record just before I turned twenty five, and then halfway through last year when I played SXSW was kind of the turning point. I was just going to give myself two years after uni to see if it was going to work out, and I worked at the factory for just enough money to make the record, and then I played SXSW and had to take time off work for that, and then after that I just kept getting booked to do things, so I had to keep taking more time off work until it was just pointless going back and yeah, so then here were are today. So I haven’t really been a full time musician for that long— since August of last year, I guess.

Alex: I think that’s really interesting, because you are such a new musician and the themes of your album deal a lot with the concept of coming of age — what age do you think culminated the process of coming of age for you, or do you think that coming of age is a lifelong process instead?

Julia: I think when I wrote the record, or when I recorded it, that was my coming of age. I thought that I came through this massive learning curve of what love actually means and what being an adult actually means. and now that I’m twenty six and I’ve spent the last touring and kind of dealing with other things, I’m once again thinking, “No-no, this is my coming of age.” You realize that being a full-time musician is not some easy, fun thing that you might think it is. It’s actually incredibly tiring. You spend pretty much your whole life away from places and away from people. I think it’s just an ongoing thing, because I’m sure I’ll look back in two years time and I’m going to look back on all the epiphanies I’ve had this year and be like, “You knew nothing!” Yeah, I definitely think it’s something you’re constantly coming to. Which is good, because I think if you figured it out at one age, then your life would be pretty boring.

Alex: Throughout social media you’re known as “a singer-songwriter who will put your smile on dial but only for a short while” — what are the origins of that?

Julia: It’s funny that you say that. That was a joke that me and my drummer tom wrote — I was having to update my Facebook page, and I think he wrote that just as some funny thing and then I’ve never changed it. I don’t know what that means actually. It could mean that I’m very approachable and relatively happy in my stage presence, and then I start singing and everyone’s like, “Aww that’s depressing…”

Alex: The nostalgic themes of your album are also really strong. How does nostalgia affect you today? Do you think it limits you, or does it serve as more of a push forward?

Julia: Right now I’ve been obsessed with Dawson’s Creek. It’s been this ongoing obsession and right now I’m ridiculously obsessed, and I watch it with my little brother who is nineteen, and we’ve been working through the seasons for the last three years because we’ve both been away doing lots of different stuff— we’ve taken ages to actually finish it because we won’t watch an episode without each other, and I think that my current intense obsession with the story line is concerning, because I think nostalgia in that way, yeah it feels like you’re holding on to some kind of idealistic simple life like when you look back to life before phones and before social media and before big decisions had to be make you can totally just romanticize it and when I look back to that time in my life it wasn’t incredible. It was definitely equally as hard in different ways. So you know, Dawson’s Creek makes it look like everything was great but it wasn’t. But I think it’s good to look back and use things in your past but it’s also really important to not look back and romanticize being a teenager, because when you’re a teenager the whole time you’re wishing you were an adult. I’m trying to be more present and not watch too much Dawson’s Creek.

Alex: Lastly, what can fans expect from this upcoming tour?

Julia: I’ve got some new songs that I’m playing - just trying some new stuff out. I bought some new shoes, so I won’t be wearing white sneakers anymore which was my costume of last year. I have new band members who are Canadian and they are extremely friendly. I’d only known them for seven hours but we’re about to spend five weeks in a car together. so you might experience pure friendship on stage or irritation. I don’t know, we’ll see!

#julia jacklin #ucla radio #uclaradio.com #ucla #college radio #dawson's creek

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