#I wrote a lot of it during the very worst of my mia - before i was medicated. It’s rly special.

[gunkbaby]

is bulimic misandrist rize like. an acceptable concept to ppl or is my fic gonna be hated into oblivion

[sonderthroughthestreets]

Hi! Idk what came over me but I thought an AU where Sander’s kid is anti-Bowie was the most hilarious thing thanks to @hidden-joy @kylesbishops and @sanderijzermans so I wrote it skdjdj

Disclaimer: it’s all fun and chaos and I don’t really know anything about how to write kids

x, x, x, x, credit to the chaos 🤪

The day Sander Driesen hears the words come out of his child’s mouth is the day he wonders if this is his child at all.

He’s standing there, leather jacket, white t-shirt and all, bleached hair icy even in the summer sun, and he looks down at the small stature in front of him. Grey-green eyes, dark locks and an air of confidence that could only be learned from a certain music-loving individual fill his sight. There’s so much innocence standing before him but a driven insistence breaks through the words spoken.

“Dad,” he hears. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but...I don’t really like David Bowie all that much.”

Sander thinks he’s lost his senses. He is definitely not hearing right. Hell, he’s only a man in his early thirties, he could not be this hard of hearing already. He tries to brace himself on the couch from falling over. Shit, he’s also too young to feel this frail.

“Wh-what do you mean you don’t like David Bowie all that much?”

The question comes out in gasps of air, ragged and winded, like he can’t believe what’s happening. He feels like his world’s spinning, like he’s entered another dimension, like there was no way, absolutely no way, his child doesn’t like David Bowie.

Denial is a pretty powerful thing, though...

See, when Alexandra Driesen was born, she brought light and life to Sander and Robbe’s eyes. She had a chubby face and squishy cheeks and eyes the colour of a summer storm. Her dark hair had been a blessing to match Robbe’s. Everything about her was as perfect as it could get. And then came the perpetual frustrations of parenthood with the screaming and the crying.

Sleep was something to be cherished at the Driesen-Ijzermans household. A few day-naps here and a doze-off there. But God, oh God, did Alexandra know how to cry in the middle of the night. Robbe and Sander spent hours upon hours holding her and swaying her and rocking her on a chair. Sander had read that sometimes music helps so he’d even done all that. Bowie usually floated in the shriek-filled room during these times and yet, Alexandra just wept.

“Come on, baby, just a little bit of sleep. Don’t you get tired of screaming all night?” Sander asked in that exhausted tone of parentese. He held her against the crook of his neck and walked around in sweats until he saw Robbe enter the room with blood-shot eyes and curls disarrayed.

“She’s still crying?” he asked with a rasp in his voice.

“She literally won’t stop and I don’t know what to do, I’ve tried everything. I’ve even got Bowie on for her,” he said.

Robbe took her from his arms and swayed her a little, cooing and kissing her tiny head.

“It’s kind of loud, though,” Robbe said to him as he then stepped over to turn off the music.

And in an instant miracle, the house was all quiet.

It seems that’s what’s always happened and Sander just hadn’t noticed it. Alexandra settled into Robbe’s chest and stretched her mouth in a heavy yawn. Her warmth radiated and glowed through Robbe, but Sander was stunned. He’s completely shocked.

“You-she-“ he stuttered clumsily for a bit. “But it was Bowie,” he said weakly.

How could his own daughter not feel at peace with Bowie? It was a connection he held with him, something connecting him and Robbe and what he hoped would connect their child to them in this little family.

“Hmmm,” Robbe hums pensively. “Maybe Bowie’s not her thing.”

“Not her thing?” Sander just about exploded. Then he suddenly remembered Alexandra’s finally gone to sleep and whispered, seething. “That is not our child!”

“Biologically, no. Legally and emotionally, yes,” smirked Robbe. “Calm down, babe, she’ll learn to like him soon enough. For now, how about we hold off on Bowie for a bit, yeah?”

He swayed her just a little more, just to really make sure she’s easing into sleep and then set her gently back down in her crib.

“How long?” Sander muttered and Robbe gave him a confused look. “How long without Bowie?”

Robbe contemplated.

“Maybe we give it six months or so,” he said.

And now it was Sander who wanted to weep. -

As the months and years went on, Alexandra had gone on without her Bowie-loving phase, only mildly being interested in the lightning bolt plushies and the songs blasting on road trips and the shirts Sander would get for her. Robbe says it just takes time for kids to get into stuff. That it’s better to leave it there in the open for them than to shove it down their throats.

“It’s barely any shoving,” Sander had grumbled.

“I know, babe. But I know how you can get sometimes,” Robbe had placed a soothing kiss upon his lips.

Still, Sander’s worries were increasingly growing.

Then a few years later, they’d adopted another beautiful girl. Mia was a radiant vision of blonde curls and brown eyes. They held a similar warmth that Robbe’s eyes held and Sander couldn’t be happier to lose himself in pools of coffee or dark, earthy soils or any other sort of metaphor for his favourite kind of brown.

To his relief, though, Mia loved listening to Bowie. She loved playing with the lightning bolt plushy and wearing all the shirts and as she grew, she and Sander had lots of music jam sessions blasting Bowie throughout the house. Alexandra was enticed into joining for a bit in the beginning but as time went on, Sander found it that she was making more and more excuses to not be in the same room when Bowie was mentioned.

“Uh, I got homework, Dad,” she’d nervously run her fingers through her hair.

“Uh, Papa needs help with dinner I think,” she’d run out with a tight smile.

“Group project due soon. Léon’s being a piece of shit and not pulling his weight at all.”

“Language,” Robbe would chastise coming around the corner.

“He’s being a dick?” she suggested.

“Fuck him.”

“Sander!”

“Sorry.”

Her interests lay instead in skateboarding with her friends, headphones in her ears listening to rap: BROCKHAMPTON and Stormzy with even a little Ed Sheeran in the mix, and keeping her hair as short as possible. She’d had a bit of a habit wearing overgrown shirts like Robbe did. But Sander found that endearing and he didn’t really think it was a case of ‘not-like-other-girls’ syndrome. He and Robbe just let her wear whatever she wanted.

And in fact, it was at thirteen years of age that Alexandra came out to the family as a boy. Sander remembers it clearly with them all huddled on the couch looking at the person in front of them with beady eyes, waiting.

“Dad, Papa, Mia. I think I’m a boy. I think I’m trans and I’d like to formally introduce myself to you all. I’m Alexander, or just Alex. And I use he/they pronouns.”

Sander had wanted to tear up, emotions flooding inside his rib cage. Happy tears, though, a joyous occasion where his son felt comfortable enough to tell them about this part of himself. That he and Robbe had created a space where he felt safe enough. Loved enough.

“I kept Alexander ‘cause, Sander,” he gestured to Sander. “But really, Alex is fine.”

And Sander wanted to cry all over again.

They’d all been encased in a huge family hug with Mia chirping that she’d ‘always wanted a big brother.’

Robbe and Sander had been quite supportive of it all, calling the school to change both the name and preferred name and asking if Alex was considering wearing a binder or getting a proper haircut. “Yes” to the haircut. “Hold off for a bit” on the binder. He’d whined a “Daaaaaad” when Sander ruffled the short brown locks. Most of Alex’s friends were cool with it, too and while it wasn’t all smooth sailing, he’d never run out of love from his family.

It was a big change and everything, but Sander thought, well...as long as he had his Bowie-loving children, it was all fine. -

It’s his worst nightmare. It’s the stuff that haunts you from the depths of the worst kind of hell, making your limbs feel like jelly. He’s cursing every name and divine entity and he’s really hoping Robbe’s right about those parallel universes because he’d love to hop over to the one where this wasn’t happening right now.

Sander’s having a hard time even looking at Alex in the eye.

“Dad?” he hears his concerned voice.

“I think I need to sit down,” says Sander, grabbing the armrest of the couch, lowering himself onto the cushion.

“It’s really not a big deal,” says Alex.

“Not a big deal?” Sander looks at him with wide eyes. “My own son hates David Bowie.”

“I never said I-“

“The man who infinitely changed my life. Space Oddity, Life on Mars, Ziggy Stardust, Ashes to Ashes. None of them?” Sander waves his arms. “You’re telling me you like none of them?”

“They’re...fine, I guess,” Alex shrugs innocently with a cringe to his face.

“Fine?” Sander squeaks.

“What’s fine?” Robbe trudges to them overhearing the conversation.

“Your son hates Bowie,” Sander squints his eyes at him.

“I do not,” says Alex. “I’m just pretty indifferent to him. He’s not exactly my style,” he shrugs, his hoodie moving with the movement.

“And what is your style?” Robbe laughs as he comes up behind him to rub his shoulders. He looks up at Sander with long lashes and a questioning smile stretching across his face. They share one of those ‘parenting looks.’ The ones where they know it’s not all that serious. But Sander thinks it is.

“A bit of rap, a bit of hip hop, some pop, some mainstream,” Alex lists off. “Not exactly the ‘80s vibes in me,” he laughs.

Robbe cheers as their tastes in music are quite similar and he proceeds to carry out their very own handshake they’d created when Alex was nine. There’s a different one with Sander. Sander, who’s getting more and more agitated by this revelation.

“Oh, okay,” he pats his knees and stands up. “Well, if you two are having such a grand time hating Bowie and bonding over your own music, I’ll just take myself and leave. No child of mine doesn’t like David Bowie,” he says dramatically.

“Sander…” Robbe looks at him.

“Dad…” says Alex.

“No, no. It’s fine. Really,” he begrudgingly walks out of the living room, almost knocking into Mia on the way.

“What’s with him?” she blinks twice and points a finger back.

Robbe sighs as he looks back at Alex.

“Your father, he…” Robbe puts a hand on his shoulder. “Bowie’s practically his life and so are the two of you, so I guess it’s really important to him that you like him, too. He’s just gonna need some time with all this.”

His eyes are apologetic and he gives him a half-smile, hand leaving his shoulder.

Alex takes in the words while Mia wiggles herself onto the couch and finds the tv remote beside her.

“You finally told him about Bowie, huh?” she gives him a gravely sad look. One that says he’s about to be doomed.

Alex just lets out a stressed breath as Robbe follows to go find Sander.

What’s so special about David Bowie anyway?

————————————————————————

Part 2 is coming! IM SO SORRY SKDJJF I just need sleep and rest

[granddaughterogg]

What’s death’s reaction to his s/o referring to him as their husband? Like maybe they go out somewhere and s/o has to introduce death to a friend they ran into in public and the first thing that comes to mind while they’re all frazzled is “Oh! This is my /husband/!”

It was Friday afternoon - the worst possible time for a grocery haul.

You've tried to communicate this to your Nephilim a few times before, but the message bounced off them. The Horsemen were perceptive people, but they've spent most of their lives under very different stars (or sometimes under no stars at all.) Never before had they to fit their undertakings within a 24-hour timetable. The intricate ways in which human society works were also all but lost on them. Repeated explanations that certain stuff has to be done at certain hours probably hacked a few good years off your lifespan.

 Maybe one day they'll finally learn, you thought, slowly and tenderly losing your shit. Until then - your shared home life was a path full of organizational hiccups. Chaos often took over.

Anyway, you lived with four oversized individuals who didn't really have to eat, but they sure enjoyed it - and three of them consumed heaps. This week it just so happened that Strife went MIA (as he often would), Fury was having a Hair Maintenance Day and War really needed some bonding time with his steed. Or something.

Thankfully Death remained the reliable one. He grabbed you, summoned Despair from his pocket dimension (Death really wasn't the man for cars) and off to the supermarket you two went.

What you faced was a typical Friday after hours stampede. Tired, frustrated consumers teemed the aisles, filling their enormous shopping carts, crashing their carts into other people's backsides and running them over other people's feet. The air was stuffy, filled with maniacally upbeat music and high-pitched wailing of children. 

It was sheer hell.

"Let's make this quick", you pleaded into your companion's ashy ear. "I don't know how long I can take it. Can we split the shopping list? I'll grab the groceries, you go get all the cleaning stuff and we'll meet here, okay, love?"

Death nodded, straightened himself to his whole impressive height and stalked away. You watched his wide frame part the sea of busy heads. No matter how thick the crowd, people always seemed to just naturally skip out of Death's way. A sensible instinct. Many heads have turned, the expression on their faces something between dumbfoundedness and awe. You've heard quite a few stifled "Damn!"s.

You reached for packaged rice, smirking. Your man was seven and a half feet tall, his skin the shade of bone, and no, he wasn't wearing a shirt.

You managed to persuade him to leave all his jangly ironmongery at home. That's enough Fitting In for one trip.

Death's dark head finally disappeared behind the shelves and your thoughts refocused on filling the cart. You were picking up some broccoli in the produce aisle when a high-pitched voice uttered your name.

You jumped.

"No way!!!" Something big and bright filled your field of vision. You picked up the dropped broccoli, blinked a few times, and the yellow shape refocused into a head of hair - a shiny lob dyed sunny blonde. Not one hair stuck out of place.

"It really is you!!!" squealed the head in glee. It belonged to a rather attractive woman in big rectangular sunglasses, her lips very finely painted fuchsia pink. She always looked like those ladies portrayed in the so-called ladies' magazines. Thin and poreless, exuding easy confidence that comes from not being broke even once in her whole life.

"Hi, Julianne", you groaned. There was no escaping it now.

"Honey!!! So glad to see you!!" professed the woman, eyeing you shrewdly from head to toe. She probably calculated the price of your whole outfit in her head right now - and the contents of your cart while she was at it. Drawing conclusions. Always have been good with maths. Fucking Julianne.

"I wrote to you on Facebook so many times!!" Multiple exclamation points have been her thing; apparently, this hasn't changed since high school. "Why did you never answer, silly? We had so much fun during our class reunion..."

"Uh, I bet", you murmured. You wouldn't step back within your old school walls even if they paid you. "Sorry for going no contact. I've had a lot on my plate recently, you know -"

"Like what?" the woman tilted her shapely head, her attitude playful, but also slightly accusatory.

It made you angry. 

Remember the Apocalypse, Julianne? Remember when you slipped into non-existence among most of the human race? I bet you don't. I bet you decided to forget this ever happened. Like so many others did. Well, I didn't die, so I can't forget. Someone saved me and I got to traverse many different realms side by side with a Horseman of the fucking Apocalypse. And then he gave his life away, and later got brought back to life by his brother, who is also a Horseman - and we've been living together ever since...

Of course, you didn't say any of that out loud. You stood there, fondling the lush green broccoli in your hands. What even was the point?

"Oh, you know. I got into a relationship..." 

"You did?"

You looked her dead in the eye - blue and suddenly wide under the swanky shades - and could tell that this was a direct hit.

"Well, yeah." You smiled at Julianne. "Those things happen, you know."

"Sure, sure!! But frankly, out of all of us, I'd never suspect you to settle with a man and all..." 

"Excuse me?"

Julianne held at a strand of her perfect, shiny hair and then let go. "You were always quite the feminist after all..."

"What does this have to do with - " you blurted out and stopped mid-sentence because Death emerged from behind the shelves. His arms were full of various cleaning stuff.

"I've got everything from the list", he said. "I've also got at least partially deaf. Are we done here?"

A wide smile upturned the corners of your mouth - this time a genuine one because Julianne looked like a startled fish. She stared at you, then at the ashy, muscular, hulking giant at your side, then back at your beaming face.

Pettiness is the dish of the gods. 

"Death, love, meet Julianne", you said gracefully. "Julianne, this is Death. My husband."

The words slipped out of you on their own.

You tossed him a panicked, beseeching look, but your Nephilim was game. Maybe his eyebrow quivered a little; it happened so fast that Julianne would never notice. She was too busy ogling rocky abs of this man you've settled with.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance", said Death in his most velvety, bordering-on-indecent tone. Julianne just nodded back stiffly, as if submerged in a trance.

You left the supermarket soon after that.

A strange, playful little smile twirled your Horseman's lips while he loaded all the groceries into Despair's saddlebags. Thankfully those operated on the principle of magic, not physics, or the horse's spectral back would break.

"I assume that wasn't a friend." You spent all the way to the parking lot trying not to look him in the face. The words startled you.

"Hell no. She's a bitch."

"Ah." That was his whole answer. Finally, all the groceries have been stuffed into the magic pocket space. Death turned around, clasped his hands to your waist and lifted you onto the saddle. His movements bore such effortless grace. It happened so many times and you still weren't over how inhumanely strong this man is.

He sat right behind you. You clasped both hands on the saddle's horn, discreetly basking in this soothing feeling that being surrounded by Death's powerful physique gave you. 

His torso pressed into your back, his strong thighs almost touching yours. This bliss would never get old.

"You know, I can't help but wonder." Death's deep voice was like a silky needle, injected into your frayed nerves. "Why did you call me this word?"

"It...just felt right", you said, staring at Despair's pointy ears, wreathed with spectral discharge. The horse turned his humongous head as if asking: Can we go now? But your companion wasn't done yet.

"Do you wish for me to take your hand in marriage?"

You almost keeled over.

"Damn, D! Well...I...I don't want to force any more human stuff on you, you know?"

He leaned over; long, black strands of hair grazed your mouth. Death looked you in the face. You'd rather he didn't.

"Do you or do you not?"

"Damn, I do. I'd absolutely love to. But you have to live in this human world with me and you're constantly surrounded by alien stuff and alien customs which don't hold much meaning to you, and that would just be...another one of those things, right?" you murmured, lowering your head.

"I'm surrounded by alien stuff wherever I go", said Death softly. "I don't have a place I'd call home."

"I know! But it's hard!" you admitted. "You're always asking me what is it that I want. But marriage is one of those things that have to be desired by both people equally, or it means nothing..."

You suddenly felt very small and rather sad.

"I don't want you to get entangled in something that you have no use for", you whispered, pinning your eyes to the worn-off leather of the saddle. "Not just for me."

Death didn't answer for a good while. Then his big hand covered yours and squeezed it slightly.

Before you've met him, you always imagined that Death's touch must be freezing cold. That was not true.

"I understand", he said, "and I am grateful for your candour."

He nudged the horse and off you went, both unusually quiet.

[the-insomniac-emporium]

thoughts on Bela///Donna?

What a lovely can of worms you've placed in my inbox, dear nonnie. I cannot wait to open it and lose followers (regardless of what I actually say).

Since this is, uh, a subject of some debate among RE8 fans, I will be inputting my thoughts on the idea of the ship (and the possible controversy), as opposed to doing HCs or something for it (which I recognize might be what you were asking for, despite the excessive /s).

This is all based on my playthroughs of the game, as well as what I've managed to double check on the fandom/wiki for it. I know that a lot of people who read fanfic for the game haven't actually played it, likely having been lured in by Tall Vampire Milf, and so I hope that some people will be open to a reminder of, like, canon vs fanon? I've mentioned in a previous post that there's a lot of details for RE8 that are not made clear, and I feel the need to reiterate that in this post. Capcom left a lot of stuff up to people's imaginations, or kind of just hinted at in game or in concept art.

But more importantly, regardless of what game we're talking about, regardless of the conclusion I come to (and the one you come to) at the end of this post, I want to say that I absolutely understand the need/desire to have your own perspective/take on the characters from the game, as well as their dynamics. If a ship makes you uncomfortable because you see the characters as being family members, it's totally okay. Block the ship tag, or filter it out when you look through fandom stuff, don't follow people who post for it, etc, etc.

If you think of characters as being family-family (like, not just "we got married and are now a family" but, like, "we're siblings/parent and child") and still ship them? uh. sorry, bruv, maybe think of hitting that unfollow button. No, seriously, hit that unfollow button. This blog is anti-incest, thank you very much.

The last thing I'll say before putting it under a read-more (for both length and major RE8 spoilers) is that I recognize that I might have missed something, either in game or developers talking about things on social media, and so if you read through this and go "god, J, you're such a dumbass for forgetting *critical piece of media*" or even just "okay but have you seen *small but meaningful piece of media*?" please. Just. Please. Tell me. Link me to that shit. I WANT to know if I'm wrong. I've literally avoided talking about this for as long as I could in order to TRY and make sure I have all the context I need.

With that said, let's examine what context we are given for Alcina Dimitrescu, Bela Dimitrescu, Donna Beneviento, and their relations to each other. I will be leaving my personal thoughts on Bela///Donna at the very end of this, as somewhat of a conclusion, somewhat of just a "hey, this is what you technically asked me about".

Firstly, let me begin by explaining what I consider to be the 3 tiers of "canon"

In-Game/Direct: The highest, truest tier, the definitive canon. This is everything that takes place in game, excluding certain hallucination scenes (ex: Mia was not really in House Beneviento, but we can infer some things from what Donna made Ethan hallucinate about). Things either happen, or are directly stated by characters. There's some wiggle room for dialogue, as characters can lie, but overall we, as the audience, assume we are being told the truth. At the very least, games usually eventually make it clear when a character has been dishonest. Examples of Direct Canon include the following: Ethan is infected with the mold, Lady Dimitrescu drinks blood, Heisenberg wears sunglasses, Mother Miranda can shapeshift.

Concept Art/Developer's Notes/Indirect: Mid-tier and debatable, the "we think, but we're not sure" of canon. Resident Evil: Village contains lots of concept art that the players can browse through, all of which include notes from the developers about the game, characters, environments, and story. Sometimes the notes make something "direct", but oftentimes they do not specify whether the listed idea is still canon or if it was removed during development. This tier also includes information that is implied/can be inferred from tier 1 information, but is not directly stated. Examples of Indirect Canon include the following: Donna's mother died by suicide, Moreau was going to have his lover fused to his back, Duke was originally a fifth lord, Heisenberg was going to have a twin. As you can see, not all of the concept art ideas made it into the final version of the game, so it can be hard when some information seems like it might still be true (such as the matter of Donna's parents).

Fanon/"False": Sometimes collective ideas in a fandom become so widespread that people start interpreting them as actual canon. Sometimes it gets hard to remember what's just obscure lore and what's fanon. When we get a piece of fiction as overall vague as a lot of Resident Evil: Village is, there's bound to be some confusion over time. That's one of the main reasons I waited to talk about Bela////Donna until after I had recently replayed relevant sections of the game, as I wanted to remind myself of what we're actually told. Examples of False Canon are difficult to pinpoint, but might include things like: Hufflepuffs are good at finding things? The Avengers got along for awhile and all had their own rooms in the tower? There's a number scale for the danger level of ghosts in Danny Phantom?

For this post, I will be limiting the majority of my notes to the first two levels of canon, and will do my best to mark them as such. Now... let us... begin.

Alcina Dimitrescu:

Born no later than 1914, Alcina Dimitrescu was 44 years old when she was granted the Cadou by Mother Miranda. (1st Tier: Canon. Source: A note in the castle basement from a servant is dated 1958, and mentions both Alcina and her children. Secondly, Miranda's experiment notes state that Alcina was the 181st subject, and was given the Cadou at age 44. By doing math, we can then determine the earliest Alcina could have been born.)

Alcina refers to the other Lords as her family once without any disdain (when Ethan first arrives at the castle and is caught, Alcina says "you've escaped my little brother"). In a private journal (located near where she threw the infamous vanity) she insults the other Lords, and expresses anger that she is "treated like a sister to them". She argues with Heisenberg without any hesitation, and seems honest in her hatred of him (per Maggie Robertson's wunderbar performance). (1st Tier/2nd Tier: Canon with a sprinkle of interpretation for the last line)

Alcina openly refers to Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela as her daughters, and wrote in her experiment journal that she felt instantly connected to them (as mother and daughters). (1st Tier: Canon).

Bela Dimitrescu:

Likely born in the 1930's or 1940's, in order to be an adult by 1958 (the first dated appearance of the Dimitrescu daughters). (2nd Tier: Based on inference)

Dialogue shows that all three of the daughters do love their mother, and reinforces the bond Alcina's journal mentions. (1st Tier: Canon)

We are not given any information about how Bela feels about the other Lords, or even what she knows about them. Once can assume that she shares the ideas of her mother, either because Alcina tells her things directly, or because Bela (who is eager to please her mother) picks up on them over time. (2nd Tier: Based on inference)

Donna Beneviento:

No idea when she was born. If you've read one of my recent posts, then you know that it's almost entirely a matter of 2nd and 3rd tier canon.

Of the four lords, Donna seems to have the most story within the 2nd tier, and has very, very little in the 1st tier. Duke says she's somewhat isolated, and that her "playmates" never leave the house. Miranda's notes state that Donna is mentally ill, and the gardener's diary states/implies (bit of both) that Donna has severe social anxiety. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly canon)

Supposedly, her parents committed suicide while she was still a child. This is indicated in concept art/the attached developer's notes. However, the only part that's also directly stated in game is that her parents (specifically her father) died while she was young. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly canon)

While Donna only has one voice line in the game (and it's sad), Angie talks a fair bit. Angie seems to disapprove of the other Lords, or at the very least enjoys mocking them, as well as enjoys watching them fight with each other. As Angie is connected to Donna, and Donna has some level of control over her, one can assume that the two have similar (if not the same) opinions. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly Canon)

Donna was adopted by Mother Miranda as an adult. It's unclear exactly how old Donna was, or what exactly Miranda did as her "mother", just that Donna was excited about it. (1st Tier: Canon)

Other Relevant Information:

Heisenberg refers to the other Lords as his siblings a minimum of 1 time. Similarly to Alcina, however, he openly insults them and seems to hate them. He just, you know, hates Mother Miranda the most. (1st Tier: Canon)

Mother Miranda does not actually give a shit about the four Lords, intended for them to die before the ceremony, and has been manipulating them for her own gain this entire time. Her notes and dialogue make it clear that she only cares about getting Eva back. Somehow mother of the year and worst mother ever. At the same time. (1st/2nd Tier: Mostly Canon)

It's unclear who treats Alcina "like a sister" to the other Lords. Were there cut lines of dialogue that cemented the idea of them being a "family"? Did Miranda call them a "family" as part of pretending she cared about them? I've done my best to dig around, but there's very little in game that treats them as a family of any sort.

As each Lord ruled their own section of the region, they don't have any mentions of interacting with each other outside of meetings with Mother Miranda. None of the notes for any Lord (and their relevant experiments) mention what the others are doing. In game, their environments are very separate, very well divided, though this is likely as much for gameplay as it is for story.

Conclusion:

I do not not believe there is enough in game evidence to suggest that Alcina and Donna consider themselves to be siblings. There's the possibility for a large age gap, Alcina was a fair bit older than Donna when she met Miranda, Donna is a social recluse whose closest bonds were with dead blood relatives and dolls, Alcina openly dislikes (if not hates) the other Lords, they seemingly lived very separate and distanced lives, and Mother Miranda does not enforce the idea of "family". Furthermore, the sheer contrast between how Alcina interacts with/speaks of the other Lords compared to how she interacts with/speaks of her daughters says a lot about her feelings. Even if Heisenberg takes the brunt of her anger, Alcina never once says anything remotely positive about anyone other than Miranda and her daughters.

As Alcina/Bela and Donna are not blood-relatives, the definition of what would count as "incest" does vary depending on who you ask. Personally, I do count non-blood relations as potentially incestuous. For example: Alcina "dating" one of her daughters would be incest, regardless of the fact that she's a mutated human and her daughters are weird swarms of flies.

Now, I do understand how popular the idea of the four Lords being a real, chaotic but still close family is. And as I mentioned above, it's totally valid to not like the Bela///Donna ship, whether it's because you think they're family or some other reason. I don't personally see them that way, even in my definitely-not-canon stories.

Do I personally ship Bela///Donna? Nope. Have I liked art for the ship? Admittedly yes, even if I thought some of it was, like, maiden x Bela because Donna didn't have her veil and I'm a DUMBASS who doesn't always remember to read tags. Would I ever write for it? Yeah, probably, assuming I didn't miss anything in game/that I don't eventually change my mind.

[americasmarauders]

the last great american dynasty--Bucky Barnes

summary: A short story on how she lived her life after her sweetheart was kiiled during the war.

words: 1,934

author’s note: it’s been a while since i last worked on this and i think it’s a bit choppy, but i hope y’all like it. it’s slightly inspired by taylor siwft’s song the last great american dynasty. 

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She didn't expect to meet him. The usual parties her father threw were filled to the brim with spoiled brats and entitled jerks. But he wasn't one of them. 

              He wore a crisp blue suit, his hair gelled back and his eyes bright like the sun. His smile was infectious and she found herself smiling from across the room just seeing the sight. He made his way towards her and she didn’t imagine how much her world would change.

              Bucky, that's what his name was, had not come to one of those gatherings before. It was usually his father that came. But his father was out of town, and he was to take over the small company soon anyway, so he came. His bright smile and twinkling blue eyes knocked her world out of its axis. 

              They talked all night. Not those pretentious, boring conversations. Actual conversations. He told her stories about his sisters and his best friend. How his best friend was the best person in the world, how he struggled so much and yet never once lost his kindness. How his sisters were always up to mischief. Bucky's eyes shine bright at those simple anecdotes, and she shone with him, for him. 

              After that, he would sneak in through her window some nights and they would talk in hushed tones or nap cuddled to each other. He would leave by dawn, a couple of hours before his Father expected him to appear and help him with the business. Other nights, he would appear by the front door, by the end of the afternoon a bouquet of flowers in his hand and the most charming smile she had ever seen. He would hand her the flowers and shake her father’s hand and then he would whisk her to dance the night away. 

              And then….And then the war happened. And her heart would beat stronger and more anxiously every time she remembered that soon Bucky would be one of those boys that needed to enlist. He would say that everything would be fine, he would kiss her worries away leaving her flushed and distracted, only focusing on getting his lips back on her again. 

              But he got drafted. 107th infantry, leaving to the other side of the ocean, first thing after that 1A was seen by him. Bucky took her out dancing the night before he was sent away from her. She was left with a promise: he would go back to her, no matter what. And then he gave her a ring. Not something that would symbolize the promise of marriage, but the promise of his love. 

              He left with her heart in his pocket. She cried the entire day after she was him waving from the ship, him getting smaller the more the embarkation got away from her. Steve consoled her, held her hand and told her everything would be okay. But he too left for bootcamp, leaving her for the war. 

                he took over the company soon after her dad fell sick. It was a couple of years into the war, the ring Bucky had given her heavy on her finger. They exchanged letters, he would profess his love in every single one of them. But she could tell his exhaustion, she could tell the trauma he was facing. Then the letters stopped altogether for months. And she braced for the worst. 

              She buried herself in work and money and lavish parties for those horrible months. She filled her pool with champagne, swam in it with the best artists in New York. Inside she was bleeding, absent of a heart. She missed Bucky. She missed everything about him. 

              A letter came in the mail with his hand-writing on it and suddenly the parties weren’t needed anymore. He told her Steve was different now, like someone had injected steroids on him, and someone most likely had. He told her he had been captured and taken as a POW for those months he didn’t write.  He was sorry that she worried for him. 

              She was just glad he was alive. She was just glad that she could see a light at the end of the tunnel. The war was ending, Hitler was nearing a dead end, the Allies would win and Bucky would come back home to her and everything would be alright.

              Then again, hope really is for suckers. MIA. Three little letters changed her life forever. She had officially lost her heart. Forever. 

              She forfeited her right to the company. She remained on the board, but was rarely ever seen near the company’s building. She bought a house near the beach, few neighbors and quiet enough to live the rest of her life in peace. As much peace as she could get. 

              Sometimes she would fall back into bad habits: lavish parties, blowing her money on the ballet, not remembering enough of the night in the morning after. Most times, she would just live through the day and stare at the sea during the night, hoping and praying to whatever was out there that at least Bucky found some peace in the after life, just like she was trying to find hers. 

              She lived in that house for 50 years. She died in the house and left it and all of her money to Bucky’s sister, Rebeca.

              And that was how Bucky discovered the house. He got a letter from a nephew he didn’t even know of that there were some letters addressed to him in the attic of his house and he would like Bucky to have them. 

              Bucky headed to the house, soon after he got the letter. The man welcomed him to the house--his home--and Bucky took notice of the little things about it. The walls were littered with pictures of family. Pictures of his sister growing older with her husband and kids. He guided him to a big and oddly cluttered attic. The nephew showed him a couple of boxes with Bucky’s name scribbled on it. 

              Bucky gave his nephew--God it was weird to call a man older than him that--a strained smile and the man left him alone. Bucky sat on the ground in front of the boxes and took out his gloves. He ran a hand through his short hair, sighing. It was weird to be in front of these. Because these things belonged to a man that was long dead. He wasn’t that guy anymore. He wasn’t the Winter Soldier anymore. He was somewhere in between.

              He took out a small knife from his pocket  and tore the tape that held the box closed. He opened the box carefully and took a peek inside. 

              There were clothes on top of it all. He took it off. A jacket, military one with Sargent Barnes stitched on it. He did know how his sister ended up with it, how it wasn’t lost in the destruction of war was beyond him. He set it aside in his lap and moved to the rest of the items in it. 

              There were a lot of photo albums of when he was a kid and a teen. He spent a lot of time browsing through them, trying to remember those memories, trying to convince himself it belonged to him. Once he was finished with that box he moved on to the next. 

              The box was filled with letters. Stacks and stacks of letters most of them addressed to him. As soon as he opened one of them he recognized immediately who wrote them. 

              He hadn’t thought about her yet. He had refused to. It hurt too much. But he was still there with the letters on his hands, delicately caressing them as if she was there with him. She wasn’t, and it hurt too much. 

              He sighed and opened one of them. It dated a week after he was declared MIA.

              21/01/45

              Dear Bucky, 

              According to the Army, you’ve been missing for a week. I’ve been missing you for longer than that.

              God, I don’t even know why I’m writing this letter, you’ll never get to read this. Colonel Phillips was very adamant that you were most likely dead. I guess I just need to get this off my chest. 

              I just miss having you around. I miss everything about you. Your smile, your eyes, your voice. A hole was carved in my chest when you left and it will never be full again. I’ll never find what I had with you. 

              I never took the ring off. I never forgot you Bucky, not in the years you were away. Well, I guess you’ll always be away now.  

              I’m so sorry, Bucky. I’m so sorry you couldn’t come back from the war. I’m so sorry you couldn’t come back from the war. I’m sorry we couldn’t be together for more than we were. 

              I love you, Bucky. I’ll always miss you, like I’m missing my heart.

                He sniffed and swallowed nervously. He folded and returned the letter in the envelope. He opened another. 

              14/01/46

              Dear Bucky,

              It’s been a year since you were declared MIA. 

              I spent the day with Rebeca. She’s getting married in a couple of months and I was helping her with the planning. It was good, it took my mind off the emptiness of this day.

              She’s so happy Bucky. You would have liked the guy, he’s a smart guy, like you. He’s so sweet and respectful and he’s good for her. 

              She went to college, Buck. Can you believe it? She wants to take over your dad’s business so she made sure she was prepared. 

              You would’ve been so proud of her. She misses you. I know she does. She just never says it. 

              I love you, Bucky. 

              He then opened another. And another, and another and another and another. He wasn’t sure how long he stayed in the dusty attic. It felt like a decade. It was probably just a couple of hours. He dug through every single letter of that box, craving for those moments he lost, he was robbed of. 

              At the very bottom of the box he found a tiny velvet box. He opened it. The ring he had given her sat perfectly in the velvet cushion of the box. He took it. He remembered buying that ring. He had enlisted Steve to help him out, insisting he’d come. 

              He was so nervous she wouldn’t like it, fearing it may have been too much. But he remembered the way she smiled and teared up at his confession. He remembered how she flung herself at him, smashing her lips on his with passion and so much love. 

              He loved her still. He hadn’t had the chance to stop loving her. And maybe if he had he wouldn’t have stopped. He doesn’t know, he was robbed of so many things and this was only one of them. 

              He sighed and returned all the letters to the box. He came downstairs and chatted a bit with his nephew, before asking if he could get those boxes. He said yes, of course, mom would have wanted that. 

              He took those boxes to his apartment in Brooklyn. On the bad days he would read back those letters, just to feel a bit of love. On the good days, he would look at them and think about the life he’d have to live for those people he had left behind, that he was ripped away from. 

              He’d have to make sure he’d live his best life for them. 

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen Lives for ‘Death by Rock and Roll’

“The 27 Club” is a depressing cultural phenomenon — it’s the age musical luminaries Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Mia Zapata of the Gits, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix died.

The Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen is now is 27 but was 25 when she wrote a reckoning in the semi-autobiographical “25.” The song appears on Death By Rock and Roll, the band’s fourth record. The LP is a stunner; a dozen stellar songs that are at once reverential, referential and intensely personal.

In the past four years, Momsen lost two hugely important people in her life. In 2017, Chris Cornell died by suicide, and not long after, her musical mentor and best friend Kato Khandwala died in a motorcycle crash. Understandably, Momsen was devastated. Thanks in no small part to the catharsis of music, the age of 27 seems to be a renewal, as she exorcises her pain in Death By Rock and Roll. The Pretty Reckless’ best album to date, the passion and pain are palpable in both music and lyrics. The plaintive “Got So High” could be an alt-rock chart-topper, in wonderful contrast to the raw rallying cry and aggressive gutter-rock feel of the title track. She moves easily from the quirky cinematic moment of “Broomsticks” into the fiery, feminist coven-call that is “Witches Burn.”

Speaking from her pandemic hideout in Maine, Momsen isn’t on the other side of the grieving process.

“I’d be a liar to say that I’m, you know, over things,” she tells SPIN. “I’m still in the process of healing, but the making of this record really was just a huge step forward. I was in a very, very dark space there for a while, and if it wasn’t for the making of this record, I don’t know if I would be here right now.”

She wallowed, but ultimately her instinct for self-preservation kicked in. As did a worldwide pandemic. Masking up is nothing new for Momsen, who calls herself “a super hypochondriac” who hasn’t left her house since March.

“Even before COVID, I was strict. It probably stems from being a singer and not wanting to get sick on tour, because you never fully recover. So [I always flew wearing] masks,” Momsen says.

Though she’s healthy, and it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that, emotionally, Momsen was saved by rock and roll. “I keep just sticking to the word rebirth,” she says. “I know it sounds cliché, but it really does feel like that for the band.”

While the songs are truthful, sometimes sad, always powerful, they’re never a pity party. “I keep trying to want to put a positive spin on it because I don’t want it to be this representation of this very morbid thing,” Momsen says. The concept behind Death By Rock & Roll is a positive rallying crying, something a band might shout together before going on stage. “It’s an ethic that we live our life by; go out your own way, rock and roll till I die,” she continues. “Don’t let anyone tell me differently.”

The phrase “death by rock and roll” was coined as the band’s de facto motto by Khandwala, which made it an appropriate choice for the album title. The band’s friend, producer and touchstone, Khandwala died in 2018 at the age of 47. He was with The Pretty Reckless from 2010’s Light Me Up to 2014’s Going To Hell and 2016’s Who You Selling For.

Khandwala’s memory bookends the album: A recording of his actual footsteps on a wooden floor begins the record, and the final song is the poignant tribute “Harley Darling,” a stellar ballad that could be a hit on Americana/country radio. If the only way around something is through it, Momsen dove in headfirst, putting all her angst, love, sadness and power into the songs.

“The record delves into a lot of darkness and a lot of sadness. There was no way around that as a writer. And as a person. It just became so a part of who I was that I couldn’t avoid it. But I think by writing it and getting it out, that was a huge part of the healing process.”

Wanting to use music to process and express her emotions, she called Khandwala, who had produced every The Pretty Reckless album, to talk about recording.

But then came the call that Khandwala had died.

“That was the nail in the coffin for me. I threw my hands up in the air and kind of went ‘Yeah, I give up.’ I went down a very dark rabbit hole of depression and substance abuse and everything that comes with that.” she confesses. Momsen was so down that she couldn’t even listen to music. Eventually, listening to her favorite artists helped her. “I started with the Beatles, listening to every detail, the whole Anthology, and just going through what made me fall in love with music when I was young.”

The band – drummer Jamie Perkins, guitarist Ben Phillips and bassist Mark Damon – met Momsen through Khandwala and were all equally devastated, processing losses in their own ways. They were on tour with Soundgarden in 2017, which was a thrill but ended in tragedy when Cornell died.

“As an artist [being asked to open the tour] was the highest compliment that you could possibly get,” she says. “If you know anything about me, I mean Soundgarden is just the epitome [when it comes to rock bands]. I was there that last night in Detroit,” she remembers. “I talked to him at night I gave him a hug and said goodbye. When I wake up to that news the next morning … It just went from the most elating experience to the one of the most devastating. And Kato was at all those shows.”

Cornell’s death shook Momsen and the band profoundly. She says it “took me down to a place where I wasn’t useful in the middle of a record cycle.” The Pretty Reckless were supposed to be on the road for another year, but Momsen wasn’t up to performing as she dealt with her grief. “I couldn’t grieve and continue to get on stage every night and pretend, put on this big rock show like everything was okay. I left the tour,” she says.

With time, she was able to listen to Soundgarden’s music, and eventually, she picked up a guitar. Death by Rock & Roll was a record that was easy in the worst way possible.

“I didn’t have to try to write it. It was more just a necessity that I didn’t even know I needed. It just kind of poured out of me,” Momsen says of the writing process. “There were a lot of tears during the recording. We put everything we had into this album, physically, emotionally. There are good days, bad days, obviously. I think the full spectrum of emotions was spanned on making this, from anger to tears of happiness to tears of sadness.” Some days were too difficult for Momsen even to attempt vocals, too heartbroken from the past few years.

That said, Momsen, in conversation, along with the record itself, aren’t outwardly mournful. Her voice has laughter and life. “I’m ecstatic for people to hear the album and to share it because I’m really proud of it. I know it sounds cliche, but it really does feel like the first album, like we had to start from scratch again, and we didn’t know how that was going to go.”

Still, there are songs where Momsen chooses not to divulge the true inspiration to inquisitive journalists. “I think it’s unfair to the listener to detail song lyrics in a personal manner. It takes away what it means to [the listener].” She offers up an example to clarify: “I’m a huge Pink Floyd fan. (She references “The Great Gig in the Sky” in the song “Rock and Roll Heaven.”) I’ve watched every documentary ever made about Pink Floyd. In one, Roger Waters is talking about ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond,’ going into depth about what the song was about to him, about Syd Barrett.”

Momsen was shocked to learn the song’s true story. “It was so not how I had taken that song my entire life! I’m glad that I know the story now. But if I had known before I listened to it, I think that it would have changed my perspective of the song. It wouldn’t have had the same impact that it had on me and my personal life. That’s why I don’t like to do that.”

Death by Rock and Roll reaffirms The Pretty Reckless’ love of rock and roll, along with the people who made them who they are, musically and as individuals. “I think because we went through so much trauma, and so much loss, that this record, in one way, feels so much like a gift. We’re given the gift of rebirth; I mean, how many artists can say that? As artists, you struggle to find inspiration always. In this case, inspiration was just thrust upon me.”

With a record that marks such a powerful turning point for The Pretty Reckless, talking about Khandwala and Cornell will be inevitable and ongoing. “This record starts and ends with my love letter to Kato. So there’s no getting around talking about that,” Momsen concedes. “But it’s so much more than that. I think it’s reflecting on the cycle of life. You come into this world with nothing but your soul, and you leave it with nothing but your soul.”

[migleefulmoments]

CrissColfer Strategy #2

This piece was posted on 2/19/20 but it is originally from 2018 prior to LM/DC. It’s always amusing to read their theories about big upcoming changes in Darren’s love life in light of the fact that Mia has been a steady force in Darren’s life for 10 years.

Here they are debating whether Lea will be Darren’s new beard- a theory that required them to ignore both Mia and Zandy. In this post we see justcantgetenoughcc using the “trust me I know more than you do but I can’t share it” strategy. Honestly, this is the one that baffles me the most. While I can see the slow-motion gifs for what they are- pure manipulation, I know that TLOS isn’t the Klaine bible they want it to be and I can understand how other’s can be conned with that evidence. What I can’t understand is why anyone would trust someone who continues to say “I know more than you do but I can’t share it with you...just trust me”.  Those very words are literally the exact words that should raise one’s caution flag. Mommas, the one thing you should teach your children is to never trust someone who claims to know the truth but can’t share any evidence. Especially if that story goes on for 5 or 10 years.

***********************************

ilikesomedistance There was a discussion many years ago, that they (PR and F/ox) wanted to bring Lea and Darren together. But it never worked out for many reasons.

Guess it’s happening now.

stopandimaginelove  But whyyyyyyyyyyyyy 🤐

justcantgetenoughcc Interesting question.

The primary reason was always to break Chris and Darren up.

RM/Ricky all playing together. AB imo not that invested but to a degree (at least initially). Even beard (she realized what she can have by getting rid of Chris and why she too is very much part of the game now). Each had their own reason for being invested, as Chris and Darren in love and united as a team, made it difficult to manipulate Darren. In a way, that - Darren and Chris in love - was also their Achilles heel. Each put the other ones’ interest first - and got manipulated in giving up their autonomy. Chris had nothing to hide as he was already out. Why would he even need a beard? They were so young and so naïve to Hollywood’s manipulation tactics. I don’t think they had anyone with industry experience, with their interests at heart, to advise them or look out for them. It was too late and they were in too deep, by the time they realized what they had agreed to. They still tried to back out of some of their worst mistakes. Some day… they will tell those stories or it will turn up in Chris’s books.

Initially people assumed that all that proximity and playing boyfriends onscreen - and no doubt their amazing chemistry - must be why they were together. I am sure they thought it will never last or they will get over it or get tired of it and move on to others once the itch was scratched. Like most young guys (as young gay guys - not my opinion at all - but a lot of people believe that).

But it didn’t happen that way. They didn’t break up. Instead they went and got engaged over Dec 2012/NYE 2013 (that was from when we have the pic of Chris looking at his ring standing next to his suitcase at an airport). They were serious from the get-go. They were ‘IT’ for each other.  They were even living together (even before Glee Live 2011 - in Chris’s first rented apartment in LA). I think it was Joey who once commented that he saw Darren only when he needed more clothes (Don’t quote me on it though. Ha). When Chris bought his first home in Laurel Canyon, guess who moved in there with him? It wasn’t W as most of the fandom was led to believe. There’s enough proof in their own words and since this is going to be a long post, I am going to leave some of those details out of this. And some I can’t reveal.

Why do you think LU Tour happened? It was another attempt to break them up and also to get Darren to declare his longtime gf of a hundred years. There was no way Darren would agree to it when Chris and Darren are together. And so his team came up with the clever “DIVIDE and CONQUER” tactic. Get Darren away from Chris and break him down.

Nothing ELSE came out of LU tour and so I am right in my assumption here.

A Darren who missed Chris on the road, who was mentally and physically exhausted from his days on the tour… gave in… WITH TEARS… a heartbroken Darren was FORCED to declare a gf - reading from a script, answering questions from a script, at the Toronto Radio Interview - WHILE he was already ENGAGED to CHRIS.  There are many ways I can cement the claims I am making. But they are NOT mine to share.

If you doubt me, that the intent ALWAYS was to break them up (come on guys! connect the dots!), so much has been exposed in the last two years, especially in the last six months.

Why were they forced to have beards? It wasn’t FOX (in fact there's a story not known to many that FOX was going to let Chris and Darren come out (heck they even knew of their engagement - again stories that I cannot reveal) but others disagreed/disapproved of that move and stopped it). Some of the old fandom crowd know of this. Why were their beards ALONE always allowed access to the glee set? Why were M and W paraded so much on the sets? Why was the beard woman given a job at FSO (where she did nothing really but was given free credit for work others did). Chris was already OUT. He was a grown up guy who always took care of himself even when he was much younger.

During 5.14 filming in NYC, it was clear that the film crew took care of Chris and Darren. All their needs on the set was met along with the rest of the cast present (Amber, Chord, Kevin, Lea and Darren). Even holding up their winter coats for them to slip their arms through. W didn’t do anything other than obstruct the filming (and there were a lot of complaints about W and he had to be told many times to move out of the crews way). Do you think Chris paid for W to accompany him to NYC where he wasn’t needed at all? Who had the most to gain from that decision to have W there?

The beards were ALWAYS meant to WEAR THE GUYS DOWN. To create discord between them. To grate on their nerves. To be a thorn in their side. You get the drift.  It still didn’t work. Those two guys still stayed strong.  

Yes, there was an attempt to END KLAINE early in S6 and use Darren/Blaine as Lea/Rachel’s LI and have them be the prime couple who got married to each other (instead of a Finchel wedding that RM always talked about) at the SERIES Finale. That didn’t work either. That story is known to many in the fandom. But is not mine to tell.

Look at all the attempts made to prevent Darren and Chris coming out. Since 2015.

I have repeated this so many times since 2015 and am going to repeat it ONE LAST TIME for the people who have joined the fandom since 2015.

Glee was filming the last season. Beards were barely on the set even with all the heavy make-out scenes (heavier Kliss scenes, emotional scenes, the elevator scene, the wedding, future Klaine etc). Guess everyone felt bearding was ending too as Glee only had a few more months left. We got the NOW FAMOUS BTS interview from the ranch - the day the Klaine wedding was being filmed - where Chris and Darren were interviewed by Leanne Aguilera (and not M). Where they admitted so much and looked radiant and vibrant. Best of all they admitted to being good friends in real life.

Then we got the Ellen Show where Darren and Chris interacted and wrote each others names (not to mention the incident where Chord slipped up and mentioned meeting Chris and Darren. Nothing dramatic happened by way of reaction or retaliation from PR).  Then came the Paleyfest and the Mario Lopez radio Interview - where Chris was present with Darren and Mario in the recording room. We counted Chris’s laughter interspersed  - at least five times. It wasn’t edited out. We rioted over all of those events repeatedly. It was like the CC drought was finally over. They were allowed to breathe free. And acknowledge each other. Say they were good friends with each other.

[We have proof on several claims I make here and are known to a lot of people but we can’t share them yet].

We knew they went on a European vacation that ended in Paris where Darren had to attend the CON with a few other Glee cast. Darren alone didn’t stay at the hotel where the CON was held, where the rest of the cast stayed. Ask yourself why. Darren returns to NYC and starts rehearsing for Hedwig Broadway that starts mid-April. Everyone was happy and there were several SM follows of both Darren and Chris back to back by Hedwig Crew and BTS crowd. Lot of happy tweets and fun stuff.

It felt like Darren had a few more months left to freedom. Chris plans his TLOS4 book tour around Darren’s closing show at Belasco - so that he can sit in the audience and not watch from the shadows as he did during the first 119 days of the run. Alla Plotkin, Chris’s publicist, allowed it and supported it (if there were any known contracts or clauses that prohibited Chris’s presence at the closing show, Alla wouldn’t have /couldn’t have allowed it) and planned the whole tour accordingly with Chris.  

So close to freedom and to coming out… and then out of the blue, Darren’s perfectly written Broadway BIO was edited to a mess of a BIO and  ‘xos to mia’ was included. Overnight Darren’s personal life got hijacked by a scheming woman and Darren’s manager. Eleni who was a longtime good friend of Jeff Jernigan, was appointed as Darren’s assistant (watchdog) at Belasco. Darren who hadn’t even seen or heard from the beard for many months, and Darren who had never displayed any real closeness to the woman - posts a dressing room kiss (long story about that too. (Read mleigh69’s post on how the Belasco kiss was staged).

From there on, everything went to hell in a hand basket. All their hopes and plans were dashed.

From that time to the present, how closely Darren is monitored and watched and babysat…is ridiculous. Darren has more people on his secret service detail,  sometimes more than even the President himself (it feels like). He sang 4 songs in Utah recently and he had Ricky, AB, Jeff Jernigan, Eleni, beard and Ken Sunshine (the boss of Sunshine Sachs) with him in Utah.

All their attempts to coming out was thwarted. Chris wasn’t allowed to attend the Hedwig closing show even though he had timed it to end the day before, giving him time enough to fly to NYC from LA. Chris who had never made a career misstep, chose to put his reputation as a children’s book author on the line by acting drunk - just so he could get on a plane to NYC. He had to watch the closing show from the shadows but am sure that was preferable to being beaten or giving in to two conniving people.

Even the ENCAGE was partially to stop CrissColfer from coming out. See what the encage did. All of Darren’s commitments and obligations were OVER AND DONE with by then… except for the NOOSE called the encage now. That was pretty timely, wasn’t it?

Why is Darren going on a tour with Lea Michele when Lea’s album was poorly received and didn’t do well at all? All her shows failed. She really has nothing much going on.  Hmmmm…

If am guessing, let me be wrong for one last time… WHAT IF IT IS TO KEEP CHRIS AND DARREN APART? As all their attempts and excuses to prevent Chris and Darren FROM COMING OUT ARE EXHAUSTED?

So now there are tours and MORE TOURS… where Darren's TEAM THINKS he has to remain NO HOMO for the tours to sell. They quickly got him committed to a LONDON concert while ACS was still airing.

Now ACS is over.

And sure enough, just as the ENCAGE IS COMING APART AT THE SEAMS… we have THE LM/DC TOUR!!!!

tahtah678

[szopenhauer]

Can you talk on the phone while having the tv/radio on? not really ^^”

Describe your teeth: ugh...

Whats the longest youve lived without electricity? days, maybe weeks, no longer than 2

Name all the types/brands of cigarettes you have tried: RGD blue

What is one thing you stand strongly for? hmm... I’m weak

If you could be the owner of one site what would it be? old polyvore :(  I’d keep it 

What does your doormat say? sadly nothing

What is something you always have in your fridge? light lol

What age can you not wait for? I’m not looking forward to growing older wtf

Name all the drugs you’d never do: I don’t plan to try any illegal substances nor even cigarettes or alcohol

What is the most alcohol you’ve drank in a night? half a mug of absynth while I was on meds that I shouldn’t mix with it :x

What street sign do you find totally pointless? round ones have no points lmfao *dry humor

Do you like water? but drink or what?

Would you ever be a zoo keeper? maybe Do you like the name Mia? it reminds me of Mamma mia and I disliked this movie as I’m not fan of musicals so...  Do you have pictures in your room of your friends and you? just parents and dog, not even grandma’s anymore Would you like to live in Canada? no Do you want to be a mouse? dunno When was the last time you had a date? recently Are you in a poke war on Facebook? it reminds me of Sebastian :x Aren’t penguins cute?  they’re fine Would you rather have your friends at your house or you at theirs? have friends over is cool if not my mother and mess (and covid now too of course) as going out is a struggle  True or false: Life is unfair. sigh... Do you have curtains in your living room? What do they look like? we do, they’re like golden/yellowish/beige 

Are you a fan of Star Wars? huge

Do you hate when people don’t capitilize the beginning of the sentence? I do it all the time True or False: Justin Bieber is gay. he’s married to a female, he was dating a gal before too, it’s unlikely

Are you worried about how much paper and water we use? mhm

Did you ever take a computer class in school? we all had to Would you like to sit around and do nothing all day? mmm :3

Mini skirts, jeans or both? neither Are you good at come backs? better than when I was a kid fo sho! When’s the last time you watched the news? I don’t even remember Do you really think that the number 13 is unlucky? it’s my dad’s lucky number  Personality or looks? personality is 90% + I don’t count sex - just women exclusively Do you ever dance around your room when your by yourself? at times Do you hate the cold? very, brrr How long can you hold your breath for? about a minute? What’s something you seem to run out of often? ... Do you think that there really is someone out there for all of us? not for every human being  Do you think Cookie Monster is cute? it’s alright Do you ever wish you were a bird? yes Have you ever had a dream where you killed someone? I fight a lot of ppl in my dreams Do you ever wish on your eye lashes? I believe they’re sent by those who think about you instead Do you ever make up stories in your head and wish they come true? some of them only Do you look at people in the eyes when you talk to them? usually not when I talk which makes them think I’m lying, I prefer to look them in the eye when I listen  Which is worse: stuffy nose or runny nose? runny nose is worse  Do you think it would be cool to be part of the royal family? it would be easier in some ways, harder in others, guess it could be worthy after all? Do you have to wear a belt with your pants? I don’t own/wear any Do you think your last relationship was a disaster? I’m taken rn True or False : You were born in March false Do you wear hats in the winter? I do, it’s cold

Are you looking forward to the new year? sorta Are you afraid that one day you may get cancer? I know I will Which is worse : Dentist or doctor? doctor

Do you hate when the radio overplays a song? that’s one of the reasons I don’t listen to the radio What’s your least favorite thing that begins with the letter C? chronic illnesses? Do you wish you could walk on water? how would I take a bath then? Which is your favorite symbol : ! @ $ % ^ & * ( ) ? ? Do you like your legs? they’re not the worst Would you rather visit London or Paris? London Twilight or Harry Potter? HP if I have to choose any Do you have a big nose? I heard I do, they were calling me NOSE in middle school Can you rap? nah Do you like the number 4? meh What color is your bike? my push scooter is green ;) Have you ever tried to count the stars? I don’t think so Are you not over someone? apparently as we’re dating 

Have you kissed someone today? not today Have you taken a painkiller today? nope Have you had a nap today? neither If you’re currently in a relationship - do you think it will last? I’m afraid not ;(  *covid, my issues, our differences etc. - everything can fuck it up and probably will I try to enjoy the moment but it will break us hard sooner or later and I’m getting used to the tought even tho she asks me not to give up (I don’t plan to but I worry she might) I’m gonna miss what we have... if this relationship won’t work I’m not gonna look for anybody new ever  What would you wear if you were being taken out to dinner tonight? how fancy? Do you take your Christmas decorations down before or after New Years? after, before my birthday Have you made a large purchase today? no Have you ever had a migraine? it’s a disease, you either have it or not, that’s not just a single headache Have you locked your front door today? my parents are outside muahahaha Have you been awake before sunrise today? noooooooo

Do you normally eat dessert? nope Do you think you could be happy if you had to live with only nine outfits? not during winter Do you watch sunrises? barely ever Do you wake up before the sunrise? when I can’t sleep Do you watch sunsets? not interested

What would you paint on a pumpkin? why not carve? Do you ever imagine you are richer than you are? when planning my dream apartment  Do you ever imagine that you live in an entirely different world? kind of Would you rather change your first name or your middle? I have no middle name, I could add one or change first, whatever Do you wish your last name was more interesting? more like shorter  If you wrote a novel, would you give the characters ordinary names? it varies Do you worry too much? I’m a worrier What’s your favorite leaf color? green Do you wonder if you have super vision? I have a very good vision which is weird knowing how much I read in the past and how long I sit in front of the computer Do you like the smell of autumn leaves? not a fan If you were a singer, what would you sing and write songs about? sad stuff Would you rather be a dancer or a musician? musician

Where do you put your keys when you get home? not gonna tell you

Are you expecting any phone calls or emails? what if I win the contest?...

What does a successful relationship look like to you? success is when ppl die together (I mean not the same time but when they get older together) and not just because they had to, relationship is more than getting used to and coping - it’s happiness out of being together even if everything around is shit, you know what I mean?

What is the best house you’ve ever lived in? I’ve never moved

Do you look in the mirror before you leave the house? if I need to

Have you ever seen someone quit their job in a dramatic way? nope?

What was the last email you received? spam

Do you know someone who speaks without a filter? less filters than most but it also depends on who they’re talking to and what about

Are you the youngest, middle or eldest child in your family? youngest

What’s something you’ve been meaning to do but keep putting off? I’m a procrastinator so don’t even ask

What’s the first thing you check on your phone at the start of the day? fb messenger

[ivory-in-rapture]

My Top 10 Authors of the decade

This is actually a difficult list to make (like any list I have to make!) because there’s a lot of authors who I was binge-reading at the beginning of the decade (Cassandra Clare, Rachelle Mead, Lauren Kate, etc.) who I have not even thought about in years! Then there are also some authors I have just recently started reading who have had big impacts on me even though I have read only one or two works by them. (Catherynne M. Valente, Madeline Miller, Donna Tartt, Holly Black, etc.) I tried to keep a balance on this list with adding the few authors I have consistently read and loved, a few wild cards and then some old favorites to finish up the list:

1. Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Cycle, All the crooked saints)

I have practically turned this blog into a Raven Cycle fan blog at this point! I love Maggie Stiefvater’s writing. She was one of the first people who friended me in Book circles back when I joined in 2009. She is someone who not only I look up to as an author but also as a person. 

2.Rainbow Rowell (Fangirl, Landline, Eleanor and Park, Attachments, Carry on, Kindred spirits...)

It was love at first book with Rainbow Rowell! I know people are slightly..polarized about her books but when I read Fangirl, it was like someone had taken a look at my mess of a university experience and tried to put it together in a healing, empathetic order. I had a horrible time during my Bachelor’s study and the worst of Cath’s experience captured just that! I love that book so much, it’s been a comfort and a hopeful beacon for me through the years and after that, I have loved everything else I read by Rainbow Rowell as well. Hell, I went on an international trip just to buy Eleanor and Park because it wasn’t available in my country!!! 

3.Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone trilogy, Six of crows duology, King of scars, etc...)

Shadow and Bone was one of those books that pivoted my reading style. I think my unique take on that trilogy might not even be supported by Leigh herself but my god! this book changed things for me. I have been a loyal follower of Leigh Bardugo ever since! fun fact: my blog got(a teeny bit) famous because of my Shadow and Bone related posts all the way back in 2013/2014 before my Tumblr malfunctioned and I got locked out for over a year...anyway the point is, Leigh and her books have been a huge part of this decade for me. In a lot of ways, my memory of my reading experience is a before and after Shadow and bone thing.

4.Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Strange The Dreamer)

When I grow up, I want to be Laini Taylor! confession: I didn’t like Daughter of Smoke and Bone when I picked it up first..before I fell in love with it and stayed up all night on a trip and finished the book. Laini’s writing should inspire a new religion, it’s so good!

I don’t have any tattoos but if I ever get one, I know exactly what I’ll get and that’s a quote from Taylor’s books. I know what quote, but I’m not gonna tell ya!!!

5.Hanya Yanagihara (A little Life)

I should probably read her other books at some point but I’m not even over A little life yet! This is arguably my favorite adult novel that I’ve ever read. Yanagihara’s writing style is very close to how I write which I guess can be considered complicated (?) so I really enjoyed connecting to her writing on that front as well. 

6.Naomi Novik (Uprooted, Spinning Silver)

Uprooted was my introduction to Naomi Novik but since then I have learned about her impact on fandom and preservation of fanworks and all that combined makes her one of the most influential people in this decade for me! If only as a nod to all the stuff I’ve read on AO3...

But that aside, I loved Uprooted when I read it and if you haven’t read it either you really should. That book is so amazing and mind-blowing, it’s unreal!

7. Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me trilogy)

I haven’t read anything by Tahereh Mafi since Ignite Me but for the first half of this decade, Mafi’s Shatter me trilogy (yeah I don’t recognize the new sequels! Sorry!) was EVERYTHING! And even though I haven’t read much of her works since, I still follow her activity at a distance. There’s also a personal connection I have to her, which is private but that just makes her very relevant to me!

8. Susan Ee (Penryn and The end of days trilogy)

This book...man! Susan Ee has essentially been MIA since her self-published trilogy ended (she did release a new book recently though) but even for the short amount of time that I spent inhaling her books, she was a huge part of my reading experience. I mean I reread her books twice in less than a year at a time when my only reread books were Catching fire and Fangirl! Iconic!

9. Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games trilogy)

She’s been gone for a long while and i don’t talk about THG much anymore but I did join Tumblr because of THG. and honestly, when you’re living in a dystopian world and then an author writes a book about that, you connect with it on a spiritual level and there’s no way to avoid that connection. I think very few people experience hunger games like I did. I still remember the day I went to my mom and told her how an American writer has written a book that is essentially so close to our lives and how I can’t stop reading it and how HUGE this all is. Suzanne Collins is never not going to be relevant in my life. 

On top of that, before reading Hunger Games, I read a totally different genre of books! Reading Hunger Games changed everything for me! I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for her and her book trilogy.

10. Kieron Gillen (The wicked and the Divine)

I mean I have a freaking side blog dedicated to that comic series which ended this year...heart-freaking-breaking. He wrote my all-time favorite OTP, I became a comic book reader because of wicdiv, I found my bestie because of wicdiv... so yeah Kieron Gillen was a big part of this decade! HE FREAKING WROTE LUCI! I mean...

Anyway, I hope somebody got through this list! I thought about @ ing the writers but I don’t want to bother them with this sentimental post! This is a part of my end of the decade wrap-up series. If you want me to do any specific wrap-up lists, I am open to suggestions!

[softforcal]

Can you do a Luke x opener continuation?? I loved it so much

Luke x Opener!Reader

Poly, Cal, Ash, Michael

-you’re an rising performer and they saw you live once while creating their new album and all fell in love with your voice on the spot

-they convince management that they want you as their opener because you’re amazing

-when your management approaches you about it, of course you say yes and soon after that you’re following all of 5sos on insta and they’re following you

-they want to get to know you pre tour to see if you’re chill, it will be easier to tour together if you’re all buds

-so you go meet up with them at Cal’s house and spend the whole day getting to know each other

-they’re all super cool and you find yourselves all laughing and chilling next to the pool having a great time

-they show you some of their new songs and you all end up having an impromptu singing and dancing party

-yeah, its going to be a great tour

-you have to leave and they all offer to drive you home but you have it covered

-as soon as you’re gone they’re all just like “wow.” “yeah, she’s an angel.”

-they make a group chat with you in it and you all talk a bunch before the tour starts

-meeting up with them whenever you can

-Ashton convinces you to go to yoga

-you go walk Cal’s dog with him

-Michael getting you to create fortnite so you can play with him and Luke

-the first day of tour arrives and you show up to the airport only to be sneak attacked by Ashton who was totally waiting for you, he’d really want you to feel included and welcome

-getting to the plane and you go to sit by yourself but then Michael just comes and sits next to you and smiley, and he’s like “are you ready for tour?!” and he’s just a ray of absolute sunshine

-they all kind of take turns sitting next to you because the flight is so long

-you end up falling asleep on Luke’s shoulder and they’re all just like “oh my god she’s so cute.”

-Luke doesn’t let anyone wake you

-usually the opener would travel in a different van and tour bus but they really want to ‘include’ you so you end up being in their van most of the time and you sleep on the other tour bus but you’re in their bus most of the time

-your first show you go out there and you have an amazing set, as you get off the stage the guys all pull you into a huge hug to tell you how amazing you were

-getting to watch them preform and they are brilliant

-hanging out after the concert in a back stage room laughing and talking about the tour

-singing with them

-going over their note changes with them

-can you imagine singing with Calum and Luke and they both just adore your voice

-Michael trying to teach you how to play guitar if you don’t know how to already

-Cal trying to teach you to play bass

-And Ashton letting you dick around with his drums

-going out after concerts to look at the city

-you always get cold and one of them always ends up giving you their jacket

-or one of them offers to hug you to keep you warm

-Michael gives the best fucking hugs but Cal is a close second

-its because Michael is a lil squish okay!?! don’t fight me on this

-all of you taking pictures of each other and being able to freely post them because you’re their opener and its the cutest thing ever

-everyone speculating that you might be dating one of them

-taking cheeky photos where you’re kissing one of their cheeks or their kissing yours and everyone flips out

-spending entire bus rides in their bus goofing off and laughing and having a great time

-when you leave to go to your own bus for the night they spend at least an hour usually talking about the cute things you did while with them

-one night you’re in the chill area with them watching a movie and you fall asleep cuddled against Calum

-none of them want to move to wake you up so they all sleep there

-waking up next to these four guys, you all having moved at some time during the night and you’re just a cuddle blob

-pre concert rituals together with huge group hugs

-helping Luke put glitter on before a show because “more glitter!”

-sometimes they bring you on stage to sing with them as an encore

-you and Luke just have such vocal chemistry

-”and can we give it up for our angel and opening act, Y/N!”

-so many hugs

-group dogpiles after the show

-you all write songs together and bounce ideas off of each other

-harmonizing together

-tapping out beats together

-running around cities and usually one of them grabs your hand and starts running and then you’re all running around looking at stuff

-Cal and Ashton are huge fans of carrying you when you get tired

-getting shipped with all of them

-the five of you looking at the ship names and laughing then picking favourites

-so every guys favourite ship name is their own name with yours? what a fucking coincidence eh?

-they all ask your favourite ship name and you’re just like…… “uhhhhhh….”

-refusing to choose

-it would honestly be such a mess because it’s not like you don’t know they’re into you but its hard to choose because they’re all hella

—————————————————————–Luke con’t here

-so on tour there are also a lot of interviews the guys have to do

-you usually don’t have to do any interviews which is great, you can just spend the day looking around

-one day you get a phone call from Luke, they’re all set to do this super low key interview that they doubt will get much coverage and he has no idea where the other three are and no one is answering their phones except you and the interviewer suggested if you were available you could go because you’re their opener and they could talk about tour life from an outside perspective

-your management sends you a message and they think its a good idea so before you know it, you’re going and meeting Luke for an interview

-the interview starts kinda funny because you’re all laughing about how three members of 5sos are just MIA but you must be the new 5th member

-the interviewer is actually super sweet about it and its obvious that she’s just coming up with questions because obviously she had made questions for the group of guys but can’t use them anymore cuz they aint there

-”so give us an inside look on what it’s like to be on tour with four giant Aussie men?”

-”oh my god it’s the worst.” you joke, Luke pushing you with a grin, “no it’s great, they’re all super great guys.”

-talking about what it’s like to practice vocals with Luke and if there’s a possibility of there ever being an actual duet that might be released

-”i’d be down to write one. Y/N’s a lyrical genius.” Luke grins

-talking about tour shenanigans

-the other three boys showing up ten minutes in, breathless and with dead phones

-they swap in for you and complete their interview

-but the interviewer asks if it’s okay if she posts both interview videos separately

-management agrees

-its a decent interview and you’re not worried because management assured you it’s a super low key interview company and because it’s the two of you it probably wont get as many views as a normal interview would

-so management is wrong

-the interview blows up online

-for very good reason

-every time you speak Luke just looks at you with the most complete adoration and you hadn’t even noticed

-watching a gif of it because holy fuck how could you have not noticed? well, you were looking at the interviewer so it makes sense

-but holy shit this boy has heart eyes

-you never really know how someone feels about you until you see how they look at you when you’re not looking i guess

-you’re at the hotel later that night, you havent seen Luke since the interview

-you have no idea if he’s seen the frenzy on twitter, your ship name is trending and its mayhem

-you’d always kinda guessed that the band all had sorta crushes on you but the way Luke had been looking at you wasnt a simple crush

-there’s a knock at your door and of course when you open it, its Luke

-”hey, uh, can i come in?” he seems kind of nervous, you’re nervous too, i mean how do you even deal with this situation?

-you’re his opener and you’re not even half way into tour, if this goes bad, it will be very bad

-”i wrote some stuff i wanted you to take a look at.” he says, pulling out his phone and opening the app he keeps all his new lyrics on

-the two of you get comfortable and you take his phone and begin to read

-they’re love songs. really good love songs about passion and the inability to make a move and you start to realize little details about the person the speaker is talking about are little things about you

-��what do you think?” he asks nervously

-”i think whoever these are about is a really lucky girl.” i mean, you’re not just going to assume they’re about you because if you’re wrong you’re fucked

-Luke sighs, “you’re going to make me say it arent you?” “what do you mean?” “they’re about you.”

-”oh thank god!” you laugh, closing the space between the two of you so your lips can meet his

-the two of you crash onto the bed with you on top and you both giggle, lips meeting again

-when you pull away and red your forehead against his, just taking in the happiness, his fingers rub small circles on the bit of exposed skin on your waist

-”you have no idea how long i’ve wanted to kiss you.” he breathes ”was it everything you dreamed of?” “better… i want to take you on a date. a proper date. just you and me. have you eaten yet?”

-the two of you decide to go out for dinner, a late dinner but still

-he holds your hand as the two of you walk

-”Luke should we worry about Paparazzi?” “the entire internet already thinks we’re dating… unless you don’t want to hold my hand?”

-gripping his hand tighter

-you’re already such great buds its like almost any other night, except its just you and him (usually at least one of the others tags along)

-and then his hand goes to cover yours on the table and you melt

-so much laughing

-”i’m so glad those dumb asses missed that interview.”

-he insists on paying

-as you’re leaving the restaurant you get papped a bunch but Luke tries to shield you to the best of his abilities

-ending with the two of you running down dark streets like mischievous children to escape the cameras

-him pulling you into a dark alleyway to kiss you as he presses you against the wall

-”wow Hemmings, you know how to sweep a girl off her feet.” “Princesses are meant to be swept off their feet so it’s only natural.” (ok he would not say this, like straight up he wouldnt, but let me live okay. fuck ya’ll i’m soft and a girl can dream of a guy being this squishy okay?)

-running your fingers through his curls

-the two of you getting back to the hotel and as you’re walking down your hallway to your separate rooms, Cal, Michael and Ashton’s doors all open to stare at you two

-”so how was the date?” “do you two need condoms?” “Luke you’re a walking meme again.”

-like yeah they were all into you, yeah you’re gorgeous, but Luke went for it and you’re obviously reciprocating and bros before hoes, man, they gon support their tall bean friend

-”could you guys give us a bit of space?” Luke laughs but he’s serious

-they all kinda begrudgingly close their eyes as Luke walks you to your door, “see you in the morning?” “yeah we’re bussing to the next city.” “just making sure you’re not getting on the next plane or something.”

-soft boy being worried because he can’t believe it’s real

-reaching up and kissing him again

-he goes from soft to hardcore in an instant, his body pinning you against the wall as his hand cups your face and his other goes to your waist

-whistles erupting through the hallways because of course those nosy fucks opened their doors again to see if Luke got a goodnight kiss

-blushing as you hide in your apartment, giving Luke a quick peck before closing the door

-tour continues sort of like normal

-going on stage is kinda weird now because the fans definitely know you and Luke are trying it out

-you and Luke try to find more time alone

-lots of cute short dates when you can find the time

-holding hands on the tour bus

-he invites you to chill in his bunk for a bit one night and you both just talk about lyrics and vocals until you fall asleep

-waking up the next morning to the rest of the boys teasing you and Luke

-you’ve been dating a while and you’re both anxiously awaiting the next time you get to stay at a hotel because like… there’s been some close calls in hallways and on his bunk but he wants your first time to be somewhere you won’t get interrupted

-and the sexual tension is as thick as smoke

-like the boys don’t even want to be around the two of you

-because you and Luke are just looking at each other with such hungry eyes

-Luke getting kinda weird when any of the other guys are doing cute things with you…. like, Ashton had his arm over your shoulders and Luke growled.

-everyone knows that your casual dating is reaching something more

-the day arrives and you have the longest concert of your life before you all pack into a van to go to the hotel

-the van is silent. you all know what’s about to happen let’s be serious

-”so…. my condom offer still stands.”

-”shut up Michael!”

-as soon as the van stops Luke grabs your hand and the two of you practically run into the hotel and up to your rooms, the door isnt even closed and his lips are on yours.

-first time with Luke when you’re his opener is pent up and needy because you’ve both been waiting for a while and patience is not this boys best feature

-hands are everywhere

-clashing teeth

-laughter

-tearing clothes

-not wanting to have your lips away from each other for that long

-lots of whining and moaning

-grinding

-the two of you finally get on the bed and he pulls away, “Luke-” you try to protest but he just brushes his fingers softly against your face, “give me a moment to just look at you. you’re so beautiful.”

-his fingers gently roaming your body

-its like the eye of the storm. a few moments of him just cherishing you and being so soft

-”Luke i need you.”

-and then he’s back at making you moan so loudly you’re sure the others arent going to get any sleep

-i feel like he’d spend a lot of time worshipping your body with his fingers and mouth

-yeah, at least one orgasm before he’s even actually inside of you

-he works you up until you’re begging him for it before he actually goes inside of you

-staying still for a moment, his fingers brushing over your face again

-then he just goes ham fam,

-i feel like he’d really be down for first time missionary with someone he actually loves

-having access to his beautiful, broad back and shoulders

-scratching him up

-”fuck you’re so pretty!”

-a super intense orgasm lets be serious

-both of you just lying next to each other after, his arm around you as you both stare at the ceiling.

-”i love you.”

-”i love you too Hemmings.”

-okay i just killed myself. sorry fam. i’m dead. i like need a second.

-waking up next to each other

-going for breakfast with Ashton and Calum the next morning and they’re both just grinning hard core. “where’s Michael?” “still sleeping, he’s the one who had a room next to yours last night.”

-so much hand holding

-long sweet kisses before you go on stage

-singing your love songs and having to fight the urge to look at Luke who’s watching you from side stage

-kissing him before it’s his turn to go on

-the band all making grossed out noises whenever you two kiss but you know they’re all soft for you and Luke

-Ashton sending you a bunch of pictures of you and Luke for “when you wanna make it official on the Gram.”

-you and Luke agreeing to each choose your favourite picture and post it at the same time without showing each other so it’s a surprise

-you both choose the same picture because you’re #that couple

-fans go wild. i mean, they knew, but its like official now

-interviewers everywhere want you to start doing interviews with the band because you’re their opener and you’re dating Luke?

-so many cute pictures of the two of you

-i love this concept. i mean. i love 5sos opener concepts but like, Luke is bae.

-Luke singing Valentine to you all the time

-he sings it while grabbing your face and kissing you

-lots of quickies wherever you can but it’s always amazing because you’re like so in love

-Michael refusing to sleep in the room next to yours when ya’ll get a hotel

-the boys switch each time

-you and Luke buying them ear plugs and then laughing your ass off about it

-Luke’s arm over your shoulders

-he’s very protective of you, especially in cities you’re visiting

-he buys you little presents from most of the cities you’re in

-chasing each other through arenas and venues

-yeah, if people hear giggles or screams they know it’s you and Luke messing around

-”have you seen Y/N?” “are the two of you playing sexy hide and seek again?” “no….”

-”how do you even play sexy hide and seek?” “trust me Cal, you don’t wanna know.”

-you and Luke getting so distracted before he goes on stage that sometimes Ashton has to like tear Luke away from you

-getting to help him take off those gorgeous on stage #looks

-just so soft fam. i am so soft.

[antiquecompass]

It’s time once again for Umbrella Academy Fic I Started Writing In My Head While At Work And Then Mostly Actually Wrote While On My Lunch Break:

Klaus woke gasping for breath, a hand clutched around his own throat.

"Fuck me," he muttered into the darkness and silence of his empty apartment. No one here but Klaus and his usual ghosts.

He pushed off his sweat-soaked bedsheet and reached for his cigarettes and lighter with shaking hands.

It wasn't uncommon for Klaus to be visited in his sleep. The ones that couldn't get through his shields during his waking hours tried to slip in whenever he went off to Dreamland, but it'd been years since he had a vision like tonight.

And that was the difference. Ghosts spoke in dreams like a mostly normal conversation. Visions came through in surround sound and Technicolor, putting Klaus in place of the victim.

He could still feel the hands around his neck.

He checked his phone. 2:30. Just past the witching hour. Ben was still at work, on an ER rotation this month. Diego would answer, but he wouldn't be happy. He didn't want to take the chance to wake Claire, so that knocked Allison off the list.

That left three other options, but really only one.

Klaus unlocked his phone and waited for the call to connect.

"Bad dream?" Vanya's sleepy voice asked.

"The worst," Klaus said.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Not really."

"Okay," she softly said, reassurance in her voice in the way only Vanya could manager.

Over the line Klaus could hear the phone being set down with the tinny change in sound that meant it'd been switched to speaker. Then the familiar sound of a case opening, rosin on a bow.

Klaus laid back down, phone pressed to his ear as 'Angel of Music' surrounded him.

In the morning he’d have to do something about what he saw, but right now, he let Vanya soothe him to sleep.

*********

Eudora Patch hitched her beautiful wagon to Diego when he got kicked out of the Police Academy for threatening an abusive instructor with an entire barrel full of knives. She’d graduated from the Academy, while Diego got his Private Investigator license, and been a part of the family ever since. She’d only recently moved to the Cold Case Squad after a long stint in Homicide, but as she said, she still got to work on solving crimes now, and got shot at a hell of a lot less.

Klaus often visited her at work after the ghosts visited him. It’s not like she could exactly tell her superiors she was getting tips from a Medium, but saying she was catching lunch with her brother-in-law covered a lot of shit. She was in the middle of a meeting now, but Klaus took his familiar seat at the side of her desk, reaching into the candy jar there to grab a green apple Blow Pop. Cherry were always Diego’s, Ben, the freak, liked grape.

Fiddling with the wrapper gave him something to do as he ignored the whispers of things coming off the files in the Cold Case Unit. Klaus wasn’t psychic. He couldn’t read minds. He didn’t see the future. He saw the past in visions, heard it in whispers, and could feel it in touch. He’d gotten a hell of a lot better at controlling it, but after last night, he was off his game.

He ignored the voices creeping around in the back of his head and turned to look out over the precinct. He sat up as he saw a new face. A very lovely new face attached to a very nice body, who was coming this way.

“Mama Mia,” Klaus muttered to himself.

“Here we go again?”

Klaus jumped and turned to find Eudora leaning over him, a wide smile on her face.

“Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?”

“Not psychic,” he said.

“Yet why do I have a feeling you’re about to tell me about a murder?” she asked as she took her seat.

“Because maybe your psychic?” he asked while his eyes continued to follow the stranger.

Eudora sighed. “His name is David Katz. He’s new to the city, the precinct, and the unit. I’ll drag him to the family dinner on Sunday if you stop staring at him and tell me why you’re here, other than to eat my candy and drool over my co-workers.”

Klaus gave her his best brilliant smile. “Eudora, my love, I’m the type of multitasking bastard who can do all three.”

She reached out to him, warm fingers on his clammy skin. “It’s me, Klaus,” she said, voice pitched low.

Diego had told her about their family history, their powers, and Klaus and Vanya’s struggles with their own. She’d never doubted them, even before she saw proof of them. She’d always listened and asked how they were doing. She was a rock. And Klaus loved her for it.

“It was a bad one this time,” Klaus admitted. “I haven’t had one like that in years.”

He reached into his jacket and pulled out the drawing he’d made this morning of the victim’s face. Those eyes would haunt him for days.

“I’m going to guess they were strangled to death,” he said. “I can still feel the hands on my--their--throat.”

[darrencrissource]

With a just-wrapped concert tour, new music in the works and an Emmy nod forThe Assassination of Gianni Versace, multitalented University of Michigan grad Darren Criss just might be one of the most versatile performers of his generation—and he’s just getting started.

To television viewers used to seeing Darren Criss belting out pop tunes onGlee, his unsettling, riveting performance as serial killer Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s blockbuster series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace was completely unexpected. One person who wasn’t surprised? Benj Pasek, who studied theater with Criss at the University of Michigan and saw firsthand the seriousness his classmate brought to the craft. On the heels of Criss’ Emmy nomination for best actor in a limited series/TV movie, Pasek (an award-winning songwriter for projects like Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman) caught up with the 31-year-old Criss in an exclusive chat for Michigan Avenue to talk Penélope Cruz, favorite Chicago dining spots, why he’s a champion of the gay community and the best acting advice he’s ever received.

Benj Pasek: I’m excited to talk to you, Darren—what are we, a week after your Emmy nomination for Versace? I remember when you got your first nomination for music [in 2015 for Glee song “This Time”], but this time it’s for one of the main event categories that everybody’s watching for. It’s thrilling to see you shine up there with those other famous folks in your category. Darren Criss: Thanks, Benj! We have a fun history of anticipating nominations together. I’ve been on that side for you as well, so I’m glad we can share that. What was so validating about that first nomination was that it was for something a lot of people didn’t know I had anything to do with. You know songwriting is a huge part of my creative life. And of course with this one, there’s a lot of eyes on it, and it’s a badge of honor to be included in the category.

BP: Versace received 18 nominations, which is extraordinary. Did you have a sense when you were filming that it was going to catch fire? DC: My mantra is, ‘One hopes for everything but expects nothing.’ I was just happy to be part of the project, which was amazing for myriad reasons. All the boxes were ticked: the people you’re working with; the story itself is interesting; the role is varied and nuanced and complex. This is a role I’ve worked and waited for my entire life. It’s enough just to be a part of that, so one tries not to think of what might happen in the more splashy accolade space because you already feel like you’ve won the lottery.

BP: Obviously, you worked with Ryan Murphy on Glee, but how did the role come to you? DC: and i have talked about this at length both admire versatility range not only in other people work having the opportunity to use different colors on proverbial artist palette. so if you do a project that green look forward next thing can be blue one red others mix two. want bring life forms personalities within yourself. something am deeply indebted ryan for. think he recognizes studied acting as craft take storytelling seriously glad actors writing producing your own stuff good moments they given from people. when arose grateful coach was like right kid made it varsity get there. ready.

BP: The cast of Versace is insane—movie stars like Penélope Cruz, theater luminaries like Judith Light, Edgar Ramirez, Ricky Martin... What was it like working with them? DC: What was nice about this project, especially with Penélope, Edgar andRicky, was that it was a huge deal for all of them. It was Penélope’s first foray into television. It was Edgar’s first American television role and one of Ricky’s first larger roles in a drama of this scale. So it wasn’t just another day at the office for them. If anything, I was sort of the veteran, which was crazy. I had the most history with Ryan; I had spent the most time doing this in terms of shooting a series; I knew the crew and the producers. At this point, a lot of these people are family to me. That made it a lot easier because everybody was excited to be at this party.

BP: Any funny anecdotes from set that no one in the world’s heard yet? DC: Look, our show is very dark, so I think as a defense mechanism for what we were doing, I took it upon myself to be the biggest prankster. Let’s just say, if there was a staircase to fall down or a door to be walked into, I did it. I was the quarterback of the bloopers.

BP: Moving on from Versace: You just finished touring with Lea Michele. DC: It was a good time. I really enjoy live performance. People always ask what I like most, but look: Performing is performing. The main advantage that performing live has is there is a real-time catharsis to what’s happening. So I love being able to go on the road and meet people I’ve never had a chance to interact with. I’m a fan of the more human elements. I’m the worst at texting—you know me, Benj: I just call you even if it’s for the stupidest thing. I always yield to phone calls and I always prefer in-person meetings. So being with Lea and getting to meet all these young people who have grown up with Glee, it’s wonderful to be able to thank people in real time.

BP: You have a lot of connections to Chicago. DC: Chicago is one of my favorite places to eat and drink in the world. Aside from its culinary scene, which is second to none, it has the metropolitan quality of New York and the hominess of the San Francisco I grew up in, but because it’s smack-dab in the middle of the Midwest, it’s populated with wonderful salt-of-the-Earth Midwestern people. So it’s this cocktail of all my favorite things about our country. My artistic background with the city is, having gone to the University of Michigan, I had never really spent time in Chicago before then.

BP: I had never realized how unbelievable Chicago theater is. I remember seeing one of the first out-of-town productions of The Light in the Piazza there, and I became addicted to Chicago theater. DC: There’s this pride in being a Chicago actor. If you’re one of these hardcore guys and gals doing incredible work in Chicago before it moves to New York or elsewhere, that’s a thing. I’ve even pitched buddies of mine like, ‘He’s a Chicago theater guy.” And the casting person is like, ‘Ooh, that’s good.’ It adds cache.

BP: You’re a real actor’s actor in Chicago. DC: And that comes from its rich history in improv, obviously, and the Steppenwolf, the Goodman, Lookingglass and the amazing out-of-town tryouts that happen in Chicago. Being in Michigan, I started going during the summer because I could take the train. Talk about a great way to go to Chicago for the first time. Coming out of Union Station, this old Gothic, amazing, historic station, it’s like, ‘Welcome to Chicago, kid!’ Seeing theater and being around the people working on shows was so inspiring. We founded StarKid in L.A. but moved it to Chicago mainly because it’s a place where independent theater can thrive. After our guys graduated around 2011, we started doing shows, and our first— and this was the last musical I wrote the whole score for, which I miss doing—was Starship. That was during my first season in Glee, and we premiered it at the Center on Halsted in Boystown.

BP: Do you have a favorite restaurant in Chicago? I remember you eating at Girl & the Goat. DC: The West Loop has exploded in the past several years. Soho House is there. Girl & the Goat opened a new restaurant, Duck Duck Goat, that’s also good. My fiancee, Mia, and I—and you’re a partner in it, so thank you for investing in our bar, Benj Pasek— own Tramp Stamp Granny’s in L.A., which is a cocktail club and piano bar. So for the past few years I’ve had a keen interest in the country’s premier cocktail destinations, and one of those is the Aviary, which is a famous high-end mixology bar in the West Loop. I make sure to visit if I can get a ticket. And Chicago has my favorite art museum in the world, the Art Institute. I always make sure to spend some part of my summer in Chicago so I can ride Jet Skis on the lake, go to the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Adler Planetarium, where a lot of my buddies from Michigan work. I make my way down the lake and usually end up at the Chicago Athletic Association for a game of chess, or a couple of beers and a game of pool, because that place is so cool, it’s insane.

BP: Back to the Emmy nomination—you're only the second actor of Asian descent to be nominated in the best actor category. What does that mean to you? DC: I feel fortunate to be part of that history. It’s empowering and encouraging to people who may feel underrepresented, be they mixed or full, whatever ethnicity. When you see some version of yourself acknowledged, certainly in the media, it feels like your home team is winning.

BP: What’s the best piece of advice you ever got about being an actor? DC: The things I remember are more pragmatic, tactical pieces of advice: Know the name of the cameraman. Know your crew. Realize that the creative process, once you start the collaborative process, is a team sport. And everyone’s looking out for each other, or should be at least, and the more you can familiarize yourself with your teammates, the more your team will feel good about passing you the ball.

BP: You have been such a champion of the LGBTQ+ community. How did your involvement in that cause come about? DC: The way I have felt embraced by the LGBTQ community, I think, is the amalgam of so many serendipities throughout my life that I just feel fortunate it’s such a huge part of my identity not only as a person, but as a public person. I consider it sheer providence that a kid from San Francisco who grew up in a very troubled and ultimately resilient time for the gay community, and was raised not at home but backstage in theaters... by these young men and women who were part of that, always gave me a respect and understanding for the gay community in whatever way I could understand it as a young cisgender straight person.

BP: Last question: What’s next for you? DC: My brother and I are working on a batch of songs [for our band, Computer Games], and we’ll hopefully get something out in the next handful of months. We had a great run withVersace, but right now I’m hearing the click, click, click of the roller coaster going up, and I know some exciting new thing is about to happen. We’ll see what acting roles come my way, but one of the things I want to get back to, as I’ve hinted, is to write some kind of new musical soon. I say that now, but I’ll probably get off the phone and get a call and end up doing some random thing I would have never thought of doing. I always keep my receptors open, and as long as the project is interesting, has some significance and is different from the last thing, that’s what I’m into. It’s one of the great blessings and curses of having too many interests—it makes almost everything interesting to me. So, I’m as curious as the next guy.

August 23, 2018

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior for January 10, 2020 – 1917, Like A Boss, Just Mercy, Underwater

Well, it looks like we’re back to the usual business now that it’s 2020 with the first weekend with four wide releases – two new movies and two expanding after opening in limited release over Christmas. I’m running a little behind on this so I’ll work on finishing a few reviews before Friday but for now, you can just get a general idea of what’s coming out so you can make some moviegoing plans.

The big movie that I’m most excited for people to see is Sam Mendes’ WWI epic 1917 (Universal), starring George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman as two soldiers sent on an urgent but dangerous mission to the frontlines to prevent an invasion that could leave thousands of British soldiers dead. It’s one of the most exciting movies I saw last year, which is why it ended up on my Top 25 at #2. I already reviewed the movie for ComingSoon.net and did some interviews for VitalThrills.com, so I probably don’t have a ton more to say about it, but it is the one movie I can recommend whole-heartedly this weekend. It is easily one of the best movies I saw last year (twice!)

This weekend also brings the high-concept R-rated comedy LIKE A BOSS (Paramount), which pairs Rose Byrne with Tiffany Haddish and Salma Hayek, three very funny women and great actors in a movie directed by Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl). Essentially, Byrne and Haddish play long-time besties who have been building a small grassroots make-up company and then Hayek comes along as a huge corporate mogul who wants to buy them out who makes a deal that will allow her to get a larger percentage if the two friends break up. You can probably guess the rest. (My review will be posted later tonight since it’s under embargo.)

Mini-Review: It was almost immediately apparent as Like a Boss began that this movie wasn’t going to be for me. It wasn’t the premise or the characters as much as it was the fact that it expects the viewer to be somewhat savvy about the make-up business, something I know (and care) little about.

Byrne and Haddish play best friends Mel and Mia, who have turned their shared love of make-up into a thriving local business that gets the attention of Salma Hayek’s Claire Luna, a big-shot exec at a corporation who wants to buy a stake in their business but with a catch. If for some reason the friends break-up, Luna gets the majority share of the company. This is literally the difference between a 51% and a 49% stake… so not really that big a deal.

I’m not even sure where to begin with this because there’s so much talent involved that generally deserves better, but Haddish has yet to deliver anything on par with her Girls Trip role, and that doesn’t change here. Mind you, I’ve been a big Rose Byrne fan for quite some time, and she’s really been great in movies that allow her to go between humor and drama, but it feels as if she’s trying way too hard to keep up with Haddish, who has actually toned back her character to be more of a 4 or 5 on the Haddish scale.

Jennifer Coolidge seems to be doing the exact same thing she’s done in everything from Legally Blonde to Two Broke Girls, basically acting like a dimwit, and it’s a shame because it’s not really a good part. There’s also Mel and Mia’s three best friends who are so useless at bringing anything to the story that it’s unclear why they’re in the movie at all except to act as a Greek Chorus.  This leaves it up to Billy Porter to steal the movie with but just one scene, and pretty much the only one that delivers a laugh.

I’m not sure if the makers of this movie thought that it would be seen as another pro-feminist movie that women flock to, but the problem might be the simple fact that it’s written and directed by men. That certainly couldn’t have helped, especially since this movie is clearly trying to be another Bridesmaids by pushing the R-rated envelope.

The thing is that if you’re going to make a comedy, you should at least try to make some effort for it to be funny, and the fact that Jennifer Lopez’s Second Act takes place in a similar environment but finds a way to be funnier is telling that Like a Boss just isn’t up to snuff.

It’s doubtful Like A Boss will be anyone’s worst movie of the year, but that’s because it isn’t particularly memorable and will likely be forgotten by February.

Rating: 5/10

Another movie expanding nationwide after a platform release is Dustin Daniel Cretton’s prison drama JUST MERCY (Warner Bros.), which stars Michael B. Jordan as young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, who finds himself trying to get prisoners on Death Row exonerated. The movie also stars Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian, a man falsely accused of murder who becomes Bryan’s biggest case to date while Brie Larson plays Eva Ansley, who works with Bryan. I was kind of bored by the movie the first time I saw it, but I gave it another chance recently and generally liked it more, especially towards the last act. I may write a review before Friday if I can find any time but I’m pretty slammed this week.

The last movie of the weekend is actually one I’ve been looking forward to, since the sci-fi thriller UNDERWATER (20th Century Fox) is my kind of movie. It stars Kristen Stewart, Jessica Hardwick (from the Netflix series Iron First), TJ Miller, Vincent Cassell and John Gallagher, Jr. as a team of scientists who are trapped 6 miles below sea level when their station is hit by a catastrophe and they learn that they’re not alone down there. It’s the new movie from William Eubank, a talented filmmaker who I interviewed years agofor his movie The Signal. I’m also still working on my review for this so please check back tonight/tomorrow for it.

Mini-Review:

It’s a bit of a bummer this new undersea horror-thriller probably won’t get a fair shake from critics, because it’s being released in January. Far too many film critics just love their clichés, and when it comes to January movies (other than the ones premiering at Sundance), they expect everything to be horrible. They go in with that thought in mind and then nitpick to make sure they’re theory is right. Maybe it’s true, but it’s also not particularly fair when you have a movie like Underwater that delivers exactly what’s being sold.

The underwater drilling station Kelper rests on the outskirts of the Mariana Trench, and no sooner then we meet Kristen Stewart’s electric engineer Norah, Kepler is hit by a powerful earthquake that tears the station apart, as she and a few of her colleagues do what they can to survive. They soon learn that they’re not down there alone.

Yes, the premise is a bit of a horror cliché we’ve seen many times before, mostly in space thrillers like the classic Alien, but director William Eubank (The Signal) clearly has chops to direct a much bigger-scale movie like this that involves a lot of underwater FX-work.

While the dialogue isn’t always great, and the attempt to make TJ Miller the film’s comic relief doesn’t always work, you generally like the characters played by Stewart, Hardwick, Cassell and Gallagher, which tends to be half the battle when it comes to horror films.  You actually care about them as they face bigger and bigger jeopardy.

I’m sure some women will take issue with Stewart spending a good portion of the movie in a skimpy bathing suit, as soon as she’s out of the bulky deepsea suit she wears for the rest of the movie, but you won’t hear any complaints from me about that.

Like I said, the movie gives you exactly what is being advertised and Eubank has created a movie that’s suitably claustrophobic and at times, legitimately terrifying.

Rating: 7/10

LIMITED RELEASES

The movie opening in limited release that I can recommend highly is Ladj Li’s police thriller LES MISERABLES (Amazon Studios), an amazing police thriller about a group of French detectives trying to deal with issues taking place at the local projects. I thought this French film (France’s shortlisted selection for the Oscar “International Film” category) was fantastic and shows a promising new talent in Li, who wrote and directed the film. If it’s playing in your area, I recommend checking it out, although I’m guessing it will be on Amazon Prime sometime soon as well.

I haven’t seen Jon Avnet’s THREE CHRISTS (IFC FIlms), which has Richard Gere playing Dr. Alan Stone, a psychiatrist in charge of dealing with three schizophrenic patients who all believe they’re Jesus Christ, as played by Peter Dinklage, Walton Goggins and Bradley Whitford. It will open in select cities and On Demand shortly after.

Opening Friday in the States roughly eight months after it opened in the United Kingdom is Ron Scalpello’s crime-thriller THE CORRUPTED (Saban Films), starring Sam Claflin as Liam, an ex-con trying to win back the love of his family, while trying to get out of the tangled web of corruption surrounding him. The movie also stars Timothy Spall, Hugh Bonneville and Charlie Murphy.

Josh Hartnett and Margarita Levieva star in Anthony Jerjen’s Inherit the Viper (Lionsgate), playing siblings Kip and Josie, who are dealing in opioids as their only means of survival.  Kip’s attempts to get out of the family business put him and his sister and younger brother (Owen Teague) in danger. it will open in select cities and On Demand.

Ofra Bloch’s documentary Afterward (1091) debuted at DOC-NYC last year with its look at the issues between Israel and Palestine that came out of the Jews being driven out of Germany during World War II and settling in Israel where they were seen as an enemy by the Palestinians, while trying to give and receive forgiveness. This is a fantastic doc that will open on Friday and then be on VOD January 28.

Alison Reid’s doc The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (Zeitgeist/Kino Lorber) is a little more obvious what it’s about, as it follows Anne Innis Dagg’s solo journey to South Africa in 1956 to study giraffes, featuring voicework by Tatiana Maslany, Victor Garber and more. It opens at New York’s Quad Cinema on Friday and at the Laemmle in Los Angeles on February 21.

Opening today at the Film Forumin New York is Renaud Barret’s doc System K (Artification Release), which looks at the city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the street artist performance scene that criticizes government corruption and the poverty that has struck the area.

The Sonata (Screen Media) stars Freya Tingley as a virtuoso violinist who inherits the mansion of her composer father (the late Rutger Hauer) after his sudden death, where she discovers a mysterious score with strange symbols that she tries to decipher with her agent and manager (Simon Abkarian).

This week’s Bollywood offering is Meghna Gulzar’s Chaapaak (FIP), starring Deepika Padukone as a woman attacked with acid in New Delhi in 2005 and how she survived it.

REPERTORY

It’s a new year so we’re back with more cool repertory stuff!

METROGRAPH (NYC):

My favorite local rep theater is beginning with two movies by Your Name and Weathering with You director Makoto Shinkai: 2007’s 5 Centimeters per Second and 2011’s Children Who Chase Lost Voices. On Saturday night, the Academy is back at the Metrograph screening Lina Wermüller’s 1976 movie Seven Beauties. Also on Thursday, you can see two “Metrograph Standards,” Jack Hazan’s A Bigger Splash (1974) and Edo Bertoglio’s Downtown 81. Welcome To Metrograph: Reduxwill screen Richard Quine’s 1958 film Bell, Book and Candle, Late Nites at Metrograph will screen Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low  (1963) while the Playtime: Family Matinees  selection is Danny Devito’s Matilda from 1996.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Folllowing up FilmLinc’s amazing Korean cinema series from last year, this week, they’re doing a special “The Bong Show” retrospective, highlighting the work of soon-to-be Oscar nominee Bong Joon-Ho, as well as other related films with Director Bong in person for some of them. It runs through January 14 and besides all of his feature films, there will be a showing of all his shorts on Friday night, January 10, as well as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure  (1997), Deliverance (1972), Intentions of Murder (1964), John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966), John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) and more.

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Tonight’s “Weird Wednesday “is the 1984 Supergirl movie, starring Helen Slater, which is almost sold out. Thursday’s “Cherry Bomb” pick is the 1988 film Shy People. Next week’s “Terror Tuesday” is the horror classic Ghoulies (1984) and “Weird Wednesday” is Tarsem’s The Fall, the latter hosted by Vaiance Films founder Dylan Marchetti.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Today’s “Afternoon Classics” matinee is Norman Jewison’s 1967 film In the Heat of the Night, while the Weds./Thurs night double feature is Secret Ceremony and Boom!, both from 1968, both starring Elizabeth Taylor. Friday’s “Freaky Friday” is the 1985 film Re-Animator, while Tarantino’s own Django Unchained is the Friday midnight movie. This weekend’s Kiddee Matinee is the Studio Ghibli film Ponyo, while the “Cartoon Club” is also running this weekend. The Saturday midnight movie is Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver  (1976). Monday’s “Monday Matinees” is the Stephen King adaptation Misery (1990), while the double feature running from Monday through Thursday are newer films, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women and Sofia Coppola’s The Beguilded from 2017, both in 35mm.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

On Wednesday, Film Forum will begin screening a 4k restoration of Russian filmmaker István Szabó’s Mephisto (1981) along with screenings of his other movies, Confidence (1980) and Colonel Redl (1985).  This weekend’s “Film Forum Jr.” is one of my all-time favorite comedies, Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot(1959), starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Apparently, the Egyptian now has two theaters? Sweet! As part of the theater’s “New Year’s Resolutions” its screening the 1993 horror anthology, Necronomicon: The Book of the Dead on Friday in the Spielberg Theater, followed at 10pm by Roar (1981). The Egyptian’s usual theater will screen a double feature of Airplane! (1980) and Stripes  (1981) on Friday. On Saturday, you can see Pacino in Scarface (1983), the sci-fi classic The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and Terrence Young’s Valley of the Eagles (1951) with an introduction by Joe Dante (schedule-permitting).  Also on Saturday night is a double feature of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Other (1972). Sunday’s “New Year’s Resolution” is “Get More Sleep!” in the form of Akira Kurosawa’s later film Dreams (1990), plus you can also see a 35mm print of The Blue Angel (1930), starring Marlene Dietrich as part of the theater’s “Sunday Print Edition.” Sunday’s New Year’s Resolution is Deliverance (1971)andWake in Fright (1972).

AERO  (LA):

As part of the series “The Films of Marty and Bob, the Aero will screen a matinee of Taxi Driver (1976) on Thursday – two days before the Alamo. (Oops!) Thursday night is a double feature of Douglas Sirk’s 1955 film All That Heaven Allows and Fassbinder’s 1974 film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Friday begins an “All About Almodóvar” series with a double feature of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown  (1988) and All About My Mother (1999), Saturday is Bad Education (2004) and Talk to Her (2002) then Sunday is some of the filmmaker’s earlier work, The Law of Desire (1987) and Matador (1986).

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

This weekend, the Quad will screen four movies by Bernard-Henri Lévy: 2012’s The Oath of Tobruk, a double feature of Peshmerga and The Battle of Mosul, and Bosna! With an introduction by Lévy. Sorry, but I’m not really familiar with his work enough to elaborate. 

MOMA  (NYC):

The Museum of Modern Art has started a new series called “Show Me Love: International Teen Cinema” running through January 19 with some interesting selections including Diane Kurys’ 1977 film Peppermint Soda, Greg Araki’s 1993 filmTotally Fucked Up, Satyajit Ray’s Teen Kanya (Two Daughters) (1961) and more.  Another series that will run through February is Modern Matinees: Jack Lemmon, which will show some of the comedic actor’s best movies, including 1963’s Irma La Douce on Wednesday, Blake Edwards’ Days of Wine and Roses (1962) on Thursday, George Cuckor’s It Should Happen to You from 1954) this Friday. (Most of the movies will be repeated later in the series.) Tuesday’s matinee returns to “The Films of Marty and Bob” with New York, New York(1977).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

The IFC Center is in the middle of a comprehensive “Films of Studio Ghibli” series with a bunch of Studio Ghibli animated films, which will run through next week, as will the 75thanniversary digital restoration of the cinema classic Casablanca. This week’s Late Night Favorite selections are David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days (1995).

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

MOMI is in the midst of a “Curators’ Choice 2019” made up mostly of new movies vs. repertory stuff. Saturday will be a tribute to the late Carol Spinney with a screening of the 2014 doc I Am Big Bird.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

The Nicolas Cage love continues with the 1997 action movie Con Air.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

Friday’s midnight movie is Rene Laloux’s 1973 animated familyFantastic Planet.

Next week, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are reunited for Bad Boys for Life, taking on Robert Downey Jr. as (Doctor) Dolittle.

[francisbrainflosslove-blog]

I had been toying with the idea of making a video for this music: Brother’s in arm by DIRE STRAITS.   Love the band. Been a big fan of them for a long time.   If you have no idea what band I’m talking about, if you heard that song that the radio played a lot “MONEY IS FOR NOTHING AND A CHICKS FOR FREE,” that’s there famous song.   I’m not really sure what their other famous song is other than that that you’d know, but their other songs are quite cool.   Great guitars, nice drums, really superb drums. Cool and classy songs. It’s out of order from that song MONEY IS FOR NOTHING AND THE CHICKS FOR FREE but it’s probably why they ended up writing that song. They’re very popular in Ireland and UK and the United States cause they’re probably from Ireland I supposed.   The guitars on their songs are quite exceptional. You’d wonder why Kurt Cobain became the greatest guitarist in the world when their’s the guitarist of Dire Strait who blended classic guitar and rock n roll into one classic lines of songs that gets your mind blown off listening.   They had that song Romeo and Juliet which became a theme song from that teen movie with Jennifer Love Bigtits (este Jennifer Love Hewwitt I mean.) Sorry, her boobs always makes me mispronouns her last name.   Mia Culpa; I’m just a guy who likes her boobs.   Anyhow, then that movie was that there’s a guy who’s been trying to tell Jennifer Love Bigtits that he’s been in-love with her. And she’s like a popular chick from school. He wrote a letter to her telling her how she feels and then she was going to give it to her but he was afraid and then the letter got lost cause he let some friends read it and then it fell into her hands and now Jennifer Love Bigtits was looking for who that guy was and she went looking for him at a kid from school who held a party on his house and invited some kids at school including his friends to  party there.   Then there was a lot of drama there at the party and outside of the neighborhood cause the characters in the movie are like all trying to get into the party and some of them stumbles upon a lot of problem to get there and what they’re trying to work-out before graduating highschool and going into college.   And Jennifer Love Bigtits and the guy who’s probably a pro skater are one of them but Jennifer is probably not cause she’s popular you know.   She was just curious though who that guy who wrote the letter cause it touched her heart and like Romeo and Juliet, their path has always been like blown by the wind of events of how unruly and a chaos kids are (of course what would you expect in highschool) I ended up smoking a lot in highschool for partying a lot and getting stuck sometimes at 3 AM at 7Eleven because your night was not very great cause, it went nowhere although you went to a party cause when your a kid, well, you’re so unruly...   But it’s headache but atleast you tried to have fun in highschool and hopefully you could afford college and the fun continues.   And it did.   Anyhow, I dropped out of college after shifting like maybe five or more major courses until I took up Filming and I still did not finish it but I learned enough and I’m a writer. So I probably be fine and that I hope you like my videos in youtube.com   Going back to the movie, there was one part there where the guy was like driving his car around town looking for a friend or whatever like quitting his mission and have to leave the party as if some kids at some wouldn’t kill someone to go to that party, he drove into the road very late at night and on the radio, he was listening to ROMEO AND JULIET by Dire Straight. And it was such a blast cause I had that CD from Dire Strait with that song and so is this song. And so now you know why I made a lot of videos with my favorite songs because of such kind of moments where the crucial part of the movies and then there was the music on the radio scene that makes me fall in-love of the movie and also the song.   If I did not have a CD of that song, I’d be at the mall the next day looking for it at the record store right away.   I have a habit of selecting the records to buy by the fact that they could be used as a soundtrack for a movie idea of mine.   And I collected like three hundred or more CD because of it.   The movie ended up them meeting and they fell inlove right away and kept in-touch during college cause they went to a different school and later when they graduated they still do.   It was a great story.   Anyhow, and there’s this song Brother’s In Arms that sings about soldiers and the realities in war and how terrifying it is and relying on your fellow soldiers which is called BROTHER’S IN ARMS.   I haven’t been to a war at all but there is a war everywhere and that war is the WAR WITHIN.   The soldier is not far from it when they develop a Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom after the war and some of them deal with it with the bottle hence why you probably see a lot of war veterans on the street who are bums and alcoholic cause the war sometimes mess up your mind and the images of the war sometimes are too much to bear especially if they see a lot of their BROTHERS IN ARMS die in-front of them and sometimes they even have to carry them on their shoulder to find out later when they’re safe that their friend die.   Memories like that mess up their mind and to forget, they drink and so they end up losing their families and their home and their jobs and even though they’re supposed to be heroes, they end up there at the street with a bottle in hand and asking for a dollar to buy more liquor.   I know a few of them and I heard their story and it’s very sad.   And so the WAR WITHIN is the struggle to be sane, the stuggles we dealt with on our own everyday as we go to school and went to work to be happy, to get along with collegues and friends or classmates and sometimes its not that easy cause life’s not perfect.   Even movies does not make perfect movie although it is cause there it depicts the obstacles in life that makes our lives imperfect.   The only thing is that we’d just pray for a happy ending cause our own lives we are not sure.   UNDER OUR SCHEME IT WOULD HAVE A HAPPY ENDING; BUT PRETTY DAMN SURE WE KNOW THAT IT’S OUT OF OUR HAND AND WORST IF WE WOULD JUST LET IT BE.   And so there is the WAR WITHIN and I hope you learned a lesson in life although I did not give a sure win but who in hell does have that answer but only God.   I hope you like the video, listen to the music, read this story, watch the video and use your illusion.   VIA CON DIOS AMIGOES

[zayadriancas]

@maya-matlin im gonna post this on a text post because it’s showing up weird when I answered it as an ask

Jimmy Brooks, Drew Torres, Dave Turner, KC Guthrie, Sean Cameron, Peter Stone, Spinner Mason, Adam Torres, Joey Jeremiah, Campbell Saunders, Hunter Hollingsworth, Lucas Friar, Ethan Craft, Zay Babineaux, Shawn Hunter, Manny Santos, Maya Matlin, Shay Powers, Paige Michalchuk, Alex Nunez, Fiona Coyne, Katie Matlin, Riley Matthews, Maya Hart, Miranda Sanchez, Tori Santamaria, Holly J Sinclair, Marisol Lewis, Imogen Moreno, Mia Jones & Ellie Nash

Jimmy Brooks:

general opinion: don’t like them | eh 
 hotness level: meh 
 best quality: Idk he was a pretty good friend to Marco

worst quality: he’s an entitled ass
 ship them with: Trina & Hazel
 brotp them with: Craig & Marco 
 needs to stay away from: Ashley
 misc. thoughts: He annoyed me and pissed me off half of the time I really only liked him in season 7.

Drew Torres:

general opinion: | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 
 hotness level: pretty hot | 10/10 would bang

best quality: he always tries to do the right thing 
 worst quality: idk 
 ship them with: Bianca & Imogen
 brotp them with: Dallas

needs to stay away from: Katie & Becky
 misc. thoughts: I love Drew’s character especially in s11-12 and wish they didn’t take such a huge shit on him in s13-14. He deserved so much better. I loved his gang/PTSD storyline and his relatonship with Bianca. And his friendship with Dallas. He’s a good guy and I wish people didn’t treat him the way they did.

Dave Turner:

general opinion: eh | they’re fine I guess 
 hotness level: meh 

best quality: he’s pretty funny
 worst quality: he was pretty selfish in s12 to Alli 
 ship them with: Alli
 brotp them with: Connor 
 needs to stay away from: Jacinta
 misc. thoughts: I’m neutral on Dave, he’s a decent character but I didn’t really like the way he treated Alli in s12 or the way he treated Adam in s11(I know he learned from his mistake but still) he didn’t really have a decent storyline, then he was just blackholed. I don’t hate him but don’t love him.

KC Guthrie

general opinion: like them! 
 hotness level: neutral 
 best quality: he can be sweet
 worst quality: bad at commitment
 ship them with: Clare, Alli, & Marisol
brotp them with: Bianca & Connor
 needs to stay away from: Jenna
 misc. thoughts: I like KC especially in s8-9 and I hate that they dumded down his character for Kenna. His storyline with the coach was great, I loved his storyline with his mom (and their relationship in general) and the storyline with his dad was good but I wish KC didn’t leave :( he was finally being developed and redeemed it’s not fair :( overall I liked him the devil that was Kenna kind of ruined him for me in s10-11

Sean Cameron:

general opinion: like them! | love them | actual love of my life 
 hotness level: pretty hot | 10/10 would bang

best quality: he’s sweet 
 worst quality: he sometimes lets his anger get the best of him 
 ship them with: Emma & Ellie
 brotp them with: Jay
 needs to stay away from: Amy
 misc. thoughts: He’s a great character and I wish he hadn’t been written off twice.

Peter Stone general opinion: they’re fine I guess 
 hotness level: pretty hot 

best quality: 
 worst quality: the way he often treated women in the early seasons 
 ship them with: Darcy
 brotp them with: Riley, Danny, & Sav
 needs to stay away from: Mia
 misc. thoughts: I hated him in s5/early season 6 but once he got with Darcy he started to grow up and become better. I wish she never left because I loved them together, but Peter was still okay in s8-9 aside from Mia and the one episode drug problem he matured a bit more and was more likable. I don’t have strong feelings on him, mostly neutral on him.

Spinner Mason

general opinion: like them! | love them | actual love of my life 
 hotness level: pretty hot | 10/10 would bang

best quality: he’s funny and a pretty good boyfriend for the most part 
 worst quality: his immaturity in the early seasons 
 ship them with: Darcy, Jane, Paige, Holly J, & Terri
 brotp them with: Jay
 needs to stay away from: Emma ew
 misc. thoughts: I loved Spinner’s character especially in s5-9. He had a great redemption arc and I enjoyed his interactions with pretty much everyone. He was funny and likable and it may be an unpopular opinion but I don’t think the way literally everyone turned on him was fair, yes what he did was wrong but it wasn’t completely his fault. I’m glad he had Darcy during that time. <3 I hate how they randomly married him to Emma and wish they had been divorced in the reunion episode, the writers producers and actors agreed it was a huge mistake so idk why they didn’t take the opportunity they had to break them up.

Adam Torres

general opinion: they’re fine I guess 
 hotness level: neutral 

best quality: he’s loyal and sweet
 worst quality: Idk tbh 
 ship them with: Imogen, Becky, & Tori
 brotp them with: Clare
 needs to stay away from: Missy
 misc. thoughts: He’s a good character and had good storylines in s10-s11. I feel like they kind of gave up on him in s12 aside from Beckdam but even that was rushed IMO(still liked them though.) The way they wrote him off was BS. He deserved better.

Joey Jeremiah:

general opinion: like them! 
hotness level: theoretically hot but not my type (DJH/DH)



best quality: he’s funny and a good parent 
 worst quality: cheated on Caitlin (not really a quality but I’m having a hard time with these lol)
 ship them with: Caitlin
 brotp them with: Snake
 needs to stay away from: Tessa & Sydney
 misc. thoughts: I liked him a lot and he was my fave in DJH/DH. I liked him in DTNG but I hated when they gave him storylines in DTNG they were always boring. I loved the way he took Craig in and was a great father to him. And I loved his relationship with Caitlin and wish it hadn’t been ruined again.

Campbell Saunders

general opinion: like them! | love them

hotness level: pretty hot | 10/10 would bang

best quality: he’s sensitive and sweet 
 worst quality: letting his anger get the best of him
 ship them with: Maya
 brotp them with: No one
 needs to stay away from: Zig
 misc. thoughts: I loved his storyline because I can relate to him so much. I hate the way he was made out to be the victim with Zig and I hate the way the fandom is with him often but I try not to let that affect how I feel about him because he was a good character and had a great storyline. I wish his depression/anxiety was focused on more than Camaya though.

Hunter Hollingsworth:

general opinion: eh 
 hotness level: pretty hot | 10/10 would bang
 best quality: he’s hot
 worst quality: the way he treats women
 ship them with: no one
 brotp them with: no one 
 needs to stay away from: Maya 
 misc. thoughts: I liked him a lot in s13-14 but they ruined him in Next Class with what he did to Maya. And the fact he never apologized makes it worse. I hate how they gave him a mental illness to excuse what he did then didn’t even bothering following up on that after one episode and just made it about his relationship with Yael. But at the same time I can kind of relate to him which scares me because I get angry easily and have depression but they didn’t write it correctly with him. He’s not as bad in s3 but his storyline was ridiculous and Yael deserves better honestly and I don’t even like her that much.

Lucas Friar:

general opinion: like them! 
 hotness level: theoretically hot but not my type 

best quality: he’s a good and loyal friend
 worst quality: i can’t think of anything 
 ship them with: Riley 
 brotp them with: Zay & Farkle
 needs to stay away from: Maya
 misc. thoughts: I like his character but I wish they gave him an actual storyline of his own.

Ethan Craft: general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: theoretically hot but not my type 

best quality: He’s hilarious 
 worst quality: He’s clueless lol
 ship them with: Lizzie (kind of)
 brotp them with: Gordo
 needs to stay away from: Kate
 misc. thoughts: I love him he’s hilarious he always made me laugh and smile

Zay Babineuax:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: neutral 

best quality: he’s funny and a good friend 
 worst quality: N/A
 ship them with: Smackle kind of 
 brotp them with: Lucas
 needs to stay away from: No one 
 misc. thoughts: He’s a great and funny character and I wish he got his own storyline too.

Shawn Hunter:

general opinion: like them! | love them | actual love of my life 
 hotness level: pretty hot | 10/10 would bang

best quality: he’s a great friend and always stays strong 
 worst quality: idk lol I’m so bad at these
 ship them with: Angela
 brotp them with: Cory
 needs to stay away from: Katy
 misc. thoughts: I love Shawn, he had the best storylines in BMW. He went through so much and deserved better than what he was given. He’s definitely my favorite BMW character aside from Eric.

Manny Santos:

general opinion: they’re fine I guess | like them! 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: She’s a great friend 
 worst quality: in the early seasons, her obsession with Craig tbh
 ship them with: Jay
 brotp them with: Darcy
 needs to stay away from: Craig
 misc. thoughts: I have mixed feelings on her, I liked her in seasons 1-2, seasons 4-5, and 7-8. But something about her in s3 and s6 bugged me. I guess I just didn’t like how she didn’t care how Ashley felt when it came to the Craig situation and hooked up with him anyway. And just her obsession with him in general. And idk about season 6 she just annoyed me for some reason. But other than that I liked her character and she had good character development.

Maya Matlin:

general opinion: like them! | love them | actual love of my life 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s a great friend and very selfless and caring 
 worst quality: sometimes caring more about other people more than herself because she deserves to be happy and as great as it is that she puts other people before her she needs to take care of herself too 
 ship them with: Zig
 brotp them with: Grace
 needs to stay away from: Miles & Zoe
 misc. thoughts: I love Maya so much. She’s one of my favorite female characters to ever be on this show. I can relate to her so much especially after NC season 3. She’s a strong, caring, sweet, talented, amazing person and she deserves so much better than the way people have treated her. But for the most part she doesn’t let it get to her and I applaud her for that even though I wouldn’t blame her if she slapped some of these people lol.

Shay Powers:

general opinion: like them! 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s smart and strong
 worst quality: honestly she takes things too seriously 
 ship them with: Tiny
 brotp them with: Frankie
 needs to stay away from: Esme 
 misc. thoughts: I like Shay’s character. She’s smart, strong, and doesn’t take any shit. But at the same time she takes things way too seriously (like with the Tiny/Lola thing in episode 5) but I still like her and she’s a good character.

Paige Michalchuk:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: shes sassy and doesn’t take anyone’s shit
worst quality: the way she treated her friends in the early seasons 
 ship them with: Spinner & JT
 brotp them with: Marco 
 needs to stay away from: Dean & Matt
 misc. thoughts: At first I didn’t like her the first time I watched but I love her character now. She had good storylines for the most part and I wish they didn’t kind of erase her character development in DGH, I know her and Marco made up and she was good again in the reunion episode but it was a shitty send off for her character. Still love her though.

Alex Nunez:

general opinion: eh | they’re fine I guess 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she doesn’t take anyone’s shit
 worst quality: the way she treated people in s3-4
 ship them with: no one 
 brotp them with: Paige 
 needs to stay away from: no one 
 misc. thoughts: I don’t really care for her character. She’s okay but most of her character was about her relationship with Paige which I didn’t like because I felt like they brought out the worst in each other. Then she was just written off. Also the stripping storyline was ridiculous.

Fiona Coyne:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s stylish 
 worst quality: clingy 
 ship them with: Imogen & Charlie 
 brotp them with: Holly J & Dallas
 needs to stay away from: Alcohol
 misc. thoughts: I love her character. She had great character development and I loved her alcoholism and abuse storylines in season 10. Also I know a lot of people didn’t like her storyline in Karma Police but I liked it because she finally learned she can’t always depend on other people and needs to be there for herself.

Katie Matlin: general opinion: eh | they’re fine I guess 
 hotness level: meh 

best quality: she was a good sister to Maya for the most part 
 worst quality: she was hypocritical, bitchy, and took advantage of Drew
 ship them with: Jake
 brotp them with: No one 
 needs to stay away from: Drew 
 misc. thoughts: she annoyed me for the most part but I didn’t hate her. I hate what she did to Drew and hated the way she treated Bianca but in season 12 once she got with Jake she wasn’t too terrible. But then she screwed him over too and she took it out on everyone else and it pissed me off. I like that she was there for Maya in Next Class though. I liked her soccer storyline but at the same time the way she treated Drew during that time pissed me off. Mainly she just pissed me off.

Riley Matthews:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s a great friend and super positive and optimistic and caring
 worst quality: a little too dramatic sometimes 
 ship them with: Lucas, Farkle, & Maya
 brotp them with: Maya 
 needs to stay away from: No one
 misc. thoughts: I like her character a lot. She’s one of my favorite GMW characters. I like how positive and sweet she is.

Maya Hart:

general opinion: they’re fine I guess 
hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s tough 
 worst quality: the way she takes her making fun of Lucas too far sometimes
 ship them with: Josh, Riley, & Farkle 
 brotp them with: Riley, Zay, & Farkle
 needs to stay away from: Lucas 
 misc. thoughts: I don’t really care for her character she kind of bugs me. I feel like they tried too hard to make people feel bad for her and I do feel bad for her situation with her dad but aside from that she doesn’t have it that bad, her mom cares for her and she has good friends and basically a second mother figure in Topanga and two father figures with Cory & Shawn. I hate how a lot of things were made about Maya when they didn’t need to be. She’s not a bad character and I don’t hate her but she just bugs me most of the time.

Miranda Sanchez:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: I love her style and she’s a great friend 
 worst quality: idk 
 ship them with: No one 
 brotp them with: Lizzie
 needs to stay away from: No one 
 misc. thoughts: I love Miranda’s character. She had great style and was fun and interesting and had good storylines. I wish they didn’t write her off :( the movie would have been even better with her in it.

Tori Santamaria:

general opinion: they’re fine I guess 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she was a good friend to Tristan and Maya 
 worst quality: she was kind of too clingy with Zig tbh
 ship them with: Adam 
 brotp them with: Tristan 
 needs to stay away from: Zig
 misc. thoughts: I didn’t like her in s11 she was way too clingy with Zig like 50 messages really? And the way she treated Maya out of jealousy for awhile. But she was more likable in s12. I wish she had a better storyline. And that her characrer didn’t just revolve around her obsession with Zig.

Holly J Sinclair:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s determined, strong, and powerful 
 worst quality: her bitchiness in s7-8
 ship them with: Declan(s9), Sav, & Spinner
 brotp them with: Fiona
 needs to stay away from: N/A
 misc. thoughts: I didn’t like her in s7-8 but I grew to love her character & she became one of my favorites. She had one of the best character developments. I loved her storylines in s10 & 11. & I loved her friendship with Fiona.

Marisol Lewis:

general opinion: like them! 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: idk 
 worst quality: her rudeness in s11
 ship them with: Mo, KC, & Jake
brotp them with: No one
 needs to stay away from: No one
 misc. thoughts: I liked her character, especially when she started dating Mo because she became nicer. I mainly liked her in season 12. I wish she had her own storyline. As much as I love Morisol it bugged me that his diabetes storyline was from her POV and only lasted 2 episodes.

Imogen Moreno:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she doesn’t care what people think of her 
 worst quality: idk lol
 ship them with: Fiona, Jack, Adam, Drew, Becky, & Dallas
 brotp them with: Becky
 needs to stay away from: Eli
 misc. thoughts: I love Imogens character. I loved how quirky and unique she was and I loved her style. I wish she either wasn’t held back or had better storylines in s13-14 (preferably the latter) because they wasted her potential. Her storyline with her dad should have been continued or he at least should have been mentioned. But I still loved her and I wish she got to have a happier ending. Both proms she went to she lost her girlfriend, I know it was Imogen’s choice both times but it’s still sad.

Mia Jones:

general opinion: don’t like them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s pretty 
 worst quality: she’s annoying ASF and an irresponsible mother 
 ship them with: Danny
 brotp them with: Anya
 needs to stay away from: JT & Peter
 misc. thoughts: I actually kind of liked her in s7 but she annoyed the shit out of me in s6 and s8. Her storylines were terrible and unrealistic, the one person I liked her with she screwed over, she was an irresponsible mother, terrible at prioritizing…I’m so glad she was written off.

Ellie Nash:

general opinion: like them! | love them 
 hotness level: gorgeous! 

best quality: she’s pretty strong and tough 
despite being through a lot

worst quality: she can be kind of rude sometimes 
 ship them with: Craig & Sean
 brotp them with: Marco 
 needs to stay away from: Jesse
 misc. thoughts: I loved Ellie’s character. She had great storylines in s3-4. I loved her style too. I didn’t like the way they wrote her in s6-7 but still loved her regardless. I wish she was in the reunion episode.

Thanks for all these this was hard lol but fun. :P Btw I skipped the hogwarts houses cuz idk how to do those lol.

[orionsangel86]

Hi I've just been part of this fandom for a year and a half and I like to know how the fandom and the producers work with each other. So can you please explain to me why you don't like Bucklemming? And what else do you think about the other writers?

Hi! Well, we don’t really work with the producers much at all,, unless you count interaction with writers on twitter, and they don’t really understand fandom much at all either. The majority of the writers are kept really separate from fandom in general and Andrew Dabb only ever appears on social media rarely and usually to troll us before disappearing back into his writer cave. Robbie Thompson was the best at fan interactions and the best at understanding what makes the fandom tick (hence he wrote 10x05 fanfiction). Sadly he left us after season 11 to move on to greener pastures.

Do you really want me to start up the Bucklemming argument? Oh boy nonny you are in for some moaning if you start that! lol :P

I take it that you know that Bucklemming are the writer duo Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross Leming (who is Bob Singer aka executive producers wife). 

They can do no wrong and basically get away with all kinds of shitty writing because she is Bob Singers wife (disclaimer - that’s my opinion but come on, its a pretty fair one given the level of shit they’ve given us). Let me just give you a brief run down of Bucklemmings greatest hits:

8x15 - Mans Best Friend with Benefits - Black Servant Girl/Dog in collar has sex with witch master - Issue in case you didn’t catch it black girl in collar and bestiality

8x19 - Taxi Driver - retconned reapers into angels, Hell has a back door into purgatory which I’m sure Cas and Crowley would have loved to know about in s6!!!

9x03 - I’m No Angel - Raped Cas whilst simultaneously having him rape an innocent girl.

9x09 - Holy Terror - Killed Kevin by burning his eyes out

9x21 - King of the Damned - The extremely violent and over sexualised death of Abaddon at the hands of Dean. Needlessly gross.

10x21 - Dark Dynasty - Slashed up our beloved lesbian Charlie by Nazi’s and left her body in a bathtub in a classic case of fridging to further male pain.

11x09 - O Brother Where Art Thou - Whole episode was horrifyingly bad. Made no sense whatsoever. Every character caught a case of stupid. Where the FUCK was Cas?

12x02 - Mamma Mia - Had Sam (mind) raped by the British woman during a really messed up torture scene. The rape made no fucking sense. It was there for gratuitous purposes only.

12x08 - LOTUS - Had Lucifer possess and knock up an innocent woman whilst masquerading as her lover against her knowledge and therefore against her consent in yet another scene of wholly dubious consent... then went on with a storyline that basically had a bunch of male characters try to force a woman to decide what to do with her unborn baby, threatening her with violence and the whole thing was really gross and nasty and just plain wrong in this current climate in America where woman are having their right to choose taken away from them by actual evil in power.

And yet people wonder why I hate Bucklemming? This would be why. 

Honestly nonny I swear I am usually very positive about Spn as a whole, but Bucklemming episodes fill me with dread. The worst part is that they show absolutely no remorse over their story lines and insanely enough think they are doing a good job based on recent interviews. 

I recently answered this ask about Bucklemming and the other writers which sums up the writing team for season 12. So you can go there for my opinions on the other writers, which are actually very positive. We have a lot of new talent on the team this year and so far their episodes have shown promise. Going into the second part of the season I am very curious to see how they do going forward, but I am delighted for Andrew Dabb to be showrunner as he is a huge Cas fan (as we can see now that we know Cas gets 2 episodes at least dedicated to him) yay!

Anyway, I did warn you that I would moan if you got me talking about Bucklemming!

I am a positive person I swear! I am perhaps having an off night. Ankle is all twisted and making me grouchy perhaps. :P