#Kind of like all the white men in Hollywood

[masked-alien-lesbian]

Lol my dumbass meant to send the femboy twink ask to PlayChoices Confessions but eh doesn't matter, needed to be said either way and I still like to discuss these types of things with other ppl haha

Seriously though. At least a lot of the female LI bodytypes I've seen have had some variation to them? We've got LIs like Ava from ILITW who had a less exaggerated hourglass shape. We've got buff gals like Imtura, Kepler, Zaniah, Sledge, Naomi, Imani, all of whom had varying degrees of buffness. Plus also that new bodytype for the female version of the DLS LI. Heck, even that one overused lean-muscle female bodytype with the hand on the cocked hip was at least some variation.

Don't get me wrong– PB is still terrible at female body diversity, but there's more noticeable variation with them. I can at least classify them differently. Meanwhile, EVERY male LI or male version of an LI can be classified as muscular. Even the ones that have some variation like Thomas Hunt and Caleb having flatter stomachs or Ajay having an hourglass shape. The only exception is Tom Sato, and even he can be considered lean-muscular. Like does PB think they're gonna lose precious pennies from straight women if they have a dude without any muscles or something?

Give me some twink LIs. Give me some femboy LIs. Give me mom bod LIs and dad bod LIs. Give me larger/fat/plus-size LIs. They're capable of making different body shapes for the non-LI non-MC characters, they should be perfectly capable of doing it for LIs (and MCs).

Lol I do agree there's little to no variation in m!body types. Not all m!romancers are attracted to the severely dehydrated bodybuilder figure. I've thought it was weird that even all the nerds are jacked. I hope pb deviates from the norm and give yall some variety soon

[zoobus]

??? This poster?

He's a child actor and he's Asian. That's it. You could give a white kid his role and nothing would change except you would have one less employed poc actor.

If you watched the scenes with child-Jupe and you thought "this child's existence is absurd (in universe); the world is laughing at this boy because they see Asians as comparable to chimps (in universe)" you might actually be for real racist.

You know how we make fun of racists for assuming a poc character means there's a woke agenda afoot? That's you.

Rewatched Nope (2022) because I felt real stupid reading essay after essay, take after take dissect details I didn't notice. I really and truly thought i was a big dumbo knuckledragger who missed the obvious, scathing commentary.

Now...I accept that nobody walks away from a piece with the exact same interpretation. I can't say you're "wrong" about how you engaged with a movie.

With that said, on second watch. I think some of you might just be racist.

[skipppppy]

CARMEN SANDIEGO CHARACTERS + MOVIES

Boo I felt like making headcanons again bc I spend more time wondering what these assholes do in their free time than I do on my job

CARMEN

Didn’t have access to movies growing up so Player, Zack, and Ivy have been catching her up on the most popular ones

HORRIBLE to watch with. Doesn’t really understand “suspension of disbelief” as a concept and will ask stupid questions the whole time. Player almost ended their friendship because she nitpicked Lord of the Rings for being “unrealistic”

Enjoys low stakes 2000s girl chick flicks like mean girls and legally blonde. She has enough stress in her life man she just wants to relax

HATES heist movies because of how innacurate they are. Team Red has taken to watching them JUST to hear her pick them apart

PLAYER

Sci-fi/fantasy junkie. Anything and everything that has aliens/magic and shitty practical effects from the 80’s/90’s he is all over

Has never said a single kind thing about the Star Wars franchise in his life. They are his favourite movies of all time

ADORES Edgar Wright and has slowly been converting Team Red to his movies. Zack loved Baby Driver. Ivy loved Shaun of the Dead. Shadowsan loved Hot Fuzz. He considers Scott Pilgrim the pinnacle of Canadian cinema

Cannot STAND the amount of remakes happening in Hollywood recently

ZACK

Canon enjoyer of blockbuster action movies. Everyone dreads the nights when he gets to choose a film bc his taste is so generic

Does not know what the Snyder cut is. Thank god

His only redeeming quality is a love of early dreamworks. Will not stop quoting Madnagascar

Has seen every Marvel movie and thinks all of them are good. Player has BEGGED him to watch better movies but he won’t. He’s the type to rag on Scorsese for being “boring”

Has seen Kevin Feige’s extended filmography. Does not know who that man is

IVY

Horror fanatic

Banned from choosing movies for film night after convincing them to watch her “favourite lesbian romcom” with her. That lesbian romcom was Saw

Ellen Ripley was not only her personal hero but also her gay awakening. The Xenomorph queen was her second gay awakening

Also loves period dramas. Enjoys the tiddies and knows she would look SO good in those fancy waistcoats the men wear

Watches old slashers with Carmen and laugh whenever someone dies in a stupid way

SHADOWSAN

Faculty considered movies “low brow” entertainment so he hasn’t seen a movie made before the year 2000

Loves a good mob flick. Got into Scorsese specifically because Zack hated him. Goodfellas is his favourite

Everyone assumes he enjoys samurai movies but he actually HATES them. Hideo would ramble about historical inaccuracies the whole way through and he’s still bored just thinking about it

Used to love Yakuza films back in the day but they were soured for him after actually living as one

Loved Knives Out, found Daniel Craig VERY attractive, and has since fallen down the James Bond rabbit hole

CHASE

The most pretentious film hack you’ve ever met in your life. He is taking you to a back alley screening of some arthouse eastern european gay porn on a first date and it will be the most profound thing you’ve ever seen in your life

Detective noir movies and cheesy black and white romances are his favourites. He likes falling asleep to them

He and Player both appreciate animation as a form of cinema, but while Player is referring to like. the Mario movie, Chase is talking about some 3 minute Russian stopmotion surrealist piece from 1951. He attends Annecy every year and has been banned from the Oscars due to threats of violence

He likes Poirot tho. Transmasc king

JULIA

If she has a few hours to herself she’d rather watch a documentary than go to a movie theatre, but she loves historical dramas

Enjoys biopics but thinks it’s stupid to make them for people who are alive

Likes watching movies for the sake of trash talking them, so she is the only person who can tolerate sitting through one with Carmen

LOVES Wes Anderson though. Chase got her into his stuff and the symmetry scratches an itch in her brain. But don’t tell him that

Also enjoys period dramas for the tiddies

CHIEF

Shitty cop movie enjoyer. The kind of person who insists that Die Hard is her favourite christmas movie

LOVES heist movies because of how inaccurate they are. Will mentally nitpick whatever secret service is going after them and be like “ACME wouldn’t do that lol”

She’s semi aware that she’s the antoagonist in Carmen’s own heist narrative so she’s started having fun with it

Closet lover of b-tier comedy movies. Like the ones with Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart on the cover

Does not enjoy watching movies socially. That is quality time for her and her cat. She does not have to shush Commander

[geritsel]

Robert De Niro Talks trump

Robert de Niro turns 81 this year. He still is everything Donald Trump is not; talented, intelligent, compassionate and – as far as I know – a man of a man of impeccable integrity.

Here’s Robert De Niro’s full statement about how Donald Trump should NEVER be president again:

“I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad men. I’ve examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty.

Yet there’s something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I don’t see a bad man. Truly.

I see an evil one.

Over the years, I’ve met gangsters here and there. This guy tries to be one, but he can’t quite pull it off. There’s such a thing as “honor among thieves.” Yes, even criminals usually have a sense of right and wrong.

Whether they do the right thing or not is a different story — but — they have a moral code, however warped.

Donald Trump does not. He’s a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself — not the people he was supposed to lead and protect, not the people he does business with, not the people who follow him, blindly and loyally, not even the people who consider themselves his “friends.” He has contempt for all of them.

We New Yorkers got to know him over the years that he poisoned the atmosphere and littered our city with monuments to his ego. We knew first hand that this was someone who should never be considered for leadership. We tried to warn the world in 2016.

The repercussions of his turbulent presidency divided America and rattled New York City beyond imagination. Remember how we were jolted by crisis in early 2020, as a virus swept the world.

We lived with Donald Trump’s bombastic behavior every day on the national stage, and we suffered as we saw our neighbors piling up in body bags.

The man who was supposed to protect this country put it in peril, because of his recklessness and impulsiveness. It was like an abusive father ruling the family by fear and violent behavior. That was the consequence of New York’s warning getting ignored. Next time, we know it will be worse.

Make no mistake: the twice-impeached, 4-time indicted Donald Trump is still a fool. But we can’t let our fellow Americans write him off like one. Evil thrives in the shadow of dismissive mockery, which is why we must take the danger of Donald Trump very seriously.

So today we issue another warning. From this place where Abraham Lincoln spoke — right here in the beating heart of New York — to the rest of America: This is our last chance.

Democracy won’t survive the return of a wannabe dictator. And it won’t overcome evil if we are divided.

So what do we do about it? I know I’m preaching to the choir here. What we’re doing today is valuable, but we have to take today into tomorrow – take it outside these walls. We have to reach out to the half of our country who have ignored the hazards of Trump and, for whatever reason, support elevating him back into the White House.

They’re not stupid, and we must not condemn them for making a stupid choice. Our future doesn’t just depend on us. It depends on them.

Let’s reach out to Trump’s followers with respect. Let’s not talk about “democracy.” “Democracy” may be our holy grail, but to others it is just a word, a concept, and in their embrace of Trump, they’ve already turned their backs on it.

Let’s talk about right and wrong. Let’s talk about humanity.

Let’s talk about kindness. Security for our world.

Safety for our families.

Decency.

Let’s welcome them back.

We won’t get them all, but we can get enough to end the nightmare of Trump, and fulfill the mission of this “Stop Trump Summit.”

For many Robert de Niro may be far too rich and far too Hollywood, but i consider this as straight from the heart. I love this man.

BTW... I have high regards for followers on Tumblr, some I consider as friends without ever having met them, but I completely understand those who get fed up with my political in betweens. I wish you all the best!

Regards,

Geritsel (Let Donald Trump never ever become president again.)

[thatsrightice]

are there any excerpts from Crosby’s memoir about Gale you could post, if that’s alright? I’m really curious about him!

Thank you for the ask, I am more than happy to oblige! Just as a little note, I think both Egan and Cleven were nicknamed Bucky, but the show made one Buck and one Bucky so that people wouldn’t get them confused. Also, Crosby never really mentions Cleven without mentioning Egan which is kind of a testament to their relationship. There’s a lot of them btw so most of them will be under the cut! :)

*

"You fly tomorrow," Bucky Elton told us. He was Squadron Operations Officer. Both leaders had the same nickname. In the Group we had Bucky Egan, Bucky Elton, and Bucky Cleven. Cleven and Egan were best friends, top flyers, devil-may-care. All the 100th pilots wanted to be like them.

*

"What I can't really handle is that when Cleven and Egan were still around, the men were happier. With them gone, the heart of the 100th has stopped beating." - Harry Crosby

*

Then come the four squadron commanders, with Bucky Egan and Bucky Cleven together. They, more than any other of our leaders, had the real Air Corps raunch, their hats cocked on the backs of their heads. Egan's white fleece-lined jacket is his trademark. They both are wearing white scarves.

Egan and Cleven trade quips with their men as they walk forward. I don't normally use the word "debonair," but that's what they are. Bucky Cleven and Bucky Egan are like what their men saw in the movie I Wanted Wings. The men wanted leaders like that. Cleven's real first name is Gale, and Egan's is John, but I never heard either name used.

The two Buckys talk like Hollywood. The first time I ever saw Cleven was at the Officers' Club. For some reason he wanted to talk with me, and he said, "Taxi over here, Lootenant."

*

The Group Navigator [Omar Gonzalez] is a first lieutenant from San Antonio, Texas. Because of his skin color and his quiet diffidence, he doesn't belong up there with the boisterous, swaggering Egan and Cleven. Egan calls him "Pancho." Cleven calls him "Omar the Tent Maker."

*

When we all assembled on the airfield for parade, our lines were straggly and our men out of step. When the squadrons stood by for inspection, Colonel LeMay didn't see Cleven. When he asked where the squadron commander was, the first sergeant responded, "He took to the woods." This did not surprise LeMay who had heard from our previous commanding officers, Turner and Huglin, that Cleven and Egan were at the root of the 100th's raunchy discipline.

On the next day, Bucky even gathered up the enlisted men who worked at 350th Squadron Headquarters and told them he was going to make up for the indignity they had suffered the day before. He took them out to the flight line and loaded them up in an old stripped-down B-17E, which our group brass used for joyrides and taxi service. Since it had no guns or armaments, it was light and Cleven could fly it like a P-39 fighter plane.

Apparently Cleven had phoned some of his pilot training classmates who were now assigned to P-47's and arranged a surprise. The E was hardly off the runway when it was "attacked" by three American fighters.

For the next twenty minutes, Cleven-whose superb skill as a pilot no one questioned-wrung that old plane out as though it was a Piper Cub. He twisted and turned and plunged, all in a simulated dog fight with his three fighter pilot chums. The three Thunderbolts buzzed the 17 and came within inches of it.

The ground-duty enlisted men in the plane probably never forgot that flight, but it hardly was what the 100th needed at that time. When the fight was reported by the British Home Guard observation team, the report did the 100th no good.

*

The "Two Buckys," John Egan, commander of the 418th Squadron, and Gale Cleven, of the 350th, were the heart of the original 100th-dashing, undisciplined, superb pilots, exactly what Hollywood expected them to be. When they were shot down, even over Bremen (October 8, 1943), and Egan over Münster (October 10), the 100th was devastated-and a new era began.

*

We knew that Bucky Cleven's plane had been hit badly just before Regensburg, and we had heard that he and the pilot, Norman Scott, had differed about what to do. When we got on the ground in Africa, there seemed to be no tension between the two of them, and Scott was laughing and joking just like the rest of us.

According to the Lay report, after the hits, the pilot had pleaded with Cleven to abandon ship. When Cleven refused to ring the bell, Scott had gotten up and started to leave alone. At this point, "although the odds were heavily against him, Major Cleven's reply was as follows: 'You son of a bitch, you sit there and take it."

Lay's report continued, "These strong words were heard over interphone and had a magical effect on the rest of the crew, and they stuck to their guns."

For this, Colonel Lay recommended Bucky Cleven for the Congressional Medal of Honor. The citation was scaled down a bit, and he did get the Distinguished Service Cross.

This story electrified the base, a triumph for the group's most admired twosome. Already Cleven and Egan were the 100th Group heroes. New crews almost immediately began to talk like the two squadron commanders. In the Officers' Club or at Group Ops, young flyers circled around them, and watched the two fly missions with their hands. Enlisted men adored them. Pilots wanted to fly the way the two Buckys did. Back in the days before anyone knew what a role model was, Bucky Cleven and Bucky Egan were the role models of the 100th.

When the story appeared in The Saturday Evening Post it made Bucky Cleven a national hero.

*

From the tail: "High squadron lead gone. There it goes."

It can't be. Bucky Cleven is in that plane. He is indestructible.

No German alive could get him.

*

The British lorry drives off with our profuse thanks. Just as we climb into one of the base personnel carriers, Colonel Harding drives up in his sedan, with Bucky Egan behind him in another car.

A volley of words.

"We thought you had it!"

"We got reports that four chutes got out.”

"Did you see Bucky Cleven get it?"

We take the enlisted men to their quarters. Since we have not eaten since morning, we need food. We look at our watches: 1930 hours. The Flying Mess will be closed. We head for the Officers' Club.

As we enter, officers, ground and air alike, look up. Stunned.

"It's Blakely's crew!"

Pandemonium. Every man in the club, even the enlisted waiters, rush up and pound us on the back. At least half of them offer us their drinks.

"We thought you bought it!"

"They reported four chutes."

"Did you see Major Cleven blow up?"

*

Bucky Cleven, the impervious, the invincible, was gone. If he couldn't make it, who could? His good friend, Bucky Egan, didn't talk much that night.

*

The loss of Bucky Cleven over Bremen and Bucky Egan over Münster seemed to have cut the heart right out of the the 100th. Without them the 100th was a shadow.

*

Bucky Cleven and Bucky Egan, the two squadron leaders who went down over Bremen and Münster, were the very soul of Romanticism. They hated discipline. I told Landra that discipline was called "chicken shit." Like the two Buckys, our pilots all wanted to be dashing individualists.

*

Jack Kidd, John Bennett, and Tom Jeffrey showed us how to win a war. Bucky Cleven and Bucky Egan gave the 100th its personality. Bob Rosenthal helped us want to win the war.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Tita Merello (Mercado De Abasto, La Morocha, Amorina)— Was she pretty? Probably not. Was she hot? Incredibly so. She said it herself: "I was seen as ugly... Then I realized you don't need to be pretty. It's enough just to act like you are". With a highly recognizable voice and manner (which immortalized her in countless drag shows, just look her up performing "Se Dice De Mí"!), she was THE Argentinean icon during the fifties. As with so many artists she began with really humble origins (she didn't learn to read until she was in her twenties), and she was one of the few that kept truly being humble and thankful for all the luck she had and everything she worked so hard for. Despite being a proper diva Tita was a woman of the people first and foremost, portraying almost exclusively working-class women who by the strength of their determination and guts manage to keep themselves afloat in all manners of difficult situations. She openly talked about her uterine cancer at a time it was considered taboo, had the sharpest wittiest tongue in the business, was a greatly renowned performer and comedian, was notably kind to everyone who ever worked with her, but was also very much famous for taking no shit... She feared nobody but God and even that might be debatable.

Vera-Ellen (On the Town, White Christmas)— she's a phenomenal and charismatic dancer, I'd say UNMATCHED in terms of movement. She's just hypnotizing, so sharp and musical and she always looks like shes having so MUCH FUN! Furthermore she has a beautiful smile and a silliness/playfulness to her acting I love. Her real life story is somewhat sad and the death of her daughter kept her from blowing up as a bigger star, but the delight she brings to the movies she was in is so memorable!

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Tita Merello:

Vera-Ellen:

Have you seen her dance!? Right up there with Grace Kelly for grace and beauty and her tap performances can be jaw dropping.

Her dancing skills are so impressive it makes me forget how to speak. She moves like she’s made out of elastic, and she looks good doing it. Also she has great chemistry with Danny Kaye (RIP to the men’s bracket, he was gone too soon) and is just… stunning. Deserves to be known for way more but sadly she had a pretty tough life. But she was so so talented, and I love her.

Her dancing with Danny Kaye in White Christmas is absolutely wonderful.

vera-ellen is one of the most technically skilled dancers to EVER dance, according to fred astaire and others. she had the most beautiful voice, she was incredibly hard working, she was a ROCKETTE at one point AND was on broadway for several years before doing movies and later tv. she was rumored to be dealing with mental health issues her whole life, and she still managed to come out on top. overall an incredible career. and oh my god ladies. her legs. her control. she’s so delicate and lovely whenever she dances, it’s absolutely incredible. she’s always so light on her feet. i could watch her dance forever.

amazing dancer, down to earth vibes onscreen, such a talent

Extremely underappreciated today but she was one of the best dancers in Hollywood's classic era.

she's lip synching here but i think it conveys the hotness:

Best known for her dancing and Barbie-doll figure. She was briefly a Rockette but was fired for standing out too much. She danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and showed off her comedic chops in White Christmas with Danny Kaye. She said dancing for her was like breathing; if she stopped it’d be “very bad”.

I was quite literally floored as a child when I found out Vera Ellen wasn’t a bigger star considering her in White Christmas was a huge part of my bi awakening- gorgeous and talented!

[austinslounge]

Hey! I'm relatively new to the Austin fandom, and first of all, I just wanted to say you really opened my eyes about the Kaia situation, so thanks! Second of all, I wanted to know your opinion on something: judging by his sister's follows on instagram, and his grandmother (I think it's his grandmother)'s posts on Facebook, Austin seems to have been raised in a conservative family. I know it's none of my business and that "stalking" his family like this can come off as disrespectful, but the thing is: as a leftist, I try to be very mindful of the people I dedicate my time and attention to. Austin never discussed his political views publicly, right? Do you think this is maybe because he is afraid of a certain backlash he might receive if he "came out" as a conservative/republican? I really avoid putting famous people on pedestals and idealizing them too much, and I know some people think it's stupid to care about artists' political views, but I'd still be kinda disappointed if I found out his values are so different from mine. Anyways, thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

Hey girlie! 👋

Welcome to my blog! 🥰❤️ Also, welcome to the Austin Butler fandom. 💕 It's good to see some new fans on here.

I'll be honest, I don't usually like getting into political topics or views here on my blog. But since your ask seemed genuine, I'll try to give you my honest opinion.

Take a seat 💺

Honestly? I think you should just take Austin for face value and not worry about what political party he might (or might not) belong to. As far as I'm aware, he's never really mentioned any real political views, and hasn't even identified himself with any specific political party. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong)

I think one of the reasons why our country is so divided right now is because people have stopped seeing people as individuals, and they just see people as from one party vs from another party. 🥴 Personally? I don't think that's really fair.

I prefer to base my opinions about someone on a case by case individual basis. I have met some wonderful people from all various walks of life and different political views. I think it's also good to keep in mind that even people inside of a political party may not always agree with everything the party believes or represents.

Going back to Austin --

I choose to look at who Austin the man is, and everything that I've seen of him so far over all these years have been nothing but positive. I see how he treats both men and women. I watch how he treats people from various diverse backgrounds. I saw how he boldly spoke out about racism and "White Privilege" during the murder of African-American George Floyd back in 2020. I have also paid close attention to how he talks to others, how respectful he is of everyone, and how he doesn't treat anyone differently (not even his fans) no matter their position in life.

I have seen how he gave a homeless man food in the streets, how gentlemanly he is with women (i.e. opening up car doors, helping older women up on stage, etc.), and how kindly he speaks of everyone (don't think I've heard him speak badly about anyone tbh). I've also seen how gracious and loving he is to his fans. Friends of mine who have met him in person have echoed the same thoughts that he really is a sweetheart to everyone and how wonderful it was to meet him. I've also heard how everyone in Hollywood who meets and works with him describes him as being very "kind".

I've even looked at his old tweets and Tumblr posts! You can even find his old tweets and Tumblr posts online from when he was a teenager to a young adult, and all of them are so wholesome and adorable. 🥰 While some celebrities are out here getting canceled for their old scandalous Tweets from years ago, with Austin, even as a young guy, you never found him saying anything misogynistic, racist, fat-phobic, mean, or just plain rude online. He's usually always been very positive.

All of these things combined go on to paint the picture of a man who really truly is just genuine, kind, down to earth, and good-hearted. 💕 🥹

I know some people might not feel the same way that I do, and I know that Austin isn't perfect, but based on what I've seen of Austin, he really does seem like just a good guy.

I don't really follow closely what celebrity family members post or who they follow, but I think it's very important to realize that just because your family member has a particular view, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have that same exact view also.

Just something to think about! 😊

[blueberryarchive]

Off The Races

In which you, the sweetheart of America and famous actress, gets tired of the director's bullshit and Taehyung, your two times winner Nascar boyfriend, it's called to "calm you down".

♡Pairing: Racer!Taehyung & Actress!Reader

♡Genre: 1950's Hollywood au, fwb

♡Word Count: 2.3k

♡Warnings: Mention of drugs and alcohol, drunk driving, sexism, penetration, oral, very dramatic lol

⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⠂⋆ ･ ⠄

California, 1952

The makeup seemed to melt into your skin as the scorching California sun beat down on your face, blonde hair in voluminous waves tickling your shoulders. You didn't want to admit it, but the gold of the wig made your tan glow like a goddess.

A goddess on the brink of madness. The kind to let thunder fall on all the men who praised you with their words and profaned you with their eyes.

The lights that were put in front of you when singing action, the childish phrases that your new director wanted you to say in a tone of pure innocence. They made you tremble with disgust, but your agent had fought so much to get you this role and you, with so much time in this business, still didn't know how to say no to a good role that would catapult you back to heaven.

You loved the cameras, the attention, and the screams of the young women and girls seeking your divine attention in public. Be the cliché rag-to-riches icon. Icon of hope for America. America's little sweetheart.

Even when you seemed to be failing, you could hear people gasp in the streets at the sight of your emerald dress full of beads and stones, the tulle piled up inside your little car. A thin veil of whitish powder delicately covered your nostrils, the red lipstick smeared on your dress, and the long scarf that floated out of your Disco Volante, the cute car that Taehyung gave you a couple of months ago. The car looked like a red bullet flying through the streets, the palms shading your clown-like theatre makeup.

Your right hand, covered in lace, moved as abruptly against the steering wheel as if you were driving alone through the streets, dodging the other cars by almost brushing their rear bumpers.

From your left hand, dangled a cigarette that was finishing with the seconds and the harsh wind. You didn't know when you'd light it on, maybe between the time you ran out screaming that you wouldn't do a tenth take of the same fucking scene and when your car seemed to roar just under your stiletto heels.

No one chased you, not even your agent, he knew it would be worse if they treated you like a child to convince you to be submissive. Much less that son of a bitch of a director that thought he could get into your panties for knowing how to look behind his glasses and yell 'Cut!' over and over again.

On the other hand, Taehyung was finishing his cigarette leaning against his red Hudson Hornet, one of his most precious jewels after you.

The workshop was alive with the noise of men talking and laughing, machines, and the roar of engines being tested. His car was being checked for the race on Sunday, and he looked into the engine himself whenever he could, even when he had a crew of mechanics.

His favorite part was wiping the towel over the car to give it the finishing touch, his last name on the side next to a 7 painted in white. It was beautiful. He felt his chest swell with pride every time he did it. 

The Korean boy who played with cars made from milk cartons and soda caps. Now a two-time Nascar championship winner.

He dropped his cigarette butt to the ground as Little James, one of his mechanics, called several times from the small office at the end of the workshop. The telephone was in Little James' hand with a face of surprise and terror. The corner of Taehyung's lip lifted because he knew who could cause that expression with just a look and a simple action.

He walked slowly, keeping the cigarette box in the sleeve of his white shirt. Grabbing the phone, he asked Little James to leave him alone with a single raised hand.

"Now what?"

"She did it again, Kim. I don't know what I'm going to do with her."

"You should throw her off a bridge and tell her that'll make her more famous" Taehyung chuckled wiping his oily hands on the fabric of his shirt. Taehyung could almost hear your agent squinting his eyes under his bottle-bottom glasses.

One of these days you would kill him from a heart attack, Taehyung thought that was your purpose.

"I don't know where she's gone but we need to finish at least three scenes today and-" the man stammered. "Kim, she's wearing a dress that costs twice my salary. She needs to stop acting like a child, you should control her."

"Mmm," Taehyung snorted. "You've been with her for years, dear Carl. You've been handling her since she turned sixteen and still don't know how to tell her to calm down? To fucking stop her nagging?"

"No" he complained, not understanding the sarcasm in Taehyung's voice. "Since she turned twenty I don't know what to do with her"

Taehyung rolled his eyes "You can calm down, Carl" he assured with a serene voice.

"Are you going to look for her?"

"Yeah, cancel the whole week too, and tell that fucking director of yours not to try to change the actress because he's going to regret it"

"Do you know who you're talking about? Mr. Truman doesn't take shit from anyone, not even her"

"If they take her out of the movie, you won't find anyone like her"

"Kim..." Carl sighed in disappointment, he more than anyone knew it was the truth.

"Goodbye, Carl" Taehyung put the phone down, searching for his motorcycle keys.

You were on one of the highest hills, revealing a city of papers and moving images. 

The air around you was sweet and heavy; the palms were unfazed by the desperate heat. You gripped the wheel tightly looking up the rocky steep, of course you thought about it. You're also not trying to lie to yourself when you hear the sound in your head of how your body falls sharply, hitting each sharp stone. 

You took a deep breath and looked inside your car, white leather decorated to the smallest detail. A shuddering hand grabbed the bag on the passenger seat, a bottle so small it looked like a toy; with your fingernail covered in red varnish, you picked up the white dust. 

"What do you think you're doing?" your body tensed upon hearing the unfathomable voice of your boyfriend. Or so the magazines said, not that it bothered you that it was called that. 

His motorcycle was behind the car, high waisted jeans and sculpted white tee. A feast to the eyes. He came to you with slow steps, lighting a cigarette on his oily hands while he analyzed the scene in front of him: the biggest dress he has seen and your dilated pupils.

You cocked your head at Taehyung, his eyes unreadable. Your heart pounded when you saw him, eyes narrowed by the scorching sunlight, his eyebrows almost knit together with the lit wrinkled cigarette on his lips. 

They had already been five months since the first time you two met and the ineffable splendor that exuded from Taehyung was such, that every time you saw him, you felt like a schoolgirl. A girl having her first infatuation upon knowing what a man was; not the kind who pulled your hair to get your attention but one of those men who fix things and says the right thing all the time. 

Taehyung didn't talk much, he kept his voice like a rivulet, firm but gentle. You loved that about him, you loved when he would say the strangest things to you and then adorn it with "my love." 

For example: "Don't you think if you're going to go up a hill at noon, at least have something lighter, my love?" You didn't know if he was talking about the dress or the cocaine that was spreading away from your fingernail. 

"For the moment, it suits me perfectly, honey" You got out of the car removing your sunglasses to see him without the dark tint. His smell of smoke and perfume eternalized your nerves. 

"What are you doing here?" you said, pleased with the view.

"Your agent is worried about you" 

"Let him worry, he doesn't know what awaits him on this shoot" 

"I thought you wanted this role" his hands slid to the tight part of your waist, the smoke of both of your cigars blinding you.

"It's not the role I want, Taehyung dear" You looked at him with half-closed eyes, drunk with obsession. 

"Mmhm," was all he said, letting smoke out of his nose. You didn't realize when but you exhaled when you felt how the dress no longer tightened your waist; the open zipper on your back. 

"And what does my doll want?" he asked, throwing the cigar from your mouth away, spitting his.

"My face...everywhere" you smiled just thinking about it. Taehyung gently squeezed your breast, studying your face. 

"I want women to cut their hair to look like me and for men to masturbate in their bathrooms just by watching me on TV" a moan escaped your lips as you felt Taehyung's tongue cool your neck.

"What else?" said he leaving wet kisses all over your chest.

"I want-" your mind was overflowing with flashing pictures, "I want to enter rooms with a simple dress, and people to still make a fuzz about it, for them to think it's easy." You sighed, hearing the fabric break under his hands.

"What's easy?" He stopped the trail of kisses to see your face, close enough to smell the alcohol on your tongue.

"To be me." You smiled, him too. He grasped your untouched finger, still covered with the angel dust, took your wrist, and began to brush his gums with your index, the fine powder disappearing with his saliva. You never looked away.

He took your face in his grubby hands, cupped your cheeks, and drank you in like it was the first time, the last too. With a kiss, he pressed you against the side of the car. Putting his hands beneath your knees, he lifted you to take you to the hood. 

Number two of the things you discovered about him, it's the way he could make you melt. His hands opened your knees and broke the last pieces of the detailed skirt, glitter and stones flew in the air. 

The only thing you could do was let him do his part, you loved watching him perform. He crawled on top of you, the metallic noise of the hood sinking because of the weight. He ripped your white panties letting your pussy feel the cool air. "Oh, honey." You purred with a cocaine-induced smile, the alcohol making your whole core blush. "The way you move, makes me feel like one of your precious cars" 

He laughed while going down on you, his tongue found the throbbing nub beneath all the fabric and stones sticking to your sweaty skin. You yelped.

"I love the way you taste." He whined nibbling the skin of your inner thigh, he was going insane and you loved it. His tongue made its way to your core moving his head like a wild animal, growling while he ate you out. 

You couldn't give two fucks about who saw you or heard you, though, it was difficult people were going to when you were in the middle of nowhere. What a shame, really. You would've loved letting people see the stoic Kim Tae Hyung going down on you. His head lifted looking for air and looked at you with hooded eyes.

"Take my belt off, pretty thing." He demanded in a low voice, swallowing your taste. You obeyed with a rush. 

He took your hand and spit on it, with the raise of his brows you understood. You started wetting his shaft with his spit. His eyebrows furrow, tilting his head letting the sweat on his neck glist in the harsh light. "Fuck" he whispered and you felt so proud of your hard work.

After a few pumps, he couldn't control himself. His body fell on top of yours, softly putting your hands behind your head. His cock find your entrance and you both twitched at the feeling, he moved as slowly as he could. Breathy groans came out of his throat. 

"What about me, darling?" He started saying brushing his lips in your ear. "I'm not a billboard or a little shiny statue. Can you still take my adoration as something precious?" His heart was at the edge of a cliff, the tears too.

Your body trembled and laughed nervously. You've heard so many adorations from men, took them all like thrown roses.

This one felt like a dagger, a begging instead of a prayer.

"Don't be silly, Kim." Was everything you could say.

"When have I been a fool with you?" He interrupted, sinking the blade a little more when he stopped smiling. Gripping your hands harder under his. 

You denied. The in-and-out had you seeing stars around him. "Never" you exhaled.

"Let me take you on a date, please, honey" he whined leaving sweet pecks in your face and neck. "Let me treat you right"

You breathe so hard you shake, and with a roll of his skilled hips, you rolled your eyes, biting your lips. This man took his job so seriously, even when he was begging. 

"I never liked jesters anyways" you finally said, he smiles and pushed his body up without stopping his hips, taking the sweaty top off. 

His thumbs caressed your tummy and grip your sides so hard you squinted, he went as hard as possible. The car creaked under the movements. 

Taehyung's wet hair dripped salty drops. The sun made a halo around his body behind him and you could swear you were in heaven.

You hummed when you came, almost singing away your orgasm. It came so soft and smooth, the high was lovely. 

The boy on top of you groaned and smiled brightly, laughing so beautifully when his cum started coming out in hot shots. "God" he laughed even more throwing his head back. "You're insane" he denied seeing the mess of green diamonds, dripping mascara in your face, your sweaty wig letting your hair peek through the cap. "I love it" he whispered kissing your hand with adornment.

"I love it too" you sighed.

a/n: Thanks to @peachypinkygloss for giving me the courage to actually write, lots of love. This two characters have been in my mind and my journal for quiet some time and it's time i give it a try.

You can write to me on private if you have some critics or want to help me on my grammar.

[flodaya]

I legit don’t know how to help people who seriously believe I’m not a Z fan, I talk about her projects, i constantly make gifs of her, i think she’s incredibly talented and I’m obsessed with her fashion moments

so because I like Tom and think she and Tom are an adorable couple and enjoy following their relationship just as much it disqualifies me as a Z fan? because I don’t like timmy tim or JE, two obnoxious white men in Hollywood, I am automatically not a Z fan??

weird how I’ve actually had nothing but kind words about most of her other co stars, i Love hunter, i think JDW is incredibly handsome, mike and josh are amazing actors and I’m so glad she worked with them, yet “real Z fans” only see timothee as her costar and if you dislike him you dislike “all her costars” hmmmm interesting VERY interesting but I’m sure it’s not at all about shipping timdaya and being miserable that Z is in love with tom, sure 😌

[interracialgooningsafespace]

Chastity Cages for White Boys

The story of how wearing chastity cages became the norm for white boys starts with the events in the year 2030. In early 2030, a prominent intellectual named Anwuli Okoro penned an anonymous essay called “Physical Remedies to Systemic Racism.”

In this essay, Okoro argued that many of the historical inequities perpetuated against Black communities stemmed from a kind of sexual “lashing out” from white males. She argued that attempts to date to counter this had proven to have mixed results.

To progress further required a physical remedy: Widespread usage by white boys of chastity cages. In particular, Okoro argued that if this was adopted in the college years, it would have an instrumental effect on white girls, who would be forced to look for alternatives if they wanted to have sex. This would undoubtedly lead to more white girls dating Black men, inhibit white male aggression, and strike a critical blow against both white patriarchy and white supremacy.

From Essay to Hollywood A few influential Hollywood writers read Okoro’s essay and took it to heart. To bring these ideas to the mainstream, they created a sitcom, Apartment 34. The show’s premise was based on a white boy’s progressive mother gifting him a chastity cage for college based on the principles outlined in Okoro’s essay. The white boy is at first reluctant to wear the cage, but when his mother tells him that choosing to not wear it would mean no parental financial support, he agrees.

In the show, the white boy goes to college across the country, and the mother keeps the keys to the chastity cage to ensure the boy remains true to his commitment to wear it.

This setup ensures many moments of hilarity as the white boy navigates college with no possibility of sex, but the show also has a serious undertone. Over time the white boy starts to enjoy having his cock caged. By the end of the show, he actively prefers it and begins advocating for other white boys to try it. The show is careful to show the white boy as happy, and he ends up befriending a beautiful white girl who it is made clear is comfortable being with him only because his cock is caged. The chastity cage helps foster a healthy platonic relationship with the white girl, who eventually ends up dating a Black guy.

While controversial, the sitcom also became hugely popular. It wasn’t long before serious articles were written in mainstream publications like The Atlantic arguing that chastity cages for white males, especially in the college years, held significant promise.

Hollywood and Netflix then upped the media exposure by producing movies showing this as the new normal. In Jack Goes to College, all of the white boys in the freshman class at a liberal arts college pledge to use chastity cages everyday at least throughout their college years after a racial incident in a nearby town. Keys are sent to families or volunteer key holders out of town. The movie traces the positive effects of this pledge for everyone.

A Widespread Movement This media coverage led to a burgeoning movement, with thousands of white males voluntarily caging their small cocks.

By 2033, the practice was widespread, and at most colleges the majority of white boys used chastity cages. There were still a few holdouts, especially among conservatives. Finally, 2 years later, the DEI offices of Ivy League universities and prominent public universities began requiring that white male students wear chastity cages, in order to “foster an environment that promotes inclusivity, undermines white supremacy, and redresses sexual injustices of the past.”

Conservatives challenged these rules, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the universities, and not wanting to give up coveted spots at top universities the few remaining white boy holdouts complied. Less prestigious universities and colleges soon copied these rules.

By the end of the 2030s, between voluntary adherence and enforcement of the DEI rules, all white boys at colleges and universities across the country were wearing chastity cages every day. After graduating, most continued to wear the cages.

The effects proved Okoro’s essay to be correct. Relationships between white girls and Black men – already quite common – skyrocketed, racial tensions were eased, and the crumbling edifice of white patriarchy and white supremacy was dealt a crippling blow.

[cantsayidont]

The thing that undermines the movie BROADCAST NEWS (1987), which in many respects is very good, is that in the end, the story is handcuffed by the exact same fallacy it spends the first two hours making fun of: that the deck is stacked so that the slick, handsome Gentile will always win out over the nebbishy Jewish guy, even if the Gentile obviously doesn't deserve it. Inasmuch as the story is about the three main characters' careers, it's still ultimately a romantic triangle, which presents writer-director James L. Brooks with an insuperable problem. The script can't ultimately have Jane (Holly Hunter) go off with Tom (William Hurt) because he's beneath her, intellectually and ethically, which would undermine the narrative's feminist pretenses, but at the same time, it's extremely reluctant to let her end up with Aaron (Albert Brooks), because even though they're much more on each other's level, Aaron is loud and awkward and obviously Jewish, and that wouldn't test well.

So, the ending cheats — all three characters go their separate ways, Tom triumphant, Aaron still humiliated (essentially banished to suffer out the rest of his career in local news in Portland), Jane continuing her way up the ladder — and tries, not very convincingly, to reassure us that they're all still friends, that they're much happier now that they're with other people (only one of whom we actually see), and that this is a triumph of realistic adult storytelling over Hollywood romantic mishmash. Which it is, I guess, but it's not really satisfying because it's so clearly trying to paper over the fact that if Aaron had been played by someone less obviously Jewish than Albert Brooks, the story would have certainly ended with him and Jane together. It's like canceling the award ceremony rather than risk giving the award to someone who might make the white Gentiles in the audience uncomfortable and then proclaiming the cancellation a triumph of egalitarianism, which is not great.

It might be less galling if BROADCAST NEWS didn't make Jane's decision ultimately about whether or not Tom is good enough for her, which seems like Brooks missing the point of his own story. The bigger problem for Jane, particularly in the era when the movie was made, would have been that getting involved with Tom beyond the occasional casual fling (of the kind she repeatedly tries and fails to tempt him into) would risk subordinating the subsequent trajectory of her career to his success: Her star might rise further, but she would never be sure if it was on her own merits or just because she was Tom Grunick's girlfriend, and it would undermine the things about herself in which she takes the most pride. That would be a choice more in keeping with the themes of the narrative, but Brooks insists on making it a romantic decision rather than a professional one, which ends up spoiling the punch.

(THE NEWSREADER, set in the same genre and same era, stumbles over this same point. The biggest issue for Helen (Anna Torv) in her relationship with Dale (Sam Reid) seems to me not so much whether she's going to be okay with Dale's interest in men, but rather that she's only gotten what she wanted professionally by attaching herself to Dale in a way that would be fraught even if there were not this other tension in their relationship. However, examining that might require the show to take Helen seriously as a character, which it seems frustratingly reluctant to do.)

[jbaileyfansite]

Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer Interview with EW (2023)

Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey do some pretty unspeakable things to each other on camera for Fellow Travelers, whether it's the Bridgerton and Wicked star sucking on Bomer's toes in the premiere episode or the White Collar and Magic Mike stud channeling his inner dom daddy throughout. It's the kind of sexual escapades that force you to clutch your pearls and then realize, "I wasn't even wearing pearls. How did these get around my neck?!"

Maybe it's because we don't often see this kind of raw, unfiltered depiction of gay sexuality put on display for television, even on a premium network like Showtime. "I had never read anything like that before in a screenplay," Bomer tells EW.

"It's provocative and it's all the things that will draw an audience in, or at least get people talking," Bailey remarks in a separate interview. "But then, why is it there? Well, it makes sense." To Bailey's point, there's a lot of story packed into the intimate moments of Fellow Travelers. It's like tricking someone to eat their vegetables: the two nearly naked handsome Hollywood actors in their prime is the alluring melted cheese, but that desperation you feel emanating off two societally suppressed gay characters is the broccoli underneath.

"Anything that feels voyeuristic or chemical to the audience whilst watching it is right, because that is just how overwhelming it is when you do finally come together in a world that deems your love and intimacy foul or incorrect," Bailey explains. "So it becomes a multidimensional experience for the performers, but also for the people watching at home. I just think there's no doubt with this that the art of the sex scene is so profound."

Bomer and Bailey star in Fellow Travelers as Hawk and Tim, who first meet and start an intoxicating affair in 1950s Washington, D.C., a time and place when Senator McCarthy (Chris Bauer) has launched the "Lavender Scare" purge of homosexuals from government positions. The series continues to track Hawk and Tim's relationship across decades, often bouncing between the past and the drama's 1980s present, when Bailey's Tim is stricken with AIDS.

The seventh episode, "White Nights," premiering on Paramount+ Friday and on Showtime this Sunday, sees these on-again, off-again lovers in the '70s on Fire Island. Bailey's mustache says it all. The sex reflects this next setting, which was (and still is) a rare safe haven for these men to express themselves openly.

The actors knew how much emotional and physical intimacy would be required of them for Fellow Travelers from the jump. "It was all on the page," Bailey recalls. "I read the script before I spoke with [showrunner] Ron Nyswaner, so I knew exactly what they were trying to do." The pair recall meeting with each other in Toronto, where the show primarily filmed, at Goldstruck Coffee on Cumberland Street. "It writes itself," Bailey jokes of the shop's playful name. "We were like, we need to see how each other are doing. We got to know each other in a way that was vicariously through the characters. That first conversation, we were totally committed to having each other's backs."

The sex scenes weren't something they overly discussed with each other, beyond "certain intricacies" they had to work out, Bomer says. "Obviously, we were very respectful of each other's boundaries. You did the work on the character, you showed up on set, you knew what your job was, and then you just hopefully try to let it fly when they call action."

"When you're going on set and it's 3 in the morning and you've done 16 hours worth of filming and you are about to only start the intimacy scenes, you do have to summon the angels and listen to Enya and draw from the ground to muster up the courage," Bailey says, playfully. "But that feeling of having to build your confidence and to put your armor on to do that is exactly right, because that's what the characters are feeling."

For Bomer, when it came to the onscreen sex, he enjoyed what he calls Hawk's "zero f---s given" vibe. "Hawk does have a public persona that he needs to survive and maneuver in the world that he's in, but underneath it all is a real 'f--- you,'" he says. "That for me was so refreshing to get to play, but it was also really refreshing to see — not that every intimate gay relationship is like that, but to see an aspect of gay sex brought to life in such an authentic and unflinching way."

Source

[sleepynegress]

Like I said zawe is lucky and Tom hiddleston is the best and hes sexy you need glasses

Ahhh them. I'm gonna answer this nicely in hopes of maybe helping with growth? Love isn't "luck". What is initially physically attractive to many? Is often determined by what society tells you is.

I've been fortunate enough to have lived long enough to see "beauty standards" change. I remember when people didn't want BBLs or curves. I've seen the cute TikToks where moms would show their teen daughters the "hot guys" from back in the day and the girls would just go "Eww!". Figuring out what you really want, or don't, often comes with experience; the variety of people you get to be around and care for in life, and how open you are. Often "pretty" people become ugly through their actions, vice versa, and everything in between...

It's a whole package thing. In my deep MCU days, Tom didn't cross my radar because he came off as feeding on the attention and fame. I mean he was cute back then but in a twinky way, IMO. Boyishness makes me want to mother you, not think you're hot. But for the younguns I get it. The housewives? My lip is curling up and I'm side-eyeing a bit... at least for back then. Plus his fandom came off like too many I've encountered that treat white men and their characters like they are infallible, but need protecting somehow?.... Again it added to that little boy sense of him. Since then, (in my parasocial speculations), he's acquired some wrinkles and wisdom and learned that what he thought he had in all that Hollywood attention, wasn't "real" and now he actually does seem attractive because he's a grown man, now. Now, it's if Gene WIlder and Lee Pace could have a middle-aged baby, it would be Tom. All those things that drew such a following back then came off as performative and people-pleasing to me. The lack of boundaries, the talking over people, and going on and on... My grandma would have said he was smelling his upper lip. He was academically intelligent but often came off as socially naive, IMO, and I think most could infer the most naive stumbles he made in that era...*ahem* Zawe was one of many Black women from before I knew of Tom who I rooted for in the industry. ... Many of whom, you don't see much anymore, sadly. But the difference in their journey IMO & her accomplishments w/o the money, gender, and racial privileges her partner has, says a lot about the kind of character Zawe possesses. Again, parasocial! ... but I see a man who encountered a grown woman not enamored by or deeply entangled in the industry but had carved out her own path despite lacking all those things the industry demands you have to have, to succeed. A smart person would be impressed by that and her authentic kindness, sense of humor, intelligence, and joy in what she does...on top of being what he likes physically (we not gonna act like that man does not always ping or have the best onset chemistry when a leggy woman is around).

He's a leg-locked king (apologies or you're welcome for the imagery). He seems to be a gentleman and Zawe is not one of his little fangirls. They come across as equally enamored, and grown, and I would like to think they have a healthy loving partnership. Which makes them both extremely lucky.

[mightyflamethrower]

Former president Barack Obama, the man who salvaged Joe Biden from the ash heap of political history (an unfortunate move which in turn sadly revived Kamala Harris’ DOA career), continued with his unifying ways Thursday by shaming black men who don't think that Harris is a great choice for commander-in-chief.

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urn:uuid:157f4cf5-30fb-404a-82c5-1dda2565dea0

It reminded me of Joe’s infamous line, if you don’t vote for me, then “you ain’t black.” Obama:

And you're coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I've got a problem with that. Because part of it makes me think -- and I'm speaking to men directly -- part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that… That's not acceptable. 

He sounds like a mob boss.

Just disgusting, divisive rhetoric from the man who said in his first acceptance speech, “We have never been a collection of red states and blue states; we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

Unless you disagree with him, of course.

Do it my way or hit the highway: 

Turns Out Those Obama Remarks Got Worse—He Even Insults Black Men Who Are on the Fence About Kamala Scott Jennings Cooks Obama for Chastising Men Over Harris, Reveals Big Issue for Democrats

I’ve always hated the left’s use of the word “community.” The “black community,” the “LGBTQ community.” As if, just because people have one thing in common, they all have the same viewpoints on everything. Is there a “white community?” A “heterosexual community?”

Sure enough, it turns out that plenty of blacks were capable of their own thoughts and found the former president’s remarks to be belittling and deeply obnoxious. Former football great and one-time Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker was less than impressed, calling it a step backward:

We need unity brother, not division!

Well said.

Meanwhile, as a RedState man, I’m obviously not a Bernie Sanders fan, but his former campaign co-chair and former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner nevertheless had it right when she asked, "Why are Black men being belittled?"

She absolutely nukes Obama’s race-baiting narrative and stuns the CNN hosts in the process:

"Now, a lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out Black men is wrong, and some of the Black men that I have talked to have their reasons why they want to vote a different way, and even if some of us may not like that, we have to respect it," she said. Turner explained further, "So unless President Barack Obama is gonna go out and lecture every other group of men from other identity groups, my message for Democrats is don’t bring it here to Black men who, by and large, don’t vote much differently from Black women."

The reactions from the CNN crew are some of the most priceless I've ever seen. Truth is being spoken to them, and they absolutely cannot handle it.

These are just two examples, but there are plenty more out there of people who were deeply insulted by being told they had to vote a certain way just because of their skin color. (As of this writing, a search on the social media platform X for "Obama" turns up an untold number—but an unquestionably large number —of black people angrily teeing off on "hopey-changey" Barack's comments.)

Obama has been one of the smoothest politicians in the land since his meteoric rise from obscurity in the mid-2000s, but there was always a darker presence lurking underneath his big Hollywood grin.

He showed it loud and clear with this belittling speech, and he lost a lot of his luster in the process. Kamala Harris is 100 percent correct: we need “a new way forward,” but that way should not include race-baiting, the failures of Obama-style progressivism, or the constant attempts by leading Democrats to divide the nation.

[denimbex1986]

'...Social media has played into this Irish invasion, with users fangirling over actors like Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, Andrew Scott, and Cillian Murphy. All of these men have been recognized for their work in critically acclaimed and/or popular films in 2023. Cillian Murphy is nominated for (and forecast to win) an Oscar for his role in Oppenheimer.

...this new male-driven phenomenon likely stems from the convergence of the two online trends: an overwhelming fan appetite for male celebrities in the “internet boyfriend” era, and a growing interest in Irish culture. The result is a super-online (and horny) generation of Hibernophiles.

...the modern romanticization of Irish men doesn’t seem to be pegged to one film or moment in time, and a cursory Google search pulls up a slew of articles declaring the purported pros of dating Irish men. These lists are not necessarily based on hard facts as much as cultural assumptions, and many of them, including one by Popsugar, emphasize the Irish’s supposed charm, good looks, chattiness, and love for their mothers...

Presumably, there’s a link between the idyllic postcard image many Americans have of Ireland — lush green pastures, poetry, music, and a friendly population — and the view of Irish men as ideal romantic partners. It has certainly helped that Americans and consumers worldwide have been inundated with images of handsome Irish men in popular culture, from former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan to One Direction member Niall Horan to scruffy sex symbol Colin Farrell. While interviewing Cillian Murphy on his podcast Armchair Expert in 2022, host Dax Sheppard raved about the “inordinate amount of handsome men” he encountered on a trip to Ireland...

The 1845 Irish famine meant a huge influx of immigrants to the US, and the men quickly gained a reputation as “feckless, uncultured, and prone to drunkenness and violence,” Burke explained. “That stereotype has been argued to have persisted to some degree right up to the era of John F. Kennedy.” Kennedy’s election, she says, was thought to signal the full assimilation of the Irish in America. (A shift that, in turn, brought us notable Irish Americans like Alec Baldwin, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly.)

This shift in perception represents the “flexible racial status of Irishness,” as Diane Negra, film studies professor at the University College Dublin, writes in the book The Irish in Us: Irishness, Performativity and Pop Culture. She expands that this is due to a complex history and ethnic identity that allows them to “oscillate between otherness and whiteness.” Likewise, Burke says white Irish people fit into a category of “non-vanilla vanilla” in the Western imagination.

For the American viewer, “Irish actors arguably evoke a kind of safe ‘exoticness,’” she said. “Being native speakers of English with a purportedly cute accent, they are just ‘foreign’ enough for mainstream taste.”

That newfound perception of Irish men as harmless and gentle feels connected to a wider trend that they’ve shown up in on the internet: the “babygirl.” The moniker has become a go-to term of endearment for grown men in Hollywood who are physically attractive and display pleasant traits. According to Mashable, it describes “when a man is being cute, comfortable in his masculinity, or weak in an evocative way.” This act of infantilization can be applied to a wide range of men, but it’s hard not to notice actors like Mescal, Keoghan, Murphy, and Farrell being popular recipients of this treatment online...

The Andrew Haigh film All of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott and Mescal, was on the precipice of Oscars glory, with Scott campaigning but failing to make it to the final stage for Best Actor. For months throughout awards season, though, Mescal and Scott were making the internet swoon in joint interviews and red-carpet appearances, demonstrating that their onscreen chemistry carried over into real life. The same attention was paid to Keoghan, who became more of a talking point throughout awards season for his role in the polarizing Emerald Fennell film Saltburn — not to mention that nude dance scene — than a realistic Oscars contender.

Last but not least, there’s Cillian Murphy, whose role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer could very well win him an Oscar on March 10, after a near-sweep at the year’s major awards ceremonies. The standom and thirst for him on social media is particularly striking, given that he’s had a lengthy, mostly unsung career that hadn’t yielded huge starmaking moments before Oppenheimer, despite playing multiple side characters in Nolan’s filmography. Prior to playing the “father of the atomic bomb” last year, his most notable role as a leading man was as gangster Thomas Shelby in the BBC2 show Peaky Blinders, which ran for almost a decade and earned a strong Tumblr fan base.

Professor and author Christopher Shannon adds that the public’s affinity for Murphy is particularly fascinating, given that American audiences haven’t necessarily fallen in love with him through Irish cinema like previous Irish actors.

“What strikes me about someone like Murphy is that he has achieved his fame mostly in non-Irish roles,” he said. “Murphy is celebrated as an actor who happens to be Irish rather than as a distinctly Irish actor.”

Nevertheless, Murphy’s Irish identity seems to be part of his draw, based on how his online fan base interacts with him. Despite being rather reserved, the Batman Begins star has generated an entire mill of memes, many of them stemming from routinely unenthused interactions and a general “who gives a fuck?” attitude. In particular, it seems as though the internet enjoys the ways he firmly declares his Irishness.

One of his most viral moments is a clip of him repeatedly stating that he’s Irish after an interviewer refers to him and his Inception co-star Tom Hardy as British. Another popular image of Murphy shows the actor seemingly giving Prince Harry a dissenting glare as the cast lines up to meet him at the Dunkirk premiere. This could well just be Murphy’s natural expression (he’s not exactly known for looking cheery), but the internet interpreted Murphy’s look as proof of his disdain for the British monarchy...

Murphy has said that it’s a “good time to be an Irish actor” in Hollywood. At the same time, when asked how he felt about being the first Irish-born actor to win Best Actor at the BAFTAs last week, he seemed slightly exhausted by a sense of tokenism. “It means a lot to me to be Irish,” he answered a journalist. “I don’t know what else to say. Should I sing a rebel song?”

Of course, this quip only made the Murphy Hive fall in love with him more.'

[rainbowsky]

Dear Rainbowsky,

I have been pondering whether to write or not to write for many days now.  I am neither good at writing nor with words.  So please bear with me, because it's going to be quite long if I want to explain myself thoroughly.  I don't often use any social media, however, today I was saddened to the point that I must say something.  I have great great respect for both of you and Vic, therefore I seek your pardon to use your platform to say a few words in support of DD's newest movie.  I felt I must tell of my own experiences and maybe help lift some of the doubts, anger, disappointments & whatnot.

I was barely a teenager when we escaped from the civil war in my country.  I'm sure some of the older generations would have remembered the Hollywood movie called " The Killing Fields".  When the war ended, many families were escaping to Thailand (or countries nearby).  My family was among them.  It was an extremely dangerous journey.  We could get killed at any moment.  We had to climb mountains, walk through thick jungles, for many many weeks (most of the time we went without food.  We slept wherever we got tired.)  There were many guerrillas (Former Pol Pot's soldiers) in the jungles, and landmines.

We were a group of nearly 20 women with 3 young children (no men).  Before the journey (from Phnom Penh to the borders of Thailand), my adopted mum had me bathe in mud every day in the hope that I'd become as black as everyone else in the group (I have much lighter skin, therefore, I would put everyone at risk because we might run into soldiers or guerrillas in the jungles and get question by them.  My adopted mum is darker than the dark chocolate)  If I could get away with painting myself black with soot (there was no such thing as make-up in war, and soot from the charcoal would come off) she would have attempted that too.  I was taught to tell lies if I was asked where we were going.  I was to say that my mum and I were on our way to Thailand to look for my father who had an affair with a Thai woman!  I didn't quite understand but knew that it was very very important that I got everything correct.  And sure enough halfway through our journey we were stopped by a fierce looking group of guerrillas in Siem Riep jungle.  These people would not hesitate to put a bullet or two in you just for the fun of it!  Most were young adults with machine guns and bullets hanging around their bodies.  They looked at us with much hatred and disgust (I only remembered there were many of them), then they decided to question me (I must have stuck out like a sore thumb).  I must have peed in my pants, I could see my adopted mother was trembling and praying!  Everyone must be trembling and praying too.  They asked for my mother, I pointed at her.  They didn't believe us as mother and daughter.  She was about to explain when one of them shouted at me where we were going.....

To cut the story short, I would like to ask everyone "Am I being a racist because I made myself black so that I can save lives?", "Is my adopted mother guilty of telling lies to save lives?".  If you are a white person that needs to paint yourself black in order to survive, wouldn't you do it? Or you'd rather put everyone at risk because you think your life and everyone's life is not worth it?

When it comes to war and you are in a war zone, there is no such thing as black or white, there is only human life and survival!

If anyone is interested in reading about the guerrillas in the Cambodia jungles, I'd like to recommend this one book by Chris Moon "One step beyond"

I love your blog (and Vic's too) very very much. I thank you to both of you from the bottom of my heart.

Hi reksmey3328, thanks so much for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog! ☺️

First of all I want to send you blessings for surviving such a huge and terrifying ordeal. You and your mother and all the women and children travelling with you were exceptionally brave to get through something like that. What an incredible journey.

I hope you've all gone on to live in safety, and surrounded by kind and loving people. Thanks so much for sharing your story. You underestimate your ability to communicate. Your experience really shone through in your writing. 🫂

I don't think anyone would argue that you were doing anything offensive or wrong by disguising yourself the way you did. Clearly it was a matter of life and death.

And I don't think anyone would argue that - if such a UN mission happened where people had to infiltrate a community with different racial characteristics in order to rescue hostages - there could be anything objectionable about the rescuers doing the same.

However, I still feel that the use of blackface in the film should have been avoided. Filmmaking isn't a matter of life and death, and there are many different ways the scene could have been adapted to tell the story and provide high stakes suspense without subjecting the actors and the viewers to this indignity.

Even if they were trying to depict a real-life mission that had actually happened (and I still haven't seen evidence that it was directly based on a real mission), they could have adapted the scenes to remove the use of those disguises. Filmmakers do this all the time when creating films based on historical events.

That's just my personal opinion. I know others might disagree, and that's their right. (For those wanting my detailed thoughts on the issue, they can check out the posts linked here).

Thanks again for sharing your story, and for the book recommendation. 💛.