#Mr. Q’S Magic Booth

[douglass-fir]

Bonus Scenes: Phone Booth Epiphany

// Spoilers ahead. I recommend you read the full fic before the bonus scenes.

The Phone Booth Epiphany

When Seokjin enters an old phone booth in a lavender field, his world changes forever.

🌾 Rated E, 25K words 🌾 slow burn 🌾 warm slice of life 🌾 farmer jk, writer jin 🌾 fluff & smut 🌾 angst w/ happy ending 🌾 kinda magical

🔗 https://archiveofourown.org/works/33940855/

Trailer

Bonus Scenes

/// Spoilers Ahead ///

These bonus scenes are raw and unedited—a weird combo of storytelling, Q&A, and just dumping my thoughts. But I hope you enjoy them! Let’s get started!

Part I: Q&A

Did former visitors to the farm regain their memories of the village once the spell was broken?

Yes! As a recap: visitors to the farm lost their detailed memories about their stay after 1 year—when a new visitor arrived.

When the spell broke, memories of their stay were all recovered! As you can imagine, more than a few former visitors returned to the farm to explore once their memories returned (more on that later.)

Mrs. Ahn mentioned that Jeongguk had other lovers. Did everyone who visited the farm fall in love with Jeongguk?

Definitely not. In fact, Jeongguk was just a kid when the village first disappeared. Most of the people who visited were simply expecting a relaxing vacation, often with their families. They had a nice time, hopefully felt inspired to pursue their dreams, and went home. Seokjin falling in love was an anomaly, but an important one, because it’s what motivated him to figure out how to break the spell.

What was Seokjin’s greatest wish (that broke the spell), specifically?

Seokjin’s greatest wish was to write a children’s story inspired by someone he loved, and be able to read it to them.

How did Jeongguk's parents pass away?

[CW // minor character death.] I hesitate to include this, because it's dark and can bring the mood down. But if you like darkish themes: When the spell first trapped the villagers in a "bubble", Jeongguk's parents were one of the brave souls that attempted to test the boundaries of how far they could escape past the village's borders. Unfortunately, they discovered that any original residents (those under the curse) who tried to escape the village, were immediately vaporized upon touching the border. This is why you never see Jeongguk go beyond the Phone Booth, even when taking Seokjin to the bus stop.

Part II: About Jeongguk's Lovers

Before Seokjin, Jeongguk had two other lovers. Once you hear about them, it’s a little easier to understand why Jeongguk told Seokjin his greatest fear was “being forgotten”.

One of Jeongguk’s lovers was a businessman who visited just two years before Seokjin. Unfortunately, after he returned home and his letters went unanswered, the man took this as a sign that Jeongguk had simply moved on. He quickly got distracted with the demands of his corporation, and one year later, had no memory of his brief affair with Jeongguk.

Jeongguk’s first love, however, is a more interesting story. A case of young, summer love:

Jeongguk is 19 at the time, and a handsome, young college student visits the village with his parents. Jeongguk was not prepared for the ripple of nervousness that raced through his hands when he lays eyes on the young man’s dimples and soft smile. This was all new for him. Jeongguk keeps his anxiety at bay by helping around the farm, but Mrs. Ahn doesn’t miss the way he blushes and turns his face toward the ground when the young visitor is around. Or the way Jeongguk awkwardly shuffles his feet and plays with his hands when he talks to him as he reads on the porch.

Mrs. Ahn doesn’t want to be pushy, but she finds her chance to talk to Jeongguk one evening as she steps into the kitchen. He’s sitting in the corner, nervously pushing food around his bowl—a magic-8-ball of emotions playing out on his face.

It takes some gentle prodding, but eventually he cracks. “It feels weird sometimes. When he’s around,” he confides.

“Who, Jeongguk-ah?” Mrs. Ahn said as she glanced at him, trying to school her expression.

“…Namjoon-hyung.”

“Ahhh..” Mrs. Ahn says, holding back a knowing smile. “He’s nice, isn’t he?”

Jeongguk catches her eyes and nods shyly.

“So, what you’re feeling…would you call it a good weird, or a bad weird?” she asks.

Jeongguk thinks about this for a moment, staring at his food as if he’d find the answers among the grains of rice. “Feels like both. Like, sometimes it feels like my heart is racing, like it’s trying to work it’s way out and my chest isn’t big enough to hold it back.”

Mrs. Ahn hums.

“Other times he looks at me and I just wanna hide,” Jeongguk blushes, feet shuffling beneath the chair.

“Jeongguk-ah…” Mrs. Ahn chuckles. “sounds like maybe you have feelings for him? Do you think you like him?”

“Don’t know.” Jeongguk scrunches his nose, a little embarrassed.

“It’s okay not to know,” Mrs. Ahn assures him. “That’s half the fun, Jeongguk-ah. Discovering your feelings, finding out if he feels the same…”

“But he’s going to leave, isn’t he…” Jeongguk pouts.

Mrs. Ahn grows quiet. “It’s true, darling. He will leave. And there’s…there’s a good chance he won’t come back.”

“They never come back,” Jeongguk pouts.

Mrs. Ahn squeezes his hand. “Someday, Jeongguk-ah. Someday. Someone will come back for us.”

Jeongguk’s eyes get glassy as he keeps his eyes on his food.

She continues in a hushed tone. “We don’t know when we’ll be free, my dear, but here’s what I do know: love, Jeongguk-ah, is a gift. And contrary to the storybooks, it doesn’t last forever,” Mrs. Ahn says with a regretful cough. “It’s a mysterious door that, if you’re lucky, opens at least once in one’s lifetime,” she says softly.

“If that door opens for you, dear boy—and the person on the other side is worthy of your heart—you run. Run through it and don’t look back,” she says as she tucks a curl behind Jeongguk’s ear. “Sure, it may hurt down the road. You may have moments of regret. But embrace it. Feel everything life offers you, Jeongguk-ah.”

She brushes a tear from Jeongguk’s cheek.

“Love and pain—they’re twins, you see. They hold hands. Don’t reject one just to avoid the other, my dear.” She squeezes Jeongguk’s hand. “To love someone��is a rare thing. Nothing else in nature gets this opportunity. So if you see that door open, Jeongguk-ah���be brave.”

And so—he is.

Jeongguk and Namjoon have their first kiss on the porch two nights later, fingers tentatively linked, barely brushing as their legs hang from the swing.

Namjoon is Jeongguk’s first kiss. His first love. His first everything. Tender and kind, understanding of Jeongguk’s quiet nature.

Unfortunately, the inevitable happens and Namjoon has to return home with his family. They promise to write each other and Jeongguk holds his breath. Namjoon goes off to college in the States and writes Jeongguk as promised, but the letters never arrive. Namjoon is heartbroken, but one year later, his broken heart fully heals when his memory is wiped clean.

That is, until years later.

Namjoon is married, sitting on the couch, watching the news with his daughter climbing him like a tree. Jimin is sitting beside them, tucked under his arm.

A news story plays about a missing village returning, and Jeongguk’s face flashes on the screen, describing the history of the town to a local reporter.

In a single moment, it all comes back to him. The village. The kiss. Jeongguk.

Namjoon sits up, breathing heavily, looking at the screen.

Jimin turns to face him. “Joonie? Joon, are you okay?”

“I…” Namjoon grabs Jimin’s hand and squeezes. “…I think we need to talk.”

Namjoon knew he needed to return. Though his romantic feelings were far behind him, he needed to know he hadn’t imagined it all. Jimin, always understanding, held his hand the entire drive to the village.

Namjoon thought it would be awkward as he knocks on the farmhouse door, but the moment Jeongguk recognizes him and tackles him in a huge bear hug, he knows everything will be okay. As soon as Jeongguk lets go, he embraces Jimin and their little girl without explanation. Namjoon can see it on his face—the joy in knowing that someone you care about is happy and healthy.

The two families form an instant bond. Seokjin and Jimin turn out to be a chaotic pair—troublemakers that bring out the best in everyone around them. Jeongguk adores Jimin’s playful, affectionate nature, how he dotes on them all like he’s known them all for decades.

Needless to say, Nabi and their daughter become thick as thieves, and the two families become virtually inseparable.

Together, Jimin and Namjoon fall in love with the village, and with who they are when they’re there. Connected to the earth, connected to each other.

So eventually, after several visits and lots of late night, heart-to-heart talks, Namjoon and his family move to the village for good. He ultimately takes a job as “village security” (but he hopes once the media frenzy dies down, he can help more with the actual farming.) Namjoon’s heart is full. All those years ago, his soul told him the village was home. He just needed an unlikely path to get there.

As for Jeongguk—in a way, he feels as if he’s come full circle. With Namjoon, Jeongguk first learned to feel the warmth of love—to risk putting his heart close to the fire. And with Seokjin, he let the flames consume him.

Part III: What happened to Seokjin's letters?

Jeongguk knows he was never far from Seokjin’s mind during their time apart, but he doesn’t realize how painfully Seokjin pined for him until long after their reunion.

Seokjin admits to him that he did, in fact, write to Jeongguk as he promised. Jeongguk figures it’s a few letters. Maybe a dozen. He is not prepared for the giant crate of letters Seokjin hands him the day he finally moves in.

“This heavy thing…” Seokjin says as he hefts the large box into Jeongguk’s hands, “belongs to you, bun.”

“For me?”

“I wrote you every day, just like I promised.”

Jeongguk looks into the box, filled with stacks and stacks of envelopes.

He bursts into tears.

It’s a lot of letters, and Jeongguk soon finds that it can be emotionally heavy to read them, so he takes his time.

Maybe one per week.

Seokjin can always tell whenever Jeongguk has read another one, because he’ll come down the stairs in the morning and notice a new, miniature painting on the wall.

You see, Seokjin often described his memories in his letters, or things he encountered that Jeongguk or Nabi would’ve enjoyed.

So now, Jeongguk takes some of the things mentioned in the letters (like parks, or flowers, or animals Seokjin describes; or memories from their time together), and turns them into small paintings. He hangs them in the hallway, forming a timeline along the wall. So in some small way, the moments they were apart become tethered again. The story and the illustrator.

Seokjin’s favorite among them is a painting of the two of them, watching the fireflies.

Part IV: Nabi's Father

Jeongguk didn’t know much about Nabi’s father. No one did for that matter, not even Mrs. Ahn. The woman only knew that her daughter, Eunji, had a brief affair with a visitor.

Eunji assured her that it wasn’t anything serious. They were just friends.

So it’s a surprise, a year after the spell breaks, when Mrs. Ahn opens the door to her cottage to find a dashing young man, holding flowers nervously in his hand.

Mrs. Ahn’s eyes widen at what she sees.

His high cheekbones. His dimples. His heart-shaped smile. The elegant curve of his nose.

It’s Nabi. He looks like Nabi.

“I’m so sorry, I just, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Hoseok…I saw the news and I—I just wanted to see if it was real. It was real…wasn’t it?”

The hours and days that follow are an avalanche of highs and lows. Hobi learns of Eunji’s fate. He meets her daughter, Nabi, and nearly crumbles at the way his heart swells.

He knows. They all do.

What follows are many tender conversations between Hoseok and the family. They learn more about each other. Hoseok is a dancer that spends his time traveling the world with his partner (also a dancer.) He never planned on or suspected he’d had a child.

Though they all agree on a paternity test, Hoseok makes it clear that he has no intention of taking Nabi from her home—from her family. “But I’d like to be part of it, if you all will accept me?” Hoseok asks tearfully.

Mrs. Ahn crosses the room and kisses his head. “My dear boy, you were part of this family before you even asked.”

The tests confirm their suspicions, so they set out to find a way to explain this to Nabi in a way she can understand.

An idea hits Seokjin late one night as he’s snuggled in bed. He untangles himself from Jeongguk’s arms and sits up to turn on the nightlight. He grabs a notebook from his bedside table.

Jeongguk groans at the loss of his favorite pillow. “Hyungphh…what’re you doin’, come back.”

“I gotta jot down an idea, Jeongguk-ah. ‘Gonna go sit at the desk. Go back to sleep, baby.”

“Noooooo,” Jeongguk whines as he holds Seokjin closer. “You’re so warm.”

Seokjin chuckles and pushes at him. “Okay then—roll over,”

“Huh?”

“Put that hard body to work, baby. You’re gonna be my desk,” Seokjin says as he gives Jeongguk’s thigh a few smacks.

“M’kay, hyung—” Jeongguk sleepily rolls over completely, laying on his stomach so Seokjin can rest the notebook on his back. Seokjin smiles as he feels his warmth radiate through the paper, pages rising and falling to the rhythm of the younger man’s gentle snoring.

The next morning, Seokjin shares his idea with Jeongguk, and the younger man’s face grows soft as he wraps his arms around Seokjin.

“Hyung, your mind is the prettiest place. This is perfect.”

A few days later, they’re sitting around the fireplace after dinner, and Hoseok is teaching Nabi a special “flower dance” where he lifts her into the air so her ‘petals can reach the sunshine’.

Nabi giggles as Hoseok lowers her to the ground and she eventually plops, exhausted, into Seokjin’s lap. She leans over and whispers to Jeongguk, sitting beside them, “Oppa, I like him very much.”

Jeongguk sees his chance.

“Stay right here, peanut,” he says as he exits the room and comes back with a large notepad in hand.

Jeongguk sits on the floor beside Nabi and leans into her side. “Nabi-yah…what if I told you that Hoseok is family too?”

Her eyes light up. “He is?”

Hoseok smiles and nods from the other side of the room, trying to give the two their space.

“He’s a special kind of family. Let me show you.”

He flips to a clean page on the pad and leans forward to draw. “You were a gift to us, weren’t you, Nabi-yah…”

“Yep!” she chirps.

“Okay, a gift from where?”

“From the stars!” she recalls from a tale Mrs. Ahn told her a long time ago.

“That’s right, smart girl!” Jeongguk says as he draws two tiny stars on the page.

“You see, a long time ago, Hoseok and your eomma each took a piece of their stars, and put them together to make a new star! That’s you, Nabi-yah. A little piece of Hoseok’s star is in you!” he smiles as he tickles her with the end of his pencil.

Nabi giggles and rubs her tummy, as if she can feel the star inside her.

Jeongguk continues drawing, “And the universe thought you were so beautiful, and so bright, that it sent even more stars to protect you. Your very own constellation.”

He draws three more dots on the paper. “This star is Halmeoni, this one is me, and this star is Seokjin-oppa.” Jeongguk then connects all the dots on the page, forming the shape of a heart.

Nabi lets out a delighted gasp and reaches out, placing her small hand inside the heart.

“So you see, these stars will always be your family—will always be there to love you, our most precious star-baby,” he ruffles her hair. “Do you understand?”

She looks at Hoseok and crinkles her nose as she smiles. Hoseok’s smile mirrors her own, and Jeongguk’s heart melts.

“It’s okay if you want to take some time to think about it, peanut—”

“It’s wrong…” she interrupts, matter-of-factly.

“It’s…wrong?” Jeongguk says, pulse racing.

“Where is Yoongi-oppa? Where is Tae-oppa?”

The room fills with silent joy and relief. “Nabi-yah, you’re right!”

Jeongguk says as he adds two more stars to the page.

“And what about Namjoon-oppa and Jimin-oppa and— ?”

“Okay! Okay! Two more stars, coming up!” Jeongguk giggles and lifts the pad up. “See peanut? Look at all these stars! Whenever you look at the night sky, I want you to see them and remember all the little lights sent to love you, okay, baby?”

Jeongguk can’t help but tear up as he says it. Nabi can’t help but notice.

“Okay, oppa,” she whispers and bonks her head against his. “Are you sad?”

“No, peanut,” he says as he pulls her onto his lap.

“Then why do you have tears?” she says as he looks up at him.

“They’re not tears, peanut,” Seokjin says as he leans into Jeongguk’s side. “Just a little stardust.”

Part V: What kind of parents are Jinkook?

i’m obsessed with the idea of Jeongguk being the “super responsible” parent, and Seokjin the CEO of spoiling Nabi rotten.

For example:

Seokjin takes the family out for a fun day at the park. Nabi tugs on his sleeve and asks for a treat, but Jeongguk is like “Okay, Peanut—but only something small, we don’t wanna spoil dinner.”

Six minutes later, Seokjin comes back with this:

Jeongguk protests but Seokjin comes prepared with his Premium Pout and Jeongguk is fucking weak.

So Jeongguk sighs and looks down to Nabi, whose eyes are suddenly full of stars, softly blinking as she pouts her bottom lip like a little jelly bean.

Jeongguk scoffs and turns to Seokjin.

“WHO taught her that—did you teach her that?!”

Seokjin just grins and hands each of them a fork.

They eat it all, of course.

—————

Come holler at me on twitter.

[mrqsmagicbooth]

With Mr. Q’s Candy Cart, you can add amazing to any party. Our candy cart goes well with an anniversary, birthday parties, children parties, Christening, Corporate Event, Festival, Hen Party, Halloween, Stag Party, Wedding event, or any other unspecified event.

[waveypedia]

The Real Deal

Ao3

Lena comes to the Nine-Tailed Diner just often enough for the waiters to know her face, but not often enough for them to know her name. She prefers it that way. The anonymity is comforting, but she knows in her gut it’s just an illusion when the waiters give her familiar smiles as she slides into her usual spot in the corner.

There was a time, before she met Webby, when Lena would scowl and duck her head away from the waiters’ friendly greetings. Where the mere notion of being noticed would make her gut churn and blood boil.

Not anymore.

Lena taps her carefully manicured nails against the smooth table as she waits, watching the cozily bustling diner. She’s not usually one for nail polish, but Dewey was just so excited when he saw the color that perfectly matched her magic, and despite her snarky exterior she couldn’t say no to Dewey’s infectious excitement when he bounced up to her with the bottles of nail polish. She smiles at the memory.

If Lena from a year and a half ago could see her now, she’d be unrecognizable. That’s not such a bad thing, Lena muses.

She pulls out her phone and quickly scrolls through social media, smiling when a picture of Webby pops up on her feed. Webby doesn’t post much, but when she does, just seeing her face never fails to make Lena smile.

The noise of the city and the harbor outside eventually fades into a calming white noise in the back of Lena’s mind. She’s used to the city. It was her home for fifteen years. But the sound of a particular car pulling up to the curb jerks Lena out of her thoughts, and she presses her face to the window, filled with an almost childlike glee.

A familiar car, light green and blocky and just as eccentric as its owner, putters at the curb. Lena can only see into the drivers’ side, but she snorts as she spots a familiar stupid-looking hat and chuckles to herself. Soon enough, a familiar face pops out from the other side of the car, looks to the corner window expectantly, and waves enthusiastically. Lena grins and waves back.

The bell on the diner door jingles, right on schedule, and Lena’s friend nearly sprints over to her booth.

“Hi, Lena!” Boyd chirps, and Lena grins.

“Hi,” she responds, significantly less energetic but with the same sentiment behind it.

Every month, Lena and Boyd meet at the Nine-Tailed Diner, just the two of them. It started one day when it was supposed to be all of the kids, but the McDuck kiddos were called away on an adventure, Violet had a school project, and Gosalyn was busy in St. Canard. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize how similar Lena and Boyd’s unique situations and backstories are.

Lena didn’t realize how lonely she was until she had someone who shared her experiences.

Boyd rubs at his elbow. It’s a nervous stim, and Lena’s attention is piqued. If Gyro said something insensitive to him again, well, he may be tall, but he’s a skinny twink, I can take him—

“Lena?”

Lena bites back a swell of nervousness and feigns casualness. “Hm?”

“How… do you feel about Webby?”

Lena blinks. “Well, I like her. You know that, dummy.”

“Yeah, but… how does that feel? You know… liking someone?” Boyd won’t meet her eyes.

Lena frowns. “What do you mean? Doesn’t everyone feel that way?”

Boyd stares at the table, lip trembling, and Lena ponders.

She doesn’t entirely know how to describe how she feels about Webby. Before Webby, it was just her and Aunt Magica. The two of us against the world, Lena always told herself, but it was always the world against Aunt Magica, with Lena sandwiched in the middle. And then she grew to hate Magica as well, like she always should have. For so long, Lena only knew hatred and apathy, whoever it may be directed to.

And then she met Webby.

And then she met Webby, and everything changed.

Webby was—is—a literal ray of sunshine. When Webby’s smiling face pops up in Lena’s view, when her bubbling laugh or high voice makes Lena’s heart sing. It’s stereotypical and cliché beyond belief, much to Lena’s chagrin, but that’s how she feels . If Huey offered her a thesaurus he must have stored in his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook somewhere (that thing has everything — it’s kind of ridiculous, honestly) she wouldn’t change it. There’s no other way to describe it.

“I… don’t know,” Lena hums. “Just… whenever I see her, I instantly feel better. It’s free serotonin, y’know?”

Boyd hums in acknowledgement, and after a moment of semi-awkward silence Lena continues.

She’s never been all that good about putting her feelings into words. She’s not particularly wordy like Huey, and she doesn’t have Violet’s extensive vocabulary (although she’s picked up quite a few words and phrases from the Sabrewing family). Not that she cares about it. It makes these kind of conversations difficult, though. But for Boyd, she will try.

“She was the first person to ever care about me,” Lena muses, fidgeting with the hem of her oversized sweater under the table. She’s had it forever. It feels like home, in the same way Webby does. “She has a special place in my heart. She was my first friend, but it’s different than my relationship with the boys, or Vi, or you.”

Boyd nods and avoids her gaze. He’s unhappy with that conclusion, although Lena can’t fathom why.

“So… by that logic,” Boyd begins, “I should be in love with Huey, right?”

Lena shrugs. It is true that Huey directly parallels Webby in their respective situations. “However you want to define it, dude.”

Boyd flexes his fingers. He’s still unhappy.

“Look, I’m not gonna judge you,” Lena says, snorting slightly and raising her hands placatingly in front of her. “I know homophobia is A Thing, but I literally just talked extensively about how I’m head over heels for another girl, so…”

“Homophobia is terrible,” Boyd responds finally. “I genuinely do not understand how people could think such a thing! How does one act so cruelly to another just because of something so trivial as sexual orientation?”

Lena presses her lips together. “Beats me, dude.”

After a moment, she adds, “So what’s your problem, then?”

Boyd’s head jerks up. “Huh?”

“You’re clearly disappointed about something ,” Lena says, gesturing with her arms and raising her eyebrows. “I know you well enough, ‘cause of these dumb meetings. I’m just gonna point out they were your idea.”

Boyd smirks, ever so slightly. “You love them, though.”

Lena looks away and crosses her arms pointedly, but allows the smallest of smiles to slip through her mask. Boyd cackles at that.

“But seriously. What’s botherin’ you?”

“By all accounts… I should feel that way about Huey. I don’t care about genders, and I feel differently about him than I feel about you and the other kids. But saying I love him, it just doesn’t feel right.” Boyd rubs at his arm.

“Hey, that’s fine!” Lena replies. “That’s kinda how I feel about labels, y’know? Webby likes ‘em, but I don’t.” She narrows her eyes and leans forward with her elbows on the table. “Is Huey pressuring you? ‘Cause if he is I’ll—”

“No! Nononono, Lena, it’s fine,” Boyd chuckles nervously, raising his hands placatingly in front of him. “If anything, I guess I’m pressuring myself. Logically, based on all accounts I have consulted, I should be in love. But…”

Lena gives an exaggeratedly frustrated sigh, making Boyd chuckle despite himself.

“Look, Pink tells me aaaaalll the time that my magic isn’t logical. Especially friendship magic. It follows its own rules, and it’s about looove and the power of friendship or whatever. So cheesy. But I guess your love might be the same thing.”

Lena takes a deep breath and leans back in the diner booth. “Stop pushing your feelings into dumb little boxes they don’t belong in. They won’t fit.”

Boyd smiles at her, small but not muted. “Thanks, Lena.”

Lena glances away, staring pointedly out the window. “Whatever. Don’t expect it to happen again.”

Boyd just giggles at that. His laughter is frustratingly infectious, and after a moment Lena finds herself chuckling alongside him.

The rest of the afternoon flits by, and for the life of her Lena cannot recall what they talked about. But their first topic of conversation, and Boyd’s worry, sits heavy on her mind for a while to come.

--

When Doctor (unofficially, shh, if the news got out that he had never finished his doctorate because of those ridiculous geese Gyro would be ruined ) Gyro Gearloose secured a job with McDuck Industries, he did not expect his precious lab would be run afoot by small children. Not even by Fenton, who acts more like a small child than some of these literal small children sometimes.

It’s almost closing time, but that has never mattered to McDuck Industries’ research branch. Even if Fenton and Manny go home eventually, Gyro has spent weeks on end in the lab. He will outlast them all.

Well, he used to. Before his team and his boss dragged him out to see the sunlight. And before Boyd.

For the record, Gyro did not forget about closing time. Not this time. He was working with that infernal little rodent, who, along with the blue nephew, had somehow wormed Mr. McDuck into allowing her to take some freelance work in the research department. Gyro’s department.

...He did have to admit that Gadget Hackwrench was frustratingly proficient at mechanics and machinery. Especially since she was so small. She was a great help to Gyro’s newest project, which required a lot of rough mechanical know-how.

Gadget, unlike the rest of them, was not incredibly self-sacrificial and actually liked clocking out when she was supposed to. She had to go home to her Rescue Avengers, or whatever they were called. Gyro couldn’t wrap his head around her way of thinking.

So they were tinkering away at the panel of the machine when Gadget glanced at the clock and reminded him of her obligations. She was packing up when Boyd came in.

“Dr. Gearloose!” Boyd, chipper as ever, entered the lab and bounced up to Gyro’s workstation. He was a bundle of energy, reminiscent of the blue and pink children. His hands darted around him like a hummingbird, never quite staying in one place long enough for Gyro’s tired brain to process. After a minute of unconsciously trying to watch and comprehend it, Gyro glanced away and rubbed at his forehead under his glasses while Boyd greeted Gadget with the same enthusiasm.

Wait. Was it really enthusiasm?

Pushing his glasses up his nose, Gyro watched carefully as Boyd flitted around Gadget, mentally comparing his movements and stims with what he knew of happy Boyd. And yes. It was off.

Gadget packed up, and Gyro slowly but carefully placed his wrench down and turned to face Boyd, leaning against his desk in a facade of casualness.

“So.”

“Can you fix me?”

Gyro pinches the bridge of his nose. “What did you do?”

Boyd clasps his hands nervously in front of him. “No. No. Nothing! I just… I know how I’m supposed to feel, but I don’t feel like that! So I must be broken!”

Gyro stares at Boyd like he’s grown a second head —- which, with Gyro’s robotics, is actually plausible. “Pft, you’re not broken. You think you could be broken?! I made you, kid. I fixed you up after Akita tampered with you. The great Gyro Gearloose does not make mistakes.”

Manny taps something unsupportive, and Fenton and Gadget both —- purposefully badly —- hide their laughter. Gyro screeches something incomprehensible at them. It doesn’t matter what he says; the point gets across.

Boyd is still staring up at Gyro, with that hero-worship puppy-dog look in his eyes that he wears so well, and he looks so scared that Gyro’s heart twists. His body sags, and he sighs and rolls his eyes and gestures for Boyd to follow. He perks up, and is immediately at Gyro’s heels with a characteristic grin, but his hands are trembling. Did he teach himself to do that?

Gyro kneels in front of Boyd, behind his desk, and stares into his eyes. Not in a symbolic way —- if he focuses just right, he can see the circuitry in his head.

Gyro purses his lips. “Everything looks fine. I told you I don’t make mistakes.”

“But—- But Lena’s in love with Webby and Dewey’s had three crushes in the past month and I don’t feel anything like that, ever! Lena says it’s fine but she’s had one girlfriend and that worked out for her perfectly and I’m happy for her and Webby, I really am, but I don’t know how to make it work for me and it must be some sort of error in the programming and I—-I just want to be a real boy!”

“Whoa, whoa!” Gyro shoves his hands in front of him reflexively. He pulls them back, out of Boyd’s face, when he processes and realizes how overwhelming that gesture could be. Boyd buries his face in his hands. “You are a real boy.”

Boyd gives him a tiny nod and doesn’t respond. Gyro’s throat feels tight and constricting, bile building up inside. He wants to say something and break the tension and silence, but he doesn’t know what or how.

“Love isn’t everything,” he says lamely after a minute. “I didn’t fall in love until Fenton, honestly. Not for real. Della said something about ‘demiromanticism,’ whatever the hell that is, and she says Mr. McDuck is the same way, but honestly I don’t really care. I don’t need to compartmentalize and hyper-analyze every aspect of myself that way. But if you want to, you could talk to her. Or the red nephew. He’d know.”

It’s weird, being this open and honest about his thoughts and feelings that aren’t inventions and blueprints. A part of Gyro is screaming at himself to close, shutter the windows and pull the walls back up and raise the prickly spikes to defend against anyone who dares get close. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t know why he’s doing this, really.

Strike that. He knows why. It’s Boyd . He’ll do anything to bring that kid’s sunny disposition back. And he knows why he’ll do that, too.

“Demiromanticism?” Boyd places a finger on his chin and tilts his head ever so carefully to the side, testing out the feel of the word. “What’s that?”

Gyro shrugs lazily. “I dunno. Some fancy way of saying I only want a relationship with people who get close to me. Which is a very exclusive circle.”

Boyd pauses. Blinks. Gyro can nearly see the wheels turning in his head. “If there’s a term for that, do you think… there’s a term for going all the way? A term for never wanting a relationship?”

Gyro raises his eyebrows. “Probably.” He reaches for his phone. Boyd could search for it in his internal search engine (proudly programmed by Gyro two months ago, since search engines didn’t exist twenty years ago, but for the record if he had thought of it Akita hadn’t had him on such a tight schedule he could have done it. For the record.)

“Aromanticism,” Gyro muses, reading out loud. “The lack of romantic attraction. Does that sound about right?”

“Hmm,” Boyd puts his finger to his chin again. “It fits! I like it!”

Gyro smiles, that soft and gentle smile reserved exclusively for Boyd (and Fenton, sometimes). “Perfect. Now get out of my lab. It’s past closing time.”

Boyd sticks out his tongue, playful. “Like you care. Don’t stay up too late!”

Gyro just smiles in response and resolves himself to not make any promises he won’t keep.

Boyd gives him a quick, tight hug goodbye. He always gives hugs, to say hello and goodbye and everything inbetween, and Gyro is never quite prepared for them, although he certainly doesn’t mind them. Gyro isn’t very comfortable with touch or affection in general when it doesn’t come from a select few people, but he never protests. Boyd is one of those “select few people”.

If today’s hug is a bit tighter and longer than usual (but still brief, since Boyd knows well how Gyro clams up with physical affection, even if it’s from him, and he respects that), neither Boyd nor Gyro say a word.

Boyd says his goodbyes to the rest of Team Science (Gadget is long gone by now) and skips out of the room. “I can’t wait to tell Huey about this! He probably knows all about aromanticism! It’s probably in his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook!”

Gyro leans against his desk, the cuffs of his shirt catching on the corners. “You do that, kid.”

“And Lena! She’ll be happy to know I figured it out, even if she won’t say so!” Boyd chirps. “Thanks, Dr. Gearloose!”

Gyro’s wry smile turns into something monumentally more sincere and real. “No problem, kid.”

The elevator dings and Boyd is gone. Gyro used to revel in the lab’s silence, but even with the background noise of Fenton, Manny, and Lil’ Bulb tinkering away at their respective projects (and decidedly not saying anything), it feels uncomfortably quiet without Boyd’s incessant chatter.

He hums softly to himself and picks up his phone to call Della before she hears about this from Huey and berates him for not telling her right away. He puts on a new pot of coffee for when he comes back, and lets Fenton know he’s going on his break.

“You know the workday technically ended half an hour ago, right? You don’t need me to clock you out,” Fenton replies, grinning. He can read Gyro like a book.

Gyro rolls his eyes and grumbles under his breath, but waves his former intern off.

As he walks out, he pictures Boyd. He would be sitting in the limo, brimming with excitement, tapping his fingers eagerly on his legs with barely contained enthusiasm. Launchpad picked him up for a sleepover at Mr. McDuck’s, so by this point he should be almost home. He’ll burst into the mansion and spill his discovery to Huey before he catches his breath, and he, Huey, Webby, and Violet will make a board and a list of thoughts and information on aromanticism while Dewey tries to catch popcorn in his mouth and Lena and Louie add snarky comments. They’ll all chime in with their own experiences and eat lots of sugary snacks until they eventually fall asleep in a pile of pillows and blankets and each other on the living room couch. Boyd will come into the lab on Monday and tell him all about it, and maybe Huey will as well.

Gyro smiles fondly to himself as he steps into the hallway outside of the lab and leans against the wall, pulling up Della’s contact on his phone. The tab on aromanticism is still open on his phone, and he scrolls through it idly, taking note of all the information and how it could relate to Boyd.

He’s not fit for this role in Boyd’s life. But he loves Boyd, so he’ll do his best. And Dr. Gyro Gearloose’s best is a feat they tell tales of.

Across town, in the mansion, sitting on her sleeping bag in her pajamas and sneaking handfuls of gummy bears behind Violet’s watchful eye, Lena shares a similar sentiment. Boyd explains what he’s learned, bursting with excited energy in the form of overenthusiastic gestures, and Lena wonders why this little, enthusiastic kid decided to choose her as a sister figure.

But she’s not complaining.

Lena sneaks another handful of gummies and wraps her arm around Webby, who makes a bright, contented sound and snuggles into her side. No, she’s definitely not complaining.

~

i wrote this almost a year ago actually, for the Because We're Family LGBTQuaranzine! (@ducktaleslgbtquaranzine) This is a nonprofit pay-what-you-want zine, with all of the money going to DirectRelief, a charity dedicated to Covid relief in countries that have been hit hard by it. I had a lot of fun working on this zine and this particular piece, and I worked with a lot of great people. The zine is chock-full of amazing pieces and really talented, skilled people, and all the proceeds go to a reputable cause. I cannot recommend it enough!

this piece is pretty close to my heart because it encompasses a lot of my favorite things - weblena, lena & boyd friendship (they have SO many parallels i think they would get along so well!), and gyro being a father to boyd! in all honesty, this was my very first zine and i was really nervous, but i had so much fun writing this and i'm grateful it was such a good experience!

a lot of boyd's confusion about aromanticism is taken straight from my self-realization process. that's some good ole projection, baybee! i didn't have anyone like huey, but it's certainly difficult to figure out what romantic love really is and how that affects you and your relationships. it's like a puzzle. it's not explicitly mentioned in the fic, but i'm autistic, and boyd is pretty heavily autistic-coded (and god i could go on for hours about that, and i have before, but i'll spare you all the tangent, although i'll happily talk about it if you want me to), which adds this whole other obstacle when figuring out aromanticism, because we struggle with social relationships and fitting them in boxes. sometimes labels feel really comforting and satisfactory, but sometimes it's a real puzzle to fit into these boxes that weren't always made for us. sometimes they fit, and sometimes they don't. it was pretty fun exploring that from a slightly different perspective, as well as putting some of my own thoughts and experiences into words.

if you ever wanna talk ducktales, writing, these amazing characters, or really anything hmu here or on my twitter! thank you for reading, and please leave a like/reblog/comment (i read tags) if you enjoyed it!

[sweetsmellosuccess]

The Best Films of 2020

The 15 Best Films of 2020

Normally, when I assess a full year of cinematic offerings, I consider both sides of that coin  —  the outstanding entities, and the least successful —  but the year of our lord two thousand and twenty provided more than enough misery for all of us, I do believe. Ergo, in my own small way to bring better vibes into the universe, for this year’s round-up, I’m staying solely on the positive tip, highlighting those films whose unfortunate release date during the Year of the Hex shouldn’t preclude them for being fully appreciated. Let’s take a year off from negativity and schadenfreude, shall we, and just stroll amongst the poppies and bright sunshine of some of the best releases of the year.  

15. The Invisible Man

“Leigh Whannell’s film is thoroughly modern in approach and sophistication, but the film it most reminded me of was made back in 1944. George Cukor’s Gaslight starred Charles Boyer as a loathsome husband who attempts to convince his already anxious wife (Ingrid Bergman) that she’s going insane by secretly rearranging things in their house and taking things from her so she thinks she’s always misplacing them. He preys on her emotional vulnerability in order to mask his own pathology and emotional detachment. The effect is absolutely enraging: Onscreen, he’s one of the more hateful villains ever committed to celluloid.”

Full Review

14. The Killing of Two Lovers

“From the opening sequence, with a distraught, estranged husband standing over the bed of his wife and her new boyfriend with malice in his heart, and a gun in hand, the film spirals out into incredibly well structured compositions, taking us inside and outside of David’s recurring psychosis, utilizing a bevy of techniques: The framing shrinks down around him, the sound gets muffled, as if underwater, save for the incredibly unnerving metallic sound of cables being stretched taut, and the sickening kathunk of a heavy car door slamming shut.”

Capsule Review

13. Another Round

“Typically, Vinterberg avoids simple conclusions  —  and God help us all if this film gets picked up by a U.S. studio and remade with, say, Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, and Chris Rock  —  providing more or less equal examples of the delirious fun drinking with your friends can be (the film opens with a group of high schoolers gleefully doing “lake races” whereby teams compete to drink a case of beer while running around the nearby body of water; and closes with the same teen crew, and some of their teachers, whooping it up in celebrating their graduation); and the horrorshow it can become (one teacher ends up peeing the bed, and on his wife in the process, another wakes up bloodied and out of it in front of his neighbor’s house), leading to very real and horrible consequences.”

Capsule Review

12. Soul

“Co-director Pete Docter is the creative force behind many of Pixar's best titles, having a hand in the Toy Story franchise, WALL-E, Up, and also directing Inside Out, a brilliantly moving treatise on the subject of emotional upheaval. This film, which he co-wrote and made along with fellow co-director Kemp Powers, is his first film back at the helm since that high-water mark, and he has again dug into the fertile earth of our mortality and come back with a particularly vibrant crop.”

Full Review

11. The Burnt Orange Heresy

“Based on the novel by Charles Willeford, the film briskly moves through its paces, clouding the waters with the schemes of duplicitous men, who have sold out any love of art for their greater obsession of cash and prestige. A literary thriller in the vein of The Talented Mr. Ripley, it’s become a genre all too rare in the era of blockbuster bravado. This film will remind you what a mistake that is.”

Full Review

10. Lovers Rock

“In the course of the party, the fuses blow while the house DJ is spinning Janet Kay's "Silly Games," a fan favorite at the time. Undaunted, the guests continue dancing away, singing the lyrics a capella in delirious unison, as McQueen's camera swirls around the living room as if nothing happened. Such a heartfelt moment of unbridled togetherness, putting into distinct bas relief the sense of community we've been denied as a species in 2020, feels like a benediction, an epitaph for the year, and a salve for what we've all been so desperately missing.”

Capsule Review

9. Time

“Ostensibly, it’s about the strain of incarceration on even the most grounded of families (an experience naturally disproportionate for POCs); but, on a deeper level, it’s also about the manner of our use of the limited number of revolutions we get to enjoy situated on this earth. It is a profound knock-out.”

Full Review

8. New Order

“Meet the new boss, only in Michel Franco’s damning portrait of a society locked forever in cycles of oppression, revolution, and new oppression, it makes no difference who you are, what your belief system is, or whether or not you subscribe to a moral set of ethics.”

Capsule Review

7. Dick Johnson is Dead

“Utilizing stunt people and special effects, Johnson kills her father off a number of different gruesome ways, as a means of softening the blow of actually losing him as his mind slowly slips away. This eventually culminates in a final gambit, both acutely painful and deeply moving, in which our sense of things gets seriously upended. As Johnson put it during the post-screening Q&A, the film serves as a “doomed experiment trying to keep my father alive forever.” This film won’t make him immortal, alas, but it does make him indelible.”

Capsule Review

6. Martin Eden

“Marcello packs the film with offbeat bits and pieces of other films, including strips of what appear to be vintage home movies, sometimes in juxtaposition to what Martin is feeling  —  a group of kids swinging wildly from the bar of a fence, to a full galley ship taking in water and suddenly sinking like an iron ingot – which adds a more winsome, timeless element to the narrative. It’s clearly set in the past, but avoids being too dependent on that particular sense of place and time. Martin is a young man, at first, just coming into himself, and the actions he takes, what he goes through, the film seems to suggest, would be similar in any age.”

Full Review

5. Minari

“The film is certainly charming, but that’s not to diminish its straightforward approach to its characters’ plight. It doesn’t shy away from their difficulties, and as a result, it doesn’t cheat towards smarmy emotional closure.”

Capsule Review

4. Collective

“The breath of hope in the film, when the inept Minister of Health resigns, leading to the placing of a new, emboldened director who works quickly to clean the quagmire left by his predecessors, is just as quickly expelled after the next round of elections, in which the Social Democrat party  —  the very ones in charge of this catastrophe in the first place  —  gets re-elected with an even greater majority than what they had before. A perfect reflection of what happens when a government is allowed to exist without any meaningful oversight, other than from a bedraggled press and a disenchanted electorate.”

Full Review

3. First Cow

“Reichardt, a naturalist at heart, is not known much as a humorist, but there is a lightness to her screenplay -- co-written by Jonathan Raymond, her frequent collaborator, who wrote the original novel upon which its based -- that keeps it as sweetly airy as one of Cookie's fried confections. The two friends are so out of step with their surroundings -- the party of men Cookie initially travels with are little more than brutish thugs, and the fort upon which they end up is no better -- they almost had to find each other. They are reunited in the local bar of the fort only because literally every other patron runs out to egg on a brawl between two loutish combatants.”

Full Review

2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

“Hittman’s eye for detail and emotional complexity  —  her characters can rarely articulate anything they’re experiencing  —  is incredibly acute, and she pulls tremendously understated performances out of her two leads.”

Capsule Review

1. Nomadland

“Perhaps no American director since Terrance Malick has made more of the collapsing light of dusk and twilight than Chloe Zhao. Much of her new film, which stars Frances McDormand as a transigent woman (“not homeless, houseless”), who traverses back and forth across the west in her beat up live-in van, doing seasonal work, takes place in that particular kind of vibrant half-darkness that shrouds the desert and its mountains with a magic kind of mystery.”

Capsule Review

Other Worthy Mentions: 7500; Assassins; Bacurau; Beanpole; Beginning; Black Bear; Bloody Nose Empty Pockets; Boys State; Come Play; Emma; Gunda; His House; Horse Girl; I Am Greta; Jacinta; La Llorona; Let Him Go; Limbo; Mangrove; Mayor; MLK/FBI; One Night in Miami…; Palm Springs; Possessor Uncut; Red, White & Blue; Relic; She Dies Tomorrow; Shirley; Shithouse; Shiva Baby; Some Kind of Heaven; Spring Blossom; Swallow; Tenet; The Dissident; The Invisible Man; The Nest; Sound of Metal; The Vast of Night; The Viewing Booth; The Way I See It; Vitalina Varella; Welcome to Chechnya

Inexplicably Underrated: 7500; Shithouse

Biggest Welcome Surprise(s): The Vast of Night; His House; She Dies Tomorrow

The Best Two Films I Saw This Year, Period: Satantango (1994); Harlan County, USA (1976)

[heaven-delight]

[INTERVIEW] TRANS : [VIBE SPECIAL] Red Velvet Comeback Special VIBE Exclusive Interview

Just about when I was about to faint because of the daily record high heat, I felt a bit cool after hearing about Red Velvet’s comeback. You can’t talk about summer without Red Velvet!!! Out of curiosity about what kind of refreshing song Red Velvet would cool us with after ‘Red Flavor,’ VIBE rushed to meet them.

Q. Please explain a little about <Summer Magic>, please.

Irene: Since it’s a summer mini album, we filled it up with bright and upbeat songs. There are seven tracks in the album, including the title song, ‘Power Up.’ We put the English version of ‘Bad Boy’ㅡwhich was released last Januaryㅡas a special track.

Q. Each song’s charming points according to Red Velvet themselves.

01 Power Up Wendy: A song that goes along perfectly with this stifling heat! A song that ‘powers you up!!’ Joy: It’s an energetic and cute summer song that makes you groove along to the beat automatically.

02 With You Yeri: Please listen closely to the lyrics because they’re charming! Irene: Like the Christmas1 in the title, it’s a sweet and cool summer carol song!! 

03 Mr. E Seulgi: It’s a fun song that reminds you of cute jungle animals! Joy: The intro is unforgettable, and it’s full of mysterious vibes!

04 Mosquito Yeri: This song will remind you of the mosquitoes who pop out every summer hehehe Joy: We’ve never tried this genre before. It’s an interesting song that has a funny concept from the start!

05 Hit that Drum Irene: It’s a good song to blast your stress away! It’s an upbeat song that makes you dance. Oh yeah~~~!!! Wendy: I want to say this is a song that blasts you away. It’s a happy song where the fun drum sounds feel like they’re hitting on your chest! 

06 Blue Lemonade Seulgi: It’s a refreshing and cool song that pops like a cool soft drink! Yeri: Its sweet and fluttering feeling is so awesome! You’ll get what I’m saying once you take a listen to it~

07 (Special Track) Bad Boy (English Ver.) Wendy: It has a different feeling compared to the original song. It’s filled with softer and groovier vibes! Seulgi: You’ll be able to feel a different kind of bad girl through this song!

Q. Do you have any memorable moments?

Joy, Wendy: While recording ‘Power Up,’ we all went into the recording booth, and had fun screaming our lungs out when recording the high notes. It was fun, but also hard, but while recording as a team, I think I subtly realized the importance of teamwork. The excitement we felt after listening to that part was....!!! I think our voices mixed with each other well and made the song even more upbeat, so I feel good whenever I listen to it.

Seulgi: This is from when we recorded ‘Blue Lemonade.’ When we were monitoring what we recorded, everybody was so surprised at how cute the vocals of the chorus was, so we all asked who did this. We found out it was Wendy who did it, the first member who recorded! I think this episode is memorable to me because Wendy’s part was so cute that even the members couldn’t recognize it. (Laughs)

Q. When to listen to each song, according to Red Velvet!

Irene: When you want to just hit the road! When you’re on a road trip, or you need a pick-me-up song! I recommend listening to ‘Hit That Drum~’

Joy: A song that’s good to listen to on a hot summer night! When you need a rush of endorphins, you’ll feel better when you listen to ‘With You~’

Wendy: When you want to go on a picnic or want to feel summer to its fullest at the cool beach, ‘Blue Lemonade’ will give you sparkling refreshment~

Seulgi: When you need some fun in your boring day! When the mosquito in your room is bothering you! ‘Mosquito!’

Yeri: When you want to feel free, and when you want to go to the zoo! ‘Mr.E.’

1 The Korean title of With You is ‘한 여름의 크리스마스,’ which translates to ‘Christmas in Summer’ in Korean

[mrqsmagicbooth1]

When it comes to parties and events of all kinds, Mr. Q's Magic Booth is a must-have addition. Professionals polish the dance floors before every event so that they sparkle the whole night long. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) provide for illumination of the space, which lends an air of mystery. The dance floors come in several sizes, so you can find one that works with the space you have and gives everyone enough room to get down and move. If you require an LED dance floor in Glasgow, our company can help you. Lighted LED dance floors are a great way to keep the party going strong and get everyone on their feet.

[memphisbarbecue]

A GHOST AND CHRISTMASES PAST

   The Jan. 11 edition of The Commercial Appeal carried the obituary of Daniel J. Rokitka, 89. He was a World War II veteran, and an electrician by trade. What he was best known for and proudest of was his role as the Wells Station Santa Claus, which he filled for 37 years. The event provided indelible holiday memories for scores of Memphis children and their parents and one of this city’s best human-interest stories.    It was a clever setup, as outlined in The CA in December 2010 by reporter Richard Morgan. (I suggested to The CA that it should rerun the story on its website, to no avail. I was also hoping The CA would run a photo that I could snag.)

   “Any kid on Santa Claus' nice list knows that even the smallest envelope to the North Pole is heavy for an elf; it's best to see Santa in person.         “For 37 years, children in Memphis have lined up outside of the Electric Wiring Service Co. on Wells Station Road in Berclair to do just that.         “Every year since 1973, the operation has been run by Dan Rokitka, 82, whose office displays a sign that reads "Grandpas Are The Next Best Thing to Santa Claus" (Rokitka is a great-grandfather) and a community service award from Wells Station Elementary.         “The walls are also plastered with Polaroids of kids and parents visiting Santa, from so long ago that the kids are wearing teal-and-fuchsia mini-Cosby sweaters, the moms have perms and Laura Ashley dresses, and the dads look like roadies for Van Halen.         "It's not Christmas until we do this," said Bob Hess, Rokitka's assistant.         “Hess' assistance is the key to the magic of the experience. He hides in a booth with a one-way mirror, armed with a portable phone. Parents or other loved ones sneak into the booth, too, and feed personal details to Hess, who relays it to Santa's earpiece.  “It's how Santa knows all the kids' names without them having to tell him. And knows their pets' names, dolls' names, ages, grades in school and if they've been talking back to their parents.”

   I’ve seen pictures of Mr. Rokitka at work, and if memory serves the Santa visits occurred in the structure at the right in the picture (circa 2014) at the top.of the post. I became aware of Mr. Rokitka because his business, Electric Wiring Service, operated out of the first location of the old Lois Pit Bar-B-Q on Wells Station.

 I posted a brief history/timeline of Lois Pit Bar-B-Q a few years back, one of my favorite stories. I was able to photograph the old pit before it was torn down. Mr. Rokitka said Code Enforcement had been pressing him for years to get rid of it.

THROWBACK THURSDAY (EARLY EDITION)     I get an email when birch from memphis updates his flickr account with another batch of old Memphis photos and other historical items. The latest included this 1940s menu from the old Pig ‘N Whistle on Union.

[tokupedia]

Japan World Heroes: Closing Day Part 1:  The Panels

Made it in time for the Kaiju Kingdom panel to end. (LA timezones still mess with my biological clock). I witnessed a trailer for an indie documentary on tokusatsu kaiju filmmaking coming in 2018.

After some browsing and a little money left, a trio of cheap Legend Rider Astroswitches became mine for only $10 and a pair of art prints were bought to cheer up an artist who was having a rough weekend because of the toy vendors  overshadowing his stand. (For those curious, I got Stronger, 1, and 2)

The Viewing Room’s selection was decent, Kamen Rider Heisei Generations, the Gokaiger and Zyuohger 2,000th Super Sentai Episode special, the latest episode of Kyuranger and.... *ugh* Kamen Rider Taisen.

I then witnessed the first episode of Mystic Cosmic Patrol at its panel, surprisingly hosted by Internet personality Andre the Black Nerd as well as the crew and cast of the production. They were there to promote it and answer questions. I asked if the staff were going to take a potshot at Masked Rider in the parody and they said yes. 

Upon seeing the episode, it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, as some of its cruder humor was not my thing. But I remain optimistic and want to support this independent group’s project.

Next up was Mr. Kaneko’s Panel. He spoke of his time on Gaoranger, including a funny story about shooting an episode with a dog in the middle of winter. He delivered a shock to Rider fans as he revealed he almost became Kamen Riders Kuuga, Agito or G3 but failed to pass the final rounds of audition. We all participated in a group Gaoranger transformation pose after Mr. Kaneko did a demonstration. He thanked US fans for supporting Super Sentai and loved his time in the US as it is opposite to conventions in Japan. In Japan, it is just a cheap mandatory gig and the events just drain him, but being in a new location and seeing so many fans giving him so much love supercharged his energy so much that the excitement of meeting them all kept him up at night.

At Mr. Fukuzawa’s Panel, he discussed his time as the legendary monster Gamera in Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris.

He and his buddy Michi Yamato talked about the business of being a suit actor. I asked during the Q&A what the most uncomfortable role as a Red Ranger was for him (His favorite of course was Shinken Red due to his samurai sword action training being put to good use). He answered that he disliked playing Go-On Red as Sosuke’s hyperactive personality was difficult for a more reserved person like him to emulate. Even if the director said he got it right, Hirofumi would always feel he didn’t put enough energy into the role or did it properly as he and Yasuhisa Furuhara had differing personalities and to him, it showed on camera.  

He also discussed Power Rangers with Michi and then Hirofumi did several poses at the request of fans such as Gosei Blue, Shinken Red, Gokai Red, and AbaRed and thanked everyone for their support before leaving.

The panels ran a bit off so some were compressed or moved so time became more rushed. The cosplay workshop 101 panel was dropped and the next guest was Dore Kraus from Ultraman Towards the Future, who not only gave insight into the difficult conditions of the troubled show but some good life and acting advice to the younger generations. Great guy, he had a booth for autographs and displayed not-for-sale merchandise from his show. His time there was brief as he had to head back home as his entry into JWH was last minute.

Fujiyama Ichiban I skipped mostly due to the fact my legs were falling asleep from sitting too long.

After stirring up some circulation and interacting with a cute 6 mo. old St. Bernard puppy, I noticed a lot of parents who were attending a Lego Convention upstairs. Most of them were weirded out at the acts unfolding below as they escorted their children to restrooms and decided to politely encourage their kids to stay away from the vendor toys.  *sigh* Some of the Normals are not yet ready for us...

At the final Panel, the scene was winding down as the cosplayers had all gone home and the vendors were ready to pack it in. The TokuNet Crew discussed the heroes outside of Toei’s Super Hero Time and Tsuburaya’s Ultraman. Garo came up and the group was obviously drained from a long weekend of doing panels. When the mention of Garo’s US release came up I reminded them that the home video discs for Season 1 would be complete around the holidays, which people who had never heard of the series showed interest in.

Before I packed it in and prepared for a freebie day of fun tomorrow, I summoned my courage and shut off my social anxiety for about 5 minutes to thank Marzgurl and by proxy the TokuNet team for coming to support the event and introduced myself as an admin for RangerWiki. She thanked everyone who participates on there for their efforts to keep RangerWiki as a credible source and then I said farewell to her and a silent one to the dying magic of the Con.

I know not when this event will rise again, or even if this was just a fluke and will never come to pass for another time. But for one magical weekend, my brothers and sisters of fandom heeded the call and assembled in a little city outside of LA to celebrate what they love. And to all who made it possible, I thank each and every one of you.

[sethhtks952-blog]

6 Online Communities About naughty girl website You Should Join

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[nightmareonfilmstreet]

Chicago-Based CINEPOCALYPSE Announces Full Line-up!

New Post has been published on https://nofspodcast.com/chicago-based-cinepocalypse-announces-full-line/

Chicago-Based CINEPOCALYPSE Announces Full Line-up!

The Music Box Theatre has just announced their full wave of programming and guests for the debut year of CINEPOCALYPSE, which will take place November 2 – 9 at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre. The Midwest’s largest gathering of genre films and fans! The festival’s organizers are proud to announce dozens of new features, shorts, and premieres, alongside their juries, repertory, and secret screenings.

Of the over 60 films selected, highlights include the World Premiere of PRIMAL RAGE; North American Premieres of RENDEL, SNOWFLAKE, and THE TERROR OF HALLOW’S EVE; and U.S. Premieres of BEYOND SKYLINE, LOWLIFE, DOWNRANGE, and MOTORRAD! Among the guests at this year’s festival are writer/director Larry Cohen, filmmaker/guest curator Joe Carnahan, actor Antonio Fargas, actor Eric Roberts, screenwriter/guest host Simon Barrett, actress Barbara Crampton, and Suspiria star Jessica Harper – with many more to be announced!

Says Cinepocalypse founder Josh Goldbloom,

This lineup represents the most twisted, hilarious, intelligent, horrifying, and no holds barred badass cinema on this planet. It’s a pummeling collection of international genre films from the world’s most creative and audacious artists. It was a pleasure for us to curate and discover these films and we’re thrilled to unleash it all in a fury of festivities unlike Chicago has ever seen!

Check out the full line-up, below!

A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR DIRECTOR LARRY COHEN

Larry Cohen is the sort of filmmaker who creates movie geeks. Upon discovering discover Black Caesar, It’s Alive, Q: The Winged Serpent, or The Stuff, you’re immediately tempted to see all of the director’s other movies. Between his directorial work and his (non-stop) screenplays, it’s safe to say you’ve seen and loved a few Larry Cohen movies without even knowing it. And this year, he’s here to hang out with the audience at Cinepocalypse and watch some movies!

THE AMBULANCE with writer/director Larry Cohen and star Eric Roberts in attendance!

USA, 1990

Dir. Larry Cohen

Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones, and Janine Turner star in this typically colorful high concept thriller (with humor) from Larry Cohen, one of the most reliably entertaining indie filmmakers over the past 40 years. While not be as well-known as Cohen’s more regularly-screened classics, this smoothly entertaining flick about a mysterious ambulance that keeps snatching up all the women in Roberts’ life has to be seen to be believed.

KING COHEN: THE WILD WORLD OF FILMMAKER LARRY COHEN – Midwest Premiere with subject Larry Cohen in attendance! USA, 2017 Dir: Steve Mitchell Indie film legend Larry Cohen has directed cult classics like Black Caesar, It’s Alive, Q the Winged Serpent, and The Stuff. Hollywood screenwriter Larry Cohen delivered enjoyable high concept matinees like Best Seller, Phone Booth, and Cellular – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fans and newcomers alike will savor every minute of this exhaustive documentary, covering virtually every piece of Mr. Cohen’s wildly impressive career.

A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR ANTONIO FARGAS

Shaft. Across 110th Street. Cleopatra Jones. Foxy Brown. Starsky and Hutch. I’m Gonna Git You Sucka. These are just a few of the exploitation classics that have been enlivened by the presence of character actor extraordinaire Antonio Fargas, whose body of work stretches from the late 1960s to our closing night film, Beyond Skyline. Join us in celebrating this beloved veteran performer, as we highlight his eclectic and extensive body of work.

FOXY BROWN with co-star Antonio Fargas in attendance! USA, 1974 Dir: Jack Hill Cult legend, blaxploitation goddess, and overall badass Pam Grier stars as a young woman out for revenge after her boyfriend is murdered by a cabal of drug-dealing, sex-trafficking scumbags. It gets gruesome and unpleasant on occasion, but Ms. Grier always brings steely class to even the campiest of moments. Cinepocalypse honoree Antonio Fargas does some fine work as our anti-heroine’s conflicted – and untrustworthy – brother.

I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA with co-star Antonio Fargas in attendance! USA, 1988 Dir: Keenan Ivory Wayans Fans of Shaft, Black Caesar, SuperFly, and Cleopatra Jones, have likely grown up with this Airplane!-style parody, but even newbies to the wonderful world of blaxploitation cinema will find much to love in Keenan Ivory Wayans’ affectionate, on-point lampoon of ‘70s street crime cinema.

THE A.V. CLUB PRESENTS: BEYOND THE ROOM – GET EVEN

Tommy Wiseau and The Room have given audiences countless hours of joy over the years, but for the inaugural Cinepocalypse, The A.V. Club is opening the door and taking you “Beyond The Room” with a special presentation of Get Even. By day, John De Hart is a trial lawyer in Los Angeles. By night, he’s the writer, director, producer, composer, and star of this DIY action-romance opus.

Shot mostly in 1993 and completed in 2007, Get Even features Satanic cults, corrupt cops, hot tubs, Shakespearean monologues, Wings Hauser laying down his personal philosophy while standing fully clothed in a swimming pool, and the life-changing magic of the “Shimmy Slide,” as performed by De Hart himself. Get Even has never received mainstream distribution and is only available from the director himself, so don’t miss your chance to see this cult-classic-in-the-making that will have you asking, “Who’s Hamlet? Who gives a shit?”

THE SECRET SCREENING!

It’s top secret, so there’s nothing we can say other than: trust us, be here, or you’ll sincerely regret it!

And don’t believe any of the rumors; this one is staying completely under wraps until the title pops up on the screen!

40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF SUSPIRIA WITH STAR JESSICA HARPER IN ATTENDANCE!

Experience the ultimate in horror with the uncut, 98-minute version on a newly-discovered, Italian-dubbed 35mm print! Dario Argento’s classic tale of murder and paranoia inside a creepy dance academy is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and oldschool Eurohorror fans will not want to miss this special screening. Special thanks to The Chicago Cinema Society for use of their print.

BLOOD. GUTS. BULLETS. OCTANE. – Presented by Joe Carnahan

Cinepocalypse is proud to partner with Joe Carnahan to present a special screening of the legendary writer/director’s 1997 debut, accompanied by a fearsome foursome of classic cinematic thrills, all carefully curated and lovingly hosted by the man himself!

BLOOD, GUTS, BULLETS & OCTANE – Extremely rare 35mm Screening with writer/director Joe Carnahan in attendance! USA, 1997 Dir: Joe Carnahan Inspired by the independent bravery of El Mariachi, (the directorial debut of Robert Rodriguez shot for only $7000), Carnahan paved his way as Hollywood’s most badass action filmmaker with this stunning first offering, also shot for an unbelievable seven grand! Following the screening, join writer/director Joe Carnahan as he discusses the trials and tribulations of low-budget filmmaking.

NEAR DARK – 30th Anniversary 35mm Screening Curated and Introduced by Filmmaker Joe Carnahan! USA, 1987 Dir: Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Bigelow’s masterful vampire ensemble may have not made much noise upon its theatrical release in 1987 but has gone up to become a true-blue genre classic in recent years. Aliens co-stars Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, and the late, great Bill Paxton star as a vampire clan who have their undead hearts set on terrorizing a small Texas town. [BLOOD]

HARD TIMES – Brand New 4K Restoration Premiere Curated and introduced by Filmmaker Joe Carnahan! USA, 1975 Dir: Walter Hill Walter Hill director Charles Bronson and James Coburn, who gamble, booze, and box their way through New Orleans during the Great Depression. Recently restored to pristine 4K status, we guarantee you’ve never seen this one on the big screen! [GUTS] 

BULLET IN THE HEAD – Rare 35mm Screening Curated and Introduced by Filmmaker Joe Carnahan! Hong Kong, 1990 Dir: John Woo John Woo’s epic tale of three troubled friends who rise up from minor street toughs to fugitives and smugglers before being thrown into the Vietnam War is easily one of the most kinetic and exciting wartime action flicks ever put to film. Actual heart, humanity, and character elevate this action-packed bullet-fest far above all others of its ilk. [BULLETS]

MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE – Rare 35mm Screening Curated and Introduced by Filmmaker Joe Carnahan! USA, 1986 Dir: Stephen Fucking King Buffeted by a phenomenal soundtrack by AC/DC, Stephen King’s first – and last – directorial effort is a goofy, grungy, gory tale of homicidal machines, ill-fated humans, and the greasy truck stop diner where vehicular homicide is the special of the day. [OCTANE]

CINEPOCALYPSE 2017 OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHT FILMS

SWEET VIRGINIA – Opening Night Film Midwest Premiere USA, 2017 Director: Jamie M. Dagg Talent in attendance! A former rodeo champ with a dark past unknowingly starts a rapport with a young man who has a propensity for disturbing sociopathic violence that has suddenly gripped a small town. Jon Bernthal (Netflix’s The Punisher), Christopher Abbott (It Comes at Night), Rosemarie DeWitt (Mad Men), and Imogen Poots (Green Room) star in this twisted, moody, modern day neo-noir masterpiece.

BEYOND SKYLINE – Closing Night Film U.S. Premiere USA, 2017 Dir: Liam O’Donnell Talent in attendance! The stars of The Purge: Anarchy (Frank Grillo) and The Raid: Redemption (Iko Uwais) team up to battle the alien apocalypse in this pulpy, colorful, and wildly over-the-top action/sci-fi/horror mash-up that has to be seen to be believed. The sequel to 2010’s Skyline, this mind-bending lunacy somehow manages to be even more insane (like, way more insane) than its infamous predecessor!

ADDITIONAL SECOND WAVE FEATURES INCLUDE:

PRIMAL RAGE (World Premiere) USA, 2017 Dir: Patrick Magee Talent in attendance! You may have seen a few Bigfoot-related horror films over the years, but it’s safe to say you’ve never seen a Sasquatch rampage like this. Primal Rage is a tale of a young couple, a bunch of hunters, a witch, and some Native American cops who butt heads with a wildly violent forest monster, causing all Hell to break loose! From practical special effects guru Patrick Magee (Spider-Man, Jurassic Park III), this may be the goriest film you’ll see all year!

SNOWFLAKE (North American Premiere) Germany, 2017 Dirs: Adolfo Kolmerer and William James Talent in attendance! Take a dash of Tarantino, a splash of Coen brothers, a metric ton of meta-textual self-awareness, and a fast-paced series of humorously violent misadventures, and you’re halfway to grasping the magnificent madness of this bizarre German import. A gang of lowlife characters all want revenge on the others, but along the way they must contend with assassins, madmen, a blood-covered angel, and an electricity-powered superhero.

THE TERROR OF HALLOW’S EVE (North American Premiere) USA, 2017 Dir: Todd Tucker Talent in attendance! Timmy Stevens is socially awkward kid, obsessed with horror movies and frequently bullied. But Timmy’s about to get his revenge in full-bore fashion when he unwittingly unleashes an evil creature known as The Trickster on Halloween Night. Genre veteran Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) provides an amazing creature performance, but the real stars here are the wide array of surprisingly effective creature FX and affection for old-school ‘80s mayhem.

DOWNRANGE (U.S. Premiere) USA, 2017 Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura Talent in attendance! A merciless sniper takes aim at a car full of college kids, disabling their vehicle on a lonely country road and methodically picking them off, one by one. This latest, nail-biting offering from genre veteran Ryuhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train, Versus) contains the filmmaker’s trademark creeping tension, sudden violence, and extreme nihilism. In other words, things get pretty dark.

MOTORRAD (U.S. Premiere) Brazil, 2017 Dir: Vicente Amorim Talent in attendance! A slasher by way of George Miller’s MAD MAX meets Wes Craven’s THE HILLS HAVE EYES, this violence-fueled adrenaline ride will leave you absolutely breathless. In this visually stunning Brazilian import, a gang of dirt-bikers on a ride across an isolated region, find themselves being hunted by a machete-wielding band of motorcyclists intent on killing them all. Based on characters created by Marvel comic book author Danilo Beyruth, this atmospheric and suspenseful genre film also functions as an allegory to our battles within. It’s as smart as it is downright frightening, and we’re damn excited to unleash this beast into the U.S. for the very first time!

APPLECART – All-New Cut (Midwest Premiere) USA, 2017 Dir: Brad Baruh Talent in attendance! A gaggle of powerhouse horror veterans – including Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), Brea Grant (Beyond the Gates), AJ Bowen (The Signal), Daniel Roebuck (At the Devil’s Door), and Chase Williamson (John Dies at the End) get together for what seems like a fairly standard “cabin in the woods” tale and then it gets weird… and weirder… and super gory. Let’s just leave it at that.

CHARISMATA (Midwest Premiere) UK, 2017 Dir: Tor Mian and Andy Collier Talent in attendance! A rookie female detective, struggling to find acceptance in a police department defined by a culture of bullying and intolerance, watches as things go from bad to worse as her chief suspect in a series of brutal ritualistic murders takes a personal interest in her. A game of cat and mouse degrades the detective’s grasp on reality and, as she spirals out of control, this young woman must suddenly fight for her sanity, life… and maybe even her soul.

THE CRESCENT (Midwest Premiere) Canada, 2017 Dir: Seth A. Smith A young widow and her two-year-old son take shelter in a massive, creepy seaside house after the sudden death of her husband. But rather than follow the tropes of standard jump-scare storytelling, The Crescent places a unique focus its child star, some truly impressive visual touches, and a consistently ominous sound design. This creepy Canadian import, which premiered in TIFF’s Midnight Madness program, is guaranteed to get under your skin.

GET MY GUN (Midwest Premiere) USA, 2017 Director: Brian Darwas Talent in attendance! This wonderfully executed homage to beloved and controversial exploitation classics of the past (namely Abel Ferrera’s Ms. 45 and Meir Zarchi’s I Spit on Your Grave) proves itself to not just as an imitator, but in a league of its own. After a horrible attack leaves Amanda pregnant and out of a job, she finds herself on the verge of motherhood and the target of a psychotic stalker who will stop at nothing to get her hands on the unborn child.

THE LODGERS (Midwest Premiere) Ireland, 2017 Dir: Brian O’Malley There’s been a great flood of Irish horror films over the past several years, and their latest offering is just another example of how to combine classy scares and intermittent nastiness into one good thriller. Director Brian O’Malley (Let Us Prey) brings us the tale of two young twins in the 1920s, the strange rules that govern their existence, and what happens when a handsome newcomer threatens to upset their order of things.

PSYCHOPATHS (Midwest Premiere) USA, 2017 Dir: Mickey Keating Prolific indie genre machine Mickey Keating (Pod, Darling, Carnage Park) returns with a tale of psychos run amok… Yes, multiple disparate psychos. The execution of an infamous serial killer somehow inspires a half-dozen maniacs to lose their collective minds and commit all sorts of nasty acts, but this is not your standard body count movie. Loaded with odd digressions, fractured narratives, and some enjoyably abstract weirdness, this is may be Keating’s strangest, creepiest movie yet.

SEQUENCE BREAK (Midwest Premiere) USA, 2017 Dir: Graham Skipper To call this freaky dark romance a love letter to David Cronenberg’s classic Videodrome would be an understatement, but at least writer/director Graham Skipper has awfully good taste in influences. Sequence Break is a story of a lonely guy, a sweet girl, a deserted arcade, and a video game with insidiously biological tendencies – all of which become intertwined in a perverse, melancholic string of events that will leave all of them forever changed.

Previously Announced Cinepocalypse 2017 Features include:

RENDEL (North American Premiere) Finland, 2017 Director: Jesse Haaja Finland’s first superhero film, Rendel is dystopian action/fantasy unlike anything ever witnessed Stateside. When a massive criminal organization takes over his town, a masked vigilante strikes back through a series of brutal attacks that leave blood spilled and cash ablaze. A dark adventure that harkens to the finest in 80s era comics, Rendel is the anti-Marvel crusader: an all-too-human superhero from the streets, driven solely by rage and revenge!

ATTACK OF THE ADULT BABIES (North American Premiere) UK, 2017 Director: Dominic Brunt High-powered middle-aged men intend to refuel the world’s economy by very sinister, sick and monstrous means. * $1.00 of each ticket sale will be donated to the ACLU to assist in continuing their support of defending us from further adult baby attacks.

LOWLIFE (U.S. Premiere) USA, 2017 Director: Ryan Prows The sordid lives of an addict, ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong.

POOR AGNES (U.S. Premiere) Canada, 2017 Director: Navin Ramaswaran A female serial killer and her next victim form an unexpected relationship.

ANIMALS (TIERE) (Midwest Premiere) Germany, 2017 Director: Greg Zglinski A vehicle collision with a sheep on a country road initiates a whole series of weird an unsettling experiences for a couple in this darkly comical Lynchian nightmare.

BEFORE WE VANISH (Midwest Premiere) Japan, 2017 Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Three aliens travel to Earth in preparation for a mass invasion, taking possession of human bodies.

DEAD SHACK (Midwest Premiere) Canada, 2017 Director: Peter Ricq While staying at a run down cabin in the woods, three children must save their parents from the neighbor who intends to feed them to her un-dead family.

HAGAZUSSA – A HEATHEN’S CURSE (Midwest Premiere) Germany, 2017 Director: Lukas Feigelfeld Set in the Austrian Alps during the middle ages, this morbid and visually stunning tale deals with the fine line between ancient beliefs in magic and delusional psychosis.

HOUSEWIFE (Midwest Premiere) Turkey, 2017 Director: Can Evrenol On a snowy eve a young girl’s sister and father are killed by her mother. 20 years later and slowly losing her grip on reality, she runs into a celebrity psychic who claims he is destined to help her. And then things get ultra weird. From the director of Baskin.

JAILBREAK (Midwest Premiere) Cambodia, 2017 Director: Jimmy Henderson An entire prison riots and they all get their ass-kicked by a special task force sent in to protect a key witness.

MOHAWK (Midwest Premiere) USA, 2017 Director: Ted Geoghegan Late in the war of 1812, a young Mohawk woman and her two lovers battle a squad of American soldiers hell-bent on revenge. From the director of We Are Still Here.

TRENCH 11 (Midwest Premiere) Canada, 2017 Director: Leo Scherman In the final days of WWI a shell-shocked soldier must lead a mission deep beneath the trenches to stop a German plot that could turn the tide of the war. But what lies beneath is way more dark & sinister than they ever could have imagined.

VERONICA (Midwest Premiere) Spain, 2017 Director: Paco Plaza After making a Ouija with friends, a teenager is besieged by dangerous supernatural presences that threaten to harm her whole family. From the director of the REC franchise.

TRAGEDY GIRLS (Illinois Premiere) USA, 2017 Director: Tyler MacIntyre This twist on the slasher genre follows two death-obsessed teenage girls who use their online show about real-life tragedies to send their small mid-western town into a frenzy and cement their legacy as modern horror legends.

CINEPOCALYPSE 2017 JURY MEMBERS

Cinepocalypse 2017’s Feature Film Jury is comprised of actress/producer Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond, We Are Still Here), critic and Chicago Film Critics Festival producer Erik Childress, and critic/author Mark Millar (Pirouette/Jungle Book).

The festival’s Short Film Jury is made up of writer/director Gary Sherman (Raw Meat, Dead & Buried), Lisa Holmes (Director of Sales, Home Entertainment at Music Box Films and Doppelganger Releasing), and actor/producer/editor Shane Simmons.

SHORTS FILMS – LADIES FIRST!

Once Cinepocalypse whittled down its hundreds of short film submissions into a small pile of favorites, the realization was made that a startling amount of them were directed by women. So why not, the programmers decided, showcase all of ‘em in one wildly eclectic block?! These shorts cover a wide array of subjects, from small-town psychos to otherworldly mysteries, and all sorts of insanity in between. Cinepocalypse is donating 50% of all proceeds from this screening to The Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

These year’s short films include:

Beautiful Injuries Dir: Judith Beauvallet

Blood Shed Dir: James Moran

Brown Wreck-Loose Dir: Tristian Montgomery

Broadside Dir: Laura Nitz

Buzzcut Dir: Jon Rhoads

The Dollmaker Dir: Al Lougher

Don’t Ever Change Dir: Don Swaynos

Feeding Time Dir: Matt Mercer

Flow Dir: Shelagh Rowan-Legg

For a Good Time Call Dir: Izzy Lee

Imbroglio Dir: Christopher Zatta

Incendo Dir: Slater Dixon

Latch Dir: Justin Harding

Over Easy Dir: Laura Nitz

Pendulum Dir: Lauren Cooney

Remote Viewing Dir: Robert Puccinelli

Third Wheel Dir: Danny DelPurgatori

Roohangiz Dir: Elmira Bagherzadah

Sleazy Pete Dir: Frank Appache

We Summed a Demon Dir: Chris McInroy

What Metal Girls Are Into Dir: Laurel Vail

Your Date Is Here Dir: Todd Spence

Cinepocalypse runs from November 2nd to November 9th. More schedule, details, and passes, head to the festival’s website.

[agirlandherhund]

Being a MSTie: On Both Sides of the Screen

Hey!  My name is Rebecca Hanson.  I’ve been a MSTie for over half of my life. And for the past year I’ve been a writer, Gypsy and Synthia on Season 11 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Return.  I bet you’d like to know how this all happened.  I am more than happy to tell you all about it.  Now that I can!

One Saturday in November 2013, Joel Hodgson (creator + original host of MST3K), Trace Beaulieu (Dr. Clayton Forrester + Crow T. Robot) and Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank) came to Chicago to speak at the Museum of Broadcast Communications because it was the 25th Anniversary of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  My friend Kevin had posted on Facebook that he was bummed to be out of town for this grand event but if any of his friends could go that would make him feel better about it.  Thankfully, I was in town that weekend and so was my husband, Tim, and our two friends, Ross and Nikki.  The four of us met up at the MBC happy to be out of the cold, grey autumnal rain.  We found pretty decent seats.  I could not see the panel that well but once Joel started speaking, I was instantly calmed yet exhilarated and magically transported back to my college days where we spend certain weekends we didn’t have shows (I was a theatre/speech major so a decent amount of my college weekends were spent rehearsing and performing) at various peoples’ houses or dorm rooms watching as many episodes as my friend Jason’s dad could fit onto a VHS tape.  These were the days before streaming or even DVD’s for that matter.  Jason’s dad would record episodes of MST3K from Comedy Central and the (then) Sci-Fi channel for us to devour in our small, cloistered college town in northwestern Iowa.  The Mondays after our MST3K Marathon Watching weekends, my stomach would hurt from all of the gut-busting giggles we let out while watching these hapless fools with their robots make miserable movies magical with their humor.  It was an incredibly bonding time with this group of friends and it also made me realize, hey - these guys aren’t too far from me - I mean, I only grew up Iowa, a few hours south of The Cities and these guys were making comedy (and a whole universe, really) that looked deceptively simple that I could not get enough of.  I was inspired by it all.  

And that Saturday in November 2013 (many years after college), to be in Chicago, with my friends and husband - each of us had moved to Chicago at different times for the sole purpose of learning all forms of improv and sketch comedy to become performers and each one of us was (and still is/are) - was an extra special experience to share.  

After these fine gents were done speaking, they opened it up for a Q & A.  There was a little voice who waited patiently as other grown-ups asked their questions, when it was finally this little voice’s turn, he asked Trace, “How old is Crow?” 

And Trace said, “Well - how old are you?” 

“EIGHT!” the little voice proudly shared.

“Well, that’s how old Crow is, too.”

Cue the tears streaming down all of our faces as the discussion wrapped and a bunch of us bee-lined it to merch.  My husband and I bought a DVD set then, along with our friends Ross and Nikki, headed to the line where everyone was waiting to get things signed by ‘Joel Robinson and the Mads’.  As Ross, Tim, Nikki and I were waiting, we were scheming.  Ross was part of the Mainstage cast at Second City and Tim had understudied that show the night before. Nikki, Tim, Ross and I all performed with Second City in various capacities so we knew we could all do the improvised set that happens after the second show on Saturday nights.  We were wondering if Joel, Trace or Frank would care to join us on stage?  The thing is, we are all pretty mild-mannered, if not down-right shy at times.  But since I was not part of that particular cast that evening, I decided that I would be the one to ask them once we got up to the table… 

But as we approached the table, Joel exclaimed to Trace and Frank, “Hey! These are the Second City Guys!” And Ross, Tim, Nikki and I lost our minds! Unbeknownst to anyone, Joel had been to the Mainstage show the night before and immediately recognized Ross and Tim (they’re both very strikingly tall, handsome and funny dudes).  We all exchanged pleasantries and had our postcards signed and took pictures with them. 

I told Trace how much he (and the whole MST3K gang) influenced and shaped our comedic voices and God Bless that sweet Trace Beaulieu, he said, “You already had it in you.” 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We asked them if they would be interested or available to come play the set that at Second City that night.  Their travel schedules did not allow it.  But Joel said he would be interested in getting dinner with us if we could.  Of course, all of our little comedy-nerd hearts burst at this invite.  Joel, Ross and Tim connected on Twitter (I was not on Twitter at that point) so we could arrange a time and place.  Luckily, Joel was cool with eating on the earlier side since so many of us had shows that night.  And more luckily (?) he was cool with us inviting the casts of the Mainstage and etc to join us. 

We met and dined at Adobo Grill (the Mexican restaurant that would nearly two years later, burn to the ground and take a good chunk of Second City with it) at a sensible hour.  I sat right next to Joel Hodgson, my long-time comedy hero and we chatted it up about Minnesota, Valleyfair! Amusement Park and all things Midwestern.  As our food was being served to us, Joel said in his thick Midwestern Mom voice, “Should we saaay graaaaace?” 

I said, “Oh, for nice, we should, ya.”

All of us were in awe to dine upon fine Mexican cuisine with the guy who created the show so many of us memorized and loved for so many years.  It was very cool.  I did ask Mr. Hodgson if he would mind getting a picture with just Tim and myself.  He very kindly obliged.

Oh, it was such a nice supper!  Oh, we were so happy!  Uff da, it was so nice! THE END. 

OR WAS IT???

A few weeks later, Joel direct messaged Tim on Twitter to wish us both a Merry Christmas.  

JOEL WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO WISH US A MERRY FREAKING CHRISTMAS - WE LOST OUR MINDS!!!!

In July of 2014, I came home from Second City and Tim was playing a video game.  He had a smirk on his face.  Tim told me that Joel Hodgson just messaged him, wondering if he could get my phone number… 

I looked my dear husband in the eye and said, “Do. Not. Mess. With. Me.” for I thought he was playing some sort of stupid joke on me.  Which is really not his style at all but — why would Joel remember me and want my info, not Tim’s? He had given Tim his phone number so… I called him.

I called Joel Hodgson’s cellular telephone device with my own cellular telephone device.  I wasn’t shaking at all.  I wasn’t at all nervous.  I wasn’t at all —- mentally barfing with excitement…. 

Joel wondered if I was able or interested in helping him on the final day of Wizard World in Rosemont, IL, that next month (August).  Would I be willing to hang out with him all day, at his booth, and help him talk to all of his adoring fans and learn some lingo and just hang out? 

With him?

With Joel Hodgson?

Me?

“Daaaaahhhhhhhhhh, yeah, Joel, noooo problem!” I says to him. 

So, a few nights before I was to hang out with him at Wizard World, he and his friend, Julie (who was helping him the first few days), Tim and I met up for dinner to chat more and she would give me more of the low down on what I needed to do that Sunday at the convention.  So - yeah, Tim and I were gonna have dinner (again!) with Joel!  How cool are we?

I will tell you something I have learned about Joel through the years: if there is some sort of deviled egg option on a menu - he will order it.  And enjoy it. 

Another fun dinner in the books with Joel, I got my info, we all headed our separate ways and that Sunday arrived and I drove out of the city to Rosemont to attend my very first comic book convention (or as most of you say Con) as Joel Hodgson’s Helper. 

It was pretty amazing - all of the costumes, all of the various celebrities, we had (of course) all-access to where ‘the stars’ eat and that was a trip, just seeing all of these people going through a buffet line like they were regular people but only regular people go through buffet lines NOT COMIC AND TV STARS!?!?! THEY ARE JUST LIKE US, I TELL YOU!!! 

After we ate - okay - I barely ate because I was too nervous but I was thankful for fizzy brown caffeine so I slammed that down - Joel and I were lead by security to this little ‘room’ made of pipe and drape so various people could get their picture taken with Joel by a photographer with a proper camera.  I shared some of my spearmint Altoids with Joel (I am good at making sure people have fresh breath) and checked that his hair was in place (he had been wearing a hat earlier) for all of the pictures with his adoring fans. After that photo session, we were lead by security again to Joel’s booth, where he unpacked Tom Servo from the suitcase he was carrying (he didn’t even let me hold the suitcase, even though I was there to assist him. Ah, Joel!) and it is here I started tearing up a bit because I had never been so close to Tom Servo (well, at least at that point in my life) before.  Joel stopped and said, “Rebecca - you know this is not The Original Tom Servo or anything.” 

I told Joel, “Just let me have this moment, okay?  Then I’ll be cool.” 

He chuckled and put Tom on the table, along with various Joel Robinson headshots and, I think, a poster that Steve Vance had made, too.  Then we spent a few hours with lovely MSTies coming to meet Joel, get things signed and I took pictures with their phones of them and Joel.  We did this for awhile, then he was going to speak in another room.  As we walked from one section of the convention center to the other, I had mentioned how much I enjoyed the article about MST3K in ‘WIRED’ magazine earlier that year.   “Oh… you read that?” he asked in his droll Joel voice.  

“Uh, yeah, Joel Hodgson.  I did.” I admitted.  I also flat out said, “If you’re in something, I am going to read about you.” 

For the next hour or so, Joel spoke in this huge room.  There were a ton of questions asked by various MSTies, as it was part Q&A.  I took a few pictures of him speaking because I figured he would want some and probably didn’t think of doing that.  He delighted and charmed the whole room and made all of us laugh a lot… 

but as charming and informative as he was, we still did not get the answer we were all secretly hoping for: That Somehow MST3K Would Return.  I honestly do not remember if anyone out-right asked but, come on, how many years (decades) had we all been wishing and hoping that it would happen?!? 

After the Q&A, Joel and I returned to his booth.  He smiled more and signed more and then it was the end of the day.  I asked him if I could possibly get a picture with him and Tom?  He wondered who would take it for us.  I said I would. Welcome to Selfies, Joel.

We loaded up the booth and he wanted to pay me - which, BELIEVE ME hanging out with him all day was payment enough, I refused, but then he insisted and then he really wanted to do the bit where he literally payed me under the table - so yes, he gave me cash under the table and told me not to blow it all on drugs.  (I only blew half of it on drugs!) 

**** KIDDING!!! I AM TOO SCARED TO DO DRUGS!!! FOR REAL!!!****

but as we were leaving the convention center and I will never forget this, he said how he was hoping to some day get MST3K back but who knew if all the sea of legal stuff could even be crossed at that point?  But he said, “If I were ever to get it going again, do you think you and Tim would want to write on it?” 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“DAMNIT, JOEL, YOU’RE MAKING ME CRY AGAIN!  ON AN ESCALATOR!!!” I couldn’t even be cool about or not emote.  I kind of got it together enough to say, “Yes.  Please.  That would be the highest honor Tim or I could ever imagine.  Yes.” 

Then we made sure his taxi was cool with getting him from his hotel to O’Hare and I got into my Subaru and caught my breath a bit. I thought about texting Tim this crazy thing Joel had said to me but could not put it in writing.  I almost thought that would hex it.  And, I honestly thought that Joel was just being nice to me by saying that because I had helped him out all day. But as soon as I got home, I spewed out to Tim: “JoelHodgsonsaidtomyfaceifMST3KevergetsbackontheairwouldyouandIwanttowriteonit?!?”

Tim was also as dumbfounded as me.  I said, “I told him thank you and I kinda started crying on the damn escalator and I said it would be our honor.  But, I think he was just being nice to me because I helped him today so let us never think of this again.  Just know he said it.  Then we have to forget it.” 

Cuz - that’s the kinda thing ya just forget about, right? 

April 2015 comes along.  Joel was coming to Chicago again to promote ‘Other Space” on Yahoo! Screen.  He asked if Tim and I would want to get together for dinner again?  This time, he really wanted Chicago style pizza.  “Is it lame, Rebecca, to want to have Chicago style pizza in Chicago?  Am I just a lame tourist by wanting that?” he asked me over the phone.  

“Not at all, Joel.  Do you mind if we have some friends (more of your adoring fans) join us?” I asked.  He was cool with it.  He met up with us.  We devoured some Chicago style pizza with our friends, Kevin and Carisa. It was about a week after my birthday.  It was raining again.  Joel was able to come see Tim (and Carisa) in his etc show at Second City.  I went along, too. Someone from Yahoo! Screen met us there but I can’t remember her name. Joel laughed a lot during the show.  I made sure he did not forget his umbrella.  He could not make it to my Improvised Sondheim Project show because it was at like 11:00 that night and he had to be up early to promote the next day.  We parted ways.  

I do not have a picture of this meeting to share with y’all.  You will just have to believe me that we all at Lou Malnati’s pizza together.  Okay? 

So, a few months pass and the Kickstarter Campaign to Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 goes up in mid-November.  Tim and I each contributed because we are long time fans of the show.  We watched it before we even knew each other.  It was one of the very few things we actually had in common when we first started dating and - you get it at this point - we freaking love this show!  Neither one of us even said, ‘Do you think Joel will remember what he said at Wizard World?’ 

We could. not. bring. our. selves. to. even. say. it.

In December 2015 we all know that when it closed, it was The Most Successful Kickstarter Campaign for TV and Film in the history of Kickstarter.  

On New Year’s Eve Day 2015, my phone rings. It is Joel Hodgson.  “Hi, Joel!” I answer.  He immediately says, “Looks like we got the money!  Are you in? Is in Tim in?” 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just looked at Tim and he could tell that all of our dreams were coming true.  I put Joel on speaker.  “Really, Joel?  Really?  YES!!!!  I thought you were just being nice to me the day I helped you at Wizard World - I didn’t know you really wanted us to write!’ I exclaimed.

He went on to say that not only did he want us to write but he wanted us to maybe be on camera but wasn’t sure of those details yet but wanted to make sure we’d be in for the next step.  Then he wished us a Happy New Year.

THEN TIM AND I EXPLODED WITH JOY!!!!

We were going to write on the show that formed us both as comedians, writers, performers - heck, as People!  We could not believe it. 

Later in January 2016, Joel called me to ask if I would be willing to play a clone of Mary Jo’s (aka Pearl Forrester) … I do not remember if he had named her yet or not but, yeah, he asked if I would be Synthia.  Because, I guess, during all of these interactions we’ve had over the years, he thought I looked a lot like Mary Jo Pehl. 

Then he asked if Tim would be willing to be more of a silent character on camera, as an Observer type of character (he hadn’t come up with those names yet, for sure, I do remember that) and do we have a friend we work with who is funny yet the exact physical opposite of Tim?  We did!  His name is Zach Thompson (the three of us had worked at ComedySportz Chicago together for years) and Joel was like, “Cool.  Do you think he’d like to be in MST?” And we asked Zach and Zach said yes and told Joel then Joel was like, “Cool.  I’ll get in touch with him.” And then our good buddy Zach was on board!

I wrote on two episodes of Season 11.  In March and April of 2016, I was writing on ‘The Loves of Hercules’ and ‘Cry Wilderness’.  I did not know which episodes they would be.  I did not really know what Synthia would be.  I did not know anything else.  I did not fully believe everything was actually happening. I did take a picture to remember because I was still in (happy) shock AND, also, this was the beginning of Keeping Big Secrets. 

In July 2016, I had some downtime from the freelance copywriting gig I had been doing and I had no shows, so I went to visit my sister in Texas so I could be with her twin daughters (my nieces) for their THIRD birthday.  One day, the four of us girls decided we were going to go to IKEA before their big party and on the way there, Tim was frantically calling and texting me.  I guess Joel was wanting to conference call us.  He did not know that I was not in Chicago with Tim but down in the heart of Texas.  Long story short - I took the conference call while sitting in a fake living room set at IKEA.  Harold Buchholz, Joel, Tim and I were all chatting it up a bit.  They wanted to see if we would be available to possibly take things on the road one day and to also talk about shoot dates in Los Angeles for the actual episodes and then Joel Hodgson asks, ‘And Rebecca, I was wondering if you would want to be the voice of Gypsy?’ 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

At this point in the call, I had made my way out to the parking lot because it was too loud inside the IKEA, too many people were interested in the couch I was sitting on in the living room set, and I knew I needed air and I just. I just could. I just could not. I just could not believe. I just could not believe that. I just could not believe that Joel. I just could not believe that Joel asked… 

It was silent on my end for a bit.  He said, “Rebecca - think about it and I’ll ge—” and I totally cut him off. 

“Y E S ! ! !”

“Well, you think about it and get back to me tomorrow, it’s -” 

“Joel, I don’t need to think about it.  Yes.  Are you sure?  Yes!  This is my dream come true.  No need to think.  Yes.  Yes, I will be the voice of Gypsy.” 

I do not really remember how that phone call ended but for a few minutes there, it was just Tim and I on it.  Joel and Harold must have hung up but Tim (in Chicago) and I (in Texas) were still on.  I do remember I had found a picnic table and chairs display set up out in the parking lot of IKEA because I somehow was seated when I asked Tim, “Did Joel Hodgson really ask me, Rebecca Hanson, out loud, on the phone, in front of you and Harold, to be the voice of Gypsy?” 

And Tim said, “Yes, Sweetheart.  He did.  It is Your Dream Come True.  You’re going to be The Voice of Something.  You’re going to be the voice of Gypsy.  On Mystery Science Theater 3000.” 

I went back into IKEA to find my sister and nieces eating pasta and meatballs in the cafeteria.  My almost-three-year-old-nieces were excited to dip their pasta into the red sauce.  I was excited to be the voice of Gypsy.  My sister asked if I was okay.  I told her what happened.  She instantly teared up for me.  My nieces got marinara on their cute dresses.  It was a Red (Sauce)Letter Day for us Hanson Girls. 

So - yeah.  I’ll stop here.  There is more to tell and say but I don’t know if I’ll ever properly explain or express just how thankful and grateful and honored and excited and amazed and blown-away I am by this whole magical ride.  I have been performing and writing and singing and making-things-up for a living for a long time.  I’ve met and worked with a lot of people on TV and stage; some of them were so cool and some were not.  I had reached a point, too, where I was not sure if I should keep doing all of this.  So - I share this with you from a place of hope.  I hope this can inspire you if you are in a place of uncertainty.  Or if you are in a place of security, I hope it inspires you, too.  If you’re in a place where you can make good things happen for other people, do it.  And I do not mean just in the entertainment industry but in any walk of life: Encourage Others. Encourage Yourself.  It helps keeps Us All Runnin’.  

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

I will forever be thankful to + for this Cool Dude, right here: 

Joel + me at the MST3K Experiment 1101 Chicago Premiere in February 2017. 

[mrqsmagicbooth]

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Super Trunk Show 2017 Stockhom

Super trunk show started in 2013, 4 years ago back in Sweden. Sweden as we have already know, are among the most well dressed gentlemen around. The event focus on classic men shoes and naturally being the same time I have gotten into classic men shoes, naturally this is one of the event I ogled about every year the event is held in Stockholm.

Fast forward 4 years and I have finally fulfilled my wish of visiting them. It all started with me researching for a shoe making course to take, which leads me to enroll for Janne Melkerson 2 weeks course in Ostersund, north of Stockholm. And since I am attending the course, I coordinate both event to coincide back to back.

Jesper Ingevaldsson whom I met the night before the event during their pre trunk gathering, is the founder of shoegazingblog told me how they started this event. On his website shoegazing.se he has a closed forum for the moderators and one of the moderator suggested bringing Vass to Stockholm cause he has difficulty travelling oversea. Since Jesper has interest in this trade and has already known other shoe makers, he has the idea of bringing them all together in a single event called Super Trunk show. He did also mention that the first year they held the event it is quite a disaster. He didn't expect the crowd to be so big and the logistic for the exhibitors are quite chaotic. Despite these hiccup, he is able to pull off the event to everyone expectation.

I am sorry for the overwhelmingly tons of photos in this article. Feel like breaking down into 2 post but I will wish to let you guys read everything at one go...  

Super Trunk show 2017 focus on local Swedish retailers and some international shoemakers which includes a new comer, Jan Kielman. The day start by attending the VIP opening from 9.30am to 11am where you can pre-register to avoid large crowd when open to public after 11am. I was there around 10.30am and the crowd is still quite small. This is the best opportunity to talk the exhitbitor. As I have already preordered Skolyx’s white sneaker, I went over to their booth and try on my size. They fit great with size 41 on my feet. Gosh what a relief to my feet as I have only bought one pair of loafer (C&J sydney) with me and walk in the city for 3 straight days! Emil and his brother Sebastian have been very friendly, talking to me about their vision of their company and we also talked about the numerous Yanko last and design that they have brought in.

Skolyx booth

Yanko shoes from Skolyx. This is the first time I saw som many Yanko last and design

I especially like this design

Skolyx inhouse white sneaker, manufactured in Turkey. God they are so comfy

I have met Michael Håkansson aka Magic Mike Patina on the first night I am in Stockholm and since then I have met him every night for drink. A guy who looks serious on the appearance but full of warmth when talking to him. A nice person to talk everything to. He shared a lot of his patina experience with me, especially creation of marble effect. I am so going to try it myself when I have chance! Here you can see at his booth he has created a beautiful and artistic grey marbled effect on a pair of Yanko balmoral oxford.

Magic Mike Patina begin his patina

Some of his works. 

I like the jodphur the best

The sole of the jodphur

Progress of his patina on a pair of Yanko balmoral oxford. You can see the transformation. Piece of art!

Malton Kielman and Jan Kielman are the new comer for  this year event. Malton and Kielman sell bespoke leather accesories such as briefcase, wallet, passport holder and lanyard etc made by Jan Kielman company... Most of his product are patina by him, offering an unique product he carries. From what he mention, some of his patina are inspired by four season especially fall color. For those discerning guy who wants to own their product, good news. Onlybrown in Singapore carry their product. Check them out!

Malton Kielman bespoke briefcase and patina

Love this wallet!

Some of his leather option for bespoke. Very exotic...

Maclej Kielman, the current generation of shoemaker for Jan Kielman, is one of polish shoemaker exhibiting for the first time this year. With him he brought his son along and some of their demo shoe with them for display. His son, Jan Kielman the next generation shoemaker are very friendly in explaining Kielman various offering to me. According to Maclej, they will have to name every alternate generation son "Jan" to carry on their branding... Something I have never ever imagined....

Kielman shoe on display. His signature model seamless one piece wholecut

Some design to note are his one piece seamless wholecut, norvegese wholecut and double monk. They are very well made and sturdy. From what he explained, he don't do fitting shoe as it is not their traditional to offer fitting shoe. He did mention that if we are not satisfied with the fit, we can always send the shoe back for adjustment. Or in the worst case, they can remake another pair. Price start @ ~850euro for polish tanned leather and ~50euro with french tannery leather.

Another of my favorite, one piece wholecut with norvegese stitch. Photo @ shoegazingblog

Square beveled waist from his one piece seamless wholecut

He keep apologizing to me, explaining that this is the first time he attended this event and not sure what to expect... I am very tempted yet I can't decide on the spot hence I have my measurement taken by him in case I want to make a pair in the future I can send him an email :)

Great personality from Maclej Kielman

Jan Kielman, son of Maclej Kielman

Spingyard shoe care is the subsidiary branding of Brunngård Sweden, also the main sponsor for this event carries shoe care product. From the usual like polish, wax, brushes, buffing cloth, shoehorn to insole (Springyard sense) for various season. 

One interesting range of product they carry are the "shoe therapy" range. Product under this range are eco friendly to the environment. The solvent are biodegradable and will not harm environment. They have working on this product range for couple of years and finally they are certified by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency as eco friendly. An interesting concept and remarkable feat I will say. Product under shoe therapy range includes waterproofing spray, cleaning spray, cream paste and refreshing spray.

Picked up some product from them. Will give review after back home and used them....

Various shoe care product from Sprigyard

thesabotshoe is not new to everyone reading this. Although they are a young company (few months old), founder by @erikeg and @king_olle, they are not new to the world of shoe. Those who has followed classic men shoe on Instagram will definitely know them.

thesabotshoes’s Dux argentum by @meccariello-calzoleria​

thesabotshoes private label by @meccariello-calzoleria​, The loafer caught my eyes....

Finally get to the anticipated Yohei Fukuda RTW in real person

The range of shoemaker they carry are from reknown shoemaker worldwide, from Andres Sandra in Spain, the sabot private label by Antonio Meccariello and Antonio Meccariello (Dux Argentum) to the anticapted Japanese shoemaker Yohei Fukuda's ready to wear line. 

Some closeup shot of my favourite design from Yohei RTW. Clean and done up to highest standard

Gaziano Girling. I didn't go stay too long at this booth as they are out of my league for bespoke :) but here is their demo shoe on display.

Daniel Wegan, the swedish gentlemen who head the bespoke department of G&G is here as well. Too bad I didn't have the chance to talk to him...

Gaziano Girling.display at their booth

Mr. Daniel Wegan talking to one of the attendee

Hiro Yanagimachi is one of the exhibitor this year. He has a booth here but I should not mention too much about him since I have talked about him back during my Japan Sartorial trip 2 years back. See link. 

Some of Hiro Yanagimachi shoe on display

Hiro Yanagimachi’s Internatonal last for his trunk show in Europe and United States

Together with  Hiro Yanagimachi’ is taro maezawa @leather-san

Myrqvist, a young brand under herrstil is making wave with their value for money collection @ 200euro. They carry a large range of design to start with. Their shoe are GYW and made in India, giving them a competitive run of money with other entry level shoe maker. I didn't stay too long at this booth as I need to  go for other agenda nearby the trunk show. More review of their shoe is available at Shoegazing blog.

Myrqvist shoe on display. Will say they are indeed value for money based on the make up

Finally one can never leave Stockholm without a visit to the world most famous online shoe store, Skoaktiebolaget. I did pay them a visit halfway during the trunkshow during my late lunch...

Saint Crispin on their display shelf

John Lobb on their display shelf

Paolo Scafora on their display shelf

Paolo Scafora and Carlo Santos on their display table

John Lobb chapel in Parisian museum brown calf. Getting my size for this. who knows...

When I’m back, the Super Trunks Show shoe shining competition has just started. It’s considered the highlight of this event where 3 contestants (Anders Sundström, Jonathan Petersson and Johan Wennerholm this years) will be competing to come up with the best shine in 20 minutes on a pair of Loake 1880 Aldwych! Imagine waxing and coming up with shine for one side of shoe in 20 minutes?! I can’t do that for sure. Anyway you can see the following pictures to judge for yourself how high their standard are. The winner take home a pair of Loake1880 and springyard shoe care product sponsored by the organizer and this year the winner is Johan Wennerholm. Thumb up to him!

The contestants at work. Look at their serious look

The winner shine from Johan Wennerholm. Imagine this shine done up in 20 minutes!

The last agenda of the event is Q&A session where attendee can ask the professional in the field on the trend of classic men shoes. The host are Neus Benavent, store manager of Gaziano & Girling’s shop, Emil Jansson, founder of Skolyx and Emelie Stenlund, bespoke shoemaker and cobbler at Skomakeri Framåt and Södermalm’s. 

Some attendee asked about the trend of the design and the last of classic men wear shoe and some asked about if the trend for classic men wear shoe is stagnant or will continue to peak.... Interesting session with a lot of interesting answer from the pro in the market. I am lucky to hear this session conducted in English as for the past 3 years it has mainly been conducted in Swedish.

Host participant from Q&A. From left,  Emelie Stenlund, Emil Jansson, Neus Benavent and Jesper Ingevaldsson

Epilogue

When I booked the trip to Stockholm for Super trunk show 2017, I wasn't expecting anything except to attend the event and talk to the exhibitor. But when I am there, I was practically full of meet up drinking session with the well dressed gentlemen from scandianiva everynight. We talked about everything on sartorial and the difference between Asia and scandianiva. I feel very welcomed by the folks here. It's always nice to put an actual face to the IG guy you follow... You know who you are... : ) @datinventory @ jesperbrannstrom @michael.hakansson @thesh0e @ patrickmtpo @kbaskim @martinsenkristian @ j_ingevaldsson

I'm sure this will not the last trunk show for me....

Stay tune for my next adventure in Sweden.

Cheers to the main man, Jesper Ingevaldsson, founder of shoegazing.se blog

Michael of Magic mike patina and his finished work

Jesper (left) and Daniel (right). Nice knowing you guys!

Knut (left) and Martin, the Norwegian dude (right). Nice knowing you guys!

[clarkgreggreporter]

The Reddit MarvelStudios AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Clark Gregg, May 16, 2017 (click here to read all the questions)

A: (out of sequence, so no question): Well, this week I'm really missing Bill Paxton and Powers Boothe because we lost them and they were both such excellent guys.

A: Missed a few questions there. I'll try to answer some. I love the MCU and love watching the movies and I miss my friends in those casts. That said, I am really proud of where we've gone with Agents of SHIELD and I love this bunch of actors and writers (and crew) as much as any I've ever worked with.

Q What upcoming MCU property are you looking forward to the most? Tahiti is a magical place! A: Anything with Adam Warlock and that may have just been teased in GOTG2

Q Do you have any stories and/or favourite memories of working with the late Bill Paxton? Thanks! A: So many. Just the big grin he'd show up with every day and say, "Bud-dy..." Just a great guy and a wonderful actor/filmmaker with more stories than anyone I've ever met.

Q: What is your favourite MCU movie? A: Pretty damn psyched for Captain Marvel especially with the amazing Brie Larson

Q: Hi! Thank you so much for being SO awesome. In Avengers, when Coulson has been stabbed by Loki and gets to shoot him with the massive gun, he says "oh, that's what that does". What do you wish that gun had done? A: Gone off on its own a minute earlier.

Q: Hi! Thanks for doing this. What's your favorite hand? And if you could have any new hand for your character, what could it do? Thank you! A: The SHIELD attachment does not suck

Q: Hi Clark! Thanks for doing this AMA and everything you've done for the MCU. Love your portrayal of A.C. (Daisy needs to bring that back imo). Have you had any input or influence on the development of Coulson? A: I have some input but most of the great stuff on our show is straight from the writers.   Dream storyline involves saving the Defenders and the Avengers and the Guardians and the Royal Family and everyone in Legion when they get themselves in trouble with Thanos. In a musical episode by Lin Manuel Miranda. (Hamilton)

Q: u/70astralaxe wanted to ask you those question but he coudn't so I'll Phil in [sorry for the pun...]    Favourite Star Wars movie.    Favourite MCU movie.    Whether he had any "holy shit" moments during script-read/when filming a scene.    What he wants for the future of MCU/SHIELD.    If he is planning on doing non-MCU stuff anytime in the near future.    Favourite Ice-Cream Flavour.    Favourite Holiday Destination. A: I'll pick 2. Empire and that coconut something from Ben and jerry's

Q: Clark, it was great seeing you at Denver Comic Con last year. I was the one who told you I loved Choke as well as the intro you wrote for Avengers: Endless Wartime. My question though, do you have any projects coming up that you are writing/directing? Choke was 2008, and Trust me was 2013, so I was hoping we were due for something else soon. Thanks, love your work. A: Writing a film and a sci-fi pilot. Hope to make something next hiatus.

Q: When Joss called you up about Much Ado About Nothing, what was your reaction? Did you get any say in your role? Have you done any other Shakespeare? Thanks for doing this AMA today! A: I was terrified when Joss called, but excited because I had just had a dream I was doing some Shakespeare and it felt ordained. And I love Joss.

Q: Have you watched GOTG Vol. 2 yet? A: Yes. Laughed my ass off.

Q: Hello, What's your favourite MCU movie? Also, what does RDJ smell like? A: I'm a big fan of the Avengers and anything with Cap. Or Stark. Or Thor or the Guardians. Or Strange. Let's face it, I'm a Marvel slut. Robert smells like warm beaches and babies laughing and a freshly washed thong.

Q: What kind of changes in perspective on your character did you work on to bring the 3 different versions of Coulson to life this season? We've had Agent Coulson, Robo Coulson, and Mr. Coulson. What was the most fun about doing that? Also, minor question, do you happen to know what brand / model of glasses you were rocking in the Framework? (I tweeted @amandalynnriley, but alas no response). A: It was fun to have new takes on Phil. Amazing work by the writers. Especially geeking out teacher Phil with his soap. The glasses are called Barton Pereira (sp)

Q: What would like to do for a living if you weren't an actor, besides dominating in lip sync battles? A: Music something. probably not very well. But I loved being in a band. A lot.

Q: Hi Clark! Awesome for you to do this before the big season finale. How do you think your character has changed between now and the beginning of Iron Man 1? In other words, do you think your acting of Phil Coulson has changed that much in 9 years? A: Ah, jeez, I don't know. The character has been through a lot and gotten older, so maybe he's less innocent and a little darker, but I probably am too. I don't know about the acting. I try to forget that's what it is.

Q: Do you read your fanmail? If so, what's something cool a fan has sent you? A: I do. I get amazing stuff and try to answer it all. I've been sent crocheted blankets and lola pillows and maybe some underwear.

Q: Thank you for putting your all into Coulson. He's my favourite character in the entire Marvel universe. As for my question, how much of Clark has gone into the role? Specificially the frequent Star Wars references... is that your input or does it come purely from the writers? A: The writers and I love Star Wars and couldn't imagine Coulson wouldn't as well. There's a bunch of me and then some stiff that's verrrrry different from me.

Q: More serious question: One of the things I love about AoS is how men and women fight each other as equals. But I've wondered if that took the male actors a little getting used to, going all out punching and kicking female actors. Did you find that awkward at first? A: Definitely. Really did not like punching May or Daisy even though neither was a real punch.

Q: Hey Clark! Huge fan of your work in the MCU. My question. Did you know that when you died in the Avengers that you would be brought back for SHIELD? Thanks! A: I did not. Neither did they. #CoulsonLives gave them the idea. So thanks.

Q: What's the weirdest thing a fan ever asked you to do? A: Sign a boob. But it was a big boob so I wrote my full name and then Agent Coulson.

Q: With the amount of time Coulson has been spending in the field in AOS, it has become more and more unlikely that the Avengers wouldn't know that Phil is still alive. Do you personally think any of them know? A: I really wish I had a good answer for that, but I don't. Some day.

Q: Yo Clark! I'm sure you're gonna get a bunch of marvel questions and that's awesome. But I know you're a basketball fan so this is my first question. Who ya got winning the finals? And secondly: Any advice for someone who's dream is to work within marvel either on the tv side or movie side? A: Warriors look soooo good. To work for Marvel it helps to love comics and marvel and then just try to be really good at what you want to do there.

Q: Hey Clark! Read any good books lately? A: Yes. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Mirukami

Q: What was it like meeting Melissa Benoist for the dubsmash battle? And have you met any of the other CW heroes? A: I think she's amazing. Loved her in Whiplash. And the fact that she took part in that for charity made me love her even more.

Q: I've been marvel fan since my early childhood, having been born without half of my right hand, my parents and superheroes have always been the biggest source of inspiration. Even in my wildest dreams, i couldnt have predicted these last 10 years, what MCU has achieved and how popular these stories would become all around the world, in that way im living my childhood dream- to see it all done well on the silver screen. What is even crazier- I wouldnt have predicted that the Son of Coul, a shield agent from phase one movies, would start his own show- his own team. Over the years, Aos became , in my humble opinion, the best that superhero tv shows can offer right now, and most recently, even a better source of fun than some of the MCU movies. Past week, i have been buzzing, that we re getting another season. Mostly, i want to say THANK YOU, to everyone who helps to make this show what it is, a source of inspiration and fun to look forward to almost every week. Thank you Mr. Gregg, for breathing life into this awesome character, and also for motivating me in my own studies, and career. I just wanted to express my gratitude, and ask, recently, the Ghost Rider, LMD and Framework arcs have cemented the greatness of this show. When you got first approached to make a shield show, did you think it would end up as such a compelling characters, stories, effects and going for 5 seasons on a small screen? Did you have any doubts? Was there ever a moment when you got a script/shot a scene, where u said to yourself : "Wow, this is amazing" ? Thank you, wish you and the whole cast/crew all the best in making another successful season. A big fan, all they way from Slovakia A: This made my day. Thank you.

Q: What did you think of Iron Fist on Netflix? Do you think it deserves the criticism? What would you have done different if you were the showrunner? A: I love Iron Fist. Both seasons. (then...another reply) Oops. I meant Daredevil. Didn't sleep too well.

Q: Do you remember your time on The Shield well? Great performance. Any fun stories from the set? A: My friend David Mamet directed and the character was so uhinged I felt wrong afterwards. Also, Billy Gierhart who has directed the most eps of AoS was the cameraman on that ep.

Q: As a big fan of What Lies Beneath and Choke, can we expect to see you work behind the camera on Agents of SHIELD any time soon? A: I may direct an episode in season 5. if I don't pass out from exhaustion just thinking about it.

Q: Jed Whedon recently made his directing debut in SHIELD's episode Self Control, which is probably my favorite episode of the show now. What was it like having him direct? Do you think we can look forward to more episodes helmed by him? Great job this season by the way! Coulson's speech a few episodes ago rocked, Captain America would be proud A: jed was amazing and that may be my favorite too. He better direct some more or we'll drag him down to set and make him.

Q: Hey Clark! Thanks for coming by! In about a year we'll be coming up on Iron Man's 10th Anniversary, which means you'll have been playing Coulson for 10 years. How does that feel? And, if you could have Coulson appear in any Marvel-related property, what would it be? A: Wow. Ten years. I feel very lucky. I could have been stuck that long playing a character I didn't love in a world I didn't care about. #Grateful

Q: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has been renewed for a fifth season, but does not appear on ABC's Fall schedule. Obviously, it will start later, but we've been getting mixed signals. Do you know if Season 5 will be a full, 22 episode season or has it been shortened? A: Yes. Full season after the 8 eps of The Inhumans. Then we do our whole run. Could be cool that way.

Q: Can you tell us anything about today's AoS finale? A: Coulson will change.

Q: This is also a question from my girlfriend, who is at work and can't ask herself: Do you think Phil and May will have a happy ending? A: I won't touch that one.

Q: How would coulson react to meeting the defenders? A: He would geek out. But who knows, maybe they would too.

Q: Two questions: first, I'm currently binge watching the West Wing and I have to ask what it was like working with dialog written by Aaron Sorkin?  Second, are we ever going to see your wife, Jennifer Grey, on AoS? A: Aaron's dialogue is like no one else's. I did Sports Night, TWW and A Few Good Men on Broadway. So I'm lucky. He did a lot to put me on the map.

Q; Hi Clark! Thank you for doing this! I can’t wait for tonight’s finale. Can you take us through what it was like auditioning and successfully getting the role of Coulson? Did you ever imagine that the role would develop and expand like it has over time? A: Never auditioned. Got an offer to play a part that was two scenes in IM. Then they added more and more scenes. Cut to Phil nine years later about to walk into the season 4 finale where he will finally (REDACTED)

Q: Clark, you all have been doing such a great job over the last few years. Why do you think Agents of SHIELD has resonated with so many fans around the world? A: Because thanks to the cast, crew, the writers and Marvel the show keeps getting better all the time. That's very rare.

Last Words From Clark: Thanks so much of the great questions. Sorry I couldn't answer more of them. Acting in an independent film today so I have to run. Join me on the twitter for the S.4 finale tonight. Love you all.

[dccomicsnews]

Stephen Amell is the star of the international smash hit TV show, Arrow. This is the series that launched the DC TV universe, which is now collectively and lovingly known as the Arrowverse, the Flarrowverse (Flash and Arrow) or the Berlantiverse (After Greg Berlanti – executive producer on Arrow, and on all it’s various spin-off shows: The Flash, Vixen, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow and Supergirl, as well as the forthcoming Constantine Animated Series and Black Lightning.)

Mr. Amell is also an athlete, fitness guru, philanthropist and co-creator of The Heroes & Villains FanFest.

DC Comics News, and our sister site Dark Knight News, were on location, at the Kensington Olympia in London, reporting on the convention’s first foray overseas. Whilst there we were fortunate enough to secure six exclusive one-on-one interviews with some of the cast of Arrow, Legends, Supergirl and Gotham. We also covered many of the excellent Q&A panels.

DCN is now proud to present to you, our readers, some of the highlights from Stephen Amell’s sold out session. You can catch the whole panel on video too. It’s here in print form for those who can’t stream video on the move, and for our readers who may be deaf, or hard of hearing.

For those who may not have seen any, or all of Arrow season five, please be aware that this article contains some huge spoilers. You have been warned.

American Arrow Warrior

Stephen Amell: My goodness! Good morning! Wow! This is, if not the prettiest crowd, also the prettiest venue that we’re ever gonna be in. It’s fantastic!

Moderator: You guys have been fabulous, by the way. This is an amazing first time event, the energy is just… it’s like nothing else. Thank you, London. That says a lot for you guys.

(Massive round of cheers and applause)

American Ninja Warrior – the Red Nose Day… That’s been a long time coming. Talk about that, and what it was actually like to run that course.

SA: So, running the course for (American) Ninja Warrior… if you haven’t seen it, it aired this past week. We raised some money for Red Nose Day, which I know is something that originated here, in the U.K. which is very cool. Running the course… it’s terrifying! All the lights… when you see it, they put everything over water. Walk across a balance beam that’s two inches off the ground, but it’s solid ground underneath you… you’ll zip across it. You won’t even think about it. Do the exact same thing, exact same width, and do it over water… and you panic! Immediately, because you think you’re gonna fall in.

SA:  Ninja Warrior was great! I got pretty far, but after the second obstacle – if you see it – you’ll see me, before the third obstacle, go (touching his right arm, like in pain) like that to my arm. It’s because I thought that I’d torn my bicep off of the bone, on the second obstacle. I couldn’t feel anything from (my shoulder to my forearm). So, all things being considered, it went pretty well!

(Applause)

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Mod: Did you make it as far as you thought you were going to? As far as you thought you were gonna go?

SA: I made it as far as I thought I could go. I was really worried about those blocks that rotate when you run past them. They say, don’t worry if they’re tilted off to the side, or if they’re level. Just hit the middle, and go as fast as you can. Which, again, is a great idea, except for when they’re tilted in a weird way… and they’re over water!

(Laughter)

So, you’ve just got to get over it. Just… charge ahead.

Fan: Which obstacle did you find the most difficult?

SA: The one that I fell on. I saw a guy do it, and how they do it, and what you have a tendency to do – if you’re inexperienced with climbing, and you’re used to utilizing your upper body – you make everything very tense, and you make it all about your arms. When, in actuality, you’re just supposed to hang there. It’s supposed to be your core that helps you sway… which is much easier, because then you’re just basically hanging.

That was obviously difficult. I think I could learn that one… but the most difficult one is those floating blocks, that you have to run across. It’s just like (he crosses himself, like saying a prayer to keep himself safe from injury, then points forward)… and zoooooom!

(Laughter)

Which is, basically what I did. That was definitely the most challenging.

The Magic Of The Arrowverse

Fan: In season four you became the “Magical” Green Arrow. Do you think that was really the greatest thing? You would have thought that they would’ve brought back Constantine, or maybe Zatanna… or someone like that. But they had you as the magical person, to take out Darhk.

SA: Yeah. We tried magic on the show, and you have to try things… We’re gonna try things in season six that maybe are going to work, or they’re not going to work.

I was reading a review about season four – and there were lots of parts from that season that I loved that people didn’t like – and there are parts that I dislike that people enjoy, from every season. That’s all a part of viewing a television show. The reviewer said something that I really respected, he said that the most Arrow part of season four didn’t even happen on Arrow itself, it happened in an episode of Legends of Tomorrow, where they showed the older Oliver. I read that, and I thought… s#!+, he might be right.

I just loved having Neal McDonough on the show – so I thought I’d have him back in a second – but I thought that going back to what we’d cultivated in the earlier seasons was the way to go.

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Arch(ery) Nemesis

Fan: Who is your favorite villain on Arrow?

SA: (After a very long pause, and looking around him) Is Josh (Segarra: Adrian Chase/Prometheus) right behind me?

(Laughter from the crowd)

By the way, just quickly. If we get a chance to come back to London, and we’re in this venue… next year for my panel, you have to just let me just rappel down from my booth.

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I thought that Manu Bennet in season two did a marvelous job. I don’t think of John (Barrowman: Malcom Merlyn) as a villain so much… maybe because I know him. I didn’t really know about reaction videos, and then I ended up on a big deep dive on them – after I had an email telling me I needed to see some – and every person, to a man and to a woman, while watching the final scenes of this season were all like, “Full circle… OMG, full circle. It’s season one!” That really meant a lot. So, I think that the personal element this year, between Oliver and Adrian… that Josh as Prometheus probably fit the very best into a season.

From an iconic standpoint, then it’s certainly Deathstroke.

A very young fan: When I’m older I want to be an actor. What do you suggest I do to become one?

SA: The awesome thing about acting is that you don’t have to wait ’til you’re older… you can do it right now! Do you own a phone with a video camera? Yes? Do you have internet access? Yeah? YOU can be an actor!

(Huge applause)

What I mean by that, is in this day and age there’s nothing that can keep you from practicing, and creating content, and putting yourself out on platforms that allow you to get real time feedback. As long as you can differentiate the positive feedback from the people that are being mean for no reason, then you can start to move in the right direction.

I would then find classes, find movies and television shows that inspire you. Then try to emulate that, and from that experience you’ll start to find your groove.

Smoak And Mirrors

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(At this moment the crowd goes wild, as Emily Bett Rickards – Felicity Smoak herself – walks onto the stage)

Emily Bett Rickards: How does one crash a panel effectively? (Stephen greets her with a huge hug)

Fan: You’ve both done a lot, when it comes to Arrow, Flash and Legends. What’s been your favorite part, over all three series for the two of you?

EBR: I fondly remember when we introduced to the universe The Flash as its own show. That was a big change in where we were going, or at least where we thought we were going. It gave us a new bookmark, a new chapter… whole new novels! It’s been awesome.

SA: I like the quieter moments. Emily and I had a lot of fun shooting the episode where we’re trapped in the bunker.

(Huge applause)

The only part that wasn’t fun, is that we filmed that episode right around the time that I shot American Ninja Warrior

(Cheers from the audience)

Where I badly injured my bicep. I had to keep picking up Emily…

EBR: And I couldn’t help, because I wasn’t supposed to have full use of my legs, so I was just dead weight! (She laughs) And he was injured.

SA: Yeah… It was good, though! That was fun… climbing ladders.

In general I like when we have the quieter moments. We’ve all done action scenes, and Emily’s coordinated the team in the field, and been in the field a thousand times. It’s when you stumble into an episode and you find a three and a half page scene that’s just between two people talking… that’s really exciting. I like that.

Fan: After seeing the musical crossover episode of Flash, would you be interested in doing one of your own in Arrow?

SA: No, no, noooooo… (to Emily) I recently just found out how good a good singer you are!

EBR: Oh, well…

SA: People need to know these things!

Fan: Will you sing for us, a little bit?

SA: You want the musical episode now? You’re pressing your luck!

(Laughter)

You should just Google us singing at Comicon last year… it was a one off.

EBR: Nooo waaayyy…

SA: (To Emily) If you were asked to appear on one of the other shows to do a musical episode, would you do it?

EBR: Yeah! As long as John Barrowman was there, I would do it.

SA: As long as John was there, I’d do it.

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Arrow, The Movie?

Fan: If you made a feature length, big budget episode… who would you like to team up with, who would you like to go up against, and why?

SA: If we were going to do a feature-length film, what I would like to do is… I would actually use every single important character from the history of the show that people thought were really important, I’d like to put them all in a situation where they’d all have to work together, and I would like to put the entirety of the amount of money that we put into an entire season into, like, 98-minutes of screen time and see what happens.

EBR: And Batman!

(Massive round of cheers and applause)

SA: (Nodding and giggling) And Batman… played by Robbie Amell.

EBR: I’ll take it!

SA: It’ll be great.

Mod: Could I have a big hand for Emily? Thanks for crashing in.

EBR: Thanks for having me!

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Amell v Arrow

Fan: Have you ever wanted to slap Oliver in the face, and ask him “What are you doing?!?”

(Huge chorus of approval from the crowd)

SA: I do like playing a character that has flaws, for sure. Flaws are what make us interesting. I haven’t talked with the producers a lot about season six, but one of the things that I did say is that – based off of everything that has happened this year – everything about the introduction of a team, and relying on other people, not just getting yourself into a predicament, and immediately drilling down and saying I’ll handle it by myself… I said Oliver has to have learned that’s not the right way.

If we’re still doing that, after everything that happened this year… people are gonna be, like, he’s never gonna learn and they’re probably gonna change the channel.

(Applause and a roar of approval from the audience, as Robbie Amell takes to the stage)

Amell v Amell

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SA: Oh, my God… Did you hear Batman, and just come to the stage?

(Laughter)

Robbie Amell: I was wondering where everybody went! I was standing at my table and… (Spins around, as if searching for somebody, anybody!) I was wondering if you’ve told anybody what you’re doing on Thursday?

SA: Yes! At long last, Thursday is the first day of principal photography on Code 8 (A highly anticipated sci-fi project starring Stephen and Robbie).

(Robbie raises his arms and the crowd goes wild)

RA: That’s all I’m here for, have a great panel.

SA: Thanks, buddy.

RA: Bye!

Mod: Back to slapping Oliver in the face…

SA: As I was saying that, and everyone started cheering… I’m like, Oh my God, does everyone agree with me that much? That timing made me feel awful for about four seconds.

(Laughter)

I think it’s very important that next year, he learns those lessons. It would be nice to see someone being irrational, and brickheaded, and have Oliver go, “You know…maybe think about this one a little bit, for the following reasons.” I think that would be a more interesting thing to play, going forward with the show.

The Arrow Of Inspiration

Fan: What was your inspiration to be an actor?

SA: Inspiration comes at different times. My inspiration to really get on the path that I (am) on now came after being in Toronto, and being in the business for a good 8/9 years. I hadn’t really had a lot of success, and I’d had a really awful year.

I just started thinking about the things in my life that made me happy. Family was one of them, friends, my dog – Louie – was in there… I kept coming back to acting, and how happy it made me. It’s when I started doing it for those reasons, that a lot of the elements of my career that you guys have seen, and that have brought me to a spot like this… that’s when they started to happen.

Fan: What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time?

(The crowd erupts as Josh Segarra – Prometheus himself – walks up on stage behind Stephen and puts him in a headlock)

SA: He actually was right behind me!

Josh Segarra: He lets me do that to him right now, but in real life he’d kill me. It would be the fastest death ever!

(The audience laughs, and while the moderator helps find a seat for Josh, Stephen goes on to answer the question he’d been asked, before the latest surprise guest appeared)

SA: What’s my favorite thing to do in my free time? What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time?

Fan: I just play sports.

SA: OK! My favorite thing to do, right now with my free time, is to hang out with my family. There’s lots of times where – my daughter’s a champion sleeper – and there are lots of times where I have to leave in the morning before she gets up, and I’m back at night after she goes to bed. So I wanna make sure that I’m spending as much time as I can with them, when I’m free.

(To Josh) What about you? Free time?

Prometheus Unbound

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JS: The same, bro. I’ve got an 8 month old son at home, and he’s a pretty hilarious cat! So when it’s not with him… I watch a lot of professional wrestling.

(Cheers of approval)

We’ve connected on that… I’m a big WWE mark.

Honestly, I’m a… we talked about it right before we got up here – we’re geeks man – so, I read a lot, I like to watch my TV that I enjoy and, just kinda, hang out. I eat a lot of food, eat a looot of food.

Very young fan, in Green Arrow costume: (Who’s) your favorite superhero?

SA: Who’s my favorite superhero? The Flash!

(Laughter, cheers and applause)

(To Josh) What about you?

JS: The Flash.

(More laughter, cheers and applause)

SA: Dumb question: Who’s your favorite superhero?

Fan: The Green Arrow!

(Applause from all round)

SA: Is it? Or did your mom tell you to say the Green Arrow?

Fan: My mummy didn’t.

SA: She didn’t?

Fan’s sister, who is dressed as Rapunzel: No, (he) really is his favorite superhero.

SA: He is? I appreciate that very much. (To the sister) Who’s your favorite superhero?

Fan: Supergirl.

(Cheers)

SA: OK! A more important question; who’s your favorite Disney Princess?

Fan: Rapunzel.

SA: OK… I like Rapunzel too.

Fan: What’s the hardest stunt you’ve had to do on set?

SA: I was saying last night… I don’t know if it was the hardest, but (gesturing to Josh) our day on the boat was exhausting! It was really… We were out on a boat for an incredibly emotional scene, that was very delicate, very tricky, and had so many moving parts to it; everyone was worried about the weather, and I was really worried that we would be so caught up in getting the “Cool” shots, that we would miss the important ones, which are the ones that are right there (drawing a circle with his hand around Josh’s face), and right here! (Doing the same around his own face) That’s what the scene was about.

The last thing that we shot that day, before we lost the sun, was a drone shot of the boat… so, it didn’t require anything from me and Josh. It just required us to be in our positions. It was just gonna show the size and the scope of everything. In between those takes – where we had to stand up – the two of us would just be sitting there, like (hangs his head low, looking exhausted… Josh does the same). It was a hard day.

JS: Let me tell you about this guy (gesturing over to Stephen). Do you guys remember that episode in the cell, where I got to torture him a little bit? This man was shackled to the ground! Those were not fake shackles, they were real shackles. We were in that cell for 12 hours! He would take them off, and you could see the marks on his wrists. It was a pretty cool day, and my respect for this guy grew a whole lot… because those were the days that we knew were really important. Those were the days where we were starting to get into the guts of these guys, where you’re starting to see what they’re made of. Those were some fun days, for sure.

Wrestling with your conscience

Fan: You’ve touched on this one already, a bit. I know, Stephen, that you appeared in WWE, and it was one of the better celebrity appearances (they) had.

JS: It was the best one, bro. It was the best one! The man hopped the ropes, dude! He hopped the ropes… OK?!?

Fan: Is that something we can expect to see ever again? Maybe bringing in someone else? Maybe a bit of a villain?

(All the while, Josh is doing his best Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan impressions. Flexing, pumping up his muscles  and grimacing, and the crowd are loving it.)

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SA: The worst thing that I had to do to Josh this year, had nothing to do with what happened on screen. It had to with with when he couldn’t join me at Wrestlemania. It was so sad.

JS: So sad, man… we’d been planning this for about a year. He’s, like, next year, April 1st/April 2nd, we’re going. Cool, man. Two months out we’re like, two months, we’re gonna go! A month out, oh my gosh… we’re gonna go! Literally, two weeks before, he texts me… “Have you heard?” Did I hear what? He’s, like, “You gotta work on Monday, bro!” I was, like, Nooooo… Man! So then on (the) Tuesday before I get a text from him, with a giant cardboard cut-out of my head. It said “Don’t worry, homey… you’re coming with me!”

(Huge laughs)

That day, every hour on the hour, I got a text from him smiling… my head smiling, and the wrestling. Just all day, tracking the day. “Me” in the front row, my head… and I was, like, getting to meet guys. I had the best time, I met so many wrestlers that day, bro…

(Lots of laughter)

SA: I would love to do something in wrestling again… but I don’t know what that’s gonna be. I think that being with the WWE would be really cool. Cody (Runnels/Rhodes), who I worked with… is doing such great stuff with Ring Of Honor and New Japan. That would be cool. I need to get back in the ring one more time! The first time I was so… the second that I stepped outside of the curtain, all the moisture zapped from my entire mouth! I was so nervous! I was so nervous that I literally forgot to get in the ring!

(Laughter)

Fan: We couldn’t tell.

JS: You wanna know a funny story? So, like I told you, I’m a big WWE fan. I was at that Summerslam, where he had his match with Neville, as a fan. So, I became a big fan of this guy, no lie – because I’ve watched a couple of celebrities trying to get in there and do their thing – and, all of a sudden I see this guy, who fits perfectly in there, and I’m fangirling, you know? My hands above my head and (in a real fangirl voice) “Oh, he’s doing amazing! I’m so proud of him!” (Stephen is cracking up, along with the crowd).

Fast forward, I get to work – the first day – and I met him, and (in a serious business voice) like… hey, good to meet you, “Good to meet you” (back to fangirl voice) So… I saw your wrestling match, man… Oh, it was awesome!

(Big laughs)

SA: That’s really how that went, too.

JS: Legit, man! (Fangirl Josh) And I saw Ninja Turtles! You were so good in that, bro! (Stephen and the crowd are laughing).

Looking To The Future… And The Past

Fan: Can you tell us what the theme for season six is?

SA: The theme of season five was legacy. From what I understand, the theme of season six is family.

Fan: So we’re gonna see William again?

SA: (After a long pause)… Sure.

(Laughter)

Fan: What’s your favorite Flash crossover?

SA: My favorite Flash crossover, was when I appeared in the very first episode, of Flash… for a variety of reasons. It was really cool to say a line like, “Saving people… in a Flash!” You live, as an actor, for that moment. The cooler part about it was that – this was during the second season of Arrow – it was an opportunity for me to go back to do a pilot. To, basically put together the exact same crew to do the pilot of The Flash, and just to think back to that moment, and to be a small part of it happening all over again, for someone else – someone else being Grant (Gustin: Barry Allen/The Flash) – that was really cool. That will always be very special to me.

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Changing The Script

Fan: Stephen, we know that you and Emily do a lot of improv, and (they) did release the script for (episode 20 of season five). In the salmon-ladder scene, how did it go? Because it’s nothing like (what) you shot. Did Emily and you just come up with something better, and everyone just went with it?

SA: No. I always explain this… if you come by table, you will see this really awful drawing of a tree, which I was trying to use as an analogy. The script is like a tree. You don’t want to poke a hole in the tree, but you can add additional stuff around it that they can take, or they can leave.

A lot of things that happen on the show that are ad-libs, are not me creating lines. A lot of times that stuff is written, it’s written like speeches, and not like conversation. I think this is a commonality through all of television and film. Just occasionally it’s honest and truthful to react to something, and they can take that reaction, or they can leave it.

Emily and I just had fun with that scene, and I’m sure that there was a version that was close to exactly what was on the page, and we leave it up to the director, and the editors, and the producers to pick the moments that they like. Sometimes they do, more often than not they don’t, and it more closely resembles what you see on the page.

I like playing red wine, drunk Oliver.

JS: Yeah, that’s a good Oliver. Hey… I’m outta here, I’ll see you guys later.

(The crowd cheers and applauds, as Josh Segarra makes his way away from the stage.)

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Sneak previews

Fan: Do you get to see the completed episode before it airs, and if not, do you watch it at home?

SA: That’s a great question. I watch the network cut; (this) tends to be somewhere in the area of 45 seconds to a minute longer than what you guys see, so that they’ll take a minute out of that. Generally that’s not by taking out a scene, it’s more you sort of pluck the air out of things, where you condense something.

The network cut is the equivalent of… do you remember that trend of people that were taking selfies of themselves first thing in the morning with no makeup on? That’s what the network cut is like. If you like the network cut, you’re gonna love the episode. It’s not color corrected, the sound mix is not done, it has a temporary score in it, and it has temporary visual effects. So you really have to focus in on the performance, and the story, because all the other bells and whistles aren’t there.

I watch that episode. That episode is the proper litmus test of; are the performances on point? Do I like the story? Also, at that point too, if i have a note or I find a glaring omission… I can pass it on.

Mod: Do you find yourself too critical of your own acting, or are you somebody that can look past it?

SA: Yeah, I feel like if I notice a tic, I’ll try to deal with it. It’s mostly… if I’m ever upset about something, it’s mostly that I know – due to the nature of our filming – that even if (the first) take is terrific, we’re probably gonna do two or three. So, occasionally, they pick a take and, selfishly, I wish they would’ve picked another one.

My Name Is Oliver Queen

Fan: Can you do your little speech? You know, from the beginning of the episodes where you say. “My name is Oliver Queen”?

SA: I totally forgot it, I swear to God! I don’t even remember what it was this year. Again, I never watch the episode that airs. I record it in August and then I never think of it again.

Fan: From season one, maybe?

SA: Oh, I can’t remember that one! I tell you what… when the next one comes out I’ll Tweet it. I’ll Tweet that I’ve just done what they call “The saga sell” and I’ll make sure that the next con that I go to someone will ask me, or I’ll have James (the moderator) remember to ask me, we’ll do it and we’ll put it on the internet.

No Man Is An Island

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Fan: We saw in the season finale how everyone seems to have (been) killed off on the island. If something was to happen to Samantha, how do you think Oliver would cope with being a full time dad, being Green Arrow and the mayor of Star City?

SA: That would be a very interesting story, I’ll tell you that much. I think Oliver is more equipped to be a father than maybe he realizes. I hope that he’d do a really good job. That would certainly create an interesting dynamic. It’s too bad that at the end of the season everybody died.

(Nervous laughter from the audience)

Fan: If you could get rid of any (of Oliver’s traits) what would (they) be?

SA: Eye shadow?

(Laughs)

No… Oliver is a very linear thinker. He’s a very task oriented person, and – based on the nature of our show – he doesn’t take a lot of time to stop and relax. In our penultimate episode this year Felicity says to Oliver, “How’s this going for you? Kinda relaxing”… and he’s “It’s torture, it’s awful, I hate it!” It would be nice if he didn’t need conflict, and strife, and adversarial people in his life in order to feel normal. That would be nice.

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

Fan: If you could play anyone other than Oliver in Arrow, who would you play?

SA: Diggle!

(Huge applause)

Look, I’m not telling you how to live your life, and enjoy the show… but if that’s not your answer you should rethink your position! I get why other people may be picking someone else, but… Diggle!

Fan: I know that you and John (Barrowman) are good friends, but what was your favorite scene to play with him?

SA: That’s tough to say. I didn’t have a favorite scene, per-se, to play with John… but, when we were filming in the first season they didn’t even tell me that he was the dark archer. No one told me! When I found out, it corresponded with our ninth episode, which was his reveal, our first big fight, and our first time spending all night shooting together.

It also corresponded with Friday October 12th, when the show premiered for the first time on October 10th. I had so many thoughts, and so many questions, and the premiere had been a success, and John with all of the knowledge that he’d derived from his career, from Doctor Who and from Torchwood, from all the different shows, and from everything that John does… I was just able to pepper him with questions. Just like Josh Segarra peppering me with wrestling questions.

(Laughter)

That was one of, if not the most, valuable nights and experiences I’ve ever had shooting the show.

Fan: Would you ever do a charity campaign along with Emily, so we can have both your faces on a t-shirt, and not just the one?

SA: The only t-shirt that I own with two faces on it is Jared (Padalecki) and Jensen (Ackles: Sam and Dean Winchester, from the CW’s non-superhero hit show Supernatural).

(Massive cheers and applause from the crowd)

I think that would be fun. Teaming up for a charity campaign would be fun. If we found the right cause, and the right time, and the right design… I think that would be great!

Fan: I recently had the experience of going for a drink with my hero. Who would yours be, if you could go for a drink with someone?

SA: Can they be a fictional person?

Fan: Fictional, alive or dead.

SA: I’m gonna go with John McClane! (Bruce Willis’ legendary hero from the Die Hard franchise)

(Huge round of applause)

Seems like he’d be a good guy to have a drink with… as long as he was super pissed off about something. I’d love to hear late eighties, still rated ‘R’ John McClane just bitch about politics, or something. Or just aaarrrggghhh millennials, stuff like that. That’d be great!

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Ladies’ Night

Fan: I have two questions. Of all the girls that Oliver’s been with, who would you choose?

(The crowd erupts with laughter)

SA: It’s Sunday morning, and what do you mean “Been with?”

(More laughs)

Do you mean been with, been with?

Fan: Love interest been with.

SA: Oh! You mean like, had a meal with.

(Even more laughs)

What’s your next question?

(The crowd is now cracking up)

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Fan: If you could be in any of our British programmes, which one would it be?

SA: You mean other than Loose Women? (The UK chat show similar to The View) I was on Loose Women on Friday with John, and I found out about the British term for… never mind.

(The laughter continues)

I would love to be somebody in the original UK version of The Office, which is one of my favorites of all time!

(Appreciative applause)

I’d be like the stupid copy guy who’s from Toronto, who speaks super Canadian. I dunno… That’d be fun.

Fan: Concerning Earth 2 Oliver. Do you think he would have treated Laurel better than Earth 1 Oliver?

SA: I think that everything is different for Oliver if he doesn’t get on the boat. There’s a version there… there’s an Earth where it’s Oliver and Laurel forever. But I think that the Queen’s Gambit, Sara and a variety of other things – almost all his fault – sorry, no that’s wrong – all his fault – made it so that it wasn’t meant to be.

And that’s it! We hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage from London’s first ever Heroes & Villains event. Please, as always, leave us some feedback.

The show will be back in the UK next year, so hopefully your mild-mannered British DC Comics News correspondent will be on hand, to get the low-down.

Until then… take care y’all!

Right On Target – Live In London With Stephen Amell Stephen Amell is the star of the international smash hit TV show, Arrow. This is the series that launched the DC TV universe, which is now collectively and lovingly known as the Arrowverse, the Flarrowverse (

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