#One wonders if Paige switched the numbers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

Text

Rambling About 1998 Casting

Having seen a ton old, Broadway-based productions, and a ton of newer, London-based productions, so I now have a general idea of what the differences between the two are, I’ve noticed just how much adding Broadway cast members to a mostly London-based show affected the VHS version.

Three Broadway actors were cast in 1998, one from the original cast, and two who were performing at the time.

Ken Page was the original Broadway Old Deuteronomy. Old Deuteronomy’s role is pretty much the same in London and Broadway versions, so there’s not much to comment on with him. But, Munkustrap and Mistoffelees are characters with tons of little differences between versions, so Michael Gruber and Jacob Brent changed more.

But, Michael Gruber’s casting actually didn’t change much. The biggest difference between London Munkustrap and Broadway Munkustrap is the Macavity Fight. Broadway Munk is taken out of the action much earlier. Someone cast as Munk in London would have to learn more fight choreography than someone cast on Broadway. But, the London version of the Macavity Fight was used in 1998. Michael Gruber learned the new choreography for the filmed version.

Mistoffelees is different. Virtually every time the choreography and staging of the character differs between London and Broadway, 1998 uses the Broadway version. Misto’s opening line is Broadway. A large portion of Jellicle Ball choreography (Fugue, Girls, Mungo Entrance, Boys Jump, Tours) is Broadway. Mistoffelees is absent during Skimble’s number, because Broadway had a longer break for Misto actors to change costumes for Misto’s number than London did. The pacing of Misto’s number comes from the Broadway variant where Misto sings the second verse, even though he doesn’t sing it in this version.

There are a lot more changes between London and Broadway with Misto’s stuff than with Munk’s stuff. Munk’s changes were one fight scene. I’m guessing there was too much London choreography for Jacob Brent to learn during rehearsals, so they switched it to what he was already familiar with.

When Misto was given his Broadway role, if his London role was still needed, it was given to Tumblebrutus. This put Tumblebrutus in many places where I’ve never seen him appear onstage. In Broadway-based productions, “have you been an alumnus of heaven and hell?” is Plato’s opening line. In Broadway-based productions, Munkustrap holds the light at the front of Skimble’s train. In London-based productions, those are both Mistoffelees. Instead of just imitating Broadway and putting Plato and Munk in those places, which would’ve been very easy to do in Munk’s case, they swapped in Tumblebrutus.

Tumblebrutus was played by Fergus Logan, who played Mistoffelees in London at the time, so he was more familiar with these bits, though it must’ve been weird doing them as a different character. He also had to learn the rest of Tumble’s track, but only parts that didn’t overlap with Misto’s track, or with Pouncival’s track when those were swapped out.

Then there’s that reworking of the Jellicle Ball. In every version of the ball, we start out with the entire cast together, but eventually the crowd disperses.

In London-based productions, Carbucketty/Pouncival has a ballet solo. He crosses the stage and one of the girls, usually Jemima/Sillabub, runs past him. They briefly acknowledge each other. Carbucketty/Pouncival reaches the other side of the stage and Mistoffelees runs out. Weirdly, this step is called “Mungo’s Entrance”, even though I’ve never seen Mungojerrie be the one who enters here. Anyway, Carbucketty/Pouncival and Misto jump around a bit and the Jerrie tumbles out (maybe this should’ve been called Mungo’s entrance), followed by Cassandra. Jerrie tries to hit on Cassandra and gets rejected. This is when Bomba’s section starts up.

In Broadway-based productions, the bit where Jemima/Sillabub runs by (literally named Girls) is cut and replaced with Alonzo. Mistoffelees gets the ballet solo, crosses the stage towards Alonzo, and they seem to dance the idea of making polite conversation. Pouncival runs out for the Mungo Entrance and the Boys Jump features three cats, instead of two. Tumblebrutus tumbles out and we have a bit that I’ve dubbed the Antagonistic Waggle, where Tumble gets in a bit of a fit with the other boys. The fight breaks up when Cassandra comes out and then Bomba starts up her section.

If you took a Carbucketty, cast them as Pouncival and gave them the Broadway choreography, it’d be easy. They don’t get their ballet solo, but once they get onstage for the Boys Jump, it’d all be pretty familiar. However, London Alonzo isn’t in this section at all, so this would be new stuff to learn. The 1998 version added a moment where Alonzo hits on Bomba and gets rejected, possibly to match the Jerrie/Cassandra bit that would have in London, and when Cassandra comes out, Alonzo is far more successful with her than Jerrie is, because Casslonzo is basically canon in London-based productions.

So, there was a lot of rearranging to mix some Broadway into the 1998 film, even though the Broadway cast members were outnumbered.

This is all interesting, but I sometimes wonder why they made this decision. I’m not at all complaining, because it turned out great, but it wasn’t the most convenient decision. Since the filming was based out of London, you’d think they would’ve just gathered the London cast, reworked some of the choreography for film, and left it at that. Most filmed recordings of plays don’t mix and match their casts. I think they wanted the show they filmed to sort of represent all shows up to that point. But how did they pick which characters to use the current London cast for vs. the ones to get someone else for? And why cast several roles with actors who’d never played them before?

I honestly don’t know, but I have a few observations.

So, if they went to represent all of Cats, getting someone from the original London cast was vital. Since Grizabella is the character with the iconic song, the song that made the show a hit outside of theatre circles, casting the first person to sing that song in an official production makes perfect sense. Thus, Elaine Paige as Grizabella. Also, Grizabella is an older character, so casting someone in 1997 who first played the role in 1981 would mean casting an older actress. That works perfectly here.

In fact, most of the older characters were cast with older actors. Ken Page first played Old D in 1982. For Gus, instead of a casting an actor who’d played him before, they actually cast an old actor, someone who could represent a human version of Gus. This completely changed the tone of the number, but in a way that people liked. When watching bootlegs, I tend to skip over Gus, but it’s one of my favorite numbers in 1998.

The other characters on the older side of the cast are Bustopher, Asparagus, Skimble, Jellylorum, and Jennyanydots. James Barron (Bustopher) and Susie McKenna (Jenny) were playing the roles in London at the time. Tony Timberlake (Asparagus), played the Gustopher (Gus/Asparagus/Bustopher) role in London directly before Barron did. Geoffrey Garratt (Skimble) first played his role in the 1989 UK tour. Susan Jane Tanner (Jelly) was from the original London cast. So, there’s a mix of old and new.

I don’t actually know the ages of most of these actors, so I can’t give exact numbers of how old they were when they first played their roles vs. when recording for the VHS. Also, Garratt is not the only actor who came from the 1989 tour. Rosemarie Ford (Bombalurina) spent most of her Cats career playing Grizabella, but she began as Bomba in 1989. Aeva May (Demeter) started even earlier, being cast as Demeter in London in 1986. Both played adult, but younger adult characters for the VHS at 35. 1989 was still less than a decade before the VHS and 1986 only slightly before.

So, Grizabella, Old Deuteronomy, and Jellylorum were the three older characters cast with actors who’d played their roles a long time before the VHS, meaning that their actors were a bit closer to the age of their characters. I’m not sure why Jellylorum in particular got this emphasis, other than that it just works. It just does. But, this does cause this weird effect with my brain when actors played Jelly too young. I also get annoyed when Jenny’s played too young because she’s the OLD Gumbie Cat. It’s the title of the song. How could you miss that? But, neither Skimble nor Jelly have their ages made nearly as clear, so it should be understandable when 30 year-old actors don’t know how old they’re supposed to be and just play them at 30. This is easy to accept with Skimble, but not with Jelly, entirely because I can recognize from 1998 that she both aligns herself with older characters and is played by an older actress. She doesn’t look 30. If a 30 year-old is cast as Jelly, and has seen the 1998 version, they should probably know that. If Jellylorum was meant to be younger, they wouldn’t have cast the role the way they did.

Now, back to Misto. I called this “rambling” for a reason. I’m writing off the top of my head here.

Mistoffelees is a really weird case. They cast the Broadway actor, but still brought in the London actor to play a different character, one he’d never played before. Fergus Logan wasn’t the only actor playing a role he hadn’t played before. Rebecca Parker (Cassandra) began as a swing and then played Bomba. Frank Thompson (George) started off as Admetus/Macavity and then became a swing. As swings, they could’ve played their filmed roles before, but I have no proof of that. (As a side note, I wonder if Thompson being an Admetus has something to do with his George being credited as Admetus).

But, Parker and Thompson seemed pretty comfortable as Cassandra and George, while Logan struggled a bit with Tumblebrutus. I think this is because, half the time, 1998 Tumblebrutus isn’t even Tumblebrutus. He’s a stand-in for London Mistoffelees. Having to be a stand-in, and having more experience in his stand-in role, I don’t think Logan was given a whole lot of room to develop his Tumblebrutus, so the role felt reduced and inconsistent. Parker just had to play Cassandra, so she developed her Cassandra. Thompson just had to play George, so he developed his George. 1998 basically tried to have a Broadway and a London Misto at the same time and sort of lost Tumblebrutus as a character along the way.

Tumblebrutus isn’t a major character, especially in London-based productions, so this isn’t a major problem. Some tours and smaller productions actually cut Tumblebrutus in favor of Electra. Pouncival is never cut. He seems to be the preferred tom kitten in general. But, the reduced role of Tumblebrutus is the result of casting a Broadway Mistoffelees when it seems like they wanted a London one. But, they cast a Broadway Munkustrap and had him play a London Munkustrap with no one cast as a stand-in, while they made changes to Misto’s role to match the Broadway version. They wanted both versions so badly that they basically refused to choose just one.

With the casting of Michael Gruber, from what I can tell, Gillian Lynne just really liked him in the role.

(Interview tidbit is from Michael Gruber’s page on the Cats Wiki)

This might’ve been the case with Jacob Brent as Mistoffelees as well, but I think there was more to it than that. Technically, Brent and Logan were both great in the role. Seeing Misto and Tumble in the Boys Ballet, which Brent said Logan had the timing for better than he did, Logan might’ve actually been better at dancing the role.

But, I think what decided Brent’s casting was his acting of the role.

The role of Mistoffelees evolved a lot over time and London and Broadway evolved in different directions. By the time Brent was cast, Broadway Mistoffelees was a mix of the very dramatic, theatrical character Broadway started with and the younger, more awkward version that Lindsay Chambers brought to Broadway from Zurich. Brent was Chambers’ understudy and their versions of the character are similar. There are no full recordings of Chambers as Misto on Broadway, but there is a bootleg from Zurich, so the two portrayals can be compared.

Zurich was Vienna-based. The 1983 Vienna production was mostly based off of Broadway, but with a few changes. One of these changes is that Mistoffelees, who had a large singing role on Broadway, became completely mute. Mute Misto soon spread to Amsterdam and Paris. In Paris, the character was aged down and given more of a character arc where magically recovering Old Deuteronomy becomes a coming-of-age moment. Zurich took this characterization and ran with it. Both Paris and Zurich opened with Tibor Kovats as Misto, but the bootleg was filmed after Lindsay Chambers took over. The younger, coming-of-age aspects of the character were doubled down on. On top of that, Chambers’ Misto is an outcast, often scolded by the older cats in the tribe for what appear to be misunderstandings. Munkustrap is particularly harsh with him, and after he brings Old D back, Munkustrap dances with him and leads him to the tire for Tugger’s “ladies and gentlemen” finale. Munkustrap took the lead in honoring Misto at the end. Gaining Munk’s respect in particular is Zurich Misto’s arc.

Jacob Brent also plays Misto as younger and prone to awkward mistakes, but the tone is different. His Misto is more Broadway theatrical, with a small singing role. This makes him seem a bit more confident, and he at times appears to have a bit of an ego. Most of the older cats seem to like him. Munkustrap, the complete opposite to his Zurich counterpart, is very patient with Misto and seems to understand him a bit better than some of the other cats. Instead, Misto doesn’t really seem to fit in with cats closer to his own age and it’s the entire tribe he has to impress, without focus on a specific character.

All in all, the storyline with Zurich Misto is a bit more obvious. But, Brent’s Misto is more energetic, more dynamic. He makes facial expressions that make for great close ups. The combination of the clear story arc, which can be made even clearer on film, and that energy and expressiveness, make for a character that works really well on film. He’s the ideal Misto for a recorded production.

So, it was less Jacob Brent as a dancer, and more Mistoffelees, the character as played by Jacob Brent, that they were looking for.

I’ve run out of things to ramble about for now. I’ll just add on at the end that all of these people are awesome.

88 notes · View notes

some-lists · 4 years

Text

My Favorite Movies & TV Shows About Sisters

I already did a list of my favorite movies and tv shows about best friends. As I was compiling that list, a number of movies and shows about sisters popped into my head. I didn’t include them because I thought, “Well, they’re sisters, not friends.” So, now I present a list of my favorite movies and TV shows about sisters!

10. Switched at Birth

Switched at Birth is about two teen girls who discover they were switched at birth. They both choose to meet their biological families and become forever connected. Though Bay and Daphne are not actually sisters, they become sisters as they now share parents, siblings, and homes. They come from different walks of life. Bay is wealthy while Daphne was raised by a single working Latina mother. What’s especially great is the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing leads and the use of sign language.

9. Sense & Sensibility

Pride & Prejudice is usually the most popular of Jane Austen’s novels (and movie adaptations), but I personally like Sense & Sensibility more. The 90′s version has an excellent cast that includes Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman. Marianne Dashwood (Winslet) is the hopeless romantic who wears her heart out on her sleeve. Sensible, dutiful Elinor (Thompson) keeps all her feelings to herself. They fall in love, have their hearts broken, and have each other’s backs even if they don’t totally understand each other.

8. Fuller House

The original Full House is a better show than Fuller House, but I like the female trio of DJ, Stephanie, and Kimmy in the sequel series. Kimmy isn’t a sister, but she essentially becomes one of their sisters and officially Stephanie’s sister-in-law. They all have their different personalities that align with the original male trio in Full House. DJ is the goody-goody, slightly OCD supermom (Danny). Stephanie is the fun loving aunt (Uncle Jesse). Kimmy is the wacky best friend (Joey). We get to see them go on girl nights out, plan parties, serve as bridesmaids, and more. Full House may be the classic, but I think Fuller House is more fun.

7. Charmed

I haven’t seen the new reboot of Charmed, so this is about the 90s-00s version. I’ll admit the current drama between the two casts has left a sour taste in my mouth. But the original show was one I looked forward to watching with my two sisters each week. We loved that each sister had their own distinct magical power and their own successful careers. I preferred when Shannen Doherty was in the cast as oldest sister Prue over Rose McGowan’s Paige. But watching either trio combat demons while navigating their love lives was good entertainment.

6. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Even though To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is mainly a rom-com about Lara Jean’s love life, it’s also a sweet story about sisters. The sister relationships were especially wonderful in the books, and one of the things I really loved about it. We see even though Lara Jean has had some sadness in her life, she is supported by her loving family. It’s nice that they are not jealous of each other or resentful towards one another. They may bicker from time to time, but ultimately the love between the three of them is clear.

5. 10 Things I Hate About You

One of my favorite movies of all time! Just like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, 10 Things I Hate About You is a rom-com that happens to feature a great sister relationship. Kat and Bianca are total opposites. Kat is anti-social while Bianca is a social butterfly. In the beginning we see resentment between the two due to their differences in personality. Bianca thinks Kat is a bitch. Kat thinks Bianca is shallow and conceited. But by the end they grow to respect each other. We see that Kat is actually a very strong, driven, independent woman. Bianca grows from a spoiled rich girl to someone who sees past vanity and stands up for her sister. Also, Heath Ledger.

4. Wish Upon a Star

Someone brilliant took the concept of Freaky Friday and applied it to sisters. The younger bookworm sister swaps bodies with her older, popular sister. While in each other’s bodies, they both grow into better people as they walk in the other’s shoes. The younger sister becomes more confident. The older sister becomes less superficial and a better student. They both learn to like themselves for who they are and grow closer as they have to rely on each other to switch back.

3. Hocus Pocus

In the spirit of Halloween, I had to include the Sanderson Sisters. Even though this movie isn’t exactly about sisters, it features one of the best sister trios ever. Winnie is the bossy one, Mary has hound dog-like sniffing abilities, and Sarah is the sexy airhead. They are so entertaining and funny. Classic!

2. Little Women

I haven’t seen the newest version of Little Women -- though I really want to. The 90′s version was one of my all time favorite movies. It had an all star cast with Winona Rider as feisty Jo, Claire Danes as shy Beth, Kirsten Dunst as young Amy, Christian Bale as boy next door Laurie, and Susan Sarandon as Marmie. They are all wonderful. We see the sisters play together, fight, and grow up. It sticks pretty close to the book, and it has a warm, charming Christmas vibe to it. Now I just have to see the new one!

1. Sister Sister

Two identical twins discover they were separated as babies after being adopted by different people. They find each other again and move in together. Tia is studious while Tamera is a party girl. They have a pesky little neighbor to deal with along with other high school adventures. Their parents, especially Tia’s mom Lisa Landry, are hilarious. Sister Sister was just a really cool show.

#sisters #sister sister #sense and sensibility #switched at birth #hocus pocus #10 things i hate about you #to all the boys i've loved before #charmed #wish upon a star #little women #fuller house

27 notes · View notes

smol-and-grumpy · 5 years

Text

Take You For A Ride

Re-Post

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: What do you say when Dean wants to take you for a ride?

WC: 1.4k

Warnings: Smut (face sitting, face grinding, teasing)

You were counting the money in the register when he walked in.

He was trouble, you could see that, as if the word ‘trouble’ was stamped across his forehead with invisible ink. Maybe the way he walked gave it away.

He was bold, his movement had a swagger, and he kind of acted as if he owned the place. Those kind of men were the ones your mom warned you about. But, sadly, those kind of men were also the ones that pushed all your buttons.

“We’re closed,” you said dryly, even before he could utter a word. It was true, you were about to finish counting and leave - head home, jump into a hot bath and relax - and you hoped that it would be sooner rather than later.

“I’m sorry, the sign says you’re open.” He was so close, then, and you hoped that he wouldn’t hear how your heartbeat picked up speed with his presence.

His hand slid over the bar top, and he drummed his fingers along to the music.

God, those fingers. They were long and thick and… no, you shouldn’t have been thinking those thoughts about a man who just walked through the door. But could you blame yourself? It had been way too long since you had someone in your bed (or anywhere else for that matter) and you missed it.

You didn’t just want to fuck any guy who so much as smiled in your direction, though. You were picky and that might’ve just been your downfall. Besides, the only men you had contact with lately were regulars at the bar and you really, really, really didn’t see them as sexually attractive. Sexual attraction loses power when you have to clean up puke, and you’d done plenty of that.

So no, the men in your life were not the ones you wanted to have sex with. Unlike the man before you, who was oozing sex appeal by just standing there and breathing. How did he do that?

“I forgot to lock it up. My mistake.” You looked up, then, which was another mistake because you could really see his face and his eyes. It was dark in the bar, but, still, those eyes were shining bright. They were green-ish with a spark of playfulness, and the faint freckles spread across his face… Oh, god… Suddenly you felt the urge to connect them and you’d love to do it with your tongue.

No! You shook your head, trying to rid yourself of the impure thoughts that clouded your mind.

It was as if he knew what you were thinking because his lips spread into a smirk before he flashed his perfect teeth. He produced a badge from his suit jacket and waved it in front of your face. “Special Agent Paige.” He folded it and put it back before you could take a better look. “I have some questions about a regular of yours.”

His tongue darted out to lick at his bottom lip, and you couldn’t stop thinking about what his tongue could do to you. How he could lick every inch of your body and you wouldn’t mind. Not one bit. You’d be begging for more, actually, because he looked like he knew how to put that tongue to good use. You imagined how it would feel on your throbbing, wet pussy lips, wondered how it would feel to have him carve a path from your clit to your pussy entrance and beyond. That face paired with those lips? You couldn’t lie, you wanted to take his pretty face for a ride. He could throw you off at the gates of Hell, and you’d probably still be thanking him for the ride.

Fuck… what was wrong with you?

“Let me finish this.” You didn’t even know why you said that because you’d stopped counting a long time ago. How could you concentrate on stupid numbers when the only thing you wanted to count was the freckles on his face and body? How could you still be counting when his hands are doing what they do?

Like right then? Yeah, they were just resting there, folded over each other, but, damn, you just knew what he could do with them. You knew how capable he just had to be with those skilled fingers.

Oops, there you went again… You started to blush, cleared your throat, looking down at your own hands that were still holding a couple of bills.

“Right, I’ll just wait over there.” He pointed to the booth in the far corner before smiling and walking away. He locked the door with the dead bolt and flipped the switch to turn off the neon light ‘OPEN’ sign outside the door.

You generally hated and loved the bar you’d inherited from your dad. Running the family business had odd perks, though, like knowing full well you could arm yourself for potentially dangerous nights alone - like this one. Yes, the hours were shit and the money was shit, but the place was yours, free and clear.

Maybe you should’ve been scared, being alone with a strange man. But he was a federal agent, right? Besides, you had your trusty, little 9mm tucked in your garter. You’d never had to use it and you hoped it’d stay that way, but you were prepared. And you swore, if he tried anything funny, that beautiful face would be the thing you were going to aim at.

***

You took your time, counting and recounting because he kept staring and distracting you. You turned up the music so you could at least hum along to that, but there was no denying that you felt his eyes on you the whole time. Yet, when you looked up at him, he would busy himself with scrolling through his phone.

You wondered if he’d even be interested in silly, old you, or if you’d made it up in your head. Either way, you were finished and you needed to face him. You hope that you wouldn’t embarrass yourself; or, worse, that you’d have to hurt his pretty face.

Grabbing a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, you joined the agent in the booth. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Agent Paige,” you said. “Can I offer you a drink? Or are you not allowed to drink while on duty?”

He smirked. “Name’s Dean. And, yes, please - a drink sounds about right.”

“I’m Y/N,” you said, pouring two fingers of whiskey into a glass and shoving it across the table.

“Thanks, Y/N. How’d you know I like whiskey?” He waited for you to pour yours and then you clinked glasses.

“I didn’t but it’s the only thing I can drink in this bar,” you answered. “You also look like a beer drinker, but I closed and cleaned the taps already, so…” You shrugged and took a sip, your eyes watching him look over to the bar to see that it was clean before he returned his gaze to yours.

“Touché. Then I’m glad that you like whiskey.” He set his empty glass down, and you took the bottle in your hand, looking at him for approval before pouring him another two fingers.

“So, what’s your question?” You’d almost forgotten that he was there because of a regular. At least that’s what he’d said, and even though you wanted to go home before, your urge to end this conversation was suddenly gone.

“Yeah, about that,” Dean started. It was almost as if he were lost in thought himself, and only because you reminded him that he remembered. He took another sip before putting his glass back down. His relaxed posture changed again, as if he were transforming back into the federal agent - a little less relaxed, a little more agitated. “Have you noticed any regular patrons missing?”

You thought hard about his question. Then it hit you - there were two patrons that you hadn’t seen or heard of from in a week. You weren’t sure if there were others. The bar was normally packed with a mix of new and old patrons, and there were probably more than 30 regulars… come to think of it… You started to frown. That number had dropped significantly in the last couple of months. There were only about a dozen regulars left. When you looked up at Dean with realization in your eyes, he nodded his acknowledgment.

“Thought so,” he said. “Look, we’re still figuring out what’s going on around here. I want you to be safe, OK?” He took your hand in his, and you noticed then that they were shaking. He rubbed a calming thumb against the back of your hand.

“What’s happening?” You calmed down enough to ask him, and he poured himself and you another drink before downing it in one go himself.

“I can’t say. But I’ll make sure that you’re safe. And you seem to know how to defend yourself, so I think you’re good.” He smirked with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“You’re carrying a 9mm on your thigh.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m just that good.” He chuckled to himself.

“That, you are.” You felt a little woozy as the alcohol traveled through your bloodstream.

“I need to go check on something else. You good?” He stood up, holding a hand out and you took it gladly.

“I’m a big girl, Agent,” you answered. “I can manage. Besides, I have my gun.” You lift up your skirt enough for him to see it pressed against your thigh.

“Well…” He cleared his throat. “That’s a sight I’ll be dreaming about tonight.” He walked to the door and you followed suit.

“Keep an eye out,” he said. “And if you notice more people disappearing, let me know, will ya?” He handed you a card, which you tucked into your garter along with the gun. Dean watched with admiration.

“Will do, Agent.” You smiled up at him, and he looked back before his hand gripped the deadbolt, about to open it up.

Then you didn’t know what happend. There was a rush, and everything was blurred. You didn’t know who made the first move, but, suddenly, his arms were around you and his lips were on yours. He lifted you up, and you hooked your legs around his waist as he licked into your mouth. His velvety tongue tasted like whiskey, and it made you drunk. He walked you to the nearest booth and laid you down on the table, kissing you with more passion, then, and oh god, he’s not only good looking but he’s a damn good kisser too.

“Tell me what you want, Y/N,” he growled low before he kissing down your throat.

His fingers - you just knew that they were capable - unbuttoned your shirt as he mouthed at your throat. He was eager, too, couldn’t wait until he unbuttoned it all; instead, he tore your shirt apart, sending buttons flying in every direction.

“Sorry.” The apology came out a mumble before his lips attacked your cleavage, kissing and sucking a path to your bra-cup. “Tell me,” he demanded again. You were speechless before, but you tried to summon the courage to tell him what was really going through your mind.

“Ever since you walked through that door,” you started to as he pulled your bra cup down, his eyes on yours.

“Yeah?” he encouraged, smiling, his thumb flicking against a hard nipple.

“Ah…” You arched your back at the sensation.

“Go on,” he commanded, cupping both your tits that he freed from your bra, held them in his big palms and squeezed them.

“Oh, god… ” You covered your red face with both your hands, embarrassed to tell him the truth. To tell him, what you’d been really thinking when he’d walked through that damn door.

Dean’s eyes were fixed on yours as he stuck out his tongue, the tip of it just barely grazing a nipple. Then he spoke again. “You’ve gotta tell me, Y/N. And don’t lie because I’ll know when you’re lying.” He chuckled before flicking his tongue over your other nipple.

“Oh, yeah? They’ve been teaching you that at the Bureau?” You counter, trying to talk yourself out of admitting your desire to him. As much as you would have loved to tell him the truth, you didn’t think you’d be able to. For starters, you’d just met him! You couldn’t go around telling people how much you wanted to ride their faces, could you?

He smirked before taking a nipple into his mouth and nibbling it. That, accompanied with him rutting his big, fucking bulge against your panty-clad core, made you writhe under of him. “Tell me, or you won’t get anything, baby.” His voice was throaty, and you could feel it vibrating your body.

He took the nipple back in his mouth, biting a little harder and twirling the fingers of his other hand around your other tit, pulling until it hurt.

“Ah…” You bit your lips, arched your back, and drove your tit deeper into his face. “Alright, fine! Fuck…”

Dean looked up to you, his mouth abandoned your tit, but his hips still kept circling against your pussy as he smiled.

“Fine.” You were panting hard and that damn smirk of his was taunting you. “The first thing I thought when I saw you standing before me?”

You made a pause, and Dean nodded, urging you on.

Rolling your eyes to the back, you let out a sigh before you went on, but not without squinting your eyes shut. “I thought about how good it would feel to ride your pretty face.”

Still holding your eyes shut, you waited for a reaction, but when nothing audible was forthcoming, you slowly opened your eyes to see Dean trying his best not to burst out laughing.

“What? You told me to tell you the truth!” You defended your filthy thoughts, blushing a little - well, no, a lot - as he tried to hold himself together.

He didn’t say anything more, though. Instead, he mouthed his way down, sucking and biting at your dress and pulling up your skirt to be able to mouth against your clothed crotch. Dean let out a soft growl when he reached the damp patch, sucking in the fabric and tasting your juice from it.

His fingers hooked into your panties, pulling them slowly down. The fabric caught on the handle of your 9mm, and you were about to take it off when Dean stopped you. “You’re gonna leave it on. I wanna feel it dig into my cheek while you ride me, sweetheart.” He winked, and, oh, god, how could you say no to that?

Dean unhooked your panties from the gun and finished pulling them down so you were bare. “Won’t need them to take a ride, will you?” He winked again before pushing the panties into his pants pocket. You wanted to protest, wanted to ask him why he put them away, but then he pulled you up, his hand coming around the back of your head as he kissed you hungrily, all tongues and teeth, just the way you liked it. You wondered if you were dreaming, and, if yes, you never wanted to wake up. Ever.

Dean turned so he was standing with his ass against the edge of the table. He pulled you down with him as he laid back, his heavy arms moving you up as he kissed down your chest, pausing shortly to taste your nipple before pulling you further up. He positioned you so you were kneeling, straddling his face.

You balled your skirt at your waist, holding it out of the way of your view because if you were going to do it, if he was going to let you, it would be a damn shame if you couldn’t look at his pretty face and beautiful eyes.

He swallowed audibly, growling a little when he looked up at what was awaiting him, and, oh god, his lips widened into a grin. They were plump and delicious, and you anticipated the moment they hit your core. “C’mon… let’s get you out on a ride on this old horse.” He laughed at his own joke, his eye crinkles showing as his eyes glistened in the faint bar lighting.

You didn’t have to be told twice, honestly. You lowered yourself onto his waiting mouth and as soon as his tongue hit your pulsing flesh, you were almost a goner. How did he do that? You’d never know, but Dean didn’t hesitate. He opened his mouth wider, his tongue darting out, his hands on your ass, pushing and pulling a little to make you move on top of him.

“Oh, fuck,” you muttered, your eyes closing. You desperately wanted to hold on to something other than your stupid dress. Your hands moved swiftly as you yanked it over your head and flung it to the back. Then you unhooked your bra, too, letting it slide off your arms.

As soon as your body was free of fabric, your hands found his head, your fingers digging into his scalp before you fisted them in his hair. You pulled his face up by his hair and ground your hips, rubbing your pussy all over his face. Gone was the shyness - sensation won, and you let yourself go.

You could hear Dean hum his approval at the rough treatment you gave him, and when he started to slurp and suck at your center, you had a hard time holding yourself back.

Looking down, you were met by his green orbs, the little crows feet decorated his eyes. “Dean, fuck… I’m gonna come.”

You thought he’d stop because… well, because maybe some men didn’t like it when a woman comes on their face? You don’t know, you just thought that it was only fair that you warn him.

Dean didn’t stop, though, and you didn’t stop circling your pussy in a figure eight on his face. And when he winked at you, you smiled brightly back at him. That was the sign you needed.

You fisted his hair tighter, driving your short nails into his scalp as you rubbed yourself on his pretty face. Oh, god, that face made you forget your own name.

“Fuck, yes… yes!” you screamed, pushing his face deeper into your convulsing pussy. You came with a shriek and your body immediately went lax. Then your last couple of functioning brain cells reminded you that Dean was under you so you moved your hips down until your head was level with his chest. You collapsed, then, panting hard as he looked up at you with a shiny face.

And maybe it was a mistake looking at him because the freckles on his face were coated in your slick, and, damn it, he looked even better like that. How did he do that?

Dean pushed himself up into a sitting position, making you stand as he moved to the edge of the table. He was still holding you, and you were glad for the support because you didn’t know if your legs would have be able to hold you steady after that orgasm.

He pulled you in for another kiss, and you could taste yourself on his tongue. “You taste fantastic,” he whispered against your mouth, one hand cupping your tit and the other sliding down your back.

All of a sudden, you were shy again. You rested your forehead against his as your hand fisted in his suit jacket. Looking down, you noticed the stain you left behind as you slid down his body after you came.

“I… uh… sorry about that,” you mumbled. “I’ll pay for the dry cleaning.”

Dean laughed out loud. “Sweetheart, don’t worry about that. I was glad to take you on a wild ride.” He winked and kissed your nose.

“Thanks,” you said, “for taking me.”

“So,” he countered, “what if I take you for another ride, huh?”

“Hmm… kinky.” You said with a grin.

Dean took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie before rolling up his sleeves. “Might need a seatbelt, it’s gonna get bumpy…” he chuckled and spanked your ass.

#dean winchester #dean winchester smut #dean winchester x reader #dean x reader #dean winchester x you #dean x you #dean winchester fic #dean winchester fan fic #dean winchester fan fiction #nathalie writes

419 notes · View notes

elliotjgdb427 · 4 years

Text

Gay And Lesbian Porn Groups And Programs

This really is no longer the situation in the United States, given that such laws and regulations were dominated unconstitutional from the Supreme Courtroom in the year 2003 in Lawrence v. Tx. P. S i9000. Sorry, I am just not spreading my telephone number, even if most likely a sweet boy (18+), hot man or muscled male pornstar trying to get in touch with me; ).

Mislav can be described as woodland otage who has hidden himself a long way away from civilisation. With some moving, Mislav may reveal which he had a romance with the lord's son, Florian. As for the information on their age ranges & Paige's crush- both these styles those things have been supposed to be clean in the game, when they were not, I apologize. Throughout Fable 3, once once more there are a lot more lesbian, homosexual, and andrÃ³gino NPC townspeople to courtroom and get married to. Reaver dividends, this time appealing the main character to have a 'private party' in the bedchamber. In the 1980s, personas that can be asserted as discovering as LGBT were seldom shown in the realistic or even non-stereotypical circumstance and had been often the items of poker fun at or humor.

What just about every married couple recognizes is that just what takes over a relationship through the years is certainly companionship. Sex satisfaction is definitely an aspect, yet only a great aspectâ€“not typically the core in the marital relationship. In the Fall forward, Scripture stories the disease involving sin which has set themselves in the design of gentleman. Regarding sins of a love-making nature, there is not any longer an organic sense regarding monogamy. During marriage, a guy is likely to keep soupirant and rest with prostitutes.

Commenters have the event planners and guests "COVIDIOTS!, inches with remarks such as, "So many self-centered people, inches and, "You are the purpose thousands can be dying per day. " Hardly any of them will be worth spreading, as they would certainly add practically nothing new or even interesting towards the alreadyimportant movie. But in this situatio, dancer Nicole Kirkland together with beauty changer Mac Daddyy have joined to bring us all a version belonging to the â€˜WAPâ€™ video clip that features mainly queer persons of colorations. He mentioned Wednesday he "started to be able to slowly realize" he's gay and lesbian in 2017, and started to feel "inauthentic and disingenuous" in his video clips. â€œCaptain Marvelâ€ star BriekÃ¤se Larson possesses queer Forums in a tizzy today right after she shared a video involving herself addressing personal inquiries to her Youtube . com channel in addition to one response, dropped a touch that this lady could be homosexual.

Yet , they said, typically the wider issue of law enforcement abuse with their arrest power for homosexual, lesbian plus transgendered individuals will carry on unless the particular political kings protesting the previous look into the second item. But as racy as the online video is, supporters are beneath no sham that the a couple of are in typically the throes regarding gay new puppy love. Mister. Robinson in addition to Mr. Finney identify because heterosexual, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?search=gay but since some TikTok influencers have found, man-on-man motion is a quick way to crank out traffic. Published in Feb ., the video features gotten greater than 2 . two million landscapes and thirty-one, 000 reviews. In the online video, Trump looked after her hubby as a staunch champion regarding lesbians, gays(i think they are sick), bisexuals, transgender and singular Americans, and even rejected typically the claims regarding his "enemies in the personal establishment" which he is anti-gay or towards equality. "I know how a lot my husband adores the Us people and am know the passion is obviously is to find all the individuals of this excellent country flourish and succeed, " the girl said inside the video. LGBT Studies within Videois some sort of cinematic study of the everyday life of saphic girls, gay, androgino, and transgender people in addition to the cultural and even political progress of the LGBT community.

Simply by clicking on the particular "Enter" switch, and by getting into this website a person agree with all of the above and approve under charges of perjury that you are a grownup. If you are underneath the age of eighteen years, or even under the regarding majority within the location through where you are getting at this website there is no need authorization or even permission in order to enter this site or entry any of the materials. In case you are older than 18 several years or over age majority within the location through where you are being able to access this website by simply entering the web site you hereby agree to abide by all the Conditions and terms. You also concur with and consent that you are definitely not offended by simply nudity and even explicit depictions of sexual acts. Michael Lucas' Dangerous Attache Lucas Leisure is the greatest production with this director together with studio. Variously described as a movie adaptation regarding Les lien dangereuses, and also a remake involving Dangerous Attache.

Itâ€™s a brazen pro-sex anthem that doesnâ€™t clearly tie getting a pussy or even being major in the bedroom in order to womanhood together with, thus, has the capacity to bring out the lining â€œfreakâ€ that individuals of all sexes and sexualities. It should become said, for many who donâ€™t understand, that Cardi and Megan are 2 women who happen to be attracted to men and women. Footage of this Australian soccer star showing up in a gay and lesbian porn video clip has been going around online current weeks. The particular scene was initially shot nine years ago, plus Capewell, who is in an extensive relationship using a woman, claims he was tricked into engaging. She is relocated to see the wonderful blessings the lady does have got and then is targeted on how she could honor normally the one who perished for her. Meant for, again, which is only point that distinguishes romantic absolutely love and associate loveâ€“sexual love.

My personal Masters any movie by the director that has influenced several gay painters. L. Some sort of. Plays By itself is a movie by an important director which is archived with the Museum of recent Art, Nyc. The sixties and 1971s also noticed the grow of gay and lesbian publishing along with After Dark together with Michael's Issue. During this time more magazines have been founded, like In Touch plus Blueboy. Playgirl, ostensibly developed for women, had been purchased and even enjoyed by simply gay as well as feature total frontal nudity.

L'ensemble des Minets Sauvages (Jean-Daniel Cadinot, 1984) is among the biggest movies of colorgaytube the important French pornographic director. Lack of Aspen series, from 1978, is probably the Adult Movie News' top all time gay and lesbian movies. Several scholars believe while "barebacking" and "UAI" technically each mean exactly the same thing, they have various undertones. With all the increased technique term "barebacking", the term continues to be adopted to get marketing reasons.

This is because "Unprotected Anal Intercourse" makes an immediate connection among unprotected intercourse and the danger of getting diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless , although "bareback" seems to have end up being the favorable phrase, studies show that will both conditions ultimately have got equally harmful implications. Inside a study exactly where participants had been shown 2 different moments featuring anal sex, the importance of the words and phrases "bareback" plus "UAI" grew to become apparent. Include galleries in order to playlist simply by clicking the icon on your own favourite movies. Gaymaletube. possuindo has a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal porn material. Click here designed for records necessary pursuant to eighteen U. Ersus. C. 2257 Record Maintaining Requirements Conformity Statement. Simply by entering this website you vow that you are associated with legal age group in your area to see adult materials and that you intend to view this kind of material.

2 notes · View notes

nothingeverlost · 5 years

Text

Fic: Henry Gold (5/?)

Summary: Regina asked for Gold’s help in procuring a child, but when he held the wee boy in his arms he couldn’t give the child up. Ten years later it’s Henry Gold who arrives in Boston, looking for Emma.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3/ Chapter 4

A/N: Very Henry-lite, but . Emma meets Mary Margaret, a pregnant girl, and applies first aid. More show dialog than past chapters.

"You had us all worried, Henry." At Henry's request Emma walked him to school the next morning. They were greeted in the playground by a woman with short hair who looked strangely familiar, though Emma knew that they'd never met. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Thanks Miss Blanchard. I have to go talk to Paige. Bye Emma, thanks for walking me." Henry was off before Emma had a chance to respond. Ever since the call had come from Franklin's that it would be at least a week before her car could be repaired, thanks to a part that needed to be ordered, Henry had been much more relaxed.

"So you're Henry's teacher." Who happened to be the woman that Henry thought was her mother. The mother who was, from the looks of her, the same age as Emma herself. "I'm Emma. I'm, uh…"

"His biological mother. You're also the one that got him and Archie out of the mine." Miss Blanchard shrugged. "It's a small town, and there's not a lot to talk about. News travels fast. Also he apparently used my credit card to find you, or at least I assume that’s why a site called www.whoseyourmama showed up on my bill."

“I don’t have much experience with small towns.” She wasn’t used to people knowing much about her, either. She was more used to stolen credit cards, but hadn’t realized that Henry had inherited that talent. Was stealing hereditary? If so he came by it honestly.

“Sometimes if can be really wonderful, having so many people know you. Sometimes it can feel lonely, when it feels like nothing ever changes.” She shrugged. “I’m afraid I have to take some of the blame for yesterday, and for you being here.”

“Because of the credit card?” Emma wondered if Henry would have still run for the mines if she had never been in the town. If he had would he have found a way out?

“Because of the book.” Mary Margaret looked to the corner of the playground where Henry was sitting and talking to a little blond girl. It was the first time Emma had seen him with a kid his own age.

“You’re the one that gave it to him?” That was weird. Or maybe it made sense. She gave him the book so maybe seeing her as one of the characters was logical, for a ten year old. And if his teacher was a character in the book then he’d just started naming other people too. “Why?”

“Henry is a very special boy, so smart and creative. But he’s also very lonely. Perhaps because of who his father is, or because he’s so clever he’s never been very good at making friends. I thought the book could help.”

“How does a book make him less lonely?” For a moment she was back on the bed in one of her group homes, walkman playing music through her headphones and a book in front of her. She knew what lonely felt like, but her books and music had been a shield, not a solution.

“What do you think stories are for? These stories are classics. There’s a reason we all know them. They’re a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn’t always make sense to adults, let alone ten year old boys.” Mary Margaret sighed. “What’s the first fairytale you remember someone reading to you?”

“I didn’t get a lot of storytime.” There had been a family once, that had almost kept her, but then they’d had a child of their own. She’d tried to forget most of that home; it made the rest of them harder. “I remember sneaking into a theatre to see Hunchback of Notre Dame once.”

Mary Margaret bit her lip, looking a little like she wanted to cry. People raised in happy homes with parents usually assumed that everyone else had the same. “I gave the book to him because I wanted Henry to have the most important thing anyone can have. Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing.”

Emma was grateful when the bell rang and kids started running for the building. She didn’t want to know what Mary Margaret’s next question might be.

“It was nice meeting you, Emma.” Mary Margaret offered her hand, but before Emma could shake a bird landed on her finger.

“Yeah.” Maybe Henry’s stories were getting to her too, because for just a second she could understand how Henry could look at his teacher and see Snow White. “I’ll see you around.”

“Are you okay?” All she’d wanted was a cup of coffee, but she’d barely managed a sip before spilling it on her shirt. The diner’s owner had directed her to the laundry room of the bed and breakfast next door to clean up. Now she was faced with a very pregnant and very unhappy pregnant teen that reminded her way too much of herself. Well, except for the lack of a prison jumper.

“Last night, I felt contractions and the doctor said that the baby could come any day now.” She rubbed her belly, one hand resting on it even when she poured bleach into the washing machine. Apparently the sheets weren’t supposed to be pink. Emma remembered waking to find her hand on her belly, feeling the movement inside and forcing herself to move her hand, wrapping it around the metal frame of her cell bed.

“Ah.” What could she say? Labor was scary and painful, but being that pregnant wasn’t comfortable.

“It’s just that, um, when the… When the baby comes, no one thinks that I can do this. No one thinks I can do anything.” She looked down at her belly. “Maybe they’re right.”

“Forget what they think, what do you think?” She didn’t let herself think about what it what it would have been like to keep her kid. It hadn’t been possible and it wouldn’t have been Henry’s best life. She’d made her only possible choice, but that was her. “What do you want for you and what do you want for this kid?”

“I’m nineteen.”

“A year older than I was.” And from the looks of her not living on the street at least.

“When you had a kid?” The girl frowned, as if it had never occurred to her that someone else might have been in the same boat.

“Yeah. Everyone loves to tell you what you can and can’t do, especially with a kid. For me the right choice was adoption but I was the only person that could make that choice. You’re the only one that can decide for you.” Hopefully the mayor wasn’t still looking for a kid. The idea that she could have been Henry’s mom was still unsettling.

“You don’t understand. Sean’s father…”

“Doesn’t get to make decisions for you.” She didn’t wonder where this ‘Sean’ was. Clearly he wasn’t interested, nor was his father grandparent material. “You just got to punch back and say, ‘no, this is who I am.’ You want people to look at you differently? Make them. If you want to change things, you’re going to have to go out there and change them yourself, because there are no fairy godmothers in this world.

“Gold?” Emma was restlessly wandering the kitchen, trying to decide if she wanted hot chocolate or a drink from Gold’s decanter when she heard him come down the stairs.

“The alarm from my shop is going off.” He wore an overcoat and a scarf. She’d taken the trash out earlier and it had been see-your-breath kind of cold. That was more than an hour ago.

“Did you want me to come with you?” Apparently small towns didn’t have security patrols that answered alarms. So far as she could tell they had one sheriff, and that was about it.

“No, it’s probably just a stray cat trying to get someplace warm. I won’t be gone fifteen minutes. Henry’s asleep, I turned off his lamp before I came down.” He glanced up the stairs.

“Don’t forget gloves,” she suggested before going back into the kitchen to make hot chocolate with cinnamon. Just thinking about being outside made her cold. She drank her chocolate while wandering the rooms, looking at the photos on the walls and the odd trinkets. There was one display case that held nothing but a teacup with a chipped rim; she wondered if the chip made it more or less valuable. There were pictures of Henry all over the place, one tops of tables and hanging on the walls. She lost count of how many bookcases there were; Henry’s room had a couple as well. Gold probably did too, though she hadn’t seen his bedroom.

Emma was washing out her mug when she glanced at the clock and realized it had been more than half an hour since Gold had left, twice the time he’d expected to be gone. If it was a false attempt to enter the shop he’d be back already; they were only five minutes away. She slipped her phone out of her pocket and dialed his number. It rang five times before going to voicemail.

“Crap.” The way she figured it she only had one choice. She called the sheriff to ask for a ride.

“Gold?” She didn’t have a gun with her but she was fast and she was sneaky. She had the door to the shop open before Graham caught up to her.

“Potential crime scenes are in my job description, not yours. You should let me go first,” Graham suggested.

“Habit,” she said with a shrug, scanning the room. “This is not that different from what I do.”

“Professional thief?” There was a hint of humor in his voice that was probably inappropriate but almost made her grin despite her worry. If anything happened to Gold Henry would be inconsolable.

“Sort of the opposite. I’m a bail bonds person.” At least that was part of her job. She did some bounty hunting as well but that was a little less official and she was talking to the local law.

“Not something we’ve ever had much use of around here.” There was no one in the main room of the shop so together they moved through the curtain to the back. Gold was on the floor and he didn’t look like he was moving.

“Shit, shit, shit.” She turned on the switch, flooding the room with light. Gold’s chest rose and fell so that was something, at least, but he didn’t flinch at the light.

“I’m going to check out back.” Graham headed for the door. Emma knelt next to Gold and looked for injuries. When she rolled him to his back his hair fell to one side and revealed a bloody gash near his temple. She didn’t know if the fancy squares in his pocket were supposed to serve any purpose but they were the first thing she grabbed to staunch the blood.

“I hope 911 works in this place.” She’d never lived in a town small enough to wonder before.

“Don’t bother on my account.” Gold struggled to sit up but Emma’s light hold on his chest was enough to stop him. She didn’t realize at first glance how bloodshot his eyes were.

“Slow down there, champ. Bleeding out on your own office floor is going to make for a pretty embarrassing story.” Emma frowned. She should probably ask him some questions or something, but the whole ‘do you know who the president is’ thing never made much sense to her.

“Bleeding?” His hand went up to his head, fingertips coming away sticky and red. “I must have hit the corner of the desk when I fell.”

“You fell?” Graham closed the door when he came back in, and the lack of a draft made the place feel warmer.

“Must have been an uneven patch on the floor. I should have turned the light on.” This time he did sit up, wincing a little as he did so.

“There wasn’t anyone else in here?” Graham looked skeptical, which was fair because Emma knew that Gold was lying through his teeth. It was the first lie she’d caught him in.

“No one but me and my shadow.” He grasped for his cane but didn’t try to stand. “Thank you for your service, sheriff, but it was a false alarm. I’m sure Ms. Swan won’t mind driving my car home and you probably should get back to a warm bed somewhere.”

“I could follow you home just to be sure,” Graham offered. He seemed to be reluctant to leave.

“We’ll call if we need you.” Gold sat perfectly still until Graham was gone and the sound of the front door closing meant he’d left the building.

“Are you going to tell me now why you were lying?” Emma stood and held out her hand. After a moment Gold held on firmly and let her help him to stand. She didn’t comment on the fact he’d needed help, or that he leaned on the cane more heavily than usual.

“I’d rather wait until we’re home, if you don’t mind. I don’t like leaving Henry alone in the house. If you wouldn’t mind locking the back door, please.” He limped towards the front without waiting for her reply. She made note of the fact that the lock was pretty crappy and there was a pane of broken glass that she would bet anything wasn’t broken an hour ago. Calling it locked was a joke, really. The front door at least had a bolt.

“So are you going to tell me now?” she asked when they were back at the house and she’d run upstairs to check on Henry. He was still sleeping. Gold was patting his face dry with a towel, his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up. “Do you need a bandaid?”

“It’s fine,” he said dismissively with a wave of his hand. “I’m having a drink, would you like one?”

“I’d like the truth.” She took the drink, though, when he led her out of the kitchen and into the library.

“There was someone in my shop tonight. A young woman that clearly needed help; she was quite wound up, not acting like herself at all.”

“And she hit you?” Who in the world broke into a pawn shop and stole things?

“No, no. She used pepper spray on me, threw me off my balance. I really did hit the desk.” He touched his wound lightly with a couple of fingers and winced. At least it wasn’t bleeding. “I’ve never seen her like that before.”

“You know her?”

“She’s a client, of sorts.” He paused for a moment to sit on the sofa, raising his leg to rest on the ottoman. “You see, Emma, there’s no lawyer here in Storybrooke. I’m rather good with contracts, and sometimes people come to me for help with deals. Ashley Boyd sought me out a few months ago. She’s a young girl, only a year out of high school, and there’s a babe on the way. Neither her family, such as it is, or the father are helping her. She wanted to discuss options.”

“You were brokering an adoption?” She had a sinking suspicion that she knew exactly who he was talking about. It couldn’t be a coincidence that she’d talked to a young pregnant girl hours ago about ‘punching back’ and a young pregnant girl had broken into the shop and assaulted Gold. Great.

“I was. There’s a couple here in town, actually, that has been trying for years to have a child. They have a nursery ready and names picked out. I have a keen interest in helping families find each other.” He glanced towards the hall and the staircase going up to his son’s room. “She never seemed happy but she was relieved that someone would love and raise her child. Perhaps reality is setting in now that she’s so close to having the baby. She was raving about changing her destiny, and something confusing about godmothers.”

“Where is she now?” Shit, it was the same girl. And a family that might not get a baby they’d been waiting for, but if Ashley wanted her baby she deserved that chance. Either way someone was going to lose.

“I don’t know. She lives at the bed and breakfast and doesn’t have a car. Her parents are both dead but there’s a stepmother. I didn’t want to send the sheriff after her, she doesn’t need a record for one confused moment, but we should find her.”

“In the morning.” She frowned, and wondered again about his wound. “Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor? How do you know it’s safe to go to bed?”

“I’m far too stubborn and thick-headed for a little bump to cause any problems.” He downed most of his drink in a single gulp. Maybe the drink helped, because he was more steady on his feet when he stood and left the room. Emma was about to follow when her phone rang. It was a Maine area code.

“Hello?” She hadn’t given her number to anyone except Gold and the guy at the repair shop. It was a weird time to be calling about her car.

“I just wanted to be sure you made it home safely. No ill effects?” The sheriff’s voice was easily identifiable.

“Are you really conscientious or really bored?” She didn’t bother asking how he had her number. She was curious why he’d gotten it.

“Actually I have an ulterior motive. I have discretionary funds in my budget for a deputy, and since your job isn’t that different I thought you might be interested.”

“I’m only in town for a week.” Less than that now, but she wasn’t counting the days.

“Are you sure? I can offer you dental, as well as donuts. The hours are flexible and the boss is easy to work for.” He laughed, and Emma found herself smiling. She couldn’t say yes, though. She had a job and a life in Boston. Well a job at least.

“Donuts, really?” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Sometimes the cliches are true. I know a place that makes really good donuts. Maybe I can show you, even if you’re only staying a week. And maybe you’ll change your mind about staying.” He reminded her of Henry for a moment. “Anyway the offer’s genuine if you change your mind. Both the job and the donuts.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t accept the job offer, of course, and it probably was a bad idea to go out with Graham even if it was just donuts. Donuts could easily mean coffee too, and then they were heading into dangerous pseudo date territory. This time next week she’d be in Boston. Leaving behind Henry would be hard enough without making friends with more people.

Emma drained her glass and carried it into the kitchen before heading up to bed. She deliberately didn’t check in on Henry before closing her bedroom door. She didn’t need it to become a habit.

#verse: henry gold #emma ruth swan #henry gold #mr. gold #graham humbert #my fic #mary margaret blanchard

19 notes · View notes

wolfpawn · 5 years

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Shy Chapter 6

Previous Chapter

Chapter Summary - Paige deals with her manager regarding the situation and Benedict rings Tom for an explanation.

Tag, @wolfsmom1 @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog@nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @standing-onthe-edge

anyone else who wishes to be added to the tags, just ask :)

“Oscar, I am so sorry. My phone was dead, I had not planned on the brunch.”

Paige started with her manager/publicist. She knew she would have several people to call, going by her messages at least. Oscar would be on damage control, that was paramount, Marks ‘eh, what did I just read?’ could wait.

“Paige, if I’m honest, I am not entirely sure what you are apologising for.” He stated jovially. “I mean, it is brunch with a man that is quite frankly, the male equivalent of you if what Luke is telling me is true, that is hardly something to apologise for.”Oscar dismissed. “Though, that is some manner in which to announce it.”

“There is nothing to announce. Tom asked me to assist him with preparing for his next part, because of Derek, so we had dinner and discussed it and that’s it.”

“So how does dinner become brunch with his mother and sister then? You were spotted going into the restaurant as one group.” Oscar asked.

“I…” there was very little Paige could reply to that without admitting her him she just slept with Tom the night before. “We’re not a couple.”

“Look, Paige, you know I don’t involve myself in your personal life so long as you don’t drag it around in public like dirty laundry, but you are not going to be able to play this down. I know that weasel Derek did a number on things with you so I know you don’t want people talking again but you chose the wrong guy if you want privacy, Hiddleston is big news, he has the fangirls and looking around online, I don’t think you are aware, but for the most part, you are very much being liked. I mean, there are the few that seem heartbroken, I won’t lie to you but for the most part, you are being adored. You are trending on social media. I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw an increase in the sales of your books solely because of this.”

Paige rolled her eyes. Of course, as her publicist and her manager, Oscar would see that side of things. To Paige, she could not see how they would happen, but she rarely bothered to challenge him on that. “Look, don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Well, Luke and I were talking, he worked for me for a while at the beginning of his career, Luke, great guy. Good solid head on his shoulders. When I realised it was him managing Hiddleston, I knew it would be alright. Anyway, we were talking and he said that from their side, this is the best manner to deal with it, casual, being yourselves, simply relaxed.

“Honestly, Oscar, you are getting ahead of yourselves, there is nothing to this. Look, Tom and I both know Ben and Sophie Cumberbatch, we were at their house this week, got talking and he asked if I could help him with his play, nothing more.” The scoff from the older man told her he did not believe a word, so she sighed in defeat. She knew he wasn’t going to listen but it was not particularly important. Tom would continue with his life, she would continue with hers, and at best, they could possibly bump into each other in London some time or most likely, if either of them had the courage to go to Ben and Sophies’s anytime in the future, something she knew she was not feeling particularly confident about herself. While hoping to get Oscar to stop going on about Tom, she realised her phone was telling her of another call trying to get through. Looking at the screen all of a sudden, Oscar’s rambling seemed far more appealing. “Oscar, I’m afraid my Mum is trying to get through to me over and over, I better see if everything is okay.”

“Oh yes, very good. I will call you about the book deal tomorrow.”

“Book deal?” Paige scanned her mind for a moment, trying to recall what interview Oscar could be referring to.

“Yes, the meeting with the publishing company, on Thursday you know about this.”

Paige winced. She did know about it, she had simply forgotten and with only a mere two days to it, she most certainly could do without it. “Yes, sorry. Yes, I just need to talk to Mum now, Oscar, so I will speak to you then. Bye.” She hung up and immediately called her mother back. “Mum?”

“Paige.”

Paige pursed her lips together at her mother’s tone. “Mum, when you ring me three times in the space of about a minute, I think there’s an emergency, not that you want a chat, you had me terrified. I literally all but threw Oscar off the phone.” She scolded, putting on her kettle, knowing she would not have her phone away from her ear for at least twenty minutes. “So, what is it you rang to tell me?”

“Nothing at all, Darling.” Her mother’s voice told her there was something.

“Mum, I know you thirty-three years, whatever it is, just say it.”

“Well, after everything with that absolute scoundrel, I knew you would not rush off to meet someone else, but to hear you are seeing Tom Hiddleston, not from you but from the radio...honestly, Paige.” Her mother seemed genuinely bothered.

Paige sighed. “Mum, I am not seeing Tom, I just was helping him for his new play.”

“And to go for a meal with his mother and sister but not me. I feel very hurt, Paige.”

“Mum…Look, I did not plan to meet his mother and sister today, they just turned up to his house unannounced and his mum badgered us into getting something to eat and it all snowballed from there, you know I don’t keep things from you, or Dad.” Paige explained.

There was a moment of silence, as though her mother was processing what her daughter had revealed to her before she spoke again, her tone far chirpier. “So, what is his mother like, does he speak to her with respect? You know, I always said Derek treated Helen with no respect.”

Paige feared she would roll her eyes back into her skull if today continued as it had done, thus far. “He is an utter gentleman, Mum; to his mother and his sisters, and indeed every woman.” She did not reference Derek or his mother Helen, though it was true, her mother always commented on his lack of respect for his mother. “She is amazing, by the way, Diana. She reminds me a lot of you.”

“Wonderful. So, when are you bringing him to dinner?”

“Mum, please listen, it’s not like that. I was just helping him with his show and the next thing you know, it is blown completely out of proportion.”

“Your father thinks him a little thin, but he is very handsome.”

Paige scoffed. Her father was always blunt, she loved that about him. He was born to a working-class family and even with affording his children good educations and such, he never lost his roots as he worked his way up. “I doubt Dad called him ‘handsome’.”

“I did nothing of the sort.” Her father growled in the background. “It’s your mother thinks him handsome.”

“Put Dad on Mum,” Paige asked, knowing her father would speak through her mother if she did not talk to him directly.

“Paigey, you got back on the horse finally, I see.”

“Dad, not you too.”

“You are too beautiful and good to be single, Paige, you need someone.”

“Dad, life is not about needing someone. I am perfectly happy.”

“No, you’re not. Other people can be alone but not you, you want to have someone otherwise you would never have said yes to Derek.”

Paige said nothing. She had wanted to get married, she did want someone, before. Now she was too scared to try again, once was painful enough. “People change, Dad.”

“Not too much, Sweetheart.”

“Look, I met him at Sophie’s, he’s doing a play where he is being cheated on, he knew what Derek did, he asked me to give him some personal experience to work into his performance, he made me dinner and we discussed it and then today, his mother and sister turned up at his and before we know it, they are dragging us to lunch.”

“Well, I don’t need a rundown of everything, but sounds like you two are getting on well. Has Mark met him yet?”

“No, no one has met him because there is nothing for anyone to be meeting, why is no one believing me on this?” Paige thought of her parents, her father would at least have some chance of listening to her.

“You just admitted to going out with him for brunch, and that he is cooking dinner for you. At least he knows how to cook, that’s one up. We just want you to be happy, Paige. You will have to bring him to dinner on Sunday. We need to see if he really is good enough for you. I heard you say he treats women right, that’s a big step up from that sack of pus.”

“Dad…”

“Now, I mean it. I want to meet him.”

“Dad, put Mum back on.” All of a sudden, her mother did not seem too bad.

“See you soon, Paigey.”

“Bye Dad. Love you.” A moment later, the line was switched to her mother again.

It took twenty-five minutes for her mother to finally come off the phone, but that was only because a friend had called around to talk to her...specifically regarding Paige’s new famous boyfriend. Paige hung up feeling frustrated regarding her parents’ ignoring her on the matter.

She sent Mark a quick message, telling him she would talk to him later, she was just recovering from a call to their mother first.

Tom sighed as he threw his car keys in the bowl he kept them in beside the door after returning home. He did not know what to think of the madness that had become his past twenty-four hours.

He never intended to do anything with Paige, just dinner in return for picking her brain to better his role as Robert, to give him some credence. When he heard her confess to Sophie she was sexually frustrated, he thought nothing of it. He had suffered it himself, in fact, he was suffering it last night, hence his eagerness to seek a willing partner. She had spoken so eloquently and passionately. Her intelligence, like her demeanour, was incredibly alluring and he had fallen for her somewhat, he could not help it. When she kissed him back, when she had been so willing, he lost any modicum of control he thought he had. When his sister and mother had come, he asked Paige to play along and she did, better than many women he knew that acted for a living. She took everything his mother threw at her, and goodness knows she threw most everything, and she did not falter. Paige was an incredible woman.

He also thought of how she paid for brunch. She did not like men doing things for her, she could do it for herself. That was incredibly sexy. A woman that controlled a situation. The cheating pig that threw her aside was an idiot of the highest order in Tom’s eyes.

When he heard his phone begin to ring, he was not in much of a mood for whoever it was, seeing Ben’s name, the fact that he had apparently rung two other times and a message from him stating to answer the phone, Tom did so. “Ben.”

“What the Hell have I just heard on the radio?”

Tom, having not had the radio on, did not know what Ben was referencing. “I don’t know? Is this some sort of weird guessing game?”

“Don’t get smart,” Ben warned. “I had the radio on to listen about actual news only to get the entertainment news special that Tom Hiddleston brought his new girlfriend, Paige Winters out to lunch with his mother and sister, that is the news I am referencing. Why, in the name of all you believe in, are you and Paige, of all bloody people, going to lunch with your family?”

“I was speaking with Paige with regards Betrayal. She very kindly was giving me insight so I could portray Robert better and Mum and Sarah showed up and got the wrong end of things.”

“You’re leaving out some of the story,” Ben declared. “I think you forget that I actually know you.”

Tom said nothing for a moment. “So, we may have…” For a simple exhaling of breath, Tom could hear the disapproval in it. “We are both adults, Ben. Nothing bad happened. She’s an incredible woman and she just helped me out with this.”

“Of all the people to break down Paige’s wall, why am I not surprised it’s you? Honestly, I told Sophie before you’d get on well.”

#Once Bitten Twice Shy #chapter 6 #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fic

12 notes · View notes

charmedtheselfproclaimedking · 5 years

Text

Charmed Again: Season 3 (Charmed Fanfic)

Episode 5 - The Charmed Bride: A Valentine’s Day Special

Warnings: I don’t own the rights to any of the characters from the hit TV show “Charmed” or the storylines related to the show those rights belong to original creator Constance M Burge.

15+ Moderate/Graphic Displays of Violence, Sexual Innuendos, Witchcraft and Potentially Triggering Scenes.

Many Years Ago

Melinda Halliwell was walking down the first floor hallway of the Halliwell Manor looking for her eight year old daughter Pan when she noticed her bedroom door open and upon investigation found her little girl stood there trying on her wedding dress from her wedding to her ex-husband Luke Adams.

“Pandora Paige Halliwell what are you doing?” Melinda laughed at her daughter as she walked into her bedroom.

“I didn’t mean to pinch your dress mum it just kind of called out to me and I couldn’t help myself.” An eight-year-old Pan cutely lied while she climbed out of a wedding dress far too big for a child and sat down on the edge of her mother’s bed. “I just wanted to see if I looked as beautiful as you mummy.”

“Well as you can see, you’re too small and too young to be trying or even thinking about wedding days just yet.” Melinda told her as she sat down next to her daughter and cuddled into the eight-year-old. “But when your day comes, I can promise you that you will be the most beautiful bride in the whole wide world.”

“I hope my husband makes me as happy as daddy used to make you.” Little Pan hoped.

“You’re a smart kid Pan I’m sure whoever you wind up with whether it be a bride or groom you will be the happiest bride out there because you’ll choose wisely even more wisely than me.” Melinda said sincerely to her daughter.

Many Years Later

A teenage Lacey and Drake walked down the school corridors of their local high school within San Francisco just like they did every school day longing for the days school would be over, they’d grow up and be parent free never knowing then the tragedies that awaited them in the future.

“I’m telling your dad is going to be super cool to find out your dating a girl I mean at least he can ease off with the pregnancy lectures besides he’s super supportive of Jake and me.” Drake told a nervous Lacey who planned to come out to her father after school.

“Yeah well Jake didn’t break the news to dad until he brought you home one night which is super not fair because you’ve always been my dad’s favorite non-child.” Lacey argued with her best-friend. “I doubt he’s going to be too chill unless I take Wonder Woman herself home with me.”

“Please Wonder Woman is way too old for you your dad would just flip about the age difference.” Drake joked.

After a pep talk from her best-friend and a long school day Lacey returned home that day to find her father Eric and her brother Jake sat on the couch in the living room of their family home watching some cheesy sitcom and laughing away to themselves until Lacey switched the television off and sat down between them.

“So, I’m just going to come straight out with it…dad I’m a lesbian.” Lacey admitted to her father and brother at the same time, feeling freed by the words she had just said.

“Darling don’t be so stupid,” Eric laughed as hugged his daughter. “I’ve known you were into girls long before you even knew. Good on you for finally admitting it to yourself must’ve taken a lot kid.”

“Yeah good for you sister even if it wasn’t exactly a secret.” Jake joked with his sister.

“Your mother used to always say sexuality is a spectrum or is like a spectrum I can’t remember it word for word but the point is in this household it don’t matter what your orientation, ethnicity or sex is as long as you’re a good person.” Eric told both his children. “Although if you date crappy people, I’m going to tell you their crappy whether use like it or not.”

“So, sis, have you got yourself a girlfriend yet?” Jake asked Lacey.

“No.” Lacey blushed. “Can we please change the subject now?”

“You should totally get your brother to set you up he’s got good taste in people I mean just look at his boyfriend.” Eric suggested to his daughter instantly making her eyes roll.

“Do you have to be Drake’s number one cheerleader all the time?” Lacey mocked her father. “Next you’ll be telling me it’s a shame he hasn’t got a sister or cousin for me to date.”

“Don’t think I haven’t asked him already but sadly no family members that are of age to date you.” Eric teased his daughter.

The Day Before Valentine’s Day

Drake was walking down the main hallway of magic school when he suddenly saw Cole from a distance holding a bouquet of roses and a heart shaped box of what Drake could only presume was chocolates and considering Cole was closer to Drake’s office than he was he had no choice but to dart for Dermot’s office and run in there in a bid to avoid his friend he shared a kiss with before realizing he just walked into the office of a headmaster he had shared a kiss with.

“Now whose busting into whose office?” Dermot asked Drake while sitting behind his desk as Drake burst into his office, slamming the door closed behind him.

“Yeah I wasn’t really thinking I was too busy in avoidance mode to remember I’m also avoiding you.” Drake replied a little too honestly. “No offense meant of course.”

“Don’t worry only a little offense taken,” Dermot joked as he stood up from his chair. “I did figure you were avoiding me but who else are you avoiding?”

“My former demonic best friend who betrayed me only for me to start becoming his friend again until…well until that got complicated too.” Drake admitted to the headmaster of magic school.

“Your life in general seems complicated.” Dermot told him.

“Fair point.” Drake agreed.

“While you’re here I have a little card, I was going to give you…” Dermot began to say.

“I swear if it’s a valentine’s card I will vanquish you!” Drake snapped at his boss.

“Fair enough,” Dermot laughed at Drake’s reaction. “So, do you want to talk about what happened between us or keep avoiding?”

“Keep avoiding.” Drake joked for a moment before realizing Drake look unimpressed. “Here’s the thing I was still getting over my ex who was a great guy until he lied to me, brainwashed me and then left me to become an elder although in his defense I was kind of dead at the time. Then Cole came along and I clearly transferred my feelings to nearest standby got rejected and realized we were better off as friends until he back-stabbed me and then along comes you who I really hate or at least did hate until that kiss and now I’m all kinds of confused and desperate to keep avoiding.”

“Hold up elder Jason Quinn brainwashed you?” Dermot continued to laugh at Drake’s expense making Drake laugh along with him. “God your love life really is a train wreck.”

“Yeah and I haven’t even told you about my first ex who wound up in jail for murdering my parents.” Drake couldn’t help but laugh as his reckless love life. “Then there was this demonic strip club owner who I wound up getting pregnant which actually turned out to me my most successful relationship considering I got Lilah out of my dalliances with Cindy.”

“So, I’m guessing a lifetime of that doesn’t make you the biggest valentines day fan?” Dermot asked him.

“You could say that yeah.” Drake replied.

Raven walked into her office at Halliwell and Turner only to be left shocked to see a trail of roses leading to her desk with a luxurious box of chocolates and a card within a red envelope placed on her desk as she walked into the room only to hear a knock on the door to find Paul stood there with a bouquet of beautiful and colorful flowers.

“Wow, this is totally unexpected!” Raven said as Paul walked over to her and handed her the flowers before kissing her. “You realize Valentine’s Day is still a day, away right?”

“True but considering my sister’s getting married on Valentine’s Day even the cupids themselves better be on holiday this year because Pan Halliwell and Lacey Morgan are about to make it their day.” Paul joked. “Speaking of which I need a plus one for the wedding if you fancy being my date?”

“Well I was given my own invite but I’m sure I can slum it as your plus one.” Raven replied before giving her boyfriend and business partner another kiss. “The flowers are lovely thank you.”

“I figured we could do something nice for lunch as well I booked us a table at Quake I’d say dinner but I think Drake’s plotting something for tonight and considering we missed his last plans I’m going to make sure not to miss this one.” Paul revealed to Raven.

“How are the soon to be brides?” Raven wondered. “I can’t wait for a lovely wedding and on Valentine’s Day too it’s just the thing to lift the mood around here.”

“Careful now we try not to try and jinx ourselves in this family.” Paul joked.

The soon to be brides Pan and Lacey found themselves sitting on the couch in the living room of the Halliwell Manor cuddled up together under a thick blanket while watching a cheesy romance movie on the television which was quickly interrupted when Drake blink in front of them both interrupting their movie time.

“This is totally not acceptable it’s one day before the wedding and the two of you are sat here watching god knows what.” Drake said to them both before switching off the television. “You both have separate hens’ nights to start preparing emphasis on the plural use there because we’re going traditional and separating you two until the big day.”

“I thought you understood it when we said no to any hen nights let alone two?” Lacey asked him.

“Well that’s on you for being foolish enough to believe I’d just settle with a no I never settle for anything.” Drake told his best-friend. “You have plenty of time to be old and boring after the wedding tonight’s about fun and I’m going to make you both have some even if it involves kidnapping use both.”

“I guess we have no choice then.” Pan said to Lacey while smiling at her soon to be bride.

Before Lacey could respond to Drake’s demands the three of them were interrupted by a knock at the door which instantly made Drake smile knowing who was at the door.

“Well this is your house too Lacey get off your butt and answer the door!” Drake ordered Lacey.

“When the hell did you get so bossy?” Lacey asked as she stood up from the sofa and began walking towards the foyer. “I’m only going because you’re clearly a man on a mission today and I have no interest in going up against that.”

Lacey continued walking through the foyer of the Halliwell home and walked straight towards the door only to be left completely shell shocked when she opened the door to find her brother Jake stood in the doorstep.

“Jake,” Lacey said with excitement. “What are you doing here?”

“I figured to stop being a bitch and risk getting locked up so I can see my little sister get hitched.” Jake revealed before hugging his sister.

“I’m so happy you came around I thought I was never going to see you again.” Lacey squealed as she was overcome with joy. “I’m so happy your back! I’m so happy you’ll be here for my wedding I’ve missed you so damn much.”

Meanwhile back in the living room Pan’s suspicion over Drake’s scheming smiles only managed to grow after overhearing her fiancé screaming with joy from the front door of the family home.

“What exactly did you do?” Pan asked as she stood up from the couch to face her nephew.

“I may have cast the tiniest acceptance spell on Jake to help him get over his beef and get him here for the wedding.” Drake revealed to his aunt.

“You seriously cast a spell on a guy whose life was ruined by magic.” Pan laughed nervously. “That’s going to end well.”

“Okay you and I both know when it comes to a little personal gain here and there, we’re both willing to take the risk besides am I really a Halliwell if I don’t interfere like the rest of you?” Drake joked.

Jake and Lacey walked into the living room hugging each other just before Pan had any chance of arguing with her nephew over his recent meddling but Drake was far from out of the woods yet as he found himself face to face with his first love who he wrongly accused of murdering his parents.

“Hi Drake, it’s good to see you again.” Jake said to him awkwardly.

“Hey, it’s good to see you too.” Drake replied sincerely although equally as awkwardly.

“So, what are these plans then? I must admit you play an unfair but highly good game.” Lacey said to Drake, happy to be reunited with her brother.

“Pan’s hen night is taking place in P3 where I’ve got Paul working on the finishes touched to the night and Lacey’s hen night will take place in Devilish Delights which will re-open for one night thanks to Cindy giving me the all clear to use the strip club.” Drake revealed to the room.

“Wait a strip club…how do you know people that own a strip club?” Jake asked his former boyfriend.

“I used to be a stripper there before becoming a cop then I briefly returned to stripping and now I’m a guidance counselor telling students not to strip for a living some people call it the circle of life.” Drake informed him.

“Well nothing in your life has ever not been complicated.” Jake joked.

“You have no idea!” Drake laughed.

Drake blinked into P3 to find the beautiful valentines themed decorations all hung up around the club and his father Paul sat at the bar counter drinking from a bottle of whisky.

“Well I’ll give you something you’ve got quite the hand for decorations I guess I know where I get it from.” Drake told his father as he walked and sat down next to him before stealing the bottle of whisky from his hands. “However, it’s missing a little something…”

Drake waved his hand along the bar counter blinking plates of food onto the surface much to Paul’s amusement.

“I’m really going to have to discuss personal gain with you at some point Drake.” Paul told his son.

“Personal what now?” Drake joked with his father before taking a drink from the bottle of whiskey and handing it back to Paul. “I managed to convince Raven to take Lilah for the night which really means Raven, and more than likely Cole are babysitting I would’ve asked him myself but…”

“He kissed you before your new boss kissed you and you’re all kinds of confused.” Paul interrupted his son. “What is it with you and your bosses anyway?”

“If Lacey wasn’t already dead, I’d kill the little blabber.” Drake moaned. “Well anyone Lilah’s sorted for tonight which means this baby daddy can’t get as drunk as he wants too.”

“Now that sounds like I showed up just in time for a great night.” Quinn said with enthusiasm as he orbed into the club. “Hi guys!”

“Quinn it’s been far too long.” Paul replied with a smile as he stood up from his chair and hugged his former white lighter. “I’m so glad you can make it tonight.”

“Yeah it’s really good you could make it.” Drake agreed with a forced smile as he had now seen four people, he had shared kisses with in one day.

“I couldn’t miss Pan’s wedding I mean you guys are like family to me and I’ve always rooted for them two to make it down the aisle.” Quinn told both father and son.

“Drake’s decided to split the brides up for separate hen nights, so we’ll only be seeing Pan tonight.” Paul told Quinn before turning to ask Drake. “Are you sure planning two hen nights isn’t too much for you?”

“My mother was a party planning extraordinaire I learned everything I know from her in fact she’d be in her element right now.” Drake admitted. “She just loved valentines’ day too it was the one day in a year where dad was the one who went all out and boy, he did it in style. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a couple more suited for each other until Lacey and Pan.”

“I love when you share happy stories from your past you always seem so happy when telling them.” Paul said as he hugged his son.

“Okay enough of the mushy stuff I have parties to attend to.” Drake replied before blinking out of sight.

Lacey and Jake walked into Devilish Delights to find the entire club decked out with valentines themed decorations and a large table on the stage filled with all kinds of different food.

“I’m guessing Drake got a deal on Valentine’s decorations.” Jake joked.

“Oh, I highly doubt he paid for any of this.” Lacey laughed. “Somebody really needs to discuss personal gain with that one.”

“You mean all this was done by magic?” Jake asked as he looked around the club amazed. “Drake sure has changed since our high school days.”

“We’ve all changed since high school to be fair and all for the better.” Lacey told her brother as they sat down at a table together.

“I guess this means it’s just the two of us tonight?” Jake wondered before his and Lacey’s father suddenly appeared in front of them as if from out of nowhere.

“Dad...” Lacey and Jake said in unison before standing up from the chairs and rushing over to hug their father.

“Quinn I wasn’t expecting you to be here!” Pan said with excitement in her voice as she walked into P3 to find Paul and Quinn stood by the bar before she walked over to them both and gave her former white lighter a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here my wedding wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

“I’m guessing it’s just a party of three then considering Drake will no doubt be attending his best friend’s hen night.” Paul told them both before all three of them were left stunned when Piper and Melinda appeared from out of nowhere.

“Well in that case there’s more than enough space for another two to add to the party.” Melinda said to them before rushing over to hug her two children Paul and Pan. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“And let’s not forget who you’re really excited to see.” Piper announced before going over to join Melinda, Paul and Pan’s group hug as she pulled Quinn in to join in on the hugging.

“I guess Drake really does know how to plan things perfectly.” Paul said with a smile as the group hug broke off.

“There is nothing in this world that would stop us from being there at your wedding.” Piper told her granddaughter Pan. “We tried to push the elders to let us all come down, but they don’t go for it.”

Suddenly artist Avril Lavigne blinked on stage along with her band and their equipment much to everyone in P3’s surprise.

“Okay now that’s a slightly impressive yet highly problematic use of magic right there.” Piper said to Pan, and Paul as Avril and her band began to set up to play for them. “Have you even mentioned personal gain to Drake?”

“Yeah I just kind of said it like it was more of a suggestion than a necessity but don’t worry grams I’m sure Avril Lavigne or her band won’t remember any of this come tomorrow.” Pan replied to her.

“I hope I’m not interrupting family night I just thought I’d pop in to make sure everything’s running along smoothly.” Drake said after blinking into Devilish Delights to find Eric, Lacey and Jake stood at the bar only for Eric to quickly meet him with a hug.

“You’ve always been a part of this family Drake.” Eric told him while continuing to hug Drake tighter. “You’ve done a great job tonight now enjoy it with us.”

“Yeah my hen night isn’t complete without my best friend.” Lacey said to Drake after he broke off his hug with her dad.

“You’ve done a really good job tonight.” Jake congratulated Drake.

“You really have,” Lacey agreed as she hugged into her father once again. “This is already the best hen night a girl could ever ask for.”

“Yeah well it’s only fair that after all magic has cost you all that it gives you a little something back.” Drake told his best friend Lacey. “After all you’ve been through and knowing you all these years it really is a true pleasure getting to see you watch the woman you love tomorrow.”

“Look at you all emotion forward and everything.” Lacey laughed before breaking away from her dad to hug her best friend. “You’ve come such a long way too and I’m glad we did it together like we always have.”

Artist Avril Lavigne stood on stage with her band at P3 performing her song it was in me while Pan, Paul, Piper, Quinn and Melinda sat within the family booth each holding drinks in their hands and enjoying some quality family time as the night before Pan and Lacey’s valentine wedding drew closer and closer to an end.

“I can’t believe my daughter is getting married tomorrow and to angel just like you mum.” Melinda happily gushed to her mother Piper while the others mumbling amongst themselves.

“I can believe it in fact I’m surprised it took them this long, but nothing is ever easy in this family.” Piper replied to her daughter before raising her glass, grabbing everyone’s attention to make a toast. “Here’s to a couple who couldn’t be anymore suited for each other and a valentine wedding that is truly going to be magical.”

“Yeah and to Pan and Lacey hopefully finding the perfect home.” Quinn let slip while everyone raised their glasses to toast to Pan and Lacey leaving Paul shocked and very unamused. “Oh, which wasn’t going to be revealed until after they found somewhere.”

“Your planning on moving out?” Paul asked his sister, clearly not liking the idea of no longer living with his little sister.

“You guys have lived together forever but now is a time for you all to start a new chapter in your lives son.” Melinda told Paul, trying to defend her daughter’s decision. “You’ve made your own little family and now it’s Pan’s turn to do the same with Lacey.”

“I was going to tell you once we found somewhere but I guess now it’s out.” Pan admitted to her brother. “It’s not like you’re going to be alone I mean Drake and Lilah will still be living with you.”

“I know Pan it’s just you and I have always lived together we’ve always done everything together and it’s going to be weird living in a home you no longer live in.” Paul replied to her. “You’re more than just my little sister you’re my best friend.”

“I’m going to miss you too you, big idiot but it’s not like we’re not still going to see each other all the time.” Pan said as she pulled her brother in for a hug. “And you’ll always be my best friend that will never change.”

As the hours passed on the night before Valentine’s Day Drake, Jake, Lacey and Eric had found themselves sat around a table within an otherwise empty Devilish Delights the foursome continued to laugh and reminisce while keeping the beers and shots flowing throughout the night.

“Between Lacey trying on my suits when she was a kid and Jake always breaking into his mother’s shoe collection, we literally had to get really good at hiding things from them.” Eric laughed.

“Yeah well I guess I was going through an experimental stage back then.” Jake blushed before looking over at Drake as the two shared a smile with each other.

“I’m still a solid fan of suits I just have better taste in them now no offense dad.” Lacey teased her father.

“Talking about offenses.” Drake said before waving his hand blinking a large ton of paperwork onto their table.

“What is all that?” Jake asked him, while Lacey and Eric both look equally as confused as Jake himself.

“To save you having to read all the boring paperwork it’s basically a record declaring that all charges made against you have been completely wiped from your record.” Drake revealed to him. “I know it’s far too late to try and bring all those years you spent in jail or on the run back to you but I figured it was about time you stopped running and could call this city your home again.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Jake said while stunned by Drake’s actions.

“It included various spells a father who’s a lawyer for the legal stuff and a few elders who tolerate me to lend me some fairy dust in order to get everything all wiped including memories all except from the inner circle of course but you Jake Morgan are now and free man.” Drake explained to his first love before waving his hand making a folder appear on top of the paperwork. “And that is an application for San Francisco Police Department so that if you want to continue your family’s legacy like you wanted to all those years ago you can feel free to go ahead.”

“I think Pan may have actually been bet as the super witch around here.” Lacey joked before turning to look at her brother. “I’m so happy for you to finally be free I’m just sorry it took this long and sorry all this happened to you in the first place.”

As the night before the big day was close to coming to an end Piper and Melinda had found themselves having to assist a very drunk Pan and Paul home to the Halliwell Manor before throwing the passed out siblings onto the couch in the living room and throwing a blanket over them both.

“I can’t help but feel like we’re forgetting something or someone.” Melinda said to her mother while watching over her sleeping children.

“Not that I can think…damn.” Piper began to say before realizing they had left Quinn asleep at P3. “Quinn, we forgot Quinn oh well I’m sure he’ll be fine crashing at P3 until morning.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Melinda laughed while continuing to watch her son and daughter sleep. “I just can’t believe how much they’ve grown I just wish Patience could be here too for Pan’s big day but that would be far too complicated to try and explain to everybody.”

“Yeah besides poor Patty is still adjusting to the after life and telling them their sister was so close all this time only to have recently died would only torture them as much as it did us.” Piper replied to her daughter. “I’m just glad at least one of my grandchildren gets to have a happy ending and I hope both Paul and Drake will follow Pan’s path towards happiness for themselves too.”

“Grams I’m sorry I didn’t make it tonight, but I got carried away reminiscing with the others.” Drake said after blinking into the living room before rushing over to Piper to give her a hug. “I always love it when you swing by for a visit…well nowadays I do anyway.”

“It’s good to see you too Drake I’m so proud of all you’ve done tonight.” Piper told him. “And all you’ve came through recently speaking of which where is my darling great-great granddaughter?”

“Cole’s sister Raven is babysitting her tonight you’ll get to see Lilah at the wedding and just wait till you see this adorable dress Pan picked out for her.” Drake replied to his grams.

“It’s nice to see you again…well for the first-time face to face.” Melinda said to her grandson who immediately looked awkwardly at her.

“Thanks,” Drake forced himself to say to his father’s mother before returning all his attention back to Piper. “Listen I’m actually pretty tired and I’m planning on getting up extra early tomorrow so I can squeeze in some quality time with Lilah before Pan and Lacey’s wedding, so I’ll see you in the morning.”

Drake quickly gave Piper another hug before blinking out of sight clearly in a rush to get away from his grandmother Melinda as quickly as possible.

“He still hates me for convincing Paul to give him up, doesn’t he?” Melinda asked her mother, already knowing the answer was yes.

“Drake will come around it just takes him time he’s stubborn like his father but he’s also good a big heart like his father too.” Piper told her daughter.

Valentine’s Day

Drake walked into the dining room of his family home still in his pajamas to find Cole sat at the table in a smart suit with Drake’s daughter Lilah on his lap who was wearing a pretty pink dress and looked so beyond adorable that Drake’s face instantly lit up as he walked over to them both and took his daughter in his arms for some cuddles and kisses.

“Daddy missed you so much last night.” Drake told his daughter before looking at Cole. “Thanks for bringing her over.”

“Of course, you know I always have time for my main girl.” Cole said as he stood up to face Drake. “Listen Drake about our kiss…”

“Shouldn’t have happened just like the time when I shouldn’t have kissed you because you were right, we’re friends and we don’t need to complicate things between us.” Drake butted in. “I hope you’re okay with that?”

“Oh, thank god,” Cole breathed a sigh of relief. “Not that I wasn’t tempted to complicate things because trust me I was I even went out and got you a valentine gift out of a moment of weakness before realizing that’s not what I wanted for us. We’re a good team the way we are, or we were before we complicated everything, and I’d like to go back to no complications.”

“Yeah I’d really like that,” Drake said sincerely. “I’ve missed our friendship and I’d like to try uncomplicating my life just a little.”

“Tell Pan and Lacey I wish them all the best, but I can’t stay today I’ve got to leave the city for a while for reasons I can’t explain right now.” Cole told his friend before kissing Lilah on the forehead and then kissing Drake’s before shimmering away.

“Well that’s one less complication now I’ve just got to put up with the other three today and I’m golden.” Drake told his daughter before Piper walked in from the kitchen.

“I’m so glad you didn’t make the same mistake as my sister and married that guy.” Piper said to Drake.

“He’s a changed man from those days.” Drake defended his friend. “He’s just not the one for me.”

“You’re so willing to give him so many chances why not try giving Melinda one?” Piper suggested to her great-grandson before walking over and taking Lilah into her arms. “She only wants to get to know you and try make up for her mistakes.”

“Fine I’ll give the woman a chance but no promises…” Drake sighed.

Piper, Drake, Melinda and Raven stood within the front row of chairs in the sun-room of the family home which was perfectly decorated in red and white wedding decorations symbolizing a valentines style wedding while artist Kelly Clarkson and her band stood to the side of a beautiful altar made of white and red roses as Quinn and Leo Wyatt orbed into the room to stand next to Piper.

“I didn’t think they’d let you come for this,” Piper said with a smile before kissing her husband. “Pan’s going to be so happy you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Leo replied to his wife.

“Hi, I’m Drake I’m your…” Drake began to introduce himself to Leo before Leo rushed over to hug his great-grandson.

“I know who you are I’m glad to meet you.” Leo told him before breaking of his hug with his great-grandson.

Kelly Clarkson began singing an acoustic version of her hit single my life would suck without you as Lacey walked into the sun-room wearing a beautiful wedding dress with her brother Jake on one arm and her father Eric on the other arm as she walked down the aisle before reaching the altar as Eric and Jake went to stand within the second row of chairs among the family.

Moments later Pan was the next beautiful and blushing bride to walk into the sun-room wearing an equally beautiful wedding dress with her brother Paul on her arm as the song continued while the two of them walked down the aisle before Paul gave his sister a kiss on the cheek as he left her at the altar with Lacey and walked over to hug his grandfather Leo before the family sat down ready to watch Pan Halliwell and Lacey Morgan get married as the original grams and Pan’s great-great grandmother Penny Halliwell appeared in front of the two brides ready to marry them.

“You look stunning Mrs Morgan.” Lacey told her future wife while grabbing a hold of Pan’s hands.

“As do you Mrs Halliwell.” Pan responded with love for her future wife glowing from her.

The family watched as the two brides became two wives on valentine’s day marking the start of a beautiful marriage between Pan Morgan-Halliwell and Lacey Morgan-Halliwell.

“We’ve been through a lot both together and alone and I have never been happier than when you are with me getting through the many storms in our lives.” Pan said during her vows to Lacey. “I knew I loved you from the first moment we met, and I know I’m going to love you until my last breath and long after that. Even in death I my spirit will go on to love you for all of eternity.”

“I never thought I’d ever meet someone who could well and truly complete me in ways I never thought possible.” Lacey said during her vows to Pan. “I vow to make you the most important person always and to never forget how much I love you for as long as we both shall live and I’m kind of living or not living until the end of time.”

“I do!” Mrs and Mrs Morgan-Halliwell both declared before sharing a kiss as the entire room cheered on the two blushing brides with glee.

1 note · View note

weekendwarriorblog · 4 years

Text

The ThanksgivingWarrior 11/25/20 – THE CROODS: A NEW AGE, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, ZAPPA, HAPPIEST SEASON, STARDUST and More!

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, and usually I’d be struggling to figure out how much the new movies might make in what is normally one of the most unpredictable weekends at the year. Wait a second. I’m getting déjà vu here. Didn’t I say this exact same thing in the intro for last week’s column? Probably. Let’s face it, kids. I am absolutely losing my mind with how bored I am getting looking at my laptop screen all day long, even though I’ve now set up a pretty sweet new TV system to watch stuff on!

Anyway, there is one family movie coming to theatres this weekend, and in any other Thanksgiving weekend, I’d suggesting getting out and going to theaters, but at this point in the pandemic, with COVID numbers so bad that even I, “Mr. Reopen the Movie Theaters!” can’t recommend going to see a movie in theaters… well, except maybe in New York City, where they’re still closed. Sigh.

We’re going to do things a little different this week, because I wasn’t able to get to as many movies as I wanted but didn’t want to delay the column to Thanksgiving Day. Instead, I’ll post what I have done on Wednesday, then check back here on Friday when hopefully I’ve added a few more reviews. Cool?

Fortunately, the new animated sequel from DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures, THE CROODS: A NEW AGE, is a lot of fun, and this is from someone who really enjoyed the first movie quite a bit. The sequel’s premise is as simple as you can get: caveman family The Croods (voiced by Nick Cage, Catherine Keener, Emma Stone, Clarke Duke and Cloris Leachman), along with Ryan Reynold’s Guy, are still trying to survive in the wilds until they encounter a beautiful oasis that turns out to be the home of the more-evolved Bettermans, Phil (Peter Dinklage), Hope (Leslie Mann) and Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran).

I really liked the original The Croods quite a bit, so I’ve been waiting patiently for DreamWorks to figure things out for a sequel. My instincts were definitely spot-on, because even if the original premise sounded a lot like The Flintstones, putting those voice actors together, even if it’s just Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone proved to be quite prescient. A big part of the sequel is the burgeoning romance between their characters, Guy and Eep, much to the brutish chagrin of Eep’s father Grug (really Cage at his finest). Then along comes the Bettermans, and then it changes into a movie that is constantly showing the differences between the two families in many funny ways.

I’ve long admired Emma Stone as an actress, since she’s no naturally funny, and that’s even more apparent by how much she brings to Eep with merely her voice. Some of the scenes between her and Tran’s Dawn are absolutely hilarious. Cloris Leachman’s Gran also has some absolutely LOL moments later in the film. In some ways, Reynolds while funny, especially when pit against Cage and Dinklage’s characters, takes a back seat to the ladies.

I was equally impressed with the film in terms of its animation and how gorgeous and colorful the whole thing is, but more than that, it thrusts in a zaniness that I’d usually expect from something like Ren and Stimpy or SpongeBob SquarePants. So as much as it’s a kid movie, there’s enough to entertain older kids and even old men like me.

Without having seen Pixar’s Soul yet (this weekend!), Croods: A New Age may be one of the most entertaining animated movies I’ve seen this year, and that’s because it leans so heavily on being so absolutely crazy and zany that you can’t help but have fun.

You can read more about the movie and how it was made in a feature I wrote for Below the Line.

Next up is MA RAINEY’s BLACK BOTTOM, George C. Wilson’s adaptation of the 1982 August Wilson play that preceded Fences, which Netflix will give a theatrical release this week before it goes to streaming in December. Like Fences, this once again stars that film’s Oscar winner, Viola Davis, in the title role of Ma Rainey, a legendary blues and jazz singer in the late ‘20s who has come to a recording studio in Chicago to make a record with her band. The band’s hotshot trumpet player Levee (the late Chadwick Boseman) is more interested in breaking out on his own, and he does everything to grandstand and try to impress the label guy (Jonny Coyne) even if it means throwing the rest of the band under the bus.

Since I never saw Wilson’s play, I really didn’t know what to expect from this movie, although the fact that most of it takes place in a recording studio definitely had my interest piqued. In case, you’re wondering about that odd title, it’s actually a song in Ma Rainey’s repertoire that she wants to do one way, but her manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) wants to try Levee’s version of the song. Ma’s not having any of it, and a lot of the film involves her

There’s been quite a lot of chatter about Chadwick Boseman getting a posthumous Oscar nomination for his performance in this, and it’s probably well-deserved since he gives quite a showy performance as Levee, giving a couple moving monologues including one about his mother being sexually assaulted by white men. It’s a very powerful performance indeed.

Rainey is certainly an interesting character for Viola Davis to play, even if she’s not necessarily likable with her obstinate demeanor and the way she gloms over her eye candy Dussie Mae, played by Taylour Paige, and dotes over her nephew Sylvester (Dusan Brown). As interesting as those relationships are, I probably enjoyed the interaction between the musicians more, because Boseman is working with some greats like Colman Domingo, Michael Potts and Glynn Turman. It’s actually kind of interesting how it switches between Levee and the musicians and Ma dealing with Irving upstairs.

As much as the Wilsons are exploring some interesting topics about race and the treatment of black people in the times, the movie frequently feels dated and it feels like some of the ideas are never fully revolved, even as it builds up to a fairly shocking climax.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but it’s a perfectly fine dramatic piece, but I didn’t feel that it had the weight of other movies about race I’ve seen, including yes, Green Book (sorry, haters), and a lot of that probably has more to do with George Wilson’s direction than August Wilson’s writing.

Just want to quickly mention a couple movies I’ve already reviewed, which will hit the streamers this week, including Steve McQueen’s LOVERS ROCK on Amazon Prime Video, which I wrote about here, and Ron Howard’s HILLBILLY ELEGY, now on Netflix after a short theatrical release. I reviewed the latter here.

I’ve actually seen Lovers Rock a second time since the New York Film Festival, and I enjoyed it even more, as it’s really a well-crafted film even if it’s not as immediate maybe as Mangrove (now on Amazon Prime) and Red, White and Blue, which will be on Prime Video on December 4. I just love how Steve McQueen created a shorter piece that isn’t quite as deep as some of the others since Lovers Rock isn’t based on history but is just a nice young romance about two young people who meet and fall in love at a “Blues Night” party. It’s not as deep as the other movies I’ve seen, but is still good. Oh, and my interview with Steve McQueen is up at Below the Line finally, and I’m pretty proud of it, so check it out!

I don’t know if I have too much more to say about Hillbilly Elegy, but I hope people will give it a chance because even if it does have problems and isn’t perfect, it’s an interesting story, particularly for Glenn Close’s performance.

This week’s “Featured Flick” is Alex Winter’s doc, ZAPPA (Magnolia Pictures), an amazing film that takes a look at the life and career of the late Frank Zappa, best known for his quirky rock tunes but just at proficient at writing jazz and classical musical. I definitely went through a bit of a Zappa phase in my teens, and every once in a while, I would go back and see what had been released since his death in 1993, because his wife and widow Gail did a great job getting a lot of his unreleased music and live shows out there.

What shocked me when I saw Zappa was how little I really knew about the musician, because maybe he was a little bit of an enigma while he was still alive. I enjoyed the other doc, Eat That Question: Zappa In His Own Words, that came out a few years back, which was made up of public interviews Zappa gave, but it doesn’t really give as clear a picture of the man as Winter’s doc does.

For instance, Winter gets a lot of the musicians, including the amazing Ruth Underwood, who played with Zappa in the Mothers. You’d assume those musicians would presumably know the man best having toured with him for years, and yet, even they say that other than when they were rehearsing diligently or playing gigs, Zappa kept to himself. We also get a good sense of what a family man he was, since Winter was able to get Gail to talk to him before she herself passed way in 2015.

Zappa is an absolutely terrific doc that I hope music enthusiasts give a look even if they think they know what Zappa was about or maybe even those who didn’t care for his music. You might be pleasantly surprised by the tremendous amount of depth Winter brings to this talented musician and composer who still had a lot more to say. (And that’s an understatement!)

Incidentally, I’ll have an interview with Winter over at Below the Line very soon.

On the other end of the musical spectrum (more or less) is Gabriel Range’s STARDUST (IFC Films) -- not to be confused with Matthew Vaughn’s far better Stardust – this one starring Johnny Flynn, who played a young Albert Einstein in Genius: Einstein, this time playing a young David Bowie. Years before breaking it big with his album Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, young David just can’t catch a break in the U.S., so he goes on a road trip in 1971 with his Ron Oberman (Marc Maron), the A&R guy from his U.S. label who hopes to get Bowie across to young American audiences.

I’m not quite sure how someone can screw up a movie about Bowie, one of my all-time favorite artists, but making a movie that a.) takes place in the most boring era of Bowie’s career and b.) Not actually being able to use any of Bowie’s beloved tracks, certainly doesn’t help matters. It also doesn’t help that the script just isn’t great, creating a fairly dull biopic that relies more on Maron’s personality basically playing the same character we’ve seen him play so many times before to stay even halfway entertaining. I couldn’t even get excited by Jena Malone, an actress I generally appreciate, as David’s wife Angie, because she plays her to be such a despicable and unsympathetic character.

If Maron is decent than Johnny Flynn is just plain flaccid as Bowie, playing him so mopey and aloof that when he finally emerges from his chrysalis as Ziggy Stardust – also with little of the flamboyance in his stage shows -- you just don’t give a rat’s ass anymore. Oh, and a lot of the movie is based on the theory that the history of mental issues in his family is what haunts the singer. Drab and dull, Stardust manages to make the most exciting rock star of the last half century seem like the most boring person on earth. It’s a flat-out failure as a biopic.

Joan Carr-Wiggins’ GETTING TO KNOW YOU (Gravitas Ventures) is a witty Canadian high-concept rom-com, starring Natasha Little and Rupert Penry-Jones as two strangers who have a chance encounter at a hotel in Northern Ontario. The latter plays New Yorker Luke Manning, who is back home for his high school reunion, but when his positively smashed high school girlfriend Kaila (Rachel Blanchard from Peepshow) shows up at the hotel hoping to rekindle their spark, he asks Little’s character Abby to pretend to be his wife.

I don’t have a lot to say about this movie which was a nice surprise and clearly a labor of love for the filmmaker. Honestly, my favorite part of the movie is how hilarious Rachel Blanchard is in it. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me that found her deliriously drunk nightmare of an ex to be kind of sexy, but maybe that’s just me. In fact, the movie might have been even funnier if the rest of the cast were able to keep up with Blanchard, but the connection between the two leads did grow on me as it went along. It definitely has some funnier moments like when Kaila’s bowling husband Kenny shows up, and then some of Luke’s other classmates pop in as well, but it does have to work very hard whenever Blanchard isn’t on screen. (I also enjoyed watching the soap opera that seemed to be going on between the employees of the hotel, which was perpetually funny.) Otherwise, it does feel a little flat whenever Blanchard is on screen.

The filmmaker’s lack of experience is sometimes obvious, because there are things like the repetitive music that I wasn’t so crazy about. Otherwise, this is a light and quaint indie that’s a little off the beaten track, but you won’t have any regrets if you make the effort to go looking for it.

I’m thrilled to see actor Clea Duvall back behind the camera for her second film as a director, HAPPIEST SEASON, which was going to get a theatrical release through Sony’s TriStar Pictures at one point. Instead, it’s now going to be on Hulu starting Wednesday. (Today!) It’s a high-concept rom-com starring Mackenzie Davis and Kristen Stewart with Davis playing Harper, a woman who has not come out of her closet to her family, which makes it that much more awkward when she brings her girlfriend Abby (Stewart) home for the holidays.

As mentioned, this is a fairly high-concept comedy that uses the idea of someone coming out to their disapproving family we’ve seen in many movies, but does it in a way that can take it seriously but still allow for some funny moments. In fact, there are times when the comedy even goes into Meet the Parents territory in terms of the character humor.

I really enjoyed Duvall’s previous film, The Intervention, and once again, she has put together such as great cast to realize the script that she wrote with Mary Holland. In fact, Holland has a great role, playing Harper’s bubbly sister Jane, who steals so many scenes in terms of the humor that I was shocked that I only realized later she co-wrote the script with Duvall.

Mackenzie Davis continues to be every director’s secret weapon, because like in Jason Reitman’s Tully, she can literally deliver on every aspect of the movie, keeping the comedy aspects grounded but also deliver a really poignant performance. She also works really well with Kristen Stewart, maybe bringing out things in Stewart we just haven’t been able to see before.

Besides having Alison Brie play Harper’s older sister and Aubrey Plaza as an old flame, Duvall also had the foresight to get the amazing Dan Levy, recent multi-Emmy winner for Schitt’s Creek, to play Abby’s best friend, who is constantly there for her to kvetch and who shows up to pretend to be her boyfriend. (Oddly, there’s a lot of that sort of thing going on in movies this week.)

Happiest Season works as a perfectly fine albeit fairly traditional holiday rom-com in a similar way as The Family Stone. More than anything, Duvall continually proves her abilities as a filmmaker that can handle comedy and drama equally well.

Next up, is Alan Ball’s UNCLE FRANK (Amazon), the Oscar-winning writer of American Beauty, directing only his second movie after 2007’s Towelhead – you might remember his HBO shows Six Feet Under and True Blood. This one, set in the ‘70s, stars Paul Bettany as the title character with Sophia Lillis from It Chapter One and Two playing his niece Beth, a teen from Creekville, South Carolina who worships her New York-based professor uncle. When she goes to college in New York, she attends one of Frank’s parties with her pseudo-boyfriend and ends up learning that Frank’s “roommate” Wally (Peter Macdissi) is actually his boyfriend. When Frank and Beth return to South Carolina for his father’s funeral, he has to try to keep his sexuality and relationship with Wally a secret from his family. Yeah, this does sound a little like Happiest Season, doesn’t it? It is, but only to a point.

At first, Uncle Frank is a cute but not-particularly-deep coming-of-age story about Lillis’ character as a fish out of water in New York City. Once Wally is introduced, he seems to be there just to make jokes and lighten the mood as it turns into a road trip. From his previous work, I’ve grown to enjoy Ball’s unconventional storytelling, but by comparison, this movie is very by-the-books, so it never really grabs the viewer.

The biggest problem with Ball’s latest--and it’s one that I see in a lot of movies these days--is that it doesn’t know whether it should be a comedy or a drama, and because it isn’t particularly funny, you expect it to fare better as a drama and yet, it doesn’t.

Ball has such a great cast including Judy Greer, Margo Martindale, Stevens Root and Zahn, all playing the duo’s racist Southern family, but they disappear for long sections of the movie, and then don’t do much when they return for the more dramatic last act where it turns into such a maudlin melodrama once Frank and Beth get back to South Carolina. As they mourn the dead patriarch, Frank keeps reflecting back on what drove him to New York in the first place, and we’re pummelled with so many flashbacks. Lillis’ character almost gets lost at this point, even this story is supposed to be told from her point of view.

Essentially, Uncle Frank falls somewhere quite literally between Hillbilly Elegy and Happiest Season but not being as good as either. It’s just disappointing that Ball didn’t have someone offering good advice on handling material that will constantly have you groaning, “What was the point?”

Screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom, State of Play, 21 Bridges makes his directorial debut with MOSUL, which will debut on Netflix this Thursday. As you can figure out from the title, this takes place in Iraq in the fall of 2016 where an army of 100,000 Iraqi soldiers and militia men mobilize to liberate Iraq’s second largest city from ISIS along with the embedded journalist Ali Maula. Surprise, surprise, this is another movie from last year’s September festival season, too, and there also was a documentary from last year with the same name about the same story, too.

I’ve been a fan of some of the films Carnahan has written over the years, some mentioned above, but his directorial debut certainly sounds ambitious, since he’s working with an all-Arab cast. I look forward to watching and reviewing this one, hopefully before Friday.

Premiering on Disney+ this Friday after losing its theatrical release – this is becoming the norm for Disney, huh? – is Ashley Avis’ adaptation of Anna Sewell’s classic piece of literature, BLACK BEAUTY about a girl and her horse. The girl is played by Mackenzie Foy from Interstellar and The Conjuring, and Black Beauty the horse is voiced by Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet. No, I did not make that up, and I can’t wait to watch this, to see how that works exactly. Look for my review later this week… hopefully.

On top of that, those Trixie Pixies at Disney+ have somehow managed to secretly pull together a Taylor Swift concert called folkore: the long pond studio sessions, which will premiere exclusively on Disney+ November 25. Oh, that’s today!

Debuting on Showtime this Sunday is Errol Morris’ new doc MY PSYCHEDELIC LOVE STORY, which takes a look at the Acid King Timothy Leary through the eyes of his lover, Joanna Harcourt-Smith, trying to figure out her part in his turn into a narc for the CIA. Another one I hope to get to soon because while I like Morris’ political films like The Fog of War and even the Steve Bannon doc American Dharma, this seems more in the vein of Tabloid, which I also enjoyed. Will try to watch this over the weekend and report back.

Also of note is that the doc She is the Ocean (Blue Fox Entertainment) will be hitting On Demand this week. I guess I never got around to reviewing it.

So, let’s see. We’ve had some good movies, we’ve had some not great movies, and we’ve had a few movies that I just didn’t get around to watching yet. What does that leave? How about two of the worst movies I’ve seen this year? Are you ready?

SUPERINTELLIGENCE (HBO Max) is the latest comedy from Melissa McCarthy and hubby director Ben Falcone, and boy, it won’t take you long to realize why New Line decided LONG before COVID not to give it a theatrical release, instead handing it over to its new streamer HBO Max.

In this, McCarthy plays Carol Peters, an average Seattle woman, who – I mean, honestly, does it even matter what she does? It’s irrelevant. Carol encounters an artificial intelligence being with the voice of James Corden that has just achieved self-awareness and wants to study Carol in order to understand humanity. But what are its plans… to save humanity or destroy it? Only Carol has the power to keep the world from finding out.

I honestly don’t even know where to begin except that I was a Melissa McCarthy stan for a long time before Bridesmaids; Superintelligence makes it all-too-obvious that she needs to stop making movies with Falcone. It’s not that he’s an incapable director, but he just doesn’t give her the actual direction she needs. The movie is just all over the place, starting with the physical comedy McCarthy has done so much in her movies, but then turning into a romantic comedy as the AI tries to reunite Carol with her college boyfriend George, played by Bobby Cannavale. Apparently, making The Heat with Sandra Bullock has made Falcone think his wife could or should be Sandra Bullock. No, she can’t. Throwing her into a ridiculous concept like this one that isn’t very solid does little to endear McCarthy to the fans she keeps driving away with bad movies like this.

I’m sure it doesn’t help that I really hate James Corden and hearing his voice over the course of the movie while also acting very META by referencing the ACTUAL James Corden, Carpool Karaoke, etc. Just none of it is very funny. Oddly, this is written by the same guy who wrote the duo’s earlier movie, The Boss, which I didn’t think was that bad, but mainly because McCarthy was paired with Kristen Bell for a lot of the movie.

On top of that, Superintelligence wastes its entire supporting cast from Brian Tyree Henry to Sam Richardson (from Veep) but also has Karan Son from Deadpool playing the EXACT SAME CHARACTER he played in Like A Boss, but only for a few minutes then he’s gone. At least it had the forethought to cast Jean Smart as the President, but the fact that I didn’t even like Bobby Cannavale in this might be the biggest sign of how much I absolutely detested Superintelligence.

There are movies you might hate when you see them in theaters but later realize that they’re probably funny enough cable. That is Superintelligence, except for the funny part. What else can I say except that “Superintelligence” is not a term I'd use for whoever greenlit this piece of crap.

Also debuting on HBO Max this week is the new thriller series The Flight Attendant (HBO MAX), starring Kaley Cuoco, who really hasn’t been doing much outside The Big Bang Theory, so this should give her a chance to show how funny she is. She plays a woman who wakes up in the wrong hotel and wrong bed with a dead man, so it already sounds like a great premise right there. I guess the entire first season will debut on Thanksgiving.

And yet, believe it or not, Superintelligence isn’t even the worst movie of the week! Nope.

Apparently, Josh Duhamel’s new comedy, BUDDY GAMES (Saban Films/Paramount), played in some theaters over the weekend, but it’s now available on digital and On Demand. It’s Duhamel’s directorial debut, and it’s about as dude-bro as you can possibly get, as it has Duhamel, Dax Sheppard, Kevin Dillon, Nick Swardson, Jensen Ackles and Dan Bakkedahl as a group man-children friends who regroup five years after going their separate ways to bring back their “Buddy Games,” a series of obstacle and endurance tests that end up reviving ill feelings between a few of them.

I’m not sure how quickly I knew I was in trouble with this one, because at first, I thought that maybe Duhamel made a fun indie comedy about friendship ala the underrated A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was wrong as wrong could be, since by the halfway point it turned into something as innately immature as Jackass.

The general idea is that Duhamel plays Bob, the guy who found enormous success after splitting from his friends, marrying Olivia Munn’s Tiffany, but then he finds out that his old friend Shelly (Bakkedahl) has been put in rehab for a drug overdose. Turns out that at the last Buddy Game, Swardson’s character shot Shelly in the nuts with a BB gun, and he eventually lost his other testicle as well. That’s about the level of this low-brow comedy that rarely fails to grab the lowest hanging…um… fruit.

As it goes along, it just gets worse and worse to the point where there was one scene where the guys are at a bar while trying to get girls to buy them drinks that just got so disgusting, I almost turned it off. If I did, I would have missed the scene with a gila monster going after steaks strapped to the heads in another lame competition.

I can go on and on about how Buddy Games is but probably the worst infraction is that it does the most sexist thing possible by basically putting having women for a few moments and none that particularly advance anything.

Duhamel isn’t a bad director, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got hired to direct another comedy someday soon, but this movie just very bad, very gross and almost excruciating to sit through at times. To call Buddy Games moronic, idiotic or even asinine, would be an insult to the morons, idiots or asses, who are likely to be the movie’s target audience.

On Friday, New York’s Metrograph is bringing back the 2017 4k restoration of Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong as a ticketed screening running from Friday through December 3. You can also still catch Shalini Kantaya’s Coded Bias and the French New Wave anthology Six In Paris as ticketed screenings through December 3.

Up at New York’s Lincoln Center, you can catch its World of Wong Kar Wai with a couple films available this Wednesday, including his fantastic drama In the Mood for Love, but you can also get the 7-film Janus Bundle for $70 which is a saving over the individual movie cost of $12 apiece. Those seven films and five more will be shown over the course of December.

Other stuff out this week that I wasn’t able to get to include:

The Christmas Chronicles 2 (Netflix) Last Call (K Street Pictures) Faith (Vertical) Saul and Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band (Samuel Goldwyn) The Walrus and the Whistle Blower (Gravitas Ventures) Life in a Year (Amazon Prime) 32 Weeks

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

#TheWeekendWarrior #Movies #Reviews #Zappa #MaRaineysBlackBottom #HappiestSeason #GettingToKnowYou #VOD #Streaming #Superintelligence #BuddyGames

0 notes

ask-beacons-finest · 7 years

Text

Transcript of Match 3

(Team SLAM and Team PAGE are owned by @stutteringtony and @thepastyman respectively, sorry for it being so late I had to rewrite the entire thing because my COMPUTER DECIDED IT DIDN’T WANT TO KEEP IT SAVED)

“Ladies and gentlemen,” The AI’s face popped up onto the screens of the arena, quickly launching the crowds to their feet, “Are we ready for the third match? Well, let’s jump right into it! Bring those teams up to the arena!”

“Hmm,” Adderin stepped up from his seat with a grunt indicating his age, and slowly stepped towards the glass overlooking the arena, “It appears the next match is between you and I, Winter.” “It appears so,” Winter lets out a small chuckle, “Shall we make a bet just as our younger colleagues have?” “Well, that depends,” Adderin’s eyes glanced over to Winter, their slitted pupils glaring down at her, “Would you like to lose?”

The crowds cheered and chanted the names of their favored team as the plates at the opposite ends of the arena raised up to the floor. With each team standing tall on their respective plate.

“First off,” The AI cheerfully struck a pose, “Can team SLAM introduce themselves to the crowd!”

The called team stepped forward. The leader, Satomi Sakurai, raised up a respectful hand and quickly turned back to her team to begin explaining a game plan. The second member stood on one leg, tapping the tips of his toes to the ground as he looked around the crowd, paying only half attention to his leader until she strictly calls for his attention, which he gives after sheepishly apologizing. The third member gives nervous glances from his leader over to the other team, as well as throughout the crowd, his nerves seemingly getting so bad he begins to shake in his boots. The fourth member takes note of this and slaps the back of the third, giving off a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, both him and the third member turn their attention to their leader, who continues the plan. There are three weapons in front of them floating along the magnetic plates.

“Only three weapons,” Winter questions, her voices giving off a tint of superiority, “And one of them is shaking in his boots. Adderin do you truly expect them to hold up to Atlassian power?” “Do not doubt them,” Adderin slammed his cane onto the floor, startling Sun who was standing off to the side daydreaming, “They have proven themselves enough to stand as your team’s equal, no? Just watch child, allow me to show you the crop of Vacuo.” “So uhhh,” Sun awkwardly enters the conversation, “I’m guessing Weiss is sitting this one out eh?”

“What wonderful introductions, watch out Team PAGE! It looks like SLAM is cracking down on a plan! But,” The AI gave a smug smile, “We’ve all seen plans fail before, just look at Professor Belladonna’s new sense of fashion!” The AI relished the laughter of the crowd before leaning to the side as if being whisper too, “Oh? She’s not even here,” The AI pouted and shrugged, “Fine then, no fun she is I suppose. Team PAGE, please introduce yourselves to the crowd!”

“Maybe Weiss was right, no humor in AI” “Ahh, Blake,” Jaune pulls his leg off the desk, putting his comics away, “You’ve made it back. Did things go well with our old friend?” “She’s fine,” Blake takes her seat, ushering Penny to do the same, “Still as grumpy and obsessed with that monster as ever.” “Well,” Ren gave off a sad smile, as he also misses their friend incredibly, “Thankfully you’re back just in time for the match.” “Oh,” Penny’s sad look immediately dissolved as she clapped and looked on, “Excellent!” “Alright, watch what you say,” Jaune yawned and reached over to put his hand on a switch, “Ten seconds and we’re loud.”

Team PAGE took their cue and stepped forward. The leader, Paige Kingsland, gave off a wave to the crowd with a genuine smile; her eyes, however, are not removing themselves from her opponents. The second gives off a wave as well, laughing and cheering back with the crowds, worrying considerably less about his opponents than his leader, or his remaining teammates for that matter, with his focus almost solely on the crowd. The third member stood tall beside his team, watching his weapon float ahead of him as the crowds cheered on, with a quick shift of his arm he covers the Schnee family insignia pinned to his coat. Meanwhile, the fourth member paces back and forth, and despite being the shortest of the team her wild longing for the soon to start battle could be felt by the crowd. Four weapons float before them.

“Hey wait a minute,” Sun narrows his eyes, scooping his hands around them in an attempt to see better, “Is that what I think it is on that kid’s coat?” “Yes, we’re cousins, hardly though due to Weiss and I’s father and his tearing our mother from her relatives,” Winter nodded without casting so much as a look upon Sun, “You saw the publications of the teams, did you not recognize the name?” “Well uhh,” Sun rubbed the back of his head, “I read my teams’.” “Oh for the love of,” Winter sighed into her hand, rubbing her eyes, “Why did I expect any different from you?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” The AI’s face disappeared as the teams and their bars of aura took her place on the screens, “It’s time for match number three! Begin!”

Satomi Sakurai stood still as her team rushed around her grabbing their weapons and equipping themselves as fast as they could, she spins and stomps irritably through to the front of the group, holding out her arm for a moment before pulling it back to her side, nodding and speaking quietly to herself. Landon Winston, the second member of SLAM slips his fingers through into his pair of brass knuckles, giving each a kiss before smashing them together, pumping himself up and getting his heart beating. The third, Alan Quils grabs hold of two balls, giving them a simple juggle before nodding before breathing confidence in himself, with a smile he spins one of the balls upon his finger. The fourth member walks up to a fair sized contraption that fits nicely onto his back, but in a quick mechanical motion the device splits and travels down to his forearms and calves, he gives off a quick smirk and brushes his knuckles against his nose while glaring down the arena floor.

“That’s...” “Atlas tech,” Adderin casually finishes Winter’s question, who stands with her mouth agape in shock, “Or something resembling the very weapon of your sister’s beloved teammate? You know, Team RWBY’s fame has spread far and wide since the incident ten years ago.” “Plus,” Sun added, a smile as he watched the teams frantically grab hold of their weaponry, “With Ruby and Yang traveling so much and so far, I suppose it isn’t too wild to say that they’ve been inspiring people left and right to become huntsmen. I know some of my kids have told stories of a red-hooded silent type and beautiful blond saving their village from grimm or bandits. Only that beautiful blond may just be myse-” “That’s Atlas design,” Winter cuts Sun off with a tone of amazement and tinged with anger, leaving him to sulk, “How dare you! How /did/ you!?” “Hmph,” Adderin took his snake eyes back to the match, “What was that about Weiss being the most secretive?”

Paige Kingsland watches over her team intently as they quickly equip themselves, making sure to give last-minute tactics before picking up her own weapon, an old yet well-maintained greatsword that appears to have no special abilities, but will hurt nonetheless. The second member, Adrian Brine gripped hold of a spearhead that extended into a full-length harpoon with a flick of his wrist, an intricate circular tablet hooks neatly onto his forearm, he retracts the harpoon back into its spearhead form and hooks the bottom end into apart of the tablet, he then looks onward to his leader. The third, George Schnee, steps up to a seemingly standard Atlassian Rifle, but upon grabbing it the rifle itself expands into a more complex version of itself, he loads a clip and barrels the round, ready for the fight to come. The fourth of Team PAGE, Elizabet Meadows, slides her fingers into her own pair of knuckle dusters, giving off a disgusted look when her opponent of the same weapon gives off a wink and nearly charges down the arena before being caught by George’s hand on the straps of her overalls.

“Weird isn’t it,” Jaune’s question bounds off the walls of the Coliseum, “How many students pick brass knuckles for weapons.” “They’re simple,” Ren adds, “Effective too. So that’s all that matters, yes?” “Not much pizazz to them thought,” Blake adds a final comment, gaining two disrespectful looks towards the announcer’s box.

Team SLAM made the first move, with Landon and Marcos rushing forward as the latter fires several shots from his gauntlets. Satomi and Alan rushed in after a moment’s wait, lagging about half a dozen feet behind their teammates.

“Here they come,” Elizabet of Team PAGE smiles and charges forward, “Let’s do this!” “George,” Paige grips hold of her sword and preps herself for launch, “Shoot me.” “Understood,” With that, George lifted two fingers and pointed them abrubtly to the ground beneath his leader’s feet. A large black glyph appears and after spinning into place launches Paige into the air.

There was little time for George to react to the blast from Marcos’s gauntlets and jumped backwards as his aura sparked. He quickly raised his rifle and began to fire down the arena grounds, hitting several shots into Marco’s abdomen, whose aura drains as a result. All the while Adrian Brine takes hold of his weapon, throwing the spearhead down and it transforms midflight into its harpoon form, a multicolored twine attached to the bottom from the circular tablet on his wrist, this causes Marcos to jump out of the way in a hurry, only to be shocked as the harpoon changes directions towards him, with Adrian pulling along the string with a smirk.

“So,” Landon cockily jokes as he dodges a blow from Elizabet, “How about we share a couch down there when the match is over? You can congratulate me on my win.” “If your face isn’t hideous when I’m done bashing it,” Elizabet dodges a strike herself, and quickly lands a surprise hook to Landon’s cheek, causing him to stumble back and shake his head, “I’ll consider it.” “Oooh, you’re getting my heart pumping,” Landon smirked, spitting to the ground, “That’s a bad idea.”

Slightly further back Alan and Satomi are stopped in their tracks and forced to jump back as Paige slams down onto the earth from the air, smashing it with her heavy blade. She stands slowly and preps herself against her opponents. “I suspect you both have a trick,” Paige slowly eyes back and forth between her two adversaries, “No weapon, and a very unreasonable weapon. Well, I’m sorry to cut you down.” “Oh trust me,” Satomi raises her fists and pushes a foot back into a fighting stance, “We’re both full of surprises.” “Y-yeah,” Alan nervously grips hold of one of the heavy balls that are his weapons, his hand slowly enveloping it and he begins to spin it in a similar fashion to a sling, “We’re not something to take on so easily.” “Good,” Paige preps herself for a lunge, “I look forward to it.”

“It appears that the teams have picked their opponents,” Penny remarked from the announcer’s booth. “Mhm,” Jaune scratched the unkempt stubble on his chin, “One one versus one, two two versus ones. Not the way we do it here at Beacon, but I suppose the other schools have their own interesting way of doing things.” “Oh yes,” Penny cheerfully spoke, seemingly oblivious to Jaune’s mocking tone, “Atlas focuses very much on fighting against someone you’re outnumbered against, and how to fight against someone outnumbered. Despite sounding simple and very obvious there are several heavily intricate designs to the curriculum.” “Oh how astounding,” Ren exclaimed, “We must trade notes, Jaune especially, this is your area of expertise.” “Eugh,” Jaune’s grunt was his only response as the match continued.

Marcos landed from his retreat further away from his teammates than he’d have liked, unfortunately noticing that his opponents had lured him away from support far too late. This was not too much a worry on his part. George continued firing upon him as he approached, only hitting every few shots as most are blocked by Marcos’s gauntlets. Adrian’s harpoon flies right by his face, Marcos is only able to dodge it at the last second, while in the midst of his dodge he lifts up an arm and fires two shots at George, hitting one which only lowers George’s aura even more. Taking notice of this George curses and swipes his foot along the ground in front of him, several small black glyphs appear and then quickly form a small wall of thick ice he takes cover behind.

“Just fire your rocket,” Adrian shouts from his position, reeling his harpoon back to his hand, “Get this done and over with.” “Fine,” George pulls the bottom of his rifle back, then cocks it forward which lets out a small beep, “But if this results in me buzzing out, you owe me.” “Ha,” Adian laughed, not looking away from his opponent, “And I thought I made good jokes.”

“With how extreme the crowd is right now,” Marcos speaks to himself, glancing away from his battle to the cheering stands, “My semblance would do some harm to me, but...”

Marcos could hardly finish the thought as he looks over towards the sound of a small explosion, only to see George standing over his cover with rifle in hand, sending a blazing rocket his way. “Shit,” Marcos sighed, the world around him slowing, the rocket nearly in front of his face as it slides to a near halt, with a pained grimace he grabs hold of the rocket and turns it around, “Oh god...too much going on, this hurts...”

The slowed time stopped, and the rocket continues its path as if nothing happened, flying towards George who notices last second. The explosion is enough to both shatter the icy wall and send him flying backward, his aura now in the red as a buzzer sounds. Marcos, however, drops to a knee and grips hold of his head, his sensory system overloaded, feeling as though his brain is on fire. Adrian takes this chance without a second thought and throws his harpoon to the side of his target, pulling a bright green string which causes the thrown weapon to wrap the twine around Marcos. Before he could do anything to free himself from his binds, Adrian snaps the string which activates a dust reaction, sparking a heavy line of electricity that flows throughout the string, ending at Marcos and blasting him with the strength of a lightning bolt. Marcos collapses onto the ground as the buzzer sounds a second time, indicating his defeat. “Damn it,” Adrian stomps his foot on the ground as he steps over to his weapon and picks it up, “I guess I owe George, now to help my team win this.”

“So,” Blake’s voice revealed her confusion, “What...happened?” “Oh,” Penny tilted her head, her voice genuinely surprised, “Did you not see? It appears that Marcos boy can perceive the world eight times slower than others when he activates his semblance, is able to interact with the environment normally as well, giving the illusion of super speed. Though it appears to put a lot of stress on his body, his sensory systems, including heart and lungs.” “Ah, yes yes of course,” Jaune, who was equally confused as Blake speaks up, “It’s right here, says the same thing in his registration form.” “Did you really not read those before the matches?” “Ren,” Jaune responded to his old friend, “Be quiet.”

Meanwhile, Paige was battling off with the leader and one other member of team SLAM, using quick and rapid slashes of her sword to strike against Alan Quils, who could only use his weapons to deflect the blasts. Paige knew if she were to take out the seemingly weaker link the battle against the leader would go much easier, and with each blow that Alan failed to deflect his aura dropped again and again. Satomi, on the other hand, appeared to be using this to both learn her opponents fighting style as well as give an impromptu lesson to her teammate, shouting commands and instructions as he panics to dodge or block. Paige’s patience amazingly shorts out and she finds herself rearing back to kick away the much smaller student. Before her foot connects with the boy, however, it’s stopped by a strange glowing pane and out the corner of her eye, Paige can see the bar indicating Satomi’s aura drop despite her not being hit by any attack.

“Ahh,” Paige shows some interest, “I see, you can project your aura, yeah? Interesting, we’ve got a few of those at Atlas too.” “Well,” Satomi smiled, dozens of projectiles of the same color appear over her shoulders, “Can they do this?” “Yes,” Paige easily swipes her sword out at Alan as he sorrily attempts a surprise attack, sending him flying and his aura plummeting into the red, “They can.” “Well,” Satomi raised a hand, the first of many projectiles flying from its place past the cheek of Paige, who remains unflinching as her aura drops by a hair, “Let’s compare notes.”

“It appears your game is over Adderin,” Winter smiled, pride in her voice, “While I admit the ability to project aura into a weapon or shield took me by surprise, it seems my students remain undaunted. Not to mention you’re down two, while I’m only missing one.” “I only need these two,” Adderin’s snake-like eyes gloss over, intently watching the match, “You’ll see.”

“So,” Landon, showing no signs of exertion, “I was thinking maybe you could shoot me your number or-” “ARGH,” Elizabet growls, missing a punch to Landon’s face only to follow it up with an uppercut to his stomach which sends him tumbling backward, “Do you ever shut up?!” “Uuurgh,” Landon jumps up, much to the arena’s surprise as his aura is now in the low yellow, “Now...Now I’m properly pumped up.”

With a grin Landon flashed forward at a speed completely unexpected by Elizabet, the only thing she could do as he approached was defend pull up her arms to defend herself. It was little use, however, as a heavy, knuckleduster wearing fist broke through her guard and landed right against her stomach. She went nowhere, as her feet were firmly planted onto the ground and her semblance was activated, this did not discourage Landon, as he kept pushing his fist with such brutal strength that it ripped up the floor to the arena under her feet and sent her flying into the wall behind her. Her body slammed into the wall as the arena floor crumbled off her feet, her aura hit the red and the buzzer sounded. Landon smashed his fists together and howled in an adrenaline-fueled burst.

Paige stepped back and back as she continued to block and dodge the projectiles shot towards her. Her earlier idea was proven useless, however, as with each disappearance of a projectile when it missed its mark Satomi’s aura refilled. Paige’s brain sparked up an idea and she quickly activated her semblance, continuing to block and dodge as many projectiles as possible. Satomi flicks another projectile her way, hitting her in the shoulder.

“Really,” Satomi’s voice was cold, “Just give in, your team is all out.” “I’m still here though,” Paige grinned, “That’s enough for a comeback.” “Is it?”

The voice directly behind her made Paige stop dead in her tracks, she could only slowly turn her head to see Landon standing tall behind her, a big smile on his face.

“Great semblance by the way,” Landon clenched his fist, “I feel ten times better already, but you might wanna turn it off now. You want as much aura as you can fo thi-”

Before he could finish his sentence Paige recoils back into him, knocking him down on the ground as well, Satomi stands with her finger pointing to Paige, a single aura projectile burning in her stomach, it soon fades away along with every other projectile floating around her, refilling her aura.

“Hey!” “You were taking too long,” Satomi ridiculed her teammate, but softened as he stood up and gave off a smile, “But you did well. I’m proud.” “Heh,” Landon rubbed the back of his head and looked around the cheering crowd, all chanting SLAM, “Looks like we did it.” “Looks like it,” Satomi helped Alan to his feet and patted Marcos on the back as he shakily joined them in the middle of the arena, “Looks like it...”

“And it looks like Team SLAM wins! What an amazing match,” The AI boomed as the teams collected themselves and headed over to the plates that return them to the waiting area, “Let’s give it up for team SLAM!”

“Astounding,” Ren says, his voice excited, “This tournament is getting better and better.” “A real shame Headmistress Schnee missed it,” Jaune’s voice was a low growl, “But, it just means that team SLAM will have to prove themselves once more, and I look forward to that.” “Oooooh,” Blake teases, “Was that a compliment from Jaune Arc? Resident grumpy old man?” “Don’t you have repairs and finances to worry about,” Jaune questioned, “They did a real damper to the arena.” “Oh god,” The fun joking tone in Blake’s voice wavers, now full of panicked worry, “This is costing us a fortune...” “Both teams did very well,” Penny cheerfully exclaimed, “I cannot wait to go back to Atlas to teach them how to properly be more combat ready in the future!”

“Alright alright,” The AI cheerfully exclaimed, “That’s match number three! Number four will get started right after repairs are done! Thank you all for watching!!”

10 notes · View notes

eirian-houpe · 4 years

Text

The Library Beneath the Clock Tower - Chapter 27

Fandom: Once Upon a Time (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Belle/Gaston (Once Upon a Time)

Additional Tags: Bookshop On the Corner, slightly AU, Cursed Storybrooke (Once Upon a Time), Alternate Universe - In Storybrooke | Cursed (Once Upon a Time), Eventual Smut

Summary: Storybrooke has no library, and neither does Belle, not since the library where she worked in Boston discovered her past as an inpatient at a mental hospital. Taking her future into her own hands, Belle travels to Storybrooke where her intention is to open up the town library, but all does not go according to her plan. Obstacles and false starts, and diversion along very wrong pathways interrupt her journey toward fulfilling her dream, as well as taking her rightful place and becoming a part of the Storybrooke community.

Read previous chapters on AO3

Chapter 27 - Books and Boxes

Belle closed the door to the apartment with a decided bang, deliberately designed to get Ruby up out of bed, and set the bag of breakfast confections she’d purchased at Granny’s after her early morning walk, and the to-go cups of coffee - both for Ruby - on the counter before filling and switching on the kettle to make herself tea. This had become almost a routine for the two women, since Ruby’s ‘vacation’ had somehow extended further and further until she had apparently taken a leave of absence, all without telling her friend. It wasn’t that Belle was angry per se, just that she would have liked to know, especially as it seemed that Ruby’s love life was… well it was head-spinning at best. Belle could never tell who she was going on a date with on any given day, and she felt sorry for Gus who asked after Ruby whenever he saw Belle.

Meanwhile, since she had given her assurances to Ruby that she wouldn’t act on asking Hunter to help her with the shipment of books from the other rural library - and she had kept that promise - nor the one after that, which she’d purchased from a second library in the suburbs of Boston that was also closing down, Belle’s own, and still strange, loneliness continued unabated.

By some strange quirk of fate, however, the books she had arranged for Storybrooke library to have, arrived anyway, left tucked away in a forgotten corner of the cannery for Belle to collect late one evening after she received an email to let her know they were there. It had taken some work to persuade Ruby to go with her and help her to load the van, and of course her friend didn’t at all believe her when she said she’d had nothing to do with it, and hadn’t asked Hunter to do it at all.

“Remember what I said that one time before, about me being the Mother Superior of that convent?” Ruby snapped, even as she got into the passenger side of the van. Belle said nothing and evidently Ruby took it for confirmation of remembering and said, “Well, ditto.”

Belle sighed, “Ruby, what can I do or say to make you believe that I didn’t do this?”

“Nothing,” Ruby said. “And Belle, you know, it really isn’t on. I mean, I know I’ve not exactly been Hunter’s biggest fan and all that, but… did you ever think what might happen if he got caught hauling contraband.”

“You make it sound like drugs or something,” Belle muttered as she started the engine, and turned around in the road to head out toward the docks and the cannery.

“It might as well be,” Ruby said. “He could get into trouble; get fired. Is that what you want?”

“It’s books, Ruby,” Belle threw up her hands, “and of course I don’t.”

“Hands on the wheel!” Ruby squeaked, grabbing hold of the handle above the door until Belle once more gripped the steering wheel and took a calming breath.

“And for the last time, I didn’t ask Hunter to bring the books.”

“Then who the hell did?” Ruby wanted to know, and turned in the seat until she was facing Belle. “Father Christmas?”

Belle glanced over at Ruby. “I don’t. Know,” she said with no small amount of finality.

They were silent then, and for the whole of the journey, and all the while they were loading the many boxes of books, cramming the last of them into the cab with the two of them so that Ruby ended up sitting cross legged on the seat with the boxes pressing against her bent knees, there were so many, and then Ruby stomped off up to the apartment, leaving Belle to unpack the books by herself.

By the time she had taken them in, each and every one, and stacked them beside the circulation desk the physical exertion had left her very tired, but no less irritated with her friend. She was afraid that if she went upstairs now, she would only start off another argument, and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to make things worse.

As the same time though she’d be damned if she’d let anyone, least of all Ruby, accuse her of doing something that she really hadn’t done, and so, as petulant and childish as it might have been she made herself a little nest of cushions, and bundled together some of throws she had put in the children’s corner to keep herself warm and prepared to spend the night downstairs in the library.

She woke up the following morning, stiff and sore, and just as irritated, though not at Ruby, but at herself for behaving the way she had the night before, and so she mounted the stairs quietly after tidying away the evidence of her foolishness, and slipped into the apartment, expecting to find Ruby still sleeping on the couch.

“I owe you an apology,” Ruby’s voice, coming from the kitchen made her jump, and then look up guiltily to find her friend looking at her with a raised eyebrow that promised a different kind of ‘hard time’ that she’d be getting later.

“I do too,” she answered. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”

Ruby shook her head, “And I shouldn’t have accused you, especially when you said you hadn’t done it. You’ve never told me a lie before, why would you start now?” Belle looked down at her fingernails not quite knowing what to say, so it was Ruby that spoke again. “Anyway, I went to get breakfast this morning, to try and make up for having a go at you, and I… I bumped into Leroy. He asked if you’d picked up the books from the cannery yet, and I said—”

“It was Leroy?” Belle interjected, her surprise making her voice sound harsher than she intended.

“Yeah,” Ruby confessed. “He said he’s got contacts at the cannery that gave him Hunter’s number. Said he’d seen the names of the libraries on your notepad by the circulation desk, and… well…” Ruby shrugged.

“So Leroy arranged for Hunter to bring the books to Storybrooke?” she asked again, just to be sure she had it right.

“Yeah,” Ruby confirmed. “So… I was a bitch for no reason, and you deserve better friends, ones that trust you the way you deserve.”

“Oh, Ruby,” Belle said, finally stepping away from the front door to the apartment and letting the door close behind her, then crossed the room to hug her friend.

The days that followed were a march of opening boxes, cataloging books, and putting onto the shelves. Paige was a great help with that, at least when she wasn’t busy trying to embarrass Belle, to the point where, eventually, Belle made sure that she was the one to open the boxes first, leaving Paige to shelve the books she had already processed into the library.

The fuel for Paige’s teasing - and she was quite precocious for her age - was that in every box there was something special, obviously for Belle: a poem in some, a trinket, or a hand drawn picture in others. There were so many she didn’t quite know what to do with them. In the end she put the pictures and the poems in a small folder, which, for the moment, she kept under the shelf on the circulation desk.

There were so many books to unpack, catalog and put into circulation, and Belle wanted to get it done quickly - lest the mayor should return and find her shelves still wanting - that for at least the next few evenings, she worked well past the library’s closing time, working until her eyelids began to droop, and there was little more she could do but wearily climb the stairs to her apartment, and all but fall into bed. A few times she walked in on Ruby with her latest fling making out on the couch, and she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Gus. Ruby had seemed so into him before, that Belle wouldn’t have thought that she would need to look elsewhere. Still, she had seen her with Gus, an unsavory looking, dark haired man whom she said she met at The Rabbit Hole, and even Doctor Whale.

When she asked Ruby about it one morning over breakfast, her friend shrugged, though she blushed slightly which Belle found somewhat reassuring, and said, “Just… keeping my options open.”

“I see,” said Belle, trying not to sound disapproving in any way, though she wasn’t sure she managed it. Then in a more teasing tone asked, “And am I likely to walk in on you with anyone today.

Ruby shook her head. “I don’t think so. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere today. Who knows, I might even come down and help you out in the library.”

“If you’re like,” Belle answered, with a smile, and as she passed Ruby, on her own way down to the library, she stole a piece of apple from her friend’s plate.

Belle enjoyed a busy day, with many patrons visiting the library, which kept her from doing much unpacking of new books. She didn’t mind, but it did mean that she was set up for a late night, alone in the empty library. She became so engrossed in unpacking the books that she didn’t hear the library door open behind her.

“The library hours posted on the door say ten pm, and by my estimate it is well past eleven thirty.” The voice from the doorway made her start almost violently, and knock over the stack of books beside her. She turned to see the dark shape standing in the doorway.

“Mister Gold,” she said, identifying the figure. “You startled me.”

“My apologies, Miss Marchland,” he said, “that wasn’t my intention. I merely noticed that the library lights were still switched on, and came across to make sure you were all right, and hadn’t… keeled over or anything.”

There was the barest hint of teasing in his otherwise serious tone, and Belle found herself chuckling.

“Touche,” she said softly, then as she began to stand, and gather the books that had spilled across the floor, she added, “Well, other than a near coronary from the surprise of someone suddenly speaking to me from where no one had been a moment before, I believe I’m well.”

He crossed the small space and leaned down to help collect some of the books, after a moment taking the short stack from Belle’s arms to add to his own, and placing them all on top of the desk.

“What can I do for you, Mister Gold?” Belle asked.

“Actually, Miss Marchland, I believe, rather more accurately, it’s what I can do for you,” he said, his voice like honey poured over tumbling rocks, and unbidden, Belle felt her belly, and lower still, clench tightly.

#rumbelle #AU (slight)#storybrooke au #angst #eventual smut #the bookshop on the corner

0 notes

aterryben · 5 years

Text

20 Things To Look Forward to If You're Turning 50 in 2020

If you are turning fifty in 2020, congratulations! currently quite ever, the massive 5-0 is a few milestones to dread. Rather, it is a time in life once treats coalesce and deepen—and dangerous ones begin to fall away. (Yes, really.) it is the confidence to talk up for what you wish, and therefore the clarity to reject everything that does not slot in along with your values.

Turning fifty not a penalization: it is a privilege. Here are twenty things to seem forward to if you are turning fifty in 2020, from folks that got there initial.

1You will get off the rodent wheel.

When you are younger, it will want everything maybe a competition: get the best-paying job, the best-looking spousal equivalent, and therefore the best figure. But by 50, tons of that's in all probability behind you," says Caleb Backe, a licensed life coach and private trainer for Maple Holistics. "You can be married, settled in your career, or have finally puzzled out your body's distinctive desires."

2Or a minimum of careless regarding being thereon.

Of course, you may not have all those things—and you may not even need them, either. "The pressure to urge them is actually but it was at twenty and thirty," Backe adds. "You recognize World Health Organization you're and what you wish."

3You're freer from bound responsibilities.

If the 40s meant younger youngsters, faculty drop-offs, and different obligations, the 50s may represent an opportunity from a number of those daily responsibilities. "The freedom of this decade—which typically comes through less child-rearing responsibility, a lot of stable work setting, and larger personal awareness—leaves the door wide open for positive new beginnings," notes psychotherapist and author Carla Marie Manly.

4And that offers you longer to administer back.

If your schedule is freer, you may have a lot of information measure for a lot of altruistic pursuits. "Giving back—a sense of eager to contribute financially and energetically—often becomes a lot of attention in one's 50s," Manly says. "The need to depart an enduring positive mark—to aid for others—can become a vitally vital and precious part as we tend to go into our 50s."

5Saying no is less complicated.

By 50, you've got learned once and the way to mention no, even though you've got "unsupportive people" close you, says health professional person and coach Traci Shoblom of My Health Pyramid. "When you are fifty, you finally begin living life on your terms."

And if you are not there nevertheless, fifty maybe a nice time to administer yourself permission to urge there, stat. "My recommendation is to administer yourself permission to mention no," says Satchel Paige Arnof-Fenn, founder and chief operating officer of the selling business firm experts & Moguls. "Whether it means that sleeping in (no to associate degree alarm clock), obtaining a massage, taking a walk, or simply turning off my phone and pc (no, I will be able to respond afterward my very own schedule), easy acts of property myself relax and revel in the instant ar the highest gifts I will offer myself."

6And thus is voice communication affirmative.

"There may be a why-not perspective that comes with being fifty," says author and speaker J. Kelly Hoey. "Floor tickets for a Hozier concert and saltation around with millennials—why not? Launch a podcast—why not?"

7You've puzzled out that aging may be a privilege, not a punishment.

"It sounds platitude, however being this age isn't a privilege everybody gets," Hoey notes. "Before turning fifty, there's an inclination to dread the massive 5-0 and upon reaching the milestone, there's a liberation, and enthusiasm regarding what is ahead."

The 58-year-old author Patti Tucker agrees, describing her expertise of turning fifty as "one of pure joyful anticipation," given her circumstances. "I have survived 2 cancer scares and two-faced several different challenges before sound on 50's door, thus to urge there was like slippery into the home when a slam."

8You can be within the position to relish a lot of monetary freedom.

Being fifty will mean finding several life's money struggles within the rear read. "I have accumulated a pleasant nest egg that offers Maine freedom to pursue different interests," says Janet Basilone, founding father of the social eating cluster Fine Diners Over forty.

9Or a minimum of, you are during a nice position to organize for it.

Even if that is not the case for you, this can be an ideal time to form progress. "Turning fifty means you'll be able to begin taking advantage of catch-up contributions to spice up your retirement savings," consistent with Danielle K. Roberts, a private finance professional and co-founder of the insurance agency somebody advantages. "Once you switch fifty, you'll be able to add a further $1,000 a year to your IRA and a further $6,000 each year to your 401(k). If these additional contributions ar possible for you, this will build a large distinction to your retirement savings over the following fifteen years."

10You extremely recognize yourself.

"At 50, you recognize yourself and your strengths and weaknesses tolerably to not apologize for them. you recognize what you prefer, recognize what you represent and what your values are, and the way to align your behaviors along with your values," Shoblom says.

There's a bound level of cognizance that solely comes with age—in this case, 5 decades of trial and error. As Backe notes, "You recognize your likes and dislikes, and acumen to not waste it slow with individuals and things that don't seem to be smart for you. this implies you'll be able to focus your life on those things that you simply realize vital."

11And you perceive others, too.

Once you switch fifty, you have in all probability met many individuals and had your justifiable share of relationships, platonic and otherwise. "By now, you've got higher|a far better|a much better|a higher|a stronger|a more robust|an improved} plan of what makes individuals tick and the way to navigate conflict better," Backe says. "You also can relate to tons a lot of individuals as a result of you've got quite a little bit of life expertise below your belt."

12You've attained tons of knowledge from expertise.

"What comes with age is knowledge and skill, the boldness and clarity to trust in oneself and one's decisions," says popular author Rochelle Weinstein, World Health Organization are going to be turning fifty in a Gregorian calendar month. it is the art of not caring what others assume, as a result of you'll be able to trust yourself, she says.

13You acumen to enjoy—and thrive—in your relationships.

For Weinstein, turning fifty means that "a husband World Health Organization is aware of my history and everyone my soft spots" and "sharing the journey."

Manly underscores the sentiment. "Turning fifty will bring a way of wow for the wonder of shut relationships and relationship," she says. "As life could appear a lot of short in one's 50s, the relationships that offer North American country a way of association and love become all a lot of vital."

14You're a region of a replacement club.

OK, we've talked massive image, however, let's get into a number of a lot of specific advantages of touching that atomic number. Yes, turning fifty means that you'll be able to be part of AARP. (Hooray!) however it also can mean gaining access to different, less noted clubs, and new experiences you ne'er even knew existed.

After 50, speaker and author alphabetic character Bridges discovered the state and national senior games, a multi-sport event specifically for adults 50-plus. "There are sports from athletics to court game to pickleball," she says. "There are tons of running events, too, thus rather than getting to a marathon or 5K and obtaining pushed around by the twentysomethings, a 50-year-old is that the baby and therefore the newcomer to the sport—it's such a shift in perspective. The competition is fierce, however the competitors' ar implausibly friendly. there are fun and completely different sense of, 'we're during this along.'"

15Professional and inventive success end up in new ideas.

SpaRitual founder Shel Pink aforementioned that turning fifty helped her discover new artistic pursuits—thanks to any or all of her previous accomplishments and experiences. "After years of operating with color learning history of art in faculty, printing my very own color pictures throughout my career as an artist, and years of developing color palettes for my complete, I received the painting as a replacement passion," she explains. "This new dimension in my life is expansive and adds a replacement sense of depth and which means that is implausibly revitalizing and exciting."

16You have larger certainty.

Basilone found herself happy to reach fifty with "more self-confidence—granted, when around 5 years in medical aid." which burst of confidence LED to a lot of free time, and value savings, to boot. "I stopped coloring my hair, went gray, and gained tons of monetary and psychological freedom," she adds. "And longer, since I do not ought to arrange for retouching my hair each fortnight."

17You get to take a seat back and admire wherever you came from.

Weinstein is enjoying all the memories—and the family—she's in-built fifty years. "It's nostalgia-laced recollections, precious and valuable, whereas looking our kids, and in some cases, our grandchildren navigate through life," she says. "Being ready to relish these times of life and shifting bodies and temperaments along in our empty, however Ohio thus full, nest."

18You have perspective.

It's not close to having the ability to step faraway from the rat race: there is a broader modification to however you consider the planet. At 50, you are well-positioned to learn from "more insight and bigger-picture thinking supported learnings from years of failures and future growth," says Pink.

19You get to bust different people's stereotypes.

Who says that turning fifty needs to be… something in particular? It's no matter you create it. "Turning fifty has authorized Maine to interrupt barriers of what individuals understand bound age can look and want," says Lara Heimann, physiotherapist, LYT yoga creator, and newly minted 50-year-old.

20Gratitude comes easier.

Ideally, turning fifty will bring a larger association to associate degree organic feeling of appreciativeness. "While previous decades are typically targeted on building personal problems like a relationship, family, and career," Manly says, "this decade is often one in all building feeling for existence and everyone that one has achieved in person and professionally."

0 notes

paulaleus · 6 years

Text

Evy | 22 Months

Keeping up with family pictures is something that I really love to do. It makes me so happy to have beautiful images of Evy and our life together. However, when you’re pregnant with a baby that is not going to survive and each day it feels like a success just to get out of bed, editing and organizing your monthly family photos just can’t happen. I hated falling behind in business but I REALLY hated falling behind on family stuff like this. I knew that it was just a season… and while I was still taking photos, I wasn’t editing them. I was just doing my best to document the happy moments when I could and I hoped that, one day, I could get caught up again.

Well, over New Years, I worked really hard and now I am completely caught up on our family photos from 2018. Not only did I edit all of our photos, I actually switched to a new gallery system that is absolutely amazing and all of my 2018 personal photos are organized by month. Not only are they organized for me, because of the way that this gallery system works, I was able to send custom gallery links to different members of my family with just their images inside… and it wasn’t any extra work. I’m seriously so relieved and thankful and excited about this new part of my workflow personally and professionally. If you are a photographer and you want to know more about this change, I may blog about it soon!

So, this is a MASSIVE blog post and if you feel like you can’t make it through all of these images and you’re wondering “Why in the world would she blog so many pictures”…. I’m doing this because it makes me happy. I love saving the story of our life online! I was doing posts like this every month when Evy was younger but today, I’m catching up from June to the end of DECEMBER! That’s half a year’s worth of memories to share!!

So what do I want to remember from this season of our life? Well, it was so joyful but also so hard. These images capture the JOY that helped us make it through our months right after losing James. We were so relieved that we had survived, but I know for me, once August hit, I felt the weight of what we lived through. The joy of Evy and Micah was the greatest gift to us. They kept us entertained and laughing! Also, seeing Evy grow and change was a reminder that we can have healthy children and it was ok to hope again.

In August, I found out that I was pregnant again. We were so thankful but we also held the hope of this pregnancy very loosely during the first trimester because we knew that my body has just been through a lot and that there is always a chance of loss. However, as we moved into October and got closer and close to the 12 week mark, we started to allow ourselves to celebrate this new baby without as much reservation. We told the world in October and we have been so thankful to have healthy, normal ultrasounds ever since.

June through December were full of new things. Evy and Micah started talking up a storm! Their personalities really let loose and they started fighting like siblings. Lots of hair pulling and biting and screaming…. but also a lot of hugging, kisses and wanting to see each other all of the time. They both started Gymnastics in September and it’s a blast! They love coloring, play dough, playing with the hose on the front porch, reading books, going on walks to see the horses and playing in the basement!!

I wish I could remember all of the hilarious things that Evy started saying from June to December but I can at least share the things we’re loving right now! :

Evy has started speaking in sentences: “Where Momma is?” “Momma why do dat?” “I did IT!!!!”

She has started calling Micah “MiCah” and not “MiNah” this month!

She loves talking about my sister’s baby’s name who is about to be born any week now!

She’s OBSESSED with “Baby Roe”… our best friend’s little girl. She wants to hold her, put her paci in, talk to her, etc.

She is really attached to her “Mean Man” book… that’s not what it’s called. It’s just a circus book with a mean circus owner in it and so she calls it “Mean Man”!

She walks around with a tiny miniature bible that was Michael’s when he was little and loves flipping through the pages. No pictures… just text. She loves it!

She’s not a fan of Bokeh Boy because he tries to steal her “num nums” (her snacks)

She calls milk “Mulk”

She has a hilarious name for our baby boy but we’ll have to wait to share that when we share his name!

She thinks the baby is in my chest, not my belly! ha!

Evy has started singing correct melodies to songs and learning more than just the verses. She can sing almost every word to “Do Re Mi”.

She loves Sound of Music and Daniel Tiger… Baby Margaret is her favorite!

She has been getting up at 6:30 or 7am…. sometimes we get lucky and it’s 7:20!

Michael gets up with her every morning and I’m so thankful for that because sometimes, mornings aren’t my favorite in pregnancy.

She LOVES climbing steps!

She loves swinging on things!

She is FAST when she runs but right now she prefers to HOP everywhere.

She currently isn’t in the best eating phase. I’m thankful she at least still eats broccoli, chicken salad and cucumbers! Everything else is pretty basic and toddler-ish: Pasta, grilled cheese, yogurt, nuggets, peanut butter, fruit, etc.

She says all of our family names except she won’t say “GRAND-Daddy”… just “Daddy” and she calls Grammie “Bobbi”… which is her first name. We need to work on the “GR” sound!

She makes the BEST faces!!!! Cracks us up!

She sings LOUDLY!!!!! At home, in public, on airplanes, in restaurants… haha

There is so much more to these past six months but I’ll leave it here because you have about 300 images to scroll through. So embarrassing!! But I just love it!! Enjoy!

Working with Mimi in the flowerbed… Working with Grandaddy on the minivan… This is their reaction listening to Whitney Houston! Our trip to Florida with Michael’s family! Back to the lake for the Fourth! This is proof that I got up…. I just didn’t stay up. ha! Then we headed to Wisconsin with my family! Daddy baptized my cousins Paige and Steph in the lake and it was the sweetest day… followed by a double rainbow! My cousin Paige had TWINS! And they are identical!! Just the cutest! Evy loved them! Oh my….. Micah and Evy with their Mimi blankets! Bahahahaha! We got a Grover visit at the lake!!! In September, we lost Michael’s beautiful Grandma. She was 90 years old and lived such a spunky, active and joy-filled life. All of the family was together and so we took a picture of all of the boy cousins because they have a picture like this from close to two decades ago…. back when Michael was the tallest! Evy’s face…. this picture gave us all some good laughs in our family group text! In September we also started construction on the pool! It will be ready in April and we’re so excited! This was a celebration of an amazing year in business but also, it feels like a fun things for our family to enjoy after living through the hardest year of our life. Play dough on the porch! They call this “Bo-do”! The Gerald twins came to visit! That face! Aunt Sarah’s Christmas gift from us last year was horse lessons! She’s great at it! Also, Evy had her first close encounter with a cat and it looks like she froze! In October we announced baby number 3. I got pregnant three months after giving birth to James which is a lot physically but I’m currently 25 weeks and feel great. We’re so thankful for another chance at having a baby boy here on earth! This was Joe’s 30th birthday at the Pumpkin Patch! Our 8th anniversary! We may have waited 6 years to start a family, but we have sure been through a lot in these last two years when it comes to babies. So thankful for Michael and the way he has loved me through all of the different mountaintops and valleys we have walked through. Evy and Knox got to go to the Safari Park in Lexington, VA! I promise he had a good time! ha! She hated the birds! Their first day of Gymnastics! Best investment of the fall! They LOVE Miss Holly and they are doing different tasks every week! It never gets old to them! I included this one because Evy looks like she needs to pee and it’s cute! Proud mom moment. This is her face when she says “Ummmmm… no momma”. Her new best girlfriend. She is obsessed with “Baby Roe”. This is one of my favorite pictures of the year! Halloween!!!!! That image on the left? ha!!! We just wanted one decent picture! Thanksgiving at our house! Playing with Sarah’s sticks! I love these portraits so much! No idea what’s going on here! Evy was having a hard day. Not the biggest snow fan! We celebrated Micah’s second birthday! “Christmas” morning on the 24th! Christmas morning at our house!

from Photography Tips http://katelynjamesblog.com/evy-17-22-months/

0 notes

newsnigeria · 6 years

Text

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/religion-saves-the-americans/

Religion saves ‘The Americans’ – the superb (semi) pro-socialist TV show

by Ramin Mazaheri for Ooduarere

(NOTE: This review contains spoilers for the TV show “The Americans”)

The US television show “The Americans” has been considered the best TV show for the past few years, and it aired its finale on May 30, and to rave reviews.

What has gone unappreciated, and of course rarely commented-upon among the fake-leftist cultural gurus of the US, is that “The Americans”was the first show to ever sympathetically portray committed socialists in US history. For leftists, it was truly ground-breaking and long-awaited television.

The show revolves around two dedicated, highly-trained Soviets who have been implanted as long-term spies in America to work for the cause of global socialism, all while appearing as a normal,entrepreneurial American family with two children.

Watching the show I was happily astounded to see – time and time again – that the spies were portrayed as truly devoted, impassioned, intelligent socialists. Throughout the show’s 6 seasons there were socialist critiques of American culture; of capitalism, imperialism, militarism, racism, individualism, etc., and all delivered without a hint of irony or doubt. Never before have Americans been so capably presented with a socialist critique of their society on the TV in their own home.

Continue reading after the page break African-American militants and Vietnamese communists had major storylines, and they too are treated realistically. Their political ideas and experiences as the victims of imperialist capitalism are presented with truly unprecedented sympathy and honesty. All the socialist characters demanded that they be treated as honest members working on behalf of a progressive, enlightened political system – socialism. Of course they all lose in the end, but it is amazing that they got past US censors in the first place.

“The Americans” also did a better job of discussing Soviet history than American journalists – to give just one recent example, they actually talked about the fact that the Soviets won World War II (the Western front) and that 25 million Soviets died. If you tried to give that number in a US news-debate show you’d probably be shouted down. Time and again the female spy character cites facts, achievements and principles to defend the socialist cause and is an ardent Soviet nationalist.

And that makes “The Americans” revolutionary viewing. Socialist motivations and ideology have never been even objectively presented in American television. It seems that 30 years after the implosion of the USSR, US television executives finally decided to end the decades of non-stop lies and propaganda which the idiot box had broadcast regarding the USSR, socialism, communism, anti-imperialism and their related ideologies.

Of course, being an American show, the real Americans win in the end. But for leftists the show is worth watching for the female spy, Elizabeth, and her ideological monologues. She is a rock-hard socialist revolutionary, and her many years living in the US has only given her even more reasons to fundamentally reject Western capitalist culture; thus, her critiques are relevant to American society today.

It is also, much like Mad Men did for the late 1950s and early 1960s, a “time-capsule show”. The 1980s have been been replicated with big-budget production values, so the nostalgia factor is sentimentally present as well.

I spoke to a young journalist colleague in Russia – she had never heard of “The Americans”. I was quite surprised, because the portrayal of her Soviet 1980s-era ancestors is really quite thorough and flattering, even to non-socialists. There are plenty of real-life references to Soviet culture and personalities which would make it sentimentally attractive to Russian viewer, as well.

Perhaps the best thing about the finale is that there was no absurd negative foreshadowing of the Putin era; to me, this reflects the serious nature with which the Russians and Soviets are treated with thought the series. If the Russians are waiting for a better, reasonably honest, big-budget TV series about the Soviet era…they will be waiting quite a long time.

Most Americans TV shows revolve around fame, death or sports, so I really must recommend this drama as a politically-enlightened form of escapism.

Analysing the finale: another ‘deathbed conversion’ by Hollywood

Of course the real Americans were going to win, but the question was how?

It is unfortunate that the show’s final storyline so unbelievable: After 5.9 seasons of determined, shining, staunch support for socialism, Elizabeth (the female spy) listens to a nuclear arms reduction speech from a fictitious minister of Gorbachev…and promptly decides to defy her KGB handlers in order to support the Gorbachev faction and world peace.

She thus turns on the ideals of the revolution, her KGB comrades, her life’s work and successfully keeps Gorbachev from being deposed in a coup. I found this personality-shift unconvincing, but hey: this is Hollywood.

How different would the world have been if Gorbachev – despised in Russia today – had been deposed? At least we have this TV series to raise such a question, even if if it is answered in a way which affirms the America’s mistaken pro-imperialist & anti-socialist ideology.

Paige, the Jesus-loving teenager who was savvy enough to realize something was fishy about her parents and who then willingly signed as a junior KGB-kid, is left doing something stereotypically Russian – drinking vodka. Our final image of her is slamming a shot of vodka all alone, as she has retreated to the safe house where she was schooled on Soviet history and culture.

Clearly, she represents the upcoming post-Gorbachev “lost generation” – one which falls into alcoholism, depression and bitterness towards the failures of the older generations which have gutted her future. Paige is the trained Soviet youth that will sit in waste until Putin turns the country around.

Paige could have continued to Canada and then on to the USSR with her parents, but – in one of the show’s biggest final twists – she leaves the train at the last stop before Canada, abandoning her parents. And that shows that Paige is truly an “American”: like all members of Generation X and beyond, American children are culturally instructed to hate their parents and rebel at every opportunity. Paige might have gone to the USSR she had come to admire and even work for…if only her stupid parents weren’t there too!

However, Paige – who has descended from the socialist future to bitter brat – won’t have time to be snottily depressed for long: it’s impossible for the neophyte spy to survive on her own in America, and we can be sure she will soon be waterboarded and cattle-prodded for all she knows, and likely executed like the Rosenbergs for treason. Little wonder she is drinking.

Henry: As is the case in many top TV shows these days (notably the Sopranos), young adult female characters are extremely capable, but young adult male characters are essentially clueless and drags on society. Henry continues this trend, as he was never told of his parents’ secret life nor was he smart enough to figure it out like his sister. He was, however, smart enough to get into a rich, private, capitalist boarding school, where he thrived (and also took the boring problem of his existence off the hands of the show’s writers).

The parents decide, in another twist, to not bring Henry to the USSR. He is at home in America, they decide, and thus has proved he is truly an “American”. In a final family phone call to Henry – where they do not tell him of their double life – Philip (the spy father) continues his American-style parenting of encouraging egotistical individualism (telling him “You’re great”) and non-stop work / personal achievement / consumption (telling him to “Go go go”).

Philip then immediately goes to buy three huge bags of McDonald’s for just three people, in one last effort to get dangerously obese and thus be a typical American family. They eat in the car and on the run for work, like most Americans do.

The future of Henry is pretty grim: no parents, a tough battle to prove he was unaware of his parents spying, lifelong enormous overcompensation to prove his “American-ness” and endless bitterness towards socialism. Thus the gifted, elite-schooled, “socialism ruined my life” Henry is likely to wind up a supremely useful tool of the 1%: possibly president, like the son of a Communist-deposed Hungarian aristocrat (Nicolas Sarkozy), or the CEO of the most anti-worker American company today, Uber (headed by Iranian Revolution-fleeing Dara Khosrowshahi).

Regardless, Henry is another fine catch of the American brain drain, and his talents will not be used in Russia during their upcoming years of stagnation caused by switching form their socialist-inspired model.

Philip and Stan – spies unlike us, or each other

Philip, the father-husband-spy, was always less committed as a socialist than his wife, and this provided much of the show’s domestic tension. Philip’s does not ultimately cease his spy work in the final season because he loves the US, but more because he has becomes disillusioned with spydom.

Indeed, for a trained, embedded, murdering spy with an arranged wife…Philip was always a rather happy-go-lucky sort – he cared more for family life and his travel agency than promoting socialism. One wonders at the KGB’s selection process, especially in the area of testing ideological rigor? However, as was unambiguously implied, Philip endured homosexual sex as part of his spy training, so he was clearly VERY committed at one point in his life (I would say “too committed”!).

Philip is the one who is saved – from his feelings of guilt and the anti-American evils of socialism – by religion, and thus shifts the show’s moral centre from Paige (of course, Elizabeth for socialists like myself) to himself in Season 3.

While American baby boomers undoubtedly failed in a political sense – unlike their Chinese and Iranian counterparts – a fair case can be made that they succeeded in a spiritual sense. The recently-departed journalist-novelist Tom Wolfe correctly described the 1960s and 70s in America as the “Third Great Awakening” (a third period of American religious revivalism); there is no doubt that American spiritual values changed for a huge part of their population, though the value of these changes are in the eye of the beholder.

In a very good piece of writing, Philip embodies this post-Woodstock reality as he attends seminars for the now-deduct EST movement. EST was a quasi-religious, corporate, Scientology-like, semi-cult which focused on pure individualism and personal empowerment. EST helped Philip get in touch with his feelings, forgive himself for his many murders (one even committed before he became a spy) and to find a new level of spirituality…one which led him to abandon his comrades, political ideals, homeland, and society in favor of his own personal desires. EST is clearly a “new world” type of religion.

Stan Beeman was an FBI agent working on fighting Soviet spies who moved next door to the Soviet spy couple. The unlikely friendship between Philip and Stan is another of the show’s key plot devices.

Stan is – in classic American WASP fashion – unable to emotionally connect with his wife and son, both of whom leave him. Philip invited Stan to EST, although acting class may have been a better choice, as the actor playing Stan undoubtedly set a record for number of subtle one-way upper-lip twists per on-screen minute.

Capitalist new-age spirituality – the authentic American religion – saves the day

I include Philip and Stan here together because the show’s finale clearly wanted us to view them that way – as “best friends”. Of course, the climatic scene of the entire series is when Stan inevitably finds out that his neighbors are Soviet spies – will he let them escape or arrest them?

Cornered in a garage, Philip finally breaks his cover and appeals to Stan’s sensibilities…not with a defense of socialism, but with the Nazi Nurembourg defense of “We had a job to do.” Stan, being an FBI fascist, sympathizes of course, and his anger lessens.

Philip then repudiates his entire socialist past, describing how his life has become one big sob-story and how he and his wife have been betrayed by their comrades into trying to depose peace-loving Gorbachev. Stan responds with a statement never-before uttered by an FBI or CIA agent: “I could care less who runs your country.”

But EST makes a surprising re-appearance at this time of supreme dramatic decision. Philip tells Stan: “But we’re getting in that car, and we’re driving away. (Big sigh) I wish you had stayed with me at EST – you might know what to do here.”

Stan pauses, remembers EST’s “Me Generation” new-age religion principles and is inspired to know what to do here: He does not stop them as Philip, Elizabeth and Paige slowly move to the car. The family (minus pouting Paige) makes it back to the USSR. Three cheers for EST!

Thus it is actually religion which saves “The Americans” in “The Americans”. Not a standard religion, not even a successful new-age religion like Scientology, but an ideology which is “spiritual but not religious”, and which serves no societal and only an individualist function.

Even if Stan’s brief EST training hadn’t kicked in, religion still would have saved the spy family: the finale also included a Russian Orthodox clergy member who, under the threat of being unable to climb up the church ladder, breaks his vows and gives them up to the FBI. This is in pointed contrast to the previous episode, where the spy family’s WASP pastor (who knew they were spies) does not break his vows when questioned by the FBI, giving the average American viewer a cheap thrill of perceived religious superiority.

But it is EST which ultimately saves the day, the bad socialists, Stan from being a bad friend, and the protagonists with whom we must partially sympathise and root for or else we change the channel.

As the audience rests from the emotional climax, the song that plays is “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits, which aims to underscore the kinship between the two male intelligence operatives.

However, this actually only reveals the true political leanings of the writers – political and historical nihilism – as it implies that Philip and Stan are essentially the same, even though they were motivated for decades by two totally different ideologies. Stan and Philip were violent enemies and definitely not brothers-in-arms…at least not until Philip was deluded by new-age, individualist spirituality.

EST, of course, is no religion. EST is no longer even taught. But EST lives on in America in Oprah, in the selfie, in America’s refusal to deal honestly with their imperialist past, in their hedonistic worship of the present, in their desire for perpetual youth, in their efforts to make “getting what you want” somehow a positive moral value, and in the idea that we must constantly improve and transform ourselves because the American system itself is perfect and thus must not be tampered with via socialist modernisations.

EST, we can see, was always present in America’s 400+ year history in one form or another. It is little wonder that it was chosen by the writers to be the supreme, modern ideology to prevail over socialism.

Of course, EST is Reagan-era bullplop.

Reagan-era bullplop – neoliberalism – is the dominant Western ideology now, and we all knew that the series’ climactic scene would not end with Elizabeth orchestrating a socialist victory but with exhortations to more neoliberalism.

Elizabeth – another leftist misled by Gorbachev

Elizabeth is played with grim emaciation by Keri Russell, an actress who had been best-known for unexpectedly cutting off her trademark long curly hair, ruining her appeal and quickly causing the end of her poplar series “Felicity”. She appears to have learned her lesson, because whenever she is not in disguise she prominently “wears her hair forward” in this series.

Being a typical male, I had no idea what “wearing hair forward” meant until an ex-girlfriend told me as we watched this show. I defended my male obtuseness and lack of style by remarking that if she had “worn her hair sideways” I would have surely noticed. Female readers will perhaps understand why, with such bad jokes, this girlfriend is now an ex. But I end this digression….

Because Elizabeth was the unrepentant socialist (at least until the Hollywood ending) there was no doubt that the writers would finish by assassinating her character as much as possible.

One of the last scenes of her involves an unsettling dream she has while flying back to the USSR. She is in bed with her ideologically-solid African-American militant lover, whom she respected and loved more than Philip; he is rubbing her belly as she says, “I don’t want a kid anyway.” (Of course, a half-Black baby would blow her cover.) Metaphorically, this is to imply that Elizabeth does not have a soul. Literally, it is to show that she was an frigid spy queen who wanted to be motherless and thus is fine leaving her children behind; children being the only sacred family tie in Western society, which cares not for extended family as in other cultures.

In American television it is fine to denigrate the older generation, but rarely is prime motherhood portrayed as anything but as American as apple pie; it’s quite a damnation, and thus primes the viewer to interpret her socialist commitment as similarly soulless and damned. She never stopped being a committed socialist, of course, just a right-wing, Gorbachevian one. Not good enough for the West, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth gets the series very final line – “We’ll get used to it” – which is a response to Philip’s “I feel strange”. This is a continuation of the last-second effort to portray Elizabeth as a fundamentally inauthentic and soulless person. The writers clearly do not want viewers to ultimately sympathise with the socialist Elizabeth, and they thus make a deathbed confession to Hollywood that they repudiate the socialist ideas they quite ably wrote for years.

The two characters say this as the two look out over a dark, polluted, factory-filled, ominous Russian city…and the series ends.

Americans love music – analysing the song choices

Music in TV show finales is always often much discussed: Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” in the TV show “Breaking Bad’ and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” for the “Sopranos”.

The previously mentioned “Brothers in Arms” was an inspired choice, even if it was instrumentalized to support political and historical nihilism.

The other use of music was far less original – U2’s “With Or Without You”, which at any given moment is being played simultaneously on roughly 900 different Western radio stations. This song played as Paige walked off the train, abandoning her parents in a fit of short-sighted Gen X resentment.

More than just explaining family dynamics, the choice of that song represents the series as a whole: It serves as a sort of love letter from America to the USSR. After all, the 1980s were a much simpler time: The world was either capitalist or communist, and you picked your camp.

Today, Islamophobia has replaced communism, and it is a far less-satisfying ideological war for everybody. The US is winning the body count race by many factors of 10, but that is only barely enough to satisfy rabid Westerners – in the age of Political Correctness they cannot full-throatedly hate Muslims as they could communists. Also, they are losing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere, unlike versus the Soviets.

Subconsciously, Westerners know that it is they who have ruined the Arab Spring, proving that they aren’t committed to democracy (nor ever were). Quite consciously, the supremacy of capitalism has only brought lower wages, austerity and economic & social instability – “this is victory?” It is no wonder that many long for the good-old Reagan-era days, when neoliberalism was just sprouting its terrible tentacles, the enemies were clear, wages and purchasing power weren’t stagnant, and flying wasn’t such a hassle.

So the song represents that the US misses the USSR as an adversary – the West could not and cannot live with or without the Soviets.

Fortunately, socialism can never die.

Unfortunately, the final music accompanying the spy couple’s return to Russia is simply a maudlin, European violin.

This is as artistically and emotionally unsatisfying as the West’s alleged “victory” over socialism. However, what choice did the writers have but phony sentimentality when they fundamentally are anti-socialist and pro-imperialist status quo?

When is the Iranian version getting broadcast?

I liked this series very much because it makes me think that: if the US can make a (semi) pro-socialist TV show 30 years after the fall of the USSR, perhaps a (semi) pro-Iranian Islamic revolution show is just 30 years away!

As of now, the archetypal TV/cinematic portrayal of modern Iran is not the Oscar-nominated Argo, but Hollywood’s 1991’s propaganda piece Not Without My Daughter. In the movie an Iranian man who tries to kidnap his daughter to Iran from his wife (Sally Field). This movie set the mould for all movies about Iran as well as all movies from Iran which receive Western praise and distribution: the plot must include tremendous oppression of women. Roger Ebert, America’s greatest and most popular movie critic ever, courageously wrote, “If a movie of such a vitriolic and spiteful nature were to be made in America about any other ethnic group, it would be denounced as racist and prejudiced.” But anything goes for Iran….

Yet “The Americans” shows that Hollywood does eventually let down their propaganda guard! Of course, the Islamic Republic of Iran learned from the Soviet implosion and will not suffer the same anti-socialist fate, but maybe in 30 years there will be a similar big-budget TV show in the US?

And so I propose: “The Christians”. Tentative broadcast date: 2048

In this TV series two Iranian Christian refugees (Why are they refugees when Christians are constitutionally represented and protected in Iran, and that Prophet Mohammad repeatedly confirms and upholds the Scriptures? No matter, this is Hollywood.) are actually secret spies for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The series is set in Chicago, the home of the only Bahai church in North America, providing further subplots and a place where the “asylum-seeking” couple can work, applying the knowledge from their Iranian background.

The male spy, Fazlollah, is eventually disillusioned with Iranian Islamic Socialism and is won over by the corrupt and merciless “Chicago Way”: alternately rendered as “get them before they get you,” or, “If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun. If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.” He renounces his political and religious faith, and becomes a Bahai.

Fazlollah’s wife is not pleased about this change -she wants nothing more than to come from a hard day’s work spying, kick off her shoes, and put on her burka (her ethnic heritage is Irani Afghan).

One child joins the University of Chicago and becomes a rabid neoliberal and disciple of Milton Friedman. The other willingly becomes an Iranian Islamic Socialist and works to subvert US banking sanctions by funnelling money from the Chicago Board of Trade to Iran via their Bitcoin futures contracts. Like Paige, both “abandon” their Iranian parents by cruelly moving into homes next door after each gets married around the age of 30.

Other plot lines can involve Catholic socialists in Latin America, and even Chinese socialists – the writers of “The Americans” surprisingly never found a way to include them.

The final twist is that the couple flees the US and returns to Iran, only to find that the IRI is so strong that they no longer care about a couple of sellout spies.

On second thought, maybe the US needs 60 years to produce such a show…90 tops.

Ramin Mazaheri is the chief correspondent in Paris for PressTV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. His work has appeared in various journals, magazines and websites, as well as on radio and television. He can be reached on Facebook.

#Religion #U.S.A

0 notes