#Seth and Kelly Go Day Drinking

[whereisthebigstabbyman]

Seth and Kelly Go Day Drinking

[notbecauseofvictories]

Hi Sarah! My friend and I are starting a bookclub (as much as you can with two people who aren't pressed for deadlines) and I was wondering if you have any recommendations? (That is if you have time to rec anything!) We're starting off with Deathless and have Fitzgerald next in line somewhere but I def want to try to expand the genres we read and tbh from years of following you, I trust your judgement

I don’t...like giving recommendations? At least not directly, it seems like too much opportunity for getting it wrong. Everybody has their own tastes, after all, and even the best of friends don’t necessarily vibe with what you vibe with. (I’ve experienced this with multiple friends, so I know what I’m talking about.) Truly, one of the reasons that my whole “I’m going to get back into reading for pleasure!” push has been so successful is that I only bother with books that interest me, and stop reading when they fail to catch my attention.

But I’ve now read at least 60 books in 2020, which is approximately 60 more than I’ve read in the years prior, so I’m happy to share that. Below is my list of recent reads, beginning to end, along with a very short review---I keep this list in the notes app on my phone, so they have to be. Where I’ve talked about a book in a post, I’ve tried to link to it. 

Peruse, and if something catches your interest I hope you enjoy!

2020 Reading List

Crazy Rich Asians series, Kevin Kwan (here)

Blackwater, Michael McDowell (here; pulpy horror and southern gothic in one novel; come for the monster but stay for the family drama.)

Fire and Hemlock, Diane Wynne Jones (here; weird and thoughtful, in ways I’m still thinking about)

The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (here; loved it! I can see why people glommed onto it)

Swamplandia!, Karen Russell (unfinished, I could not get past the first paragraph; just....no.)

Rules of Scoundrels series, Sarah MacLean (an enjoyable romp through classic romancelandia, though if you read through 4 back to back you realize that MacLean really only writes 1 type of relationship and 1 type of sexual encounter, though I do appreciate insisting that the hero go down first.)

The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden (here)

Dread Nation, Justine Ireland (great, put it with Stealing Thunder in terms of fun YA fantasy that makes everything less white and Eurocentric)

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson (VERY good. haunting good.)

Tell My Horse, Zora Neale Hurston (I read an interesting critique of Hurston that said she stripped a lot of the radicalism out of black stories - these might be an example, or counterexample. I haven't decided yet.)

The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society, T. Kingfisher (fun!)

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell (some of these short stories are wonderful; however, Swamplandia's inspiration is still unreadable, which is wild.)

17776, Jon Bois (made me cry. deeply human. A triumph of internet storytelling)

The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey (deeply enjoyable. the ending is a bittersweet kick in the teeth, and I really enjoyed the adults' relationships)

The Door in the Hedge and Other Stories, Robin McKinley (enjoyable, but never really resolved into anything.)

The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley (fun, but feels very early fantasy - or maybe I've just read too many of the subsequent knock-offs.)

Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls (weird little pulp novel.)

All Systems Red, Martha Wells (enjoyable, but I don't get the hype. won't be looking into the series unless opportunity arises.)

A People's History of Chicago, Kevin Coval (made me cry. bought a copy. am still thinking about it.)

The Sol Majestic, Ferrett Steinmetz (charming, a sf novel mostly about fine dining)

House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (immensely enjoyable read, for all it feels like fic with the serial numbers filed off)

The Au Pair, Emma Rous (not bad, but felt like it wanted to be more than it is)

The Night Tiger, Yangsze Choo (preferred this to Ghost Bride; I enjoy a well-crafted mystery novel and this delivered)

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin (unfinished, I cannot fucking get into Le Guin and should really stop trying)

The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo (enjoyable, but not nearly as fun as Ghost Bride - the romance felt very disjointed, and could have used another round of editing)

Temptation's Darling, Johanna Lindsey (pure, unadulterated id in a romance novel, complete with a girl dressing as a boy to avoid detection)

Social Creature, Tara Isabella Burton (a strange, dark psychological portrait; really made a mark even though I can't quite put my finger on why)

The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins (slow at first, but picks up halfway through and builds nicely; a whiff of Gone Girl with the staggered perspectives building together)

Stealing Thunder, Alina Boyden (fun Tortall vibes, but set in Mughal India)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant; The Monster Baru Commorant, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (LOVE this, so much misery, terrible, ecstatic; more here)

This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone (epistolary love poetry, vicious and lovely; more here)

The Elementals, Michael McDowell

Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (didn't like this one as much as I thought I would; narrator's contemporary voice was so jarring against the stylized world and action sequences read like the novelization for a video game; more here)

Finna, Nino Cipri (a fun little romp through interdimensional Ikea, if on the lighter side)

Magic for Liars, Sarah Gailey (engrossing, even if I could see every plot twist coming from a mile away)

Desdemona and the Deep, C. S. E. Cooney (enjoyed the weirdness & the fae bits, but very light fare)

A Blink of the Screen, Terry Pratchett (admittedly just read this for the Discworld bits)

A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (not as good about politics and colonialism as Baru, but still a powerful book about The Empire, and EXTREMELY cool worldbuilding that manages to be wholly alien and yet never heavily expositional)

Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (see my post)

Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan (didn't finish, got to to first explicit sex scene and couldn't get any further)

Prosper's Demon, KJ Parker (didn't work for me...felt like a short story that wanted to be fleshed out into a novel)

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik (extremely fun, even for a reader who doesn't much like Napoleonic stories)

Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone (fun romp - hard to believe that this is the same author as Time War though you can see glimmers of it in the imagery here)

A Scot in the Dark, Sarah MacLean (palette cleanser, she does write a good romance novel even it's basically the same romance novel over and over)

The Resurrectionist, E. B. Hudspeth (borrowed it on a whim one night, kept feeling like there was something I was supposed to /get/ about it, but never did - though I liked the Mutter Museum parallels)

Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang (he's a better ideas guy than a writer, though Hell Is The Absence of God made my skin prickle all over)

Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (fun, very much a throwback to my YA days of fairytale retellings, though obviously less European)

Four Roads Cross, Max Gladstone (it turns out I was a LOT more fond of Tara than I initially realized - plus this book had a good Pratchett-esque pacing and reliance on characterization)

Get in Trouble, Kelly Link (reading this after the Chiang was instructive - Link is such a better storyteller, better at prioritizing the human over the concept)

Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips

Soulless; Changeless; Blameless, all by Gail Carriger (this series is basically a romance novel with some fantasy plot thrown in for fun; extremely charming and funny)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James (got about 1/3 of the way through and had to wave the white flag; will try again because I like the plot and the worldbuilding; the tone is just so hard to get through)

Pew, Catherine Lacey (a strange book, I'm still thinking about it; a good Southern book, though)

Nuremberg Diary, GM Gilbert (it took me two months to finish, and was worth it)

River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (I wanted to like this one a lot more than I actually did; would have made a terrific movie but ultimately was not a great novel. Preferred Magic for Liars.)

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (extremely fun, though more trippy than Gods and the plot didn't work as well for me - though it was very original)

The New Voices of Fantasy, Peter S. Beagle (collected anthology, with some favorites I've read before Ursula Vernon's "Jackalope Wives", "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" "The Husband Stitch"; others that were great new finds "Selkie Stories are for Losers" from Sofia Satamar and "A Kiss With Teeth" from Max Gladstone and "The Philosophers" from Adam Ehrlich Sachs)

[safflowerseason]

what are some of your favourite fights (verbal not physical!) from the oc? i was thinking about how much i enjoy ryan and marissa's fight in 3x02 about the shooting. it's one of the few (only?) instance where they talk about it and marissa vocalises ryan not needing to save her all the time. for all their misery in season 3, it's a shame we didn't get more explosive fights between the two. really emblematic of how the show lost its energy and spark

Oooh, this is a great question, Anon, as everyone here knows I love a good fight. However, the only season I can really consider in my answer is S1, because I haven’t watched the other seasons closely enough to really have a favorite (I also think they are written badly enough that a lot of the fighting just annoys me because none of it actually makes sense emotionally). 

In general, my favorite fights on The OC are between Sandy and Kirsten, for a couple reasons. For one thing, they are always the best acted (um, sorry to the core four, but it’s true). Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan had such good chemistry and did an incredible job of portraying a marriage in all its dimensions. I also just personally love watching/reading a good fight between married people (I am writing a whole fic to that effect) because there’s always so much going on, so much history to draw from, and so much more is always at stake. I’m not sure I can pick a favorite, but whenever Sandy and Kirsten are fighting in S1, I am always having a great time and just appreciating their dynamic because it’s so rich. One of my favorite fights is the fight they have during the Valentine’s Day episode in Kirsten’s office, which starts out kind of silly about the V-Day dance and then turns into a bigger fight about their whole relationship. Inject that kind of fighting into my veins. 

Anyway, after Sandy and Kirsten’s fights, I also really do appreciate Seth and Summer’s fight at the beginning of S2, when Summer reads the riot act and calls him on all his bullshit, because she basically sums up everything that’s wrong with Seth’s character and it’s just a shame Seth actually regresses in S2 as a human. “What do you want, Cohen?” “I just want you.” “...No, you don’t.” SO GOOD. Normally Adam Brody out-acts Bilson (and/or you get the sense they are just being a couple onscreen together), but she completely shines in that scene. Rachel Bilson went to acting classes or something between S1 and S2. 

For Ryan and Marissa, it’s a bit difficult for me to choose. Unlike Sandy and Kirsten or Seth and Summer, who largely communicate via fighting, Ryan and Marissa do not communicate that way, so fighting for them is often less about communication and more just...yelling past each other, which is more frustrating to watch. The moments when they make up from their arguments are always the more compelling to me. I’m not sure I agree that Ryan and Marissa needed more fights to fix what went wrong in S3 (although I haven’t seen it in years and years and it sounds like maybe they did need to scream at each other)...I just think the writers had no idea how to write their relationship anymore. To me, Ryan and Marissa’s best moments as a couple are their quietest moments...Ben McKenzie and Mischa Barton are not very talk-y actors...they often do better just letting their faces do the work for them.

Nevertheless, I do enjoy their fight in the S1 Chrismukkah ep, after they get pulled over by the cops and Marissa almost gets busted for drinking and Ryan unloads on her about how he can’t put up with her behavior anymore. To me, it’s a very realistic argument, and Ryan is actually setting a boundary with Marissa (albeit angrily), which is very compelling to see considering they have basically no boundaries with each other at that point in their relationship. I also enjoy their post-Oliver arc when Marissa wants to go back to normal and Ryan can’t because he feels too betrayed...when Marissa shows up and basically wants to have sex as a way to make up for it and Ryan is like “ahhh stop.” These arguments both center Ryan’s perspective over Marissa’s--the perennial problem in the writing of their relationship, especially after Oliver--but nevertheless, both those fights, to me, say a lot about both Ryan and Marissa’s separate psychologies and the root of their dysfunction. 

In response to an ask, I also wrote a close reading here about their argument in 2x09, when Lindsey gets really drunk and Ryan blames Marissa. True to form, I find their conversation AFTER the fight a lot more interesting than the fight itself, but I dissect both. And fwiw this is also a ~*great*~ fight for Ryan and Marissa, and it’s not a coincidence it calls back to their fight in the Christmas episode.  

Thanks so much for the great ask, Anon! As you can see, I love dissecting how a good fight works on the page and on-screen 😎 it’s harder than it looks!

[sunsetstudiesx]

Film Recommendations!

I thought I’d recommend some of my absolute favourite movies, because I love sharing my love of movies and just things in general with people. So, in no particular order, here is my list of recommendations:

1. Tombstone (1993)

So I just watched this movie a couple days ago and absolutely loved it. Yes, it is a western. Do you need to like westerns to watch it? Nope. That’s why it’s great. And, it’s based on real people/real events. I sobbed hysterically at the end, but I’m also a huge sap. Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday is perfection. I love love love him.

Here’s the plot summary: Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers, Morgan (Bill Paxton) and Virgil (Sam Elliott), have left their gunslinger ways behind them to settle down and start a business in the town of Tombstone, Ariz. While they aren't looking to find trouble, trouble soon finds them when they become targets of the ruthless Cowboy gang. Now, together with Wyatt's best friend, Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), the brothers pick up their guns once more to restore order to a lawless land.

Quotes:

“I’m your huckleberry.”

“Why, Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave.”

“You gonna do somethin’ or just stand there and bleed?”

2. Fight Club (1999)

Okay. Okay. I just watched this one, too, and let me tell you. If you haven’t seen it/haven’t been spoiled for it, you have no idea what it’s really about. Honestly. It’s so fuckin’ weird and it blew my mind which is something I thought only M. Night Shyamalan could do. Wow, just. . . wow. Watch it, I implore you. I think everyone essentially knows the basic plot, but here it is if you want it, straight from google:

A depressed man (Edward Norton) suffering from insomnia meets a strange soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and soon finds himself living in his squalid house after his perfect apartment is destroyed. The two bored men form an underground club with strict rules and fight other men who are fed up with their mundane lives. Their perfect partnership frays when Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), a fellow support group crasher, attracts Tyler's attention.

Quotes:

“You met me at a very strange time in my life.”

“The things you own end up owning you.”

“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”

3. Unbreakable (2000)

Speaking of M. Night Shyamalan. While every one of his movies I’ve seen (Split, Glass, Lady in the Water, The Visit) have all been fantastic and mind-blowing, Unbreakable still has my favourite premise and my favourite Shyamalan twist ending. I love this one, even though I don’t really care for Bruce Willis.

Plot summary: A security guard, having been the sole survivor of a high-fatality train crash, finds himself at the centre of a mysterious theory that explains his consistent physical good fortune. When news of his survival is made public, a man whose own body is excessively weak tracks him down in an attempt to explain his unique unbreakable nature.

Quotes:

“Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you’re here.”

4. This is the End (2013)

Seth Rogen. Jay Baruchel. James Franco. Jonah Hill. Danny McBride. Craig Robinson. Playing themselves. The apocalypse. Hilarity ensues. Cameos from Emma Watson, Kevin Hart, Michael Cera, Rihanna, Paul Rudd, Channing Tatum, Aziz Ansari, Jason Segel, Mindy Kaling, and the Backstreet Boys. It’s so funny, I absolutely love it.

Plot summary: In Hollywood, actor James Franco is throwing a party with a slew of celebrity pals. Among those in attendance are his buddies Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson. Suddenly, an apocalypse of biblical proportions erupts, causing untold carnage among Tinseltown's elite and trapping Franco's party in his home. As the world they knew disintegrates outside, cabin fever and dwindling supplies threaten to tear the six friends apart.

Quotes:

“I don’t want to die at James Franco’s house.”

“Oh, no, no, no. I’m drinking and smoking weed. I’m on a cleanse, I’m not psychotic.”

“Take it easy, Dumbledore.”

5. You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. This might be my favourite romantic comedy, and I watch a lot. They’re adorable, and Meg Ryan is everything. This one made me cry twice. Once from sadness, once from happiness. Also it has Dave Chappelle in it, who I absolutely love.

Plot summary: Struggling boutique bookseller Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) hates Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), the owner of a corporate Foxbooks chain store that just moved in across the street. When they meet online, however, they begin an intense and anonymous Internet romance, oblivious of each other's true identity. Eventually Joe learns that the enchanting woman he's involved with is actually his business rival. He must now struggle to reconcile his real-life dislike for her with the cyber love he's come to feel.

Quotes:

“There’s the dream of someone else.”

“But I just wanted to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.”

“I love daisies. They’re so friendly. Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flower?”

6. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

For anyone who loves The Beatles. Here they play themselves, and show what their lives are like. It’s ridiculous and hilarious and god, if I didn’t love them before I loved them dearly after watching. It’s such a fun, easy watch and I adore it.

Plot summary: Over two "typical" days in the life of The Beatles, the boys struggle to keep themselves and Sir Paul McCartney's mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live television performance.

Quotes:

“How did you find America?” “Turned left at Greenland.”

“Hey mister can we have our ball back!”

“You’re a swine.”

7. Dazed and Confused (1993)

My favourite movie to watch at the beginning and end of the school year, and let’s be honest, every month in between. I’ve seen this movie more times than I can say. I love the ‘70’s setting, the actors, the plot. Another wonderful, easy watch that just makes me happy. Killer soundtrack, too.

Plot summary: The adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.

Quotes:

“You just gotta keep livin’, man. L-i-v-i-n.”

“It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”

“I just wanna look back and say that I did it the best that I could while I was stuck in this place.”

“I’d like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, is some minor, insignificant preamble to somethin’ else.”

8. Dirty Dancing (1987)

Anything with Patrick Swayze is wonderful, and this is no exception. Johnny and Baby are perfect. This movie also has the best soundtrack of any movie I’ve ever watched. Fantastic love story, fantastic movie. Watch it.

Plot summary: Baby (Jennifer Grey) is one listless summer away from the Peace Corps. Hoping to enjoy her youth while it lasts, she's disappointed when her summer plans deposit her at a sleepy resort in the Catskills with her parents. Her luck turns around, however, when the resort's dance instructor, Johnny (Patrick Swayze), enlists Baby as his new partner, and the two fall in love. Baby's father forbids her from seeing Johnny, but she's determined to help him perform the last big dance of the summer.

Quotes:

“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

“Fight harder, huh? I don’t see you fighting so hard, Baby. I don’t see you running up to daddy telling him I’m your guy.”

“You’re right, Johnny. You can’t win no matter what you do.”

“Go back to your playpen, Baby.”

9. The Sound of Music (1965)

This is such a beautiful movie, and I love it so much. My mom and I try to watch it every Christmas as our little tradition. Julie Andrews as Maria is so wonderful, and all of the songs are so, so good. I love all of the children dearly, and oh, do I love Captain VonTrapp.

Plot summary: A tuneful, heartwarming story, it is based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, one of the world's best-known concert groups in the era immediately preceding World War II. Julie Andrews plays the role of Maria, the tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey who becomes a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

Quotes:

“You cry a little, and then you wait for the sun to come out. It always does.”

“God bless Louisa, Brigitta, Marta, and little Gretl. Oh, I forgot the other boy. What’s his name? Well, god bless what’s-his-name.”

“I want you to stay. I ask you to stay.”

10. Gladiator (2000)

“Are you not entertained?” I think everyone has heard that line, from this amazing movie. One of the many that has made me cry, it’s such a beautiful story. Also, gladiators. That immediately sells it for me. All of the performances by the actors are top notch as well.

Plot summary: Set in Roman times, the story of a once-powerful general forced to become a common gladiator. The emperor's son is enraged when he is passed over as heir in favour of his father's favourite general. He kills his father and arranges the murder of the general's family, and the general is sold into slavery to be trained as a gladiator - but his subsequent popularity in the arena threatens the throne.

Quotes:

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance. In this life or the next.”

“What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

“Falling down is how we grow. Staying down is how we die.”

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 5, Number 7

Cy Dune’s Seth Olinsky

It’s summer time finally, and who wants to be bothered with 3000-word essays on the obscure but worthy? Not us, we want shorter reviews for longer days. We’ve got cannonballs to do off lake piers, carbonized meat to ingest, cold brews to drink. So that we can get back to all that, we deliver a robust Dust with the usual mix of garage rockers, Chicago improv’ers, acoustic finger-pickers, up and comers and lately revived-ers.  We hope you enjoy it, sitting out there on your deck or fire escape or stoop...and don’t forget the sun screen.  Contributors this time include Andrew Forell, Ben Remsen, Justin Cober-Lake, Jennifer Kelly, Isaac Olson, Bill Meyer and Jonathan Shaw.    

Martin Brandlmayr — Vive Les Fantômes (Thrill Jockey)

Austrian drummer/composer Martin Brandlmayr’s award winning radio opera Vive Les Fantômes (Long live the Ghosts) combines spoken word and jazz samples with experimental electronics and percussion to create a dialogue across time and genres between Brandlmayr and some of his influences including Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Jacques Derrida and Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Snatches of live music - a trumpet tuning up, a piano run – emerge between Brandlmayr’s understated free drumming, subtle electronics and the occasional bracing burst of noise. Monk talks sound, Miles issues instructions, and Derrida answers the telephone to speak with an unheard interlocutor. Over an engaging 53 minutes samples repeat in various juxtapositions to create relationships and emphasize their mutability. The spectral voices of long gone cultural giants speak of human frailty and the strength of the creative act. Vive Les Fantômes poignantly addresses memory and mortality. The piece closes on Derrida speaking for the first time in English “OK, I’ll be very glad to meet you. Goodbye.” Et Fin.

Andrew Forell

Burial — Claustro/State Forest (Hyperdub) 

Claustro / State Forest by Burial

William Bevan AKA Burial changed the face of electronica with the release of his eponymous debut album in 2006. His take on dubstep, jungle and ambient continues to influence producers, and his releases are highly anticipated. This first release since 2017 distills the elements that have enthralled and intrigued since the debut. A-side “Claustro” returns to Burial’s roots in jungle and rave. Vinyl crackle coats a four-to-the-floor shuffle and a vocal sample repeats in glorious swells of billowing, cloud-like sounds. It’s exhilarating albeit tinged with Burial’s signature yearning melancholy before it drops, dissolves into twinkling stars “Are you ready?” repeats and then “This song goes out to that boy.” before it kicks back in with an almost cheesy refrain “I got my eye on you, tonight.” which in turn fades back to crackle. “State Forest” is a completely different beast. A rich ambient narrative rich in atmospherics, found sounds and keening waves of synths creeping through a desolate landscape of shadow and dread. The funereal pace unfolds with miniscule details — broken twigs underfoot, drips of rain, quiet exhalations — then sudden silence. Burial places the listener in this environment, observant if not omnipotent or omnipresent, like the narrator of a classic Antinovel. Yet “State Forest” is not alienating or discursive. It shows rather than explains — a direct experience like a Beckett tale. It is his most effective piece of music since “Come Down to Us” and its obliqueness is the key to its power.  

Andrew Forell

Cy Dune — Desert (Lightning)

Akron/Family blended so many influences during their ten-year run that they avoided easy classification. With the collaborative nature of the group and its members switching instruments, it was hard to know what came from who, or whether the whole thing was just a bit of folky synergy. Then the band split up, and the years passed. Dana Janssen created Dana Buoy, an unexpected electropop duo more suited for clubs than for Akron/Family's wildernesses. Seth Olinsky, after a couple quick release years ago, emerges now as Cy Dune, with a sound much more in line with the Akron/Family aesthetic.

On Desert, Olinksy's songwriting and guitar playing provide the center of the album, but only to set up the weirdness that surrounds them. The bluesy stomp of “When You Pass Me” puts Cy Dune in the roots tradition, but the jazz influences remain strong enough that it's no surprise that bassist William Parker shows up. “Desert 2” offers chamber oddity, more a sketch than a song, but then “Desert 3” steps into the garage for some rock. Across this short album, Olinsky crams in a five-year hiatus's worth of ideas. The freak-folk of “It Is the Is” closes with some dissonance, a hint of a jazz, and a happy reminder that Cy Dune's desert archives are only beginning to open up.

Justin Cober-Lake

  Angharad Davies / Rie Nakajima / Alice Purton — Dethick (Another Timbre)

What is a score? Sometimes it is a series of staffs marked on lined paper. Sometimes it is a set of images, which may be followed according to varying degrees of specificity. Sometimes it mandates a piece of music down to the smallest detail, sometimes it offers suggestions, and sometimes it gets ignored. It’s common enough for improvisers to select partners based on their musical personalities rather than the instruments they play, so one might say that the selection is a compositional act. In this situation violinist Angharad Davies, cellist Alice Purton and sound artist Rie Nakajima (she plays kinetic devices and found objects) chose to play together for a couple days in a small church in Dethick, England. The choice to play together, the instruments they brought, the chapel’s accouterments and acoustics — that’s the score. The CD’s ten pieces sound like artifacts of a search for possibilities. How close to the language of chamber music, the shared vernacular of the two string players should they hew? How do things sound when you shake them? What does this organ sound like? What will these stone walls and stained glass windows do to the sounds? And what will one player do in the face of each other’s actions? Decisions in the face of puzzlement; that’s how these three women played this score.

Bill Meyer

 Dehd — Water

Water by DEHD

Dehd’s Water is spare and sharp, with ambling jangles of prickly guitar, a thud of bass, a shattering clank of snare on the upbeats. The Chicagoan trio — that’s Jason Balla (of Ne-Hi and Earring), Emily Kempf (of Vail and ex- of Lala Lala) and Eric McGrady — situate their songs within the tradition of scrubbed bare garage clangor, albeit with a rockabilly-ish twang sometimes flaring in the guitar lines. The one lavish, elaborate element is vocals, which twine and descant and swirl around each other, though never with undue precision. “Wild,” which leads off the disc, conjoins their various cracked and yearning voices in complicated points and counterparts, sometimes in lush, romantic sustained notes, others in percussive, time-keeping chants. “Lucky” starts in single-voiced sincerity and erupts into massive, girl-group sha-la-la-las (though some of them sung by men). Balla and Kempf recorded these songs while breaking up as a couple; they currently tour them as exes, which must lend the tunes a bit of extra ragged edge. Perhaps that’s why songs like “On My Side” are so fetching, sung with shredded hurt and blistered melody, but reaching for sweetness and finding it.

Jennifer Kelly

 DJ Lag and Okzharp — Steamrooms EP (Hyperdub)

Steam Rooms EP by DJ Lag and OKZharp

Durban-based South African Gqom producer DJ Lag teams with London’s Okzharp on the raw, percussion-heavy EP Steamrooms, their first collaboration for Hyperdub. The word Gqom, an onomatopoeia based on the Zulu word for ricochet, is said to mimic the sound of hitting a drum. Steamrooms contains none of the joyful lightness one expects from South African house. This is strictly a woozy, dangerous, disorientating amalgamation of heavy militaristic drums, Zulu chants and stabbing synths tempered somewhat by Okzharp’s grimy London influence. The effect is late-night sweaty club as the drugs are wearing off ad euphoria slips into something sinister and unhinged, but it’s undeniably exciting. I can’t go on; I must go on. Steamrooms’ four tracks exhort you to move till you drop. “Nyusa” encapsulates the atmosphere, shrouded in hiss, a funky unadorned synth riff clangs over an exhausted chant from a breathless dancer and drums thud beneath. The end of the night if not the world.

Andrew Forell

  Fetid — Steeping Corporeal Mess (20 Buck Spin)

Steeping Corporeal Mess by Fetid

This new record from Seattle death metal band Fetid may be the essential corrective to our national imaginary’s notion of that city as a monolithic site of liberal social policy, coffee “drinks” with lots of soy and greenwashed, vaguely cosmopolitan modes of cultural production. How many of us remember that Sir Mix-a-Lot, he of boundless enthusiasm for humanity’s anterior, is a Seattle native? Fetid share his interest in the undersides of bodies, and of things. There’s a decidedly intestinal — if not rectal — vibe to the unpleasant cover art for Steeping Corporeal Mess, and songs like “Dripping Subtepidity” and “Reeking Within” indicate a willingness to palpate beneath the Pacific Northwest’s famously moist terrain, to squish and squelch away in its rot and lukewarm organic goo. For a certain kind of listener, this may be the most fun you’ll have with a record this spring. For sure it’ll make you remember why David Lynch chose Washington state for Twin Peaks: who can forget the scene when Agent Cooper slides his long tweezers under Laura Palmer’s fingernail, to pull out a letter “R”? Or how long he has to dig around under there for it?

 Jonathan Shaw

 The French Tips — It's the Tips (Self Released)

It's the Tips by The French Tips

First: if The French Tips come to town, go. They recently toured with fellow Boiseans Built to Spill and blew them off the stage. As for the self-titled, self-released souvenir I took home: it’s got three great songs, (the first three, conveniently) five that are never worse than good, no duds and a lot of potential. It’s an excellent EP padded into honorable debut. The French Tips’ sound is indebted to, among others, Sleater-Kinney and Savages, but their guileless commitment to community, manifested in onstage instrument switches, shared vocal duties, their embrace of disco beats and a fat, confident, bottom end warms up their post-punk sonics considerably. The disco influence is as much spiritual as it is rhythmic: despite their righteous skronk und drang, despite oceanic guitar and bass which rage and release, surge and ebb, flash and hide, this is dance music, music to help you exorcise the bullshit. The French Tips is a bit green, but should they wish to pursue it, this is a band that deserves a record deal. Thesis statement: “Me and my witches about to burn it down”. I hope they do.

Isaac Olson  

 Friendship — Undercurrent (Southern Lord)

Undercurrent by Friendship

In this period of endless sub-sub-genres and hybrid forms in heavy music, it’s refreshing to hear a band with a sound that’s so straightforward. Friendship play hardcore: fast, vicious, intense songs that establish a riff and stick with it. Song titles say a lot: “Punishment,” “Lack,” “Garbage,” “Wrecker.” And so on. They’re succinct. There’s usually a breakdown section. There’s a bunch of d-beat songs. If you average the track lengths, you get almost exactly two minutes. It’s all really loud. They probably play really loud when you see them live. They can probably clear the room pretty quickly. It’s sort of fun that these guys call their band “Friendship.” It’s a good record to play when the neighbors put on Fox News. It’s a good way to say, “I don’t want to be your friend.”

Jonathan Shaw

Froth — Duress (Wichita)

Duress by Froth

It’s been a million years, it seems, since we were captivated by the “Yanni/Laurel” debate, a single murmured phrase that sounded like different things to different people. It was like that baked late-night meandering discussion about whether what I see as red is the same as yours come to life, and it vanished into the ravenous maw of internet culture. Except that Froth, an L.A. band currently on its fourth album, made a song about it, “Laurel,” full of clashing guitars and slow unspooling anarchy and whispery narratives. It could be the softest heavy rocker ever or the loudest twee fuzzed bedroom pop, depending on how you hear it. There’s a constant buzz at the bottom of all Froth’s songs, broken more often than not, by a reach for radiant melody. Froth makes an altogether engaging racket that borrows sleepily from Teenaged Fanclubs, in a fuzz-needled daze from MBV. “77,” the second single throws off the anorak for a denatured krautish groove, while “John Peel Slowly,” an instrumental, sketches a dream-landscape with loose-stringed bass, piano and space noises. Make your own sense of it, though. What you hear is largely up to you.

Jennifer Kelly

 Burton Greene / Damon Smith / Ra Kalam Bob Moses — Life’s Intense Mystery CD (Astral Spirits)

Life's Intense Mystery by Greene / Smith / Moses

If you can translate words into vectors, the name of this album tells you a lot about the forces at work. While pianist Burton Greene and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses were born over a decade apart, both were touched by the 1960s’ cosmic spirit. And when you put Patty Waters’ preferred pianist on the same stage with Weasel Walter’s most enduring bassist, intensity is on the agenda. But if you had to boil this music down to one image, it would be the symbol for yin and yang. Opposing forces often complement each other. When the pianist mugs a bit on “Kid Play,” the bass goes with the ferocity of a bull that just figured out that the fight is rigged; and when Moses and Smith dance light and lithe on “Perc-Waves,” Greene deploys some more percussion that asserts an unbudging center of gravity. And if you want to ignore all the metaphors, you can just let yourself fall into the force of this music’s mercurial flow.

Bill Meyer

 Invasive Species — Adapter (Baggage Claim)

Adapter by Invasive Species

You know the story; the drummer takes his solo, and the audience heads out for a beer or a piss. Invasive Species’ LP suggests that the problem isn’t drum music, it’s just that you’ve been listening to the wrong drummers and maybe there aren’t enough of them. Kevin Corcoran and Jon Bafus have been playing together for nine years, performing mostly within the city limits of Sacramento, California. Separately, their affiliations range encompass prog bands, Asian fusion ambient music and improvised exchanges with members of the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. Together, they play music that is concerned less with genre than with the possibilities of two augmented drum kits. Grooves collide and mesh, textures interweave and pull tight, meters multiply and never do these combinations seem designed to show off either musician’s prodigious chops. Rather, they show what a marvelous brain massage intuitively organized beats can provide.

Bill Meyer

  Tyler Keen / Jacob Wick — S-T (Silt Editions)

 Tyler Keen and Jacob Wick may employ different means, but their sounds make sense embedded on either side of a short strip of tape. Both men make noise that gets more complicated the closer you listen to it, and neither particularly needs volume to get noisy. Keen starts out with a blast, but once that subsides unintelligible walkie-talkie chatter, sputtering static, and the sounds of a cassette being snapped into a player pass before your ears. This is restless stuff, paced for the days when you haven’t been able to refill your Adderall RX and can’t be bothered to wait. Wick plays trumpet, probably muted by things they don’t tell you about in jazz school and definitely filtered through the sounds of room and non-invisible recording gear. Fueled by circular breathing that sustains a rarely broken stream of air, Wick’s horn rasps and hisses. Imagine that the sounds of a moth made of steel wool masticating its way through a warehouse full of old army blankets have been transmitted down a gutter and thence onto tape, and you just might imagine the sounds of Wick’s side of this cassette.

This is the second release by Silt Editions, a label with no web footprint aside from an email address (silteditions@gmail.com). At press time, there were still a few copies in various distributors’ stocks. Happy hunting.

Bill Meyer

  Rob Noyes — “You Are Tired” / “Nightmare Study” (Market Square Records)

You Are Tired b/w Nightmare Study by Rob Noyes

There’s no one way to do things, but the 45 rpm single seems tailor-made for playing late at night. “Just one more,” you tell yourself, fishing old records from the shelf and sitting companionably alongside the memories they conjure out of the commingling of sound, mind and the sensate experience of dust transferring from the sleeve to your fingers. “Well, maybe another one.” Rob Noyes is on to your game, and the tune on A-side of the Massachusetts-based 12-string guitar player’s latest record sees through your self-delusion and tells you like it really is. The chiming melody is as ingratiating as a late-night tug on the arm from a loved one. “Aren’t you going to come to bed?” But you’re on a roll, so you flip the record, expecting to hear another cantering tune. That’s when Noyes pulls you down the rabbit hole and into a state of consciousness that the sleep-deprived know only too well. Noyes has mastered a technique that makes him sound like a tape playing backwards even though he’s actually strumming in real time. It’s a neat trick, but it serves a function beyond showing Noyes’ imagination and technical acumen. By plunging the listener into a state of blurry disorientation, it confronts them with the next-day consequences of playing records late into the night.

Bill Meyer

  Pelican — Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord)

Nighttime Stories by Pelican

Pelican’s sixth full-length starts in a pensive mode, an acoustic guitar ushering in “WST.” The guitar belonged to guitarist Dallas Thomas’ lately deceased father, and it sets a somber tone. Death haunts these bludgeoning, moody grooves, giving Nighttime Stories a heaviness that can’t be ascribed purely to guitar tone. Later, in the crushing stomp of “Cold Hope,” Pelican grinds relentlessly, the drums scattershot volleys of explosive angst. “Arteries of Blacktop” is likewise weighted and slow, a massive bass churn slugging it out with viscous sheets of amplified guitar sheen. Yet there’s a great deal of epic, serene gorgeousness, too — in the minor key strumming of “Full Moon, Black Water,” the mathy, knotty acrobatic riffs of “Abyssal Plain,” the slow building drone of “It Stared at Me.” The album title commemorates a friend of the band, Jody Minnoch, who died unexpectedly of heart problems in 2014; he’d meant to use the phrase for a Tusk album, but passed before he could do so. The title track glowers with volcanic life force. Hip deep in mourning and existential query, it celebrates a muscular, triumphant still-here-ness.

Jennifer Kelly

 Spiral Wave Nomads — Spiral Wave Nomads (Feeding Tube / Twin Lakes)

Spiral Wave Nomads by Spiral Wave Nomads

Spiral Wave Nomads is a two man, two state band. Eric Hardiman (guitars, bass, sitar) lives in upstate New York, and drummer Michael Kiefer lives in Connecticut. This means that distances must be traveled if the two of them are to meet face to face, which is how substantial parts of this LP of cosmic instrumentals was made. And what better thing to do as you cross the verdant hills of the Northeastern USA than jam some tunes? Drifting alone to these ascending guitar lines and undulating percussive surges, it’s easy to imagine one or the other Nomad rounding some valley road and flashing on Popol Vuh’s Aguirre. “Was that a fly fisherman standing in the river, or did I see some conquistador on a raft, hollering at the monkeys?” Drift and drive a little longer and they might marvel at the play of striating light across the clouds and associating to some past pleasantly dreamy experiences involving a CD player loaded with Neu and Jimi Hendrix. All of which is a fanciful way to say that these guys sound like they have done their space rock homework, and they put their knowledge to good use on this LP. So don’t throw away the download code; you might want to program your own rural adventure with these tones.

Bill Meyer 

 Chad Taylor — Myths and Morals (Eyes & Ears)

Myths and Morals by Chad Taylor

One day at the end of last summer, Chad Taylor showed what it takes to be an MVP. Over the course of one long, humid Sunday afternoon on a semi-shaded stage at the Chicago Jazz Festival, he played three consecutive sets with three different bands. He sustained the set-length dynamics of Jaime Branch’s Fly or Die, swung muscularly with the Jason Stein Quartet, and managed the mercurial flow of the Eric Revis Quartet. He might have soaked through a shirt, but he never dropped a beat, nor did he ever seem less than tuned in to the particular requirements of those three quite different ensembles.

Myths and Morals most closely corresponds to another of Taylor’s projects, the Chicago Underground Duo. While his equipment is restricted to drum kit and mbira (thumb piano), his compositional imagination is wide open. These pieces may tarry for a moment on some texture or pattern, but for the most part they are studies in constant development. Precision and restraint yield surprise and mystery; the music is so involving and complete that it’s easy to forget that you’re listening to solo percussion.

Bill Meyer

 Chris Welcome and His Orchestra — Beyond All Things (Gauci Music) 

Beyond All Things by Chris Welcome & His Orchestra

A free jazz octet might sound like caviar soup: too much of an indulgent thing. Chris Welcome makes it work here, harnessing the noisy tendencies of this roomful of younger New York players with some light-touch compositional structure and a willingness to swing. In under half an hour, we go from a free-time fanfare highlighting the gestural playing of trumpeter Jaimie Branch and tenorist Sam Weinberg through to a medium-firm groove laid down by bassist Shayna Dulberger and drummer Mike Pride, over which cornetist Kirk Knuffke blows with a coolness so confident that it sounds like the swing feel of the composition was summoned by his playing, not the other way around. Minutes later, that groove gets harder and altoist Anthony Ware delivers a fiery solo while the rest of the horns chatter in the background like they’re doing avant-garde Dixieland (an approach perhaps being alluded to by the appellation “and His Orchestra”). Welcome himself mostly hides behind the sonic bushes, his heavily effected guitar and synthesizer offering eerie interjections and a short woozy solo halfway through the piece. He’s a virtuoso guitarist, but here he gets to be a virtuoso organizer, savvy enough to know the amount of organization called for.

Ben Remsen

[badbloodhqs]

       VALENTINE’S DAY MATCHES !

“On the evening of February 14th, matches will spend the day on a “date” hanging out and getting to know each other better. (In lieu of this, matches can also meet up with each other at the MASQUERADE BALL the next night!) This could be a friend date if your match turns out to be a pal, or something more if both parties see fit!” 

For those who took the survey, I included characters’ answers to the “good night out” question to help spark some inspiration for everyone as you throw ideas back and forth! These can be platonic, romantic, God awful, whatever you want. If members arrive and depart between now and Thursday, I will update matches as necessary so stay tuned!

AJ Styles & Charlotte Flair -- dinner for two x2

Alexa Bliss & Liv Morgan  -- going to a concert x2

Baron Corbin & Cathy Kelley -- karaoke at the local pub, dinner for two

Bayley & Sonya Deville

Becky Lynch & Priscilla Kelly -- going to a concert x2

Bianca Belair & Mandy Rose -- going to a concert, dinner for two

Billie Kay & Renee Young -- dinner for two

Carmella & Nikki Bella -- drinks and then clubbing, dinner for two

Cody Runnels & Dolph Ziggler -- dinner for two, watching a football game

Dakota Kai & Dean Ambrose -- karaoke at the local pub x2

Dasha Fuentes & Jey Uso

Drake Maverick & Ronda Rousey -- going to a concert, watching a football game

Finn Balor & Paige -- drinks and then clubbing, karaoke at the local pub

Jimmy Uso & Naomi -- drinks and then clubbing

Kayla Braxton & Taynara Conti -- drinks and then clubbing x2

Kenny Omega & Toni Storm -- karaoke at the local pub, dinner for two

Peyton Royce & Will Ospreay -- going to a concert, karaoke at the local pub

Rhea Ripley & Seth Rollins -- going to a concert x2

Sasha Banks & Tama Tonga

Scarlett Bordeaux & Tenille Dashwood -- karaoke at the local pub

Tamina & Vanessa Borne -- karaoke at the local pub

[ek-triptych]

Twelfth Day of Triptych Christmas: Christmas Day

//We have finally made it to Christmas Day. Merry Christmas, everyone, and thank you for joining us in Triptych’s Twelve Days of Christmas! This three-part special was written by both KV and El.

As the bright morning sun shone through the window onto Three's open computer, he looked up from his fruitless research to gaze out at the glistening snow outside. A marred world outside, once beautiful in the clear sheet of white now trampled over and uncared for, not that it mattered now. Three stood and exhaled to another morning of futile searching to find nothing that gave him any kind of useful information as to his past life -- or rather, the past life he would have had if things had turned out differently. Then again, it was useless to wish now, but then, what if…?

A quick knock rapped on the door before Falcon opened the door quickly. 'Hey! Merry Christmas!'

Oh yeah, Christmas. Three had forgotten about that.

'Merry Christmas.' He reached down to close his computer. Why does Fal feel like he's waiting for something?

'You coming downstairs?'

Seth looked at him in way of question.

'To open presents. You know... ' Falcon grinned. 'Christmas.'

Right. Christmas. Because everyone celebrated that. 'Right. Christmas.'

Following a still pyjama-d Falcon downstairs, Seth couldn't tell if this felt like a dream because of his lack of sleep or simply because of the simple bizarreness of it all. It was weird not only to be in a house with a family, but also to be observing a holiday, or anything other than something like finishing an assignment, and even then that had gotten nothing more than an, 'Oh, you're back.' Celebrating something, much less a holiday like Christmas -- that was something Three had forgotten a lifetime ago, assuming he had ever known it in the first place. To be observing it in this context felt ironically fitting in its own foreign kind of way.

'Merry Christmas, Seth,' Lawrence Rynn greeted as the two entered the living room with its modest Christmas decorations, and where a handful of colorfully- and mostly clumsily-wrapped gifts waited. Three sat down on the carpet and waited to see what would happen, though it took Falcon a couple of minutes in the kitchen to come out with mugs of hot chocolate before he said, 'Here's our hot chocolate. We're ready to go.'

He crossed his legs close to the miniature tree at his father's feet and took a noisy sip of hot chocolate before sticking the mug on the table and taking the liberty of passing out some presents. After taking a few of them for himself, he handed one to Lawrence, then handed a surprising two to Seth.

'Go ahead!'

Three looked down at his first two presents ever. Falcon exclaimed as he ripped the paper off a skateboard, then gave Lawrence a giant hug and a heartfelt, 'Thank you!' Seth pulled off the strips of tape covering the first little box, gently pulling back the paper to reveal the cover of cardboard that was obviously from some old packaging. He looked up at Lawrence, who gave him a slight nod of encouragement, before opening the box to find a slip of paper inside.

'A little bit of my research so far,' Lawrence explained as Seth pulled it out to read a list of names along with other minimal information. 'From what I have found and what you've told me, these are a few of your possibilities.'

Three looked up at him appreciatively. 'Thank you.'

Lawrence nodded in acknowledgement as Falcon urged, 'Open mine!'

Seth obliged, folding up his gift carefully to save it for later before again pulling the tape carefully off the slightly more carefully wrapped present. After a few seconds Falcon moved as if to rush Seth, so Three gave up and pulled it off with a pointed look at the impatient boy.

A strip of gray amidst a sea of black spilled out from the open paper, and Three pulled out the cloth for it to unfold into a dark sweatshirt with a high collar and long sleeves.

'Put it on,' Falcon prompted, grinning excitedly. 'See if it fits.'

Seth shrugged and pulled it over his head, sticking his arms through the warm material to find his hands caught in thumb holes, moving the sleeves automatically over his arms as he pulled it completely on.

'Thanks,' he said, pulling the hood off his head. 'It's really nice.'

'That's why I got it.' Falcon smirked. 'And it's got a ninja collar. Cool, right?'

Three couldn't think of anything particularly necessary in answer, so instead he just nodded. As Lawrence silently admired his new socks and potholder, Falcon began to tell the story behind the little present as Seth looked down at his two presents, not knowing what to feel as a mix of emotions threatened to break to the surface. Part of it was almost close to guilt at having received things so undeserved, but another part of it was definitely pleasure, and another part was the slightest bit of longing for… something. Never before had Three celebrated anything, and maybe this was the scratching of an itch he should never have dared to touch. Maybe, again, he had made a mistake.

But when he looked at Falcon's smiling face, and the way he interacted with his father now, part of him dared to hope that maybe -- maybe something could change for him. Maybe Three could become something more, just as Falion had come to find his own place in this world.

Falcon couldn’t stop smiling as he squeezed through the people crowding every nook of the Kelly’s house, his hands full with several paper plate piled high with food and a plastic cup of apple cider.  He finally broke through the final crush of people with a laugh, holding his plates above his head to keep them out of people’s way.

“There are so many people!” he exclaimed.  He passed one of the plates to Seth, who was sitting near the top of the stairs away from the main crowd, and plopped down on a step closer to the bottom, nudging Gabe with his shoulder to get him to make room.  Lily, who was perched happily two steps above them, high-fived him, and he gave a friendly nod to Reyn next to her as well.  Turning back to the main room, he gave a huge contented sigh and leaned against his best friend, taking a big bite of his pie.

“This is great,” he murmured quietly, green eyes flitting from person to person as he surveyed the room.

“What a difference two years makes,” Gabe muttered in response, “You used to hate parties.”

“Ugh, old me didn’t know what he was missing,” Falcon snorted. “Parties are the best.”

“Pretty crazy,” Gabe mused.  “Who knew that Falcon from two Christmases ago would turn into you?”

Falcon stilled, considering for a few minutes.  “...that wasn’t me,” he finally said contemplatively.  “That was Falion.”  Three, who could just barely hear from behind them, paused as he waited for Gabe’s reaction.

“Who’s Falion?” Gabe simply asked, raising an eyebrow.

Falcon laughed, leaning a little more against his friend.  “Exactly,” he hummed.

Gabe turned his head to try to peer at Falcon.  “Who’s Falion?” he insisted.  “Is that you?”

“Nope,” Falcon said, taking a swig of his cider and going back to people-watching.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sighing exasperatedly, Gabe dropped the subject and rolled his eyes, choosing to focus on the people wandering by as well.

With his best friend at his back and his other friends arranged along the steps, Falcon could feel a gentle warmth building in his chest, and a smile played along the corners of his mouth.  He gave a wave to his father as he passed by, and Lawrence reached down to ruffle his hair with an answering grin.  The feeling in his chest got warmer, and he found himself clutching his cup and staring down into his cider.

“You okay?” Gabe asked him with a nudge. “You’re tearing up.”

“What?”  Falcon lifted a finger and ran it along his eye, staring in bewilderment when it came away damp.  “What the heck?” he whispered to himself.

“Did you drink the eggnog?” Gabe asked flatly.  “You know it’s alcoholic, right?”

“What? I- no!” he shoved Gabe with a snort. “I just… I don’t know, I think I’m really happy right now?”

Gabe raised an eyebrow silently.  Falcon struggled for words, trying to express how happy he was to be here, how much he loved his friends and his Father and everyone in this room, how glad glad glad he was to be different than how he used to be: that sad and angry kid with too many scars who couldn’t even fathom the idea of family.

“I just love y’all,” he finally settled on, draping an arm dramatically over his friend’s shoulders.

“Sappy,” Gabe commented, but let him stay.  Falcon laughed and took another swig of his cider, grin wide as he basked in the warmth of the party.

At the end of the day Three sat in the dark on the bed in his new dark hoodie, looking out at the street lights through the window, though no one was driving at this late hour. The neighbors' Christmas lights blinked softly across the street, window lights beginning to blink out as everyone began to retire for the night. It was silent, bordering on lonely with the slightest twinge of regret framing the night as he simply watched.

A soft knock broke hesitantly through the quiet.

“Hey,” came Falcon’s voice through the door after a second, “want any company?”

Three didn't answer, so a few seconds later, Falcon opened the door and slipped inside.  He took a seat next to Three on the bed, gazing out the window as well.  After a few moments, he shifted.  “Y’know,” he began quietly, “I know how to get to the roof from the window. Want to go sit up there?”

Seth looked at him for a second. Then he said, "Yeah. Sure."  Falcon grinned softly and led the way, opening the window and pulling himself out by the top of the sill.  

“Just keep your feet on this part of the window,” he instructed. “That way you won’t slip.”

Three simply followed him up in silence, brushing away the snow with his bare hands before resting next to Falcon, socked feet getting slightly damp from the remaining snow.

The two boys sat in silence for a little while before Falcon flopped backwards, resting on his back and crossing his wrists comfortably over his stomach.  

“The sky is really pretty,” he commented.

Three looked up, propping his arms behind him. "Yeah."

“Just tune me out if you don’t wanna talk,” Falcon told him somewhat abruptly, not turning his head to look. “I’m really glad you got to spend Christmas with us though. I know it feels kinda weird. My first Christmas around here was an ordeal, let me tell you. But… still. Glad you were around.”

"Yeah," Three answered softly. "Me too."

That made Falcon turn his head.  “You are?” he asked, surprised and happy.

Three shrugged, putting one hand up to block the street lights to get a better look at the stars. "Well… yeah. It's weird being part of something you've always seen from far away but never participated in for real."

He paused. "Weird. But kind of nice."

Falcon sat up.  “Wow,” he said, “I’m so happy you had a good time!”

"Don't get me wrong," Three added, "parties are still stupid, pointless, and completely draining. But the rest of it… maybe isn't so bad as I always made it out to be."

Falcon chuckled.  “Christmas is a good season. Especially when you just absolutely nailed Gabe with a snowball. That was great.”

"Nailing you with a snowball was pretty great too." Seth laughed.

“Mmm, less great for me, but sure,” Falcon snickered.

"I still can't believe you hid a fully-wrapped present in the closet." Three shook his head. "I can't tell if you were trying to go with the gay joke, or you thought it was appropriate because it's a hoodie, or if you're just paranoid that way."

“It was tradition,” Falcon whined. “I always hide our gifts in the closet! Besides, I knew you’d try to break into it.”

"So you always lock your dad out at Christmas time?"

“Yes.”

"Think he'd be used to it by now."

Falcon shrugged with a grin. “I don’t know what goes through Father’s brain, honestly.  Maybe he’s just acting exasperated to humor me or something.”

"I wonder." Three stared up at the sky.

Falcon hummed contemplatively.  “Penny for your thoughts?”

Seth snorted. "It'll cost you more than that."

“I have…” Falcon checked his pocket.  “A quarter and half a candy cane.”

Three shrugged, pulling his legs up to rest his arms on them. "I don't know. All I can say is that it's weird. Like... watching some dumb TV show as a kid, and seeing everyone play their part in it, but knowing it's not real or not something you're ever going to have. Like the fake window you've been looking through your whole life. But when the screen is broken, you realise you were the one in the TV show, and everyone else has been living this life that you're going to have to play along with after just seeing it."

Falcon nodded to show he was listening. “Feels kinda bizarre and overwhelming?”

"Feels frustrating." Three looked at his hands. "Like I don't know what's reality, and I don't know why I should be playing this game anymore when the rules have changed this much."

Falcon hummed again and tipped his head back to look at the stars, just sitting in silent thought.

"I don't know if anything I do has consequences anymore." Three absentmindedly began to make a little mound of snow next to him. "The little things don't matter. You don't have someone telling you what's right or wrong or what you should be doing. And maybe I don't want that, but at the same time, what else has my life been? I don't want anything else, either. I don't know what I want. I don't know what the world wants. I don't know that either of us want any of it; maybe last year was a mistake and I'm not even supposed to be here."

“The world has always been out to get us,” Falcon commented quietly.  “Maybe it’s time for us to spite it.  Maybe it’s time for you and me to get up and tell the world that it doesn’t matter what’s thrown at us; we’re going to go out and find what we’re searching for and be happy anyway.”

"Happy," Three laughed. "Wonder what that is. If it's just smiling to ignore the fact that we're putting our heads down to work toward nothing, I'd rather not."

“Thankfully,” Falcon answered, “I’m pretty sure that’s not happiness.”

"Pretty sure it's what happy people do."

Falcon shrugged.  “Is it?  Gabe is happy, you know.  And he smiles, like, once in a blue moon.  I think I’m happy, or at least I’m starting to get there.  I don’t know what I’m working towards, or if there is anything to work towards, but…  I don’t know.  There’s something in this life more than just misery.”

Three looked at Falcon. "For some of us."

“For all of us,” Falcon answered firmly.  “But you’ll never find it if you never expect to find it.”

"And you expected to find it?"

“Not at first,” Falcon admitted.  “But after a while, you start to get used to the warmth and the love, and I guess I eventually realized that it wasn’t going away.  That I could wake up in the morning and hug my Father and hang out with my best friend, and life had something to look forward to and be certain of.”

"Right," Seth said. "Because I've got a lot to look forward to, and life is always so certain."

Falcon considered his next words for a moment.  “Believe me or not,” he said slowly, “but I think of you as my friend.  And you can be certain that I’ll be there for you if you need me.  I know you might not believe it right now, but I’ll keep working on it till you do.”

Three didn't answer for a good period of time. He just continued to look up at the stars, then at the Christmas lights all around, and at the snow frosting the sidewalks and rooftops. Though the silence extended for a good period of time, it wasn't uncomfortable as the two boys simply surveyed the world around them: a beautiful Christmas night restored from the snow that had begun to fall again during the eventful afternoon. The cold only just seemed to touch them as they appreciated the soft lights and glimmering snow of the deepening night.

After a few minutes, Seth finally sighed softly and turned a little bit to face toward Falcon more without actually looking at him.

"...thank you." He stopped again. "Thank you for everything, Falion."

Falcon grinned. “You’re very welcome, Three. Merry Christmas.”

"Yeah." Three managed a small smile. "Merry Christmas."

[ss-arizonarobbins]

Seth & Kelly Go Day Drinking

[strangerthanthingz-blog]

A Match Made in Hawkins - 1

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Female Reader

Warnings: Language

Summary: Y/N is Hawkins’ It Girl when it comes to relationships, yet somehow she’s never been in one herself. When Billy Hargrove moves to town, and shows interest in her, she’s determined to brush him off like all the others who try to win her over. But there’s something different about Billy, something that Y/N cannot stand, and unfortunately can’t avoid. No matter what her best friend advises her to do, she refuses to give him a chance. There’s no way she’ll ever end up with Billy Hargrove... right?

Note: I know that Billy is a really controversial character so I just want to say that I don’t condone or praise or approve of his actions in the show and I plan to write him in a way that isn’t cannon. In this miniseries Billy will be more like Steve in Season 1; just a cocky jock who has a kind heart deep down.

Y/N was Hawkins’ resident matchmaker. Need a date to prom? She’s the one you talk to. Seth from math class has asked you out and you want to know if it’ll be worth the trouble? You go to Y/N. Y/N’s busiest time of the year was right before the Mistletoe Ball. While the middle school got the Snow Ball, the high school threw a more casual version of homecoming and prom. Y/N attributed this influx of clients to the fact that couples were often expected to kiss at said ball, hence the name mistletoe.

The strangest thing about her, though, was the fact that she herself never seemed to have a boyfriend, or even a date at that. She always said it was because she was too busy, or that she was waiting for the right one to come along, and if she had to wait for him then she would. Time wasn’t a problem to Y/N considering it went by so fast when she was spending everyday hooking up the students at Hawkins High.

It was nearing the beginning of November, which was prime time for Y/N to fill up her schedule with meetings with male and female students alike. First, however, Y/N would spend her last night of freedom at Tina’s Halloween party. Due to her success rate, Y/N was rather popular with the students, thus people were looking forward to seeing her there.

Even though Y/N was fairly quiet and studious when in school, she really let loose on the weekends, especially when she got to be with so many of her friends at once. This year, she decided to dress up as a ninja and the outfit was risque without really showing anything. It consisted of a strapless, latex black jumpsuit that had a little shimmer to it (so not appropriate for an actual ninja) that hugged her in all the right places, a red silk belt that was tied around her hips, black leather thigh high heeled boots, and a black cloth with two eye slits that she tied around her head.

She paired her look with a red choker, some generous coats of mascara, and ruby red lipstick. She also put a pair of shimmering black studs in her ears. As for her hair, she simply curled it and let it hang down.

After managing to snag a bottle of peach schnapps and leave the house without being seen by either of her parents, she climbed into her car and began her journey to Tina’s. She arrived before the yard started to fill up with too many cars, leaving her with the perfect spot. When she got out of the car, she could hear the muffled music and sounds of shouting came from the backyard.

Y/N laughed with glee as she strut to the front door and let herself in. Her entrance was similar to those seen in movies where the popular girl walks into a room and everyone immediately looks to her and calls her name. Y/N smiled and waved at the many hellos she received before she made her way to the kitchen to get a cup and find a mixer. She had considered drinking the liquor straight, but those types of decisions never ended well for her.

“Y/N!” Someone squealed, and she turned to see the familiar face of her best friend, Brenda.

“Hey girl,” Y/N called over the music as she poured a little orange juice into her cup followed by a lot of peach schnapps.

Brenda laughed, “Still taking from your parents I see.”

Y/N winked, “You know they’ll never miss it, and if they did they wouldn’t say anything to me.”

Their conversation was interrupted as Jake, Brenda’s flavor of the week, came up behind them and put an arm around each of their shoulders.

“Ladies!” He yelled over the music, causing Brenda to giggle and Y/N to take a long gulp of her drink.

It wasn’t that Y/N didn’t like Jake, she just didn’t like him for Brenda. She had told Brenda long ago who her perfect match was and she had yet to listen to her. Brenda argued that she was young and wanted to ‘explore the waters’, and she’d definitely been through her share of the fish.

Not that Y/N would ever judge her. She thought that Brenda was badass for owning her sexuality and not giving a fuck about what anyone had to say about it.

“Hi Jake,” Y/N finally let out before she reached for her bottle and slipped out from under his arm, then made her way into the party crowd so that the pair could suck face freely.

She put a smile on her face as she neared a group of girls that included Tina, and she’d figured now would be a good time to say hello to the party’s host. Tina saw her before she could make an introduction, though, so the rest of the group turned and squealed once they saw her. Y/N inwardly sighed before she opened her arms to let as many girls hug her at once as she could.

“Y/N!” A fellow junior, Haley Adams, squealed. “Are you excited for mating season?”

Y/N let out a small laugh. ‘Mating season’ is what the students called Y/N’s busiest coupling times. And it was then, for the first time, that Y/N realized, no, she wasn’t excited for it this year. The realization caused her mood to fall quite a bit, but she was good at hiding her feelings on the outside. She decided not to crush the girl’s dreams, though, and instead nodded her head eagerly.

“Oh, yeah, for sure!” She said over the music, and the girls squealed again.

“Have you any couple ideas, yet?” Another girl, a sophomore named Kelly Rush, asked.

All the girls leaned in, eagerly awaiting Y/N’s reply, hoping to hear that they would have a new man to pine after soon.

Y/N simply shook her head, “Sorry, girls, it’s too early to tell! Maybe check back in with me tomorrow!”

It was then that, from across the room, Y/N noticed someone flailing about, seemingly wanting someone’s attention. Her eyes focused in on Tommy H, and apparently it was her that he wanted to speak with. She frowned, but he wouldn’t relent, and instead kept waving her over to him. Y/N hated Tommy, she really did, but at that moment she was happy for the distraction.

“Pardon me.” She added quickly before the girls could reply to her last statement. “But it seems I’m needed elsewhere.”

She left them in a fit of giggles and whispers as she crossed the room to the douchebag that was apparently dressed as… nothing. Just his idiotic self. Y/N rolled her eyes and he slung an arm around her shoulder.

“New kid’s about to beat your keg record, Y/N. Just thought you should be present for your own takedown,” He grinned at her, his beer-stenched breath wafting over he cheeks.

She suppressed a gag and removed his arm from her shoulders.

“I highly doubt that, Tommy. And I’m pretty sure if there was a new kid I’d be the one to know about him.” She snapped.

Tommy threw his head back and cackled, another unbecoming habit of his. He then gestured to where his group of cronies stood, and although the majority of the boys were ones she recognized, there was one face that she couldn’t put a name to.

“Billy!” Tommy called, and sure enough no-name was the one who stepped forward.

When the mullet-headed boy reached them, he gave Y/N a slow, appreciative once-over to which she rolled her eyes.

“Nice girly drink. You look the type.” He grinned, running his tongue over his teeth. “I can’t believe you’re the one everyone’s saying I need to beat.”

Y/N scoffed. “I’m sure I could take you any day. Don’t make me make you eat your words, Newbie.”

Billy’s eyes narrowed in delight at the challenge. “Oh yeah? Let’s see it then!”

Y/N rolled her eyes, “You see I would, but I’m afraid I might,” she grabbed at her chest jokingly, causing an uproar by the onlookers, “pop out.”

Billy threw his head back and laughed, “Oh, Y/N, you say that like it’s a bad thing.”

And although she immediately blamed it on the alcohol, she couldn’t help the feeling in her chest at the way he practically purred her name. In fact, the spreading feeling of warmth was only spurred on by her realization that she had never told him her name, and instead he’d memorized it from whatever Tommy H and the other idiots had told him about her.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment; she had been so sure before this very moment that whatever Tommy had been dragging her out to, she would avoid it. But there was something about this guy that had her itching to prove him wrong. Maybe it was the fire light bouncing off of his abs that was hypnotizing her.

“Fine,” She snapped. “You go first, then hand me your jacket, and I’ll go.”

Billy scoffed, “I’m not handing over my jacket. It’s part of the costume.”

“Unless you’re dressed as a motor-biking stripper, that’s hardly a costume.” She retorted, to which everyone laughed again, and Billy’s eyes narrowed even further.

“Fine,” He spat before he turned towards the keg.

The crowd began to close around them, then, and there was hollering from practically every singly onlooker; male and female alike. Billy grabbed a hold of the keg and kicked his legs up as Tommy H and some beefy freshman grabbed them, holding him in place as he began to chug. The crowd roared as they counted off the numbers, and Y/N just stood with her arms crossed, unimpressed.

“40, 41, 42!” Everyone screamed as Billy finally got down, spurting beer from his mouth like some kind of frat boy fountain.

Y/N smirked, for he had beat her original record of 38 seconds, but unbeknownst to everyone around them, Billy and Tommy especially, she’d been practicing ever since she’d made the record her freshman year of high school. She always kept herself prepared in case anyone should ever try to outshine her at anything.

She strutted over to where they stood and Billy’s gaze traveled over her once more, but this time it was more heated, and he stumbled a bit.

“Let’s see you try and top that, princess,” Billy snarked as he took his cigarette from Tommy and took a heavy puff.

“Gladly,” Y/N deadpanned as she held out her hand for his jacket.

He shrugged it off with an eye roll, and she slid it on easily before zipping it all the way up in case her modesty should be tested while she was upside down. The same boys moved towards her, ready to grab her legs, but she shooed them away, for another fun fact about Hawkins’ matchmaker was that she’d taken up yoga and gymnastics quite heavily in the past two years. Pair that with her ambition and determination, and you had the recipe for someone who made it a point to do everything on their own.

There were a few gasps as she grabbed a hold of the keg and kicked her legs up, keeping them steady as she put the valve in her mouth and began to drink. She could hear cheering once more as they began to countdown, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to keep herself focused all the while listening to the numbers. She refused to go down before he did.

When she heard them reach 43, she thought that perhaps she should spare the man’s dignity, for it was his first day and all. But then again, when would she ever get such a great opportunity to prove to Billy and his idiot friends that she was not one to be fucked with.

When she finally couldn’t take it anymore, she let herself down, but didn’t let go of the keg and used it as a means to steady herself. The onlookers were chanting ‘65’ over and over, for it was the grand total she had reached. People were clapping her on the back and hugging her in congratulations, in fact she was pretty sure that she’d even felt someone kiss her cheek, but she was too numb from the alcohol to reciprocate.

She was well and truly hammered. She hadn’t been this drunk since her sister’s graduation party that past summer.

She was finally able to make out Billy’s disgruntled face as he appeared in front of her, closer than her sober self would have liked, or allowed.

“You may be the keg king, Billy,” She slurred. “But I will always be the queen.”

She let go of the keg to unzip his jacket, intent on returning it, but the moment her hands were freed she swayed violently to the right. Instinctively, Billy reached out and caught her, holding her to him as he steadied the both of them. Y/N began to laugh uncontrollably then, and even Billy couldn’t hide his smile; she was infectious. After a minute or two, she cleared her throat and looked up at him with large, shining eyes.

“Hands off pal,” She managed before she hiccuped. “Just tryna give ya your jacket, s’all.”

Billy chuckled lightly, the rumbling of his chest vibrating her hands where she’d planted them.

“Keep it on, princess, I think it’s high-time someone took you home.” He told her.

“No,” she pouted immediately, “then my car will be stuck here.”

He quirked a brow, “And someone can’t bring you back to it tomorrow?”

She shrugged lazily, “Dunno.”

He laughed before he grabbed her discarded bottle of peach schnapps and urged her towards the gate in the back fence to get to his camaro; it was easier than trying to get through the masses of people inside. Y/N made no more protests as he helped her into the passenger seat of his car, placing the bottle in her lap, before he buckled her in. He then rounded his car to the other side where he climbed in himself.

“You know, you owe me one, princess. I was really looking forward to this party tonight.” He told her as he backed out of Tina’s yard and onto the road.

Y/N simply turned in her seat to glare at him.

“Don’t call me princess,” She grumped. “I already told you that I’m the queen.”

“Oh, right,” He laughed. “And I’m the king?”

“Mhm,” She nodded as she rested her head against the window.

She eventually fell asleep, and that’s when Billy realized that he didn’t have a single clue as to where she lived. He sighed, and, knowing that he had no other options, he just took her to his house. His dad would be out at the bar until late anyway. 

After he parked the camaro, he got out and went to her side, opening the door and unbuckling her before he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her to the house. He left the bottle in his car, though, for he figured that would be his payment for such a good deed.

“Damn lightweight,” He cursed her as he laid her down on his bed.

Then, with a sigh, he climbed in beside her, but not before making a pillow-wall between them so that she didn’t think he’d tried anything.

Either way, he knew he was in for a big freak out in the morning.

[twisted-broth]

Your Hand in Mine- Jack x Reader

Reader gender: female Warnings: swearing, brief mentions of death A/n: sorry for being absent for so long! I’ve kinda lost a lot of motivation and creativity so please send in some prompts I’m v desperate. Word count: 2202 You laid down on your bed with a good book and music blasting from your phone, bored after the third day the Winchester’s had left you alone in the bunker. The sound cut out, replaced by the generic ringtone. You answered it after seeing it was Dean. “Hey hey.” You greeted. “Y/n, glad you’re okay. I need you to meet us in Wyoming, we have stuff to talk about.” He said, sounding morbid. “Okay, text me the address. Hey, is everything okay? What happened with the nephilim?” “I’ll tell you there.” He growled before hanging up. He quickly sent you the address for a hotel about a 12 hour drive from the bunker. You packed a small bag and retrieved your motorcycle from the garage. 

You rode for 12 straight hours, running on nothing but fast food and caffeine. The limited word from the boys only made you go faster. You finally arrived at the hotel and parked next to the familiar Impala. You grabbed your bag and walked to the building, passing a boy around your age huddled by a stack of crates. You slowed down and knelt down beside him. “Hey, are you okay?” You asked him. “Yeah. Everyone was just really angry inside.” He shuddered. “My oldest brother gets angry a lot. I usually let him be when it happens. Just remember it’s not your fault.” You assured him. “No… I think it is. He sure seemed to think it was.” The door opened beside you, releasing heat into the cold night. “Jack? Jack?” Someone called. “Sam?” You asked, recognizing the voice. “Y/n!” He rounded the crates and spotted you with the boy. “Hey, bro, how’s it going?” You asked, standing and giving him a hug. “Uh, good now, since you seemed to have found who I was looking for.” He said, gesturing to the boy you were with. “Oh yeah, he and I were just talking.” You smiled at him. “She’s very nice.” He told Sam. “Yeah, she is. Jack, this is Y/n, my sister. Y/n, this is Jack, Kelly’s son.” Sam introduced you. “Kelly Kline? He’s that Jack?” You asked in astonishment. “Are you afraid of me now?” Jack asked quietly. “Oh god, no. You’re just a lot different than I expected.” You explained. “So what exactly is Jack here doing outside, in the cold, by himself?” You hissed. “There was some fighting and Jack got upset and vanished.” Sam told you. “Was it Dean?” You sighed. He nodded in response. “That ass. You can’t think too hard about what Dean says, Jack. His frustration turns into anger… and fear.” “What is he afraid of?” Jack questioned. “He thinks it’s his job to protect everybody and right now, he and Sam and now me, have to protect you. And protect people from you if it comes to that.” You told him. “Am I really worth this?” He asked, sounding defeated. “Kelly thought so.” Sam promised. “Cas thought so, I think so.” “I think so, too.” You chimed in. “Now, c’mon, it’s cold out here and I’ve been driving for 12 hours.” You offered the nephilim your hand which he grabbed tightly, his hands surprisingly warm. You hauled him to his feet and walked with him to the door if the hotel. “It’s usually at this point that you’d let go of my hand.” You whispered to him. “Sorry.” He quickly released your hand and stuffed it in his pocket, earning a laugh from you. “At least buy me dinner first.” You teased, clapping him on the shoulder. You jogged to the counter to get a room, leaving Sam to explain to Jack what you had meant. “She was joking. Holding hands is kind of a romantic thing and it’s something you after you get to know someone or- uh- get dinner with them.” Sam awkwardly explained. “Room for one night. Preferably close to them.” You told the lady at the desk, nodding to Sam and Jack. “Alright, just swipe your card.” You pulled one of your fake credit cards out and swiped it on the machine. “You’re all set, Miss Smith, your room is 117, right down the hall, next to Mr. Seth.” She nodded at Sam when she said that and handed you your room key. “Thank you.” You took the key and headed back to Sam and Jack. “Y/n, would you like to have dinner with me?” Jack asked when he saw you arrive, interrupting what Sam was telling him. “No, Jack, you don’t date someone just for the sole purpose of holding their hand.” Sam sighed. “I would love to get dinner with you.” You insisted. “Can you not?” Sam groaned. “Tomorrow sound good?” You continued, ignoring Sam. “Yes.” Jack said, smiling proudly. “Ooh, I’m going on a date. Don’t get too protective, Sammy.” You teased. “Just don’t tell Dean.” He begged as you walked down the hall. You stopped into Sam’s room real quick to grab a beer before going to your room. “Yo! You didn’t tell me Donatello was here! What’s up, man?” You asked, giving the prophet a small hug. “Oh, hello, Y/n. It’s nice to see you.” He greeted. “Well, good talk, I’m going to take this beer and go to sleep. Bye, Donny. Bye, Sam. See ya, Jack.” You left the room and entered your own, downing the rest of the beer and crashing onto your bed. ~~~ “Y/n, wake up!” Dean yelled, shaking you awake. “The fuck do you want, Dean?” You asked sleepily, annoyed at being woken up. “Jack is missing, c’mon.” You began moving quicker, shoving Dean out of the room and changing. You packed up your stuff, grabbed your gun and angel blade and bolted out the door. An angel blade flew passed your head, lodging in the neck of a demon. After Dean retrieved his blade, you headed down to the cars, tossing the keys on the front desk as you went. Sam, Dean and Donatello piled into the Impala and you got on your bike, following them as Donatello delivered directions. You eventually arrived at Jasper, Wyoming, a place you remember reading about in Dad’s journal. It was right above where the shedim were trapped. You rounded a corner and saw Jack in the distance, stand with someone who looked like Donatello. A fiery pit slowly grew between them, a clawed hand reaching out of it. Once you got close enough, you brought your bike to a stop, threw your helmet to the side and raced towards Jack. “Jack! Jack, that’s not Donatello!” You yelled, hoping to draw his attention from the pit in front of him. “Y/n?” He called out. You heard Sam, Dean and Donatello exit the car behind you. “Ignore her, Jack! She doesn’t care about you!” Fake Donatello insisted. “I do care! Please, Jack, close the pit!” “Jack, that’s not Donatello!” Dean told him, coming up beside you. Fake Donatello morphed before becoming someone else. He looked similar to Cain, but his hair was a healthy brown. “Who-” you began to ask but you were cut off when the stranger raised a fist, making it so you were no longer able to breath. “You’re hurting them!” Jack yelled, the hole quickly closing. You could see that Jack was angry by the way he held himself and the way the stranger looked on in fear. Before anything could happen, he disappeared, once again allowing you air. “Are you okay, Y/n?” Jack asked, rushing towards you. “Yeah, don’t worry, Jack, I’m alright.” You assured him. “When did you two get all close?” Dean sneered, big brother mode turning on. “Last night. We had a little chat about how you are when you’re angry.” You shrugged. “When I’m- oh. Right, that.” He sighed, turning and going back into the Impala, leaving the conversation at a standstill. “I told you not to tell him.” Sam sighed, going after his brother. “Damn, if that’s how he acts when we’re just being friends, he’s gonna flip his shit when he hears about our date.” You laughed. “Your date?” Donatello asked. “We have a date tonight!” Jack told him happily. “I see. You kids enjoy that.” He muttered, heading for the Impala. You followed him to the driver's seat and knocked on Dean’s window. He rolled down the window, allowing you to talk. “You take Donatello to get his car and I can take Jack straight back to the bunker. Cool?” You asked. “I guess…” He sighed. You nodded and led Jack back to your bike while the boys took off. You searched through the attached truck until you pulled out a spare helmet and tossed it to Jack. “What do I do with this?” He asked, spinning it around in his hands. “Put it on your head, latch the clippy things and put down the visor so you don’t get rocks in your eyes.” You instructed. He did as you said and you tightened the helmet for him. “Now, I’m going to drive and you’re going to put your hands around my waist and hold on tight.” You said as you mounted the bike and started it. “Aren’t there supposed to be seatbelts?” He asked nervously. You laughed. “Not on a motorcycle.” He got on behind you and laced his arms around your waist. “Ready?” You asked him. “I think so.” He replied uncertainly. You drove forward, following the trail the Impala has left behind. Jack yelled something behind which got caught in the wind. You rode for four and a half hours with a few breaks to talk. It grew dark as you reached Denver, Colorado. Hunger reaching your mind, you scanned the surrounding restaurants, finally parking at one called Acorn. “Ready for our first date?” You asked him, pulling off your helmet and fixing your hair. “Yes, I am!” He exclaimed happily. You chuckled and took his hand, guiding him into the building. “Two, please.” You told the hostess as you approached her. “Right this way.” She guided you. “Ever been to a restaurant before, Jack?” You asked once you had been seated. “I don’t believe so.” He replied after a moment of thinking. “Okay, So first they’re gonna ask what you want to drink. You’ve got all the alcoholic stuff here, but since you don’t know what you like yet, I’d avoid that.” You directed him. A waitress approached your table, notepad in hand. “Hello, my name’s Chrissy and I’ll be your server today. Can I start y’all off with something to drink?” She asked. “Yeah, I’ll have a water.” You told her. “Me too. I’ll also have a water.” Jack said. “I’ll be right back, then.” She said as she left. “Alright, now you can look at the menu and see what you want to eat.” You scanned through the options on your own menu. “Do you want to share the oak roasted chicken?” You asked, seeing the limited dinner options. “Yes, that sounds good.” He nodded in agreement. Chrissy came back with your waters and you placed your orders. Throughout the rest of your dinner, you talked about anything and everything. You told him about your life, joining them after Adam and your mother had died, growing up on the road with no real friends except your brothers. You told him about Kelly and Cas and explained anything he asked. He didn’t have much experience with the world, but he told you what he could. He talked about his powers and angel radio and what he wanted to see in the world. After you had finished dinner and payed, you called Dean to tell him that you’d be staying at a motel tonight. “Wait, with him?” He scoffed. “I sure as hell ain’t paying for two rooms.” You replied. “It can’t be that far, can’t you just hold out?” He begged. “We’re in Denver, Dean. It’s another eight hours.” You stressed. “You left seven hours ago, what the hell are you still doing in Denver?” “We stopped for dinner.” “For three hours.” “We did a lot of talking.” “We were on a date!” Jack exclaimed, hearing your conversation. “What did he just say?” Dean growled. “Hmm? I didn’t hear anything. Oh, I’ve got to go. It’s getting dark and I want to make sure we get into a good motel. Bye, Dean.” You quickly ended the conversation and hung up. “Sorry, I just got excited.” Jack sighed. “It’s alright, Jack. Dean just doesn’t like you very much and he’s very protective of me.” You explained. “Oh, okay.” He said awkwardly. “Well, hop on, let’s go find a place to sleep.” You said, tossing Jack his helmet and getting on your bike. After arriving at a nearby hotel and booking a room, you flopped down on the bed and kicked off your shoes, ready to sleep after the eventful day. “Y/n, what happens after the date?” Jack curiously asked. “Well, if the people like each other, they start dating and call each other boyfriend a girlfriend, generally.” You explained. “Then… can we start dating?” He asked shyly. “If that’s what you want.” “Yeah, I think I’d like that.” “Then, date we shall.”

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[safflowerseason]

I’m eagerly anticipating your OC rewatch commentary on the end of S2 (particularly the entire Trey storyline) because 1. I just got done watching it myself and 2. I was struck by a lot of different things, mainly how the seriousness of marissa’s attack was swept under the rug and what a poor job they did exploring the aftermath of everything that happened in early S3

Whew, you sent this in weeks ago, and I finally got around to watching the last stretch of S2 and the first episode of S3. I was visiting home for a few weeks and didn’t have the time for serious critical television viewing of The OC (not exactly a show my parents would be into…we watched the second season of Succession instead. GOD, talk about a season finale.)

Anyway, the end of S2 for The OC. 

Maybe it’s the general pandemic-related low-grade angst that's filtering everything right now, but honestly I just thought this whole storyline was so fucking sad. It was just so depressing to watch in 2020. All of it. Trey attempts to rape Marissa and it’s clearly a plot device the writers came up with to tell us more about Trey—it’s a sign that, unlike Ryan, he can’t fight off his violent demons and emotional instability and get his life together. He’s painted as this tragic figure that we, at the end of the day, are meant to sympathize with. He’s someone who could have been better than a guy who tries to rape his brother’s girlfriend, but he ultimately was not. He thought she was into him, after all—he just misread her signals. So Marissa just becomes the ultimate sign of his moral failing, an object in a bigger fight between brothers. Ryan tells Seth that even though he wanted to kill Trey, now that Trey has been shot, he still wants him around. He ends 3.01 mourning the loss of his brother in the arms of the woman that brother tried to rape. Honestly the whole thing just depressed the fuck out of me, that systemic sexual violence against women was (and is) still treated as easy dramatic plot fodder because that’s just how things are. I am not saying that Ryan couldn’t have complicated feelings about his brother’s place in his life once he learned what happened—or even that true redemption does not exist—but this show is so not equipped to wade into those morally complex waters. 

I think the show did a decent job of showing Marissa’s personal trauma in the immediate aftermath--ugh, the scene where she and Ryan are kissing and she’s picturing Trey, so horrible and real--and it was heartbreaking to watch her struggle with the burden of keeping what happened to her a secret. But of course ultimately it’s still about Ryan, about how she can’t tell anyone because she knows he’ll try to kill Trey. And then once she shoots Trey, the attempted rape is nothing compared to that fact. Does Marissa even mention it? It only matters to the prosecutor as a potential motive for Ryan, whom he’s trying to pin the crime on because apparently it doesn’t look good to prosecute a rich white girl (I think??? The legal nonsense is already too much). The shooting is a much more defining experience for everyone involved. Julie is deeply concerned that Marissa’s future is ruined because she shot someone. What about the psychological damage from the time Ryan’s brother held her down against her will and tried to rape her? That kind of trauma can absolutely fuck up a person’s life if left unaddressed. Where is the insistence Marissa go to therapy now?! She should go even if she had only shot someone, and not been attacked! I can’t with any of it, and it was only the first episode of S3. 

As for the other plot lines, Kelly Rowan turned in an incredible performance as Kirsten reaching a state of complete emotional collapse, and I can’t fucking believe she did not win any awards. Sandy came off as a patronizing asshole for a lot of that storyline? He was so morally hoity-toity about their communication issues and her drinking. I am very glad the comic-book storyline is over because it was truly dragging down S2 (sorry Zach, you were a very poor replacement for Luke Ward…although I did laugh at the line “I’m a water polo player! We’re always the bad guys!”) It’s supposed to be the lighter comedic storyline threading through these last few episodes, but it falls so flat, which is another reason S2 just feels so heavy and serious and basically no fun at all. 

In general I continued to just be very unimpressed with the writing and narrative construction this season. Why was Caleb so invested in marrying Julie only to basically ignore her for the entire season and then dilly-dally over divorcing her? Julie decides to kill him, then…oh wait, she doesn’t! Then he dies! Apparently Ryan is the father of Theresa’s baby?! The Miami episode is just a weak retread of the Vegas episode in S1! Is no one going to tell Lindsay that her dad died? Side characters like Lance and Jess were so poorly conceived. They’re just narrative chaos agents designed to do whatever the plot needs, for no coherent reason, and it’s so infurating after the grounded storylines of S1 (truly, both of them act like psychopaths in order for the story to get where it needs to go...although maybe in Jess’s case she is supposed to an actual psychopath). What is this nonsensical plot construction. Ugh, I am sorry I am such a downer on this season, but…it’s kind of a downer of a season!

I do love the sailing/beach montage in 3.01. And the intervention scene is genuinely powerful. 

[tabloidtoc]

People, July 8

Cover: Jada Pinkett Smith with mom Adrienne and daughter Willow 

Page 3: Chatter -- Janet Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Andy Cohen, Ashton Kutcher, Iman, Kelly Ripa 

Page 4: Things We’re Talking About This Week -- Rihanna day-drinks with Seth Meyers, Rose strawberries arrive for summer, Keanu Reeves keeps eluding Marvel, Jennifer Lawrence is not on board with Amy Schumer’s new bedtime 

Page 6: Contents 

Page 8: StarTracks -- Chrissy Teigen and daughter Luna 

Page 10: Eva Longoria and son Santiago and Mickey Mouse, Rob Lowe, Sara Foster and Erin Foster and Nina Agdal 

Page 12: Cute Couples -- Derek Hough and girlfriend Hayley Erbert, Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn, Jeff Goldblum and wife Emilie Livingston, Russell Wilson and Ciara and Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade 

Page 15: Inside the BET Awards -- Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus, Lizzo, DJ Khaled and John Legend, StyleTracks -- tea-length hemlines -- Ashley Graham, Kerry Washington, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, Tiffany Haddish 

Page 17: Blake Shelton -- My happy life with Gwen Stefani 

Page 18: Barack and Michelle Obama with daughters Malia and Sasha visit Bono and George and Amal Clooney

Page 20: Heart Monitor -- Ashley Benson and Cara Delevingne going public, Jessie J and Channing Tatum romance on the road, Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner star-studded wedding reception, Porsha Williams and Dennis McKinley split 

Page 22: Mary J. Blige -- Music and divorce and moving on 

Page 24: Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom -- inside their wedding plans, Kit Harington checks out of treatment 

Page 26: Songland’s Shane McAnally -- from homeless to country hitmaker 

Page 29: Stories to Make You Smile 

Page 31: Passages, E. Jean Carroll says Donald Trump raped her in the 1990s 

Page 33: Weddings -- Carly Craig and Zach Reiter 

Page 34: Meryl Davis and Fedor Andreev 

Page 37: People Picks --  Yesterday 

Page 38: The Loudest Voice 

Page 40: Midsommar, Los Espookys 

Page 42: Divorce, 5B 

Page 43: Wild Rose, Q&A -- Toy Story 4′s Ally Maki 

Page 44: Books, Star Picks -- Lucy Liu, Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne 

Page 46: Cover Story -- Our Family Bond -- Jada Pinkett Smith, mom Adrienne and daughter Willow 

Page 54: Where is Jennifer Dulos? 

Page 59: Prince, Paris and Bidi Jackson -- Life after Michael Jackson 

Page 62: Angela Farnan adopts the baby she cared for 

Page 64: Sienna Miller’s second act 

Page 67: Summer Hair Survival Guide -- Eva Longoria 

Page 68: Alicia Keys 

Page 71: Tracee Ellis Ross, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley 

Page 72: Lea Michele 

Page 74: Cindy Crawford, Dakota Fanning, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Alba, Nicole Richie 

Page 86: Second Look -- Michelle Obama and Allison Janney and Mila Kunis and Melissa McCarthy and Lena Waithe and Kate Hudson 

Page 88: One Last Thing -- Naomi Watts

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WANTED! FC can be changed!

♠ Layla Clarkson is 20 years old and is often confused with Kathryn Prescott. She is Open.

“I don’t really follow the news but… it‘s hard to miss what’s going on round here.”

→ Background

Unlike her big sister, Hannah, Layla has never been very into fashion or make up and has never put much effort into winning any popularity contests. The two girls are basically like chalk and cheese, opposites their whole lives. Layla never really liked the way Hannah would run around town acting like she was the best thing since sliced bread. She just wanted a normal sister she could talk to and share things with. For the entirety of high school, however, Layla was pretty much ignored by her sister in favour of Hannah’s popular friends and lifestyle. She actually felt like most people just forgot they were sisters in general. It wasn’t all terrible, they did have moments where they’d get along at home and such, but it never seemed enough for Layla. She had to just accept that her sister was a high maintenance, self-serving popular girl and they’d never be close.

Layla put her efforts into her own life, doing excellent in her exams and coming top in most of her classes, which she knew pleased her parents and she also felt this made her something of the favourite child. In her dads eyes anyway - he’d always wanted a studious girl who liked to play football and didn’t care about her looks, which was exactly what he got in Layla and exactly what he didn’t get in Hannah. Layla loved sports and she was always out training, sometimes even with Hannah’s popular boyfriend Thomas Playfair, who she used to have a raging crush on but… didn’t everybody? Not that she’d ever say so since she knew Hannah would probably have killed her. Layla was never really into many other boys until she she met Austin Ramsey. He was a bit of a bad boy but she liked that about him, was drawn to him, and they ended up in a pretty intense relationship which lasted for almost a year. Then Austin broke it off without much reason though Layla always suspected he just… got bored of her.

→ Back to Baberton

Luckily for Layla, her sister has somewhat calmed down a bit over the years and become less high maintenance than she used to be. Not totally different but some days they’re able to have an actual conversation. She doesn’t speak to Austin at all now but, in the wake of his sister Daisy’s death, she wanted to reach out to him. He’d been dating Chloe Pierce at the time and it had felt weird but now that they’re broken up Layla wants to check in and see how he’s doing. Trouble is, it’s hard for her to work up the courage. She fully believes that he got tired of her and dropped her and isn’t sure that facing him would be good for her. So most of the time she just steers clear of him and focuses on herself. She works in the local art gallery, on reception. Nothing fancy but she likes art and she’s been working there a while now so she’s gotten pretty used to it, and good at her job. She’d quite like to get a job at the local newspaper or something, she’s always dreamed of getting into journalism or something like that. Just something different, something meaningful. Other than that she still plays a lot of sport, though tries to stay out of Thomas’ way since he and her sister had a nasty break up lately after her cheated on her with none other than Kelly Sharpe. Layla would never have imagined ‘Baberton’s Golden Couple’ would ever split but sometimes she’s glad of it. She’d hoped that maybe now Hannah could finally stop acting all the time and just be normal.

However, months ago, her sister vanished rather abruptly and suspiciously. Then she began using her social media again and refused to answer anyone’s calls, saying she was abroad with a new boyfriend. Layla was furious but then her sister’s twitter posted a cryptic message signed with -A, then her body turned up in the woods beside the body of Sarah Clarke… along with a suicide note from Sarah, saying she’d accidentally killed Hannah months ago, hidden the body in a panic, taken her phone and pretended to be her online. Instead of going to the cops. Then, out of guilt, she’d killed herself. It was all so sick, what kind of freak does that? Pretends to be somebody online when they’re dead?! Layla is disgusted and devastated that she never managed to fix things or see through the charade. She misses her sister and wishes there was some way to make things right again, especially for her poor parents, who are beside themselves. She holds a little resentment whenever she comes across a Clarke, though she knows it’s not their fault and that Sarah was damaged.

→ What’s Her Secret?

Saw Austin sneaking out of Imogen Ford’s apartment one day, looking pretty suspicious. She’s got it into her head that he and Imogen are dating in secret or something and it’s making her kind of jealous. She isn’t sure how she feels about Austin anymore but clearly she feels something or else she knows she wouldn’t be getting so irrational. He’s free to do what he wants but… Layla doesn’t like Imogen. The girl rubs her the wrong way for some reason, she always has, and she doesn’t think she’s right for Austin.

She saw Seth Abrams slip something into Imogen Ford’s drink during a night out with some of her friends. She didn’t say or do anything and instead just left Imogen to whatever fate awaited her.

She feels a little unsure about the whole murder and suicide thing surrounding her sister and Sarah Clarke’s deaths. Something just seems to be eating away at her about it but she isn’t sure what that something is. Layla just feels as though something is amiss, but the police say it’s an open and shut case. She has no idea that Kelly Sharpe really killed her sister accidentally and that -A covered this up and staged this whole thing, murdering poor Sarah to make the story work, but maybe one day she’ll finally know the truth and stop feeling quite so… off. It just seems weird to her that someone like Sarah could pull this off especially seeming so fine and not wracked with guilt and panic, since Layla had seen her out and about fairly often after Hannah vanished. But she has to trust the police. Right?

She and Alana sometimes take to ganging up on and bullying Imogen Ford when they come across the girl. She mostly just does it to fit in with Alana still but she really does find pleasure in it since she’s started to hate her.

Main | Plot | Most Wanted | Ask

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10 Things From The O.C That Haven't Aged Well | ScreenRant

When The O.C. premiered in 2003, the teen drama was considered ahead of the rest of the shows in this genre. The story of poor bad boy Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) joining the wealthy Cohen family and becoming best friends with Seth (Adam Brody) is one that fans still love to this day. Add in some love interests (Marissa Cooper, played by Mischa Barton, and Summer Roberts, played by Rachel Bilson) and a lot of good music, and a classic series was born.

RELATED: Teen Wolf: 10 Times The Show Broke Our Hearts

But since it's been a while since the show was on the air (it lasted for four seasons until its 2007 finale), it makes sense that some characters, scenes, and plot points are lackluster by today's standards. Here are 10 things from The O.C. that haven't aged well.

10 Oliver Is Considered Nuts

Oliver Trask (Taylor Handley) isn't the most well-developed character on the show. When he and Marissa meet each other in the first season, they're in the same therapy office as they both suffer from depression. He has a huge crush on her from the beginning and it's clear that he's harboring unhealthy feelings toward her.

RELATED: 10 Teen Shows We Want a Reboot of More Than Beverly Hills 90210 

9 Seth Doesn't Treat Girls That Well

Seth is adorable, dorky, and loves indie music and video games with equal passion. But he's not exactly a pro when it comes to dating... which becomes painfully obvious when he finds himself in a love triangle in the first season with Summer and Anna Stern (Samaire Armstrong).

Even though Seth is portrayed as a nice guy, he doesn't always treat girls all that well, and he spends a lot of time with Anna and Summer separately without really making a decision about who his girlfriend is going to be. It's not the way to treat people and it feels awkward. This might be explained as him being nerdy and inexperienced, but that seems problematic.

8 Summer Is Embarassed About Dating A So-Called Nerd

Being a "nerd" is totally cool. It's great and admirable when someone has found something that they love and can talk about for hours.

But when Summer learns that Seth has been in love with her since forever, she hesitates to date him. Why? Because she's a popular, fashionable girl with a ton of friends... and he's a nerd. She worries about her reputation and doesn't think that she should be seen dating him. This is awkward and hasn't aged well. Today, everyone knows that nerds are the best.

7 The Good Vs. Bad Characters

The characters on The O.C. aren't very nuanced and are split up into categories, namely two: good and bad. Ryan and his family, friends, and love interests from back home are presented as "bad" since they have criminal histories, substance abuse problems, and don't have a lot of money. The Cohens and their Newport community are seen as "good" since they have money, nice mansions, and so on.

This aspect of the show hasn't aged very well since it's a very simplistic way of seeing people. Even Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) is treated as a kind of silly person because he likes to be the kind of lawyer who actually helps people (yes, even if they don't have huge bank accounts).

6 Summer's College Friend Che Is Too One-Note

Some might remember the character Che who was actually played by Chris Pratt. He cares about the environment and is basically responsible for Summer completely changing from a fashion-obsessed ditz to a bohemian who protests for hours on campus.

RELATED: Riverdale: 5 Reasons Varchie Are Relationship Goals (& 5 They Aren't)

Che is a character who has aged poorly because he's so one-note. He doesn't have any other personality traits other than talking about the environment, and he's never a real threat to her relationship with Seth because fans know those two are meant to be together.

5 The Teens Really Have Zero Parental Oversight

Sure, it's common on teen shows for the parents to be out of the house most of the time, but The O.C. really takes this to another level. Even though Sandy and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) are "the cool parents" of Newport and they're pretty close with their son Seth, it's true that the teen characters seem to do whatever they want and go wherever they want.

At the beginning of the show, for example, they decide to hide Ryan in a model home. This storyline doesn't hold up well today because parents really do like to know where their kids are.

4 Kirsten's Drinking Problem

Kirsten's alocholism storyline is another thing about The O.C. that hasn't aged well. These types of plotlines are often very corny and that's exactly what happened here.

RELATED: 10 Riverdale Moments That Topped Our Cringe-Meter

Instead of an honest and realistic portrayal of how a parent's alcoholism affects their family, Kirsten always looks completely wasted at a fancy event. This storyline was melodramatic and wasn't handled the way that it most likely would be if this show had aired in 2019.

3 The Episode "The Secret"

In the first season episode "The Secret," the characters discover that Luke (Chris Carmack) has a dad who is gay. Everyone in Newport and at the high school that Marissa, Luke, Ryan, and Seth go to is really mean about this.

It's easy to see why this aspect of The O.C. hasn't aged well. The fact that Luke gets angry at Ryan and believes he shared this with other people is really problematic. Luke shouldn't be angry at all and should be able to show his dad love and support and compassion.

2 The Third Season Finale Is Pretty Ridiculous

Fans have always heard that Mischa Barton was going to leave the show, so her character had to die on The O.C. But honestly, did her death have to happen in such a silly, unrealistic, ridiculous way?

Probably not... but that's what fans ended up with. In the third season finale, Marissa is off to Greece to live with her dad, Jimmy (Tate Donovan)... but there she is, sitting in Ryan's car and about to make this big change in her life and they get into a car accident. After a crazy explosion, Marissa passes away.

1 Marissa's Character Is Too Simplistic

Many teen drams have a character similar to Marissa Cooper. She's a poor little rich girl, or a spoiled rich girl, or whatever adjectives you'd like to use. She has money but her parents don't pay attention to her, so she really just wants someone to love her.

RELATED: Teen Wolf Characters Sorted Into Hogwarts Houses

Marissa is a character who hasn't aged well because she's too simplistic. She never stops complaining or moping around, and it would have been nice if she had a personality instead of just whining and doing wild things so people would pay attention to her.

NEXT: 10 Best Episodes Of Naruto Shippuden According To IMDb

source https://screenrant.com/things-oc-tv-show-havent-aged-well/

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after seeing the rihanna video going around i’m watching all of the day drinking with seth meyers and the one with kelly clarkson is fucking hilarious