#The entirety of the hotel has-been franchise

[fictionkinfessions]

https://www.tumblr.com/fictionkinfessions/750948036360929280/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-charlie-morningstar?source=share

Hey, Husk, here's a perspective for you^^

Her father is Lucifer, representing Pride. So it only makes sense that she can't see through her OWN pride, and she thinks she knows what's best. That's why Lucifer is the King of Hell; He thought he was doing what was best, and now he runs the entirety of humanity's eternal suffering.

I'm not saying her methods are correct, I'm only saying that I see her perspective. Honestly, Vaggie isn't much better. No one's perfect, and I think the show really extenuates that.

Sincerely; A stranger that has been kinsidering at least 5 members of the Hazbin Hotel Franchise

x

[realmauricioalejo]

you don’t have to say you love me...

☆ — wilmer valderrama, cis male, thirty-nine. hey, did you see MAURICIO ALEJO MARTINEZ’s latest instagram story? he’s been killing it as AN ACTOR over at ALLIANCE STUDIOS though i hear he’s worried about being typecasted into ROM COMS so he’s trying to break into the ACTION GENRE. people on set have praised him for being so PROFESSIONAL + RESOURCEFUL but they’ve also said he can be DISTANT + COMPETITIVE. at least he’s killing it in the industry.

why don’t you tell me you love me, too...

History

Mauricio was never supposed to be a superstar, his family had very humble beginnings. He was born in the poorer area of Medellín, Colombia, the second child to be born to his parents. It was the 80’s and the Colombian telenovela market was booming. One of the biggest studios, Camarón, was exporting novelas to the entirety of Latin America, to great success. Mauricio’s start in the industry was out of chance, his mother worked as a custodian at Camarón and had many friends that let her know all of the gossip and ins and outs of the studio, that way she knew whenever there were open calls. Mauricio was pushed by his mother and partly by his father, to audition, at first he did badly, but eventually the casting directors saw something in him, enough to put him in small roles on some telenovelas, usually playing a son or younger brother who didn’t have many lines.

 Out of the three children, he was the only one who managed to get his foot in the industry, his older brother never liked it, and his younger sister was never cast, despite countless attempts. Mauricio’s early to mid teenage years were spent booking small television roles and commercials that aired all over Colombia, and Latin America. All of the money he made went towards the family, and allowed them to have nicer things and move to a better area. Despite the good that it was providing his family, his siblings resented him, because Mauricio was treated like the golden child, the one that was giving honor to their family name.

His first big role was that of Jenny’s younger brother in Jenny la Fea, when he was 19. He had honed his craft enough at that point to be able to pull of the lovable younger brother, and Colombia began to fall in love with him.

Landing that role is what made his career boom, landing him bigger and better parts, and as he was getting older, he was getting actual romantic parts. As he entered his twenties and began to bulk up, he began landing parts that only leading men ever got. He was shaping up to be a full-blown telenovela hunk, with photoshoots lined up so that girls and women could hang up his pictures worldwide.

Mauricio had enough money at this point in his career, to move his family into a mansion in Colombia, and even moved himself to Mexico, having outgrown the Colombian market. He also paid for his brother’s rehab, and tried to get him the best treatment. He had always been troubled, but whenever Mauricio’s career took off, he always had to contend with familial issues. It was a constant pull in different directions. 

On top of that there was the fact that he was deeply closeted the entire time. From the start Mauricio had known he liked men, something that he knew was unacceptable for the fanbase he was working for. And especially for his family. They had always been deeply religious and instilled in him that he had to be a man, tough and strong, just like the men he portrayed on screen. And being gay was definitely not a strong quality, despite how challenging it was for him.

Being alone in Mexico, trying to make it big in an even larger market was a task for him, but one that he was prepared to take on. He was cast in novelas alongside many of Mexico’s heavy hitters, during this he got especially close to one of his co-stars, Tiago. He and Tiago were viewed as one of the best friendships in the industry, the two played rivals in a telenovela, Rosa, but were close as thieves in real life.

The truth was that he and Tiago had fallen in love, countless hours on a set, long nights in trailers, and hotel rooms, had brought out the truth that they were both smitten by each other. They were inseparable but kept up the façade to everyone that they were just friends, afraid that their careers would end up in flames.

They kept up their charade long after they had wrapped up filming together, and moved on to other telenovela projects, finding time to spend together in secret. Both dated women for the media but knew where their true hearts were.

Mauricio was wrapping up his last telenovela when the worst moment of his life happened, he and Tiago had been photographed kissing during a moment of passion on a balcony of one of Mexico’s most exclusive hotels, and said photograph was being spread across all the tabloids in Latin America.

He and his team had no idea what to do with everything happening. So many of his fans were put off by the reality that their heartthrob could be gay. It was surely going to affect what roles came his way, and it did. His team advised him to deny, deny, deny, and double down on his relationship with Maria, another actress who needed the spotlight. Tiago had already denied it was him in the photos, and cut him off completely, choosing his career over their relationship that had spanned years at that point. Mauricio refused to play into the game, tired of hiding and came out.

His coming out process wasn’t easy, he decided to film a video that he uploaded to the internet, where he explained how his life had been up to that point, making sure to not include Tiago’s name. He was met with mostly negative feedback from his community, his fanbase, and some positives from people that felt he was representing them.

His family wasn’t accepting of it at all, and his parents cut him off completely. They felt Mauricio, the son that had brought them such pride, now just brought them shame. They couldn’t see past what they were taught, and let Mauricio know that if he wanted to be accepted as their son, he needed to choose a better walk of life.

All of this left him practically alone, with his career in shambles, it was truly the darkest period of his life. He felt that almost overnight his life had been flipped upside down, all of the illusions that he’d had of the world were stripped away and he was left standing alone with the reality of what it all was.

With nothing left to do, he moved himself to the US, taking some time to himself to recharge and find his footing. He knew that he had to come up with a new plan for his career, he wasn’t getting any of the offers he used to. None of his old fans wanted to see him as the heartthrob anymore, they didn’t buy it.

 His early thirties were a time of change and planning, he had through the Los Angeles scene, met with filmmakers, some that had heard of his story and they wanted to cast him in a film. It was an indie film about a gay man in love with the ghost haunting his home. Mauricio wasn’t sure how he felt about taking part in it, but he wasn’t getting any other offers, so he took it. The movie went on to be a hit in the indie circuit, debuting to a lot of acclaim, and becoming a cult favorite.

That was enough to then land him a small role television role as a quirky love interest to one of the female protagonists, people were believing him in the role of a straight man again, only this time it was for an entirely different market.

He landed a couple rom-coms, as the latin lover with an accent that wooed the girl, that did well in the box office, making a name for himself in America. His career was starting to gain traction again, after having almost completely died.

After his biggest rom com, he was on the radar of Hollywood execs, enough that he was eyed for the role of Pedro Plume, the Lunar-lord in Champions of the Universe. It was one of Alliance Studios’ biggest projects in their superhero franchise and he knew that if he were to land it, it would solidify him as a star in the American market.

When he was confirmed for the role of Pedro, it was the happiest day of his life. It meant that he had survived everything that he had been through.

Mauricio is still trying to take control of his career, and focus on big action movies, rather than being pigeonholed as the latin lover, but that is proving easier now that he is the Lunar-lord, and has a couple Champions of the Universe movies under his belt.  

Es que a tus labios, no los entiendo.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Return of the Jedi

I thought it was odd that Lucasfilm leaked that show from the Russian Doll chick but then i found out that Queen Kathleen Kennedy got booted out of the High Republic nonsense by the Bobs at Disney. That was her baby. That was her coup d'etat on the entirety of the Star Wars mythos but Disney said nope and gave the reigns back to the Chosen One himself, George Lucas! I mean, Kennedy wanted no wars in the High Republic. How the f*ck can you have no war Star Wars? It’s in the f*cking name! No light saber duels? F*cking Dino Riders? Are you serious?? That sh*t is stupid and proves that Kennedy has o idea what the f*ck she’s doing. There’s no way that sh*t flies with the fandom. Look, Disney has botched their era of Star Wars so far, with the exception of Mando, The Force Awakens, and maybe Rouge One. Returning creative control to Lucas feels right. Dangerous, but right. Even then, Disney seems to have taken the Prequels to heart and learned a lesson, They added Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau to the mix as kind of a balance to Lucas’ more... fanciful aspirations. Going forward, these cats are shaping the world of Star Wars. If Mando and the Clone Wars are any metric of quality, we are in good hands.

Those hands are not, of course, Kathleen Kennedy’s. She has f*cked up so much with her bullsh*t identity politics and undeserved ego, the Bobs have no confidence in her vision. I, personally, believe she should have been fired long ago but Disney is in a hard place about that. Kennedy is the president of Lucasfilm, one of the most coveted positions in Hollywood. Kennedy is also a woman which gives her a margin of undeserved social armor. Canning a female exec of such high visibility would be PR suicide. That said, you can relegate her into oblivion, which seems to be what Disney is doing. Bringing in Kevin Feige, the architect of the MCU, for a few films was the shot a across her bow. That put her into panic mode and she rushed The High Republic into production as a means to maintain control. Then they as snatched away from her because Disney finally understands how to make a Star War and it does not include Kennedy at all. However, she ain’t going quietly into the night. Nah, she’s green-lighting shows run by Harvey Weinstein sycophants and making Rey a goddamn Skywalker. Wreck literally everything before you get evicted from the apartment. Sh*t in the hotel bed and make the help clean it up. That’s what Kennedy is doing to the mythos because she can’t make it her own.

Kathleen Kennedy is bad at her job and i’m glad Disney has finally realized that. Ma is a cancer on Star Wars and Disney is finally cutting that sh*t out. It’s sad that a woman in such a high executive position is being mitigated like this but, when you’re this incompetent and toxic to the fandom, how can you not lose your job? When you tank the value of the most lucrative franchise in cinema history, with a near fifty year legacy, how can you possible keep that job?

[brokehorrorfan]

Event Report: NorthEast Comic Con (Spring 2019)

Back in November, I spent my Thanksgiving weekend attending my first NorthEast Comic Con & Collectibles Extravaganza. Having had a blast, I was excited to return for the next semi-annual event. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait very long, as its Spring 2019 edition occurred over Saint Patrick's Day weekend. I returned to the Regency Hotel in Boxboro, Massachusetts on March 16 to experience all the celebrities, panels, comedy, concerts, vendors, and other fun it had to offer.

The afternoon kicked off with a panel featuring iconic comedian/actor Gilbert Gottfried (Aladdin). He was funny, as he naturally is, but this was not a standup set; it was an honest conversation. He discussed everything from the recent fake outrage over his not being in the new Aladin film and the controversial jokes that resulted in his being fired as the voice of the Aflac Duck, to being raised on the Universal monster movies (and questioning why the Wolf Man dressed so well if he knew he was going to transform into a werewolf) and comedy in the modern age. ("The internet makes me feel sentimental for old-time lynch mobs," he quipped.)

Prompted by audience questions, Gottfried also talked about his ad-libbing on Aladdin (during which he would occasionally have to be stopped and reminded that it was family film), working with John Ritter on Problem Child (which no one thought was going to be a hit), Howard Stern, Hollywood Squares, Wife Swap, his Amazing Colossal Podcast, and more. Never one to miss an opportunity for an off-color joke, Gottfried responded to a comment about a failed TV pilot by stating, "Buddy Holly has better luck with pilots than I do." The session was recorded for the The Boston Comedy Podcast, so you'll be able to hear it in its entirety soon.

Later in the day, I caught another panel with Nicholas Brendon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Criminal Minds fame. With no need for a host, the animated and entertaining Brendon began by riffing on the likes of tuna casserole to cannibalism for a few minutes before launching into the entire story of how he was cast on Buffy (in which he went from production assistant on Dave's World to reluctant actor, then booked Buffy a mere two months later). He was open and honest about his past struggles, but he has turned over a new leaf and is now giving back by using his celebrity to raise awareness for mental health.

In addition to Gottfried and Brendon, the guest list included Chris Rankin (Harry Potter franchise), Gigi Edgley (Farscape), Ann Robinson (The War of the Worlds), Mark Goddard (Lost in Space), Clayton Prince (Hairspray), animation producer Jeff Kline (Transformers Prime), Emmy Award-winning puppeteer Bill Diamond (Little Shop of Horrors), author and Squirrel Girl co-creator Will Murray, Disney comics writer Joe Caramagna (Duck Tales, Frozen), cartoonist Guy Gilchrist (The Muppets), and paranormal investigator Kadrolsha Ona Carole, among others.

NorthEast Comic Con's standup battle royal proved to be a fun way to spend any down time. Local and budding comedians had the opportunity to sign up and perform seven minutes of material for a chance to win $100 a day and compete for the $500 weekend prize. The competition was judged entirely by audience applause, and Phil Anthony ultimately took home the grand prize. It was apparent that some of the competitors didn't have much stage experience, with bits that weren't fully realized or comedic timing that needed work, but the audience was receptive and ready to laugh.

Comedian Roger Kabler has been impersonating Robin Williams for many years, which earned him a finalist spot on the ABC celebrity impersonator reality competition The Next Best Thing in 2007. Following Williams' death, Kabler decided to utilize his talents and pay tribute to Williams with a film called Being Robin. A brief portion of the movie was shot at the convention, and attendees were allowed to participate as audience members as Kabler performed a portion of his Williams act. Not only does he have the voice and look down, but Kabler also nails Williams' idiosyncratic mannerisms. The film is currently seeking funding; I’m looking forward to seeing the final product after witnessing a small portion in the making.

An unexpected highlight of the previous NorthEast Comic Con was seeing Gwell-o, a Gwar-inspired metal band featuring members of the comedy rock act Green Jelly dressed as intergalactic monsters in homemade, cardboard and duct tape costumes. They performed as part of the Saturday night after party this time around, and I couldn't miss it. A new layout to the stage allowed all nine members of the band to fit up there. The lineup features four people who sing backups and perform combat theatrics during the show, while the other five musicians perform a mix of originals and covers, including Gwar's "I Hate Love Song" and "Sick of You," Green Jelly's "Three Little Pigs," Judas Priest’s “Night Crawler," and “I Need Mo’ Allowance” from the cartoon Doug.

Proudly hailing for Ipswich, Massachusetts, The Fools headlined the after party. At first glance, they seem like a rock act in the vein of The Rolling Stones or Van Halen. Upon a closer listen to vocalist Mike Girard's lyrics, however, it becomes apparent that they are satirizing the classic rock acts of yesteryear as much as they are paying tribute to them. That's not to say they don't take themselves seriously; the quintet makes their tight live show appear effortless.

Along with the celebrities, panels, standup comedy, and live concerts, NorthEast Comic Con offered cosplay contests, gaming, kids activities, and more, not to mention dozens of exhibitors and vendors. Many attendees came in costume, ranging from pop culture giants to comic book characters to original creations. For my money, two people dressed in large, elaborate Kang and Kodos costumes from The Simpsons were the most impressive.

A NorthEast Comic Con employee mentioned to me that this was the convention's biggest turnout at the Boxboro location yet. While it's wonderful to see the event grow with bustling crowds of enthusiastic fans, I revel in the fact that NorthEast Comic Con & Collectibles Extravaganza remains an intimate experience in comparison to the massive pop culture expos, which can be overwhelming and impresonal. On top of that, the show continues to keep its prices low and value high.

Click here to see all of my NorthEast Comic Con Spring 2019 photos.

[heroofkvackers]

mkay lore time and some explanation (wall of text, pls be prepared lmao)

About time that I have time to fully establish the headcanon lore of my Champion of Cyrodiil-turned-Last Dragonborn, which might help in connecting the timeline of the fourth and fifth games of the franchise, Oblivion and Skyrim smoothly. Hopefully there are no plot holes, but if there are any, I’ll be glad to add something in that could tie the ends together :D

Wulfgar Silver-Tongue first came into Nirn on 3E 401 in the Imperial City, therefore making him 32 years old when the Oblivion Crisis hit the entire continent of Tamriel. He was raised to be a bard and a Nine Divine worshipper, but found passion in fencing and sword-fighting later in his teenage years. How he ended up in prison was...quite the scandalous thing. One day, he stumbled upon a beautiful woman while sitting in Tiber Septim Hotel (no, not Augusta Calidia), and he decided to seduce her with his lute and singing, and actually succeeded for a time during the events of Morrowind (while the Nerevarine did his prophesy things lmao)...only to be found out by the real husband of this woman, an Imperial Guard captain. In the beginning months of 3E 433, he was hastily thrown into prison, now devoid of many of his belongings, leaving him with essentially nothing to live with. His lute was even taken away from him. After a few months, however, news reached the Imperial City that the Emperor’s (legitimate) sons were all assassinated by the Mythic Dawn, and the Blades quickly reacted to the incident by taking the Emperor to the Imperial prison, where a secret passageway out of the Imperial City just so happened to go through his very cell. When the Emperor realized that Wulfgar, as deprived as he is, was the same figure that he’s seen in his visions, he told the Nord, with heartbreak and melancholic acceptance, that he was his only hope of finding his very last son. Realizing that his life was meaningful after all he had just gone through, he took up the responsibility and returned back to honing his skills in swordplay and a little bit of destruction and illusion magic, to help defend the Empire until his very last breath, becoming Archmage, and Master of the Fighter’s Guild before going to Weynon Priory to give the Amulet of Kings to Jauffre. His heart was changed to the extent that he even helped raise the marauder siege upon Battlehorn Castle, where he lived for some time before tiring of the luxury it brought with its restoration to go live in Cheydinhal for the rest of his life. When Martin Septim left the world by transforming into the avatar of Akatosh to fight Mehrunes Dagon, Wulfgar, now the Champion of Cyrodiil, went into a period of mourning for several months, disappearing into the common crowd, his fanaticism for the Empire subsiding, before hearing about the looming threat of yet another Daedric power wishing to destroy his homeland. That alone helped him gather up courage again to continue doing a service to the Empire, as well as working for the Nine Divines, allowing himself to be put back into public attention as a Champion of the Divines. Unwillingly, however, he mantled Pelinal Whitestrake through his effort, and soon developed a small amount of madness, but not enough to do something ridiculous....for a certain amount of time. As his firm sanity allowed it, he did not once step foot into the Shivering Isles, owing to his knowledge of the Daedric princes he read through the books he gathered during the Oblivion Crisis, fearing for his own sanity being sucked away if he were to go into the realm of Sheogorath. Yes, that means he allowed the Greymarch to happen once more. I’d like to think that some other person took up the mantle instead. Now you’re wondering “But Sheo is the Hero of Kvatch! There’s no changing that because of his dialogue!” Here’s my headcanon’s explanation of Sheo’s dialogue in Skyrim that suggests other possible explanations. 

“Butterflies” could also mean the butterflies you see flying all over Cyrodiil. They’re all over the place. You cant really catch them like in Skyrim though, obviously. A more commonly accepted explanation is the butterflies you see at the very beginning of the Shivering Isles main questline. Anyone other than the Hero could have seen the butterflies when they’re entering the portal, though. Also, they’re everywhere in the Shivering Isles.

“Blood” could very well point to the Blood of the Divines and Daedra quest in the main questline. However, judging by the bloodshed that happened during the mass invasion of the Imperial City in the last scene of the main questline, it could also mean that. Many people were witnesses to this. 

“A fox” obviously means the fabled Grey Fox thief figure. As the game explained explicitly, however, there are people who believe in the Gray Fox, and there are also those who don't believe. Its all over Cyrodiil.

“Severed head” is obviously a reference to the Dark Brotherhood. The nature of the Elder Scrolls, however, permit the explanation that if the Hero doesn't complete the questline, someone else does the questline for him. Besides, Wulfgar does not take kindly to those who worship something that is perceived to be evil and has no solid form. As a matter of fact, when Lucien visited him after he accidentally killed Glarthir in the midst of the Mages Guild questline, he brutally killed Lucien himself, as he is a very angry man when interrupted from his sleep. Besides, he found no reason to join the Dark Brotherhood over an accidental kill.

..not to mention that Glarthir did not have to seek him out while he's fighting a group of necromancers out in the open. Honestly though.

“Oh, and the cheese! To die for.” could mean the Sheogorath  shrine questline, where he (spoiler alert) asks the Hero to steal some Olroy cheese to start the “apocalypse” in Border Watch. Like I said, if the Hero doesn't do the quest, someone else takes his place.  

“You know, I was there for the whole sordid affair.” Now that dialogue is interesting. But hear me out. Sheogorath is the Daedric Prince of Madness. The wiki did put in the note that he could have been watching the whole affair and therefore could be throwing the player of Skyrim off. Mehrunes Dagon invading Tamriel was a huge event, and its quite hard for the other Daedric princes to not ignore it, as no other princes would have dared to have done that. 

Anyway because I have a mod for what happens after gathering the Relics, he also helped thwart a false Ayleid emperor off his throne to restore peace to the entirety of Cyrodiil, so it would not fall under Ayleid rule and slavery once more after 3 eras of absence. Those of you who have this particular mod would know what I mean ;) 

Soon after that, however, the Empire declared the Mage’s Guild guilty (when they're not) of starting the Oblivion Crisis, kicking him out of the Archmage position.

After all the chaos subsided, Wulfgar finally went back to a normal, quiet life, disguising himself as a daily pilgrim of the Divines, until one day, whoever took the throne of Sheogorath spoke to him within a dream in 4E 9. 

“Wulfgar...since you’re so dedicated to your boring little pilgrimage to the Aedra...how about I make things more interesting for you?”

“The Daedric Prince of Madness? What do you wish to do with me at this point?” Wulfgar spoke, timidly.

“If you are truly that dedicated as the famed Divine Crusader that everyone praises, I shall now test your sanity for three days by trying to thwart you on every turn you make. It is good entertainment for me after all.”

Now that is a reflection to a certain book you may see in Skyrim and the Shivering Isles, in particular. 

He lasted for two days. Until the very last day, when he finally lost it and went on a murderous spree in the Nibenay region for several more days, seeking out only elves, practically mirroring exactly what Pelinal did right before the fall of the Ayleid empire, until he blacked out on the Fredas of that week. By then, he lost much of his reputation as the famed Champion of Cyrodiil, and instead gained fear from those who remember the tales of Pelinal Whitestrake. After he woke up, groggy and exhausted, he opened his eyes to the destruction he caused in the region, only to realize that the damage was irreversibly done. He was now shunned and feared. His only choice at this point to avoid any more complications is to drop the mantle of the Divine Crusader, which he promptly did. Later in his life, he also abandoned his status as Champion of Cyrodiil, effectively wiping his own name from history. He then passed away in 4E 49, just one year after the Umbriel Crisis, at the age of 81. He was then reincarnated as the Last Dragonborn in 4E 168, given a dragon’s soul by Akatosh as a gift for his services to the Empire in the time of Oblivion, shortly before the Great War. That also makes him 33 years old at the time of the Alduin crisis, and his soul just over 300 years old. 

...damn. This is the longest post to date. But yeah, there it is. XP. Yes I know, I rushed through it towards the end. Like I said, if there are any details you wish for me to clarify, I’ll be glad to explain what happened.

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

Full Line-up Announced for 2018 Overlook Film Festival – April 19-22, New Orleans

The Overlook Film Festival has just dropped an incredible line-up of horror and genre films, interactive exhibits and panels for the 2018 event.  Happening April 19th-22nd, genre audiences will descend upon the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, for premiere screenings of Hereditary, Unfriended: Dark Web, St. Agatha, Ghost Stories, among many others.

We attended to the 2017 Overlook Film Fest atop Mount Hood at the infamous Timberline Lodge (exterior setting of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining) and it was our favorite festival experience of the year. From the second you enter the fest, you step into a world of film, interactive horror, and sensory experiences. We had such a good time, we’ve already booked ourselves in for 2018’s events. And now that they’ve announced the line-up, I can hardly wait..

  From the Press Release

(NEW ORLEANS, LA) – The Overlook Film Festival is proud to announce its second year programming lineup. In addition to the 40 films (23 features and 17 short films from 12 countries) on offer, the festival will feature exciting parties, virtual reality, interactive events, and live performances – all taking place in America’s most haunted city: New Orleans, Louisiana.

On opening night of the festival, audience members will enjoy the chiller Unfriended: Dark Web (United States, 2018), from Blumhouse Productions and Bazelevs Productions, directed by Stephen Susco, and starring Colin Woodell, Betty Gabriel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Andrew Lees, Connor del Rio, Stephanie Nogueras, and Savira Windyani.

The Overlook Film Festival will screen A24’s highly anticipated Hereditary (United States, 2018) as its closing feature presentation, directed by Ari Aster, and starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne.

The Centerpiece of the 2018 edition of The Overlook Film Festival is St. Agatha, directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, which will hold its world premiere in New Orleans at the festival.

The festival’s Visionary Award will be presented to modern genre favorite Leigh Whannell, best known for writing the first three films in the Saw franchise, as well as Insidious, and Insidious: Chapter 2, and directing Insidious: Chapter 3. Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, director, and actor who will celebrate his latest directorial effort at the festival, Upgrade. The Visionary Award was established to honor a contemporary horror figure or company elevating the genre, while fostering the community by providing opportunities for new talent to thrive.

  Hereditary

  In addition to the films and special guests, the Overlook Film Festival will be generously packed with live presentations. The festival’s virtual reality program will feature the world premiere of noted experience creator Jon Braver’s Delusion: Lies Within, a fully immersive, 360 degree episodic narrative from Skybound Entertainment.

Other experiences will run the gamut from live podcasts and storytelling shows, to immersive attractions for an audience of one – including the world premiere of a new show from immersive theater troupe BLACKOUT – and The Overlook Immersive Game, a new alternate reality game that will span the entirety of the festival created by this year’s experience designers Scott Gillies and Nick Tierce, whose credits include a range of interactive projects for companies that include Electronic Arts, Disney, Microsoft, Niantic Labs and Google.

The Overlook Film Festival is programmed by festival co-directors Michael Lerman and Landon Zakheim, and programmer Lili Rodriguez. The schedule, sponsors, and additional surprises will be announced in the coming days.

“We’re so excited to unleash this program onto our devoted audience and new fans in this haunted city” said festival co-director Michael Lerman.

  “It’s such a great year for horror and the varied nature of this program is really a testament to innovative ways filmmakers are finding to frighten, challenge and celebrate the genre.”

  Added co-director Landon Zakheim: “We’ve assembled a wonderfully sordid array of some of our favorite storytellers, performers, and immersive artists to create the signature events and shows that round out our weekend-long summer camp. We can’t wait to share the secrets, surprises, and ghosts of New Orleans with all of you.”

  Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Night Presentations

Unfriended: Dark Web

Opening Night Film:

Unfriended: Dark Web Director: Stephen Susco Cast: Colin Woodell, Betty Gabriel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Andrew Lees, Connor del Rio, Stephanie Nogueras, Savira Windyani United States, 2018 Preparing for his weekly Skype game night with his friends, a cyber café attendant borrows a laptop from the lost and found, only to find that the previous owner will stop at nothing to retrieve it. A sequel in name only, UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB borrows key cinematic elements from the original UNFRIENDED while telling its own edge-of-your-seat sadistic tale full of shocks and surprises that will make you think twice about who’s watching when you log on.

Centerpiece Film:

St. Agatha WORLD PREMIERE Director: Darren Lynn Bousman Cast: Sabrina Kern, Carolyn Hennesy, Courtney Halverson United States, 2018 Horror film impresario Darren Lynn Bousman, director of SAW II, III and IV, modern experiments REPO! A GENETIC OPERA and THE DEVIL’S CARNIVAL, not to mention the groundbreaking ongoing immersive property The Tension Experience, brings to life his latest vision, a period piece concerning a troubled woman running from her past who finds herself kept hostage by a coven of vicious nuns.

Closing Night Film:

Hereditary Director: Ari Aster Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne United States, 2018 When their reclusive grandmother passes away, the Graham family is slowly taken hold by a cursed terror, one that won’t let go. A cavalcade of gifted performers led by Toni Collete star in filmmaker Ari Aster’s astounding debut feature, which has deservedly become one of the most anticipated horror films of the year since it’s electrifying debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

  St. Agatha

  Feature Film Presentations

Arizona Director: Jonathan Watson Cast: Danny McBride, Rosemarie DeWitt, Luke Wilson, Lolli Sorenson, Elizabeth Gillies, Kaitlin Olson United States, 2017 This wickedly inventive comedic thriller that sharply utilizes the true life economic turmoil of the housing crisis as its backdrop, casts Danny Mcbride as an unhinged homeowner who attempts to take out his frustrations on a scrupulous relator (Rosemarie Dewitt) with a rampage that grows increasingly murderous.

Beast Director: Michael Pearce Cast: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Trystan Gravelle,Geraldine James United Kingdom, 2017 In this brutal, sexy, critically acclaimed debut thriller from UK director Michael Pearce, a disturbed woman finds herself caught between her oppressive family’s demands and her animalistic attraction to an alluring stranger who’s arrival in her life is suspiciously timed with a series of vicious murders in their isolated community.

Blood Fest Director: Owen Egerton Cast: Robbie Kay, Jacob Batalon, Seychelle Gabriel, Tate Donovan, Barbara Dunkelman, Nick Rutherford, Zachary Levi United States, 2018 When the most exciting horror festival in the country turns the tables on its zealous fan base by trapping them on the grounds and murdering them en masse, a group of teens armed with the knowledge of a thousand horror movies must fight their way through the bloodbath in this hilarious send-up of horror culture.

Blue My Mind Director: Lisa Brühlmann Cast: Luna Wedler, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen Switzerland, 2017 During the process of moving cities with her parents and trying to start over with a new group of friends, 15-year-old Mia begins to discover unexpected changes to her body that she dare not speak about to anyone. In spite of her radical attempts to halt the process, Mia is forced to face the horrifying reality of who she truly is. Equal parts tender, surreal, and grotesque, actor-turned-director Lisa Brühlmann’s first feature is a worth addition to the adolescent body horror canon.

Caniba Director: Véréna Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor Cast: Issei Sagawa, Jun Sagawa France, 2017 Sensory ethnography documentarians Lucien Castaign-Taylor and Véréna Paravel turn their cameras on notorious Japanese cannibal cum manga author, pornography director, and sushi critic, Issei Sagawa. In an unprecedented and shocking interview, Sagawa reveals gruesome details about his life and crimes, as well as a peak into his fraught relationship with his mysterious brother.

Don’t Leave Home Director: Michael Tully Cast: Anna Margaret Hollyman, Lalor Roddy, Helena Bereen, David McSavage, Karrie Cox Ireland, 2018 An American artist accepts a strange invitation to a secluded Irish manor to construct an original sculpture for a priestly painter whose work has been shrouded in a sinister urban legend involving the disappearance of an 8-year-old girl in this creepy, offbeat cinematic discovery from indie stalwart Michael Tully (SEPTIEN).

Downrange Director: Ryuhei Kitamura Cast: Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Alexa Yeames, Jason Tobias United States, 2017 Macabre mastermind Ryuhei Kitamura (VERSUS, MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN) comes crashing back with a frenetic new film of murder and mayhem. Stranded by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere from a tire blowout, a group of carpoolers become suddenly besieged by flying bullets from an unseen shooter with incredible precision and a savage will.

The Farm WORLD PREMIERE Director: Hans Stjernswärd Cast: Nora Yessayan, Alec Gaylord, Ken Volok, Rob Tisdale United States, 2018 The classic horror tale of a young couple who takes a wrong turn and stumbles into a small town full of people with nefarious intentions is turned on its head in this disturbing manifesto about food production. Seeping with eerie atmosphere, this unnerving first feature from newcomer Hans Stjernswärd finds as much fear in its silences as it does in its sickening, insidious images.

  Ghost Stories

  Ghost Stories Director: Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman Cast: Martin Freeman, Alex Lawther, Andy Nyman, Paul Whitehouse United Kingdom, 2017 After stumbling across a long-lost folder of material from his childhood hero, Goodman, a TV investigator known for debumking psychic hoaxes, digs deep into three cases of ghoulish hauntings. Determined to find rational explanations, Goodman quickly realizes he’s in over his head. Featuring Martin Freeman, this spine-tingling anthology, adapted from the hit stage play, tells enough tales to keep you up for nights to come.

Good Manners Director: Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra Cast: Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo Brazil/France, 2017 A surprising, imaginative and engaging twist on classic genre stories told with a sophisticated cinematic technique, GOOD MANNERS begins unassumingly with a near destitute nurse becoming the caretaker for a wealthy, isolated pregnant woman exhibiting strange behavior. But soon her habits turn into a sleeping hunger that changes both of their lives forever.

Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich WORLD PREMIERE Director: Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund Cast: Thomas Lennon, Michael Paré, Barbara Crampton, Udo Kier United Kingdom / United States, 2018 During a roadtrip to a convention for the 30th Anniversary of the infamous Toulon Murders, a comic book nerd, his new girlfriend and his best friend come face to face with a set of sadistic nazi puppets out for blood. A reimagining of the Charles Band classic, this uproarious horror comedy starring Thomas Lennon, Udo Kier, Barbara Crampton, Nelson Franklin, and Charlene Yi pays homage to the Full Moon features of the late 80s, early 90s.

The Ranger Director: Jenn Wexler Cast: Chloë Levine, Granit Lahu, Jeremy Pope, Bubba Weiler, Amanda Grace Benitez, Jeremy Holm, Larry Fessenden United States, 2018 A band of punks on the run from trouble with the local law hide out in the woods, only to stumble onto the radar of a deranged park ranger with a malicious approach to justice and a mysterious connection to a member of their group. Longtime indie horror producer Jenn Wexler makes her directorial debut with this manic, punk-rock take on the traditional slasher flick.

Revenge Director: Coralie Fargeat Cast: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchede, Jean-Louis Tribes France, 2017 First time filmmaker Coralie Fargeat subverts expectations of the exploitative rape-revenge film tropes from the grind house age for this explosively shocking assault on misogynistic culture that stunned unsuspecting audiences at both the Toronto and Sundance film festivals. Don’t miss one of the most intense debuts of the year.

Satan’s Slaves (Also our featured image) Director: Joko Anwar Cast: Tara Basro, Bront Palarae, Dimas Aditya, Endy Arfian, Nasar Annuz, Ayu Laksmi, Egy Fedly Indonesia, 2017 When Mawarni, a famous Indonesian singer, dies of a mysterious illness, her husband and four children are left behind to pick up the pieces, only to discover that they are being haunted by a pack of rabid spirits headed by Mawarni herself. Technically billed as a remake of the 1982 Indonesian remake of Don Coscarelli’s PHANTASM, celebrated director Joko Anwar’s SATAN’S SLAVES is its own chilling throwback to 70s supernatural thrillers, packed to the brim with jump scares and iconic imagery.

Sex Madness Revealed WORLD PREMIERE Director: Tim Kirk Cast: Patton Oswalt, Rob Zabrecky United States, 2018 Notorious comedian Patton Oswalt and renowned magician Rob Zabrecky star in Tim Kirk’s (DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY) latest experiment in how to tell tales of terror. Taking the form of an audio commentary that plays out over the little known 1938 STD propaganda film SEX MADNESS, the voice of a persnickety film blogger interviews the descendant of the original motion picture’s director who harbors a nefarious secret.

Tigers Are Not Afraid Director: Issa López Cast: Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Ianis Guerrero, Rodrigo Cortés, Hanssel Casillas Mexico, 2017 In one of the most imaginative (and award winning!) features traveling the genre festival circuit in recent months, a young girl with a missing mother joins a band of street misfits in effort to survive amidst rampant cartel violence in modern-day Mexico City. Populated with fairy tale imagery, TIGERS is at turns harshly real and terrifyingly surreal, reminiscent of films like THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE and CITY OF GOD as it details a tragic and engulfing nightmare.

  Upgrade

  Upgrade Director: Leigh Whannell Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Benedict Hardie Australia, 2017 Fan favorite Leigh Whannell, whose work on the SAW and INSIDIOUS franchises have made him a modern genre icon, thrills and delights with this gory and action-packed foray into a science-fiction dystopia. An experimental procedure infuses a sentient computer chip into the body and mind of paralyzed Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), fueling a spiraling mission for vengeance that leads to a terrifying endgame.

Vampire Clay Director: Soichi Umezawa Cast: Kyoka Takeda, Momoka Sugimoto, Ena Fujita, Yuyu Makihara, Asuka Kurosawa Japan, 2017 A group of unwitting art school students find themselves in a brutal showdown against a pack of evil of modeling clay in this campy, inventive, practical effects extravaganza from Japanese FX artist turned filmmaker Soichi Umezawa.

What Keeps You Alive Director: Colin Minihan Cast: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha Macisaac, Joey Klein, Charlotte Lindsay Marron Canada, 2018 For their first wedding anniversary, Jackie and Jules retreat to a cozy cabin near a beautiful lake. The sudden appearance of Jackie’s childhood best friend sets off a chain of unlikely events that turn a quiet vacation into the deadliest game of cat and mouse in Overlook Alum Colin Minihan’s (writer of STILL/BORN) claustrophobic survivalist thriller.

Wolfman’s Got Nards: A Documentary Director: André Gower Cast: Fred Dekker, Shane Black, Seth Green, Adam F. Goldberg, Ryan Lambert, Ashley Bank, Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Chuck Russell, Heather Langenkamp United States, 2018 August 14, 1987 saw the release of what has become one of the strangest, scariest and most iconic kids film to ever grace the silver screen – THE MONSTER SQUAD. In this endearing documentary, director Andre Gower takes us not only behind the scenes on the production, but also into the heart of the fandom surrounding the movie and the magic that made it such a defining cinematic experience for so many in the genre community.

Virtual Reality Presentations

Campfire Creepers

  Campfire Creepers: The Skull of Sam Director: Alexandre Aja From master of horror Alexandre Aja, the director of films such as The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha, and Horns, comes an original anthology series that brings classic campfire stories to life in stunning Virtual Reality. Produced by Oculus and Future Lighthouse and distributed by Dark Corner, Campfire Creepers invites viewers to join the fire circle at a summer camp called Camp Coyote as a group of kids take turns telling spooky tales. Inspired by cult classics like Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt, every episode of Campfire Creepers is a wild ride that will have you laughing and screaming in equal measure.

Delusion: Lies Within WORLD PREMIERE Director: Jon Braver Set in the 1940’s American South, beloved author Elena Fitzgerald goes missing before releasing the final novel in her epic dark fantasy that has captivated fans Daniel and Virginia. As many believe her to be dead, Daniel and Virginia must leave their grim reality behind to save Fitzgerald from her own literary nightmare. The VR series from Skybound Entertainment is a fully immersive, 360 degrees episodic story. Delusion is based off Jon Braver’s 2014 immersive theatrical performance in Los Angeles.

Masters Of The Sun Director: will.i.am This interactive comic book series from Oculus Studios, born from the mind of will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas), is a retro futuristic B-boy zombie thriller about a hip-hop group from East LA that must battle an ancient god who is turning black drug dealers and gangsters into zombies. This epic journey, spanning 13 episodes, explores gang culture, hip-hop origins, and cloaked conspiracy theories—from ancient Egypt to the streets of LA. Starring Queen Latifah, Rakim, Jamie Foxx, Ice-T, and KRS-One.

Night Night Director: Guy Shelmerdine It’s time to drift off to dreamland…but first your mom is going to read you a short bedtime story. Take a journey into your childhood nightmares with Dark Corner’s sense-stunning immersive experience. Produced by Dark Corner and MPC VR.

Wolves In The Walls (Chapter 1) Director: Pete Billington Eight-year-old Lucy suspects that wolves live in the walls of her family’s home. She has no one to believe her … but you. Forging a groundbreaking blend of film, theatre, audience agency, and sleight of hand, this exquisitely crafted animated experience, adapted from material by Neil Gaiman and choreographed by immersive theater company Third Rail Projects, casts you as an active performer in a narrative where you interact, have a relationship with, and go on a quest with the central character in ways that leave your mark on the experience.

  Live Event Presentations

BLACKOUT WORLD PREMIERE Creators: Kristjan Thor and Josh Randall In 2009, an underground immersive horror experience swept through the NYC art scene and began a path that would transform the international theater community. BLACKOUT, the X-rated fear experience designed for adults over 18 to walk through completely alone. Created by directors Kristjan Thor and Josh Randall, BLACKOUT has had productions in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Now at the Overlook Film Festival, BLACKOUT presents the world premiere of a rare and unique opportunity for the adventurous to make their way through what the NEW YORK TIMES has called the “most extreme theater event of the year.” WARNING: This is considered an extreme experience and is exclusively for pass holders. Participants are required to sign a waiver. Slots will be made available exclusively for all-access pass holders.

The Canon Podcast Live Host: Amy Nicholson What films should be included in the list of all-time greats? Film critic Amy Nicholson and a guest debate, discuss and sometimes harmoniously agree about whether a film should be Canon-ized. Ultimately, the decision is yours. Cast your vote, and decide the legacy of each movie forevermore. No pressure.

In Another Room Directors: Austin and Aaron Keeling Last summer, E3W Productions’ surprise hit ‘In Another Room’ invited guests to explore the richly storied rooms of a notoriously haunted house in Los Angeles, introducing audience members to the inhabitants who lived and died within its walls. Now, E3W Productions is pleased to offer exclusive access to one of the rooms from their debut show, transported to the Bourbon Orleans Hotel for the duration of the Overlook Film Festival. Audiences of three will be invited to step inside this room, where they will meet a previous inhabitant and learn of the tragedies that befell them. ‘In Another Room’ sold out in just three days upon its initial run, and this excerpt promises a haunting, moving, and extremely intimate experience. We invite those of you most attuned to the psychic and supernatural to join us for a once in a lifetime opportunity to come face to face with the unknown. Slots will be made available exclusively for all-access pass holders.

Infinitely Dinner Society: Midnight Snacks Creator, Director: Annie Lesser Infinitely Dinner Society’s Midnight Snacks presents Bananas Foster. IDS Midnight Snacks are late night pairings of food and art with the math and science behind infinity. Previous snacks have included donuts paired with the infinite points of a circle, cheese cubes paired with hypercubes and oyster shooters paired with the intangible nature of infinity. Each snack features food sourced from local bakers, shop owners and farmers markets. For the Overlook Film Festival, creator Annie Lesser has designed a piece based on the cosmic horror of the multiverse featuring Bananas Foster made from Louisiana cane sugar and rum. News about Infinitely Dinner Society and the IDS Midnight Snacks can be found Instagram @infinitelydinnersociety. Slots will be made available exclusively for all-access pass holders.

The Overlook Immersive Game Producer: Mali Elfman For the signature event of the Overlook Film Festival, 2018 introduces a new alternate reality game and welcomes this year’s experience designers Scott Gillies and Nick Tierce, whose credits include a range of projects with companies such as Electronic Arts, Disney, Microsoft, Niantic Labs, and Google. Throughout the entire weekend, uncover an interactive horror mystery that permeates the festival, featuring live actors inhabiting unique locations, hidden clues, tactile puzzles, and surprising twists that each player can engage with at their own level of comfort and curiosity. Follow the clues to become the protagonist of an engaging and thrilling narrative that no two players will experience in exactly the same way. Details of the game’s story will remain locked away until the festival begins, but you may wish to seek out the celestial raven, instantly. The game is available exclusively to festival pass holders, with active player registration limited to 100 available spots. All registered players must attend a game orientation upon festival check-in. Over the course of the game, curious players may receive invitations to engage further for additional immersive depth, which they may opt-in for when the opportunity is presented.

Paperbacks From Hell Creator, Writer, Performer: Grady Hendrix In the early Seventies, three books changed horror forever: ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE EXORCIST, and THE OTHER. The first horror novels to hit bestseller lists since 1940, they opened the floodgates for an avalanche of horror paperbacks to pour onto supermarket shelves throughout the Seventies and Eighties until SILENCE OF THE LAMBS slit the genre’s throat in the early Nineties. Writer Grady Hendrix delivers a mind-melting oral history of this now forgotten world of Nazi leprechauns, skeleton doctors, killer crabs, killer jellyfish, killer babies, pretty much killer everything. Prepare yourself for a tour of this long-lost universe of terror that lurked behind the lurid, foil-embossed, die-cut covers of…the Paperbacks from Hell!!!!

The Pumpkin Pie Show: Best of Show Creator, Writer, Performer: Clay McLeod Chapman Come join us for an encore presentation of the best Pumpkin Pie Show stories from over the last 20 years. Author Clay McLeod Chapman will lead the audience through the back-catalogue of his personal favorite tales, offering a view into the sordid lives of Southern Gothic monstrosities that explore the domestic horrors of the everyday, finding terror within our own households. This is Edgar Allan Poe for the modern age, people.

The Pumpkin Pie Show: New Skulduggery Creator, Writer, Performer: Clay McLeod Chapman Author Clay McLeod Chapman is bringing BRAND NEW STORIES to the Overlook! The Pumpkin Pie Show has remained a staple of the fest – and this year they’re offering an even sweeter treat: original tales that have never been inflicted upon an audience anywhere. Flesh-eating bacteria, killer baby carrots and haunted comic books are all on the menu. These new campfire stories will be sure send a shiver up your spine. Hear them first before they’re unleashed upon the rest of the world!

The Pumpkin Pie Show: One-On-Ones Creator, Writer, Performer: Clay McLeod Chapman A returning favorite from last year’s fest, please join author Clay McLeod Chapman as he takes one audience member at a time on a dark ride through this depraved, intimate storytelling experience. Think of it as a heart-to-bleeding-heart with madmen, murderers and monsters telling their own story. No fourth wall, no escape. First come, first serve. Sessions will last 20 minutes. Slots will be made available exclusively for all-access pass holders.

Shock Waves Presents Host: Ryan Turek Overlook welcomes Ryan Turek, co-host of Blumhouse’s hit horror podcast Shock Waves for an insightful discussion with one of the festival’s guests.

Summerland Lost Creator, Writer, Performer: Grady Hendrix The Wall Street Journal calls him “a national treasure.” His mother calls him “Sunshine.” Now author Grady Hendrix brings his one-man show about psychic teenagers and shaved cats to New Orleans with Summerland Lost: A Ghost Story. Telling the all-shocking, all-true tale of drunk Victorian teenagers who spoke to the dead, this is the real life story of how biomechanical sex cults, the ghost of Ben Franklin, suffragettes, abolitionists, anarchists, and Arctic explorers all teamed up to answer the ultimate question: is there life after death?

  Short Film Presentations

The Beaning

  Amy Director: L. Gustavo Cooper Cast: Danielle Kennedy, Rebekah Kennedy, Tom Fitzpatrick, Samantha Ann United States, 2017 Set against the backdrop of the deadliest heat wave in recorded history and inspired by America’s most prolific female serial killer, L. Gustavo Cooper’s AMY provides a surreal and distorted glimpse into a killing spree that captivated a nation in the early 1900s.

The Beaning Director: Sean McCoy United States, 2017 An experimental sports film combining documentary techniques with horror aesthetics, THE BEANING explores a sinister theory surrounding the death of Cleveland baseball player Ray Chapman in 1920 and the subsequent rise of the Yankee dynasty.

Beastly Things Director: Zev Chevat United States, 2017 A young street artist encounters a group of local schoolchildren, and learns what really makes monsters.

Blood Runs Down WORLD PREMIERE Director: Zandashé Brown Cast: Farrah Martin, Idella Johnson United States, 2018 When a woman undergoes a frightening transition, her vigilant young daughter must decide between saving her or protecting herself in this haunting tale of inheritance, daughterhood, and demons.

Cerulia Director: Sofía Carrillo Cast: Diana Bracho Mexico, 2017 Cerulia returns to her childhood home to bid farewell to her past, but the memories of her youth and a presence in the home will not let her go.

Coyote Director: Lorenz Wunderle Switzerland, 2018 A coyote loses his family to a vicious attack by wolves. Tormented by fear, anger and grief, he sees a chance to avenge their deaths…

Good Morning Director: Elaine Mongeon Cast: Maya Kazan, Jamie McShane United States, 2017 A young woman and her father adapt to terrifying changes they never expected.

Hair Wolf Director: Mariama Diallo Cast: Kara Young, Taliah Webster, Madeline Weinstein, Trae Harris, Jermaine Crawford United States, 2017 In a black hair salon in gentrifying Brooklyn, the local residents fend off a strange new monster: white women intent on sucking the lifeblood from black culture.

Latched Director: Justin Harding & Rob Brunner Cast: Alana Elmer, Peter Higginson, Jarrett Siddall, Bowen Harding Canada, 2017 A choreographer pursues creative inspiration at a cottage retreat while attempting to wean her demanding toddler — and unknowingly awakens a vile fairy corpse in the process. When she discovers the creature’s terrifying intentions, she will have to put her creativity to good use to lure the repugnant beast.

  We Summoned a Demon

  Milk Director: Santiago Menghini Cast: Cameron Brodeur, Anana Rydvald Canada, 2018 On a late night, a young teen goes into the kitchen for a glass of milk. Upon encountering his sleepless mother, he quickly realizes things are not as they seem.

Möbius Director: Sam Kuhn Cast: Caley Jones, Daiva Z, Britt Grayson, Elissa Mielke, Austin Will Canada/United States, 2017 A moth eaten tale of magic and mutation half remembered by a teen poet whose beloved lies lifeless in a stream.

Pan Director: Anna Roller Cast: Anna Platen, Jeff Wilbusch, Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Sue Simmy Lemke, Emil Borgeest Germany, 2017 Juno, a twenty-year-old girl becomes obsessed with Pan. Her obsession turns her into an animal.

The Plague Director: Guillermo Carbonell Cast: Gabriela Freire, Walter Rey, Rafael Soliwoda Uruguay, 2017 Rosa’s father escapes from a nursing home and comes back to his former house. He hides a secret, and he’s not coming alone.

The Sermon Director: Dean Puckett Cast: Molly Casey, Grant Gillespie, Denise Stephenson, Oliver Monaghan, Emma White United Kingdom, 2018 In an isolated church community in the English countryside, a powerful hate preacher prepares to deliver a sermon to his flock, but his daughter has a secret that could destroy them all.

Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time (Episode 1: Strangers) Created by Peter Gulsvig Cast: Rachel Butera, Nate Corddry, Peter Gulsvig United States, 2018 Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time exists in the fractured psyche of a middle aged woman whose refusal to grow up has resulted in a life spent talking to inanimate objects (and a dying box turtle) in her parents’ house.

Thursday Night Director: Gonçalo Almeida Cast: Bimbo the Dog Portugal, 2017 An elusive stranger pays Bimbo a visit in the middle of the night to deliver a vital message.

We Summoned a Demon Director: Chris McInroy Cast: Kirk C. Johnson, Carlos Larotta, John Orr United States, 2017 They just wanted to be cool. Instead, they got a demon.

  Well, what are you waiting for? Head to the Overlook film Fest website and pick up your festival passes. Tweet at us @NOFSPODCAST if you’re attending the fest- and we’ll meet up for a bourbon-something! And, if you can’t make it, keep your eye on The Nightmare on Film Street website, Instagram, and Facebook Pages for all of our highlights from the fest!

    The post Full Line-up Announced for 2018 Overlook Film Festival – April 19-22, New Orleans appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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[junker-town]

What the NBA needs for the season to restart

Scott Strazzante/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

The road back to an NBA season looks like this.

The NBA has been at the center of the coronavirus pandemic since the virus first arrived in the United States. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the first celebrity to contract the virus on American soil, leading to the abrupt cancelation of a game that was set to tip-off in Oklahoma City and the subsequent suspension of the season. In the days that followed, every other sports league canceled or postponed play, from March Madness to The Masters to the start of the MLB season.

Gobert tested positive for the virus on March 11 and sports and much of society has been on gridlock ever since. As the calendar has pushed into April, most states have “shelter in place” provisions that have banned any sort of public gatherings. Bars and restaurants are closed, air travel is minimal, and “social distancing” has become the buzzword of the year.

The NBA, led by commissioner Adam Silver, still hasn’t given up hope on resuming the season. The league is keeping a close eye on the Chinese Basketball Association, which planned to return this week before being delayed another month. Basketball can also take cues from Major League Baseball, which leaked a wildly ambitious plan to start the season that appears to provide more questions than answers.

When will the NBA come back? What has to happen before it does?

These are the conditions that must exist for basketball to return, whenever it happens.

1. The availability of rapid-response testing

Before the NBA can return, it needs to know which of its players have the virus and would be capable of spreading it. The league is looking into the availability and viability of rapid-response testing, according to ESPN, which would be a major first step towards returning to play.

Is it realistic or ethical for the league to procure the number of rapid-response tests that would be required to restart play? There remains a Covid-19 testing shortage across the country, with hundreds of thousands of people either being denied a test or on a waiting list to get one. Thus far, the time it takes to get test results back has typically varied from several hours (in best case scenarios), to up to a week, to several weeks.

There has already been consternation about wealthy NBA franchises being pushed to the front of the line for testing while regular people wait. How would Americans respond if the NBA suddenly has hundreds or thousands of rapid-response tests when most of the country is waiting to get tested at all?

Rapid-response testing is a logical starting point for a return to play, ideally buoyed by mass testing being available to the public. Can the NBA really pull this off quickly enough to save the season?

2. A central location to house everyone for the NBA’s ‘bubble’

If basketball comes back this season, it likely won’t involve teams traveling from city to city to play games. Instead, the NBA would pick one or two host cities, where teams would be sequestered and play their games until the season is over. This is similar to the idea being tossed around by the MLB, which would have all 30 teams stay in Arizona and play games in empty stadiums for the remainder of the season.

The NBA has already reportedly discussed cities that could host its bubble. Las Vegas has been mentioned and seems like a logical fit given its abundance of hotels and several basketball arenas that are annually used to host summer league. The Bahamas and Atlantic City have also been mentioned as possible host cities.

Figuring out the logistics of where to host an NBA bubble is going to be a gigantic task. Even then, what would NBA players think of being isolated from their families until the season is over? What happens if the virus emerges inside of the bubble?

Putting the entirety of essential NBA personnel in one or two locations to play games in empty arenas might sound like a good idea in theory, but it’s going to be a nightmare to pull off.

3. Agreement on what the season’s format will look like

The NBA season is supposed to be 82 games long. Most teams have played about 65 games so far. Would the league be able to resume the regular season if it were to restart? Would it jump straight to the playoffs? Would the format of the playoffs be the same?

To win the NBA championship, a team has to win four best-of-seven series. The playoffs typically run from mid-April to mid-June. If the same format is kept, how would that affect free agency, the draft, and the start of next season? If they league adopts a truncated playoff format, what would that look like?

There are so many different ideas for how the league could crown a champion. Perhaps the playoff rounds could be shortened to best-of-five series. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie pitched a 28-team tournament with a play-in round for the final two seeds. Maybe the league can just send the top four teams in each conference into an abbreviated playoff format so it can still crown a champion.

Coming to an agreement on a format — whether it includes the end of the scheduled regular season or just the playoffs — is going to be another big hurdle.

4. What happens if a player contracts the virus?

Here’s a hypothetical: Let’s say the NBA restarts the season only to have LeBron James test positive for Covid-19. How things proceed from there would be a topic of debate.

Would the Lakers play games without James until he tests negative for the virus? What if other teammates become affected? Would it really be fair to crown a champion this season if a key player or multiple players were unable to compete because they caught the virus?

This would all have to be agreed to beforehand by league governors and the players association. Which brings us to ...

5. Buy-in from everyone involved on what happens next

There are a lot of different parties with a seat at the table when it comes to determining how the NBA proceeds from here. The NBA governors have to come up with a plan that is agreed to by the players association and with the league’s broadcast partners. There are so many parties with different priorities that coming together to restart the season feels like it’s going to take a miracle to pull off.

How would this affect the salary cap? What would happen to the start of next season? How would the offseason calendar change? Coming together an agreement for all the moving parts won’t be easy.

The NBA is exploring every avenue to bring back basketball this season and crown a champion. It isn’t giving up hope yet. But at this point, even the best case scenarios feel like a pie-in-the-sky dream to come together quickly enough to still give teams an offseason and time to prepare for next year.

If the NBA eventually does return, it will have so many hurdles to clear.

[asagimeta]

AHS: When Reality Meets Fiction

American Horror Story has always toed the line between our reality and their own reality, keeping it's self largely anchored in our world (via lots of real world pop culture references and people such as Stevie Nicks and Marie Lavau) wile also keeping it heavily known that AHS exists in it's own reality, this isn't known so much by the existance of the supernatural as it is by the reveal of them, it's pretty safe to say that witches haven't come out exposing their school to the general public, and there was no reality ghost show in 2016 that "topped Game Of Thrones and The Walking Dead" and ultimately aired footage of real people's deaths, so far it's been pretty easy to just believe that AHS exists in a parallel reality, none of the big fundamental changes in AHS have had any links back to our reality (IE: the exposure of the supernatural, most of the celebrities there like Lana Winters and Elsa Mars, the murders that happened there that haven't happened here, etc) and the links from our reality back to their's are pretty insignificant overall (more pop culture references like The Walking Dead, Stevie Nicks, The Tonight Show, etc) and wile alot of the horror of AHS DOES play off of real crime/horror experienced in this realm (the Black Dahlia, John Wayne Gacey, Columbine, etc) they're usually paved over with an AHS twist on them to make them impactfull to the AHS realm (IE: John Wayne Gacey becomes Twisty The Clown) There are a few noteable exceptions (the serial killers at Mr. March's killer dinner are all supposed to be real serial killers, with the exception of Mr. March himself- who's merely based on H.H. Holmes- and the detective, who I think is an original creation) but again, those are pretty insignificant to the story as an entirety, there really hasn't been any big issues in AHS that have impacted our realm, or vice versa....

Until now

The fact that Trump's presidency is featured so heavily in Cult means that going forward, the clash between realities is going to get alot heavier, namely, the supernatural aspect

Witches are known to be real in the AHS world now, so are ghosts (presumably), they're on magazine covers and TV shows, unlike other supernatural shows such as The Vampire Diaries or Supernatural, the supernatural element isn't kept entirely hush-hush anymore, usually when that happens it's a series-ended (albeit not always a franchise ender) as displayed in Bitten and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but that clearly isn't the case for AHS, given that they've already been renewed through season nine, we know there will be ATLEAST two more seasons after Cult and, unless the ratings suddenly take an ENORMOUS dive or Ryan Murphy makes a very, VERY creative decision, there will likely be more than that, meaning that unless the rest of the series takes place in the past (and we know it won't, since Ryan Murphy said there are plans for a Murder House/Coven crossover) they're eventually going to have to deal with the elephant in the room: Trump vs the supernatural

Now, normally, this wouldn't be a big thing, it wasn't necessary to feature Obama reacting to the supernatural reveal, after all, and if it was any other president, it wouldn't be necessary for them either, but because AHS has focused /so/ heavily on this stain on humanity for Cult, and because they focus so heavily on the fact that Trump is against everyone who isn't a straight white male with lots of money, it seems .. bizzare, that they wouldn't eventually bring in the //other// minority group that's been heavily featured in AHS: Witches

(Ghosts are another story, I don't reckon you can exactly have political war against ghosts)

Witches are probably one of Trump's worst nightmares, a group of powerfull females who can and WILL shut down patriarchal nonsense and who have the power to do pretty much anything they please because... well, magic, we know via Hotel that the witch reveal wasn't just a one-and-done stunt that Coven pulled, it ACTIVELY affects AHS as a universe, and they came out in 2013, wich means the entire election was done after witches revealed themselves to the country (and probably the world, for that matter) Furthermore, Coven leant an allegory of oppression with witches, and focused heavily on the theme of women fighting the partiarchy but also dabbled quite a bit in racism and oppression in general (via the witch hunter plot, mostly) it'd be so odd for the most oppressive force in the universe (and certainly in the AHS universe, as Cult is VERY quick to point out) just..... let's one of the biggest oppression allegories in AHS slide right under the bar

The thing is, the supernatural isn't supposed to appear in Cult (That doesn't mean it won't, but it isn't supposed to, so we can't assume that it will) but witches ARE supposed to be a prominant figure in a future season (Coven/Murder House crossover) so we know we aren't done with them, meaning that there are really only three ways this can play out in the future, when witches ARE eventually addressed again:

A. The easiest solution- Trump is no longer president, it wouldn't be /too/ hard to set the rest of AHS between the past and the future, run seasons eight and nine in the past and by the time season ten comes along just set it a year or two in the future, they could have a throw-away line about how Trump tried to oppress witches and didn't succeed, clean and simple, or hell, they might not even need to wait on four years to pass, they could just impeach him or kill him off, Trump is still just a TV charector in AHS and they have the agency to do whatever they want with him as a charector, if they're going to make Stevie Nicks a real witch and expose the supernatural to the world, getting rid of a president really shouldn't be hard to do

B. Deal with it in real time- Carve out a storyline where Trump DOES try to oppress witches and witches fight back, we know they can, we know they will, and this could lead to an actually really interesting plot concerning the supernatural coming out and getting government sanctioned rights, something we see alot in superhero media like X-Men (The Gifted is doing a great job of it so far) but not so much in supernatural based shows, it could be really interesting, but it would have to end with either the witches getting rid of Trump or Trump backing down for the time being and being an ever-present, looming threat until the four years are up, wich fits the allegory quite cleanly since, you know, he's an ever-present, looming threat on the rest of us too...

C. Don't address it- This would be frustrating because of how AHS is set up, because of the sheer amount of FOCUS they put on Trump for season seven and the amount of focus they've had on themes of oppression and bigotry in both Coven and Cult, it seems like more than just a missed opportunity, it seems like an OOC plotline, if that makes sense, it'd be the easiest thing to do for sure but it just wouldn't fit the world they've built, the only way to avoid a plotline is simply for Trump to no longer be president when the next witch-related plot comes around, or for the entire "Trump was elected" storyline to vanish into thin air, wich isn't IMPOSSIBLE, but given how interconnected every season of AHS is it's highly doubtfull

[alarawriting]

A Hole In The World

A lot of this comes from trying to capture a dream I had. I don’t actually know where this is going to go or what kind of plot I could attach to this, so it’s definitely incomplete. 

There is a hole in the world.

You’d expect a hole in the world to be at the North Pole, or the magnetic North Pole, or maybe on the Equator, or the International Date Line. Someplace meaningful, someplace where the skin of the world might be expected to pucker.

But it’s technically not the Earth that the hole is in. It’s reality itself, and who the hell knows why reality would decide to spring a hole on a tiny planet at the far edge of an insignificant galaxy? So honestly, you suppose, it could be anywhere. You still can’t help visualizing it as a place where the plastic wrap of existence, wrapped around the Earth, has managed to not quite meet itself completely in a small pucker of non-reality, but most people say that analogy doesn’t make sense to anyone but you.

In fact, the hole is in Iowa.

Why Iowa? Why not? Maybe it needed to be someplace flat, but in the middle of a huge land mass. Who knows? It’s in Iowa, and ever since the government certified that it was, in fact, completely safe, and had their spooks running all over it for who knows how longer, it’s finally been declassified and opened to the public. Kind of like the Internet, if the Internet were a combination of an airport and the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota. Like the roadside attractions that used to be found all over the US highways, those weird pieces of Americana from your grandparents’ day, before the interstates came and made it much easier to glide over the land you were traveling through without stopping or looking around (though honestly you always found those places creepy, overrated, or both… maybe they were more special in the days when there was nothing to do but watch 3 channels of television and listen to bad music on the radio.) 

In the early days, when everyone wanted to try it, the hotels within a three hour drive of the facility would be jam-packed, every day, and people would stand on lines for 16 hours, or camp there overnight, for a chance to get in and see another world. Nowadays, there’s a Best Western and a Sheraton and three separate kinds of Marriott-franchised hotels and a Holiday Inn Express, and that’s just counting the ones you’ve been to and not the motels, all within a ten minute drive of the facility. And mostly, except on weekends, they’re kind of empty. The novelty has worn off. People are no longer nearly so desperate to see the other side of a hole in the world, now that they know what’s there.

And nowadays, even when there are a lot of people, everyone’s bought their ticket off the Internet, in advance, so no intolerably long lines. You can’t blow up a hole in reality with a shoe, or a liquid explosive in a thermos, so there’s no ridiculous security nonsense to hold the lines up. They do check you for weapons, of course, but it’s no more intrusive than a visit to a courthouse. And then you sit and wait, in a well-fitted lounge that actually has comfy chairs, because back when the lines were really long they made enough money to afford comfy chairs, until your number is called.

You walk with the others whose numbers are in the same range as yours through a door, into a very large, concrete room, rather like an airplane hangar. There’s nothing inside. They built the huge room around a hole in the world when they didn’t know what they were dealing with, if the hole might expand, or suck people inside, or explode, so they contained it in a gigantic building that’s almost empty. The floor slopes down. You’re not sure why. Is the hole technically below sea level, or was this entire building made artificially higher than it needed to be because some bureaucrat thought the hole would be safer if it was at the bottom of a slope? Probably you could Google it, if you cared.

There’s ten people in the line with you, and you’re right around the middle. Good enough. All of you walk down the slope, to the archway.

The arch is in what looks like the middle of nowhere, a place where ordinarily no one would ever put an arch. It is also mobile. That, you did Google. If the hole ever moves, the arch can be jacked up onto wheels and rolled to its new position. If you’re going to have a random hole in the world in the middle of an empty airplane hangar, you need something to indicate where it is. The arch is covered with those almost-clear flaps of plastic you find in garages and workshops sometimes, to contain dust or pretend to contain noise, so you can’t see the other side. It doesn’t really matter; you’ve been through it before. You know there’s nothing to see, really, until you see it.

One by one – or occasionally in twos – people walk up to the agents at either side of the arch and present their tickets.  The agents punch in some codes into the keypad that’s next to the arch, and wave the people on. Then the people step through the plastic curtain. Normally a person would be visible on the other side of a plastic curtain like this – the flaps aren’t really clear, they’re too thick to be transparent, but they let light through, and shapes. You’d normally see the person’s shape on the other side, but you can’t. Once they walk through the curtain, they’re gone.

And then it’s your turn. There’s no disruptions. The last time you were here, a group of fourth graders on a field trip and their teacher tried to cut in front of you on the logic that the teacher’s number was lower than yours, even though all of the kids were higher and it’s policy that a group goes with the highest number in the group. This time it’s smooth sailing, no arguments. The agents punch in the code for the destination you requested, and wave you on, and you step through the curtain.

Onto a beach.

Here’s the thing. The hole in the world leads to another world. But it’s no Narnia, no place of magic and secrets… as far as anyone can tell. There’s one sun burning in the sky, the plants are green, the ocean is blue (sort of… actually in your opinion oceans are all kind of bluish-green, but this one is no different from the one on your world). The other side seems to be kind of identical to Earth as nearly as anyone can tell, with two important differences.

The first difference is that there are no people. Either humanity never evolved here, or killed itself off, or… something. No one knows. There hasn’t been time to explore the entirety of the other world. A few destinations have been built up, because the arch allows the operators to control where in the new world you end up… sort of. Destinations that were mapped painstakingly by military grunts and government agents, where none of them knew whether the new random code being tested would drop them in the ocean, or the mouth of a live volcano, or on the side of a mountain. They can test to make sure that there’s matter at the destination, so no one ever got dropped into the air, and they can test the density of the matter so there’s never been anyone who got materialized into solid rock, or at the bottom of the ocean. But it turns out they can’t tell the difference between the ocean surface and the land surface, and you can’t see anything until you’re all the way through. Try to stick your head through the hole in space and you can’t. (On previous trips, you’ve tried.) It’s like it’s not there until your whole body is through it, and then you’re there and your footing’s on whatever’s on the other side.

Your choice is rarely chosen. You see a few people in the distance, along the sides of the beach. It’s not a perfectly combed beach like the touristy places at home – there’s sharp rock, and sharper shells, embedded all over the sand, brought by the tides -- and there’s nowhere to get a pretzel or an ice cream cone. You brought food for three days in your giant camping knapsack, and a tent, and some useful items like a solar-powered water distiller and a small camping stove. People far, far down the beach have apparently done the same. You see their tents.

This is the destination. It’s marked by a slab of concrete, which seems out of place in this land that’s otherwise pristine, barely despoiled by humanity. You step off of it and down the beach, away from the other humans, toward a promontory you’re familiar with where the fishing is good. You breathe in the air, rich and salty with no taint of human activity; the wind blows off the ocean, inland, so if the distant campers set fires the smoke will never reach you.

Here is the other thing that makes the world different. It’s like a drug.

Not because it’s clean and pure, although it is. There are still places on Earth that are clean and pure. No. Something thrums in your veins, something buzzes in your head, something jumps up your heart rate and makes you feel like absolutely anything could happen. You are an alien here, and something in your primitive hindbrain knows it. Everything is simultaneously surreal and yet hyper-clear, and if the sun turned pink or rose in the west it seems like you could accept it.

It’s probably the oxygen. There’s more of it here. Extra oxygen gets people a little high, right? Maybe that’s why you feel, when you come here, like you can do anything.

The moon – if that is in fact the moon, and a lot of reputable scientists say it’s probably not – is huge, much, much larger in the sky than at home, and it’s mostly greenish, and you don’t think you’ve seen the same face of it twice. It doesn’t wax and wane like the moon at home, which is apparently exactly the right size to disappear into the Earth’s shadow. Here, whatever hangs in the sky is big enough that you can see the planet’s shadow moving across it, never fully eclipsing it. If you can’t see the moon it’s because you’re pointed in the wrong direction, not because it’s covered in the earth’s shadow. This makes the tides high and wild – the beach you’re standing on is a thousand-foot walk from the water, and extends nearly a mile behind you, and during the times when the tide is at its most extreme, the water can go from where it is now all the way to the tree line a mile behind you. But the water’s so briny you can almost float in it, so as wild as it is, it’s less dangerous than it could be.

The trees, behind you, are tall, so very tall, and entangled with thick vines everywhere. You’d need a machete to make your way into the forest – or a chainsaw with a battery that can be charged off sunlight. They make those nowadays, but not within your budget and the charging station is unwieldy and large, a pyramid of solar panels encasing the battery, two feet tall. Not something you want to carry with you in a backpack. It’s all right, though, you don’t need to tackle the trees. Just being here, just breathing the air, just feeling the buzz of the energy that races through you, is enough.

This makes you unusual. Not unique – the number of people sitting in the lounge with you reminds you of that – but not typical.

This is why humanity hasn’t started dumping huge swaths of its population into this world, why heavy industry hasn’t come through and started strip-mining, why only three of the mapped destinations have anything resembling permanent settlements and they’re tiny and very much tourist traps, populated almost entirely by workers who go home at night and travelers spending a weekend, like you are. This world feels wrong, and for most people, the wrongness doesn’t excite them, fulfill them, make them feel as if they’re Superman charging up under the light of a yellow sun… it terrifies them. People get paranoid. They jump at shadows. They eat the food of a different earth and then they throw it all up. They break out in hives. People with anxiety disorders have actually died here, suffering heart attacks or strokes in the midst of what should be a perfect paradise.

Most people are day trippers. They come here, they spend several hours, they leave. They don’t camp. The ones who are desperate enough to work in the tourist traps are not mom and pop entrepreneurs; they’re employees of huge, faceless corporations who are rich enough to afford to send a whole crew of people through in the morning and have them all come back in the evening, or sometimes two shifts’ worth, because people can’t sleep here. Unless they’re like you (and you feel like you hardly need sleep while you’re here, it’s too exciting, too much of a thrill just to even be here that you barely feel like closing your eyes.) And apparently people like you are rare enough that no one has found any of them willing to man a kiosk that sells McDonalds.

A few, a rare few, have moved here. That’s a little too rich for your blood, still. There’s no human infrastructure over here, no emergency rooms, no place to order a pizza, no Internet. That’s part of the thrill, of course, but you don’t want to live that way. Not yet.

Once you reach the promontory, which is slightly higher ground and juts out over the ocean like a natural pier, you walk inland far enough that your tent probably won’t be swept out to sea at high tide. (Probably. There are no almanacs for this place.) You hammer the tent into place, set down your gear, and get out your fishing rod. There’s food for three days in your pack, but if you don’t come home with two days’ worth in reserve, you’ll consider yourself to have failed at this, at least a little bit. What’s the point to going to an alien world if you can’t eat the food?

There are fish that are just like any you might find at home. There are fish that are so strange and alien you haven’t dared to eat them when you catch them. And there are fish in many positions in the wide range between. The same’s true for the plants, but you avoid eating any of them unless you’re sure they’re safe – you’ve got a testing kit, mash up a plant, mix tiny bits of it in with small amounts of different reagents and use different testing strips, and you can identify 100 different poisons, but there’s no guarantee that this world won’t have one that doesn’t exist at home and can’t be tested for. Generally you only eat the plants you know are good, and you take home samples. People are encouraged to bring in samples of plants that haven’t been tested yet, when they come home; if the plant you found was unique, you get a discount voucher for your next trip, and you can pick up a brochure in the lounge that lists all the ones they’ve found and whether they’re edible (or download it to your phone or netbook while you’re in the lounge, so you can read it offline over here.)

Later, after you catch yourself a fish, or get tired of trying, you will take photographs – you’ve been to this promontory before, but your camera can catch the fish underwater, and there’s strange birds in the sky and strange flowers near the tree line and the shells, oh, the variety of shells… plus there’s always the moon. People never get tired of pictures of the sun setting over the ocean with the green alien monster moon in the sky. You’ve got a blog where you post pictures from your vacations and write about how you spent your time, and it’s popular enough that the ad revenues and prints of your photographs just about pay for your vacations. You come over here once a month, sometimes twice. You’re addicted, honestly, and you’d be better off if you saved the money, except, if you saved the money what would you blog about? And what would you save it for that could possibly be better than this?

[garyh2628]

Chairman and Managing Operational CEO (Global Legal Authority Quasi-Judicial)

(Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

Head of Human Resources Finance and People and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility

Investments/Contracts/Superior/Technically Competent and Right-Hand Men

NGO - (Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

To my Pharma Hubs, Technology Hubs, Social Creative/Personal Hub, My Private Hubs, My Financial Hubs and my Health and Wellbeing/Scientific Hubs, Legal and Innovation Hubs, Hinterland Hub and to my Eastern Caribbean Hub, Linguistic/Psychology Hub, to my beloved additions and to my Institutions and Partners and Team, Pool of Potential Personal Assistants and Private Secretaries and Business Managers and also to my Fitness Hub which is an extension of my Health and Wellbeing Hub and not to forget my beloved Brooklyn Hub and my Wine/Adviser Hub, Influential Legal Cashier, Strategic Partnerships, STATEMENT OF INTENT, MY WEALTH FUND AND PERSONAL ATTORNEY and PROPERTY EXPERT GUY and THE ATTACHMENT AND MY PERSONAL BOARDROOM AND MY CHIEF STRATEGY AND INNOVATION OFFICER.

All Options remain on the Table applying the finishing touches to our Genius and my Genius and the Network and this Global Structure Genius. DRAFT

Previously they weren’t household name that springs to mind here in the U.K.,” said my Influential Adviser. “But because we needed to prove that the negotiations and turnaround had worked and that the process was coming out the other end of a difficult period in good shape, speed is highly important. “When they gave me a four-year commitment for the development of those non-sector plans in conjunction with my Superiors,”, “it showed to our Investors — and my Customers —the plans with regards to those non-sectors and across sector details its — Foundation and the fundamentals are strong but also Globally Legally Full Proof and Financially Full Proof and Earthquake Proof.  Those agreements spoken of last year that was procured across hubs remain legally binding and I remain the sole owners of those franchise. I’m delighted to know that we will be working together, and they are a formidable Intellectual force to the Global Structure. Intellectuals the growth outlook was deemed to be robust underpinned by great policies and there aren’t any weaknesses detected.

This Network and this Global Structure and my Personal Wealth Fund and my Intellectual Advisers and my Strategic partners and OLC are coming into our own under my leadership as even more Intellectual Capacity and Tool kits were added to my Personal Wealth Fund.  Those additions now living within the walls of the Global Structure and yes you can go ahead and tease me and say you now have to refer to me as “The Intellectual firm”.  We are going to deliver this Network in its entirety and to Completion along with the Global Structure , Those Private Hubs, Those Strategic Partnerships and we will make a clean sweep for the Statement of Intent.  Our mandate is broad with depth and scope and legal authority and we are going to deliver for the Environment and we will deliver for Intellect up and down this Globe. We will deliver for the Offices of Budget and Management and we will deliver for the Super Offices.  I'm looking forward to developing the manifesto and working on those important policies that will stand the Statement of Intent in good stead.

Today those stumbles as they say their share price taking a tumble and they continue to struggled with a challenging market and failed takeover attempts.  Investors rejected a bid for  and a takeover approach this week.  I am the Global Legal Authority and those perusal need to be done by me personally and those of that order were told to stay out of it today and any more takeover attempts will be treated in a different manner.  A line has been drawn in the sane as a result of their behaviour. Expectations are high and it is important that we move forward with speed on the delivery of these details and particulars and the various tool kits across regions for perusal etc. We will win for property and we will deliver for going concern and we will deliver for profit and we will deliver for Intellectual Capacity.  We will win in every region, we will deliver in every region, there will be no continent left behind.  We will deliver on health, we will deliver robust monetary policies and we will win on Economics.

Chief executive said: “2018 was a tough year particularly in the UK. Tenant failures, the structural shift in retail and a more considered consumer created a difficult operating environment, putting pressure on property values. Outside of the UK our destinations performed better with a strong contribution from premium outlets. “We believe that a successful deleveraging programme will best position these suite of Businesses for the current environment and beyond. Disposals will also enable us to prove the inherent value of this business – which we believe is not recognised in the current climate.“Having successfully achieved most of the framework and the compilation of the particulars for delivery to myself we are aiming for the delivery of the Property Portfolio for Privacy and the office Portfolios Globally for perusal et al. “We remain committed to the Statement of Intent, the core founding members of this Network, The Team, my Influential Advisers and those who were with me from the beginning. Across Sector and across Industry and across borders.

Dubbed an Intellectual marvel, this Network highly anticipated wait  is nearly complete. (Analogy) Devised by world-renowned architect, it measures a staggering length and consists of a collection of limited editions tings-- which is being called a "horizontal skyscraper." The 250-meter-long skybridge, named Crystal, is said to be one of the world's highest. When open, it will have a viewing gallery, sky gardens, an infinity pool and various restaurants. If that wasn't enough, the skybridge also transforms into a giant light beam at night time, illuminating the sky with a rousing light show. The complex will also include a 230,000-square-meter shopping mall, 1,400 residential apartments, a luxury hotel and 160,000 square meters of lavish office space.

Lastly, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to my fiancée for such wonderful support to the Global Structure and the contribution you so generously made and for helping with the new design of those wonderful things. I’m also loving your behind the scene antics, let’s get this done and yes let them know that I am number one and their focus should always be on getting those directives to me and that all approval can only and will only come directly from me. Thanks for keeping an eye on all those minutes detail.  Further, we did it, from sea to shining sea.  The best, yes, the best is yet to come; tell them!  It’s going to be pressed down, shaken together and running over. Stand still and see the salivation of the Lord your Saviour.  Is not my word as a fire and as a hammer? Said the Lord!  I heard a voice calling from the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord”

After a detailed examination and weighing all relevant aspects, the Sector and my CEOs and Team and Hubs and additions (loving you guys) said “I don’t think we’re facing an existential threat at all.” they “remain firmly convinced the structure and fundamentals and principles and ideals and plan are Intellectually Full Proof, Legally Full Proof and Earthquake Proof.” “It’s not that they are not going to achieve and succeed and that our achievement so far isn’t stellar [but it] was reassuring after some of the Armageddon commentary” This was the view of someone who later inked one the major sector Corporation. Let’s spend whatever Intellectual money you have on lobster and champagne and let accelerate the process in the end we will spend it in reality on those same things. More than ever, this is an international effort. Successes and failures will be shared but because we are the authority on intellect, we do not fail.  “To be working on something that’s bigger than yourself, and in many ways bigger than your country is a global enterprise and part of you is a delight because it will eventually stand humanity in good stead.”  Those are the sentiments of my major investors including that of my Team, CEOs and Influential Advisers Council. We are not the purveyor of mediocrity.

We got some fantastic additions from different sectors and they are doing a fantastic job.  From where I’m looking and what I am seeing we now have an Intellectual family. A pool filled with Intellectual Capacity and accustomed to operating at their optimum best self, always in bear territory, delivering, achieving and succeeding. The advances we made and autonomous driving is already shaking up the industry, but you haven’t seen anything yet.  Let’s deliver the Offices and all the details of the portfolios sitting in those offices and let’s also deliver those directives, tool kits and all of the property portfolios both private, personal and business.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

We will win in the media, we will in the papers, we will win on the radio and we will on the phones we will win for Technology, we will win and win.  This family will win and win and win.  Truth to Tell, Tell it First and Tell it like it is.  We must win. . We are a natural producer, and this is where your future lies, we do not do synthetics.

Head of Human Resources Finance and People and Global Head of Corporate Responsibility  Quasi Judicial

Investments/Contracts/Superior/Technically Competent and Right-Hand Men

NGO - (Finance, planning, industry and foreign trade portfolios) Private

[smokeybrand]

Return of the Jedi

I thought it was odd that Lucasfilm leaked that show from the Russian Doll chick but then i found out that Queen Kathleen Kennedy got booted out of the High Republic nonsense by the Bobs at Disney. That was her baby. That was her coup d'etat on the entirety of the Star Wars mythos but Disney said nope and gave the reigns back to the Chosen One himself, George Lucas!  I mean, Kennedy wanted no wars in the High Republic. How the f*ck can you have no war Star Wars? It’s in the f*cking name! No light saber duels? F*cking Dino Riders? Are you serious?? That sh*t is stupid and proves that Kennedy has o idea what the f*ck she’s doing. There’s no way that sh*t flies with the fandom. Look, Disney has botched their era of Star Wars so far, with the exception of Mando, The Force Awakens, and maybe Rouge One. Returning creative control to Lucas feels right. Dangerous, but right. Even then, Disney seems to have taken the Prequels to heart and learned a lesson, They added Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau to the mix as kind of a balance to Lucas’ more... fanciful aspirations. Going forward, these cats are shaping the world of Star Wars. If Mando and the Clone Wars are any metric of quality, we are in good hands.

Those hands are not, of course, Kathleen Kennedy’s. She has f*cked up so much with her bullsh*t identity politics and undeserved ego, the Bobs have no confidence in her vision. I, personally, believe she should have been fired long ago but Disney is in a hard place about that. Kennedy is the president of Lucasfilm, one of the most coveted positions in Hollywood. Kennedy is also a woman which gives her a margin of undeserved social armor. Canning a female exec of such high visibility would be PR suicide. That said, you can relegate her into oblivion, which seems to be what Disney is doing. Bringing in Kevin Feige, the architect of the MCU, for a few films was the shot a across her bow. That put her into panic mode and she rushed The High Republic into production as a means to maintain control. Then they as snatched away from her because Disney finally understands how to make a Star War and it does not include Kennedy at all. However, she ain’t going quietly into the night. Nah, she’s green-lighting shows run by Harvey Weinstein sycophants and making Rey a goddamn Skywalker. Wreck literally everything before you get evicted from the apartment. Sh*t in the hotel bed and make the help clean it up. That’s what Kennedy is doing to the mythos because she can’t make it her own.

Kathleen Kennedy is bad at her job and i’m glad Disney has finally realized that. Ma is a cancer on Star Wars and Disney is finally cutting that sh*t out. It’s sad that a woman in such a high executive position is being mitigated like this but, when you’re this incompetent and toxic to the fandom, how can you not lose your job? When you tank the value of the most lucrative franchise in cinema history, with a near fifty year legacy, how can you possible keep that job?

[recentanimenews]

Luigi's Mansion 3 Provides A Ton of Charm, Variety, and Gooigi

October, Halloween, and the season of scares might be over this year, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up all of your horror media. Nintendo has brought back everyone’s favorite ghost hunting Mario brother as Luigi’s Mansion 3 has hit the Switch and lets you take Luigi and all of these pesky ghosts everywhere. For the first time since the debut of the series on the GameCube, Luigi’s Mansion 3 returns to home consoles which brings with it new ways for Nintendo and Next Level Games to give you new kinds of puzzles, gameplay, multiplayer, and all sorts of detail on Gooigi. With all of that, does Luigi’s Mansion 3 provide the kind of charm and fun that is normally associated with first party Nintendo titles? How much enjoyment is there when you’re vacuuming up the hotel you’re in? Will busting make you feel good? Is Gooigi the best? Well, that last question has a fairly obvious answer, but let’s find out about the rest!

    One of the first things you’ll notice when playing the game is that Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a beautiful piece of visual fidelity. In fact, it’s easily one of the best looking games on the Switch currently. Which seems like a weird thing to write. It’s as if I need to constantly double check that, because this isn’t a mainline game starring Mario or Link, this is Luigi, the B-tier Nintendo protagonist. Sure, a Nintendo franchise taking full advantage of the hardware in their console makes sense, but who expected this from a game starring the usual butt of jokes in the Mushroom Kingdom?

  There’s just an incredible amount of detail on Luigi’s character model, all of the different environments you find yourself in, and with the enemy designs. It’s easy to see the stitching in Luigi’s hat and his clothing constantly. All of the different floors in the hotel have a distinct look from one another and the game is great with how it utilizes different kinds of lighting. Obviously there will be a lot of dark areas, which are used to be foreboding and spooky, but in areas that are lit up quite well, it’s vibrant and warm in the opposite way other sections of the game are. Again, Nintendo games are gonna look good, but I was anticipating this game to look good, but not great. Instead, this is one of the best looking games on the system, period.

    Unlike what the title suggests, you’re actually in “The Last Resort” hotel, not a mansion. No, you won’t have to cut your life into pieces to enter, but despite its initial cheery staff, things quickly turn scary for Luigi as everyone on this trip with him gets put into a painting. After that, you have to navigate each of the seventeen floors of the hotel to fight ghosts, bosses, and boos, while giving the place the deep cleaning it’s clearly needed for quite some time. There’s so much to blow around and suck up that you’ll probably wonder how Luigi is able to carry everything in his new Poltergust.

  It seems as if the hotel’s proprietor, Hellen Gravely, found the chief architect behind the castle in Symphony of the Night to make The Last Resort with how wild and bizarre some of the later floors get. The first few floors are what you’d expect in a hotel. There’s a lobby, a dining hall, and rooms where you’d stay. Then it gets weird where there’s enough space to have a museum, a giant body of water on one of the floors, a pyramid, and so much more ridiculousness. All of this variety that you get makes for many different kinds of puzzles and boss fights that will keep you on your toes throughout the entirety of the game. You’ll also find yourself using Gooigi a lot as bosses and puzzles will force you to utilize both Luigi and Gooigi in intriguing ways.

    One aspect of the game that was surprising was how much of a physics playhouse it becomes, pretty much immediately. Most things that you’ll see in rooms, hallways, or wherever you end up and be tossed around, manipulated in someway, or vacuumed up to truly clear things up. It gets to a point as well when at certain points, the game begins to be reminiscent of the Red Faction series with how much destruction you can cause to an area. Luigi might be scared of all the ghosts that he encounters in this hotel, but if one thing is for sure, he’s an agent of chaos.

  Luigi’s Mansion 3 also allows your friends to get into the action with a few different kinds of multiplayer modes. If you want to try and tackle the main story with a friend, that’s doable through local co-op with one person being Luigi and the other taking control of the fearless and tough Gooigi. What if you find yourself in a group of 8 people who want to play? Split them into teams of four for local Luigi vs. Gooigi competition. There’s also local and online co-op that sees you tackle randomly generated floors with different kinds of objectives such as capturing ghosts, acquiring money, making birds go away, or trying to escort some Toads to safety. The only downside is that I wish that the story co-op extended to being online as well, since playing this game with a friend throughout its entirety would be a blast.

    While there is fun to be had by vacuuming up rooms, flinging ghosts around, and being enamored with the games charm, it’s not always a smooth ride throughout. The overall movement of Luigi can take some time to get used to. It doesn’t quite have the same level of control that you’d expect from a third person action game. Moving and aiming the Poltergust feels just slightly off in a way that forces you to adjust to the games controls in the first few hours. This happens again later when you have to maneuver Luigi on an inner tube and you feel as if you’re fighting with the controls again. Luckily, this section isn’t too long, but it does correspond to a boss fight where the game hopes you’ve figured out the precise movement needed for the fight.

  When the game wants you to be precise with where you’re aiming, that also brings up a problem as the game really isn’t designed for that. There will be times when you grab something with your vacuum and can then shoot it out. Most of the time, this is inconsequential as you’ll be doing it to get money or to cause outrageous destruction. However, when the game forces you to do this against bosses, especially the final boss, the game’s precision really begins to let you down. The aiming reticle you get is not the easiest to see at times and trying to get it where you want can be difficult as the slightest movement can send it across the screen. There’s a reason this game wasn’t made to have you constantly picking things up and flinging them at enemies. It doesn’t work great. Which makes it a shame it’s one of the key components to the last fight in the game.

    The pacing at brief times does get dragged down by some padding as well. For the most part, you’ll be going from floor-to-floor trying to find elevator buttons to continue upward. However, a certain enemy will sometimes get in your way, causing you to chase after and backtrack a bit. These sections really hit you like a wall with how they halt your progress and don’t feel as if they’re necessary. Considering the rest of the game has a really good flow throughout, it’s strange this roadblock shows up not once, but twice. Instead of feeling like more progression, you’re instead hit with what's basically just filler.

  After playing through Luigi’s Mansion 3, if there’s one person who doesn’t deserve the flack he gets, it’s Luigi. Even if Gooigi is inherently cooler, Luigi is a tactician. He might be scared when making his way through the hotel, but he’s methodical, takes his time to think things through, and comes up with a plan. Unlike his hard charging, moving-forward-no-matter-what brother, Luigi makes sure he has options. Maybe if he had been in charge of all of the other games Nintendo puts out, the Mushroom Kingdom wouldn’t constantly have kidnapping issues. Although, there’d probably be much less games, which is probably a bad thing.

    The charm that Luigi’s Mansion 3 provides keeps going throughout the entirety of the game. It won’t take you a long time to get through the story. Without going and trying to collect all the gems or fight boos, you’d probably breeze through the game in about twelve hours. Of course, if you want to get a high ranking at the end, you’re probably be playing for much longer. I went into this game with basically zero expectations and was pleasantly surprised throughout. If you need something to play that’s fun and enjoyable throughout, this is certainly a game to pick up. And hey, who knows, maybe someday down the road, we'll get a Gooigi spinoff game.

  REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Gorgeous visuals that rank among the best on the Switch

+ Hotel floors and bosses give a good amount of variety

+ A fun physics playground

+ Gooigi

+ Puzzles are fun and keep evolving throughout the game

+ Good multiplayer options

- Controls take some time to get used to

- Precise aiming isn’t the game’s strongest aspect

  Are you a newcomer to Luigi's Mansion or have you played the previous games? What sort of ridiculous locale would you like Luigi to be sent to next? Do you think Gooigi really tastes like coffee? Let us know down in the comments below!

  ---

Jared Clemons is a writer and podcaster for Seasonal Anime Checkup where he can be found always wanting to talk about Love Live! Sunshine!! or whatever else he's into at the moment. He can be found on Twitter @ragbag.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[travelersguidetodisney]

Everything You Need to Know About Disney World’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is probably the most anticipated opening of new attractions in both Disney World and Disneyland in decades. Though Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland has already opened, it will be revealed to the public at Disney World on August 29. With this very exciting grand opening comes a lot of information to the point it becomes overwhelming! Here is everything you need to know about Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!

Here's Some Basic Information

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge takes place in a village called Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu. The outpost is a pit stop for intergalactic personal of all types: traders, smugglers, adventurers, etc. It takes up an entirety of 14 acres at Disney's Hollywood Studios--there's a great view of the construction from Slinky Dog Dash in Toy Story Land! The Resistance also has a presence in Black Spire Outpost; they have taken refuge in an abandoned fortress on the edge of the land. You may even see some of your Star Wars favorites, like Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB8, get into run-ins with the First Order! There are two entrances into Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. And according to D23, John Williams has even composed special music for the park. On top of that, at least 5,000 people have worked incredibly hard to make Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge a reality and for that, I, a Star Wars nerd, am eternally grateful. 

Rides and Attractions

As a huge fan of Star Tours in Hollywood Studios, I've been super excited for the new rides in Galaxy's Edge. I got even more pumped after visiting Pandora: The World of Avatar seeing the technological advancement in Flight of Passage--which is an AMAZING ride, by the way. There are two new attractions in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. First, which is already open in Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge, is the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Groups of six will be placed into the cockpit of the "fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy," taking on roles as pilots, gunners, and engineers. Riders must be at least 38 inches tall. The ride vehicle will be tilting and jerking along to mimic the movements appearing on a curved screen. The whole plot of the attraction puts you in the middle of a Star Wars movie. Chewbacca is in Black Spire Outpost in search for supplies to aid the Resistance. He lends the Millennium Falcon to infamous pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who turns to you to help on smuggling runs. Entering Ohnaka Transport Solutions, you can overhear conversations that show that the daily workplace is in chaotic shambles. Already in Disneyland the queue of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has received international acclaim. You will see some cool visual effects as you walk through Ohnaka Transport Solutions. Hondo is one of the most advanced animatronic created by Disney, only to be surpassed by the Shaman of the Songs in River Journey in Pandora. After Hondo explains your mission, you will step into the Millennium Falcon. You'll be issued a colored boarding pass so you can roam this amazing queue before your ride. You'll be walking through a complete replica of the Millennium Falcon that you'll only see in the Star Wars franchise. You'll come across the famous chest set, where Han and Leia first kissed. It is truly the heaven of Star Wars nerds! Now, when you're actually in the ride, there is no requirement to operate the controls you are given. But, there's a catch: you won't earn as many galactic points. You must score two coaxium containers (which help fuel the ship and this is pretty easy to do) and keep the ship in good shape, then you'll gain more galactic points and have a higher score. Though the ride has gotten generally positive reviews, a good majority of the public agree that being a pilot is a better experience. It's a ride that will pull between two and three hour wait times, so it is definitely an attraction you should fast pass. Or, if that's not an option, open the park and run to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Luckily, Toy Story Land is still new enough, some crowds may be drawn to that instead. However, it is probably unlikely that it would make much of a dent in the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run wait time. 

The second attraction, which has yet to open at Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland, is called Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. According to D23, is "one of the most advanced and immersive experiences ever undertaken by Walt Disney imagineers." It is repeatedly emphasized how technologically advanced this attraction will be and how it will not just be a ride, but a cinematic experience. It includes walk-through sections and elements of a trackless dark ride, with a utilization of projections. It is rumored to include elements from Shanghai's incredibly popular rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean and Disneyland Hong Kong's Mystic Manor. Riders will be taken on life-size starship near a Star Destroyer where they must defeat Kylo Ren. You'll be riding in an eight-person vehicle known as the First Order Fleet Transport, which will be hijacked. You'll be in a Star Destroyer hanger bay when a rescue message does not go as planned. There will even be appearances by some of your favorite Star Wars characters. Rise of the Resistance will open at Disney's Hollywood Studios on December 5, 2019 and in Disneyland on January 12, 2020. It seems like Rise of the Resistance will have the same effect as Flight of Passage, changing the game of rides as we know it. It undergoes new technology that has never before been seen in attractions and, thus, will pull wait times even longer than Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run. It is incredibly unlikely that you'll be able to get fast passes for both of these rides, so I recommend getting a one for Rise of the Resistance and then opening the park Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run. It seems like Smuggler's Run is a fun, new ride, while Rise of the Resistance is a life-changing ride that has technology seen nowhere else in the world. 

Dining

Unfortunately, there is no sit-down table service yet. However, I hope one will be built in the new Star Wars hotel near Hollywood Studios (rumored name: Galactic Journeys: A Star Wars Adventure). There will be Oga's Cantina, which will be serving alcoholic beverages and other drinks, including the iconic blue milk. There is really only standing room at Oga's Cantina, kind of mirroring Andy's Lunchbox in Toy Story Land. There will even be a DJ, Oga! Publicized as a "watering hole," Oga's Cantina is basically a themed bar, a nice place for parents to relax and have some drinks as their kids go stand in the four hour long line for Rise of the Resistance. However, just because it is a bar does not mean it will be easy to get into. You see, Oga's Cantina is a replica of Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars: A New Hope. It is arguably the attraction with the longest line at Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge. Reviews consistently praise the incredible theming, however, it does not give the complete Mos Eisley vibe since all of the patrons are just Disney tourists, not smugglers, storm troopers, or Jedi Knights. 

If you want to stop at a place with more substantial food to get a bite to eat, then there's Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. It is a quick-service restaurant that offers indoor and outdoor seating. There are also alcoholic beverages with Star Wars themed meals. And since it's cuisine is diverse in order to stay on brand and may not appeal to a younger audience, there is also a children's menu. Little kids probably don't want to eat something called "Ithorian Garden Loaf." There's also Ronto Roasters, a meat stand that serves a popular and delicious Ronto Wrap (which also comes in a breakfast version, which is handy for many people will be opening Hollywood Studios and Disneyland to get to Galaxy's Edge). Then there's a Milk Stand, which serves the iconic blue and green milk. This food option serves nice refreshing drinks along with a couple signature snacks. So both of the milks are plant-based. The blue milk lacks a creamy texture that seems to throw a lot of customers off. And since it is made out of coconut and rice milk, it has a sweet taste. Though yummy, it may sit in your stomach during a hot summer's day. The green milk, however, has a more fruity and refreshing taste. Some say it tastes too herbal and some say it is nice and refreshing. Personally, neither options sound too appealing to me, particularly because its not water-based and it seems like it might sit in my stomach. Personally, if you want a refreshing drink that is not ice tea or a cold bottle of water, I recommend Lefou's Brew at Gaston's Tavern in New Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom. It is frozen apple juice with some toasted marshmallow, topped with a passion-fruit foam. It is incredibly refreshing and extremely delicious. I purchase this drink every time I go to Magic Kingdom and it never fails to give me another bolt of energy. Sorry about that sidetrack--let's get back to dining. The last option is Kat Saka's Kettle, known for serving Outpost Mix. The name of this dining service pretty much gives its purpose away--it is a glorified popcorn stand. 

Now, It Wouldn't Be Disney Without Gift Shops!

Of course, Disney couldn't create Galaxy's Edge without a couple of gift shops. A lot of these shops where inspired by those in Morocco, where many of that Tatooine scenes were filmed. One of the things I'm most excited about for Galaxy's Edge is Savi's Workshop: Hand-built Lightsabers. For $200, you can construct your very own lightsaber, similar to the props used in the actual movies! Now, this is a lot of money for a souvenir at Disney World. But for someone who mainly just buys pins and is a huge Star Wars nerds, it is investment that is appealing. And though you are paying for a high-end lightsaber, you're also paying for the experience. There have been overall positive reviews about the show components of Savi's Workshop and it is a 25 minute experience. If you want to do this, you'll have to make a reservation slot because the attraction is incredibly popular. Keep this in mind: the room itself where you construct your lightsaber is incredibly small, making it a slow and long wait-time. And with such scarcity in time slots, you'll probably want to make your reservation as much in advanced as you can. It also seems like a first-come first-serve system--so if you aren't into the rides, you might want to open up the park with this. I'm going to avoid any spoilers, since the reviews say it is a cool attraction. At the end of the day, I'd be thrilled to do it if the opportunity presents itself, but I won't be beating myself up about if I miss it--I could always use that extra $200 on pins anyway. ​There's also Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities. This is Galaxy's Edge main gift shop, however, it is unique in many ways. It is not only a shop, but a museum of Star Wars and excellent Disney theming. Overall, you should visit Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities even if you have no intention of buying souvenirs--it is THAT cool. There is also Droid Depot, a place where you can build your very own droid. Costing $99 it is a 15 minute experience that is similar to Savi's Workshop. The droids even beep and are life-like! Reviews don't rank Droid Depot as highly as Savi's Workshop, but that doesn't mean it's not a cool experience. In my opinion, I would rather pay an extra $100 to have a well-reviewed experience and get a lightsaber. Those are the three main shopping experiences in Galaxy's Edge. After that, there is Creature Stall (a place with rare animals from the Star Wars universe), Black Spire Outfitters (a clothing store), First Order Cargo (a place with First Order merchandise), Resistance Supply (a place with Resistance merchandise), The Jewels of Bith (a place for accessories), Toydarian Toymaker (a place for toys). Overall, I am really excited for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge! I have really high expectations, particularly for Rise of the Resistance--an attraction I'll definitely be fast passing. What are you most excited about?

[junker-town]

6 huge questions the Warriors must address to keep their dynasty going

Is this the end of the Warriors, or is there more to come? For the latter to happen, these six questions must be answered.

The Golden State Warriors dynasty may have just been put to bed by the (giant) hands of new NBA champion Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors. In a 4-2 NBA Finals defeat, Golden State looked to be a fraction of itself — partially due to injuries, and partially due to the aging and dilapidated shape of its salary capped-out roster. For the first time in half a decade, the Warriors are in flux.

When the Warriors collapsed historically to LeBron James’ Cavaliers in 2016, the solution was to dial one of Kevin Durant’s burners and bring him to the Bay. But the summer of 2019 doesn’t bring such luxuries to the table. Instead of luring free agents, Golden State will spend time pleading to keep them.

Kevin Durant’s free agency was on the forefront of the Warriors’ minds long before Draymond Green called him “a b*tch” at the end of a close game in November. His decision is the domino that will influence everything that happens next, and the torn Achilles he suffered in Game 5 of the NBA Finals makes life that much more complicated. But the post-KD list also includes free agent Klay Thompson, a top target for nearly every team with the money to sign him (barring injury results), as well as the looming retirement of Shaun Livingston, the future of DeMarcus Cousins, and more.

Here’s what Warriors fans have to wait on this summer:

1. What will Kevin Durant decide?

The one move that’s astronomically out of Golden State’s hands is where Durant will play next season and beyond. The two-time Finals MVP could miss the entirety of next year with his Achilles injury, but that doesn’t mean the Warriors won’t want to re-sign him long term.

It also doesn’t mean Durant won’t sign elsewhere, or — and maybe even worse for Golden State — opt-in to the final year of his contract and become a free agent the following year without playing another game. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the latter a “last resort” for KD now, but that could change.

How the Warriors handle the free agency of arguably the best player in the league after he suffered an injury this serious is unprecedented, to say nothing of the circumstances that may have caused him to return to play from his prior ailment. The answers are infinite and none more educated than the next. This summer won’t be easy for anyone involved.

2. What will Klay Thompson decide?

Will Thompson, the sharpshooting, meme-friendly juggernaut next to Steph Curry in the backcourt, ultimately stay in Golden State for another lengthy tenure? With news that his knee injury from Game 6 was a torn ACL, is he going to command the max contract offer he was likely set up to? If so, only the Warriors can offer a five-year deal worth close to $190 million. There’s so much to sort out in such a short span of time.

Before the season even began, Klay led us to believe he’d re-sign in Golden State.

“I’ve been to the mountaintop,” he said in October. “I know what it feels like to win and win with some of your best friends. And that’s why it would be hard for me to leave just because I’ve put so much blood, sweat and tears in this building and with this franchise. I’ve had my ups and downs, but I couldn’t imagine myself being somewhere else.”

He did say he could change his mind in the coming months, but hasn’t suggested anything publicly.

The question is will the Warriors offer Klay a max deal? Will anyone else? The answer might depend on whether Durant’s on board to run things back.

3. What about that looming Draymond Green dilemma on the horizon?

Draymond Green has one year left under contract, but that doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to start the year with the Warriors. The 29-year-old is one Defensive Player of the Year or All-NBA honor from becoming “supermax” contract eligible, meaning the Warriors could pay him nearly $240 million over five seasons. Will Green demand that money? More importantly, has he proved his play is worth it to the Warriors?

Though Green had a resurgent playoffs, he was poor by his standards during the regular season. Green had a tough shooting campaign, leading defenses to back off him and hover closer to his much better shooting counterparts. Green’s been an offensive liability at points, and he averaged just seven points on 45 percent shooting. Defensively, he didn’t play up to par either until the playoffs.

The Warriors could cut bait early and sniff out potential suitors for Draymond before the season starts, especially if the dynasty is coming to its true close. They won’t want to see him potentially walk away for nothing like KD and Klay could this summer.

4. Will DeMarcus Cousins be back?

Cousins could be July’s biggest bargain or risk. After tearing his Achilles last season, Cousins signed a one-year deal with Golden State over the summer. He played 30 games in the regular season, during which he looked fairly close to himself. Three-point shooting aside, Cousins met or neared his efficiency expectations from the year prior, and averaged 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in just 26 minutes per game.

Then, he tore his quad in the second game of the playoffs, reminding the front office that he’s still prone to injury. He returned in the NBA Finals and had his moments, but also looked rusty at best.

What length of contract and how much money he’ll command in the offseason is so hard to predict. Could a team like the Lakers offer him the big-money deal he wanted last year? Sure. Could teams also pass over him again, leaving him to stay in Golden State? That could happen, too.

5. Is Shaun Livingston going to retire?

After rehabbing through a leg so shattered he was told it may have to be amputated in 2007, the 33-year-old Livingston has come back a three-time champion and important piece of the Warriors dynasty. But he’s coming off a season where his play declined and he missed 18 games, his most since 2010.

In April, he hinted to The Athletic that this may be it. “It’s just all the signs on the wall,” he told Anthony Slater. “And just more so from a physical standpoint. If I’m healthy and having fun, then I want to play. But physically, if I’m not … Like, I put so much work in my body just to get back to playing basketball, let alone get to this point where I’m at.”

With his contract not guaranteed for next season, this could actually be it for him.

6. What about the rest of the depth?

Kevon Looney, Jonas Jerebko, and Andrew Bogut are all set to become unrestricted free agents, while Jordan Bell and Quinn Cook will become restricted free agents. Who stays and who goes will depend on the decisions made by Durant and Thompson.

Looney has become an integral part to the Warriors defense, but his play may convince some team to spend more money than the Warriors are willing to pay. Back in April, Andre Iguodala already said he hopes Looney doesn’t come back to Golden State, because that means he will have gotten paid.

Andre Iguodala on Kevon Looney this summer: “I hope he gets paid, so I hope he doesn’t come back because I hope he gets all the money.” pic.twitter.com/mZUI2Lm4JH

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 19, 2019

Jerebko and Bogut are both contenders to return on league minimum contracts, but Cook could earn a steeper offer sheet in July than Golden State wants to cough up. It’s unclear if Golden State even wants Bell, who’s hardly played in the postseason. He was suspended for one game after charging some hotel fees to assistant coach Mike Brown.

The Warriors have nine moving pieces this summer and no guarantees from any of them. The Earth will stand still until KD speaks up. After that, the Warriors front office is in for a stressful few months to avoid all good things coming to a bitter end.

[mrmichaelchadler]

Home Entertainment Consumer Guide: December 27, 2018

10 NEW TO NETFLIX

"2 Fast 2 Furious" "Apocalypse Now" "Avengers: Infinity War" "Baby Mama" "The Fast and the Furious" "The Innocents" "Kill the Messenger" "The Little Hours" "Maps to the Stars" "The Theory of Everything"

8 NEW TO BLU-RAY/DVD

"Assassination Nation"

I'm only human and so there's a bit of an impulse to include a release in this column on which I'm quoted on the cover, even if the movie itself is something of a mixed bag. The quote "'Mean Girls' meets 'The Purge" is from my Sundance viewing of this divisive genre film, and is more descriptive than praising. What's been interesting to watch about the conversation around this abrasive, incendiary castigation of internet culture is that I have been very lonely in my middle ground opinion. I like its ideas more than its execution, but find it fascinating how many people either LOVE or HATE this movie. Honestly, we need more movies like that—movies that provoke conversation and debate. So you should see this not because I'm quoted on the cover but because you should pick a side ... or join me in the neutral zone.

Buy it here 

Special Features Deleted/Extended Scenes Gag Reel Trailers

"Bad Times at the El Royale"

This is another movie that people seemed to either embrace or abhor and I finished with a shoulder shrug. Maybe that's not fair. I mostly liked Drew Goddard's single-setting bloodbath, but I'm stunned that anyone sees enough to like or hate here to include in either ten best or ten worst lists for the entirety of 2018. On the positive side, the ensemble is fantastic, especially Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Bridges, and Chris Hemsworth. It's never boring, weaving several subplots on a very bad night at the El Royale hotel into one backstabbing tapestry. It's also too long, too unfocused, and slips through your fingers once it's over. There's a tighter, smarter version of "El Royale" in this one that could have been great. But this one is still pretty good—available On Demand now and on Blu-ray on 1/1.

Buy it here

Special Features Making Bad Times at the El Royale Gallery

"Fahrenheit 11/9"

Did Michael Moore's latest provocation influence the election as he so clearly hoped it would when he dropped it in the heat of the season? Maybe. Probably not, though. The fact is that Moore doesn't have the impact he once did, but should that be the only way we judge him as a filmmaker? As an influencer? It will be interesting to see how his most overtly political films like this one stand up with a couple decades of history behind them. For me, the best pieces of "Fahrenheit 11/9" don't focus on the Trump Presidency but the various stories of the last few years that led to the voter apathy that was arguably the biggest reason he won. And, say what you will about this film's lack of focus, there's a great mini-doc buried within this film about the Flint water crisis that you really should see.

Buy it here

Special Features None

"The Predator"

After the TIFF premiere of Shane Black's latest reboot/sequel to the hit '80s sci-fi/action film, I suspected that I would be in the minority of critics who enjoyed it but didn't expect it to be quite so drastic. I stand by my 2am take in Canada that this is a fun action movie that understands what worked about the original film while also taking some of the same ideas in a new direction. No, it's not going to be anyone's favorite movie of 2018, but it's a quick, enjoyable rental on a Saturday night, and it works even better at home than in the middle of the night in Toronto.

Buy it here 

Special Features Deleted Scenes A Touch of Black Predator Evolution The Takedown Team Predator Catch-Up Gallery

"Schindler's List"

Only this column could go from "The Predator" to "Schindler's List," but that's how we roll at the HECG (and the byproduct of alphabetical listings). For the 25th anniversary of one of the best films of the '90s, Universal has upgraded Steven Spielberg's Oscar winner with a 4K release that reminds viewers why this movie was so rapturously praised when it came out in 1993. Given 4 stars by Roger on its initial release, he didn't wait long to put it in the Great Movies pantheon, and it's a movie that has held up remarkably well. The 4K release is accompanied by a new documentary called "Schindler's List: 25 Years Later," adding to the sense that this is one of the essential 4K Blu-ray releases of 2018.

Buy it here 

Special Features NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM SUPERVISED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG DOLBY VISION/HDR 10 PRESENTATION OF THE FILM NEW Schindler's List: 25 Years Later - Featurette NEW USC Shoah Foundation Story with Steven Spielberg (2018) Voices from the List - Featurette Let Their Testimonies Speak - Stronger Than Hate About IWitness (2018) AND MORE...

"A Simple Favor"

Paul Feig's mystery/comedy looked like a disaster before it was released. It was coming out at a time of year when studios are known for dumping movies that they don't know what to do with, and it didn't play any fests or get much in the way of critics screenings. And then it dropped and most people were pleasantly surprised. A reasonably big hit (almost $100 million worldwide), "A Simple Favor" filled a hole in storytelling for adults that Hollywood simply doesn't care about as much as they used to. In a time when the mid-budget movie is disappearing, it feels like everything is a part of a franchise or a low-budget indie. The mid-budget filmmakers went to TV. And so it's so heartening to see a solid mid-budget flick that offers a night of entertainment for grown-ups away from Netflix. I'm a little less high on the flick than everybody else (I think Blake Lively is amazing but the movie sags a bit when she's absent), but it's totally worth a rental. 

Buy it here    Special Features 3 Audio Commentaries with Cast and Crew 8 Featurettes Gag Reel Deleted Scenes Flash Mob

"Starman"

When the acolytes of John Carpenter talk about the horror icon, they often stick solely to, well, his horror films. How many pieces can the internet produce about the greatness of "Halloween," "The Thing," or underrated pics like "The Fog" and "Prince of Darkness"? Lost in a lot of the talk about Carpenter is what is actually his highest-grossing film outside of Mike Myers, 1984's "Starman." This has always been a film that I hold close to my heart as I was nine when it came out and, well, that's a good age for this movie. It's an underrated film with a truly great performance from Jeff Bridges. As Roger wrote 34 years ago, "Actors sometimes try to change their appearance; Bridges does something trickier, and tries to convince us that Jeff Bridges is not inhabited by himself."

Buy it here 

Special Features NEW They Came from Hollywood: Re-visiting STARMAN – featuring director John Carpenter, actors Jeff Bridges, Charles Martin Smith and script supervisor Sandy King-Carpenter Audio Commentary with director John Carpenter and Jeff Bridges Vintage Featurette Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Still Gallery

"Venom"

Ah, "Venom." Is this smash hit a good movie? Noooo. It's clunky and weird. And yet there's something in here that almost brings it together and that's the totally committed lunacy from Tom Hardy. Whether he's talking to the symbiote inhabiting his body or eating a live lobster out of the tank in which he's sitting, there's something inspired in so many of his choices. Sadly, the rest of the movie totally pales in comparison, including something I didn't think was possible: flat performances from Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams. As much as I don't want to see "Venom" again, I'll be curious about "Venom 2" just to see if Hardy's energy can be featured in a project that deserves it. 

Buy it here 

Special Features Venom Mode: When selecting this mode the film will engage informative pop-ups throughout the film to provide insight on the movie's relationship to the comics, and to reveal hidden references that even a seasoned Venom-fan may have missed! Deleted & Extended Scenes: These deleted and extended scenes will give fans even more of the Venom action they loved in theaters! Ride to Hospital – Eddie and Venom take a ride to the hospital. Car Alarm – Let's just say that Venom is not fond of car alarms. San Quentin – Extended post-credits scene at San Quentin. From Symbiote to Screen: A mini documentary about the history of Venom in comics and his journey to the big screen. Interviews with Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Ruben Fleischer, Oliver Scholl, and Director and Comic Fanboy Kevin Smith. The Lethal Protector in Action: Go behind the scenes with the production crew and learn the secrets behind the awesome Motorcycle stunts, wire stunts, and drones. Venom Vision: A look at how Ruben Fleischer came to the project, gathered his team, and made Venom a reality. Utilizes interviews from cast, crew, and producers as well as Fleischer himself. Designing Venom: Designing and creating Venom meant a huge challenge for VFX artists; follow the amazing journey. Symbiote Secrets: Blink and you may have missed it! Enjoy the hidden references throughout the film. 8 Select Scenes Pre-Vis sequences: See the progression of the visual effects, storyboards and fight chorography compared to the finished film. "Venom" by Eminem – Music Video "Sunflower" by Post Malone, Swae Lee (From Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Sneak Peek: Meanwhile in another universe …

from All Content http://bit.ly/2EPZSPN

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November Monthly Radar

[Note from editor: We publish a Weekly Radar for Geek Estate Mastermind members that’s more like Reader’s Digest or a college radio station than it’s like reading TMZ or watching the news. Our recommendations and synthesis come out every Friday morning along with member news to peruse. This is a wrap-up for the month of November with a couple articles from each week.]

Mastermind Message

In addition to the Thanksgiving holiday, November included a member lunch in Seattle and our first gathering of folks in Chicago.

New Product

We launched a new series for members. Category product reviews. The first segment: Small Landlord Property Management Software.

New Members

Max Colls from Estated

Scott Drexel from Rentl

Kristina McCann from Off-Market-Homes

Grier Allen from BoomTown

James Green from OffertoClose.com

David Steckel from Setter

Nathan Miller from Rentec Direct

Ben Clark from Realigned

Pierre Calzadilla from Local Logic

Vincent Harris from Hoozip

Teevan McManus from Greendoor

Member News

Estated Upgrades Property Data API with RESO Compliance and Parcel Search for Proptech Industry

Ebby Halliday rolled out Buyside company-wide

FlyHomes revealed their new logo

TRIBUS becomes the first to send Solds to Zillow

Remine announces Contactually integration.

Greg joined the executive team of a Denver brokerage

Congrats to Pete Flint / NFX for pulling off their first Proptech CEO Summit in San Francisco. Several Geek Estate members attended

Caroline Pinal of Giveback Homes: Five Years of Giving. What I’ve Learned & How You Can Apply it to Real Estate

Brett Hagler at New Story is hiring an Innovation Fund Manager

Ryan Coon from Avail was featured in a piece about rentals on Curbed

BoomTown acquired lead qualification tool Real Contact

Transmission Topics

Vendor sales strategies at the broker level

Background on the rentals category product review

The underwhelming rentals search experience

Why showings data creates a true network effect

How brokerages can compete with iBuyers

When removing friction isn’t always a good thing

Real Estate

COZY ACQUIRED BY COSTAR FOR $68M

Big news out of the small landlord property management space with the news that CoStar (operator of Apartments.com) acquired Cozy for $68 Million. Congratulations to Gino and the team. The company was founded after their time at Flickr, who’s co-founder Stewart Butterfield joined Cozy’s board of directors and went on to launch the popular work collaboration tool Slack. I’ve been a customer since 2013 and worked with Cozy on integration during my time at Move. We’ll cover the announcement and its implications more in our newly launched series on Small Landlord Property Management Software. There are so many implications with this deal, but something to think about over the next few days is how it affects the portal space. Independent landlord listings comprise a unique set of rentals content not yet democratized on the web. While portals have become a necessary channel for large portfolios of apartment communities and mid-sized property management firms – many independent landlords still get the results they want from a red and white yard sign coupled with a Craigslist posting. Capturing those users via free software could be a massive win for CoStar, whose primary product line is business intelligence reporting. Also, while capturing that listing inventory could be an enormous win for Apartments.com, it could mean an even more significant loss for Zillow, realtor.com, and Apartment List. Bonus: my hometown investors from Bend, Seven Peak Ventures, were early investors in Cozy. -Greg

THE CONSUMER VIEW ON A BILLION DOLLARS IN SELLER LEADS

Mike Del Prete believes Zillow is sitting on a billion-dollar opportunity from their Offers business in seller leads alone. “Zillow says that since launch, nearly 20,000 homeowners have taken direct action on its platform to sell their home. Of those, it has purchased just about 1 percent of homes (around 200).” The company has a goal of 5% national market share for Offers which would require purchasing 10% of the requests it fields, though Mike says, “A more realistic target would be to only purchase around 1 percent of requests.”

The seller’s perspective: “If I know there is a 99% chance that Zillow will NOT buy my house, why exactly should I waste my time?”

Can a consumer product/service with a 99% rejection rate stand the test of time? It seems like a House of Cards scenario that will inevitably crumble. If you have a counterpoint, by all means, I’m all ears. -Drew

Startups

REFLECTIONS ON A FAILED APP LAUNCH

I learned that it wasn’t worth documenting features that we passed on in favor of focusing solely on those that we shipped. Secretly, I never fully bought into this mantra and tried to chronicle as many of the ideas tabled over the years. While agile teams shouldn’t spend development time looking backward – a retrospective centered on what didn’t work might be even more valuable than one focused on what did. That’s why I was happy to read App mistakes: the ten lessons we learned launching (& killing) our $200K mobile app. The product lead for Hotjar (a user experience and analytics application) breaks down the failure of one of their failed product launches in a step by step guide which even includes what they would have done differently the second time around. Those steps include: find out if your idea is something customers want, validate the concept, validate the user experience, consider the costs, define the MVP, get the MVP in front of users. Sounds simple when distilled into one sentence, but for anyone that works in product, this is a short read and worth your time. -Greg

LETTING THE DOOR HIT PEOPLE ON THE WAY OUT

I stumbled across this post from Mathilde Collin, the founder of Front, as people were tweeting out their favorites. But in her piece 9 Most Useful Pieces of Advice I’ve Received, the most relevant snippet for me right now came from Daniel Yanisse of the company Checkr: “Give generous packages when you let people go.” Mathilde argues that “Not only is it good for the person leaving, but it will also help your managers make tough decisions. It’s always hard to let go people, but if the organization needs it, then you have to make sure managers are empowered to make these calls.” I’m inspired by companies who are quick to move on from bad fits but do with generosity, empathy, and tact.

I noticed this week that the residential real estate brokerage office culture is infected by so much drama around where agents choose to work. I get that small business owners take employee (er, independent contractor) relationships seriously and personally – but the culture is in need of a dramatic shift to a place in which agents feel comfortable switching brokerages if it makes the most sense for them. You’d be surprised at how much pain brokers are willing to inflict emotionally and financially on agents who no longer want to work for them. It’s embarrassing and gross. -Greg

Built World

VACASA TO HELP MULTI-FAMILY OWNERS REACH TRAVELERS

One possible route to monetize multi-family vacancies is by putting inventory into the vacation rental marketplace. Joining Stay Alfred, Lyric, and Domicile, Vacasa is throwing their hat in the ring with a new apartment leasing offering to help multi-family owners and operate access traveler dollars. Transforming long-term inventory into sublets and short-term rentals are ripe with opportunity (though city regulators won’t like it much). Vacasa has a first mover advantage on the traveler demand side, they have a hard road ahead in the increasingly competitive landlord tech landscape. Vacation rental behemoth Airbnb has been in rentals since 2013. Once they go into rentals publicly, which is inevitable if they are maximizing shareholder value, they will be beyond a formidable foe. That said, Vacasa is smart to take the risk for the potential outcome to emerge as a power broker. -Drew

BOUTIQUE LODGING FOR THE WIN

My interest in the intersection of travel and real estate led me to notice Curbed’s article on a Silicon Valley-backed hotel startup with a mission of offering boutique lodging for less (in Miami to start). Life House delivers a boutique hotel experience at a discount price. They don’t own the supply, but instead work with “property owners [who] turn their buildings over to Life House, which then renovates, reopens, and reintroduces a new ‘locally rooted lifestyle hotel’ to the market.” As a direct-to-consumer travel brand, they have their work cut out for them on the acquisition side of a ruthlessly competitive industry. A big part of what excites me about the model is Life House serves as an alternative approach for building owners to consider when contemplating whether to sell or set up shop as a property manager. -Drew

Out of the Box

FANTASY FRANCHISES AS A HOOK

HBO has Game of Thrones. Amazon is developing Lord of the Rings. And now Netflix has a major fantasy franchise of its own to compete: Chronicles of Narnia. Millions and millions of people love these shows and will drop everything to spend a few hours, or days, to watch. They’ll even watch multiple seasons in their entirety a second time. These iconic brands are “must have” hooks that prompt fans to open their pocketbooks even if they don’t watch anything else from streaming service X.

What is a real estate brokerage’s “must have” user hook? A CMA? The chance to see one of the 20 listings a buyer is interested in today rather than two days from now when the next agent can show it? A market report for a ZIP code? All are pretty weak hooks in my book. What can brokers offer prospective and current clients that they will truly love? I don’t have the answer, but I offer that up as a challenge to brokers/agents reading. -Drew

BOURDAIN BUSINESS BRILLIANCE

Writing about Bourdain is like remembering the puppy I had to give away to friends when I moved to New York City. I try not to do it too often. When I moved to New York in 2014, Anthony Bourdain had just announced plans to open an international food stall market at Pier 57, and I started making plans to visit every single day. Ultimately, the concept was abandoned, and then we lost Bourdain forever. However, it’s worth keeping his memory alive. “Not giving a shit has been a very successful business model for me.” “[Not having] a reputation to lose, is a huge advantage. From Kitchen Confidential on I made a really determined effort to not fuck up. I was very aware of that tendency. I’m a little more organized, my work is a little more rigorous than it needs to be because that was a regular feature of my whole life up until that point.” Read more in A Dozen Lessons about Business from Anthony Bourdain. -Greg

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