#Yes there is a Blockbuster in the pic because why not?

[astralnymphh]

YES PLEASE. BLOCKBUSTER ELLIE?? 90’s?? SIGN ME UP. WHERE DO I PUT MY NAME??😖😖🙏

- 🩵

a/n + cw; OMGG AN EMOJI ANON i haven't seen you guys in a hot minute, but YESSS BLOCKBUSTER ELLIE!! specifically x customer reader. it's a cute duo! and let me relay why from my very scrambled 3 am jot-down. was going to make this a blurb, but it better translates through something more structured. ++ SFW! kinda mean!reader tbh (but ellie likes that), very fluffy you might squeet, quickly written, awkwardness, ellie being a nerd. [first pic from amoaeIIie on pinterest]

Imagine Ellie, in her blockbuster getup, leaning her butt into the edge of the register counter, jamming to whatever is playing on her hand-me-down walkman; earsbuds in, eyes downcast, head bopping slowing - soundly unaware of you awaiting service on your over-due rental. "Hello?" your volume divides the soft ambiance of the store, but it isn't enough to rope Ellie's mindspace from the clouds. Calling out again, "Hell-looh?" you extend beyond the cash register and wave your hand - nothing, nada.

How the hell has this girl not gotten her ass fired yet?

After numerous roadblocks, a brazen last resort comes into play. You cut around the counter briefly to take things into your own hands (literally) because you have not the time, nor the patience, for her slacking off.

Beryl eyes drop sharply to the walkman in her pants pocket when a single earbud is spooled from her ear, assuming it fell - but to her surprise, it hung low from your finger, and a glance above that finger was your face. Risen of one brow, flat-lined of your lips; impatient.

And her entire focus blanks out when you begin to speak, curtly and satirically, "Hey, I know busting out your Dad's old walkman in public makes you feel cool and whatnot, but you're on the clock." handing the slim cord back over to a stunned girl, flushed behind the pop of her freckles. Maybe your tone of voice sent her higher into the clouds, past a coven of angels, because her lips part narrowly and remain still for a single second - save two or three. Or maybe it's 'cause you specified it as her 'Dad's' which was.. spot on.

And whatever excuse she had quickly cherry-picked for you, hesitated audibly in her throat before it split from it, "O-Oh, right, shit sorry - was about to end my shift n' thought the store was empty. My bad." scrambling to stuff the other earplug in her pocket and avert all attention to you. Very eagerly.

"Looks like you've got a late fee on this one.." her pitch pummeled deeper, and coarser as she concentrates on the clunky screen she hunches slightly to use. Scrunching the freckles of her face together, hogging the blue-lit screen. Poor girl probably forgot her glasses at home. "Annnd are you looking to rent the sequel?" she peeks her auburn head from the screen and holds up the cased movie, tracing her index over the plastic cleft, tapping twice. "To this - it has a second part."

There's no denying it: she is cute - and guilt rolls your guts around for being so snippy and sullen to her earlier. But based on her demeanor growing enthused the second she saw what movie you had in hand - she doesn't seem to care a hoot.

"Out of stock," replied you, indifferent-sounding - and strking; crossed arms, bent knee, stiffly-standing. Comparable to a millpond. "Guess I won't be the only person with late fees." you take a breath to jest, shaking loose strands of hair from your eyes.

"Haha," you're no world-class comedian; that joke wasn't all that funny, but the need to hurl any affirming noise at you, was necessary. Relenting to reflex. What can she say? Love at first sight! "Yeah, that seems like the agenda these days," Ellie sighs out, molding the plump of her lip under her teeth and reshapes it into a dorky smirk. Isn't she just a sweet chocolate-box of adorability?

"Hmm, bummer."

That hum and word trips into her ears, knocking some brain-cog, and an idea limns her features; they glow wide. "Actually - um, I've got a copy of the sequel at my place. Technically it's my Dad's, but.." her pitch fluctuates, mindlessly thumbing the case between two fiddly hands. "Maybe you can - if you want, not pressuring you or anything - come over?" she throws a pointed thumb backwards, motioning a potential future. "Watch it? If you weren't planning on watching it with somebody else."

Slick trick to seeing if you're single; of course you'd watch movies with your boyfriend - or girlfriend.

"Hmmm.." you hummed longer this time, and this time it admitted the mushrooming of an almost aggravating anticipation in her belly. Like you meant to torture her with 'hmms' and nothing but 'hmms' as your answer hung high in cloudy abeyance, until, "What's the name on your tag - ah, Ellie."

"Yeah?"

"Ellie," you confirm her name twice, and speak it to enthrall her full-scale attention. Made it sound fucking sugary sweet, through a swirly whisper and a twist of your head. "If you can give me a discount, or a full wipe on that late fee, then yes. It's a date."

Light panic ensues. "Date?" she croaks and laughs it off, "I mean - pshh, guess that's one way to put it." backtracking to her hunched, elbows-on-the-counter pose.

"You put it that way."

"Yeah, I just.. didn't wanna admit that." immediately, she uncurls her spine again, relaxing her muscles to somewhat peer at you. "Sure. No more fees." Rounded eyes lost - adamant on indirectly staring at you and the space below you, because Goddess forbid a stroke of idiocy flickers through her while gawking at you.

The store runs dead-quiet in the background of your conversation, leading you to one golden question. "Your shift over after this?"

Oh damn, her cheeks are pink. "Uh-huh," bet she's oblivious to that red-hot beam nearly bursting the seams to her face, too. Nasal lines fold as a severe smile tugs, shadowed by her bent thumb poking at it. "Takin' my car?"

And that's how you pick up girls at a video store in the 90s - the Ellie Williams way.

this isn't even the full idea

[number1villainstan]

"Oh, by the way, that thing you said about Goncharov being fake?" AFO comments. "You were right."

"Huh?"

"Goncharov isn't a real movie. It wasn't a mass hallucination, but it was made up." AFO pulls something up on his phone and passes it to Chisaki. "Someone found a misspelled advertisement for a different Scorsese movie and posted a pic to Tumblr, someone else said This idiot hasn't seen Goncharov, and so the legend of the greatest mafia movie of all time was born." The picture is a screenshot of some sort of social media(?) post that reads his mother was italian his father was a license plate. "There were essays. Fanart. Gifsets. More fanfiction than a blockbuster movie--they checked. I still remember the line If you loved me, you wouldn't have missed. It was glorious--an entire website yes-and-ing their way to fame. Still is. It's the greatest con of all time and it happened by pure accident."

"Why are you telling me this," Chisaki says, horror shaking his voice.

"Because." AFO grins, wide and unhinged, and leans in close. "No one will ever believe you."

[the-firebird69]

I'm going to put this in production as a kit car. And it is going to be as it appears and it is what Dodge came up with and it is a very fast vehicle. This car comes with too much horsepower out of the shoot this has I think they came up with a 700 and I'm looking at it and it goes 0 to 60 and 3 seconds quarter mile in about seven top speed of the vehicle is designed and they have prototypes about 5 million and it goes approximately 750 mph with stock equipment you can't beat that so we don't have to we're making a kit and we're going to use their chassis we have extra for some reason they made a ton of chassis I guess the bodies don't take long and we're going to make kit car bodies at first and it's just a different material it hasn't enclosure in a roll cage and it's probably safer than the middle with the motor that they put on there and the suspension package and tires and rims exhaust the car goes about 1300 mph out of the box it is way too fast and we have to include safety pad packages a base package will cover everything and that's included and we don't have to do much of anything just put a body on it and put safety package stuff andI'm going to do that and we're going to sell a kit separate from the chassis as well but we have about five trillion chassis they made the prototypes drove them around and started pumping them out and some sweet car and he wants one this is his pic he was thinking the charger and he says it's really either one with this one you prefers and it's because of the look and she likes it and we get it too we're going to take over Washington DC

Frank Castle hardcastle

Well he's kind of screaming duck everybody we've created a monster this is going to be hell they probably off and running now he's saying they in the man is probably running out the back and front yard both turned into him naked full bore down the street. And they're going to have another takeover attempt and yes it's possible the guys are clone of him. And the third one is out the shoot first name dick that's last name slap it is very excited is to take them both on. Literally they're on the phone and they're getting this thing going and trying to get to the factory. We have about four manufacturers of this vehicle already and they're one of them but they're not making many and it's outside in the perimeter they have like 2000 and there's three others but combined they're making a million and we're going to start today but we have the chassis and we just filled the body and we should have about a trillion up so they're going to catch up and really their stuff is piss poor. Another couple came in the other day this stuff was pretty rude and rankus and they're going to make him out of the carbon for now and metal when they get it in and the recycling cars most of them don't work and all over Florida and that's why they're going to make them here and they're moving on it too and there spinning and everyone's eye as clicking clack and we are going to have to stop them with Force and we've been infiltrating all night and it's finally getting to near acceptable levels but we do need more and I'm pushing for it now it's almost time he says it probably is time and it is they're trying to amass and we publish now

Duke nukem Blockbuster

We need help here we're meeting now Olympus's

Thor Freya

[kamithepony]

I finally drew what I wanted to do for around 8 months but always kept pushing it away.  It’s a little gift-art for CaptainHoers of his Sunjackers OC, Atom Smasher. 

Thanks for being such an awesome and inspiring artist and person. I hope you like it! Enjoy!  Atom Smasher belongs to @captainhoers / @askthesunjackers

[60b3r]

Memes Kill Creativity?

Memes vs. Genes

In the 1976 book The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins coined the term 'meme' to describe something with symbolic meaning that spreads by imitation from person to person within a culture. This idea is an analogue to the nature of selfish gene, described similarly as a piece of genetic material possessing information required to be able to replicate themselves inside a living. The only key difference in both terms is that the gene is natural, while memes are artificial. The rest of memes' operating schemes completely mimic the genes perfectly. In our current timeline, memes as we know today are taking many forms: as image macros, short videos, and rick-rollicking music. Memes in imageboards and forums have been pushing internet porn traffic into a stalemate and putting our power grid into unnecessary burden. Of course, memes are not to be regretted, but otherwise need to be taken seriously, since they are able to put our current understanding of media industry and economic system into shame.

As with every other thing that have existed, memes are not exempt in its dualistic nature. If you ever venture to the depths of dark web, you may know that memes also took part in the infamous mimetic Tumblr-4chan War. Not only that, some memes are reportedly causing harm towards some users, even though it is often disguised or said to be a dank joke or mere sarcasm. Memes have seen its share of use in online bullying, mass shootings, and hate crimes, cowering behind the freedom of expression tag. Regardless, memes are also an extremely effective form of information transmission. Like all living systems with no set moral standards, memes do evolve and are subject to natural selection. Memes, like genes, actually work like a mindless machine. Again, this is eerily like the performance of DNA in living systems. The last thing we want from this thing is virulence.

Every day, something went viral on Twitter. Hashtags are flaring into the top trends, some videos are being watched billions of times, and another cat vs. cucumber pic garnered thousands of likes. Viral properties of a virus (duh) is defined as the capability to multiply quickly in relatively short amount of time. The term saw a huge increase in usage during the dawn of the internet age and the rise of computer malwares spread through unsecured ports of network protocol. This term is being applied to memes, as it is like a virus (which is a pure embodiment of a selfish gene). Now, a lot of people are utilizing memes to create art, because it enables them to cater the short-attention spans of current internet users. They create shorts, illustrations, inside jokes, and small comic strips. Some of you might not agree with me on this one, but stay with me now and I will explain to you why I would like to treat memes and art as a single unit of interest in this argument.

The dawn of meme-technology

Viral memes and their popularity are now often considered important in defining a time period in the internet culture. Now every netizen can somewhat distinguish the approximate age, sex, and political views of other users from the usage of rage comics, meme songs, and meme platforms they use. Intuitively we can make a generalized difference between the userbase of Reddit, 4chan, 9gag, Vine, and now Tiktok. Others, by the share of relatability with sub-genres of different areas of interest (film memes and game memes). Some others, even, in the perspectives of different social and economic class system (first world problems and third world success memes). Meme preferences to us netizens are ironically giving away our anonymous identity. Identity which the media companies are vying to get their hands on. That's where I would like to come into my opening argument: both memes and genes which originally possesses no intrinsic value, suddenly become a subject of value with technology.

How do we draw the logic, I say? The ones and zeros inside electrical systems are value-free, so does DNA in living cells. As we meddle ourselves with biotechnology to manipulate genetic material for profit, we also simmer ourselves in the computer sciences and tweak physical computation to perform better. We give value in the inanimate object by manipulating them. In our world, we often heard these expressions: that communication is key, sometimes silence is golden, and those who control the information wields the power. What’s these three statements have in common? Yes, information and expression. Memes are the simplest form of both. This is the beginning of the logic: memes are no longer in and on itself independent of external values. The infusion of utilitarian properties in memes as artificial constructs are seemingly inevitable, and for the better or worse shapes our current society.

We might have heard that somewhere somehow, the so called ‘global elites’ with their power and wealth are constantly controlling biotech research and information technology—or, in the contrary, they control these knowledge and resources to keep shovelling money and consolidate their power. Memes are one of their tools to ‘steer’ the world according to their 'progressive agenda', seemingly driving the world ‘forward’ towards innovation and openness. Nah, I am just joking. But, stay with me now. It is actually not them (the so-called global elites) who you should be worried about. It is us—you and I, ourselves—and our own way of unwittingly enjoying memes that are both toxic and fuelling the age-old capitalism. Funny, isn't it? We blame society, but we are society. But how are be becoming the culprits yet also be the prey at the same time?

Middle-class artists are hurt

Now, aggressive marketing tactics using memes are soaring. Media companies are no doubt cashing in the internet and viral memes to their own benefit. Streaming and cataloguing are putting up a good fight compared to their retail, classic ways of content delivery. This is quite true with the strategies of Spotify and YouTube, other media companies alike. They can secure rights to provide high-quality content from big time artists and filmmakers and target these works directly to the end consumer, effectively cutting the cost of distribution which usually goes to the several layers of distribution line like vinyl products, radio contracts, and Blu-ray DVDs. I believe this is good, since it is like an affirmative action for amateur artists to start a career in the art industry. Or is it? Does it really encourage small-time artists to begin? Yes. How about the middle-class artists? Not necessarily.

You might sometimes wonder, “how the hell did I get somewhere just by following the trending or hot section in the feed?”. This toxicity of memes often brings some bad things to our tables. Social media algorithms handle contents (like viral memes) by putting those with high views or likes to the front page, effectively ‘promoting’ the already popular post and creating a positive feedback cycle. By doing so, they could capitalize on ad profits on just few ‘quality’ contents over huge amounts of audience in a very short amount of time. The problem is most of the time, these ‘quality’ contents have no quality at all. They just happen to possess the correct formula to be viral, with the correct SEO keywords and click-bait titles with no real leverage in the art movement. This way, I often find both the talented and the lucky—of which the boundaries between them are always blurred—overshadow the aspiring ‘middle-class’ artists who work hard to perfect their craft.

If you are already a famous guitarist with large fanbase, lucky you, you are almost guaranteed to top the billboards. What, you have no skills? Post a video of you playing ‘air guitar’ and… affirmative actions to the rescue. Keep on riding the hype wave and suddenly you get to top trending with minimal effort, thanks to your weird haircut. Those haters will surely make a meme out of your silly haircut, not even your non-existent guitar skills. But still, hype is still a hype, and there’s no such thing as a bad publication. This also answers why simple account who reposts other people’s content could get much more followers than the hard-working creators. Not only being outperformed by the already famous artists taking social media by storm, now the ‘middle-class’ artists are also dealing with widespread content theft and repost accounts because of the unfair, bot grading system. It is unimaginable how many nobodies got the spotlight they don’t deserve just because they look or act stupid and the whole internet cheers around them. Remember, this is not always about the artist, but also the quality of the art itself. I believe a good art should be meaningful to the beholder.

Why capitalism kills creativity

The problem in current art industry is that we are feeling exhausted with the same, generic, and recycled stuff. We indeed already see there’s less discourse about art now. Sure, the problem lies not in the artist or medium, but is in the viewers—the consumer of the art form—and how the capitalist system reacts to it. The hyper efficient capitalist system doesn’t want to waste any more time and money trying to figure out what’s new or what’s next for you. What we love to see, what is familiar to us, the market delivers them. The rise of viral memes phenomenon in the social media pushes the market system to the point where they demand artists to create the same, redundant, easy art form. Listen to some of The Chainsmokers’ work and we'll see what music have become: the identical 4-chord progression, the same drop, the predictable riser, and the absence of meaningful lyrics. We sat down and watch over the same superhero movies trying hard to be the next Marvel blockbuster. The production companies are also happy not to pay writers extra to come up with new ideas and instead settle with borrowed old scripts from decades old TV drama. Disney's The Lion King and its heavy use of the earlier Japanese Kimba The White Lion storyline is one guilty example.

Despite it initially being an economic system and not a political ideology, it is untrue that many Marxist philosophers usher the suppression of art. While it is ironic that Stalinist policy intends to curb ‘counter-revolutionaries’—in this case his enemies—by limiting freedom of press and media; American propaganda added further so that it seems that the ideology is also limiting art and kill creativity. We all know the Red Scare in the U.S. during the Cold War saw a popular narrative of communism and socialism that is devoid of freedom of expression. This state propaganda then further become ‘dehumanization’ and make freedom of expression invalid under the guise of equality. Marx argue that total equality is not possible, and the uniqueness is being celebrated by having them doing what they do best and provide the best for their community. Thus, an individual's interests should be indistinguishable from the society's interest. Freedom is granted when the whole society is likely to benefit from an action. According to Mao in his Little Red Book, freedom of expression in art and literature, after all, is what initially drive the class consciousness. It is capitalism, not communism, that kills creativity.

If left unchecked, the threat of this feedback loop is going to cause a lack of diversity, resulting in stale content, less art critique, and overall decline in our artistic senses. Artists’ creativity that are supposedly protected by the free internet are destroyed within itself through the sheer overuse of viral memes. Capitalism has successfully turned the supposedly open, free-for-all, value-free platform that is the internet against the people into a media in which they are undeniably shaping new values on its own: the art culture that's not geared towards aesthetics and appreciation, but towards more views and personalized clicks. How social media and media industry caters to the demands of the consumer are, in Marx's own words, “digging its own grave”.

Spare nothing, not even the nostalgia

Well, people romanticize the oldies. The good old days, when everything is seen as better and easier. Look at the new art installations that uses the aesthetics of naughty 90s graphic design to become new, the posters released in this decade but with an art deco of the egregious 80s pop artist Andy Warhol, or the special agent-spy movies set frozen in the Nifty Fifties. Nostalgia offers us a way to escape from the hectic choices of our contemporary: different genres of music, dozens of movies to watch, and different fashion to consider. We choose to settle with our old habits, that we know just works. Remember how do we throw our money on sequels and reboots and remakes of old movies we used to watch during our younger days? We don’t even care about new releases at the cinema! Did you remember how Transformers 2 and their subsequent sequels perform at the box office at their opening week?

The huge sales of figurines and toys of Star Wars franchise—if we could scrutinize them enough—came from the old loyal fanbase of the late Lucasfilm series, not primarily from new viewers. Then suddenly, surprise-surprise. Our love for an old franchise deemed dead enough to be remembered and treasure soon must be destroyed to pave way for three new outrageous sequels (the ones with Kylo Ren and Snoke) by the grace of our beloved capitalism. Sadly, nothing is left untouched by the capitalism’s unforgiving corruption. Nostalgia has become a gimmick that makes people like some art more than they should, because it’s familiar. It is another way of squeezing your pocket dry.

Not that it is bad to make derivatives like covers or remixes, but the trade-offs are far too high. Consequentially, the number of original arts is now very little, because artists don’t bother making new stuff if they just aim for a quick buck. Most of the young adult novels are essentially the same lazy story progression with only different time setting and different character names. Most of them even have the same ending! No more a beautiful journey like the thrillers of Dan Brown or the epic adventures of Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings, which defines their respective times. Do we seriously want to consider Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey as a unique work? Isn’t the Hunger Games and the Maze Runner essentially the same?

If you play video games, you must have known that the trend always starts over. Game developers are making gazillions of sequels, and only a few of them that are actually good. Most are outright trash. Oh, wait, old video games like Homeworld are also getting remasters to cater the demand of nostalgic consumers. No new Command and Conquer release from EA Games? Re-release the 25 years old Red Alert because people will re-buy it! Profit!

15 June 2020 8.03 PM

[lalainajanes]

@thetourguidebarbie and I were complaining about the Polyvore alternatives and I found this truly awful dress on one. Celeb AU fluff was born.

Lookin’ Sharp

She’s exhausted, the consultation she’s walked out of had been a battle, one she’d had to smile through. Caroline’s dealt with difficult people before, had eagerly tackled this latest job. She’d never been one to back down from a challenge but then she’s never met a woman who thought a shapeless shiny mint green caftan was a good look for a Golden Globes after party.

Until today.

She really should have listened to Kat when she’d warned Caroline that socialites were the worst people to style. Caroline had brushed off the words at the time, figuring that her client’s reputation – sweet, agreeable, super committed to using her dad’s money to help ex-cons – would mean she’d be an easy paycheck. She’s mentally listing jewelers who like her, hoping she can find a necklace spectacular enough to distract from the chosen dress’ awfulness. She’s thinking diamonds the size of golf balls might do the trick.

“It’s a lost cause, you know.”

Caroline’s heart lurches when the words ring out, her body tensing. She whirls, dropping the armful of garment bags she’d been lugging out to her car. She hadn’t recognized the voice – she’s never heard Klaus Mikaelson say so many words at once. At least not in real life.

He’s a few paces behind her, hands up and a contrite expression on his distractingly handsome face. “Apologies,” he murmurs.

She relaxes, but not completely. She’s pretty sure Klaus isn’t going to stuff her into a trunk but he’s still a very big deal for a girl trying to make a name for herself in Hollywood. Caroline presses a hand over her chest, takes a deep breath. “You scared me. Do they teach you how to walk like a sneaky ghost when you sign up to play a superhero or something?”

He smiles, “I wasn’t making an effort to be silent. Perhaps you were just preoccupied?”

That’s possible. The fitting she’d just left had not gone well. A client who flat out refused to listen to sense, who appeared to see something vastly different than Caroline did when she looked in a mirror, was proving to be really freaking frustrating.

But she couldn’t exactly tell the client’s boyfriend that, could she?

She pastes on a sunny smile, “Well, award’s season’s just about to go into full swing. I have a lot on my plate. I’m sure you’re very busy too.”

Caroline hopes that’s a subtle enough hint. She’s curious about why he’s followed her out, hadn’t been lying about having an extensive to do list. She’s positive she hadn’t forgotten anything, that the four trips between condo and parking garage haven’t been in vain. She can’t exactly go making demands though, not from a guy whose next movie is projected to have a 100 million dollar opening weekend.

“Not for a few weeks yet,” Klaus says, crouching to gather her scattered things. Caroline hurriedly follows, brushing off the pebbles and dust from the bags he hands her. “I’m just supposed to smile for the cameras and look pretty. Make people forget about the… incident in Las Vegas.”

She chances a glance at him, unsure of how to react to that statement. She’d never have thought he’d make such a direct reference.

Caroline knew there’s no way she’d be able to be blasé if photos of her naked body had been splashed all over the internet. Then again, she’d never play strip poker with total strangers.

It hadn’t quite been a full frontal shot - Klaus had been lucky, and a champagne bottle had been left on an end table - saving the pics from being fully NC-17. Had circumstances been different they might not have even caused a stir. Klaus Mikaelson’s resume had a couple of racy film and TV appearances from before he’d left England on it, not that Caroline had googled him.

Okay, fine. She hadn’t googled him recently. And she definitely hasn’t watched the compilation of all his sex scenes on YouTube since she’d met him in person.

Unfortunately for Klaus (and really unfortunately for his publicists) the timing of the photos of his drunken debauchery leaking couldn’t have come at a worse time.

He’d been voicing a character in an animated feature when they’d come out, a gruff but loveable lone wolf who learned about the power of friendship. That, plus a superhero blockbuster on deck, meant he had to appeal to the broadest audience possible.

The pictures were the opposite of wholesome, damage control was necessary. He’d been volunteering with soup kitchens, had adopted a rescue dog. Had gone public with a relationship, one with a textbook good girl, and had been seen holding hands and getting fro-yo and generally being snuggly.

In public, at least. In private, from what Caroline’s observed, the relationship isn’t the warmest. Klaus has usually been in the background, glued to his phone and making noncommittal grunts when asked for an opinion.

Caroline’s not sure how to address the Vegas incident without putting her foot in her mouth so she decides to go back to his original statement. She straightens, folding the stack of dresses over her arm, “What did you mean about a lost cause?”

He’s edged closer when he stands. She keeps her eyes trained on his face, not on the way the fine weave of his shirt clings to his shoulders. “Just that your work’s not going to end up on any best dressed lists. You’ve tried to steer her towards flattering and age appropriate but she’s remarkably convinced her perspective is the right one. It’s not just clothes, if it’s any consolation. It’s everything.”

Wow. It certainly seemed like there was trouble in paradise. Caroline does her best to be diplomatic, “Personal style is a funny thing, I guess.”

He grins, head tipping to the side, “That’s an impressive non-answer. My publicist would be proud.”

“It’s a gossipy industry. Badmouthing clients is going to lead to fewer opportunities not more.”

His eyes sharpen, “Ah, speaking of opportunities, I’d wondered if you might do me a favor.”

A favor? That seems suspicious. “What kind?”

He laughs softly, “Nothing nefarious, love. I’d merely like a ride.”

“A ride?” she repeats, eyes shifting over to the black SUV she knows belongs to Klaus.

“In your backseat. Covered in a few of the bags you brought with you. Passed the paparazzi that are staked out on this block. They need to think I’ve spent the night, you see. And I’d really rather not.”

This conversation just got weirder and weirder. “Did you… I mean, it’s not any of my business if you guys are fighting but maybe talking it out would be better than fleeing?”

He looks at her as if she’s said something crazy. “We don’t talk. Well, no more than necessary.”

“Sounds like a healthy relationship,” Caroline quips. Her eyes widen and her teeth snap shut in horror. Had she seriously just said that? She’s so freaking fired.

Klaus surprises her though. He laughs again, louder this time, the sound echoing off the concrete walls around them. She’s confused, and frozen, unwilling to say anything that might make things even worse. When he calms he shifts closer, relieving her of some of the bags. “We’re not in a relationship, sweetheart. Not really. It’s a contract. A mutually beneficial agreement. I raise her profile, she makes me look like a fine upstanding citizen. Everybody wins.”

Huh. While Caroline knows those kind of arrangements happen, at least intellectually, she’d never expected to be a party to one. “That sounds…”

“Awkward?” Klaus supplies, “tedious? I can assure you it’s both. We’ll have an amicable breakup in April, pledge to stay friends. I’ll be done with press and can disappear for a bit.”

A thought occurs to Caroline, one that she doesn’t like. “Wait, did you fake adopt a dog too? Because that’s not cool.” She’d seen snaps of him walking the dog, some kind of Labrador mutt, and it’s really freaking cute.

“No, Munch was legally and truly adopted. He’s likely being given too many treats by my assistant as we speak.

Caroline nods sharply, satisfied, and fishes out her keys so she can pop the trunk of her car. “Good. If you were a faking a dog adoption I’d have to assume you’re a garbage person and I would not let you in my backseat.”

“Big fan of dogs, are you?”

“In theory, yes. Not in practice just yet.”

She begins loading up, carefully arranging things for maximum space use. She feels Klaus watching her carefully but she focuses on her task. Now that she knows he’s single the little devil on her shoulder is urging her to flirt. Whispering that the worst thing that would happen is that he wouldn’t reciprocate.

And if he did? Well, Caroline wouldn’t mind seeing him naked again. Would be seriously onboard with touching him while he was naked.

“Perhaps you’d like to meet him? You could come in for a bit once you’ve dropped me off?” he asks.

Caroline rears back, nearly hitting her head on the open trunk.

Klaus makes a soft noise, concerned, and his palm brushes over the back of her head, lowering to settle on her shoulder. “Careful. No need to injure yourself. I’d much rather we have dinner than take a trip to the emergency room.”

Maybe she had hit her head. “Dinner?” she parrots. “Like, together?”

He nods, a smile curling his lips. His thumb strokes her neck, an absent gesture that’s unfairly distracting. “You, me, the dog begging for crumbs. We’re working on it but his manners aren’t the best just yet. If that goes well I hope you’ll agree to do it again sometime.”

Clearly, Caroline hadn’t needed to talk herself out of flirting. Klaus didn’t share her qualms. Unless this was another step in his image rehab. She shifts back until he’s no longer touching her, crossing her arms. “Is this another contract kind of thing? Dating someone who’s not super rich so you seem down to earth?”

Klaus denial is immediate, “No, nothing like that. I’ve just spent an awful lot of time studying your face, wondering at the comments you’ve been holding back. Your face is remarkably easy to read when you’re frustrated.”

Whoops. Caroline makes a note to work on that. Her clients were a self-absorbed group but it’s possibly someone would notice her inner screaming at some point and she couldn’t have that. At least not until she’s more established. “I suppose I could eat,” Caroline says slowly.

Klaus expression warms, his pleasure evident. “Lovely. Just let me program my address into your phone.”

Caroline hands it over willingly, doesn’t shy away from the brush of his fingers against hers, letting her body brush against his more than necessary as she returns to packing up.

Half-assing things isn’t in her nature. If Caroline’s going to flirt (and oh boy is she ever) she’s going to do it right.

[praphit]

Leprechaun in the Hood

"Jesus loves me, this I know. If He doesn't imma find me a hoe."

Gold like that is what you'll find in this movie here -

"Leprechaun in the Hood"

This movie came out in 2000. I don't think I had ever watched it before recently. I remember it being a thing. I remember seeing it in Blockbuster Video (remember that?). But, I probably couldn't bring myself to support this absurdity. You have to take a stand with these monsters.

If you don't they'll end up, not only in the hood, but in the club, 

out in space, 

and before you know it,  at Granny's for Thanksgiving dinner. 

I couldn't do it back then. But, 2020 has been a rough year, and has lowered my standards, so here we go.

We start off with a pleasant surprise. Ice-T! 

What is his real name? Is it Theodore? Thomas? Wait...

Oh, it's Tracy! Anyway, if Ice-T is in the mix, it can't be all bad. 

We get him in the first scene, 

looking marvelous.

Of course, the Leprechaun is trapped by some type of hocus pocus, and his pot of gold (and a magic flute) are there for the taking. Now, we know how this is going to go - someone always steals the leprechauns stash, and then he is unleashed on a murderous rampage.

Side note: At some point, we've gotta cut the excuses, right?? I mean, the whole "But, they stole my shit!" thing can only be used to overlook the killing so many times. If I were to leave my door open, and from time to time people come in and take my stuff - how many times can I chase them down and jovially murder them before I face the fact that I simply enjoy killing?

Be you Mr. Lep. Be you!

Ice-T fights with the lep (feels wrong to say "lep". It feels like it should be a slur, but...) and wins, cuz duh, he's Ice-T. Using the power of the gold and magic flute,  Ice becomes a pimp/rap mogul. Why the "pimp" part, duh, he's Ice-T.

It's hard out here in the streets for a black person. The popular belief is that the only way out of the hood is by mic skills, being 6'5 with ball skills, prostitution skills, or be Oprah. Believe it or not, that last one is doable, but the most difficult. Ice-T is the gate keeper of the hood. Not only do you need one of these skills, but you also need his blessing.

Three young brothas say to themselves "We have mic skills! Perhaps Ice will anoint us!" 

The problem is they suck! (you should be able to tell by that pic of them)

This is a common problem. All it takes is for your significant other to tell you how good you sound in the shower or something (really they're just buttering you up for sexy time), and you believe it, but you're terrible! Your only hope is the first round of American Idol.

Thing is, with the right amount of luck, a bad singer, can still make a fortune in the music biz.

Now, we've got the three brothas vs Ice-T, AND vs The Leprechaun. BOOM!

It's at this point that things get interesting.

First off, Mr. Lep has a gang of "Zombie Fly Girls". 

They aren't dead zombies. I actually think flesh-decaying sexy zombies would have been better. This gang helps him fight battles, and recruit people up to his lair to be... loved to death. What a way to go.

(Be honest, you want that lovin.)

Life gets tough for our young three "heroes", so they need to formulate a plan in the midst of this three-way battle for the gold and the flute.

Cross-dressing, baby! 

Their plan is centered around cross-dressing. Now, again, I feel like they're making excuses. At some point, when all of your plans involve cross-dressing... it's time to ask yourselves some deep questions.

So, here's this Bugs Bunny style plan:

"Buy some hooker dresses, wait, FIRST get a wax (Brazilian, sonn!), THEN rock those hooker dresses! Hit the pavement, and suck off a few people, just to help get into character. Infiltrate the zombie fly girl empire to get to Mr. Lep. Ice-T would never look for us in that world, and we can get close to Mr. Lep and steal his stuff, and possibly suck him off in the process... I mean... we're there, right??

YES! 

TEAM YOUNG BROTHAS GO on three!"

Grade: The budget. They didn't really have one. No need for a budget when the studio won't give you any money for this shameful idea.

Dopes: "We've got this idea for Mr. Lep to chase black people around the projects, doing his thing, you know???"

Producers: "That's it?"

Dopes: "What more does anyone need? Am i right?"

Producers: "Why the hell... ??? NO! Don't black people have enough to worry about as it is without some little green man terrorizing them and turning them against one another? HARD HELL NO! Now, get out!"

You really notice the lack of money during the kills. There are a couple of times when a kill is about to happen, and they just cut to Mr. Lep in some dark space, laughing his ass off to the victim's screams. Where is he? He's got some type of dark Laugh Room.

The Leprechaun also talks in rhymes. Some of his rhymes include pop culture icons like Tiger Woods, but at the same time there are scenes where he doesn't know what something is... like rap. You know Tiger Woods, but not rap or weed? But, I'll let that go.

It's a fun movie, despite it's inherent flaws. Ice-T is great! And they know he's great. He gets shot so many times in this movie, but he keeps getting up for the next scene. They know that they have no movie without him.

The problem is all of the nonsense in the third act with that "plan", AND they close the movie with the Leprechaun rapping. RAPPING! 

Zombie hoes dancing around him and everything. I remember looking at the person next to me, watching this movie, and saying to them "what the hell is happening?" Even with that, it was still fun though.

Grade: generous, entertaining, though slightly offensive C-

Spoiler Alert (tho not really), the Leprechaun doesn't die. He becomes the new pimp/rap mogul/gate keeper. Which I guess works, because we need all of the luck we can get to get through that gate.

Will the black people of this neighborhood survive? We can find out, because Mr. Lep goes "Back to tha hood"

*cue eye roll*

(From Ice-T to Sticky Fingaz)

[ted-hyung]

as a b1a4 supremacist, what do you think one should do to get to know them? i only recently kind of got into them because i didnt really know them until sandeul released his solo album

that’s CNU, btw, used to invent long hair before nuest ren or seventeen jeonghan.

also used to rock hipster glasses before it was cool. kang daniel the shoulder gangster? idk her. it’s CNU.

anyway.

where should i start? BUT a major note to take about B1A4 is they went from this:

(RIP FASHUN)

to this:

hallelujah. read more here.

listen, friend, i go way back with B1A4. i literally cried watching this subbed video lmaooo skip to 43:40.

it’s from MTV MATCH UP B1A4 X BLOCK B eps 8. rip me wyd. let’s talk about B1A4 and block b. they were the shits back then yo. 2011 was their debut year; two boy groups from unknown agencies tackling two different genres and images and MTV GOD BLESS MTV GAVE THEM A MATCHING VARIETY SHOW. you can watch B1A4 cuts here and you will see the legendary dread!zico tryna to win over gentle jinyoung-hyung and FAILED BIG TIME who’s crying with me.

block b will always hold a place in my heart. do you know who invented hep hap? it’s block b. their “new kids on the block”, “welcome to the block”, and “blockbuster” albums have no fault. none. but then they’re hep hap no more and i lost them.

B1A4 KOREAN DISCOGRAPHY + PERSONAL SONG REC, from latest to newest. i believe you can find the newest albums on SPOTIFY JFC why can’t day6.

LET’S FLY (2011): please listen to “only one” lmao. “only learned the bad things” was so, so, so sweet for my skinny freshman ass. i love it.

IT B1A4 (2011): lbr “beautiful target” was the best. watch them grow from you zoom zoom my heart like a rocket to CNU’s iconic everybody say la la. also “chu chu chu” was super chill. “fooool”? you’d find yourself singing along upon first listen.

IGNITION (2012): EVERYTHING IN THIS ALBUM BUT THE TITLE TRACK AKA MY HYUNG JUNG JINYOUNG’S FIRST TACKLE ON PRODUCING GEMS. also sandeul has a solo track here TITLED “CRUSH” GO FIND IT NOW.

IGNITION SPECIAL EDITION (2012): “baby goodnight” is so iconic i’m still side-eyeing newer idols who aren’t singing it to the camera while they’re preparing to go to sleep LMAOOOOOOOOO.

IN THE WIND (2012): yes they graced us BANA with 3 albums back in 2012. “TRIED TO WALK” HANDS DOWN ONE OF THEIR BEST SONGS. TOP 5. i’m the president of na honja ireoke opening line. i have a shrine for that line. the most impactful opening line of all songs, korean or not. amen. listen to all tracks please please. you’ll find the B1A4 distinct flavor on “what do you want to do”. like. go. now.

WHAT’S HAPPENING (2013): B1A4 wore fancy stuffs during this promotion. me ghosta. but DO YOU LIKE BALLAD? “good love” had me on the floor. then i read the translation and i died.

WHO AM I (2014): jesus lord and savior. this album. jesus f christ man THIS ALBUM. LISTEN TO EVERY SINGLE THING HERE PLEASE. “baby” further wow me about baro’s voice. “too much” WHICH IS SANDEUL + GONGCHAN’S DUET? fuck lmao we’re talking about heartbreak here and mine’s bleeding whenever i listen to “too much”. “DRUNK WITH MUSIC” tho. wow CNU-hyung. killed. this. concept. i can’t. you’re lying if your shoulders aren’t moving along and if your head isn’t nodding along. it’s THAT good. you’ll feel the swag. seriously.

SOLO DAY (2014): summer means “solo day”. period. it’s my summer jam. it should be YOURS. “drive” is so so so good. it has asphalt in the lyric. honestly do listen. also if you’re JYP stan do realize B1A4 had collaboration with min and suzy and in this album, sunmi. awesome.

SWEET GIRL (2015): oh my girl visual slash vocal slash handsome girl jiho is in the music video for the title track “sweet girl”. life’s good. in “wait” BARO IS SINGING I REPEAT BARO IS SINGING AND BANA prolly cried everywhere. and jinyoung wailing i can’t stop thinking about you girl everyday, everyday? LMAO BYE.

GOOD TIMING (2016): “a lie”, undoubtedly quenched BANA’s thirst after one whole year. have you watched “a lie” live on music shows? if the ‘touch my cheek tell me i’m not lying’ isn’t the best point of all dance point then idk what to trust. yes, i’m that supremacist LMAO. “crushing on you again” is so sweet, so very winter season love song aka B1A4’s very own color. they should be dubbed as winter season kings because their releases during fall/winter (in the wind, who am i, good timing) are the be(a)sts. “nightmare” paved the road for winner’s “really really” LMAO i’m joking. but not really. i mean baro and mino are practically brothers. “in dreams” sounds so fucking dreamy, like i said, totally winter season love song. “i’ll find you” makes me long for someone it shall inspire y’all. “together” is the one last song that leaves you wonder if these singing strangers are really worth our money and time and dedication and the answer is YES BECAUSE B1A4 RECORDED THIS SONG WITH KOREAN BANAS. jesus.

okay.

it’s july 2017. my bro baro is acting in a drama now. sandeul, your man, has collab with a starship kid. does it mean we’re going to have another winter season album? i’d say amen.

bonus: this is my fave pic of them.

if you’ve heard of it jinyoung is a composer. he’s well noted by other idols and important people in the industry lmao. he also acts. wow. i don’t follow girl groups, but LMAO THIS SONG? “AT THE SAME PLACE” MADE BY JINYOUNG HELPED B1A4 TO GET MORE RECOGNITION. this time i gotta thank mnet for the opportunity. and for the girls who were so sweet fangirling towards my hyung jung jinyoung.

listen to my ult oh my girl’s “one step two step” here and say yes that you can hear jinyoung’s magic there. i’ll just link to the BEST FANCAM EVER.

HERE’S THEM SINGING THE LEGENDARY SONG THEMSELVES:

AND JINYOUNG COMPOSED THE NEWEST GIRL GROUP BOP “DEEP BLUE EYES” wow my hyung shall be crowned as THE PRINCE OF GIRL GROUP BOPS. like.

i cry a lot. but promise this is the last time. i cried watching sandeul’s music video for his solo debut “stay as you are” but y kno it already. help my bro reach 1 million views before a year please.

fun fact: been with them since 2011. never got into shipping business, just here purely for the music and the people. they’re like friends that i’ve known for a long time; we don’t necessarily stay in touch but i always think of them fondly, y feel? i find new friends as i get older every year, yet i’ll always be the first to congratulate them if they reach another milestone in their respective lives y kno? moral of this story: don’t ship for a long lasting stanning TROOLOLOLOLLOLOLO.

this is comprehensive.

i hope i helped.

everyone please have a good weekend.

[bigyack-com]

Shahid Kapoor hides his injury with a mask as he returns to Mumbai with wife Mira Rajput, see pics - bollywood

Shahid Kapoor and his wife Mira Rajput returned to Mumbai on Saturday, after the actor had to leave the shoot of Jersey in Mohali midway due to an injury. He was seen covering up his injury with a mask.

Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput are back in Mumbai now. ( Varinder Chawla ) Earlier, it was reported that Shahid was hit by a ball on his mouth while playing cricket for a scene. He was shooting at the cricket stadium in Mohali and had to get 13 stitches for his injury.An insider told PTI, “Shahid was playing perfectly fine and rehearsing before the shot, when the ball unexpectedly came and hit him on the lower lip and cut open a wide gash where blood started gushing out. He was immediately taken for treatment and a doctor was rushed to see him. To close the wound, stitches were sutured by the doctor.”Shahid reassured fans that he was “recovering fast”. In a tweet shared on Sunday morning, he wrote, “Thank you for all the concern. Yes I have got a few stitches but am recovering fast. #jersey has taken a little bit of my blood but a script this good deserves that in the least. Have a good one you all. Keep it real. Make it count. Spread the love. Humanity above all.” Thank you for all the concern. Yes I have got a few stitches but am recovering fast. #jersey has taken a little bit of my blood but a script this good deserves that in the least. Have a good one you all. Keep it real. Make it count. Spread the love. Humanity above all.— Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) January 12, 2020 Mira rushed to Chandigarh as soon as she got news of Shahid’s injury. The actor, who has a heavily bruised lower lip, is out of action for a few days and will resume shooting for Jersey as soon as the swelling reduces.Also read | Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna give us a peek inside their dabbas, nominate Katrina Kaif and Bhumi Pednekar. See picsJersey is the official Hindi adaptation of the Telugu blockbuster of the same name. Gowtam Tinnanuri, who directed the original, has come on board to helm the remake as well.Earlier, Shahid told IANS that he was hesitant to do another remake right after Kabir Singh (a remake of the Telugu hit Arjun Reddy), but Jersey moved him. The film tells the story of a failed cricketer who returns to the game at the age of 36.“Personally, I could relate with this story because, I too, am 38 years old. Sometimes, I also used to feel that I am not delivering a blockbuster film, so what should I do? Should I try something else? There is a time in everyone’s life when we wonder why we are not doing well in life. Then you do something else, or make some kind of compromise,” he said.Shahid revealed that he cried four times while watching Jersey. “Deep down, I feel you should do things you love or feel connected to, whether you get success or not. You should feel satisfaction in heart while doing what you do. That’s the message of this film. Actually, I cried four times when I saw the film. This character is not like Kabir Singh at all. He is very quiet and introverted in nature. But his journey is inspiring,” he said.Produced by Allu Aravind, Aman Gill and Dil Raju, the Jersey remake is scheduled to hit the theatres on August 28, 2020.Follow @htshowbiz for more Read the full article

[bananacookies1]

Question Tag!

I was tagged by @madmcmxciii! thx bby, I had fun with this one! : )

1. How old are you? Eighteen! But less than two months ago I was seventeen

2. What’s the last movie you’ve seen? So for Spanish class we had to watch this one movie but I forgot the name of it (it had something to do with a man turning into a communist but it was so boring haha) so I’ll list the next one I watched, which was Train to Busan! The ending always gets me ;;;

3. Do you like taking photos? (if you want post your best shot!) YES walking around and taking photos, or even looking at pretty photos, always calms me and motivates me to write! Like I’m that random person taking a walk and stopping every minute to take a picture. For selfies, I only take them when I’m wearing makeup~ I would post a pic but I’m on desktop right now and all of them are on my phone

4. What are the typical dishes of your country? Ohhhh my there’s a ton. I’d say hamburgers, pizza, chicken, literally every food imaginable because it’s America

5. Choose your faves three kpop groups and pick the eras you like the most for each one of them (and why, if you want) Ooooh I like this question! Let’s start off with BTS~ I enjoyed the run era most because it was when I was first getting into them, and I felt such a strong attraction to them and their music during that time. I can’t connect to them now like I had during that era. There was something so special to it, and it’s when I fell in love with Park Jimin : ) Next is Got7, and it’s their fly era. For some reason I feel like Markson really drew me into this group because I saw them speaking English to each other during this era for the first time and I thought it was the cutest thing ever! The fanfiction Playhouse didn’t help, either ; ) Lastly, Block B! Their Blockbuster album/era has a HUGE place in my heart because I was writing my first kpop fanfiction (I’m Not Sorry) while listening to the album over and over again. The songs are so upbeat and powerful, I love it

6. Who’s your inspiration in life? Park Jimin and Sunny from SNSD. They’re both so bubbly and sweet, and it inspires me to be as kind as they are~ Anyways, Sunny was my first ever kpop bias!

7. What’s the place you want to travel the most? South Korea! I wanna meet my boys and shop : )

8. You’re more like a sea person or a mountain one? SEA I love the water and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. Like how calm would it be to live beside the sea and listen to the wildlife?

9. What’s your favourite junk food? I have sooo many, but I love me some chocolate chip kookies, green tea bubble tea/frap, and cookies and cream ice cream!

10. Apart from the kpop stuff, and the kdramas and all that concerns that “world”, you’d like to live in South Korea? Honestly I still would, every country is unique in its own way and I’d love to sightsee and take pictures (throwback to question 3 haha) also I really want to learn Korean, so I’d love to live there~

I won’t tag anyone specific, but consider yourself tagged if you read this!

[hamishlinklaters]

Why are people asking Josh to come back to work, i mean he as like 4 movies coming out this year including journey 3 whitch is a blockbuster, and a TV series what should he do more?

This might get long and ranty, so brace yourself. 

First–I don’t know that Journey 3 has actually been confirmed. And honestly, if he does take this role, it goes against all the things he’s said he wanted to do with his career, including ditch the “kiddie” films. But, I digress. Will I still see it? Yes. Because I support him and his work. 

Peeps keep throwing out the “he has all these projects he’s done, stop complaining about him not working, you’re just a bunch of haters who don’t deserve to call yourselves fans” and I, too, had that mindset for a long time. I had that mindset for most of last year, and the year before, because I thought, “look at this lineup he’s got, we’ll have new material, new fans coming in, and the fandom will flourish!” 

Except that didn’t happen. 

In fact, nothing really happened. 

3 of the movies he’s done were filmed over 2 years ago. Remember– In Dubious Battle, The Long Home and The Masterpiece/The Disaster Artist all filmed in 2015. Last year, he filmed the pilot for Future Man, worked on Ape (the short) and did his brief stint with Tragedy Girls–a flick we can assume his character dies in within the first 10 minutes. A blogger here totaled he worked like 68 days over the last 2 years, or something near that figure, as I recall. 

People got bored. People started leaving. Anybody who tries to deny that the fandom hasn’t seen a huge decline is lying to themselves. I’ve been around for 5 years. I’ve seen it in its height and I’m seeing it now. So, the idea that people are tired of waiting for new stuff to come out is not contained to just a few “fake fans”, unfortunately. It took me a while to get that, but I can’t deny it now. 

In Dubious Battle is going straight-to-DVD in March. Ape, we’ll get to see next month, and, I feel, is a huge win. The news about it being a feature film that he’s also going to direct is great, and I do believe those of us who are still invested are super pumped for that. Future Man, we’ll see at the end of this year, so, we have a while to go before that comes. But the previous “will start filming in January 2017″, hasn’t happened yet.  

Someone said to me the other day (who is also a Josh fan), that they started falling down the rabbit hole of another actor. He also has projects lined up, but is visible on social media, does events, and really tries to put himself out there, so his fanbase knows what he’s up too. In a sense, this person feels there’s more to engage with as a fan than we get with Josh. 

No, we can’t demand Josh do any of these things. And he may have wanted an extended break after the madness of THG. But, we are, as a fanbase, kind of in the dark. Lately, our news consists of scraps from his entourage’s Instagram stories and the occasional fan pic. The stuff about Ape is the most word we’ve got about his career in a long while. 

So, in turn, many people say they want him “to go back to work”. It’s hard to stick around when there’s nothing to be a fan of. Somedays I feel like I’m the only person still trying to be active. And it blows. I think we all agree that we miss the old days. Maybe we’ll never get those days back, but I wish we’d at least get a new interview, or new photoshoot (another thing we’ve gone 2 years without) to know what Josh’s plans are. That’s all. 

And to be perfectly honest–I don’t see anything wrong with wanting that. It doesn’t make one a hater. The opposite of love is not really hate, it’s apathy. And for those of us who are still here, it’s not that we don’t care. In fact, we care a lot. That’s why so many are frustrated. 

[nostalgiaispeace]

1585.

Well, how’s your view of things today? not well...i’ll tell you that Robert Downey Jr. — Bet you have a crush on him. i mean he’s cool How do you like your jeans? skinny Do you watch Skins? i have Know any Gleeks? (yourself included) no...? Can you name all the contents of your purse/bag? naw Do you know what Bosco Sticks are? nope How do you feel about Jesse Eisenberg? i love him Do you like your hoodies tight, or a lil’ oversized? oversized Have you ever been sailing? Nope. Do you have any jewelry/accessories with owls (an owl..?) on it? Or is that a hipster thing? Nope. If you went on American Idol, do you think you’d go through to Hollywood? probably not What’s the closest thing to you that’s red? my cup Have you ever been fishing? yeah What’s in the background of your default pic? garden Have you ever heard of the movie ‘Frozen’? yeah What would you do if you were to get stuck on a ski lift overnight? cry What’s your favorite Bath & Body Works scent? none Have you ever received an anonymous gift? yup What kind of laugh do you have? i’m not a fan of my laugh because it sounds annoying Will you have a Valentine this year? i did Do you plan on seeing The Black Swan? i’ve seen it Do you keep a scrapbook? no Do you hoard anything? i suppose i keep most things Are you afraid of flying? no Do you know any Star Wars freaks? yeah So, what about all them birds just dropping out of the sky? that’s not happening At what age do you become ‘old’? i dunno...i’m 29 and feel super old Most recent Facebook ‘like’? idk Would you rather go to Disney World, or Pleasure Island? neither What song would you like to hear on the radio? idk Macaroon or a cupcake? cupcake Have you ever camped out somewhere for an event the next day? no What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? nothing Do you do anything regularly that could damage your body? probably What do you love most in the world? Harry Potter Who will you be with Saturday night? my husband What woke you up this morning? alarms, myself Did you kiss or hug anyone today? yeah Who was the last person you rode in a car with? my husband What was your first thought this morning? "i’m tired” Where would you like to live? idc Do long distance relationships work? i’ve seen it happen What do you want to be when you grow up? a mom Where do you see yourself in 5 years? dead

Who do you wish you were with right now? my husband If you had one whole day to yourself, what would you do? a whole lot of nothing Is anything bothering you? Yes. Do you miss someone? well yeah What do you want to do right now? to go pee Are you listening to music right now? no Are you in a good mood? sure What are you doing this weekend? watching harry potter. When were you the saddest in your life? i’m always sad Do you own more than one cell phone? No. Have you ever had a song written about you? yeah Have you ever sang in public? yeah What songs make you happy? a lot of songs What do you like to listen to before you go to bed? nothing Do you have a job? yeah What does your ipod have in it right now? - Have you ever loved someone and were too scared to tell them? no Next concert? idk When is the next time you will take a shower/bath? Which one will you take? today i’m sure; a shower Are you currently waiting on someone to do something for you/to you? yeah As a child, did you ever get the chance to go to Disney World/Disneyland? nope Are you someone who is really committed to politics in your area/country? not really When was the last time you fought with your significant other, if any? idk Do you know anyone, personally, who is in an abusive relationship? Are you? no and no When was the last time you were on a boat? Where did you travel on it? i’m not sure Are you planning on going anywhere with someone, some time today? naw Does your family ever have any kind of weird traditions in your house? no When is the next time you will attend a family reunion? Where will it be? idk Do you ever take bubble baths only to relax yourself in some way? no Do you have any friends who act like they don’t know you in public? no.. Do you like cereal? What would you consider your favorite kind of cereal? yeah. rn my fav is lucky charms

Do you find your school to be loaded with hot guys or not so much? - What kind of cell phone do you have? (ex. flip, slider, or traditional.) iPhone. Do you like riding roller coasters when you go to any amusement park? no Are you waiting for someone to get online on an IM program right now? No. Are there any people you don’t like for your significant other/crush to talk to? well yeah Have you ever forgotten your birthday? Did you soon figure it out? no Would you beat up anyone at the moment, if you absolutely had the chance? no..

What color are the curtains in your room if you have any at the moment? Black. What would you consider the best kind of food you, yourself could make? pizza lol Is there anyone you are currently trying to get out of trouble? Why? No. Are you one of those people who don’t like children of any kind at all? nope Are you planning on going anywhere today? Where are you going exactly? nope! When was the last time you rode a horse, if you’ve ever ridden one? when i was little Are you plotting anything at the moment? No. Do you hate it when people show public displays of affection in your face? naw Have you ever wanted your significant other to get rid of a friend? probably

If you have siblings, have they moved out or do they still live with you? i moved out Do you ever actually like going to Wal-Mart or is it regularly boring? i hate walmart Do you know anyone who has or has had any kind of mental illness/disorder? Yes Do you ever go to Blockbuster? How frequently would you say you go? i miss blockbuster Do you ever listen to music so you can actually change your emotion? naw

[newyorktheater]

  Check out:

Favorite stage performances in 2019.

Top 10 Lists of Top 10 Theater in 2019.

Best Broadway Cast Recording of 2019.

Top 10 Theater of the Decade.

Worst Theater of the Decade.

  People who engaged with the arts frequently had a 31 percent lower risk of dying, according to a new study from the British Medical Journal. This was independent of demographic, socioeconomic, health related, behavioral, and social factors. Even those who were infrequent consumers of culture had 14 percent lower risk of dying than shoe who never engaged.

The Journal’s editors observe:”The data show that the very people who have the most to gain from participating in cultural activities are least likely to do so. More than 40% of patients with lung disease, depression, or loneliness reported never engaging with the arts despite robust evidence of the potential benefits. Over 40% of participants in the least wealthy group also reported that they never accessed cultural activities. Work must now be done to ensure that the health benefits of these activities are accessible to those who would benefit most.”

The Week in NY Theater Previews and Reviews

The Sorceress The Sorceress (Di Kishefmakherin), the first work of Yiddish theatre ever presented in America, is back on stage in New York 136 years after its U.S. premiere. In my article for TDF Stages, Yiddish Culture Is Alive and Well and Playing in New York, I talk to Motl and Mikhl, the director of the play and the star, who portrays the wicked witch, Bobe Yakhne, in drag. Though Babe is the villain, she is the title character.

The Sorceress, by the same company that put together the acclaimed “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish, is just one of three events this month that demonstrate a resurgence in interest in Yiddish language and culture.

Luke Kirby as stationmaster Thomas Hudetz in “Judgment Day” at the Park Avenue Armory

Judgment Day with Luke Kirby Luke Kirby, who portrayed a movie star hired to play “Hamlet” in the cult TV comedy “Slings & Arrows” 16 years ago, is now on stage for real, as Thomas Hudetz, a murderer in Ödön von Horváth’s 1937 drama “Judgement Day” at the Park Avenue Armory.

Kirby has lived in New York for some two decades now, but has only appeared in a handful of plays, spending most of his time in television — currently as the real-life comic Lenny Bruce in Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” for which he won an Emmy earlier this year, and as closeted civil servant Gene Goldman on HBO’s “The Deuce.” Why so few stage roles…and why this one now?

Those are the questions I put to him in an interview for TDF Stages.

Ian McKellen as Gus the Theatre Cat in “Cats,” co-written and directed by Tom Hooper.

Cats the movie – pics and reviews Cats” isn’t for everyone – much of it is a cheesy, B-grade affair seemingly crafted solely to take over midnight-movie slots from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ Those with an open mind, though, as well as little kids and the T-Swift posse, might find it somewhat pawesome.” Brian Truitt writes in USA Today, in the most positive review I could find. He’s enchanted by Taylor Swift, but turned off by the “nightmare fuel…when human faces are put on tiny mice and Rockette-esque cockroaches.”

More typical is Manohla Dargis in the New York Times: “It is tough to pinpoint when the kitschapalooza called “Cats” reaches its zenith or its nadir, which are one and the same. The choices are legion…

Sing Street

“Sing Street” is a stage musical based on the sweet, funny “happy-sad” 2016 Irish movie by writer/director John Carney about a teenager named Conor growing up in Dublin during the economically depressed but musically vibrant 1980s, who forms a band to impress a girl name Raphina. The musical has its pleasures, especially for those nostalgic for the era of made-for-MTV, New Wave synthesized tunes. A talented group of young adult actor-musicians, ages 16 to 25, perform mostly original pastiche songs by Carney and Scottish singer-songwriter Gary Clark, who was part of the 80s scene and continues his hit-making now. But “Sing Street” the stage musical is likely to disappoint anybody who has seen “Sing Street” the movie (which is currently available for viewing online, through IMDB TV, for free.)

  The Week in New York Theater News

The opening of West Side Story has been pushed from from February 6 to February 20 due to a knee injury that left the show’s star Isaac Powell unable to perform. The show began preview peformancs on December 10

.@mockingbirdbway will be the first-ever Broadway show to perform at @TheGarden on February 26, 2020, in front of some 18,000 New York City public school students. Here’s playwright Aaron Sorkin and the new cast posing at the arena. pic.twitter.com/txrecILSJm

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) December 18, 2019

..@TheCrownNetflix stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith will perform in @SleeveNotes‘ “Lungs” at @BAM_Brooklyn March 25-April 19 2020. The play is about a couple wrestling with the morality of having kids in an overpopulated planet. pic.twitter.com/96r9elP5hB

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) December 18, 2019

View of the Shed from The Highline

The Shed’s Second Season

Claudia Rankine, “Help”

Arinzé Kene, “Misty”

Tomas Saraceno, “Particular Matter (s)”

Meet at the Shed, January 11,2020

A free, daylong, building-wide takeover with exhibitions, performances, food

  Help March 10 – April 5,2020

An inquiry into white male privilege by Claudia Rankine

Tomás Saraceno: Particular Matter(s) May 6 – August 9, 2020;

A visual art installation that is intended to be neither seen nor heard, but felt.

Misty September 24 – October 24

Fusing live music, spoken word, and absurdist comedy, Misty is a journey through the dark alleyways of a city in flux and a genre-defying excavation of the pressures and expectations that come with being an artist in our time

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.reached an agreement with the Justice Department to resolve government concerns that the company violated a 2010 antitrust settlement that allowed it to merge with Ticketmaster, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under the original agreement, known as a consent decree, the companies were allowed to combine but had to agree to conditions designed to help preserve competition in the live-events industry.

Dear Evan Hansen

Kerry Butler (Mrs. George), Erika Henningsen (Cady Heron)

Scene from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theater in London.

Isabelle McCalla and Caitlin Kinnunen as high school girlfriends in The Prom

(l-r) Nicholas L. Ashe, Jonathan Burke, J. Quinton Johnson, Jeremy Pope, Caleb Eberhardt, John Clay III, Gerald Caesar

The problem with teen musicals on Broadway by critic Christian Lewis in American Theatre Magazine.

When it comes to teenagers and Broadway, 2016’s Dear Evan Hansen changed the game. The Tony-winning Pasek and Paul musical was certainly not the first Broadway show about—or beloved by—teens. That credit might go to Spring Awakening (2006) or 13 (2008) or Runaways (1978), or much further back to Babes in Arms (1937), considered the first musical with an entire cast of teenage characters. In the wake of Dear Evan Hansen’s success, Broadway quickly saw a sweep of major productions with teenage protagonists: Mean Girls (2018), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2018), The Prom (2018), Choir Boy (2019), Be More Chill (2019), and the latest installation, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical (2019).

….The genre deserves a larger critique, but not the one critics are making. Yes, Young Adult Theatre can seem angsty, the pop score/lyrics can feel basic and the plots contrived. But the central problem with Dear Evan Hansen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Be More Chill, and The Lightning Thief is that they’re all about straight, white, cisgender teenage boys. The supporting casts are often diverse, but the main characters don’t deviate from this norm. Not only are these protagonists about as privileged as they come; worse, each of these pieces is about its hero’s search for his identity. Compared to a person of color, a queer person, a transgender person (let alone any intersection of these), how much do Evan, Harry, Jeremy, or Percy have to figure out about themselves?….We need more shows like The Prom or Choir Boy:

The movie is a wreck, the musical is a joke. Why, then, will we always have ‘Cats’?

By Charles McNulty (who doesn’t really answer the question posed in the headline)

“Cats,” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster spun from the light verse of T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” is a paradox and a puzzle illustrating the disconnect between theatrical success and respect. The fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history, it is the consummate tourist musical. (“Broadway’s first show for the tired Japanese businessman,” according to Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik’s indispensable “Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time.”)

Theater people resent “Cats” not just because it made Broadway uncool until “Hamilton” finally rescued it from the pop cultural stocks. What really infuriates buffs is that “Cats” ushered in an era of grandiose spectacle, the vacuous parade of shows from the 1980s and early ’90s that made it seem as if a musical had to have a helicopter or a crashing chandelier to be worth the rapidly rising ticket price.

Ed Harris and Kyle Scatliffe, center, in “To Kill A Mockingbird”

Q and A about To Kill A Mockingbird with Aaron Sorkin and Ed Harris, its new Atticus

Aaron Sorkin: How did Harper Lee get away with having a protagonist who doesn’t change? Because Atticus isn’t the protagonist in the book or the movie; Scout is—her flaw is that she’s young, and the change is that she loses some of her innocence. While I wanted to explore Scout, I absolutely wanted Atticus to be a traditional protagonist, so he needed to change and have a flaw … It turned out that Harper Lee had [already] given him one; it’s just that when we all learned the book, it was taught as a virtue. It’s that Atticus believes that goodness can be found in everyone….

Ed Harris: I love the film. I think Peck’s portrayal in terms of that story and that script is just indelible. There are little things that happen on the stage even now, just a head move or something, that feels like Gregory Peck! But the inner life of this man I’m playing is so different [from Peck’s character]. He’s trying to hold on to a belief that’s being eroded slowly but surely. It’s really interesting to play.

The Trojan Women’s Project at La MaMa: The artists discuss

I got asked for an end-of-the-decade quote on “emerging trends” and the editors rejected it, so here it is so that it doesn’t go to waste. Happy holidays! pic.twitter.com/b5YBglbJBL

— Young Jean Lee (@YoungJean_Lee) December 24, 2019

Best and Worst Theater of The Decade, and of 2019. See a show, live longer. #Stageworthy News of the Week Check out: Favorite stage performances in 2019. Top 10 Lists of Top 10 Theater in 2019.

[27timescinema]

INTERVIEW - EUROPA CINEMAS JURY

By Beata Mrazíková and Victor Courgeon (pics © Europa Cinemas)

Originally published on the Europa Cinemas' blog.

Beata Mrazíková, ambassador of the Kino Svetozor in Prague (Czech Republic) and Victor Courgeon, ambassador for the Cinema Luminor in Paris (France) - both jurors of the Giornate degli Autori selection within the frame of 28 Times Cinema - interviewed the 4 exhibitors composing the Europa Cinemas jury Label in Venice.

The jury was composed by Eugenio Fuschini (CEO, Multisala Odeon, Bologna, Italy), Anne Faucon (Assistant manager, Cinéma Utopia, Tournefeuille, France), Aneta Kohoutová (Executive director, Bio central, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic) and Erdmann Lange (Programmer & marketing manager, Atlantis & Odeon, Mannheim, Germany).

As an exhibitors jury, do you consider the viewers when discussing which movie will get the Europa Cinemas Label Award?

Eugenio Fuschini: It is not the main criteria, but it is one of them.

Aneta Kohoutová: For me, in the first place, I consider my opinion on the film, whether I like it or not. After that, we will ask ourselves for which target group this movie is made. Can it work in my cinema? Since I know my audience, I know what they like or not.

Erdmann Lange: I also think you should consider the audience because a film can exist without the audience, but a film, to become cinema, needs an audience. Otherwise it is not cinema, it is just a film. So, I think you should always consider, as a jury, both the quality of the film and the audience.

Anne Faucon: As far as I’m concerned I consider that if I like something some other people will like it. When you like something, you can share it.

Do you think European films are screened and released in different ways across Europe? What are your strategies toward European films?

Eugenio: I don’t know the other countries really well, I know that in Italy it is easy to release European films. One of the reasons why many distributors buy European films is because exhibitors are getting support from Europa Cinemas.

Aneta: In Czech Republic, the easiest way is to screen Czech movies, because Czech people love national cinema. The quality does not matter because the label “Czech movie” is just important for them. However, for European films it is an interesting question… Most of us try to screen arthouse European movies and I think they have an audience but it is really small. It is much easier to release the new Tarantino movie…

Erdmann: I think it’s really different from country to country. There are still huge differences between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. In Germany, it is easy to distribute French, Italian or Spanish films, but there are very few Easter European films in our market. This should be improved. The label “German film” is not so well established among the German audience because they don’t consider Germany to be a film nation. On the contrary, they see France, Italy and the US as film nations. We are working on improving the image of national cinema. I think distribution works very differently in all our countries and it also depends on how we work with audiences.

Do you often see in festivals European films that you would like to show but which are not distributed in your country?

Aneta: It happens quite often. Not many films with a festival career are released in cinemas. We have an alternative film distribution platform called Film Europe which is trying to bring the best from the festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin). Also; in October there is Be2Can, a huge festival screening just films coming from other festivals. Except for these, there are no other options. Therefore, there is no possibility for Czech audience to see some movies from the Giornate degli Autori competition.

As a jury, would you like them to be released? Even though it can be a risk for you as exhibitors.

Aneta: If these films are released, we would really need a strategy of communication and some really good PR. It is important for that kind of movies to have a support from distribution platforms and from the press.

Eugenio: Another problem is that, here in Italy, we release 600 movies per year. Many of them cannot find space in cinemas. The selection of movies is important.

Do you think that the prize you will give at the end of the week, the Europa Cinemas Label, will be important for the career of the film?

Eugenio: For the cinemas of the network yes, because Europa Cinemas has a bonus for exhibitors that keep the winners of the Label on screen for more than two weeks. So it is important for films as well because they are screened for an extended period.

Anne: Maybe it will be important in France, but it is difficult to know. We created our own newspaper in my cinema network, Utopia, so people can know about European movies not covered by the press. In France, everybody is complaining: “there are too many movies”. But for us, there are not enough theatres doing the same thing as we do. We don’t show blockbusters.

Utopia has been around for 45 years, in various places. We created a new kind of audience when we were established. We created the exception. We have learned that we can live without those strong films, without popcorn, without room rentals. It may be a good way to change the cinema theatres. We have 1200 arthouse theatres in France, but they all do the same things. The small budget movies stay away from the screens. But if you take those movies and keep them, word of mouth will help spread awareness. The audience needs time to discover movies.

Erdmann: I think you are doing a great work, but there are differences. French people go four times more to the cinema per year than German people (only 1.2 times per year).

You need a seasoned audience for this kind of model, and the economic opportunities to put a film on a screen for that long. If you are in a city where you don’t have cinephile audiences and you still want to bring them quality films, you cannot leave films on the screen for four weeks.

It is great that you share your experiences through the Europa Cinemas Network. How important is it to belong to such a network?

Eugenio: It is pretty important, first of all for the funding. It is the reason why Europa Cinemas exists. It is also a good way to choose the type of films we play in our cinemas. Because if you want to stay inside Europa Cinemas you have to follow certain rules and if you are part of it, you are associated to the label. The audience will therefore know that, in this cinema, you will find good European movies.

Aneta: I agree, and you can use the advantage to be part of the Europa Cinemas programs or exchanges. You have the chance to be part of the Europa Cinemas jury. Those are the benefits in addition to the ones you already mentioned. And also you have that beautiful trailer before every movie!

Erdmann: I totally agree. In addition, it is important to really defend European cinema against major film industries. I love American films and it is great to have them but if we don’t pay attention, the German, Italian, Czech, French cinema will suffer. Europa Cinemas is a very important tool to defend European film culture. I also like the exchange between nations and different cultures. It is even more important in these times with right wing parties trying to separate Europe again. It is essential to connect Europe and Europa Cinemas is an important piece in the mosaic.

[taiblogcomics]

My Little Pony Colon Movie Film For Theaters

Hey there, mid-season finales. More ponies? And let's have some fun with their whole thing, yes~?

Here's the cover:

Of course you did, Twilight. So, you remember that movie they made about ponies last October? You probably should've seen it, it was very good and it looked amazing. It was very cool to see 2D animation in theaters again. And also we did several issues of a prequel based on it! Anyways, the plot is that, well, the mane 6 are famous enough. So why wouldn't they get a movie in-universe~?

In fact, we open with that very premise. Rarity bursts into Twilight's castle, brandishing the trade papers. Fortunately, Rarity knows Variety speak, so "Princess Book to be Boffo Pic" makes perfect sense to her. Interestingly, Applejack mentions that it's actually a magic lantern show, which is generally consistent with the level of tech usually seen in the MLP universe. It's just odd to call that a "movie". But they do, and so we're justified in doing so too, just for convenience's sake! Anyway, this is specifically coming off the back of the characters having previously published their friendship journal, which given how well that went, this movie is sure to go swimmingly. Anyway, they're off to Applewood!

And that journey is made extremely quickly, as the page turn leads to a two-page spread of Applewood, showing a bunch of sights and references. It's also mentioned in passing dialogue that Twilight's only contribution will be the comment back on the cover, as she's been written out to take care of school stuff. Rarity leads them along, and she does seem very knowledgable about movie production, which is unexpected but very much works with her character. She leads them to Stage 12, where the movie shoot is taking place. And indeed, they're doing magic lantern slides, since they're filming single frames, then taking a break.

After taking a shot clearly from their adventures in Appleoosa, the director Wormer Horsehooves (which might be a reference to actual director Werner Herzog?) greets the five and almost immediately begins ranting about his vision for the picture. See, costumes, sets, lighting? All that isn't the most important thing. What must be conveyed through film is truth. And thus his new idea: why not have the actual ponies who lived these events direct them? Yes, he's quitting and leaving the Ponyville 5 in charge. Surely nothing can go badly wrong with this plan~

And so, a big montage ensues. There's first a page where Rarity's shooting a scene that took place in "Look Before You Sleep", and already you can see where the main problem with Mr. Director's idea is. Rarity is insisting on filming this scene (which somehow isn't even in the friendship diary, let alone the script), because it's an early bonding moment with her and Applejack, where Applejack learned to respect proper manners. Applejack points out that Rarity also learned that manners aren't always so important in that moment, which Rarity brushes off as "details". Oh dear~

Anyways, that montage. A variety of scenes are shot, including ones from "Sonic Rainboom" and the very first episode. Arguments burst out, and everypony begins complaining to one another how this isn't how things went. The response from each is "that's how I remember it". And so the production splits off into five separate productions. You all can see where this is going, right? So let's just skip ahead to premiere night, which furthers the "magic lantern" thing by having a live narrator describing the scenes, which are all still frames. See, not only is it technologically appropriate, it also suits the comic book medium, too~

First is Rainbow Dash's film, which opens with the Inception noise. It's as much of an action film as you can make with magic lanterns, and features Rainbow Dash as the hero whose speed solves every problem. Pinkie's scene is next, which surprisingly turns out to be some kind of arthouse indie film. It includes a bunch of nonsensically poetic-sounding phrases ("Friendship is as a turtle shell") and a long shot of Pinkie's friends from "Party of One". Rarity's film turns out to be a "Maltese Falcon" film noir kind of deal, which actually turns out to be an interpretation of "A Bird in the Hoof", which Fluttershy finds a little uncomfortable. And speaking of Fluttershy, her picture is a nature documentary. She focuses solely on the animal parts of "Winter Wrap-Up" and not the friendship problems. And Applejack... did not make a western. Even her friends are shocked, and she protests she has other interests. Hers is a superhero blockbuster flick, featuring Applejack as a Batman-esque protector who keeps Ponyville safe from things like parasprites.

With the conclusion, the directors go up on the stage and explain their reasoning. They wanted to show the events as they remembered them, so... that's what they did. And of course, as always happens in fiction, the film is beloved by the audience--because they think it's a comedy. Man, I should start making films, if this is all successful comedy takes is failing at other genres. Anyways, the Ponyville 5 leave, relieved that everypony liked their film after all, and learning sort of a lesson about how nopony has a perfect memory. I... guess that's a lesson, anyway~

This issue is pretty funny, mostly because it’s so self-referential. Not in a meta way, but there’s just so many callbacks to previous events, and the way that the protagonists have interpreted them in their memories. It’s a great issue for long-time fans, and since it’s pretty much all season one references, even fans who haven’t caught up on more recent issues can enjoy it. Other than that, though, this sort of plot has been done to death. I’m not saying it’s bad, and in fact, the callbacks make it pretty enjoyable. But, like, even the show itself has done the thing where the characters did what they wanted and put on what they felt was a serious production, only for the audience to take it as a comedy thing before. Sorry, but it wasn’t possible for me to get through this review without me making a callback of my own, you know~?

Next issue, while we likely won’t see Tempest Shadow in the series ever, there’s no voice acting budget to prevent us from doing so in the comics~

[lastormyquan-blog]

Deadpool 2 Review Roundup: Is the "Over-the-Top" Sequel "Just as Funny" as the First Film?

The Merc With a Mouth has more to say.

According to critics, Deadpool 2 is badder and bolder than its 2016 predecessor. The R-rated blockbuster, in theaters Friday, opens with Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) traveling around the world to enact justice (in his own special way) and prevent further criminal activity.

Without spoiling too much, he briefly becomes an X-Men trainee…and let's just say his style differs from Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and Colossus (Stefan Kapičić). So, Wade assembles a team of his own: X-Force. With some assistance from Weasel (T.J. Miller) and Dopinder (Karan Soni), he recruits Domino (Zazie Beetz) Peter (Rob Delaney), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård) and Shatterstar (Lewis Tan) to save Russell/Firefist (Julian Dennison) from Cable (Josh Brolin), who traveled back in time to kill the orphaned teen.

Other actors who appear in director David Leitch's film include Jack Kesy as Black Tom Cassidy, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Eddie Marsan as The Headmaster and Leslie Uggams as Blind Al. As always, audience members should keep their eyes peeled to see some celebrity cameos.

Here's what critics are saying about 20th Century Fox's Deadpool 2:

• "Like the first movie, Deadpool 2 will test your limits for 'just because,' but if you like insanely over-the-top action sequences peppered with the fourth-wall-breaking non sequiturs that are the character's stock in trade—yes, the name 'Firefist' will be mocked, and yes, Deadpool calls Cable 'Thanos' at one point—then you'll be just as amused and entertained this time around as before," The Wrap's Alonso Duralde writes. Reynolds' "snark level continues to operate at maximum capacity," he adds. "Does Deadpool 2 pick up its predecessor's baton and run off to new and exciting places? Not really. Is it as tasty as leftovers on the second day? Absolutely."

• "Deadpool 2 is, if less of a surprise than its predecessor, just as funny; if it's less sexy, that doesn't mean you're not going to get to see the protagonist walking around with no pants; it just means that if the sight turns you on, you ought to be ashamed," The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore writes. There are many action scenes, but the film "doesn't bog down in it as many overcooked comic-book sequels do. With Reynolds' charismatic irreverence at its core, the pic moves from bloody mayhem to lewd comedy and back fluidly, occasionally even making room to go warm and mushy. On the latter front, the filmmakers walk a fine line between embracing Deadpool's mock-everything appeal and needing to make Wade a credible, emotional human."

• "It's not easy to capture lightning in a bottle twice, and it's even harder to push boundaries when you're playing it safe," The Los Angeles Times' Jen Yamato writes. "In Deadpool 2, the manic antics fly fast, but the franchise loses its edge as wise-cracking antihero Deadpool goes dadcore, attempting to infuse standard-issue four-quadrant studio blockbuster beats into what was once a revolutionary R-rated premise." Reynolds' "superhuman charisma" is a plus, but "the film nevertheless feels too much like more of the same: more of the same gross-out gags, more of the same irreverent jokes, more bits where Deadpool has to regrow severed limbs to the disgust of everyone around him, more running commentary on the movie he's in..."

• "Deadpool 2 is chock-full of all the cartoonish ultraviolence, meta commentary and pop-culture references you'd expect. Where it surprises—and why it works so well—is how it balances an actually touching undercurrent alongside superhero subversiveness," USA Today's Brian Truitt writes. "Hilariously self-aware and satisfying on multiple levels," it "continues the relentless lampooning and scattershot jokes of the first movie," but with "a much better story."

"Despite a tendency toward elephantitis in story and scope, not to mention blatant franchise pandering, Deadpool 2 still plays like the runt of the comic-book litter," Rolling Stone's Peter Travers writes. "We mean that as a compliment." And by this point, "Deadpool is Reynolds' spirit animal, a role he wears like a second skin. No one could play this wiseass assassin better."

"Deadpool 2 might not be exactly the sequel we need, but it feels like the one we deserve. If the first outing was a scrappy, self-referential riff on the noble tropes of superherodom, the second is all that again, squared: a mega dose of meta (or is it a meta dose of mega?) rolled in radioactive goo and stuffed inside a cinematic piñata of fourth-wall breaks, severed limbs, and Yentl jokes," Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt writes. But the "numbing sameness to the casual bloodshed" gets stale. "It's in Deadpool's DNA to channel the wild id of a 12-year-old boy—a very clever one who happens to love boobs, Enya and blowing stuff up. Which is dizzy fun for a while, like eating Twinkies on a Gravitron. Eventually, though, it just wears you out."