#a present for everyone celebrating Jeremy Strong Day

[loveandthings11]

Christmas in Connecticut ❤️

Summary: After being a little too dedicated to business school work and a little too inattentive to his relationship, Kendall shows up at Rava's house on Christmas Eve to fix things. Sweet Christmas fluff! Read on AO3

Merry Christmas, @tvgremlin!! 😘🎄🎅🏻

“It seems like you probably want space, so I’m going to go,” Rava says as she zips up her suitcase after a week staying with Kendall back at Harvard. It had felt weird to be at the business school after so many of their memories were made in on the undergrad campus. This week, she’d been disappointed to have spent too much time alone while he studied into the night and gave monosyllabic answers while staring down at the pages and declining almost every idea for date nights and parties. She’d decorated his apartment for Christmas while he focused and she tried to be understanding.

“No, come on, I want you here, I- just, you know, I had to study, you have no idea the pressure I’m under right now-“

“I have no idea? It’s all you talk about anymore,” she says. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to get the job no matter what.” He looks hurt, but she’s just done right now. 

“So- what, you think all this is for no reason because my dad’s just going to let me take over? You don’t think he’s looking for any reason not to give it to me? He already thinks I’m a lazy, partying-“

“Partying? You skipped all three of the Christmas parties with our friends last week, so if he thinks that…“ she trails off and stares at her shoes. Her eyes fill with tears and her voice breaks. “Everyone kept asking me if we’re breaking up.”

He softens and walks over to her.

“No, fuck, no, of course not,” he says as forcefully as he can without upsetting her further. “You- you told them no, right? I mean, you know that’s not happening.”

“Yeah,” she answers, not enthusiastically enough. “I mean, I know you had to study, but could there be a balance? I feel like I barely saw you.” She sighs and he feels annoyance, guilt, and worry converging all at once. She looks at her watch and glances at the sparkly tennis bracelet he’d given her last Christmas. “I have to go home.”

“No- wait, just stay and talk-“ he starts.

“I’ll miss my train,” she says.

“Take the helicopter.” He’s asking more than insisting. She shakes her head. She needs to have some time to herself.

“No… thanks, but just not this time. Okay? I’m gonna be late. I’ll call you.” He feels his stomach flip as she walks over to give him a quick kiss on the cheek and walks out the door.

………..

“You’re leaving on Christmas Eve, Kendall, seriously?” Shiv rolls her eyes and her brother heads toward the door. "You're being dramatic," she echoes Caroline's old catchphrase.

“Yeah, I don’t really know why we’re acting like being in the same room is a good idea and I just- I have to go." He's not in the mood for verbal battles and has more important things to take care of.

“Guys, let’s just understand that our brother has a serious commitment to someone he’d rather be with than us tonight- his coke dealer,” Roman says loudly. Logan almost imperceptibly shakes his head in disapproval and the minuscule movement is missed by no one.

“Right, that's where I'm going,” Kendall snaps at Roman as he walks out, face burning. No matter how many times they spar, he can’t seem to make the words bounce off instead of sink in and cause him pain. Somehow the jokes don’t quite feel like jokes. He thinks about the only person who’s always on his side and feels like he’d do just about anything for one of her endless hugs right now. Maybe she’d see him tonight- it’s been two days since she went home for the holidays and he misses her.

An hour and a half later, he’s nervously standing outside her parents’ house wondering what he was thinking coming here when he’s never met her family before. He hopes she’s the one to answer the door and is relieved she is. She’s a little shocked to see him and quickly realizes that he must have needed an escape. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, looking up at her even as he’s a little slumped. “I should’ve spent the whole time with you, that was- I don’t want you to think I don’t want you to be there, I always want you to be there.”

“Okay. Well, thank you for that- are you okay?” She asks. Even through the uncertainty and upset feelings, she can’t stand to see that forlorn expression.

“I- yeah. I don’t know.”

“Festivities not so festive?”

He looks down.

“Not so much."

“Because… your dad was terrible and your siblings didn’t care?” Her expression is slightly bored. She doesn’t want to hear the same story as an excuse for him acting so distant last week. He shifts uncomfortably. She must be getting sick of him and his situation. If she’s not sympathizing then no one will.

“No- well, yeah, but I get that you don’t care,” He sighs. “Actually, I don’t even fucking care, I wasn’t even really… there. I was- in my mind I was here, and- I just wanted to see you and tell you I’m sorry. Doing it tonight is probably really dumb, I’ll let you get back to your whole family and everything.”

He turns back to the car and figures he’ll find a hotel somewhere. She looks at the snow on the ground for a second before deciding what to do.

“No, don’t go,” she says. He turns around. “It’s not dumb. I couldn’t really focus on anything here either.” She pauses. “I can’t just let you go back home.”

“No, I could go back to the city, get the Four Seasons, I guess. Last time the Plaza was kind of-“ she’s raising her eyebrows. “Yeah, whatever. Just not… there.” He looks at her and hesitantly takes her hand. “I-I don’t want space from you. I want things to be good.” She nods and holds his mittened hands.

“Me too.” She’s shivering without a coat and he pulls her toward him.

“Fuck, it’s really cold. Can I just… be with you for a while?” He asks, those eyes somehow bigger than they were a minute ago.

Sometimes she can’t believe he can still be vulnerable like this after being in a family like that.

“Of course,” she says. “It really is freezing!” She sees her breath. “Come on,” she says quietly, leading him into the house and closing the door behind him. They’re both relieved at the immediate warmth. She unzips his coat and gives him a hug underneath it to warm up further. He snuggles his face into her hair for a moment, absorbing her as much as he can. She looks up at him and gives him a kiss.

“I’m sorry about your family,” she says gently. She looks sad. “On Christmas Eve, too. I do care. I really care. Sorry it seemed like I didn’t, I was just- mad. You know I’m always here, right?”

He nods as he hugs her back. This is exactly what he was hoping for. They hold hands for a minute longer and she leans into him as he looks around the foyer. The seven-bedroom house is beautiful and spacious and full of cheerful Christmas lights. Happy holiday music wafts in and it smells like sugar cookies. Kendall feels a pang of envy. He thought scenes like this only existed in movies.

“So this is real, huh? You live on the fucking Hallmark Channel,” he smiles. “The cookies, the lights, the garlands, are-are you about to choose your small-town hardware store boyfriend over me?”

“This is Greenwich, Kendall. And you seem to know a lot about the Hallmark Channel,” she smirks at him.

“I work in media,” he insists. She doesn’t need to know about the secret Christmas movie he’d watched last week. It was romantic, but it had made him just a little anxious to see his type being portrayed as a shallow villain, and he wondered if she watched things like that.

“Yes,” she nods gratuitously. “Media. Of course.”

Rava’s mom comes into the room, pearl earrings and white cable knit sweater the perfect picture of the holidays.

“Oh, my God, honey, he really does exist!” She jokes.

“Oh, my God, Mom, you’re the worst,” Rava tries not to grin as Kendall watches her blush. “Mom, this is Kendall.”

“Kendall,” she says warmly. “I’m Cheryl. It is so nice to finally meet you. Just as cute as the pictures. You’re all I hear about from this one.” She pats Rava’s arm as she dies of embarrassment. 

“Okay, Mom.”

Kendall chuckles.

“It’s- really nice to meet you, too. And I’m glad to hear that,” he smiles at Rava, who refuses to look at him. “I brought some champagne,” he says, pulling out a bottle that only those in the know would understand costs as much as a small car.

“Oh, well, you’re even more perfect than I’ve heard,” Rava’s mom smiles in recognition at the bottle. Nothing she’d buy for herself, but something she wished to have. Kendall smiles at the idea of Rava saying he’s perfect. “Come in, come in- you better hang on to him, my beautiful girl.” Cheryl pets Rava’s hair and her daughter rolls her eyes. 

“I don’t have to stay long, you know, interrupt the whole Christmas Eve celebration,” Kendall says carefully as he takes off his coat and hangs it up in the closet.

“Don’t be silly! It’s one holiday of many in this house. We’re thrilled you’re here. Stay as long as you’d like.” Cheryl gestures to the menorah on the mantle with pretty gold twinkle lights strung across the mantle around it. She can picture the kind of cold, awful evening he must have left to come here on Christmas Eve without planning it. She has a feeling if he didn’t stay here he would spend the holidays alone.

“Have a seat by the fire,” she says, leading them in. Kendall and Rava sit on the couch and take in the warmth as she walks to the kitchen. Kendall looks around at the tall, grand Christmas tree, full of colored lights and personalized ornaments.

“Where’s your dad?” He asks.

“On the phone with my aunt and uncle,” she smiles. “They talk forever.”

“That’s nice,” he says genuinely. He can’t imagine. He wishes he and his siblings were like that. He decides he’ll text them something nice on Christmas tomorrow. One step at a time. Rava’s mom comes back in with a plate of decorated sugar cookies and champagne glasses. 

“Have some cookies. Calories don’t count at Christmas,” she winks. She pours the champagne and sits back on the comfortable armchair across from them, tucking a lock of hair back into her elegant updo.

“So, Kendall, how is Harvard part two? Business school as fun as college?”

“Not even close,” he smiles. “But it’s great, I’m- learning a lot.” Rava smiles. She knows he could probably teach some of the classes he’s taking after basically growing up in a business school.

“You probably don’t even need that,” Cheryl laughs. Her laugh is easy and light just like Rava’s.

“Oh, I do,” he says earnestly. “I’m- hoping to take over Waystar someday and I don’t think that would happen without an MBA.”

“Is that definitely what you want to do?” she asks him. Somehow she looks right through the façade in two seconds, just like her daughter.

“Absolutely. Been planning it forever.” She notices the automatic answer. He means it, but she’s guessing he’s never been allowed to think of any answer but that one.

“Then I’m sure you’ll do it,” she says sincerely. His honest look of gratitude makes her want to pat him on the head.

“Thank you,” he says. “I hope so. School’s pretty far from Rava in Connecticut, though,” he laments, looking at her for a second. God, she got prettier in the last two minutes. He didn’t think he could want her more, but he does. Rava looks at him for a second too long for there to be anyone else in the room.

“It is far,” Rava says. 

“I’m sure all those helicopter rides make it better,” Cheryl says with a knowing look. Kendall smiles.

“Yeah, it’s just easier,” he replies casually.

“Well, cheers to that!” She laughs and looks at Rava. “And cheers to your father probably actually attempting to wrap the last-minute gifts he got me. Honey, send out good thoughts that it’s those diamond bracelets we saw last month when we were out shopping!”

“Well, let’s hope!” Rava laughs.

Her mom takes her champagne glass and goes to find her husband.

“Your mom’s great,” Kendall says, already feeling more cheerful. He picks up a cookie and takes a bite. “I feel like- that went pretty well, right?”

“It went so well!” She takes a sip from her glass and pulls him to her for a slow kiss. “I missed you,” she smiles into his lips. He’s so relieved.

“I missed you, too,” he whispers.

She pulls the cashmere throw blanket off the back of the couch and covers them with it, laying her head on his shoulder and looking over at the Christmas tree.

“I’m really happy you’re here,” she says, wrapping her arms around him.

For the first time, he lets himself imagine what his life would be like all the time if he left the Roy fold. It hurts a little to think too hard about. It’s been planned. But he leans into Rava’s embrace. Maybe he can somehow have both. Maybe next Christmas she’ll have some new jewelry on her finger. He smiles at the thought.

“I’m really happy, too.”

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

MY THOUGHTS ON THE CULLEN CAR PROFILES IN THE GUIDE: PART 1

So I finished reading the Cullen Cars section in the Guide, and guys it is PAINFUL how obviously this was written by, not just a motorhead, but a car nerd.

This section, obviously, was written by Meyer's brother, Jacob. And the end-result was exactly what I was afraid of: each one reads like it was copy-pasted from the promotion pamphlets.

The entries on the more day-to-day cars are full of car-jargon like "lateral acceleration" and "front-biased weight distribution", without telling the reader in any fun way or layman's terms what any of that means, common sense aside. We've all had to listen to a car buff drone at some point and this is that. These entries are just slightly overly technical and don't actually say much about the cars' personalities.

He calls the Porsche "seemingly less race[ing]-inspired" than more expensive super cars, but one of the biggest ways Porsche made a name for themselves was with the original 911's and it was on EUROPEAN RACING STAGES. WTH!!!

WORST OF ALL, THOUGH, are the entries on Edward's Aston Martin and Bella's Ferrari. These are full of goo-goo eyed, rose tinted drivel. It is telling, to me, that these more highly engineered cars don't get much of an info dump about their suspension or advanced technology or any of the stuff we got with the daily drivers. With Edward's Aston we get things like

"... a car that has the looks, performance and competence of a true sports car, while offering enough luxury to call into into question its sporting nature."

And

"While technically (Dude. what? "Technically"? I'm sorry?) a sports car, the British-made Aston is the proper gentleman of the group... made in true British style, every ounce of this car alludes to old-world money, power and manners."

He also calls it merely "competent on racetrack and says its better as a high-performance cruiser when, like, no bro. This was supposed to be the shouty racer and the DB9 is the high performance luxury GT (Grand Tour) car. You utter pillock.

Now I'm not gonna argue any of the praise for the Ferrari because I feel more confident in that, from the testimony of people who've owned one. It was at the time (And may still be, if you aren't that dazzled by the 458) the best car in the world.

That said look at this:

"The car's beautifully designed lines and curves remind the viewer more of classical Italian sculpture than anything related to transportation."

LOL. Now don't get me wrong the Ferrari F430 is a very pretty car.

Not everyone thinks so (and to be fair, once you see the "Smile" in the front end, you can't unsee it), but I do. BUT EVEN I, AN ADMIRER OF THE FANCY CARS, do not think that is, in any way, more related to art than driving. PUH-LEASE. That is a very beautiful car, but it is still just a car. If you want to talk about a car being more closely related to Italian sculpture that transportation, then go find an Alfa Romeo fawn over. Because that really is all they're good for.

Because the thing is, Ferrari are kind of like... how do I wanna put this. Okay well let's say Ferrari are the Gryffindor of the car world. Everyone wants to be a Ferrari owner. They have a long pedigree and they, historically and presently make great cars with all the latest advancements and technology. They're like a black dress or a red rose - no one will argue with the classics. But to me at least, they kind of lack... well, personality. It's kind of taken for granted that a Ferrari is gonna be the best car in any given line-up, without anyone ever actually explaining why. It might be, I think, that Ferrari have become a bit overrated. That's not to say that Ferrari shouldn't be given due respect, especially for something like the F430, but here's where I have an issue.

In my Cullen Car post about Bella's Ferrari, I posed the question: was the Ferrari chosen for Bella because it both captures how Edward has always seen Bella, even before she was strong and beautiful in her own estimation, and because it's user friendly, easy to get the best out of it, and actually, surprisingly, suits her personality pretty well As flashy as the F430 seems at first glance, in it's sleek, low-slung, super car way, it still looks purposeful. It's not ostentatious, other than that it's red. It doesn't over-do it in the way, say, a Lamborghini does. It's not out to grab attention, it's here to do what it loves and is good at and that's driving.

Unfortunately, it turns out my concern was justified, because what Jacob's profile on the F430 has confirmed for me is that Bella's Ferrari was chosen simply because it was the prettiest, most impressive "best" car on the market at the time. Had Breaking Dawn taken place in 2010, it would have been a 458, and that's sad - because that truly wouldn't have suited Bella at all.

Look at it.

I think all of this is because, and this is just speculation, but I'll be willing to bet that Jacob's never actually driven any of these cars. The way it goes with most car enthusiasts, I think, is that we see these super fancy, beautiful cars (these in the pantheon of Super/Hyper half-million dollar cars) and we treat them like celebrities. We form opinions based on their looks, we read reviews of them in Car and Driver and things like that, and from the makers themselves - all venues designed, at the end of the day, to sell them.

I've admitted that a lot of my opinions are formed from watching Top Gear and maybe that doesn't make me any better, but what I like about the reviews done by people like Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond is that they don't skimp on pointing out faults as well as favors, even on cars they love and respect, and they always do it in an entertaining way that holds my attention and gives a sense of personality beyond the car's looks and what their manufacturers say they can do. I can't say I would totally agree with their opinions if I ever did get a chance to drive any of these cars, but I at least I can feel some trust in their experience; and they do discuss all these cars in comparison to other contemporaries, and a lot of the time they disagree too, and that gives me more perspective to work with.

Because, like celebrities, even Ferraris have faults. Just because it's a hugely respected brand, like Aston Martin, doesn't mean that every aspect of that car is gonna be faultless and brilliant. Jacob never mentions the Vanquish's shitty gearbox because Jacob has probably never had to deal with it. Neither have I, but I think a certain degree of circumspection is warranted.

I've spiraled a bit here, I didn't intend to be so long winded, but I'm passionate about this. I'm gonna cut off here and do a part 2.

[evermoire]

like a rainbow with all of the colors | pack.

“lydia... lydia, no! lydi—-” 

cora’s cry abruptly cut off when lydia pounced on her. the couch cushions sank beneath their combined weight, cora leaning almost completely onto mason as lydia straddled her hips, makeup brush in hand. scott snickered, snapping a photo, catching the rare sight of cora’s flushed cheeks as she and lydia laughed, the wolf doing a poor halfhearted job of dodging lydia’s makeup brush. “mason, hold her down,” lydia demanded, the seriousness off the command lost to the way she giggled.

cora’s laughter rang louder, hands loosely gripping lydia’s wrists to keep her at bay, back arching and eyes crinkling. “no! absolutely not, je refuse!”

lydia’s arms went limp as she dissolved into another round of breathless laughter, body curling forward. “i hate you,” she gasped through her giggles, lifting her wrist to wipe tears from her eyes. “you had one french lesson with ally, and this is what you do with it?” and when cora nodded, the two laughed even harder. “cora, you promised! you said i could do your makeup for thanksgiving!”

“you are such a liar!”

“...let me do it anyway!”

arms full of dinner precursors, derek paused to watch the two. they seemed... lighter. though they still hadn’t solved things with the wolf, the cops or kate, november had proven to be calm, in comparison. lydia’s seventeenth birthday came and went without a hitch, and mason’s birthday celebrations were being mixed into today’s events, his presents stashed away in the summer kitchen for later. as november trickled by without a single problem, everyone relaxed in a way derek didn’t think they were capable of.

cora hadn’t been much of a cheerful kid, but she laughed so openly now. it was something that was so natural and rare and unforgettable all at once.

“girls,” scott’s mom called as she headed back in the house, noam stilinski in tow with grocery bags, “no playing on the couch. rosie, go tell jude to take her medicine before she grabs another banana nut muffin. and tell her if i see her with another cupcake before dinner, she’s not seeing another cupcake until she’s my age.”

“cosigned!” david whittemore called from where he and hershel were chatting in the ‘nice’ living room.

“yes, ma’am,” cora and lydia chorused, cheeks red and wet with errant tears as lydia dropped a lipsticked kiss onto cora’s forehead and allowed the wolf to shove her off. the redhead giggled as cora failed to remove the lipstick stain and the two began to childishly, playfully stick their tongues out at each other, before giggling again. 

liam sat down on the arm of the couch, splitting a muffin that ariadne had given him and offering a half to mason. days spent at the greene farm were more common than not nowadays. it had taken no serious amount of thought to decide that packsgiving ( as evie and bailey earnestly dubbed it ) should be held here. and though parents hadn’t been required to come along, it had only felt natural that their families spend this time with them. the pack had free range of the place, so most of the day could be spent to themselves, whether outside or in the barn, while the adults were content to stay in the main house and enjoy time together. liam had been worried that his parents would find it strange that he’d made such a varied group of friends, when he’d always struggled to make one friend before, but they’d been overjoyed. since then, all of the pack parents had gotten along swell, despite not knowing the nature of how their kids all became friends. he’d never known that community parenting was actually a thing until all of the pack parents started doing it and doing it well.

last liam heard, the adults had a very active group chat. he tried not to think about it. 

his nose crinkled as he swallowed a bite. “isn’t jude teaching doctor deaton how to cyberbully the sheriff?”

“maggie told her to stop,” kira provided as she made her way down the stairs, a small smile fitted on her face. “the last thing we need is, and i quote, ‘all of the important adults in town to start kinkshaming the sheriff into resignation.’”

liam blinked. “why would we not want that?”

kira held up her hands innocently. “maggie’s words, not mine. though i think she’s more opposed to the kinkshaming than the resigning.” she made her way to the table, where derek was dutifully setting up bowls and baskets of deviled eggs — stuffed eggs, hershel had corrected when cole had called them that, flabbergasted at the idea of giving the devil credit for his wife’s delicious cooking — and various breads and snacks, and lowered her voice. “allison, bailey and i checked all of the wards around the property. they’re standing strong and i don’t feel anything bad anywhere near us. oh, and danny's still caught up in that thing with his dad, but he did check to make sure no one was trying to track any cars or phones or anything like that, and he’s running interference to make sure no one does. and noah put up an anti-scrying spell this morning. we’re all good.”

derek met her gaze and nodded, smiling at her. for whatever reason, kira was taking security more seriously than he was today, which was truly a feat. he had to imagine it had a lot to do with all of the precious and oblivious parties on the farm today. “thank you. have glenn, isaac and evie check the wards and the spell again in about two hours. did you get a chance to call your parents?”

kira shook her head, helping him spread out the food. “not yet. time difference; they’re not even up yet. i was going to call them around dinner time.” she shrugged a bit. “it’s a little weird being without them.”

his smile grew a little sad but understanding. “i know. do you think you want to go out to visit them for christmas?”

kira blinked, not having expected the question. “i... haven’t thought about it. i don’t know if glenn and i have the money for th... no,” she said, seeing the look in derek’s eyes. “no. i’m not asking you to send me to korea, derek.”

“you didn’t ask,” he pointed out. “and you don’t have to say anything now. you have a month. if you change your mind between now and then, just let me know. ...what?”

“you’re very sweet,” kira teased, eyes shining as she grinned up at him. “your love language is giving people things and acts of service. i think that’s amazing.”

he smiled sarcastically at her. “go away.”

with that dismissal, kira giggled and left to find her brother and tell him about the upcoming shift change. smile returning, derek chuckled and soaked in the joy that flooded the atmosphere. laughter from several members of the pack, jeremy’s excited shrieks as he won another round of mario kart against damaris and daryl ( whose defense was that he’d never played before, jeremy clearly had an unfair advantage, okay ) and some others, t-dog helping groom the horses, nana showing natalie and andrew her recipe for sweet potato pie, and so many other noises derek had never expected to hear at once.

it’d been quite al ong time since he’d been in a lively place for the holiday. and, thinking back on it, his pack hadn’t been quite this big before. but they were filled to the brim now, full of elders and teens and children, witches and kumiho, emissaries, even hunters, his living sisters and cousins and nephew. this was a pack he’d never dreamed of having, but he loved them all so fully, it swallowed him whole and he happily allowed it.

[lucarioisinthevoid]

Dark was the night. The moon shined bright. Snow was covering the green fields outside- Wait. This doesn’t work in English. Dammit. Oh well. It was a peaceful evening- or rather, late noon. It just got dark THAT early, so it felt like evening already. The restaurant laid abandoned, in silence, as everyone had gone to sleep ea- BAM, DOOR BUST OPEN, JEREMY EMERGED FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL, LIKE A TRUE GREMLIN. “CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAS!” DAVE AND OLD SPORT CAME FROM THE CEILING, DROPPING DOWN IN LIQUID FORM BEFORE BECOMING SOLID AGAIN. “CHRISTER MISTER, CHRISTER MISTER, CHRI-“ Poor Mike who sat there, wearing a Christmas hat was close to losing it. “COULD YOU STOP FUCKING SCREAMING!?” “NO,” Dave responded, mercilessly. “IT’S CHRISTIAN’S BIRTHDAY. WE GOTTA CELEBRATE.” Jeremy made an offended noise. “No- not- don’t make fun of this! This holiday is REALLY important to me!” “Why.” The response was pretty casual. “Because- well- it’s a very happy day that is meant to remember that all of us can be forgiven!” Old Sport turned away, trying not to laugh. “Aw, I’m sorry Jeremy. We didn’t mean to make fun of you.” “YOU BETTER! BECAUSE THOSE THAT DO ARE NAUGHTY AND DON’T GET COOKIES!” As threatening as the average golden retriever puppy he pointed at them. However, both of the colorful killers whined and rolled over. NOT DENYING COOKIES! Simon entered the room, eggnog in hand. “What’s the chaos about?” When he spotted Mike, he moved over to hand him a glass. This was met with a scoff. “I can’t have alco-“ “It’s free. I’ll spike my own drink.” And with that Simon took out a giant flask and began pouring it into his own cup, more and more much to Mike’s amazement. “… thanks… I guess…?” “No problem. I look out for you.” He took a hearty swig from the eggnog. “I love the holidays. I love being allowed to drink.” “Yeah, sure, rub it in.” Grumpy Mike responded. “Oh, sorry, didn’t, uh- didn’t mean that.” “As if.” They looked out into the group that surrounded them, throwing around snowy glitter and chattering on about what kind of cookies they wanted. Eventually Mike nudged the Phone. “… hey, is that the detective there or am I losing it again?” “That is the detective, yep.” “… so nobody planned to tell me, huh?” At this point he wasn’t even surprised. The detective was being ushered around by the giant machines around him, pushed forward towards the two of them. Awkwardly he approached, looking at each of them. “… I… I think the animatronics would like to be decorated. Would that be- can we-“ Two bodies crashed into him right away, before he could even finish and both the Orange Guy as well as Jeremy, sitting on top of him, excited. “YES WE TOTALLY CAN DECORATE THEM!” “W-we could cover them in fake snow and give them little ornaments-“ “FLASHING LIGHTS. EVERY KID IN THE WHOLE CITY SHOULD GET SEIZURES. WE COULD RACK UP SUCH A KILL C- I MEAN, CHRISTMAS COUNT FOR ALL THE JOY WE ARE SPREADING!” Jeremy looked at him from the side. “Listen, Old Sport, I really love and look up to you, but if you ruin Christmas for me, I WILL do things to you that won’t make me proud.” Four sets of eyes stared into him, but he didn’t waver. Christmas is NO joke. And he wouldn’t let ANYONE get in the way of it. After he felt like the seriousness of the situation as set in, he was cheerful once more. “Anyways, can we decorate them Mr. Phone Guy? Please, please, please! We’ll be careful!” Freddy joined in. “Yes, boss, it would be nice… wouldn’t you let us have some holiday spirit too?” “Uh-“ Unsure he looked between the people. “… sure?” Children’s cheering sounded, as they all ran off to get something festive to put onto them. The Phone Guy sighed. “I’ll regret this, won’t I?” With that he took out the flask again and downed the liquid without a hint of hesitation. Ethan was still sitting there, seemingly lost. “… I really can’t leave.” “Wow. Big fucking surprise.” Mike responded, dripping sarcasm. “I- I just meant that’s why I’m still here. I didn’t mean to- interrupt your Christmas celebration.” For a moment Phoney inspected the detective, then shook his head. “We don’t mind you here.” “I didn’t even get a present for anyone.” The man blurted out. “We, uh- nobody did.” “Oh.” Insecure he looked around. “I… I suppose then it’s okay.” Suddenly he yelped as a sudden cold feeling hit the back of his head. Snickering came from the door, Chica was looking in and snickering. “H-hey- are- is she supposed to do that?!” Quickly the detective wiped away the wet feeling from his neck. “Won’t it hurt their- the mechanics inside of them-“ Smugly Mike grinned. “The only one I’M seeing getting hurt is your fucking ego. Getting hit like that? PATHETIC.” Staring down at him, Ethan paused, then slowly crossed his arms. “… true. You’re right. I won’t bother you any further.” Quickly he left towards the door. “Think that little bitch was insulted?” The guard asked his friend, but only got a shrug in response. Soon enough his mind was taken out of it though, as Jeremy came out of the back again, handing out plates of warm cookies. The machines had been decorated with paper snowflakes, with actual false snow, Foxy had a little glittering balls hanging from him, while Bonnie was covered in colorful lights. Everyone was happy and proud so far. Jeremy gifted everyone handcrafted papers with a thank you and what they appreciated about them- even the detective was supposed to get one, now that he was confirmed to be here and stay around. The others promised to get him something as thank you and that they were sorry for not having prepared anything for this year’s Christmas. He reassured them that he didn’t need another gift aside from their company, but secretly was looking forward to getting gifts. Happily he bit into his cookies, sitting in a circles with the others, in front of a fire that they just started in the middle of the main hall. “I hope everyone is having a nice Christmas! And remembers that each Christmas is a new chance to forgive and that there’s nothing more valuable than peace in your heart.” Dave chimed in. “Nothin’ except a tank. A tank is fuckin’ valuable. Jeremy, imma build you a tank for next Christmas.” All in all it was a peaceful Christmas Eve. Oh yeah, Mike and Phone Guy were later in the evening found drowned in a pile of snow. Chicken and human footprints were found in the snow, but no strong suspects were found. An oversized duck that we saw on a street near the incident commented on the event with “Pathetic.”

In the distance, in the void, a small figure sat alone in front of a fireplace, wearing a Santa hat and drinking hot chocolate. The little lizard had a decorated tank, which included a miniature decorated tree that he seemed to be pretty happy about, as well as a few stacked grasshoppers that he occasionally ate from. It looked like Henry was watching the fire, but actually he was watching the people in the restaurant, lost in thought. Jealous? “… not in the slightest. Stuff like that stresses me out, I am happy to not be part of it. I do lament the lack of snow in the void though.” Wouldn’t you know it, snow started to pick up, dancing through the darkness, not cold, not warm, only there for a second before disappearing again. And for once, Henry smiled a little, peacefully. Bless you, murder monster man. “Bless you too. Whatever blessings you may wish for.” (I just felt like writing a small something for Christmas, to get everyone in the mood... seeing as I couldn’t make a dedicated chapter for it Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah or Bestested Holidays, I love you all and hope you have some wholesome days the next while :3 )

[ohmyolicity]

Being bold, Elementary recreated Sherlock Holmes against a modern backdrop, and went one step further by relocating him to New York. Jonny Lee Miller was chosen as the show's Sherlock Holmes, with Lucy Liu as a gender-swapped Doctor Watson, who served as Holmes' live-in "sober companion," hired to stop him returning to his drug addiction. It was a unique approach, immediately confirming that Elementary would be true to the spirit of Sherlock Holmes as the character he'd become rather than the letter of Conan Doyle's stories. At the same time, though, it demonstrated a deep knowledge of Sherlock Holmes canon; opium was both legal and socially acceptable when Conan Doyle created Holmes, meaning the Great Detective even frequented opium dens. As society changed, the writer actually had Watson quietly wean Sherlock off the drugs.

 Although ratings have been dropping of late, the fact remains that Elementaryhas proven to be a huge success. The showrunners initially expected Elementary to finish at the end of season 6, but to their delight they were given one more abbreviated seventh season to wrap the story up in a satisfying manner. Now that story is coming to a close, and it's time to celebrate Elementary as the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation to date.

ELEMENTARY DIDN'T TAKE SHERLOCK HOLMES SERIOUSLY

Key to Elementary is the fact that the show doesn't take Sherlock Holmes too seriously - something Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself would have approved of. There's a temptation to treat Sherlock Holmes as something of a force of nature, as though he's the world's first superhero, with his intellect as his superpower. Indeed, other interpretations like Steven Moffat's Sherlock do their level best to dazzle viewers with Holmes' genius, going to ever-greater lengths to visualize just how his phenomenal mind works. There's a sense in which this is inevitable; Sherlock Holmes epitomizes the Victorian ideal that logic can tame the world, and Sherlockians are serious people. But that's certainly not how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle intended it. In fact, he found the reverential way people treated Holmes to be a constant source of irritation.

Elementary embraced that from the start. Its version of Sherlock Holmes is a difficult man to live with, liable to play music loudly at any time of day or night, given to sometimes-embarrassing sexual experimentation, and with absolutely no understanding of personal space. The show frequently has poor Joan Watson woken up in the most bizarre ways, just because Holmes has made a deduction and wants to share it in the most spectacular fashion possible. There's something quite surreal about Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes, something larger than life and sometimes quite comedic, yet on occasion he also manages to summon an intensity that even escapes Robert Downey Jr. This is the very same approach Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took in his stories, and as such it demonstrates a real fondness for the original works. 

ELEMENTARY DEVELOPED HOLMES AND WATSON AS CHARACTERS

Following on from that, Elementary treated both Holmes and Watson as characters in their own right, giving them strong narrative arcs that ran over the course of seven seasons. That's actually an improvement on Conan Doyle's own stories; unlike Elementary, the Sherlock Holmes books and short stories aren't in chronological order, and as a result there's no narrative flow nor any consistent character development. Doctor Watson has his own little arcs on close reading, but Sherlock Holmes himself is essentially static. That's followed through to even some of the best Holmes adaptations; as excellent as the late Jeremy Brett may have been, you never get the sense that Holmes grows and develops as a character.

Elementary is different. By season 7, viewers feel as though Holmes and Watson are well-rounded people they've gotten to know over the years. Sherlock Holmes' drug addiction has been a recurring plot-point, with the Great Detective always portrayed as a recovering addict rather than as a man who has no need to fear the needle. In a fascinating twist, that recovery became a problem in season 6 when he unwittingly inspired a member of his support group to become a serial killer. Meanwhile, Sherlock has learned what it is to have friends, and has had to deal with the emotions he had repressed for so many years. Season 7 has featured one of Miller's best moments, when Sherlock learns that his father is dead, and is so clearly incapable of dealing with the depth of emotion he suddenly felt.

The same is true of Doctor Watson; unlike all other versions prior, Jane has an actual reason for being with Sherlock Holmes. She's initially hired to stay at Holmes' side at all times in order to ensure he doesn't relapse into his addiction, but comes to love his work enough to become a consulting detective in her own right. By the end of the show, Holmes and Watson are equals, and Holmes can trust Watson to make just as many intuitive leaps as he can. This doesn't diminish Holmes as a character, either; it simply reinforces the idea that it is Holmes' deductive method that makes him so successful, rather than some superhuman ability. It allows viewers to see Holmes as a person, and to engage with his chain of thought rather than just watch it.

ELEMENTARY PRESENTED THE COST OF DOING THE RIGHT THING

Finally, Elementary demonstrates the cost of the profession Holmes and Watson have chosen. Sometimes it's played for comedic effect; Holmes and Watson work with the hacker collective Everyone, who insist on their performing absurd acts of humiliation in exchange for information. Other times there's deep sense of emotion to it, with season 6 seeing Holmes struggle with post-concussion syndrome, which he feared could rob him of his prodigious intellect and deductive skills. Ultimately, it's gradually become clear that Holmes and Watson can never have a normal life; they will forever be stood on the outside of society, watching and observing rather than participating. They have each other, and they have the community of friends they've built in the NYPD, but over the last seven seasons all other ties have been cut away. Holmes will never even consider opening up at another support group again, given his openness inspired a serial killer.

This is a very distinctive theme, entirely unique to Elementary and never truly captured in any other Sherlock Holmes adaptation. That's largely because no other Sherlock Holmes adaptation has really embraced its stars as characters in quite this way, exploring what makes them tick as people rather than as phenomenons. This shows Holmes and Watson have hopes and dreams outside of mere detective work, and those desires are what give their decisions such a painful edge. When Holmes fakes his death in season 7, viewers can see the pain he feels at leaving those he's come to love behind.

There are some TV series that linger too long, their quality diminishing until they are just a shadow of their former self. Elementary is not one of those; the show has gone from strength to strength, and the last two seasons were its most compelling. By now, viewers are deeply invested in the characters of Holmes and Watson, which means it will be sad to see Elementary come to an end. But the show is finishing on a high note, as the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation to date.

[universitychallenged]

University Challenge 2019/20, Episode 20

The moment has arrived! I watched Imperial in their last appearance and was a little overexcited by a certain badass New Yorker. University Challenge is nothing without the odd big personality to liven things up a bit. Make way for Brandon!

Tonight’s edition comes to you in the company of Mother.

Imperial: 255

St. John’s, Oxford: 105

Team Vibe: Imperial: 

St John’s, Oxford:

Grandad Count: Imperial might have won by a country mile, but St John’s average age was only 11 3/4 so they did VERY WELL.

Gender Diversity Count: One. Girl.

Style News: Regular readers may think I have a grudge against plain jumpers, but mate! Plain jumpers can work just fine, especially when twinned with excellent specs. Please see Exhibit A (Imperial’s Brooks, with his lovely deep red chunky knit) and Exhibit B (St. John’s Soor, with his soft sage green number) for evidence. 

Captain Rich also brought strong hipster glasses game; ‘everyone’s wearing the same glasses as me,’ Andy recently complained, so I'm glad he wasn't watching this episode.

But what was going on with Brandon’s cheeky jumper? He already had excellent form with a Pokemon jumper in his previous appearance. All is revealed by him on Twitter: it’s American quiz show Jeopardy's presenter Alex Trebek, who has, since the show was recorded, been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Brandon then requests donations to Pancreatic Cancer UK. What a peach. 

Cult Hero Of The Episode: B.R.A.N.D.O.N.

Captain Leeks was the sharpest of his slightly meek St John’s side, and the charming Captain Rich of Imperial probably got more correct answers, but Brandon is just so cool and wonderful I can’t even. So much swagger and pizzazz! He is from Queens, NYC. He has a near-pencil moustache. As questions are asked, he sits with eyes closed and his fingers in front of his face, and answers with the angry, impatient air of someone who has world crises to solve. On the Pulitzer Prize bonus round, he looked to the ceiling and moved his tongue in his cheek as if swilling a particularly vintage Rioja. ‘Which is the only year in British history to have seen four different Prime Ministers hold office,' said Jez. 'The first of the four was Earl Grey –’ ‘1834,’ Brandon buzzed in, fuming, as if he’d just been asked what was heavier, an elephant or a mouse. I LOVE HIM.

‘Oh, he’s arrogant,’ said Mother, and 55% of Twitter. Nonsense! Yes, he draws the attention of his team in when conferring, and has confidence oozing out of every pore, but you only have to see the mask come off in his exchange with Jeremy Paxman (see Jezza Watch) to know he’s a little pudding-pops, really.

Handsome Person of the Episode: The lovely bookends, Brooks of Imperial and Soor of St John's! I would happily go Midcentury Modern furniture shopping with either – what the hell – BOTH of them.

Horror Bonus Question: ‘In physics, what two-word term is abbreviated as the letter μ, subscript capital B; it is a unit for measuring atomic magnetic moments and is named in part after a North American physicist who was a pioneer of quantum mechanics?’

Regular Classical Fail By Composition PhD-owning Composer, Kerry Andrew: Beethoven! Thankfully, I knew that he wrote the Appassionata sonata and others, and thus avoided being taken out and shot. Jazz round, whoop! Captain Rich got Miles Davis after 1.2567 seconds, because (I assume from his spectacles) he spends all day listening to crackly Horace Silver vinyl and all night listening to Awesome Tapes From Africa. Thankfully I got the Coltrane and Hancock before Imperial, PHEW. I once sang that flutey introduction to ‘Watermelon Man’ at a London College of Fashion Graduate Show while dressed in an outfit from the first collection, you know.

Dream Bonus Question Round: OK, so I had never heard of celebrated film editor Dee Dee Allen (kudos again to the UniChall producers for keeping up the notable female content), but I did know 3 out of 4 of her films, unlike the youngsters on both teams – guessing Bugsy Malone instead of Bonnie and Clyde is just delightful. Mum was all over the Yorkshire Dales bonuses like rain on a drystone wall.

Jezza-Watch: ‘Excluding earth, how many planets in our solar system were known by the year 1820?' asked Jezzo. ‘Six,’ buzzed in Brandon, leaning back in his seat and rolling his eyes. ‘You look as if you find the question insultingly easy,’ Jez tittered, and Brandon broke character, grinning and saying ‘no no, it’s not like that. Good question.’ He put his thumb up. ‘Do you want a more difficult one?’ said Jez. ‘No, please!’ said Brandon. ‘I can’t. My heart.’ ADORBS.

I also loved Jeremy’s soothing words to the losing team at the end: ‘I’m sorry, St. John’s,’ he said. ‘You were whipped.’ HA. Next time! Paxo starts telling teams they are slaying in their lane and ending each question with ‘lol.’

Kerry’s and Mother’s Score: 24 right! 16 from me and 8 from Mother; 135 points between us.

Brain Food: Mother’s chicken and roast squash risotto

*******Final shout-out for Brandon’s Pancreatic Cancer UK link!*********

Tweets of the Day:

Please feel free to share, retweet, shout about this blog. I’m mostly a musician but a writer now too, and every little helps. And here’s me on Instagram.

[ticklikeabomb]

The Language of Limbo - Part 9 (Finale)

Pairing : Chris Evans x Plus Size Reader ; Marvel Cast x Plus Size Reader

Warnings : Language ; mention of violence (Please Don’t read it if it might be triggering for you)

Word Count : 2.5k

A/N : Hiii :) Managed to finish it earlier :) 

Mason left you sleeping on the bed while he went out to get both of you some breakfast. On his course, a figure stopped in his tracks. Mason's eyes frowned and he said, "What do you want?" The person in front of him replied, "I need to talk to you." He looked at the intruder from head to toe, and carefully followed them to a small corner, out of anyone's eyes. "Be quick, someone is waiting for me and I want to be there before she wakes up." A small smile crossed the other person's features and they handed Mason a phone. Skeptically, the stunt man grabbed it and noticed that the device was open in the video app. He pressed play and what he saw made his eyes grow wide. His shocked expressing turned to the one in front of him and the person nodded. "Why are you showing me this?", he asked. "I made a mistake and want to make it right. You know what to do !", the person exclaimed before leaving him. He watched the video a second time and felt his fingers tighten around the phone, in anger. He put it in one of his pockets for safekeeping and made his way to his trailer and to you.

When you saw Mason come back, you sighed in relief. He smiled brightly at you. "Hey, you're awake. I brought breakfast." You smiled back, wincing at the pain when you moved your hands and from the huge migraine. "Here take this", he handed you a painkiller. "Thanks", you said while swallowing it down with fresh water. You spend the morning talking about what you would do next in life. Mason told you he was hired to coach Tom Cruise for the upcoming Mission Impossible movie and you congratulated him. "That's amazing", you told him. "Yeah, it's pretty cool", he said with a light blush crossing his cheeks. You squeezed his hand and said that he deserved it and so much more. He dropped a chaste kiss on your fingers and asked your plans. "Probably taking a few months for myself, go back to rehab and all", you commented slightly ashamed. "Hey, I'll come visit you every time a have a chance. I have your back, remember?" You nodded and thanked him again for being there for you.

It was that moment that someone knocked heavily on his door, making both of you jump. "The fuck", mumbled Mason while standing up and get the door. "Hey May, have you seen Y/…", his coworker began but didn't finish when he saw you sitting on Mason's bed. At his colleague worried expression, he frowned, suddenly not at ease. "What is it? Why are you looking for Y/N?" "Ehm something happened and everyone is looking for her", he said and when his gaze landed on your hands he became pale. "Why are they looking for her?", asked Mason upset. His index pointed at your hands and he turned to Mason with a worried expression. He didn't need to say anything anymore that Mason figured it out. "Y/N, we need to go", he turned to you and you gulped harshly. You reached him and he took your hand in his in a protective way. "What's going on?", you whispered. "I need you to be strong, don't forget I'm beside you." You frowned in confusion not understanding why he was telling you that and it freaked you out. You arrived at the core of the set and saw half of the cast looking for you and once they saw you, their expressions turned dark. The one that scarred you the most by far, was Evans.

He marched to you, Mason pulling you behind him and trowing him a dark look. Seeing Mason shield you, he slowed down and said through greeted teeth, "What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you do that?" You shook your head, "What are you talking about?" "Don't play dumb, you know damn right what I'm talking about." You began to get annoyed and stepped beside Mason. "If I knew I wouldn't have asked you." Chris was panting heavily, trying to control some sort of rage. His eyes landed on your hands and he took them. "This is what I'm talking about !" You winced at his grip. Mason pushed him away, "Don't touch her !" Hemsworth, Mackie and Jeremy jogged to the altercation, keeping the two men apart. "What the fuck is going on here? What the hell are you talking about?", you shouted. You saw a silhouette that you unfortunately knew to well and saw her march, head bowed down to Chris. She looked up and that's when you saw her black eye and bruised face. You gasped loudly and covered your mouth with your bruised hands. It was in that moment that you connected the dots and let out a loud sob. You turned to Chris and begged. "I don't know what she told you but I swear to everything that I cherish, it wasn't me. I'm begging you, please believe me", you said while tears slid down your face. "You don't get to cry and play victim. I should be the one crying, you beat me up", exclaimed Rebecca full of hatred.

You turned to the other cast members, "I swear it wasn't me. Please believe me. She's lying again. I was with Mason the whole night." "Of course you would include him, your little complice", she spat. You saw in their eyes that whatever you would say there was too much evidence against you : your hands, the fact your character got killed instead of hers, your hatred towards each other. You plunged your head in your hands, crying out loud not believing she would go that far. It was the last straw for you. "You win. I'm done. You told me you would make my life a living hell and you succeeded. I can't anymore. I quit", you said out of force and saw her eyes glowing. You left the place and Mason stood there looking furious. He turned to Rebecca pointing at her, "This is not over. Mark my words, you will go down !" Rebecca, faking, grabbed Chris arm and looked at him with glossy eyes. "He's threatening me", she whispered. "I'm not threatening you, just giving you a heads-up", and with that he left, disengaging himself from Jeremy's and Mackie's hold.

You packed your things the best you could and the fattest you could. "Y/N", you heard Mason say. You stopped dead in your tracks and turned around. He came at you and crashed his arms tightly around your thick waist, his cheek resting on your head, leaving kisses. No words were exchanged, it wasn't needed. You understood each other with a look and he helped you pack your things. He charged your things in his car and you got inside not looking up, knowing that the cast was lined up seeing you leave. Mason gave their direction a look and his eyes met the ones of the person who gave him the phone that morning. He started the car and you left. RDJ was the first to go back to his trailer, shaking his head, sure you weren't the responsible.

You stayed the next weeks and months at a rehab center to deal with your drinking problem. Mason got in contact with Aaron and told him everything that happened since he visited you. They both visited you frequently, when the occasion presented itself but most of the time you were alone. You didn't mind, you needed it to find yourself, to feel at peace. It didn't take long for the media to find out about your addiction and cover their magazines or shows talking about it. What surprised you was the support that RDJ and other celebrities gave you on social media, telling that addictions are the worst and that instead putting people down with stupid articles, they should support people into their recovery. It was also a surprise when you got the visit of RDJ and Scarlet in the center. "What are you guys doing here?", you asked blankly. "We missed you", was all they said. It was awkward having them in the room next to you, especially since the last time you saw them.

 Scarlet cut the weird vibe by exclaiming that she and Robert believed you. You chuckled darkly not able to hold your tears back. She squeezed your hand in comfort. "Mark and Tom send their regards. They're shooting and couldn't make it", said Robert with a smile. "You don't have to come, you know. I'm fine, at least trying to. I don't need any pity visit." "You think it's a pity visit? It's not, we care about you", he stated. You turned your head and locked outside. Your eyes locked with the ones of someone you thought you would never see again - Chris Evans. There he stood, his hands awkwardly in his pockets and his blue eyes fixing you. He was clearly hesitating to enter the facility. You made the choice for him, stood up, looked him once again in the eyes and closed the door slowly until he was out of sight. "Chris came with us but he didn't know if he was ready to face you or not", mumbled Scarlet. "He made his choice that day", you replied. "Yeah about that, we have news", exclaimed happily Robert. His joyful state made you frown. "What now?", you mumbled. The two actors smirked and began telling you what happened three weeks after you left.

Three weeks after you left the set

The cast was convoked to the Marvel Studios. All of them had to be present, apart from your of course. They took place and saw Rebecca kiss an older man on the cheek. They found it weird and when she took place beside Chris, he asked her who it was. "It's my dad", she simply and happily answered. For some reason, the mention of her father being present on an official meeting made it click inside Evans' brain. Elizabeth got bet red when she heard the mention of Rebecca's father and Scarlet noticed, squeezing her hand in reassurance. Kevin Feige was the last person to enter the room and greeted everyone, just like the first time the whole cast and important members of the production were called in for a meeting. "If we're here today is to present you some of the people without whom the movies couldn't exist." He pointed to the line of executive producers and introduced them. The cast got to know that one of them was Rebecca's father.

"We're also here because we have the pleasure to inform that the movie has been edited and that the release date is fixed", Feige continued. There were applauses in the room, mainly directed to the Russo Brothers for their vison and work. "For that matter, we would like to reward you and show you a small teaser of it", finished the Marvel Studios president. The cast and the executive producers made themselves at ease to see the exclusive trailer, when suddenly the first images were blurred and private recordings started to roll. In the screen, everyone could see Rebecca fat-shaming and bullying you. The next video in the montage was Rebecca pushing Lizzie against the wall and making sure her career would be ruined if she didn't follow her lead. The cast looked at Elizabeth with a shocked expression, while tears slid down her face. They next looked at Rebecca with an angry look, upset for being tricked by her. She clearly was uncomfortable. The last video in the montage showed Lizzie's face and her turning the camera to Rebecca who was looking at you and Mason in the gym. For some reason, Lizzie followed Rebecca and saw her enter her trailer. Since her window was open, thanks to the mirror, Elizabeth caught on tape how Rebecca began punching herself in the face. The video ended and Mason stepped out of the shadows. "Now you all know that Y/N didn't do anything and didn't hit her. Thanks to Elizabeth's help and recording, you all know now !", and with that he turned to Rebecca with a smirk and glowing eyes. "I told you, you would go down", he said before quickly looking at Evans who was angrily looking at Rebecca, and left.

Loud whispers and gossiping echoched through the room. Rebecca stood up, caught like a deer but still tried to defend herself, "No it's a lie. They photoshopped me in the videos. I…". She was cut off by her father's firm and cold voice, "Rebecca, that's enough !!!", who stood up and was holding himself on the table. He sighed loudly and exclaimed, "You promised me you wouldn't do that anymore. You promised." She looked at him with a hatred look and began blaming him for everything. How he was never at home while growing up, his job being to important for his family, how she felt like he never cared about her and how she had to do everything in her power to get his attention. He shook his head, pained to see the situation his daughter put herself into. No one in the room said anything and witnessed the broken woman and her absent father snap at each other. "ENOUGH", he said for the last time and she stayed quiet. He sighed and exclaimed, "If you'll excuse me but I'll have to cut short to this meeting. Rebecca come on let's go". She followed him with a furious and at the same time, a sad expression.

"That's how we all know now", finished Scarlet. You looked at her dumbfounded, not believing what they just told you. "Mason did what?", you whispered. "Yep, he got recordings. One of the camera operators is his best friend so he asked him to let a camera on set roll day and night", explained Robert. "That's crazy and…illegal no?", you wondered. "Kevin Feige called him and since the case was already bad he told him that he wouldn't persecute him to court but he won't be able to work for Marvel ever again." You widened your eyes because you didn't know about that and shook your head. "How's Lizzie?", you asked. "She's ok I think. She gave Mason the ultime prouve against Rebecca, trying to rewrite her wrongs." You nodded and said that you should probably talk to her and thank her. Now you understood her behavior. "That's why Chris is outside? He feels bad?", you asked not really needing a response to know. They nodded. "He will have to do more than just stand outside the facility to get me to apologize."

You took a gulp of your water and couldn't stop the small smile cross your lips. "I can't believe Mason did that", you commented. Robert chuckled and replied, "I'm not surprised. The guy is head over heels for you and we all noticed since the beginning of shooting." "You've got yourself a good man there", mentioned Scarlet. You nodded and whispered, "Yeah, the best one."

* gifs not mine, credit to owner*

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[culturejunkies]

Something BIG is probably going to happen this weekend with Spider-Man and Disney

By Kenshiro

Of course, much like everyone else, I was very caught off-guard by the announcement that Spider-Man’s future in the MCU was in danger. Coming off the heels of Spider-Man: Far From Home making more money than any Sony/Columbia Pictures film EVER, this reeked of hilariously terrible timing on both Disney and Sony’s part. Of course, I read the Deadline report concerning the deal falling apart over money. I also read the io9 follow-up piece stating that all hope wasn’t loss. We saw Sony spin this to The Hollywood Reporter that Disney was completely at fault, seen Sony’s stock plummet the very next day, read Twitter feeds, watched YouTube videos…the whole internet was consumed with all things Spider-Man!

Yet the more I thought about things, the more convinced I became that we’re being subjected to possibly the greatest, orchestrated PR stunt in modern history. It’s become pretty clear to me that both Disney and Sony are working together to pull off a huge joint announcement at D23 Entertainment Expo which just so happens to be going on this weekend!

The Stars Themselves Took To Social Media

The first sign I had of things being off with this whole thing, was the reactions of the stars of the MCU. The first shot across the bow came from Hawkeye himself, Jeremy Renner, who made a post to his social media about wanting Spider-Man back, with the bow and arrow emoji, along with the very suspicious #congrats. First of all, what’s he congratulating? A huge new deal? Could be that certainly, but isn’t it more than a little bit ironic that the actor known for portraying the sharpshooting Hawkeye is firing the first shot at Sony on social media?

View this post on Instagram

Hey @sonypictures we want Spider-Man back to @therealstanlee and @marvel please, thank you #congrats #spidermanrocks #🏹 #please

A post shared by Jeremy Renner (@renner4real) on Aug 20, 2019 at 7:16pm PDT

Next, came the response from Spidey himself, Tom Holland, who recently celebrated getting a new whip on his Instagram, but followed that up by UNFOLLOWING Sony on social media. Petty, sure, but again these are professional actors. Petty behavior, especially when it could affect their overall bottom line isn’t exactly the smartest thing to do in this instance. This was when things really started to come to a head for me, and when Zendaya followed suit and ALSO unfollowed Sony, I new for sure something was up.

As I just stated, professional actors don’t make it a habit of doing things on social media at random. Their accounts are meticulously controlled, and yes, especially those obviously orchestrated ‘leaks’ that Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo have been accused of over the last few years. The studios OWN their social media. There’s nothing that happens in regards to their roles they play on social media without being cleared by the studios FIRST. You can take it to Uncle Scrooge’s Money Bin that a studio as clandestinely secretive as Disney is not in the habit of letting their stars get loose about anything concerning their projects. Nothing happens without them wanting it. NOTHING.

The Very Convenient Two Week Period

Lest we forget that after a epic, historic summer movie season for Disney, which Sony definitely benefited from, many fans were stoked to hear what was next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially after the mid-credits scene in Far From Home that totally upended Spider-Mans standing with the world at large. We got a small sampling of this at Comic-Con International at San Diego when Marvel Studios once again blew the doors off of Hall H. Curiously, there was ZERO Spider-Man announcements, which was very odd given that the movie was tearing up the box office at the same time the Hall H presentation was going on.

There’s no way that Sony and Disney would purposely sabotage Spider-Man: Far From home’s re-release

I figured that maaaybe they were just holding stuff back until D23, which happens this weekend. Then the announcement came that Sony & Marvel were arguing over Spider-Mans future. Which seemed like a terrible thing to do since they had just announced the re-release of Spider-Man: Far From Home the day before! Why would Sony purposely ruin their chances of increasing their box office take by telling the entire world that they were ending their relationship with Disney and Marvel Studios? Naturally fans took to social media and voiced their extreme displeasure with Sony Pictures over the seemingly callous announcement at re-releasing a film that became their highest-grossing film ever (thanks to King Midas aka Kevin Fiege) a day after setting geek hearts aflame! It made no rational sense whatsoever.

But then I got to thinking. The scheduling of all of this was starting to lineup for something extremely big! Over the course of two weeks we were going to get the D23 Entertainment Expo on 1 weekend followed by the re-release Spider-Man far from home on Labor Day weekend which is next week. What would possibly make both Disney and Sony think that now was a great time for them to publicly announce their split unless they had something greater up their sleeve.

This is all adding up to something big!

See, there’s no way that anyone can convince me that we aren’t all falling victim to one of the greatest manipulations of the media that we’ve seen. The current sitting president is a master at it, and Disney themselves are very adept at using all forms of media to stir up interest in their properties. The very announcement that Sony and Disney were unable to come to agreement on a new deal concerning Spider-Man would never have leaked to the media unless they wanted it to. At first it was my belief that Disney had leaked this information in order to coax Sony into an even sweeter deal, as the initial reports left me feeling that Disney was strong-arming them, leaving Sony no choice but to give them a hard no. Lastly there was the banner that happened to be shown at the location where 23 is going on this weekend.

Odd to see a property they don’t have rights to featured prominently on a banner at Disney’s personal love fest isn’t it? Almost like theory know something they aren’t telling.

Featured quite prominently in this manner would be three major characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and as you can see Spider-Man! Were Sony and Disney truly ending their relationship, Spider-Man would not be on that Banner. Disney promotes from within and they are not in the habit of promoting properties that they do not have a stake in. Remind yourselves of how poorly they treated the properties owned by Fox prior to them falling under the Disney umbrella. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four both were treated like redheaded stepchildren and Marvel distanced themselves from the properties i all forms of media. Granted Spider-Man is a much different beast than those aforementioned properties but precedent has been set. In summary, all I’m saying is that we’d all better buckle up for a potentially Unforgettable weekend leading into a celebratory Labor Day weekend. Im no clairvoyant, nor do I have any sources to cite or quote. I’m just a dude who sat back and watched things play out the past few days. Do you believe that Sony and Disney are really splitsville? r are we all being played like puppets on a string? Let me know what you think in the comments.

[thewondersofsmut]

Impatient

Request:  Hi I love your stuff you’re my favourite Damon account ✨♥️ can you please do one where Damon and the reader have been together for a long time and somebody like Stefan (can be someone else don’t mind) walks in on them 😅😚ty x – Anon AND Please do a Damon and reader smut where they’ve been together since 1862 and in the present now they have sex on Damon’s Birthday, also can it be in a public place so everyone in the ‘mystic gang’ gets suspicious after they’ve left the dinner table for a bit too long, thanks xxx – Anon

Pairing: Damon x Reader

Warnings: smut

Word Count: 933

This is a simple story, I hope you like it! I also combined two requests that go hand in hand!

You have celebrated 150 birthdays with your one and only, sometimes its low key, just you and him in a private place, either being slobs or sexy, no in between, or you throw him a grand party with one too many people. At the end of the day, a minute before his birthday ends, he plants a soft kiss, along with a genuine smile, saying how thankful he is to spend his birthday with you and that you being there for him and with him, was the best gift. This year, for the first time, since having too many enemies more than friends, you planned an in between celebration. He didn't like the idea of hanging out with the mystic gang but deeply, your words 'they do care for you' made him happy and let you do your thing. You talked to Stefan, who was more than glad to help you, and you invited everyone in your little team to celebrate at the Grill.

The little surprise banner really did surprise Damon. He rolled his eyes and yet he snuggled to your side, kissing your jaw. "Thank you." He whispered. "So, since majority of us is a vampire," Whispering the last part with a giggle. "I baked some very red velvet cake." Adding unnecessary emphasis, making the brothers laugh. "And for you humans," You joked with a scoff, looking at Elena, Jeremy, Matt, Alaric, and Bonnie. "I baked a regular chocolate cake!" You smiled, putting both cakes, decorated with 'Happy Birthday Damon' with a cute drawing of a smiley with fangs. "Aren't you the sweetest." Stefan said and Damon agreed. "Happy 150th birthday, my love. I can't believe you put up with me or my will to celebrate your birthday for more than a century." You started as you lit the candle on the cake.

"Always have and always will, kitten." He said, kissing your temple. Stefan smiled, seeing a whole different side of Damon when he's with you, not necessarily good but it was better than normal. Damon blew the candles and everyone cheered much to his dismay. The table was filled with food and drinks that he loves, all coordinated by you and Matt, it was fun, Damon wouldn't really admit it but you knew. Whilst eating, chatting, generally having fun, you had a great idea of teasing Damon, letting your hand wander down in his pants. It was pretty loud so you were generally the only one hearing his very restricted and tiny groans. You smirked at him and he lightly glared at you. "I'm gunna grab some more drinks." You said standing up. "I'll help you." He said and you nodded. At this point almost everyone was drunk to comprehend. "Bring some whiskey, (y/n)!" Stefan slurred, making you giggle.

The trip towards the bathroom was incoherently constructed, bumping on a table, a seat, heck a person, but you made it. Damon immediately pinned you to the wall, kissing you fiercely. "You, little one, can be a huge distraction." Damon said in between kisses as his hands travelled to your ass, squeezing it, then up to your hair, slightly pulling, exposing your neck. He ravished it, nibbling at your flesh. You moaned, igniting a flare on your lower abdomen. You pinned him across, kissing him down his chest and making your way to kneel. You unzipped his pants, trying to hold in his hard cock. You stroked him, making him lean his head back, his hand on tangling on your hair. You licked the tip then making your way the whole length until you gagged yourself. He groaned, bucking his hips forward. You continued to suck his cock, teasing the tip until he can no longer take it.

He sped you up, kissing you, invading your mouth. He turned you around, leaning you forwards as you supported yourself on the sink. He teased your wet pussy, inserting just the tip until you begged to fill you up to the brim. He then suddenly thrusted all the way in, making you gasp. He then set a strong fast pace, this was a quickie after all. His hands were gripping your waist, anchoring himself to you. You were both groaning and moaning, getting closer to the edge. You could feel him swell inside you and that brought you to your release with a moan of his name. He thrusted more and as you clenched around his cock, you brought him right to his orgasm. He slowed down but before he can pull out, the door to the bathroom was opened by Stefan. You gasped and Stefan immediately closed the door. You and Damon sped to get cleaned up and presentable. You finally grabbed the drinks with Damon and got back to your table.

"You two took too long!" Caroline whined, pissed drunk. Stefan scoffed. "Right, in the bathroom!" He said, rolling his eyes. "Oh god! Ew!" Bonnie commented, making a face. You and Damon, being the cocky ones in the bunch just laughed. "Can't wait." Damon smirked and you giggled. "You two are impossible!" Matt said. "Shut your face and just drink!" Damon joked. The night continued a little longer until everyone was seeing two. Taken care by the more responsible Alaric, who drank just half of the amount everyone had, took most home. You and Damon? Straight to the boarding house, continuing what was happening in the bathroom. Stefan deciding to just stay at Elena's for the better. Best birthday by far, according to Damon as you two continued to fuck each other senselessly until the sun begin to rise.

[architectnews]

Firstsite Colchester, Essex: Museum of the Year

Firstsite centre for the visual arts, Colchester Building, Architect, Rafael Viñoly England

Firstsite Colchester, Essex Building Award

22 Sep 2021

New Centre for the Visual Arts

Design: Rafael Viñoly Architects

Firstsite Is Winner Of £100,000 Art Fund Museum Of The Year 2021

photograph © Marc Atkins

Firstsite in Colchester, Essex

Firstsite in Colchester, Essex, is announced as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 this evening (21 September 2021). Sally Shaw, Director of Firstsite, was presented with the £100,000 prize – the largest museum prize in the world – by broadcaster Edith Bowman at a ceremony in the spectacular setting of the Science Museum, London.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Firstsite is a contemporary arts organisation showing a diverse mix of historic, modern and contemporary art from around the world in an inclusive environment. It has built a strong, critical reputation nurturing long and deep relationships with artists and the local community.

photograph : Jayne Lloyd

During the pandemic it mobilised at speed to support local people, lending its building to neighbouring charity, Community 360 to run a food bank. Within days of lockdown, Firstsite created activity packs which went on to feature over fifty artists and were downloaded by over 92,000 households. The organisation led on The Great Big Art Exhibition which encouraged people to display their own art in their windows during lockdown to create a nationwide gallery, and Michael Landy’s Welcome to Essex exhibition was enjoyed by thousands of visitors over the summer.

photograph © Marc Atkins

In response to Black Lives Matter, Firstsite commissioned Elsa James to make a downloadable work in solidarity and continued the Super Black festival celebrating black culture in Essex. Other significant initiatives have included My name is not Refugee, an Arts Council Collection exhibition curated by clients of Refugee Action Colchester, and Art For Life, an exhibition commissioned by the NHS with key workers to aid understanding of the impact of Covid-19 on mental health.

photograph © Richard Bryant

Jenny Waldman, Art Fund director and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year, said, ‘We’re proud to announce Firstsite in Colchester as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021. From inspiring everyone to turn their windows into a nationwide gallery during lockdown to feeding local kids in the school holidays, they are an outstanding example of innovation and integrity. At their core is powerful, engaged contemporary art, housed in a gallery that gives space for everyone, from artists to NHS staff to local families and refugee groups. They exceeded all our expectations. Here is a small organisation thinking big and caring for their local community. Here is excellence in Essex.’

photo © Marc Atkins

Fellow judge, Edith Bowman said, ‘Museums and galleries are a portal to infinite creative avenues. I’ve had the real pleasure of visiting each one of the five finalists. Words fail me at what they’ve done with tiny teams and budgets. What Firstsite has achieved is mind-blowing.’

The winner was one of five finalists. The other shortlisted museums were: Centre for Contemporary Art Derry~Londonderry (Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland), Experience Barnsley (Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England), Thackray Museum of Medicine (Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) and Timespan (Helmsdale, Sutherland, Scotland).

Each of the other finalist museums receives a £15,000 prize in recognition of their achievements.

The members of this year’s judging panel are: Maria Balshaw, director of Tate and chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council; Edith Bowman, broadcaster; Katrina Brown, director of The Common Guild; Art Fund trustee; Suhair Khan, strategic projects lead at Google, artist Thomas J Price and Jenny Waldman, director of Art Fund.

photograph © Marc Atkins

The news was announced in a live broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, BBC News Channel and BBC iPlayer, presented by John Wilson.

Among the 250 guests at the event hosted by Jenny Waldman were the following artists: Jeremy Deller, Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Cornelia Parker, Yinka Shonibare and Clare Twomey. Guests also included leading figures from the world of arts and culture such as: Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nadine Dorries; Director of the Science Museum Group, Ian Blatchford; Director of Tate, Maria Balshaw; Director of Wellcome Collection, Melanie Keen; Director of the Design Museum, Tim Marlow; Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, Axel Rüger; Chair of Arts Council England, Nicholas Serota; and London’s Deputy Mayor for Culture, Justine Simons. Many other high-profile figures also attended such as: poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan; and Museum and Heritage Consultant, Sandra Shakespeare.

Art Fund, the UK’s national charity for art, awards Art Fund Museum of the Year annually to one outstanding museum. The 2021 edition reflects the resilience and imagination of museums throughout the pandemic. At this moment of museums re-opening and starting their recovery, the 2021 prize highlights and rewards the extraordinary and innovative ways in which museums have, over the past year, served and connected with their communities against all the odds, even when some have had to close their physical spaces for the greater part of the year. Art Fund Museum of the Year is the largest museum prize in the world.

photograph © Marc Atkins

#museumoftheyear

Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 Finalists

The Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 finalists were:

Centre for Contemporary Art Derry~Londonderry The Centre for Contemporary Art has been exhibiting emerging artists from Northern Ireland alongside international peers since 1992. Today CCA creates opportunities for audiences to experience ambitious, experimental and engaging contemporary art and supports the development of artists through commissions, solo and group exhibitions, public programmes, artist residencies, alongside its own publishing programme.

In the past year, it has supported 65 artists with paid for opportunities including social media takeovers, as well as developing its CCA Supports programme. This includes an online platform providing artists with information on emergency support through Government schemes and initiatives, crit groups and surgeries along with a series of Roundtable podcasts. Moreover, CCA has continued to engage with the community by displaying artwork in its windows. It presented the biennial exhibition URGENCIES 2021 in spaces across the city such as in shop windows, theatres and a shopping centre, and delivered activity packs to hundreds of schoolchildren, essential in an area of social deprivation.

Experience Barnsley Since opening in 2013, the collection at Experience Barnsley traces the known history of the borough from pre-historic times to the 21st century. Located in the iconic Town Hall and one of five Barnsley Museums sites, it is supported by thousands of local people who have shared their precious memories and objects, making up the displays in the Barnsley Story Gallery. As well as this there are spaces dedicated to changing, community created (temporary) exhibitions, such as the recent story of the Barnsley Canister Company as well as learning spaces and an archives centre.

Experience Barnsley’s recent digital activities, such as an online festival of archaeology, the daily digital jigsaw, and working with Ian McMillan, their Poet in Lockdown, has inspired local audiences to write poems, submit sketches and get creative, demonstrating how culture can make a difference to the local community with an increased digital reach to 17 million and an engagement of 942,000 across social media. In addition, thousands of care packages were sent to schools, care homes and local families through their partnerships, virtual trips to the pub kept communities connected and IT provision was catered for vulnerable groups.

Thackray Museum of Medicine The Thackray Museum of Medicine is the UK’s leading independent medical museum located between Europe’s largest teaching hospital and some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in West Yorkshire. The museum building first opened in 1861 as the purpose-built Leeds Union Workhouse. New buildings were gradually added to the workhouse complex including a separate infirmary, later to be renamed St James’s Hospital. By the 1990s, the old Leeds Union Workhouse building was considered unfit for modern medicine and Parliament gave permission for it to house the museum.

It now has a reimagined immersive visitor experience and, through a redisplay of the collections, eleven new galleries showing how people have triumphed over disease. It became the first museum in the pandemic to host a vaccination centre delivering 50,000 Pfizer vaccines. Tackling a range of medical subjects and enterprising outreach projects, the Thackray Museum has worked with schools to generate content to reinforce the science behind handwashing, created the online exhibition Mothers in Lockdown, and it became a locus for food distribution and converted an ambulance to carry out outreach projects around the city.

Timespan Located in the Scottish Highlands, Timespan comprises a local history museum, contemporary art programme, geology and herb gardens, shop, bakery and café. Timespan responds to urgent contemporary issues that are rooted in the local context of remote, rural Scotland, with a global and multi-disciplinary perspective to produce four projects a year, each aligned with broader social movements, alongside a programme of artist residencies. Timespan has operated as a social hub for the community during the pandemic and demonstrated a clear ambition for art and heritage.

In the past year, the exhibition Real Rights reframed local history within the intersection of climate change and colonialism. YASS (Youth Actions Social Squad) activity packs were sent to homes of local village children and tackled themes of social justice in creative ways, a consequence of which was the formation of a young gardeners’ association. Their online cooking show, Recipes for a Disaster, proved popular and featured local produce and producers.

Art Fund Museum of the Year

Art Fund has supported Museum of the Year since 2008. Its forerunner was the Prize for Museums and Galleries, administered by the Museum Prize Trust and sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation from 2003-2007. The prize champions what museums do, encourages more people to visit and gets to the heart of what makes a truly outstanding museum. The judges present the prize to the museum or gallery that has shown how their achievements of the preceding year stand out, demonstrated what makes their work innovative, and the impact it has had on audiences.

Winners 2008 – 2020

2008 – The Lightbox, Woking 2009 – Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-Trent 2010 – Ulster Museum, Belfast 2011 – British Museum 2012 – Royal Albert Memorial Museum 2013 – William Morris Gallery, London 2014 – Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield 2015 – Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 2016 – Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London 2017 – The Hepworth, Wakefield 2018 – Tate St Ives 2019 – St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff

In a unique edition of the prize in 2020, Art Fund responded to the unprecedented challenges that all museums faced by sharing the prize money equally between five winners: Aberdeen Art Gallery; Gairloch Museum; Science Museum; South London Gallery; and Towner Eastbourne.

photograph © Marc Atkins

About Art Fund

Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. It provides millions of pounds every year to help museums to acquire and share works of art across the UK, further the professional development of their curators, and inspire more people to visit and enjoy their public programmes.

In response to Covid-19 Art Fund has made £3.6 million in urgent funding available to support museums through reopening and beyond, including Respond and Reimagine grants to help meet immediate need and reimagine future ways of working. Art Fund is independently funded, supported by the 131,000 members who buy the National Art Pass, who enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places, 50% off major exhibitions, and receive Art Quarterly magazine. Art Fund also supports museums through its annual prize, Art Fund Museum of the Year. www.artfund.org

Previously on e-architect:

22 Sep 2011

firstsite Colchester

New Centre for the Visual Arts

Design: Rafael Viñoly Architects

firstsite, a major new centre for the visual arts, designed by internationally acclaimed Rafael Viñoly Architects, will open in Colchester on Sunday 25 September 2011.

photo : Richard Bryant/ arcaidimages.com

firstsite, Colchester centre for the visual arts design by Rafael Viñoly

Location: firstsite, Colchester, Essex, England, UK

Essex Building Designs

Essex Buildings

A House for Essex, England Design: FAT Architecture + Grayson Perry photo : Jack Hobhouse A House for Essex

Meadow House Design: Strom Architects rendering : Numa Meadow House Essex

Key contemporary Essex Buildings

Newhall Be, Harlow, north west Essex Design: Alison Brooks Architects photo : Paul Riddle Newhall Housing

Institute For Democracy and Conflict Resolution, University of Essex Daniel Libeskind University of Essex Institute For Democracy and Conflict Resolution

Stansted Airport, Stansted Foster + Partners Stansted Airport

Comments / photos for the Firstsite Colchester, Essex: Museum of the Year Building page welcome

The post Firstsite Colchester, Essex: Museum of the Year appeared first on e-architect.

[kyrsten-cregger]

Netflix Assessment

Competitive Advantage

Netflix, the leading provider of Streaming Videos on Demand, has an uncertain future ahead; however, it can secure its future with sustainable competitive advantage. According to the case, Netflix’s competitive advantage comes from being one of the first platforms in the industry and being a well-known brand. Sure there are other platforms and more platforms joining the competition; however, Netflix has multiple years of subscribers, content, data, and finances that will help it maintain its lead for some time. With being one of the first platforms, Netflix was able to secure a high reputation in the industry and able to monkey with their content in order to provide subscribers with what they want to view. The data and capital raised during its lead in the industry will also remain a competitive advantage; however, this is not as sustainable. As the data shows, other platforms are sweeping the competition, stealing subscriptions, and even taking content away from Netflix. Therefore, Netflix’s most sustainable competitive advantage lies in its original content creation. With the plethora of revenue generated during its first few years, Netflix began reinvesting into original content creation, funding movies and shows that are original and solely on its own streaming platform. Furthermore, the cost of creating their own content is one-time, consistent amount; therefore, they will pay for themselves as enough subscribers watch them and purchase subscriptions to watch them. Netflix is also able to use its consumer data in order to make better-informed decisions in what type of content to create and what shows/movies to continue funding. If Netflix is able to hone on to the wants of their consumers, they will be able to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage by creating content that users must subscribe to in order to view in the first place.

Sustainability

According to the article “Does Netflix Have a Competitive Advantage?” by Jeremy Bowman, in the past year, Netflix has proven that it does in fact have sustainable competitive advantage. Bowman states that Netflix’s sustainable competitive advantage boils down to 2 characteristics: pricing power and increasing profitability. For example, Netflix chose to raise its subscription from $13 to $14 in the 4th quarter of 2020. Although Netflix is almost double the cost of many competitors (Disney+ for $6.99, Apple TV+ for $4.99, etc.), Netflix is able to charge the higher cost without fear of losing too many subscriptions. Bowman claims that Netflix’s pricing power is the product of an aggressive content spending strategy in order to create and offer something for everyone. The other platforms have not dabbled in original content creation nearly as much as Netflix. If they were to start dabbling in content creation, we could expect the prices of those subscriptions to rise as well in order to be able to fund original shows and movies that are geared to the consumers’ wants. On the increasing profitability side, Netflix finally told investors that they expect to see a break-even point and positive free cash flow sometime in 2021. Free cash flow was a huge challenge for Netflix for many years, as they prioritized original content creation in order to rake in higher subscription volumes. It seems as though their aggressive content spending strategy may soon pay off and even lead to an economic “moat” between Netflix and its competitors. This “moat” will be the core of their sustainable competitive advantage as they are financially able and sound enough to continue content generation in focus of gaining and retaining subscribers.

Bowman’s article directly supports my thoughts on Netflix’s sustainable competitive advantage. For one, Netflix’s beginning stance in the industry allowed them to start and increase their subscription volume which led to a financial competitive advantage. Although I speculated their well-known presence in the industry to be the main advantage, Bowman contributes their early presence in combination with their early content strategy to be the true competitive advantage. For instance, Netflix was quick the game to collect subscribers as well quick to offer original content that retained subscribers. I am more speculative about their financial advantage considering Netflix has always found free cash flow to be a challenge. Furthermore, their recent financial earnings can be closely attributed to consumer trends in relation to COVID-19. There is no evidence that trends will remain the same after COVID-19 is a thing of the past.

Competitive Environment

Netflix’s competitive environment has grown significantly in the last couple years. At the beginning, Netflix’s main competitors were Amazon Prime and Hulu. More recent additions to the streaming industry include Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, CBS All Access, Peacock, ESPN+, Quibi, and Paramount+. The market is saturated by enough competition that the threat of a monopoly is not in the picture. However, all competitors can be seen as substitutes to Netflix, and there is an ever-present threat of entrants that want to play the same streaming game. According to the case though, many subscribers are willing to pay for multiple streaming services. Netflix happens to be one of the contenders that most subscribers are willing to hold on to.  As far as suppliers go, Netflix is making a strong decision to rely heavily on original content creation as other competitors began to “steal” access to pre-existing content. Original content creation has 1 flat cost, which can be covered by continued and new subscriptions. On the buyer side of things, Netflix attempts to provide content for all. Therefore, they are attempting to market towards families with young kids, adults that work from home, and teens. Other companies, such as Disney+, are focusing their marketing efforts on target markets like just families with young kids. Netflix and its competitors seem to be focusing on adding and creating content that will positively reach their specific target markets; however, its competitors seem to be using a lower-cost initiative to try and steal some market share.

Threats

The biggest threats to Netflix include Amazon Prime, Disney+, and HBO Max. For one, Amazon Prime has no lack of subscriptions and no lack in popularity. Amazon Prime’s challenges have been trying to market their streaming services and procuring/creating content that is wanted by their consumers. In other words, Amazon Prime is finding it a challenge to compete with Netflix’s content; however, Amazon Prime has the funds and resources to collect and analyze data that could potentially eliminate this problem entirely. As for Disney+, they are a big threat to Netflix because they have already secured the rights to their own content, Pixar’s, Marvels, and Discovery’s, as well as started to create new original content. They even started releasing content so people can see it at home compared to the theaters. They also offer their streaming services at a much lower price. HBO Max on the other hand, offers their product at a higher price; however, they have the rights to more “blockbuster” movies and will start creating more “blockbuster” content with bigger celebrity names involved. If any streaming service is able to perfect their content creation, offer enough variety, and at a lower price, any streaming service stands as a threat to Netflix.

Consumer Trends

In the streaming services industry, there are multiple emerging consumer and industry trends that are super important to track. One consumer trend is “couch time”, or the increasing desire to stream shows and services during and due to the pandemic. In fact, 56% of respondents said they are watch 2 or more hours of streaming services on a given day than before the pandemic (euromonitor international). Some parents even use streaming services as a make-shift nanny to watch over their kids, while other adults now working from home feel the need to have a relaxation break in the middle of the work day to relieve the stress. Another consumer trend is the desire for a lot of variety and multiple options to stream. That being said, Americans are spending more and more on streaming services in a month and most subscribe to multiple streaming services.  For example, families with children have 3.8 services while homes with no children subscribe to 1.7 services (Flint, Mullin, & Rizzo, 2020). Consumers are spending more time viewing streaming services, have more time to get through all of the content, and therefore look to more providers to keep up this trend.

On the industry side of things, streaming service providers must compete for consumer attention. One industry trend is creating original content for their viewers rather than getting caught in a bidding war trying to secure other content. Considering the pandemic shut down a lot of studios and production, there has been less content to procure and consumers are consuming at record level speeds. Netflix has been a leader in original content creation; however, other providers like HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Hulu are later to the game, but starting to see the importance of it more and more. Another industry trend is the seek for opportunity in the international sector. While most of these streaming platforms are native to America, international markets are now being viewed as untapped streams of revenue. Netflix has seen incredible growth in subscribers, so it is not long until the other platforms expand their market internationally as well. The challenge then becomes offering content and services that are perceived just as well on an international stage.

Global Consumer Trends of 2021

Consumer trends are key for a firm’s success because they can either make or break the business. On a positive side, Netflix will be impacted by the consumer trends craving convenience, phygital reality, playing with time, and shaken and stirred (euromonitor international). Netflix is able to cater to craving convenience very easily. Netflix is an online streaming service that offers entertainment in the most convenient way possible. Furthermore, Netflix’s platform is built upon the idea of phygital reality. People once were able to go to movie theaters to consume entertainment. Now the same experience can be consumed directly from their streaming devices at home. Moreover, Netflix is up and running 24/7; therefore, they are able to cater to the consumer’s desire to consume entertainment at any time that is convenient for them. Some newer consumer trends can also affect where Netflix takes its next step. For instance, they can cater to the shaken and stirred trend by creating content that is built to foster a balanced, fulfilled, and self-improved well-being. In fact, it may be beneficial for Netflix to spend more resources in this particular area. On the negative side of things, it is just as important for Netflix to be aware of the trends that could negatively impact them. For example, Netflix should be weary of the Outdoor Oasis trend and how movie theaters could take this to their advantage. If movie theaters were able to provide an outdoor experience at cheaper costs, consumers may be more willing and interested in consuming their entertainment in a new, outdoor experience. Therefore, Netflix should make the effort to secure their position as a leading entertainment provider for the long-run.

[jeremystrele]

Announcing Our 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards FINALISTS!

Announcing Our 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards FINALISTS!

TDF Design Awards

by Lucy Feagins, Editor

RaeRae House by Maynard Architects. Photo – Peter Bennetts

Quandong Cottage by Zana Wright. Photo – Caitlin Mills.  Highgate Park House by Vokes and Peters. Photo by Christopher Frederick Jones

CJH Studio by Penthouse M. Photo – Cathy Schusler. Malvern Residence by Doherty Design Studio. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Whynot Street Carport and Pool by Kieron Gait Architects. Photo – Cristopher Frederick Jones. Garden House Garden by Ben Scott Garden Design. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

HARU Light by Skeehan Studio. Photo – Rachel Byron. Ceto Collection by Ross Gardam. Photo – Haydn Cattach.

Chromatic Fantastic Cabinets, Danielle Brustman. Photo – Jonathan Griggs. L’Art de vivre Lounge Chair by Fomu. Photo – Sean Fennessy. Styling – Jess Lillico

Annie Coop Textiles by Annie Coop. Photo – Lillie Thompson. The Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection by North. Photo – Hilary Faye.

Holding Light by Daisy Watt and Samantha Seary. Photo – Daisy Watt. Graft Vase Series by Liam Flemming. Photo – Grant Hancock.

100% Recycled Eyewear by Good Citizens. Photo – Dan Hilburn. New Model by Dowel Jones and Soft Serve Studio. Photo – Cricket Studio.

Studio Collection by Lucas Wearne. Photo – Lucas Wearne. J5 Cabinet by James Howe. Photo – Peter Ryle.

Gulnura Table by Foolscap Studio + Foolscap Studio. Photo – Tatjana Plitt. In Absence by Edition Office + Yhonnie Scarce. Photo – Ben Hoskings. 

Drum roll please…. in partnership with Laminex, today we share the finalists in the 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards!

From incredible Australian homes in the Residential Architecture category; to thoughtful, detailed craftsmanship in the Handcrafted category; to innovative and inspiring ideas in the Sustainable Design or Initiative category, the thing I love most about our Awards program is the broad range of projects it encompasses – big and small! It really presents such a thorough and varied snapshot of the design landscape in this country, and if this Awards program is anything to go by, there’s so much to celebrate.

We have 119 finalists (!) across 10 categories – Residential Architecture (supported by Brickworks), Interior Design (supported by DeLonghi), Landscape Design, Lighting Design, Furniture Design (supported by Jardan), Textile Design, Handcrafted, Sustainable Design or Initiative (supported by Country Road), Collaboration and Emerging Designer (supported by Phoenix Tapware).

The shortlisting process this year was not for the fainthearted! Over countless emails, Zoom calls and a couple of socially distanced meetings, we worked alongside our 25 judges to refine each shortlist. Honestly – it wasn’t easy, the calibre was so high across the board, and we’re so grateful for every single entry. THANK YOU to everyone who entered, and of course, to our expert judges for lending their time and wisdom to the process.

While each shortlisted project is listed below, the photographs here represent only a small sample of the lineup! You can see more about each finalist right now on our Awards website. We’ll be taking a closer look at all these projects over the coming months, as we get closer to our Awards Ceremony in November. (Fingers crossed on that!).

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

This category seeks to award one standout Australian residential architecture project. Ground-up builds, renovations and additions are all eligible within this category.

Judges: John Wardle (John Wardle Architects), Rachel Nolan (Kennedy Nolan) and Karen Alcock (MAA Architects)

The Residential Architecture award is supported by Brickworks.

Austin Maynard – RaeRae House Benn & Penna Architecture – Balmain Rock Vokes & Peters – Highgate Park House Topology Studio – House at Otago Bay Anthrosite Architects – Waratah Secondary House Clare Cousins Architects – Beaumaris House Zana Wright – Quandong Cottage Archier & HIP V HYPE – Davison Street Emma Mitchell Architects – CLT House MRTN Architects – Good Life House Andrew Burges Architects – Bismarck House Sibling Architecture – Glassbook House Lineburg Wang – Park Road House Ron Kennon Architects  – Fitzroy North House 02 CO-AP Architects – Woollahra Courtyard House Jesse Bennett Studio – Tjuringa FMD Architects – CLT House Studio Bright  – Ruckers Hill House

INTERIOR DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian residential interior design Project created by an individual or studio.

Judges: Miriam Fanning (Mim Design), Chelsea Hing (Chelsea Hing) and Juliette Arent (Arent & Pyke)

The Interior Design award is supported by De Longhi.

Flack Studio  – Potts Point Residence Flack Studio – Middle Park Residence Fowler & Ward  – Bourke Street Apartment Studio CD  – Art House Workroom – Toorak Residence Edwina Glenn – Brass House Robson Rak Architecture & Interiors – Spanish Queen House Studio Gorman  – The Quarterdeck YSG Studio  – Budge Over Dover Studio Moore  – Ross Farm – Barn Studio Moore – Ross Farm – Dairy Hearth Studio  – Slow Beam CJH Studio – Penthouse M Doherty Design Studio – Malvern Residence Two

LANDSCAPE DESIGN 

This category seeks to award one standout Australian Landscape Design project. Residential, public and community gardens completed within the last three years are all eligible within this category.

Judges: Paul Bangay (Paul Bangay Garden Design), William Dangar (Dangar Barin Smith) and Georgina Reid (The Planthunter)

Acre – Dune House Kate Seddon Landscape Design – Tarrawarra Estate Pathway Kate Seddon Landscape Design  – The Composed Garden Kathleen Murphy Landscape Design – Native Retreat Studio Garden Ian Barker Gardens – Deepdene Tristan Peirce Landscape Architecture – Cottesloe 01 Rolling Stone Landscapes – Amongst The Trees Keiron Gait Architects + Dan Young Landscape Architect –Whynot Street Carport and Pool Eckersley Garden Architecture – Yarra River Cascading Garden Garden Life  – Palm Beach Garden Ben Scott – Garden House Garden

LIGHTING DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian lighting design project. Individual products or product ranges developed within Australia, bespoke designs, one-off lighting projects and installations are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Volker Haug (Volker Haug Studio) and Kate Stokes (Coco Flip)

Skeehan Studio  – Haru Dale Hardiman & Stephen Royce – Open Garden Liam Fleming & Dean Toepfer  – Solute Ross Gardam – Ceto Koskela – Ngalya/Together Studio Henry Wilson  – Pillar Copper Design  – Flask Lighting System Takeawei – Lighthouse Lamp Alex Earl  – Olid Ring Pendant Pop & Scott –Cosmos Collection

TEXTILE DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian textile design project. One-off textile designs, textile collections and textile-based fashion or homewares products will be considered in this category.

Judges: Cassie Byrnes (Variety Hour) and Luciana Wallis (Warwick Fabrics).

Kip & Co with Bábbarra Women’s Centre – Kip & Co x Bábbarra Annie Cooper – Annie Coop Textiles Baina – Collection .01 Ellen McKenna  – From Art To Fashion Gemma Threadgate  – Sleep Magpie Goose – Magpie Goose North Home – The Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection Gorman & Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency – Mangkaja x Gorman Pampa – To-yik-ca CASTLE – Little Garden Bedlinen

FURNITURE DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian furniture design project. Individual products and/or product ranges developed within Australia, bespoke pieces, fixed and freestanding furniture designs are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Nick Garnham (Jardan) and Khai Liew (Khai Liew Design).

The Furniture Design award is supported by Jardan.

Adam Goodrum & Arthur Seigneur – Exquisite Corpse Credenza Danielle Brustman – Chromatic Fantastic Cabinet Manapan x Foolscap Studio – Gulnura Table AKWT – Itto Table Cenzo – Loop Chair Ferguson George – Flyde Lounge Chair Fomu – L’Art de Vivre Lounge Chair Foolscap Studio – Soufflé Lounge Hugh McCarthy & Foolscap Studio – JX8 Dining Table James Howe – J7 Day Bed Manuel Canestrini & Colin Whitehead – Symbiont Coffee Table Oku Space – Breezeway Cabinet Studio Thomas Lentini – Central Park Road Table Biasol Studio – Comoda Sofa

HANDCRAFTED

This category seeks to award one outstanding Australian handcrafted project, completed by either an individual, group or organisation. A single handcrafted functional, decorative or wearable item, or a handcrafted product range are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Amanda Dziedzic (Amanda Dziedzic Glass), Elisa Carmichael, Bruce Rowe (Bruce Rowe Studio)

Tjunkaya Tapaya of Tjanpi Desert Weavers – Tjanpi Teapot James Lemon – Pest Chairs Szilvassy – Aether Daisy Watt and Samantha Seary – Holding Light Georgina Proud – Glass Houses Cut Throat Knives – Imprint Kirsten Perry – The Lost Homes of Soft Boiled Beings Liam Fleming – Graft Vase Series Nicolette Johnson – Assemblage Siân Boucherd – Oyster Shell Tantri Mustika – Lithify

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN or INITIATIVE 

This category seeks to award one outstanding Australian sustainably designed product, concept, idea or initiative, developed by either an individual, group or organisation. This includes functional products, furniture and lighting, as well as concepts, ideas and community initiatives with positive environmental outcomes.

Judges: Karina Seljak (Seljak Brand) and Jeremy McLeod (Breathe Architecture)

The Sustainable Design or Initiative award is supported by Country Road.

Adam Cornish Design & Junglefy – Junglefy Breathing Wall Dale Hardiman & Stephen Royce – Open Garden Dowel Jones & Soft Serve Studio – New Model Five Mile Radius – Waste Terrazzo Good Citizens – 100% Recycled Eyewear Commune & Co – Cirque du Soil Koala Eco – Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Returnr – Deposit-return system + products Seed & Sprout – Raise The Bar Melbourne Food Hub – Grow/Source/Eat Sussex Taps – Circa Waverly Woolen Mills – 100% Natural Fibre

EMERGING DESIGNER

This category seeks to award one designer, architect, independent creative or studio, working in any creative discipline, who has launched their own professional practice within the last three years.

Judges: Sophie Gannon (Sophie Gannon Gallery) and Simone LeAmon (Hugh Williamson Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture, NGV).

The Emerging Designer award is supported by Phoenix Tapware.

Pierce Widera – Architects and Interior Designers Brahman Perera – Interior Designer Cassie Hansen – Ceramicist CJH Studio – Interior Architects and Product Designers James Howe – Furniture Designer Fowler and Ward – Architects Neighbourhood Studio – Sculptor Kennon – Architects and Interior Designers

COLLABORATION

This category seeks to award one collaborative design project, where two or more separate creative practitioners, businesses or entities have come together to create one collaborative product, product range, installation, built structure or other creative project.

Judges: Amanda Henderson (Gloss Creative), Jeremy Wortsman (The Jacky Winter Group) and Megan Morton.

Nudie Jeans x Waverley Mills – Recycled Blanket Arthur Seigneur & Adam Goodrum – Exquisite Corpse Centre for Appropriate Technology, Elliat Rich & Outside Assembly -Wren Furniture Suite for ApMurra Furniture Edition Office & Daniel Boyd – For Our Country Edition Office & Yhonnie Scarce – In Absence Manapan Furniture x Foolscap Studio – Gulnura Furniture Suite Nicholas Johnston & Kristian Klein – Krof Cutlery Obus & Olana Janfa – Olana x Obus Pan After & Alice Oehr – Paper Pattern Collection The Big Group & Koichi Takada Architects – Landmark by Lexus

Phew!

Winners will be announced in an awards ceremony at Deakin Edge, Federation Square in Melbourne on Thursday, November 5th, 2020.

You can explore photographs of all the shortlisted projects over on the TDF Awards website. Stay tuned for in-depth coverage of each category shortlist over the coming weeks – starting with a closer look at the Residential Architecture finalists next Monday!

[tylermagnusenvest]

STATS

romantic orientation: panromantic (leans more towards males)

sexual orientation: pansexual

first kiss: Danielle Selwyn (female) & Alastair Rowle (male)

first date: Jeremy Lockhart

first relationship: Alastair Rowle (unofficially) & Jeremy Lockhart (officially)

current relationship status: Taken and hopelessly smitten with the golden haired angel boy of his dreams

CHOICES/PREFERENCES

group dates or single dates

flowers or chocolates

restaurant or home cooking

handmade gifts or bought presents

full day or evening

casual setting or formal setting

monogamous or polyamorous

love at first sight, lust at first sight, neither

celebrate Valentine’s, celebrate anniversaries, celebrate both

kissing on a first date? yes, no, maybe

sex on a first date? yes, no, maybe

cuddles? yes, no, maybe

pet names? yes, no, maybe

QUESTIONS

What/Who are your romantic influences?

While Tyler’s parents were hopelessly in love, and would be a wonderful influence to have grown up with, he can’t really remember much of their relationship and therefore can’t really consider them his influence. For Tyler his ideas about romance come primarily from literature, he enjoys reading and has very fantastical ideas about romance, he likes the idea of big gestures and heart-wrenching relationships. He believes in romances that overcome all obstacles, the idea of loving people through thick or thin, in being wrapped up in each other and supporting each other through any situation.

Which, in Tyler’s case, is easier said than done. He has very strong ideas about how any relationship should be but his experience with them has always been different to his ideas, he used to think he could take inspiration from literature to apply to his own love life but he has come to accept that his situation is unique. For Tyler it all boils down to his own issues, having grown up in an emotionally- and occasionally physically- harsh environment he isn’t quite sure where to turn for influences in his relationship. He tries to simply take each day as it comes and hopes he’ll be good enough for whoever he falls for.

What would your dream date be?

Tyler likes the idea of two very different dream dates.

One is extravagant affair, an evening spent wining and dining each other. He imagines the finest clothes, well-fitted and crisply new. He imagines delicious food, an array of courses shared and exchanges, wine and conversation flowing. He imagines walks through the city, hand in hand, lingering glances and shared secrets. Tyler wants a date that is elegant and classy, being spoilt rotten and lavishing each other in attention. He wants a date that ends in breathless kisses on doorsteps, stumbles up stairs, roaming hands and shared heat.

On the other hand, since dating Jeremy he’s found himself perfectly happy as long as the boy’s just present. His other dream date would just be an entire day with the person he loves, they needn’t do anything at all. He imagines staying in bed all day, whispering sweet nothings to each other. He imagines sharing chaste kisses, linked fingers, dozing off on each other’s shoulder. He imagines reading to each other and sharing interests, laughing at stupid things and sometimes just lying there, quietly admiring each other, content in the space they share... And then breathless kisses, roaming hands and shared heat.

He’s a simple needy boy who likes attention.

Do you believe in soulmates?

Tyler does believe in soulmates but not necessarily romantic ones, he believes there are people who are perfectly suited to fit in each other’s lives, to share things with one another and find understanding between them that no one else will come close to. Despite their differences, and Tyler’s persistent anxiety and insecurities about their relationship, Tyler likes to think that Loxley is his soulmate. He’s never felt what he feels for Loxley for anyone else before, he’s still not entirely sure what to call it, in his opinion it’s not right to say Loxley is like his family- though his only experience with family has always been twisted- and he has often considered that he loves Loxley wholeheartedly, but also pure heartedly. He doesn’t feel a sexual attraction for his friend but he does, undoubtedly, feel incredibly strongly for him which makes their relationship intense at times. Even so, with all their problems, Loxley is perhaps the only person in his life who Tyler believes might be fated to be there.

Have you ever been in love?

Many times, sometimes fleetingly and sometimes hopelessly. Having lived with his family, who showed him no love or positive attention at all, when Tyler began receiving attention from elsewhere it was never long before he was a little bit in love with whoever gave it to him. A lot of Tyler’s brief dabbles in love have been incredibly unhealthy, he’s dabbled in flirtations with many his family would never approve of, put himself out there for people who never really cared for him in order to just feel something. There’s been many occasions when Tyler has loved people briefly, intensely, and then shortly after felt very detached and unnerved when it dawned on him that what he felt wasn’t what he thought, and that people could easily use those bursts of emotion to manipulate him.

Having said that, Tyler would say he’s been in love three times. Three real times.

The first was Danielle Selwyn. She wasn’t like the other pure blood children he got to see through his family, she was the younger daughter of the family and, a little like him, all the attention went to her older sister while she was left to her won devices. They were only children really, they met when Tyler was nearly fifteen, she was a few months younger, and they found common understanding in each other. She was sweet and clever, she liked to read and took no pleasure in the elegant activities her family tries to force upon her, the first time he saw her she had snuck away to his grandmother’s library to explore. It wasn’t unusual for Tyler to hide away there too, to avoid his family and the guests, when she saw him she flushed brightly and stuttered half an excuse before he assured he wouldn’t tell anyone he’d seen her. Things escalated from there, whenever the families saw each other the two of them would sneak away together, read to each other and enjoy each other’s company in a time where everyone else’s exhausted them both. They only spent a single summer together but in that time, despite their young age, Tyler is sure he did truly love her. She was the first girl he kissed, the first person he slept with, and the first person who was ripped away from him by their families. She was sent to Europe when people began to notice they were close, he hasn’t seen her since that summer.

Alastair Rowle came shortly after. They’d known each other very briefly as young children, at a time when Tyler was mute and constantly avoiding his family, when other children would visit to spend time with his cousins, Alastair was the only friend of his cousin’s who was nice to him. He’d sneak away from games and chatter away at Tyler’s side, ask him questions even when he couldn’t answer, and cover for him when his cousins sought him out. When Alastair went away to school in America, he assumed that’s the last he’d see of him, a lot had changed by the time Alastair came home for the summer. The world had not been kind to Tyler, he was stronger than before but also more distant, cautious with who he opened his heart to. When Alastair Rowle swept back into his life, sealing the encounter with a kiss, he had been determined not to love him. And he didn’t at first. The times they spent together were brief, stolen moments and secret kisses shared in empty corridors, whispered flirtations and playful glanced exchanged over dinners. Tyler liked the attention and he told himself that’s all it was. Things changed the first time he showed up at Alastair’s house, bruised and battered, a shell of a person who finally had somewhere to escape to. Alastair was gentle and patient, he tended Tyler’s wounds with care, wrapped him up in soft sheets and strong arms, whispered words of reassurance into his hair, and for the first time in his life Tyler felt at home somewhere. Their relationship was not always good, things were complicated for both of them, they had to hide all they had from everyone they knew and that put a strain on what they felt for each other. They weren’t officially together, the ambiguous nature of their relationship was frustrating, Tyler often sought comfort elsewhere and his flirtations with other people didn’t help their situation. Tyler longed for someone to be proud of him being a part of their life and he dreamt of a time when he would finish at Hogwarts and the two of them would leave everything else behind, they’d just have each other and that’s all they’d want. When he found out Alastair was getting married it broke him, it had always been a possibility but Tyler had assumed Alastair was ready to give up everything for him, he didn’t yet realise how much that was to ask. Though he was angry and hurt, Tyler still holds onto feelings for Alastair and likely always will, because he was the first person Tyler loved when he truly understood what that meant.

Jeremy Lockhart, yes another boy Tyler had no intention of falling in love with. When Jeremy first caught Tyler’s attention he thought he was funny and sweet, clumsy no doubt but that was rather endearing. It wasn’t long after things had fallen apart with Alastair, when he slept with Jeremy for the first time he thought that would be the end of it, they were two people that had stumbled into each other’s lives and they’d stumble out just as easily. Tyler can’t say for sure when he began to really care for Jeremy, at some point he just realised that when Jeremy hurt he hurt too, when the boy smiled it made him smile, and when they were with each other everything felt better. He liked who he was with Jeremy. Though perhaps it started the first night they spent together, the first time he fell asleep at Jeremy’s side and woke up, shaken and terrified in his arms. Jeremy was gentle and caring, though he knew nothing of what haunted Tyler so but he looked after him all the same. It was hopeless to deny it from that point on, he was falling for Jeremy and falling hard, the more time they spent together the more he felt it until he was completely smitten. Their relationship has never been easy either, Jeremy was different to anyone Tyler had ever been with, the boy didn’t know of his family or his history with them and he was desperate to spare Jeremy of that knowledge. At school he had always done his best to seem perfect, he didn’t want the boy to see him differently, he didn’t find it easy to talk about his family and the less Jeremy knew the better he felt about it. Jeremy seemed so perfect, he came from a nice normal family, he’d had a nice normal upbringing, he deserved to be with someone who was nice and normal but Tyler wasn’t either of those things, so he wanted to pretend to be. When they broke up it shattered him, people had been torn away from him before but they’d never chosen to leave him, it knocked his confidence and for a long while he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. But in some ways it was for the best, their time apart allowed them both to grow, and when they began spending time together again he was content in knowing they could be around each other without things being uncomfortable. Though, of course, spending time together only made it all the more obvious that anything they’d felt for each other before was still there, and it didn’t take long before he was as hopelessly enamoured with Jeremy as before.

Do you picture marriage in your future?

He doesn’t, at the moment. Tyler, honestly, struggles to imagine anyone wanting to be with him forever. The idea of marriage itself is not a bad one, he thinks it’s a wonderful thing that people want to dedicate their lives to each other and no one else, but Tyler has a lot of issues with his self worth and he’s prone to thinking most people will leave him in one way or another at some point. For now he’s just enjoying being with Jeremy, he doesn’t think much about marriage or a future beyond what they currently have, he’s happy to just spend as much time together as possible.

[zerochanges]

Night of the Banshee

With less than a week or so to go, Halloween this year is fast approaching. So now’s the time to get in the last few frights and scares before we all start our unnecessarily long 3 month celebration of Christmas (What? Don’t try to tell me your January isn’t full of Christmas decorations that just refuse to die; like a zombie’s death-grip on some poor background character). Last year I was encumbered with a busy work schedule and really didn’t get to enjoy the frightful holiday, at best I think I saw maybe 20 minutes of Cujo on cable TV and that was pretty much the extent of my spooks that year. So this year I wanted to do something special and check out something truly horrifying. Which leads us to today’s subject: Banshee’s Last Cry.  

Now what is Banshee’s Last Cry, I hear you asking. Well it is a sound novel released for the iPhone in the US during January of 2014. So then what’s a sound novel you ask. Well, that can be a bit complicated. Similar to a visual novel, a sound novels usually forgo character sprites and CG art and instead focuses more on the novel aspect. It’s much closer to the novel nomenclature and essentially feels like reading a digital book with music and sound effects to amplify the experience. Of course like a visual novel there are still moments where you get to make choices in the story that lead to different endings.

The easiest western comparison would probably be text based adventure games, a genre that similar to the much more popular point ‘n click adventure games faded away a lot as technology advanced but is making a comeback, especially in the indie scene on Steam and the Mobile phone market. For the sake of this article, that’s pretty much all you really need to know about sound novels, but yes, any nerd I may have just upset; you are right, it’s much more complicated; a lot of games will use that label and have just as many visuals as visual novels, and it also started life as more of a brand of games for Chunsoft (the developer of today’s game) but yet nowadays some of the most famous sound novels like Higurashi When They Cry have nothing to do with Chunsoft. Basically, the more you try to categorize things the bigger of a cluster duck it becomes (quack). But really, all you need to understand what the game play in Banshee’s Last Cry’s is like is to just think of classic text adventure games!

(The original Super Famicom box for Kamaitachi no Yoru - 1994)

In Japan Banshee’s Last Cry was originally named Kamaitachi no Yoru (かまいたちの夜 / Night of the Kamaitachi) but the localization company, Aksys Games, renamed it something a lot less Japanese. In America it’s pretty easy to have missed this game but in Japan when it originally released in 1994 for the Super Famicom it was a huge hit and has remained to this day a cult classic that has spawned off numerous sequels, ports, remakes, reimaginings, and even its own live action TV drama (that’s when you KNOW you made it!). Now obviously this mobile phone release is one of the many rereleases for the game, but for us in America this marks the very first (and at the time of this writing -- only) time we have ever seen a release. This is quite momentous considering despite how incredibly popular Kamaitachi no Yoru was in Japan no one has ever tackled translating it for 20 years until this point, not even fan translations; any real attempt or interest shown in the fan community had always fizzled out until then.

This release while momentous however was also met with some concerns, the most obvious of which was its Americanization (or maybe Canadianization?). A lot of fans weren’t incredibly sold on this aspect of the English release when it first revealed. The plot was moved from Japan to Canada (Nagano to Whistler, British Columbia to be precise), and all the characters were renamed to match. The protagonist Toru became Max, and the heroine Mari became Grace, for example. The good thing is you can rename these two to whatever you like--I personally kept Max’s name but changed the heroine back to Mari because her English name also happens to be the name of my pet dog, and that’s weird--I don’t wanna romance a character with my dog’s name (plus I am too unoriginal to think up any other girl’s name for Grace/Mari). You cannot however rename anyone else in the story, and more importantly for those who took issue with this decision, the location change will stick no matter what.

In Japan they have a lot of folklore creatures, or yokai, who have a very long and rich history. This complex hierarchy of creatures, monsters, ghosts, and ghoulies all help to make for incredibly unique literature you just can’t quite recreate in English. That’s not to say the English world does not have its fair share of great horror writers who could conjure up their own parthenon of fantastically terrifying Lovecraftian horrors, but culturally the things that go bump in the night are really quite different between us. While in Japan yokai may seem like a fun part of their own local folklore that kids to adults all have, at the very least, a familiarity with, not much else like that is true for America.

You may have your occasional local legends like the Headless Horsemen (insert Christopher Walken gif here), but there really isn't any cemented creature folklore that everyone just “gets” in America. At least, not anything nearly as rich and complicated as a lot of Asian or even European folklore creatures. The best alternative I can think of off-the-top-of-my-head would be Big Foot, and ‘Night of the Big Feet’ sounds about as menacing as it does sensual. It’s because of this that veteran translator Jeremy Blaustein (Metal Gear Solid, Snatcher) decided to go in a different direction. Americans don’t really have a great set of creature folklore, and obviously outside our own little niche communities of nerds, don’t know Japanese folklore either--and thus would not get much out of the material presented that way--but that isn’t to say there weren’t plenty of other folk creatures out there that are well known to Americans. While Blaustein’s choice of the Banshee has some awkward work-arounds (mainly an Irish ghost being in Canada and all that), it’s something pretty much everyone knows--a part of popular culture that has stayed with us all, and was a really great stand in for a Kamaitachi, or Sickle Weasel.

Not everyone knows what a Kamaitachi is, even anime nerds might not, as it isn’t the most popular yokai (sadly not enough people have read Ushio & Tora), but pretty much anyone knows what a Banshee is. Both creatures also work quite nicely together, setting the right winter horror atmosphere. In the middle of a terrible blizzard, the howling winds have enough force to knock down tress, shatter glass, and even flip over cars. You can feel the cold down to your bones, it’s bitter and resentful, and while it might just be your imagination, the thought that such fierceness could even be enough to cut through you doesn't seem too ludicrous while out there in the storm. In the original Japanese text we had the Kamaitachi that are known for riding on dust devils, and their sickles that can easily be associated with a wind so fierce that it may even scratch you, while in the English text there’s the Banshee, known for their howls--like that of the howling wind. Anyone who has ever been trapped in a fierce wind storm can attest to the truly demonic, otherworldly sounds fierce wind can make--a howling Banshee’s does not seem far off during a terrible blizzard.

What’s important here is that the original essence of the story is coming out for the audience, and in that regard Blaustein succeeds remarkably, creating a very enjoyable reading experience that is truly on par with the Japanese writing. The text is a pleasure to read, and flows incredibly well. The utter horror and sense of being trapped truly leaps off the ‘page’ and it’s a genuinely harrowing experience while also not missing any of the charm and unique humor the original Japanese version is so well known for as well. In his own words Blaustein talks about his decision for such a strong localization as opposed to keeping the original folklore and setting:

“When I asked myself if the idea of small weasels with scythes strapped to the legs would resonate with a Western audience that has no such myth, I had to answer no. Furthermore, even the word "weasel" brings to mind shifty Steve Buscemi-like personalities as opposed to something supernatural and scary. In trying to make a true localization that would capture the essence as opposed to the trappings of the story, I decided Banshee would be more in keeping with the original SPIRIT of the game. From that POV, I feel that I am actually closer to the reproducing the feel of the original for a Western audience than I would be if I had kept it Japanese. It is hard perhaps to explain, but I feel strongly about it.”

So let’s finally talk about this story, as really it’s the whole meat and potatoes of the game and is what it’s all about. Banshee’s Last Cry has a simple premise at first: a group of people are trapped in an Inn during a terrible snowstorm, things soon become suspicious when three of the guests find a note slipped under their door that reads “TONIGHT@MIDNIGHT=DEATH”. The characters initially try to write this off as a prank but it doesn't take long until people go missing and their corpses show up: the first of which is horribly mangled in a grotesque, almost implausible manner, that leads to the cast wondering if perhaps something supernatural is at play. It’s a Whodunit, with a spice of the potential paranormal. Think old dark house, but with snow.

There are 43 different endings in this particular version of the game, however many of these endings are death related bad ends. For example, let’s say you are given three options when it comes time to confront a potential murderer: one of these options will probably lead you to confronting the wrong person and accidentally escalating the situation until you through your own actions or the actions of another ends up getting an innocent person killed resulting in a game over. The second choice then might result in you choosing the right person but messing up how you confront said person and being killed yourself. That’s two bad endings right there, and 41 more endings to go. The third choice then is the actual right choice to keep the story moving down its natural progression. A lot of the branches in the story can work like this example I just made up, but don’t be disheartened as you can always skip ahead after the game restarts and get right back to where you were and try again. Plus completing endings may unlock new dialogue choices given to you and can lead to endings you could not have seen otherwise at the start of the game.  

Despite the many death related bad endings out there to haunt you in your mystery solving there are plenty of other actual story progressing endings as well, and lots of different stories even to boot. Once you solve the main mystery and finally figure out the murderer and how they pulled off their killings, the game is not over yet. There are other stories that get told with the same basic setting and characters. Sometimes some character’s backgrounds and personalities change completely, other times some characters might be swapped out with new characters! This is especially true in a gag story you can unlock where the first victim who dies a particularly gruesome death is replaced by an overly flamboyant cross-dresser (or maybe it’s an anthropomorphic goat?) and hijinks ensue.

Yes, there also happens to be tons of comedy in this. Probably half the game is really hard edged and full of gruesome horror with crazy high death counts, while you white knuckle your way through it trying to find the bastard who did all this, if it’s even an human to being with, while the other half of the stories are gut busters that turn everything you know on its side and deconstruct horror tropes leaving you laughing the whole way through. Sometimes people are murdered horribly, sometimes you are caught up in a James Bound movie between a war of spies, and sometimes the game just goes absolutely nuts. There is honestly nothing quite like it, you can say Banshee’s Last Cry is an expert case of a video game that both terrifies and trolls its audience, and that’s the best part about it.

Out of all the crazy endings in the game I think my personal favorites have to be the one where you can decode a hidden message in the dialogue presented and learn that Chunsoft is behind a conspiracy to take over the world by brainwashing you and everyone else who plays their games, and the ending that pokes fun at Chunsoft’s other big series: The Mystery Dungeon games. If you ever played a Shiren the Wanderer, or the many, many, many other mystery dungeon flavored games such as Chocobo Dungeon, Etrain Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Barbie’s Dream Dungeon, or even Call of Dungeon Medieval Warfare, you’d get a real kick out of exploring the basement of the Inn and discovering it’s actually an RPG Dungeon that you can dungeon crawl through, fight classic fantasy monsters like Goblins in turn based combat, and try to find treasure chests. This game is just an absolute marvel that keeps giving in how it messes with your expectations.

And this is truly the most horrifying thing about Banshee’s Last Cry, there’s nothing quite like it out there in English, and it’s already about to fade away forever. Banshee’s Last Cry launched in January of 2014,  and since then has only had one update, about a week later after it came out and has never been updated since. This September (2017), Apple has launched their newest update: iOS 11 that moves their devices from 32-bit to 64-bit, in the process breaking a lot of past games and applications. A lot of developers have been prepping for this and have updated their products, but a lot of other apps have been left to wallow in oblivion (much like Shin Megami Tensei I -- another miracle of the mobile market now dying with iOS 11). Banshee’s Last Cry has not yet been updated and very likely never will be. This is another game lost to the harsh reality of a digital market place. If you’re thinking maybe the Android version can still be saved, well unfortunately even though Aksys Games advertised an Android version. one never materialized. The only way to play Kamaitachi no Yoru in English is to have an iPhone that hasn't yet converted to iOS 11, an update that is already a month old now at the time of this writing.

There may be hope in the future, as Spike Chunsoft has since shown some interest, a previous Twitter poll from last year over what games people may want to see localized saw “Kamaitachi no Yoru” (yes, not Banshee’s Last Cry) show up in it. While it did not win the poll there still might be a chance for it yet. Another sound novel in that poll, 428, lost as well but was announced for an English steam release. Perhaps if 428 can make it maybe Kamaitachi no Yoru can eventually too. There also happens to be a really nice and shiny new PS Vita remake to work off of for Kamaitachi no Yoru, that converted the game into a more traditional visual novel which will most likely have greater appeal to the English speaking market nowadays.

The future is hard to really tell, but such a fascinating and important game like Kamaitachi no Yoru deserves a better chance for an English audience to enjoy. It shouldn't be stuck on a dead platform that won’t work on modern phones and just the few YouTube Let’s Plays that are out there of it. I cannot think of anything more horrifying than the lost of game like this.

Fun Facts:

1.) Kamaitachi no Yoru was originally made using photographs of the real world location it was set in as the backgrounds. The developers added in some digital effects where they were needed such as pixelated snow moving across the screen and the silhouettes of characters talking. When the developers could not get a background they wanted in real life they created miniature models for them, such as the wine cellar. The Mobile version of the game again does the same thing, but interestingly the English localization Banshee’s Last Cry, retook a lot of the photographs of the Inn setting by using a real Inn you can actually visit in British-Columbia. While some of the interior shots are the same, some are quite different. The miniature models and digital effects seem to have all stayed the same though. You really have to appreciate such workmanship in keeping everything as real and practical as possible. Here are some comparisons of the Japanese and English Inn used:

Kamaitachi no Yoru iOS Comparison

2.) The music in Banshee’s Last Cry is just fantastic. I couldn’t really think of a spot to properly talk about it above but I really loved this particular version of the soundtrack. If you want to check it out you can should be able to find it on YouTube. I also uploaded the music to my Soundcloud as a back-up.

3.) While I didn't want to go to the monstrous task of hunting down EVERY version of Kamaitachi no Yoru I did at least take some comparison screenshots between the original Super Famicom version, the localized Banshee’s Last Cry iOS version, and 2017 Vita remake that turns the game into a visual novel. Check below:

Kamaitachi no Yoru - SuFami - iOS - PS Vita Comparison

[topoffyourhat]

Thoughts On SDCC Supergirl Interview:

Okay so take my thoughts, feelings, and opinions on this matter as you see fit. I know everyone is entitled to their own ideals here and may not take mine seriously since I’m a white, heterosexual woman but I just wanna get mine out there based off what I’ve read, seen, and heard regarding this topic. Here are the things I gathered and taken from this:

1. The interview wasn’t taken seriously from the get go (except for Katie, David, and Odette) which is what pissed me off the most. Your show represents and stands for so much or at least it’s supposed to and if you really give a crap about it, your character, career, and how people see you: answer the damn question seriously and not sing around it. People have questions and have to wait for so long to be able to share them and want answers that matter just like if you asked a question and someone continious tip toed around you avoiding to answer, wouldn’t you be annoyed or upset too? I fucking would so at least answer the best to your ability to proudly represent your show, your characters, and your capabilities as actors/actresses. This is the biggest and largest convention in the country where everything happens (promo, trailer, concept art, future plans, and etc releases) so at least have the heart to understand your purpose here and what it means to people. Yes obviously we don’t expect you to ruin the whole upcoming season for us, but for fucks sake actually act like you give a shit about your jobs and not treat them like a fucking joke because this show has helped and brought many people together more than I think you realize. 2. To all the people calling out Melissa, Chris, Mechad, and Jeremy for being gigantor homophobes. That song they sang about the Supercorp ship vs. the Karamel ship sounds far more condescending, mocking, belittling, and honestly it feels more like an attack than anything. You can hear it their tone and see it through their body language and presence and even Katie, David, and Odette found it awkward and because of that the whole thing was extremely uncomfortable from start to finish. They obviously weren’t expecting to be bombarded by such a fan base for that ship in particular and were more prepared to discuss the ships that were canon confirmed in their show but I don’t think this necessarily makes them homophobics. I know Melissa, Jeremy, Chris, and Mechad all proactively support gay rights and marriage and just because they support these ideals doesn’t necessarily mean they fully understand lgbtq and all that it entails. I know plenty people that they say they support gay rights and marriage and all of lgbtq but are still uncomfortable or can’t handle witnessing any kinds of displays whether public or private which is very naive and hypocritical thinking but I don’t think that’s what caused this to spark and get them in trouble. I think what got them in trouble is when: A. Jeremy tried validating himself by saying he’s a “theater kid” and because of it knows how to properly represent the lgbtq community and insinuated that all “theater kids” are or are not lgbtq. Yea no not how it works. 1st of all, you can’t say stereotypes what kinds and types of people are involved in theater, they all come from mixed backgrounds. Secondly, you can’t validate yourself or your character consentually acting like their experiences are better or worse than others, especially those in the lgbtq community. B. Melissa wasn’t helpful either telling Jeremy he was “so brave” when he told people in regards to the Supercorp ship that he “debunked it.” Being lgbtq, coming out as lgbtq, living as lgbtq, and so on are very brave, strong, and inspring things to do so what’s there to debunk? I obviously don’t know and can’t act like I do, being heterosexual, but I have witnessed some of my friend’s journeys with it and while people are becoming a little more accepting and aware, we’ve still got a LONG fucking way to go to help and better lgbtq equality, representation, and value and this little conversion definitely made me realize how much progress we have to make in educating people what lgbtq means in how we discuss and regard the subject amongst others. 3. While I may not like certain pairings or ships it doesn’t mean I act oblivious to them or exile them like they don’t exist. Everyone has their own preferred otp’s that they couple off but it’s based on each person viewing the show. Without these kinds of responses (these responses can come through several forms like video reactions, fanfictions, fan art, and etc), shows don’t get this mass attention and overwhelming popularity and also without these, your show can’t build a strong, healthy fanbase and yes all shows, movies, books, and so on aren’t always perfect. They all experience good and bad moments from time to time it’s all a part of being in fandoms which are almost always divided unfortunately (you can choose how you want to be and represent yourself) but it’s how you acknowledge and handle these types of situations that keep your fandom united and content and because of these guys lack of seriousness that makes it more difficult. There’s ways you can properly respond to this and the perfect example being Katie handling Chris’s comment regarding sexuality by simply stating, “It matters who you are, not who others think you are. You are your own person despite other people’s perceptions.” That’s how you handle and shut that shit down. It wasn’t rude or overbearing. It was very mature and while it was directly proving her point, it was also indirectly addressing a wide audience of people that may or may not understand the situation and quickly ended the discussion which is what I loved more than anything. Acknowledge the fans and who they are, what they want, their views and opinions. Be open minded to new possibilities which doesn’t mean you always have to agree or disagree but at least recognize it because if you can’t guess who doesn’t have a fucking show? 4. Also based off what I’ve seen just recently since I posted this, I get that what happened has really hurt and offended many people including myself but you attacking and harassing the cast and crew with death threats and planning on boycotting the show doesn’t make you any better. You’re literally stooping at the same, possibly worse level and instead of trashing and directing your hate and anger at them, direct your love and compassion to help people better understand and educate why this is such a huge deal and maybe just maybe they will learn from this. Nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes and we have to remember that even with celebrities but they’re not going to if we continue to make them feel less. Yes we all go through this pain and hate and it makes us stronger but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be the better person. Instead channel this energy into something more meaningful and use this experience to raise your voice in a more uplifting and influential way. Share your stories, your thoughts and feelings, your emotions, and what not. Let it all out in the open but just think of how you’d present this information amongst yourself and how you’d want others to present it to you. In this day of society, we should be treating others the way you want to be treated and despite our convictions should continue being kind to 1 another and striving for 1 common goal, coming together. We all want to feel loved and like we belong somewhere but it’s not going to happen if we keep going this same path time and time again. Finally all in all, I’m not going to let this crap stop me from watching the show. I love supergirl and all that she stands in comic and film universe. I love this cast more than anything and the whole thing was blown up for a reason because people care about them and this show and while I’m skeptical about this upcoming season I just hope the cast and crew and even the network learn and grow from this incident and use the experiences surrounding it to better and educate themselves and make this show what it’s meant to be: super.

[fishylife]

Thoughts on biopics

I think I’m getting closer to figuring out why biopics grind my gears.

Originally, I thought that memoirs and biopics annoyed me because I didn’t believe that any one person would have a story that would be more interesting than the culmination of many different people’s contributions towards a single thing or event. In other words, I felt that I enjoyed stories about events more than I enjoyed stories that were centered on one person. Perhaps it’s because I thought it was kind of egotistical. 

Real events as entertainment

Today, the thought came to me that we are now consuming the truth as entertainment.

Documentaries are becoming more mainstream, especially on Youtube, where anybody can put together a set of facts or opinions and present them as truth, and audiences will accept them without question (Myself included. In the modern age of convenience, despite acknowledging the importance of checking sources, I often do not when consuming these documentary pieces in large quantities.).

In addition, politics has turned into another form of entertainment. Politicians are turning into celebrities, and it kind of feels like political debates are turning into dramatized versions of themselves. 

Publishing

Before I go on about biopics, let me first talk about memoirs and other similar mainstream non-fiction books. In recent years, a lot of celebrities and widely adored public figures have started publishing their own memoirs. I assume there is demand for this kind of literature, firstly fueled by fans of those figures. However, the act of publishing literature for these mainstream audiences in itself lends to the fact that the literature itself must be entertaining.

In theory, non-fiction should be true first and foremost. Any other qualities of that literature should come secondary to the truth. Perhaps there is no demand for that kind of reading other than by archivists and record keepers, people whose aim is to preserve the truth.

As for memoirs, there are some people who have very unique life experiences and so there is merit to them sharing them because there are commoners like me who would never be able to dream of them, whether it’s something traumatic, or a rags to riches story. I acknowledge this. 

However, there are also cases of people who don’t have lives that are that different from many people’s, and I would think that those people have pressure to spice up their autobiographies to be more entertaining.  

An author would write about things that happened in their life as they were. However, an editor would review the work. If the editor asked them to omit some things, or expand on others, I would consider that still to be within the realm of truth. However, if the editor asked the author to exaggerate or to change details, that is already on the path of distorting the truth. And the editor technically is doing their job. They are trying to help the author write a book that well be interesting to the masses, not an encyclopedic record of events. I was surprised to find Wikipedia had a page on fake memoirs but it goes to show that some people are not above altering the truth to sell a book. 

That being said, biographies and accounts of events written by an “independent” party are not free from bias. It’s just that it’s harder to challenge the lens that those authors are looking through. Since those authors are not the first-hand resources for the content they are writing about, the quality of their research is also a factor, and can also be used as a shield when accused of incorrect facts (though likely not a very strong one).

Controlling your own voice

Recently, I was listening to a segment on The Green Room podcast, which is the podcast hosted by Danny Green from the Toronto Raptors. The guest on that day was Jeremy Lin, who has a production company. What he said really interested me. He realized that if he didn’t use his own voice, someone else would make one for him (relating a lot to him being one a trailblazer as an Asian-American in the NBA). That really sat with me for a while because nowadays, everything is about marketing, or an image, or a brand. There’s no such thing as a completely blank state because apparently everyone has an image or a reputation, regardless of whether it’s one that they created for themselves or one that was imposed on them. 

Biopics

Now back to biopics. I do think that my initial thought stands, that no one person’s story is as interesting as seeing how many people have an effect on a particular event. I always find myself more invested in a story than I do in a main character, so I will stand by that. 

I do think there is a difference between biopics about historical figures who died long ago, and biopics about people who are still alive or only recently died. Let’s say someone like Julius Caesar. If someone were to make a movie about him, I think there would be more acceptance and acknowledgment that the movie would be an interpretation of him, rather than historical fact. As well, there are enough historians who’d be quick to point out inaccuracies, I would think.

The first film based on true events that really made me think was the Social Network. As a movie, it’s entertaining enough. However, every single character in the film is a real person who is alive today. I don’t know how happy they are with the script or the actors that played them. I also don’t know the legalities of doing this, and I have to wonder whether all of them agreed to have themselves portrayed in a film like this. I know that the truth is the ultimate defense to libel or slander lawsuits, but how do you draw the line when it comes to things like movies, where it is supposed to be an entertaining dramatization of true events, but many don’t consider that and take it as fact. 

Now, when we consider writing about people in a “non-fiction” book, the author is sort of taking away the person’s voice from them, adding to their reputation, whether it’s positive or negative. When it comes to biopics, not only does the movie take away the real person’s voice, but also their appearance. I guess it’s stripping someone of their identity in more ways than one. It’s a little disturbing I guess.

Glorification or villainizing

Recently there was debate about the upcoming Ted B*ndy film (I don’t want this post to show up in that tag). It is a movie based on the memoir written by B*ndy’s girlfriend at the time. Of course, it is a very strange and probably frightening experience and I understand why this memoir can both be true and be interesting to some. But for those who read it, I imagine it is important that they first acknowledge that it is truth, before they decide to judge it based on entertainment value (provided that of course the memoir is accurate).

There were concerns that they were casting a good looking actor and glorifying the killer. That is a side effect of the memoir, which was supposed to be an account of true events, being turned into a movie (not a documentary) for mainstream audiences. The reason a good-looking person was cast as this terrible serial killer is because good-looking people are what sell in the entertainment industry. I’m not sure what the producers’ reasons were for turning this memoir into a movie, but that is my comment on the reactions I’ve heard.

Ending

I know I’ve kind of been all over the place here, but this has been nagging at me for a while. 

I usually avoid biopics because I just find a lot of them uninteresting. For a lot of the biopics I’ve watched, the tone is positive, and I suppose that annoyed me because no one in real life is perfect that way. If it was a fictional character being portrayed as perfect, I could live with that and maybe even enjoy it because that is a fictional character. But a lot of biopics might either omit negative information or glorify it.

I admit I’ve never liked reading memoirs, autobiographies, or biographies. One of my favourite podcasters recently released a memoir and despite me being a big fan, I have no interest in reading or buying it. It all comes down to authenticity I suppose. I feel like the book is a packaged version of who he is, whereas the podcast is a more authentic version of the kind of person he is.

I guess that’s a way I could put it. I like authenticity and fiction separate, and dramatized versions of real events toe the line way too much for my comfort, without acknowledging that they do. For example, a lot of movies might say “based on the true story” or “based on the real events.” Many people will assume that means it’s mostly true but literally all it means is that the screenwriters were inspired by something that happened in real life and wrote a story; they didn’t set out to record what happened in real life, they set out to write an entertaining story that just happened to be kickstarted by a spark that the screenwriters got that came from real life. Is that convoluted? I hope not.

Anyway, it’s late, but I just wanted to get this all out.