#also Allan is the only one who is physical in the whole movie? I love you Alan

[corrodedcoughin]

Barbie spoilers

I’m sorry but ‘I’m just Ken (and I’m enough) and I’m great at doing stuff’ is the single greatest lyric I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s giving me fizzy blood

Also I desperately need the depression verses of pink by lizzo to be released

I had no idea will cereal was going to be in it and he was silly!!! The chase scene in the office??? HELP

Also barbie is an asexual lesbian thank you for your time

I just!!!! It’s so silly!!! I love silly things!!! Please if you’ve seen barbie and want to talk abt it I’m HERE and I’m avoiding work

[kit-kat21]

“IF” 

…

“And now, the assignment,” Mrs. Hother said, returning to her desk among a chorus of groans and boos from the students sitting at their desks. She turned back around, facing them with a wide smile. “Oh, stop. This one will be fun. I promise.”

Jon Snow, sitting in the third row, fourth chair back, doubted that. Mrs. Hother was an enthusiastic teacher, he’d give her that, and she wanted all of her students to love what she clearly loved. But the problem was Mrs. Hother taught 11th grade poetry – a requirement for every student in their high school to take and very, very few kids actually liked 11th grade poetry.

“Now, everyone is going to pick a partner and from this list-” the woman held up a stack of papers in her hand. “You are going to recite it – from memory – in front of the class this Friday.”

This was only met with louder groans and boos. Jon didn’t join in with the noise but he whole-heartedly agreed with his classmates. Reciting a poem in front of the class from memory? That was considered fun?

The Old Gods help him. He hated speaking in front of classes. He had gone to school with all of these people since first grade and he knew just about all of them but for whatever reason, he got up in front of them and forgot every word he had ever known. Last year, he had to give a short presentation on phobias and just showed a five-minute clip from the movie Arachnophobia to get him through it.

“Now, stop your overdramatic reactions,” Mrs. Hother said as she sent to the first chair in each row to hand them the papers so they could be passed out. “This is going to help with vocabulary and figurative language. These both are considered important things to be somewhat competent at out in the real world.”

Jon took the papers and taking one for himself, he passed the last one to the kid sitting behind him. He held the list up, studying it carefully. He recognized a few. He didn’t know them but he recognized them. Robert Frost. Edgar Allan Poe. Emily Dickson. And Shakespeare. Those were all the obvious one. The rest of them, Jon had no idea what they were; how long or how difficult it would be to memorize.

“Now, you pick your partner, you and your partner choose from this list which one you want and you have until Friday to work on it,” Mrs. Hother said with a smile; as if this was the best thing she had ever said. “Now, some of these poems, as you will find are quite long so if a poem has four or more stanzas, you and your partner will only be expected to memorize the first two. Once you pick, come up to see me and I have them on easy printouts for you to work off of.”

Jon immediately looked to one of his best mates, Grenn, who was in this same second-period class. Grenn sat two rows away and was talking with Alys Mors, who sat next to him. When Grenn caught Jon looking at him, he pointed to Alys, and though he wanted to frown and sigh, Jon, instead gave a short nod.

Damn it, Grenn, Jon grumbled silently to himself. It didn’t matter if Grenn had had a crush on Alys Mors forever. Jon needed him more than Alys Mors. But again, he said all of this silently.

With a sigh, Jon looked around at his other classmates, all teaming up together. He then looked to his left; to the seat next to his in the last row against the window.

Sansa Stark was new that year, having moved to Last Hearth and almost immediately caused a stir because she was beautiful and also seemed nice – kind of a rarity when it came to the beautiful girls in high school; at least in Jon’s opinion. He assumed, the first time he saw her on the first day of school, that the popular crowd would snatch her up for themselves immediately. And maybe they had tried but Sansa Stark made it obvious to everyone within the first week that while being so nice to everyone, she also didn’t seem to be interested in making friends.

It wasn’t like he was always watching her but he noticed that she was on her phone often throughout the day, in between classes, and as soon as the final bell rang, she was practically running from the school. He just figured it was something to do with her family or maybe she had an after-school job to get to.

Sansa was looking at the list but feeling eyes on her, she turned her head to Jon. She gave him a small smile and Jon returned it.

“Partners?” He suggested.

“Alright,” she nodded. “Do you have a preference?”

“Something short and easy.”

Sansa laughed at that. “I know most of these. Mrs. Hother did not give us any of those.”

“Of course she didn’t,” he frowned. “Where’s the fun in that?”

She laughed again and Jon noted how light and soft it was. “We can do “IF” by Rudyard Kipling. It’s a good one. It’s long so we just have the first two stanzas to worry about. Unless… do you want to do another one?”

“No,” Jon shook his head quickly. “That sounds like a good one,” he said as if he had any idea what the Hell any of these poems were. And Sansa smiled at him; as if she could read his mind. He smiled a little, too. “Do you want to meet after school and start working on it?”

“I have to go home right after school,” Sansa said and she began to shake her head. “I… I know we do have to work on it though. If you’d want to, you could come over.” She said those words but he could tell that she was unsure about saying them; as if she wasn’t entirely sure that she should be saying them.

“That sounds good,” Jon agreed before he over-analyzed her behavior. “My mom has a divorced women’s support group meeting at our house this evening and except for the good delivery they always get, it’s best to stay away from it. The women have told me they all love me but I’m also a guy so they hate me at the same time, too.”

Sansa smiled and let out a laugh.

Seven Hells this girl was beautiful. He wondered why she didn’t have any friends; or rather, why she didn’t want any. He wondered what she was always looking at on her phone. He wondered where she was always rushing off to every afternoon. He wondered about her.

Maybe Grenn wanting to be partners with Alys Mors wasn’t the worst thing. Now, he was partners with Sansa Stark and no offense to Grenn, but this seemed much better.

“Meet you on the front steps after final bell?” Jon quickly suggested before he could say something really stupid – like telling her how beautiful she was.

Sansa paused for only a moment before she gave a single nod. “Meet you there.”

…

Jon had a car and he drove them to Sansa’s house, he following Sansa’s directions. Her messenger bag was in her lap and he saw the way her fingers curled around the sides of it, her grip growing tighter; as if she was growing more and more nervous for some reason.

“I looked up this poem during lunch,” Jon broke the silence between them. “Thank God we only have to do the first two stanzas.”

Sansa’s lips twitched at that and she turned her head to look at him. “Did you like it?”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I was more distracted with wondering how I’m going to memorize at least one of these stanzas.”

Sansa didn’t comment on that but she still smiled faintly and looked back out the windshield. “I live with my uncle and aunt,” she said rather suddenly. “My Uncle Benjen and his wife, my Aunt Willa. I…” she took a deep breath and looked at him, Jon glancing at her before back to the road but he let her know that he as definitely listening. “My mom and dad and siblings live in Winterfell. But it was decided that it would be best if I moved up here to live with my aunt and uncle.”

That gave Jon a Hell of a lot more questions but he realized that he was probably the only person at Last Hearth High School to know that about her. Maybe this meant that she would tell him more. He hoped so. Sansa was nice and beautiful and he wanted to know a lot more.

“It’s right up here,” Sansa said, pointing ahead.

It was a gray ranch house with a bright yellow door and white wicker outdoor furniture on the front porch. Jon pulled into the driveway but parked near the end in case someone needed to get in or out of the garage. Sansa looked downright pale now. Well, more pale and Jon wanted to ask her if she was or if he was just imagining it.

He followed her from the car, up the driveway, up the front walkway to the porch and the front door. He saw her as she physically paused with her hand on the doorknob, exhaling a deep breath. She looked at him and Jon began to frown, wondering what the Hell was going on. Did she, with her aunt and uncle murder people and there was going to be dead bodies or their parts all over inside?

“I need you to promise me something,” she then said.

“Alright.” Jon didn’t think about his answer because he didn’t think that he had to.

“It would really mean a lot if you didn’t tell everyone at school about…” she took another deep breath and swallowed. “Just don’t tell anyone about this.”

“About what?”

Sansa didn’t answer. She pushed open the front door and Jon saw that it opened into a small entry way and the living room. The television was on and he heard the television was turned to some cartoon.

“Mama!” He then heard and as Sansa stepped into the house, Jon was able to see more.

The toys on the carpeted floor, the blanket spread out, and the little toddler sitting on it, stretching her arms out for Sansa as soon as she saw her come into the house.

“Hi, baby girl,” Sansa quickly dropped her bag and went straight for the toddler – obviously, her daughter – and scooped her up, kissing her on the cheek. “Oh, I missed you today. Did you miss me today?”

“Yes!” The girl exclaimed, clapping her hands, and Sansa laughed, kissing her cheek again.

She looked back to Jon, who was still standing at the door, seeing what was in front of him but also, not really seeing it at all.

Sansa had a baby? But how? They were in high school.

Well, that’s stupid, Jon, he swore at himself. His mom was eighteen when she had him and Sansa was far from the first teenager in this world to have a baby.

It made sense now. Constantly on the phone between classes, she was probably checking on her daughter. And rushing out of school right as the day ended, she was hurrying to be here. Was this why her parents sent her up to Last Hearth to live?

With the smallest smile, Jon closed the front door behind him.

“Clara, this is Jon. He goes to school with me,” Sansa said. “Can you say hi to Jon?”

The little girl looked at Jon and was still smiling. She looked like Sansa, he noted. Jon smiled back.

“Hi!” She chirped.

Jon’s smile widened. “Hi, Clara.”

She giggled, bringing her hands to her mouth, and Sansa smiled, too. She then looked to Jon and kept smiling. And Jon was grinning like an idiot but he didn’t really care.

…

[ruinedandnotorious]

tumblr, listen.

i have a lot on my mind and i need to get it out and i have too many other people looking at my other social media accounts to say it all there. i should’ve known my old pal tumblr would be there for me.

woo lord, i am frustrated. and anxious. i keep feeling like i’m on the precipice of something. that all of my work and hope and traction is going to lead... somewhere. somehow. sometime. but i don’t know how or with who and certainly not when and i wish the when was yesterday. 

i have so many ideas i can’t get off the ground for whatever reason. i’ve tried though! i sent off some applications, submissions and emails this week that will hopefully yield some kind of results. yesterday i was very much in that mindset of, “they can bite you, but they can’t eat you,” so i just went for things. 

i’ve put things out into the world, but it never hurts to put them out there more. so, here goes.

i am lucky to have the job that i have. the money sucks, but my boss is super flexible with my time and supportive of my volunteer work. i actually really like every single coworker, which has never happened before, lol. 

right now, though, we are only working 30 hours... which is PERFECT for my mental health, but AWFUL for things like rent and bills. i’m making it, but that’s literally it. i need more money, majorly. but man, i enjoyed the hell out of unemployment last year. i want a new job - one that pays well - and one that doesn’t feel like work. i know, that’s everyone’s dream. but i feel like i am so close to getting there but it’s always just out of reach.

my job is fine, truly. it’s easy. it’s cushy - i’m working from home, thank god. BUT staying inside all day is getting to me physically and, unless i have a work meeting or am recording my podcast, i don’t talk to anyone but my cat (and my mom, by phone), so it can really drain my mental health. but i also don’t want to get out too much because, hello, goddamn covid.

this last year has taught me a lot, but it’s also changed how i socialize. i’ve always been introverted but it’s worse now and i’m picky about who/how i socialize. i have this one friend that i’ve known since elementary school. we’ve always been friends, but never super close. we have nothing in common, literally nothing. for a while, that didn’t matter. it was fun to catch up. now, though? the friendship feels like a chore. i hate saying that. but i don’t know that either of us get anything out of it, really. but she keeps trying to reach out and i’ve ignored her every time. i’ve ignored her for MONTHS. she deserves a response. but i also know that any response will just fuel the fire. i hate to be like, can we not? but every time i try to work myself up to respond to her, i just can’t. it’s like my brain is like, no, we’re not saying anything. no. don’t even consider it. i just have this block. i feel so bad saying that. she’s done nothing wrong! but i also know i tiptoe around stuff because, again, we have nothing in common, so it’s not like i can just freely speak my mind about anything. she doesn’t give a shit about anything i’m into an vice versa, so it’s frustrating to just update my life like, “well, i work, that’s it.” because she doesn’t give a damn about anything else i’m doing or am into. UGH. like. why does she want to keep this going? i had someone - like a best friend (not this friend i’m talking about, but one that’s much closer to me) - tell me recently that i am a shitty friend so... this is proof. yay.

anyway. i met someone recently who blew my damn mind. she’s a spiritual advisor/counselor, and we instantly connected about so many things but i also learned so much from her - in just the few hours we talked. i want to do an actual session with her, but her rates are high and i don’t have the money. i’ve thought about asking her if i could trade some social media services for a session - like basically be her social manager for a month - but i also know money is money and she’s worth actual money, not likes/followers on social. i don’t know. i do not want to disrespect her; i know she’s worth every penny.

but she did confirm some things i’ve wondered about in terms of those i’ve lost. she gave me a bit of peace. but i have more questions. like, a whole page of questions, lol.

she also opened my eyes to some healing work i need to do on myself... in a lot of ways, but especially in regards to my last job and how they fucked me over. i have so much anger and hurt from that, a year later. and i even consider what they did to me a blessing - it’s really led to a life that is more in line with what i actually want and value. i’m just angry at how it all went down and how they still act - or don’t - toward me. 

the mag i work for let me write about my dad’s passing and the complications of covid grief, so that was great - i had an outlet for that. but how do you go about getting your feelings out about your last employer... who’s a major player in town and who drives tourism for the city.. lol. i’m sure i’ll let it all out here sooner or later.

i jumped back on a dating site, 100% for the distraction, not because i thought i’d actually meet someone. which is probably why i haven’t, lol. like... no one even comes close to what i think i want in a man. i keep hoping someone will show up at the cemetery... yes when i’m covered in graveyard dirt and sweat and looking my worst... i also feel bad that i keep hoping the cemetery will answer all of life’s questions and fix me in all the ways. like. my expectations are too high - of a cemetery! - so i’m sure my expectations for a guy are too high too.

i’m also not ready to meet someone because i am physically just not into a relationship either. i’m my biggest i’ve ever been. i was doing so well at  becoming body neutral - just accepting of my body, not so much loving it - but woo lord, i somehow gained like 10 pounds over the last week and i am feeling it, big time. idk how i’ve gained so much when i mostly eat at home? and i don’t think i’m eating THAT bad at home? i never fry anything? i do eat a lot of cheese i guess. i don’t know. gonna go to the doctor soon and i’m sure THAT will be a fun visit. plus, my hands - especially my left hand - has really bad trigger finger (i’m guessing that’s what it is, it meets all of the symptoms on webmd lol) and it hurts so bad. i don’t wanna go back to an ortho. 

there are other issues, specifically concerning shark week (i asked my psych doc about it and she made me feel normal, so thank god for her), that i’ve got to get squared away, too. it feels like my body has just ran away from me and i can’t control any part of it.

i’ve read so many good books in the last year, holy shit. lately i’ve been watching movies while i work and holy shit, classic movies are so damn good. claude rains, man. 

pose is amazing. blanca is like, the perfect human ever? if ever i run away to start a new life, i’m using the name elektra abundance. i. love. elektra. so. much. 

i’m angry at myself because i’ve always wanted to collect mini brands and dammit i finally bought my first ball and... yep. i wanna get ‘em all. they are $7 a ball. i don’t need this stupid, expensive thing to be into.

that’s just it. i wish i had the money for little frivolous things like that. there’s an edgar allan poe tarot deck at my local witchy shop that i am DYING for. i want a new tattoo - not even anything that big or expensive! 

i really want a damn vacation. i feel so bad saying that. but i just want out of this area for a second.

SIGH.

generally... life’s alright. i just want it to be better and maybe a little more exciting.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #340

“wash the poison from off my skin  /  show me how to be whole again”

What is one thing that you took to show and tell as a kid? I have this oddly specific memory of bringing my little Snorlax plushie for one in pre-k. I remember thinking everyone thought I was weird for liking Pokemon as a girl. Do you remember losing your first tooth? I don't. Have you ever been addicted to a game? What game? I think I was addicted to World of Warcraft at a point, but it's honestly hard to tell. My depression was just so abysmal that it was the one thing I got even a smidge of not even joy, but active distraction out of because the options of what you can do in the game are essentially limitless. Are you afraid to pop a balloon? Not really, but it does make me jump because I don't like loud noises. Name one person you’d like to see this month. Bitch we fighting Covid, stay away from me. When was the last time you laughed when you shouldn’t have? I don’t know. Which was better: the first The Lion King or the second? They're nearly tied, honestly, but I prefer the original. Do any of your grandparents have a tattoo? I KNOW my maternal grandmother didn't, and I don't believe any other grandparent did, either. When was the last time you had a bubble bath? Not since I was a kid. What do you usually buy when you go to the corner store? You mean like, a gas station or dollar store? Something small like that? In that case, I'll usually look for a Mountain Dew Voltage sometimes along with something Reese's-related. Do you believe that your pets feel love towards you? My cat, absofuckinglutely. He so obviously loves me. I know my snake doesn't though, considering reptilian brains just physically aren't capable of creating that emotion. She does, however, obviously trust me and definitely seems to enjoy coming out of her terrarium and thus hanging out by me. Bubbles or sidewalk chalk? I loved drawing with chalk, but I like bubbles more. I just love how they catch light and have such beautiful colors to share. What do you use to tell time when your gone out somewhere? My phone. Are you proud of your body? FUCK no. I wish I still was, goddammit. I used to be so fit, and it's funny, because even back then at like, 118 lbs at 5'4'', I thought I was kinda chubby. Like bitch shut the fuck up. Watermelon or cherries? I honestly don't like either, but I'll definitely pick watermelon over cherries. They're disgusting. What is your all-time favourite song? "False Flags" by Massive Attack. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Biiiiiitch guess lmao. I think everyone has, though. What is the band you’ve listened to most lately? Definitely 3TEETH. Love 'em. Favourite brand of cookies? Hm, good question. They've gotta be good at making SOFT chocolate chip cookies, though. I don't enjoy crunchy cookies nearly as much. If you could meet anyone who lived before your time, who would it be? I don't really know. Oh, y'know, chatting with Edgar Allan Poe would probably be cool. Do you pay for your own things? I literally can't. It's embarrassing. Have you ever been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance? No. What is one thing you’d never want your parents to find out? Certain sexual things I've done, probably. When you were little, did you like Dr. Suess books? Of course. Have you ever felt trapped in a relationship? I felt that way in my friendship with Colleen, but no romantic relationships. What would you consider unforgivable? Rape. Like no, go to hell. Do you like eating out at restaurants? Pre-Covid, yeah. What do you dislike the most about being the gender that you are? Probably how heavily judged women are for having ANYTHING "wrong" with their appearance. You could be five pounds over what is "normal" for your height and you're seen as fat. One strand of body hair, and you're disgusting. Bushy eyebrows, you're now manly. I could go on and on. Do you think that weed/marijuana should be legalized? Yes. Rate your typing speed on a scale from 1 - 10? 10. Do you enjoy tanning? Ugh, no. Just sitting there doing nothing but sweating. Have you ever written anybody an anonymous note? I have not. What is your favorite condiment to go with french fries? Ketchup. Have you ever laid in a hammock? Yeah; we used to have one. It was the best when we lived in the woods. Do you blow dry your hair or do you let it air out? I just let it air dry. Candles or incense? I prefer incense. Can you juggle? No. Your favorite vegetable? Broccoli. Do you catch lizards? No; I don't like terrifying wildlife. I'd much rather just take pictures of the little guys and let them go about their business. If we returned to a world without internet, what aspect of online life would you miss the most? YouTube, haha. It's more unique and personal entertainment than television, imo. Are you craving anything aside from food, and if so, what? I want a new piercinggggg. What was the last change you made to your lifestyle? I'm *trying* to get back into regularly making art, along with reading. I'm also really trying to implement drinking more water into my day. What was the last thing you gave up doing? *shrug* What was the last thing to boost your self-esteem? What sort of things typically make you feel good about yourself? It really, really helped to hear my PHP group enjoy my poem about gay rights so much. I was so terrified and did NOT want my therapist to share it, but it turned out being very beneficial. To answer the second question, it's pretty much stuff like I just mentioned: positive reactions to things I create. When it comes to food, do you prefer crunchy or softer textures? Definitely softer. Do you prefer savory or sweet things for breakfast? Hm. Depends on the day, ig. What is something small that you take extremely personally? I'm blanking. What was going on the last time you couldn’t sleep? I just... couldn't sleep. That's not rare for me. Have you drawn anything recently? I recently drew a picture of a still from Rammstein's "Mutter" music video, and I'm now working on Sara's 'kat Alucard. If you're going somewhere close by, do you walk? No. One simply does not walk in this town and not fear being shot. Do you prefer colorful notebooks over plain ones? I like colorful ones, particularly those with a nice pattern or something on it. What's your most ambitious goal? I'd consider wanting to be a successful freelance photographer to be rather ambitious. Do you know anyone named Alex? Well, knew, by this point. One of my closest online friends that just got a boyfriend and fell off the face of the planet when we used to talk every day. I'm still hurt about it, honestly. What's your favorite kind of pie? I don't like pie because of the crust being so, well... crusty and crumbly. Have you ever chatted someone up and scored a date? No. How far would you go with someone you just met? Not very far at all. All you're getting is a hug, if even that. What's your favorite meal to have for dinner? I mean, it depends on what I feel like having. I don't have a set favorite meal. What do you daydream about? The future, mostly. People I miss. Have you ever known someone online and then met them in person? If so, which website did you meet on? Yes, Sara. <3 We met via YouTube back when it had much more social connection. Have you ever been to the beach? Yeah, a good number of times. When was the last time you were sick and what illness did you have? I don't believe I've been ill in any sort of way since I had that ungodly ear infection a few years ago. Have you ever been kicked out of somewhere? Yeah, Colleen's house. Mom once tried kicking me out of the car one night otw home, but I didn't listen. Have you ever intentionally trolled? No. How many siblings do your parents have? Mom has two brothers and I think one sister, and Dad has one sister. Who last held your hand? My niece or nephew, dragging me somewhere, haha. Have you seen all the Lord of the Rings movies? No, not interested. What was the last thing you watched on YouTube? I'm watching John Wolfe's playthrough of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. It's so funny how like... every let's player I watch doesn't enjoy the game, like they miss the incredible symbolism and shy away from the advanced language, and sometimes it's just frustrating to watch them; I only do because I enjoy the game and want to see more people experience it and relive it vicariously. It's very high on my list of favorite games. What sport do you find yourself best at? I wouldn't know; I haven't played any sports in years. I was pretty good at softball as a kid, though. Do you think makeup on guys is freaky or sexy? My opinion shouldn't matter; a man can wear makeup whenever he damn well pleases without worrying what others think. But anyway, I tend to find it attractive, especially if it's goth makeup. Have you ever been accused of a crime you did not commit? No. Do you like pickles? I love dill pickles. What was the craziest moment of your life? Probably just lying in that hospital bed following my OD, my mom and two best friends just sitting there with me. It was such a weird, weird feeling. Like I was just so done, frustrated beyond what I can say. I remember thinking it was almost funny, just how it all built up and went wrong. Where do you spend most of your time? In my room on my bed. What is your favorite muffin? Chocolate chip. Would you ever get a boob job? I already know when/if I lose the weight I want to, it will be kind of a big deal to me and my atrocious body image to get a breast lift. Being overweight ~does things~ you know, and god knows I want every trace of it that can be erased gone. Would you ever go on a reality TV dating show? That's a massive "no" from me, buddy. Would you rather be inside or outside? It depends on where I am and the temperature outside, but generally, inside. Do you like the current president? Well, I voted for him, so I can't shit-talk much. I don't know the true depths of him as a person and all he stands for, though; when I decided I needed to vote, I just did some research on his core values. I don't have any complaints yet, from what I've seen at least, which isn't a lot. Do you whiten your teeth? I've used whitening strips before, but I don't now because they're not that effective. If it's financially plausible at some point in my life, teeth whitening is another thing I want to have medically done because of my previous horrible self-care. My teeth have a clear yellow tint and I hate it. Do you get cold easily? No; it's actually the opposite: I get hot easily. What was the worst sickness you ever had? Probably this one stomach bug I had where I just threw up relentlessly. Like eventually barely even bile would come up; it was just dry heaving. My stomach muscles were in agony. Was your childhood wasted by something? No, thankfully. Would you rather die during an adventure or die like a normal person? A normal person. The idea of having such a sudden death stresses me out for multiple reasons; I mostly don't want my family to just be suddenly devastated, and I honestly want to come to peace with the fact I was dying. Like, find my life's own closure instead of just having it ripped away. Have your parents ever tried to commit suicide? Jesus, I sure hope not. Do you have a gag reflex? A very strong one. Do you ever fantasize about trying drugs? I've wondered before what the effects of weed would be like for me, but "fantasize" is definitely the wrong word. Would you rather have sex before you’re married or wait till marriage? It'd be up to my partner, honestly, because I'm fine with either. What is the nastiest dare you have ever committed? I never did dares because I thought they were stupid. Like I'm not gonna do dumb shit just to show you I can. Do you know anyone who has been raped? I think I might? Have you ever asked someone for a tampon? Yeah. Do you have any exes you can’t stand anymore? No. Are you more of a phone or a computer person? Computer. Do you prefer headphones or earbuds? Earbuds. Headphones are just big and clunky and in the way when you use a laptop in bed, plus they irritate my skin. I like how earbuds actually go in your ears for more direct hearing. Would you ever consider adopting a child with a severe mental illness? If I wanted children, no, because I don't think I'm capable to give a child like that adequate care, being so mentally ill myself. I wouldn't want to risk worsening their condition. Favorite thing to do with a significant other? Play games together, particularly cute multiplayer ones that are more about the experience of playing together versus getting past difficult obstacles and such. Like for example, one of my favorite memories with Jason is simply playing Little Big Planet together. Favorite ice cream topping? I don't like many toppings on my ice cream, but I do love melted hot fudge. First boyfriend/girlfriend’s name? Aaron. Do you support PETA? Considering they are incredibly self-righteous extremists, no. Do you believe in the Big Bang Theory? Well, I believe in some sort of "god" figure that created the universe, so I don't think so. A condensed ball of nothing exploding to create something so extravagant? It sounds pretty far-fetched to me. But then again, maybe that semblance of a "god" I believe in created the universe through that, idk. It doesn't really matter now, though, does it. What happened happened, I'm not very concerned with it. What insect can you not stand the site of? It's more so larvae that I can't stand the sight of, like maggots and stuff. They make me squirm. Do you like Doctor Who? I've only seen one or two episodes, so I can't say. Do you approve of gay marriage? Of course I do. I'm bisexual and would like to get married, so I might marry a woman. Are you into politics? I'm really not. Do you think the world is ending soon? Nah, even though it sure does feel like it sometimes. Ever been to a mosh pit? No, they don't seem very fun at all. Do you like to debate? NO. NO NO NO. Do you like the band System of a Down? Yeah, I do. Are you German? It's a big part of my heritage. Do your parents like your best friend? Yes. Who’s someone you can act your complete self around? Sara, 100%. She's the only person I feel entirely comfortable around when it comes to being myself. Do you believe in Friday the 13th? I don't believe in there being any supernatural power to it, no. Who is your favorite rapper? Eminem. What age is your youngest aunt? Uhhhh I have no idea. Do you like bowling? Sure, it's fun. Do you like roasting marshmallows on a bonfire? I do. What shows or characters scared you as a child? Ghostface from the Scream series was my worst fucking nightmare. I couldn't even see pictures of him without crying. The King Ramses guy from Courage the Cowardly Dog also gave me a number of nightmares. Something about the way he was animated was very unnatural and unnerving to me.

[dear-selena]

All I See (Peter Parker x Soulmate! Reader): Chapter 1

Peter x Reader Soulmate!AU

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Epilogue

Summary: You live in a world where women start to gain color when they meet their soulmate, but they cannot see all the colors at once until they’ve united with them. Peter Parker is your soulmate, but he has no idea. You want to tell him about the colors you see, but are afraid to. Sometimes, girls can be malicious with the soulmate troupe, and you don’t want Peter to think you’re doing the same. So you keep quiet, and experience one color at a time.

It isn’t until Liz Allan comes in the picture that all you see is green, and you hate it.

A/N: Hello! This is the first story I’ve written in a long time, and I was inspired by all the soulmate AU fanfics I read. I’m uploading this through my phone, so I apologize for any weird typos or spacing. Please feel free to give me feedback on how I can approve and let me know if you’d like to read more!

EDIT: I completelt forgot to mention that this takes place before the events in infinity war and endgame happened!

Chapter one: From Yellow to Green

Words: 1537

——————————

Yellow.

You love the color yellow. It’s bright, friendly, and happy. Especially when it illuminates your soulmate’s features.

The infamous Peter Parker makes his way towards you, eyes lighting up as he sees you at your locker. You’re currently grabbing your lunch, and waiting for him to walk with you to the cafeteria.

“Hey (Y/N),” Peter says as he reaches you. “What do you have today?”

“Just a simple PB & J. I was too lazy to make anything else this morning.”

Peter shrugs. “Sounds good at least.” He smiles at you as you two start to walk.

You love the way yellow lights up his smile, even though you know he’s not actually colored in yellow. According to others, his hair is brown, his skin is pale, and his lips are pink. You just can’t see that.

At least, you cannot see it now. You’ll be able to see all the colors together once you make a connection with your soulmate. The minute you saw Peter for the first time at the beginning of the school year, your vision instantly flashed from color to color, and you instantly knew he was your soulmate. However, that didn’t mean you had a connection with him yet. The connection can’t just be as simple as a first kiss or becoming friends, it has to come from a strong relationship. You became fast friends with Peter and his friend group, but you haven’t developed the strong soulmate connection with him. Until then though, you only get to see one color at a time based on the emotions your soulmate makes you feel. Blue for sadness, pink for romantic-love, and yellow for friend-love.

You want to see all the colors at once, you really do, but you don’t want to lose Peter in the process. You made plans to tell Peter about the colors he made you see, but you stopped yourself when you learned about something from his past. Before you met him, Peter had a “traumatizing” experience with a girl that pretended to be his soulmate. You didn’t want to ask for details, but according to Ned and MJ, he was devastated, and practically shut himself away from the world for a bit.

Despite your growing feelings and desire to connect with him, you didn’t know how to approach Peter about this. You didn’t want him to think you were lying. You’ve heard crazy stories of how people don’t believe their soulmates when they confess or how some end up hating who they’re destined to be with. You couldn’t imagine hating your soulmate, but because of what yours went through before you came into the picture, the last thing you wanted was for Peter to be angry with you. The last thing you wanted was to lose him.

So you keep this secret to yourself for now. You find that you’re content with only seeing one color at a time. You know you’ll eventually find a way to tell him about the colors. Hell, maybe he likes you, and he’ll ask you out one day and make this soulmate business a whole lot easier. But you can’t be sure. He treats you so sweetly, and helps you with the smallest things. But he also does that for Ned and MJ. You might not have known the three of them as long as they’ve known each other, but you feel as if you’ve known them for a lifetime.

“I really wanna have another movie night,” You say to Peter as you continue the short walk to the cafeteria. “But this time, I don’t want you running out the door when trouble calls.”

“Ah (Y/N), you know when Mr. Stark calls I have to answer. It’s part of being his intern.”

“Yeah… his intern,” You say that last part very sarcastically. You know he’s Spider-Man, and you know he keeps calling it an internship in public to avoid eavesdroppers.

“Mhm yeah that’s me,” Peter responds in a sarcastic tone. You playfully shove him with your arm, only for him to playfully shove you back with a smile. Your vision suddenly transitions from yellow to pink, and you feel warm inside. You also love pink. When you see it, it makes you feel special in Peter’s eyes. Even though he has no idea you’re his soulmate, he still does little things that you consider flirting. Every time, without fail, your vision turns pink.

You could see the world in this color forever.

_________________

“Dude, shut up!” Peter manages to say through his fits of laughter.

You’re sitting in the cafeteria now, laughing at a joke Peter’s best friend Ned just cracked. Ned was making a joke about something embarrassing that happened last year, before you met everyone. You only just moved to Queens before the school year started, and with the school year already being halfway over, you’ve become accustomed to everything here.

“But (Y/N),” Ned said through bits of laughter. “The best part of it all was a rip in his pants he had no idea about. He went to the decathlon like that and didn’t even notice.”

Another fit of laughter came out of your lips with Ned as you saw your vision change back to yellow. It was your favorite color, and emotion that Peter made you feel. After all, you loved being his friend. You also loved Ned and MJ in a friend way, but knowing that you saw the colors because of Peter made things a little more special with him.

“Okay, okay… I think (Y/N)’s heard enough about this,” Peter said. He was definitely embarrassed about the whole thing. But it was so funny.

You take a minute to stop laughing and proceed to finish your lunch. You become aware of the time, and see you have only 5 minutes before you have to go to AP Physics with your two friends. You weren’t really good in the subject, but the two nerdy boys you sit with at lunch everyday made the classes easier. They were always willing to help.

But you especially liked it when Peter helped you in the class because when he smiled at you or accidentally brushed his hand against yours, your vision was engulfed with pink.

You look up to see both boys completely fixated on something behind you. You turn around to see nothing out of the ordinary. Students were finishing their lunches and talking to their friends throughout the cafeteria. However, after a minute one girl you’ve never seen before caught you off guard. She was tall, with long dark hair and wearing a really cute outfit that consisted of a lacy top, skirt, and boots. From what you can see, she was definitely a pretty girl.

You turn back around and see that Peter’s wide eyes still fixated past you, mouth slightly parted in awe. Ned on the other hand is looking back and forth between Peter and the girl.

“Uh,” you mutter as you turn around again to see the girl. “What are you guys staring at?”

“That’s Liz Allan,” Ned answered, looking at her again. “Peter’s old crush.”

You suddenly feel a stabbing in your heart. Did Ned really just say Peter’s old CRUSH?

You quickly turn around to look at this girl again. You admitted she was pretty before, but now looking at her again in the distance, you could see she’s beautiful. Her hair is perfectly curled, her make-up done amazingingly, and her outfit looks great on her. Despite her looks, the stabbing feeling in your heart remained. Something about knowing that Peter used to have a crush on this girl didn’t make you feel good.

Suddenly, she looks up and smiles brightly. As she walks towards your table, you quickly turn around to see Peter’s eyes go wider and Ned stutter. Ned hits Peter in the shoulder to try to shake him out of any trance, and Peter glares at him. Before they can start bickering, Liz reaches the table.

“Ned! Peter!” Liz says in such a sweet voice. Peter gives the girl a nervous smile, while Ned proceeds to stand up and hug her.

“Liz Allan! Long time no see! What are you doing here?” Ned asks.

“I just moved back!” Liz exclaims. “I’ll be here for the rest of the year.”

“Oh that’s awesome! Are you coming back to the decathlon team ...”

You stop focusing on their conversation as you look back at Peter, whose slowly getting up from his seat, eyes mesmerized on this girl. Liz looks over at him and gives him a big smile.

“Hey Peter, it’s good to see you.” She hugs him.

You watch as your soulmate stutters out a high pitched “Hey Liz,” as he wraps his arms around her. The stabbing in your chest became more intense. It was almost unbearable.

Suddenly, the yellow color that you adore starts morphing into a new color. You blink a few times in shock as you look around at your surroundings. You’ve never seen this color before, but considering your knowledge of the color psychology and how you feel, you know exactly what the color is.

All you see is green.

For envy.

[melatoninburst]

Meet the muse

(pls don’t reblog this post but copy it if you end up doing this!)

|| The Basics ||

Name: Shanice McCulloch Nickname(s): Shay, Snake, Mom, Shan, Candy Floss Head, Vampire, The Goth One, Shan-Shan, Snakey-boo. It all depends on who she’s talking to. Age: 19 Species: Human ( in most verses. )

|| Personal ||

Religious Belief: Atheist. Sins: Lust / Greed / Gluttony / Sloth / Pride / Envy / Wrath Virtues: Chastity / Charity / Diligence / Humility / Kindness / Patience / Justice Primary Goals In Life:  She doesn’t really have any, she’s dedicated to her family, and wants to make them happy, but other than that, she doesn’t have a goal. She believes that she’s got her whole life to figure it out, and since she’s still a “baby” she has a lot of time to come to a conclusion. Languages Known: English, although she is trying to learn Nordic languages, she’s failing miserably. People say she knows ‘Scot’s English’ but it’s not a real language. Quirks: She can’t stand still, her fingers shake, she has to fidget, and she always seems to sway as she stands as though about to fall over, however it’s just her average state of being. She also shoves her tongue towards her cheek when she’s bored which makes it poke out slightly and she taps her fingers on the table. Savvies: She’s really good at talking her way out of trouble, and has been ever since she was a kid and often makes authority figures fond of her, even unintentionally. She’s also pretty well suited to baking, analysing texts and she can read novels within a day or two.

| Physical ||

Height: 5′”ft. Weight: Unknown. She hasn’t weighed herself. Scars/Birthmarks: She has a scar above her lip from when she split it, has a scar on her hip and one on her knee. She tends to be covered in bruises, and while those always fade quickly, there’s always at least one on her. Abilities/Powers: She’s completely human, so she’s not got any magical abilities, but she’s got some fighting experience from her father taking her training, she hasn’t done it in years but she knows how to defend herself. She’s pretty physically strong, but can be easily overpowered if you really tried. She will however, pick up things to hit people with if they really tested her. Restrictions: As stated above, she’s only human, she’s tiny and she’s not fought for a long time, so she’d be inexperienced, pretty frail and pretty easy to pick up and throw around. She’s not the most sturdy opponent.

| Favorites ||

Favourite Drink: Coffee, for hot drinks but she loves mango juice outside of that. Favourite Pizza Topping: BBQ chicken. Favourite Color: Black. Favourite Music Genre: She doesn’t have one, but she listens to Punk the most. Favourite Book Genre: Horror or Thriller. Favourite Movie Genre: See above, although Thrillers scare her sometimes. Favourite Season: Autumn. Favourite Butt Type: She would like to say “What the fuck does this even mean?” Favourite Swear Word: Fuck. Favourite Scent: Mango, Vanilla or Cherry Blossoms. She has Cherry Blossom scented perfume. Favourite Quote: “There is no beauty, without strangeness.” - Edgar Allan Poe.

|| Fun Stuff ||

Bottom or Top: None. She’s asexual, so she never really thinks about sex outside of jokes. Sings In The Shower: No- she has her music playing as she showers though. Likes Bad Puns: Yep! Some of them make her angry, but most of them make her cackle. Morality: Lawful / Neutral / Chaotic / Good / Gray / Evil Build: Slender / Scrawny / Bony / Fit  / Athletic / Herculean / Babyfat / Pudgy / Obese /Other. Favourite Food: Chicken Katsu Curry. “Boss” Theme Music : N/A. Let’s be real, she’s nowhere near boss status. Their Opinion On The Mun: “...She’s me but with a different last name and also, the power of foresight. I hate her guts, but honestly, everything she does makes me think ‘same.’ Also, I hate that she gives me the ability to break the fourth wall, just for this ONE post.”

Tagged From: @fxtelism​ Taggging: @bigcasinc​ @toneofdarkness​ @rebellicnstar​

[introvertguide]

A Night at the Opera (1935); AFI #85

The next film on the AFI Top 100 that we watched was the Marx Brothers comedy, A Night at the Opera (1935). It is not one of my favorite movies on the list, but I admit that it is actually growing on me. The film was not awarded or nominated for any awards outside of the AFI, but that might be partly because it is so old that there weren’t really movie awards, besides early Academy Awards, at the time. The film is pretty slow by today’s standards: even at only 96 minutes it feels a little bloated. There are quite a few unnecessary musical numbers and about 15 minutes used purely to showcase the musical talents of the brothers. Musicals were very popular at the time as sound was still relatively new to movies, so it was billed as a comedy musical and it does not disappoint from that expectation. We will do a quick plot summary (not a lot of plot in this) and then I want to mention a couple of special scenes:

In Milan, Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho), is a business manager for wealthy dowager Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont), and suddenly decides to have dinner with another woman at the same restaurant. Claypool see him and she is introduced to Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), who is the director of the New York Opera Company. Driftwood has arranged for Mrs. Claypool to invest $200,000 in the opera company, which allows Gottlieb to hire Rodolfo Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), who is the "greatest tenor since Caruso".

Backstage at the Italian opera house, an upcoming young singer Ricardo Baroni (Allan Jones) hires his best friend Fiorello (Chico) to be his manager. Ricardo is in love with the soprano, Rosa Castaldi (Kitty Carlisle), who is also being courted by Lassparri. Driftwood arrives and finds Lassparri attacking his dresser, Tomasso (Harpo), who knocks Lassparri unconscious by hitting him over the head with a mallet. Fiorello appears and identifies himself as the manager of his friend, calling him the "greatest tenor in the world". Driftwood, mistakenly thinking Fiorello is referring to Lassparri, signs the young singer Ricardo to a contract.

Driftwood, Mrs. Claypool, Rosa, Lassparri and Gottlieb all set sail from Italy to New York aboard an ocean liner. After bidding farewell to Rosa at the pier, Ricardo, Fiorello, and Tomasso stow away inside Driftwood's steamer trunk. After being discovered, Driftwood tries to get the three of them to leave, as he is expecting a rendezvous with Mrs. Claypool. Fiorello refuses to go until they've eaten, and eventually Driftwood's very small  stateroom is crowded with an assortment of people. 

Later, Lassparri spots the three stowaways among the immigrants on the ship, and they are caught and thrown into the brig. They escape with help from Driftwood and are able to sneak into the country by assuming the identities of three famous bearded aviators, who are traveling aboard the ship. During a hero's welcome in New York, the stowaways' true identities are discovered and they hide out in Driftwood's hotel room, pursued by police sergeant Henderson (Robert Emmett O'Connor).

Meanwhile, Ricardo is reunited with Rosa after climbing in the window of her hotel room. Ricardo has an altercation with Lassparri, which results in both Rosa and Driftwood being fired from the opera company by Gottlieb. The boys decide to seek revenge by sabotaging the opening night performance of Il trovatore including the abduction of Lassparri, which forces Gottlieb into substituting Ricardo and Rosa in his place. The audience clearly prefers Ricardo over Lassparri, and the latter is booed and hit with an apple after he escapes and attempts to return to the stage. The film ends with Driftwood and Fiorello attempting to negotiate another contract, as Rosa and Ricardo sing an encore. 

This movie really does play like a Vaudeville stage presentation. All the props are used and nothing is on screen without a purpose. If there is a piano, it will be played extensively. If there is a staircase, it will be tripped on, used for a fall, or as a divide to separate characters. If there is a space that is comically small, it will be filled with people. This thought process lead to what is genuinely a rather genius comedy routine.

There is a rather famous scene in which Driftwood is trying to kick people out of a room before his wealthy client shows up. Instead of emptying out this tiny room, more and more people begin to show up. Driftwood gives up and just starts letting any person in that happens to walk by. By the end, there is a repair man, some waiters, Driftwood, a manicurist, the young tenor and his girlfriend, a couple of maids, two more Marx brothers, and a couple others that I am not sure why they are there. I am not a big fan of physical comedy, but that was a great use of space to comic effect. Here is a link to the scene on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvugebaT6Q

I was not that entertained by display, but I think that Chico and Harpo are definitely skilled musicians. It seems like all the brothers were encouraged as children to follow any talent they tried so that they could perform it on stage. This does not really transfer well to a movie like it would to a party or Vaudeville stage, but it is still impressive to see the range of skills. 

I think that the screwball aspect of the film is my least favorite thing because it involves things happening that don’t really make any sense. Driftwood starts out having dinner with the wrong person and that is not fleshed out. People show up for no reason other than to be in the way. Set pieces exist purely to be tripped over or be broken. Phrases are said purely as softball setups for a Groucho joke. There is not a lot of cleverness and clever is my kind of humor. It doesn’t mean that this is bad humor, it just isn’t my favorite type. It is a personal issue. I have watched this film straight through 4 times now and it just isn’t for me as a whole. 

So would I recommend it? If you like slapstick/screwball humor, then this is definitely your type of film. You can really see the roots of the genre and the connection to Vaudeville acts at the turn of the century. If you are a big Woody Allen fan that needs all jokes to have at least 3 levels, then I don’t think you would like it. The 2:00 minute stateroom scene is pretty good no matter what, but that is not even 1/25th of the movie. Lot of slapstick filler. The big question is whether it should be on the AFI list. I am going to say yes because film as a medium really became popular because it allowed showmen like Vaudeville actors to gain exposure that they never had before. Groucho really took advantage of the talkie era with his quick punchlines and expanded the dialogue capabilities of the medium. It is historically relevant and deserves a place on the list. Maybe not a high place, but it definitely earned a place. I am thankful for the Marx bros because they were part of the development of film into the medium today that I love. 

[drowningauthor]

Meet The Writer Tag

Tagged by @wondersofwriting00 and @ink-on-poppies (I’m gonna combine and answer both your questions haha) thanks for the tag!

The rules are: answer the 10 questions given, write 10 new questions, and tag 10 people.

1. Why did you start writing? I started writing because I always loved reading and telling stories, and ended up just writing my own. Changing endings I didn't like, making characters I preferred, and then eventually, full stories. 2. What is your favourite book/poem/story that you’ve ever read? Why? The Way Of Kings (And entire Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson. I can't give you a main reason, but a thousand little ones. The way he pulls you into the story is masterful, and I think the philosophy of the story is magical, especially the windrunners. It's always resonated with me. 'I will protect those who cannot protect themselves. I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right. I will protect those I hate, even if the one I hate the most is myself.' I find that really beautiful, and intend to get it tattooed eventually. Also Lenore, by Edgar Allan Poe. 3. What is something you’ve learned from writing and reading that you think everyone should know? Destiny is never set in stone, your actions rather than your intentions are what define you as a person, if you love something do it. 4. If you had to choose, what alternate universe would you live in and why? Who would you want to live with or be friends with? The Cosmos (The universe all of Brandon Sanderson's books are in) just because I love it, and I'd love to meet Kelsier and Kaladin. My sweet boys need some love haha 5. What is your writing style? Short facts, long description. Interspersing the two keeps the mind from growing bored, and gives both more impact for me. 6. What authors do you admire or aspire to? Is Brandon Sanderson not an obvious answer yet? Hahaha 7. If you could, would you choose to have a movie or tv series made out of one of your books or series? (Money not a factor or influence) Movie for Elsie, series for my possible other WIP currently brewing in my mind. 8. What do you love about writing or reading? The fact it takes you to a whole new world. You meet new friends, new people to love, and they're always there whenever you need comfort. I love that so much. 9. What power would you want to have if you could choose from the powers of any character? Why? Kelsier bc all the powers! Hahaha or my own dear Blaze's pyro powers bc fire is lovely. 10. What is your biggest perceived flaw in your writing, if you think you have one? EVERYTHING. I hate everything I write. I'm still proud of it though. My biggest issue is not being able to successfully mix description and dialogue though, one or the other and I'm fine but the two at once I have trouble with.

1. Have you killed anyone in your WIP? How did they die? Not yet, but I will be killing someone. She'll be stabbed. 2. How many words approximately do you write in a good, productive day? A good day has usually consisted of about 800 words average, a bad day is 0 which I have more of, but the other day I wrote 3k which I was super proud of. It used to be my norm, which I'm hoping to get back to. 3. Which one of your OCs do you relate the most too? (Describe them) I relate the most to Vivas actually. He's a bitter, surly, sarcastic asshole in general, but deep down he's a good guy with good morals. Even though he kinda wants to kill everyone, he won't because it's not right. Wow, that really makes me sound like a psychopath, doesn't it? Whoops. I promise I don't generally want to kill everyone? 4. Favorite line/paragraph/dialogue from your WIP? 'You... you're a monster.' Elsie breathed, the feeling of her heart shattering almost physically sickening. Her legs shook, threatening to give up on her.

'Me? I am merely rational. Your kind burn our homes, and take our trees. You use our wood to build your churches. You hoard our food, and use our wealth. You dig deep into the earth and take its riches. You hunt us, and burn us, and kill us. all the while preaching that we, we are the ones that are spawned of evil. That we are the ones who will drag you to hell. No child, I am no monster. You are the only monster here,' Nythilla spat, her eyes wild with a burning rage. 'And I will return this land to its former glory, if it is the last thing I do.' 5. Which genre does your WIP belong to? Fantasy, YA, Adventure? But at this stage I'm categorising it as fantasy. 6. Which author do you look up to? BRANDON SANDERSON, he is a beautiful thing. 7. How did you come up with the title? Is there a meaning behind it? Elsie is literally the only thing I can think of to call it at present, I'm hoping to find something better as I go. 8. Do you talk about your stories with your relatives? NO GOD NO NEVER I HATE TALKING TO PEOPLE I KNOW ABOUT MY WRITING. The only person I actually know that I talk to about it is my best friend. 9. Does writing dialogue or inner monologue come easier to you? Both come relatively easy, but I'd have to say inner monologue. 10. When did you start writing? I can't even remember. Probably when I was around 5 or 6?

Now my questions!

1- What inspired you to start writing?

2- How long have you been writing?

3- What is your development process?

4- How do you deal with writers block?

5- Are you or do you want to be published? How?

6- Who is the most complex character you’ve created, and how did you go about it?

7- What’s your favourite story trope(s)?

8- What’s your favourite character trope(?) 

9- Do you prefer computers or pen and paper?

10- Is your workstation (If you have one) clean and organised, or messy?

Tagging @endless-minds, @forlornraven, @katywritesbooks, @theimportanceofbeingbookish, @reeseweston and @infinitelyblankpage bc I’m curious about you all, but feel free to ignore this :) Also feel free to do it and say I tagged you if you’re not up there haha

[thecreativeangel]

Sophomore Year In Queens Would Include...

Spoilers for Spiderman: Homecoming™ ahead. You have been warned. 

Freshman Year

- Summer is over and you’re on your second year of school in Queens.

- Recap: Michelle is still your best friend and still very sarcastic, Ned is still way too into Star Wars, Peter still has a HUGE crush on Liz Allan, you still lo-like Peter aS A FRIEND YUP ONLY AS A FRIEND. 

- Ned in the background: “But yesterday you stared at him for at least-”

- *Ned has been tackled to the ground.*

- But onto serious business: the story line 

- Remember Evelyn from when she stuck gum in your hair in freshman year? (if not the first part is in my masterlist) Anyway she came back after summer break and now you’re legit scared to be in the same room as her. She’s all girly and disgustingly nice unless you make her angry, in which case you should switch schools. Now.

- She is now the most popular girl at school. You pissed of the most popular girl in school. What the fuck. Is wrong. With you.

- On a happier note you’re friends with Liz Allan because you met her at meetings for academic decathlon and she is a ray of fucking sunshine which doesn’t happen a lot in high school. 

- Except Liz is friends with Evelyn. How did you find out?

- “Oh, hey (Name)! Meet my other friends. This is Betty, Amanda, Jane, Evelyn-”

- *High Pitched Internal Screaming For Ten Hours (Unlike Pluto Remix ft. You)*

- And Evelyn just fucking smiles at you all sweet and cute. And you excuse yourself and run out of there faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. 

- Rumors spread about you like wildfire. (I wonder why? Cough, cough Evelyn, cough.)

- Peter and Ned laugh them off, especially when one rumor is about you having murdered an orphanage. 

- Michelle on the other hand is pissed. PISSED. (But in her own, special way.)

- *Michelle speaking in a completely calm voice* “I will shave off her stupid hair and simultaneously tear her limb from limb in front of the entire student body while her family and friends watch her turn into a bloody pile of-”

- “hOLY SHIT MICKEY I GOT THE POINT AND I LOVE YOU FOR THAT BUT I’M EATING SO PLEASE STOP.”

- Peter starts to miss classes and decathlon and you’re worried. He also skips Friday Movie Night which he apologizes for the next day. Soon enough though, he looks so tired he forgets to say sorry.

- At lunch he stares at Liz with Ned and gushes about her or just falls asleep on the table. You have had to lift him by the hair because he tends to land face forward in his food. It becomes almost a daily task to wipe the mashed potatoes off his face.

- You are happy when Peter joins the decathlon team again, then absolutely furious when he skips Nationals anyway. When the elevator at the Washington Monument starts to malfunction, you push everyone out first, even if they have to stand on your shoulders to do so. 

- The elevator is on it’s last support cable and you sort of accept death. At least your friends made it out. 

-  Spiderman uses his webs to stop it from falling just in time, though, pulls you out... and goes straight to Liz to not so subtly ask her if she’s alright. 

- *in your mind* “Wow, okay, go ask her if she’s fine. It’s not like I almost died just now. Not like I got everyone out first. Damn, thanks for the caring attitude, Spiderman.”

- You also start to notice Peter’s weird behavior in a different light. Since the whole elevator thing, you collected that Spiderman had a thing for Liz, which is something he shares with Peter. The sudden disappearances, the bad excuses start to come together. You aren’t 100% sure, but you’re suspicious as hell.

-  Peter asks Liz to Homecoming and you aren’t jealous at all.

- *Michelle in the background* “1.25 seconds after receiving the news that Peter asked Liz to Homecoming your countenance changed from a neutral expression to an surprisingly well executed forced smile signalling that you were trying to look happy but on the inside wanted to punch Peter for being an oblivious bitc-”

- *Michelle has been tackled to the ground* 

- Homecoming was okay. Ned made you go, and you reasoned that avoiding Peter and Liz making out would make the evening at least 73.2% more enjoyable. When Peter came though, he looked like he saw ghost and ran out after saying sorry to Liz.

- You leave early because Homecoming isn’t really enjoyable to a person who absorbed the nerdy loser dome of her friends, plus you’re happier at home watching Gravity Falls and binge eating junk food. 

- You were walking home from Seven Eleven after buying all the junk food you needed when Spiderman swings by. You were going to ignore it but he fricking starts to fall mid swing and doesn’t even try to use his web shooters, which scares the living shit out of you. 

- You drop the groceries you were carrying and tackle him before he hits the ground. 

- Update: You have skinned multiple parts of your body from tackling him and rolling on the pavement, and Spiderman seems to have fainted. 

- You drag an unconscious Spiderman to your apartment? Thank god your parents are out on a business trip and your apartment is close.

- *grumbling to yourself* “That’s right, (Name). Drag an unconscious stranger to your house. I mean it is Spiderman, but he’s still a stranger. Holy shit, it probably looks like I killed Spiderman.” 

- *and of course muttering to yourself like a crazy person* “Oh my god Spiderman is bleeding out on the couch. Spiderman is fUCKING BLEEDING OUT ON THE COUCH. Do I take his suit off? Is that creepy? I can’t take his mask off, right? His mask is bloody too, he’s probably got a cut there... wHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?”

- Spiderman wakes up in an unfamiliar room and a girl losing her shit.

- “Why am I on your couch?”

- “Oh I don’t know! Why are you bleeding out on my couch? Why are you bleeding out at all?”

- You rush around, trying to find paper towels and a first aid kit. He lets you take off the bottom of his suit. 

- Blushing™ on your side cuz he’s half naked and ripped and on his side cuz you’re in pajamas and fuzzy slippers, wiping his chest with a bath towel. You let him wash his face in the bathroom so you wouldn’t find out his identity. 

- Having a drowsy late night conversation with Spiderman. 

- “So I heard today was Homecoming?”

- “Yeah, it was kinda awkward, lame and boring, so I left early. You sound young, did you skip Homecoming to be Spiderman?”

- “W-what? No! I’m not even in high school! I’m super old-well, not super. I’m not 30, I swear!”

- You have a hard time believing him because he got major voice cracks while saying that. 

- “Soo, did you have a date?”

- You actually scoff. “No. I think I like this guy, and that terrifies me, but he’s in love with another girl. He actually got his dream girl to come to Homecoming, that’s kinda why I left I guess. Frankly I’m not surprised, she’s super pretty and smart, basically perfect in every way. Everyone has a crush on her. Hell, I may have a crush on her!”

- “You’re very mature about it.”

- “Thanks, I guess...”

- Inside the Spidey suit, Peter is dying to know who you like.

- “So who do you have a crush on? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

- You consider telling him, but then remember that he sounds young, and may go to Midtown, which would be a disaster. “Not gonna happen, Spidey. I might know you in real life, so I’d better keep it a secret.”

- Liz moves away, which makes Peter act really sad for a couple of days. You planned on cheering him up with another movie night, but...

- gUESS WHO COMFORTED HIM FIRST. GUESS.

- Yeah, it was motherfucking Evelyn O’ Connor, the popular girl who hates your guts. You saw her approach Peter after class and since you’re terrified of her, you just watched from afar like a creep.

- According to Peter (when she left), Evelyn was actually “super nice” and he “didn’t know why you weren’t friends with her”.

- THIS BOI FORGOT THE TIME SHE STUCK GUM IN YOUR HAIR, SPREAD RUMORS, ETC... 

- aND GUESS WHO PETER STARES AT DURING LUNCH. THAT’S RIGHT. EVELYN MOTHERFUCKING O’ CONNOR. 

- *You to yourself* “The world is out to get me.”

- It just dawned upon you during the last day of school, in the middle of science that Evelyn was Peter’s new Liz, and that he has a huge crush on her now, and that he’ll probably talk about her all summer.

- You literally dropped the stack of Physics books you were carrying because... What. The. Hell.

- Let’s just say you spent a lot of time on the Stark internship to avoid Peter that summer. 

[birdhousewitch]

Death Witchcraft: Tea For Two

How do you personally define Death Witchcraft?

     What I learned at the start was that every single Death Witch has a totally different way of practicing and interpreting what being a Death Witch is. I noticed it more so than with other types of the craft, but I know like myself, many witches combine different types together. The mixture adds different levels and layers to everyone’s practice which is so neat and diverse.  

     To me a Death Witch is someone who applies death or morbid themes to their witchcraft and often deals with the departed. Whether it’s with bones, collected preserved insects, communicating with spirits, or some other way, Death Witches can incorporate an aspect of death into any workings they’re doing if they choose to.

What are a few things that YOU associate with Death Witchcraft?

Late nights. Watching the sunset. Dark royal purple and navy blue. Roes, especially those left at memorials and grave sites. Fallen sticks collected from nature walks. Mushrooms. Ganja. Cooking and baking. Cold winter mornings. Divination. Dressing in mourning clothes. Scary Movies. Halloween. Butterflies and moths. Empty bird’s nests. Cats and corvids. Skeletons.

When did you first start to practice this particular path and what resources were/are available to you?

     I started practicing death witchcraft a little over a year ago, and have been practicing a variety of witchcraft for the last 11 years.  

     Not a whole lot to be frank, just defining and understanding the term was hard enough for me. Actually learning what was/is applicable is still a daily struggle for me. I would definitely say good research starts with knowing how to research well. Learn how to fact check and cross check for yourself. Recently I have been seeing more self publishing witches who are writing new zines or spell books, a lot of them are secular and it really excites me! When I first started, the book I had was one my sister had and stopped using. It was written by Silver Ravenwolf called, Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation published in 2003. I never fully read through the book so I can’t really give a detailed review, but it was definitely geared towards beginners and was easy to understand. However it was more on the religious side then the secular side. At the start of high school I didn’t even know there was such a thing as being a secular witch, so I follow off and on what things I found about Wicca without being open or obvious about it. And I practiced off and on with just that one book for a few years. Then there was Tumblr™, it opened up resources, books, websites, groups, I had no idea already existed. Sadly, I don’t have specifics for my studying resources. And honestly searching “death witchcraft” on google mostly brings up tumblr pages and scary news articles. But soon I hope to have a solid research page of link and books.  

What animals are symbolic to your practice and what do they mean?

     There are so many animals, honestly the list is endless. Birds of prey, the big and small cats, scavengers, worms, bugs, corvids.

     Owls, hawks, eagles, falcons, etc. The birds whose taloned feet carry small mice from the fields and fish of the rivers and sea. These are the birds who the rabbits and squirrels hide from, to any small ground animals these birds are Death personified (or should I say animalified hehe).

     In the grasslands of Africa where the gazelles and zebras live, also lives the lioness. Her hunting and killings feeds not only herself but others in her pride. It can be gory and graphic, but as we learned from The Lion King, it’s the circle of life. After the birds and animals have eaten their meal the worms, bugs, and scavengers take over. Scavengers help to finish the decomposing process back into the earth.

     And my personal favorite, the corvids. Specifically the crows and ravens are often seen as a sign of impending death or ill fortune. While groups of ravens are sometimes called “conspiracies”, groups of crows are called “murders”.

Where do you want Death Witchcraft to take you/what do you want to gain?

     I’ve always felt like a part of death witchcraft even before I could give it a name. I want to have a better understanding of life cycles through all the different stages; birth, life, old age, death, rebirth. There have been many deaths in my life both physical and spiritual. I feel like that gives me a privilege, in the sense that I didn’t have to try as hard to have an understanding of death. Do I think having those experiences are necessary? Heck no! There are a loved ones who have passed away both human and animal that I loved so much and wanted them to still be part of my life. But their passing has definitely shaped, not only my craft, but also who I am as a person. I want to understand their passing, their new existence, and how they still are apart of my life. And to help others find comfort, understanding, and closure during any part of their life.

What is the hardest part of Death witchcraft?

     There are simply not enough resources! Research is more difficult for me as a Death Witch then it was when I was just starting out as a witch. When I first started out I felt like everything was at my fingertips and was readily available. Now I feel like I have to flip every rock twice and look in the places I never expected or thought of. The second hardest thing I would say is that actively practicing makes me very tired, I always feel like I need the longest nap after any workings or divination. Which, in my opinion makes it very hard for me to do a lot of work in one day or one sitting. And in turn, draws out the timeline of my workings, although maybe that’s death in another sense. The death of energy and time.

What is your favorite part?

     My happiest moments are during the end of a tarot reading, when I feel so deeply connected and intertwined with world’s past, present, and future. I also love collecting stuff and small trinkets, which somehow I associate collecting with being a death witch but I feel like that’s just something all witches do. My absolute favorite part is that I’m not scared anymore, I don’t have this constant nagging fear of death anymore. Not to say I don’t care about myself or life, but I feel like death is only another part of life.

What are some folk tales or legends that correlate to your craft?

     I’m going to be a bit clique here, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is #1 with others like Bloody Mary, La Llorona, and Hamlet.

A quick summary of everything you’ve learned about yourself and your practice by answering this.

     Over all, I’ve mostly learned a lot about myself as a human and witch. I haven’t even learned that much about death witchcraft if I’m going to be honest. However that doesn’t bother me because I enjoy learning, and reading, and researching. I don’t want to know everything, I want to always be learning something new till the day I die. There was one thing I learned while writing this, a neat little rhyme about counting groups of corvids like ravens, crows, or magpies: one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

Thank you taking the time to read my rambles and as always, be safe out there.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

“Spider-Man: Homecoming is the best Spider-Man movie ever, and it isn't even close.”

No it isn’t.

It’s not even the best example of filmmaking about a character called Spider-Man.

Vital plot points don’t really make much sense, there is fatigue from the MCu overall and on top of that it aggressively lacks substance and weight to it the way Spider-Man 2002 and Spider-Man 2 had.

As a film it’s fun but the best ever and it not being close?

But I expet nothing less from the blog that straight up claimed Brand New Day was awesome, the Spider-Man story could have ended after the Death of Gwen Stacy (despite you know multiple dangling plot threads) and that One More Day was great because we got young and hip Spider-Man back and the whole story makes sense because by making the dealto never be married there could never have been a deal to get unmarried therefore Spider-Man never made a eal with mephisto so shuttup and stop complaining about it idiots, enjoy Carlie Cooper and creepy Black Cat mask sex instead!

“To be fair, I don't think Tom Holland was the best Spider-Man — that's Andrew Garfield, who is much closer to my preferred version of Spider-Man (the late, college-age Steve Ditko version) than anyone else (Holland wins the prize for being the closest version to Ultimate Spider-Man. That's the thing. Spider-Man is open to interpretation. They all got a piece of him right.).”

So the OP’s preferred version is a version which existed for literally 8 issues?

Okay.

Also Holland might be relatively closest to the Ultimate version of Spider-Man…but only the Ultimate Miles Morales version.

“Nor do I think that it's the most groundbreaking of the Spider-Man movies, since that still probably goes to the first one with Tobey Maguire, which was mind-blowing at the time of release, but is horribly dated now.”

No art should ever be legitimately judged outside the context in which it was created. A movie not dating is nothing more than a bonus. It doesn’t make or break the film’s value because the standards of today are simply arbitrarily different to the standards of yesterday and the standards of tomorrow will be much the same.

“With context as to what the superhero movie would later become, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst look positively amateurish and incredibly underwhelming. (And whiny. Let's never forget whiny.)”

Yeah…fuck this guy.

Every character who whined in the first 2 films had legitimate reasons to do so.

But oh noes, they aren’t deadpan snarker badasses like RDJ’s Iron man therefore they must suck because…they act like human beings I guess.

“Context matters, though. And in the larger scheme of things when the history books are written, Tobey Maguire's first foray as Spider-Man will be remembered as the character's coming out moment, for better or for worse. Similarly, context matters when looking at creative choices made in a movie like this. And while I can't quite put into words why the movie fell short for me despite the fact that all the elements to make it successful were there, I can talk about something else regarding the movie, and that's the fact that it's one of the most racially diverse blockbuster movies in recent memory.”

So it’s the best Spier-Man movie ever but fell short for you….okay…

“So let's look at...

Racial Diversity and Bending in Spider-Man: Homecoming

by Duy

SPOILERS FOLLOW Spider-Man: Homecoming has a pretty damn diverse cast. Let's take a look at his main classmates Breakfast Club style.

So you've got Tom Holland in the middle playing Peter Parker. He's white. Over to his left is Zendaya, playing Michelle, is half-black, half-white, while in front of Tom is Laura Harrier, playing Liz, also half-black, half-white. Tony Revolori, to the right, plays Flash, and is of Guatemalan descent, while Jacob Batalon, who plays Ned, was born in Hawaii to Filipino parents. It's diverse. It's a step forward in Hollywood. It's wonderful. It also bugs me. WAIT, NO, HEAR ME OUT BEFORE YOU FIRE UP THE COMMENTS. All of these characters are named after a longtime Spider-Man character. It could be argued that since their last names are never given (except for one), they could be anything from callbacks to tributes to trolling methods on the part of the filmmakers. And that's fair.”

No it isn’t.

In an adaptation they should actually adapt the characters whilst respecting the spirits of them. Spider-Man is one of the best franchises ever. It doesn’t need OCs and it doesn’t need OCs’ who’re ‘references’ to the established characters who are on the whole richer and more movieworthy than them.

“All the same, I think there are missed opportunities here. Let's look at them one by one, in the order of the level of opportunity wastage. Tony Revolori plays Flash, the school bully. This is named after Flash Thompson. Flash Thompson normally looks like this: So now we've got a Guatemalan playing him who also doesn't play him as a jock. Instead, he's also another science nerd, who just happens to be the least smart out of all of them, and instead of threatening to beat Peter up or calling him "Puny Parker," he calls him "Penis Parker" instead. I'm cool with that. Look, racebending a 1962 comic just makes sense. You know what schools in the US were like in 1962? Segregated. That means white people and non-white people couldn't really interact. You know what a New York high school is like in 2017? Not segregated. That means Peter Parker's gonna have classmates of all races and descents, and if you populate a cast with racially diverse characters, but the only ones he interacts with are all still white, that just calls attention to the whole issue to begin with. You can't diversify without empowering.”

As for Flash being a nerd rather than a jock, that's cool too.”

No it isn’t.

Flash’s character is very much wrapped up in the fact that he I a jock. He’s a dumb blockhead with a good heart at the end of the day who learns to be more than that whilst still being nostalgic for his high school glory days when he peaked due to his athleticism and when life was much simpler because of that.

“The past decade and a half has seen a rise in the nerd bully, the type that torments you verbally rather than threatens you physically.”

Er, yeah…Flash was mostly a verbal bully in those Ditko comics this guy has claimed to have read. He wasn’t doing a Biff Tannen impersonation at all. He was mostly verbally insulting and humiliating Peter.

“See, for example, Gamergate, Kylo Ren, the villain in the last Ghostbusters movie, and the entirety of the internet. Are jocks vs. nerds still a thing?”

Yes I suspect nerds vs. jocks is very much still a thing actually.

“ The nerds kinda crossed the line the moment Revenge of the Nerds happened, and that was in 1984”

I grew up in the 90s and the 2000s so…yeah this is bullshit nerds really didn’t cross the line in 1984.

“Are jocks still bullies? I dunno, I'm old. But from the looks of the internet, nerds certainly are.”

The internet isn’t the real world.

Nerds can be bullies and so can jocks.

Flash being the latter is important to his character.

“Laura Harrier plays Liz, the girl Peter has a crush on. In the comics, this girl is Liz Allan.

Here's the thing: they've racebent Liz before, in the excellent Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, which I still think is the best Spider-Man outside of the comics medium. She's Hispanic in the cartoon, I believe, and half-black in the movie. And that's fine — the character of Liz Allan works regardless of race.

I think it's a powerful message when young kids watching Spider-Man see a white guy having a crush on a girl who isn't white — and an interracial one at that. Seeing examples this early on in life can only have a positive effect.”

Colour me crazy but…aren’t people just going to fancy whoever they are going to fancy?

Like…I don’t think any little white boys watching this movie are going to be influenced towards finding ladies of the same ethnicity as Laura Harrier more attractive one way or the other. “Zendaya plays Michelle. And at the end of the movie, Michelle says she prefers to be called MJ. I shouldn't have to remind readers, this is Mary Jane Watson: Now, she isn't "Mary Jane," she's Michelle. But the role is still there. She's going to be Peter's main love interest moving forward (unless we get someone showing up as Gwen).”

a)     How do you know that?

b)     Mary Jane’s role is more than just his love interest. By this definition Liz filled Mary Jane’s role.

“And if that's the case, it was pretty smart in this movie to establish her as someone with her own agency and her own personality rather than someone who gets in trouble and motivates Peter.”

Yes it was because that doesn’t pertain to the 616 comics version of Mary Jane nor the Dunst version as I’m sure you meant because you’re a narrowminded so and so who like the rest of the internet gets the knives out for Dunst’s version of the character regardless of how justified it might be.

“All the same, this bugs me, for two reasons. The first reason is this: Zendaya's Michelle is nothing like Mary Jane Watson, party animal with a troubled soul... but she could be. We know this from what Zendaya's done before. She plays a socially conscious, withdrawn, isolated person when Mary Jane is usually the exact opposite of all of those things. She's basically another character altogether. The "MJ" reveal just feels tacked on and unnecessary, and without value past the first time you hear it. And it closes the door on a future MJ that may actually be like the MJ from the comics. (Kirsten Dunst was not the MJ from the comics. Kirsten Dunst played Kirsten Dunst.)”

Do you know Kirsten Dunst personally in order to verify that?

“The second reason is that the character that Zendaya's "Michelle" is most like? A sarcastic woman who is both mean to Peter Parker and yet shows affection for him? That's actually a character named Michele. And she's awesome.”

Like I said…Brand New Day worshipper right here.

Michelle wasn’t awesome.

Michelle was a racist sterotype of Latinex women.

She was ‘the hot blooded latina’ sterotype taken to insane degrees because she

a)     slept with Peter when he was intoxicated and didn’t know what he was doing (which you could at the very least argue is a form of rape)

b)     vandalized his property when he claimed he’d been impersonated by the Chameleon which is an entirely reasomable thing for him to say given that they live in a world of superheroes.

c)     Slightly tortured him with with food

d)     Needlessly insulted him

e)     Oh, and did I mention that in a scenario that wasn’t in the defence of herself, a third party and didn’t come from a place of justifed mental inhibition she punched him in the face!

Let me repeat that.

Michelle who is apparently ‘awesome’ assaulted  someone.

Did I mention she was a lawyer too?

Fuck Michelle.

“I'm always of the stance that racebending is fine if there is no counterpart that already exists. In this case though, there is. (Side note: Zendaya playing Michelle is still a racebend, since Michele is a Latina.) And what bugs me about this is more from a marketing perspective: Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson became the big Spider-Man love interests by continued exposure.”

No.

Gwen became the big Spdier-Man love interest because she was positioned as that and was then immortalized when she died.

Mary Jane became that because she was a great character everyone loved and was then positioned as his love interest eventually marrying him.

“How can we possibly build more characters and the presence of those characters when we're still cycling back and forth between Gwen and Mary Jane?”

That argument is as fucking asinine as saying we can’t build in new Superman love intersts because we keep using Lois Lane.

Gwen and MJ aren’t just there via repetition.

They are massive important parts of the mythology.

“That's why fans get so resistant in the comics whenever Peter has a new love interest, the belief that it can only be one of those two.”

No fans get resistant because most of the new love interests suck shit and are never as good as Mary jane because they can’t be because she had 20 years of a developoing relationship with him preceded by 20 more years of development as his frined/confidant.

Again…it’s the same reason Superman is always with Lois Lane.

It’s not a legitimate basis for an argument to say Spider-Man should even have other love interests by this point. The ship sailed on that decades ago.

“But we don't give chances to other love interests, partly because Marvel doesn't give them those chances either.”

WTF did Carlie Cooper have if not a chance?

She existed for over 2 years as Spider-Man’s love interest.

Peter dated Felicia for over 2 years in the 1980s.

Fans gave characters chances half the time but those characters didn’t live up to those chances. The other half of the time they didn’t give the character a chance because in context the character didn’t deserve a chance.

Post-OMD every romantic relationship is 100% pointless UNLESS its with Mary jane putting things backt he way it was.

See Nu52 Superman/Wonder Woman another fine fucking mess people didn’t give a shit about because of how utterly asinine it was.

Spier-Man isn’t fucking James Bond and Mary Jane and Gwen aren’t optional interchanagable characters asshole.

“Jacob Batalon plays Ned. Ostensibly, this is after Ned Leeds. And this is Ned Leeds:

Ned's a reporter who didn't even go to high school with Peter. In the movie, Ned is his best friend, who knows who he is, helps him with Spider-Man stuff, and looks like Ganke.

Ganke is the best friend of Miles Morales, the second Spider-Man.

Seriously, why didn't they just name him Ganke? He's right there.”

Because they didn’t want to give Bendis royalties probably.

Also alongside Brand New Day worship this blogger seems to find zero problems with a Peter Parker story STEALING Ganke from Miles Morales.

Charming.

“Which brings us to Tom Holland, who plays Peter Parker. And he was great. He nailed high school/Ultimate Spider-Man, and got the right mix of humor and angst that that makes Spider-Man who he is. And that's fine. That's fair. “

No he didn’t and no it isn’t.

He could do that stuff if given the chance.

But he wasn’t.

Because the angst he had was over his Tony Stark worship and desire to be an Avenger rather than the horrible life mistakes he made and his desire to do right by his mother and the humour he was used in boiled down to slapstick bumbling.

That isn’t Spider-Man.

If you think that’s Spider-Man you need to re-read your shit because you are entirely wrong. Not even Ultimate comics Spider-Man was anything like that.

“But here's the thing. Peter Parker in high school classically is a loner, someone who makes sure no one knows he's Spider-Man, goes about things on a grassroots level, and doesn't let anyone — anyone — help him out. He's actually a bit of a jerk, honestly.”

Yes and no.

Yes he is a loner but no he wasn’t a jerk.

He was a typical teen but one who was understandably stressed out because on top of the typical trials of adolescence, he was trying to earn a scholarship, was getting bullied, was dodging bullets every night, trying to earn money to support his household oh and also dealing with HIS DAD DYING!

And the picture given to this part of the article doesn’t even SHOW him being a jerk!

“The thing is, there is a character named Spider-Man who grew up idolizing other superheroes, who has an overweight Asian best friend who helps him out as Spider-Man, and who is mentored by the Avengers, and that guy is Miles Morales. This should have been a Miles Morales movie. By concept, premise, and execution, everything about the movie screamed "Miles Morales" to me more than it did "Peter Parker," to the point where it felt like it was, in fact, a Miles Morales movie, except they wrote out Miles and dumped Peter in his place.”

That is true but this shouldn’t have been a Miles movie by design.

Nobody should have consciously tried to make this anything like a Miles Morales movie. “And that's the rub about this whole diversity thing right now. Whenever we applaud a movie for being diverse, we mean one of two things. We could mean it, as we did for Captain America: Winter Soldier or Spider-Man: Homecoming, as "a racially diverse cast with a white male lead." Or we could mean it, as is happening and will continue to happen with Black Panther, as "a cast that is dominated by one race." Both are well and good and unheard of even ten years ago on the level that it is now. But there's still something missing, and that's having a non-white character headline a blockbuster movie with a racially diverse cast. I will consider the battle for diversity won when we can see that type of movie in spades and not have to remark about how noteworthy it is. This would have been the perfect opportunity to do it. They could have written Peter as an older character to focus on later, one that's always been Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and just not heard of much, as he normally is in the comics where he isn't that well-known outside of New York City, while focusing on Miles.”

No they couldn’t.

The Netflix series all happen in New York city.

We the audience are supposed to know EVERYTHING about the MCU beyond the stuff that is behind the scenes or secret.

Saying

“Oh Spider-Man was there the whole time you just didn’t know about it” is a creative cheat of the highest order and makes no fucking sense because OF COURSE people in and out of New York were going to know about him. It’d be unrealistic for them NOT to.

Not to mention how actually Spider-Man IS known outside of New York.

As for making Peter older and focussing upon Miles this wouldn’t have worked for a million reasons.

But chief among them is that Miles doesn’t have the material necessary to eek out a film trilogy of his own. Most of his highly decompressed stories are rossovers and tie-ins that can’t work for film and the rest of them repeat beats from other Spider-Man and superhero movies.

You couldn’t even introduce Miles without telling his origin story which is exactly what helped kill the LAST film version of Spider-Man because Miles and Peter have incredibly similar origins.

Then you have the fact that it royally fucks the entire appeal of doing Spider-Man in the MCu.

The mass audiences DOESN’T WANT to just see any given kid in web spandex called Spider-man on screen with the Avengers they want it to be THAT SPECFIC kid from the previous five movies who’s worked his way into mass pop culture.

The audience impact and appeal is grossly diminished if you DON’T make it peter Parker.

Which doesn’t mean Peter himself must be white.

But it does HAVE to be Peter NOT Miles.

Peter who is, I’m sorry…like an egregiously better character than Miles in alsmost every way possible.

“And it could have been done, since we literally just saw it two years ago in Ant-Man, where the movie focused on Scott Lang instead of Hank Pym, the original, classic bearer of that mantle.”

Fuck me this stupid ass argument again.

NO you didn’t just see it get done in Ant Man.

In Ant Man Hank Pym was a SECRET super hero working behind the scenes.

That’s intrinsically different to the inherent nature of Spider-Man as a public crime fighter who is demonized by the media

And I’m sorry…switching out Hank for Soctt is also inherently different. Hank Pym’s deal is that he switched identities a lot and has a mental illness. The Ant Man mythology if you like isn’t as reliant upon HIM holding the mantle as it is for Spider-Man who’s whole history and mythology is built specifically around peter Parker and his personal life and relationships.

Because Peter IS Spider-Man.

And again, people didn’t get excited to see any given kid called Spider-Man onscreen with the Avengers. They got excited for it to be Peter specifically.

Let me repeat that again.

Introducing Miles into the MCU is NOT THE SAME THING AS HAVING TWO ANT MEN!

“And I get it, too. If this was the only time we're ever going to see Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I would want that Spider-Man to be Peter Parker. But if that's the case, I wish I could've seen a movie that felt more like Peter Parker than a Miles Morales movie where he's removed and replaced with Peter Parker.”

Finally something we agree on.

“That this didn't feel like a Peter Parker movie to me is a cranky old fanboy nitpick.”

That isn’t a nitpick that’s a legitimately massive problem with the film that fucks it over.

[ulrichfoester]

Now is the Time to Strengthen Your Marriage, Here are 14 Ways

This is a very hard time; our emotional health and physical well-being are being challenged in pandemic life.  We are trying to figure out how to be safe, care for our children and for many, assure even basic survival needs are met like income to pay for food and shelter.

Marriage and long term relationships are also taking the brunt of the stress of COVID-19.  Some relationships have benefitted from the additional time together but many have been strained, especially if there were unresolved issues between the couple before.  Anxiety can strain an already tense relationship.  For many holding things together for themselves and their families, the marriage is not being prioritized.

During such difficult and uncertain times, couples need to feel as secure as possible to weather the pandemic storm together.  If your relationship feels disconnected or otherwise in jeopardy, find the time to stabilize it as well as possible now for it is the foundation under which your entire family rests.  One thing we know is things are uncertain, likely for months to come, with school and other consequences of this situation still unfolding.  Emotional and relationship safety between the walls of your home is more important than ever, especially when “home” is where many of us are spending more time than ever.

I’m thrilled to be part of a collaboration with other licensed relationship professionals and marriage sites.  The Dating Divas gathered us together and created a bundle of our tools to help you improve your marriage.   The bundle includes marriage courses, ebooks and printables to help you create a happier, more connected relationship with your spouse.

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This bundle is being offered in a 7-day sale where you can get 13 products and tools at a dramatic price reduction.  The offer is good until midnight, July 26th.

A Look at What’s Included

The Marriage Bundle is full of a wide range of educational and fun tools to improve your marriage, from Christian and secular (non-religious) sources.  Once you have access to all of this, you can pace yourself as you make your way through them.  The list below provides the details of the included products in this bundle, including pictures and a link back to the original source for even more info.

Communicate Your Way to a Better Marriage by Engaged Marriage – Learn how to rekindle the intimacy in your marriage through better communication, in all forms, so that you can connect the way you desire. This step-by-step, actionable workshop with Dr. Corey Allan and Dustin Riechmann will unlock deeper intimacy in your marriage (talking optional)… and includes access to two incredible bonus ebooks on communication for married couples.

The Marriage Refresher Course Workbook for Couples by Love & Life Toolbox – Are you and your spouse suffering from marriage disconnect? Re-strengthen your relationship foundation, increase emotional safety, improve communication and get back on track with The Marriage Refresher Course Workbook for Couples. Let relationship expert and therapist Lisa Brookes Kift, MFT lead you with her DIY guide.

Get Your Marriage On! 2019 Live Event Videos by Get Your Marriage On! – Get Your Marriage On! is a fun & upbeat live event for married couples. Boost your marriage with entertaining & informative info from seven of the best in the world, including Sheila Wray Gregoire, Laura M. Brotherson, Dr. Debi Gilmore, Dr. Dave Schramm, and others! This gives you access to the video recordings from the November 2019 live event.

25 Minutes to a Better Marriage by Christian Marriage Adventures – Are you ready to reclaim quality time in your marriage? Mike + Carlie Kercheval of Christian Marriage Adventures have created a 5-day challenge that will get you and your spouse on the same page, giving each other the undivided attention you desire (and deserve!). The 25 Minutes to a Better Marriage Challenge has helped thousands of couples reprioritize one another amidst the chaos of daily life. Get ready to experience a spark in your marriage!

Deeper Love: Skills for a More Mindful Marriage by Dr. Matt Townsend– In this 2-hour presentation, Matt Townsend teaches how to create a deeper, more mindful marriage, along with many other character-building skills and tools. You will laugh one minute and be moved the next minute as you learn to improve your marriage!

Pillow Talk: 40 Conversations About Sex for Married Couples by Hot, Holy, Humorous – How can you experience sizzling and satisfying sex in your marriage if you can’t even talk about it? Yet couples often struggle to understand their spouse and discuss their sex life. Getting the conversation started can be awkward, create more confusion, or result in conflict. Pillow Talk: 40 Conversations about Sex for Married Couples provides the right framework for productive communication on a myriad of issues, from physical health to building trust to sexual fantasies. Learn how to ask questions, listen, and converse in a way that will avoid arguments and promote understanding and intimacy. Each chapter introduces a topic, presents questions to ask one another, outlines a biblical viewpoint on the subject, and concludes with action steps to help your progress sink in. From bestselling Christian sex author, blogger, and podcaster J. Parker, of Hot, Holy & Humorous, Pillow Talk will help your marriage bed move from awkward to amazing!

Naked Marriage: Uncovering Who You Are And Who You Can Be Together by Dr. Corey Allan – What if marriage were designed for a specific purpose? What if some of the problems faced in marriage are not meant to be solved, they’re meant to be lived through? Because many people don’t understand what marriage is and could be, they hide from each other. To keep the peace, they continue the charades, each spouse reluctantly believing, “I guess this is just how it’s supposed to be.” Consequently, they refuse to get naked with each other in all of that word’s scary yet glorious permutations: emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Naked Marriage encourages you to find yourself and fully reveal yourself, so you and your marriage can become fully alive.

Working Through Orgasm Difficulties by Laura M. Brotherson, LMFT, CST – Sexual climax for her is not as automatic as some may assume. The big “O” is elusive for many women. To make matters worse, couples are hesitant to seek help when difficulties in this area arise. With this chapter, certified sex therapist, Laura M. Brotherson, provides valuable insights on this delicate but important element of the sexual relationship helping any couple work through orgasm difficulties! This is “must-have” information to experience the exultant ecstasy available in the sexual dimension of marriage. Get yourself a copy of the rest of this book – From Honeymoon to Happily Ever After at StrengtheningMarriage.com.

Couple’s Unity Building Journal by Awesome Marriage by Awesome Marriage – Do you feel like you and your spouse aren’t as unified, as you’d like? Or maybe your marriage has some areas that could use some refining? It’s time to get on the same page! Awesome Marriage created a tool that will help you get synced up with your spouse in all the important areas. The Couple’s Unity Building Journal’ resource is a 23 page PDF, with 9 sections on common areas where marriages may have struggles. Each section has questions for you to reflect on, pray about, answer, and then discuss with your spouse. Get closer by getting more unified on the things that matter!

Becoming Better Together: The RAM Plan for Growing Together When Life is Pulling You Apart E-book by My Love Thinks – Becoming Better Together is based on a live course that has been taught to over half a million people worldwide. The RAM plan taught in this e-book has been proven to increase relationship satisfaction, communication, closeness, sexual intimacy, as well as lower the divorce rate in communities where the live version was taught. But now, you can access all of this practical and life-changing information right from your device!

Ultimate Intimacy Spicy Invites/Notes & 31 Day Intimacy Calendar by Ultimate Intimacy– We believe many couples are looking for something fun and exciting to keep their love life and passion thriving (we were one of them!). Why? Sex is AMAZING for both men and women, and is incredibly bonding! Isn’t that part of God’s design, to bring man and woman closer together, to help each other be one and whole? Using the 31 Day Ultimate Intimacy Calendar and printing these fun Ultimate Intimacy spicy invites you can leave your spouse daily, you will have tons of fun ideas to rekindle the passion! Don’t forget to download the free Ultimate Intimacy App which also includes hundreds of fun ways to spice up your marriage!

First Book: Forgive U: From the School of Hard Knocks to the University of 70×7 by Messy Marriage – Are you struggling to forgive someone in your life? Then “Forgive U” is the book for you! This resource clears up what forgiveness is and is not; what’s necessary to really forgive; seven common myths about forgiveness; as well as explaining how to forgive and move forward. It will leave you clearheaded and equipped for the daunting task of letting your anger go and living free! Are you and your spouse drifting apart or simply want to grow together spiritually? Beth of messymarriage.com offers a couple’s devotional—Before You Snore or Go Out the Door—that will do just that in less than 10 minutes a day. It is designed to be a quick and easy way to engage not only with scripture but with each other! You’ll find questions that stir discussion, applications that encourage stretching and growth, as well as ideas for how to pray for the focus of the day. It will encourage you personally, as well as drawing you to your mate!

Year of Movie Dates by The Dating Divas – This is a series of 12 dates, giving you tons of fun ways to take your movie night to the next level. Choose from romantic and funny activities, sexy ideas, a few treats, and a big list of movie titles to help make the movie-picking easier. Each of these 12 date night movie ideas is based on a specific genre, so throughout the year, you’ll make sure to see a variety of films to appease BOTH of your tastes. You can even wrap it up into an adorable movie gift basket to give to your spouse or another lucky couple!

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Now is the Time to Strengthen Your Marriage, Here are 14 Ways published first on https://familycookwareshop.tumblr.com/

[123movvies]

DUCK SOUP

My father loved the Marx Brothers above all other comedians or, indeed, all other movie stars. The first movie he ever took me to was "A Day at the Races." All I remember about that experience was the fact of my father's laughter. But there was something else, too, that I understood only much later: The sound of his voice as he described the brothers. He used the tone that people employ when they are talking about how someone got away with something.

That is the same tone I have heard, and used, in discussing such subjects as "Some Like It Hot," "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles," "Airplane!," Monty Python, Andy Kaufman, Saturday Night Live, "South Park," Howard Stern, "There's Something About Mary" and "Being John Malkovich" - -and even movies that are only indirectly comedies, like "Pulp Fiction." There is a kind of admiration for material that dares something against the rules and yet is obvious, irresistibly, funny. How much more anarchic the Marx Brothers must have seemed in their time than we can understand today. They were among the first to evoke that tone; you can see who the Marx Brothers inspired, but not who they were inspired by, except indirectly by the rich traditions of music hall, vaudeville and Yiddish comedy that nurtured them.

Duck Soup

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Movies gave them a mass audience, and they were the instrument that translated what was once essentially a Jewish style of humor into the dominant note of American comedy. Although they were not taken as seriously, they were as surrealist as Dali, as shocking as Stravinsky, as verbally outrageous as Gertrude Stein, as alienated as Kafka. Because they worked the genres of slapstick and screwball, they did not get the same kind of attention, but their effect on the popular mind was probably more influential. "As an absurdist essay on politics and warfare," wrote the British critic Patrick McCray, " `Duck Soup' can stand alongside (or even above) the works of Beckett and Ionesco."

The Marx Brothers created a body of work in which individual films are like slices from the whole, but "Duck Soup" (1933) is probably the best. It represents a turning point in their movie work; it was their last film for Paramount, and the last in which all of the scenes directly involved the brothers. When it was a box office disappointment, they moved over to MGM, where production chief Irving Thalberg ordered their plots to find room for conventional romantic couples, as if audiences could only take so much Marx before they demanded the mediocre (Buster Keaton's sound comedies for MGM suffered from the same meddling and dilution).

"A Night at the Opera" (1935) their first MGM film, contains some of their best work, yes, but in watching it I fast-forward over the sappy interludes involving Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones. In "Duck Soup" there are no sequences I can skip; the movie is funny from beginning to end.

To describe the plot would be an exercise in futility, since a Marx Brothers movie exists in moments, bits, sequences, business and dialogue, not in comprehensible stories. Very briefly, "Duck Soup" stars Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly, who becomes dictator of Fredonia under the sponsorship of the rich Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont, the brothers' tireless and irreplaceable foil). Neighboring Sylvania and its Ambassador Trintino (Louis Calhern) have designs on the country, and Trintino hires Harpo and Chico as spies. This flimsy premise provides a clothesline for one inspired sequence after another, including sustained examples of Groucho's puns and sneaky double entendres. But it also supports a couple of wordless physical sequences that probably have their roots in the vaudeville acts the brothers performed and saw years earlier.

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One is the three-hat routine involving Chico and Harpo and the straight man Edgar Kennedy (who started with Mack Sennett and Chaplin). Chico, as a spy, inexplicably adopts the cover of a peanut vendor, and Harpo is a passerby. Kennedy has the lemonade cart next to Chico's peanut cart, and the brothers make his life miserable in a routine that involves their three hats changing position as quickly as the cards in a monte game.

The other sequence is one of the gems of the first century of film. Harpo disguises himself as Groucho, and for reasons much too complicated to explain, sneaks into Mrs. Teasdale's, tries to break into a safe and shatters a mirror. Groucho himself comes downstairs to investigate. Harpo is standing inside the frame of the broken mirror, and tries to avoid detection by pretending to be Groucho's reflection. This leads to a sustained pantomime involving flawless timing, as Groucho tries to catch the reflection in an error, and Harpo matches every move. Finally, in a perfect escalation of zaniness, Chico blunders into the frame, also dressed as Groucho.

It is impossible to discuss Groucho's dialogue without quoting it, and pointless to quote it since Groucho's delivery is essential to the effect. He played an utterly irreverent character whose speech was at the mercy of puns, insults and bawdy insinuations that tiptoed just this side of the censors (as when Rufus T. Firefly tantalizes Mrs. Teasdale with visions of marriage and then confesses, "All I can offer you is a Rufus over your head"). Many gifted comedy writers, including S.J. Perelman, labored over the Marx Brothers movie scripts, but all their dialogue had its origins in Groucho's own speaking style, perfected over the years.

In 1972 I was able to spend some time with Groucho, for a profile for Esquire. He was then 81, and still unmistakably occupying the persona he had made famous. (Who he was in private remains a mystery to me; in public he was always onstage.) His first words to me could have been said in more or less the same way by Rufus T. Firefly: "Esquire isn't my favorite magazine, you know. Interviews are really murder. They keep asking you questions. I could be brought up on a rape charge. I don't mind a hatchet job, if it's truthful.Couldyou pin a rape charge on me? Could you try? I'd appreciate it. You don't do any dental work, do you? I have to go to the dentist before I go to France."

[attemptedfilmcritic]

Spider-Man: Homecoming Review (Spoiler Free/Spoiler Talk Below)

Rating System: 

buy it on DVD or digitally (legally)

see it opening weekend

pay full price at the theatre

catch a matinee if you want

rent it for $3-$5

I wouldn't recommend it

As someone whose lived almost their entire in life in love with this character and has been on both spectrums at one time or the other with the Toby-Andrew feud, it is safe for me to say this is the best interpretation put to screen yet. Said every tv spot and critic ever so far. And, they're right. Well admittedly in most cases.

For Peter Parker/Spider-Man, there's one thing I picked up on throughout the movie that I could not drop or forget for the life of me. It's that Tom Holland is beat for beat Marty McFly in some key moments in this film. And that's not a bad thing! The way he delivers when in panic or excitement of any kind just screams 1980s Michael J. Fox to me. And I dig it. He had such a youthful and comedic charm which translates well with this character. Which helps with their allusions to ‘80s classic films. That's what this Peter as Spider-Man is like. He's panicky and screams his confusion. And he's genuinely pretty nerdy and innocent. He's apart of an academic club and was in band. I was in band, I know these things.

Speaking of comedy! This film is full of it, as promised with any film slapped with a Marvel Studios logo on it. It's done very well and not really shoved in your face. Sometimes its situational and sometimes it’s through written dialogue. It doesn’t sacrifice sincere moments for the sake of an extra laugh (a gripe Doctor Strange received a lot). The comedy is where it belongs and the powerful climactic superhero moments are where they belong. Nothing messily meshed. Save one joke, that was totally worth it.

The suit in the film is really interesting. I’ve always loved the design itself, but the features it provides is insane. And it makes sense character wise because it was built by Tony Stark. Of course its going to be over the top and have insane gadgets. But l love the Peter has no idea how to use them or even a clue why he would use some. Some critics were getting antsy about 576 web shooter combinations. “That’s outrageous! What happened to plain and simple Spider-Man?” Well I can tell you Peter agrees! It’s a great touch to his character. He’s from Queens and isn’t used to high-tech luxurious super-suits. He just uses what he knows. And that’s all he needs. Though, when it’s time to take advantage of some features its pretty neat.

The primary love interest is Liz (who would be a loose interpretation of Liz Allan). Her character somewhat correlates to her comic roots. She's popular. They got that right. This Liz is also smart and apart of the academic decathlon club, something I would not expect from Liz Allan in the comics. But in all honesty that's pretty much it for her character sadly. Not a lot said nor done. She's not annoying but not compelling either. His friend in this film is a huge departure from Harry Osborn. Not Ned Leeds confirmed (later Hobgoblin) but just “Ned”. I thought he was a great addition and carried a good amount of the comedy from this film. Some claimed he wavered back and fourth from annoying to funny. I never felt he was annoying. A breath of fresh air, since both portrayals of Harry were quite angsty and “I will never be good enough for my father” territory. This is nice. Just a positive friend there to help. Basically also joining Peter on this cool, adventurous, dangerous ride. 

Michael Keaton is a good baddie. He plays the part. Intimidating and has a motive, but sadly not really Loki tear of relevance and memorability. He's a good starting villain for Spider-Man. You are given an insight to why he does what he does. Granted, it's not Zemo level of tragedy. But he pulls his weight in the film. Not completely over-doing it into campiness but not phoning it in at all either. As for Shocker he's in a few scenes and is somewhat of a throwaway villain plucked from Spider-Man's rogue gallery. He's not a particularly interesting villain even in comic form so if he had not been there and was replaced with Bad Guy #2 the story wouldn't have lost a beat. I understand wanting new and never used bad guys adapted because “we have the rights now! Let's go crazy!” But I say quality over quantity. Vulture would've been—no, is plenty for the whole movie. And yes, Tinker gets a little bit too, but I argue he'll be more useful and brought back for future installments. Similar to what they're doing with Klaue. So he might actually have a pay off. Unlike Shocker, sadly. As for Donald Glover he's great! Only in two scenes, but cool. He's chill and even helps Spider-Man. I really want them to bring him back because he was criminally underutilized. The second scene with him is incredibly funny.

Right off the bat I will just say the ending is hilarious and made the entire theatre burst out laughing. I love the ending credits because it was new and thoughtful. It was youthful, yet again, and just made the part of watching the credits to get to the after credits scene more fun. It's colorful, which is what this movie is as well. It's bright and sunny. Marvel gets a good amount of flack for its gloomy cinematography despite its much more playful tones. Not all juxtaposition is good, translates well, or quite frankly makes sense. This movie breaks the trend. And it's fitting for a great summer-y superhero blockbuster flick. You want to have an exciting harmonious display to inflict a positive memory of seeing this movie on a relaxing summer day with your friends. You'll remember it with affection and ease. The stakes aren't as high with this film. The whole earth isn't in peril. There is conflict and tension but none too much that The Avengers themselves would have to come take care of. So it helps with the logic in that aspect of the universe as well. 

Quite recently I've been big on spotting patronizing films with telling and not showing. Or worse. When they do both. They don't trust the audience to put it together, watch, or be intrigued. Invested. But we are! This film does hardly any of that, though it is slight. Sam Raimi is king of showing and not telling thus far out of all three Spider-Man directors. But overall it treats its audience with respect. The pacing is balanced as well. Some scenes are slow for development and even plot purposes and others a grand and big for a superhero film. 

The theme of the film is slightly muddled and mixed for me to put my finger on. Overall it's to take responsibility. I mean, what else would it be? Do the right thing. When confronted with the Vulture, Peter is given a very clear and major threat on his life and his friends and family’s life. The whole scene he is clearly scared out of his mind. But he doesn't hesitate to drop everything and go after him the second he can. Knowing everything at stake. Because he has to. It's inspiring. He also humbles himself and feels the need to learn more and grow before becoming a full time Avenger. Ya know, go to school and stuff.

The musical score will have you smile with the opening theme. Otherwise, sadly nothing will top Danny Elfman’s. There aren’t any other distinct themes I picked up on could hum other than the iconic one everyone already knows. 

Rating time. I would say both see this opening weekend and buy it when it comes out. It's truly great and a prime example of fun popcorn movies that can have quality. Quality acting, special effects, writing, you know the drill. I'd recommend it for kids (probably 10+), teens, and adults. See it with your family, see it with your friends to support watching movies as great as this in the theatre. And for Marvel to keep making fun movies that are all creating a bigger interconnected world. Or! If you just simply love Spider-Man and only care about him!

Either way, just see it! 

Because it's honestly amazing.

SPOILER TALK

Now that the overall review is laid out I do want to give comments on…other things.

All I can say is I don't mind that Zendaya was/is “MJ” but I'm curious as to how they're going to play her out. Is her name solely just a wink at the character Mary Jane or is she going to be a genuine love interest? Time will tell, but personally I prefer the former. I'd really appreciate a plain and simple companionship between Peter and this character. I can't see these characters having a love for each other that isn't platonic. Let her be Michelle and let Mary Jane be Mary Jane. There doesn’t have to be some new spin or cross making of the sort. Preferable I’d say have this new character made be her own thing or adapt Mary Jane from the comics as well as you did with Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Because those two characters of Michelle and Mary Jane are absolutely nothing alike. Obviously. 

I'm picky about Spider-Man love interests, okay.

As for the connection of Liz being the daughter of Vulture it is hilarious, but has very little impact emotionally. Yes it is funny but you don't feel bad for Peter in the way you should. You feel bad because he's in a bind and can be harmed physically. Not because this girls parental ties puts a burden on their love or relationship. It gives temporary tension, which is awesome, but in the long run the relationship between Liz and Peter went nowhere and is more or less one-sided anyways. It had no strain. If they really developed Liz to have more depth and a mutual love and admiration for Peter it would be more painful, in a good way. But the tie doesn't hurt. It pays off when she has to move to Oregon(?) and is given a gentle boot for MJ to step into the shoes of the love interest. To which I ask, why not just have MJ be the main love interest in the first place? And I don't mean have Peter fawn over her the way he did with Liz, but in build a strong friendship that clearly indicates room for romance in the future. Start with some chemistry first. They know each other but I can't say they're even friends right now.

Also, I'm so glad they brought back Pepper and repaired her relationship with Tony. Honestly, I really missed her.

Also also! With Donald Glover’s role as Aaron Davis, Miles Morales totally exists in this universe as well! He even references having a nephew. I just really don't want them to kill off Peter Parker after the trilogy is over for Miles Morales. Keep them both! We can’t lose the best Spider-Man put to screen!

And the last after credits scene is clever as hell. Nothing special or big. Not baiting anymore movies or characters or plots. Just simple and new.

[wavenetinfo]

Let it be known here and now that Patty Jenkins is a brilliant director. She’s brilliant when directing indies like Monster which won Charlize Theron Best Actress, and she’s brilliant directing television (DGA winner for The Killing) where she’s mostly been relegated ever since. We now know she’s brilliant when directing a massive feature film wedged in a genre dominated by men and boys. Wonder Woman must, by its nature, leave us awed and breathless. It also must, thanks to the recent trend in films like these, take its subject seriously. Jenkins, being the first woman to direct a superhero film, had additional pressure to deliver big on that opening weekend, without name-brand stars. Jenkins delivers on all three demands.

It’s funny and strange and weird that Big Hollywood has never trusted a movie of this size to a woman … like, ever … and it’s even weirder that no one took a chance like this on Jenkins before. With Wonder Woman, easily one of the best films of this year, Jenkins proves that not only can she direct a superhero film but she takes the genre itself to new heights — heights never really seen since Christopher Nolan got hold of Batman. Who knew a superhero movie could be this good?

What happened to strong women in the action film genre between Raiders of the Lost Ark and now? Fanboy culture happened. And with them came a target demographic that strangled Hollywood for a few decades, aiming their products almost exclusively at teenage boys and young men fastened in extended adolescence, while giving female moviegoers nothing more to identify with than the sidekick or love interest role. Over time, the discussion about the absence of women behind and in front of the camera boiled over. What was the hangup? Money. Since the only woman ever allowed to helm a $100 million summer action feature fell short of turning a profit (Kathryn Bigelow, K-19: The Widowmaker), it seemed that no woman should ever again be trusted to mount a $100 million film. Unlike their infinitely forgivable male counterparts, women have to prove themselves again and again, and constantly risk being shunned from the film industry at the first sign of trouble. One strike and you’re out.

You might not expect the message to go as deep as this Wonder Woman does — or to delight in so much ethereal visual magic with Jenkins’ assured hand. She doesn’t try to direct like a man, nor does she try to season her story to make it easier on male viewers. And to the film’s credit, it refuses to score points at the expense of the male ego, as some might predict it would. What it mostly does is flip the narrative to a kind of storytelling we don’t expect. Wonder Woman’s origin story sets us up for more of the tough and charismatic Gal Gadot as the Amazon warrior tasked with saving the world from the god of war. We know that going in. We also know she’ll have Captain America’s Chris Pine as her co-star, the biggest name in the film (at least before Gadot becomes a household name, which she will soon enough, like, immediately). But to say any more would be to spoil the fun. Yes, Wonder Woman is enormous fun. It’s also a surprisingly moving and refreshing change to what we’ve seen again and again where men and men alone save the day.

Written by Allan Heinberg, Wonder Woman never sells out its heroine, even when a male character enters the story. She’s never dumb, never foolish. She makes her own decisions (shocking, I know) and saves the world in a way that so many of us so desperately need to see right now. This is still in the realm of comics and fantasy so to dissect its plot too strenuously would be a mistake (although it surely provides fertile ground for anyone who chooses to do so). Chris Pine is one of the best things about the film, in addition to the other rich supporting cast like Robin Wright and David Thewlis. But the film ultimately belongs to Gadot, who makes us believe and makes us forget and makes us never want the movie to end. It is partly the astonishing physicality — the high flying Amazons and their arrows and swords. But Gadot handles the emotional scenes just as well. There aren’t many women who can carry an entire film as she does — but she does it.

Most films now, summer blockbuster or otherwise, revolve around “one special boy.” But this is especially true with the superhero genre. Women are meant to sit politely and not care that no one has ever said they matter enough to make a whole movie about them, even though comic books have always had dynamic female characters at their center. In the DC universe, Black Widow would make a great singular stand-alone character and yet, for some unknown reason, that’s never materialized. It was an experiment, this film – to see how many men would go along with it. Some haven’t. Some have swollen into marshmallowy crybabies, bitching because they got excluded from a screening or two out in Austin, Texas, where a marketing campaign came up with the idea to put wall-to-wall women in the Alamo Drafthouse to see how this history-making movie might feel for a crowd like that. There will be some guys who just won’t see it, feeling that their hallowed territory is being encroached upon. Or maybe they just like being able to turn off their frontal lobes and project themselves into a world where they can kill bad guys, lift cars with one hand, and always end up with the girl. Funny thing about that, though, lots of different kinds of people like to vibe that fantasy — women, and people whose gender and ethnicity is never represented. It’s just that this market has been cornered for nearly three decades by a false perception of ticket-buyer identity. Audiences buying tickets in America are no longer just white males (nor have they ever been) and Hollywood is slowly remembering this fact.

Wonder Woman is a movie about a human nature.  To defend us one has to understand us. With our ugly inclination to kill one another and destroy the world we’re easy to hate. How quickly so much of us have turned one another this past year, forming tribes that point fingers, sling insults, pull triggers. We’re living through seemingly hopeless times. All the more reason to step back and remember that there are still things about humanity still worth saving.

Art has the power to transform, to heal and show us the way. Humans need art. We always have. Our experience of life can’t just be screaming at each other on social networks. We need our stories, too. We need to see the ideals represented, even if it’s “only a movie.” Even if no one believes it could ever or would ever happen. Art is not here to show us reality. It is here to show us the unreality, to light our way through the murky darkness to reveal the gods, the goddesses, and the wonder women — weightless and fierce, and never hesitating to take on the fight for a better world.

3 June 2017 | 3:23 am

Sasha Stone

Source : Awards Daily

>>>Click Here To View Original Press Release>>>

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[footyplusau]

Full houses as AFLW kicks off in style

The old stadium was full as a beer glass with froth running down its side. Gil McLachlan had to go outside the stadium and apologize like a publican telling a thirsty group on a hot day that he cannot serve them.

Women’s AFL footy was underway. Carlton looked the part from the start. The Blues have always had one of the best jumpers, one of the best songs and, before long, it was apparent that they had one of the best players – Darcy Vescio. Her name even sounds like great Carlton names of the past, like Silvagni and Catoggio. Darcy Vescio is lithe and smart and quick and, in a game where the players were allowed no space, she kept finding it and kicking goals.

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Living two lives

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Packed Princes Park watches Carlton take …

Packed Princes Park watches Carlton take debut win

Four goals from Darcy Vescio helped the Blues to victory over Collingwood after a lock out at Princes Park for the first ever AFLW match.

Living two lives

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Living two lives

Living two lives

Tiana Ernst delivers babies by day and plays footy by night. Hailing from far north Queensland and moving south for the game she loves, Tiana is set to play a season of footy alongside her current life as a doctor.

James Hird’s father speaks out

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James Hird’s father speaks out

James Hird’s father speaks out

James Hird’s father Allan talks to 3AW about his view on his son’s overdose and the Essendon doping saga.

Essendon offers support following Hird health scare

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Essendon offers support following Hird …

Essendon offers support following Hird health scare

Following a suspected overdose, players showed up to training and kept mum about their distressed coach. Vision courtesy Seven News, Melbourne.

Heeney wants midfield spot

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Heeney wants midfield spot

Heeney wants midfield spot

Isaac Heeney makes his message clear about where he wants to play in 2017.

Mitchell and Cotchin get their 2012 Brownlows

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Mitchell and Cotchin get their 2012 …

Mitchell and Cotchin get their 2012 Brownlows

Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin are presented with their Brownlow Medals after more than four years in a special ceremony in Melbourne.

Dangerfield: No players, no game

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Dangerfield: No players, no game

Dangerfield: No players, no game

Players Association representative and reigning Brownlow medalist Patrick Dangerfield talks tough on the AFL’s discussions with the PA over contract talks.

Packed Princes Park watches Carlton take debut win

Four goals from Darcy Vescio helped the Blues to victory over Collingwood after a lock out at Princes Park for the first ever AFLW match.

The foot skills were not nearly as neat as I’ve seen in previous women’s games. I presume this was because the transition to an AFL competition brings with it AFL coaching and its emphasis on defensive pressure.  The game was so intensely physical to begin with it could scarcely get into motion and there were a series of ball-ups. It also meant that ball players with fine skills like Mo Hope and Steph Chiocci got little chance to show their wares.

Patrick Dangerfield brought a statesman’s gravitas to the commentary box while Daisy Pearce provided a stream of insight. I’d like to hear her view of the AFL’s stipulation that the women play with a smaller ball and 16-per-side. In women’s football, as in men’s football, it’s the opinions of the players I most want to hear.

What marked it as a game of AFL football was its tempo which was bright, upbeat and unrelenting. This Carlton team actually bore some resemblance to the great Carlton teams of the past which matched it with the toughest, then burned off their competitors with skill and flair. That was  the story of this match.

The other three games produced passages of interesting play and introduced us to more players to follow – the Bulldogs’ Kirsten McLeod and Emma Kearney, Adelaide’s majestic Erin Phillips. Yet again, the courage of the players was enough to obliterate a whole fleet of stereotypes about women.  

There was always a risk that the opening round of AFLW was going to disappoint those who took last year’s exhibition match as the marker for women’s football.  The exhibition match had the best 40-odd players in Australia. They are now spread over eight teams which meant the standard had to drop. The exhibition match was also played in a spirit which allowed the more skilful players to show their skills. The more professional game seeks to inhibit them.

But, overall, the AFLW opening round can only be described as a booming success. The standard will improve – next year’s draft, as I understand it, will be the first to have girls who have played the game continuously from Auskick to seniors. In terms of securing the game for future generations, it is very important that the AFLW succeed. The critical ingredient, I believe, is public support and the real test of that is not now but in a year or so. 

Darcy Vescio of the Blues (centre) sings the team song after the game. Photo: Getty Images/AFL Media

Once Australian sport was a case of football codes in winter, cricket in summer. Cricket, to a considerable extent, has squandered the grip it once had on the general sporting public.  There’s too much cricket now in too many forms. The sport no longer tells a coherent narrative that can be followed like the plot of a movie or a book.  The A-League stepped into the void and has prospered. But, for AFL fans like myself, the gap between the men’s AFL seasons has widened and AFLW is just right to fill the hole. Historically, Australian football is unique among the football codes in the degree to which women have always been part of it. The enthusiasm of the AFLW players has been a joy to behold, as has been the excitement generated in the crowds. What is now critical is that this wave of public enthusiasm be ridden skilfully and well. 

Clearly, moving the Carlton v Collingwood game to Carlton’s old home ground was a masterstroke. There was a sense of the game coming home to its natural habitat. The next two teams I would admit to the AFLW are West Coast and Port Adelaide.  Right now, a women’s Derby in Perth or a women’s Showdown in Adelaide would play to near full houses. 

The AFL men’s competition has made itself vulnerable by going to places where it’s not strong and seeking to impose itself. The AFLW should go where the game is strong and let the women do the rest.

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