#also also jon during the split: if this is just about ryan can i go?

[prettyoddfever]

re: the Fever-era stage gay routines

I'm integrating a previous post into this one so I can cover all of the pre-split years and everything in one place. Again, I'm iffy on the term "stage gay" but idk how else to describe it so here we go.

So Brendon said this quote in 2018: "For our first headline tour I would go up to Ryan our guitar player, and like kiss him on the neck or kiss him on the mouth and he would be so mad. I was like, I just want to kiss you bro."

Ignoring all history & precedent of the way that Brendon tends to exaggerate for effect and often goes for the general idea & how he feels at the moment when looking back rather than actual specific facts... he's still talking about the band's first headlining tour in April 2006. And yeah, that's the only season where I think this quote MIGHT be plausible. If the situation actually played out exactly as Brendon says, then of course that's not ok. But you still can't project that scenario onto literally every part of the Fever era or form your entire perception of a whole era (or an entire work relationship) off of one single interview quote from years later. That's going to leave you with an incredibly distorted understanding of the band's dynamics with each other & fans, Ryan's input and stage presence, and what's actually going on in the pictures you're looking at. Like people are clearly missing so much context if they're able to look at a picture of the IWSNT mic-sharing from summer 2006 and think that it was one-sided sexual harassment (or some kind of actual Ryden thing).

THE EARLY MONTHS

So the guys weren’t super close onstage in late 2005… they were mostly trying to figure out how to even be onstage lol. They watched the bands they were touring with and learned as they went. You could almost see little pieces of each band’s influence show up for a while. Brendon totally modeled himself after Jason Vena in early fall 2005, and then he had clearly been watching William Beckett closely in early 2006 (that influence carried on throughout the year). It was also interesting to watch Brendon navigate what he thought fans wanted or expected when he was an 18-year-old boy thrown into an international spotlight with girls (and boys) screaming “f— me!” at him (one example). It really looked like he learned to play into a role (this is included). And I mean that in terms of being a popular frontman. That’s not even taking into consideration the actual way that Brendon needed to adopt a persona onstage throughout the whole Fever era. Look at the type of songs he had to sing. Both Brendon & Ryan talked a lot in 2005-2006 about how Brendon needed to get into a character onstage to deliver the risque lyrics.

The types of halfhearted moves that Brendon started to make on Ryan by the end of the Truckstops & Statelines tour looked like he was just following the example of bands he’d been watching on tour. Brendon started making bigger moves on Ryan in April once P!ATD had to step up their game for their first headlining tour (which happened 8 months after they played their first show ever). That UK tour had some shows that were bigger than the first half of the summer tour in North America. There were times in 2006 when I felt like P!ATD was more of a UK band than American partially because of how intense the frenzy was over there.

Brendon was still testing different stage personas and figuring things out during this season, and the band still felt like 4 separate guys trying to find their footing. They were talented & good, but there was absolutely a huge shift in the band itself once Jon arrived in May. They finally felt like a strong united group. They went back to their practice space for a while in May to figure out the details of what they wanted their band to be like onstage, rehearse with their two new touring musicians + Lucent Dossier, and re-learn updated versions of their songs. The last half of the Fever era was polished and very intentional... they felt like a different band by June in many ways.

THE SUMMER TOUR

I thought this seemed like the picture that really got the Ryden craze going in summer 2006 (before fans had totally decided on the “Ryden” name – some were saying “Bryan”). It was taken a few days into the summer tour:

There were a ton of new fans arriving during the summer tour, so that picture formed some first impressions. By this summer many fans would basically only ask people to describe the moments when Ryan & Brendon came near each other at a show and every look they shared. People who went to shows would mention how at different points they saw one of the four guys suppress a laugh when the crowd would positively scream if Brendon & Ryan came within two feet of each other.

The Panic guys were well aware of what their fans wanted and what was being said online (for better or worse). Yes, they got annoyed during the last half of the year when fans took things too far or were focused more on Ryden stuff than the music, but it seemed like they also wanted to have fun with a fanbase that they were being increasingly distanced from as they became more & more famous. There were quite a few stories of Brendon and Ryan playing up the Ryden angle at meet & greets throughout the last half of 2006 to make fans laugh or freak out (and Ryan initiated some of that, so it wasn’t purely Brendon). There's more in this post.

The point is that the shows in this tour were very intentional and felt more like watching a theater show than the type of band who interacted with their audience (which was a huge fan complaint this season tbh). Ryan was more confident & comfortable onstage with his new makeup, was actively engaging in mic sharing and playing into what the crowds obviously wanted to see, and seemed like he was largely in control of how the shows would go even if he still sometimes shied away from attention in general onstage.

Ryan & Brendon did continue some of their antics at random international shows in August & October, but it kind of seemed to depend on the audience. Those shows were also a different vibe from the national tours.

NOTHING RHYMES WITH CIRCUS

This season was on a whole other level, so here's a separate post that goes into important detail!!

^^^ seriously, please read.

The creepy leering character that Brendon was playing during the NRWC tour is obviously not his actual personality, nor his typical onstage character for the whole Fever era (although I did see hints of it return during the 2008 Halloween show when Brendon was in his vampire costume lol).

AFTER THE FEVER ERA

The band played a handful of regular shows in 2007 like any other band. They wore jeans and dropped the stage gay & makeup because those elements were part of the Fever-era shows and that era was done now.

Ryan did try to instigate parts of their former routine at the first show in 2007 before the band had found their new direction, though.

Brendon kissed Ryan on the cheek at Bamboozle 2007 when wishing him a happy birthday.

The Pretty. Odd. era was completely different on so many levels. Ryan & Jon largely ran those shows and the new music didn’t require a dramatic frontman in an entertainer/narrator role anymore. Ryan was WAY more confident onstage and would often stroll over to mess with Brendon or share his mic. Ryan was the one who often instigated any interaction. Jon even slapped Brendon’s butt at some shows. A lot of fans would claim that Ryan kissed Brendon’s cheek, but in hindsight I think it’s more likely that he was whispering to Brendon and knew that fans would get overly excited. Also, the moment where Brendon kissed Ryan’s cheek before Mad as Rabbits at Glastonbury was definitely not the norm.

ABOUT THE ROUTINE "RYDEN" MOMENTS IN 2008 (not on the same level as 2006, but still pandering to what fans wanted).

COMMON FEVER ERA MOMENTS

a few examples...

MISC. THOUGHTS

The point of this post is to show that the endless pictures that some people might share of "Ryden" moments or "Brendon sexually harassing Ryan" are often like the same points of the same songs on different nights, or just taken out of context of the actual Fever era. To be clear, I’m not attempting to excuse/explain every single thing Brendon ever did in this post, or attempting to speak for Ryan... idk what he was comfortable with or everything that went down between them.

However, I do think that people who assume Brendon forced Ryan into anything (in any aspect of the band) don’t understand their work relationship or the pre-split band’s dynamics & who had the power. That band was waaaay different than the one that Brendon had in later years. Back then he wasn’t really in a position to pressure Ryan into anything creatively-speaking (more info here). Ryan was shy in interviews, but he was in no way a pushover within the band… and to assume something like that kind of discredits his massive contributions. With the amount of control that Ryan had, I just really don’t think he would have let something so prominent get worked into the shows if he wasn’t ok with it in the first place (let alone instigate it himself sometimes).

Ryan talked a lot in the pre-split years about how he really wanted to challenge fans, push boundaries, do something different, shake things up, and keep experimenting instead of settling into a rut of what was comfortable/familiar. In a Danish interview in October 2006 he said "we do not want to be a safe band, neither with our songs nor our shows."

I thought the stage gay element seemed to loosely fit into those goals & ideas. But at the same time, I don't think it was ever that defined. It felt like it was just a random fun thing & wasn't that deep. Spin asked Ryan if he and Brendon were toying with the idea of bisexuality, which was a bit annoying because their antics obviously weren't that legit or a Serious Statement. I liked Ryan's answer:

[youngveinsworld]

quotes from a fan's recap of the young veins' show in atlanta, georgia on 24 march 2010

we had a lot of trouble focusing on the other bands playing because Ryan and Jon decided to watch part of the other bands’ sets sidestageish, which resulted in a bunch of rabid fangirls giving us the play by play of everything that they were doing. “Omg, he touched his hair, OH MY GOD, HE TUCKED IT BEHIND HIS EAR.”

Jon caught me taking a creeper picture of him while he was leaned down setting up his stuff. I was only mildly appalled at the fact that I got caught, but he just smiled and held it for my camera:

they had a really great set. The banter between the guys was really funny and entertaining, even though both Nicks and Andy didn’t really say much during the set.

I can’t remember which song they did this before, it may have been Capetown, but I could be wrong: Ryan: We have a new album coming out called Take a Vacation. You can tell them more about it, Jon, while I fix my guitar. Jon: We have a new album coming out called Take a Vacation. It’s coming out June 8th; there are eleven songs on it. We made it awhile ago. Ryan: Well, that's really boring, not exciting at all. Jon: I'm just reading it off the Wikipedia page, we have it pulled up back there.

Jon sang lead on two songs, before he sang lead on the second Ryan intro’d him as singing lead vocals. It went something like this: Ryan: Jon’s going to sing lead on this next one. Crowd: -semi silent- Jon: WHOOOOOOO GO JON!

I am now prepared to eat my words about Ryan Ross’ voice. His live vocals are really good. I actually prefer him live to any of the recorded songs that I’ve heard so far. I was pleasantly surprised that my ears did in fact NOT bleed at any point during their set. I found myself really enjoying his voice. I also loved the harmonies that they had going during Defiance.

We ran into Jon at the merch table and got to talk to him for a bit about Panic, the new album, and a bunch of other shit that I can’t remember. It was all a fucking blur, honestly. I actually feel a bit sad that I told him that I wasn’t expecting much out of them when I first got to the venue. His face looked a bit like this :( after I said that, but I followed up by telling him how completely blown away I was by their set and the new music, his face proceeded to change into this :D

We also talked about the split with Panic. Me: Panic was really my favorite band, I was really upset after you guys split, but I think that after hearing you guys play live, I’m glad the band split because now we’re going to have two incredible bands instead of just one. Jon: Yeah, I’m sad that it happened. I really loved playing with those guys and we made some really great music together. But you know, it just had to happen. Me: I actually think I may like Take a Vacation more than what you guys did while you were in Panic. Jon: -high five- That’s so great! I’m glad that you like the new stuff that we’re doing.

We talked for a few more minutes about random shit then we decided to go ahead and head out. My friend asked for a hug which he was totally into, he was a hugging machine that night. I’m not really into the whole, hugging band members thing, so I was ready to leave then Jon was like \o/ (that’s suppose to be open arms) at me, so who am I to refuse a hug from Jon Walker? No one that’s who!

After seeing the live show, I’m actually really glad that the band split. Ryan and Jon both seemed extremely happy. I wish that those of you who are still bitter about the split could have been at the show and had the chance to see the sheer joy they had on their faces while they played. All the guys are extremely humble and grateful. Jon was incredibly easy to talk to and he seemed a lot more at ease in that setting than at both of the Panic meet and greets I’ve had. Nick Murray and Jon actually thanked us 94582085 times for coming to show.

– original Livejournal post – Nicole's Flickr account

[starboy14176]

hey do you wanna yell at me about panic! at the disco

Hiiii rocket

Ryan and spencer started panic! When they were 14 and going to catholic school together. They then brought on brendon and Brent later so they could be a “real band”

Brendon was brought on to play guitar but they realize he’s actually got an amazing voice so brendon becomes the singer but Ryan keeps writing the lyrics. Ok so. Ryan and brendon r like,,really close, we’ll say. (I’m not saying they’re dating u thought that on ur own)

Ryan is writing a lot of love songs,,that,,you can come to ur own conclusions about them ig but I KNOW WHAT I THINK. Ok so panic splits up in 2009 because of “creative differences”

RYAN AND JON DONT FUCKIBG KNOW PANIC IS STILL TOGETHER UNTIL THEY HEAR PANIC IS GOING ON TOUR

Brendon takes the demo they have for the song nearly witches and makes it STRAIGHT and then PUTS IT ON HIS STUPID NEW ALBUM. RYAN WROTE THAT SONG. AUGYJCFBHF

and then brendon hires a person to stage gay with him during SONGS RYAN WROTE. And also. I’m not here to tell u dallon was in love with brendon but yeah I am. And brendon says ablest shit about dallon like. A lot ok. And he talks shit about him constantly. And dallon is just. Sooooo fuckibg obsessed with him and talks about how great of friends they are and I’m like. DALLON. DALLON NO. Ok

I’m throwing up and dying.

[ry708]

(pre-split) p!atd as ghost quartet

brendon: dave

ryan: brittain

jon: brent

spencer: gelsey

[crashingmanicwave]

hey so u know a lot about Ryden, right?? im v v new to the panic! fandom so it would be lovely if u gave me a quick run down on what the fuck happened. you dont have to, im just confused and curious

Of course, anon! I’m flattered that you seem to think I know a lot! Really, I just have spent far too much time delving deep into bandom history and reading many, many fanfics.

But anyway! This ended up being more of a mini-essay, though I tried to skim over too many complicated details to make it more palatable for reading.  I combed through the tag in my blog and other sources to provide relevant links :)

Now, let’s get down to it.

I’m not sure how much you do know or don’t know, but as with anything, it’s best to start at the beginning.

A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (2005)

Panic! of the Disco was signed by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy in 2004 with members Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brendon Urie, and Brent Wilson. They were signed literally right out of highschool - one of the agreements was that they had to graduate first!  Ryan Ross wrote the entirety of their first album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, released in 2005 to massive popularity.

(And when I say they were children, I really mean children.)

Brent Wilson ended up getting replaced as bassist by Jon Walker, who’d been playing with The Academy Is up until that point.  And the rest is history, boom, bam, the boys are together!

Now, this time period is what we all refer to as ‘Fever era’ and we were blessed with SO much.

Aesthetically it was just an awesome era! Ryan Ross and his makeup! The dancers! THE STAGE GAY.

One of the most important pieces of ryden lore during this era was Myrtle Beach.

Some of my favorite Fever era ryden content: 

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥   ♥  ♥  ♥  

(I want you to know that I really had to restrain myself with how many links I put here.)

–

** Now, there’s an era technically in between AFYCSO and PO which we refer to as the ‘cabin era’ during which the boys locked themselves up in a cabin for months and wrote the now scrapped album Cricket & Clover. Most of this album is impossible to find, but here’s a song performed live from it to give you a taste as to what it might have sounded like. **

Pretty. Odd. (2008)

After the scrapped album came Pretty. Odd.!  It’s basically their Beatles album; has a very similar sound and aesthetic to 60′s rock.

We got many, many gems from this era, and MANY important pieces of lore.

Now, this next topic is deserving of its own subcategory purely because of how vital it is to we ryden conspiracy theorists with our tinfoil hats:

-

Northern Downpour

This song is absolutely VITAL to ryden lore.  Vital. 

It’s popularly believed that the lyrics were written by Ryan Ross after the infamous Seattle incident, a staple of ryden lore (and my personal favorite).

Shortly after the split, Brendon had difficulty performing this song on stage and would frequently get too choked up to sing, having to stop and apologize to the audience.

Hey moon, please forget to fall down is one of the most popular lyrics from it, and has been interpreted to mean both ‘please don’t let this night end’ and also delving into the sun & moon symbolic dichotomy widely accepted by most ryden theorists. (Ryan is the moon ☾, Brendon is the sun. ☼)

-

(Cape Town is another popular piece of ryden lore from this time, with The Young Veins even having a song titled as such.  Cape Town being the location of their final performance before the split makes this compelling.)

Some of my favorite Pretty Odd era ryden content:

♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥

–

The Split (2009)

Not much of an era, but it marked a lot of change for the band as a whole.  Jon Walker and Ryan Ross left the band due to creative differences, claiming they wanted to continue on with the 60′s rock sound of Pretty Odd whereas Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith did not.

However, based on numerous accounts what we do know is that the split didn’t happen solely because of creative differences.  Tensions were high between everyone, and everyone was fighting and not getting along.

This is more than likely what led to the eventual split and parting of ways.

–

The Young Veins (2010) / Vices & Virtues (2011)

Ryan Ross and Jon Walker formed The Young Veins, releasing Take A Vacation! in 2010.  Unfortunately, the album was something of a failure and the Young Veins went on a seemingly permanent hiatus not very long after.

Panic! at the Disco, at this point consisting only of Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith, released their official third studio album, Vices & Virtues.  

During this era, frontman Brendon Urie was known to have been going through a deeply depressive slump, his state of mind reflected in the bonus tracks on this album.  In interviews he stated that the split left him depressed and upset.

As far as we know, Ryan and Brendon still spoke to one another at this point, at least through Twitter interactions.

–

Ryan Ross & The Catfishing Incident (2013)

This is something of a low point on this timeline.  To give you the quick and dirty version, an obsessive Brendon fan obtained Ryan’s phone number and texted him while pretending to be Brendon.

It worked. Ryan believed her.

They spoke for a while, the catfisher uploading screenshots of their messages. 

Ryan was interested in rekindling his friendship with Brendon.

However, as most things don’t stay secret forever, it came out that the person Ryan was texting was not, in fact, his former best friend and was completely horrified.

As such, the next time he and Brendon saw one another, with Brendon interested in rekindling their relationship - Ryan ended up never responding.

–

Present Day

At this point, as far as we know, Ryan and Brendon don’t speak to one another.  We could write until the cows come home about how they’ve vagued one another in each of their respective song lyrics.  There’s a lot of mystery as to the true reason of the band’s split, and why no one seems to speak to one another.  Why there’s still lingering bad blood.

What we ryden conpiracy theorists believe is this -

Essentially, a relationship was had at one point between Ryan and Brendon.  How deep this relationship went or how far it went is the part up for contention.  I personally believe that it was a short-lived but passionate affair - since Ryan had a girlfriend during most of his career with Panic!.

But you can take a look at the evidence for yourself, decide what you believe!

[pathetic-at-the-disco]

The Heartbreaking End of Panic! at the Disco‘s 2006 Summer Tour (Masterpost)

In summer of 2006, Panic! at the Disco was on top of the world. Their debut album was an unexpected hit, despite initially being hated by music critics, and their avant-garde tour circuit across America established them as both an artistic and financial success. Even better, they had racked up an impressive four nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards.

The last performance of their tour was scheduled to be on the first day of the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, IL, on Friday, August 4, 2006: the perfect, triumphant end to the perfect tour.

Unfortunately, fate had another plan.

Ryan Ross’s father, George Hammond Ross Jr., was an alcoholic who had been in and out of the hospital for some time. He and his son had a notoriously difficult and strained relationship, mostly due to problems associated with alcoholism, and Ryan had written two songs about it: “Camisado” and “Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks”.

An article from Kerrang in 2006 interviewed Ryan about his family troubles:

Ross, meanwhile, found growing up a more tricky prospect. As fragile as a porcelain doll - as if a strong gust of wind or the wrong words would crush him to dust - he writes the clever lyrics that frontman Brendon Urie sings. He was outgoing as a small child, but somewhere along the line he became cripplingly shy. Keen to give his son a good start in life, his father, an ex-marine, worked to send him to a private Catholic school - although Ross is an atheist - hoping to provide the education he never got. Ross found he had little in common with his wealthy classmates.

Meanwhile, his home life was falling apart. His parents split up when he was young; he hardly ever speaks to his mother and rarely sees his two half-brothers. Which meant he was left alone to deal with his father’s growing problem with alcohol - as beautifully portrayed in the song ‘Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks.’ Ross’ fights with his father were exacerbated by Ross’ decision to concentrate on the band rather than going to college.

“He was pretty much dead set on me going to college and I got a scholarship,” he says quietly. “He thought I was stupid for throwing that away. His problems with alcohol magnified and skewed things even further. I was not staying at home for weeks at a time. I was staying with my girlfriend, staying with the other guys in the band. There were times when I almost had to sleep at our rehearsal space, ‘cause I didn’t have anywhere to go. Obviously I loved him and I cared about him, but when you’re getting kind of abused by that person, at the same time it’s really hard to try to help them.”

At the end of July 2006, during a televised interview in Vancouver, Ryan received news that his father was in the hospital again and that it wasn’t looking good. Understandably, this made him check his phone repeatedly and have a barely-repressed anxiety attack, which resulted in the interviewer actually taking away his cell phone and teasing him about it on-air.

This is horrifyingly immortalized in the fandom (albeit out-of-context) because Brendon showed support for his grieving friend with a comforting hand squeeze. (Jon also flips off the interviewer behind his back.)

George Ross Jr. passed away on July 28, 2006, with memorial services scheduled for August 3.

Ryan heard about his father’s passing while on the band’s tour bus, which he discussed a few months later in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine:

Last July, [Ryan’s] father died in his sleep at the age of sixty. Panic were en route from Vancouver to Seattle on their bus when Ross heard the news. “I could almost feel that it was going to happen, because of the way he would treat himself,” he says. “I got a phone call, and I knew right away what the police officer was going to tell me. I just knew.”

Ryan also talked about his father’s funeral in the same Rolling Stone interview:

“The day of his funeral, it was raining and... it was strange to be raining that time of year. After the service, I went back and put my hand on the casket and kind of said goodbye. Right then, it stopped raining. The clouds blew away, and the sun came out, and it got warm. I spoke at the funeral and said that I think the one thing my dad cared about since I was born was that he wanted to raise me. I think he felt like he was done with that and had nothing else to do, so he just let go and stopped living. It’s almost like it’s better this way because it’s what he wanted. I miss him, but I feel like everything’s all right now. It was sad, but I got back out on tour and only missed three shows.”

The next day was the Lollapalooza show, and Ryan was determined to play it despite the circumstances.

The results are, as you could imagine, horribly sad in context. Ryan and Brendon’s vocals are both strained for the duration of the show, and the entire band looks on the brink of tears for most of their time onstage. “Camisado” and “Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks” are particularly gut-wrenching.

The performance was also besieged with logistical errors, including microphone trouble, poor stage management, and a sound delay that gets progressively worse over the course of the show. The boys tried their hardest anyway, but the performance is not one of their best. Making matters even stranger, portions of the concert are lost forever.

Noticeably, Ryan also chose to do his hair and makeup in a way that covers most of his face. He has admitted to using his elaborate makeup designs as a mask and confidence-booster, so it is unsurprising that he did one of his most intricate looks on such an emotionally difficult day.

You may recognize this look, in fact, from a popular gif taken from the tail end of their performance of “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off.”

The next time you see this floating around the fandom, remember the context.

~Mods C, M, and B

[on-cliffhanger-universe]

Body heat is the best way to stay warm [MF]

A group of friends and I decided to rent a cabin one weekend in the mountains close to a ski resort. There was my friend, Mike and his girlfriend Ashley. Another friend, Ryan and his girlfriend Melissa, and another friend Jon and his girlfriend Katie. I had met all the girlfriends at some point and was close to all the guys. I didn't mind being the 7th wheel and I just wanted to go snowboarding and hang out with my friends.

Mike and I went to the same college so I rode with him and Ashley, arriving at our cabin late Friday night while the others rode together and arrived a little after we did. That's when I met Erin, Melissa's cousin that wanted to try snowboarding for the first time. We were all 21 or 22 at the time. Erin looked like her cousin with long brown hair, about 5'8, physically fit with a nice butt and B cups, nice long legs, and a pretty face.

The cabin had 3 bedrooms and the couch was a pull out. I expected to sleep on the couch but one of the rooms had bunk beds and one of the couples wanted to sleep in the same bed so that left me and Erin to the room with the bunk beds.

Once all of us were at the cabin we cooked some food, drank and hung out. I talked a bit with Erin and got to know her a bit. Eventually ball the couples started to get ready for bed and turn in. Since the living room was going to be occupied, Erin and I also went to our room. We didn't split the bed yet but I asked if she had a preference on top or bottom. "I like to be on top"

We both turned in and laid down in our beds but continued to chit chat a bit. The heater sucked cause it was pretty chilly in our room and we both felt it. "I'm freezing, do you want to cuddle" normally Im not a cuddler and it was a twin mattress but I was cold and definitely didn't mind a chance to hold her. I said yes and she climb down and joined me on the bed. I was already on my side so she became the little spoon and I was the big spoon. We weren't that close but I put my hand around her over the cover and we started to doze off.

During the night we got closer and I'd wake up every once and a while from me or her moving. We slept pretty well, all things considered. But in the morning, doesn't matter, morning wood.

I backed away from her so she wouldn't feel me but she kept backing into me on purpose and pulled my arm under the blanket and on her chest and pushing back on my cock. I took the hint and started to fondle her breast as she kept grinding on my cock. I moved my hand down and slide them in her bottoms and under her panties, playing with her pussy. She started to push back into me even harder.

She began to pull her bottoms down. I took that opportunity to do the same. Our bare skin touching eachother and my cock firmly pressed against her ass. She continued to move her hips back and forth and I placed my cock between her legs and next to her pussy. I was basically fucking her thighs for a minute before she adjusted herself, grabbed my dick and slide me into her.

We began to fuck eachother while still spooning. I had my hand still playing with her nipples as we kept fucking. I moved my hand down between her legs to run her clit as I kept fucking her from behind. Her soft whimpers began to increase and get louder and louder which only made me fuck her faster and harder with every thrust.

I had to cover her mouth as she began to cum. I didn't stop though and her orgasm sent me over the top as I warned her I was going to cum. She quickly got off the bed and started to suck my dick and stroke me with her hand. I can shortly after and shot cum that hit the top bunk and over the bed and our clothes. We caught our breath a bit and just stayed in bed a lil while longer.

We cleaned up a bit and started our morning once we started to hear people moving about.

Rest of the day to follow.

submitted by /u/Azn_man_whore [link] [comments] from Gonewild Stories https://ift.tt/3GSIqH1

[prettyoddfever]

SHANE DRAKE VS SHANE VALDEZ

...because they’re not the same person.

The guy in the first picture is Shane Drake (he’s usually not the Shane I’m mentioning in random posts). Shane Drake directed Panic! at the Disco videos like IWSNT, But It’s Better If You Do, and Nine in the Afternoon. That Shane seemed to be a thoroughly decent person who worked really well with the band and pushed their creative vision even further. So he’s great, but I don’t really know/care much about him outside of the music videos.

Shane Valdez is a totally different guy (he also spelled his last name Valdes). Sometimes he went by his middle name (Ryan) because his dad was also named Shane. I wrote another post about him a while ago, but it got long-winded and like half of that was stuff that I heard about from friends after I stopped following P!ATD. So I’m just going to summarize what the fandom knew in 2006-2009 and leave the rest alone. I mostly just care about emphasizing that he was a visible part of the band’s main group in 2008 and his presence was significant.

So Shane was Brendon’s best friend, roommate, & dog co-parent, and was closely involved with the band by 2008. He met the guys while they were getting ready for the summer 2006 tour... Shane filmed some of the b-roll footage on the Live in Denver dvd. Shane was at the cabin with the band in early 2007 and then Brendon told a crowd in late June that he was moving out of his parent’s house soon (he moved in with Shane). They had 3 dogs but I think they only shared Dylan (who was named after the character on Beverly Hills 90210... not Jon’s cat). All four guys in the band seemed to consider Shane a good friend by 2008. Ryan got along with him really well (and still joked around with him on twitter even after the band split). Brendon kept bringing up Shane in interviews during the early part of the Pretty. Odd. era... the two were clearly very close. By that summer some fans were disappointed with the lack of Ryden moments that year and had started shipping Shyden instead lol. I just want to be clear that Shane was a really big part of Brendon’s life and even spent some holidays with Brendon’s family judging by the pictures we saw. He wasn’t some casual friend (so the fact that he betrayed Brendon’s trust later on is seriously messed up). Some Panic fans became intense fans of Shane in 2008, but I just appreciated that he obviously made Brendon very happy and that Brendon hopefully had some support in 2007-2008 when the underlying tension within the band increased.

Shane took a lot of pictures of the band and filmed stuff like this music video, the Mad as Rabbits video that was an iTunes preorder bonus for the second album, the documentary for The Making of Pretty. Odd., the documentary for Live in Chicago, the Honda Civic Tour updates, and a short video for Eric Ronick that was filmed at the cabin. Shane tagged along during the Honda Civic Tour and was at some shows in Europe in summer 2008 too (the polaroids he took were from that spring & summer). He must have a ton of footage that was never used judging by how he seemed to be everywhere with his camera. 

Here’s a tag for some pictures with Shane. You can spot him in the background of some videos from the early Pretty. Odd. era too (he usually had his gray hat on). I heard that Shane later stole a lot of money from Brendon and turned out to be a not-so-awesome person, but in 2008 he seemed like one of the healthiest relationships that Brendon had... so I liked him for that. It’s super weird to look back and try to remember that Shane’s not that great. I think I’m still going to post some pictures of him just because I’m documenting 2008 as I remember it, but please don’t think that means I support him or anything.

[hhsaryrud]

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[tabloidtoc]

National Enquirer, October 5

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Cops in the Crosshairs

Page 2: Fears for the health of Ryan Seacrest as Keeping Up with the Kardashians which is his cash cow is being put out to pasture -- Ryan is pulling his hair out about the potential loss of revenue and racking his brain trying to come up with something that can replace it 

Page 3: Ellen DeGeneres is in a panic fearing she may lose her daytime TV show and wife Portia de Rossi in the wake of the scandal that’s tarnished her once pristine reputation as the Queen of Nice -- Ellen is in the deepest funk of her life as most of her high-powered Hollywood pals have been ghosting her and she is convinced there may be no coming back from this -- what’s more Ellen is concerned additional bad news may drive away her wife Portia 

Page 4: Kelly Clarkson has vowed to remain silent about the nightmare behind her divorce from Brandon Blackstock to protect her kids -- Kelly is known for oversharing but she’s keeping her lips zipped about Brandon because she never wants her children to know how bad things really were with their dad 

Page 5: Cardi B’s divorce filing from Offset described her marriage as irretrievably broken -- Cardi accused Offset of cheating in 2018 five months after the birth of their daughter Kulture and Offset seemed to own up to his infidelities on Instagram -- following the massive success of WAP Cardi finally listened to pals who have been telling her to toss the cheater but she wants the break to be amicable and will accept a joint custody arrangement for Kulture 

Page 6: Kanye West is crowing he personally engineered the downfall of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and that he’s the one calling the shots in his marriage to Kim Kardashian from now on -- Kanye hated the show and his constant negativity wore Kim down and killed it for her too and without her it couldn’t possibly go on -- Kanye believes Kim’s appearance on the show was at the heart of all their problems and now that she’s out of there he’s got every hope they can fix things 

Page 7: Endless renovations at their Los Angeles mansion have left George and Amal Clooney at each other’s throats and the feuding twosome are on the brink of a $500 million divorce -- the construction work which has soared over budget to more than $1 million has confined them to close quarters with their twins Ella and Alexander and they’re constantly bumping heads, love-hungry Katie Holmes is heading for a showdown with new boyfriend Emilio Vitolo Jr.’s scorned ex Rachel Emmons who was blindsided by Emilio and now she’s demanding answers from both him and Katie -- Katie knew Emilio was engaged to the designer but launched a steamy fling with him anyway and Rachel is not finished with Emilio or Katie by a long shot 

Page 8: Hollywood Hookups -- Ray J and Princess Love split again, Kaia Gerber and Jacob Elordi dating, Cassie Randolph gets a restraining order from Colton Underwood 

Page 9: Queen Elizabeth snubbed Tom Cruise’s request for a private chat and it’s got the snobby superstar’s nose out of joint -- the Scientology poster boy got the bright idea to drop in on the British royal while filming the latest Mission: Impossible movies using London as a base because he is a huge royal fan but so far no one from the palace has responded and Tom’s ego is hurt because almost no one refuses the opportunity to meet with Tom and no isn’t a word he’s used to hearing and being ignored happens even less -- Her majesty would barely know who Tom Cruise is and he’d be just another American pipsqueak to her and Hollywood is not exactly her favorite place at the moment 

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Kristen Taekman of The Real Housewives of New York City in California, Riley Keough at the beach in Malibu, Frances McDormand offered the Vulcan salute before the L.A. screening of her film Nomadland, Jennifer Lopez at a lunch date in NYC, Bruce Willis out and about in Brentwood 

Page 11: A skin cancer scare has friends of sun-worshipping Caitlyn Jenner worried she’s playing Russian roulette with her health -- Caitlyn recently revealed a doctor took all the skin off her nose and reattached it to patch up a skin cancer scar -- she’s been treated for skin cancers on her cheek and nose but she’s a self-confessed tanning freak and can often be seen playing golf under the blazing California sun, Sofia Richie is getting revenge on ex Scott Disick by flirting up a storm with Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith and a string of other studs -- her phone was ringing off the hook with hot guys wanting a date and now that Sofia’s finally got Scott out of her hair she plans to show him what he’s missing

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- Gavin Rossdale plays tennis (picture), Kelly Ripa is fuming over Drew Barrymore’s new talk show and it’s been made clear to A-listers if they appear on Drew’s show they will not be welcomed back to talk with Kelly and Ryan Seacrest any time soon and the competition between talk shows to book big-name celebrity guests has never been more intense, there’s a new stud in town at ABC and it’s got World News Tonight anchor David Muir’s knickers in a twist because weekend anchor Tom Llamas is horning in on David’s spotlight, Britney Spears and her little sister Jamie Lynn Spears are looking for a home together because Jamie Lynn has accepted that she’ll need to help look after Britney for the rest of her life and Britney can afford to buy a house with separate wings so they’ll each have their privacy but Jamie Lynn can keep an eye on Britney 

Page 13: In the latest sex scandal to hit the Fox News network senior legal analyst and former New Jersey judge Andrew Napolitano is battling back against allegations he sexually abused a New Jersey man in the 1980s, frail Ryan O’Neal reconciled with daughter Tatum O’Neal after 17 years but he’s a long way off from doing the same with son Redmond O’Neal -- ailing Ryan has distanced himself from his only child with the late Farrah Fawcett since Redmond was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a knife and battery in 2018 -- Ryan sees Redmond’s troubles and demons as his alone to conquer and may even cut Redmond out of his will 

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Reality show train-wrecks Kate and Jon Gosselin have renewed their toxic battle as the bickering exes engage in an ugly war of words over child abuse charges 

Page 16: Goodfellas movie gangster Ray Liotta has taken his whirlwind romance with brunette stunner Jacy Nittolo to the next level by tying the knot -- his new bride’s father was a real-life killer Stewart Woodman who was found guilty in 1990 of the execution-style slaying of his parents, Zac Efron’s summer lovin’ with an Aussie waitress seems to have already hit a sour note -- Zac has been living the high life Down Under with Vanessa Valladares since he hit up her boss for her number two months ago but by early September the pair were caught on camera in an outdoor cafe reportedly locked in a heated argument about their future -- this has been a fun fling for Zac but the reality is he has to head back to the U.S. and attend to his career while Vanessa is just a kid and her whole life is in Australia 

Page 17: Denise Richards is ditching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in a desperate bid to save her marriage -- the endless rehash of former co-star Brandi Glanville’s allegations they shared a same-sex fling despite Denise’s denials has pushed her relationship with alt-medicine guru Aaron Phypers onto life support 

Page 18: American Life -- I was trapped in wildfire hell 

Page 19: Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood plan to tell their story in a no-holds-barred documentary -- the country duo hopes to mimic the success of Walk the Line which was a biopic about Johnny Cash and June Carter’s fiery romance and they’ve been talking to producers and writers -- they’ll also discuss their weight battles and food binges and how they got back in shape with clips of Garth working out and Trisha whipping up some of her healthier meals 

Page 20: America’s colleges infested by spies -- enemy nations using top schools to steal vital secrets and recruit moles 

Page 22: They Stayed After Partners Strayed -- cheating scandals that couldn’t tear star couples apart -- Jay-Z and Beyonce, David Letterman and Regina Lasko, Woody Harrelson and Laura Louie 

Page 23: Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish 

Page 26: Jaime King is locked in a vicious war with estranged husband Kyle Newman who has accused her of being a chronic drug addict and alcoholic and cleaning out their bank accounts -- Kyle also claims Jaime was abusing drugs during her two pregnancies and that their son Leo was born addicted to opiates -- Kyle said he makes $750 a month now as a writer and claimed he had to give up his directing career to look after their family and after their unsuccessful settlement talks in June he claimed Jaime went to Canada to film her show Black Summer leaving the boys with him for four months without support or any funds 

Page 27: Hoops phenom Maya Moore recently revealed she married Jonathan Irons the man she put her high-flying sports career on hold for as she helped free him from prison following his wrongful conviction more than 20 years ago -- Maya considered one of the greatest WNBA players ever ditched the league in 2019 to focus on social justice issues and secure Jonathan’s release -- Jonathan now 40 was only 16 when he was slapped with a 50-year sentence for burglary and assault in Missouri 

Page 28: Cover Story -- Cops in the crosshairs

Page 32: Acting legend Diana Rigg’s dying regret was that she never took advantage of the steamy chemistry she shared with Avengers co-star Patrick Macnee -- their sexual tension drove the series and young Diana always wanted to make it a reality but Patrick was married to Katherine Woodville at the time 

Page 34: Health Watch 

Page 36: Film femme fatale Sharon Stone is 62 but griped that folks are still angling to get an eyeful of her rack -- she compared her situation to Marilyn Monroe’s where she did movies that mattered but she still couldn’t get completely out of being that thing, Duane “Dog” Chapman claimed his late wife Beth haunted him after he found new love with fiancee Francie Frane 

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Robert Pattinson 

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Laurence Leboeuf and Kenny Wong on Transplant 

Page 47: Odd List 

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 9/11/20 – I AM WOMAN, BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY, RENT-A-PAL, UNPREGNANT AND MORE!

Thankfully, we’re getting a slower week this week after the past few weeks of absolute insanity with so many new releases. This week, we also get a nice string of movies about women that are mostly made by women directors, so hopefully these won’t get lost in the shuffle of theaters reopening.

To be perfectly honest, I went into Unjoo Moon’s I AM WOMAN (Quiver Distribution) – this week’s “Featured Flick” -- thinking it was a doc about ‘70s pop sensation Helen Reddy. Imagine my surprise to discover that it actually was a narrative film with Tilda Cobham-Hervey playing the Australian singer who moved to New York in 1966 after winning a contest, expecting a record deal but only winding up with disappointment.  Once there, she’d meet journalist Lilian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald, being able to use her real Australian accent for once) and Jeff Weld (Evan Peters), the man who would become her manager and then husband. Once the couple move to L.A. with Helen’s daughter Traci (from her previous marriage), things began to pick up at the same time as Reddy starts dealing with issues in her marriage and friendship with Roxon.

Listen, I get it. To some (or maybe all) younger people, including film critics, Helen Reddy represents the cheesier side of ‘70s music. I only know her music, since I was a young kid who listened to AM Top 40 radio for much of the ‘70s, but by the end of the decade, I had already switched to metal, punk and noisier rock. As you can tell from watching I Am Woman, Reddy is a particularly interesting music personality, particularly once you realize how hard she struggled to get into the business with a husband who only feigned to support her after dragging her to L.A. for “her career.”

There were many takeaways from watching Moon’s film, but one of the bigger ones is how amazing Cobham-Hervey is at portraying a woman that few of us may have actually seen perform even on television. I’m not sure if Cobham-Hervey did any of her own singing or is lip-syncing the whole time, but it doesn’t matter because she instills so much joy into the performances, especially the two times she sings the highly-inspirational title song live.

Although there isn’t a ton of major drama in Reddy’s life, most that does exist revolves around her relationship with Wald, who is depicted by Peters as an out-of-control coke-sniffing monster. Those in Hollywood may have dealt with Wald as a movie producer or during his stint as Sylvester Stallone’s manager, and only they will know how exaggerated this performance is. Far more interesting is Helen’s friendship with Macdonald’s Roxon which would inspire her to perform the song “You and Me Against the World.”  (Seriously, if you want a good cry, throw that song on after watching I Am Woman.)

Moon does a great job with the material, whether it’s recreating New York in the ‘60s – often using music to set the tone of the period -- or by framing Reddy’s story with Phyllis Schlaffly’s fight against the ERA, as depicted in FX’s mini-series Mrs. America.  Still, it never loses track of Reddy’s journey and her role as a mother to Traci and slightly less to Wald’s son, Jordan. The movie ends with a wonderful and tearful epilogue, and I will not lie that I was tearing up more than once while watching this movie.

I Am Woman may be relatively uncomplicated, but it’s still a compelling relaying of Reddy's amazing story bolstered by an incredible knock-em-dead performance by Tilda Cobham-Hervey. It’s also one of the most female-empowering film I’ve seen since the Ruth Bader Ginsburg movie On the Basis of Sex, starring Felicity Jones.

This week’s primary theatrical release is Natalie Krinsky’s THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY (Stage 6/Sony), starring Geraldine Viswanathan as Lucy, a young woman who works at a gallery who is still obsessed with her ex-coworker/boyfriend Max. On the night of her  disastrous break-up, Lucy meets-cute Nick (Dacre Montgomery from Stranger Things), who later inspires her to rid of her hoarding issues by creating the “Broken Hearts Gallery.” This is a place where people who have broken up can bring the remnants of said relationship by donating the mementos they’ve maintained from their partners as sentimental value.

I’m a big fan of Viswanathan from her appearance in Blockers and TBS’ “Miracle Workers” series, as she’s clearly very talented as a comic actress, but I couldn’t help but go into this with more than a little cynicism, because it does follow a very well-worn rom-com formula that can be traced right back to When Harry Met Sally. Yup, another one.  Much of this movie comes across like a bigger budget version of a movie that might play Tribeca Film Festival, and I wish I could say that was a compliment because I’ve seen a lot of good movies at Tribeca. But also just as many bad ones.

The problem is that The Broken Hearts Gallery isn’t very original, and its roots are especially obvious when it starts interspersing the recently-heartbroken giving testimonials. It’s also a little pretentious, because rather than the real New York City that would be recognizable to anyone who lives there, it’s more of a Millennial woke fantasy where everyone is a 20-something LGBTQ+ of color.  Even so, the main trio of Lucy, Nick and Nick’s business partner Marcos (Arturo Castro from Broad City) do keep things fun even when things are getting predictable.

To be honest, I’ll be perfectly happy to see Viswanathan become the next Meg Ryan, because part of the reason why I warmed up to the movie is because I thought she was quite great in it. (I hate to say it but she’ll definitely need a simple name to remember to make that happen. I’d like to suggest G-Vis… as in G-Vis, she’s awesome!) There’s no question she’s the best part of the movie, but it also thrives from some of the other women cast around her, including Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo and (surprise, surprise!) Bernadette Peters. (At times, I was worried Lucy’s friends would get particularly annoying, but you’ll warm up to them as well.)

Krinsky’s movie is cute, and while it certainly gets a little overly sentimental at times, there are also moments that are quite heartfelt, so basically, it’s a tolerable addition to the rom-com genre. The fact that the characters are so likeable kept me from outright hating the movie, especially once it gets to its corny and somewhat predictable ending. Another thing I like about Broken Hearts Gallery is that at least it’s making an effort to have some sort of theatrical presence, including drive-in theaters.

Next up is Jon Stevenson’s RENT-A-PAL (IFC Midnight), a rather strange and very dark horror-comedy. It stars Brian Landis Folkins as David, a lonely 40-year-old living with his elderly mother suffering from dementia, who has been using the services of a dating service called Video Rendezvous. This is the ‘80s after all, so it involves getting VHS testimonials from various women. One day, David finds a tape labelled “Rent a Pal” and he decides to check it out. It turns out to be a video of a guy named Andy (Wil Wheaton aka Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation) who David begins having conversations with, but once David gets his chance to have a real relationship with a nice woman named Lisa (Amy Rutledge), he’s been dragged too far down the rabbit hole with Andy’s evil urgings.

This was recommended to me by my own personal rent-a-pal, Erick Weber of Awards Ace, who saw it weeks ago. I totally could understand why he would have liked it, because it’s pretty good in terms of coming up with an original idea using elements that at least us older guys can relate to (especially the living with your Mom part which I had to do a few years ago).  I wasn’t sure but I generally thought I knew where it was going, because David’s trajectory always seemed to be heading towards My Friend Dahmer or Maniac territory. What I liked about Folkins’ performance is that you generally feel for him right up until he gets to that point. I also really liked his innocent relationship with Lisa and was hoping things that wouldn’t get as dark as where they eventually end up. I also have to draw attention to Wheaton’s performance, because as one might expect if you only know him from the “Star Trek” show he did as a kid, this is a very different role for him similar to Seann Michael Scott in last year’s Bloodline.

Either way, Stevenson is a decent writer and director who really pushes the boundaries with where Andy takes his new friend, and it’s especially great for its synth-heavy soundtrack that reminds me of some of John Carpenter’s best scores, as we watch David’s inevitable descent into madness. You’ll frequently wonder where it’s going, but for me, it just got too dark, so I only really could enjoy it up to a point.

A little cheerier is UNPREGNANT (HBO Max), the new film from Rachel Lee Goldberg, who directed the recent Valley Girl remake, although this time she’s adapting a book written by Jenni Hendricks. It stars Haley Lu Richardson (from Split and Support the Girls) as 17-year-old Veronica who discovers that her dopey boyfriend Kevin has gotten her pregnant. Since women under 18 can’t get an abortion in Missouri without a parents’ consent, she goes on a road trip with her estranged childhood friend Bailey (Barbie Ferreira) to New Mexico to get the job done.

It’s more than  little weird seeing this movie come out in the same year as a much more serious version of the same movie in Elyza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometime Always. That aside, Goldberg and her cast do their best to make this something more in the vein of last year’s Book Smart, although that’s also a fairly high watermark for any movie.

Because this is a road trip comedy, it tends to follow a fairly similar path as other movies where they meet a lot of strange characters along the way, as they try to get a ride after being busted cause Bailey stole her mother’s boyfriend’s car for the trip. For instance, they meet a friendly couple who tend to be pro-lifers who want to change Veronica’s mind, and the best side character is Giancarlo Esposito as a conspiracy theorist named Bob.

I guess my biggest problem with the movie is that it just isn’t that funny and feels fairly standard, but at least it has a decent ending to make up for the predictability of the rest of the movie.

Now streaming on Netflix is Maimouna Doucouré’s French coming-of-age film Mignonnes aka CUTIES, a film that premiered at Sundance and then stirred up quite a bit of controversy last month due to its marketing campaign, but is actually not the pervy male gaze movie which it may have been sold as. It’s about an 11-year-old Sengalese girl named Amy Diop (Fathia Youssouf) who wants to join the school’s “cool girl” dance group, known as the “Cuties,” even though it goes against her family’s Muslim beliefs.  Amy learns to dance so she can be part of the dance team and take part in a dance competition, but you know that this decision will led to trouble.s

Cuties got a lot of backlash from for the trailer and Netflix’s decision to release Doucouré’s movie, which is about a young girl discovering her sexuality, although it isn’t really something lurid or gross but actually a very strong coming-of-age film. I haven’t seen the trailer, but I can only imagine what scene it focused on that got people so riled up, since there are dance scenes that felt a little creepy to me. Other than that aspect of the film, Cuties is as innocent as a Judy Blume book. I mean, how else do you expect kids to learn about real life than movies like this? (Unfortunately, the movie is TV-MA so young teens won’t be able to watch it.)

The big problem with the Cuties is that they’re actually kind of bratty and bullies, almost like a younger “Mean Girls” girl gang, so it’s very hard to like any of them. They’re also trying to act way older than they really are, and you can only imagine what dark places that might led, as you worry about Amy getting dragged down with them, just because she wants to have friends and feel popular.

Despite my issues with Cuties, Maimouna Doucouré is a fantastic filmmaker, and this is a pretty amazing debut, especially notable for how she’s able to work with the young cast but also make a movie that looks amazing. That said, Cuties is a decent coming-of-age film, although I feel like I’ve seen better versions of this movie in films like Mustang and The Fits.

Also from France comes Justine Triet’s SYBIL (Music Box Films), starring Virgine Efira (who appeared in Triet’s earlier film, In Bed with Victoria) as the title character, a jaded psychotherapist who decides to return to her passion of writing, getting her inspiration from an actress patient named Margot (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who she becomes obsessed with. I don’t have a lot to say about this movie other than it wasn’t really for me. As far as French films go, a movie really has to stand out from the usual talkie drama filled with exposition, and though I thought the performances by the two women were great, I didn’t really care for the script or the pacing on this one. After playing at last year’s Cannes, Toronto and the New York Film Festival, Sybil will be available via Virtual Cinema through Film at Lincoln Center and the Laemmle in L.A. as well as other cities. You can watch the trailer and find out how to watch it through your local arthouse at the official site.

Now seems like as good a time as any to get into some docs…

 Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés’ doc ALL-IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY (Amazon) follows Stacey Abrams through her run for Atlanta Governor in 2018, but it also deals with the laws that had been put in place to try to keep black voters from taking part in their right as Americans to be able to vote. I’m not sure what’s going on with me right now, but I generally just don’t have much interest in political docs right now, maybe because there’s so much politics on TV and in the news. I also have very little interest in Abrams or even having the racist history of the American South drilled into my head by another movie. I was born in 1965, my family didn’t even live in this country until 1960, and I’ve spent my life trying to treat everyone equally, so watching a movie like this and being preached to about how awful African-Americans have been treated in parts of the South for hundreds of years, I’m just not really sure what I’m supposed to do about it here in New York. I guess my biggest problem with All-In, which is a perfectly fine and well-made doc – as would be expected from Garbus – is that it lacks focus, and it seems to be all over the place in terms of what it’s trying to say… and I’m not even sure what it is trying to say, nor did I have the patience to find out. I thought Slay the Dragon handled the issues with gerrymandering far better, and I think I would have preferred a movie that ONLY focused on Abrams and her life and political career than trying to make a bigger statement. All-In will open at a few drive-ins (tonight!) and then will be on Amazon Prime on September 18.

I was similarly mixed on Jeff Orlwosky’s doc, THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, which debuted on Netflix this week. This one looks at the addiction people have for social media apps like Facebook and Twitter, and how the information of what people watch and click on is collected into a database that’s sold to the highest bidder. Basically, it’s your worst fears about social media come to life, but my issue with this one is that the filmmaker decided to hire actors to dramatize parts of the movie, showing one family dealing with social media and phone addiction, which seemed like an odd but probably necessary decision other than the fact that the topic is so nerdy and so over my head that maybe it was necessary to illustrate what’s being explained by programmers. Again, not a terrible doc, just not something I had very little interest in even if it is an important subject (and I’m probably spending too much on social media and essentially more of the problem than the solution).

I saw S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun’s doc OUR TIME MACHINE at Tribeca last year, and I quite liked it. It follows influential Chinese artist Ma Liang (Maleonn) who collaborates with his Peking Opera director father Ma Ke, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, on an elaborate and ambitious project called “Papa’s Time Machine” using life-sized mechanical puppets. I don’t have a ton to say about the movie but it’s a nice look into the Chinese culture and traditions and how the country and art itself has changed between two generations.

One doc I missed last week but will be available digitally this week is Michael Paszt’s Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro about semi-retired professional wrestler Ian Hodgkinson aka Vampiro, who is a Lucha Libre legend.

There’s a lot of other stuff on Netflix this week, including THE BABYSITTER: KILLER QUEEN, the sequel to the Samara Weaving-starring horror-thriller, again co-written and directed by McG (Charlies Angels: Full Throttle). This one stars Bella Thorne, Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino, as it follows Judah Lewis’ Cole after surviving the satanic blood cult from the first movie.

I don’t know nearly as much about the British comedy series The Duchess, other than it stars comedian Katherine Ryan as a single mother juggling a bunch of things. Julie and the Phantoms is Netflix’s latest attempt to be the Disney channel with a movie about a young girl named Julie (Madison Reyes) who decides to start a band with a group of ghosts (hence the title). It’s even from Kenny Laguna, who is best known for the Disney Channel’s biggest hits High School Musical and The Descendants.

Other stuff to look out for this week include Kevin Del Principe’s thriller Up on the Glass (Gravitas Ventures), which is now available On Demand, digital and Blu-Ray; the Russian dogs doc Space Dogs (Icarus Films) – available via Alamo on Demand; Phil Wall’s doc The Standard  (Gravitas Ventures), and Andrei Bowden-Schwartz, Gina O’Brien’s tennis comedy All-In (on Amazon Prime and VOD/Digital) and Sam B. Jones’ Red White and Wasted (Dark Star Pictures).

Next week, more movies not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

[junker-town]

5 fringe playoff teams we’re rooting for to close out the NFL season

Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

These teams are currently on the outside of the playoff picture, and some have really bad odds to make the postseason. But we’re still holding out hope.

Only three teams in the NFL have been assured playoff spots through 14 weeks of the regular season — the Saints, Chiefs, and Ravens. The Patriots, 49ers, Seahawks, Bills, and Packers appear destined to join them in the days ahead.

That leaves four playoff spots looming for 12 other not-yet-eliminated franchises. The NFC East and AFC South are both primed to come down to the wire as they sort out their 2019 division champion. The final wild card spots in each conference are also up for grabs. Teams like the Vikings, Titans, and Steelers all have decent odds to break brief playoff droughts. For others like the Bears, Browns, Rams, Colts, and Broncos, the path to the postseason features far more detours.

So which fringe contenders are we backing as they conclude their runs to either postseason glory or January vacations? These are the most compelling teams in the NFL this December ... who’ll probably fall short of a playoff bid.

Cleveland Browns

The 2019 Browns have been a tragedy. The league’s most cursed franchise came into the year as AFC North favorites thanks to Baker Mayfield’s MVP-caliber run through a 5-3 finish to 2018 and the offseason addition of players like Olivier Vernon, Sheldon Richardson, Morgan Burnett, and Odell Beckham Jr. If all went according to plan, Cleveland would cut a path to its first division title since the 1980s.

All did not go according to plan. Beckham has played hurt and Mayfield has dealt with some severe sophomore struggles. A defense packed with young talent has been consistently mediocre (and then lost its best player when Myles Garrett, uh, clubbed a rival with his own helmet). As a result, the Browns ran through the first half of the season with a worse record (2-6) than the one that got Hue Jackson fired a year before (2-5-1).

And yet, the team can still cling to a shred of postseason hope. Mayfield has nearly justified the 50,000 insurance commercials he’s been featured in by slowly turning around a lost season. Over his last five games — a stretch in which Cleveland has gone 4-1 and claimed the unofficial Rust Belt crown by beating Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh — he’s got an 8:4 touchdown-to-interception rate and an 88.4 passer rating. Those are mediocre numbers for sure, but still significantly better than the Brandon Weeden cosplay he put together in the first half of the season.

Unfortunately for the Browns, they need to win out while hoping for bad things to happen to the Steelers and either the Titans or Texans. Games against the Cardinals and Bengals are certainly winnable, but sandwiched between those games is a return date against the Ravens. Baltimore represents Cleveland’s best win of the season (a 40-25 drubbing), but it also represents the last time Lamar Jackson’s Ravens looked like anything less than a contender. Jackson will likely be out for revenge when he brings his team west for the rematch.

But the Browns have the most interesting punter in the game. That’s worth something, right? — Christian D’Andrea

Oakland Raiders

Remember back in mid-November when the Raiders looked like they might actually pull it off? A three-game winning streak had Oakland at 6-4 and right on the bubble for the second AFC Wild Card berth. (sigh) Those were the days.

Even when things were going well, it wasn’t like everyone was picking the Raiders to win the Super Bowl. Just the idea of coach-turned-commentator-turned-coach Jon Gruden leading a ragtag group of rookies and castoffs to the postseason was fun enough. It sounded like a perfect way to send the Raiders out of the Bay Area in their last season in Oakland.

Then, the Raiders were blown out in back-to-back-to-back weeks — including an inexplicable 34-3 loss to the Jets.

Now Oakland needs a miracle to get into the playoffs. The team will almost certainly need to win out and finish 9-7, then hope it can catch the Steelers and either the Texans or Titans.

Fortunately, that pursuit begins with a home game against the Jaguars — losers of five straight games by at least 17 points. Then the Raiders end the season with back-to-back road games against the 5-8 Chargers and 5-8 Broncos. Those are all winnable games, so long as Oakland doesn’t lay another Jets-sized egg.

Las Vegas is inheriting an intriguing team with a lot of promise. Boy would it be fun if the Raiders could leave Oakland with an odds-defying run at the playoffs, though. — Adam Stites

Philadelphia Eagles

There isn’t much about the current Eagles that I find all that interesting, but I do have a very good reason for rooting for Philadelphia: It’s pitiful how bad the Cowboys are under Jason Garrett.

Now, as a 49ers fan, I’m supposed to hate the Cowboys — and I do. But my love of young, exciting players like Dak Prescott, Amari Cooper and DeMarcus Lawrence override that hatred, just a little bit. I don’t want to see those guys in the playoffs this year on the off chance that they screw up and save Garrett’s job for another year.

The NFL is more fun when every division has something to offer. Right now, the combined might of the NFC East might be enough to win a playoff game, but separately they’re all a mess. The best thing that can come out of this mess in the immediate future is a spark for Dallas in the form of a change at the head coaching position.

I truly don’t know what Jerry Jones is waiting for at this point. Garrett hasn’t said or done anything to upset me, but his Cowboys have looked completely lifeless off and on for several years now.

Put a merciful end to this reign, Eagles. Even if it means you might be making the Cowboys stronger in the future. — James Brady

Tennessee Titans

By Week 9, it looked like the Titans were nowhere near playoff contention, sitting at 4-5, with conference losses to the Colts, Jaguars, Bills, and Broncos. But this team majorly turned a corner at the midway point of the season. One of the biggest reasons? It looks like the quarterback change Mike Vrabel made from Marcus Mariota to Ryan Tannehill has paid off, as Tennessee is 6-1 with Tannehill as the starter under center.

Tannehill has been improving with each and every week, and he’s coming off his best performance of the season against the Raiders, throwing for 391 yards and three touchdowns with a passer rating of 140. Running back Derrick Henry has found his stride in recent weeks, too. In the last four games, he’s averaging 150 yards, and he’s scored seven touchdowns.

Look, everybody loves an underdog, and the Titans coming out of pretty much nowhere during the backend of the season to make the playoffs would be a lot of fun. The only tricky part for the Titans is their remaining schedule, featuring two games against the Texans with one against the 10-3 Saints in between. If Tennessee can pull out two out of those three, it has about a 78 percent chance to make the playoffs as a wild card, per the New York Times. It’s a tall order for sure, but I think it’d be pretty cool to see them make it in. — Morgan Moriarty

Indianapolis Colts

It’s hard not to root for a team that has had such a string of bad ... don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it ... luck. (Sigh, there’s really no avoiding that pun here.)

Big things were expected out of the Colts in 2019 after their late-season surge got them all the way to the Divisional Round last year. Then Andrew Luck unexpectedly retired in August, leaving the team’s uncertain future in the hands of Jacoby Brissett.

The Colts silenced the doubters early in the season when they jumped out to a 5-2 start. Then it all came crashing down. Indianapolis has now dropped five of its last six games.

It all started when Brissett went down with a knee injury and sat out for a game and half, both of which were losses. Since his return, he hasn’t been the same player who threw for nearly 1,600 yards in the first seven games. Injuries to other key players — including Brissett’s top two targets, T.Y. Hilton and tight end Eric Ebron — have hamstrung the offense as well. Recently, kicker Adam Vinatieri, in the midst of the worst season in his GOAT career, was shut down for the season as well. That brought the number of Colts on injured reserve, fittingly, to unlucky 13.

Their current skid doesn’t show their resiliency, however. It takes a strong, confident locker room to not bat an eye when your franchise quarterback retires before he hits 30. Yet that’s what the Colts did. They got straight to work, at least until the injuries started taking their toll.

Not that everyone’s letting that stop them:

Frank Reich on TY Hilton's comments yesterday that he was refusing to shut it down, even with the playoffs looking like a long shot at this point: "When I saw what he said, it made me smile."

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) December 12, 2019

It’ll take a lot to get the Colts to the playoffs. Not only do they have to win out (at Saints, vs. Panthers, at Jaguars), but they also need a lot of help. Their best bet is probably for the Titans and Texans to each go 1-2 and split their season series, leaving all three teams tied at 9-7 atop the AFC South. In that case, the Colts, with the better divisional record, would win the tiebreaker.

So yeah, it’s a long shot — like a 2 percent long shot. Then again, not many thought the 1-5 Colts would get to the postseason in 2018, and that’s exactly what they did. — Sarah Hardy

[possessedcoast]

the life and times of ryan ross pt 4

PRETTY. ODD. ERA

welcome! this is part four of what i know about ryan ross. this started with @jen--ne--sais--quoi​ wanting to know about ryan and getting more than she bargained for (yes, it’s a fob reference)

before we really get into the pretty. odd. era, we’re stuck in a bit of a mishmash era of 2007, but it’s important. also, here’s another ryden manifesto that i found between writing the last chapter and this one. feel free to glance at those as you read this to get all your shippy speculation/proof whatever you would like to call it.

in this weird mishmash, our boy gets his lovely tattoos that he took from a Tom Waits song 

this was also prime time for his hair. he had this little thing going on and sometimes he had a bit of scruff and i was so here for that

most of this weird in between was spent at a cabin where tensions were high (tensions were not the only things that were high) (i’m talking about the band) (the band was also high) and our boys were trying to get an album written. they went to the cabin in march, but scrapped the album and started fresh in the summer. this was a time of some pretty intense fighting. not a whole lot has been said about it, but from what i’ve gathered over my years in the fandom is that there were some things going down that we will never know about. one thing we do know is that ryan was getting more confident in his own voice and wanted to sing on the new album. also, ryan had a spiritual awakening when he rediscovered the beatles and other 60s music and now he wanted the whole alum to be a folksy rock n roll album. there may have been fighting over this too.

at some point ryan also got these tattoos that make him look like he’s in a cult

to this day i still have no idea what they are for or what they mean. if you know, i would love to be enlightened. i also want to share this picture with you because it’s overwhelmingly lovely

by far the most important thing to happen in 2007 was ryan’s birthday. this is the source of a whole lot of ryden lore and it’s also the return of keltie. so ryan turned 21 on august 30, 2007. and keltie decided to throw him a party. the party would be at pete wentz’s bar in new york. the problem? it was at a bar. brendon was still 20. this becomes relevant later.

so the party. keltie (who is a dancer, if you missed that) and some of her friends danced for ryan, got him a cake with his teenage self on it, and arranged for a billion pictures to be taken. i’ll leave a few of those here for your viewing pleasure

i’m not gonna get shippy here, i gave you links to manifestos for that, but i am gonna tell some facts here. so the party was in new york. brendon was in seattle. across the country. because he couldn’t go to the party.

this picture is from early the next day. in seattle. please note the clothing.

 i don’t really know much of anything about the end of 2007 ryan wise after his birthday, but 2008 is eventful, so we’ll just get to that. 

so in january 2008 panic! released Nine in the Afternoon, their new single. or should i say panic released it because they also decided to drop the !. i don’t know if it was a collective thing, but ryan said he got sick of typing it and it didn’t fit with the new album, so it’s gone. fans got PISSED. i pretend it never went away tbh so it will stay in these posts even through the pretty. odd. era.

then the album came out in march and the next tour began. the worst thing about this era was the lack of ryan ross wearing makeup. the best part was the scarves. and his hair getting longer and curlier. i love this ryan aesthetic.

pretty. odd. is out. fans get to hear ryan’s singing even if they can’t make it to a concert and it. is. beautiful. (we all know ryan doesn’t have a perfect voice, we all love it anyway) this album is different because ryan seems a little less bitter. he draws less on books (ahem, chuck palahniuk) and he also puts even more metaphors into lyrics that make even less sense on the surface. personally, i love it. pretty. odd. is my favorite album and i worship it. but i digress, back to ryro. tours happen. ryan gains some confidence. he starts to talk a bit more at shows, he sings Behind the Sea with no care for what it does to my emotions.

by the way, the tour was the Honda Civic tour and gave us this beauty

the honda civic tour may also be where ryan first began his friendship with alex greenwald (more on him later!!) as he was in phantom planet, on of the support bands. another support band was the hush sound, you may recognize the band or greta salpeter (who now goes by greta morgan) from fanfiction

Live in Chicago (aka the soundtrack to my tears) also happened. you can find a million videos out there if you want to join me in my crying.

sometime during this era, ryan burned his electric guitar because he decided he hated it at the moment. he decided that it was the end of the electric guitars 

the guitar will be important in the last section of this saga. i am very emotional about the stupid guitar, it’s fine

that’s it for 2008

welcome to 2009. it’s a big year.

ryan ross is a cheesy motherfucker and proposes to keltie on valentines day. she says yes. clearly this didn’t work out because not to long after, they broke up because she saw a text on his phone that led her to believe he was cheating on her. i have no idea if he truly did or didn’t, but he probably did tbh.

on july 6th, 2009 ryan ross and jon walker announced their split from panic! at the disco and that is where this chapter ends. we’ll pick up next time with post-split/ young veins ryan

[wclvesvshearts]

do you know of like, a post that has all/most the information about the split? I don't know the whole story, I just have bits and pieces.

Dude, us too, believe me. I’ve just done some googling and haven’t had any luck, the only things I’ve found are ryden masterposts and theories about the split, but no collection of actual pieces of information whatsoever (so if anyone’s reading this right now and know of some reliable sources, feel free to drop me the link!)

This is what we know:

Panic’s last show with Ryan and Jon was on april 13, 2009 in Cape Town (this is why many believe something happened in Cape Town because of the many references to the city both in The Young Veins and post split Panic’s lyrics, and that’s kinda plausible. The fact that it had to do with ryden, well, everyone has their theory. Back in the day Ryan and Jon - and also Zack in a tweet last year - said that Cape Town was about Ryan falling abruptly in love with a girl he met at the venue, and I assume that’s what happened, but who knows for sure.)

On July 6, 2009, Ryan and Jon announced via the band’s official website that they were leaving the band. The reason provided is of creative differences (basically the label wanted the band to explore a more pop sound, probably because Pretty. Odd. didn’t do as good as afycso, and Brendon was down with it; Ryan and Jon preferred staying true to themselves and making the kind of music they wanted to - since they did the major part in the making of Pretty. Odd. it’s safe to assume they were on the same page as to where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do):

Ryan Ross and Jon Walker will be leaving Panic at the Disco to embark on a musical excursion of their own. Though the four of us have made music together in the past, we’ve creatively evolved in different directions which has compromised what each of us want to personally achieve. Over the years, we have remained close and honest with each other, which helped us to realize that our goals were different and that parting ways is truly what is best for each of us. We are all excited for the future, you should be too.- Ryan & Jon

This is an interesting interview of Ryan from May 21, 2010:

“Jon and I just realised that we were never going to be happy being in that band because of certain compromises that we had to keep making.When we were writing for Panic whether we knew it or not, having that name over the songs we were trying to do made me second guess things and change things. I started to go against my instincts.To most people it would seem a crazy thing to do, but we were just incapable of faking it. We realised what was more important was writing songs and music that we absolutely believe in.”“It’s been nearly a year now and it’s a tough thing when you’re in touch with people that long,” he said. “I can see us being friends in the future but it’s going to take some time for everyone to get over it. It’s like when you break up with your girlfriend after five years it’s not like the next day you’re best friends with them again, is it?”Ross also admitted that he was surprised when the remaining members carried on as Panic! At The Disco despite their departure.“When we split I didn’t think anyone was going to take the name. I was shocked at the time but I understand it a bit more now because those guys are having a blast being in that band. I couldn’t expect everybody not to be having as much fun.”

And Jon said something about Brendon taking the name, too. I don’t remember the interview but I do remember that later Jon tweeted about it realizing he was a bit harsh and apologizing for his words.

So basically, what we know is that Panic split for creative differences. The questions that are still unanswered are:

What happened from April to July? Did they already split in spring but waited for the summer dates approaching to tell the fans, or did they try to make it work but realized it wasn’t gonna go anywhere?

Why did it have to be so ugly and devastating if it was only due to creative differences? Why does Ryan describe it as breaking up with a girlfriend? Fall Out Boy came to a point where they didn’t feel like making music together anymore, so they took a break, and then came back. My Chemical Romance decided to break up but are still good friends with one another. The Academy Is, Cobra Starship… I’m making obvious examples here because they’re the closest to Panic that I know. So why was the Panic split different?

Why did they tweet one other for a period in 2011 and then returned to pretend they were strangers once again?

Why does Brendon mention his old band members once in a blue moon? He has joked about Ryan and denied ryden during periscopes, but when he’s asked about the band in interviews he rarely brings the names up or he vaguely addresses them as old band members. What the fuck did they do to him to make him uncomfortable to talk about them?

This might be only me, but I really do wonder why has Spencer chosen Brendon’s side instead of his childhood friend. I know there’s a special bond between Brendon and Spencer, but still.

What’s the thing with Jon tweeting his ex band members? Is he trying to restore a bond? I remember people saying that in various occasions they’ve met Jon and talked about Panic with him, and he said he misses the band.

I didn’t mean for this to turn out so long *sighs* I just have so many questions. Also if anyone wants to add sources/info/comments/correct me if I’ve made mistakes go for it. I’ve sold my soul to this band already.

[helltaeyong]

Pretty. Odd. Masterpost

  Since the anniversary of my favorite album by panic! is coming I decided to do a master post! 

Tracklist:

-We’re So Starving -Nine in the afternoon -She’s A Handsome Woman -Do You Know What I’m Seeing? -That Green Gentleman(Things Have Changed) -I Have Friends In Holy Spaces -Northern Downpour(im crying help) -When The Day Met The Night -Pas De Cheval -The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know -Behind The Sea -Folkin’ Around -She Had The World -From A Mountain In The Middle Of The Cabins -Mad As Rabbits Alternate Versions: -Northern Downpour  -She Had The World -Behind The Sea -Do You Know What I’m Seeing?

Release Date: March 25, 2008 Duration: 48:50 Location Where It Was Recorded: Las Vegas Nevada + London, England Members At This Time: -Brendon Urie -Ryan Ross -Jon Walker -Spencer Smith

Quotes About The Album And Songs On It: -Nine In The Afternoon: “ This is the first song we wrote. It’s a song we all wrote together. It’s basically about our situation for the past few years, just kind of looking at it all in a good way, and as a positive thing. It’s one of the most straightforward songs we’ve ever had, lyrically. We wanted to have a song people could just get on the first listen…..It was one of those spur-of-the-moment songs that came together in a couple of hours. It’s just a fun song; it’s not really meant to be taken seriously.” -Ryan Ross (2007) -She’s A Handsome Woman: “I came in to the library one night and Jon  was playing drums. I just picked up the guitar and started playing the opening riff, and we all really liked the feel of it. We finished it within two days. It was one of the fastest songs we’ve ever written. We wanted to capture the rawness of it. On the record, it doesn’t sound perfect.” - Ryan Ross (2008) -Do You Know What I’m Seeing?:  “We were happy about writing ‘Nine In The Afternoon’ so we decided to celebrate. We were out in Ryan’s backyard. It was 80 degrees and our shirts were off. We were hanging out and playing guitar. We played that guitar chord for about three minutes, and we started looking around and it was kind of like a little story. The way we wrote it is a little bit like a nursery rhyme.”-Jon Walker “[It’s] a song about the weather pretty much.” - Ryan Ross -That Green Gentleman(Things Have Changed): “ I played C major and that was the first thing [Spencer Smith] started playing on the drums. Four hours later, the song was done. We changed some of the structure and some of the lyrics. We like the spontaneity of writing a song." - Jon Walker -I Have Friends In Holy Spaces: “What happened was one night when we were writing another song, we took an hour break. I was playing something on the guitar and as we were all hanging around I was making up lyrics to it. It just kind of became a ditty and the rest of them – I think they’re all crazy – but they were like ‘You can throw that on the album.’ That was one of the two songs I got to throw on there.” - Brendon Urie (2008) -Northern Downpour: “ This is definitely the most stripped down song in the sense that we want it to be all about the lyric and the melody. Jon (bassist Jon Walker) wrote the melody for the verse and I loved it, Spence (drummer Spencer Smith) loved it also, and (Jon) kept wanting to change it so I wrote the lyrics really quickly so he couldn’t change it."-Ryan Ross (2008) “It was about touring and girlfriends and love and everything that’s been important to us in the past few years. There’s a line in the song that goes, “I know the world’s a broken bone, but melt your headaches, call it home.” I told Brendon to pay special attention to that line.” -Ryan Ross -When The Day Met The Night: “This one changed a whole bunch because we wrote this one on an acoustic guitar and changed it once we got into the studio. It was really exciting and experimental.”-Ryan Ross (2008) -Pas De Cheval: ”Ryan and I came home one night – I was living with him while we were recording – we ended up writing a whole song that was a bunch of different parts. And this song is probably about half of that song. We mixed up some parts and redid some parts. Then as we started playing it with the rest of the guys it turned into this.” -Jon Walker -Behind The Sea: “That....song is supposed to make you forget about everything that’s real. It’s all about imagery. The sounds around it I wanted it to just... sound like the lyrics did. It’s one of those songs you lay down and close your eyes and listen to it”-Ryan Ross (2008) “ I walked in one day and these guys were talking about the song and they said, ‘Why don’t you try to sing this?’ I sang it because it was me and Jon’s song, I knew the song well. We did it and everyone thought it was cool. It’s still one of the coolest songs on the album.” -Ryan Ross -She Had The World:  “That was one of the songs that took the longest. It was kind of a work in progress over the whole writing process. That was one we did in the summer. No one was that excited about it. Then I changed it a few days before we were going to track it, and it ended up being a lot cooler than I thought it was going to turn out. We had some harpsichords and some really beautiful orchestrations.” -Ryan Ross (2008) -Mad As Rabbits: (At a festival)  ‘This last song is a love song. It’s about universal love. And, uh, friendship, and hugs and kisses, and all kinds of things like that. So I want to see a lot of love going on out there all during this last song. Y'know, give your friend a hug or a kiss or a high-five or, or something...”-Ryan Ross (2008)

Writers: Ryan Ross Jon Walker Spencer Smith Brendon Urie

Themes/Aesthetics: -Organic -Mellow -Weed(lmao) -Floral -Sadness -Love -Country Folk -Pop Rock -Rock Nominations/Awards: -Grammy award for:  Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Available On: -Vinyl -CD -Mp3 -Online/Streaming

Facts: There are so many “fun facts” and I didn’t want to just pick and choose so i’m gonna link a bunch of good fact pages below: -(interactive and user friendly+gives facts on individual songs):genius -kidz:(ik the name but trust me its a good site) -Second studio album by Panic! -Official last album Ryan and Jon were on(split in 2009) -Crickets And Clovers was written in between p.o. and afycso

Happy (early) Birthday, to my favorite album, Pretty. Odd.

[iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog]

I Don’t Understand You, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

This is getting harder and harder to watch. The week actually started off fine. You took the first two of a four game series from the first place Chicago Cubs, a team that you have fared well against this year. Obviously being as far out of first place as you are makes all these games meaningless but anyone with a competitive edge still wants to win. Those two wins would be the only thing to smile about this week. The Cubs won the next two games so it turned out to be a series split. You followed that with a trip to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals. That did not go well. Besides my absolute rage over the Juan Nicasio situation (more on that later), there’s nothing more annoying that watching you get your clocks cleaned by the Cardinals and that’s exactly what happened. A three game sweep punctuated by the 7-0 shutout yesterday. You are now 10 ½ games back in a division that is still up for grabs. The Brewers, fresh off sweeping the Cubs this weekend, are two games out of first place as are the Cardinals. This division was winnable this year and did almost everything in your power to avoid being competitive. A team with money like the Cubs isn’t always going to be this vulnerable. Chalk this season up to a wasted opportunity.

 You announced this week that manager Clint Hurdle has received a four-year contract extension to remain manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Some people might object to this and I can understand why. Hurdle is far from perfect. His bullpen management leaves plenty to be desired and his teams constantly seem to be lacking in basic fundamentals which in my opinion always falls on the manager. He also seems to screw up when and when not to bunt far too often. I say all this and I’m still happy with this extension. It’s not Hurdle’s fault his front office handicaps him at every turn as far as what they’re willing to spend. When I think about the potential of firing a manager, I always ask myself one question: Is there a better option available? I was actually concerned they would fire Hurdle and hire bench coach Tom Prince. I don’t know much about Prince and maybe he will be a fine manager someday but doing that would have seemed like a money saving move and I can’t stomach more of those right now. When you look around the league, there aren’t any other glaring candidates that excite me. Hurdle is a good leader and I like his decision making more often than not. Overall, this team’s success really isn’t contingent upon Clint Hurdle. It’s the higher ups that make or break it.

You also announced this week that general manager Neal Huntington also received a four-year contract extension to remain in his current position. I’m more on the fence about this one. Let me preface this by saying that I realize Huntington is handcuffed by whatever budget owner Bob Nutting sets for him. He has no control over how much he can or can’t spend. That being said, Huntington has had back to back putrid seasons. If I was terrible at my job for two straight years, I would be fired rather than receiving a four year extension. Huntington’s downfall started after the 98 win season in 2015. Entering 2016 with Jeff Locke, Ryan Vogelsong, Jon Niese, and Juan Nicasio as your rotation options was insane. I know it was a ‘bridge year’ but that was embarrassing. We have discussed how awful trading Keon Broxton for Jason Rogers looks now with Broxton’s 20 homers and Rogers no longer even on your team. ��Having Broxton would have been especially helpful this year with the Marte suspension and the bevy of Polanco injuries. This season has been defined by his decision to basically do nothing. Actually, nothing would be better than a couple of the moves he has made. He lets Juan Nicasio go for nothing to “get the younger guys more opportunities so they are ready for 2018” but before that had already acquired 40 year old relief pitcher Joaquin Benoit for no reason. Huntington managed to do a lot from 2013-2015 with very little money spent and made the playoffs. That should be applauded. These last two years will have me questioning this extension every step of the way.

The bizarre circumstances around losing Juan Nicasio took an even more ridiculous turn this week. Huntington put Nicaiso on irrevocable waivers (meaning all a team has to do is pay a player’s salary to claim them) rather than regular waivers because reportedly a rival had claimed him and you didn’t want him to go there. Reports are saying that team was the Cubs. Instead of trading him to the Cubs for a prospect, you allowed the Phillies to claim him on irrevocable waivers so they only have to pay the remaining $600,000 of his contract this year. This week the Phillies flipped him to your rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, for a prospect who ranked tenth in their system at the beginning of the season. Not any huge return but at least some return. Salt was rubbed in an opened wound this weekend when Nicasio saved Friday and Saturday’s games against you. This move is an embarrassment for the organization and particularly Huntington. Maybe Nutting said he needed to get rid of 600,000 but this a mess either way. Huntington has done things in the past I didn’t agree with but I at least understood his mindset. This one made no sense at all. During his press conference after signing his extension, he started making excuses for their failures. He said that your playoff record could be different if there was only one Wildcard team and that he regrets voting to make it two teams. That’s great. It’s also incredibly pointless. He also said that if you invert your record against two bad teams this year (Giants and Reds) you would only be a game and a half out of first place. You might as well say if you invert your current overall record you would be a ½ game out of first. That is as meaningless as it gets. There isn’t even logic involved there. What is he talking about?  I know Huntington’s extension was decided on a while ago. It’s just a terrible look to extend the man after two terrible seasons and one truly indefensible decision.

The road-trip continues this week with more divisional games. You will start a three game series in Milwaukee today against Neil Walker and the Brewers. That’s always a friendly reminder of how a team with a smaller payroll that was supposed to be rebuilding is still in the playoff race. It’s also fun to remember how you gave up Neil Walker for nothing and then had a chance to get him back this year for the playoff run for almost nothing but instead allowed the Brewers to get him. You just love making your rivals better than you. You get a day off Thursday, which is a mental break for me, before heading to Cincinnati for a weekend series against the Reds. The Reds are one of those teams where if you invert your record against them you’re magically a better team. I use the word magic because that’s what would be necessary for that scenario to have any merit at all. I do like that you are giving the young players more chances. Gregory Polanco and Adam Frazier returned from the DL which helps too. Even with Polanco and rookie Jordan Luplow on the roster for some reason you decided to start John Jaso in right field yesterday. Makes no sense to me but illogical decisions have been a recent trend for you. There’s nothing the players can do about it except keep playing the best baseball you can and keep trying to get better. That’s all I can really ask of you. Take care this week and sorry your GM/owners keep taking your legs out from under you.

                                                                                        Your Bewildered Beau,

                                                                                                       Brad

P.S. stand for Pittsburgh Steelers and they sure made us sweat out the first game of the season. Against the lowly Cleveland Browns, they had to sack the rookie QB DeShone Kizer seven times to help seal a 21-18 victory. The dynamic offense looked pathetic until late in the game. The play-calls early were too conservative and I think it might simply be a case of rust. Nowadays, starting quarterbacks barely play in the preseason. It used to be a least a series or two in most preseason games and now they basically only play a few series in game three to avoid injuries. I agree with the concept. It just means that it might take the offense more time to adjust. That might explain why all the games yesterday were kind of duds. The ‘W’ is all that matter as they move to 1-0. Go Steelers!!