#also chuck and eva were cute!

[charlesleclerctv]

i need to know which gossip girl ships are superior to you! tell us pretty please 🙏🏼

SERENATE 💔 that's all i care about (but also rufus & lily)

[darkskyemedia]

Breiterman 

Shattered Glass Shatters Truth about Rogue Journalist 

“There’s so many show-offs in journalism.” Well, yeah. But there’s also a lot of those in the film. And even though I don’t think Shattered Glass is a show-off of a movie, it does show off the skills of director (and writer) Billy Ray and many other people from both the cast and the production side. 

Shattered Glass tells the true (although somewhat dramatized) story of Stephen Glass, a Journalist from the 1990s who was well respected at The New Republic Magazine, which was known as the “in-flight magazine for Air Force One” until he was caught fabricating stories as well as source material for those stories. The story follows Glass (portrayed by none other than Hayden Christensen) as he shows off his writing and then is ascertained as a fraud and then begins a spiral downward filled with lies, whining, and a lot of the same questions that are repeated way too many times throughout the film “ARE YOU MAD AT ME?” 

The acting and casting of the film were surprisingly great. Christensen, who is widely known for portraying Anikin Skywalker in the Star Wars Franchise Prequels from 1999-2005, was the best candidate for this character. The high-pitched-ness of his voice, the weird thing where he breathes in between words and then almost lightly smacks his lips in between; agghhhh. Christensen is the best actor to play such an annoying and unlikable dude. The idea of Glass was that he was young, cute, and completely lovable. 

Christensen was as young as he was, with his curly hair and glasses, which were just a little too big for his face. mwaa Chef's kiss. He embodies innocentness. There's a more common saying in the U.K. than here in the U.S., but it's too sweet to be savory. This is about those people you know are entirely fake people who are just unnerving to be around because of how outwardly nice their demeanor is, like Delorous Umbridge from the Harry Potter book and movie series. In this case, she and Glass are so lovely and sweet that it's almost suspicious, and I think Christensen just nailed that because of his history playing in Star Wars. Other significant roles, such as Chuck Lane (played by Peter Sarsgaard), were tremendous and demanding but not evil, as a boss should be. The almost father figure-like editor Michael Kelly (portrayed by Hank Azaria) and all of the leading ladies, Catlin Avey (Played by Chloë Sevigny), Andy Fox (portrayed by Rosario Dawson), and Amy Brand (played by Melanie Lynskey), all fit their characters' roles, purposes, and characteristics perfectly. The incredible casting of casting director Cassandra Kulukundis made the feature what it was. The film wouldn't have hit the way it does without each person being appropriately portrayed. The emotions evoked by each are crucial for the plot and for the audience to get the most out of it. 

The physical production, design, art, set direction, and costuming were all on point. I think the most noticeable instance of this is in the 2 newsrooms that are shown; one from The New Republic and the other from Forbes. I have only ever been in two newsrooms at this point (primarily due to the amount of work and writing is online/electronic now), one for NJ.com and another for a media company I was interning at last year. After seeing those and then this in comparison, I have to say job well done to François Sénécal(Set Director), Pierre Perrault (Art Director), and François Séguin (Production Design). In addition to looking like a newsroom, the 90s setting was on point. There were landlines, pagers, and rolodexes. They had those giant PCs with square backs and were as heavy as hippos, even the phones. Hand-held landlines with antennas and the keyboards for the computers were those big old ones where the keys were so deep they made Marianna's Trench look like a pothole. Perfection. There were yellow pages, and the typing done on the computers had that ugly original font and that gross blue background. People were using YAHOO to search for things and AOL to email people. I cannot go on enough about it. Though I'm sure everyone working on the feature was around in the 90s, it may not be that big of a deal for them to remember. Still, for the audience, it really does transport you back to the 90s. 

The music department also did their job well. The music is driving, curious, and just the thing that the film needed, but what really is impressive are the moments without any music. To make tense lines even more potent, Supervising Sound Director David Bach ensured there was nothing but dead silence behind the yelling and crying. “I think I’ll have to kill myself,” ‘What the hell did you do to Steve?” and “Stop fucking apologizing” are lines that are just left to stew in the anger and awkwardness that brought them to where they are. This also applies to more lighthearted moments, though. The amount of narration done by Christensen and the seemingly wise journalist advice he provides, such as “I think it’s the people you find. Their quirks, their flaws. What makes them funny, what makes them human. Journalism is just the art of capturing behavior. You have to know who you’re writing for, and you have to know what you’re good at. I record what people do. I find out what moves them, what scares them. And I write that down. That way, they’re the ones telling the story,” with the uplifting and motivational music behind it, are sheer golden words that stick with you. 

Though biopics and other truer movies often don’t have themes like fictional ones, I think there are important lessons here. Lessons like doing the right thing are hard sometimes, or sometimes you need to look deeper, maybe not trusting everybody who has a smile on their face, are all valid points that are brought up in the film. And though the movie is way more dramatic than the actual life events that inspired it, those lessons that come through are ones that the audience and journalists should be aware of. 

There aren’t a lot of issues I take with the film other than the possible rating issue and the gratingness of the whole thing. There is a lot of cursing, and as the resident pottymouth of my class, home, and friend group, I should know. I do think PG-13 is appropriate overall, but if you’re a parent or an older sibling or just an adult in charge of a youngling, maybe don’t take them to this if you’re not okay with them repeating the F-word all the way home. It’s not a perfect piece, but I think that’s okay. I think it’s a biopic, so the truth of it is supposed to shine through more than the art aspect. The cinematography could have been better, and sometimes I didn’t care about certain things happening at a particular moment, and after a while, the constant whining and repetition of annoying toddler-like quotes from Glass, such as “I didn’t do anything wrong” gets old and a little headache-inducing. But as the movie is only 94 minutes long, it’s not that big of a deal. 

For those who like biopics, or journalistic stories such as Spotlight (2006), All the President’s Men (1975) and/or The Help (2015), this is definitely the movie for you. 

“There’s so many show-offs in journalism.” There are also a lot of show-off movies. Shattered Glass shows off plenty of great aspects that audiences, especially those who were around in the 90s and remember this historical event, should see. 

[raeflora]

tbh i read your tweets sometimes even i'm a dair fan (not essentially a shipper) but honestly? you have great points about chair. i mean, both ships have your both flaws, but i think chair has this flaw that both of them were a bit immature of "i'll only have sex with you if you say those words!" and then when they finally have this relationship, they seemed pretty healthy with a bit of married couple mini fights, until when chuck sold blair for his hotel and so when blair had this scheme with eva was so messed up at both sides. after that, it was pretty much mature of how they broke up but to know both of them had their another priorities, because they both stand up what they are fighting for and it's such a great personality that draws them to be a great couple. yet, that louis thingy she was immature because, well, who's the girl that never dreamed of being a princess, right? then dan thing was way too much mishandled when they started dating - their friendship was pretty cute and their actual love was so rushed, it was that both of them were desperate to have a relationship, since blair wasn't herself with louis and dan was broken hearted because of vanessa moving out and he was pissed after vanessa schemed to ruin his long time crush and first girlfriend reputation. yet, when chuck x blair got back together but secretly it was like my url. stars were aligned for them. chuck had to fight agaisnt his father because he knew he never was too of a corrupt man and that's how he build his empire, while chuck was too honest for his job and blair wanted to make her mother sure that she can be at charge of a store that pretty much sum up her life, especially after she divorced from the father of her daughter, whom she loved so much; when they were married, it was so great. in terms of love, chair is better than dair, but i think that for friendship that we seen at the show, is dair; ofc chair had great friendship before events when serena was at boarding school, since i think that blair was talking about chuck about some stuff she used to talk with serena, since she knew that nate was so pure and would never like her schemes and another stuff lol. k bye

omg tysm I'm glad that even tho u like dair u still enjoy my tweets 🫶🏻 for me dair worked better as a friendship bc blair obviously didn't love him and was in a vulnerable emotional state after divorcing louis where she couldn't risk being with chuck when she wasn't ready to commit fully (hence why chair are so secure in s6 bc they're practically engaged and know that no-one can come between them anymore) and clung to dan like she did with carter in s2. dan didn't have serena to obsess over, so he kinda transferred his feelings to blair and tried to turn her into his book version of her, rather than love the real blair. I feel like no-one can know blair better than chuck so their relationship/friendship will always be the strongest for me, but I do also think her and dan's friendship is fun and they could've just left them as unexpected friends without having dan randomly fall in love with her bc she talked to him for 5 minutes 😭

[keepthisholykiss]

April 2021, Kageki, Ayaki Hikari’s “e to bun” translation - or - the one with all the Montague Information

Okay, alright I am back with another funky little casual and ~* fun *~ translation. Since Ayaki Hikari has an e to bun column right now I, of course, am under legal obligation to read it. Which means that I might as well go ahead and translate it for folks too. And boy, this one is important. If you’re at all interested in the very... very minor details of the background of Hoshigumi’s current production of Romeo and Juliet then I am happy to provide this content to you for the next three months. This month Akachan covered the entirety of the Montagues. By the sounds of it she will hopefully be covering the Capulets next month so look out for that or whatever else it could be when I translate that next month. For now, I leave you with this monstrosity of content, please do enjoy. And know that, yes, I tried my damnedest to make a chart of these relationships and it was just too messy I could not make it work so, good luck.

The Situation in Verona, As I Reveal It - Ayaki Hikari (title credited to: Iroha Reo) Hello to all the readers of Kageki. My name is Ayaki and I am Benvolio in the B Cast of “Romeo and Juliet.” I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the profiles of all my Montague friends in the same style as “Takarazuka Otome.”  Each person answered the following questions: (1) Role (2) Family structure (3) Is there someone you are in love with? That you are friends with? (4) Points of interest that we hope you, the audience, will find helpful or enjoy when watching the play. Shizuki Otone: (1) Mia (2) Kozakura Honoka’s older sister 😊 (3) Benvolio, of course haha ❤️❤️❤️ (4) In “Kirei wa Kitanai” I get to see Benvolio, so I am hoping to show him there that I like him!! Sazanami Reira: (1) Luka (2) I have 3 younger sisters. (Otosaki Itsuki, her twin Ruri Hanaka, and Hoshisaki Nozomi) (3) I don’t build closer friendships with my peers in town, but instead with all the girls. (4) I try to see all the faces of the Montagues in every number. Otosaki Itsuki: (1) Lucia (2) A brother, Sazanami Reira-san. Sisters, Ruri Hanaka and Hoshisaki Nozomi. (3) From the Capulets...Hiroka Yuu-san! (4) My agonizing battle with Hiroka-san during the the duel 💔! Takuto Rei: (1) Illy (2) An only child (3) I don’t have a girlfriend, I like all the girls! (4) I have hair with cornrows! Since I am graduating I decided to try a style that’s new and I won’t be able to have forever! Asamizu Ryou: (1) Bloom (2) Hiroki Yuzuha is my brother. (3) I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m a person who listens to everyone’s problems and helps them with their love life. My best friend is Otosaki! (4) My hairstyle! I have a cross in the back of it, so try to find it! Yuunagi Ryou: (1) Bruno (2) I have a younger brother (Hayato Reo)! Ayane Miran is my younger sister, and I am childhood friends with Hanayuki Rira. (3) I have no girlfriends, but I do have a crush on Otosaki Itsuki-san. (4) After being slapped by Otosaki-san in “Kirei wa Kitanai” I had to learn how to do a successful backwards roll. Minato Rihi: (1) Pos Savin (2) No family (Orphan) (3) Romeo (4) The hairstyle is based on a manga character. The braid changes depending on the day, so if you find me please take a look at the hairstyle too. Hanayuki Rira: (1) Maria (2) No family members. Best friends with Otosaki-san, childhood friends with Yuunagi Ryou. (3) I have a crush on Romeo...❤️ (4) This is not the usual Hanayuki, I have a fighting, powerful, look behind my eyes! Kozakura Honoka: (1) Carla (2) I’m Shizuki Otone-san’s sister! (3) I like Mercutio. I don’t know if as a friend or… as a more than that? (4) I look like I have short hair, but it’s actually straight, long hair! It’s a wolf-cut hairstyle! Hayato Reo: (1) Nicolo (2) I am the younger brother of Yuunagi Ryou! (3) I don’t have a love… (4) I am very strong! Kirari An (A Cast): (1) Julia (2) Asakura Shizuku’s sister. (4) My earrings were given to me by Lady Montague! Asakura Shizuku (A Cast): (1) Sophia (2) Kirari An’s sister. (3) I have a crush on Mercutio. (4) The part when I get to be involved with Mercutio during “Les Rois du monde.” Amato Kanon (B Cast): (1) Eve (2) Soua Takeru’s twin brother. (3) I like Ouka Rurina without realizing it and mistakenly think she likes me back. (4) Sometimes it can feel like me and Soua Takeru really are twins. Kuresaki Rino: (B Cast): (1) Sophie (2) I am an only child and a childhood friend of Yuran Sui. (3) There are some people I like, but I don’t really feel a connection with them. So I am looking for someone. (4) I don’t want to fight my troupemate Sumika Amane, in the duel, but I have to fight with her. I’m hoping to express this conflict to her through my heart so that we can reconcile in the end through our performance! Soua Takeru (B Cast): (1) Adam (2) I am Amaton Kanon’s twin brother. (3) I temporarily fell in love with Hoshisaki Nozomi but I am easily distracted. (4) Sometimes I feel like me and Amato Kanon are really twins. Houma Toa (A Cast): (1) Chuck (2) I am one of three siblings. The second is a younger brother (Taiki Hayate) who is two years younger than me. And the third is a younger sister (Ayane Miran) who is strong-willed and cute. (3) I have a childhood best friend (Ruri Hanaka) that I’m thinking of marrying some day… ❤️. (4) I have had natural perm-style hair from birth! I am a hot-blooded man with a short temper, but I also have a passionate heart and love my friends. Ruri Hanaka (A Cast): (1) Kiara (meaning “bright”) (2) My brother Sazanami Reira, my first sister Otosaki Itsuki, and my other sister Hoshisaki Nozomi. (3) I will marry my best friend Houma Toa some day. (4) The feeling of performing between the sky and the cobblestones that can be seen between the houses and throughout the city of Verona. Hiroki Yuzuha (A Cast): (1) Dante (2) My brother is Asamizu Ryou. (3) I don’t have a significant other, but I have love for Benvolio as well as my brother! (4) My goal is to be more mature in my appearance and playful while acting. I want to portray a character of a younger brother that is trying to grow up. Yuran Sui (B Cast): (1) Laura (2) I am an only child. But my childhood friend is Kuresaki Rino. (3) I have always had a crush on Mercutio. (4) In the duel, I want to express that I know it is a meaningless fight. But I pretend not to notice this feeling and become driven by hatred and a need for power. Hoshisaki Nozomi (B Cast): (1) Katerina (2) My brother Sazanami Reira, my sister Otosaki Itsuki, and my twin sister Ruri Hanaka. (3) I like Romeo before I realize it. (4) The hair arrangement of my bangs and my leg lifts during the duel. Ayane Miran (A Cast): (1) Eva (2) I am the younger sister of Hayato Reo and Yuunagi Ryou. (4) I hate the Capulets with every fiber of my being. Aone Towa (A Cast): (1) Rick (2) I’m an only child and a childhood friend of Ayane Miran. (3) My dream is to be like Mercutio. ✨ (4) I’m trying out having short hair for the first time! Mitsurugi Kai (B Cast): (1) Jeff (2) I am an only child. (3) I’m looking for someone. (4) I’m a bit of a jerk so I mess with everyone at different times. Kishou Kazuto (B Cast): (1) Chopper (2) Ouka Rurina is my childhood friend. (4) Some choreography in “Les Rois du monde.” Ouka Rurina (B Cast): (1) Rudy (3) I am secretly in love with Romeo. (4) I do everything with the best of my ability! Taiki Hayate (A Cast): (1) Energy (2) Houma Toa is my brother and Ayane Miran is my sister! (3) I care for my sister Ayane Miran! (4) Some choreography in “Les Rois du monde.” Whew, I managed to introduce everyone… Next month, I want to keep revealing more of the situation in Verona!

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

I am curious: what are your favorite scenes from your main ships (date, dair, derena...)?

scenes involving milo don't count, sorry!

for me, it's really not just scenes, but body language & just in general, how they are with each other, you know? dan and serena grin at each other and hug SO much, you can tell that being around each other in s1 made them both so happy, and even after that glow fades the way they look for comfort in each other... top level stuff. the way blair looks at dan... we never see her as radiant at any other point. she was not looking at anyone else like this. and gosh, dan and nate. they're both so comfortable around each other that there's absolutely nothing weird about like. discussing that one ex girlfriend whom they both share AND both were in love with. there is literally no other duo who trusts/enjoys each other's company so much that they're comfortable in a love triangle. (probably because they're more in love with each other than with the girl, but that is not the point. or is it?)

anyway, more specific answers. under the cut. this is one of the longest answers i've ever written on this blog possibly but you KNEW that would happen when you sent this ask, didn't you? (affectionate)

derena: i tagged one of my ds reblogs as 'the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one' and like. look at them! this hug from 1x10 kills me in the best way. they are both the literal embodiment of :D when they see each other! i love 1x10 as a whole moment, their entire thing at cotillion is so sweet and they're both so happy. the fact that he is talking about his chemistry teacher during this kiss in 1x07. that bit at the end of 1x05 when they talk about their siblings (being there for their sibling because of fallible parents being a derena parallel makes me simultaneously really sad and really soft, tbh). 1x05 gives me SO MUCH SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT but the way they walk off together arms around each other does something to me - these are two people who are still getting to know each other but who really like what they see, and who trust each other and. are just having a good time together! back when derena was my OTP, the 1x11 "your story's about me?" was absolutely a fave, too, and i still adore it, albeit in a different, more nostalgic way. i like a dan who writes cute stories about serena. no empty shell sabrina van skoneker bullshit. she is so much like you, daniel! you'd be shattered if she did this to you. don't do this to her. tbh, most derena moments from s1 are just A+ romance. the bit in 2x02 in the jitney is so funny, they're SO bad at being exes. the bit in... 3x03 i think?? i don't remember... on the contrary. when they're talking about dan's fling w/ georgina and serena's relationship with carter, the ease with which they talk and how happy/supportive they are of each other's new relationships... yeah. love to see it.

i also really like any instance of them having honest/open conversations. 1x13, talking about how serena is concerned about blair. 1x08, serena talking to dan about feeling jealous of vanessa. this bit from the touch of eva or whatever that episode is. 4x04 i think. this is the conversation everyone is trying to get dan to have and he's avoiding EVERYONE else. derena interactions in 3x21 (can't find a gif right now) - the fact that dan is with serena when her dad abandons them, the fact that he goes all the way there with her. 2x07, "i'm really glad you're nate's friend. he really needs someone like you right now" (though i'm cheating, that's technically a d/n moment too klhdflkgf). there's a bit in s4 where he's advising her against having an affair w/ colin, i don't remember the ep number, but the way he takes her side so easily and naturally and puts due blame/responsibility solely on her professor... yeah. 4x10 i think this ep is?? idk. but like my tags say, im sentimental about this moment because while what dan was doing was irresponsible, sneaking her out of the ostroff, he was the only person in this episode who was actually talking to her and listening to her and taking her seriously. nobody else was doing that!!

i probably have more moments i'm not remembering, but we're only 1/3 into this answer and LOOK AT THE WORDS, good lord, i'm sorry.

dair: my favourite dair episode is hands down despicable b (5x21) which i have heard is an uncommon answer. i just love the conflict resolution of it all, okay!!! 1x04 & 2x08 are like. standard answers any dair shipper will give, and i'm no different. i love dan being able to give blair advice and blair actually taking his advice even though they're not friends yet!!! be right back, yelling at the intimacy of it all!! 5x16, with their getting together (this little kiss and dan being so startled by it), blair admitting a flaw she genuinely does have and dan saying it's not awful because it's her, which is just. romance at its finest. those vows, good lord. 5x18.... they're having fun! blair showing up at the loft in lingerie for dan... the delight on her face.... (i know this moment blows up in their face but when she's there she looks so happy and proud of herself and this was like THE moment when i was like. oh. dair is really the heart of this garbage show huh).

i think for me, the thing that really sells dan & blair together is the serena of it all. both of them love serena more fiercely than anyone else, and that is what brings them together. (fwiw i definitely think nate loved serena this much and this deeply, too; the writers just wanted to pop the serenate balloon, which even i think was extremely unnecessary and ooc.) but (& i have so much meta about this) their relationship grows beyond serena. their entire s4 arc is SO good. i love how comfortable around each other they are, in such an adult way, in the sense of like. they both bring so much stability to each other? morgan tagged this edit "the marrieds" and like. yeah. b offers to help him shave. they're having breakfast & reading the paper together.

all the love declarations we got that weren't a simple 'i love you.' be your charming wonderful self (how could she not love you/ tell me what would make you happy, dan) i told chuck he doesn't have my heart anymore (you spent your life earning the keys to set you free when you were free all along!!!!) dan's pep talk to blair in 5x21 (already linked a gifset earlier, here's another one if you want i guess). there's definitely more... but honestly, the way the dair arc was executed was so good - while i do have my complaints, i also think keeping those aside, it was SO close to perfect. i love dan & blair's banter and gradually becoming closer and closer and closer. it felt very organic and real and GOSH. the way penn & leighton looked at each other while playing dan and blair...... it's just SO MUCH.

date: this is the hardest, because it's. *screams*. maybe you saw me losing my mind over those 2 seconds of nate handing dan a waffle? i love almost every scene with these two, even the hellish s6 breakup scene. my favourite episode for d/n (& also favourite gg episode in general) is 2x06 - i love the homoerotic subtext of it all. nate pretending to be dan because dan's name is the first name that came to his head. dan flirting w/ nate while tied to that thing, in his underwear. them becoming friends. and 2x07 as a follow-up to that! dan getting nate to live in the loft with the humphreys for a while. i am so soft.

4x09 is a terrible episode in general, especially for serena my beloved, but the d/n moments in that one? off the CHARTS. this weird overly macho flirting, in some ways THE most iconic d/n line. this entire finish each other's sentences nonsense. someone (i think it was ana but im not sure?) compared the energy of those scenes i just linked to the book blairenate love triangle resolution, blairena choosing each other over nate in the books, date choosing each other over serena in the show (if only! RIP.) after the saints & sinners ball, this cute little moment of 'youre the only one who understands me. please tell me they went home together. i mean. how could they not have.

3x07, them watching vampire porn together. a tag i used on ao3 (& also on here, once) is 'nate brings out the himbo in dan'. here is a prime example. 'is she levitating?' i don't fucking know, dan, what do you think?? (i was telling my partner that that's what i love abt dair vs date. around blair dan is an intellectual, a librarian, an art historian, a museum curator. around nate it's like dan is competing to be #1 himbo on the show. can my girlfriend actually fly? i don't know, dan. i can't believe you're seriously asking such a question.)

3x12 pep talk. (sorry about the shitty quality!) essentially nate telling dan that he (dan) is hot and that he shouldn't talk himself down so much.

dan making nate gay in his book. you know. his book from which blair found out he was in love with her. nads (who i will not tag in this billion word long gushy meta, because i value her sanity) once called inside "wish fulfilment' and. i mean. yeah

nate checking dan out at the derena wedding continues to be hilarious. hilarious in the same way as dan sexually fantasising about nate. canon really went 'let's give ivy some special easter eggs' and i appreciate them a lot!

i love the way they are around each other - so quietly attuned to each other. i showed my sister my date!husbands gifset, and she was like. yeah they're so married. and it's just stuff like how dan looks for nate over his shoulder, it's not even an active action, it's as easy and natural and intuitive as breathing, checking to see if nate is still there.

oh, that wasn't as hard as it could've been! okay. cool. im SURE there's more things i could scream about, because it's DN, the fact that they're non-canon makes me THAT much fiercer about them than dair/derena, to be honest. so many dots to connect!! anyway.

[very-grownup]

The year is 2020 and I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time

There was no report for Episode 1.

There was no report for Episode 2.

Episode 3.

First: WHY DOES THE GIANT ROBOT HAVE FLESH HANDS WITH FINGERNAILS UNDER ITS ROBOT SKIN I HATE IT.

Second: So far, the most unrealistic thing is that two fourteen-year-old boys experienced empathy for a peer. They did not successfully or positively act on it by the end of the episode, but empathy was definitely experienced/attempted.

Third: I have been asked to rank the authority figures met so far.

The clearly deaf teacher who honestly is probably retired but doesn't know he's retired and also can't hear the emergency alarms.

A tie between Misato and Ritsuko. One knows what a growing child needs and isn't interested in acting on her knowledge and one clearly doesn't know and is ill-equipped but at least grasps that a teenager needs shelter and food of some sort (please feed Shinji an orange).

Shinji's father. This position is also shared by all the unidentified military/government dudes who for all I know are just different bad dad variants created when Shinji's father touched different colours of dadkryptonite (dadkryptonite is just a self-help book).

Fourth: the angels are still kind of cute and much less upsetting to look at than Shinji's giant robot with its awful human nails and weird teeth and fluids. This concludes my report on episode 3 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episodes 4 through 7 reports behind the cut.

Episode 4.

It's just full of really gorgeous backgrounds and scenery? Nothing really wild happened, it was just beautiful and sad. The teen boys tried to express their empathy directly to Shinji, so good job them. This concludes my report on episode 4 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 5.

The prototype robot that Rei uses does not have the upsetting chompy mouth that Shinji's does. In fact, it doesn't have any mouth at all, which would be better, except it somehow screams without a mouth which is very Harlan Ellison and I don't like that.

What I remember from the '90s when I would come across stuff about the series was a lot of hatred towards Shinji and maybe as adolescents the realness of his adolescence is too real to be comfortable? He's just an abandoned baby with no one in his corner. Dealing with the fact that your dad is a bad dad but can be good interacting with others is a real, rough thing which makes you question your own merits as a human being before recognizing that your fucked up dad is also a fucked up imperfect human.

The angel that showed up at the end looked like a Pink Floyd album cover.

Someone should hug Shinji. He and Rei both need therapists. This concludes my report on episode 5 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 6.

Everyone in NERV is really concerned by Misato having a wild idea but the idea is just what if we shoot the bad prism from just outside its range? Has ... no one in this organization had an idea that wasn't chucking a teen in a robot?

I'm glad Shinji and Rei were able to connect a bit in this episode, though. Empathy seems to be something everyone needs to learn which is probably an important part of adolescence and it is probably hard to ask that of an audience when your characters are failing to display it.

Shinji wakes up in the hospital alone after nearly dying and Rei shows up to be like hey get ready for robot time and Shinji is afraid and does not want to do robot time and tells Rei she wouldn't understand his feelings and fear. It's very self-centered teen which, as an adult, grates but it's also true because it's not just the nearly dying in a giant robot he's talking about; it's nearly dying and being in the hospital and waking up alone in an empty room and knowing no one was invested in your survival. Shinji's super recently seen his father being really invested in Rei and hurting himself to help her and that's the thing he feels separates them and it's just really well done, very realistic projection from this poor lonely child.

Anyway, they have a parade float version of Shinji's Eva that can hold and fire a pistol. What's that about? This concludes my report on episode 6 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 7.

I am concerned that the most supportive presence in this psychologically troubled child's life is a functional alcoholic.

It actually seemed like a good episode for Shinji, so I'm glad. That kid needs a break from all the bad stuff.

Did learn the tube hole the kids go in reeks of blood: hate that! And Antarctica is just fucking GONE. Because of an exploding mysterious humanoid object? Hate the sound of that!

Also there is a company with a cool name with a piece of shit misogynist in charge who are developing (for profit?) giant robots but they're remote controlled and powered by nukes and have terrible security if Shinji's dad could sabotage one so thoroughly.

But hey, your bad father's never caused a nuclear powered giant robot (with a smiley face and cute dangly arms, so that was nice) to go wild for secret nefarious reasons, so remember that the next time he's emotionally distant! This concludes my report on episode 7 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[gotatext]

          whats up ! its ur local feral goblin nora ( 23, she/her, gmt ) bringing u yet another baby i dug out of the trash and vomited onto the dashboard. a fake psychic slash rodeo bull sensation studying at hendrix but born in marfa, texas. luvs wearing gingham print dresses and cowboy boots n always in loads of rings and necklaces w flowers in her hair. very into art and pornography, and particularly the combination of the two. wants to do a PHD on gender studies and female autonomy in porn (yeehaw!). this is a pinterest board. without further ado, here’s frida !

hendrix template.

( cis-female ) haven’t seen FRIDA CALHOUN around in a while. the ELIZA SCANLEN lookalike has been known to be (+) SCHOLASTIC & (+) PLUCKY, but SHE can also be (-) DOGMATIC & (-) SINGLE-MINDED. The 18 year old is a FRESHMAN majoring in GENDER STUDIES & VISUAL ART. I believe they’re living in AUDAX, but I popped by earlier and no one answered the door. ( nora. 22. cowboy time. she/her. ) 

 aesthetics.

a red gingham print dress from your childhood that tugs at the seams and hitches at your thighs. brown cowboy boots still thick with the dirt of a marfa desert. stripper heels decorated with hello kitty stickers. a crystal ball you bought for a dollar from a one-eyed woman at a thrift store. dead flowers clinging to the braids of your hair. a rucksack permanently packed for the move. a streak of red across your lips. roller blades, cut knees, not eating your greens. smiling with a mouthful of blood. the female orgasm cut and pasted from pornhub and superimposed onto renaissance art. sweet wrappers scattered over the vinyl seats of an older man’s car. also this pic here is a big frida mood

connection to eva & did they choose her name during the watershed?

study abroad mentor. when frida moved to the netherlands to study, she was assigned a mentor to help her settle into campus life, since she was not of dutch heritage. eva was her mentor for her first few weeks of study, though they weren’t really friends. occasionally they hung out if they saw each other out at night, but they weren’t like... super close.

ok,.... so first up ! despite going to uni in amsterdam, this gal was born and raised in the ole’ U.S of A. she’s from marfa, texas. it’s a very arty place. she was surrounded by art wankers as a child and it kind of educated her to a lot of shit, but also meant she grew up p fast?? like she learned about sex and death and violence from all these art people who thot they were Freeing her Superego n makin a genius child bt rlly.... they shd hav just let her play with dirt rather than showin her artistic representations of the inside of a dead bird.

 BACKSTORY TIME.. her mother was from the wrong side of the tracks, wanted 2 go to art school and started working as an erotic dancer to pay for college but then jst.... ended up staying there. one of those girls u see in the documentaries who had Big Plans but ultimately never got to pursue them n jst got.... sucked in by the money

 frida was raised in dressing rooms surrounded by sparkly costumes and nipple pasties and leotards and the like. as a kid she’d try to trot about in her moms heels n yearned for the day she’d be able to be on stage. 

if you’ve seen pretty baby its a bit similar to tht..... her mom works in a brothel n has her quite young n the expectation is her daughter will probs end up working at the brothel too when she's old enough. no1 really expected frida to get into a good uni or anythin

frida was p much raised by the town, to be honest. most of her youth was spent scurrying about half naked in cowboy boots and glasses too big for her face. a smol feral child

as a kid used to lie about being able to see dead people bcos she thought it’d make her seem cool and interesting to other kids n it got the attention of the girls her mom worked with. but when her mom realised people were willing to actually believe a 7 year old had seen their dead scorned lover, she saw it as an opportunity to swindle some extra cash and registered her as a child psychic n started putting adds out in local papers for palm readings and tarot predictions. 

when her mom hit 30s she couldn't hack being a sex worker any more, so she set up her own fortune telling business and hired a load of the girls from the club to be fake psychics. it was sort of a fortune telling parlour slash brothel, bt they kept tht very under wraps. palm reading upstairs, handjobs downstairs. the reason why some of the women from the strip club agreed to work there was because it was a business actually run by a woman who got what was going on, n not jst someone trying to make quick cash out of old men wanking

as a child, frida was on a few tv shows in the netherlands  making psychic predictions in front of live tv audiences and attempting to reach out to the spirits of their loved ones. this con continued into her teenage years, she even did youtube videos n had minor success, though she was accused of being a cheap horoscope predicter and packed it in shortly after a twitter backlash. 

if pressed, frida still claims to have a gift, but that it's not as simple as switching a light on and off, it comes when it comes, you can't summon it, and that's how she gets out of being labelled a fraud if anyone who recognises her demands a reading.

ws street smart, but also did super well at school? quite charming as a kid and good at winning adults over because of a life growing up basically conning rich white women out of their money just by telling them stuff they wanted to hear. was moved up a grade in junior high and graduated early. attended a summer school, before choosing to study in amsterdam because of the appeal of the red light district. very interested in the lives of sex workers and the way they express themselves. is only a freshman but, is like, 50% through her degree already jst cos she’s..... super passionate about her subject getting recognised as a legitimate brand of academia

she wanted to study gender performativity in the lives of sex workers and plans to do her thesis on the porn industry. it might be because of her childhood, growing up surrounded by sex workers, but she's obsessed with it, looks at mathematical structures and symbols in porn through a lens of politics and art history. very interested in visual art.

some ?mildly amusing? facts

owns 4 tarot decks and a crystal ball she bought frm an old lady with one eye

favourite drink is cherry coke

part of a burlesque collective at hendrix university who run speakeasy nights. is trying to set up her own small-scale grassroots burlesque group in one of the more mainstream clubs along the strip bcos there’s so much money and female tourists go wild 4 it

sells nudes on twitter. whenever she gets low on cash she contacts one of the seedy old men who used to visit her mom's club to venmo her $500 in return for pictures

that girl who’s always harping on about body positivity on instagram while wearing cute underwear and looking absolutely bomb 

really good at rodeo bull riding. the club in marfa had one so as a youth she got really good at it bcos she was constantly tryin to outdo her friends on who could stay on for the longest. a video of her staying on one for like 4 minutes after downing several jager bombs went viral once.

smol baby. 5′4. wears a lot of cute summer dresses n big boots. gingham is her usual dress style, or like red plaid, n then she’ll either have big white cowboy boots with spokes on the back or the really long doc martens. also owns a lot of abba-esque gogo boots and 90s creepers. flats?? who are they. has her hair in braids a lot, and usually has flowers or feathers threaded through it to add to her whole “mystic” vibe

micro-doses acid for mild depression bcos she didn’t believe in “that CBT bullshit”, thought that therapists, like her, were jst con artists so always a bit spaced out

her flirting technique is absolutely offering to read your palm. she used to do it all the time at school its how she met most of her eighth grade boyfriends. 

volunteers at one of the local galleries but mostly just rants to old white dutch men about how cis white men have dominated art for years :/ is one of those SJW-types but only?? when it comes to art?? 

has a pet rat called popeye

takes photographs of dead animals to use in her art and often posts them side-by-side with stills of women in porn to show the shelf-life of female sex workers in a patriarchal-dominated industry or some bullshit idk

big into spoken word poetry, even if its shit. likes savage depictions of femininity

wrote a thesis on art as an act of masturbation that got published 

big into capitalism and commodity culture. loves it.

wanted plots, fucker

ppl who are also studying @ hendrix but speak english !! bcos frida finished her exams a year early at like 17 n just up and left to amsterdam cos she knew if she got in-state tuition she’d never leave texas, she came to the netherlands with like, 40 dollars and a phrase book. eva was kind of her study-abroad mentor to help her settle into amsterdam campus life

ppl she met at an inter-school maths championship competition or something really fuckin nerdy like that. she probably got entered in a spelling bee or two, she was her high school’s pride and joy until people started calling her a slut in toilet door grafiti 

hook-ups !! frida does not do relationships, she had several girlfriends as a kid but she enjoyed the thrill of the chase more than being with one person. pan, but not about befriending straight men. very much fuck-em-and-chuck-em wham-bam-thankyou-ma’am when it comes to guys. that said, if u think ur character cld get under her skin n try n change that by all means be my guest

other ppl who wld be in burlesque with her. also she goes to strip clubs n peep shows like every day, thats basically research for her, so if ur characters would be into strip clubs they might see her there

she volunteers at a few galleries, tht is also a possible place where they cld kno each other from

i feel like she’d be on student council if they had one of those. shes that kind of bitch, turning up like elle woods with a big feather pen or a light-up heart marker, slamming down some truths before upping and leaving to go for her 11am chai latte break

mayb someone she’s trying to coach into being more body confident through self-expression in burlesque.

som1 who attended the art institute in marfa for a summer n maybe knew her when she was a bit younger ??? idk

drama. angst/ horror. someone accuse her of being a fake psychic and she’ll predict your horrific untimely death

nice bike rides in amsterdam please

yea like this if u a) want to plot or b) think the self is as undefinable social construct and i will slide in ur dms to further discus ruckus  x x

[papermoonloveslucy]

DESILU, TOO!

6 Forgotten Television Shows produced by Desilu Studios 

In October 1958, LIFE magazine ran a massive eight-page article on Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. "Arnaz and Ball Take Over as Tycoons – $30 Million Desilu Gamble," the headline declared. The I Love Lucy stars and power couple had entered the production business, with a splash.

"Desilu owns the biggest array of TV film-making facilities in the industry," the profile boasted. Lucy and Desi had made millions — and made millions for many others — off the back of “I Love Lucy.” But that iconic sitcom had ended in 1957. What was next for Desilu?

Well, the two bosses were headlining “The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour,” but they certainly kept busy off the set with a slew of other productions. Over the next decade, Desilu would craft groundbreaking adventure series such as “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Mannix.”

But, as with any studio, there were some lesser series that vanished rather quickly. But each was interesting in its own right and brought something new to the table.

WHIRLYBIRDS (1957-60)

A series centering around helicopter pilots in California, “Whirlybirds” set the mold for transportation-heavy adventures like “The Love Boat” and “Riptide” that would follow decades later. Each week, guest stars would pop in to charter flights from Whirlybirds, Inc. 

The genesis of this show can be traced to the novelty of Lucy Ricardo hopping on a copter in the” I Love Lucy” episode "Bon Voyage." People marveled at the hovering aircraft enough that Ball pursued an entire series around the machines. In syndication, it was known as “Copter Patrol,” while its star, Kenneth Tobey, later reprised his character of Chuck Martin on a 1960 episode of “Lassie” titled "The Rescue."

THIS IS ALICE (1958-59)

In the late Fifties, “Dennis the Menace” and “Leave It to Beaver” turned the sitcom spotlight to kids. It was a rather new concept in the medium to focus on adolescents instead of adults. “This Is Alice” attempted to create the female version of Theodore Cleaver. Young Kathy Garver, who would go on to star in “Family Affair,” auditioned for the lead role of Alice, a little girl growing up in Georgia. It ended up going to the pig-tailed Patty Ann Garrity, but Garver landed a supporting role on the series. The syndicated series ended up in an 8pm slot on Thursdays, just after ABC's “Beaver” aired, which put it up against another Desilu production, “December Bride” on CBS. 

Although “I Love Lucy” had Little Ricky and “The Andy Griffith Show” had Opie, those characters remained peripheral except for occasional special episodes. 

GUESTWARD, HO! (1960-61)

In the 1950s, when you did well in the ratings, it meant you did really well in the ratings. “I Love Lucy” had nearly a 50 Nielsen rating, meaning that a whopping half of TV owners were tuning in. There was one negative side effect to such massive success — the actors were typecast. Vivian Vance, best known as Ethel Mertz, found out the hard way when she was cast as the lead in “Guestward, Ho!” She filmed the pilot but was axed from the series thanks to her own bosses not being able to see her as an actress, not as Ethel, "I kept waiting for Lucy to come in," one network exec complained. Thus, Vance was replaced, and Joanne Dru was cast as Babs Hooten, a real-life Big Apple mom who moved her clan to New Mexico to run a dude ranch. There was even a cute, Opie-ish kid (Flip Mark) and a dog.  Alas, this Western comedy only lasted a season on ABC. 

It didn’t take long for Lucy to convince Viv to join her on “The Lucy Show”, although the move did little to counteract her typecasting as Lucy’s sidekick. A girl has to eat! 

HARRIGAN AND SON (1960-61)

This father-son legal comedy might only be remembered for its far more famous lead-in — “The Flintstones.” Both sitcoms premiered on Friday nights on ABC in 1960, with the live-action Desilu show preceding the animated adventures in Bedrock. A series revolving around an veteran lawyer who constant blurted quotes in Latin was perhaps not the best way to hook families awaiting a cartoon with dinosaurs. 

The show starred Pat O’Hara as Harrigan Senior, and two products of Lucy’s Desilu Workshop, Roger Perry and Georgine Darcy, who starred with Lucy and Desi in their 1959 Christmas Special “The Desilu Revue.”  Notable guest stars such as Eva Gabor, John Astin, and Ken Berry gave the lawyers’ high jinks a great pedigree. In another time slot it just might have clicked.

FAIR EXCHANGE (1962-63)

The most fascinating aspect of this forgotten comedy was its length. The fish-out-of-water sitcom ran for a full hour. With twice the time to fill, “Fair Exchange” was essentially two shows in one. Two young women, one from NYC and one from London, both the daughters of WWII buddies, switch households. Judy Carne (above with Mark Goddard) played the Brit visiting in Manhattan; Lynn Loring was the Yank in the UK. Both went on to great success after this noble failure. Carne was later shouting, "Sock it to me!" on “Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.” Decades later, Loring had worked her way up the Hollywood ladder to become the president of MGM/UA Television Productions. Flip Mark, directly from “Guestward, Ho!” was also a series regular. He’d also appear in two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”  After CBS axed “Fair Exchange,” fans flooded the network with letters, and the sitcom was briefly revived in half-hour form. 

GLYNIS (1963)

Welsh actress Glynis Johns is perhaps best known to American families as the suffragette mom in Disney's “Mary Poppins.” If her eponymous sitcom had clicked with viewers, she might not have landed the role. Glynis hit small screens a year earlier than “Poppins,” bringing a high concept to Wednesday nights — as a lead-in to “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” two of the top three shows on television. Johns played a mystery writer married to a defense attorney (Keith Andes). Andes had recently starred on Broadway with Lucille Ball in Wildcat. Together they solved crimes — with laughs along the way. Think “Murder She Wrote” meets “Perry Mason” with punchlines. Perhaps it was just a bit too ahead of its time. In fact, it was. Two years later, in 1965, CBS reran the 13 episodes as a summer filler in place of “The Lucy Show.” It came in sixth in the Neilsen ratings.

[relaxandlaughatyourself]

Recap of Dem and Ika’s IG Live January 16, 2019. 

They gave their thoughts on the cbbus2 cast among other things.

They are in the kitchen and said they’re going to stream live from youtube but wanted to come on here first to ask some advice about it. They ask for some advice about what settings to use on the youtube live and such.

They’re not posting a youtube video today so they wanted to do a live instead to appease the youtube people too.

Someone says to name the youtube live “cooking with demika.” Ika: “You know that name has outgrown us, right babe?” Dem: “It has not, I am still quite fond of it.”

“I want the youtube people to stop coming for me and I want them to stop coming for my boyfriend. You won’t get him. Even with your real hair.” Ika says that the youtube people are trying to change her. Dem says to try new things and do a youtube live.

“Dem does the cooking here, especially when I’m sad and can’t do anything.” They say he always do breakfast. Dem says he tried a new technique to cook bacon this morning and it did not work.

Ika: “They always say in the comments ‘stop complaining, you’ll push him away.’ That’s how I got him, ha!” Dem: “Is that how you got me?”

Ika says she shouldn’t do the youtube live now because she’s feeling hateful and they’ll unsubscribe. “I’m gonna undo all your work.”

Ika: “I’m not in a very good mood.” Dem: “I know. But you’re pretty.”

Ika says that they will watch the challenge because of Josh. “People say Demetres should go on the challenge… no, he has a girlfriend, he’s staying home! You’re not allowed to go.” Josh is in the chat, and Ika says he is her favorite, her untouchable number one.

Ika tells Dem to put a book under the computer to prop it up. Dem: “A book? Like I read?!” Ika says he has a lot of real estate books.

They say they recorded a video… “but we couldn’t post it…” Dem: “Due to exterior factors.”

They try to start youtube live but it’s asking them for credentials and downloads and such. Dem says he’ll work on it tonight but it’s not gonna happen now.

Thoughts on BB

They like Natalie a lot, she was so nice. Love her. They agree.

Lolo gave them Shannon vibes, Dem wasn’t feeling her that much.

The Mooch. Ika liked him a lot, they think he’s hilarious and really likeable on and off camera. Dem was very impressed with him, “he has 200 million bucks! He was a really nice guy and seems open minded.” They liked him, said he’s really funny. Surprised they liked him.

Joey. Dem says he didn’t like him. “I didn’t like Joey. I didn’t like Joey’s attitude.” Ika says it came off like he didn’t want to be there.

Dina. She was nervous. She was cool though, may be fun to watch. “Dina gave me someone who’s going to be crying vibes. A little sensitive.”

Ryan. They liked him, he’s goofy and funny. He comes off naïve and innocent but funny. Dem says he reminds him of him, Ika says not really. Ika wants Ryan to go really far, she liked him a lot.

Jonathan. He was a lot, Dem starts laughing. She says he came in to the interview late and he gave her 100 percent, she appreciated that. He brought his stylist and makeup person and he had them touch up Ika’s makeup.

Tamar. She was fun and funny, will give good DRs. Excited about going on the show. Dem says she was one of the few that were fans.

Kandi. She was nice, interested in how to get far and what she should do to stay around.

Tom Green. Dem told her beforehand how funny he was. “I feel like Tom Green is funny for white people.” He’s stupid funny, Dem likes that stuff. He might last. He’s Dem’s pick to win, not that he wants him to win, but he thinks he may pull it off. He was very interested in the strategic part of the game. She likes the celebs that have an appreciation for the game.

Ricky. She doesn’t know what to say… quiet, laid back, hard to read. He said he would be the most intelligent person in the house, Dem: “he thinks he’s smart.”

Kato. Seemed like he wants to get to know him without the OJ Simpson trial. Dem says he was a lot and brought a lot of energy.

Dem was thinking that Kandi would bring more energy and personality.

Her thoughts for who will go home first: She hopes Joey goes home first because he doesn’t seem to want to be there. Dem agrees.

Who she wants to see get into an alliance: She wants someone to be loyal to Natalie. They love her.

She thinks Lolo will be a little extreme, she’s competitive and can’t hide it. Dem said he could tell how competitive she was just sitting there.

Dina will either go far or will annoy people and they’ll send her home.

Dem is scared they’re going to be threatened by Ryan. Ika doesn’t think that’s gonna be an issue, she thinks he’ll be more of a Metta, Dem thinks more of a Chuck Liddell, as far as how they’re viewed in the house.

Tom Green has a girlfriend, so no showmance for him. Eva is married. They can’t forsee any showmances.

Ika says that the people she don’t like and those she does like go far.

She won’t be sad if Ricky goes home first. Dem is curious to see him on the block, says he knows how mad he got and he wants to see if Ricky will too.

Ika says that Dem throws temper tantums, Dem says no, Ika: “What you didn’t see on the show is that Dem throws temper tantrums.” Dem: “The dryer wouldn’t work earlier…”

She says she doesn’t know what happened to the Tamar interview.

They’re excited for the first episode, Ika says to watch it then make judgements. Dem says after the interviews he’s excited more for the show. Ika is pumped BB is back. Ika says he’s going to refrain from saying mean things on twitter.

Dem randomly mentions he likes her hair, “yeah, you said you like this one.”

They say if the celebs were in there longer they would die. Dem was shocked they were complaining about sequester when it was two days.

They aren’t going to watch live feeds. “Twitter is our live stream.”

Both Ika and Dem are so tired. Dem: “Let’s go watch a movie, eat our food and crash.”

Someone says she seems short with Dem. Ika says that she’s not frustrated with Dem, she doesn’t want him to say certain things about ET Canada and the interviews, he’s not as censored.

Dem says if twitter had an edit button he would use it more. Ika says she’ll find his errors on IG and he can edit them.

Dem jokes that Ika is being short with him, Ika: “am I?! I don’t mean to be.” She laughs and looks genuinely sad about it. Dem says they’ll watch a horror movie. Ika: “I’m going to get short.”

Someone says they look high. Ika says that they’re just tired, they don’t smoke.

Ika: “I’m sorry you think I’m short right now. You’re so nice, and you cook for me.” Dem: “You’re tall right now.” Ika: “Maybe if you rub my feet I’ll be better.” Ika: “You’ll rub me?” Dem: “I’ll rub you baby.”

Ika: “You know what I feel? I feel upset but I don’t know why.” Dem: “You’re super cute. It’s okay.” Ika: “And I’m taking it out on you, I’m sorry.”

Ika says she just feels hateful, Dem says he feels like that sometimes, in the mornings.

Ika: “As soon as this live is over, you’re going to give me a hug and rub my feet, and they’ll never see it.” Dem says that they should put cameras in there so we can see how she really is.

Dem: “She’s so pretty. Look at her.” He turns the camera to her.

Ika: “When I’m hateful and he doesn’t deserve it, and he’s sleeping, I’ll wake him up and apologize. And he just says it’s okay.”

Dem says that when she’s mad, he’ll try to make her eat, get her her favorite things and will tell him she’s not hungry, but he knows she is starving. But she also says when she’s mad she doesn’t get hungry. Ika says when she’s upset, he’ll antagonize her sometimes. Dem: “I will.” Ika says that she’ll leave, and one time she was gone and he sent her a text that she should go get a coffee. Dem: “These are words from Karen SIngbiel – you’re either a problem solver or a problem maker. And I looked at the text and knew it was a problem maker. Send.” Ika says it upset her because usually when they are not okay, he is the problem solver and will make sure they’re okay, and that time he wasn’t. Dem says it was one time. Dem: “Baby, come here.” He pulls her to her and kiss her.

Dem says that in the middle of the night when she can’t sleep, she’ll wake him and tell him she’ll go make him a strong cup of coffee. Ika: “But I love my honey bunches. Will you rub me? I’m not saying I love you so you rub me, I do love you, but…”

Dem says he has an early morning tomorrow, and Ika asks if she’ll still get breakfast before he goes to work.

Live runs out of time as they’re talking about youtube and how Dem gets sad when the videos don’t do well. Ika: “It’s okay, honey.”

[raven-dale]

y don't u ship chair

,, really? In 2018? This needs to be asked?

I’m - I hope I don’t seem like I’m trying to be obtuse anon but this ask has me shook lol

But if you want to know, I’ll tell ya

So I genuinely hate ch*ir and ch*ck bass. I 100% hate them to an inch of my life. They’re worse than a NOTP. I’ve never experienced a ship that made my blood boil like this one, I just. Make it stop.

And here goes the reasons :

1) Chuck Bass is a terrible person. He is genuinely a piece of shit. In the first episode alone he sexually assaulted Jenny and Serena and in conjunction with that attempted to rape an underage Jenny. He then later (S3?) admitted to sexually assaulting female workers at his dad’s hotel and all he had to say about it was that he wasn’t that person anymore. Lol. And besides that, he doesn’t even have any other redeeming qualities either. He’s narcissistic, selfish, always blaming other people, never takes responsibility for his actions. Chuck Bass is terrible and I don’t want to hear shit about he changed, fucking BS. the only person he was a stomachable character with was Eva. And that didn’t last long either.

2) He treats Blair terribly and is just bad for her. The most striking of the earlier moments is when he akins her to a prostitute in a derogotary way I think his words were “rode hard and put away wet” like wow. If I didn’t already hate the thought of ch*ir, that sealed the deal. This is not the last time he slutshames, disrespects and insults her. Oh, let’s not forget the time HE SOLD HER FOR A HOTEL. If you haven’t watched GG (DON’T IT’S THE WORST sjskdkdkdld) that actually happened. He sold her, to his perverted uncle for a hotel. Real love story potential ayyyye? And then, and then! After she chases Eva away (which I’ll admit he had a right to be angry about) he actually declares war on her. Like legit, threats and all. And he then goes out of his way to make her life terrible, including screwing with her career. AND THEN, JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THIS FUCKING SHIP COULDN’T GET MORE TOXIC : He smashes a glass window next to her face, glass cutting her in the process, after telling her that she can’t marry Louis because “you’re mine” and I’m sorry but that’s literal assault and I refuse to ship that. Just some additional points : he consistently puts himself before her (disclaimer: there are points when he puts her first but I mean…), e.g he expects her to be fine with him having success whether or not they’re together despite her success being challenged when they’re together. Another thing, is how he encourages her worse qualities but then gets mad at her when he is not in the mood or when it has adverse consequences for him, i.e. he encourages her scheming but then when it’s at his expense he is pissed off and doesn’t even let her explain (which when paralleled to the way Dan reacts to her scheming like here x is very telling).

3) Blair is not good for him. I love Blair, she’s amazing and even with her messy qualities I stan. But that doesn’t change the fact that, maybe not to the same extent but still, like he is a bad influence on her she’s also a bad influence on him. She messes with his life and doesn’t give him what he needs (a therapist and jail time tbh) and she -despite acknowledging his terrible behavior and traits- still idolizes him as her “one great love”. Don’t even get me started on how she schemed to make him chase Eva off, despite Eva being the single best thing to ever happen to Chuck. And her insecurities and his narcissistic and all around fucked up personality was a match made in hell.

4) Their love was toxic. It was all the things love shouldn’t be. But all the things movies paint as a great love. It was toxic, unhealthy, terribly painful to have to watch. A girl genuinely thinking her abuser was the one. A girl choosing a good love, a pure love rooted in respect and trust and equality for someone who wanted her based on his whims. It’s truly sad and heartbreaking to watch.

And that’s just a small composition on why I don’t ship them. 

Another thing : I never shipped them. There was never one point when I was like “wow they’re cute, I ship” because I love Blair. And she deserves better than Chuck Bass. Most people I know shipped them at some point or another but I can’t.

If this post offended you, I’m sorry but I genuinely can’t find it in me to even respect the ship or the character.

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Robert Daniels on 812 Film Reviews: On the 35th Anniversary of the ‘Care Bears Movie:’ A Reminder that It’s Nightmare Fuel

Back in 1996, my parents owned an auto-parts store; and because they worked long hours, with limited time to devote to my older brother and younger sister, movies sometimes served as our daycare—animated films like Kiki’s Delivery Service and The Great Mouse Detective. To these ends, sometime when I was 6-years old, my parents bought the Care Bears Movie on VHS. G-Rated and saccharine, the damn cartoon gave me nightmares.

Before the film’s production, these lovable animated characters began as a line of plush toys introduced in 1981. Each ursine came in a different color with a unique belly badge: some had rainbows, others hearts, others lollipops. And each bear’s name reflected a feeling or thought: like grumpiness or cheer. These cuddly bears were soon featured in kids books and on cereal boxes, and had their own television special beginning with The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings. However by 1984, American Greetings, the plush dolls’ creators, began toying around with the idea of producing a feature-length movie to further promote the ursine creatures. 

On March 29, 1985, director Arna Selznick’s The Care Bears Movie was released. Narrated by a Mr. Cherrywood (Mickey Rooney), the head of an orphanage, he orates a bedtime story to a group of children about a gang of lovable ursine.His story is two-fold: first is the orphaned brother and sister Kim (Cree Summer Francks) and Jason (Sunny Besen Thrasher) who believe no one loves them. The other is the young and lonely magician’s assistant to Mr. Fetuccini (Brian George) Nicholas (Hadley Kay).

The care bears intervene in both stories. Friend Bear (Eva Almost) and Secret Bear (Anni Evans) introduce themselves to Kim and Jason in the park. While Tenderheart (Billie Mae Richards) approaches Nicolas in Mr. Fetuccini’s caravan. Friend and Secret bear initially succeed by spreading cheering, though later Kim and Jason are accidentally transported to the ursine’s cloud and rainbow-soaked world of Care-a-Lot. Nevertheless, Nicholas ultimately falls under the spell of an evil sorceress trapped inside a magic book (voiced by Jackie Burroughs) bent on ending love in the world and extinguishing the care bears. 

The cartoon beyond its plot has multiple issues. For one, the representation of the kids is creepy. In fact, Mr. Fetuccini has a large peep hole hidden underneath his desk looking into Nicholas’ room. Why is it there, who knows? In any case, Tenderheart uses the opening to spy on Nicholas. There, he witnesses the green face of a sorceress, an allusion to The Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, rise from magical tome’s pages to seduce the boy. When Tenderheart finally reaches Nicholas in the other room, he interrupts the ghostly arms of the book’s spirit wrapped around the boy’s head, bringing him in for a suggestive smooch.   

While the spirit is off-putting, these colorful bears aren’t cute either. They’re a menace. They approach kids like Kim and Jason in parks (aren’t children taught not to talk and take things from strangers—especially when they’re talking alien bears hiding behind trees?) These plush animals also watch kids from the sky to monitor their care levels. It’s how they targeted Kim and Jason. Worst yet, they shoot frinkin laser beams from their tummy tattoos—making them unstable weapons—while possessing an unsettling earnestness. They have the same earnestness that tricked people into thinking Chuck E. Cheese animatronics weren’t Satan’s rejects. It’s no wonder I feared these off-kilter bears, and Nicholas swerves past them, too. 

Instead, he falls under the influence of the spirit. She promises to make him a greater magician than Mr. Fetucinni, and to help him enact spells as payback against the kids who refused to be his friends. Unfortunately, Nicholas’ incantations turn earth and the circus grounds into a gloomy demented place with disrepaired tents and homes, and marauding gangs of cackling vindictive children roaming the countryside. Consequently, the ursine’s home kingdom Care-a-Lot turns dark and stormy as rainbows crack and shatter because of cloud quakes. Also, their realm’s power source (the Caring Meter) loses energy as earth morphs into “A world without love.” The bears, along with Kim and Jason, soon depart their homeland, venturing into the Forest of Feelings. There, they discover other plush animals: an elephant, a lion, and a monkey, among others—who feel like lower caste beings. 

And yes, the Forest of Feelings always haunted me. In it, a purple demonic tree with yellow-green eyes tries to eat Jason, a whirlpool nearly consumes the care bears’ cloud boat, and a spirit eagle with talons as big as school buses swoops to claw the fleeing children and bears. These hallucinogenics in a colorful but creepy forest, akin to Alice in Wonderland, ran against the G-Rated programming the animated film promised its young viewers. Instead, eagle’s talons haunted my 6-year old brain like Freddy Krueger did to my 15-year old insomnia, with horrifying images of being chased. 

The songs accompanying the Care Bears Movie didn’t help either. Though the soundtrack received contributions from songwriting and producing superstars like Lou Adler, Carole King, and John Sebastian a tune like the jaunty Edwardian “When You Care, You’re Not Afraid to Try” features the same cultish instructions as “It’s A Small World After All.” As the latter charges, “There’s so much that we share,” the former says, “We need the swift and the small. We’ll need the strong and the tall…Cause when you care, you’re not afraid to try” as the music spins and accelerates wildly out of control into a fever dream of the kids and bears skipping in a circle.

But the worst track is “Look Out, He’s After You.” About as thoughtful as a Whose Line is it Anyways? skit, the needle drop happens during the cartoon’s final act, when the care bears return to earth to save Nicholas. By now, Nicholas is a cackling cape wearing psychopath chasing Kim and Jason through a creepy fun house adorned with pink demonic paintings of clowns. As someone who watched Stephen King’s It at the age of 8, this Care Bears sequence was scarier. It’s an edgelord white kid hunting other children while the chimes of “It’s a nightmare coming true (The evil that’s spreading is starting to grow)…Look out! He’s after you!” play over his pursuit.

Years later, I’ve learned why I initially didn’t identify with this magician’s assistant. In some scenes, one begins to think that Nicholas deserves his loneliness. When Tenderheart is thrown into a cage by the evil spirit, even before Nicholas has succumbed to her influence, he responds at the sight with, “Hey, neat.” Moreover, though he’s lonely, Nicholas isn’t exactly bullied. Though kids laugh at him, they only do so after he joins up with a deranged talking book that makes him perform lame magic tricks in front of them. In turn, Nicholas decides to end the world because he isn’t a recipient of their adoration. That means the Care Bears Movie elevates the feelings of a toxic white male over everyone else, setting a dangerous example for its white male audience that they too can end the world if they’re driven into the hands of an evil book and perform terrible magic tricks.

Freakishly horrifying and oddly demented: For these reasons, the Care Bears Movie is and was straight-up nightmare fuel that haunted me for weeks. And because of it, I never wanted a care bear when I was a kid, and I hate rainbows now, too.  

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[terrencellovesyou]

It’s time for one of my wonderful rants

I was bored ~still am by the way~ and I decided to go through both the anti-Dair and anti-Chair tags on Tumblr. Well, it has been a while since I’ve decided that I wanted to write my opinion on all of this, but with university and my internship, time wasn’t really something I had. Anyway, if you are bored as well and want to read what I’m about to say, I would be thrilled, especially if any of you have any opinion on it, regardless of who you ship.

So, Gossip Girl first episode came out almost 10 years ago, yeah I know, and I still watch it periodically. I first started watching the show when I was 11 years old and I instantly became obsessed. As the years went by I matured, when through all kinds of life experiences (especially in the last couple years) that made me view some aspects of the show differently. Since my Tumblr name is waldorfbasss you can infer that I ship Chair.

As I said, I was bored and went through both tags to read people`s opinions on both relationships, analyzing what Chair shippers thought of Dair and Chair, and vice-versa. It was clear that both sides are completely biased and I could say that Dan and Blair shippers are a little more delusional (I promise I’m not being partial, or at least I’m trying not to be). Why do I say that? Because if you go on the anti-Chair tag, one of the first posts you’ll see is a gifset comparing the terrible things Chuck has said to Blair to the good ones Dan said. I think it’s valid, honestly, but let’s not forget to do the comparison for both sides. I thought I had seen a gifset doing exactly that, but I did not find it, but anyway. You can point out things in a way that is more beneficial to prove your point, and that works for basically anything in life. Chuck did his share of dreadful things to Blair, I’m not even gonna try to deny that, but so did Dan, and worse, he was supposed to be older and presumably, more mature and he always pretended to be better.

There are two key points when it comes to Chair critics: Chuck was abusive and a horrible person, who manipulated Blair and made her be less than she was. First things first, I don’t know how many times I’ll have to say this but BLAIR WALDORF WAS NEVER A FUCKING SAINT. It amazes me how people in general forget who was the most manipulative and bitchy character in Gossip Girl and try to put on Chuck all the blame of being a “horrible person”. I’m not defending Chuck at all, especially when it comes to the Empire/Blair trade and the “you are mine” + accidently hurting her with glass. Both attitudes were despicable and way worse than anything Dan has done, but (yeah there’s a but), those were clear mistakes that he later on apologized for (and was forgiven), and most importantly, did not commit again, or anything remotely close to that. In spite of these two “episodes” Chuck and Blair’s relationship was not abusive. Yes, you read it write. If you don’t believe me just google “abusive relationship”. I’m not saying, though, that it was one hundred percent healthy or that those two very specific moments were not abusive. You can say Chuck was manipulative, but so was Blair. This was actually a trait that they liked about each other, together with their games and schemes. Since we mentioned the two horrible things Chuck did to Blair, I should also point out when Blair was blatantly abusive to Chuck. Do you guys remember when Chuck was dating Eva and minding his own business, when Blair did everything she could to put Eva down and destroy their relationship, just because Chuck was happy with someone who was not her? Or when Blair made him wait for her while she dated Dan? They were both abusive assholes to one another in specific scenarios and extremely manipulative on a regular basis (as said before, they weren’t in a healthy relationship for some of the time), but they both were and at first they didn’t mind, but later decided to grow out of it.

Argument number two: Chuck was a horrible person. There are a lot of things to say about this, inside and outside of the tv show context. It’s obvious that he abused two girls (Serena and Jenny) trying to rape them both on the pilot, but that was a fucking pilot, he even had a mother and rode the bus, so. I’m not trying to excuse him on this one, but when saying thigs like that, the whole context should be taken into consideration. He was still a pig on season one and on other occasions, but, fortunately, he matured and changed (I know, right? Unbelievable that people can actually change wow). Chuck was a horrible person, but he started to change and mature during season four and five, and it’s clear by the end of this extremely bad written tv show, that he had become a better person (by the way, best character development on the show). People change, grow up and mature (eventually), even if it is for worse, which was Dan’s case.

It’s ridiculous hearing people say Blair was weak around Chuck and that her goals revolved around him solely. Blair was strong and independent since day one, she never bowed herself for men (except when she dated Dan, an OOC moment). Season six was a mess, but don’t get me started on how much Chuck encouraged Blair on everything and I quote “Don't let anyone tell you you're not powerful. You're the most powerful woman I know.”. What a horrible selfish prick.

I wanna start off by talking about myself and my personal experience to justify what I’m about to say. As I mentioned before, I was 11 when I started watching Gossip Girl and I never kissed anyone until I was 18 and that guy ended up being my boyfriend for two and a half years. So, before the end of 2014 I didn’t even know what kissing was, let alone the dynamic of a relationship. Being broken up now for four months after two and a half years with someone, I can base a lot on my personal experience. As soon as I broke up I started rewatching GG for the 17th time and when Dair started happening I actually didn’t think they were as bad as I thought before [being in an actual relationship]. Not once, though, I liked it or thought it was cute, but I understood Blair a little better. If I had a friend like Dan was to Blair, I would probably give him a chance after my relationship ended, because I was fragile and missing having someone there.

The things I’m about to say, therefore, are based on what I saw of Dan and Blair’s relationship and on my personal experience. There are many things about Dair that are delusional and unrealistic (that I will gladly accept responses on) and with Dan himself. Again, first things first. Blair was in a really bad emotional place when she started dating Dan and that was so wrong and unfair to him, because, as you can see later, he fell for her and loved her, but she didn’t, she just needed someone to help her bounce back on her feet and he was there. The relationship started wrong right dair (got it?). Many of the Dair shippers defend that they were equals and that they liked the same stuff and, therefore, were perfect for each other. Well, trust me when I say that having things in common is not enough, especially when you are completely different people. Someone once said that Blair went from being an Audrey Hepburn fan to being a cult movie and art aficionado and I agree. This “common interest” was molded and created so that they would have something to bond over when they became friends, but even if we let the horrible writing aside, I’ll repeat, having things in common is not enough to neither make a relationship work or maintain a “good” relationship, let alone make it perfect. When you have different life perspectives, dreams and values it’s pretty damn hard to put those aside to consider only the points you think are good, and that happened a lot with Dair. Blair didn’t want to go to Rome for multiple reasons, but imagining that she did want to go, don’t you think that she would like to stay on the best hotel, eat at the most exclusive places and shop whenever she had the chance? And it’s clear to me that Dan would not be a fan of those things. As to the being equals part I don’t have to say much, I’ll just take Blair’s words from season six “tasks are for minions and Dan Humphrey”. They were not equals and definitely didn’t see each other as such.

What gets me the most about this relationship is that Dan never truly loved Blair Waldorf. As I mentioned before, Dan said his amount of shitty things to/about Blair, and he thought he was right. Dan built in his mind what he wanted Blair to be, cutting of all of the things he didn’t like and pretending they didn’t exist. He fell in love with Claire, his character from Insider. It was nothing other than an idealistic Blair that he manufactured to be what he wanted, but who in the real world had a lot of the flaws he despised.

Another aspect that is really interesting to me is how can people say that Chuck was horrible and put Dan on a “great guy” pedestal? Did you forget that he manipulated everyone around him? He was Gossip Girl for fucks sake. It was sociopathic the way he maneuvered the scenarios and planted the gossip that was good for him, such as posting that video on Blair’s wedding and posing as the victim, so she would think Chuck had done it and go running back to him for support. I’m not talking exclusively about Blair in here. Dan was creepy and in the end the most disturbing thing about GG’s finale was how easy everyone accepted the fact that he was manipulating information, plotting and using people to get what he wanted. Regardless of Dair, Dan was the worst character in the show, since season one, only getting worse with time.

I could go on and on about both relationships, but I just wanted, on this post, point out the mainly points I saw on those two tags. I am pretty aware of all the flaws Chuck and Blair’s relationship had, but one thing people don’t seem to get is that they were both disturbed and dark, but they matured and changed. They are extremely alike in more ways than one. I hate that people forget how bad Blair is and blame it all on Chuck. As for Dan and Blair, they just didn’t match and the only thing they had in common was their love for movies. The same way all relationships have flaws, theirs did as well, and quite a lot, mostly because of the fact that Dan loved Claire and Blair loved Chuck. She was fragile and lost after losing Chuck and the baby, and then Louis; she needed someone and Dan was there, she used him (unconsciously of course). Dan on the other hand wanted to be Blair’s savior, like he wanted to be for Serena.

One thing I like to make pretty clear: Chair should not be relationship goals. Serena once said, “two wrongs make a twisted right”. Twisted right describes them perfectly, they are dark twisted and troubled, but somehow, they are right for each other. Chuck evolved and matured and so did Blair, but neither are examples of great people. Nor is their relationship an example of healthy. Their evolution, though, is something to take into consideration. The way they wanted to be equals and have their minds set and focused on the relationship is awesome. Their relationship, especially in the end, has great lessons, both good and bad.

We are adults and should be able to spot the differences between fiction and reality, to be able to see what’s wrong on tv and try not to mimic in real life. This serves for all the relationships, not only the ones involving Blair or Gossip Girl.

[narwhalhowell-blog]

skam spin-off

to keep with the theme of positiveness for this blog, i wanted to talk a lil about the US version of skam ! admittedly hopes for the show aren’t the greatest, but rn there’s heaps of love in the tags for some really promising outcomes for the series and where it could be set. and it got me thinking, what if in some alternate universe we could have an english spin-off of skam that wasn’t set in america ?? i, as an australian, think skam would translate perfectly into a quaint little show set in australia, and below i wanna list why !

Most of what I’m going to say below is applicable to southern Australia (Melbourne and surrounds) so if you’re a fellow aussie and this doesn’t make sense, this is the geographical context !

also this is kinda long (....2440 words....) bc i got super passionate about this so if you wanna chuck me a like (even if you didn’t read it) it will make me feel better for wasting the past hour of my life AHAHAH

Australia is an incredibly diverse country, both in the people that live there and the terrain. Where I live, you could drive for thirty minutes in any direction and could find yourself in a) a bustling city b) a small suburbia c) rural areas/farms d) dense bushlands, and e) a beach. i’m not being dramatic either, i could legit do this right now. 

but i think the allure of skam and love of it is not because of the characters and the appeal of a new culture (although character reliability helps, especially with the personalised touch with real-time clips and texts) but the authenticity of the experiences in the show transcend geographic barriers, and although australia has so many customs that may not translate well (but may in some places in the uk or in nz), we would still get the same feelings behind it if the show was treated well. below i have a small template about what the show would be like if it was set in australia, following the themes our beloved characters have left behind in the original series. 

also keep in mind this is an abstract reimagining of the themes, the events i’m hypothetically discussing (and secretly wishing someone would hire me to write lmao) are about a show like skam, not an actual remake. this is basically an Australian!OC au of skam.

season one; eva (and noora) equivalent

for this to make sense, if set in australia, it would probably set in a small suburb near melbourne. the main character would have moved from a small town (probably rural) and settled into a new high school. i want a storyline about a girl dealing with the societal expectations behind vanity, appearance, and how we present ourselves. i want a character that’s not a size 0, and a story following her. especially in australia, with a massively sports dominated culture (seriously, it’s all we care about), and her love of sport often being disregarded because of her weight and the fact that she’s a woman. fun fact, AFL (an australian sport that’s the most popular sport in southern states and has been around for DECADES, only just created a national league for women this year). alongside AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE that would be displayed throughout the season about embracing self-love, health doesn’t equate appearance, and we all have the right to pursue what we love, the main would befriend other girls in the school (and the local sports club, where i’m assuming a lot of time will be spent since that’s a fairly small town aussie thing) that don’t particularly ‘fit in’ and would become close, much like our girl squad. also along the lines of eva/jonas in s1, i want the romance for the season to follow the main and a boy, who she doesn’t like but feels obligated to like because she feels no one else will. this is something so many young people deal with, and i’ve never once seen it adapted to screen. it would be amazing to share the message that you have the freedom to love whoever you want, and you never have an obligation to like anyone back, even if you feel like there won’t be ‘anyone else’ (and hint: there will always be someone else). the season would end with the main having a beautiful group of friends, loving herself, allowing herself to play a sport she loves, and not feel the pressure to love someone because they like her.

season two ; sana equivalent

unlike skam, it would be awesome if season 2 (and arguably the show’s main premise) to follow the sana equivalent as opposed to a noora. this main season’s character would be another girl from the first season’s new friendship group, who happens to be an indigenous australian. for those of you who don’t know about australia’s institutionalised racism, indigenous australians (or aboriginals) were the nation of people who lived in australia before the british colonised coastlines in 1788. basically the british ignored them and still claimed australia despite the land being rightfully theirs, and the settlers built our nation on segregation and racism. from 1905-1969 (and in some places, even still in the 70s) the australian government actually seized mixed-race aboriginal children from their families in what is now known as the ‘stolen generation’ because the white men running the country believed that every single aboriginal was unfit to take care of their own children. many aboriginals still live in poverty, some retaining their old customs and others trying to 'join in’ westernised culture (with much reluctance, because like i said, so many people are still racist as shit). even in australia we hardly talk about this racism, let alone the rest of the world. so i think it would be so incredible to have an entire season (and really, a show) centered around a young aboriginal girl who’s grown up in the suburbs like everyone else (due to the tireless efforts of her parents who battled adversity) to try and ‘fit in’ despite no one accepting her. unlike sana’s season, this hypothetical season 2 would primarily focus on the season’s main, her insecurity about her heritage and thus distancing from her family and perhaps engaging in behaviour she wouldn’t otherwise. it’s so important for this character to have a personality in the sense that she’s more than a stereotype, and i see her as being a bright but quirky girl who isn’t very athletic but she’s so kind and optimistic but has a lot of self esteem issues and tends to distance herself from people due to her feeling inferior. the season’s romance would probably orientate around one of the more popular guys in her school (but nothing like william) - he’s very extroverted and funny and charismatic, hence why he’s popular, but the main feels like she never has a chance because he’s not indigenous so why would he acknowledge her??? i want them to develop an unlikely friendship (the viewers knowing that the main has a massive crush but unbeknownst to the actual main herself) and idk the exact details but the season will revolve around some sort of event that will end with the main embracing her heritage and proudly sharing her origin story and being extremely proud of her aboriginal ancestors, as she rightfully should be! also, she eventually gets the boy despite resistance (both on her end and her family’s) and we’d have a really sweet interracial relationship to grace us. :)

season three ; isak equivalent

This is still such a big issue in Australia, all things lbgtqia+ related, because as you may know, Australia still hasn’t legalised our marriage equality bill (although our government technically legalised it in 2013, albeit not properly so it was nullified after a month). But surprisingly, especially in sports clubs and smaller towns, Australia is still so conservative in the way it views gender roles. Everything is still so static. School uniforms at school are still so strict and gender orientated (people can get sent home for not doing up their shoes, legit. And this was at a public school). And the sports clubs we have here are typically an AFL/Netball club, in which the boys play Australian Football, and the girls netball, and it’s sort of just assumed you date the opposite gender depending??? (Much less allow boys to play netball and girls to play football, until recently at least). This season would follow a boy, who probably befriended the season one main at the football club and helped her out during that time, who is gay. Now it’s important to note that yes, there’s still a major deficiency of good wlw relationships and trans, intersex and asexual characters, well, everywhere, but funnily enough australia seems far more accepting of wlw as opposed to mlm, in terms of sports clubs, which is why i think this is still an important story to tell. often homophobic language is still tossed around and some people don’t even know there’s an underlying context to it. it’s just so ingrained in the culture that it’s hard to think of alternatives (if you’re wondering, i live in a family of football players, grew up at one of these clubs as a netballer and have many footballer friends, so i know all of this from experience). This season would follow the main, as all of his mates are getting girlfriends and boasting about it as they tend to do, all hyped up for the end of season presentations after the football finals, which people usually showcase their girlfriends at .The main is obviously terrified, thinking there’s something wrong with him, that their entire team/family will discard him if he comes out. The sideplot of this season would follow season one’s main, who contrasts to this season’s main as their both the other’s main support (I also want the season one main to be bi or pan, not only to demonstrate to the s3 main than there are such sexual orientations outside heterosexuality, but damn i want some cute and healthy wlw relationships okay). Let’s say this season’s main is either the captain of the team or the coach’s son, and he feels so much pressure to excel that he’s lost a piece of himself and has such receded into himself and his battling his own demons (cue my lame ass excuse to play troye sivan constantly). NOW THIS IS AN ACTUAL THING THAT HAPPENS, some clubs in smaller towns develop rivalries with the closest club and it’s actually a tangible thing??? Like my dad still speaks badly of his rival club even tho it was such a childish thing based on nothing omg. So I picture insecure season main training up, and meets a guy from the other club (either as a player, or maybe a rare male netballer bc that is a thing, or even just a worker in the canteen but still tied up with the other club) and it’s basically about overcoming the prejudice of class (which is why the clubs are rivals) as well as homophobia and how supportive a group of these ‘manly men’ (die gender roles, really) and it being just the sweetest and most important thing ever. as well as a romance that, even though sort of forbidden bc of club rivalry, it all works out in the end and the main ends up taking the boy to that end of season presentation despite all the conservatives bc he’s proud and happy and so are all his friends. ALSO I NEED A MAJESTIC BEST FRIEND that supports the main so much, a Jonas!equivalent. I think it would be really special if it could be the romantic interest from s2, purely to see more of that healthy interracial relationship, but bc he’s also popular and to destigmatise status and see the only reason you have for not understanding other people is bc you’re an asshole. stop making popular kids in school inhuman or completely removed from ‘normal’ people.

season four ; even equivalent. 

so this final season would obviously deviate from skam as well, and i mean even equivalent in the sense of his character, not as the s3 romantic interest. i feel mental illness (and disability) are things that skam could have explored much more, and a season dedicated to mental health would be so incredible. i feel like this character would be a female character in the original girl group, and the main drama of the season is the end of year exams in the final year of high school. as for which specific mental illnesses or disabilities this character could have, i haven’t done enough research on this to give a proper and educated answer, but i’m sure ao many of you can name some that are so relevant in today’s society but aren’t discussed in the media at all (and should be). back to the season, unlike norway we don’t have any ‘big’ graduation things, besides muck up day (a day where everyone really goes crazy with pranks and dress ups), schoolies (which is where you go on holiday for like a week and be drunk the whole time) and val (formal dinner/dance/graduation thing). but unlike a lot of countries, australia’s education system is kinda stupid bc if you wanna go to university (in victoria, australia anyway) your exams for your final year are the only thing that can get you in. in australia, you are literally only assessed on the final year (every other year of high school is irrelevant) and universities don’t see any extracurriculars or anything about you. we also don’t do entrance exams or essays. literally all universities get is a number (out of 100) that ranks you with the rest of the state by how you went in your exams. that’s literally it (i honestly almost died in that year, it was the worst thing). so i want a season to sort of talk about the school stress, and anxiety of planning out your future, and mental health because although everyone relates to the stress of school, there’s not much media about why it’s so stressful (and hence, why no governments will ever try to change it). it’s also so important to talk about mental health issues, and i think this would be a wonderful way to end the series because it will be good to devote this season to other characters as well (so it’s not as heavy) but can end on a really uplifting note and talk about health and how the bad things, no matter how bad, are never permanent, and even though friendships aren’t permanent either, there are such things as soulmates (platonically or not), and i want to emphasise the platonically part in the friendship of these girls and how they survived these years together and overcame adversity in different ways.and that the experiences we all feel as teenagers and young people are not only relevant but are valid, and no one can demean you or your thoughts for your age. because we lack in wisdom doesn’t mean we lack knowledge, and our generation has plenty of love in our hearts to hopefully share and ensure we can overcome adversity together. 

~

... so yeah. That was a rant and a half about what an australian skam could look like! This is basically a fanfiction, really. But the whole point of writing this was just to say that yeah a non-US based skam adaption would be great (I would also love to see a Canadian or New Zealand skam, purely because they are countries that are also rarely acknowledged in terms of english-speaking countries in the media). Also this wasn’t a dig at Julie or her incredible show, as regardless of what happens I’m so glad I’ve been part of the skamily. But all I’m saying is that Julie has definitely inspired me, and hopefully others, to start telling more stories that are authentic and real, and not just what people want to hear. 

Alt er love. <3

[ohmama2012]

My Eulogy for Dad

This is the eulogy I read for my dad at his memorial service on April 28, 2019 at the Riverside Memorial Chapel in NYC. He passed away on April 2. I have revised a few things to correct typos and reflect what I actually said in the room, to the best of my recollection. I wrote this with a desire to let everyone in the room know who he was as a father, a side of him only I had the luck to know. It was my good friend Christopher Piatt, the only person I shared my draft with, who noticed the “stage manager” through line and advised me to add a few more theater anecdotes. I am indebted to him for the line about dad being a consummate stage manager at the center of our lives -- not just because it made a good line in the speech, but because it’s true and it helped me to see that. - Ali, 5/3/19 

According to family legend, one of my father's earliest memories of me, and one of his latest memories of his father, was the look of abject horror on my grandfather's face as I tangoed around the living room as a toddler, singing “I’d be Surprisingly Good For You” from Evita. In the song, little Eva propositions Juan Peron with something more than just a “frantic tumble and a shy goodbye.”

I grew up with the theater. And not just because I'll always think of my dad singing “Bobby Bubby Bobby” as he pulled out Company album on vinyl to place on the turntable.

I should add that’s rare form -- my dad didn’t much like singing along to the many musicals he so adored. He did sing me “Doh a Dear” as a lullabye, and I sang it to him repeatedly in his final days, but by and large he would say: “Lyrics are your mother’s department."

They made such a good theater pair. He designed the shows, she remembered the names and dates, and they both equally treasured the adventures. Their love of musicals shone through in their parenting. My mother likes to say that if Patti LuPone had had better diction, a young Alison Weiss would have never picked up the Evita libretto and learned to read.

If I learned my ABC’s from Evita, I learned my LBJs, IRTs, and LSDs -- and several latin words -- from the other great musical that I forever associate with my father. He got his start on Broadway stage managing Hair. He was not a hippie, but he was a great enabler, calling cues in a haze of pre-show puffs and taking the show on the road through the USA amidst a backdrop of the Vietnam era. He taught me so much history through his stories about working on Hair. 

But beyond the love of theater by association, my dad gave me the unique privilege of growing up as the child of a designer. As a baby, I crinkled canary paper at his drafting table. As a tot, I cut out collages from Rosco gel samples. As a kid, I made origami from extra Playbill inserts, hanging out in the box seats of a Broadway house during tech week.

He taught me a true love of New York. Once he sent me a postcard from LA, on which he wrote 3 words: “Sun & Sprouts!!!” He taught me that a city is the only place where you can just walk and run into people.

Once I ran into him on the street In New York, randomly, on 11th Avenue in midtown, on a summer day, as I walked south and he walked north. I was in my 20s and, naturally, upset about something. I saw him and hugged him and started to cry, and he took me out for lunch and told me everything I needed to know to feel better. He'd been coming from some theater-related errand or meeting. He used to walk everywhere. He would probably have walked all the way home to 83rd street had it not been for our meeting. And he walked FAST.

My dad liked to relax, but he had no patience for dilly-dallying. Always on a mission, he would run like lightening for a train that he could easily catch walking, leave 6 hours early for a flight, dash through the streets of a city on vacation rather than waste time strolling. Once, on the streets of Amsterdam on vacation, we repeatedly asked him to please slow down. There was no rush. The 75th time we nagged him with this request he snapped, "If I were walking any slower I'd be walking backwards on my hands!"

His dogged sense of time management was matched by his consistent desire to help. He was always reaching out to help with whatever I was doing, whether or not the help was needed. Often in response to this gesture I’d say: "Dad! I've got it!" But he never stopped trying to lift the box, carry the bag, hold the door, adjust the project, or move the stack of papers somewhere better where it wouldn't get lost.

Here is an incomplete list of things my dad taught me, in no particular order, either by example or by a lifetime of consistent reminders or some combination of the two.

Quack like a duck.

Thumb wrestle.

Properly hammer a nail. Use a level. Make pilot holes with an awl. Patch and sand walls.

See a need, fill a need.

The golden rule.

Warm tones make the colors around them look cool. Cool tones make the colors around them look warm.

Snakes are not smart.

You know rice is done when you see little craters appear on the top.

Never feign disinterest.

Never feign interest.

Put something on your feet.

You cannot be warm without a hat.

When driving on a curvy road at night, save time by changing lanes so as to stay on the inside of the curve. He called this: "Using Pi."

France had no problem letting Hitler take all the Jews.

You should be able to go all the way up Amsterdam Avenue without stopping if you just slow down and drive with the green lights.* There is nothing like a good stage manager.

This last one rings so true. He valued efficiency -- CALM efficiency, even in the midst of chaos and absurdity. (And I certainly gave him my share of chaos!)

He loved anybody who was good at their job, no matter the job. He valued confidence and imagination. He blended the science of getting things done well with the art of, well, the things he got done. He got art done. He made his living making art, and he worked his butt off and gave me a great life and I sometimes need to stop and smack myself to remember how brave that was.

My dad was brave, he did great things, and through it all it could be said that mother and I had in my father a consummate stage manager at the center of our world.  

But back to quacking like a duck. This was his signature sound effect and it's what sealed his status as the family duck. I feel like it's my obligation to demonstrate his quack. [Quack]  Fortunately for his grandchildren, when Aphasia took much of his speech, it never took his quack.

There was another sound effect I'm afraid I cannot replicate and that is his water drop. He tried to teach me. It's the perfectly-time combination of a swift blow out the mouth and a tap on the cheek. It made and echoing "bloop" sound that I can best describe off the top of my head as the VH1 pop-up video sound.

But back to his voice. My dad had a voice that smiled. "Hi Ali, it's your dad," began every voicemail. "Helllo!!!" began every visit. He delivered dry quips, delighted in awful puns, had the sickest sense of humor. He earned the silence of a room any time he paused to choose his next words. He spoke with the perfect grammar of a gentleman, and he greatly preferred storytelling to small talk. As someone who cherished long stretches of focus and reading without distraction, he often spoke in the hoarse, breathy tones of a person who, perhaps, had not spoken out loud in several hours.

One of his most oft-used adjectives later in life was fabulous. "Just fabulous," he'd say, of everything from Derek Jeter to Opera to something cute my kids did. It was this funny, slightly out-of-character word for his generation and it became his highest stamp of approval.

My dad also dropped F-bombs like the best of them. I admit to taking some glee in the fact that he lived to see my then 3-year-old son shout, in front of the entire family at Thanksgiving, "open-da-fucking-door!"

Everyone laughed. I looked at my dad. He looked at me. I said, "I will take the blame for this . . . but we all know where I got it." And Marc smiled sheepishly and nodded.

That look of recognition, of amusement, of understanding -- that sly, conspiratorial grin -- served as my lifelong homing beacon for all that is right and good. Even as his face began to take on the mask of what we can probably attribute to Parkinsonism, that glimmer of the old Marc would come through. He relished being a grandpa, and regaled the kids with quacks and faces and games even when his body was well past its airplane hoisting days, and his voice could no longer sell Sandra Boynton.

During the last birthday party for my kids he would attend, I subjected this frail man who enjoys peace and quiet to an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese. I believe, at least, he enjoyed the cake.  Frazzled at the end of the party, I stood at the ticket munching machines, which are, as you may know, these kiosks where you have to take your hundreds of loose strips of raffle-style tickets and feed them into a slot to redeem a voucher which you then take to a crowded counter to wait in line to buy plastic crap and candy. Dad likely had no idea about or interest in this nonsense system. At the time, I had asked someone to get him to the car and not worry about clean-up.

But as a big ball of loose Chuck E Cheese tickets fell from my hands to scatter all over the floor, and I stooped down to get them, there was dad's hand, from out of the crowd, with its tremor, struggling to pick up those tickets for me, because it was something he could do.

* * * 

You never expect to stand in the ER watching through the window as they attempt to keep alive the center of your world. But as I watched the doctor who oversaw the action we could not see behind the curtain, the doctor who spoke so calmly yet so intently, saying things like "OK, we have a pulse" . . . "next time let's try this" . . .  "remember, everyone, base-line state is non-verbal" . . . "can we bring down the noise level please" . . .  "OK here's what I want to try on the next one" . . .  "OK, does anybody have any ideas?" . . . as I stood watching this magician preside over what we would later learn was my father dying three times and being brought back to life, I turned to mother and said: "I hope Dad can hear this . . . because he would LOVE this guy."

I pictured my dad sitting at the table back home someday, fully-recovered, saying "that doctor who brought me back to life, he was JUST FABULOUS."

That doctor stage managed his final hours and gave him the gift of a peaceful and dignified goodbye. But it’s a brutally hard goodbye nonetheless.

I miss him exactly as he was in the end -- even had he not gotten "better," I would give anything to sit with him for years on end, to watch the glimmer in his eyes and the strength of his hand around mine stand in for the sound of his voice. But I also miss him as he was before the final years, and so did he.

"Dad, I miss you!" I said to him during one of our last phone calls. He said: "Oh, I miss me too." It wasn't self-pitying. It was witty and it was brave.