#although this morning was nice because it was so misty and foggy that it was basically raining

[imogenkol]

Me: dog sitting for a highly energetic dog that wakes me up at the ass crack of dawn will be good for me right now

Translation: I will know no peace for six (6) consecutive days

[stardust-and-snickerdoodles]

Baby Blue

fandom: Daredevil

pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

summary: You have chromesthesia, a form of synesthesia in which you experience sounds as colors. Lately, everything has been colorless. That is, until one vigilante comes to your aid.

warnings: depression, self-harm, referenced suicide attempt

word count: 1824

You wrap your arms around your torso tighter as you try to fight away the cold chilling your skin. The rain pelts against you in icy sheets and splashes to the pavement in a cacophonous symphony of droplets. You feel cold.

Not just physically, but emotionally. Your mind has given up on the idea that things would get better.

You don’t know why you are so cold. Physically, it is obvious. No jacket, no umbrella. You’d left your apartment hours ago. That was before it had started raining and before the sun had set in a blaze of red-orange on the horizon. You hadn’t thought of the possibility that you might be out for a while. Now it seemed only logical. Why would you want to go back there? Back where the tear-stained tissues littered the floor of your bedroom like trash on the beach, blue and black. Back where the blade still lay on the counter, orange and black. Back where the sink still carried traces of your self-torture, all red and hurt and pain and black. Everything was black. Everywhere, black. Black. Black.

It used to be all different colors. Mom’s voice was green, but not grass green; no, mama was pine tree green. Dad’s laugh was pink, even when he didn’t like to hear it. The sizzling of bacon each morning was yellow. The wind through the trees on the farm back at your real home, that was all misty grey and foggy white.

You hold your arms a little closer to your chest, as if just the thought of the wind will blow all your broken pieces away. The rain is orange and black. Black. Everything is black now.

You pick up your chin a bit as you pass by a bar, full to nearly capacity with bikers and businessmen alike; hell, probably some murderers too. A few weeks ago, it would have been a rainbow, but everything is black now.

You feel cold again, in your mind. The noise and color of the bar fade and you look up at the rooftops as you pass by them. Each one the exact same, all black. Until…

There’s a figure crouching down on one of the roofs; you can hear how to wind breaks around the silhouette. There’s a little baby blue amid all the black. Just the sight of it makes you feel a little warmer. You pause in your tracks, the rain still hitting your bare arms and bouncing to the sidewalk. The figure, although completely still, seems to freeze even more as you look up. Then, there is the slightest tilt of a head and you can make out the silhouette of a pair of horns.

You’ve barely let out a gasp when the figure disappears. You wonder if you’re hallucinating (wouldn’t doubt it; how long has it been since you last slept?) and continue walking down the sidewalk.

Not two steps later and a firm hand lands on your shoulder. You don’t scream or make any indication that you are scared, lest this stranger be holding a knife to your back.

“I don’t have any money,” you start, keeping your voice steady even with your heart pounding in your ears, “and if you’re looking for a good time, I can promise you, you’re going to want someone else.”

“I don’t want either of those things,” a deep, baby blue voice answers you above the sound of the rain.

You whirl around to face the man, trying to hide the pain you still feel inside with a look of astonishment. “Well I’ll be damned,” you murmur, keeping up with the “omg it’s Daredevil wow omg like woah” act.

The devil stares down at you (curse you, short genes!) and tilts his head as if he’s listening for something. “Are you alright?” he says finally, placing his hand back on your shoulder.

You shrug it off quickly, not wanting to get too attached to the warmth it gives you. The world goes to black again. “Fine,” you respond, your voice even, having grown used to the question.

The devil tips his head again and his lip quivers for just a moment. A drop of rain rolls down to the corner of his mouth. “Do you want to talk about it?” he says quietly.

The baby blue words catch you by surprise.

“Um, no,” you stammer, swallowing thickly. “Thank you though.” You try to tear your shoulder from his grip but he holds fast.

“I just want to help,” the devil murmurs, just loud enough over the rain. “I don’t think you should be alone right now.”

You look up at him, not quite meeting his eyes under the mask, but looking at the raindrops collecting on the fabric on his cheek.

The sound of the bar drifts back to your ears: a glass shattering, a pause in the music, a fist making hard contact with a jaw. You flinch a little. The sounds are all black.

The devil notices your subtle movement and squeezes your shoulder gently. “I know a place we can talk. Away from all this noise.”

His gloved hand slips down your arm to grasp your own hand. He turns and goes to lead you toward the fire escape of the building you saw him on moments before. After a moment’s hesitation, you follow him. His hand is warm, even through the gloves and the rain.

*

The two of you sit on the edge of the rooftop, your legs dangling over the side. The rain has picked up a bit now, accompanied every now and then by a streak of lightning and a crash of thunder. The world is so black.

You don’t say anything. The devil seems to be waiting for you, though, so eventually, you start to speak. “Why do you want to help me?” is all you can think to say. You stare down at the sidewalk as you wait for an answer. You’re not very far from the ground, but there’s something about all of the blackness that makes it seem as though you’re miles away.

“I could sense that you were troubled,” the devil replies, looking past your face and out to the horizon. He chuckles, not baby blue but more ocean-like. “Call it a sixth sense.”

You return with a short laugh. “I have one of those too.”

He tilts his head, intrigued. “Really?”

You nod. “Yeah, I guess you could call it that. It’s called chromesthesia. Basically, whenever I hear something, I see it as a color.”

The devil is silent for a moment. Thunder crashes in the distance. You find yourself staring at the seam where his mask ends and meets his cheek. What color are his eyes? Are they baby blue too?

“What color is the rain?” He whispers suddenly.

The question takes you by surprise. Usually, people want to know what color their voice is. “Different types are different colors. Drizzle is hot orange. Thunderstorms are coral.”

“Sounds like a beautiful world.”

“Not anymore.” The words slip out before you can stop yourself.

The devil tilts his head. “Oh?”

You hesitate. Shit. “Never mind,” you rush as you scramble away from the edge of the building, trying to get a footing on the slick roofing. You stand quickly, turning to climb down the fire escape and run home, away from his baby blue voice and all of the hurt. But at home there’s the tissues and the razor blades and the stained sink and suddenly you don’t fancy going home either. A streak of lightning splits the sky into two darkened halves.

You feel your heart hesitate in your chest. Rain makes steady streams down your cheeks. The thought of jumping from the roof occurs to you.

Your back is turned from the devil and you can’t hear him coming up behind you over all the rain and black. His hand lands gently on your shoulder and you flinch. “Hey,” his baby blue voice is soft, not pushy. “I understand.”

It’s not the first time you’ve heard those words. Usually people don’t really mean it. They just want to make you feel better. But there’s something in the way he says it. How his voice is like baby blankets and the ocean at dawn and the afternoon sky, and for some reason it makes you truly believe him. And a little bit of the black fades away.

Then there’s warm water running down your face and this time it’s not the rain and maybe, just maybe, he does understand. Because why else would he be baby blue amid all the black?

Suddenly you’re falling backwards but it’s not into open air, it’s into open arms. The devil wraps his arms around you, pushing away all the black as he murmurs baby blue words of comfort. And you’re sobbing and you’d be embarrassed but it’s so nice to finally have some color back that you don’t even care. He spins you around so that your cheek is pressed to his chest. The leather is cold and unfeeling but just the thought that there’s a heart beating under there somewhere makes you feel better.

“I understand,” the devil says again, and he runs his gloved hands through your tangled, dripping wet hair. You let out another sob, gasping for breath. “Shh, it’s alright,” he murmurs. “I’m here. You’re safe. Can we breathe together?”

You nod and choke out a small grunt in reply, pressing further into his chest.

“Alright. We’re going to breathe in for 3, hold for 3, and breathe out for 3, 3 times.”

He takes you through the breathing exercise with his soft baby blue voice. With each breath, you feel his chest rising and falling in time with your own. The thunder crashes around you but you ignore it. After 3 cycles, he pulls back from the hug a bit to check on you.

“Better?” he murmurs, one gloved hand coming to rest on your shoulder.

You look up into the red-tinted glass covering his eyes and tilt your head. “Yes,” you whisper.

His lips curve up ever so slightly into a sympathetic smile. “Good. I’m glad I could help.”

You look out onto the city. The black is fading away, being replaced by the coral of the rain, the mustard yellow of the subway trains, the misty grey of the wind through alleyways. You choke down another sob as the colors appear in brilliance.

“Hey now,” the devil says, rubbing your arm. “I thought you were good?”

You nod hurriedly and look back up at him. “It’s not all black anymore.” The words are barely a whisper but the devil seems to hear them anyway.

“I’m glad,” he returns with another small smile. He pulls you back into his embrace again.

You let your eyes slip closed against the rain. A crash of coral thunder invades the darkness. You smile. “Thanks, Blue.”

[akaherosandwich]

FAO Defenders Crossover P.2: Chinese for Christmas Dinner

(Logistical note, this is the second half of a crossover thread between @foundoutthehardway, @atrxvido, @ironrand, and myself, of course (as Jessica). It, like Part 1, is somewhat unfinished, but the plot has moved well past.  Please enjoy these losers having dumplings on Christmas eve.)

The police arrived shortly after the mess had ended- while Jess was certainly not the biggest fan of the cops, especially not of Mercedes Knight, there wasn’t much more the heroes could do.  Not on Christmas Eve.  They all ducked out the back, hoping the papers would pin this ‘Christmas miracle’ on the Devil or something.

“Goodwill to all, and all that shit,” Jess spat, wiping her mouth with the back of her glove.  “I never went to Sunday school, but I definitely don’t remember ninjas in the nativity.  God, I can’t believe it’s Christmas in a few hours.”  Not that she particularly cared.  She never celebrated, but with Luke around… maybe they could have tried.  Jess had actually bought him what she imagined was a good gift, but she’d never given a good gift in her life.  Why start now?  She could give it to him later, when they got home.

To the apartment that had been set on fire.  Jess was going to have to do something about that, especially in light of this ninja business.

“Anyways, kicking ass worked up my appetite and honestly after not eating all day I’d like to take advantage of that,” she muttered, looking down the street to see if any neon signs were still on anywhere. Matt sighed, wiping the blood from his mouth on the back of his gloved hand. Ninjas weren’t going to be the death of him, but Jessica quite possibly was. “I was raised by nuns, and for once, you’re right about that. Merry Christmas, for what it’s worth.” Ah, shit, Christmas. Foggy. He wasn’t going to be able to hang around. Just as well. He didn’t want anyone else knowing his identity. “Look, there’s about a billion real noisy signs buzzing around here, but would you serve Daredevil?” He had to admit, he was hungry as well. He didn’t exactly eat well before he went out either. At least he wasn’t as bad as Jessica. “C’mon, you have to eat, when you’re - never mind.” Matt knew about the Hand, and he knew that it wasn’t going to go well if they got involved without him, but at the same time - he barely knew Luke and this new guy. Up until recently, his interactions with Jessica had been almost solely (somewhat) professional. Leaving the camera incident aside. “Look. I gotta go. But you have fun.”

“Oh, No, you don’t,” Luke said, grinning. “No way, man, you do all that parkour business, beatin’ bad folks up without even being able to see -- you eat with us. I know a Chinese restaurant owes me about a dozen favors, and we should be looking to hole up for a while. Don’t worry about the warehouse, Misty’s got our backs.”

And their numbers. And probably a whole lot of community service hours for Luke. But that was tomorrow’s problem. Luke slung an arm around Jessica’s shoulder, and another around Matt’s.

“Mushu pork! Szechuan beef. Enough dumplings to sink the Titanic. Come on, it’s Christmas Eve, I’m gonna be a daddy, and we opened a dozen cans of whup on those fake ninjas. We should be celebrating. … and probably hiding.”

After the fight came to its seemingly inevitable conclusion, Danny wasn’t sure what to…. do. Of course, he already had notions of a lean, mean, fighting team spinning around in his head, but he did his best to tamp down such expectations. Jessica and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen weren’t exactly the joining type. 

Luke seemed nice, though.

“You’re going to be a dad?” Danny couldn’t help but splutter. His eyes moved back and forth between Luke and Jessica several times. He pulled off his crappy ski mask to squint more meaningfully at them. 

Was Jessica….?

In any case, Chinese - especially off-brand American Chinese - sounded much better than Lean Cuisine. “Luke can pick the place, but dinner’s on me.”

Jessica saw the way the masked stranger was eyeing her after Luke’s excited blabbering.  She kept her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets and shrugged.  “Yeah, yeah.  But don’t go making a big deal about it, okay?”  Despite herself, she managed a smile and gave Luke a quick peck as he threw his arm around her.

When Danny removed his mask, she just about spluttered in surprise.  “Wait, Danny fucking Rand?  Are you serious with the- the… the dragon punching stuff back there?  I thought I told you not to worry about it on the phone.”  Jess paused.  “But at least you held your own in there.  Jesus, what an ass-backwards group we’ve got here.”

She shook her head, not wanting to fret about it.  And if Danny was paying for dinner, she wasn’t going to complain.  “Alright, alright.  Fine, let’s hash this out on the way to food.  Luke, Danny, Devil, you’re coming with.  I’m starved.”  Jess broke from her boyfriend’s grasp and made a move to find a restaurant.

“Look, yes, Chinese food is great and we need to lay low for a while but whatever this is, I -” His train of thought was interrupted by Luke’s casual arm-slinging. He sighed. “I’ve been down this route before, and these guys do not mess around. This isn’t the kind of decision you take lightly.” He also shrugged off Luke’s grasp, and moved in the same direction as Jessica. “You bring Misty into this, you’re putting her in danger.” Matt crossed his arms. “You’re really, really risking getting dead here. Just so you can make an informed decision. I’ll come with, because it’s Christmas, but this isn’t a movie and we’re not all one big merry band of vigilantes.”

Actually, Luke was pretty sure they were, at this point, most definitely a merry band of vigilantes. All the evidence pointed that was, what with the not having police jobs or uniforms and still kicking a pile of ninja booty. But Matt looked like… actually, just then, he looked like Jessica before her tenth cup of coffee in the morning. A little sour. Luke decided nodding sagely was a good way to go. 

Also.

“Misty is a cop in New York City. She’s in danger every day. We got a chance here to make things a little bit safer for her and all the rest of them. In a not-band of vigilantes way, obviously.” He winked at Danny. Danny looked on board with the whole merry band of vigilantes thing. They were going to need a name. 

“Here we are,” he said, pushing the door open. “We’ll close the blinds, order food, and Danny can tell us about the dragons.”

Was Danny the only one still caught on the whole ‘Dad’ thing? And the fact Jessica was pregnant? He decided to file that away for later.

“Surprise?” Danny said tentatively, fixing Jessica with an awkwardly apologetic smile. “Sorry, I would’ve told you earlier, but I’m-- trying to keep a low profile. Hence the whole mask situation.” He raised the cloth in his hand as if in explanation, though his gaze strayed momentarily to Daredevil. “...Think I might be due for an upgrade, though, especially looking at this guy.”

Luke was nodding sagely at the whole ‘we’re not a team’ speech, so Danny decided copying him would be the best course of action. He caught the wink at the tail end, and figured he didn’t do too bad. 

Although he was really starting to see the benefits, though. Of a team. 

“I’m actually thinking Daredevil should tell us what he meant when he said he’s ‘been down this road before’. And I can order.” He greeted the older woman behind the counter in Chinese, extending a hand and offering a charming smile.

“Yeah, the glowing fist just screams ‘low profile’,” Jess muttered as she slipped inside the restaurant, pretending she didn’t see that wink that Luke gave to Danny.  It smelled a bit like frying oil and chili spices in here, but it would do.  Empty on a Christmas Eve, surprisingly, but Jess checked a clock on the wall and realized how late it actually was.  And a grumble in her gut reminded her that she hadn’t really eaten anything that day to begin with.

She stood back as Danny began speaking Chinese, earning a grin from the older woman.  Jess rolled her eyes somewhat, grabbing a menu and finding a table in the center of the room for them.  She sat down and put one foot up on the chair next to her, flipping open the laminate pages to take a look at the food available.

“God,” she groaned.  “I think I took a few good hits to the face- that’s gonna bruise tomorrow.  At least those ninjas had the decency not to make any low blows.” “I can sense you winking, Luke.” Matt sighed, following Jessica’s lead to move towards the table. He chose the chair opposite her, as not to engage in a ridiculous power play over the seat she had her foot resting on. Luke and Danny could contend with that issue. He was actually hungry, and for once he wouldn’t have to defrost something or attempt to contend with inaccessible websites when he’d been hit in the head multiple times. That was a good enough reason to stay. It smelt like...pork dumplings, if he guessed right. “Look, the Hand? They’re immortal fanatics, but they’re secretive and everywhere - imagine if conspiracy theories were real, essentially. Low blows? Kidnapped about 20 innocent people purely to lure me into a fight. Doesn’t matter if you’re a cop, you got super strength, bulletproof skin, you’re a...dragon guy. The Hand will still Ruin. Your. Day.”

“You know what, I don’t even think you’re blind. Ain’t no one can sense a man winking. And even if they could, you’re being creepy about it. Lighten up, Matt. We can deal with The Hand, but not on an empty stomach.”

He listed Jess’s feet and put them in his lap, patting her ankles. And looked at her stomach as if any second the first of the bump might appear. Nothing yet, but he gave her a grin. Adrenalin still coursing through his veins, and pissed off or not he was feeling pretty good. 

Matt looked deeply, deeply unimpressed by that statement.

“They’re bad guys. Very bad guys. Bad guys trip ‘emselves up eventually, one way or another. And when they do, we’ll be there. We beat them, remember? We can do it again. Is that the sesame prawn toast?”

Danny gave the owner’s small, wrinkled hand one last squeeze before returning to the table, just in time to catch Matt’s comment about The Hand. Luke was pretty blasé about the whole thing, but Danny knew a thing or two about secret ninja cults. They were way old and way dangerous, stuff nobody in their right mind ought to fuck with casually. 

(Though he supposed ‘right mind’ would not be...  precisely applicable to the people sitting around this table.)

“Immortal fanatics?” Danny probed, turning one of the chairs around and taking a seat between Matt and Luke. He’d seen magic happen firsthand - literally - but nothing like immortality. “What exactly is their objective? World domination, or something?”

Connie - the old woman who owned the restaurant - set several plates of still steaming food onto the table in front of them. Danny offered her a smile and a brief thanks. 

“Luke’s right, obviously, I just think-- it’s important to know what we’re up against,” he loaded a couple onto his plate and handed Luke the sesame prawns. “Especially if we’re talking conspiracy theory levels of crazy.”

“Tch,” Jess hissed, frowning at Matt. “I meant ‘low blows’ in the sense that no one tried to punch me in the stomach. Because that could have ended badly. But yeah, sure, they’re bastards.”  She was so not here for the talks of crazy ninja cults and apocalyptic doom to Hell’s Kitchen.

Jess put one arm over the back of her chair as Luke pulled her legs into his lap. She gave him a little wink of her own- sense that, Matt. She then heaved a tortured sigh as if this was a massive inconvenience for her as the boys talked circles around this immortal fanatic situation. It made the days she complained about dealing with cheating spouses seem like a treat.

“Up against? We? I’m not exactly making these guys a passion project of mine.” Nor was she planning to make this ‘team up’ any more than a convenient and coincidental gathering of adjacently-familiar powered people.

The investigator straightened in her seat as several steaming plates of food were set down at the table. Jess reached for her pair of chopsticks, separating the flimsy wood sticks and quickly stabbing a few fried gyoza, shaking them off onto her plate. “Luke, pass the soy sauce?”

“At the risk of having this held against me for the rest of my life, I agree with Jessica.” For a quiet life, he chose not to comment on her wink. Matt’s reticence to commit to this was warring with his desire for sesame prawn toast. He settled for grabbing some - and maybe some of those pork dumplings - and sighing deeply at the same time. “You don’t want stopping the Hand to be your New Year’s Resolution.” He also got the sense that he was going to end up on this ride anyway. He’d not known the man long, but Danny gave off a sense of being far too interested in the concept of fighting immortal ninjas. 

“That’s just about it. They’ve built crime empires over centuries, and are willing to do just about anything to keep themselves going. I’m not being creepy about it. You’re being overly lax about it. When the suit’s on, you call me Daredevil. That’s it. Not all of us can afford to be so casual with our identities.” He wanted to cross his arms, to make the point, but that would have made it somewhat difficult to eat, so he settled for sullenly squeezing a gyoza between chopsticks harder than was strictly necessary.

---

[AND THEY ALL HAD DINNER AND BECAME BEST FRIENDS AND JESS AND LUKE HAD NOTHING BUT CUTE TIMES BEFORE THEIR BABY CAME AND ALSO SOMEHOW DANNY GOT THE BABY NAMED AFTER HIM, AND MATT WAS THERE TOO BECAUSE THEY’RE ALL BEST BUDDIES FOR LIFE. XOXO THE END]

(Okay, I took some liberties with that last part.)

[dewittsend]

‘The Defenders’ Review [Episodes 1-4] {REPOST}

So far, so okay.

As of this moment, The Defenders has pretty much met my expectations. That’s not to say it’s great, though. Not yet.  

It’s difficult to pick where to begin, because there’s a lot to cover. And I may not talk about scenes in their exact chronological order, because I’m summarizing the important information. And since this series won’t stop shoving his importance down my throat, I guess we’ll start with Iron Fist aka Danny Rand, played by actor Finn Jones—which, while I am on the fence about this, may be the first issue. I was disappointed with Iron Fist’s own Netflix series. To me, it felt rushed. A last-minute collage of sloppy choreography, boring writing, and confusing character choices. I often found Jones’s acting to be cringe-inducing at best, and his is the first character we’re reintroduced to.  

SPOILERS AHEAD! Do proceed at thy own caution.

We find Danny in Cambodia, hot on the heels of The Hand after the events of his series left him looking at an empty mountainside where K'un-Lun, the monasterial city he was raised in, used to be, with no trace of his mentors to be found. He is currently joined by friend with benefits and best-part-of-his-show Colleen Wing. Rand gets into a tussle with the revived Elektra [Elodie Yung reprising, and notably annoying me less], who is here hunting down an enemy of The Hand. Brainwashed and merciless, a la the Winter Soldier, she gives Danny a hard time, but he fights her off and she retreats temporarily. Our heroes have a vague conversation with the target of Elektra’s assassination, who tells them that the war they’re fighting will be finished in New York City before croaking.  

We’re privileged (and I do mean that because Krysten Ritter is a delight) to catch up with Jessica Jones next, as she’s kicked out of a bar that’s closing at what appears to be 8:00 in the morning and runs into her friend Trish Walker. Jones is still recovering from the psychological toll of her battles with Kilgrave, and as such has indefinitely suspended her investigative services. She is approached by a woman whose husband, named John Raymond, is missing. Jessica initially blows her off, but is driven to take the case when someone calls her office and warns her against taking it. She’s stubborn like that.

Luke Cage is on his way out of a short stint in prison. His fellow inmates are cheering as he is walked out of his cell. We get a great moment where a fumbling rookie cop can’t find the right keys to remove Cage’s cuffs, so he just snaps the chain himself and drops the crumpled rings into the warden’s hand. The supporting cast of these individual series are turning up left and right, and doing so in smart, sensical ways that really make this world seem well-connected. For instance, it turns out that Franklin “Foggy” Nelson was Cage’s attorney, and is the reason he’s out so early.

Foggy, by the way, now works for rich-people lawyer Jeryn Hogarth after he and his best friend Matt Murdock chose to dissolve their law firm. But they’re still friends, sort of. It’s complicated.

And where IS Daredevil? The Man Without Fear and the man who started it all, Matthew is currently a man defeated. Although he now takes the majority of his cases pro bono, the fulfillment of that isn’t enough to stave away the dissatisfaction he feels since choosing to hang up the horns. Karen Page, now officially a reporter, catches up with him over a slightly awkward cuppa. They have a solid scene together, illustrating the romantic tension budding between them. Karen still believes in Daredevil’s ability to affect change, as she always has. Matt thinks those days need to stay behind him. Of course, it’s only so long he can do that.

Promises promises.

This may be a good time to talk about each character’s signature color and lighting palettes. They’ve been used as tonal gauges, and they may have something to tell us about who these people are. For Matt, it’s obviously red, which carries the instant connection to the Devil and brimstone, to rage and blood. Cage’s is yellow, which is well known to be a color invented by God for black people to wear. It also reflects the warmth with which Luke views his community. Danny’s is green {EDIT 2021: representative of his status and wealth as well as a nod toward the importance of jade in kung fu symbolism}, and we’re probably never going to see him rock the Iron Fist costume so just be happy he’s got loose-fitting green clothes that look nice when he’s punching people. Finally, Jessica’s ranges between blue and purple; harking back to the “Purple Man” who consumed so much of her life when she was under his control, and also reflecting her much colder dispotion towards people and their problems, despite being a P.I. There are times when this lighting technique gets kind of oppressive, like when Matt’s entire apartment is bathed in fire-tones, but it helps to create some truly memorable cinematography. Case in point: one of this first half’s best moments is Luke’s bus ride back into Harlem. Set to a silky D'Angelo track, we see the golden glow of the sunset filter in through the bus’s gritty and fingerprint smudged windows. And views of the Manhattan skyline, and of Harlem’s streets, through what looks like avintage film camera, all with a sepia tint. It’s breathtaking, soothing, and probably had a little extra impact because I’m a Harlem resident myself.  

Cage reunites with his boo Claire Temple, Rosario Dawson’s nexus character through all of these shows, for a little bit of brown sugar. But before the two can settle into a routine together, Cage is pulled back into the sorrows of the streets by Detective Misty Knight. She informs him that several young men in the community have been getting involved in some seedy affairs, and some of them have gone missing. It seems they’re being used as expendable henchmen, pulling off whatever odd jobs they’re told to, whether it’s delivering drugs or making dead bodies disappear (which is what Danny Rand catches him doing later on). Cage takes it upon himself to investigate the affairs of one young man in particular named Cole.  

In between all of this, we’re introduced to our Big Bad. National Treasure and sci-fi icon Sigourney Weaver portrays the enigmatic Alexandra, whose body is beginning to fail her after centuries of life. Weaver is doubtless a tremendous actor, but even she can’t escape some typical mustache-twirling clichés (a friend of mine put it better than I can: “It’s not innovative for the cream white villain to find beauty in Rachmaninov but not in the lives of others, like, we understand!!!”). That aside, she brings something fun to this show just by the virtue of who she is. And at six feet, the actress’ physical presence really makes an impact. Alexandra towers over characters like Madame Gao and is almost eye level with Luke Cage. Her presence feels like a legitimate threat, and Weaver does an excellent job of portraying someone with significantly more power than she lets on. Our first demonstration of this is in a scene between her and Madame Gao, who has been built up throughout these shows as a force to be reckoned with, who had Vincent D'Onofrio’s Kingpin shaking in his shoes. This scene between them ends when Alexandra literally tells Gao to “finish feeding the birds for me,” hands her a bag of seeds, and walks away like the CHIEF CHICK SHE IS GO ‘HEAD SIGOURNEY!!!

*ahem* So sorry.  

It is eventually revealed that Alexandra is the person behind Elektra’s revival and reconditioning. Conveniently, Elektra doesn’t remember anything about her past life except how to fight. Thus, Alexandra has been using her to take out The Hand’s enemies and as a personal bodyguard. And after receiving the news that her body is reaching a terminal state of decline, Alexandra decides to accelerate her plans for the destruction of New York. As such, she has her people trigger a massive earthquake (the ramifications of which have not yet been fully uncovered) that affects everyone within the island of Manhattan. Nothing is exactly leveled yet, though. This seems to only be the beginning of her sinister plot.  

This brings the first episode to an end, and over the course of the next three, our four vigilante heroes follow individual leads that start to bring them together, at first in pairs. Iron Fist has a confrontation with Luke Cage in an alleyway when Cage catches the Kung Fu kid beating up on Cole. They have an entertaining fight, as the petulant and bewildered Rand keeps striking Cage with no affect. He finally unleashes the iron fist right onto Luke’s jaw and knocks the big man off of his feet into a metal gate. It’s only later, when Luke recants the experience to Claire, that she sets up a meeting between the two, and they have a conversation that is another highlight of the show so far. Cage essentially privilege-checks Danny for being a rich white kid and taking out his frustration on the underprivileged with little regard for their lives, instead of trying to use his wealth and influence to take The Hand down from an administrative level. These two characters are famously friends in the source material, and I can see the direction the writers are trying to take them here, wherein the older Luke is mentoring Danny and opening his eyes to a side of life he’s never considered before, even with all the trauma of losing his parents and being tortured raised by monks. Danny has a tendency to fly off at the handle, so the more patient Luke is there to ground him. It’s more father and son than two good friends, but it’ll have to do for the versions of these characters we’ve been given.  

Jessica Jones returns to her office at one point to find John Raymond with a gun to her friend Malcolm’s head. He’s panicked, telling her that there’s no future for him now that The Hand know he’s being investigated. On cue, Elektra crashes down the door to Jessica’s apartment and attacks. Raymond shoots himself before she can kill him, and she escapes before Jessica can catch her. But because of her rooting around in all of this, in addition to stealing evidence from a crime scene, Jessica’s put herself on Misty Knight’s radar. When she’s brought in for questioning, Matt Murdock steps in to defend (ha) her.  

At one point, we see that Alexandra has a hostage—Stick, Matt Murdock’s blind mentor. They have an exchange that contains the phrase “old friend” and other related banter. Stick, rather unexpectedly, starts prophesying about the Iron Fist, which confused me because he’d never mentioned him in either season of Daredevil. You’d think he might have in season two, when the Hand presented a more imminent threat to the city. But nah, he just spent the majority of his screen time groaning that Matthew wasn’t joining “the war.” So it seems a bit ham-fisted for him to now have this hard-on for Iron Fist, even if it does make sense that he’d know who he is. I just think it required some more setup. Anywho, big surprise, Stick gets hold of a weapon and slices his own hand off to escape, continuing to cement himself as perhaps the most hardcore old man on television.  

See? No biggie.

All our protagonists’ investigations lead them to one building: Midland Circle. Danny arrives there in suit and tie, ready to threaten them with financial and political action, as well as reveal himself to be “The Immortal Iron Fist,” which he says more often than “hello,” but since everyone in this series makes fun of him for it I can kind of excuse it. Alexandra, nonplussed as always, tells him that the only difference between him and the other Iron Fists she’s met over the years is that this time “I won’t kill you.” And GOD do I get chills.  

What follows is the action highlight of the series’ first half. Iron Fist gets better choreography than anything we saw in his show. He spends about a minute fighting Alexandra’s security detail, and right when he gets overpowered, Luke Cage busts in. They do battle side-by-side for a while, all until Jessica and Murdock (wearing Jessica’s scarf over his face) arrive on the same floor. It may be this show’s “hallway sequence,” as these Marvel Netflix projects have become known for. It’s well-lit and gives everyone a good amount to do—except Jessica, who might be the most vulnerable of the four as she’s got no real fighting technique, and for all her strength lacks any indestructible skin to fall back on when confronted with weapons. Although for what it’s worth we finally get to see her reunite with Luke Cage. That reunion is built on in the next episode (not that way, pervert) and it’s great to see their chemistry ignite again.  

There’s a point in the skirmish when Matt senses that “Someone’s coming. Something.” This something is Elektra, but he doesn’t realize it at first, and they fight for a good while. Matt takes a moment to listen to her breath, which causes him to stop fighting. But she doesn’t have a heartbeat. WHICH IS ACTUALLY SUPER SPOOKY AND COOL! She hesitates when he says her name, then raises her blade to strike Matt down, only to be knocked away yet again by Danny. What a guy, that guy.  

The four of them escape together, and in the next episode commandeer a Chinese restaurant as a temporary hideout. This is the first time we get to see all four of them interact, and it’s pretty fun. Cage and Jones muse over how absurd this situation is, because oddly enough, they’re sort of the straight men in this situation. They may have powers, but their worlds have never been touched by the supernatural. Rand and Murdock, however, are well-versed in this field. Thusly, they spend a good deal of time trying to catch the others up. This is also the episode that has some of Charlie Cox’s best acting yet, as a paranoid and frustrated Matt who doesn’t want to give in to the idea that A. what he suspects to be happening is in fact happening and B. he needs to involve these people in his life in order to handle it. And to some extent, all of them feel that way. While Danny is keen to team up, Jessica is immediately against it, and Luke is reluctant as well. All of them are loners by nature, who’ve each experienced pain as a result of opening up to people.  

When we’re done watching them bounce dialogue off each other, Stick shows up, sword in one hand, stump as the other, to do what he does best—exposit and tell the heroes what the stakes are. It’s not long before Alexandra ALSO sneaks into the restaurant (everyone can move like a ninja when this show wants them to) and tries to reason with her enemies, saying that if Iron Fist is willing to go with her, she’ll spare the lives of his friends. Which is almost definitely completely 105% a lie. The episode, and the first half of this series, ends with Elektra ready to square off against the four vigilantes + Stick.

To give my overall impression, I’m enjoying Defenders so far, and I think the actors are too. The problem to this point isn’t the actor’s level of chemistry, but that of the characters. I’m still hoping to see the bond between Danny and Luke expand into something more than just “shut up white kid,” even though that may well be what Danny needs to hear a few times. There needs to be a believable dependence between these four people. And although I know it’s a lot to juggle, I hope the supporting characters aren’t just dropped completely. They probably won’t be, though. I expect that as The Hand start getting closer to what they want, the ramifications will spread across the Defenders’ sphere of influence, from Turk to Claire Temple*.  

Other expectations/hopes for the latter half include:  

A cool introduction of the Hand’s remaining “Fingers”

Colleen v. Elektra!!!!

White Hat will be from, or have ties to Wakanda

Elektra will inevitably snap out of it. The hope here is to see her pick up her signature dual sai and stand with the Defenders

Alexandra could have some further connection to one of these heroes. Preliminarily, I thought it would be interesting if she was Matthew’s long-lost mother. Though, I guess that would really be pushing it

*Claire can’t survive this, right? I mean we all know Luke and Jessica have to end up together, and Claire’s not just going to give him up. I don’t want to see her go, but I also don’t know if there’s any way for her character to develop. Of course, there’s no guarantee Marvel will stick to the comics…but the Jess-Luke romance seems like too much of a fan favorite to pass on.

Stick’s gonna get stuck and tell Matt he’s proud of him

Whatever happened to Stone/maybe Lord Darkwind, the spooky dude Stick was talking to in season one of Daredevil? Let’s get him out here

Someone just say Tony Stark’s name. I mean, come on. The guy lives in the tallest building in New York and no one’s wondering what he’d think about all this? I know we can’t afford RDJ but is his character’s name gonna break the bank? (Yeah, it definitely would.)

Bullseye tease? Maybe? I dunno, man, they already robbed him of his big moment by killing Elektra without him

I already got THAT THING spoiled for me, THAT THING about THE OTHER GUY, but it would be on this list if I hadn’t

Oh and also Blade please

And so conclude my thoughts on the first half of The Defenders. There they are, lookin’ like Nirvana. Which I guess makes sense, given the marketing for this series. I’ll be writing a similarly long-winded and unnecessary reaction to the latter half. I hope you’ll check them both out.  

THANK you for reading if indeed you did read! Keep on watching, friends. And as always: Blessings & Blexcellence!

-JKW

[londonspirit]

One Last Time...

... for this year, that is! (Hopefully they sort their Brexit shit out soon, otherwise I have no clue when I can be back!) 

Anyhow, this trip was wonderful, mad and all around fantastic! (the usual then! *grins*) 

Flew over with my friend S., and naturally we had a one hour delay to start our vacation (we do have a bad travel karma, me thinks, not the first time). And sadly that was the reason I (again) didn’t managed to meet up with my L, cause she only had about an hour between engagements, and that was exactly the hour our flight was late. (Here’s hope we’ll manage another meet-up soon’ish before she goes back to the States, it’s been too long and I really miss her!) 

Upon arrival it was raining! Boo! But after dropping off our luggage and finding us dinner, we didn’t want to go to bed (afternoon flight there, evening arrival) so we decided to have a quick wander around. It had stopped raining which was perfect for a nightly walk.  Wow, even wet London is beautiful, and even more so at night. Streets were mostly empty (not empty enough to be scary tho) and we took much longer than expected.  Stumbled across filming by the side of the river - there were a few people in safety vests and we were already wondering when one approached us. He told us they were filming in a side alley, and not to worry, we could just walk past but shouldn’t stop. Of course we walked very slowly but we didn’t see much or anyone we knew. It was pretty dark, and all we say was a huge projection into the air. *shrugs* Still curious as to what was filmed there (we went there on the last day but no signs at all).  We were in bed way past midnight... (my usual London bed time!) 

Monday was HAMILTON DAY! But in the evening - we had the whole morning and early afternoon to explore some more!  So we went to Greenwich - by BOAT!! That was soo cool. I’ve taken one of the boats two years ago with Sis but only for a few stops, this time we went all the way. And even thought it’s not cheap (Oyster card does make it a bit cheaper tho), it’s totally worth it - the view from the water is amazing! And since the weather was still not very tourist friendly, we had the entire back to ourselves.  I can def recommend it - you see so much from that side. Plus, it’s quick, we were in Greenwich within 15 minutes!  Found coffee and walked up that hill to the observatory! The view was foggy but still amazing. And since the coffee didn’t want to go back to the city with us, we wandered inside to find a loo.  Did you know that you can go inside and check out a few of the rooms without having to pay? Cause I did NOT! And boy, is it cool inside. Loads to see, and touch, and just perfect for a grey and misty day. We spent 3 hours or so in there, bought souvenirs, checked out the old telescope inside, climbed small stairs, looked at all the time measure methods humanity had invented over the centuries, and had a great time!  After that we returned to the hostel to get ready for the evening. 

The smile on my face when I saw the Victoria Palace Theatre again was HUGE! I fucking LOVE this place soo much!!! Especially when it’s all lit in the dark!  Getting inside was just as smooth as ever! (And this time we even saw the dog, didn’t meet it tho as we arrived and were inside like 2 minutes later, despite a pretty long queue!)  Inside we walked around, looked at the Pretty all around and then we went to our seats. 

DUDE!!! I had booked a box back in January, but I had no idea that we would’ve had one all to ourselves. It’s just for TWO seats (not four as I expected), and it’s the coolest thing ever!  We got us drinks to pass the time (you can only take so many pics of that beautiful stage!), and once again the staff showed why they deserved all the praise! I got us two bottles of cider but since bottles aren’t allowed inside, two of the ushers made sure to fill it all into plastic cups! And when it all didn’t fit into two cups, they held the doors for me to bring it to the box and when I returned for the rest, they were already waiting for me! Those people are the real heroes! And everything with a smile and the loveliest attitude!!! 

And when it finally was time, I might have made noises. Being this close (with nobody in front of you, or behind you for that matter), being able to lean forward and chairdance, is the best thing ever!!! 

I was a bit sad that we didn’t get Obi or Jason, but Gabriel and Waylon did so well, it didn’t last long.  And boy, Mondays are an amazing day to go and see it! Every single soul on that stage was on FIRE!!! (Not sure whether that’s because they have the Sunday to recharge, or because some will have their last performances in the next weeks, but it was WORTH going  on a Monday!) 

I had booked that because I wanted to see Ash, as people kept raving about him (and I had seen Jam twice now). He did NOT disappoint.  His performance differs so much from Jam’s; not in a bad way, no. But he’s so into it, so ... THERE?! More intense?! Can’t really describe it. He’s fantastic. And being this close, seeing all those expressions, the cheek, the sass, the sadness, made this time so much better than the last two times.  Ash is incredible and sooo worth seeing! (although I missed the height difference between Jam and Rachelle, Ash is her height.) 

I was very happy that we got Giles, cause I’ve fallen fast and hard for his Burr!!! He’s put such a different twist on him, and once you got used to him, he IS Burr. What I love is that you can see all those little physical actions, he’s doing a lot with his body, and also with his face. Small things you miss when you’re further away. A raised eyebrow, a bitten lip, a suppressed grin. GOD, I will miss him soo much!!! There are times when I wanted to hug him and then there were times when I wanted to slap him. He’s such a great actor, and I will fight anyone who says differently!!!!! 

As for the rest of the cast, they were brilliant as usual; even though I really had the feeling everyone was giving even more than the 500% they already do!! SO DAMN AMAZING!!!  There was a big cheer for “Alexander Hamilton” in the beginning (as it should be), but weirdly NOTHING at the “Immigrants” line!!! O_O That shocked me a bit! I’ve been three times now, and I’ve had a different reactions every damn time! So weird!  Yorktown got an in between applause which I never seen/heard! Was very nice.  The King got all the laughs, naturally.  What else?  Oh, so Tarinn and Cleve are basically themselves in costumes on stage: they kept goofing around and grinning like idiots at themselves, which was adorable.  And I now know why people are shipping Laurens and Ham - the gazing loving at each other was INSANE!! *lol*  Rachel is madly talented but that you already know. That woman’s voice, her acting - GEEZ!! HOW?? So soo good!!!  Christine... god, that voice! Melted chocolate, poured over warm coals, making one feel all warm and fuzzy (and very sinful)  inside. GUH!!  Also: the ensemble blew me away, the perfection they put on that stage (night after night) is MAD!! I found myself watching them more and more, wondering how the human body is capable of the things they do and make it look easy as breathing!! WOW!!! 

It was over way too soon, and I even cried in the end. I have no idea where that came from but Rachelle really made me tear up during the last song. Never had that before. (And she’s the only one I’m still not fully convinced with; she’s good but this is NOT the perfect role for her)  So yeah, I did my final applause in tears!!! 

We stuck around towards the very end, and for the very first time, they let down the safety curtain!!! O_O (They did in the interval as well for a moment). 

And then it was stage door time. It’s all well organized and sorted, and we queued up and waited. It wasn’t cold so that wasn’t too bad. Didn’t take long for the first to come out. I didn’t want anything signed, only asked for pics which seemed fine with them all. Although they were all well prepared with sharpies! Kelly is TINY, and so very sweet, and sadly the only one of the girls who came out :-(  Waylon was a bit shy, but also very nice. Gabriel was dressed for artic temps which made me giggle.  Tarinn and Cleve are... well, Tarinn and Cleve! They’re always goofing around, being super sweet to everyone and really taking their time. Cleve enjoyed being the birthday boy, and wishing him a great one, got me a tight hug! Tarinn smells really good, by the way! *hehe*  At some point the security made an announcement. I think he said they were all gone, or nobody wouldn’t come out anymore; we could stay but at our own risk, or something like that. We were at the end of the queue and didn’t catch everything.  Since we didn’t have anywhere to go, we stayed. Which was the right thing to do!  First Giles came out, and that’s when I got a bit nervous! He’s so good, and I never managed to get a pic with him. He took his time, chatted to everyone and was all around the sweetest. Once he came to us, I told him how incredible he was and how much I loved the Muse Of Fire documentary he did ages ago. I think he blushed a bit ;-p When I asked for a pic, he pulled me real close and thanked ME afterwards!! O_O  Hach, he’s amazing!!  And then Ash came out as well (lots had left already so we were only a few people). And the silly man did NOT have a pen!  The ladies behind us asked if we had one. When I pulled out my assortment of sharpies (three: black, silver and bronze!) I ALWAYS have on me, they laughed so hard.  Hey, you can never be prepared enough - as that night taught us!!! Once again, we only asked for pics, and praised him, told him how fab he was, and that we booked a Monday just for him,, which made him laugh. “Heard of me, did ya?” he said, cheeky bugger. But yeah, we did. So we got another really tight pic - that cast is so touchy feely, I swear! I love them all to pieces!!! SO SWEET!  He chatted a bit before moving along.  We waited a bit longer but that was it so we reluctantly left towards ‘home’. (Once again, it was LATE!) 

The next morning we got up early to have one last walk around, and London was gracious and got out the sun and basically summer weather!  We didn’t want to leave but sadly we had to.  So long, my beautiful! See you next year - in February, for sure. After that... well, that depends on how you get your shit sorted!  Once more, a fantastic time was had, with the best company I could’ve wished for! Thank you, S, I know why I love traveling with you - here’s to our next time!!! 

[male-emporium]

A Week On Nantucket Part 1

Outfit Details:

Look 1-HVN Dress (same print different style here, different print same style here), Urban Outfitter Sunglasses (sold out, similar here for under $10), Carrie Forbes (old, similar here), Market Tote (similar here)

Look 2- DVF Top (last seen here), Miguelina Skirt (on sale), Castaner Espadrilles, Dragon Diffusion Tote

Look 3-Delfina Swimsuit (similar here), Piamita Skirt (old, last seen here, similar here), Bow Hat (under $60), Red Sunglasses (last seen here, similar here)

  At the beginning of the year, Thomas and I had two trips that were at the top of our travel list for summer- Provence and Nantucket. We checked off the first at the beginning of June, and just a few weeks later, headed to the later for Fourth of July weekend. This was our first trip to Nantucket. Everyone kept telling us how much we would love it, and truth be told, we fell in love right away. It’s kind of hard not to though. Everything is picture perfect and it’s almost as though the roses and hydrangeas are being fed some crazy plant growth hormone, because they are out-of-this-world beautiful! I have a ridiculous amount of rose/hydrangea photos on my phone from the trip and I just can’t seem to make myself delete any, even though no human needs that many photos of flowers on their phone. I’ll save them for a rainy day!

  We spent a full week on the island, one Saturday to the next. We knew that wanting to visit during one of the busiest times of the year was probably a little crazy, but it was so much fun! We loved how lively and festive everything felt. Although downtown was a bit of a mad house at times (coming off the ferry!), where we stayed in ‘Sconset was pretty quiet. I found this house back in January, crossing my fingers that it would be available for our dates, and as luck would have it, it was! We got a fun group together and started planning out our trip. Carly was the only one that had been to Nantucket before, so we used her as our ‘guide’ to figure out our plans.

    For the first half of our trip, we were joined by our friends Carly, Chassity and Gray. First thing we did was make a big haul at Stop & Shop for food for the week. The house we rented had a great kitchen and an outdoor grill, so more than half of our meals were ate at home. I miss waking up in the mornings to fresh coffee brewing and everyone chatting away in their pjs in the kitchen. The weather was also a lot warmer than I had thought it would be. I packed quite handful of sweaters and jeans, but we ended up only having two foggy mornings and one rainy day during the whole trip. I do love a moody misty morning though…

  Outfit Details

360 Sweater (on sale, last seen here), Madewell Jeans (last seen here), Hermes Scarf (last seen here), Carolina Santo Domingo Bag

  We spent our first day exploring the ‘Sconset area. It’s incredibly charming and just all around beautiful. The climbing roses are so perfect that they don’t even look real, and don’t even get me started on the colors of the hydrangeas! In the morning, Carly, Thomas and I walked out to Sankaty Lighthouse, which wasn’t far from the house. We took a long way home, checking out all of the homes in the neighborhood before heading back to the house to wait for the arrival of the rest of the crew.

    Once we were all together, we headed into town to do some light shopping and grab a bite to eat. We stopped by Handlebar Cafe for some coffees, followed by a late lunch of lobster rolls at Cru. When I asked for recommendations for Nantucket on Instagram, pretty much every single person who wrote me had Cru on their list, so we knew it had to be good. We all ended up sharing a bunch of appetizers and snacks, since our dinner reservation wasn’t much later. But one of our favorite things to do when we’re in a new place for the first time is eat, so we weren’t going to pass up a meal!

    For dinner that evening we went to Summerhouse, which is also in ‘Sconset. It was really nice having good options close to the house. We all got dressed up and headed out, only to wish that we would have brought more layers. It gets quite a bit colder in the evenings, even if it is hot during the day (very similar to SF!). After dinner every night, we would come back to the house, change into our pjs, pour ourselves an extra glass of wine and play Heads Up. I’ll never get tired of that game!

    All four of us girls brought our Lake pajamas. They are seriously the softest pjs in the whole world. Get a pair and you’ll see! I think I have four pairs now. I love pajamas. Some of my favorite moments from Nantucket were spent right here on the front porch of the house. It was so quiet and peaceful. Carly and Thomas would grab muffins and coffee at Sconset Market every morning and we sit right here and enjoy them as the sun got warmer.

    One of the reasons why we rented a Jeep for the week was so that we could drive it on the beach. I think we all agreed that this was all of our favorite day. It was so much fun! We made plans to have a beach day at Great Point Light, bringing a picnic lunch along with us. We picked up sandwiches from Claudette’s (they were so good that we went back multiple times) and filled coolers with snacks and drinks from Sconset Market. On our way out there, we had the windows down and music on loud, letting the wind whip through our hair as the Jeep bounced around in the sand. We picked a spot towards the end to set up our gear, making a very patriotic “camp”.

    What we thought would be a quick jaunt to the lighthouse, turned into a two hour excursion. It was much further than we had thought! By the time we got back, we were all chugging water and digging into the watermelon that was waiting for us in the cooler. It was definitely worth the trek though, as the beach is extraordinary and we saw a handful of seals along the way!

    Stay tuned for Part 2 coming on Thursday!

The post A Week On Nantucket Part 1 appeared first on Gal Meets Glam.

First found here: A Week On Nantucket Part 1

[spodzone]

Back last November I spent a very happy few days staying up North; the first day was spent in Glen Affric (sunrise, trees, water and light).

Photo Map – a long drive around Wester Ross

In the few years since I was last up there, there’s been a concerted push to market the road around the far north of Scotland as an “answer to Route 66” and thereby promote it as a tourist attraction.

The second day of my holiday saw lousy weather, completely overcast and foggy for much of the time. So I spent the day driving around Wester Ross wondering where the scenery had got to… trying not to think of it as the NC500 but actually enjoying several stops along the route that I’ve been to previously.

The first stop was the well-known view from a layby in Glen Dochart, above Kinlochewe to admire the sinuous road:

An obvious scene: the road wending through Glen Dochart toward Kinlochewe (not depicted: Kinlochewe, because of the mist).

Pity about the mist…

A little further along on the way through Kinlochewe are two mountains – Beinn Eighe to the left and Meallan Ghobhar and Coille na Dubh Chlaise to the right. We pulled off the A-road and Doglet had his breakfast more or less directly on the Loch Maree fault-line whilst admiring the quartzite rock strata.

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Grey and grey – low cloud and the steep north side of the mountain beyond

Wonderful rock strata – the crags of Meallan Ghobhar and Coille na Dubh Chlaise – a layer of lower cambrian quartz-arelite between neoproterozoic sandstone and mudstone. Dog had his breakfast by the roadside.

There wasn’t much to be said for the views across Loch Maree, although the contrast of dull grey skies and warm autumnal orange and yellow colours was pleasant.

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A tree on the rocky shores of Loch Maree I’d say there’s Slioch in the distance, but the cloud gets in the way…

A tree on the rocky shores of Loch Maree I’d say there’s Slioch in the distance, but the cloud gets in the way…

A gnarled old Scots Pine tree on the shore of Loch Maree

A gnarled old Scots Pine tree on the shore of Loch Maree

Wet colours – submerged pebbles and grass in the shallows of Loch Maree

Some years ago, there was a TV documentary, a former politician’s search for the most natural woodland in the UK. After much searching around down south in the New Forest, he came north and explored Caledonian Forest remnants, finally finishing up on an island in Loch Maree – a rather bizarre arrangement of an island with a lochan with another island inside that – on which he stated the trees were least likely to have been touched by mankind. There is an obvious viewpoint, a small section of beach, at Slattadale toward the north-west end of Loch Maree, from which the group of islands can be seen.

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On the shore of Loch Maree at Slattadale, looking toward Slioch in the distance. As I was here, there was a fellow cooking breakfast a few yards along the little beach – the smell of fried bacon rashers wafted past on the breeze…

On the shore of Loch Maree at Slattadale, looking toward Slioch in the distance. As I was here, there was a fellow cooking breakfast a few yards along the little beach – the smell of fried bacon rashers wafted past on the breeze…

Of all the photos I made during that day, this was perhaps the most classical landscape, in that I had the idea for these photos – the location, leading lines of foreground boulders, large expanse of silvery water and Slioch in the distance – planned in my mind for ages before revisiting the area.

What you don’t see is how, while I was making these photos (long exposures, totalling a minute’s exposure, focus-stacked) there was another photographer sitting 20yd away, cooking his morning breakfast – so the photos fail to include the clouds of fragrant bacon and fish smoke billowing past the camera…

Speaking of lunch, mine happened at Badachro, at the Inn. Highly recommended – everyone loved Doglet, which is a good start, and the burger was tasty as ever. Mostly the thing I like most is how the coastline is just like Plockton – west-coast rocky sea-lochs and seaweed – but without actually being Plockton that everyone else flocks to see.

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A very wiggly tree silhouetted against teh sky, at Badachro

It’s just like Plockton, but without the Plockton and with a very nice inn/pub/bar that makes a good burger. The same rocky west-coast shore, however.

And this is what it’s really like at Badachro: [sphere 2974]

On a previous trip I had explored as far as Poolewe but not had a chance to go further; this time I stopped off at Loch Tollaidh to admire the rocky outcrops across the water (Lewisian Gneiss and other igneous rock).

Classic Wester Ross landscape – huge lumps of Lewisian gneiss, beside Loch Tullie

Signs of industry: on the shore of Loch Tollaidh is a small jetty, presumably a put-in for boats to go inspect the small salmon farm. That and the remains of a very dead boat, wood bleached inland, caught my attention:

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Some kind of wooden pier/jetty thing (possibly for fishing?) on the edge of Loch Tullie

Some kind of wooden pier/jetty thing (possibly for fishing?) on the edge of Loch Tullie

Some kind of wooden pier/jetty thing (possibly for fishing?) on the edge of Loch Tullie

The remains of a rather dead boat resting in grass and heather at the side of Loch Tullie.

On travelling up the coast to Mellon Udrigle (what a wonderful name!) I was struck by the view across the Wester Ross Marine Protected Area to the mountains on the horizon on the mainland. On the left, a bit of misty cloud drapes over the top of Beinn Ghobhlach; to the right, there’s more mist flowing over Sail Mhor but the huge bulk of An Teallach was completely hidden behind the cloud.

A wide-angle panorama: low-lying cloud (with a bit of precipitation) and mist flowing over Sail Mhor – the full bulk of An Teallach is completely hidden in the cloud beyond. The mountain on the far left is Beinn Ghobhlach.

By the time I got back onto main roads, with a very long drive ahead, the light was fading fast toward dusk and the blue hour and clouds in front were thick and closing in fast, so I made one final photo for the day by the side of Little Loch Broom and scarpered fast.

Lots of mist in the distance, travelling the A832 past Beinn Ghobhlach. I was rather glad to get back in the car and head off before the weather got really bad!

Landscape and Geology - an NC500 road-trip Back last November I spent a very happy few days staying up North; the first day was spent in Glen Affric (