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ironmandeficiency · 4 years ago

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I saw y'all discussing potential zodiac signs for Pascal's characters, what's your take on the major ones? I personally believe Marcus Pike is a cancer, Catfish's a pisces, Din's a virgo, Whiskey's an aries, Oberyn's either a leo or a libra, Ezra's a gemini or a sag, but I lean towards gemini. Javier's the poster child for Scorpio. Don't know about Maxwell Lord.

pedro character star signs

i’m so sorry it took so long, i was tweaking this so much bc i wanted to make sure i got it right! these are just what i think based on my astrology opinions, i hope you like it! 💕 i added their moon signs for flair bc i can. gonna tag a few friends i think may be interested, hope it’s not an inconvenience

max phillips: aries sun & moon. his ambition and charisma paired with the carefree attitude and optimism are an optimum fire sign duality and despite the fact i shouldn't, i love it so much. he has an inner child that he spoils with the riches of his conquests (good and bad) & gets emotional contentment when he succeeds in achieving his goals. knows what he wants & is quick to make those wants known. you never have to worry about where you stand with him because he will not hesitate to tell you.

javier peña: taurus sun with scorpio moon (the real guy is a taurus & i can see it but w heavy scorpio influence). he has his own structure and routine and will fight to the death to maintain it. very work oriented & does his best to rationalize his emotion-driven scorpio moon with his taurean logic, it's a tossup as to whether it works half the time. has a lot of emotional needs that aren't always met day to day & thats why he smokes and drinks and fucks. but don’t let anything make you doubt his love for you because the only thing stronger than his stubborn streak is his heart and its capacity to love you so damn much.

maxwell lord: libra sun with a sagittarius moon. the charisma? attractive and engaging af. oddly adept at chameleoning himself into whatever social group he's trying to vibe with. will draw eyes no matter what because so many people know him & if they don't already, they sure as hell want to. it takes him a while to learn to balance healthy relationships and his work life but when he does, you can visibly see how much healthier he is because of it. normally tends to his emotions in private but with help, he can start sharing a bit more. more optimistic than he sometimes should be but it could be worse

frankie morales: pisces sun with a cancer moon. his caring and sometimes cautious nature (with a twinge of homicidal tendencies) make him one that you don't just casually fuck with sexually or otherwise. catches feelings very easy & makes a lot of emotionally-driven decisions. these two water signs have a propensity towards codependence & defensiveness when hurt. is at his best when he feels loved and is supported by those he loves. emotions are always fluctuating and there’s some trouble with self-discipline (which is not the same as self-deprecation). because of this, he needs someone who can ground him

jack "whiskey" daniels: his swagger!! his charm!! his generosity!! the protectiveness over people he cares about!! this has the makings of a leo sun. this charismatic sun sign paired with his capricorn moon create a living example of the most balanced "work hard, play hard" you've ever seen. has a tendency to set high standards for himself and others & is a smidge more accepting when people fuck up, wanting to help them be better in the future. his emotions are often repressed in the name of responsibility but when he feels safe, he isn’t shy about them in the slightest. very confident in his skills & one of those that he’s the proudest of is his ability to cheer you up when you’re sad

din djarin: he is the most virgo virgo to ever virgo, a double whammy of it in both his sun & moon placements. very logical, disciplined, and tradition-oriented. knows how to bargain and budget, approaches problems with as little emotional attachment as he can (doesn't always work though), and is selfless af. needs something to keep him from being a worry wart bc otherwise he will spend every waking moment fretting over anything he can find. remarkably well-rounded & somehow the most emotionally stable

ezra: everything about this man radiates aquarius sun + gemini moon and you will never convinve me otherwise. he's just enough of an intellectual elitist (the big words and flowy shakespearian vocabulary) for it to border on unique and fun & annoying as fuck. every aquarian i've met has a quirk that sets them apart from everyone else & ezra's quirk (besides murder) is his vocabulary. it takes him a long time to learn to not talk over people on accident (sometimes he does on purpose just to be a bastard), but you can tell when he’s really trying to be conscious of it.

marcus moreno: now this man is what you call a pisces. a softie with a heart of gold that is constantly being underestimated, he has more power than most think. his silly and carefree nature detracts from the badassery he's capable of so it sometimes catches you off guard when he goes into Badass In Charge™️ mode but it’s there. his moon is also in pisces, which adds to his gentility and desire to be understood by his partner. this man just needs some love dammit, give it to him already!! his empathy makes him the Cool Dad™️ bc missy and literally any other kid get the vibe of “yeah this adult will actually listen to me and value my opinions”

dave: capricorn sun, aries moon. he thrives with people who can handle their own shit competency kink anyone? and doesn’t have patience with those who should know better. his standards are higher than a stoned giraffe, and is at his best in controlled environments. has a strong sense of self & a short list of people he would risk it all for. not as outwardly expressive but he does have a couple cues that you learn over time. also knows what he wants and is very meticulous in how he goes about getting it; there are very few places where he takes no for an answer. is a very good provider but don’t expect him to be mushy when you thank him for things he does for you.

oberyn martell: gemini sun & leo moon. he’s got more charisma than can fit in the ocean and sometimes it gets him into trouble. this man thrives on validation from loved ones. there is never a worry about not knowing what he’s feeling because oh boy is this man expressive. he’s a protector and a provider (and a gossip but don’t let him hear you say that). can and will cause a scene if there’s ample opportunity, he enjoys watching shit go down. will only interfere if it directly impacts him or someone he really cares about but otherwise will just pop the popcorn and pull up a seat. somehow has all the details of everything that ever happens but you learn to not question it.

pero tovar: scorpio sun (but specifically october scorpio) & aquarius moon. he’s highly rational when it comes to emotions but does have a temper. he’s observant af of his environment & the emotions of everyone around him, and chooses his actions carefully based on those. doesn’t confront his deeper emotions as often as he should bc it’s easier to default to Angy™️ and let the rest of the world come to their own assumptions. has no tolerance for lies and other bs, wants the truth and though it makes him seem power-hungry and manipulative, that’s not his intention. it’s just his way of looking for someone he can trust with the most intimate parts of him

marcus pike: this man? taurus sun, cancer moon. has a fear of abandonment that takes a while to quell but once it’s gone, he’s all in. he’s very empathetic and observant af, will know exactly what you need before you voice said need. will feel guilty for his baggage sometimes and the guilt will make him recluse for a short period until he’s reminded just how appreciated he is. does not play around when it comes to affection & is very eager to give and receive it whenever possible

my friends that i think might be interested: @scribbledghost @autumnleaves1991-blog @dyke--grayson @max--phillips @dindjarindiaries @pikemoreno @ohnopoe @pedropasscals @forever-rogue @engineeredfiction @bitchin-beskar

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omegawolverine · 4 years ago

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Plesse tell me about queerness in the get down!!

okay okay queerness in the get down let's fuckn goooo

disclaimer: I havent watched this show in full for like 5 months at least, probably gonna get something wrong and/or forget some more important bits. also this wasnt proof read I just word vomited

tws: period typical homophobia, abuse mention, f slur use, bury your gays trope, overdose mention, mention of a creepy possible age gap (the age gap hasnt been confirmed so that's why its possible), cops

going from least to most prominent queer characters, let's start with mylene cruz!

so, from the beginning of this show she has an established romantic relationship with ezekiel (although the status of their actual relationship changes frequently throughout the show) and though this was a relationship she was hesitant to pursue, it is clear that she does have romantic feelings for him and if not for them both having growing careers in very different music genres (zeke specifically working in a genre that she repeatedly labels as bad because she thinks they're ruining records + that it isnt real music because they're using someone elses piece and rapping over it, that's not really important here tho lol) they probably wouldve had a much healthier, smooth sailing romance. that being said theres a few things that happen in the show that, while not explicitly clear, or even really good coding at that—to the point where you wont catch if you really arent looking for it (and trust me, I always look for coding, hers was just so little that it flew over my head until I saw someone else mention it)—are still cool to think about!

so, for starters, I wanna mention the toy box performance, which was performed by mylene and regina, who are best friends. that's all cool and shit, and you dont really think much about it...until you hear about the fact that the show runners purposely colored a lot of the scenes in that performance with the bi colors. like. the writers after the show ended basically said "oh yeah there was plans to make her coding more explicit, but our shit got cancelled soooo" and then dropped the fact that she was gonna be bi (or at least implies bi) in the series, which puts a new twist on a few things.

now, besides the bi coloring in the background of the toy box performance (which was mostly on scenes with her and regina, which involved a lot of uh,, lowkey lewd dancing. with each other. in very revealing outfits. wooooo), there's her music! I dont tend to read too much into this one bc, like I said before, her coding is fucking light and the writers themselves said they didnt really get to do much with it, but I think some stuff with her music is interesting. specifically how her, yolanda and regina's song set me free blew up because dizzee, resident (lowkey enby coded) bicon, got their song played in a queer club. also that the song was majorly important to dizzee and started playing literally right as he kissed a boy for the first time and realized "oh shit I like boys that's bonkers". also that the song can be taken in a gay way since literally the entire thing is about becoming your true self, fully and unapologetically, which is what both dizzee and mylene's entire character arcs are about. dizzee (and a lot of other queer people, apparently), heard this song about being set free and it resonated with them so much that they got that shit most of its popularity.

speaking of dizzee and mylene, they parallel each other a lot in the way that their arcs are about them realizing who they are, coming into themselves and no longer just letting people treat them like shit in a sense (dizzee starting to tell people essentially that they can call him weird all they want, they can make fun of how he acts, what he likes, how he dresses, etc. but he likes how he is and quite literally saying "it's okay to be an alien" as he has consistently compared himself to one throughout the show vs mylene learning that if she wants to be a disco singer she needs to put her foot down, not let anyone, not even the love of her life, not even her abusive father, stop her from achieving her dreams, etc. and continuing to pursue her career with or without their support). one more little parallel that I think is interesting is during I think s2 towards the end of the show is when dizzee and thor are shown together having fun with each other, painting all over the building and each other and are basically just being happy and in love together and then they have these clips of them being interspersed with clips of mylene at a party where she is starting to realize that if she wants to get anywhere she needs to be her own main priority and that she needs to put her career and her dream, which is what makes her the happiest, above all else if she wants to succeed. idk I just think how the show made these two into a weird parallel, accidental or not, is neat. maybe not an explicitly queer parallel, but I think at least how her music and whatnot helped dizzee, the main queer character in this show, blossom, is important.

moving on we got shaolin fantastic also known as "oh no your internalized homophobia is showing-"

so, heres a quick list of...interesting shao facts:

Consistently referred to as fag/faggot (shaolin fanfaggot is my personal favorite); he gets really defensive about this despite nobody actually thinking he's queer, it's just people being assholes to be assholes, and he is the only character consistently referred to using a slur, especially a homophobic one, especially for a "straight" character. dizzee, a canonically queer character, is called a fag less than shaolin is even though dizzee actively goes to gay clubs, has a not so secret dude he "hangs out with" and wont let anyone properly meet, paints his nails, wears less than straight clothes even by the 70s standards and is just all around the definition of fucking queer (and I mean like in the weird way, not the gay way). in fact theres only like once I can remember him being called a fag and it had nothing to do with him actually being gay it was literally just like thrown out there the same way you would call someone a bitch.

Has only shown sexual interest in women, yet refuses to have deeper relationships with women in general (possibly because of trauma but who knows) but takes his relationships with his "brothers", specifically zeke, very seriously

Tells zeke and zeke ONLY his real name when zeke was planning to stop being his friend bc shao more or less got boo boo, a like 14 year old black kid, arrested for selling hard drugs; he was clearly scared and trying to do anything to keep zeke around, literally chasing him down the street and hounding him until he got zeke to stop and argue with him

Kept threatening to beat up zeke in the end but couldn't actually bring himself to do so, instead saying that zeke is "fucking lucky" before walking away

Let's zeke get away with things that nobody else can, in general just has a weird soft spot for ezekiel that he shows with nobody else

when shao found dizzee with thor in a vaguely compromising situation (like they were just shirtless covered in paint sleeping next to each other but shao had also seen everything they painted on the walls ((which some of it was sus)), it was clear they had painted on each others bodies and dizzee had been routinely disappearing with this guy for weeks now yet not producing nearly as much art, at least, as far as we audience members know) he didnt judge him but instead, waited for him to get cleaned up and then told him something along the lines of "theres a reason why im so secretive blah blah blah [not everyone needs to know everything about me]", which, in context, kinda implies that he might be a lil. a lil homiesexual. jus a lil.

whenever even the possibility of zeke leaving him comes up he absolutely loses it. he has literally cost ezekiel life changing opportunities because he thought zeke would just up and leave him for them. this could be abandonment issues bc he's a severely traumatized character, and that probably does contribute to it, but it also is just not a reaction he has to any of their other friends just randomly dipping in and out of his life soooooo

generally speaking, this mfer has got either bisexual with a big hard on for zeke coding or homosexual with terrible internalized homophobia and still a hard on for zeke coding. either fucking way, that nigga gay. he gay as hell. gay as fuck man. there wasn't really much to analyze here tbh bc the coding is just so fucking obvious if you look for it or you are/have been a gay person who's dealt with at least a little bit of internalized homophobia.

also, just a sidenote, idk how fucking old shao, but I'm praying hes like at max 19 bc I'm pretty sure zeke is a minor in this show and shao definetly is not so the whole him being heavily implied to have a crush on ezekiel thing is kinda. oof. not oof if zeke is like 17 but any younger than that? OOF.

edit: apparently the characters are only supposed to be a year apart in age but i had no clue about that before writing this post and since shaos age was never actually stated in the show i naturally assumed he was an adult since his actor Looks Like An Adult. this is definetly on me to a certain extent, but i also never saw anything about this when trying to find our their ages so 🤷‍♀️ maybe i just didnt look deep enough, sorry!

now moving on to the main event...marcus dizzee kipling :]

so, first things first, let's talk enby coding bc him being bisexual was already confirmed!

um, to start off, I just wanna say I dont think this enby coding was intentional or even really coding, it's just moreso me being a dizzee kin on main and knowing as a transmasc enby he has very transmasc enby vibes. for example:

cool, gender neutral nickname that everyone calls him

paints nails various different colors

the whole wardrobe is just a transmasc enby heaven...fishnet shirts, jean overalls, jackets and cuffed pants galore, the big colorful pins, etc

gender neutral hairstyle (when I had my fro it was very sexy and made it easy to transition between hyper masc and vaguely fem, which is pog)

comparing himself to/representing himself consistently with an alien character (though this is meant to represent his sexuality, it could also double as a gender thing too, not neccesarily bc of the whole nonbinary alien trope but bc an enby who likes aliens might heavily identify or compare themselves to whatever their idea of an alien is, whether that just be a genderless entity or a motherfucker with fly style and no need to be perceived as anything other Wacky As Hell)

moving on from there, let's talk about how his queerness is presented to us and how, while it may be a really good piece of representation, especially coming from netflix, it still lacks in A Lot of places.

so, let's start with good things!

i personally really like the get down's queer rep with dizzee bc it's (for the most part) nonsexualized and very very soft, about dizzee figuring himself out and realizing there is a place where he fits in, and about two teenagers in the 70s falling in love over their shared passion for street art. it also features an interracial couple where both boys challenge stereotypes both about queer men and men of color, which is epic poggers and very sexy. this piece of rep specifically is very important to me bc I am a queer black person and even tho interracial relationships are mostly normalized now, I've still had people give me shit for primarily dating white people in a town that is...primarily white lol

mm anyways, I can also appreciate how in the get down, dizzee being represented by rumi the alien is not a thing specifically related to gender (as it often is) and instead is about his sexuality and just in general weirdness and how it has led to him being alienated amongst his peers, poc or otherwise. him seeing himself as an alien is not about just his queerness, which is important, it is about him being a queer black man who talks different, acts different, dresses different and is "soft"—he isnt a walking black male stereotype and he wouldnt have been seen as masculine back in the 70s by any stretch of the imagination. this can be relatable to a wide spectrum of queer poc, from queer black men currently who still have to deal with this shit or to people like myself who are afab neurodivergent mixed race enbies that have always been signaled out as weird and alienated for it. dizzee is god rep bc while he has a small part in this show, his parts are very impactful, hard hitting and show queer poc of all ages that they arent alone and that it's okay to "weird", you just need to embrace it because somebody will love you for you, as thor did for dizzee.

that being said theres um. some minor problemas here,,,

namely:

dizzee and thors first kiss

the lack of development this pairing got

the way dizzee was confirmed bisexual off screen, he never said the words himself, just showed interest in both genders

the way dizzee and thor were never even confirmed boyfriends or just fwb so most of the fandom just calls them boyfriends bc Why Not

dizzee was implied fucking DEAD??? AT THE END OF THE SERIES?????? AND THOR WAS IMPLIED ARRESTED?????????????

now, these might have been things that wouldve been fine had the show been given it's full run but it wasnt which is why we are now left with probelms.

so, from the top, let's go over these: dizzee and thor's first (and only "on screen") kiss was one that was shown in a montage of other queer people making over and doing other vaguely romantic/sexual things, one of those things being a whole ass naked titty being mouthed at, but the actual kiss...was just not shown? like they really did just say "yes they kissed <3 you know this from the context clues of it being in a montage with kissing, hickey giving and titty sucking <3 but no we will not show it <3" LIKE HELLO? I SAW A NAKED BOOBIE BUT NOT TWO MEN KISS??? HUH????????

also, dizzee and thor were both fucking high as hell during this bit like this isnt a terrible thing but it's also like sometimes you do shit when you're high that you wouldnt do sober and they just never kissed again on screen so like?? like idk that's not that bad but it does kinda irk me since they deadass got no other on screen intimacy after that unless you including painting on eacher other or sleeping next to each other on a shitty mattress but not touching at all during it bc they were both at opposite ends of the mattress like half way off it

so yeah, that was trash. then we got lack of development, which kinda goes with the "dizzee being a bisexual but he never says it in canon" thing cause like...okay dizzee was already sort of a side character from the get go like he wasnt the mc by any means, but he became way more of a background character as things continued until we basically only saw him for performances or when he was with thor, yet they got no fucking development as a pairing other than "dizzee realize he gay, he like thor, he and thor spend time together and ig probably do some gay stuff but we dont really know bc we only ever see them do graffiti together now" like?? tf am I supposed to do with that shit. answer. quickly. and then theres dizzee not being confirmed bisexual, which is just a running problem with shows literally doing everything to say a character is bi except for having the character just...say they're bi? which would be so easy? like a good way dizzee and thor couldve had some development is by thor teaching dizzee things about the queer community that he didnt even know existed, thor couldve helped him understand what being bi meant and helped him label himself and whatnot but instead we got an off screen confirmation that the writers had bisexual in mind when writing him. which is garbagé.

the whole thor and dizzee never having a confirmed relationship status is also a development problem cause like literally nobody knows if they were just friends who made out, maybe fucked, who knows, or if they were dating bc dizzee does give a love confession but a love confession doesn't mean there is a relationship, especially since thor didn't say he was in love either (as far as I remember, I could be wrong, plus whether or not that really happened or was apart of dizzee literally overdosing during a performance is unclear so 🤪)

and now for the biggest issue...bury your gays trope.

during the season 2 finale, dizzee and thor are chased by cops after they are found doing graffiti, one of the cops is able to catch thor while the other chases dizzee into a train tunnel and there is a train seen headed straight for him before the show cuts to black on a train horn. the show writers claim that if they had gotten another season, dizzee wouldve been alive but since they didnt and since that's essentially super fan trivia knowledge, most people dont fucking know that and instead had to watch a black queer teenager chose death over being fucking arrested by a white cop. on top of that, thor didnt see any of that shit because he was caught and the cop started hauling him off while dizzee was still being chased so thor literally has no clue where his friend/possible boyfriend fucking is or that he's likely dead in a goddamn tunnel all alone, unless you count the fucking pig that chased him in there who wouldve died too. this shows rep was so fucking good as far as most shows go on not having major fucking problems, on not being toxic and over sexualized, etc, etc. and then they just. killed a black queer teenager for no fucking reason. like it was literally the last episode ever, it would add nothing to the plot, it would just devastate fans and devastate it fucking did. I dont cry easy but seeing a character I identified with, who I had hyperfixated on, die because he'd rather that than be arrested is terrible. it fucking sucked.

so yeah. that's my all too extensive thoughts/analysis on the get down's queerness. theres definitely stuff I missed, or misinterpreted, or looked too much into, etc, etc., but this was a fun thing to spend time writing sooo yeah!! thanks for the ask anon, sorry this was just a big rambley info dump, but hopefully you get some enjoyment out of it since it took like 3 hours at least 😭😭 feel free to ask clarifying questions lol

#shit self #asks #the get down #mylene cruz #shaolin fantastic #dizzee kipling #long post #analysis #info dump #idk if anon has seen tgd or is just being nice so i tried givinh background to things #kinz #bangerz #discourse

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carols-review-box · 4 years ago

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My Thoughts on Ginny & Georgia: Season 1

These are my thoughts.

Right off the bat, I want to address that this is, by no means, a comprehensive review. I’m not even sure if it can be called a review. These are just my thoughts on the show, and it may or may not cover everything (in fact, it most certainly won’t cover everything), and I’ll try my best to write it out in an organized manner, but I can’t make promises. (Though, in all fairness, this is just a blog for my own entertainment, and I don’t expect anyone to actually read it.)

Now, moving on. Ginny & Georgia, season 1. Where do I begin?

First Impressions

I first encountered Ginny & Georgia on Netflix when the website decided to auto play its trailer while I was scrolling through it. I watched--almost begrudgingly-- a short, 1 minute clip of Ginny complaining to her teacher about how all the books on the curriculum were written by white men. While I understand where Ginny was coming from, and while I understand that a lot of high school literature is written by authors who sometimes are not representative of their audience, Ginny’s introduction just came off as obnoxious and annoying. I thought, “Imagine moving to a new school, and that’s the first thing you say to the teacher.” I rolled my eyes, wrote the show off as another try-hard feminist woke piece (or something like that), and didn’t think I’d watch it.

Well, at some point, I obviously decided to give the show a try. And by the middle of the first episode, I was actually really surprised when Ginny didn’t turn out to be insufferable in the beginning. I say in the beginning-- because her character really slides downhill past a certain point.

Plot

Throughout the entire show, I was probably a thousand times more interested in Georgia’s plot than Ginny’s.

It makes sense-- Ginny’s plot is... well, pretty much a generic teen soap opera that I’ve seen hundreds of times before. There are some unique themes to her story that I’ve rarely seen portrayed in other shows, like her experience as a biracial person, but other than that, it seems to be your run-of-the-mill drama.

On the other hand, Georgia’s plot is fresher. I haven’t personally seen any black-widow narratives (if Georgia could be called that), so I was intrigued and curious by how her story would play out. Not to mention, I liked Georgia’s love interests far better than Ginny’s, but maybe that’s just my personal taste.

In comparing these two plots, I do feel like the writers did Ginny wrong. Georgia is given an interesting storyline with a relevant backstory and plot points that actually make sense, whereas Ginny’s story is mediocre, we rarely get to see her side of the past, and half the stuff that goes down in her life is either unrealistic and overdramatized or it just makes no damn sense.

Characters

I could probably talk a great deal about the characters in this show. I have the most to say about Ginny (75% of it is criticism, honestly), so I’ll dedicate an entire section to her later. For now, I’ll start with these characters:

Georgia: Georgia, oh Georgia. To put it simply, Georgia is a psychopath hidden behind a large smile and a buzzing Southern accent. For the first 5 episodes, I was so fooled by her act (and her beauty) that I forgot she’s a literal murderer and most likely not a good human being. But I guess that’s, in part, what makes her very interesting to watch.

Hunter: I literally felt nothing but a mixture of boredom and pity whenever Hunter was on screen. For the first 8 episodes, he is just an extraordinarily boring character-- and his boringness is used as a justification by Ginny to cheat on him (that’s where the pity part comes in). I enjoyed how how he got more character in the ending episodes, and I could understand his struggles when he fought with Ginny (in that scene). But if he wasn’t dating Ginny, then he would’ve been a completely forgettable character.

Marcus: Marcus ALWAYS looks like he’s high. I don’t think there’s a single scene in the show where he doesn’t look like he just smoked something. He also has little personality, other than being the “bad boy.” I guess his hotness makes up for it, or something?

Maxine: While I enjoy Max overall, I think she can be really annoying, talkative and insensitive at times. Emphasis on the last part, because she does this irritating thing where she says something racist, and then asks if she just said something racist.

Abby: Out of the friend group, I feel like Abby is the most dramatic without being overdramatic. She experiences things that a regular teenager would. However, she can be a bad friend at times, and I don’t like how the characters gives her a pass on some questionable choices she makes.

Paul: I like Paul. It is a little bit hypocritical of me to say Paul is a good character when he basically has the same exact personality as Hunter, but I’m going to say it: He’s a good character.

Zion: Zion is smooth, and I enjoy his little wisdom bits with Ginny. But he was introduced too late into the show, and I can’t see him being a good fit for Georgia.

Joe: I love Joe. Just like some of the other characters, he is kind of plain. Kind of vanilla, daresay boring, but for some reason, I love him. Maybe it’s because of his adorable connection with Georgia. Maybe it’s because he offers some much-needed comedic relief in this overdramatized show. Maybe it’s because he has attractive qualities, like running a “successful” business, or maybe he’s just my type. For many, many episodes, I wanted Georgia to get together with Joe the most.

Austin: I forgot Austin existed for half the time. Like, I know the kid stabbed someone, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s just so forgettable.

Character: Ginny

Ginny. Ah, where do I even begin with Ginny?

First, I’m just going to say this: I know the writers intended to depict a biracial person’s experience in America through Ginny. I’m not biracial myself, and I don’t fully understand the issues that biracial people go through, so I’m not going to comment too much on how the authors managed to fuck up. I say “how” and not “if,” because a lot of biracial people have said that Ginny & Georgia is kind of a bad example of their life, and also because even I can see the problems with the show from a mile away.

Getting that out of the way, I’ll start with Ginny’s overall character.

One would think that a character who is depicted as-- for a lack of better words-- as “woke,”... as in, a character who is supposed to have better moral values than others (the definition comes from the word’s general connotative interpretation from leftist media), would be a good human being. But time and time again, we see that Ginny is everything but.

These are my biggest issues with Ginny’s character:

1) She acts like she’s better than everyone else, but also like she’s super oppressed. I know these two personality traits aren’t mutually exclusive, but they’re not a good combination either.

2) She thinks she’s the only person in the entire town who has real issues. Other characters confront her about this, and she eventually mellows down, but it’s astounding to me the amount of people she had to offend before she got the point.

3) She can be really ungrateful and rude towards her mom. I know Georgia is not a perfect mother-- not even close-- and she can be genuinely crazy at times, but Ginny is very rarely appreciative of her mom’s efforts.

4) Despite Ginny’s intelligence, she is not smart. She commits a bunch of dumb mistakes. Now, some of these can be attributed to her just being a teenager-- like having unprotected sex, sending nudes, being peer pressured into stealing, etc. Whereas other choices-- most notably cheating on her boyfriend-- are just a product of her shitty personality.

5) There is a really bad implication concerning Ginny’s views on race. I can probably talk a lot about race in this show, but true to my word, I’ll keep this short and talk about the one thing that really bothered me: Ginny ignores the black kids. There’s a line in the show where Ginny says she’s too white for the black folks and too black for the white folks... and she uses this to justify never having any friends or not fitting in. But when she gets to Wellsbury, she’s accepted by everyone, including black people, yet she chooses to ignore them. She only sits with them near the end of the show when her friend group kicks her out. And she looks miserable.

Ginny likes to complain a lot about her white side, but all things considered, I think she has an issue with her black side instead. I don’t know if this is representative of the biracial experience, but I imagine this can’t be a good thing to portray on screen.

I know it’s crazy of me to say this right after I just ripped Ginny apart. However, despite everything, I actually like Ginny as a character. Do I like her as much as I like Georgia or Joe? No, but she swings more good than bad. What can I say? She’s entertaining (in the same way that Cheryl from Riverdale is entertaining). She’s at least somewhat relatable, and I wouldn’t have watched the entire season if I truly found her to be unbearable.

That being said, Ginny does have a lot of potential to grow, and I sincerely hope the writers do her better in the next season.

Themes

*At some point in the future, I may add more to this section.

Family: Despite a significant portion of this show being terribly unrealistic, I appreciate the show’s overall depiction of family and separation. For one, the show represents families who aren’t stereotypically nuclear. Our main protagonists are a single mother-daughter combo. The Bakers next door have a deaf father and a mother who doesn’t fit into a perfect mold. There’s a biracial family (Hunter) who connects far more with their American side than their Taiwanese-- so much that Hunter and his sister don’t even speak a lick of Mandarin. The small details and nuances which are added into the show makes them far more representative of the general American population.

Conversations: This show gives conversations that are far overdue in media. While Hunter and Ginny’s fight scene is 98% pure cringe, the remaining 2% of it is an important reminder on being biracial (or a person of color) in America. Many of us struggle with our racial identity, and it’s unproductive to compare who has it worse.

Overall + Rating

To me, the first season of Ginny & Georgia is a 6.5/10. (Five being the average; so this would be a little better than average). While it showed a lot of potential at the beginning, the show eventually devolved to nothing more than a standard melodrama-- even on Georgia’s part. It tried hard to be another Gilmore Girls but ended up falling quite short. I am looking forward to its second season though; and hopefully, it’s much better than the first.

#shows #netflix #7 #ginny and georgia #ginny & georgia #ginny&georgia

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2ndstar-ontheright · 3 years ago

Text

“I’m Sorry..”

Fandom: Ginny & Georgia

Characters: Ginny, Georgia, Ellen, Clint, Marcus and Max.

Words: 1513

Summary: Ginny and Marcus apologize and discovers that there’s more to him then meets the eye.

Warning: Swearing, implied masturbation (it’s very slight though. More of a blink and you’ll miss it sort of thing.), dead character reference, parental caregiver terms (Ex: “Mama”).

Author’s note: I know you're probably thinking, "WTH did I just read?" But hear me out! I wrote this because I wanted to give more depth to Marcus' character, and of course I had to do that with age regression. Hah! And to have him apologize since we didn't see that yet in the show. (Plus while watching the show I got some kind of vibe. Not really sure how or why, but I did for some reason.) Anyways, I'm planning on turning this into it's own fully fleshed-out story. And I would love to hear y'all's feedback and opinions in the comments. As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Ginny was lying in bed, unable to sleep. Her mind was racing as she recalled the events of the past week. Breaking it off with Hunter, Marcus and his bullshit, Georgia (as always), and how she managed to push all her friends away over 2 dumb guys. She sighed, trying to take her mind off things, she picked up her toothbrush from her nightstand and slumped under the covers. “Great. Your life's falling apart and all you can think to do is masturbate? Lovely, Ginny. Just lovely”. As the brush slowly made its way down, she then had to go to the bathroom. Sighing even harder this time, she put the toothbrush back on her nightstand and left the room.

“Mom! It’s Marcus! Your idiot, stoner, “Kyle Scheible” wannabe son! Of course I’m pissed and betrayed as hell that my so-called “best friend” was cheating on her boyfriend with my brother! God! Everything is the worst!” Max equally signed and exclaimed to her parents, angry like a wakened bear. “Well I’m sorry! I’m sorry I don’t know anything because my kids don’t tell me shit anymore!” Ellen replied. “Well I’m telling you now mother dearest!” Max said, stomping up to her room. Slamming the door behind her, she flopped on her bed and scrolled through her pictures. She stopped when she saw a picture of the 4 of them together at the Sophomore Sleepover.“Ginny, why couldn’t you have just talked to me?” Her voice broke as she started to cry.

Downstairs, her parents discussed the situation and what they could do to help. “I just don’t get it Clint. Ginny is a good kid, much better than our own. If we're being honest. How are we gonna fix this?” Ellen asked her husband. “I don’t know dear. But, it’s probably best if we stay out of it. I think we can trust the kids to work it out themselves. Besides, all we can do is watch and intervene when it gets too serious, right?” Clint replied. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks. I love you.” “Anytime, Ellie. I love you too”.

Marcus crossed the street towards Ginny’s house in hopes of doing one thing, apologizing. If there was any time to do this, it was now. Hopefully. That day, after hearing what Ginny said he realized what he was doing. He finally broke things off with Padma, stating how he had been a dick to her and that she deserved better, to which she agreed. He took time to look at himself and think “Why? What’s wrong with you? Climbing up to the window he reached for the latch and lowered his hand. He instead climbed back down, knowing how inappropriate and weird his entrances are. “You’re not J.D, idiot.” He joked to himself, while inside he was terrified.

Hearing the door knock, Ginny went downstairs. She looked through the window and jumped. “Jesus fucking Christ. Why is he here?! And at the door of all places? Well, at least it’s not my window, ``she whispered. Her mind began racing again. She wished she could go back to her room, but now she could not. “Peach, who’s at the door?” Georgia called from the other room. She halted for a moment,”No one mom!” “Okay! I must’ve just been hearing things then. Aw shit! That means I’m gettin’ old!” “Georgia Miller’s one adversity, aging!” Ginny said. “Oh hush!” Georgia said, fake offended. Ginny sighed, opening the door. She leaned on the door frame, ready to face whatever was gonna come out of the teen’s mouth.

”What do you want, Marcus? Because frankly, I don’t want to hear it”. “Hey can we talk outside? Please? I just don’t want your mom to hear, if that’s ok?” “Yeah cuz she hasn’t heard everything already about us! But, whatever. I guess we can talk”, Ginny glared at him. “Look, I just wanted to say, I’m sorry. You deserve so much better and should’ve just stayed out of everything..” “Yeah you should’ve. That would’ve helped. My life would have been a lot less shitty, y’know.” “I-I know..and I told Padma about everything a-and broke things off. I mean, it was the least I could do. And I’ve also started to evaluate myself and realize, I am an awful person. Like, what the hell dude? What’s your problem?” Marcus said.

Ginny looked at him surprised, “He actually went and acknowledged his mistakes? Huh, things are certainly changing for both him and I”, “I.. that’s.. I’m really proud of you Marcus. And yeah, you are an asshole, but I’m glad you took the time to realize that. Especially after all the things you went through.``''And I know that doesn't excuse what I did. Someone’s past or whatever they're going through doesn’t excuse them for doing something wrong, but thanks Ginny. I’m not asking for you to forgive me for what I did, I just want you to know that I am truly sorry. Also I’m seeing someone! I forgot their name, but they work with Abby’s Dad, I think. And after this, I’ll stay out of your way so I don’t hurt you or anyone else.” Marcus said, turning to leave.

Ginny gasped, “He’s truly pouring his heart out! He is sorry! Do I want to lose him? Cus I really don’t think I do” Her thoughts swirled in her head. “Marcus, I-I don’t know what to say. You’re right. But, I think that since you’ve taken the time to talk to someone and help you evaluate yourself, you know better than to play with people’s hearts. A-and I don’t want to lose you because you’re more than just hot. Y-you’re nice, introspective, and caring. I don't think I’m ever going to find someone who’s impacted my life like you. I-think I forgive you,” Ginny choked out, crying. “Wow..Seriously! Well, thanks Ginny! Is it okay if I hug you?” Marcus said, surprised. “Seriously. And yes! !”Ginny laughed. “Okay!” He said, wrapping his arms around her. After a minute had passed, Marcus took that as his cue to leave. “Well, I should go,” He said walking to her door. “Yeah. I’ll see you later, creep”. He smiled and left. And Ginny, for the first time in a while, felt relieved.

The next day, Ginny walked to the cafeteria hoping that her friends wouldn’t loathe her entirely. She planned on apologizing to them today for all that happened, especially to Hunter. She was about 5 feet away from the door and saw Marcus on the floor with his head buried in his arms. “Marcus? Are you okay?” She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Marcus had not had a good day so far. For one thing, Max was still mad at him, his head was screaming, he couldn’t stop thinking about his best friend, and he failed an english test. And his secret almost got revealed when he dropped all of his stuff on the floor trying to get into his locker. So yeah, you could say today was a shit day. So, when he went into the lunchroom and noticed all the people, he turned around back into the hall. For the second time in 12 hours he started to cry. And when Ginny asked him what was up, his head felt fuzzy and couldn’t say anything.

Ginny looked at him in concern waiting for him to answer. He looked up and she noticed his eyes were all red and puffy from crying, “I-I’m sow-sorry. I’m not supposed to... “Supposed to what?” “Be small!” He sobbed, hiding his face. “Aw buddy, it’s okay! But, can you explain? I don’t understand?”

He took a deep breath and began to explain, “So, ever since my y’know accident, my brain goes to this space where it’s kind of like I’m a little kid? Y’know? I know it’s-it’s weird. And ever since my best friend died, I feel a lot younger than I am. So, basically I’m a little kid when I have bad days or get really upset. Which explains what “being small” means, I guess”.

Ginny looked back at him processing this, and if she was being honest, it made a lot of sense. It was his way of dealing, and who was she to judge? “Well, that makes a lot of sense. And I’m guessing it helps, but why were you so upset to tell me?” “Because I was worried you were going to think I’m gross or more weird than I already am.” She chuckled, “You’re already one of the weirdest people I know Marcus. SO, there’s nothing you can do that can make you more weird to me. Now, quit crying! I’m not really in the mood for you to crash into a ditch again, y’know? Lol.” “Heh, yeah. Thanks Ginny.” “Anytime, Marcus. Now come on, the floor’s pretty gross.” She said, standing up and pulling him off the floor. “Okay, mama,” He said, feeling better than before. Ginny gushed and the 2 of them walked back into the cafeteria ready to face their friends.

#age regression #Ginny and Georgia #agere writing #ginny and georgia agere #my stories

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if-the-crown-fits-translate-it · 4 years ago

Text

Discord pt 94

[Date: 18/03, 06:29 PM GMT - 18/03, 07:08 PM GMT]

[Direct continuation of pt 93]

Maxwell: “GET OVER HERE YOU BITCH SO I CAN SHOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MESS WITH US”

donti (e): “heyy max chill calm down this will do no good and.. so much harm

please..”

Marcus: “max”

[Maxwell: “GET OVER HERE YOU BITCH SO I CAN SHOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MESS WITH US”]

Baroness: “Page, do you really want to hurt your family? I'm not the only family here, after all.”

Marcus: “.....”

emuhlee: “that's not page..”

Maxwell: “I aint page dumbass

seems your vision is worse than mine”

donti (e): “haha baroness this isnt,, page you might wanna,, look into some glasses hehahha...

":)”

[emuhlee: “that's not page..”]

Baroness: “Of course that's Page. :) Or he will be soon enough.”

donti (e): “uuuh we dont know what you,, mean baroness .. this is max,, and hes staying max”

Maxwell: “YEAH”

Marcus: “....”

[donti (e): “uuuh we dont know what you,, mean baroness .. this is max,, and hes staying max”]

Baroness: “Is that so?”

donti (e): “i mean,,, yes.

look at him..”

[donti (e): “look at him..”]

Baroness: “Yes, I see him. A beautiful flower almost ready to bloom. :)”

donti (e): “all i see is,, a rat looking guy.. no flowers in sight haha..”

Maxwell: “the only similarites we have are that we're the same age and part rat bitch i aint anything like him”

emuhlee: “max is max, not page. page is not max. quit calling max ,page”

Baroness: “You are so very much Page. :)”

Ethza: “He’s said he’s Max you creep”

[Maxwell send a message here that was immediately deleted after; see below.]

Ethza: “oh”

Marcus: “......”

Maxwell: “YEAH LIKE ETHAN SAID YOURE BEING A CREEP DUMBASS”

Ethza: “That was unexpected”

Maxwell: “huh? what was?”

Ethza: “Honestly I don’t know”

[Maxwell: “YEAH LIKE ETHAN SAID YOURE BEING A CREEP DUMBASS”]

Baroness: “Hmm that’s not what you actually said, is it Page?”

|[Ethza: “He’s said he’s Max you creep”

Maxwell: “YOU SHUSH AND LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE SHES NOT A CREEP”]|

LLyr: “you did the “say something you dont remember” thing again

Ethza: “Well there it is”

Maxwell: “w-what

no no no

STOP WITH YOUR FAKE BULLSHIT”

Baroness: “But it's not fake, is it Page? and you know it. :)”

kateza: “Baroness. We get it. We get there’s nothing we can do to stop this. Can you please stop antagonizing us?”

Baroness: “Antagonizing? i'm just here to check on the garden."

Maxwell: “LEAVE ME ALONE”

Marcus: “........”

kateza: “And you’re being very dehumanizing. Referring to someone simply as a “garden” takes away from the fact they’re a person as well.”

Raeva: “You've seen the "garden" now scram”

kateza: “People aren’t objects.”

[Maxwell: “LEAVE ME ALONE”]

Baroness: “If you wish. :) but i'll be back to check on you soon, Page.”

Marcus: “...Baroness”

[Again, Maxwell send a message that was immediately deleted after; see below.]

Maxwell: “you better not be you bitch”

Baroness: “Hello, Viscount. :)”

Marcus: “..”

kateza: “Marcus are you ok? I realized we’ve been kinda focused on Max but you’re here too”

Marcus: “why do you always fight with..him when you see him”

[Maxwell: “you better not be you bitch”]

Baroness: “:)”

|[Maxwell: “Leave baroness alone she's trying to help and she’s my friend! Don't be mean to her!”]|

[kateza: “Marcus are you ok? I realized we’ve been kinda focused on Max but you’re here too”]

Marcus: “..im fine”

Maxwell: “STOP”

kateza: “You don’t seem it

emuhlee : “....”

Maxwell: “AH SHIT SHIT MY HEAD FUCK”

kateza: “No, Max, I saw it too. I screenshotted it but I know that’s not you saying it.”

Marcus: “please sit down”

donti (e): “is it happening now I thought we had more time-”

LLyr: “growing pains, probably 3:”

[Marcus: “why do you always fight with..him when you see him”]

Marcus: “im waiting for an answer, baroness”

kateza: “Is it Baroness, then? Is she able to somehow alter how the circlets grow?”

Void: “i feel like fighting/yall feeling upset might affect it. could also be the reason why baroness is antagonizing you.”

Maxwell: “ow shit...fuck-- Merde!”

Baroness: “I'm not fighting anyone. But there is no reason for Page to keep denying himself any longer. Same goes for you, Viscount.”

Marcus: “max sit down”

Marcus: “....i never

you are fighting him

every time you talk”

emuhlee: “that's not.. viscount? that's marcus”

Baroness: “You never denied it, Viscount. Did you?”

Maxwell: “....dont listen to her marcus, shes just a dumbass blind bitch....ow...”

Marcus: “......”

kateza: “It’s that you come around, referring to people as objects and it’s not cool”

Baroness: “Are you ready to come home for spring?”

kateza: “LEAVE THEM ALONE.”

[kateza: “It’s that you come around, referring to people as objects and it’s not cool”]

Baroness: “They're not objects, Kate. They're family. :)”

donti (e): “heeey baroness youre uh, scaring us”

Maxwell: “marcus.....?”

donti (e): “a lot”

Marcus: “....i hate feeling negative emotions”

Marcus: “i hate it”

donti (e): “WoOAOHHH marcus haha you uh

Hhh”

Maxwell: “marcus?”

kateza: “... there’s nothing we can do”

Marcus: “...

none of this would be happening if i didn't get so curious

if i'd just told the truth”

Maxwell: “marcus no no its not, ow, your fault”

Marcus: “i was angry at first... i didn't mean to push him into the river though..”

[Baroness: “They're not objects, Kate. They're family. :)”]

kateza: “You’re not treating them like family.

I can type, I swear”

Maxwell: “god why do these hurt so much...”

Marcus: “i was just...scared”

kateza affectionate: “...

I’m sorry Max”

Maxwell: “we all are marcus...”

Marcus: “no”

Maxwell: “what? sorry for what?”

Marcus: “not in the same way”

Baroness: “I can tell you how to make the pain go away, Page.”

kateza: “Sorry that this is happening and we can’t do anything but watch”

Marcus: “......”

Raeva: “no no no we were suposed to have a two days atleast”

kateza: “The only way it’ll stop is to give in...”

Marcus: “he wont listen baroness”

Maxwell: “IM NOT GIVING In OW FUCK”

Marcus: “you know that

max please stop yelling”

kateza: “... You’re stronger than me, y’know. I would’ve given up by now.”

Marcus: “....guess that makes me pretty weak, huh?”

kateza: “I didn’t say that Marcus. I have to deal with pain when my antlers shed and it knocks me on my ass every time”

Renboo: “baroness i find you quite strange i mean you call max, page and act like its fine, but when somone calls you syd you get upset- you're kinda bein'a hypocryte baroness”

Luna Stories: “^^^^”

Maxwell: “I just want it to stop”

kateza: “Coupling that pain with this? I can’t imagine how it feels but I know I would have given up at the fi- wait. Are you saying you already gave up, Marcus..?”

[Renboo: “baroness i find you quite strange i mean you call max, page and act like its fine, but when somone calls you syd you get upset- you're kinda bein'a hypocryte baroness”]

Baroness: “Syd...? Why would you call me Syd?”

Marcus: “.......”

kateza: “Or am I reading wrong

You did... didn’t you?”

Marcus: “...i-”

donti (e): “guys. dont tell her..”

Baroness: “I am Baroness. :)”

donti (e): “its not the best path”

kateza: “Nothing is the best path right now, Donti.

There is no best path.”

donti (e): “... i wish that werent true”

kateza: “Either way, we’ve kinda lost.”

donti (e): “we haveNT LOST”

[kateza: “There is no best path.”]

Baroness: “Acceptance is the path.”

[Baroness: “Syd...? Why would you call me Syd?”]

Renboo: “i man you look just so much like her isnt that why your calling max page? (replying to broness-)”

donti (e): “heeey we dont want to be hypocrites”

Raeva: “From what we've seen we've thought of everything to keep them but this, this is check”

Baroness: “Nd Viscount already knows that.

isn't that right, Viscount?”

kateza: “... and I’ve accepted that we’re probably all going to end up on your side eventually.”

Baroness: “:)”

donti (e): “hey kate no,, bad thoughts”

kateza: “It’s fine.”

Maxwell: “god, putain make the pain stop!”

[Baroness: “isn't that right, Viscount?”]

Marcus: “........”

kateza: “They’re not bad thoughts when it’s true.”

donti: “hey hey HEY EVERYONE

we should,,,,, stop yelling,,

max are you ok”

[Maxwell: “god, putain make the pain stop!”]

Baroness: “Just accept it Page. And the pain will go away. I promise. :)”

kateza: “We can’t stop this. It’s alright.”

Marcus: “......max”

[donti (e): “max are you ok?”]

Maxwell: “non!”

Marcus: “max i promised you it will be okay”

[kateza: “We can’t stop this. It’s alright.”]

Baroness: “You can't stop the changing of the seasons. But you can watch in awe at its beauty.

And this is beautiful.”

[Baroness: “Just accept it Page. And the pain will go away. I promise. :)”]

Maxwell: “NON NON NON JAMAIS!”

donti (e): “MAx its fine were good close your eyes and breathe

in and out.”

donti (e): “were fine were good breathe breathe”

Maxwell: “J'ai peur” [”I am scared”]

Baroness: “Ne le sois pas, Page. :)” [”Don’t be, Page. :)”]

Baroness: “Juste rentre à la maison. :)” [“Just come home”]

Maxwell: “ma tête non s’il vous plaît” [“my head no please”]

Baroness: “I will leave you to grow. I expect that the next time i return, you will be a beautiful flower. :)”

Baroness: “Page :)”

Marcus: “.....”

donti (e): “ah, bye baroness.

it was,, nice seeing you ":)”

Maxwell: “BYE BITCH”

#on:discord #by:maxwell #by:marcus #by:baroness #if the crown fits

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spy-in-the-house · 6 years ago

Photo

CLAUS BACHOR

Brief bio of a DJ: PSYCHO THRILL Cologne-founder CLAUS BACHOR is one of the German long-term House and Techno DJs at all, and as friends in Detroit say "he's been doing this as long as anybody else that we know! His sets can range from classic Disco & old school House classics all the way to the darkest, bangin' techno that you've ever heard!" However, he's not standing still yet: The Psycho Thrill club and vinyl label run by him has just turned 27 and Bachor is still doing bookings all over Europe, the United States and beyond. Keep reeding more via Soundcloud Bio RAVE CLUB COLOGNE: In the course of history, clubs have been emerging and disappearing in European metro areas like the tides. Yet, some of Cologne’s night life strongholds such as LOVERS CLUB/DISCO INFERNO, PIMPERNEL, COCONUT, LE BATEAU or MOROCO have managed to leave stable marks in terms of quality standards regarding Funk, Disco, Electro, Hi-NRG, Proto-House and club hedonism/escapism within the steady quicksand of Cologne’s club history via their protagonists JOE (Coconut 1976-81), CAROL MARTIN (Moroco since 1981) and KLAUS STOCKHAUSEN (Coconut 1981-83 / then FRONT Hamburg), as well as through club icons like the well-known keeper BOGDAN since the mid 70s, and quite a few of the present clubbing generations still feel a lot of admiration for them. As these were slowly absorbed by mainstream’s vortex with new club venues like PICCIONAIA and NEUSCHWANSTEIN in the mid 80s, new alternative quality guardians of pure Soul/Northern Soul and Funk such as SOULFUL SHACK appeared on the scene, one who was tightly connected to the former Cologne SPEX desk, whose editorial core of authors like GERALD HÜNDGEN, OLAF KARNIK, LOTHAR GORRIS, DIRK SCHEURING and RALF NIEMCZYK, as well as the fellow DJs MICHAEL REINBOTH [later Compost, Munich] and MARKUS JÄHNING, set the initiative towards a clearly perceptible program club for the Soulful Shack topic and Hip Hop/House at the beginning of 1988. Keep reeding more via RAVE CLUB 1988/89

without the past … there’s no phuture … these alltime RAVE CLUB COLOGNE essentials in alphabetical order only

01 4-PLAY: Nastyness _ Mona Mixx [ A1-Track from Bigshot Records US 128035 US 12” | 1988 ] 02 A GUY CALLED GERALD: Blow Your House Down [ B2-Track from “Voodo Ray” RHAM! RS 8804 UK 12” | 1988 ] 03 A GUY CALLED GERALD: FX _ The Elevation Mix [ A-Track from Subscape Records ACGCT 001 UK 12“ | 1989 ] 04 A GUY CALLED GERALD: Voodoo Ray _ The Ricky Rouge Remix [ RHAM! RX8804 / Skysaw Music UK 12” | 1989] 05 ADONIS feat. GARY B.: No Way Back _ Vocal Mix [ Trax 112 US 12” | 1986 ] 06 ADONIS pres. THE ENDLESS POKER'S [FLEX, AMP, PERCY RICHBLOOD]: !Poke! _ Your Turn 2 Work Mix [ D.J. International 909 US 12” | 1986 ] 07 AKASA: One Night In My Life _ It's Time [ B1-Track from WEA Records YZ403T UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 08 AMBASSADORS OF FUNK [SIMOM HARRIS]: Everybody [ B2-Track from Next Plateau 50100 US 12” | 1989 ] 09 BABY FORD: Oochy Koochy _ Konrad Cadet Mix [ Rhythm King RBFord 001 UK 12” | 1988 ] 10 BAM-BAM: Give It To Me _ Club Mix [ Westbrook 105 US 12” | 1988 ] 11 BAM-BAM: Where's Your Child? [ Westbrook Records 107 US 12” | 1988 ] 12 BEFORE THE STORM: I’ve Got The Music _ Tony Humphries’ Club Mix [ Movin’ Records 001 US 12” | 1987 ] 13 BEN MAYS: X-Rated_ Bam-Bam's Club Mix [ Desire Records WANTX-021 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 14 BLACK HAVANA pres. SOUND FACTORY: Cuban Gigolo _ Kurtis Mantronik Remix [ B2-Track from Syncopate 1004 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 15 BLACK RIOT [TODD TERRY]: A Day In The Life _ Club Mix [ Fourth Floor Records 1089 US 12” | 1988 ] 16 BLAKE BAXTER: Does Not Compute [ B2 from KMS 011 US 12” | 1988 ] 17 BLAKE BAXTER: Get Layed [ A2 from KMS 011 US 12” | 1988 ] 18 BLAKE BAXTER: In This House We Jack [ B2-Track from “Jackmaster Vol.4” Westside Records JACKLP505 / D.J.International Records UK 2x12” | 1989 ] 19 BLAKE BAXTER: Sexuality [ Incognito IR 112688 _ Misspress US 12” | 1988 ] 20 BOU KHAN: Magic _ Magical Mix [ Quark Records 009 US 12” | 1988 ] 21 BRANDON COOKE feat. ROXANNE SHANTE: Sharp As A Knife _ Acid Attack [ Phonogram JABX 073 UK 12” | 1988 ] 22 BURRELL [RHEJI BURRELL & RONALD BURRELl]: Put Your Trust In The Music _ L.A.'s Garage Mix [ Ten Records Ltd. 264 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 23 CANDY J: Hurt Me! Hurt Me! _ Dueleme! Dueleme! Mix [ A3-Track from Eecho USA Music 023 US 12“ | 1989 ] 24 CHANELLE: One Man _ Frankie Knuckles' One Mix [ A-Side from Profile Records 7241 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 25 CHAOS [ANNE & KEVIN SAUNDERSON] feat. SIMIANNE: Definition Of Love _ Underground Techno-Nition Mix [ A1-Track from KMS Records 023 US 12” | 1989 ] 26 CHARLEY CASANOVA & CHEP NUNEZ: Casanova's Revenge _ Chep's Down [ B1 from Invasion 7248 / Profile US 12” | 1989 ] 27 CHILLY T: Work The Wax _ Freestyle Mix [ A2-Track from Dance Mania 024 US 12” | 1989 ] 28 CHUBB ROCK with HOWIE TEE: Ya' Bad Chubbs _ Crib Mix [ Select FMS 62336 US 12” | 1989 ] 29 CYNTHIA MT: I Can't Stop _ Bam Bam' House Mix [ Dance Mania Records 014 US 12” | 1988 ] 30 D.F.X. [C.DONATO]: Relax Your Body [ London Street FTM 31634 / Zig Zag UK 12” | 1989 ] 31 DA REBELS [HULA & K.FINGERS]: It's Time To Jack The House [ B1-Track from Clubhouse Records 103 US 12” | 1989 ] 32 DANCER [SIDNEY WINTERS]: Boom-Boom _ Frankie Knuckles Mix [ B-Side from Trax Records 153 US 12” | 1987 ] 33 DANCER: Number Nine _ Bedroom Mix [ A2 from Trax Records 160 US 12” | 1988 ] 34 DENISE M [DENISE MIDDLETON]: Do You Love Me? _ Acid Down Mix [ B2-Track from D.J. International 983 US 12” | 1989 ] 35 DICE [DYCE & MALKANI]: I Can´t Take It [ Production House 001 / Handle Music UK 12” | 1987 ] 36 DIE WARZAU [JIM MARCUS & VAN CHRISTIE]: Bodybag / Shakedown _ The Ralphie Rosario Remixes [ A3/B3-Tracks from Fiction Records ‎879 099-1 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 37 DIVA [AELENE COUTEE & VICTOR MITCHEL]: Get Up _ Club Mix [ Express Records 015 US 12” | 1989 ] 38 DOUG LAZY [GENE DOUGLAS FINLEY]: Let It Roll _ Vocal Mix [ A1-Track from Atlantic 86407 US 12” | 1989 ] 39 ECSTASY CLUB: Jesus Loves The Acid _ Acid Chant [ A-Side from Swordfish Records Drop001 UK 12” | 1988 ] 40 EDWARD CROSBY & SINGING DJ: Party Time Remix _ Party Dub [ B2-Track from Get Down Records 101 US 12” | 1989 ] 41 EDWARDS & ARMANI: Sex _ Acid House Mix [ MG Records 66006 / Indisc BEL 12” | 1988 ] 42 EQUATION [RONALD BURRELL]: The Answer _ Frankie Bones Long Division Mix [ A-Side from Nu Groove / Strictly Underground 003 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 43 E-ZEE POSSEE: Everything Begins With An “E” _ Original Mix [ More Protein 112 UK WL-12” | 1989 ] 44 FALLOUT [LENNY DEE & TOMMY MUSTO]: The Morning After _ Sunrise Mix [ A-Side from Fourth Floor Rec. 887 US 12” | 1987 ] 45 FANTASY CLUB [BAD BOY BILL & MIKE “HITMAN” WILSON]: Mystery Girls ... Set Me Free _ 4 Track Mix [ B2-Track from International House Records 002 US 12” | 1987 ] 46 FARLEY 'JACKMASTER' FUNK & THE SHY BOYZ: U Ain't Really House _ Really House [ B1-Track from House Records 025 US 12” | 1987 ] 47 FAST EDDIE: Acid Thunder _ Smooth Thunder [ A1-Track from D.J.International Records 961 US 12” | 1988 ] 48 FB3 [THE FUN BOY THREE]: Faith, Hope & Charity _ Dancin' Danny D Remix [ A-Side from Cooltempo Records / Virgin 004 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 49 FINAL CUT [ANTHONY SROCK, GREG LUCAS, JEFF MILLS, JOSEPH LAFATA, MAX EDGIN, VAN CHRISTIE]: I Told You Not To Stop [ B3-track from "Deep In 2 The Cut" Full Effect Records FE-0700 US LP | 1989 ] 50 FINAL CUT: The House Has Landed _ This Cut [ B1-Track from Full Effect Records 18560 US 12” | 1988 ] 51 FINGERS INC. feat. ROBERT OWENS: Can You Feel It _ Vocal Version [ A1-Track from Jack Trax 020 UK 12” | 1988 ] 52 FINGERS INC. feat. ROBERT OWENS: Mystery Of Love _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from D.J. International Records 892 US 12” | 1986 ] 53 FORGEMASTERS: Shall We ... [ B-Side from Warp Records 001 / Outer Rhythm UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 54 FRANKIE “BONES”: We Call It Techno _ House Mix [ A1-Track from Breaking Bones Records 400 US 12” | 1989 ] 55 FRANKIE BONES: And The Break Goes Acid _ Break Boys UK Acid Remix [ A1-Track from "Bonesbraks Vol.2" Underworld Records 135 / Apexton US 12” | 1988 ] 56 FRANKIE KNUCKLES pres. SATOSHI TOMIE: Tears _ Classic Vocal Mix [ ffrr Records 886-665 US 12” | 1989 ] 57 FREAKY D.: It's Just One Of Those Things Mix _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from New Jersey Sounds 07633 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 58 FRONT 242: Headhunter _ V1.0 [ A-Side from SPV 501393 / Play It Again Sam DE Promo-12” | 1988 ] 59 FRONT 242: Masterhit _ Part 1 Masterblaster [ A-Side from Wax Trax! 036 US 12” | 1987 ] 60 GENE HUNT: Living In A Land [ A-Side from Housetime Records 1015 / Trax US 12” | 1989 ] 61 HOUSE MASTER BALDWIN feat. PARIS GREY: Don’t Lead Me _ Medusa’s House Mix [ Future Sound Records 1002 US 12” | 1987 ] 62 HULA [LAMAR HULA MAHONE]: Hot Hands [ B3-Track from “Acid Tracks Vol.2” Trax 5004 LP US 12” | 1988 ] 63 HUMANOID: Stakker Humanoid _ Mix #1 [ Westside Records 010 UK Promo-12” | 1988 ] 64 INNER CITY feat. PARIS GREY: Big Fun _ Magic Juan Mix [ KMS Records 015 US 12” | 1987 ] 65 INNER CITY: Do You Love What you Feel _ Mike "Hitman" Wilson's Techno Mix [ A2-Track from Virgin Records 96539 / 10 Records US 12” | 1989 ] 66 JACK E MAKOSSA [ARTHUR BAKER]: The Opera House _ African Mix [ B1-Track from Minimal Records 002 / Criminal Rec. US 12” | 1987 ] 67 JAMES “JACK RABBIT”: Let Us Have Love _ Step By Acid [ B2-Track from Housetime Records 1007 / Trax Records US 12” | 1989 ] 67 JEANNETTE “JT” THOMAS: Shake Your Body _ House Shaker Version [ Chicago Connection MB-8610 US 12” | 1987 ] 68 JESSIE JONES pres. LIZ TORRES: No More Mind Games [ A-Side from Jack Tracks JTX-001 US Promo-12” | 1988 ] 69 JOE SMOOTH feat. ANTHONY THOMAS: Promised Land _ Club Mix [ A-Side from D.J. International Records 905 US 12” | 1987 ] 70 JOMANDA: I'll Give It To You _ The Stretch Mix [ B1-Track from Quark Records 005 US 12” | 1987 ] 71 K.ALEXI SHELBY: All For Lee-Sah [ A-Side from Transmat 008 US 12” | 1989 ] 72 K.C.F. PRODUCTIONS: Go Ahead London _ Acid Mix [ B2-Track from G.T.I. DEBU-001 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 73 K.C.FLIGHTT: Let's Get 74 Jazzy _ Blaze Dope Dub Mix [ A2-Track from TMT Records 001 US 12” | 1987 ] 75 K-ALEXI SHELBY AND MCD-TA OF THE K.A.POSSE: Dig This _ K.A.After Hours Mix [ A1-Track from Underground 131 / D.J.International Records US 12” | 1989 ] 76 KARIYA: Let Me Love You For Tonight _ House Club Version [ Sleeping Bag UK4T UK 12” | 1988 ] 77 KC FLIGHT: Planet E _ Acid Drop Mix [ B1-Track from Popular / RCA 8897 US 12” | 1989 ] 78 KENNY JAMMIN' JASON with “FAST” EDDIE SMITH: Can U Dance _ Bonus Jack [ D.J. International Records 932 US 12” | 1987 ] 79 KEVIN SAUNDERSON: The Groove That Won’t Stop [ KMS Records 014 US 12” | 1988 ] 80 KEYNOTES [KEVIN SAUNDERSON]: Let's Let's Let's Dance _ Party Mix [ A-Side from Incognito Records 80187 / KMS US 12” | 1987 ] 81 KING SUN [SUN BORN-R]: On The Club Tip [ A-Side from Zakia Records 7254 / Profile Records US 12” | 1989 ] 82 KISS AMC: A Bit Of ... U2 _ Club Mix [ B-Side from Chrysalis 029 / EMI UK 12” | 1989 ] 83 KLANGWERK [PETER ZWEIER, ALEXANDER ABRAHAM & THORSTEN FENSLAU]: Klangwerk _ Warte Bis Es Dunkel Ist [ A-Side from Abfahrt / ZYX Records 6194 DE 12” | 1989 ] 84 L.N.R.: Kream _ Til The Cows Come Home Mix [ A2-Track from House Jam Records 8805 US 12” | 1987 ] 85 LANDLORD feat. DEX DANCLAIR: I Like It _ Cosmic Dub [ B3-Track from Bigshot Records 137 US 12” | 1989 ] 86 LAURENT X: It's Magic _ Hip Clubhouse Mix [ A1-Track from House Nation Records 89064 US 12” | 1989 ] 87 LAURENT X: Machine _ Apocalypse Mix [ A1-Track from House Nation Records 88012 US 12” | 1988 ] 88 LIL' LOUIS & THE WORLD: Why'd You Fall [ B3-Track from Epic AED 1954 US 12” | 1989 ] 89 LIL' LOUIS [MARVIN LOUIS BURNS]: Blackout _ Phase 2 The Night The Club Lights Went Out [ B-Side from FFRR FXR123 UK 12” | 1989 ] 90 LIL' LOUIS: French Kiss [ A1-Track from “... Brings U Music From The Mind Of ...” Diamond LL-001 _ Mispress US 12” | 1989 ] 91 LIL' LOUIS: Jupiter [ A2-Track from “... Brings U Music From The Mind Of ...” Diamond LL-001 _ Mispress US 12” | 1989 ] 92 LIL'LOUIS: The Original Video Crash _ Often Imitated Never Duplicated [ A-Side from Dance Mania Records 011 US 12” | 1989 ] 93 LISA M: Rock To The Beat _ Instrumental [ B2-Track from Jive T201 / Zomba UK 12” | 1989 ] 94 LIZ TORRES: Loca ... You Can Look, But Don't Touch _ Orgasm Mix [ B1-Track from Jive 1299-1 / Zomba US 12” | 1989 ] 95 LIZ TORRES: Pay Back Is A Bitch ... What Goes Around Comes Around _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from Jive 1239-1 / Zomba US 12” | 1989 ] 96 LNR [L.THOMPSON & R.LENOIR]: Work It To The Bone _ The Clubhouse Mix [ House Jam Records 8907 US 12” | 1988 ] 97 LOONEY TUNES [FRANKIE BONES & LENNY DEE]: Another Place, Another Time [ B1-Track from “Looney Tunes” Vol.1 Nu Groove 023 US 12” | 1989 ] 98 M.T.S. [MIKE BUSH]: Spinach Power _ Acid Power [ B1-Track from Housetime Records 1006 US 12” | 1989 ] 99 MARIO REYES: What Ever Turns You On _ Club Mix [ D.J.International 913 US 12” | 1986 ] 100 MARIO SMOKIN' DIAZ: Pump That Base _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from Hot Mix 5 Records 118 US 12” | 1988 ] 101 MARK IMPERIAL: The Acieed That Ate New York [ House Nation Records 89012 US 12” | 1989 ] 102 MARSHALL JEFFERSON pres. TRUTH: Open Your Eyes _ The Enlightement [ Big Beat 0003 US 12” | 1988 ] 103 MARSHALL JEFFERSON pres.SCREAMIN' RACHEL: Rock Me [ A-Side from Westbrook Records 112 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 104 MASTER C + J: One Day We’ll All Be Free _ Mark Imperial Mix [ Street Side Records 101 US 12” | 1988 ] 105 MATT WARREN: Bang The Box _ Bang The House Mix [ A-Side from AKA Dance Music 001 US 12” | 1987 ] 106 MAYDAY [DERRICK MAY]: Freestyle _ Bongo Mix [ B2-Track from Pheerce Citi 001 / KMS US12” | 1988 ] 107 MC BUZZ BEE: How Sleep The Brave _ 70's Mix [ Play Hand Records 016 UK 12” | 1989 ] 108 MD III [MIKE DUNN] feat. TYREE COOPER: Face The Nation [ A1-Track from Underground Records 111 / D.J. International Rec. US 12” | 1988 ] 109 MIKE DUNN pres. ARMANDO: 151 _ Original Version [ A2-Track from Warehouse Records US 001 US 12” | 1988 ] 110 MIKE DUNN pres. ARMANDO: Land Of Confusion _ Dunn 4-Funn Mix [ A1-Track from Warehouse Records US 001 US 12” | 1988 ] 111 MODEL 500 [JUAN ATKINS]: No UFO's _ D-Mix [ B-Side from Metroplex Records 002 US 12” | 1985 ] 112 MR.LEE [LOUIS HAGGARD]: Rock This Place _ House Mix [ A-Side from International House Records 006 US 12” | 1988 ] 113 MR.LEE: Acid Fantaslee _ Acid Pump Up London [ B-Side from Trax Records 171 US 12” | 1988 ] 114 MR.LEE: Get Busy _ Chicago Mix [ B1-Track from JIVE Records 1274 / RCA / Zomba US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 115 MYSTIQUE [J.GOODWIN & F.BASTONE]: Here WE Go _ Vocal Mix [ Tuff City 128046 US 12” | 1989 ] 116 NELSON “FFWD” CRUZ: My House _ My House Is Your Dub [ B1Track from Minimal Records 008 / Criminal Rec. US 12” | 1989 ] 117 NEXUS 1 feat. Nina [ TYREE COOPER & STEVE SIMMONS]: Yo Body _ Original Body [ A2 from Fierce Records 103 US 12” | 1988 ] 118 NITZER EBB: Control I'm Here _ Command Control Confront Mix [ A-Side from Mute Records Ltd. 071 UK 12” | 1988 ] 119 NITZER EBB: Let Your Body Learn _ Club [ A-Side from Mute Records 126.861 / Intercord DE 12” | 1986 ] 120 P.O.L.O. CREW: Black Image _ Wish Mix [ Wide Angle NS-115 US 12” | 1989 ] 121 PARK AVENUE feat. TONY JENKINS: Don’t Turn Your Love _ Tee’s “O” Mix [ Movin’ Records 002 US 12” | 1987 ] 122 PAUL RUTHERFORD: Get Real _ Happy House Mix [ 4th+B'way Records 113 UK 12” | 1988 ] 123 PHORTUNE: Can You Feel The Bass _ House Mix [ B1 from HotMix5 114 US 12” | 1988 ] 124 PHUTURE: Acid Tracks [ A-Side from Trax 142 US 12” | 1987 ] 125 PHUTURE: Spank - Spank [ B2-Track from Trax 165 US 12” | 1988 ] 126 PHUTURE: We Are Phuture [ A-Side from Trax 165 US 12” | 1988 ] 127 PIERRE'S PFANTASY CLUB feat. J.R.: Fantasy Girl _ Mike “Hitman” Wilson Club Mix [ B1-Track from SRO Records 750487 US 12” | 1987 ] 128 PLEASURE ZONE [KEVIN JONES & JAMES ANDERSON]: Fantasy [ A-Side from Trax Records 164 US 12” | 1988 ] 129 PROJECT 122 feat. DESTRIE: Swing Your Body _ Instrumental Mix [ B1-Track from Playground Records 030 US 12” | 1987 ] 130 R.A.W. [ROD WARREN & IAN TERRY]: R.A.W. Groove [ A-Side from Rumour Records 004 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 131 RAGTIME feat. BYRON STINGILY: I Can't Stay Away _ Power-Pella [ A1-Track from Bright Star Records 005 US Promo-12” | 1987 ] 132 RALPHI ROSARIO: In The Night _ Kenny's Night [ B1-Track from HotMix5 110 US 12” | 1988 ] 133 RALPHIE ROSARIO feat. XAVIERA GOLD: You Used To Hold Me _ Riviera Mix [ A2-Track from Hot Mix 5 Records 102 US Mispress-12” | 1987 ] 134 REESE & SANTONIO: How To Play Our Music _ Dub Mix [ B1-Track from KMS Records 010 US 12” | 1987 ] 135 REESE feat. LATONYA SAUNDERSON: Rock To The Beat _ Original Mix [ A2 from KMS 022 US 12” | 1989 ] 136 RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM [DERRICK MAY & JUAN ATKINS]: It Is What It Is _ Mayday Mix [ Transmat Records MS_006 US 12” | 1988 ] 137 RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM [DERRICK MAY & THOMAS BARNETT]: Nude Photo _ Mayday Rhythim Mix [ Transmat Records MS-002US 12” | 1987 ] 138 RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM: Kaos _ Mayday Juice Bar Mix [ B2-Track from Transmat Records MS-004 US 12” | 1987 ] 139 RICHIE RICH meets The JUNGLE BROTHERS: I'll House U _ The Gee Street Reconstruction [ Gee Street 12003 / Idlers l Warlock UK 12” | 1988 ] 140 RICHIE RICH: Salsa House [ B1 Track from “Turn It Up” Mercury 872-187 US 12” | 1988 ] 141 RISQUE III [K-ALEXI & ROBERT MCKAY]: Essence Of A Dream [ A-Side from Stride Records Inc. KK-1837 US 12” | 1987 ] 142 SAX feat. ELAN: Don't Turn Your Back On Me _ Funny Bone Popi [ B3-Track from Loud House / Warlock Records 063 US 12” | 1989 ] 143 SEDUCTION [DAVID CLIVILLES & DAVID COLE]: Seduction _ Vocal Club Mix [ A1-Track from Vendetta Records 7014 US 12” | 1988 ] 144 SEPARATE MINDS [TERENCE PARKER]: We Need Somebody [ Express Records 014 US 12” | 1988 ] 145 SHAWN SHEGOG feat. BARBARA SHEGOG: Love Traxs _ Vocal Mix [ A1-Track from No Name Records 10287 US 12” | 1988 ] 146 SHAWN SHEGOG: Living In The Dark _ Dark Acid Mix [ A1-Track from No Name Records 002 US 12” | 1989 ] 147 SPECIAL ED [SPECIAL ED & HOWIE TEE]: Club Scene _ Ed's Special Mix [ Profile 265 US Promo-12” | 1989 ] 148 SPIKE REBEL & I.C.E.: House Rap _ Rick's Clubhouse Mix [ A2-Track from House Jam Records 8908 US 12” | 1989 ] 149 STEVE “SILK” HURLEY pres. JAMIE PRINCIPLE: Cold World _ Mommy Can U Hear Me Mix [ Atlantic Records 08267 / Warner Communication US 12” | 1989 ] 150 STEVE MATHIS: True Love _ Insane Mix [ A2-Track from Sound Tech Records 8801 US Promo-12” | 1988 ] 151 STEVE POINDEXTER: Work That Mutha Fucka [ A1-Track from Muzique Records 001 US 12” | 1989 ] 152 SUBURBAN BOYZ [THMB]: Insane _ Crazy Mix [ Dance Mania Records 010 US 12” | 1988 ] 153 SUBURBAN KNIGHT: The Groove _ Pan Mix [ A-Side from Transmat 003 US 12” | 1987 ] 154 SUZIE & THE CUBANS: I Feel It _ Makumba Mix [ Champion 12-70 / Warlock UK 12” | 1989 ] 155 SWAN LAKE: In The Name Of Love _ Club Mix [ A1 from Bad Boy 703 / Jump Street US 12” | 1988 ] 156 TERRY BLADWIN pres. AWESOME L: 16 [ B4-Track from R&R Records 100 / Barney's US 12”/LP | 1989 ] 157 THE BREAK BOYS [FRANKIE BONES & TOMMY MUSTO]: And The Break Goes On _ Freestyle Club Mix [ B1-Track from Fourth Floor Records 1090 US 12” | 1988 ] 158 THE BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS [Lenny Dee l Victor Simonelli]: We Got To Come Together _ Track Attack Rough Mix [ B1-Track from Minimal Records 004 / Criminal Records US 12” | 1988 ] 159 THE BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS: Change The Track _ Micaliami HipHouse Mix [ A1-Track from Minimal Records 006 / Criminal Records US 12” | 1988 ] 160 THE FLAT EARTH [THE DETROIT UNDERGROUND]: Mutual Suspicion _ Dix Mix [ Rhythm Tech Records 0100 US 12” | 1989 ] 161 THE FUNKY GINGER [SIMON LAW]: Slaughterhouse _ Emergency Mix [ B-Side from Easy Street Records 7538 / Crash London US 12” | 1988 ] 162THE HARLEQUIN 4'S + THE BUNKER CREW: Set It Off _ Wish Mix [ B2-Track from Champion 12-64 UK 12” | 1989 ] 163 THE HOLY GHOST INC.: The Word ... The Dub [ B-Side from Holy Ghost Records 001 / Big Noise UK 12” | 1989 ] 164 THE HOUSEDOCTORS: Housedoctors Gotta Get Down _ Cut And Bandage Mix [ Big One Records 008 UK 12” | 1988 ] 165 THE IT [LARRY HEARD] feat. ROBERT OWENS, CHIP E & HARRI: Donnie _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from D.J. International Records 893 US 12” | 1986 ] 166 THE PARTY BOY [CHRIS WESTBROOK]: The Twilight Zone _ Bam Bam’s Corrosion Mix [ Urban 027 / Last Dance Music / Polydor UK 12” | 1988 ] 167 THE PRINCE OF DANCE MUSIC, L.B.BAD pres. ... : Body Mechanix _ Authentic Garage Groove [ A1-Track from “The True Story Of House Music” Nu Groove Records 033 US 12” | 1989 ] 168 THE SAMPLE SYNDICATE: Acid Bonus Beats [ B3-Cut from Ramshorn 3775 NL 12” | 1989 ] 169 THE UNKNOWN & DJ SLIP: X-Men [ A1-Track from Techno Kut 1202 / Macola Records US 12” | 1988 ] 170 THE UNKNOWN D.J.: Basstronic [ A1-Track from Techno Kut 1207 / Macola Records US 12” | 1988 ] 171 THOMPSON & LENOIR [LNR]: It's A Mystery To Me [ B-Side from House Jam Records 8803 US 12” | 1987 ] 172 TODD TERRY PROJECT: Bango ... To The Batmobile _ Club Bang [ A1 from Fresh 80117 / Sleeping Bag US 12” | 1988 ] 173 TONI SCOTT: That's How I'm Living _ Instrumental [ B2 from Next Plateau Records 50098 US 12” | 1989 ] 174 TOO NICE: I Git Minze _ Gayle “Sky” King Extended Dance Mix [ Arista ADI-9827 US 12” | 1989 ] 175 TRIPLE XXX [JUAN ATKINS]: The Bedroom Scene _ Rated X Mix [ B1-Track from Metroplex 009 US Promo-12” | 1987 ] 176 TRUE FAITH vs FINAL CUT: You Can't Deny The Bass _ Club Mix [ A1-Track from Techno City Records 8904 / Metro Records US 12” | 1989 ] 177 TURNTABLE ORCHESTRA [HIPPIE TORALES]: You're Gonna Miss Me _ A Guy Called Gerald Remix [ A_Side from Republic Records 012 / Music Village UK 12” | 1988 ] 178 TWIN HYPE: For Those Who Like To Groove _ Hollywood Sweat Mix [ Profile 7270 US 12” | 1989 ] 179 TYREE COOPER: Acid Over _ Tyree's Mix [ A1-Track from Underground 116 / D.J. International Records US 12” | 1987 ] 180 TYREE feat. CHIC: I Fear The Night [ Underground 103 / D.J. International Records US 12” | 1986 ] 181 TYREE feat. KOOL ROCK STEADY: Turn Up The Bass _ Julian Jumpin' Perez Jumpin' Mix [ B2 from D.J.International Records 970 US 12” | 1988 ] 182 VICTOR ROMEO and THE MOVE feat. REGGIE HALL: The Art Of Acid [ Dance Mania Records 013 US 12” | 1988 ] 183 VINCE LAWRENCE pres. TODD COLBURNE: WOW _ Bonus Sex [ B2-Track from Mad Dog Records 2040 US 12” | 1987 ] 184 VIRGO [VINCE LAWRENCE]: Go Wild Rhythm Trax [ B2-Cut from Other Side Records OST-485 Blue Label _ Marbled Pressing US 12” | 1985 ] 185 VOODOO DOLL [FRANKIE BONES]: Women Beat Their Men _ Voodoo Village Club Mix [ A-Side from Breaking BonesRecords 200 US 12” | 1989 ] 186 WEE PAPA GIRL RAPPERS: We Know It _ Kevin Saunderson Mix [ B1-Track from Jive Records 1185-1-JD US LP| 1989 ] 187 WHITE KNIGHT: Keep It Movin' Cause The Crowd Says Go _ Dope Acid Mix [ Jive 1244 US 12” | 1989 ] 188 WILLIE WONKA: What Is House! [ A-Side from Trax Records 122 US 12” | 1986 ] 189 X-RAY [JUAN ATKINS]: Let's Go _ Mayday Dub Mix [ B-Side from Transmat MS 001 US 12” | 1986 ] 190 YELLOW HOUSE: Jack My Body _ Farley's Body Mix #3 [ B2-Track from Dance Mania Records 005 US 12” | 1987 ] #pics by Claudio Kalex & Psycho Thrill Cologne #bookmarks #ClausBachor: WIKIPEDIA ll FACEBOOK ll DISCOGS ll PSYCHO THRILL COLOGNE PSYCHO THRILL RECORDINGS ll AUTHENTIC MUSIC ll SKY'S ABLAZE DEGU TECHNIQUE ll BANDCAMP ll INSTAGRAM ll RA ll MIXCLOUD WE CALL IT TECHNO ll HIGH TECH SOUL ll YOUTUBE SPYINTHEHOUSE ll SOUNDCLOUD I / SC II / SC III INVASION FROM PLANET DETROIT 3.0 #bookmarks #RAVECLUBCologne: HISTORY ll MIXES ll GALLERY

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rewolfaekilerom · 3 years ago

Text

ginny & georgia is good.

//NOTE: This was originally posted to Wordpress on 05.01.2021//

Let me start by saying that I tried to think of a clever title for this post, but all I could think of was the simple fact that I really like Ginny & Georgia. Excuse my lack of cleverness this week. I’m not sure if it’s my body responding to the first vaccine dose or if it’s the fog of seasonal allergies, but my brain is mush; my sense of smell is also not right. Also, Bug scratched the hair off of one of her ears (I’m pretty sure that’s seasonal allergies, poor thing) and I’ve spent a cumulative 15 hours this past week rendering, exporting, and uploading one single video onto YouTube for work (lost story short: I’m back at the rendering stage after I realized the audio got unsynced in the second half of the video. Ugh). It’s been a WEEK.

Excuses, excuses.

So, while I wait for my laundry and as I take a break from New Pokemon Snap (omg, it’s so good), I thought I’d brain-vomit my thoughts about Ginny & Georgia. Proving true to the portrait I gave of myself in my last post, I’m happy (or embarrassed?) to say that I watched Ginny & Georgia (henceforth G&G) twice this week. I finished episode 10 and immediately started rewatching episode 1, and it’s taking everything in me to not start rewatching for a third time. But depending on what you consider a week, I might be on week two now? ANYWAY.

I’ll start this brain-dump by saying, again, I really like this show. I described it to friends as a cross between Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars or Outer Banks–maybe with a touch of Dexter. I don’t think it’s just that, but I think that’s a good way to summarize how it feels to watch the show, and those are good things in my book. GG and Dexter are probably in my top 5 favorite TV shows, and OB is up there too. I’ve watched OB through twice, and it definitely quenched my mid-winter thirst for the beach and my perpetual desire for a solid mystery/intrigue. I grew up watching the Travel Channel, so any show set in an even moderately interesting locale is immediately catching my interest. Oh, and I watched the entire PLL series with my mom while I was a teenager and even after I went away to college; it was “our show”–our way of sharing cultural ground even when I was away from home for the first time. We watched each episode together when it aired on TV, and we’d be the first to admit that the show was–at best–illogical, comically dramatic, and unrealistic to the umpth degree. But sometimes it’s fun to watch a show and laugh at its absurdity.

G&G doesn’t fall into the same traps that a lot of those types of teen shows do. It has drama and intrigue; it has sex and “teen problems” (which are really just person problems). But it also has real conversations about race and sexuality and parent-child relationships that go beyond the CW/Freeform problem-for-problem’s-sake model (hi, PLL)) or the WB squeaky-clean-problems approach (I’m talking to you, Seventh Heaven). It takes a Skins approach to issues young people face–well, if Skins was made for a puritanical US audience, but not THAT US Skins reboot. We’ll never talk about that. Shhh. Look away.

I’m not going to rehearse the plot of G&G, so look it up for yourself right now. I’ll wait.

Just kidding. I’m not waiting. Go look it up on your own time.

The similarities between G&G and GG are glaring (hell, Georgia even calls herself and Ginny the Gilmores with bigger boobs). In both, you have a young, single mom who had her daughter at 15/16 and then ran away from home. The mom is plucky, charismatic, and doesn’t always navigate the world by making the most, er, ethical choices. The daughter initially seems a bit more reserved and like she wants to play by the rules, but deep down is just a younger version of the mother, and that comes out of the course of the series. The two relate to one another as friends, but it’s complicated by the fact that they’re parent and child and that there is an inherent power imbalance there. The daughter is a little too mature for her own good and the mother is a little too immature for her own good. They butt heads, usually over the mother’s past and present choices (particularly regarding men) and the daughter’s present and future choices (also often regarding men). Their fights and falling outs are truly spectacular–they fight like only a mother and daughter could, but they also love one another–though they can’t express that love in the most logical or legible ways. They’re dysfunctional in every way you could imagine, and they really should be in family counseling.

But that’s not all. If that were it, I’d say, “oh, boohoo, they have similar types of characters. As if this is novel? Hasn’t this been done before? Get off your high horse.” NO. The parallels between these two shows go WAY deeper than that. Georgia is Lorelei and Ginny is Rory–hell, their naming practices are even similar. Georgia named herself after the state she was in the first time she had to come up with a pseudonym; this initiated a naming practice wherein she names her children after the cities/states they’re born in–hence Ginny, for Virginia. Rory is a nickname for Lorelei. (Side note: Lorelei is a hard name to type.)

Fine, fine. But we also have the tripartite relationship dynamics. Lorelei’s Big Three are Christopher, Max, and Luke; Georgia’s are Zion (Ginny’s dad and Georgia’s “penguin”–still not positive what that means, except that they can’t let go of one another?), Paul (the mayor, a white collar, public-facing profession), and Joe (the cafe/restaurant owner). If teenaged Rory has Dean and Jess, Ginny has Hunter and Marcus, respectively; Rory and Ginny obviously belong with the “bad boy”–they have infinitely better chemistry and get one another–but struggle with how good they “look” with the good guy, who’s actually kind of a judgmental jerk (as the bad guy points out).

Stars Hollow looks a whole lot like Wellsbury–hell, they’re both in New England. Wellsbury IS the most New England town name ever. Period. I love me some picturesque New England town bullshit.

Oh, and the side characters. Ellen and Sookie fill the same niche, and it’s a good one. They’re easily the most likable characters in both shows, and their husbands are genuinely funny characters in their own rights. GG has the sexually ambiguous (until he’s not) but oh-so-sarcastic Michel while G&G has Nick. Arguably, you could lump Kirk in with Michel to get Nick, but Nick isn’t as bumbling as Kirk, so maybe that point doesn’t stand. Hell, for friends Rory has the angel and devil on her shoulders in the form of Lane and Paris; Ginny has Max and Abby. And if Stars Hollow has Taylor Doose, Wellsbury has Cynthia Fuller. The list goes on.

Of course, a staple of GG is Emily and Richard Gilmore, but we glimpse that in G&G’s flashbacks to Zion’s parents, who help Georgia and Zion when the two first have Ginny. They’re similarly exasperated with their child’s choices and come off as a little overbearing but nonetheless have good intentions. They don’t have nearly as much screen time as Emily and Richard, which is a shame, but they serve a similar function.

Oh! And the flashbacks. They’re one of the charming parts of GG–they give us really important backstory on Lorelei’s life and life choices prior to the series’ start (and Rory’s birth, frankly). They’re less charming in G&G because Georgia’s background is far darker than GG ever could or would have conjured.

This gets me to why G&G isn’t just a GG rip-off. G&G isn’t just a woke GG. It isn’t just GG with people of color, in the LGBTQIA+ community, of varied socioeconomic classes, or from outside New England. If you like GG, you might like G&G, but you also might not. G&G addresses real life challenges teenagers, women, people of colorm hell, most Americans face in 2021. It depicts the US in its multiple angles, some of which are very, very ugly. Some might say that it’s GG for 2021, and maybe it is, but if that’s true, I’m not sure it’s a bad thing. I’m just not sure it’s totally true.

I’m going to cool it on the GG-G&G comparisons for a moment and just talk about G&G because I think you get my point. Before I cool it completely, though, and as a point of departure, I’ll say that if we do go with the idea that G&G is GG for 2021, then we need to recognize what G&G does differently: it gives us glimpses into how a whole range of people experience the US, and it doesn’t look away from ugly, unflattering, hateful truths that reside just below the surface of sparkly, shiny, pretty, picture-perfect towns. It doesn’t shy away from reality, even if that reality is uncomfortable for white, middle-class, cis, het viewers.

The important things about G&G that I haven’t yet mentioned in specifics are a’plenty.

Ginny (and Hunter) is mixed-race, a subject that comes up on a number of occasions in the form of explicit conversations about how being mixed-race doesn’t necessarily mean belonging to two communities but can instead mean feeling out of place in both. It also comes up in a very hard-to-watch argument between Ginny and Hunter where the two trade insults about one another’s lack of belonging; the argument escalates into a screaming match in which the two effectively diminish not only one another’s claims to their Black (in Ginny’s case) and Taiwanese (in Hunter’s case) identities but also the prejudices they experience at the hands of a hegemonic white society that systematically denies opportunities or a sense of belonging (among other things) for those who don’t fit into readily identifiable “boxes.”

Georgia ran away from her childhood home in rural, impoverished Arkansas because she was being sexually abused by her stepfather, who then went on to sexually abuse her half-sister.

Georgia has killed people, often for “legitimate” (???) reasons, including posing threats to Ginny.

Georgia used to be in a biker gang and still has connections with at least one member, a lawyer she has on retainer to help her “disappear” her misdeeds, including said murders.

Marcus and Ginny have struggled (or are currently struggling) with self-harm and suicide ideation.

Literally every single one of the teenagers in this show is under immense pressure to over-engage in extracurricular activities that will make them competitive candidates at top universities.

Parents’ unhealthy relationships with one another, divorce, and everything else in that realm also shape the teenaged characters’ lives.

Abby struggles with an eating disorder that’s fueled in part by comments her male peers (notably, an asshole named Press) about her body. Male characters make sexist, stereotyping comments to Ginny about her body, too.

I’ll stop there, but I do so with full knowledge that I’m likely leaving something out. Hell, as I type this I remember that Austin (Ginny’s younger half-brother) literally stabs a kid in the hand and there’s a private detective trying to figure out Georgia’s past, including if/how she murdered her previous husband (the impetus for the family’s move). Like I said, there’s so much more to this show than just its similarities with GG. But I’ve also seen articles online decrying viewers who make the connection, and I don’t think that’s quite the right approach. The show clearly isn’t copying GG. Even if G&G did take inspiration from GG, it takes that inspiration in a fresh direction.

I wonder, though, about how we, the viewers, are supposed to respond to certain aspects of the show.

For instance, the show pits the US South as the source of obvious Bad Stuff ™–child abuse, incest, poverty, etc.– and the US Northeast as a place where the Bad Stuff ™ is hidden beneath a picture-perfect veneer. I get what the show’s creators are going for. They’re attempting to give us a multidimensional perspective on the US in all its prettiness and ugliness, but I wonder if associating the South with only the Bad Stuff ™ is doing a disservice to a region that has a rich cultural past and present–a past and present that’s certainly included problems like poverty, racism, and abuse but cannot be defined by those things alone because those things are not all that’s there. To tie those things primarily to just one region because those are stereotypes that are often perpetuated about that region seems a bit . . . overly simplistic? Troublesome? Dare I use the old grad-student favorite–problematic? It’s too easy–it’s lazy, in fact–to pit South against Northeast as the source of the US’s outright ugliness. It’s the rhetoric surrounding the 2016 presidential election all over again, and, frankly, we could all use a break.

The other thing that regional competition does is it makes it possible for the show to gloss over the fact that those Bad Things ™ exist in the Northeast, too. I feel silly saying that because it seems so obvious, but the simplistic portrait the show paints of the US means that it sacrifices accurate representation and complexity for the sake of–well, actually, I’m not sure what it’s for the sake of. Maybe straightforward storytelling? That might make sense if the show didn’t dwell in other complexities and commit itself to attempting to represent other identities and aspects of American life with some degree of accuracy, so I don’t know.

I can’t speak to whether the show accurately represents the experiences of mixed-race people, LGBTQIA+ people, or people with disabilities. I suspect that it represents the experiences of some people accurately but, of course, not all people because that would be impossible. I’m also not sure if I think the show’s commitment to representing a variety of experiences of US life borders on tokenism. I can’t speak for how someone who occupies one of those subject positions experiences the show because I do not occupy that subject position. My gut reaction is that the show does seem to make an effort to go beyond the whole “look at us, we cast all sorts of people in our show” by attempting to humanize all of its characters as real humans with rich, complex lives. It weaves the characters’ lives into a tight web, making clear that a character like Max and Marcus’s dad isn’t noteworthy just because he’s deaf. You don’t look at Clint and think “oh, that’s the deaf character.” You think, oh, that’s Clint; he’s Ellen’s husband, Max and Marcus’s dad, he’s deaf, he makes pithy remarks about his over-the-top daughter and slacker son, and he performs strip-teases for his wife. He’s noteworthy because he’s an engaged (and absolutely hilarious) husband and father whose deafness is one of many identities of his that influences his children’s lives as any other cultural identity would influence a family’s dynamic. The entire family is (at least) bilingual, communicating in sign language and spoken English while also teaching their sign language skills to friends and significant others. His deafness is one identity among many that the show invests him with, and he’s not in all that many scenes.

I could be wrong, but that was my experience while watching the show and thinking about it a bit afterward and while writing this post.

The show depicts mixed-race identity in a complex way, too, but it dwells on it a bit longer and with a bit more detail. I mentioned that Ginny and Hunter are both of mixed-race parentage and that their mixed-race identities become a subject of a relationship-ending argument. To back up a bit, though, the show attempts to paint a vivid portrait of the challenges Ginny in particular faces as a she navigates middle-class, white suburbia as the daughter of a Black father and a white mother. We see how she reacts when a police office walks toward her at a gas station while she pumps gas in her mother’s BMW, when a teacher tells her she’s being “aggressive” (while her classmates, who display similar behaviors, are unremarked upon), when her hair frizzes out after her friends pressure her to let another student’s white mom brush her curls into a ponytail using a boar-bristle brush, when a male friend (multiple male friends?) tells her that she doesn’t look like a stereotypical Black girl, and, among other things, when another student asks her “what are you?” in an attempt to pinpoint her racial/ethnic identities. Each instance is painful to watch because the actress who plays Ginny plays her well; the camera stays trained on her face as she responds to each of these interactions, allowing the viewer to observe the range of emotions she feels as she repeatedly navigates a community of peers and adults who can’t get their shit together and respect her existence. These interactions aren’t quirky neighbors asking silly questions about why she hangs her laundry a certain way or informing her that she needs to only mow her lawn on Thursdays. These are interactions that repeatedly undermine her sense of belonging, that tell her she’s somehow different, and that question her very right to exist. It’s heartbreaking, but I think it’s important that it’s depicted because that’s reality for many, many people.

The scene with Hunter is interesting because it shows the two turning something that was common-ground into a source of conflict for them. I’m not entirely sure how to read this scene. It’s difficult to watch because it rapidly descends into a “who is the most disenfranchised?” competition rather than a respectful conversation about each partner’s different experiences with prejudice. I wondered if the subtext here was some commentary on how members of one racial community pit themselves against members of other racial communities. (I’m not being clear here, and I’m struggling to clarify even as I go back to edit this post. I guess what I mean is that, when I initially watched this scene, I worried that this was a negative commentary on the Black community in particular and how it engages with other racial communities. I hope that makes sense.) Frankly, I’m still not sure if that’s not what’s happening there or if that’s not what was intended. What I’m fairly certain of, though, is that the scene makes clear that we, the viewer, are being told pretty explicitly that we can’t identify the two as “good partners” on the sole basis that they have mixed-race parentage in common. In other words, the scene undermines the idea that experience of racial prejudice is the only (or even the most important) factor that brings two people together and makes them good partners for one another. It also undermines the belief that experiencing prejudice doesn’t mean a person is automatically awakened to the prejudices other people also experience.

This is also one of the scenes where Ginny truly is unlikeable. Hunter is, too, but he’s unlikeable in a number of scenes throughout the show. He’s the Good Guy™ character in a nutshell–says all the right things, does all the right things, is all the right things, but maybe isn’t all those things for all the right reasons. In this scene, Ginny enacts the prejudicial treatment she’s suffered at the hands of her peers against Hunter; she questions the validity of his identity and the veracity of his experiences of prejudice at the hands of his peers. This scene is the breaking-point where the two have to come to terms with the fact that they’re not compatible even though, on some surface and by some set of metrics, they might appear to be.

Hunter sucks, but so does Marcus–for different reasons, though. Marcus is detached, withdrawn, sarcastic, unmotivated, disrespectful, and dishonest. He’s unaware–and doesn’t attempt to improve at all on this–of how his actions impact other people. He just doesn’t care about anyone but himself–until he does, a little bit. Some part of me has sympathy for Marcus and genuinely likes him; I’ll blame the show for that. Another part of me–the part that’s 30 years old and has known plenty of Marcuses–doesn’t have time for his shit. I’m conflicted, but the majority of me wants Marcus and Ginny to end up together because the things they have in common and the things that bring them together are the things that most people look for in a relationship. Marcus is a lazy shit most of the time, but he makes a genuine effort to understand Ginny. By the end of the season, we see that he also respects her and accepts her as she is–warts and all. He seems to genuinely want the best for her, which is a nice development in character from our first introduction to him, tumbling out of his mother’s minivan after having been caught smoking weed on a street corner. Again, though, he wasn’t always so respectful. His past behaviors make it hard to trust him, so it makes sense when Ginny doesn’t bring him along at the end of the season. It does, though, make you hope that he’s back in season 2 and that we get to see more of their relationship.

Speaking of which, I hope that season 2 also explores Georgia and Joe’s relationship a bit more. It seems like they’re headed in the Lorelei-Luke direction, which will make me happier than words could express, but I could also see the show’s creators flipping the script on us and setting Joe up with his own gloomy backstory–something to do with the ethically ambiguous labor situation he’s got going on at his farm and in his cafe, perhaps? Still, I think that might make him and Georgia even better suited for one another than they already are. After all, he’s one of the first people who showed Georgia true, genuine kindness after she ran away as a teenager.

And of course I want more of Ellen in season 2. The actress who plays her is hilarious and her character is just . . . really likable.

On a somewhat lighter note, one little thing I noticed while watching the show is that the characters slap their thighs a lot. This, again, might by my seasonal allergies brain, but the “[slaps thighs]” notation on closed captioning came up an infinite number of times over the course of this show. It came up so often that I started thinking you could catch the entire plot of the show if someone just spliced together every instance where a character sighs and slaps their thighs. I’d watch that video.

After all that, I still think the parallels to GG are there, but I still defend that G&G is also more than those parallels. And the “more” it offers is good. It’s intrigue; it’s gloomy realities and often-ignored truths that don’t offer viewers a sunny break from reality. But I think that’s good. I don’t like the argument that TV should be a “break from reality” or that a show is good on the sole basis that it offers us a “break from reality.” I think that argument is an excuse used to defend media that is too lazy to do the responsible thing and convey storylines that are inclusive and meaningful.

Well, my laundry is done, so I have to go deal with that. Happy Saturday, and happy initial inoculation!

XOXO, you know.

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wazafam · 4 years ago

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The first season of Netflix's latest hit original series, Ginny & Georgia, revolves around the titular characters' arrival in Wellsbury. The Miller family is used to moving around a lot, but it seems that they're finally going to settle down in this new suburban place. The fictional town is located in Massachusetts and has the look of an upper-class suburb with the feel of a small town.

RELATED: Ginny & Georgia: Main Characters Ranked By Intelligence

Apprehensive at first, Ginny soon comes to see the bright side of living in Wellsbury. For the first time, she finds that people like her and want to be her friend. However, this also makes her feel like she has to change to be liked. Nevertheless, she describes Wellsbury as a progressive utopia, while Austin calls it weird, and Georgia's on her way to taking it over.

10 GOOD: Community

From the moment the Millers arrive in Wellsbury, they feel that this place is different. The town feels full of opportunity, and Ginny and Georgia feel welcomed. Ginny admires the pleasant scenery and the citizens going about their days, walking their dogs, skating, sipping coffees at Blue Farm, or window shopping.

Georgia is first to discover how neighborly everyone is when Ellen immediately pops over and brings cookies for the Millers. The two women quickly become friends and spend a lot of time together talking about motherhood. The community spirit is also palpable at events like the Halloween fair, Battle of the Bands, Sing, Sing, Sophomore Sleepover, and anytime at Blue Farm.

9 BAD: Entitlement

A community can be good, but in Wellsbury, everyone seems to think they can just do whatever they want whenever they want. Ginny is exposed to this first when Marcus climbs through her window. She tells him what she's seen of Wellsbury's ubiquitous entitlement: "Nothing in this town makes sense; everyone just kisses everyone, and that's just fine, apparently ..."

Perhaps because Marcus is used to the small-town feel of Wellsbury, he thinks it's okay to break into Ginny's room whenever he wants and look through her stuff without asking. Similarly, Max believes it's her right to ask Ginny extremely personal questions at their first meeting. She also uses Ginny's problems to her own advantage in Gitten's class.

8 GOOD: Pleasant Environment

From the get-go, Wellsbury looks like a nice, pleasant place to live. As Ginny and Georgia roll into the town for the first time, they admire the peaceful, hip surroundings.

RELATED: Ginny & Georgia: 5 Characters Who Grew In Season 1 (& 5 Who Stayed The Same)

The streets are lined with trees, they're spacious, people can walk their dogs in the park, and shop windows display pretty things for sale. Most of the time, the weather is sunny, which is good for things like skateboarding or stealing neighbors' motorbikes.

7 BAD: Clear Social Divide

Wellsbury seems like it's only really meant for people of the upper class, which is probably why Ginny and Georgia's arrival causes so many ripples. They don't fit in and they aren't used to the way things work in this town.

Ginny is looked down upon by people like Mr. Gitten and Abby and treated as an exotic attraction by people like Maxine. Georgia, on the other hand, finds herself judged by the other moms, mostly about her appearance, clothing, and her age. Neither is treated very well, and Austin is bullied at school. All three Millers, being the outsiders, feel they can't be themselves if they want to fit in.

6 GOOD: The School Is Progressive

In her essay, Ginny describes Wellsbury as a "progressive utopia", which amuses Zion. He later repeats the phrase to tease her. Compared to her previous place of residence in Texas, Ginny finds Wellsbury to be more welcoming and promising.

When Ginny and Marcus run into each other in the school's gender-neutral bathrooms, she counters his low opinion of Wellsbury by saying, "This is the first place I've lived where it's cool to be smart, and they want to succeed." The school seems to be a safe place for everyone in that teens aren't teased for things like their clothes, sexualities, or even tap dancing in the hallways.

5 BAD: Performative Inclusivity

The school may have gender-neutral bathrooms, but in other ways, it's conservative and old-fashioned. Mr. Gitten embodies this attitude, often singling Ginny out and unnecessarily bringing up her cultural background. Bracia reveals that she experienced something similar in his class the previous year.

Ginny is shut down when she brings up her concerns with the reading material, like the fact that almost all of the authors are male, and the single Black writer is only included for Black History Month. In the first episode, Max supports Ginny but uses the opportunity for her own benefit. In the last episode, after their spat, Max leaves Ginny on her own, which proves she doesn't actually care about the issues Ginny has to face as a biracial woman, and one of the school's only Black students.

4 GOOD: Welcoming & Inviting

In most cases, the new kid is typically excluded and left on the sidelines. Austin experiences this, to an extent, but not Ginny. She's probably used to being the new kid by now, but at Wellsbury, she's instantly accepted by her peers and even welcomed into a clique.

RELATED: Ginny & Georgia: 5 Wholesome Parenting Moments (& 5 Messy Ones)

She becomes popular before anyone even knows who she is, and before she knows it, she's getting invitations from multiple social groups. Everyone wants to know her and Georgia, maybe because they're so different from Wellsbury's usual. But before they even meet their neighbors, Ginny knows she's going to like Wellsbury from the moment she lays eyes on it.

3 BAD: Every Person For Themselves

Everyone in Wellsbury seems to have their own agenda. Georgia discovers this to be true in the mayor's office and when she gets to know Cynthia. Ginny finds that nobody is who they pretend to be when Abby and Norah throw her under the bus for stealing, then show up at her house the next day with makeup but no real apology.

Georgia is already disillusioned and knows she has to fight for her place in Wellsbury, as Ginny does in her classes. At the end of the series, she sees she's on her own when nobody comes to her defense in Gitten's class, when she loses to Hunter in the essay contest, and when nobody saves her and Austin from Georgia. When she tells Marcus that people want others to succeed in Wellsbury, he argues that they want people to fit into boxes. Ginny's evolution over the season proves his point.

2 GOOD: Small Town Vibes Near Boston

Wellsbury has the feel of a cozy small town with its pretty vistas and neighborly familiarity, but it's close to Boston. Zion decides to move there so he can stay close to Ginny, and at the end of the season, she hops on Marcus's bike with Austin presumably to find him.

When Zion is still in Wellsbury, he takes Ginny to a slam poetry reading in Boston. They were only gone a couple of hours, traveling to and fro on his motorbike. Ginny seems excited by the cultural hub of the city, but she also loves that Wellsbury is so easy to navigate. She can pop over to Max's at any time, which is great for Georgia and Ellen's friendship, too.

1 BAD: Exclusive

MANG represents Wellsbury's exclusiveness. As Samantha says, they can be very "clique-y". Having a name for their clique already signifies their exclusivity, as does the implication that there's only room for four. Ginny goes so far as to exclude Samantha from their Halloween plans, but when she finds herself on the outside, she asks Samantha for advice.

Even looking at the streets of Wellsbury, one can see that it's a wealthy town for privileged people. This is reflected in the school's student body. Georgia soon finds that the moms are just as exclusive as the teens - but of course, the children have to get it from somewhere.

NEXT: Ginny & Georgia: 5 Times Georgia Made The Right Choice (& 5 She Should Have Thought Twice)

Ginny & Georgia: 5 Ways Wellsbury Is A Good Place To Live (& 5 It's Not) from https://ift.tt/3e8dfuN

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lawful-evil-novelist · 8 years ago

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Introduce your OCs. As many as you can. Salem seems cool especially.

All my ocs? I dunno anon, I have a lot of ocs. As a small numbers summary, my rogue kids ocs number at 25, my Gotham U kids number at 3, their friends and family number at 2 and this is not taking into account Black Mask’s weapons dealer and his bodyguards. I also have the Curtis family, the Tsath, and assorted Rogue family. And that’s just Batman OCs, which I’m assuming you want to know about, so I’ll list them as best I can.

Under the cut because that is over 45 OCs.

Tobias Bloom, or simply Tobi, is Mr. Bloom’s adopted son. He’s a small phytokinetic boy from South Korea and is a pretty happy and well-adjusted kid, you know, considering he’s the son of Mr. Bloom.

Dorothy Crane is Jonathan Crane’s daughter, she is also the daughter of Roxanne Sutton but she and her brother were mainly created with Jon in mind and thus it is closer to describe her as Jon’s daughter than Roxy’s. Her name is a really blatant reference to the Wizard of Oz and she takes a lot of her personality, including her snark and vindictive attitude, from Jon.

Pluto Crane is Dorothy’s younger brother. Compared to Dorothy he’s a lot more timid but a lot less vindictive. On the other hand, Pluto is a lot more prone to anger than Dorothy is, his temper is faster and like Jon’s it is violent. His name is a reference to “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe.

Ezekiel Dent, more commonly known as Zeke, is Harvey Dent’s son. At his core he is very much like his father, but he’s not well treated and has a low self-esteem and depression as a result. Zeke and Todd are a couple.

Evangeline Fries, or Eva, is the daughter of Victor and Nora Fries. While she primarily lives with Nora when she first realized she had ice powers she ran away and was found by Victor, who brought her home. Eva closely resembles Nora and Victor has, on occasion, mistakenly called her Nora when distracted.

Violet Harris is the daughter of Music Meister, and in her teens begins a job as a sidekick for Black Canary, due to them having similar meta-abilities. Violet is a natural musician, much like her father, but usually channels her energy in to ballet and violin, rather than singing.

Clover Isley is one of Pamela Isley’s plant children. Her appearance is largely based on that of Jervis Tetch and Mary Dahl, and is thus rather small and childlike in appearance. However, Clover is a rather spiteful child, and her personality is based largely on fair folk, being mischievous and full of bad ideas.

Lavender Isley is Clovers older sister, and her appearance is more closely based on Harley Quinn’s, though Lavender dyes her hair purple out of preference (Lavender lives up to her name), Lavender is much gentler compared to Clover, and a lot kinder. That said she is not without faults, and like her mother is prone to vengeful rages.

Ayah Jones is Waylon Jones’s daughter. She has a very mild form of Waylon’s condition, which surfaces in superhuman strength, reptilian eyes, and sharp teeth. Ayah is normally very cheerful, but she is fully willing to fight to defend people. Ayah is a trained boxer because she insisted on knowing how to fight.

Hunter Jones is Ayah’s older brother. He also has a form of Waylon’s condition, though along with Ayah’s symptoms he also experiences scale growths. These are located mainly on his face in spots where bone is prominent (jaw, eyebrow, cheekbones, etc), joints, and spots where the bone is very close to his skin, like along his spine. These growths are dark brownish green. Hunter is a lot calmer compared to Ayah, and can come across to some as timid or a pushover. Hunter and Leo are a couple.

Aiden Lynns is Garfield Lynns’s son. He’s pyrokinetic and is also diagnosed with autism. Aiden is normally very soft-spoken and shy, but is still very friendly. Most of the other Rogue kids like Aiden, even if they don’t like each other. He is also the youngest of the Rogue kids next to Gwen and Jeremy.

Aisling Machin is Lonnie’s only daughter and eldest child. She’s a lot more orderly than her father and is the most responsible of the three kids. She disagrees with most of her father’s views, but agrees that society needs to be reformed, largely because it creates people like Lonnie in the first place.

Maxwell Machin, or Max, is Lonnie’s older son and middle child. Lonnie is the least kind to Max, who is withdrawn and hostile towards most people as a result of Lonnie’s abuse. Max is a daredevil of sorts, and Batman has caught him in multiple illegal motorcycle races. Though hostile to most, Max is close to his siblings and protective of Niall.

Niall Machin is the youngest of Lonnie’s children, and his favorite. Niall is the closest to his father and often overlooks his poor treatment of Max because he’s treated well. He doesn’t ignore it outright, he knows Lonnie doesn’t treat Max well, but he also is willing to look the other way if it means he can keep a close relationship with Lonnie. Aisling and Max don’t like this in the slightest and think Niall is selfish, which he is, but they still care about their younger brother.

Sarah Menkel is Peter Menkel’s daughter. She’s a cheerful, friendly girl, a bit of a tomboy and an avid gymnast. Like her father she is hypermobile and a contortionist, both things she uses to freak people out. She’s much better at blowing off mean comments compared to the other Rogue kids.

Andrea Monroe is the daughter of Paige Monroe. She’s extremely optimistic, mostly in an attempt to keep her mother happy, often at the cost of her own happiness.

Eleanor Nygma, or Ellie, is the older daughter of Edward Nygma and Selina Kyle. She is a lot more like Selina in both appearance and personality, is proud to be the daughter of both. Selina is very elegant and smug.

Elizabeth Nygma, or Liz, is the younger daughter of Edward Nygma and Selina Kyle. She is very similar to Edward in appearance and personality, and similarly is just as haughty and prides her intelligence above most other attributes.

Barbara Quinzel is the daughter of Harley Quinn and the Joker and Todd’s twin sister. She’s nicknamed Barb and Babs by her brother Todd. Barbara is very cheerful and friendly, but shares a similar morbidity with her father. Barbara is named after and the goddaughter of Barbara Gordon.

Todd Quinzel is the son of Harley Quinn and the Joker and Barbara’s twin brother. He is cheerful and bubbly and acrobatic. Joker’s chemical damage has resulted in Todd having albinism and asthma. Todd has very bad vision and wears thick round glasses. Joker is very protective of him, as are Bud and Lou. Todd is named after and the godson of Jason Todd. Todd and Zeke are a couple.

Leon Sanchez, or Leo, is the son of Bane, he is half-Nahuatl. Bane’s venom use caused Leo to develop superhuman strength. Leo is a snarky, cynical young man, but comes off as smug and apathetic. Leo was born November 2nd, during Dia de los Muertos. Like Bane, Leo is extremely intelligent and multilingual. Leo and Hunter are a couple.

Gwendolyn Tetch, or Gwen, is the daughter of Jervis Tetch. She’s shy and quiet, often mirroring her father in manner and personality. Gwen has a meta-ability linked to mind control. Gwen is regularly assumed to be Jervis’s “Alice” but in contrast, her name is based on the White Rabbit. Gwen takes the assumption that she’s Alice as an insult.

Jeremy Todd is the youngest Rogue child and the son of Jason Todd. He is much closer to the Rogue kids than the Batfamily and considers himself part of the Rogue kids, not the Batfam. Jason doesn’t like this but the Rogue kids accept him willingly.

Cosette Walker is the daughter of Drury Walker, and splits her time between her father and her mother in France. Cosette is polite and well-mannered, and is rather flighty. She loves butterflies and birds and the color blue and singing.

Marcus Wesker is the grandson of Arnold Wesker. Because his parents abandoned him with Wesker and Scarface, Marcus grew up with a lot of verbal abuse from Scarface and ended up adopting his rude attitude as a manner of defending himself, which really only made Scarface more aggressive towards him.

Salem Jackson is a white witch from a rich family in Mississippi, and a psychology major at Gotham U. She has large black horns and interns at Arkham Asylum. Most people do not know much about her family in Gotham but there are rumors abound that she killed her parents in retaliation for being abused as a child.

Audrey Brenner is an anthropology major at Gotham U, but was born and raised in Metropolis. She prefers Superman to Batman and several rogues have taken a liking to her and protect her. Audrey works as a cashier at the gift shop of the Superman museum over breaks and deals with Lex Luthor on an almost daily basis because for some reason he has to visit the place regularly.

Valerie Spade, or Val, is a chemistry major at Gotham U and, essentially, a villain intern. She works for Penguin and he rents her out to various rogues. Val has superspeed and as a result has a boosted metabolism that means she needs to eat regularly.

Penelope Spade, or Penny, is Val’s older sister, though she has a meta-ability, she doesn’t use it often, and is an art student in Metropolis. Penny and Audrey get along and Audrey has convinced the Superman museum to commission her for their special exhibit posters.

Jack O’Reilly is Audrey’s best friend and the shift manager at the Superman museum gift shop. He goes to school in Central City and has dyed his hair green to emulate the Joker. He finds villains fascinating, which is a pretty reasonable reaction because he and Audrey attract them like flies.

Daniel Frei, or Dani, is a weapons dealer partnered with Black Mask, he is the youngest of Mask’s dealers at 19, and is part of a larger German crime family. Dani is cautious and avoids conflict with most of the Batfamily, though he has quite often flirted with both Nightwing and Red Hood.

Nathaniel Zhao, or Nate, is one of Dani’s bodyguards, he is half-Chinese and half-German. He is a chronic smoker and a survivor of severe abuse from his father. Nate regards most people rather bitterly, but after an accident where Batman lost his headset, he actually spoke to and befriended Oracle. Nate is 21.

Xavier Knight, affectionately nicknamed Xav, is Dani’s 17-year-old bodyguard. Xavier was born deaf and has severe damage to his vocal chords that prevents him from speaking without feeling pain, and instead almost always signs everything. Though he can hear due to a cochlear implant, he usually has headphones and reads lips like he did as a child. Xavier’s vocal chord damage is visible from his throat, and because he doesn’t want to ask any awkward questions about it, he covers the scars with a scarf.

Abigail Curtis is a forensics officer at GCPD and a college friend of Edward Nygma. She is vain, sarcastic, and temperamental, the latter of which is in large part due to her job. She hates Batman because he takes a large portion of her evidence for himself, but appreciates his work to clean up the crime in the city. She’s known to throw things and despite being small can take Lyle Bolton in a fight.

Jasper Curtis is Abigail’s twin brother and almost emotionally dead. As a child he was interred at Arkham due to mild depression and was psychologically tortured and experimented on by Hugo Strange. Jasper’s response was to retreat inward, his only really prominent emotions being irritation and apathy. The experiments gave Jasper the ability to remove his head without killing himself and pull his spine out of his back without losing its support. Both of these cause him chronic pain.

Melody Curtis is Jasper and Abigail’s older sister, a metahuman who can create living things from drawings. Melody doesn’t live with her siblings, but takes care of them as best she can. Melody has a personal vendetta against Hugo Strange.

Hazel Marsh is a half Tsath, half Atlantean woman best known for defending the Tsath against Atlantean purists, by killing the purists. Hazel’s Atlantean father almost never gets to see her.

Basir Mihael is the prince of the Tsath, He’s missing an eye because of the Atlantean purists, and lives in Gotham because he wants to learn how humans deal with Atlanteans. He is in a relationship with Jasper Curtis and is one of the few people who can make Jasper laugh.

Reagan Napier is the Joker’s older brother, he lives in Star City and is a bare knuckle boxer. Reagan is extremely protective of his brother and has threatened both the GCPD and Batman several times, he has also broken Lyle Bolton’s nose.

Ailish Napier is Joker’s mother. She still lives in Belfast where Joker and Reagan grew up, in their childhood home. Though she communicates with both of her sons by letter, she has avoided meeting Joker directly, a decision Joker urged her to make for her own safety.

Cinta Walker is Drury Walker’s mother, a Javanese woman who fell in love with Drury’s father, but only married him and moved to Australia with him after Drury was born. She still lives in Australia, even after Drury’s father died, but visits Drury in Gotham on occasion.

Chayton Crane is Jonathan Crane’s paternal grandfather. He didn’t know about his grandson until Jon was 19, but treats him as family nontheless. Chayton does not speak to Gerald Crane, and is furious that Gerald abandoned a child he concieved.

Ruth Crane is Jonathan Crane’s paternal grandmother. She is a very gentle, kind woman who taught Jon how to speak Crow and is very protective of her grandson. She carries a concealed firearm and has threatened Batman with a shotgun.

Leigh Crane is Jonathan Crane’s closest cousin, being about 15. Leigh is a nervous, shy girl and though she has been to Gotham to visit her cousin, clung to Jon the whole time and refused to leave him for a moment. Jon is very protective of her.

Lyndon Keeny is Jonathan Crane’s great great uncle and Marion Keeny’s younger brother, though he is almost 100 he looks about 23 because he has been in the Lazarus Pit. Lyndon is good friends with R’as al Ghul and is brave to the point of utter stupidity. For instance, he steals from Vandal Savage, regularly, for fun.

Lucio Kyle is Selina Kyle’s younger brother. He is a grad student at Gotham U, where he studies forensics. He is also Abigail’s current intern.

Vaite is Garfield Lynns’s childhood best friend, a young Maori boy. He is a cheerful, friendly young man and is still on very good terms with Garfield.

#asks #answered #ocs #batman ocs #oc #batman oc #i am not tagging 47 ocs by the way #nope #too many ocs #Anonymous

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weekendwarriorblog · 6 years ago

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND October 5, 2018 - Venom, The Star Is Born, The Hate U Give

Going to change things up again this week as we get into October, because I want to give special attention to a film called THE HATE U GIVE (20thCentury Fox), which is opening in select cities this weekend but will expand nationwide on October 19.

In this adaptation of Angie Thomas’ book (which I haven’t read), Amandla Stenberg plays Starr Carter, a teen girl living a dual life with her family in the primarily black Garden Heights community and when hanging out with her bratty white high school friends who are always trying to act “ghetto” around her. At home, Starr has loving parents, Maverick and Lisa (Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall), a younger brother Sekani and half-brother Seven. When Starr sees her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) shot by a white police officer, she’s unsure whether she should come forward and testify. Her police officer uncle Carlos (Common) doesn’t think so, especially since Khalil might have involved with Maverick’s old crime-boss King (Anthony Mackie), who wouldn’t want his business known to the police.

It seems like a fairly simple plot derived from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, but there’s so much more to the movie than the ongoing battle between the police and the poorer communities they patrol. In many ways, Starr is dealing with an identity crisis that I imagine many African-Americans must face, having to be one way around white friends and co-workers and another way at home or with their family.

Besides the fact that this is Stenberg’s third movie this year where she had a hunky white boyfriend, she is so much better in this than her other films because she brings a playful energy to Starr that makes you want to follow her story.

Audrey Wells adapted Thomas’ book into a fantastic screenplay and director George Tillman Jr., whose filmography includes oddities like the biopic Notorious and Dwayne Johnson’s Faster, really directs the hell out of this movie

There are so many great scenes including one between Stenberg and Common where they have an honest talk about the different sides of what might seem like a cut-and-dry case of police racism.

The Hate U Give (which is derived from Tupac’s “T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E” motto that “the hate u give little infants effs everyone) is a movie that shares an important message without hitting you over the head with it ala Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman or some of the other films in the oeuvre release this year.

I guess my only misgiving about the film is that it goes on a little long, offering a few satisfying scenes that could have easily ended things there, but then continuing with a full-scale riot when tempers explode after the trial of Khalil’s murderer.

In my opinion, this is up there with some of the best movies I’ve seen this year, and only slightly behind A Star Is Born (review below) this week. While on the surface, it might not seem like a movie that would appeal to everyone, it works on so many levels, including as a straight-up coming-of-age film (and by now, you all should know how much I love those).

Rating: 8.5/10

The Hate U Give is kind of the Hollywood version of the #BlackLivesMatter story, but if you’re looking for something a little more grounded in reality, you should check out Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men (Neon), which is now playing in select cities. I got a chance to rewatch it this past week, and I was just as impressed as when I saw it at Sundance. BlacKkKlansman star John David Washington is particularly impressive, again playing a police officer.

We now return you to the regularly-scheduled movie preview column after the jump…

This might surprise some but not others that this coming October is offering some of what might be the best films of the year, between this week’sA Star Is Born and The Hate U Give to next week’s First Man and Bad Times at the El Royale. We’re living in exciting times!

VENOM (Sony)

In what looks to be the second to last “superhero” movie of the year, Sony is finally making a movie dedicated to Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis who later became a hero, hoping the fans will forget all about the awful version of Venom from Spider-Man 3. A big selling point for the movie is that it returns Tom Hardy to the comic book world after playing Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and he better hope fans like his Eddie Brock/Venom more than they did his strange-sounding villain.

Hardy has been laying low recently, his last film being Nolan’s Dunkirklast year in which the actor was barely recognizable as a WWII jet pilot. It was two years before that when he appeared in Inarritu’s Oscar-winning The Revenant, the crime-drama Legendand George Miller’s long-awaited (and also multiple Oscar nominee) Mad Max: Fury Road. In the years following The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy has also starred in a number of smaller films that haven’t gotten much traction, so it’s odd to see him returning to superheroes only six years after playing Bane.

Venomalso brings director Ruben Fleischer back into the Sony fold after directing the horror-comedy hit Zombieland and the comedy 30 Minutes or Less, although Fleischer has been focusing on television in the last five years since the Ryan Gosling crime-drama Gangster Squad. Neither of the latter two movies did as well as Zombieland, and it definitely feels like he has something to prove with Venom.

Unfortunately, people have already been vocally pessimistic about the movie ever since the first trailer didn’t bother to actually show Venom, and things got even more questionable after seeing Venom in a rather awkward longer trailer. Much of the movie’s success is going to depend on whether reviews totally trash the movie or whether some critics actually like what Fleischer and Hardy are doing. So far, the RottenTomatoes reviews are at 28% Fresh, pointing more to the former, but one wonders if curious fans will still give the movie a chance.

Some have suggested Venom could open with over $60 million but I’m going a bit lower with around $55 to 57 million and $130 million or so total domestic. What’s interesting is that the opening range for the movie puts Venom into consideration to become the top October opening over Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, which opened with $55 million a few years ago. Regardless of whether it sets a new October opening record or not, I expect a fairly large drop after its opening weekend just because the fans will rush out to see it and then move onto other things. Expect this to end up around $125 million domestic, which is not great, probably not enough for a sequel unless the movie surprises internationally.

Mini-Review: I’ve never been a huge fan of Venom as a comic book character. He always seemed a little one-dimensional to me, even as other writers/artists tried to flesh him and his host Eddie Brock out. (So far, Donny Cates’ take on Venom is well worth reading.)

I’m going to assume you know something about the character, his history as a Spider-Man costume-turned-villain and then how he became a hero. It’s obvious Tom Hardy and director Reuben Fleischer were making a movie for fans of the character who were disappointed with his handling by Sam Raimi in Spider-Man 3, and for the most part, it’s fairly faithful other than any references to Spider-Man. In fact, the whole story has been moved to San Francisco, as to avoid any other Spider-Man comparisons.

In this case, the symbiote comes down to earth in a space shuttle made by the Life Corporation run by an Elon Musk-type CEO named Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), and Drake does experiments on the homeless to try to make them hosts for the alien creatures. Tom Hardy plays investigative reporter Eddie Brock, a big-time loser who loses his lawyer girlfriend (Michelle Williams) when he snoops into a case against Drake. While investigating at the Life Corporation, one of the symbiotes takes to Brock, and you can probably guess what happens.

Although this is a straight-up origin story in the simplest terms, some things just don’t work and there are definitely issues, the first being the often silly screenplay that is constantly on the border of veering into campy Nicolas Cage territory. Much of that is due to Hardy, who plays off the silliness of the schizophrenic nature of the character,

On paper, Venom could have easily been a terrifying R-rated horror film with lots of gore, but trying to keep it at PG-13 means that Fleischer makes it more of an action-comedy, and there is enough decent action scenes and quirky humor to keep things entertaining.

Probably one of the things that makes or breaks any comic book movie is the CG visual FX and Fleischer’s hefty team of animators does a decent job making Venom watchable with long black tendrils that reminded me of the video game Prototype (one of my first Xbox games). Things do get a little messy when a counter-symbiote is introduced named “Riot” is introduce and the end battle has some of the same problems as the Ed Norton The Incredible Hulk in that it just doesn’t deliver.

Even so, if you ARE a fan of the comic character, you should be pleased with this incarnation just as those unfamiliar with the character from the comics will probably find the movie and Hardy’s performance to be off-putting. The film never deteriorates to the point of being a Catwoman or Fantastic Fourlevel trash fire, though. Despite some tonal issues, it’s often fun and entertaining, especially the action scenes, and if nothing else, there’s an end credits scene that will make people (esp. Venom fans) hope this movie does well enough to warrant a sequel. Rating: 6.5/10

Venom is going to have a lot of strong competition for older moviegoers and women of all ages with...

A STAR IS BORN (Warner Bros.)

This wasn’t even remotely one of my more anticipated movies of the year until it started getting rave reviews out of the early September festivals, but I’m sure it would have gotten a lot of attention for being Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, even if it seems like a shoe-in to win lots of awards over the next few months.

Obviously, this is a remake of a movie that dates back to the 1937 movie starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, which was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning for its story (as opposed to its screenplay). It was remade in 1954 with Judy Garland, and that was nominated for six Oscars and then again in 1974 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Krisstoferson, and that also only won one Oscar out of four nominations. Can Bradley Cooper’s version possibly break the “jinx” and make a movie that wins more than one Oscar? I think so.

Cooper has mostly been taking time off of acting to direct A Star Is Born, merely providing the voice of Rocket in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and this year’s Avengers: Infinity War. He kind of hit a bit of a downturn in the years following his enormous hit American Sniper for Clint Eastwood, which grossed $350 million and got Cooper his third and fourth Oscar nominations. (Cooper has already been earmarked for a number of Oscar nominations for A Star is Born, for acting, directing and possibly even for writing some of the film’s songs.) Neither of Cooper’s 2015 movies with Jennifer Lawrence (Serena and Joy) did as well as their first two movies together with David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Cooper’s movies with Cameron Crowe (Aloha) and his cooking movie Burnt also didn’t do very well. Even so, Cooper had already been elevated to the A-list as an actor

The real ringer for Cooper’s debut is casting Lady Gaga in the role of Ally, the lounge singer who Cooper’s Jackson Maine discovers and falls for, because Lady Gaga has such an enormous diehard fanbase that even the younger girls might not be discouraged by the film’s soft-R rating. (Honestly, I still have to question the MPAA who gives this an R and Venom a PG-13 when there was WAY more swearing in that one.) Anyway, Lady Gaga is pegged to be nominated for an Oscar for her performance and probably one of her songs, too,

Another one of the films ringers is comedian Dave Chapelle, who basically just appears in one section of the movie but Warner Bros. wisely has cut a second trailer featuring him to play in movies like Night School in hopes of appealing to some of the African-American audiences that will see this movie as very white bread. More importantly, it stars Sam Elliot as Jackson’s older brother who has many great scenes with Cooper and is likely to be nominated for his first Oscar for it. (He should have been nominated for last year’s The Hero if you ask me.)

There are many easy comparisons for A Star is Born from Eminem’s 8 Mile ($51.2 million opening, $116m total) and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line ($22.3m opening, $119m total). There’s certainly the hype that came with 8 Mile going into opening weekend and Cooper certainly has enough box office pull, but the fact that this is a remake might already make some older audiences wary. At the same time, Gaga and Cooper’s modern take on the age-old story is likely to appeal to younger audiences, as will the music that runs a wide gamut of country rockers and ballads, including a couple that will likely be nominated for Oscars.

The good news is that the movie has been receiving rave reviews since it premiered at Venice and then played Toronto shortly afterwards.

This is the thing. I think A Star Is Born is going to do very well this weekend, probably more than $40 million, but I think it’s really going to kill in the weeks to come as word-of-mouth and repeat viewings pushes the movie up over the $150 million mark. If the movie plays as well as I think it does, I wouldn’t even be surprised to see it approaching $200 million once it re-expands to take advantage of inevitable awards.

Mini-Review: It’s been more than a minute since I saw the Barbra Streisand/Kris Kristofferson A Star Is Born, so I’m not too adverse to a fourth remake, as much as I was concerned about a movie featuring an actor I’m so-so on and a pop singer whose work I never really cared for. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying the film almost immediately as we see Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine performing on stage with the very loud live music coming from the Dolby sound system where I saw the movie.

Maine is an alcoholic so after the show he goes looking for a bar, winding up at a drag night of one local watering hole where it just so happens that Lady Gaga’s Ally is performing “La Vie en Rose” (maybe a nod to another Oscar-winning actress?). He’s immediately enthralled and goes backstage to meet her, and the two immediately hit it off, hanging out and learning more about each other. Ally immediately starts enjoying the perks of Jackson’s fame as he flies her to one of his concerts and pulls her up on stage to perform the song “Shallow.”

Things progress from there as Ally becomes famous from a video of her performance with Jackson. After one show, Ally is approached by a manager-type who wants to make her an even bigger star, and he proceeds to do what happens too many times in the music industry where he tries to transform her into some pop diva that’s

I really enjoyed seeing the romance and relationship between the two leads evolve, because Cooper’s Jackson Maine is quite a smooth-talker, even if he’s slurring most of his words. Gaga is also impressive, likely bringing some of her own struggles in the music business to the role. On top of that, the supporting cast, including Sam Elliot as Jack’s older brother and Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s Dad brought a lot to the mix as Cooper ably balances the film’s tonal shifts from heavy drama to lighter moments.

Things do get a little bit predictable during the second act as Ally’s star begins to rise while Jackson’s starts to crash and burn, and he’s unable to accept how she’s becoming more successful than him, as his career begins to stagnate. He stops drinking, then starts drinking again and things just get worse and worse, as he seems to be hindering her career. The film’s last act is a stunner as Jack tries to get his alcoholism in check and Ally’s star continues to rise, making it obvious something’s eventually going to give.

A Star Is Born is an impressive debut from Cooper, not only for his direction but also how he elevates himself as an actor to keep up with his perfectly cast co-star. That’s not even considering that he co-wrote many of the film’s gorgeous songs. I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would, and I know that I won’t be the only person seeing it multiple times.

Rating: 9/10

Venom shouldn’t have a problem taking the top spot although we’ll have to see whether negative reviews manage to keep the fans away. Either way, it will beat A Star is Born on Thursday/Friday but then the latter will pick up steam, bearing in mind that Monday is Columbus Day so there’s no school and government offices are closed, which could help some of the returning movies, as well.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Venom (Sony) - $55.6 million N/A 2. A Star is Born (Warner Bros.) - $42.5 million N/A 3. Night School (Universal) - $15 million -46% 4.Smallfoot (Warner Bros.) - $14.5 million -37% 5. The House with a Clock in its Walls (Universal) - $7.3 million -40% 6. A Simple Favor (Lionsgate) – $4 million -38% 7. The Nun (New Line) - $3 million -54% 8. Crazy Rich Asians (New Line) - $2.7 million -35% 9. Hell Fest (CBS Films/Lionsgate) - $2.2 million -57% 10. The Predator (Fox) – $1.7 million -57%

LIMITED RELEASES

Other than The Hate U Give, this weekend is kind of a mixed bag for limited releases, since I haven’t watched as many of these as I probably should.

Almost a year after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s LOVING PABLO (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) starring Javier Bardem as the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar as it follows his rise to power while in a love affair with Colombian journalist Virgina Vallejo, played by Penelope Cruz. The film is based on Vallejo’s book, and it’s opening at around 15 theaters across the country.

Filmmaker Peter Bogdonavich pays tribute to the great silent film Buster Keaton with Buster Restored (Cohen Media Group), which combines footage from Keaton’s silent comedies with interviews by those he’s inspired including Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino and Johnny Knoxville. It opens at the Quad Cinemaon Friday along with a small Buster Keaton retrospective and then opens at the Landmark Nuarton Oct. 19

Matt Tyrnauer follows his recent doc Scotty and the Secret of Hollywood with Studio 54, opening at the IFC Center Friday. It looks at the New York nightclub that was the place to be seen between 1977 and 1980 but was exceedingly hard to get into as its popularity and notoriety rose. Tyrnauer was given incredible access to the man-behind-the-club Ian Schrager, who tells the story of Studio 54 for the first time. After a number of showings at IFC Center with Tyrnauer in attendance, Studio 54 will then open at the Landmark Nuart in L.A. on Oct. 12.

Opening at the Film Forum in New York is Joseph Dorman and Toby Perl Freilich’s Moynihan (First Run Features), a portrait of former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who tried to contend with poverty and racism in the greatest city in the world. (The latter bit is my own personal opinion. I haven’t seen the movie.)

Not to overshadowed by Bradley Cooper, Cuba Gooding Jr. stars and makes his directorial debut in Bayou Caviar (Gravitas Ventures), which stars Richard Dreyfuss as a Russian gangster who hires Gooding’s former boxer to take down an associate’s son-in-law with a scandalous tape. It also stars Famke Janssen, Katherine McPhee, Ken Lerner and Lia Marie Johnson.

Bella Thorne and Jessie Usher star in Jeremy Ungar’s Ride (RLJE Films) with the latter playing James, a struggling actor who drives people around L.A. for a ride-sharing service. The job gets slightly better when he hits it off with the beautiful Jessica, but the two of them are then taken on a crazy joy ride by another fare.

Following its run on DirecTV, Trevor White’s A Crooked Somebody (Vertical/DirecTV) stars Rich Sommer as a medium who goes against the advice of his minister father (Ed Harris) trying to call forth the dead, only to be idnapped by someone who desperately wants to make contact with the dead.

Terence Stamp and Ann Demetriou stars in David LG Hughes’ Viking Destiny (Saban Films/Lionsgate), the latter playing a Viking princess who is forced to flee her kingdom after her king father (presumably Stamp) is murdered, so she travels the world building an army to get revenge. In case you’re wondering what Game of Thrones has inspired…. wonder no more!

Michael Ironside stars in Michael Peterson’s horror film Knuckleball (Freestyle Digital Media) about a 12-year-old who finds himself alone on an isolated farm after his grandfather dies. (I assume Ironside plays the latter.)

I also don’t know a ton about Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Wobble Place (Breaking Glass Pictures), which has an exclusive run at Metrograph starting Friday with the filmmaker in attendance for a few screenings. Best I can do to describe this is to share the odd trailer…

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This week’s Yash Raj Films offering is Abhiraj K. Minawala’s Loveyatri, a love story set during the 9-day festival of Navrati, starring Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain, a romance which almost comes to an end as she travels back to the UK leaving him in India.

Filmmakers Jukka Vidgren & Juuso Laatio’s Scandinavian cult-comedy Heavy Trip (Doppelgänger Releasing/Bloody Disgusting) will open in select theaters Friday before going to VOD on Oct. 12. It stars Johannes Holopainen as a guy stuck in a small Finnish village who is also the lead singer of metal band Impaled Rektum, a band who hasn’t played a single gig in 12 years until they’re booked to play a Norwegian festival.

And speaking of which, Bloody Disgusting’s Retro Nightmares continues with a double feature of Amityville: The Evil Escapes & Amityville: It’s About Time on Thursday Oct. 4 in select cities.

Lastly, Anthony Nardolillo’s Shine (Forgiven Films/GVN Releasing), which won the Best Feature award at the 2017 Urbanworld Film Festival, comes out Friday, starring salsa dancersJorge Burgos and Gilbert Saldivar as two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of the gentrification hitting East Harlem.

STREAMING

The only major new film streaming on Netflix is Tamara Jenkins’ new film PRIVATE LIFE, which premiered at Sundance and just played the New York Film Festival. It stars Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a married couple who have been trying to have a baby and start looking at alternative methods after fertility treatments aren’t working. Jenkins is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of 2007’s The Savages, starring Laura Linney and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. (The movie also opens at the IFC Center in New York and at a theater in L.A.)

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

I’m pretty excited about my local theater’s latest series, an Albert Brooks retrospective that runs between Friday and Tuesday and including some of his classics like Modern Romance, Lost in America, Mother, Defending Your Life,Real Life and a program of SNL shorts.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Alain Resnais’ 1974 film Stavisky, featuring music by Stephen Sondheim, gets a restoration, which opens here on Wednesday.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Beyond Fest 2018 continues with a double feature of Flash Gordon and the West Coast premiere of the doc Life After Flash. Thursday sees a double feature of The Monster Squad and the new documentary about the movie called Wolfman’s Got Nards. Beyond Fest will then wrap on Saturday with a TRIPLE feature of Black Christmas and Halloween from 1978, as well as the brand-new Halloween weeks before its nationwide release.

AERO (LA):

American Cinemateque’s other L.A. theater continues its own Beyond Fest Tribute to Cronenberg with a double feature of the director’s Crash and Spider on Thursday night. It also begins the series The Life of Reilly, as in John C. Reilly, with a double feature of Chicago and Step Brothers on Friday, and then a free screening of Reilly’s new film The Sisters Brothers on Saturday. Saturday also sees a screening of PT Anderson’s Magnolia with Reilly in person and a screening of A Grin Without a Hat (1977) to celebrate Icarus Films’ 40th anniversary.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

To help celebrate last week’s retrospective recipient Peter Bogdonavich’s new doc The Great Buster: A Celebration (see above), the West Village theater will also show a trio of Buster Keaton shorts, The General and other Keaton classics.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

Along with a program of Jean Vigo shorts, the Hollywood theater will show the new 4k restoration of the director’s L’Atalante that screened at Film Forum last week.

MOMA (NYC):

The Unknown Jerry: Home Movies and More from the Jerry Lewis Collection at the Library of Congresscontinues with Come Back Little Shiksa (1962) and The Re-Inforcer (1951) on Friday, Fairfax Avenue (1951), and a couple features on Gar-Ron Productions on Saturday and The Bellboy (1960) on Sunday, as it continues into next week. The month-long Modern Matinees: Vincent Price will show Edward Scissorhands on Friday afternoon.

#Venom AStarIsBorn TheHateUGive boxOffice Movies Reviews WhatToWatchThisWeekend TheWeekendWarrior

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littleblackneko · 7 years ago

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Hey Conner. Is there a comprehensive list of your ocs? Like, I wanna answer the asks, but I'm terrible with names.

Comprehensive List of Main OCs coming at ya!! I’m going to list them by story because that’s just what is gonna be easiest for me to make sure I include everyone! And if you’d like to know more about any particular character or storyline, just lemme know!

Heron:

Maximillion (Max) Fret- High school junior with severe anxiety. Cry’s bf. Very snarky when you get to know him. Fluent in French. Hella good artist but he’ll never admit it. Lil shorty bean at 5′3″. Brown hair and eyes, hair is always getting in his eyes, even though he wears glasses.Asexual, but enjoys intimacy Goes on to become a record producer and have four children with Cry in adulthood.

Felipe (Cry) Caldero- High school sophomore. Has PTSD from a past severely abusive relationship, but is generally a very bubbly, perky guy. He’s a tol Latino noodle at 5′11″ People pleaser. Black hair with a dyed green streak in it, and bright green eyes. Very proudly gay. Insomniac. Absolutely loves Owl City and reading quality queer lit.

Katarina (Kat) Caldero- Cry’s older sister, literally the embodiment of that quote about “though she be little, she be fierce”. Max’s best friend and basically the glue holding my boys together. Sensitive, but also takes no shit.

Singapore- Kat’s boyfriend, Awkward guy with blue eyes and blue hair. Pretty mellow in comparison to the rest of the crew. Likes to tell people they did a good job and enjoys it when people are happy. Very likely a trans guy. He’s basically a marshmallow.

Levi Madison

Ricky Madison

Famous Last Words:

Edwin Carlisle- Eddy-boy is a literal mutant, a human-like species called Narasakwa, so he’s got mind powers from that and stuff, but otherwise he’s basically human. He’s autistic and gay, with longish black hair and green eyes. Very touch-repulsed for like, reasons that will be explained when i eventually write the book. He wants to be happy and he tries really hard but sometimes he just gets fed up with people and snaps. Desperate for love and attention and very jealous of his brother for being “normal”. Eventually starts dating Kai

Malachi (Kai) Stratford- Decently smart guy in a really bad headspace. Loves the people that he loves fiercely and feels hella guilty when he can’t stop bad things from happening to them. A bi kinda guy. Sticky-uppy brown hair and yellowish-brown eyes. Doesn’t let people close very often because he thinks he’s too messy. Sweet with a very cold, grim exterior. Love mah boy.

Richert Carlisle- Edwin’s older brother. Nerdy but athletic and hyper and just very kind. Always tries to see the best in people, but can also be a little quick to judge. Tall, blonde, and freckly with hazel eyes.

Ruth-Ann (Rudy) Stratford- Kai’s little sister, Kai and her have A+ sibling bond and she always tries to cheer Kai up. Actual pure sweetheart.

Marykayla (Kay) Stront- Kai’s best friend, and the only one at the start who really knows whats going on in Kai’s head. Tbh she needs to be developed a little bit more but like. She’s trying her best.

Vincent Smith

Dancing With Jane:

Dunixi Gates- Former child genius trying to cope with being average twenty-something. Has Has Histrionic Personality Disorder. Has been best friends with Skir since literally birth. Smart guy academically, but doesn’t have very good common sense. Likes to give treats to stray cats. Shaggy brown hair and pretty brown eyes. Don’t know what his sexuality is but is Not Straight.

Skir Stryker- Sex-repulsed grey-aro asexual with a giant-ass crush on Dunixi. Film nerd that is constantly quoting classics and other random films. Easily stressed out and very sensitive. Cropped black hair and blue eyes. Has a bit of an inferiority complex due to Dunixi being so successful when they were kids. Can get a bit jealous if he feels like something or someone he cares about is going to be taken from him. Very insecure with his asexuality.

Jane- She ran away from her abusive ex to Skir and Dunixi’s house and at first is very timid and afraid, but as she feels more secure, her true personality starts to come out. She is trustworthy and very independent when she’s allowed to be. Long light brown wavy hair and heterochromatic eyes- one brown, one blue.

Colin

Renee

Unnamed Story:

Julian Staria- Boy set out to fix the ills of the world.Activist. Is ready to debate you at any given moment about anything, switch is always flipped on about all issues. Wants to create a better world for his sister to live in. Dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Trans boy. Hates the royalty of his country. 20 years old.

Fenrir Everglade- Curly black hair and crystalline blue eyes. Former prince. Gay asexual. Bold and somewhat sassy when you get to know him. Knows exactly who he is but doubts himself. Acts very poised when he is afraid or threatened, but can otherwise be very bitter and sarcastic. Falls in love with Julian. 20 years old.

Mackenzie Staria- Very up on current events, logical where Julian is emotional. Kind and willing to listen where Julian is ready to throw down. Hates people babying her and acting like she’s too young to think for herself. About 16 years old.

Amaryllis Lexon- Fenrir’s “fiancee”, but its an arranged marriage. Very clever Black girl. She’s probably gonna end up with a love interest at some point because she is very lovely and Deserves Love and also some more character development. about 18 y/o

Yet Another Unnamed Story: (THE STORY WITH THE YOUNG BABIES IN A SCARY WORLD)

Steffin Steeplewood- Very much a young spoiled rich boy. Blondie with blue eyes. Very delicate and fancily dressed. A little stuck-up and condescending. Doesn’t really pay attention to the world around him. Needs to be protected.

Francois (Frankie)- Suave Italian boy who will protect Steffin with his LIFE.

Okay I’m getting tired I’ll probably add more descriptions later but these are my other children

What We’re Worth:

Everett Blessing- trans boy with bpd and a bit of a drug habit,

Emily Blessing

Cole

Raquel

Eva

Heron ‘verse generation 2

Gabriel Howser

Timothy Dorian

Ant Caldero-Fret

Mia Caldero-Fret

David Caldero-Fret

Cameron Caldero-Fret

Rylan Riviera

Katya Riviera

Minerva Riviera

Aisha Riviera

Dusty

Mara

Kris

Melvin

Days And Ends:

Damien MacArthur

Merlin

Caravan Life:

Andy Mayer

Ian Rushmore

Dwyer

Marcus

Maria Mayer

Echoes:

Hunter Talbot

Alexei

Drake

Randolph

Untitled Story:

Denver

Annie

This boy doesn’t have a story yet:

Chevy Novak

The Boxing Story:

Orion

Micah

Constellation (Stella)

Dill

Superhero ‘Verse

Adam

Steve

Minx

Hope this helps!!!!

#ocs

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