#and Tim Roth again is hysterical

[alexjcrowley]

You know what? Fuck it. Four Rooms is fun as hell, yes, even the first two parts that aren't written and directed by two great directors people are afraid to criticise. I don't care what the critics say, I had a lot of fun watching it.

[bluboothalassophile]

Hey I loved you fit with Lian that you did. Could you write some more on Lian and Jason. Like maybe him just being her dad. Or him like telling her that there is nothing wrong with her looks or anything. You know cause he is like the ultimate feminist lol

Hello,

I couldn’t do your request, but instead I decided to give some fun Dad Jay moments that are more in line with current events. 

Bugs & Tickle Monsters...

Jason didn’t know how the hell he had gotten wrangled into this this weekend. Goddamn pandemic had him quarantined, alone, in his warehouse with only Lian, Mar'i and Jake, and Ace; thank God for Ace, and no one else. Roy was locked up in Seattle with the Queens; that was so family therapy he didn’t want to be around for, and heavily pregnant, due any minute Artemis West, née Crock was trapped there. Jason was kind of glad he was quarantined in Gotham because if he had been stuck with Artemis who was due, he’d probably be delivering another baby. Last thing he wanted to do, again, really. The joys of bringing a life into this world didn’t outweigh the mind numbing, scarring affect it had on him.

Mar'i was taking to the quarantine like a tiger being chained up, Jake didn’t know what was going on, and Lian wanted to go to hockey practice. Honestly, Jason was losing his mind.

And not to mention the Flash family was highly affected by said outbreak and were actually quarantined in the Watch Tower, which was why he was on a conference call with Wally right now. Wally West, the man who Jason hated almost as much as he had loathed Dick, was the only living godparent of Mar'i and Jake, but with his own expecting of a family that meant he and Jason were talking seriously about what to do with the kids. Mar'i and Jake were none the wiser, not that it mattered as Jason talked with Wally about what to do if Mar'i or worse, Jake had this alien flu. Fucking Green Lanterns popping on and off earth without a care in the galaxy about the germs they distributed. Okay, that probably wasn’t fair to blame them, but day three of a quarantine and Jason was so ready to leap out a window and into the plague for some peace.

Mar'i, Jake and Lian were driving him up the wall!

“They don’t have symptoms Wally,” Jason said patiently on his call.

“Are you sure, because this thing is dropping aliens and metas like no tomorrow!” Wally said in a panic.

“I’m sure, all I have is two extremely stir crazy girls, and a baby,” he said. “No one has so much as a sniffle in this warehouse,” he promised.

“That’s good, Artemis got tested,” Wally sighed.

“And?”

“She’s clean, so are the kids,” he said.

“That’s a good thing, and no one in the Arrow family has so much as a cough so you should be fine,” he said.

“I worry,” Wally defended.

Jason shrugged. He had spent the last hour talking with Harley and Ivy, they had talked with Rae’s family who had taken to the quarantine too with great reluctance. Granted, Rae’s aunt and uncle did run a potato farm, but they were in quarantine on Long Island, apparently they too were going stir crazy with three magical kids and an old grumpy man who simply refused to be confined because of a quarantine; not that Jason could blame Alan Roth for his reluctance to be confined to a single place for so long but the man was almost a hundred years old!

“Any word from the Bats?” Wally asked.

“Alfred has them in lock down, they’re all about to go insane, I’m the only one not on location, but I’m staying here. If Tim tests negative, he’s going to his penthouse alone, but with Dami and Kon testing positive their keeping him close until they know,” Jason said.

“Good.” Wally took a moment to cough violently.

“We aren’t making decisions about the kids while this is in effect,” Jason said.

“If I survive, we’ll talk.”

“Don’t give me false hopes,” he joked.

“You’re terrible.”

“We all knew this,” he chuckled. “I need to call Roy, keep me apprised though of what I need to watch for,” he said as he ended the call with Wally.

The call with Roy was more of a brief check in with the promise to call back to talk to Lian. Apparently, it was WWIII in the Queen house with Mia deciding to stir up the pot.

Once the calls were over Jason spun in his chair. His leg was throbbing, and his chest was aching, no doubt it had to do with the coming storm, Gotham in quarantine meant the first time ever the rogues had voluntarily locked themselves in Arkham, and not even Bats had a job to do. There was a small sound which had him looking over at Lian who was peeking around the corner of his door to his suite.

“Hey kid, what’s up?” he asked.

“I want daddy,” she said trotting into the room then. Jason didn’t hesitate to hoist her up on his lap, since the Joker attack he had had the kids no longer clambering all over him because they were scared to hurt him, but he didn’t mind or care really.

“I know sweetie,” he said as she hugged her red dinosaur, a long neck by the name of Iroh for her favorite character in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Jason was just miffed she hadn’t gone with Zutara, or that the show hadn’t; and he had watched too many cartoons to be that heavily invested in a couple becoming ‘canon’.

“Why can’t daddy come home?” she whimpered as she now hugged his chest.

“Well, there’s a very bad bug going around, Lian, and a shelter in place means daddy’s not going anywhere for a while, he’s with Grandpa Ollie and Grandma Licity,” he said as he carefully combed his fingers through her hair.

“But why?”

“Just in case he has the bug he doesn’t share, this isn’t a bug we want to share,” he said.

“Oh,” Lian mumbled.

“And your daddy’s going to call us again, and we’ll video chat and he’ll read your bed time story.”

“Can we go see Terry!?” Lian asked.

“No kiddo, we can’t, we’re going to stay here, and we’re going to goof off, watch movies, eat junk food, do school work, we’re not going anywhere,” he said.

“What about patrol!?”

“I’m not even going on patrol,” he promised the kid.

“This must be a bad bug,” she mumbled.

“Very bad bug, especially for people like Mar'i and Jake, so we’re staying here bug free!” he chuckled.

“Okay,” she mumbled.

“I’m gonna tickle you if you don’t stop pouting,” he said levelly.

“No you not!” she squealed.

“Oh yes I am!” he grinned deviously as he caught the girl.

“ACE HELP!” She squealed as he tickle attacked her belly, she was squirming to escape and giggling hysterically when Ace came barreling in excitedly.

“Oh no!” he gasped as he threw the girl over his shoulder, she was roaring with laughter as Mar'i and Jake came running in

“GET HIM!” Lian laughed.

“I’ll never surrender!” he cackled. “I’m the tickle monster and I’m going to get you!”

“RUN!” Mar'i laughed, Jake stood there very confused as his sister ran.

“I’mma gonna getchu!” he chuckled. Jason caught the toddler and blew a raspberry in his stomach which had the baby catching on as he squealed and tried to escape, Ace was excitedly trying to free Lian from his shoulder.

It was still going to be a very long few weeks with this quarantine in place, but this was kind of fun!

[movieswithkevin27]

Everyone Says I Love You

Each passing film Woody Allen I watch, I love. No matter how similar they are to one another at times or the consistent themes or even the same actors popping up can dissuade me from loving his work. Yet, in saying that, there has to be a film of his that knocked me so head-over-heels that it had me laughing throughout. Most of his films are great and lose a bit of steam towards the end or go the opposite route and only start to really hit their stride towards the end. Everyone Says I Love You, however, is a film that hits all of the right notes from the very beginning. As a musical romantic comedy, the film stands as Allen’s sole musical endeavor and yet it never feels out of his nature. Using realistic singing voices (read: decent to bad), comical musical numbers, and gooey song lyrics, as he explores the nature of love, the ups and downs, and the difference in love-based actions by everybody who engages in the feeling, Everyone Says I Love You is an absolute riot. Touching on various typical Allen themes - the nature of love, philosophy, psychotherapy, atheism, mortality, the changing of times (healthy food and technology), and politics - Everyone Says I Love You is whole-heartedly a Woody Allen film but it is handled - due to the music - in such a unique way that it stands apart from the rest of his filmography and becomes its own beast. Giving him room to honor old Hollywood, satire classic musicals, and deliver all of his typical neurosis, the film is perhaps the best Woody Allen film I have seen.

As with many Allen films, the plot is manic, neurotic, and obsessive. Here, however, it takes a page out of the book of Radio Days with a large family as the center for the film. At the center are exes Joe (Woody Allen) and Steffi (Goldie Hawn). The two remain good friends, while Joe struggles repeatedly to find somebody to love as he is still hung up on Steffi. For her part, Steffi is now married to Bob (Alan Alda). Joe and Steffi had one daughter together, D.J. (Natasha Lyonne) who serves as the narrator to our tale. D.J. is boy crazy as a college-aged girl, bouncing from one soul mate to the next, swearing she loves them, and even planning to marry one of them. Meanwhile, Bob and Steffi had four children together - Skylar (Drew Barrymore), Scott (Lukas Haas), Lane (Gaby Hoffmann), and Laura (Natalie Portman) - who all go through their own issues. Skylar is set to be married to Holden (Edward Norton), but falls for an ex-convict named Charles (Tim Roth) who her mother Steffi (as a democrat who regrets her privileged upbringing) campaigned for to receive parole. Lane and Laura compete over a boy named Jeffrey Vandermost (John Griffin), who turns out to be the heir to a major fortune. Scott, due to what is eventually revealed to be a brain blockage that is suffocating his thought process, is a conservative Republican which puts him at odds with Democratic father Bob, who grew up poor thus he does not have the same guilt as wife Steffi. Meanwhile, Joe tries to woo Von (Julia Roberts). With the assistance of D.J., who has overhead Von’s therapy sessions with one of her’s friends mothers in a fashion similar to the eavesdropping in Allen’s Another Woman, Joe pours it on thick and expresses a love for everything that he knows Von to love. As typical, a lot of theorizing about the nature of love, the ups and downs, and the swearing off of loving only to then love again occurs, but what becomes abundantly clear through Everyone Says I Love You is that nobody has any idea what they are doing. It is a free-flowing film with a quick pace to match just how quickly one’s mind changes as to where their feelings lie. There is no consistency and people, unfortunately, suffer from this ebb and flow of emotion with the tone and bouncy style of the film capturing this brilliantly.

While Allen is not really known for his musicals (okay, he is not known at all for musicals), Everyone Says I Love You nonetheless fits right into the classic Allen narrative formula. At the center of this film are a manic family defined by their neurosis and who brush shoulders with people who use psychoanalysis extensively. As their grandfather dies, the family does not mourn but instead takes it as a chance to ruminate on what happens after death with Bob asserting that he is absolutely an atheist though he was raised Jewish. During this same moment, a remark is made about how the standards for what is good to eat changes all the time, which falls right in line with Von’s earlier complaints about technology which previously led to Joe to invest in a typewriter. The politics in this film are decidedly Democratic with Republicanism defined as being a mental disorder, but Allen does not go easily on the Democrats as he mocks their lax attitude towards convicted criminals and their “bleeding heart” nature. In essence, all of this combines into a perfect combination of everything that a Woody Allen film can be about. There is religion, psychoanalysis, discussions about mortality, a resentment about the changing of the times, and the mocking of politics while being deeply political itself. Furthermore, Everyone Says I Love You additionally establishes itself as classic Allen material with how referential it is to old Hollywood. Name dropping Bernardo Bertolucci or Noel Coward, while Joe makes a crack about how Kirk Douglas playing Vincent Van Gogh is the only thing he knows about art, Everyone Says I Love You is a film that, while greatly experimental for Allen in terms of execution, is at its core a film that hardly breaks new ground for Allen. All of his films have these same themes and the same knack for referencing the classics or filmmakers who Allen idolizes. Yet, while it is nothing ground-breaking for him, what establishes this one as being one of his finest is the package in which it comes. Utilizing musical conventions could have been dangerous, but under Allen’s steady hand, he manages to balance the need for musical numbers with his typically neurotic sense of humor and his typical thematic endeavors with relative ease.

In the process, Allen creates a film that is as much a referential and deeply derivative as it is a satire about the musicals of old. The irreverent randomness of the musical numbers - such a ghost-led number or one set in a hospital where even the patients get in on the act - mocks the exuberance and burst of emotion of classic Hollywood musicals by pointing out their absurdity and then taking it a step further, a classic trait of satire. The ghosts or the patients may be absurd to see engaging in song and dance, but so are the other-worldly dance numbers in the middle of the street like in West Side Story or Gene Kelly running around and snagging light poles in Singin’ in the Rain. None of it makes sense and Allen, while honoring those musicals’ sensibilities and style, mocks the absurdity of their numbers with hysterically conceived ideas that only get increasingly absurd and funny as the film progresses. However, where the film truly nails the musical satire bit of its focus is in the final number. As the film switches from being partially set in New York City to having the whole cast converge in Paris - both classic musical settings with even La La Land switching to Paris by the end - Allen puts both Joe and Steffi at a bridge that carries a lot of memories for them before they break into song and dance. As the number progresses, Steffi is put on a wire, floating over Joe or sliding a hysterical distance away from him as if she were skating on ice. With these exaggerated movements, the whimsical nature of the scene, and the otherwise classic choreography of the number, Allen skewers the exuberant, over-stuffed, and fantastical nature of musicals with a closing number that allows Everyone Says I Love You to end on a truly excellent comedic note.

However, one of the best touches of Everyone Says I Love You is the singing. As an Allen film, it is obviously a romantic comedy with this musical touch being in addition to the other two bits. Thus, it is no surprise that everybody uses their natural singing voice - except Hawn who sung worse on purpose and Barrymore who was dubbed because she thought she was too awful - to communicate this tone. The singing is never bad, but it is decidedly average and realistic. It is not Hollywoodized, autotuned, or commercialized, just average people walking around the streets singing about love or their broken heart. With the pitch perfect notes, Everyone Says I Love You doubles down on its satire as it breaks the facade created by musicals - the facade being that this is the real world where these people are just so happy they sing perfectly and dance perfectly without any help - with these average people stumbling their way through these overly mushy songs about how they feel in the present moment. This incredibly tongue-in-cheek decision made by Allen to let his cast sing as they normally would is not just great for the satire, but great for the tone of the film. If he had stuck with great singing, the musical numbers would be at odds with the comedic approach to the rest of the film. It would be as if half the film was trying to be a serious romantic musical while the other half was just a typical neurotic Allen comedy. The pairing would be awkward and, largely, unenjoyable. However, as the entire cast sings poorly, it matches the light, not-to-be-taken-seriously tone of the rest of the film and allows the hilarity of the numbers and musical encounters to take center stage instead of how great their singing voices are.

In blending the romance, comedy, and musical, elements of the film, Allen deftly juggles everything he throws at this film and allows each piece to complement one another rather than stealing the focus for itself. The romance is gooey, creepy, and neurotic, as it always is in Allen films. The aforementioned endeavor to show how hopeless everyone is in love is well-written and often exemplified by the neurotic encounters between characters that elicit laughs or the musical moments expressing this hopelessness. All combine to make the romance always feel authentic and the problems the characters face are always grounded in reality in spite of the inclination on their part to break into song. The comedy is typically excellently timed and delivered, right down to visual gags such as the camera exploding as Joe takes a picture. It, like the romance, both enhances the awkwardness of the romantic relationships - such as Skylar screwing up deciding to go with Charles or as she eats her engagement ring with Holden - and makes the musical moments all the more enjoyable as Allen tosses in irreverent numbers or visual gags in those scenes. The musical bits are well-written and perfectly sung for the style of the film, while also serving to reveal a lot of inner thoughts regarding the romantic side of the film and helping to make the film funnier due to the goofy choreography or lyrics. In essence, what makes Everyone Says I Love You so effective is how top-notch each element of this film is in its own right and how it blends into the others. This is a film that is romantic, funny, and has great music. It does not sacrifice one or the other to give another side of the film more screen time, instead they all gel with one another as Allen deftly weaves them all together to create a highly entertaining and enjoyable experience.

A funny, inventive, daring, and incredibly unique take on Woody Allen’s classic narrative and themes, Everyone Says I Love You is a film with strong acting, fun musical numbers, top-notch comedy, and authentic romance. Honestly, there is not much this film does wrong with Allen hardly ever putting a foot wrong in this one. This one is very much an under-the-radar film from Allen, but for me, it is low-key his best film.

[lynchgirl90]

10 Things We Learned at the #TwinPeaks Comic-Con Panel

by Maureen Ryan Chief TV Critic Variety 

At the San Diego Comic-Con panel for Showtime’s revival of “Twin Peaks” on Friday, things got a little weird at times, but the love for the strange soap opera — among the cast and fans assembled in Hall H — was palpable.

Cast members Kyle MacLachlan, Tim Roth, Dana Ashbrook, Kimmy Robertson, Everett McGill, Matthew Lillard, James Marshall, Don Murray, and Naomi Watts were joined by moderator Damon Lindelof. Here are some highlights from the hourlong discussion of the drama:

1. There would be no “Lost” without “Twin Peaks.” Lindelof said that when the show first premiered in 1990, when he was 16, it completely rocked his world. “I was lonely,” Lindelof said. “The world was scary and confusing and I felt like it didn’t understand me.” But then, after the drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost arrived, “suddenly I was no longer alone — I was in ‘Twin Peaks.’” Lindelof said he couldn’t describe what it felt like to meet the array of characters, but “I can tell you this; I loved every single one of them because they were all weirdos.” After citing just a few of the shows influenced by “Twin Peaks” — including “The Sopranos,” “Stranger Things,” and “Fargo” — Lindelof said, “I owe my entire career to this show, and I can think of no better place to say that than Hall H at Comic Con, in a room full of weirdos like me.”

2. Mastermind Lynch was present — in spirit and on film. Though Frost and Lynch did not make it to San Diego, Lindelof kicked things off with a film from Lynch. It was a short, strange piece that kept cutting out and piling on the strange developments. Lynch began by saying hello, but then he started yelling at someone off-camera. At that point, it sounded like a man fell from a great height. Lynch came back and said, “I’ve got to show you something” — and lifted up what looked like a dead hand. There was something in the hand: “This supposedly is the last golf ball O.J. Simpson hit before going into prison.” The film cut out again and then Lynch was back: “Today you’re going to meet some great actresses and actors …” Lynch began, but then, off-camera, it sounded like total chaos was breaking out. Lynch: “You can’t bring a horse in here. Manuel, take that gun away.” Fans packed into Hall H heard the sound of a horse whinnying. And then the film finally abruptly cut out. “That was even more than I could have hoped for,” said Lindelof, who said he was seeing that Lynch video for the first time.

3. Matthew Lillard has still not seen the original “Twin Peaks.” “I’m going to watch it tonight!” he joked. “I think it’s weird. Anyone else? If you’re not a ‘Twin Peaks’ dude and you come in, it’s a little strange.” Even the casting process was offbeat, Lillard said. “His casting process is very interesting,” he said. “They put a video camera on your face and you just talk about life in general. Then they invite the actor to come over and read pages.” And once he was on board, he was always wondering what was coming next. “When you’re reading a David Lynch script, you have no idea where it’s going to go,” Lillard said. “I got to this scene in Episode 9, and it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever read as an actor. In the middle, the character breaks down hysterically, sobbing. And you sort of know, being a fan of David’s movies and shows, what that looks like. It was intimidating. In his world, you get two takes. So you want to be really good really fast.”

4. Naomi Watts only saw her scenes with Dougie before cameras rolled. She didn’t see anything else from the scripts. But she had certainly hoped to work with Lynch again, after their experiences working together on “Mulholland Drive” years ago. “I had actually gone up [to Lynch’s house] more than a year ago with Laura Dern,” Watts said. “We were trying to coax him into some ideas and to get something going. That’s what you do with David — ‘Come on, hire me again.’ It’s just so good to be on a set with him or just in a room. He was talking about some ideas as he smoked, and smiling a lot, but not really saying yes or no. Finally I heard the rumor that ‘Twin Peaks’ was happening. I wasn’t part of that original team, so it would be wrong for me to be pushy about it. But I did drop some hints. I got a call.” Watts said Lynch “sat me in his chair that he built next to a table he built. I sat there for a good hour or so and read these pages. I don’t know anything about what happened before my part or after.” Did she know that Kyle would play Dougie? “It was not told to me, but I certainly posed that question, which he did not clarify,” Watts said.

5. Even getting the phone call to come back to “Twin Peaks” was unnerving, but also thrilling. While talking to Lynch, “I slid off the bed, which was really high at the time,” Robertson said. By the end of the call, “I was was looking at the bottom of my bed — I had somehow crawled under my bed. Because it was just so unexpected.” McGill said he was worried about being able to access “the emotions and vulnerability” of his character again. “But seeing everybody on the set, seeing how warm David was — it was great.” “Everybody gets exactly the same respect” on Lynch’s sets, and that creates a very creative atmosphere among the cast and crew, James Marshall said.

6. A few of the actors haven’t watched the new series on TV, but they hope to do so soon.“I’m going to wait until it’s done and watch everything from the first series [and the new episodes], all the way through, with my kids. I don’t know what that’s going to do to us,” Roth said.

7. His work can go into dark and strange areas, but working with Lynch is nothing but pleasurable. “He has this peace about him that is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Lillard said. “His belief in his process and his vision and his point of view is so profound and focus, and he inspires me that way,” MacLachlan added. “He follows this dream in his mind and I find that inspirational in my life, to go after the thing I believe in.” “He really shows great appreciation for other people’s work,” cast member Murray said. “And he never fails to do that. You go home from a day’s work with David and you feel good about it and about the world because you’ve had that experience.” “He knows how to get a performance, he digs deep,” McGill noted.

8. Asked for “a hot take” about Dougie, many members of the cast were a bit stumped.Eventually Robertson gave her opinion: “It’s very easy, if you ever meet any families who live out in the suburbs and work [there], it’s very easy to slip through the cracks and say one word a month without anyone noticing. And what wife wouldn’t like that?”

9. The Black Lodge set is very different from anywhere else in the “Twin Peaks” world. “It feels very focused and like electricity is buzzing around,” MacLachlan said. “It is a very unusual environment. That [black and white] floor gives you a very different state of being.”

10. An audience member who had never seen “Twin Peaks” asked the cast to “describe it in a nutshell.” “Just throw the nut away,” MacLachlan said. “Keep the shell,” Watts added.

Link (TP)

[mcatmania]

The Hateful Eight - rewatch

Alright. Here we go.

- First off I just wanna say this damn music is fantastic. And since I know i’m gonna be saying that a lot, I’m just gonna keep a counter on it. It shall be labeled as just Music the number and then a comment.

- You know the thing I love about Tarantino Films is that he always uses the same font title. At least I’m pretty sure he does.

- Music #2 - a perfect blend of what’s about to go down and just an overwhelming feeling of dread

- Music #3 and then it just builds

- Is it me or does Tarantino always start with long shots, someone walking or zooms or something like that. Just me?

- i don’t know what the the Panovision has to do with it, but I can’t say I’m upset about it. I guess it kind of dates it for me so that’s nice.

- that entire title sequence just to get that darn coach past the camera. I freakin’ love it.

- I just love that this movie is fully about Sam Jackson. Like I know he is in most of Tarantino’s films, but this one he really stars and I love it. This is probably one of my favorite films that Tarantino has done. Let’s not forget about Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Bastards. 

- Kurt Russell. Let me tell you. He’s also perfect in this.

- I gotta admit, I started this yesterday and meant to do a rewatch post, but I also really just wanted to watch it so I’m skipping to where they get to the Haberdashery.  about 40 minutes in to those who are reading along.

Right now, if you haven’t seen this movie ---- SPOILERS.

- Seriously though, the fact that they don’t know what they are walking into is crazy. Just crazy to me.

- I do love that John starts to be be Daisy Domergue’s protector a little bit. You know? Also I’m probably gonna butcher their name so let’s just get that over with.

- Right there. The fact that Roth’s character doesn’t know where things are means IMPOSTER. HOLY SHIT.

- I know it’s time period, but I really don’t like who often they use the n word. Again I know it’s time period.

- “it certainly isn’t buster.” Great line for Tim Roth aka Oswoldo

- Those glasses are just hysterical. I’ll say that.

- I get that John is a bounty hunter, but I really do love that we get to like him a lot. He is very likable character for sure.

- Music #3 everything is just building. Up and up and up. You can just feel the damn tension in the air. We’re in a blizzard and you can tell that something isn’t right. and that music helps convey that so easily.

-  I’m petty sure I’m wrong about this, but isn’t that one dude faking his accent? I think that’s right because they all aren’t who they say they are.

- Music #4 - I’m sorry I haven’t to geek out about this. It’s just perilous. It’s growing more and more perilous and the crazy thing is the only perilous thing that’s happening is the weather. So it really makes you think. What else is goign on that we don’t see.

- I also love that Tarantino has scripted these films because of the fact that this conversation is so normal. It’s so everyday and not hard to understand. I love it so much. Sometimes they talk about the most basic things. and I love it.

- I love that John Ruth wants to know everyone in the shop. It doesn’t matter who they are, he just wants to like almost visually keep his eye on them. And I think it’s brilliant.

-  It’s also hard not to scream THEY’RE LYING TO YOU. THEY ARE ALL LYING TO YOU. THE ONLY ONE WHO IS SERIOUS IS THE DUE IN THE CHAIR AND HE’S BEEN SHOT.

- These actors are so damn good at keep the tension. Everyone’s eye is on each other and they can’t escape or leave because of the storm. It’s brilliant. It feels so new and so Agatha Christie to me.

- And the old man is grumpy because he knows that shit’s fucked. He is so keenly aware that shit is fucked.

- Daisy just screaming KICK IT OPEN is pretty fantastic.

- Also no one questions that the door is fucked up? I remember when I watched this the first time I just thought it was normal and then later on you’re like WAIT WHAT?! How did I not see these clues?!?!?

- AND NO ONE THINKS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS IS WEIRD?! THE FACT THAT THERE ARE THREE PEOPLE THAT ARE INTERDEPENDANT ON THE OTHER ONE. NO ONE AT ALL?!

- And I love that the only one who knows that shit is fucked is Sam Jackson. 

- THE JELLYBEAN. THAT JELLYBEAN IS SO DAMN IMPORTANT.

- And just like that. He knows what’s happening. he knows that shit is fucked. I love it. I love it so much. he knows that things aren’t right. But plays it off.

-  The soup that John just throws in Daisy’s face. I freakin’ love it.

- And this song that he plays at the piano. It’s just notes. That’s all it is, but even a Christmas song...can get eerie as hell and it’s perfect. Music #5

- I love that the conversation between the old man and Sam Jackson. It’s so fantastic. It comes in and out of threatening and I love it. And Sam Jackson has the top card because he killed his son. It’s freakin’ amazing.

- And the piano keeps going. I love it. And then we start getting the flashbacks.

- Sam Jackson’s just so great.

- This whole story is just so great. It’s amazing.

- I love it. I love that Sam just tortures this old man. Just tortures the crap out of him.

- Damn Sam Jackson being QUICK on that draw.

- And here we go with Chapter Four - and now the tension builds even further.  I l also love this narration it’s pure gold.

- OH SHIT. Someone poisoned the coffee. And Domergue saw it. It’s brilliant.

- Here we go self tuning the guitar. Here we go.

- Wow. The tension. The audience (also known as me) knows that the coffee is poisoned and it’s the next person who drinks it that’s just gonna die. And we’re not focused on her playing the guitar. We’re all focused on the coffee drinking that’s happening.

- It’s around this time that I forget who poisoned the coffee.

- “When you get to hell John. Tell them Daisy sent ya.” It’s perfect.

1:44

[ginnyzero]

Project Runway Hanging by a Thread

(Originally Posted in 2018)

The future of Project Runway is in doubt. Back in November, after the Weinstein scandal broke, A&E rescinded their contracts for Project Runway, including a separate contract for a movie, and sued the company for breach of contract alleging that Harvey used the show as a way to gain access to young models (horrifying if true.) Because of the Weinstein Group going into bankruptcy and the lawsuit, the rights and licenses of Project Runway and all the spin offs are for sale. (A&E and another company both want to buy them.)

I have little doubt that Project Runway will go on in some form in the future. It’s a well-liked program with several major celebrities attached. It has been imitated but no other fashion show (24 Hour Catwalk, Launch My Line, The Fashion Show, Fashion Star and so on) has been able to duplicate its success.

There are two names that we can thank for Project Runway’s success, Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum.

I’ve been working on my latest fashion project (an expanded collection of my Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad wolf club dresses) and the last day or two have had Bravo’s answer to Project Runway moving to Lifetime back in 2008 on YouTube in the background, The Fashion Show. And it wasn’t pretty.

From my list you can see that I’ve watched a lot of fashion competitions. All of them have been cancelled but Project Runway. Not that they didn’t have some good ideas to bring to the table competition wise. Most of them do not have the right mix of personalities of the hosts and mentors and judges to create a sympathetic viewing audience. Even the Project Runway spin offs have a difficult time coming up with a good combination of judges and a sympathetic mentor. Alyssa tries, she really does, but she’s still not as successful as Heidi.

Tim Gunn’s success hinges on his beautiful attitude that he wants everyone on the show to succeed. No other mentor I’ve seen can manage his style of honest sympathy and gentle loving critique. Tim Gunn cares for every contestant and when they aren’t doing their best, it upsets him because he wants them to push and grow and become better designers (and better people.) He also gives honest and helpful feedback that people even in their living rooms can understand because it’s not laced with industry terms or popular culture references. And he can do this because he listens. He tells the designers to talk to him and then he stands there and listens. (And his pose while he does this is very important because he’s thinking as he is listening.) Then, once the designer is finished, he gives feedback.

It was very telling to me that in the first season of the Fashion Show when Isaac Mizrahi and Kelly Rowland were being both mentor and judge (don’t do this darlings) that they listened and then didn’t give critique. Instead, they’d go and talk about it to each other out of ear shot of the designers and then wonder why the designs were so wrong and then have to say the same things again to the designer that they’d said to each other on the stage. It was like watching school girl’s gossip instead of watching a show about developing talent!

Many of the mentors that I see brought onto these fashion shows are brought on because of their connection to some part of the shows sponsorship or producing team with little thought or care about how these mentors come across on the screen. Production spends so much time screening the candidates for the show and then don’t take the time it feels to screen test or even test run the mentor they’ve selected. It’s the mentor that’s going to be there season after season and the candidates are always changing, so more care should be taken in selecting mentors and not less!

The host is just as important as the mentor. Heidi Klum can be controversial because she supposedly plays favorites, she shows too much leg and some still aren’t sure why she has any authority on fashion. But Heidi Klum manages to pull off that cheerful girl next door type of vibe. You could imagine living next door to Heidi Klum. She’s friendly. She fits in with her bubbly smile and her blonde hair and tanned skin. She’s that mother from your PTA. Americans like this. At the same time, being that she’s originally from Germany, she has a hint of “otherness” about her that also appeals to people. The expert is a stranger with a briefcase syndrome or in this case a German accent. She’s also very natural in front of a camera and can make canned phrases sound natural.

This is much harder than it sounds. Alyssa still has trouble with the cadence of Project Runway signature catch phrases. In the second season of the Fashion Show, they changed out Kelly Rowland for Iman and the poor woman sounded like a robot. (They also changed all the catch phrases and that didn’t help. You have to maintain brand.) Being in front of the camera for so many hours a day when things aren’t scripted for you is difficult!

So, soon there will be new producers and owners running this big franchise of Project Runway that (let’s be honest) is primarily geared to American audiences because it features American fashion. I know what I want to see.

More Tim Gunn and not less.

Forget drama in the sewing room. Back to basics, design and critique and mentoring sessions with Tim. And if they can’t get Tim to come in and mentor All Stars or Junior, then he honestly needs to be the major voice in choosing the next mentors that reflect his style that is the Project Runway brand. No more cold dead fish mentors. Ugh. I think the closest was Henry Roth of the first season of Australia. He had energy.

Speaking of drama in the sewing room. More talent. Less personality casting. I’m talking casting people like the twins from the latest season. (Serial reality show celebs should be a major no no.) Or people that only work in recycled materials. Or people that are so abrasive and egotistical that all they do is cause drama because no one wants to work with them and they don’t want to work with anyone else. Project Runway has never had a problem about diversity, thank goodness. They have a problem with bringing in designers of aesthetics that are so niche and so out of the box that they can’t connect to the judges or to the American audience.

Oh, and enough menswear designers already. Please, do a Project Runway: Menswear if you want to showcase menswear designers.

Models of all shapes and sizes. The last regular season of Project Runway did this as an experiment and it was a raging success. So much so, that the season of All Stars that aired right after it got criticized for not doing the same thing (even though the two shows had been taped at the same time. People forget this.) It’s time for more diversity and better body images presented on the runway and in fashion magazines and Project Runway has a national audience to push this change into the magazines. This is a huge step forward and may save us the embarrassing and cringe worthy episodes where designers don’t know what breasts are and say things like “Models are supposed to be walking hangars without curves to mess up the line of the clothes.”

Look, a model going down the runway is a standard size six. I’m a standard size four (six in outerwear) and that means I wear smalls, extra-smalls and size zeros in vanity sizing. This doesn’t expressly make me happy! Vanity sizing hurts people of all sizes, okay. If we can push that thin is best off the runway, maybe we can push the vanity sizing out of our stores and when I go in a size four will be a size four will be a size four everywhere.

More time.

The designers need more time to sew their designs. Period. Project Runway is becoming instead Project Pretty Dress. Things such as pants, jackets and shirts take time to drape, draft and sew properly. So instead of good two or three piece outfits, we get evening gown followed by a cocktail dress followed by an evening gown ad nausea.

Example, last season of All Stars (newbies versus vets) they did a distressing challenge. Meaning, they were to make new fabrics look like they’ve been through hell. And it was paired with the theme of Post-Apocalyptic Fashion, meaning Mad Max and waste landers. Of course, they were only given one day in the workroom to accomplish their feats of both making it look like it was after the end of the world and to make the fabric look torn, burnt or shredding or worn in some manner. (They were also to come up with a story. I laughed hysterically over some of them, a queen, really?)

It was a parade of evening gowns.

Look, the last thing you’re going to wear after the world has been devastated by a climate changing event is an evening gown. Now, some of these stories are “She was escaping from said climate changing event,” but still! (That’s not exactly what the brief called for either by the way. Post. Post. After! Not during!) Loot some trousers and find some running shoes! Protect your skin!

It made you wonder if they’d ever seen Mad Max. I wasn’t expecting leather and studs because that has been done to death. I was hoping for some thought about protecting my soft squishy parts and being pretty! (I like my soft squishy parts and I like being pretty.)

More time is especially important now that the judges are getting up close and personal with the designs. These designers are now being critiqued on their sewing skills as well as their design skills. If they’re going to do this, then give the designers the respect they deserve and give them the time to beautifully finish their garments. Those “It feels so unresolved” comments might go down too, if they have more time to actually finish their designs.

Less Sponsors.

The dreaded sponsors challenge. Does anyone remember the season where they were sponsored by a water company and ended up going “glamping?” Or the one where there was the burger company and they had to remake some really bad suits and got free endless fries? (That might have been the same season.) Look, doing Heidi’s stuff is bad enough especially since she keeps changing what she’s doing. But these companies that have nothing to do with fashion, err, Candy Crush, coming in and throwing money to get their name in an episode is ridiculous. I am even leery about the movie challenges. Just stop.

You know the great challenges are the challenges set by people like Isaac Mizrahi. I loved his color challenge because he was so careful in his selections. (He’s come a long way since The Fashion Show.) I love Nina Garcia challenges. Then there are the basic challenges, the unconventional challenge, the avante garde challenge, the accessory wall sponsor challenge, and the hair and makeup challenge. (Though better ones for those need to be found.)

Things like the black light challenges or the rainway that made the designers think about fashion in a new way. Those were the great challenges. I even liked the wind runway. Otherwise, get back to the basics of fashion. The JCPenny challenge with the menswear fabrics was great because it forced them to think upper moderate budget rather than ready to wear. Give them fashion categories, give them budget categories more than just a budget at Mood. Make them prove they know about fashion more than “I want to make clothes.” Yeah, can you make clothes for the everyday woman in their price budget or just pretty red carpet dresses? (Most can only do the latter.)

More fashion industry judges.

Enough celebrities. Please. Bring in buyers from Macy’s and Bergdorf’s and Saks, bring in magazine editors. I don’t know and I don’t care what a certain actress thinks about fashion because they’re most likely paying lots of money to be styled by someone who does know about fashion. So, I’d rather hear from their stylist. This is what I liked about Fashion Star. In Fashion Star, the designers presented to buyers and the buyers would right then bid on if they’d actually buy that item to stock in their store or not. Terron Schaefer of Saks was such a lovely person, bring in him. Bring in big name designers. Bring back Michael Kors for at least one episode a season by hook or by crook. Give the American Public people who are authorities in fashion.

(And keep Kelly Osbourne in the Juniors judges because I love how supportive she is to these young people. She is the exception to this rule.)

More team challenges.

Okay, the designers hate these. I think they’re good for them. That’s one thing about the Fashion Show that I really appreciated was the fact that the designers were at first separated into two fashion houses to create collections instead of individual pieces. This is how the real fashion industry works and nothing creates drama faster than a team challenge. (This is like makeover episodes on Top Model. The designers know they are coming but still cry all the same!)

If they do team challenges, they can create runway shows and do mood boards and have to present these to Tim to get approval and really show their vision as a team rather than the travesty that a lot of team challenges end up being. Another thing I liked about the Fashion Show is that they had to make and present mood boards. Mood boards are incredibly important in giving direction!

More Mood and Mini-Mood.

Because of sponsorships increasing in the show, the time spent at Mood has been less and less. And I understand that Mood isn’t expressly happy with the show either, because the entire store has to be shut down in order for the show to tape there and this loses them revenue in buyers. At this point, the viewing audience is used to and wants to see the designers using ‘real fabrics’ in order to make their garments. If there are less sponsors for “unconventional” challenges, then there would be more challenges where the designers need to go to Mood.

But Mood has provided Mini-Mood before. Mini-Mood was a room in the set where Mood put a lot of fabric for the designers to choose from. This way the designers were a) limited in choice but b) still got to use ‘real fabrics.’ And let’s face it, the designers need to be limited because there was almost an entire season of neoprene one year. (No neoprene in Mini Mood. No. Bad. Smack hands.) Or, if it is easier on Mood, then maybe provide Project Runway with access to their warehouse instead?

Or, they can do like the JCPenny challenge and have the sponsors provide the fabrics. This will once again ground the show in reality because there are processes where the designers choose from a selection of fabrics from a manufacturer to use for their products. It may also cut down on the “you only work in chiffon, choose something else” or just the random bad fabric choices or people being chewed out in Mood for picking fur and not realizing the show is “cruelty free.” (But we still use leather. Sure.)

Lastly, less scripting of the entire season.

People know the reality show tricks by now and they aren’t buying them anymore. If they show a designer calling their family or opening up, yep, that designer is about to go. Producers keep on bad designers for their dramatic personalities has to stop. Designers that repeat and repeat the same design need to be pulled aside and be told “Change or go home” much sooner than they are. Touting a win for “plus size” fashion feels hollow when the line didn’t have the creativity of the others (and next to no plus sized woman would wear it. The models looked uncomfortable.)

Authenticity is important. Project Runway can be good without having accusations of cheating or big fights in the workroom or bringing in styles that don’t mesh with the judges. Talent. Design. Good attitudes. Take a cue from Project Runway Junior and keep those positive vibes going even in the adult versions of the show.

And more group hugs from Tim. Because everyone needs hugs.

[bluboothalassophile]

New request! Paparazzi, Damian and Raven often spend a lot of time together and Damian being a public character (Bruce Wayne's son) the paparazzi and all the pink press believe that they are both a couple (Raven is small and will always say she has a Age similar to Damian),so the whole press is harassing them and calling them the couple of the year and inventing rumors, until the Teen Titans and Justice League talk about it,Damian is secretly happy about it, but Jason is furious and jealous.

Hey, 

Sorry for the long delay in answering your request. I hope you enjoy this. =)

Secrets…

Jason supposed he only had himself to blame really,especially since his girlfriend happened to be friends with all his brothers,as both a civilian and a hero; including the demon spawn. And Damian was atthat awkward age, late teens, and Raven still looked unbelievably young, so hesupposed that it was natural for the tabloids to assume his girlfriend wasdating Damian when she was hanging out with Damian as a civilian. Especially ata nice café in late summer.

Not that the tabloids had figured out that Damian’smysterious friend was Rachel Roth, who lived with and dated Jason Peters, but NO,that would require investigative reporting. Paparazzi were just vultureassholes. Still, sitting here in his kitchen he wanted to rip Damian’s head offand kick his ass. Not that Jason would do that, no that would actually make ascene and he couldn’t and wouldn’t do that because he and raven were on thedown low and still figuring their relationship out.

He’d just gotten her to move in, and they were fixing upthis apartment, and they were good. They’d survived their first real fight aslovers, so they were good.

Still he was trying to stamp down on the welling jealousy inhis gut at paper. Tossing it aside he looked up when his girlfriend walked intothe kitchen, groggy, and half asleep as she rubbed her eyes.

“Morning,” she muttered. “Waffles.”

“Slow down sunshine,” he grabbed his half-asleep girlfriendbefore she walked into the power tools on the floor because he would be workingon the floor today.

“Waffles,” she muttered.

“Yeah, yeah, sure, but let’s not have you losing toes, don’twant to test the demon healing out on that,” Jason mused as he dropped her on abarstool to start making waffles. He wasn’t jealous, he wasn’t, Raven wasn’t aboutto ditch him, especially not for his baby of baby brothers. The kid was fiveyears younger than her, if anything he had to worry about Tim stealing her,except Tim had that thing with Tam going so he was good.

Still, Jason didn’t like the thought of the public thinkingthat Damian was dating Raven.

Raven who was currently asleep with her head propped up onher fist and she was all but drooling as she sat there. Jason snorted at herbeing so asleep before he started making the waffles, Raven grumbled. When hehad a plate ready he teased her a bit which had the demon sleepily waking up.

“Waffles,” she smiled a bit.

“And she’s back in the land of the living,” Jason smirked asshe sleepily reached for the plate he held out of her reach. The demon gloweredat him, but the look was off put by her bed head.

“I warn you Jason, the waffles or your life,” she yawned.

“Well when you put it threatening like that… the waffles,”he mused as he shoved them at her and made his own. Raven was not goinganywhere, still, that ugly feeling was twisting his gut up painfully.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Damian looked at the start of the tabloids and bit his cheekat the photos of him and Raven hanging out at a café. Recently Damian had takento hanging out with Raven on some of his civilian time because Raven was actuallygood company, and he liked her.

Also, Raven was never ceasing mystery to him which he wantedto solve. She was attractive, she was smart, she was interesting, and yet heusually felt he knew nothing more about her than what she permitted him and theworld to see, and he wanted to figure her out. The paparazzi making her his girlfriendthough was something he liked, even if it wasn’t going to happen. Raven wasfive years older than him and he was ‘jail bait’ as Dick had told him.Apparently, Dick had been in this position when he was younger and datingBarbara Gordon.

“Dami, you didn’t tell me you were eloping and running offto Aruba with the mysterious girl who no one knows,” Dick said looking over hisshoulder with a chuckle. “Raven does take good pictures.”

“It’s not like that,” Damian said, he was trying to keep hisattraction to Raven to himself but he really liked the idea of her being hisgirlfriend.

“So… you and Raven?” Drake smiled maliciously appearingthen.

“She is a friend,” Damian insisted.

“Not according to this, you didn’t tell us you were married,Damian!” Brown appeared in the kitchen and Damian wondered what Brown was doinghere.

“With a pregnant lover,” Cain said unhelpful. Damian duckedhis head feeling his cheeks heat up.

“Man, you’re busy,” Thomas chuckled.

“It is not like that! Raven is a friend!” Damian insisted.

“We know, the press announced my engagement to her,” Drakelaughed.

“And my sordid affair with her,” Dick mused.

“Raven is not even my age,” Damian pointed out.

“Dude, she looks eighteen, even if she can legally drink shedoesn’t look it,” Thomas filled in unhelpfully. Damian groaned as he tried tohide his face from them all. Raven was… Raven, she was the girl he liked; morethan a friend like and he’d liked her since he was thirteen and noticed her hips.The woman had a set of hips and legs, and damn, her ass!

“Hey Jay! You read the tabloids!?” Dick asked when Toddwalked tiredly into the kitchen.

“No, I gotta go,” Todd yawned as he poured himself a thermosof coffee and left without any of the usual arguments or snarls, or fight.

“That was odd even for Jason,” Drake mutters. Damian doesn’tacknowledge it as his eyes trace over the curves of Raven’s image. She’s alovely creature, even with that floppy sunhat obscuring her face. He bit hislip as he smothered everything he felt for her again as he got up to get thebreakfast Pennyworth was cooking then.

He still liked the headline making Raven his girlfriend.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Raven was walking through the Watch Tower with Kori who wasgiggling hysterically. Normally she would not care about what would have heralien friend laughing (Kori’s sense of humor rarely aligned with what Ravenunderstood as humorous), but it was getting a bit on her nerves now.

“Alright, what is so amusing?” Raven demanded as she turnedon Kori then.

“Friend Raven, when were you going to tell me of yourmarriage?” Kori giggled.

“What marriage?” Raven asked in genuine confusion. OnAzarath marriage was not a joking matter and often times taken very seriously.Also, she was in a relationship, even if the only ones aware of it wereherself, Jason, and Victor, and Jason was not the type to get married unless hewas serious. And they weren’t serious, or that serious, seeing as how they’djust moved in together in that ratty apartment building Jason had bought for aproject on his off time.

“To Damian Wayne,” Kori laughed, Raven paled at the thought.

“What? Kori! He’s a kid! Why in Azar’s name would I even considermarrying him!?” Raven demanded as she folded her arms to glower at her friend.

“It is just from the earth gossip columns,” Kori pulled itup on her tablet and Raven gawked.

“What!?” she snatched the tablet away as she read throughthe sleazy article; well, this explained quite a few things about Jason as oflater, but still. “Those…” Raven started muttering curses in Azarathian as sheshoved the tablet back at Kori and tried not to curse them all with real hexes.

“It is just amusing and you must admit you are an adorablecouple,” Kori snickered.

“It’s offensive! Damian’s a kid! He’s only sixteen!” Ravensnapped.

“That is why it is amusing, friend Raven,” Kori said calmly.

“It’s not! He’s way too young, and I would never ever date ateenager, or anyone for that matter, and I…!” Raven threw her hands up in theair in her fury as she stalked down the hall feeling her temper boilingdangerously close to the surface.

The only thing that that tabloid explained was Jason’s oddbehavior of avoiding her for the last week, and she was done with it. She wasgoing to straighten this mess out with him before he went and did somethingstupid, got hurt and they ended up in a fight at whatever hospital he was in tostraighten this mess out. The problems with being a secret. Raven used theteleportation pad in the Watch Tower as she landed herself in New York, thenshe wrapped the shadow’s around herself as she used her empathy to find Jasonand pull herself towards him. Raven folded her arms when she materialized inhis current safe house to see him working on a bomb.

“So you have been avoiding me all week because of thetabloid?” Raven asked coldly, and then he stiffened as he turned on her.

“No, I’ve been avoiding you all week so I didn’t track downthe demon spawn and rip him limb from limb,” Jason grounded out.

“By hiding in Gotham, makes sense,” she sarcasticallypointed out.

“It did until I figured out the little twerp has a crush onyou,” Jason grounded out.

Raven merely rolled her eyes. “Yes, but it’s hormones, notemotions, and I have you so why is this important enough to have you avoidingme?”

He shrugged.

Bloody Bats! They were all going to drive her insane,especially this one!

[bluboothalassophile]

Hi!!!! I love your RaeX works, they also character, but I love how you add your own style to them! Please keep writing more fics and as a request, can I get a teacher au for RaeX, where all the students ship them.

I’m glad you enjoy the stories, and I hope this is alright! =)

Shipping Wars!

Jason hated Dick, he truly hated Dick for putting him in this hell!

Undercover as a teacher, and not just any teacher, literature. At least the demon spawn, Rose, Donna, and Raven were all in the same brand of hell he was as he looked at the swarming high school kids.

Jason truly hated this. He’d only been drafted into this because of his stupid, genuine, love of literature and Dick pointed out he was the only one able to pull it off. Which was true, but never again was Jason going to do a favor for his brother which required him to go to high school, undercover, or teaching! Teenagers had no appreciation for fine literature, or the beauty of Shakespeare’s genius!

“Now, if you open the books I put on your desks, we will start Act 2: Scene 1, and…” there was a knock.

“Yo?” he called out looking from the board.

“Hello, I was wondering if you had an extra box of dry erase markers, mine are missing for some reason,” Raven said monotonously.

“Coming up, sunshine,” Jason said as he walked to his desk and frowned. “Miss Roth, it appears I have your markers.”

“That’s odd,” she tilted her head as she walked in and he pulled out the box as he walked over and handed them to her, there were giggles, and sighs from the kids which had Jason lifting a brow as he tilted his head to Raven.

She shrugged, and he collected her slipped note as she walked out with the box and he tucked whatever information she had collected on the drug ring into his pocket as he continued with the lesson.

It was at lunch when Damian walked into his room with Tim and Dick a step behind him. it was known in school that Jason, Dick, and Tim were brothers, and they were the ‘sexy three’ which Jason felt was oddly disturbing. Damian was Dick’s ‘son’ and always had lunch detention. Truthfully this was all just a ruse.

“What have you found out and please tell me we can get out of this godforsaken hell!” Jason pleaded as he sat up at his desk. He’d liked school the first time around because of the learning, he had not cared for or about his peers, and he didn’t care about the drama.

“I have discovered a sinister gambling ring amongst the students,” Damian stated in a huff. “I believe they’re betting who will kill you.”

“What?” Jason blinked as he sat up and looked at the ledger Damian had shoved at him.

Reading over the ledger Jason snorted.

“They ain’t aiming to kill me,” Jason snorted as he was trying not to laugh hysterically at the ledger. Tim picked it up and burst into laughter then as Dick snatched it away and looked.

“Then why would they be betting which person would kill you? Raven’s taken the lead by the way, I would be careful around her,” Damian stated seriously.

“Whoa, slow down shorty, it’s not that kind of betting,” Jason chuckled.

“Then what is it?” Damian asked seriously as he looked at it.

“They’re betting who Jason will hook up with,” Dick said. Damian just blinked.

“Raven’s in the lead,” Damian stated, Jason’s head fell back then as he let out a laugh. Him and Raven were never happening, NEVER! They were friends at most, acquaintances at best.

“Sure, makes sense,” Tim chuckled. “But, personally, I’m putting my money on Rose.”

“I think Donna’s got a better shot, she’s more Jay’s type,” Dick snickered.

“I hate you all,” Jason laughed. Oh boy, standing up he pulled out the information Raven had slipped him. “Now seriously, tell me we can blow this popsicle stand.”

“Yeah, yeah we’ll move tonight,” Tim snickered.

“Don’t be snickering at me, at least I got the girls, I heard the girls betting you’d hook up with Conner, and what would Stephanie say to that,” Jason said. Tim scowled.

“Why! Why is it everyone thinks Conner and I have a thing! I am very happy with Stephanie, and he and M’gann are good!” Tim protested.

“Doth protest too much,” Dick laughed as he left. Jason just shook his head as he left Tim to sit charge over Damian for lunch detention. The walked across the hall to Raven’s room and walked in with ease as he saw her sitting there reading.

“Yes?” she looked up from her book with big dark eyes, he supposed she was kind of cute, in a dark, mysterious way.

“I think you’ll get a kick out of this,” he mused as he sat across from her and put the leger down. Raven picked it up and read it over, she stared at him with wide eyes then.

“What?”

“My thoughts!” he chuckled.

“I hate high school!” Raven sighed.

“Welcome to the club, we have free drinks on Friday between five a.m. and midnight,” he mused as she read it over.

“We should make you kiss every girl they have pitted you with,” Raven muttered.

“There’s a thought,” he agreed. He didn’t mind having a bit of fun, but he was not committing to anyone or anything. That shit was for the living, and legally speaking; he wasn’t.

“It’ll have them all losing,” Raven mused as her lips turned slightly.

“I like the way you think, little bird,” he accepted. “Time to screw these little punks over.”

“Well, they all lose and we win,” she shrugged.

“Oh yes, I’ll save you for last,” he decided. “Bring it up with Rose and Donna too.”

“Alright,” she waved off and he left as he walked for Rose’s room. He had to admit this could be fun messing with the kids heads. He wasn’t really one to get involved with this stuff, but this  could be fun. Besides, Rose and Donna both liked him so he was going to be fine and they wouldn’t gut him. Raven was up for it too which was a bit of a shock, but to hell with it, he was stuck in hell already so what was the harm in kissing a demon.