#and poor Buster deserves a break <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[starrysupercell]

Actual footage of Belle and Lola's first date.

[clvmtines]

welcome aboard, clementine martinez, student #2. we are excited to set sail with you !  has anyone told you that you look like alexa demie? according to our records, you hail from florida, usa, prefer she / her pronouns, are a cis woman, and are here to study creative writing. we also see you received a spot on the ss university because of your online lottery win — we won’t tell anyone. during your first few weeks here, other students said you were + charming, + free-spirited, but also - restive. it sounds like you spend most of your time at the billiards room. upon checking your luggage, we noticed you packed a casino chip carried around for luck from home. hopefully your roommates don’t steal it!

hi friends! i’m very excited to be here. i’m jay (est, she/her) n i used to play astrid nyland a few months ago if anyone remembers bt i had to leave for personal reasons. i’m so glad to be back now that i hve life sorted and some free time for summer break <3 read on for some details abt this new muse of mine, clementine. 

01. biography !

so ! clementine was born in florida. & yes, her real name is clementine. her mom thot it was the cutest name idea ever. clementine mostly goes by clem. she comes from the town [redacted] in florida bcoz i am too lazy to look up a specific town <3 but alas ! it was swampy and humid and she lived in a trailer park. 

her parents got knocked up at nineteen. clem was born nine months after a particularly wild 1999 fourth of july. her birthday is march 26th and she’s an aries. 

(TW: addiction, child injury) clem’s dad was a gambling addict and petty criminal—he wld steal credit cards n whatnot. he wld gamble away diaper money n it would cause constant fighting until her dad finally left. her mom took this very hard n began drinking a bit too often, leaving clem to to make cereal for dinner n fend for herself. once clem tried to make hot dogs on the stove and spilled boiling water on herself. got a p bad burn on her arm/shoulder and still has a big scar.

the soundtrack of her childhood was cicadas buzzing and stray dogs barking. the sizzle and pop of natty light cans. turning up her ipod to max volume to drown out the sounds of her mother fighting with her new boyfriend.

throughout her upbringing, clem’s dad was always in and out of the picture. he’d blow into town when he hit it big. he’d take her on these little “adventures” like staying in a motel 6 n renting movies at block buster n ordering good pizza nt the dominos shit she ate with her mom lol. ofc he was charging it all to someone’s stolen credit card. he’d always promise to, like, take clem away. n clem was a daddy’s girl so she believed him. the last time it happened was her h.s. graduation. her mom didn’t show ( "overslept” after a bender ) but her dad did and surprised her n said everything wld be different. bt then he bailed on their plans for the next day n when she called his cell, the number was disconnected. tht was the defining “i’m done” moment. clem promised to never be disappointed by her father again.

(TW: racism) her mother has mexican ancestry and clem’s always been called her twin. but clem was raised in a predominately white area and honestly ?? it was really hard without her even realizing it. she’s still unpacking a lot of things today abt her youth that jst weren’t okay bt she thought were normal. like microaggressions, stereotypes, being fetishized by boys in high school. gross shit.

as a kid, clem was rumored to be really poor bc she wore tattered clothes n got free lunch at school. once she invited a friend to her house & the next day they told everyone it’s in a trailer park. that reputation—the “trailer park girl”—was really hard to shake. and clem got almost desperate to shake it. she was endlessly trying to set her old self on fire and emerge from the ashes like a phoenix.

eventually clem became more “popular”. in school she was, like, a straight b student. very average although super creative and quick-thinking. she always had street smarts. problem solving skills. independence. more of, like, practical intelligence as opposed to book smarts because academia bores her tbh. she was like why am i reading these overrated boring books by dead white men or learning abt polynomials when i know nothing abt how to pay a mortage or do taxes. like...she saw the american education system as bullshit and put in modest effort because she didn’t believe it deserved her sweat and tears. 

however, she entered the online lottery for the seas program on a whim and got in. so she’s studying creative writing now.

02. personality !

first thing you shld know abt clem is that she’s a compulsive liar essentially—she tells various stories to make her life seem better than what it was. to one person, she’s an heiress to a real estate company and grew up wealthy. to the next she was raised by nomadic hippies. some of her lies are small fibs while others are grandiose tales. she rarely talks about her actual upbringing. she hates talking abt her family or the v real trauma of growing up in a household where both parents struggled w/ addiction; the uncertainty, the broken promises, the fact that she had to grow up so soon and deal w/ so much. it wasn’t fair, and if she thinks about it too much, she feels this anger. anger at the universe. anger at her circumstances. she doesn’t know where to put this anger. she doesn’t know how to shrink it. so she avoids it.

despite her rough upbringing, though, clem is actually really sweet and kind. she’s adventurous, fun-loving, free-spirited, and bold. 

bt ! she can also be closed-off, competitive and restive. 

she’s seemingly tight with everyone? like she’s jst that girl who can get along with anyone tbh. 

in her spare time you can catch her tanning by the pool, hanging at the bar, playing pool ( which she learned from her dad ), and socializing. she’ll never say no to hanging out with people. 

she learned a lot from her little “adventures” with her dad, who was very good at conning others and often involved her in his dumb little scams. clem is suuuper good at pulling the ‘im baby 🥺’ card to get what she wants.

she can be a little selfish, because she grew up looking out for herself. 

stubborn and dogmatic as hell !!!

she doesn’t do too many relationships but when she does fall, i imagine she falls hard and fast. she refuses to be made a fool of, tho. when she gets vulnerable she flashes back to being a kid, waiting all day for her dad to show up only to have him bail on her. again. she hates that feeling. so if she, like, senses a shift in someone’s energy she’ll b like, “i’ll break up with u before u can do it to me” and the person wasn’t even tryna dump her lmao.

has a lot of sex. too much ?? sex?? mayb. but she’s v sex positive.

her personal style is v late 90s. hair clips, big scrunchies, neon, fur trim, crop and tube tops, hoop earrings, chokers, patterns, platform shoes, biodegradable glitter cuz it’s good fr the earth *winks*. clothes from o-mighty.......actually jst google o mighty, pull up the images and That is clem. she dresses like a bratz doll. she’s dedicated to the aesthetic.

03. headcanons !

her item brought from home is a hot pink poker chip from a casino. her dad gave it to her. he said it reminded him of her because of the color; he got it during one of his winning streaks and said it was lucky. she has a complicated relationship w/ her dad n doesn’t even speak to him anymore, bt she will never go anywhere without it.

she’s a smol bean—only 5′4

an astrology girl and she reads palms ! she absolutely makes astrology tik toks that people only watch because she’s hot. her flirting technique is to ask you to read your palm.

she doesn’t typically drink to get drunk. but she does love a good sugary cocktail. to her, a drink is like an accessory. a blue fishbowl by the pool, a jack and coke as she stands around a bar. usually she'll nurse the same beverage for a while. if you see her wasted it usually means she’s going thru it emotionally lol. the one thing she does do is drugs tho 

pretty much listens to exclusively female artists.

a bit of an activist. environmentalism, feminism and the like, she’s v outspoken. vegan for ethical reasons (TW: drugs) bt still does cocaine. she wears shirts with ‘my pussy my choice’ bedazzled on the front.

loves to rollerblade ! back home she didn’t have a car so she’d bike or rollerblade. now she still has her blades and she’ll use them when the ship docks. 

03. wanted connections !

Friends, bffs, ride or dies, friends who are like siblings to her, maybe a friend with an unrequited crush on either side ??

an ex she dumped/cheated on/otherwise self sabotaged their relationship because she was afraid of vulnerability.

an ex friend who realized she lies a lot abt herself n felt betrayed. OH ! ESP if they opened up to her on many occasions abt intimate, personal stuff. imagine the betrayal they felt when they found that everything they thought they knew abt clem is a lie.

someone who she actually opens up to. a confidant. or, maybe, like, a stranger she drunkenly spilled her soul to and now she avoids them like the plague.

a rival. clem can be competitive.

her drug dealer 

someone she knows she shouldn’t hook up with and… does it anyways. like a friend’s ex or smthing. spicy <3

i welcome anything !

[tfw-no-tennis]

hxh RESUME

back at it again w/the hxh, heres my recap of the last few eps 

ok so i totally forgot to recap that one ep at the end of the hunter exam arc lets see what i remember from like 3 wks ago lollll

i thiiiiink i left off in the middle of ep 21 lol. i really dont remember much tbh so im gonna skim the ep to refresh

exposition time! its so wild that if you lose ur hunter card That It like u cant get another or retake the exam hgabjdfuhasjf Ls 

also the fact that you can sell it is rlly interesting 

leorio & kurapika backing up gon as he confronts illumi again :’) good lil family 

illumi u fool. gon is a shounen protag. he can do anything he sets his mind to

the fact that gon thanks illumi for telling him where killua is....hes literally THAT polite like...what a perfect boy 

hisoka just fuckgin stepping out of the shadows....ok bitch 

the fact that gon fucked up illumis arm that bad with one hand....boi is STRONK 

AUGH AUGH AUGHHHH HISOKA IS SO CREEPY AUGHHH I HATE THIS BIIIITCH 

ok but like is illumi implying that hisoka is a fr p*do bc uhhhhh thats so nasty oh lord. pls stay away from gon, and killua, and like everyone as a matter of fact 

EWWWWWWWWWW I HATE HISOKA HES SO NASTY. PLS STOP MAKING P*RNO FACES IN RELATION TO 12 YR OLD BOYS. 

no but rlly what IS hisoka gonna do now. im assuming he’ll show up p soon (tho probs not in the zoldyc arc like i thought bc its shorter than i thought) 

ok the fact that they have the internet is hilariously wild to me for some reason....it just seems like this would be one of those fantasy shounen worlds with very little tech (a la one piece) but lol nope we can just google shit hvbhjdhjdfks

gon: it was fun when you beat me up for 3 hours and broke my arm! seeya dude!

i love gon he is so chill and doesnt seem to hold grudges except when it really matters (like hisoka and illumi) 

hanzo has.....ninja business cards....thats amazing hvbhsdjkujfnd

dont worry pokkle, leorio was basically carried thru the hunter exam by various people and also won by default. he still deserves his license tho

an exotic game hunter sounds pretty cool! i wonder if we’ll see pokkle again. kinda doubt it? that sounds pretty firmly non-combat based, and therefore probably pretty far from any plot lol

so gons dad is a bigshot huh.....whatever hed be a bigger deal if he didnt abandon his son tbh 

gon swinging his feet on the bench....sooo cute 

so ging could restore a bunch of ruins but he couldnt raise his son...ok

im just gonna be bitter at this guy for abandoning the most perfect boy vhbhjfbsjhdhbfsk sorry dude but being a good hunter doesnt make up for being a shit father 

gon is so precious ;_; 

WHAT WAS SATOTZ GONNA SAY TO GON???

why does it look like theyre googling things on MS paint 

ah yes, padokea, on the continent of Africa But Sideways 

idk if i talked abt it before but the world map is WILD lmao i love how its all the continents/landmasses scrambled around.....im super curious abt that weird island in the top center of the map, thats the only thing that immediately sticks out as not having a real life equivalent 

the music in this show is so charming :’) i love the main theme sm 

gon is sooo precious i literally cant get over it. and his hurry to rescue killua is so sweet....and i love how naturally charming/charismatic gon is....pretty much everyone he meets likes him, especially leorio and kurapika, who basically adopted him after knowing him for like a day, and continue to be completely taken by him

ok wtf is satotz & co talking abt......do they know something abt ging that they arent allowed to tell gon???? shouldnt gon have access to the same info now that hes a hunter? i need ANSWERS

i bet this whole thing abt the hunter exam not rlly being over is a metaphor abt the hunter exam NEVER truly ending bc youre always being tested, or st

ok the ED continues to be So Much like especially the last shot where the 4 main characters look like theyre posing for a JC Penny catalog while the singer goes FULL metal-screamo

ok ruth and i just rewatched the next two eps woohoo

i love that there are tourist busses that take people to the front gates so they can like pose for pics and stuff vhbhjafdsfkj and its like ‘ah yes here are where the local assassins live!’ thats so funny yet it makes so much sense

i love that leorio passed tf out during the bus ride. big big mood 

gon is so cute...hes like ok yes i understand that we’re not supposed to go in but i think they can make an exception for me bc im very polite. 

those 2 dudes r so ugly and so dead god bless

that bigass buster sword....sir please 

ruth and i rlly thot that the old guard guy was gonna turn out to be grandpa zoldyk or st lol

the fact that the dog managed to eat All their flesh but left some clothes....skill 

also the dog is named mike but it sounds like the guy is calling him miku hvbjdfssk

this cant be the first time some morons have been killed here likeeee 

i cant believe nobody has visited the zoldyk estate in 20 years damn they all rlly b havin no friends. depressing 

the whole gates thing is wild. also that part where gon gets the math wrong on the weight.....BIG mood kiddo 

ok the part where gons on the phone w/the butler is soooo good oh man. i love how gon just calmly dials the phone again after hes hung up on the first time and then YELLS....and leorio and kurapikas faces r so good 

also the butler guy unfortunately has a point, it isnt foolproof that gon is here Legit....but he IS let him see his tiny bf :( 

as ruth pointed out, the butler guy is reminiscent of kuro from one piece. same vibes 

maybe if leorio was jacked like he is in the manga/1999 anime he couldve opened the gate that first time around....Ls 

god i love this shows approach to Everything so far,....as ruth put it, half the time its like ‘oh wow they should do [x]/i wish theyd do [x] but ofc they wont cause its a shounen’ but then they DO do [x] and its like damn thats dope 

anyways i love how gon is increasingly approaching situations with his Plucky Shounen Protag Attitude in full swing, and he pretty much gets shot down every time. BUT his general determination to see killua bc killuas his FRIEND and hes gonna RESCUE HIM is still a good and pure motivating force 

like here, when hes climbing over the wall and hes like whatever i dont wanna have to deal w/being tested thats bullshit, i wanna see killua, my intentions are pure, im gonna try my luck with the dog....i was like ok yeah he’ll get over and like tame or defeat the dog and the guard will be suitably impressed bc nobodys ever done That before, and then gon will continue on to get killua 

but NOPE instead the guard calls him down and explains that gon Will Die if he tries that, and then the guard will die too for letting that happen. and gon is like oh shit my actions have consequences for people other than me, wow. 

and THEN the guard takes them in to meet the dog. and hot DAMN that is a scary creature. not even really a dog tbh. they did an excellent job making the dog Legit Scary and not just like, big and flashy looking....those eyes are so soulless, and the proportions are freaky 

and the guard says exactly what i was thinking - that gon would use his Country Boy Woodland Creature Skills to workaround the dog....but then the subversion - this creature is NOTHING like the woodland critters gon is probably used to dealing with. theres no way gon stood a chance here. the guard just saved him from a really unfortunate death 

i love all the Super Heavy Stuff in the servant house that seems so inconvenient vbhjdkfasjfld. also forgot to mention earlier but the guard guy being Absolutely Ripped was wild and kinda funny 

training montage! gon continues to be so cute. and i love so much how leorio and kurapika are like no, you rest, we’ll take care of this. good parents!!!!

and then!!!! they sync up and use the power of gay love to almost open the gate. but then gon uses the power of Improbable Shounen Protag Healing Speed to toss that arm sling off and help out

i feel like leorio was side-eyeing gon like w8 a sec u broke that arm like a few days ago that aint right.....

oh man i almost forgot abt that scene with the zoldyks torturing killua :( :( this poor kid he doesnt deserve that 

also mom zoldyck seems truly awful but i must say her aesthetic does fuck. the victorian-lookin outfit paired with the futuristic cyclops visor thing....excellent. also im betting this face bandages are from killua cutting her face 

this family is so fucked up hvbsjdhjfbakdfn

killua telling his mom that gon is definitely gonna make it there :’) hes got such unshakable faith in his bf thats so good.....

back w/the gang, and immediately they run into more trouble in the form of the young girl butler, whose name i dont know, but i love her....her design is SO good oh man. a non-caricature black person? who also isnt sexualized? in MY anime??????

 i love how gons approach to conflict is currently ‘let more powerful person beat me up for hours straight in hopes that they get tired or something idk bro’ like....i love him lol, is it in an effort to show how determined he is? he doesnt even try to dodge her blows or get around her....id be tryin to hop that fence lol 

oh shit the tiny zoldyk kid from earlier is spying on them....she was w/the mom so im sure thats not good

when he punches the rock part and it breaks....strong boiiii 

oh man that little flashback from when killua first came back and told her that he made a friend ;_; bruh 

i love butler girl :( she wants to let gon but knows it isnt allowed....and as soon as she starts to waver BAM here comes mom zoldyck JFC that was so sudden and jarring....im assuming butler girl isnt dead cause that would be lame and anticlimactic 

also IS THAT NEN??? NEN>>>??? NEN??? HM? NEN????????? 

im so annoying abt nen i need to make one of those ‘is this a pigeon?’ memes w/’is this nen?’ bc thats me anytime anything remotely weird happens lmao

i do think its rlly nen this time tho

anyways shit is wild, cant wait to meet the full zoldyck family 

PREDICTION CORNER: 

as i said above i doubt hisoka will show up now bc this arc is a lot shorter than i anticipated. also im doubting that illumis even gonna show up honestly 

i think we’re gonna have this OP for a while, as the part just at the end shows gon and hisoka fighting in what looks to be an arena, and ik the next arc is the heavens arena arc, which im assuming is the tournament arc....

also i have no idea what that weird building in the OP is but my guess is that its the building w/the heavens arena in it bc its tall and,,,,heaven 

i predict there wont be much fighting in this little arc bc how tf else is it so short. at this point i rlly think gon is just gonna grab killua and go lmao. im super curious abt how thats gonna go down, considering that killua is currently strung up just bc he wont apologize...so i cant imagine his family would just let him leave w/gon. i wonder if killua will fight them, or if gons determination will impress them and then theyll let killua go (doubt it)

thats basically it....we’ll see abt the next few eps holla

[robottii]

I'm so sorry if it's too late and you don't have to answer if you don't want to but: Thundercracker, Skywarp, Sunstorm, Skyfire, Waspinator, Bob

Sorry this took so long anon! This week has been actual hell lmao.

Also I didn’t realize this until I’d finished but I’m pretty sure Starscream took over my body and ghostwrote like,,, 90% of this.

Give me six characters an I’ll tell you who I would:

Push off a cliff: Skywarp

I don’t hate him but he gets on my nerves sometimes there’s just something about super immature people/characters that I can’t stand like you’re in a WAR your planet is DEAD you’re LOSING can you PLEASE take SOMETHING seriously???????????????? And he can fly anyways so whatev.

Kiss: Bob

Not in a sexual way he just seems like a Good Boy who deserves a million smooches 10/10 would adopt

Marry: Skyfire

Okay Skyfire, as I’ve already mentioned, it fucking precious and could do no wrong and would treat you right so you better believe I’m snatching that shit up before he gets taken by someone else he’s a cutie and probably has a huge spike which is a bonus.

Set on fire: Sunstorm

Okay so I didn’t know shit about the IDW verse Sunstorm until I looked him up but I would literally murder him given the chance religious zealots are LITERALLY the worst beings ever to grace the face of this universe and they can all burn. It might just make him more powerful tho so idk but worth a shot. TFA Sunstorm is like eh he’d get on my nerves after a while but at least he’s sane(er).

Wrap a blanket around: Waspinator

This poor guy just can’t get a break no matter the ‘verse I feel so fuckin bad for him I just wanna put him in front of a fire with a blanket and some hot chocolate and hiss at any writer who tries to get close,

Be roommates with: Thundercracker

Thundercracker would be the super chill roommate who doesn’t care I have 3 cats and they’re gonna live in our room because I said so non-negotiable. He’d have Buster and I’d have my babies and we’d bond over creative writing and have a great time 11/10 would absolutely room with him

[rainbowdonkee]

Wyrmprint: Kicking Back

It’s nice to see Sarisse not beating up poor Luca, he’s too much of a good guy to deserve that! Luca really needs to teach us all how to relax.

Story Details:

Stage 1 - “Tasked with finding food, Luca and Sarisse head off into the forest in search of fruit. "Man, I am BEAT. Time for a break." "...Luca? Where are you?! You better be gathering fruit, you knucklehead!"

Stage 2 - "Ah-HA! I knew it! You were SLEEPING!" "I just rested my eyes! I've been working!" "I can't believe you thought it was okay to slack off while I was working super hard to gather all of these apples!"

Stage 3 - “Hey, I found fruit and junk too, you know! Here, take a look at my basket!" "Right, suuuuure you di— Holy crap! You DID find a bunch of fruit!"

Stage 4 - “This was easy—I spend all my time in this forest, so I know all the good spots." "Only because you're always looking for new places where you can slack off!" "H-hey! That's not true at all!"

Stage 5 -   "All right, time to have a bite before we head back! Here, this one's the sweetest." "Buster, if you think you can win me over with fruit, you have—oooooo, this is nice." "Told ya! Now c'mon, eat up."

[abitterlifethroughcinema]

         #ABitterLifeThroughCinema’s WOKE! Film Reviews

     The Top Ten (+1) Best Movies of 2018 and where to find them!

                                                          by

                                           Lucas Avram Cavazos

+1…11. Overlord  Having its premiere at this year’s Sitges Int’l Film Fest, Overlord not only happened to be one of the fave films screened there this past festival, but this cinematic fantasy is an all-too-real and stark portrayal of a horror that actually occurred, and it deserves a nod from the Barcelona film critic family, so here it goes. Duly noted, I’d say. It starts with an insane aerial combat mission on the night of D-Day, one which goes awry and sees only a handful of paratroopers surviving the drop when enemy fire rains hell. They land in provincial France and the plot sets out to detail some of the inner workings of the Third Reich in reference to the insane, gruesome experiments done on captured Europeans and Jews. Those stories you’ve heard about turning these poor people into guinea pigs for super soldier intent using potent, injected serums…yeah, those? They’re true, if you believe the words of JJ Abrams. Are they as utterly brutal and horror/zombie film-like as displayed here? I sure as hell hope not. (now available On Demand and DVD)

10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs There once was a film called O Brother Where Art Thou? While this is not its sequel, there is a sharp-witted vein to this film that could only be crafted and gifted to us by the Coen Brothers. What a hoot it is, even if it is a rather darkly-tinted hue of that hoot and humour. It is also one of their finest in years. Revolving around the singing cowpoke Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) and five other tales brought to us with the commonly-threaded theme of death in often brutally funny ways, this film is a fine return to oddball form from two of the finest sibling directors of all time. Starring Liam Neeson, James Franco, Zoe Kazan, even Tyne Daly and so many in its vignettes, and that acting star power fuses this Western comedy into new territory for the brothers. Their previous works set in the west always seemed to be re-hashing works of years gone by but here, with their usage of almost comic-book-like details and witty banter make this much more enjoyable than their other historical works like O Bother and their remake of True Grit. Best western in absolute years! (available on Netflix or VOD)

9. Eighth Grade This poignant little film, which should have been wide-released everywhere the world over, is given fierce and bittersweet star power by Elsie Fisher, protagonist and student at the heart of this film. Comedian Bo Turnham has brought us the quintessential coming-of-tweenage story and along with Fisher, everyone in this film is so perfectly placed in their roles, especially Josh Hamilton as her dad, who deserves some nominations for this film but is unlikely to get any. Telling the story of 13-year old Kayla, we the audience get a sneak-peek into the minds and lives of today’s young adults. From her simple YouTube videos made to encourage other young kids to her obvious desire to fit in with older kids to her insecurity with boys, this film paints a stark reality that too many have lived through and this little indie film deserves aplomb from anywhere it can get it! (now available On Demand and DVD)

8. A Star is Born I skipped the critics’ screening of this film for the mere fact that I couldn’t bear to see if the acting and plot lines were another torrid take on a much-redone film. Even into the holiday season, I had not yet seen it and then when I did, I certainly took back any reservations. Bradley Cooper’s update of the film starring himself and Lady Gaga is just about as good as everyone said it was, and that was beyond refreshing to note post-viewing. In many ways, I feel that Cooper is likely revealing a few things about himself with the guise of “it’s a movie” being a nice cover; in some ways, he gives us what I believe are hints of his covert life, and it’s with Gaga’s turn as Ally that we really see him shine beyond the shtick of his character, country-rocker Jackson Maine. In a tad corny-tad, gripping way that takes hold the moment you see Gaga, let’s be frank and real, this film goes on to detail a Diet Coke version of the grim realities that often detail too many a tale of celebrity in Hollywood. Without revealing too many details of the film’s plot and denouement, we are looking at a necessary conversation about alcoholism, drug addiction and fame (plus a lack of ’NO’ men/women in many relationships) that needs to addressed for all ages. Well done, Mr. Cooper Goes to the Oscars. (At select screens, On Demand & DVD)

7. El Angel Incidentally, this may be the first time in a rather long time that I say something good about Argentinian men, so do take note. Telling the true story of fresh-faced boy killer Carlos Robledo Puch, played to Oscar-worthy perfection by newcomer Lorenzo Ferro, the masterful detail to which director Luis Ortega has crafted this arthouse meets dramedy-thriller is astounding and easily touches heights set by dePalma and even, dare I say it, Scorcese. We follow young Carlitos Puch, who is just nearing the edge of seventeen, as takes up with a rough and tough family of his devilishly attractive school chum Ramon, played by the spirited Chino Darin, son of Ricardo Darin. But as Carlitos comes to find out, his street crimes can easily be paved to real ones and his sadistic tendencies suddenly yet gradually paint a picture of someone who is in part desperate for attention and tacceptance and in part a fairly smart, well-to-do young adult. He parlays his sociopathy at pubescence into psychopathy with time, and this film will likely be, but should definitely not be, forgotten come awards and Best Of lists time.(available On Demand and DVD)

6. Black Panther As Oscar season comes to a head, it is worth talking about one of the most striking films that you’ll see for a while. Black Panther is that good, not only because of its genre but also because of its message: that seeking freedom through recreating systems of oppression will only extend the ill-treatment and broken nature we find ourselves in nowadays. Set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, protagonist King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) brings us the first real black superhero from the Marvel universe. With a cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Michael B Jordan, the acting is beyond impressive. What is even more amazing, however, is how the plot power-plays many elements of our world’s current political climate. (now available On Demand and DVD)

5. Chappaquiddick Another film which is nothing short of striking in its relevance to the current political situation in the USA. Senator Ted Kennedy was the only remaining Kennedy that I was familiar with throughout my adolescence and early adulthood. Jason Clarke as the Massachusetts senator is astounding, as is the cut of his jib and chin, although the accent was a tad weak, to be ever sincere. This is a complete revelation on the many details that were only gingerly touched upon during the course of the week following the death which this movie is detailing . As the facts are laid out in the film, it astounds me that the American people continued to vote and elect Kennedy for decades after. This is a study on arrogance, class and governmental ambiguity. And if that was the case with liberals in the Sixties, how much more so with conservatives in this digital age? My favourite film of last year’s BCN Film Festival. (now available On Demand and DVD)

4. Private Life Good Lawd this is such a heartwarming/breaking story with the finest elements of believable comedy and situational realism that define the art of the classic Gen X film from the 90s to now. May we never forget that it was Gen, and even those a few years before them, who gave us the digiverse-Netflix-instant oatmeal www.orld in which we live today and when I see a very NYC film like this one, it makes it a true reality check. Being the age that one should be married with kids, I watched Kathryn Hahn as Rachel absolutely slay the silver screen and am eager to see if she picks up any more accolades throughout the current awards season. Simple plot…she’s in her early 40s and her hubby Rich (played by Paul Giamatti) is entering his late 40s and they are fully entrenched within the confines of every single way to conceive a baby. Following the couple through their trials and tribulations really get pushed up an ante when sort-of relative Sadie (the lovely Kayli Carter) decides she will be the surrogate mum for them as things get a tad pear-shaped. This could easily be dubbed a dreamed, for in effect, it is; what needs to be known is that this is also a morality tale for a new age. The old-fashioned ethics of yesteryear just do not apply anymore, at least not in big cities, and the less is more factor easily makes this one of the finest films released within the last year. (available on Netflix)

3. BlacKKKlansman Without a doubt, this is the finest work in all too many years by Spike Lee, and he takes no prisoners in letting you know that the spilled essence of blaxploitation all over this celluloid is to egg you into knowing that this story is 100% true…and crazy. The mere fact that David Duke is literally cheerleading for the current President of the United States should scare us all and wake those who are not. Watching actor John David Washington portray Ron Stallworth, the real-life cop who slyly infiltrated the inner workings of the Klu Klux Klan 40 years ago. After signing up for the Colorado Spring PD, he realises the lack of trust in the 98% Anglo-Saxon workforce, as he’s thrown into monitoring the goings-on of any Black Panther student situations. Eventually, he takes up with a guy on the force that he can dig called Flip and played to skilled excellence by the oddest of lookers Adam Driver. Basically, the plot follows the twosome, as they tag team the aforementioned white supremacist movement, Ron being the voice and Flip being the wingman as they start an investigation on grand wizard bastard himself David Duke, played to troubling perfection by Topher Grace, evoking all of the calmness and utter sociopathic tendencies of a man reviled by most yet revered by still too many. And watching this taut film and how it rolls through such a daunting story with comedic aplomb and vicious realness gives you goosebumps. That said, as the film gets toward its ending, is when Lee gives you the goods when he flashes to scenes from the crazy Charlottesville, Virginia, riots, AntiFa protesting and subsequent death of Heather Heyer, may she rest in peace. God Save the World…and Amerikkka.

2. Fahrenheit 11/9  Premiering a few weeks ago here in Spain at very select cinema screens across the country, this is the first documentary in some time by Michael Moore that could play across an international landscape and should be required viewing on any critic’s or person’s list. The titular oddity refers to the day after we all woke up across the world in shock and awe that Donald J Trump had won the Presidency of the USA. Even if this is not Morre’s best film to date, it is undoubtedly the one that holds the viewers’ feet to the fire and calls for them to fight the nasty funk of this administration. But, it’s when he takes it back to his roots, to Flint, Michigan, and ends up involving all local and state politics, that we start to see the more sinister undertakings happening amongst conservative parties, ideals and societies. When you add in the fact of the Parkland High School shooting and the way Moore later fuses footage of Hitler and his minions and followers with a rally speech made by the current occupant of the White House, it becomes all too obvious that things are exactly as we think they are (A HOT MESS!) and we have very little recourse rather than claiming truth. (now available On Demand and DVD)

1. ROMA There are tender moments of realism that are permitted to happen with the rise of instant cinema on VOD and direct-to-home films, and it has been a pleasure to see that sites like Netflix and Amazon and Canal+ have truly added to the foray in which great celluloid can be brought to the masses. Case in point comes the finest piece of dramatic celluloid that graced the silver screen in the last year. Being a Mexican whose father is a naturalised citizen of the US and a mother who is Chicana from the US, like myself and my siblings, the sentimentality ran deep with this film. One of the differences I experienced was the fact that we were the only Mexican-American family in a stately US country club…and we had an entire childhood spent with loving housekeepers, which is what this film inherently is honouring and depicting, using the backdrop of Alfonso Cuarón’s take on growing up in 70s-upper middle class Mexico City in the neighbourhood of Roma. Depicting the life of the house assistant Cleo (first-time performer Yalitza Aparicio in a J.Hud moment, frankly) and the family of Sr. Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), a doctor in the Mexican capital, what Cuarón has called his most personal film to date, is also a B&W modern tale in the vein of Gone with the Wind, and the fact that he centres around a privileged Mexican family is poignant for several reasons: it not only takes a focus away from how Donald bloody Trump has painted Mexicans, in general, to the world, but it also highlights a very human element to how many classes of society function and live there in the frontier regions of North America and, more importantly, EVERYWHERE…easily put, this is a sweet, oft-times simple, oft-times brutal story on humanity. What binds so many critics together on this film’s merits is that fact that Alfonso Cuarón has crafted the past year’s most enigmatic movie, leaving us to make our own answers to what happens to Lady Cleo, her best mate Teresa, and this beautiful family. Absolutely and quietly stunning! (available on Netflix and selects screens across the country)

[jrpneblog]

North End tame high flying Canaries

Well I didn`t think I would be saying that I was disappointed to only get a draw at Norwich but after a very good performance from North End it certainly feels that way. Twice in the lead in this game only to have victory snatched away from them with just five minutes of normal time remaining. This was a performance reminiscent of the early days of Alex Neil`s reign with North End pressing high and trying to play attacking football when they were in possession. In the lead through a Sinclair penalty we were comfortable for the first half an hour of the game. Unfortunately we conceded a poor goal just after the half hour mark but regained the lead three minutes from the break through the most unlikely of scorers in Darnell Fisher. A more even second half but North End still had their fair share of chances only to see the three points turn into only one late on in the game

Alex Neil made five changes to the side that started on Tuesday evening with Sean Maguire taking the central strikers role in the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. North End started very brightly taking the game to the Canaries right from the moment Alan Browne kicked off. The home side looked slightly shaky at the back and North End had plenty of the ball before taking the lead in the fourteenth minute, Ben Davies was pushed in the back in the box as a corner from the right came over and Scott Sinclair calmly stepped up to give North End the lead from the spot. We continued to dominate almost up to the half hour mark when the home side started applying some pressure to the North End defence, Norwich equalised after thirty one minutes when a Pukki header sneaked inside the near post with what looked like a fumble from Declan Rudd in the North End goal. It would have been easy for North End to roll over but after an excellent move North End regained the lead in the forty second minute when Darnell Fisher smashed home after good work by Ledson and Sinclair. It was no more than we deserved after an excellent first half display by the boys.

No changes at half time for both teams and it was the home side who wanted to take the game to North End but we still kept chasing hard and tried to make it as difficult as we could for Daniel Farke`s men. Make no mistake Norwich are a good side and we had to keep our concentration particularly at the back as the home side tried to build up the pressure in the second period. As the game wore on tired legs started to play a part and North End brought on Storey, Hughes and Potts for the tiring Browne, Davies and Rafferty. When we got in the Norwich box we just couldn`t get that third goal which would surely have won us the game. With five minutes minutes to go Norwich got the equaliser through a ball that wasn`t cleared and a bit of sloppy defending. In time added on Declan Rudd made an excellent save from Pukki as Norwich looked for the winner but North End held out for the six additional minutes to earn an excellent point down in Norfolk.

A bit of a coupon buster in some respects but a hugely improved performance from North End against one of the teams strongly fancied to return to the Premiership at the first attempt. There were many good solid displays from the boys in White but I have to say that I though Ryan Ledson was outstanding in the centre of the Park and he probably had his best game in a North End shirt. In fact he and Ben Pearson could make quite a formidable holding pair in this division but with Ledson always looking to join in with the attack at every opportunity. The busy start to the campaign shows no signs of easing anytime soon as we face Brighton on Wednesday evening in the Carabao Cup third round followed by the visit of Stoke City to Deepdale next Saturday in the league. Certainly on this performance that first league win cannot be far away and  maybe Manchester United in round four of the Carabao Cup.

NORWICH 2-2 PRESTON

RUDD 6

FISHER 8 DAVIES 7 BAUER 7 RAFFERTY 7

LEDSON 8 PEARSON 8

SINCLAIR 7 BROWNE 7 BARKHUIZEN 7

MAGUIRE 7

Subs:

POTTS 7

STOREY 7

HUGHES 7

MOTM: Ryan Ledson

[toradh]

Minutes of me watching the, luckily, last episode of ToZX

Warning: lots of capslock, lots of cursing. I finally figured out how to put things under a cut, hooray! Beware of obvious spoilers for the game, the anime, AND Tales of Berseria ahead. It’s also a goddamn long post.

0:00: *has just made the bad mistake to eat a whole litre of vla. Very hyper, hands are shaking, tummy ache* Okay, Ufotable. DO YOUR WORST.

No opening? I can deal. Didn’t expect it anyway. No anime ever plays the opening in the last episode, right? I don’t like it, anyway.

0:20: Yes, I know, it’s Captain Planet, go ahead and do shit

0:30 I’m kinda disappointed that the Captain Planet theme isn’t actually playing

0:58: No, it looks plain silly. NO CAPES, DAMN IT Btw are the girls just gonna stand there in the background for the entire episode?

1:20: Yeah, looks like Captain Planet mode sucks after all. Btw if I wasn’t still sick, I’d take a sip for Meebo shouting “Sorey!”

1:29: You’re saying that NOW, Lailah? And is Heldalf just gonna stand there and watch the whole time?

2:08: I want Sorey’s hair conditioner

2:30:  I honestly can’t read my shaky sugar-induced and rage-fueled handwriting for that minute anymore, but the last words seem to suggest that I was bitching about Anime!Sorey being a Gary Stu. Speaking of shaky handwriting, most „2“ in this post might as well be a „1“ and vice versa, hard to tell

2:48: NO, SOREY. YOU FUCKING CAN’T. WHO WROTE HIM SUDDENLY BEING ABLE TO DO THINGS THAT THE ENTIRE GAME IS MAKING HIM LEARN THAT HE CAN’T. And I can’t even do English anymore

2:57: Yay the good songs are back I also wanna use these nifty rainbow magic dual element spells

3:37: …You still can’t, you know

3:47: Okay girls, I see you’re bored and wanna do something, BUT YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO, OK? YOU SHOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE. NOBODY SHOULD BE IN THAT FRIGGIN’ VOLCANO ACTUALLY

3:56: Hi Dezel!

4:00: I’m touched that Dezel opted to ship RosAli and has given the girls his blessing

4:10: Sorey, if the Gay Pride Armatus is that exhausting to use, I’d suggest you stop wasting your breath with cheesy speeches

4:38: DAT’S SOME BFS DAT’S THE BUSTER SWORD OF GAY PRIDE

4:44: At least they somehow… reshaped that sweet sequence from the original game’s opening animation where Sorey and all Seraphim unanimously punch Heldalf. Okay, this is a sweet but sorry attempt at a decent battle scene.

5:03: WTF FUCKING WHY I JUST – *inhales deeply* Heldalf, you’re fucking doing it wrong, Velvet would be disappointed with you

5:28: That’s some ugly CGI malevolence

5:55: EVEN IN THE MANGA THEY HAD FIGURED OUT BEFORE THE FINAL BATTLE THAT THE LAND AND LA– MAOTELUS ARE CORRUPTED, AND THAT THING HAS ONLY 19 CHAPTERS! HOW HARD CAN IT BE!? BTW YOU’D KNOW IF YOU HAD EVER BOTHERED TO TALK TO MUSE YOU BASTARDS

6:30: What was the Gay Pride Armatus even good for? LAP–– I MEAN MAOTELUS, PLEASE INTERVENE, DO YOUR FUCKING JOB AS GOD

8:00: SEAL? JUST KILL YOU DUMB IDIOT, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

8:10: Oh no Meebo, please don’t cry OH SHIT NO IF THAT’S NOT THE LOOK OF A BROKEN HEART THEN IT’S ON MY FACE RIGHT NOW

8:20: ARGLBLARGL NO NO NO DON’T PLAY JOURNEY’S END IN THE BACKGROUND, OH GOD WHY DOESN’T SOMEBODY (=Sorey. Or Maotelus with a Deus Ex Machina move, come on, I’ve been so waiting for it) FINALLY END MEEBO’S SUFFERING

8:40 OH MAN ANIME!SOREY FOR WORST BOYFRIEND EVER

9:03: IT’S GONNA BE THE PURPLE PROSE AU

9:14: *hands over tissues and chocolate* Meebo, you know, this whole show doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, anyway, so there’s absolutely no need for Sorey to pull through with this heroic sacrifice but kinda not at all shit thing

9:20: SOMEONE GIVE THAT POOR BOY A HUG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

9:24: I doubt he’s listening right now, Sorey, and you really deserve a punch or two

10:34: WHERE WAS THAT DREAM THE LAST FUCKING 24 EPISODES!!!!!!!!?????????????

10:40: I’D TAKE A SIP IF I WASN’T STILL SICK AND SOBBING

10:59: Yeah, Alisha, I’m glad you’re still alive, too. Who even suggested that squire-killing risk in the first place

11:09: HI CUTIE-PIE! Okay I admit it, part of me who was already used to being spoilered just wanted to see cute baby Laphi turning back his adorable seraph self. Screw this BTW SHOULDN’T YOU KINDA BE DOWN THERE WITH SOREY, WHICH WAS THE 1000% BETTER CONNECTION TO THE BERSERIA PLOT!????

11:22: I don’t think he hears you, sweetie

11:49: Are you gonna give me nothing but scenery porn for the remaining 10 minutes!?

12:55: Oh no, you didn’t fucking make the last in the line to the throne –

12:57: OH MY GOD NO YOU DID

13:05: That dress is disappointingly boring

14:57: What the fuck is written on that stone?

15:07: How many shepherds has Anime!Lailah destroyed?

15:25: …so, did they kill Eizen?

16:00: ZAVEID, YOU’RE EXCLUSIVELY HANGING OUT WITH OTHER SERAPHIM, AND YOU TRIED TO KILL SOREY THREE TIMES IN A ROW, HOW ARE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF INTERCULTURAL MEDIATION Oh wait actually Anime!Zaveid has never tried to kill Sorey. Well, anyway.

16:03: …Yeah, Eizen is what? Apart from, STILL A DRAGON AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, STILL CURSED!?

16:25: Ride a dragon, Edna

16:40: …It was too much to ask, I guess. Dammit.

16:57: Oh hello long-haired Rose. How did it get that long, she doesn’t even look a single day older

AND WHERE IS YOUR SHEPHERD’S CLOAK, BITCH!?

You also look like a Pokémon trainer. Or like a female Luke. Definitely female Luke

17:43: Lesbians doing a cooking course together. How does that fit your schedule, QUEEN ALISHA?

18:02: HAROLD, THEY’RE LESBIANS

19:07: PURPLE PROSE AU IS REAL

19:55: They are so fucking married I can’t believe my eyes

20:18: Well… about that…

20:20: YEAH ASK MEEBO, EXCEPT SOMEBODY DECIDED TO CUT THAT PART OF PLOT AND WORLDBUILDING COMPLETELY OUT OF THE STORY

20:32: *CHOKED SCREAMING*

Btw is there a specific reason why the nameless kids look like Sorey’s and Mikleo’s human love children? Except hurting me on a deep emotional level?

20:41: THAT’S AN UNDERSTATEMENT AND YOU KNOW THAT, TSUNLEO

21:18: Hey wait, they can still do the telepathy crap? Why? And how is the pact still in place?

21:23: ARRRRHHHHHH WHY DO YOU BREAK MY HEART, ALL I WANTED WAS SERAPH SOREY

21:40: R3V#1GU) +B8ß23pkcf +ierq0ßcple2ßîdo^# jncoäejvcreoL *AGGRESSIVELY SMASHES KEYBOARD*

21:52: …Dammit. *adapts “adult Meebo is still shorter than Sorey” headcanon to “adult Meebo is the same height as Sorey until he starts growing too, until they arrive at the same height difference again* Then again, this is a stupid canon divergent AU, anyway, right?

21:58: FOR FUCKING REAL!?

22:05: Good idea, ask Gramps for all the missing things from the plot. The adaptation spared him, after all

22:15: Part of me is relieved, part of me is very upset

22:43: Why can you still do this? BTW WAY TO CHEAT ON A RACE

23:00: When did you two learn to fly?

AND WHERE THE FUCK IS MAOTELUS? WHO CARES ABOUT HELDALF, WHO SHOULD BE FUCKING DEAD? I WANT MY SWEET BABY BACK

23:06: What… or where is that?

23:17: THAT’S FRIGGIN’ NORMAL BIRDS, SOREY

And did you just fly out of Glenwood to Tethe’alla, because I don’t recognize that view

WHAT A RIDE

Hands still shaky, still sick, fucking offended

PLEASE END MY LIFE

(no reaction scribbles this time, at least not immediately. Except Sorey and Mikleo should totally adopt their mini selves. AND LAPHI.)

[punkscowardschampions]

Bea & Ro

Surprisingly productive argument/turned actual conversation, about Drew, Ro’s self-loathing, sister issues and their parents/going to London soul-searching.

Bea: Back with him then? I thought you'd learned your lesson (finally) last time...Well? Ro joined the chat 3 hours ago Ro: Yes, it was rather unexpected, and sudden I suppose, hence I didn't get a chance to let you know individually Ro: Well, actually I have learned a lot. As has Drew. Bea: That's always good, rushing into commitments, being at his beck and call... Bea: And obviously he has, how else would he deceive you, again. Got to have new tricks. For goodness sake! Bea: What does he actually do with his time, Ro? What do you think? He isn't in Schooling, fine, but where's his REAL job? Bea: What are you getting out of this? Except heart-ache and being made to look a fool at the end of it, every month or so Bea: I thought you were in a good place? Ro: That isn't at all what I meant. There was a lot going on with my birthday celebrations and everything as you yourself know. Ro: Oh Bea that's just uncalled for! He's changed and with is finally being more truthful with me. Ro: I thought you, out of everyone, would understand standing on your own two feet and making a living for yourself your own way. He didn't enjoy school but he's using the skills he has to support himself Ro: What is so wrong with that? Ro: I am in a good place now. With him. He loves me. What more could there be to get 'out of it' Bea: Wait, he didn't try all this AFTER you read the letter, did he? Bea: It's always an emotional time for you, regardless if it was before or after anyway; it's wrong for him to exploit that for his own gain Bea: No, he hasn't! If he had, he'd leave you alone, or at least let you come back to him. He hasn't changed at all. Bea: So tell me what he does, if it's so admirable, tell me right now what you think he does, what has him out all the odd hours Bea: I, out of everyone, know where dealing in the things he does, can get you. You don't remember what it was like for Tess and Fearghal back then, you were too young, but they've told enough war stories for you to know better! I know you do, so why are you choosing to ignore what you know to be true for his sake? Bea: He isn't worth it. For God's sake, being associated with him could risk your career before its even began. Is that what you want? Think on! Bea: Oh, Ro. There is so much more than those words, even when they're not empty. Ro: Why must you take something so nice and twist it into something HORRIBLE! I hadn't even opened your gift when Drew and I reconciled. Mum and dad have nothing to do with this and he would never do anything to involve them after everything he has been through with his own family. Ro: You don't know anything about him. Or us. You barely know me. Ro: He does all kinds of things, odd jobs, fetching and carrying for people that sort of thing. I didn't need all the ins and outs because I trust him and honestly it hardly matters if you don't. Ro: I've also been told enough stories to understand that people deserve second chances, as have you. He isn't as lucky as I was. He remembers every struggle before Caleb's family took him in and he does what he has to do to make sure he and Meena will have a future whatever happens next. I can't blame him for that and you shouldn't. Self reliance is the opposite of a risk and I'm proud and lucky to know him, thank you very much. Ro: You clearly have no idea what he's worth so you'll excuse me if I don't bow to your 'wisdom' on the subject. Ro: Besides, it's my career. Not yours. You've made your own choices why can't you let me make mine? Ro: How can you say that Bea! You live by them. Fraze is everything to you and you've never listened to a word against him, have you? Bea: You're just seeing it as it actually was, and not through rose-tinted fairyland glasses. Bea: I know enough. More than you, as you continue to choose ignorance over swallowing the bitter pill and moving the fuck on. Bea: And there is no 'us' as in 'you and him'. There never will be because that is not what he wants from you. Bea: You are ridiculous. This is not 1950s America in a cheesy movie...He isn't a fucking boy scout doing bob-a-job. Listen to how stupid you sound, for what? He doesn't defend you, or do anything that inconveniences him, in fact, for you. Its one-sided and unfair and you deserve better, I know you think otherwise, and that you won't get better but its true, and possible. Bea: Boo fucking hoo. He doesn't get to use his sad backstory to be a criminal. All that will happen is that he'll end up in jail, leaving his wittle sister alone. And Meena will be just fine without him, because she's got a fucking brain in her head. God, I wish I could say the same for you. Bea: I don't care to know any more about him that is plainly evident for all to see. You're not going to get a doctorate for giving a shit about him. He isn't special. He's not intriguing. He's a waste of your time and energies. Bea: Don't even bother going to Cambridge if you're going to throw it all away on him. Save the country the debt, get yourself knocked up now and waste away waiting for him to love you back. Bea: Because we have common interests, goals, and you know, we make each other's lives better by being in them? And we've always both been willing to put our money where our mouth is, in terms of love and working together to get what we want and need. So please, don't ever try and compare this teenage infatuation of yours to my relationship with Fraze again, it is just laughable in the saddest way. Ro: Stop. You don't know half as much as you think you do and frankly what information you're working with isn't correct anymore if it ever has been. You're the one being ridiculous, not me. Ro: Not to mention judgmental! You don't get to tell him how to act or what his future may or may not be because you aren't a monopoly on tragedy. Ro: I wish you'd stop pretending to have any stake in my own future either. It isn't so and I'm not going to do as you say just because you say it. Not that it's any of your business but getting pregnant is the last thing I intend to do but if I did it has nothing to do with you and there is no reason I'd have to choose regardless. You didn't and Ali isn't. Ro: I've already told you he does love me and he does make my life better but since you clearly need to hear it, we also have plenty of things in common. Bea: No, I won't. Because someone needs to tell you, and it will go in. And one day, you will see sense. Bea: Yeah my judgment is the least of his worries, try the judgment of the fucking law because did you forget, its illegal? Bea: He's a moron, everyone in Dublin knows he's dealing, he'll be lucky if the police find him before rivals do and break his fucking kneecaps. Bea: I do, I'm your sister, you don't have to like it for it to be reality, you can't write me out of your fucking fairytale, Ro. And if you want anything to do with your niece or nephew, I'd reconsider the path you're going down because fat chance I'm letting them near that scum, or near you when you're behaving so irrationally. Bea: All you have in common is co-dependency on toxicity and fucking up your lives and your poor attempt at trauma-bonding. What fun! Ro: We're sisters when it suits you, Bea. I'd be surprised you have time for this conversation except I'm well versed in the fact that you live to berate me. I thought things were getting better between us but apparently I'm wrong about that above all. Since we've come to what is really, and consistently, the heart of the issue once again, I won't try and change your mind or apologise, once more, for not being good enough for you. I'd hate to sound even more like an irrational teenager when you read back this conversation to bask in your superiority. Ro: What's fun are these constant fights and reminders of what a failure you believe I am. Ro: If you don't want me around Nancy and Buster then fine, they are your children. I don't feel the need to tell you what to do or you're doing wrong. Bea: So you want me to leave you alone? But are also so sad about the fact I'm never there for you? Sounds like someone's confused! Unsurprising when you believe lies and won't see or hear anything real. Bea: And I haven't berated you, I've berated him; you are not one. Which is the real heart of the issue, you taking responsibility for and internalising all his bullshit. Bea: And I have bad news for you on that front, except you sound like what you are, a child. Bea: I've never been ashamed of you. Until now. Bea: You won't be in and out of their life when it suits you, just an Auntie when he leaves you, AGAIN. So, you've made your choice. I sincerely hope you can live with it. Goodbye, and good luck, Ro. Ro: I must take after you what with you contradicting yourself so heavily. If Drew and I aren't one, as you're so keen to stress then why are you so quick to try and tell me that I'm not separate from his choices or mistakes. Ro: Sadly you're too late as well because I'm not a child anymore. However my relationship continues or ends I'm living my own life. I didn't expect to have to do so without you but I fine. Ro: As for the kids, I wouldn't do that when I know how much it hurts. Ro: For the record though, this is the choice you made. It's been forced upon me but I guess I will have to live with it all the same. Bea: No, Ro. You chose to make the wrong decision. Bea: You love getting a chance to be the victim. Well, be his victim. But you're not mine, you did this to yourself, I gave you the choice. Ro: There shouldn't have even been a decision to be made but you need me to be wrong so badly don't you? In every way you can. Forgive me for being sick of it. Ro: No Bea, you love me to be a victim so you can heap your scorn on me. It's not the same thing. Just like a choice isn't the same as a ultimatum which is what you've thrown at me. Bea: No, I need you to fucking love yourself! Maybe you're sick of feeling wrong, feeling like you're never enough. That is coming from you and you alone, so don't you dare try to push your self-loathing onto me and say that's how I feel about you, because it isn't, never has been, and it never will be. I love you. Bea: I pity you, it hurts you like scorn because you've still got an ounce of pride left in you somewhere. I'm just asking you, begging you, to hold onto it and make use of it. Ro: Then just love me! Let me be happy without trying to ruin it and be cruel all the time. That hurts me and it does, and is, coming from you. I can't keep having the same fight with you. It's more exhausting than anything Drew's done. Pity me for saying so if you want. I can't control that either. Bea: If I have to be cruel to be kind, then that's the role I have to play. I hardly enjoy it, it hurts me too, Ro! But I'm not going to lie to you, to pretend something is okay when it isn't, just because that's what feels best to you at the time. Because its not going to feel good when you look back, for me or for you. I'm not prepared to wrap you in cotton wool. You're an adult now? Then I'm treating you like it, no coddling. Ro: But you don't have to! You don't have to like him but why can't you accept that I do? I love him. Why can't that just be okay? Nobody else is lying or pretending, I mean look at Tess, but she's not being like this. Like you. Ro: You're my sister but you don't have to be anything to him, I'm not asking for that. We aren't married, Bea. Bea: Because I AM your sister! They're all family, but they're not; there are boundaries. And Tess is a parental figure, parents let you make your own mistakes. But I am your sister and I happen to think you've made the same mistake enough times now. There's nothing more to learn from this, from him. Nothing of worth for you and your personal growth. Bea: But I know you're not going to stop, so, there we go. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try, it will help one day. Ro: But maybe it isn't a mistake this time. Or maybe I am just tired of always having to think in terms of what I can learn or take and want to just have what he can give me... Ro: why can't this be worth a try? Bea: Because you're worth more than just taking what you can get from someone who isn't giving enough, nevermind their all. Ro: You're just saying that because you don't like him. Bea: No, Ro, I am not. And you know that. Ro: I know I'm not you. Or Ali. And I know what people say about me. Why they bully me. I'm not stupid. Bea: You're socially awkward, that's all. People with competent enough social skills themselves can easily get past that. And you're clever, all that just combines to make people feel insecure so they project that onto you, make you feel the same. Bea: Its not as if I had any real friends at School either. There's a whole world out there, Ro. Filled with people who will like and love you, will get you. Bea: And you have Ali, and Meena, don't you? Ro: No you're clever, I just work hard. Try harder. Ro: You don't get it, he's not the one who's wrong, I am. Ro: He loves me, why can't I have that? Ro: And yes, of course, but it's not the same Bea: But what's not admirable about that? Being 'clever' innately (which in School just means having a decent store and recall memory to pass tests) isn't anything to shout about particularly, but putting in the work is. Bea: What's wrong with you? Different is not wrong. They're all the same, it makes it feel wrong to be different, but do you want to be like all the other girls in your School, really? Bea: You're better. Bea: Don't make me say it, Ro... Ro: In theory yes but in practice it's simply exhausting and frustrating and anything other than admirable. Or likable. Ro: I just don't want to be this. It isn't about comparison Ro: He makes me happy that's all. Bea: It feels like it when you're there, but School isn't a popularity contest. Its to get you to where the fuck you actually WANT to be, that's all. You don't want the only place you ever wanna be to be the School playground 'cos you've peaked, 'cos you're leaving in a year's time and there is no going back. Bea: You're going to have a life that is more than just nostalgia Bea: That's all this is, that's all I'm trying to prevent here, don't fall into the trap, okay? Ro: I know that. Ro: But this isn't just nostalgia though, I know that as well. Bea: Okay, but one day it will be, and I want you to be able to look back at this time with more than just regret Ro: And I want a chance to be in the moment, for once, instead of constantly looking back or worrying about the future Bea: Then go for it, like I said. But 'living in the moment' doesn't magically absolve you of making choices that will affect your present, your future, and how you look back on it as the past one day. You can not think too much about it when you're in it, sure. But you will have to live it and re-live it. That's just life, baby sister. I know it better than most. Ro: Okay, so what you have me do, leave him because of how he might behave and how he has in the past, in spite of his apologies for it? That isn't right. Bea: The past has a habit of not staying in the past...It creeps up on you, and on him, no doubt, old habits dying hard. If you can live with how he treated you, how everyone knows he treated you, the cheating and lying and just cruelty, he threw your way- then, well, I can't stop you. I wasn't trying to, I was only ever telling you how it is, how I see things. Bea: Is sorry enough? Because you know, it can't fix everything, don't you? Ro: I have to believe it can Bea: Then...I wish you luck. Ro: Is that all? You don't hate me again, do you? Bea: I never hated you, Ro, and I don't Ro: I hope so. I'd like to come and see you. I've been thinking about the woman that wrote you the letter a lot and was wondering if I should send her one back or something. Bea: You could- Or we could go visit her, she did offer Bea: I have been pondering what to do too Ro: Oh, that's an even better idea, if a scarier one.... Bea: Yeah Bea: We'll be okay. I'm certain she's legitimate, as in she was a true friend, not just someone who went to the same School and had a vague recollection and some old photos. I did a lot of digging before I reached out and she'd done Facebook posts on mum's Birthday, and the anniversary of the crash, year upon year, and she had more photos on their too. Bea: She could probably give us a real sense of who they were, and the area, she's still there...Its not somewhere in London I'd been previously and I haven't gone without you Ro: I don't doubt that or you, it's just...what if I'm not how she expects. Ro: The whole thing could be a huge disappointment Bea: It's not an audition. We're their daughters and that isn't up for debate, nor judgment. Who would she be to do that? Not that she sounds like that but you know, fuck anyone who would, they don't know us, what we've been through. Bea: It could be, yeah, but we've not got anything to lose, have we? Ro: You're right. Okay let's do it. When? Bea: Well, its a pretty good season to do it in, I think. Goodwill, being with new friends, reminiscing on old, reaching out to your fellow man and all that. We can get her something, to say thank you... Your last day is the 21st, right? So, if we do Sat 22nd, you can come back to Cambs with me for the Sunday and we'll all go back to Dublin together on the Monday, for Christmas Eve. Bea: Is that too soon for you? Its a few weeks but if you need longer, we can do it AFTER Christmas. I just think the festive season is as good an excuse as any, it'll make us all for more comfortable, I feel. Ro: No no I agree. That's a perfect time. Bea: I'll talk to Tess but I know she'll be fine. Bea: I'm really looking forward to this Ro: Anything to distract her from it being Caleb's family's turn to have Ali and the kids for Christmas, bless her. Ro: Me too. Thanks again, Bea. I know I've said it a hundred times already but Bea: Oh dear, I better catch up with her so she can rant, save your ears from it for the hundredth time, especially Ferghal's! Bea: Its okay, hopefully we'll get even more from this visit, fill in the blanks once and for all Ro: I really hope so, yes. Bea: I better get on, lots to do. We'll talk soon. x Ro: Okay. Kiss the twins for me 💕 Bea: Will do 💞

[flauntpage]

McAdoo a Better Job – Ten Takeaways from Eagles 34, Saquon Barkley 13

I laughed out loud when Giants fans began booing their team down 14-3 in the second quarter last night.

Why?

Because these were probably the same fans who threw a childish fit when Ben McAdoo benched Eli Manning for Geno Smith last season, whining to the high heavens because it brought an end to Eli’s streak of 210 consecutive starts for the Giants, who were 2-9 at the time and going nowhere quickly.

McAdoo lost the war and got himself fired. Manning is still calling the shots, yet the Giants continue to suck, and last night they fell to 1-5 with a 21-point home loss to a division rival.

I guess McAdoo knew what he was doing after all. Maybe New York fans were full of themselves, sentimentally clinging to a fading veteran when they had their shot at one of five franchise quarterbacks on the draft board back in April. Instead they went for a stud running back who will unfortunately waste the early portion of his career playing for a God-awful team.

It’s surely ironic, but also deserved. I bet a lot of those fans that cried about Eli’s demotion probably also booed him last night. You reap what you sow, and the Giants stubbornly sowed the seeds of future ass kickings, which are now bearing fruit. The G-Men now inherit from the Browns the role of NFL slump buster, the team you beat up on to get your season straightened out. They played that role to perfection last night, allowing the Eagles to find their groove with a comfortable divisional win that sees them pull back to .500 with a 3-3 record.

1) Carson Wentz

He made game-changing plays last night, plays that we didn’t see from him in week three or week four.

Starting with the first touchdown, he escaped the pocket, rolled to his right, and fired across his body for a score on a 3rd and 7.

Another play that stood out to me was the third down in the second half where he again moved to his right, held the play, and then spotted Nelson Agholor down the field to pick up a huge chunk of yards move the chains.

The franchise quarterback just looked a lot more like himself last night and started to show shades of 2017 Carson in completing 26 of 36 passes for 278 yards and three touchdowns. He picked out eight different targets and really connected with top receiver Alshon Jeffery, who caught two of those scores and eight of his 12 targets for 74 yards.

It’s now 11 career games with a 100+ passer rating for Carson, which is already 6th-most in Eagles history. He’s thrown 133 consecutive passes without an interception, which is the 3rd longest streak of his career, a streak he’ll break in week six if he throws three more without a pick.

That’s good stuff for a third year, 25-year-old quarterback coming off an ACL injury.

2) Play calling

Much better than it was four days ago.

The early lead allowed the Eagles to settle in with their running game and control the clock a bit, which in turn also allowed the defense to really get after Manning and force the Giants into a one-dimensional dink and dunk type of crap attack.

38 called pass plays to 29 runs is a really nice mix, a 57-43 ratio. That’s just about perfect, and it’s what the Eagles typically finished with last year, usually 60-40 pass/run for the middle chunk of the season when they were just ripping teams apart.

Wendell Smallwood ran the ball 18 times and Corey Clement 11 times, so they got through relatively unscathed without having to risk Clement too much in his return from injury. Clement was on a “pitch count,” so to speak, and was limited coming into this game.

I particularly thought this was a really nice play call, sort of a tunnel/bubble wide receiver screen for Jeffery, but at the goal line:

One of the easiest touchdowns of Alshon Jeffery's career pic.twitter.com/f2yzlt7KCd

— The Bitter Birds (@AdrianFedkiw) October 12, 2018

Really poor effort from the Giants there, but nice design from Doug, and actually stolen from the New England Patriots and inserted into the Eagles playbook this week. 

3) Situational football and auxiliary wins

They really struggled in this department on Sunday, and let me dump that in here for reference.

versus Vikings:

lost time of possession, 33 minutes to 27 minutes

-1 turnover margin

2 for 9 on third down (22.2% conversion rate)

allowed Minnesota to go 4-9 on third down (36.4%)

lost 28 yards on three sacks

2 for 5 success rate in red zone

8 penalties for 52 yards

allowed a defensive touchdown

versus Giants:

won time of possession, 32.5 minutes to 27.5 minutes

+1 turnover margin

9-16 on third down (56.3%)

allowed New York to go 4-14 on third down (28.6%)

lost 7 yards on 1 sack

4 for 6 success rate in red zone

4 penalties for 25 yards

no special teams or defensive touchdowns allowed

Literally every single one of those areas was improved upon last night, and these are the kinds of things that win you football games. Wentz was especially fantastic on third down, a carryover of the situational football smarts we saw from him last season.

4) The offensive line

They certainly picked it up after a poor week five, allowing just one sack and five quarterback hits, three of which took place during the first two drives.

Jason Peters, however, cannot stay on the field, and it might be time to just let JP ride off into the sunset as the Eagles hand the left tackle reins to Big V and Jordan Mailata:

Sources are telling me Jason Peters May have a torn right biceps but it’s the kind he can still play with…. MRI will tell more tomorrow

— Derrick Gunn (@RealDGunnNBCS) October 12, 2018

The biggest positive is that Lane Johnson made it through the game with the bum ankle and now gets to rest up for nine full days. Isaac Seumalo also did fine at left guard and laid a nice block on Corey Clement’s touchdown run, with Clement just following the left side of the line into the end zone:

Obviously Johnson needs to stay healthy going forward. Last night was a positive step for the line, but if Peters can’t play with the bicep, you’ve got Big V on the left, and if Johnson misses time, you have to pull Seumalo over to right tackle and put Stefen Wisniewski back at left guard. I don’t know how far this team goes with a pair of backup tackles on the field, one of whom is not even a tackle.

5) I’m on a boat

The Giants are 4-19 since taking this photo:

You also saw Odell Beckham Jr. hit the locker room early before halftime. He lied and said it had to do with “hydration.” Maybe he’s thirsty for a new quarterback.

There was another situation where he started yelling at a fan, not a New York Giants supporter, but an actual mechanical fan on the sidelines:

Odell Beckham Jr getting closer to the fans tonight pic.twitter.com/pxVuaiJneg

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) October 12, 2018

After the game, I appreciated Martellus Bennett telling Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to “shut the fuck up” –

Man these commentators have taken 150 shots at Odell tonight. Shut the fuck up. Talk about the game stop trying to vilify every single thing he does. The giants are a bad team and it's not because of him. Criticize how bad eli is playing.

— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) October 12, 2018

That’s a  take. Can’t say I disagree, but OBJ is just a shitty leader overall. He’s not the problem, but he says and does stupid things that don’t help his case.

And if it feels like no one is talking about the Eagles this morning, you sensed that correctly, because 99% of what I’m hearing is focused on how bad the Giants are. Hell, that was the first four paragraphs of this story, plus the headline.

That’s not to take anything from the Eagles, not at all, but New York truly is a raging dumpster fire at this point.

I made this terrible image last night of the Cowboys and Giants as dumpster fires in a modified Spider Man meme:

Not my best work. I put about five seconds into building this, same amount of time the Giants spent building their offensive line.

6) Jalen Mills

The first play in which he stood out was when he whiffed on Barkley’s big run in the first quarter, the 46 yarder that set up the field goal. Mills was 12 yards deep on the play, lined up almost behind safety Malcolm Jenkins if you can believe it.

In the second quarter, he gave up the 39-yard pass to Cody Latimer, which was the only completion he allowed that went more than ten yards.

Again he was pretty good in the red zone, keyed by that pass break up on OBJ in the corner. He finished with two PBUs and actually led the Eagles with 10 tackles.

I’ll go through the film later today and next week, but it looked like Jim Schwartz had his corners playing a little more press coverage in this game, which you can afford to do when you’re playing with a lead. The defensive line also did a really nice job of getting to Manning, which took some pressure off the secondary. The only really bad thing I saw from the defense overall was Nigel Bradham and Rasul Douglas getting cooked on the Saquon Barkley touchdown run.

7) Refereeing

It was alright.

They missed a helmet-to-helmet collision on the third drive, when Clement was stuffed near the goal line. Officials also didn’t flag Sidney Jones when he got his feet tied up with a receiver in the end zone on the Giants’ second drive. Seemed like a good no-call to me, because I don’t think Jones had his hand on the opponent.

I swear I also saw a facemask on DeAndre Carter’s third or fourth punt return, the one where he broke a tackle and picked up an extra yard or two.

Michael Bennett, on the roughing the passer, I mean, whatever. It’s the weight rule, you know? He didn’t try to break his fall, and that now gets you a whistle in the modern day NFL:

".@eagles DE Michael Bennett used his body weight to land on the quarterback while making the tackle with no attempt to go to the side." -AL #PHIvsNYG pic.twitter.com/itXnEap6U6

— NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) October 12, 2018

The penalty called against the Giants for bringing down Wentz was much worse, because it was basically a grab and takedown, like a Judo throw on the football field.

Good camera angle also on the Smallwood fumble that was overturned. I think we made it through this game relatively unscathed from an officiating perspective. It also helps when you’re beating the tar out of the other team.

8) Doug’s best call?

Kicking the field goal before halftime made a lot of sense. At that point New York was pretty much cooked, so take the points there and don’t give them anything that might provide the slightest momentum change or glimmer of hope.

I also think the decision to hurry up to the line and run the ball after the iffy Zach Ertz first down catch in the third quarter was really smart. No Giants challenge there because the Birds kept it moving.

9) Doug’s worst call?

I don’t think he had any poor calls. I’m not sure what the hell that was with the 3rd and 5 run/pass option in the fourth quarter that Wentz threw to Ertz behind the line of scrimmage. Looks like they sort of jumbled the hand off and the timing was botched.

Doug looked pretty dialed in. The glasses were a pretty sharp look. I think he has a little bit of Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg going on here:

Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

10) Joe Buck and Troy Aikman

Again I thought they were fine. Buck has a little bit of a sardonic side to him that pops up if you pay attention closely. I think he’s more wily and clever than most people realize.

I think the takeaway from the broadcast was those weird Tide commercials featuring the broadcast crew. What was the deal with that?

Remember when Tide was cool because people were eating the pods? I miss those days

— Brian J. Haddad (@BrianJHaddad) October 12, 2018

Agree with Sludge. I actually would prefer Tide pod eating to watching another one of those commercials.

The Aladdin trailer was also interesting. Goofy commercial night overall. I’d prefer a Joe Cordell advertisement or maybe Barbera’s on the Boulevard moving forward.

The post McAdoo a Better Job – Ten Takeaways from Eagles 34, Saquon Barkley 13 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

McAdoo a Better Job – Ten Takeaways from Eagles 34, Saquon Barkley 13 published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[marvelsstyles]

My thoughts on Infinity War (spoilers)

Okay I've literally just gotten tumblr because i need to fangirl and no one i actually know will understand the hype i had (and continue to have even though i have seen it) for this movie. 

I’ve been looking forward to Infinity War ever since phase 3 was announced and i thought the day where i actually got to see it would never come. I have a crazy investment to these characters and to see them all together was truly phenomenal! Ten years of Marvel built to this movie and you could feel that when watching it. 

For me, Infinity War was everything I wanted and more. I went into it with hardly any expectations but a lot of speculations. What actually happened had me shook to the core. I sobbed so much to the point where after the movie my friends took the piss out of me for crying so much. It made me laugh very loudly. I was shaking and shivering the whole movie with anticipation and anxiety for what would happen next because at times i seriously didn't know. 

I saw Infinity War at 10am on April the 25th and then for a second time again at 10:15pm later that night and i still can't fully process it but here are my thoughts, feelings and opinions on INFINITY WAR: 

......

I don't think I'm going to be able to watch Thor Ragnarok the same ever again. Like this movie legit picks up straight after the wonderful happiness that is Thor 3 and just shits on that warm, light feeling you get in your chest when watching it

I didn't know Heimdall was in the movie so when i first him for a split second i was very excited and happy but then i realised he was going to die and began to get very emotional

Ebony Maw is reallyyyyy creepy

“We have a hulk” had me hollering!!!!!! This is a great call back to the first avengers but also an incredible moment for Loki’s character and development! Going from having that phrase being used by Tony as a threat towards him to Loki having full confidence Hulk has his back! god i love(d) a redeemed king

Thanos going full WWE on hulk oof

Thor and Loki’s relationship is beautifully tragic

Loki calling himself prince of Asgard and Odinson AHHHHHHHHHH :’(

“You will never be a god”

Thor crawling over to Loki’s dead body as this ship breaks apart broke me 

Thor deserves the world 

Bruce saying Thanos is coming sent shivers down my spine

Tony is so cute talking about having a baby stop

Tony literally carries the flip phone with steve’s number in it around!!!!!!!!!!

Even though Ned was on screen for two seconds he so precious! he better not have died 

Bruce not being able to turn into the hulk was great and tony telling wong to look after him

Tony was so fucking sassy omg and Strange was not having it

“Squidward” BITCH I CHOCKED AAHFUDFHAIWOEF

Tony and Peter fighting Cull Obsidian cracking jokes, having a lil convo like it was just another day, another problem 

Peter is so pure every time i saw him the second time i watched my stomach dropped 

Wong owning Cull Obsidian and transporting him!!

“Wong you’re invited to my wedding”

When peter pulled off his mask going up into space oof my boy looked so good in this movie

The iron spider suit is sooooooooooo cool holy shit

AND Stark’s nano iron man suit is wicked

So much happens in this movie i forget when what happens but lets talk about Wanda and Vision yo they're actually so frickin cute!!

Vision getting all nervous and stumbling over his words

“I feel you” :’(

I jumped when Vision was stabbed

Wanda is so powerful

WHEN STEVE CAME OUT OF THE SHADOWS OOOOOOOOOOOO I LOVE ONE (1) MAN!!!!!! THE WHOLE CINEMA GOT SO HYPED WHEN HE CAME

Nat is wonderful, the loml, she looks like a whole snacc

So happy to see Falcon back 

Love seeing the CA:WS trio back again they work so well together!

When i heard music playing i got so happy!! i knew the guardians were coming 

Gamora grooving and singing along god we didn't deserve her but she deserved better

Starmora was beautiful in this movie but once again totally fucking tragic 

Quill getting jealous over Thor

‘Rabbit” !!!!!!!!!!!

The Thor and Gamora moment was so pure god we really don't deserve them two

Every interaction between Thor and Peter Quill was hilarious 

Thor, Groot and Rocket: a trio I never knew i wanted

Again I have lost where we are but lets talk about Tony and Spidey god i love their relationship 

“Have you seen this really old movie Alien”

Again Ebony Maw is actually real scary (and very preachy) but lol when he died 

Strange saying he’ll sacrifice Tony and Peter to save the stone but later giving up the stone for tony 

Also quickly while Im on that if people are confused as to why he just gave up the stone this is my theory or what i took away from it so basically when Strange went forward in time and saw they could only win one way and then they fail, the next best scenario is not letting Tony or Nebula die because they're deaths would be useless. Thanos was always going to get all the stones and do the snap, killing half the universe but tony wasn't one of them so it would have been a useless death having tony die protecting the stone hence why Strange gave it up (sorry if this doesn't make sense, it does in my head aha)

Peter again just being pure and so happy when he finally becomes an avenger (which only lasts a day...)

Falcon asking where to go and Cap saying “home” :’)

Cap basically telling Ross to fuck off ooooooof go off 

Nat’s face lighting up when she sees Bruce (i don't ship it, i just love seeing nat happy)

Cap being a concerned smol bean who i love 

T’Challa!!!!!! He didn't have much screen time which is understandable since his movie legit just came out

The White Wolf i love it

Gamora’s flashback was so sad

It killed me when Gamora was asking Quill to kill her if Thanos took her and making him swear on his mother’s life

AND FINALLY THEIR KISS

DRAX THINKING HE’S INVISIBLE

I literally thought Gamora killed him for a second but i knew it was too good to be true

“You should have gone right”

God Chris Pratt’s acting killed me in this! It was phenomenal!!!! I seriously did not expect it from him! The pain he was able to show on his face when he was going to kill Gamora was gut wrenching 

It was great to see the reality stone used like that

THEIR I LOVE YOUS

AND GAMORA’S BREAKDOWN WHEN SHE THOUGHT SHE KILLED THANOS I WAS A MESS

Thor deserves the whole cosmos he has lost so much

Chris Hemsworth’s acting was amazing when he was having that convo with rocket

And seeing rocket act so compassionate and empathetically was wonderful 

TYRION

Gamora telling Thanos how much he made her hate her life AGAIN SHE DESERVED BETTERRRRRRR

NEBULA MY POOR BABY

Nebula and Gamora another beautifully tragic sibling relationship

Loved that the soul stone was somewhere new and not anything like what everyone was speculating 

Red skull i was shook!!! i knew he had been teleported somewhere and not dead!!!!

I SOBBED WHEN GAMORA WAS SACRIFICED SHE DESERVED BETTER 

ZOE IS ALSO AN AMAZING ACTRESS 

THE SCORE IN THE BACKGROUND

THE SCENE WAS TRAGIC AND SO UNSATISFYING GOD SHE DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE LIKE THAT AT THANOS BENEFIT GODDDDDD

“LITTLE ONE” I HATE HIM BUT HONESTLY THIS BROKE ME

The fight between part of the guardians and Tony, Spidey and Strange was AMAZING IT WAS SUPER SHORT BUT MADE SO GIDDY!!!! It reminded me of the airport scene in civil war!!!

“I’ll do YOU one better. Why is Gamora?”

“i can take it” “no he can't” i love drax

The banter was gold 

When Strange said there was one good outcome I flipped 

Cap and T’Challa’s relationship is so pure i love it

Okoye is my love

Rhodes pranking Bruce ahhh i love my pure children

Bucky and Cap!!!!!!

Shuri being the smartest bitch out!!!!!

“Vision get your ass back on that table”

M’Baku calling T’Challa his brother :’)

T’Challa, Cap and Nat pissing off the Black Order issa mood

The Wakanda battle was wicked

Thor swinging Rocket’s ship around and continuing to call him rabbit

Thor literally taking on the force and heat of a star 

Teen groot picking up the scorching hot Stormbreaker axe (lowkey making him worthy) and making Thor a handle and saving his life

When Thor, Rocket and Groot teleported to Earth i literally squealed!!! For me this was one of the best moments of the film!!! And then Thor just started whooping ass!!!! He truly is the strongest avenger, physically and psychologically. 

Thor and Cap’s little moment i love them 

“this is my friend tree” “i am groot” “i am steve rogers”

Wanda coming down and saving the day oooof

OKOYE, NAT AND WANDA THE TRIO I HAVE BEEN DREAMING OF

Bruce in the hulk buster suit was amazing and hilarious, okoye’s little side eye of judgement

I was so worried about Shuri when ugly (don't remember his name lol) came for vision

The fight on Titan against Thanos was spectacular and thrilling 

Spidey again so pure and innocent stop pls

My heart was racing, i was on the edge of my seat when they nearly got the gauntlet off his hand

AND THEN WHEN QUILL FOUND OUT ABOUT GAMORAS DEATH AND TONY WAS TRYING TO CALM HIM DOWN I WAS LITERALLY GOING INTO CARDIAC ARREST!!!! PETER’S FACE AHHHHHHHH 

Spidey being pure af and apologising for not remembering everyone’s name i can’t 

When tony was stabbed i thought this was it 

PETER’S FACE WHEN HE ASKED “DID WE JUST LOSE?”

“We are out of time”

Everyone lining up to fight Thanos and just getting defeated so easily

Wanda destroying the mind stone and killing vision had me a complete crying mess

“I feel you” and the “i love you”

CAP HOLDING THANOS OFF THEN GETTING KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT HAD ME SO SCARED FOR MY BOY BUT I KNEW HE DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH SCREEN TIME TO DIE

Wanda destroying the mind stone AND holding back thanks GOD SHE IS POWERFUL!!!!!!

When Thanos walked up to Wanda and started consoling her and calling her his child i thought he was going to take her and she was going to become the villain 

BUT THEN HE TURNED BACK TIME AND GOT THE STONE AND KILLED VISION AGAIN WHICH MEANT WANDA WAS PUT THROUGH ALL THAT PAIN FOR LITERALLY NOTHING AND AGAIN HAD TO SEE HIM DIE

HER “NO” WAS SO CHILLING

THORRRRRR OVERPOWERING THE FUCKING INFINITY GAUNTLET FULL OF ALL SIX INFINITY STONES AND FUCKING LODGING THAT AXE INTO THANOS’ CHEST

“I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO KILL YOU” 

WHEN THANOS STARTED SAYING YOU SHOULD HAVE GONE FOR THE HEAD I KNEW I JUST KNEW

SNAP

OOF

EVERYTHING after this moment was so hectic but so so so uncomfortably calm and eerie. No dramatic scores, no crazy reactions, the avengers literally react the same as we do

Baby Gamora :’((((

“What did it cost” “Everything”

“What have you done?”

The gauntlet busted and destroyed just like my mind

Cap being so utterly confused asking Thor where Thanos went pained me 

Bucky’s last words literally being “steve”, reaching out for him, collapsing, disappearing before steve’s eyes. Steve kneeling down placing his hand on where he was (i don't ship them romantically, their friendship is just so incredibly important and it killed me)

T’Challa fucking fading away i was shoooooooook and still crying and Okoye being so confused and concerned

Rocket having to watch his best friend Groot die again

FALCON!!!!!! 

WANDA LOOKED SO RELIEVED TO DIE SHE DESERVED BETTER

NAT RUNNING IN SO CONFUSED CAP SITTING NEXT TO VISIONS DEAD BODY

MANTIS DISAPPEARING AND DRAX DISAPPEARING CALLING OUT TO QUILL 

QUILL 

STRANGE JUST FADING AWAY

NOW THE PART THAT KILLED ME THE PART THAT TOM HOLLAND DESERVES A FUCKING OSCAR FOR THE PART THAT PROVES HE IS THE BEST SPIDERMAN (IMO) “TONY I DONT FEEL SO WELL” COLLAPSES INTO TONY’S ARM SAYING HE DOESNT WANT TO GO AND DOESNT WANT TO DIE TONY NOT BEING ABOUT TO DO ANYTHING TO SAVE THIS POOR KID PETER DYING TELLING TONY HE’S SORRY I CANT I CANT I CANT I WAS CRYING SO MUCH AND SO LOUD I HAD TO COVER MY MOUTH

NEBULA JUST LOOKING DEFEATED AS HELL “HE’S DONE IT”

TONY HOLDING HIMSELF AS HE HAS FACED HIS WORST FEAR EVERYONE DYING BUT HE IS STILL ALIVE AND HE THINKS IT HIS FAULT 

“OH GOD” SAME CAP SAME

THANOS SITTING DOWN WATCHING THE SUN RISE ON A ‘BALANCED’ UNIVERSE 

CUT TO BLACK, ROLL TO THE BLANDEST SADDEST CREDITS EVER WHICH NOW MATCHES MY MOOD (I'm not bagging out the credits i thought it was very effective for the movie)

POST CREDIT SCENE CAPTAIN MARVEL BITCHES HURRY UP BRIE LARSON 

Well that was it. This literally took me like 3+ hours to write and I'm not even finished. Before i go i want to talk about the main character

THANOS

IMO he is the best marvel villain ever. A thoroughly deep and complex character with a fleshed out motive and backstory. I understood him and for a slight millisecond felt a bit of sympathy for him. This was his story. The relationship between him and Gamora is so complex and compelling (and extremely toxic I'm so sad gamora had to be put through that). I understand he may be different from the comics but this version was great. From the very beginning we were shown just how powerful he is. Over this movie i actually believe he had a slight character development. BUT god do i fucking hate him he has killed and hurt all my faves! The purple grape ballsack can choke when hopefully Thor, Nebula and Tony get their revenge with a little help from Captain Marvel and the rest of the avengers. 

AND QUICKLY SUMMING UP MY FAVE PARTS

THE SNAP

Thor, Groot and Rocket landing on Earth

Cap coming out of the shadows

Guardians vs Avengers

Starmora kiss

Now to wait a whole god damn year until Avengers 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[plms-hockey]

Canes @ Leafs - Game 35 - Dec.19.17

KEY NARRATIVES

Toronto Maple Leafs (20-13-1) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (14-11-7)

Tomorrow is a special day for the Maple Leafs in the ongoing 100 Years Celebrations that the NHL has been hosting since January 1st, 2017. While I find it a little strange that they're commemorating the 100th Year instead of the 100th season, who am I to turn my nose up at a party? Tomorrow is dubbed the Leafs' Next Century Game, the final hurrah for one of the Original Six franchises. While the NHL is hilariously choosy and editorial about what it presents from its history, the Maple Leafs claim a century of heritage, dating back to the Toronto Arenas who played the very first game in league history at 2:00 pm on December 19th, 1917. To commemorate this the Leafs are forcing me to watch hockey in a conference room at work at 11 am on the west coast. They'll also be wearing some throwback T Arenas Jerseys. Love me a special jersey game.

Along for the ride on this day of pomp and circumstance are the Carolina Hurricanes, a struggling non-traditional market team who didn't exist until 1972. As much as I have a soft spot for Carolina, it seems an odd choice for this game (why not another Original Six team or, on the other end of the spectrum, Vegas? It is the Next Century Game after all). At least the red and blue uniforms will contrast nicely.

Unfortunately, there might be rain on the Leafs prom night if this game looks anything like the last two the Leafs' played against the Canes. This will be the 3 game season series tie-breaker, as each team currently has a win. However, the Leafs looked like relative crap both times they faced Carolina and it was Freddie ripping the two points out of their deserving hands when they played in November.

While Carolina is still dominating in underlying metrics, with both the league highest Corsi For Percentage (shots lots more than the opposition) and the highest Expected Goals Percentage (hypothetically shoots lots better than the opposition), they've gone 4-5-0 in December and are still sitting in the last place spot in the Metro division.

It's extremely tragic.

Back in home territory for a few days after playing 5 games in 7 days, we received news that the Leafs have suffered their first serious injury of the season while Matthews is out day-to-day. Nikita Zaitsev took a blocked shot to the ankle in the third period of the game against Detroit on Friday and has now been placed on the injured reserve list, which means he's likely out for a few weeks at least. The Leafs will feel his loss on the penalty kill where he was playing league topping PK minutes with Ron Hainsey (who is averaging more than 4 minutes a night on the PK), it will be interesting to see what the Leafs' d-core looks like without him for a while.

It's been discussed, here and everywhere else, that the Gardiner-Zaitsev pairing hasn't been working, and Zaits, in particular, has had an alarmingly poor beginning of the season (especially considering he was just signed for a 4.5 million, 7-year deal over the summer). Based on practice lines, the Leafs will likely look like this against Carolina tomorrow:

Rielly - Hainsey Gardiner - Carrick Borgman - Polak

Another polarizing Leaf in Martin Marincin has been called up from the Marlies as the Leafs seventh defenseman while Zaitsev is on IR. This is a fantastic opportunity for Connor Carrick who has been (insultingly) bumped out of the lineup recently in favor of Roman Polak. Carrick had decent success in the minutes he shared with Gardiner last year and they do have some complementary skill sets, so there's a real chance here for both of them to take silver linking on a rough situation.

Likely the Leafs won't practice tomorrow with the early puck drop, so the forward lines will likely be one of the following based on Sunday/Monday practices:

SUNDAY

Marleau - Kadri - Komarov JvR - Bozak - Marner Hyman - Nylander - Brown Martin - Moore - Kapanen

MONDAY

Komarov - Kadri - Brown Marleau - Nylander - Hyman JvR - Bozak - Marner Martin - Moore - Kapanen

Subtle differences here, but the big takeaways are that Nylander will definitely be at center and Kapanen earned a spot away from Leivo, which makes sense considering he was one of the few Leafs skaters who actually looked good against Detroit on Friday.

While I love the concept of a Hyman - Nylander - Brown line based on the fact that they were all teammates on the Marlies before they were called up to the big club last year (awww), I like the idea of Nylander getting some time centering Marleau. Time next to a reliable vet (who also plays center) could be good for Willy's development/transition. Plus, Marleau and Nylander have opposing strong sides on faceoffs, which will allow the Leafs to use their draw advantage strategy on this line (in which the centers on lines with certain wingers who have opposite strong sides take turns on appropriate faceoffs, so almost all draws are by a player on their strong side, which was most commonly used between Matthews and Nylander when they've been on a line together).

Hopefully,  it goes well, as this is the last shot of the season to not be embarrassed by Carolina -- which would be nice, considering the fanfare around this supposedly historic game.

Some Key Numbers

53 - Jeff Skinner - Left Wing 20 - Sebastian Aho - Left Wing 57 - Trevor van Riemsdyk - Defenseman 86 - Teuvo Teravainen - Right Wing 5 - Noah Hanifin - Defenseman 27 - Justin Faulk - Defenseman - Captain 11 - Jordan Staal - Center - Captain

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE POST GAME

Score: W 8-1

I probably would have got this post-game written a lot faster if I hadn't had to rewatch the Maple Leafs’ opening ceremonies like three times. While I was expecting a lot more pomp and circumstance and guest appearances, the Leafs seemed to sense that they'd done more than enough of that in the past year of celebrations and made the Next Century Game very specifically about the future. This included stupid cute photographs of all the Leafs as kids (including home-town boys Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman in their early Leafs gear). This was followed by two groups of children skating out in home and away jerseys to dramatically skate around their sides of the ice and stand with the teams for the national anthems, as well as kids in suits standing with the coaches behind the bench. Even in my grinchiest mood, it would be impossible not to find all this absolutely delightful.

But... not as delightful as this game.

The Leafs frankly blew Carolina out of the water. While Scott Darling finished the night with a heartbreaking save percentage of .778, the rest of the team looked pretty terrible as well. While perhaps there wouldn't have been 8 goals, even if Darling put up a .915 this likely would have been the Leafs’ game. They were beat out by Carolina in the Corsi battle, but considering the level of scoring effects present in a game that's 4-1 at the end of the first, it's actually shocking that the Leafs had more SOG at the end of this game, with 36 to Carolina's 33. Less surprising is the Leafs' continued expected goals dominance when they're on their game. At fives, the Leafs had 54.69% of the xGF share.

There are too many goals to break down one by one so let's just look at this delightful scoresheet where you can see that every goal was scored by a different Leaf.

Mitch Marner - 4 Points (1G, 3A) Tyler Bozak - 4 Points (1G, 3A) James van Riemsdyk - 3 Points (1G, 2A) Zach Hyman - 2 Points (2A) Patrick Marleau - 1 Point (1G) Kasperi Kapanen - 1 Point (1G) Connor Carrick - 1 Point (1G) William Nylander - 1 Point (1G) Leo Komarov - 1 Point (1G) Ron Hainsey - 1 Point (1A) Morgan Rielly - 1 Point (1A)

While the whole team looked pretty great, Mitch Marner, in particular, had a career night with his first 4 point game. While Leo's short-handed goal was the starting point, when Mitch scored on a beautiful runaway play that had him skating into the zone alone, straight through three Canes players to rip one top corner, it seemed to reawaken something in him.

It was glorious. He was all over the ice. It was like no one could touch him, including on a play where he once again waltzed through a horde of Canes to nearly score a second goal. Luckily Bozak was right there to serve up the delicacy that Marner had plated for him. Marner ended the night tied for the highest CF% on the team with a fantastic 60% at 5v5.

This game was a slump-buster all around. Marner, Nylander, and Komarov all have been waiting and waiting and finally got one in. Kapanen and Carrick both got goals and they haven't even been on the ice much in the past month or so.

On Kapanen - Mike Babcock is going to have some difficult decisions to make when Auston Matthews comes back from injury if Kappy keeps playing like he has. He was the only fourth liner with a neutral/positive CF% during this game and, as mentioned in the preview, was one of the only Leafs to look good against Detroit last Friday. As the only forward on the team who is still waiver-eligible though, it's hard to see the Leafs being able to make room for him outside of injury relief this season.

All in all, this was a game the Leafs needed. The most promising part of this game wasn't just that their offense was back, but they held kept Carolina in check in the defensive zone (something they didn't do often when they were scoring 5+ goals at the beginning of the season). While the stars sort of aligned here and Carolina seemed to have a pretty bad night, hopefully, this gives the Leafs the confidence they've appeared to lack recently.

It won't take long to find out, as the Leafs travel to Columbus today to face a rested Blue Jackets team where this new found swagger will be put to the real test.

Statistics courtesy of Corsica.Hockey, HockeyViz.com, Hockeystats.ca and Hockey-Reference.com.