#and tell kevin that he cannot reveal his sources at this time

[lesbiansfor-blackbeard]

the aaron-jean friendship started when jean sent kevin a bunch of Trojans magnets and aaron sends jean a picture of kevin gently cradling the jeremy one next to his face

[daviddelrealactormodel]

COMIC STORIES YOU SHOULD READ,,,  ... The complete LIST and ARTICLE of MINE I talked you about...

As presented to CBR , PASTE magazine, (I even wrote to a Playboy editor whose data I found for their culture sections, lol, but don´t worry, there´s nothing your kids cannot read in this article, it´s completely the opposite, it´s an article engineered to fit practically to ALL AUDIENCES everywhere!!!)     and other internet sources in the last days of 2017, David del Real. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13 Comic Stories You Should Read Be4 You Die! List by: David del Real. First: Easy! With the title I don´t mean you or me are going to die anytime soon!!! Second: Yes, some stories I will talk about are a bit terrifying, but I promise all of them are terrific!!! Third: This list is not arranged from "lesser good to greatest good" . To decide which one is the best is your job. I´m arranging more or less from the most approachable (both because maybe it´s a famous character and easy storyline) to the most intricate and difficult, but ok, I admit numbers one and two are my favorite. Fourth: I am not going to tell you so many spoilers that you don´t want to read the stories, I will tell you only what you need to know to help you find your next great read in the closest comics or convenience store near you. ENJOY!!! Number 13: Superman, Peace on Earth. Story by: Alex Ross and Paul Dini Text by: Paul Dini Art by: Alex Ross. Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Superman stands in front of the US Congress with an idea: To stop hunger in the world for one day. He will take all the unharvested food and share it with anyone with hunger in the world. It´s one of the simplest story-lines ever but also one of the few that has made my eyes feel wet. A great choice for parents and uncles that are searching for a good old inspiring tale to read to the young. Number 12 And They Shall Call Him Champion. Written by: Tom DeFalco. Artist: Ron Wilson. Colorist: George Roussos. An intergalactic villain wants to fight the most awesome fighters in the Universe to see if someone can defeat him, will any of Earth´s champions will be able to defeat this villain and thus, save the Earth from being destroyed? Trust me, this is a classic fable of our time that you will want to read once a year for inspiration Number 11 The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Gene Ha. Colourist: Kevin Somers. Published by MARVEL comics. Cyclops and Phoenix are taken to the future with a very singular mission: to raise Nathan, the one who will become Cable and will save the future and that is actually their son from another reality (or could he be from this one?). One condition for the success of the mission is that they can´t reveal him that they are his real parents. They will take care of Nathan using bodies made somehow alike the ones they have in the 20th Century and the nicknames of Redd and Slim. Number 10: Superman: World Without A Superman Writers: Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, etc... Artists: Walter Simonson, Tom Grummett. Jon Bogdanove, etc... Colorists: Dennis Janke, Walter Simonson, Doug Hazlewood, etc.. Superman created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Published by: DC Comics. Death of Superman was a comic that broke many sales records, nevertheless, in terms of story-telling I prefer the next story: World Without A Superman. Superman is death and now the world has to deal with it. How will his most beloved react? Which will be the reaction of the different Superheroes to this demise? We see a very complete gathering of Superheroes remembering Superman and agreeing to put a black piece of fabric in everybody´s arm as a way of remembering him. We see everybody from Louis Lane to every member of the JLA trying to cope with the demise...and we see the Linear Men, who are dedicated to fix time paradoxes considering if they should bring Superman back to life by preventing his death!!! Number  9 Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men. Writers: Chris Claremont. Artists: Jon Bogdanove. Colorists: Terry Austin. Published by: MARVEL COMICS. My main reason to set this comic in the list is the fact that it shows something that happens to people who have had a dairy once in their lives. If they read it some years later, they can feel surprised of having written those words for one reason or another, this story exploits well that surprise. Kitty Pride from the X-Men is terribly ill. The Fantastic Four go X-Men´s Muir Island in order to help but some misunderstandings make the two teams fight each other and make the X-Men search desperately for someone else´s help. Dr. Doom offers his aid and the X-Men accept it even when , obviously, they don´t trust him. This is a story for both the life of Kitty Pride and the very soul of the Fantastic Four. Number  8 Batman: A Death In The Family Writer: Jim Starlin Art: Jim Aparo Colorist: Mike De Carlo Published by: DC Comics. This was the first comic ever that made me cry. I remember myself crying over the bed and could not believe my eyes watching an also-crying Batman with the corpse of a Boy Wonder on his arms...Also notice that this is the only triad of creators (Starlin, Aparo and De Carlo) that appears twice in this list. Robin (Jason Todd) and Batman have had a lot of discussions lately. Robin begins to investigate and arrives to the realization that he is not really an orphan, his mother is alive and maybe willing to see him as much as he wants to see her. Betrayed to the Joker by his own mother, Robin gets beaten to death and this event will ever remain a burden in the soul of the dark protector of Gotham. NUMBER  7 Witchblade, any issue. Main writers: David Wohl, Cristina Z, Marc Silvestri, etc... Main artists: Michael Turner, Dan Kemp, Keu Cha, ,Marco Galli, Marc Silvestri,etc... Main colorists: Jonathan D. Smith, Peter Steigerwald, etc... Published by: Top Cow Productions from Image Comics. Beautiful and very job-committed detective Sara Pezzini inherits the most deathly weapon of all; a mystical object called the "Witchblade" which has passed from one bearer to another for centuries, being all its carriers beautiful, brave and justice oriented women. Very sensitive and overwhelmed by work and the recent decease of her mate ,Sara is the bearer of the Witchblade in our days...but of course it won´t be an easy task as that kind of power  is  obsessively searched by the forces of evil. NUMBER  6 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Story by: Frank Miller Art by: Frank Miller Colors: Klaus Janson Published by: DC Comics This is a story that most comic fans and historians agree that changed the comics forever, giving us a very adult tale written with a character that was part of our childhoods. I will only plot the very beginning of the story and let you people discover the rest. For the ones wanting for more reasons to read this comic, in the last volume we will see a Batman v. Superman fight that pretty much inspired many of the subsequent fights between superheroes, including many of those starring by these two characters. We are in Gotham City, its the tenth anniversary of the last time the vigilante called as Batman was seen. The city has changed a lot and there is a lot of crime in our new city. There is a group of criminals called  "The Mutants" that rule the streets. Batman will have to leave his retirement comfort to save his city once again and in the process he will have to deal with new enemies and with a new self-proclaimed Robin: a little but very intelligent and brave girl who saves his life after an humiliating defeat against the mutants´ leader. NUMBER  5 Hulk: Future Imperfect. Written by: Peter David Art: George Pérez Colorist: Tom Smith Published by: MARVEL Comics. The future is a complete mess with a tyrannic version of our Hulk ruling it with steel-hand. Rick Johns, the one that Dr. Banner once saved from a Gamma Explosion and old Hulk´s best friend, realizes that only Hulk can defeat Hulk and plots a plan to bring his old friend, the heroic Hulk from the past to defeat his tyrannic version of the future. NUMBER  4 Preacher, Gone To Texas. Written by: Garth Ennis. Artist: Steve Dillon. Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth. Foreword by: Joe R. Landsdale. Published by: DC Comics, Vertigo. If you are searching for a non-conventional story with a lot of existential crisis and mixed ideologies and mythologies ( Angels, demons, vampires,whatever, etc..) this is the comic you need. Jesse, a very conscious and responsible preacher gets beaten in the local bar because of telling everybody´s terrible crimes (and believe me, they are!!!) in public and accusing them of going to his church on Sundays and acting like savages the other days of the week. Also, in Heaven there is a great fuss because of a singular creature born from the affairs of an angel with a she-demon and that is said that can be as powerful as God himself. This singular creature merges his essence with Jesse during a Sunday´s speech while setting the church on fire with his entrance into this world........and then.......I think this will do, I´ll let you people find out for yourselves... don´t google, go and buy! NUMBER  3: Batman: The Seven Nights of the Beast Written by: Jim Starlin Artist: Jim Aparo Colorist: Mike De Carlo Published by: DC Comics Batman created by: Bob Kane This is one of the comics I usually recommend to people who has never read a comic and ask for a good story to start with. The reason of this is its enormous realism and credibility. Most comic stories tended to be set in very "black and white" scenarios when this comic first appeared in the eighties, meaning that the good and the bad side are always very clearly defined. In our days, more and more comics, cartoons and movies are made using the "not so clear to define good from bad" approach, and I´m pretty sure this was one of the comics that influenced that change. A war veteran from the old U.S.S.R. comes to the U.S.A. with one goal: to kill the top ten names of the Defense System of the nation. There are very probably spies inside the C.I.A. and other government agencies that make protect these top ten people difficult. The president of the U.S.A. is "abducted" by Batman by means of his own protection. TRIVIA: Ronald Reagan, president of the U.S.A. (1981-1989), appears as a character in this comic. NUMBER 2 Thor: God of Thunder The God Butcher & GodBomb. Writer: Jason Aaron. Art: Nick Klein ,Esad Ribic, Butch Guice. Colorist: Tom Palmer, Ive Svorcina, etc... Variant Covers: Olivier Coipel & Laura Martin. Published by MARVEL Comics. Terror has been spread around all the gods of all the planets in the universe as the rumor begins to look closer and closer. There is someone capable of killing gods and has been getting rid of them one by one, city after city, planet after planet. Thor has already had an encounter with him centuries ago but failed in ultimately defeating him. This story, that has the peculiarity of telling us the different adventures from three different times simultaneously gives us both the flavor of being reading an old greek or norse tragedy when he tells us about the first adventures of Thor when he was young and his first encounter with the God Butcher, and the bouquet of a futuristic tale when counting us of the present fights of Thor...and the final fight with the Butcher at the end of all times when he has already succeeded in the Throne to his father, Odin and is ready to fight for the sake of all the universe in all the times (past,present and future) possible!!!!!!!!!!!! NUMBER  1: The Last Avenger Story Written by: Peter David. Art: Ariel Olivetti Published by: Marvel Comics. We find ourselves in a possible future, where most of our most known heroes are death, sick or retired. Most of the active superheroes for that future are gathered in the same facility. Easy for the bad guys: they just throw a Nuclear Bomb to the facility and good-bye heroes...well good-bye young heroes. Now, it´s up to the remaining of the Superhero teams you know to defend the Earth with all they´ve got for one last time...united they will fall. About our author: David is a graduated engineer from Mexico with a huge passion for the arts. He also has some acting experience in TV. commercials and series. Follow him on twitter as @DavidRealActor Additional data: Most of the stories of this list can be acquired just by asking by their names as most of them are already in "graphic novel" version. Nevertheless I want to give you the original magazine title and number how they were first published (when applicable). Superman: Peace on Earth. January 1999. DC COMICS. And They Shall Call Him Champion. Published originally in Marvel 2 in 1 Annual volume 1 number 7. MARVEL COMICS.1982. The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. Originally published as a 4 issues miniseries with that name. 1994. MARVEL COMICS. Superman. World Without a Superman. Published originally in Adventures of  Superman 498-499, Actions Comics (685) and Superman, Man of Steel (20). DC COMICS. 1993. Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men. Originally published in a 4 issues miniseries with that name. 1987. MARVEL COMICS. Batman: A Death in the Family. Originally published in Batman (426-429).DC Comics.1988-1989. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Published originally as a miniseries of four issues with that name. 1986. DC Comics. Hulk: Future Imperfect. Published originally as a miniseries of two issues with that name. MARVEL COMICS. (Dec.1992-Jan.1993). Preacher, Gone to Texas. Published originally as Preacher (1-7). 1996. DC Comics. Batman: The Seven Nights of the Beast. Published originally in Batman (417-420) DC COMICS. 1988 Thor: God Butcher and GodBomb. Published originally in Thor: God of Thunder  (1-12) MARVEL COMICS. 2012-2013. The Last Avengers Story: Published originally as a 2 issue mini-series with that name. MARVEL COMICS. 1995.

[vagrantblvrd]

That one AU where Ryan’s undercover, right?

Still with Narco or maybe he’s been shuffled around a bit, moved over to Robbery right around the time Homicide and Beckett get the case with Finch and Esposito’s old partner. (Or maybe a case crossed over and he’s being loaned out, idk, details and so on???)

And at the beginning of the case in comes Detective Demming in Robbery, formerly out of the 54th.

Castle is like >:(((((( because the man is just too pretty, and also probably rescues cats out of trees on his days off, and honestly, is he the only one to see this Detective Tom Demming as what he truly is?

(In his experience, someone who seems too good to be true isn’t, but clearly this Demming has bamboozled not only Beckett but Esposito and Captain Montgomery as well and it is up to the intrepid author of the group to prove it! ...as soon as he finds evidence.)

Meanwhile.

The case proceeds as usual and Lanie finds Ike’s prints on Finch’s body, which, you know Drama.

In comes Holliwell and the accusations and whatnot.

Esposito going to see Carol and Tim and asking if she knew and all that fun stuff?

But then!

Someone finds out that Finch was in contact with this guy, someone who could help them with a Thing (technical issue, get them something else they needed, who can say, right?) and of course it happens to by this guy who happens to know Demming.

Seems delighted to see him, all friendly like as they haul him in to ask a few questions and he’s got this smirk and is “hey, Demming. See you’ve moved up in the world,” and generally being a cocky little shit because he knows they can’t pin anything on him and also he has an alibi, but yeah, sure. Why not humor the cops for a bit? Should be fun.

Demming is just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because yes, okay, he knows this little weasel. Busted him a few times for minor offenses and the whatnot but he always gets out and no one can make anything stick. But. He’s got a reputation for being able to get people what they need and rumors tying him to a string of robberies in a case a few years ago they were never able to solve.

But everyone knows he had something to do with it, you know?

So they ask him a few questions and get a lead. Doesn’t pan out, but what did they expect, really? (The next time they haul him in he does have a lead that pans out, so that’s nice.)

Shenanigans and whatnot, they see the footage showing Finch’s wife and Ike casing the bank and bring her in for questioning. Esposito races to Ike’s with Beckett and he has that conversation about it that’s all about Drama.

Back to the precinct and Beckett sparring with Demming and the “stealthy” sneaking around to get Demming’s SIM card and ~reveal that oh, yeah, no.

Not a dirty cop and you should all feel ashamed about even considering the possibility because the man is an angel, okay? An absolute angel.

(He definitely rescues cats out of trees on his way to coach underprivileged kids, you know he does.)

And then!

Esposito running off to help Ike steal the ledger and Demming is like ah, yes, Esposito is totally taking “a walk” and excuses himself to make a phone call, as you do.

Beckett and the others realize Holliwell is the dirty cop and since Esposito isn’t back yet – but before they can theorize as to why that is, Demming comes back in and says a “reliable source” told him Ike’s going after the ledger as they speak and with Esposito nowhere to be found it makes sense he’d be with him, right?

There’s this Moment where Beckett and Castle do the brain-twin thing and go hmmmm because it’s a little too convenient how Demming came by that info, but no time to worry about that now, they have to get to Ike and Esposito before Holliwell does.

Holliwell showing up to catch Esposito and Ike in the act and the pew-pew shooting before Beckett and the others catch Holliwell trying to make a break for it.

AND THEN.

Shenanigans in which other cases are dealt with and every so often Demming shows up and oh, hey.

Also Demming’s little weasel buddy?

Enough that he starts in on giving Esposito and the others grief too when they bring him in for questioning?

(Kind of weird how he keeps popping up, but whatever. Demming says the guy’s just like that and you just get used to it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Eventually though, there’s a case, right?

Some murder that’s tied to drugs and robberies and homicide(s) and he’s a suspect – and then a key witness – and all the good will and trust he’s built up with his little criminal circle doesn’t mean a damn thing when someone put a price on his head and anyway.

“Wait, what?”

Because they have to protect him from the baddies – a stipulation if they want the information he’s got in that head of his – and it’s like.

Like, sure. They could do that, or they could maybe put more pressure on the guy? Beckett and Esposito could break him, just give them time, and Demming is like.

“I mean, you could, but it wouldn’t get you much. Trust me.”

And so the safehouse and Demming’s little weasel courting painful, drawn-out murderization from Beckett and the others with all the shit he gives them? Seems delighted by it like he has no idea how close they are to snapping, and does he realize they definitely how to hide a body where no one will find it, but whatever.

The thing is, Beckett and the others would rather die than admit that yes, okay. They, too, have a soft spot for the little bastard the way Demming seems to?

Such a little shit, but weirdly endearing and also he has helped them out a time or two before, you know?

He really gets under Esposito's skin, though. Because flirty little bastard and Castle is like a kid in a candy store because a criminal willing to share stories and whatnot who hasn’t (yet) threatened to kill him!

Incredible!

Amazing!

(Also, a fan!)

Beckett kind of loves the way he pushes Esposito’s buttons and he’s just. It’s hard not to like him. (She pointedly ignores the looks she gets from Demming because they’re all of the “I told you so” variety and anyway.)

And then!

After a couple of days of this the weasel disappears on them – and it’s all !!! and also >:((((((((((( because not only how, but why????

Demming goes to get answers from his people while Beckett and the others try to find out where the little bastard’s gone.

Realize, after going over what they know about the case and the little bastard that of course he’s gone to talk to someone – make a deal with his boss (the one who put the price on his head) or something and anyway -

Demming runs into them to tell them there’s some kind of meet going on...somewhere and his weasel’s involved, and then madcap race to get there before the little bastard gets himself killed.

Shenanigans in which the bad guy gets the drop on Beckett and the others, looks like the whole gang is about to be murderized, right?

Drama and Bad Guy Confessions Via Monologue, the weasel about to get murdered for real, but what’s this?

A bunch of cops in from Narco and Robbery, also Captain Montgomery and associates and all cavalry to the rescue to save the day?

Bad guys in cuffs being led off and Esposito hauling the weasel along, pissed off like you wouldn’t believe because of course the little bastard snuck out on his watch – scared the shit out of him – and just.

Very much Annoyed.

Demming takes charge of the little weasel when they get back to the station, had this odd little smile on his face as Esposito hauled him away, right? One Beckett and Castle just could not figure out and then!

Beckett and the others up in Homicide finishing off reports and whatnot and not quite ready to head home?

She gets a call from Demming, says he has someone he wants them to meet and if everyone’s still there? To which she is like yes?????

And then!

Few minutes later the elevator goes ding!

Ding goes the elevator and out comes Demming and his little weasel?

No cuffs this time, and it looks like he’s had time to clean up and get a change of clothes, which is probably for the best because of all the blood and whatnot after being knocked around by the bad guys before Beckett and the others showed up.

Which also huh, you know, huh. Like, sure. Guy’s not their murder suspect, but also other crimes and why, okay, why is Demming smiling like that? Why is the weasel smiling like that?

(He does clean up well, though. Not that Esposito is staring or anything, goodness no.)

“Thought you’d like to meet Detective Kevin Ryan.”

Shit-eating grins on both their faces and Beckett and the others like what and then attempted murder of Ryan by Esposito because that little shit, and then shenanigans?

Also going out for drinks and the telling of a story that involves undercover work and many instances of running into Beckett and the others and being like – “Do you guys ever get a normal homicide case?” because Kevin’s new here and doesn’t realize and anyway.

For some reason Kevin Ryan ends up transferring to Homicide and Esposito grumbles to anyone who will listen for forever afterwards about getting stuck with him, but it’s pretty obvious someone needs to look out for the idiot.

And then shenanigans and Castle still prying stories and whatnot out of Ryan every chance he gets – Esposito gets this look on his face when he’s around for one because they’ve all gotten to know the little idiot by now and how the hell is he not dead yet???

And perhaps, also, there is still ~flirting because Ryan is still a little shit and Esposito cannot with this moron, but also there’s a betting pool, because of course there is.

Castle has a !!! “My goodness, I never would have expected you, of all people, to take part in this,” to Demming when he ponies up some money for the betting pool on how long until those idiots figure out their shit.

(Meanwhile, Ryan gets in on the betting pool about Beckett and Castle because how do they not see it and anyway, yes.)

Shenanigans???

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kariachi]

Hail, bitches! Guess who’s back to do more bitching about the shit that went down with Charmcaster in UAF/OV!

You. Have. Been. Warned.

Okay, can I just start off cutting certain sectors of this fandom off at the pass by pointing out that I get Kevin’s redemption was shit too, but it was still better than the bullshit we got with Charmcaster? I mean, not that you can get much worse than the shit we got with Charmcaster, but you get my point. At least with Kevin we’ve got a fucking 5 year timeskip we can assume things happened in, with Charmcaster we’re just supposed to believe that she revealed her tragic backstory and so is suddenly a wonderful person laid low by her own sorrows and traumas and just, for the love of fuck!

Literally we get an episode where she tries to kill Ben’s mother, then the reveal of her tragic backstory, and then her committing genocide and people feeling sorry for her over it!

It’s like a fucking parody!

Like, she does horrible things in this show! She takes advantage of and briefly enslaves a teenager for the sake of fucking with another teenager, we get to see an alternate timeline where she keeps the former as a slave and murders the latter alongside another teen, she acts as part of a group to assassinate an innocent woman, and that’s just the shit we get before the show decides she’s actually just horribly misunderstood!

So we get her backstory and immediately all that other shit doesn’t matter! At least Kevin’s bullshit was still referenced! And again, we had a timeskip for changes to happen in! We don’t get that here! We go straight from ‘I’m trying to kill people’ to ‘I’m sad’ to ‘oh it’s okay you’re my bestest friend let me help you nothing is your fault’!!

“My people were victims of genocide and I was raised by my abusive uncle*” That’s sad but also you’re a murderer of innocent people and totally cool with slavery. And also the first chance you get you, what was it she did again in her episode directly after the tragic backstory, what was it?

Oh, yes

Killed over 16,000 people in one fell swoop, wiping out the entire population of her kingdom because she missed her dad!!

Big fucking whoop! Kevin’s missing two dads at that point! One of which he saw murdered while trying to protect him!! He’s killed all of one person over the matter, tried to kill another, and that’s where it fucking ends!!

16,000 people!!

And we’re supposed to feel bad for her!! That’s the population of not only my village but the three towns closest by!! And she’s the one I should feel sorry for!

Bite my fucking ass!! That is the goddamn line! Right there, in the fucking sand, with glaring neon signage!! “Thou shalt not commit fucking genocide and expect me to feel sorry for you, so sayeth the Lord!!”

“But Achi, it wasn’t her fault, it was the Alpha Rune!” Fuck that bullshittery excuse the writers came up with for how they could still have Charmcaster be a horrible, horrible villain without actually being a bad guy!

I mean for one thing, how the fuck exactly am I suppose to believe she got the Alpha Rune in UA? Nobody has physically gone in or out of Legerdomain prior to the genocide episode. Did Paradox bring it back? Isn’t he supposed to know everything because it’s all in his past? If it does drive people mad, then wouldn’t he have known that giving to her would cause all these deaths and shit?! Am I to believe he did so anyway and if so, why the fuck am I supposed to believe he’s a good guy when he actively has that all the resultant blood and trauma on his hands?

But then, that’s assuming that’s even the truth because who the fuck is it that tells us that the Alpha Rune drives wielders mad? That it makes them do things like commit genocide?

Adwaita!

Also known at Genocidal Dipshit Prime!

Yes show, I totally believe the dude who committed genocide when he says it’s not his fault, it was the magical artifact. Couldn’t have had Bezel say it? Or Hex? Nope, gotta be Adwaita, because gods know that’s a trustworthy source of information. I’d be more likely to believe Mike, who I cannot believe is seen as one of the worst people involved in this whole mess given he’s the one with the shortest track record and quite possibly the lowest bodycount!

But no, Adwaita, suddenly a good guy because we can totally believe him when he says it’s the Alpha Rune causing all the trouble. It’s not that the murderous creeper who gives slavery a thumbs up was an absolute dipshit who finally snapped and went completely around the bend, oh no, it was the magical artifact that did it. Fuck that bullshit right up it’s whitewashed, half-baked ass!

*And Hex! Let’s briefly touch on Hex, who we’ve apparently forgotten by OV was an abusive shitheel to his niece? What, he worries about her once, gets a job at a university, and suddenly he’s an innocent victim of the innocent victim of the Alpha Rune? Who wrote this shit? Who signed off on it?

He was a shitheel uncle to a shitheel niece who I’m supposed to feel sorry for because their lives were ruined by a shitheel turtle who supposedly wasn’t to blame because he was being affected by a magical artifact that he promises us drives it’s wielder mad.

Speaking of which, isn’t Adwaita’s species immune to magic and it’s effects? Wasn’t that like, a minor plot point during the Aggregor arc because it meant Gwen couldn’t do jack shit to him? So if he’s immune to magic then how the fuck is the Alpha Rune supposed to have affected him? Wouldn’t that make him the best wielder for it because it wouldn’t be able to affect him? Or am I trying too hard to force logic into this fucking disaster of a storyline?

It is fucking painful y’all. Fucking. Painful. She’s a murderer, she’s genocidal, she’s cool with slavery, she’s a statutory rapist, she’s a kidnapper, and I’m supposed to feel bad for her because she’s traumatized, like that’s not the case for the majority of the damn cast. Everybody is fucking traumatized, half of them do a shit job dealing with it at best, and yet none of them pull the extent of shit she does. None of them. None of them. You get some murder, maybe kidnapping, and the rest is a hard no. But we’re supposed to feel bad for her.

I’m supposed to send my heart and best wishes out to this woman because committing genocide didn’t work out in her favor.

I’m supposed to forgive her all she’d done before because she had major traumas.

I’m supposed to let everything she did from the genocide on slide because another genocidal shitheel says it’s not their fault.

This storyline out to be burned down to the fucking cement and either completely fucking redone- with some dignity, morals, and brainpower this time- or struck forever from the annals of history.

It’s a rot that we’ll never got out of our franchise any other way.

[bolachasgratis]

Review: Vodafone Paredes de Coura ‘18

What can we put into a list of “things that do not happen often” when talking about a music festival? What about this: there’s this festival - our favorite festival, for reasons that extend beyond the lineup - that, faced with another cancelled Björk gig, decided to go for the jugular and announce, in her place, giant “stadium indie” act Arcade Fire, thirteen years after playing there in the 2005 edition while touring Funeral. Nothing could take the spotlight away from them, right? But imagine there was this kid from the Lisbon suburbs that self-produced his albums at home and played his first gig only six months before this festival. Could he relegate one of the most sought after bands of our world - whose show was quite spectacular, at times - to the footnotes of our festival review? 

Playing for a completely packed Vodafone.fm stage on the first night of the festival, after a lukewarm, absolutely forgettable headlining The Blaze show in the main stage, Conan Osiris and dancer João Reis Moreira revealed themselves to really be a force of nature - although a divisive one, exactly as we expected to. Even those who watched from a distance as the bizarre show went on will remember, in ten years, that they witnessed the pinnacle (we think!) of the invulgar rise to fame of two complete outsiders that already inserted themselves - and rightfully so - into the mythology of the festival. Just check out Canal 180′s video of the happening. Earlier that afternoon, Conan Osiris had a huge opportunity to promote himself in a secret show organized by Vodafone, but decided to prop up his protegè Sreya instead to a room full of press and festival goers. That’s what a proper idol does, guys. 

Marlon Williams. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

But they were not the only highlight of the first night of Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2018. Earlier on, Marlon Williams was raising hell as he and his band threw hit after hit from the much lauded Make Way for Love - oftentimes with a ballad, with a more rock-ish number shaking up things every now and then - and we can tell this is the start of yet another loving relationship between a songwriter and the Portuguese public, following the footsteps of Kevin Morby who seems to play the country every single summer. He left the FC Porto shirt at home (maybe he thought fans of the local club would kick the shit out of him if he did), but a few of his fans didn’t. I might have been one of them, but don’t let SC Courense fans know about this. 

Pussy Riot. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

But the highlight of the third night of the festival had to be the mythical ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, playing one of the essential indie rock albums of the 21st century in its entirety, Source Tags & Codes in the Vodafone.fm stage plus two straight to the point tracks off their back catalogue: Worlds Apart’s magnificent “Will You Smile Again?” and set closer “A Perfect Teenhood” off Madonna, igniting a riff-hungry packed tent. Earlier on, Lucy Dacus presented her sophomore album for the first time in the country with a more than competent early afternoon show, certainly collecting a few hundred new fans along the way - expect her to keep visiting us in the next few years. Imarhan were already killing it in the smaller stage as Dacus finished her set. I was lucky to see them alongside Blonde Redhead and Snail Mail at Paradiso Amsterdam a few days after Paredes de Coura, and what a show it was. Later on, Slowdive sounded, once again, crystal clear, but the magic of their first reunion tour seems to be wearing off; fortunately, the songs off their latest, self-titled album, are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise unremarkable show for such a late hour time slot. Fortunately, Skepta has turned up the volume (except during that 15 minute set interruption as overly enthusiastic people were allegedly throwing shit on stage) to set us up for the bizarre world of the umpteenth - and probably the most entertaining - coming of Russian activist collective Pussy Riot. Thank God they and their band seem to have sold their guitars and bought turntables, as their punk rock past was mostly a schadenfreude generator: this Slav-heavy hard bass suits them way better, and the projections were hilarious at times. Yes, this is what punk can be in 2018 and there’s nothing wrong with it: Internet memes can sometimes be more effective than meaningless shouted angry words.

Shame. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

Back to Thursday. Shame were our top pick for the day, and although we would prefer them in the cozyness of a small stage, the main stage wasn’t certainly an obstacle to a young band that’s on their way of establishing themselves, alongside IDLES, as one of the British powerhouses of angry, anthemic, anti-establishment rock music. And, well, who doesn’t love a band that takes themselves so seriously to the point of taking the stage to the sound of the great Vengaboys? On the other hand, Japanese Breakfast was a bit too lukewarm for our taste. Another case of a good songwriter that cannot make it in the 20:30 time slot on the second stage at Paredes de Coura, our music festival equivalent of a decent football team having to play Stoke City away on a rainy Tuesday night (Frankie Cosmos would suffer the same fate the following day, as Waxahatchee, Algiers or Cigarettes After Sex did a few years back). At night, Surma tried to battle this history presenting her beautiful, intricate recent album Antwerpen, and we cannot say she failed, although her delicate music certainly fits a seated, proper theater instead. On the main stage, Fleet Foxes were competent, without shining too bright. But we can blame both the difficulty of capturing the complexities of the Seattle folk band and delivering a consistently good quality sound to a natural amphitheatre, and the usual troublemakers that think buying a festival ticket entitles them to having loud conversations ten rows from the stage. Jungle seem to be only a little more than a one hit wonder, but then we remember that one hit is the massive “Busy Earnin’” and everything’s alright with the world once again.

Dead Combo. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

The most emotional moment of the festival had to be Dead Combo’s incredible show in the last night. A much deserved prime time show for the best band coming out of Portugal in the 21st century in a delicate time for one half of the founding duo, as Pedro Gonçalves appears to be struggling with disease; we really hope this is not the last we see of him. Mark Lanegan, who’s featured in their latest record Odeon Hotel, has joined the six-piece outfit for part of the gig, his contributions being way more interesting than anything he has done on his countless Portuguese shows over the past few years. A huge version of “Lisboa Mulata”, towards the end of the set, was the highlight of this show. It’s not like we merely want more of them in the future, we need Dead Combo alive and kicking. Just a couple of hours earlier, Big Thief have confirmed their status as the best indie band of the past couple of years. Yes, this is a big statement, but anyone who’s familiar with their work knows it’s the truth, even without main guitar player Buck Meek, who’s focusing on touring his solo debut album. Listening to their masterpiece “Masterpiece” should be enough, but as Adrianne Lenker et al. launch into tearjerker “Paul”, we know we’re witnessing something special. She’s surprised she’s playing for so many people; we’re certain they’ll be playing for a crowd like this daily on their next summer festival tour. Later on, Arcade Fire brought the big guns in the beginning of an euphoric show (“Everything Now”, “Neighbourhood #3″, “Rebellion (Lies)”, and “No Cars Go”) before dwelling into less interesting territory, interrupted here and there with well received incursions into less played material (pre-Funeral deep cut “Cars and Telephones” and Neon Bible’s “Intervention”). But we had to wait much later for a spectacular, ecstatic “Reflektor”, before going into an encore closed with the very first song they played, in that same stage, 13 years before: sing-along favorite “Wake Up”. Between hardcore fans and people they lost along the way through their journey from an unknown (but hot prospect) Canadian indie band into a huge outfit capable of filling up arenas and headlining massive festivals like Rock in Rio, few could say they were not entertained. But could they do it against an unknown 20-something kid from the suburbs in a cold, early evening 20:30 slot in Paredes de Coura?

[jbuffyangel]

Exhausted: This Is Us 3x05 Review (Toby)

This Is Us focuses on the Pearsons’ significant others in “Toby.” It’s an extremely packed episode, which probably means they need to focus on the supporting characters more frequently. There is a connective thread with Toby, Beth and Miguel, beyond just being married to Pearsons, finally being explored, which I am excited about. They each carry their spouses to the point of exhaustion.

Let’s dig in...

Toby and Kate

Chris Sullivan carries this episode on those big, broad shoulders and gives us a side of Toby we haven’t seen. At his core, Toby is caretaker and in that way reminds me of my husband who is also just as amazing.  But there are times I want to ask Toby, “Aren’t you exhausted? I am a glass half full, rainbows and unicorns type person, but even I cannot compete with Toby’s energy, positivity and enthusiasm. Toby is always on. He’s almost superhuman in that way.

Well, it turns out Toby is not superhuman and yes, he is exhausted. We see flashbacks of Baby Toby, who is the very definition of the cutest, and we learn Toby’s sadness has always been part of him. In fact, he’s very similar to his mother. Is depression genetic? If yes, then I didn’t know that. 

Anywho, Toby’s mother is overwhelmed with a new baby and fighting constantly with his jerk of a father.

“There’s so much of her in you it scares me.”

THAT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU SAY TO YOUR CHILD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Unfortunately, Toby’s father does not view depression as a medical ailment and simply advises his son to get his “mopey” attitude under control because it won’t play well as an adult. What a prize this guy is.

Toby used his wonderful sense of humor to cheer up his depressed Mom as a child. Ugh my heart. As for Toby’s mother, just speaking from experience, sometimes you really just need “one damn day.” You’re doing great, sweetie.

Toby’s last live in girlfriend wasn’t able to handle his moods and she left him, which sent Toby spiraling deeper in his depression. Eventually, he started seeing a therapist, started taking meds and then he met Kate.

I would classify Kate the same as me – high maintenance. This works well with someone who gravitates more towards the caretaker role. But the focus needs to shift time to time, so your partner doesn’t feel short changed.

Toby spends a great deal of time cheering Kate up, cheering Kate on, and being her “rock” as she earnestly put it. However, Toby’s need to be Kate’s hero has led him down a disastrous plan of going off his meds. The sadness is coming back and Toby doesn’t know what to do other than pretend it’s not happening.

However, once Kate announces she’s pregnant (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS FOR THESE TWO), Toby’s rock wall of positivity and joy goes tumbling down. He sobs into wife’s arms. 

Letting go and succumbing to the depression isn’t weakness. It’s strength. Sometimes you need to drown before you can swim.  Sometimes you need to go deep into the hole before you can figure your way out.

It’s also a hugely important moment in Kate and Toby’s marriage. I always say marriage is not 50/50. Sometimes it’s 90/10 or 40/60. What you and your partner need day to day and year to year shifts. 

I think it’s fair to say though Toby has been carrying his share of emotional burdens. Toby can’t be sad because Kate is. Toby can’t worry because it’ll make Kate worry more. Toby can’t be angry because Kate is lashing out from pain and grief, so he just has to take it. It goes on and on and on, which is why I wanted to ask Toby, “Aren’t you exhausted?”

This isn’t Kate’s fault either. We can only know what our partner shares with us. Toby kept Kate out. He wanted to be the rock and she needed a rock. It was a mutually beneficial relationship until it wasn’t. That’s marriage. You have to grow and evolve with your partner.

Now it’s about what Toby needs. Toby needs to know he doesn’t have to be in control all the time. He needs to know Kate isn’t going to leave him when the sadness comes. Toby needs to let Kate all the way in. It’s her turn to be the rock.

Randall and Beth

I love you Randall. You are a deeply good human being. You are a blessing to all the lives you touch, but sometimes my friend, you leap before you look.

Randall and Beth are preparing for his first campaign event and my first thought was...

Beth just lost her job. Maybe this isn’t the best time to be piling on. Are they independently wealthy? That house is huge and it must come with a serious mortgage. Do they not have bills to pay? Everyone seems very calm about the whole no income situation. I would not be this calm. Then again, maybe Randall listens to Suze Orman and has 12 months of savings.

Side bar: Every time my husband and I saved whatever monthly sum Suze Orman said we needed she would then add another three months. For example, we’d save 3 months and she’d say save 6 months. We’d save 6 and she’d say 9. And so on. It made my husband very cranky and now I’m not allowed to watch Suze Orman because he says she turns me into a crazy person. End side bar.

Unfortunately, Randall just dives right in and tells the people who came for free barbecue all the ways they are wrong about their current council man. He has a bit of a faceoff with the restaurant owner who explains the current councilman saved his business years ago. People don’t owe him loyalty. They owe him their lives.

Yeesh. Yeah, probably should have put some quiet feelers out there Randall. Maybe a poll Jed Bartlet style. I don’t know what this means for Randall’s future as city councilman, but he’s not off to a great start.

What I really want to talk about is BETH. My queen is not doing great. She is putting up a good show of confidence in front of Randall about interviewing for new jobs and fielding six figure offers. 

Source: livelovecaliforniadreams

However, she broke down crying in an interview. She’s not expecting a call back and Beth is right.

What’s sad is Beth doesn’t feel like she can share this with Randall. She constantly has to be on like Toby. Beth is so busy nurturing Randall’s dreams and easing his anxiety there’s very left over for her – both in the relationship and within herself.

Of course she broke down in an interview! Beth honey you were fired from the business you helped build. Grab some booze and take a week off girl. You need it.

But Beth can’t do that. She has to support her family. If she’s worried then it means Randall will worry more. And on and on and on it goes.

Miguel and Rebecca

Poor Miguel. I think he’s been given a bad rap. He’s trying to so hard to be there for the kids and Rebecca, but he’s not trying to take Jack’s place. That’s impossible. He’s simply trying to keep his promise to Jack. 

Source: @livelovecaliforniadreams

There are people who are such a force in our life that it's difficult to imagine them ever dying. It's impossible in fact.

It’s an exhaustive effort from Miguel. Literally. He carries a piano upstairs and spends the better part of the day fixing Rebecca’s refrigerator. Then he gives a pep talk to Randall (which is not well well received) and lets drunk Kevin crash at his place. This was just one day. I’m sure it makes Miguel feel for Rebecca on a whole other level.

I understand the kid’s reservations to Miguel. Their guard is up. They are protective of their father and the hole his passing has put in the family. But I’m fond of Miguel for the same reason the Pearson children are guarded around him - he is not biological and he reminds me of my grandmother. 

My mother’s mom died when she was 19. Her father (my grandpa) eventually remarried. My mother liked her step mother and even grew to love her, but the day my sister was born my father had a tough conversation with my mom. He said, “I know this is going to be hard to hear, but Jeanne will be the only grandmother our children will ever know. So, I think you need to think seriously about the kids calling her Grandma.” My father’s mother was also gone by this time. 

My mom said it was hard to hear, but she knew her step mother would be an amazing grandmother. And she was. My Grandma Jeanne wasn’t my biological grandmother, but she was the only one I had and she was truly wonderful. I like to think she was a gift my Grandma Noella and Grandma Sara sent to us.

So, when I look at Miguel I think what a gift he is to the Pearson family. And it’s what Jack thought as well. It’s why he asked Miguel to look after his family.

Kevin and Zoe

This is a safe space. I am going to raise my stupid white person hand and say I too did not know what the pillowcase was for. So, thank you Kevin Pearson. Your ignorance illuminated my ignorance and I learned something! 

The scenes between Kevin and Don Robinson, Jack’s army buddy, are truly wonderful. 

Source: livelovecaliforniadreams

There’s so much pride in Robinson’s voice as he reveals the truth to Kevin. Jack hid this piece of his life for a good reason, but there is so much to be proud of as well. It’s really a defining moment in the series, where Kevin realizes how much of a hero his father was and how little he really knows about his time in Vietnam.

I was kind of scratching my head when Robinson said Jack never wrote him back. Does that sound like Jack Pearson thing to do? I shrugged it off though and just chalked it up to Jack trying to leave the war behind like Don said. But then, he finds Kevin and gives him the letters. Robinson had to measure the promises he made to Jack versus the wishes of his son. Not an easy decision, but I think he made the right one. Those letters are going to be illuminating.

Source:  wondersprince

As for the photograph and the woman with the necklace, the same necklace Kevin wears with his father’s dog tags, I’m not sure what it means. Obviously, this person is incredibly important to Jack or else he wouldn’t have kept the necklace for all these years. Could it have been romantic? Sure. If it was does it mean Rebecca wasn’t Jack’s true love? No, not at all.

Keep in mind Vietnam was pre-Rebecca. Jack was pretty clear when he met Rebecca he knew immediately she was “The one.” However, we love many  people in our life. It’s okay to carry pieces of them with you, which is what I think Jack has done. He kept a piece of this woman with him, just like he kept a piece of Don Robinson with him when he place his hands on his children's’ faces and said, “Breathe.”

Stray Thoughts

I think Randall’s dual culture upbringing is strength. He is a black man who was raised in white culture. I think it gives him unique perspective and he belongs in both worlds. It’s not an either or. Maybe this makes me naive but it’s what I think.

Holy crap is this how in vitro really works? It’s so friggin expensive and the success rate is so low! Wow. Sending snuggles to everyone who has every struggled with infertility. You are not alone.

Randall unbuttoning his shirt is all the reason I need to vote for him. Done deal.

Randall: All his lemonade froze Beth.

Beth: Yeah but he was stupid baby.

I love everything about them. I ship it like Fed Ex.

Three hours to get ready Kate? Just as an FYI - that’s all over when you have a baby. You’ll be lucky to get a shower.

Nobody had fun at prom? Man, can teen Pearsons catch a break at some point?

A+ on the prom dresses. Absolutely what I wore in high school. We were slaves to fashion in the late nineties. ;)

I’m super confused. So, Randall’s date wouldn’t go to prom with him because her dad is a racist asshole? How does that work? You are in the dress. The hair is done. Randall Pearson is looking gorgeous in a tux and has a corsage ready to go. You tell dad to go to hell and get in the damn limo kid. Where is her mother in all of this??? What is wrong with people????

Kate’s impression of Adele is dead on.

Rebecca is such an amazing mom. Kate doesn’t give her nearly enough credit.

[wondertrevcentral]

I see a lot of well-intentioned fans of Wonder Woman worrying that Steve Trevor’s return somehow negates what he did for Diana. I would like to change this conversation, for Wonder Woman, and for many movies where the impossible is part of the appeal.

At the end of Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor flies a plane full of poison into the sky and detonates it, sacrificing himself, after telling Diana that he loves her and he wishes they had more time to be together. The anguish of watching Steve’s plane explode, and the inspiration of his love, helps to propel Diana into wielding her awesome powers in full. She handily beats the bad guy, her uncle Ares.

Steve’s goodbye to Diana and death are well-staged and effectively wrought. It’s emotional and wrenching, and losing the first man that she loved a hundred years ago has followed Diana into the present day. “Thank you for bringing him back to me,” she writes in a candid e-mail to Bruce Wayne, who had sent her the WWI picture of Diana, Steve, and their trusty companions that kicked off Wonder Woman‘s flashback. The watch that Steve gave her, and that Diana has clearly kept as a treasured memento, rests nearby.

Ever since Wonder Woman‘s sequel was confirmed last year and Chris Pine rumored to be involved in some capacity, we’ve talked here about how they’ll bring the beloved character back: is he but a dream within a dream? A clone? A hallucination? Did Steve’s plane somehow get frozen, preserving him as a young man, as superheroic Steves are wont to do? Godly resurrection? Illusions? Aliens?

Whatever it is that brings back some version of Steve Trevor, it’s likely going to be one of the bigger reveals of Wonder Woman 1984, and I’m guessing our guesses will be off. What it does not do is somehow devalue or change what Steve did out of love for Diana and to help save the world in 1917.

Here’s the thing about death as fictional a plot device: it’s the oldest trope in the book. It’s far older than books—death, and heroes trying to defy it and return a loved one from that state, are among the first stories that humans told each other. Onscreen, in big action movies, death is often used cheaply. We’re so used to it happening we don’t blink when a trenchful of people take heavy fire in a movie like Wonder Woman. A narratively well-earned death like Steve Trevor’s makes more of an emotional impact, sure, and it can make for a more resonant movie-going experience. But the idea that Steve should have to stay statically dead in a fantastical film where anything is possible in order to somehow elevate his actions and what they did to Diana is mind-boggling to me.

Here’s the thing about death: in real life, it is one of the worst things that the people left behind will ever experience. Death is cruel, merciless, and it can leave you feeling like there’s an expanding black hole lodged in your chest for many years. For the rest of your life.

Here’s the thing about death if we could reverse it here like we can in fiction: not a goddamn person on planet Earth would lament lost heroism or sacrifice or any other grandiose romantic bullshit we lay on death to try to make sense of it. Your loved one died to save you but now they’re back again? Sorry, Steve, I’m just not feeling it anymore because of all of that squandered heroism, no one would say ever.

The fact of the matter where Wonder Woman is concerned is that Steve Trevor did what he did in 1917 and it was surely one of the worst things that Diana went through. Having Steve return in some capacity 67 years later does not alter that past. Steve’s death also did not make Wonder Woman a hero. Diana was already a hero, and the loss of him served as a catalyst at a dire moment. That’s what losing someone does: it changes you like a chemical reaction. But it does not create or define you.

We go to see movies like Wonder Woman, Avengers, and Star Wars in order to escape into fictional realities where people get to do the impossible and have abilities that we can only dream about. So often, our heroes rise to the occasion because of a poignant loss, because this is an instinct that we can all understand. Iron Man with Yinsen. Batman and his parents. Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Captain America with Dr. Erskine and later Bucky Barnes. Spider-Man and his Uncle Ben.

But giving death the slip and coming back from it is also a huge appeal of comic books and their film incarnations. Incredible powers like the use of the Force and the capacity to appear as a Force ghost are part and parcel of what makes Star Wars tick. We want to witness worlds where death can’t quite hold us.

It used to be a longstanding fan and creator expectation in Marvel Comics that nobody had to “stay” dead except for Uncle Ben and Bucky Barnes. Those deaths were seen as being so essential to the narratives of Peter Parker and Steve Rogers that they could not be retconned or revived.

Then in 2005, comics writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting brought Bucky back onto the scene as the brainwashed assassin The Winter Soldier. It turned out that Bucky had not died in World War II after all, but was taken by the Russians, given a bionic arm, and reprogrammed to do their bidding for decades.

Bucky’s return from “the dead” is a perfect example of how such an important character’s revival does not negate the impact that his life and loss created in the first place. In fact, if anything, Brubaker created in The Winter Soldier arc the most tragic and brilliant foil possible for Captain America.

What is more difficult than having to face your best friend turned into your enemy? The film version of Winter Soldier is particularly excellent for the same reason. Cap’s agony at having to fight his old friend, and his unrelenting conflict about it and steadfast belief that Bucky was still Bucky beneath the brainwashing, helped make Winter Soldier into one of the most exciting and moving of the Marvel movies. Their continued melodrama and connection have carried through Civil War and Infinity War, and Bucky is a huge fan favorite. It’s hard to imagine where the MCU would have gone without the Winter Soldier storyline as a part of it.

Yet Marvel has also begun to overplay its hand where these tropes are concerned. They’ve been placing all of their chips on grief as the one failsafe to motivate a hero for too long. It worked so effectively for them before as a critical plot device that Infinity War can be read as a culminating series of attempts at impactful permadeaths in order to galvanize our heroes.

As the Russo brothers and Marvel Studios co-president Kevin Feige gleefully tease that some of the characters lost in Infinity War will really stay dead, they’re missing the point of why we love these films. We don’t need characters that we adore to remain dead for their lives to matter, but we’d like it if their deaths meant something when they happen instead of merely serving as a momentary plot beat.

It’s this kind of cheapened take on death-as-heroic-motivation that makes the Russos open Avengers: Infinity War with the horrific genocide of the Asgardians and the brutal deaths of Loki and Heimdall, just so that Thor is feeling sad and mad enough to go on a reckless quest. Do they know Thor at all? He would have done that anyway.

Will Loki or Heimdall ever return? I’d love that. Loki has also come back from death, not once, but twice, because he still had great things to contribute to the MCU narrative. Good characters in fantastical films don’t need to stay dead, but they do need good plotlines. The problem here doesn’t hinge on whether these characters should come back, but whether they should have died so wastefully in the first place. I don’t go into Avengers for gritty genocidal realism. I want to see them do the impossible.

Does Bucky Barnes’ return to the world cancel out who he was before or the value of how he seemingly died fighting alongside Steve Rogers, Steve’s shield in his hand?  Hardly. It heightened the emotional impact of both characters in the modern day because of what they shared in the past. Thus it would likely be with a reunited Diana Prince and Steve Trevor.

We cannot know the circumstances of how they will come together again, but their history, and Diana having felt Steve’s loss, makes the relationship all the richer and all the more compelling. Their experiences are something that we will never experience, but we can have the chance to cheat death and live vicariously through them.

Source.

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Shameless 9x08 "The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Alibis" Review

Shameless has just come off of a hiatus, previous to which it was announced that two beloved Gallaghers would be leaving the show. Cameron Monaghan, who played Ian Gallagher, revealed via social media that 9x06 would be his last episode, while Emmy Rossum, who plays Fiona Gallagher, announced that she would be leaving the show after the ninth season wraps.

This double-whammy has left many fans, including myself, wondering where the show will go from here. Ian and Fiona have played extremely pivotal roles in the story that has unraveled for the past eight years, with Ian also providing refreshing LGBTQ+ representation as a gay man whose coming out left him unequivocally accepted by his family.

Though Ian got the happy ending so many of his fans had been hoping for, reunited with his on and off again boyfriend Mickey Milkovich (albeit in prison), Fiona was left in a much more unsettling place at the midseason point.

In the first episode of the second half of the season, we see that Fiona isn’t going to have an easy time getting out of the hole she’s found herself in — and that she’s ignoring that she’s in said hole altogether by numbing herself with a steady diet of vodka and cigarettes.

To recap, Fiona has just lost the apartment building she owned as well as another building she attempted to invest in, along with thousands of dollars. And on top of all this, her boyfriend Ford was already married.

However, because she’s a Gallagher, Fiona can’t sulk over her bad luck. She pulls herself up by the bootstraps, steals some of Frank’s vodka that’s sitting on the floor next to where he’s passed out, and goes about her day.

When she arrives at Patsy’s, the only source of revenue she has left, she finds that customers have been sticking their gum on the undersides of the diner tables. In her hungover or perhaps still-drunk state, she takes her frustration out on the customers. Though her employees are worried about her antics, they say nothing and try to keep the place up and running as Fiona comes in and out, visiting the nearest corner store for a little vodka pick-me-up at lunch.

Meanwhile, Debbie discovers that Fiona hasn’t been paying any of the Gallagher household bills when their power suddenly shuts off. When Fiona doesn’t answer her calls, she decides to come up with a fabricated sob story for each company. It works, though she later tells Carl that the squirrel fund is back, since Fiona no longer has the means to take care of all their expenses.

Carl and his new girlfriend Kelly find an odd side business in racketeering in order to pitch in, hoarding shared electric scooters and charging locals to get them back. Kelly then discovers that if they recharge the bikes and return them each day, they can make some easy money.

Carl also wins what he thinks is an innocent bet with Frank, unaware that Frank is up to his usual antics. Frank, willing to do anything for money and comfort, just wants to appease his mentally unstable (but rich) girlfriend Ingrid. So when she reveals to him that she’s frozen her eggs and wants him to impregnate her, Frank perhaps sees this as his golden ticket out of the Southside and away from his own “ungrateful” kids. However, his sperm count is dismal, so he tricks Carl into providing a usable sample to claim as his own. Unsurprisingly, it takes, and Ingrid finds herself pregnant with not one, not two, but six new little Gallaghers.

Across town, Kev and V have decided to foster a 12 year old boy named Santiago. Soon after bringing him to the Alibis with them, they discover that he’s been separated from the rest of his family as they were seeking asylum in the states. While Kevin wants to keep the child, mostly because he has a good throwing arm, Veronica insists they must reconnect him with his family.

All the while, Lip seems a bit lost. His new fling Tami is trying to convince him to get an apartment, even surprising him with a visit to a potential one on his lunch break. However, Lip knows he doesn’t have the money for this. While he tells Tami they can turn the Gallagher basement into a private space for them, Tami is visibly unimpressed and starts to pick apart every aspect of the Southside home. While Lip (and Debbie) don’t take any of it, it’s clear that he and Tami live very different lives and are having trouble meeting in the middle.

This episode left me with one particular burning question: What will become of Fiona? Though her family clearly cares about her and are stepping up to keep themselves and her afloat, it cannot be ignored that Emmy Rossum is set to leave the series in mere episodes. So with her character already heading down a dark road, will her exit be just as dim?

Maybe it’s a stupid question, as Gallaghers aren’t exactly familiar with happy endings. Monica died of a brain hemorrhage in Season 7, and as earlier mentioned, Ian is in prison. But it’s difficult to predict how Fiona could get out of this predicament and get out of the Southside altogether.

Part of me hopes that rumors of Jimm/Steve, Fiona’s ex-lover played by Justin Chatwin, returning to the show are true, just so Fiona can have a happy ending and be whisked away from the madness her life has become.

Already, it’s interesting to see how Debbie is stepping up and taking a very maternal role in Fiona’s mental absence. I enjoyed seeing her be something so different from the rebellious, irresponsible teenage girl from seasons past, and I genuinely hope this will stick once Fiona is actually gone. She’s almost become everything she hated about her older sister, so I’m curious to see how their relationship will change now that their roles are reversed.

I also loved the discussion in the episode surrounding the current refugee crisis happening at the Mexican/American border. Shameless tends to be controversial at times in terms of its political statements, but this storyline seems really promising. Kev and V both want what’s best for Santiago, and are horrified at the reality of his situation. I hope this will become a full-fledged storyline and really force Kev and V to change the way they think about adopting children, as Kev seemingly only really wants a son so he can play catch with him.

As far as Lip goes, I’m a bit confused. I’m not really sure where his storyline is going this season. His relationship with Tami seems like a cure for boredom and maybe a way to distract himself from drinking, which, I must say, he’s doing a great job at. It was interesting to see his juxtaposition to Fiona who’s in a similar place to where he was not too long ago. I hope this will be touched upon as the season progresses. I feel like Lip could be the perfect person to help Fiona get out of her funk by reminding her of his own rock bottom and how he managed to crawl his way out of it.

So far, I’m enjoying the second half of season nine a lot more than the first. There seems to be some potential for entertaining storylines and some real character development, so I’m excited to see where the rest of the season goes from here.

Though I missed Ian’s presence immensely in this episode and may be just a bit in denial at the permanence of his exit, I’m focusing on appreciating Fiona as much as I can before she too leaves us. Her performance was incredible this episode and I’m not sure how this show will go on without her, but there’s six more episodes of bliss until that happens.

Shameless airs Sundays on Showtime at 9/8c.

Jessica’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝

[daviddelrealactormodel]

My ARTICLE: COMIC STORIES YOU SHOULD READ!!!

COMIC STORIES YOU SHOULD READ,,,  ... The complete LIST and ARTICLE of MINE I talked you about...

As presented to CBR , PASTE magazine, (I even wrote to a Playboy editor whose data I found for their culture sections, lol, but don´t worry, there´s nothing your kids cannot read in this article, it´s completely the opposite, it´s an article engineered to fit practically to ALL AUDIENCES everywhere!!!)     and other internet sources in the last days of 2017, David del Real. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13 Comic Stories You Should Read Be4 You Die! List by: David del Real. First: Easy! With the title I don´t mean you or me are going to die anytime soon!!! Second: Yes, some stories I will talk about are a bit terrifying, but I promise all of them are terrific!!! Third: This list is not arranged from "lesser good to greatest good" . To decide which one is the best is your job. I´m arranging more or less from the most approachable (both because maybe it´s a famous character and easy storyline) to the most intricate and difficult, but ok, I admit numbers one and two are my favorite. Fourth: I am not going to tell you so many spoilers that you don´t want to read the stories, I will tell you only what you need to know to help you find your next great read in the closest comics or convenience store near you. ENJOY!!! Number 13: Superman, Peace on Earth. Story by: Alex Ross and Paul Dini Text by: Paul Dini Art by: Alex Ross. Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Superman stands in front of the US Congress with an idea: To stop hunger in the world for one day. He will take all the unharvested food and share it with anyone with hunger in the world. It´s one of the simplest story-lines ever but also one of the few that has made my eyes feel wet. A great choice for parents and uncles that are searching for a good old inspiring tale to read to the young. Number 12 And They Shall Call Him Champion. Written by: Tom DeFalco. Artist: Ron Wilson. Colorist: George Roussos. An intergalactic villain wants to fight the most awesome fighters in the Universe to see if someone can defeat him, will any of Earth´s champions will be able to defeat this villain and thus, save the Earth from being destroyed? Trust me, this is a classic fable of our time that you will want to read once a year for inspiration Number 11 The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Gene Ha. Colourist: Kevin Somers. Published by MARVEL comics. Cyclops and Phoenix are taken to the future with a very singular mission: to raise Nathan, the one who will become Cable and will save the future and that is actually their son from another reality (or could he be from this one?). One condition for the success of the mission is that they can´t reveal him that they are his real parents. They will take care of Nathan using bodies made somehow alike the ones they have in the 20th Century and the nicknames of Redd and Slim. Number 10: Superman: World Without A Superman Writers: Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, etc... Artists: Walter Simonson, Tom Grummett. Jon Bogdanove, etc... Colorists: Dennis Janke, Walter Simonson, Doug Hazlewood, etc.. Superman created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Published by: DC Comics. Death of Superman was a comic that broke many sales records, nevertheless, in terms of story-telling I prefer the next story: World Without A Superman. Superman is death and now the world has to deal with it. How will his most beloved react? Which will be the reaction of the different Superheroes to this demise? We see a very complete gathering of Superheroes remembering Superman and agreeing to put a black piece of fabric in everybody´s arm as a way of remembering him. We see everybody from Louis Lane to every member of the JLA trying to cope with the demise...and we see the Linear Men, who are dedicated to fix time paradoxes considering if they should bring Superman back to life by preventing his death!!! Number  9 Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men. Writers: Chris Claremont. Artists: Jon Bogdanove. Colorists: Terry Austin. Published by: MARVEL COMICS. My main reason to set this comic in the list is the fact that it shows something that happens to people who have had a dairy once in their lives. If they read it some years later, they can feel surprised of having written those words for one reason or another, this story exploits well that surprise. Kitty Pride from the X-Men is terribly ill. The Fantastic Four go X-Men´s Muir Island in order to help but some misunderstandings make the two teams fight each other and make the X-Men search desperately for someone else´s help. Dr. Doom offers his aid and the X-Men accept it even when , obviously, they don´t trust him. This is a story for both the life of Kitty Pride and the very soul of the Fantastic Four. Number  8 Batman: A Death In The Family Writer: Jim Starlin Art: Jim Aparo Colorist: Mike De Carlo Published by: DC Comics. This was the first comic ever that made me cry. I remember myself crying over the bed and could not believe my eyes watching an also-crying Batman with the corpse of a Boy Wonder on his arms...Also notice that this is the only triad of creators (Starlin, Aparo and De Carlo) that appears twice in this list. Robin (Jason Todd) and Batman have had a lot of discussions lately. Robin begins to investigate and arrives to the realization that he is not really an orphan, his mother is alive and maybe willing to see him as much as he wants to see her. Betrayed to the Joker by his own mother, Robin gets beaten to death and this event will ever remain a burden in the soul of the dark protector of Gotham. NUMBER  7 Witchblade, any issue. Main writers: David Wohl, Cristina Z, Marc Silvestri, etc... Main artists: Michael Turner, Dan Kemp, Keu Cha, ,Marco Galli, Marc Silvestri,etc... Main colorists: Jonathan D. Smith, Peter Steigerwald, etc... Published by: Top Cow Productions from Image Comics. Beautiful and very job-committed detective Sara Pezzini inherits the most deathly weapon of all; a mystical object called the "Witchblade" which has passed from one bearer to another for centuries, being all its carriers beautiful, brave and justice oriented women. Very sensitive and overwhelmed by work and the recent decease of her mate ,Sara is the bearer of the Witchblade in our days...but of course it won´t be an easy task as that kind of power  is  obsessively searched by the forces of evil. NUMBER  6 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Story by: Frank Miller Art by: Frank Miller Colors: Klaus Janson Published by: DC Comics This is a story that most comic fans and historians agree that changed the comics forever, giving us a very adult tale written with a character that was part of our childhoods. I will only plot the very beginning of the story and let you people discover the rest. For the ones wanting for more reasons to read this comic, in the last volume we will see a Batman v. Superman fight that pretty much inspired many of the subsequent fights between superheroes, including many of those starring by these two characters. We are in Gotham City, its the tenth anniversary of the last time the vigilante called as Batman was seen. The city has changed a lot and there is a lot of crime in our new city. There is a group of criminals called  "The Mutants" that rule the streets. Batman will have to leave his retirement comfort to save his city once again and in the process he will have to deal with new enemies and with a new self-proclaimed Robin: a little but very intelligent and brave girl who saves his life after an humiliating defeat against the mutants´ leader. NUMBER  5 Hulk: Future Imperfect. Written by: Peter David Art: George Pérez Colorist: Tom Smith Published by: MARVEL Comics. The future is a complete mess with a tyrannic version of our Hulk ruling it with steel-hand. Rick Johns, the one that Dr. Banner once saved from a Gamma Explosion and old Hulk´s best friend, realizes that only Hulk can defeat Hulk and plots a plan to bring his old friend, the heroic Hulk from the past to defeat his tyrannic version of the future. NUMBER  4 Preacher, Gone To Texas. Written by: Garth Ennis. Artist: Steve Dillon. Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth. Foreword by: Joe R. Landsdale. Published by: DC Comics, Vertigo. If you are searching for a non-conventional story with a lot of existential crisis and mixed ideologies and mythologies ( Angels, demons, vampires,whatever, etc..) this is the comic you need. Jesse, a very conscious and responsible preacher gets beaten in the local bar because of telling everybody´s terrible crimes (and believe me, they are!!!) in public and accusing them of going to his church on Sundays and acting like savages the other days of the week. Also, in Heaven there is a great fuss because of a singular creature born from the affairs of an angel with a she-demon and that is said that can be as powerful as God himself. This singular creature merges his essence with Jesse during a Sunday´s speech while setting the church on fire with his entrance into this world........and then.......I think this will do, I´ll let you people find out for yourselves... don´t google, go and buy! NUMBER  3: Batman: The Seven Nights of the Beast Written by: Jim Starlin Artist: Jim Aparo Colorist: Mike De Carlo Published by: DC Comics Batman created by: Bob Kane This is one of the comics I usually recommend to people who has never read a comic and ask for a good story to start with. The reason of this is its enormous realism and credibility. Most comic stories tended to be set in very "black and white" scenarios when this comic first appeared in the eighties, meaning that the good and the bad side are always very clearly defined. In our days, more and more comics, cartoons and movies are made using the "not so clear to define good from bad" approach, and I´m pretty sure this was one of the comics that influenced that change. A war veteran from the old U.S.S.R. comes to the U.S.A. with one goal: to kill the top ten names of the Defense System of the nation. There are very probably spies inside the C.I.A. and other government agencies that make protect these top ten people difficult. The president of the U.S.A. is "abducted" by Batman by means of his own protection. TRIVIA: Ronald Reagan, president of the U.S.A. (1981-1989), appears as a character in this comic. NUMBER 2 Thor: God of Thunder The God Butcher & GodBomb. Writer: Jason Aaron. Art: Nick Klein ,Esad Ribic, Butch Guice. Colorist: Tom Palmer, Ive Svorcina, etc... Variant Covers: Olivier Coipel & Laura Martin. Published by MARVEL Comics. Terror has been spread around all the gods of all the planets in the universe as the rumor begins to look closer and closer. There is someone capable of killing gods and has been getting rid of them one by one, city after city, planet after planet. Thor has already had an encounter with him centuries ago but failed in ultimately defeating him. This story, that has the peculiarity of telling us the different adventures from three different times simultaneously gives us both the flavor of being reading an old greek or norse tragedy when he tells us about the first adventures of Thor when he was young and his first encounter with the God Butcher, and the bouquet of a futuristic tale when counting us of the present fights of Thor...and the final fight with the Butcher at the end of all times when he has already succeeded in the Throne to his father, Odin and is ready to fight for the sake of all the universe in all the times (past,present and future) possible!!!!!!!!!!!! NUMBER  1: The Last Avenger Story Written by: Peter David. Art: Ariel Olivetti Published by: Marvel Comics. We find ourselves in a possible future, where most of our most known heroes are death, sick or retired. Most of the active superheroes for that future are gathered in the same facility. Easy for the bad guys: they just throw a Nuclear Bomb to the facility and good-bye heroes...well good-bye young heroes. Now, it´s up to the remaining of the Superhero teams you know to defend the Earth with all they´ve got for one last time...united they will fall. About our author: David is a graduated engineer from Mexico with a huge passion for the arts. He also has some acting experience in TV. commercials and series. Follow him on twitter as @DavidRealActor

[womenofcolor15]

Wendy Williams Threatens To Expose Her Brother After He Revealed She Didn’t Attend Their Mother’s Funeral, Wendy’s Ex-Husband Attended

Wendy Williams has threatened to EXPOSE her brother, Tommy Williams, if he doesn’t stop talking about her life. He recently revealed she didn’t attend their mother’s funeral and that Wendy’s ex-husband, Kevin Hunter Sr., was there. Oh? More inside…

Wendy Williams has become a Hot Topic…again.

2020 kicked off with Wendy Williams getting the greenlight that her divorce from her husband of 20+ years was official. This year is starting off with family drama for the daytime talk show host! Wendy and her brother, Tommy Williams, are going AT IT.

So what happened? Let us break it down…

R.I.P. SHIRLEY WILLIAMS Anybody that knows Wendy Williams knows she loved her Mom. Praying for you Wendy. pic.twitter.com/MfBQQ3zYNI

— IG: iLissaNJ (@iLissaNJ) December 6, 2020

Last month, Wendy revealed her mother, Shirley Williams, had passed away. She was 83. During her show on December 7th, the 56-year-old talk show host told viewers her mother died “many, many, weeks ago.” She said her mother died "beautifully and peacefully and surrounded by love," adding, "She didn't suffer, not one bit, thank goodness.”

Check it at the 2-minute mark below:

On that same day, Wendy’s brother, Tommy, hopped on his YouTube account to record a Live where he disputed Wendy’s claim that their mother had passed away “many, many weeks ago.” Apparently, their mom had just died days ago, according to Tommy.

Peep his live below (starting at the 10:35-minute mark):

    Fast forward to now and the sibling drama has heated UP!

On Saturday, Tommy hopped on his YouTube Live to share with his followers how he has been feeling since the death of his mother. While talking about how he’s handling grief, he revealed his sister, Wendy, did NOT attend their mother’s funeral and he’s confused why.

"I don't understand how a person can miss out on giving a salute to the one person who is always there, who always showed support," Tommy shared during an Instagram Live session. "I don't understand how a person cannot go to a funeral and hold up the one person or the family member that you do have, the parent that you do have left, and just move on. Keep it moving . I don't understand how to keep living somebody who could cause that type of pain."

"She spends time doing what she wants to do, that's why I'm caught up in my thoughts because why wouldn't you come to your mother's funeral? Why?" he wondered. "It's not their fault. And I have a father he needs because I've got to fill that gap that he felt that day."

Tommy didn’t provide an explanation as to why Wendy didn’t attend the funeral. However, he did note that Wendy’s ex-husband, Kevin Hunter Sr., was in attendance.

"Wendy's ex Kevin came out to support the family and I appreciate that. There's no malice that I have towards him, never will be there. He made a choice, it was a poor choice and it was the one that broke the camel's back. But I appreciate him coming to the funeral for my mother," Tommy said, acknowledging Kevin’s infidelity during his marriage to Wendy.

You can check out his live (starting at the 12:30-minute mark) below:

Well, Wendy fans flooded her comments on Instagram about what her brother said about her, so she responded to him DIRECTLY on her show today (January 18th).

“Tommy, let me tell you something right now. All you are is my brother,” she started. “You better stop talking the way you’re talking because now it’s dripping into my comment page. See, I wasn’t searching for Tommy. You know what I mean? I was simply looking about how people felt about last week’s show, or the dresses, or the guests we had on. We do a nice production here. I’m minding my wendyshow.com business. And I’m seeing a lot of comments about ‘Oh, your brother doesn’t like you,’ or ‘You better watch your back because your brothers on one,’ or ‘Wendy I can’t believe you’re this kind of person.’ He’s pegging me to be this kinda person I’m not.

Oh, Wendy is PISSED. She even threatened to EXPOSE her brother's personal business…WITH receipts.

“Honey, you don’t want me to start pegging you to be the kinda person you are. With full blown receipts. I could fill the audience with receipts. With leftovers around the block.”

“You are my brother. Let’s keep it that way. If you wanna talk on the internet then you talk about the things you think you know about yourself. You don’t wanna talk about the things that I know about you. For sure.”

OOP!

Check it (starting at the 6:00-minute mark) below:

Brother Tommy may want to ease up on talking publicly about his sister because this is getting UGLY!

  Photos: IG

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2021/01/18/wendy-williams-brother-upset-she-didnt-attend-their-mother%E2%80%99s-funeral-%E2%80%93-wendy%E2%80%99s-ex-husband

[ynsespoir]

5 Reasons why Prior Authorizations are Challenging

What is Prior Authorization in healthcare?

Prior authorization (PA) is often used with expensive prescription drugs. Health insurance companies use prior authorization to verify that a certain drug, procedure, or treatment is medically necessary before it is done or prescribed. Put simply, it is the process of getting approval from your health insurance company (not your doctor) to obtain a prescription or treatment.

Here are five reasons why prior authorizations are hard to manage:

1. Time-Consuming for Doctors

Many physicians have long expressed their dissatisfaction with the time they and their staff have to spend interacting with health plans according to Medical Economics. When a prescription needs authorizing, this takes a lot of admin time, including the time a physician has to spend persuading an insurance company to cover a medication or a procedure that is expensive.

Per the AMA, “Ninety percent of surveyed physicians reported that the PA process delays patient access to necessary care. Forty-four percent of doctors say PA requests “often or always” hold up care. And those delays are often lengthy, with 26 percent of physicians saying that, in the prior week, they waited three business days or more on average to receive PA decisions from health plans.”

There are multiple steps that a physician has to follow to complete prior authorizations. This can involve securing the correct form, then filling it out with the required information, submitting the form to the plan, etc. In particular, holding time is long when trying to reach a customer service representative in the insurance company, with hold times averaging 20 minutes or more. Many physicians will tell you that the overall process can take 30-45 minutes for each PA submission.

There are many real-life case studies that demonstrate the inefficiencies of PA. Danielle Ofri, an associate professor at New York University School of Medicine, speaks of her experience with PA as “frustrating.” In one example, Dr. Opri had to go through four phone calls and four customer-care representatives to get the request of 90 pills each month for her patient who suffers from high blood pressure, rather than the 45 which was recommended by the company. The issue was that the 45 pills a month was the maximum allowed for this particular medication. After submitting a list of information including a list of all the blood-pressure medications that the patient had been on in the past, including dates of initiation and relevant lab values, Dr. Ofri was able to get an approval from the representative after going back and forth countless times. According to Dr. Ofri, the time spent on the phone could have been put to better use for patient care.

Kevin de Regnier, DO, a solo family practitioner in Winterset, Iowa, also speaks of his negative experience with prior authorization, which has grown steadily during his 26 years of practice. According to de Regnier, the nurses spend about 10% of their time each day on prior authorization. “It’s an unreimbursed cost of providing care, and unfortunately, we don’t have the financial resources to bring in someone to do prior auth exclusively, even on a part-time basis,” he says.

Unfortunately, they are not alone; a survey found that 84% of responding physicians believe the burden of PAs is high or extremely high. Another 86% of physicians also responded that the burden of PAs has increased over the past five years, which takes away the time that physicians can care for their patients.

2. Costly for Healthcare Practices

Although PA has been an issue among healthcare providers for many years, little is known about the cost, either to individual practices or the healthcare system as a whole. In 2009, one study estimated that, on average, prior authorization requests consumed about 20 hours a week per medical practice: one hour of the doctor’s time, nearly six hours of clerical time, plus 13 hours of nurses’ time.

A study by Health Affairs further revealed that when the time is converted to dollars, practices spent an average of $68,274 per physician per year interacting with health plans. This equates to $23 billion and $31 billion annually! Prior authorization ultimately ends up costing the health care system more than it saves.

3. The Process Problem

More drugs than ever before require a prior authorization. The number of insurance plans is increasing as well, each with its own forms and policies. This makes it difficult for providers to keep up as the requirements keep changing.

Failure to obtain proper authorizations can have a drastic effect on the practice income. No authorization means no payment. Insurers won’t pay for procedures if the correct prior authorization isn’t received, and most contracts restrict you from billing the patient. PA denials result in lost revenue, declines in provider and patient satisfaction, and delays in patient care.

The chart below demonstrates this and shows how much revenue is lost due to authorization.

Despite the effort to save cost on the insurer’s side, it is not even clear whether insurance companies are saving money in the long run. One study examined the records of more than 4,000 patients with Type 2 diabetes who were prescribed medications requiring prior authorizations. Those who were denied the medications had higher overall medical costs during the following year; not getting the medications probably worsened their conditions. Therefore it cost insurers more in the long term as they seek other treatment and medication.

Although PA is widely implemented as a cost-containment measure, it is a labor-intensive procedure for health care providers, patients, pharmacists, and pharmacy benefit plans. Denied claims create the need for manual intervention; this increases practice costs and administrative transaction costs (just under $14 per transaction).

A common problem with many busy practices is that many claim denials sit unworked since denials are usually the most difficult and time-consuming work for billing staff. PA requires multiple letters with supporting documentation and multiple telephone conversations. As a consequence, PA costs are expensive, administratively daunting, and unsustainable for most primary care providers.

4. Patient Delay

The real impact of PA is often felt by patients who are delayed in getting their medication or treatment. As a patient, PA problems can create a huge interruption; they have to figure out whether the process is stalled out with the doctor, the insurance company, or the pharmacy.

Nearly all physicians noted that wait times corresponded with delays in necessary care, which added to the risk of adverse events. Significantly, 78% of respondents said that PAs could result in patients forgoing necessary treatments, according to the release.

Up to 92% of doctors say that prior authorization harms patient access to care, which ultimately damages clinical quality outcomes. While the process brings a certain accountability and cost containment, several hours are lost in productivity.

For a submission to get authorized, approximately 64% of physicians waited for at least one business day for a PA decision, and 30% said they waited three or more business days, according to the AMA. During this time, patients are unable to start treatment. These long wait times have a negative impact on patient experience and patient care, and for many practices, the burden of the PA process causes them to abandon a preferred therapy in favor of a different formulary medication.

5. Process Management

The management of PA can sometimes be difficult to manage as the requirements can vary widely from one insurer to another, each of which also has a different process for submitting prior authorization requests. This means the process cannot be standardized at times and must be done manually, which, of course, can drain resources and time if this is already limited.

Even when the practice has provided a request in a timely way, the insurer may still end up not paying for the prescribed medication or treatment. Unfortunately, claims with prior authorizations are denied more often than you might think. Insurance companies can deny a request for prior authorization for reasons such as:

The doctor or pharmacist didn’t complete the necessary steps

Filling the wrong paperwork or missing information such as service code or date of birth

The physician’s office neglected to contact the insurance company due to lack of time

The pharmacy didn’t bill the insurance company properly

Outdated information – claims can be denied due to outdated insurance information, such as sending the claim to the wrong insurance company

The insurer failed to notify the pharmacy

The approval expired after a limited time (normally 30 days)

The chart below shows the reason PA was denied:

Image source: Managed Care

From the chart, it is clear that the majority of payers report their denials due to the failure of physicians not meeting their guidelines – 70% of payers say that they deny requests because what is sent over is not consistent with their listing/guidelines. Whereas from the practice manager’s perspectives, 42% of requests were denied due to them not meeting the guideline, therefore there is a slight discrepancy between the two.

One significant difference in perception between the practices and payers, however, is the denials for medical necessity. Only 12% of payers say they base their denials on medical necessity, yet 51% of practices say they receive denials for this reason. Payers and physician practice managers have different perceptions of why authorizations are denied.

What can be done to improve the Prior Authorization process?

Although prior authorization is an unavoidable step in many practices, the current process is all too often manual and involves prescribers, payers, pharmacists, and patients in a cumbersome flow of information that may result in delays in treatment and dissatisfaction for all. As a result, many are implementing electronic prior authorization solutions to address common issues with the approvals process. ReferralMD integrates directly with electronic health records (EHRs), enabling healthcare professionals to easily obtain prior authorizations in real-time at the point of care. This also eliminates time-consuming paper forms, faxes, and phone calls.

In 81% of instances where claims are denied, prior authorization was either not obtained or not handled properly.  By initiating automated prior authorization processes for hospitals, front-end denials are reduced. Healthcare surveys revealed that prior electronic authorization could save as much as 416 hours per year! In 2015, the average cost to a provider for a fully electronic prior authorization was $1.89 compared to $7.50 for entirely manual authorization.

What the prior authorization process demonstrates is the incredible amount of clerical time that it takes: up to about 50% of the physicians’ time in the office, while less than 30 percent of the day is spent on direct clinical care. These growing diversions from patient care act as physicians’ biggest source of professional dissatisfaction.

In order to simplify the prior authorization process, there may be improved ways to achieve the “Quadruple Aim” of healthcare.  The Quadruple Aim includes Improved Patient Experience, Better Outcomes, Lower Costs, and Improved Clinical Experience. If healthcare technology can help physicians automate approvals, they would be free to pursue better care, improved health outcomes, lower costs, and enhanced clinical experiences.

from Health Care Technology – ReferralMD https://ift.tt/2CwKKrs via IFTTT

5 Reasons why Prior Authorizations are Challenging Health Care Technology from topofbestone https://ift.tt/2YpZ5hH via IFTTT

[gadgetsrevv]

Toe Poke Daily: Messi accepts Ronaldo’s dinner invitation

Cristiano Ronaldo notched his 10th 4-goal game for both club and country in Portugal’s 5-1 win over Lithuania.

The Serie Awesome podcast crew provide their grades on Juve’s summer dealings, where questions arise over keeping “dead weight” players.

As Barcelona’s stuttering start continued with a 2-2 draw at Osasuna, Steve Nicol is still baffled they’re struggling even without Lionel Messi.

The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

Jump to: Barcelona’s new kit inspired by Ronaldo — no, not that one | Kevin-Prince Boateng admits to buying three cars in one day

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could be sharing a table for two soon.

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has accepted an invitation to dinner from his great rival, Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

While the pair were sat next to each other in the front row at last month’s UEFA Champions League draw in Monaco, Ronaldo revealed that, despite sharing the stage at many gala events for over a decade, they had never broken bread together.

“We have a good relationship, we have not had a dinner together yet, but I hope in the future,” Ronaldo said, to much applause from the star-studded audience.

Well, it could happen. In a rare interview with Sport this week, Messi was pressed on his relationship with Ronaldo after his eternal rival extended an olive branch across the divide.

“We’re not friends because we have never shared the same dressing room, but we always meet up at the galas, we speak and there is absolutely no problem between us,” the Argentina captain said. “That last one [the UEFA Champions League draw gala] was the one where we spoke the most because we spent the most time together.

“I don’t know if we will eat together because both of us have busy lives and I’m not sure if we will be able to make them coincide, but I have no problem accepting his invite to dinner.”

Nice try, Leo, but you’re not wriggling out of this social commitment that easily.

– Marcotti Why do Messi and Ronaldo fans always fight?

It makes you wonder what would be on the menu when they finally make it to their table for two — La Pulga wheat? “Siiiiuu!!” bass? Jamaican curry GOAT?

Messi was also asked by Sport if he ever gets tired of being, well, Lionel Messi. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner refuses to grumble about any aspect of his life, even when he’s being routinely approached by fans while not exactly looking his best on the early morning school run.

“No, I don’t get tired. Thankfully, I experience many strange and impressive things and that is very nice,” came the reply. “It’s true that I would like to be unnoticed. Especially when I’m with my children at school or on the streets.

“At times I take them to school at 8:30 am and I’m asked [by fans] if they can have an autograph or take a picture with me and I’m looking very sleepy. But anyway, I cannot complain about anything.”

– ESPN fantasy soccer: Sign up now! – Luck Index: Could City have won title by more? – ESPN Ultimate XI: Our dream team would win it all!

Barcelona’s new kit inspired by Ronaldo — no, not that one

Barcelona have turned to one of their former greats as inspiration for their new third kit.

– All the new 2019-20 kits for Europe’s top clubs

While his time at the Camp Nou was brief, Ronaldo scored 47 goals in 49 appearances for Barca during the 1997-98 season to secure himself a place among the club’s myriad legends.

As a nod to O Fenomeno, the Catalans have brought back the iconic teal strip that became synonymous with the World Cup-winning Brazil forward.

– Can you guess XI on Kompany’s City debut? – ‘Disrespectful!’: Stars angry at FIFA 20 ratings – Maradona’s unveiling at new club got pretty wild

Kevin-Prince Boateng admits to buying three cars in one day

Kevin-Prince Boateng — you might see him in a Lambo.

Kevin-Prince Boateng has revealed he once bought three cars in one day during his largely ill-fated stint at Tottenham early in his career. The Ghana international endured two turbulent seasons at White Hart Lane which culminated in him being sold on to Portsmouth at a loss in 2009.

Looking back, Boateng admits that his behaviour was “idiotic” but that it was a result of him being a lonely young footballer with large amounts of disposable income and lots of free time to spend it as he pleased.

“I was an idiot. I didn’t treat football as a job,” the 32-year-old told La Repubblica. “I had talent, but I trained the bare minimum, an hour on the field. I was the last to arrive and the first to leave. I’d be out with friends.

“I had money, I lived like a king. I’d never been to the gym. That changes your later career. I bought three cars in one day when I was at Tottenham: a Lamborghini, a Hummer and a Cadillac.”

Boateng — who counts Barcelona, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund among his 11 clubs — offered a few choice words of warning for young players today who find themselves in danger of drifting off course.

The midfielder, now at Fiorentina, said: “To the youngsters, I tell them: ‘You cannot buy happiness.’ I didn’t play, I had family problems, I was out of the squad.

“I was looking for happiness in material things: a car makes you happy for a week. I bought three to be happy for three weeks.”

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[archerton84-blog]

This Is Us Recap: Did the Best Man Win?

Need to catch up? Check out the previous This Is Us recap here.

Q: What do This Is Us‘ Randall Pearson and the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot Gritty have in common?

A: They both hit it big — and quickly — in the City of Brotherly Love.

Yup, this week’s episode reveals that Randall managed to eke out a win in his contentious campaign for Solomon Brown’s city council seat, no matter how impossible that outcome seemed the last time we saw him. And he’s able to do so without completely obliterating his marriage to Beth… though at one point, it’s a close thing.

RELATEDPost Mortem: This Is Us‘ Sterling K. Brown Talks Randall’s Big Political Victory, Teases Goran Visnjic’s ‘Passion’-Filled Role

The hour begins on Election Night and then rewinds to seven weeks earlier, which allows us to watch Kevin and Zoe navigate the rocky channel of cohabitation and then stumble on a major clue in the Uncle Nicky mystery.Read on for the highlights of “The Last Seven Weeks.”

ELECTION NIGHT | At Randall’s campaign headquarters, Brown is only four percentage points ahead of Randall: The race officially is too close to call. Rebecca and Miguel are on hand to wait it out with the candidate, as are Zoe, Kevin, Beth and the girls. Things are weird between Kevin and Zoe, and when she says “I can’t do this” and hands him a key ring featuring a photo of John Stamos from the Early Katsopolis era, the mood between the two is even more strained.

SEVEN WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION NIGHT | On the morning immediately following the events of the fall finale, Beth is incensed to learn that Randall plans to continue his campaign, despite her insistence that she will no longer support him. He claims to have it under control — he even ordered an audiobook by Ellen DeGeneres’ mom in order to better understand Tess’ burgeoning sexual identity! — but Beth isn’t swayed one inch. “You cannot audiobook your way through our daughter’s life,” she replies, making it clear that he is on his own. Randall has a flashback to when he and Jack visited Washington, D.C.. “What a great life you’re going to have. What a great man you’re going to be,” the elder Pearson tells his teen son.

Kate tells Toby that she’s ready to turn their office into a nursery, “so you have to sell all of your toys.” (She’s referring to collectible action figures and the like.) He looks slightly pained.

Kevin and Zoe return from Vietnam with a ton of questions — Did Nicky ever return to the United States? Did Jack know his brother wasn’t dead? Was this a Dick Whitman-type situation?  — but that gets tabled when Zoe casually refers to his apartment as “home,” prompting Kevin to invite her to move in. She’s hesitant, but then she agrees, and he hands her the Stamos key ring. (In case you’re wondering: It was a gift from his Full House-obsessed nieces.)

FIVE WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION NIGHT | Randall is still 10 points behind Brown in the polls, despite his volunteers’ fervent efforts (hi, Chichi!), and he’s been staying overnight in Philadelphia more often. As you might have guessed, Beth is still not on board with this plan. In the flashback, teen Randall worries about balancing his future family against his future job, and Papa Pearson good-naturedly teases him about it.

Thanks to some unclear box markings and an overzealous Kate, Toby’s full set of 1977 Star Wars action figures have been sold for $10 to a fellow student at her college. “They’re just toys,” she reasons as Toby fumes, but he sadly says that they’ve been with him forever and he wanted to pass them on to his son.

At the Veterans’ Administration, a clerk says she can’t release Nicky’s records to Kevin without documentation — though getting a VIP to authorize the release would probably do the trick. (Side note: I love how thoroughly uncharmed the woman is by all of Kevin’s attempts to charm her.) Zoe says she might be able to help: She dated a congressman for a while.

THREE WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION NIGHT | On the drive back to Alpine, Randall hears Brown point out that Beth and the kids haven’t been seen much in Philly lately. So he’s super angry as he returns home and demands that his family join him for events. She’s wrapping Christmas presents and points out that he has no idea what’s in the boxes because he hasn’t been around much for weeks. Then things get ugly. “Are you really mad at me, Beth?” he asks. “Or are you mad that I got something that I care about right now and you don’t?” DAMN. Then, he points out that he stayed at home with the girls all last year and didn’t complain. Beth wisely exits the room “before you say something else you’re going to regret.”

Zoe’s ex, it turns out, is still quite angry about the way they broke up after dating for a couple of years: She sent him an email, and that was it. The congressman agrees to help release Nicky’s records, but he’s not real happy about it.

TWO WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION NIGHT | On New Year’s Eve, Jae-wan runs into campaign headquarters with a gift for Randall: Proof that his political opponent was arrested for driving while intoxicated years ago, but paid off the cops and the local press to bury the incident. They’ll deliver the goods to the media the next day; for now, Randall heads to a diner to buy a blueberry pie, because eating blueberry pie at midnight is one of their family traditions.

Only problem: The diner he stops at is fresh outta blueberry pie. But Reverend Hawley happens to be sitting at the counter, and his brief inquiry about Randall’s life leads Pearson into a monologue about how “I’m starting to think it might be harder to be a good man than a great man.” He also vaguely mentions that he’s sitting on something that could “change the whole game,” but he doesn’t want to win that way. Hawley listens, then offers up some advice he’s honed after years of attending to his congregants’ death beds: “Act in a way that’ll make you smile when you’re old and gray and lying under a pale pink nursing home blanket, thinking about the life you’ve lived,” the older man says. “You do that, you’ll be the man your father wanted.” Then he takes pity on Randall and hands him the blueberry pie he’d bought to take home. On the way out, Randall crumples the envelope of evidence incriminating Brown and tosses it into the garbage.

Back at home, Beth is icy to Randall but thaws as he interrupts their New Year’s Eve revelry to apologize for everything he’s missed in the weeks prior. “This family is what makes me special. You four. You’re what make me great. And I’m sorry if I haven’t done a good enough job of showing you that lately,” he says. Then he pulls out the pie, and it appears that Beth is willing to forgive her man.

Kate tries to play the “I’m pregnant and my house burned down and my dad died and I have nothing from my own childhood including the replica of Three Rivers Stadium that my dad made me to give my baby” card, but the college kid she sold the Star Wars toys to is unmoved.

Nicky’s file reveals that he was medevac’d out of Vietnam in 1971, sent for a psych evaluation and eventually signed his discharge papers “Clark Kent.” But Kevin is pissy when Zoe wants to talk about it, and that’s because he can’t shake the feeling that she’s going to leave him like she left the Congressman. After all, she hasn’t even unpacked her boxes at his place yet. Feeling attacked, Zoe counters that she only moved in to make him happy and that he’s pushing her to do things she’s not comfortable with.

A FEW DAYS BEFORE ELECTION NIGHT | Upon realizing that Randall plans to skip Rev. Hawley’s service the Sunday before the election, she tells him he has to go — and she’ll go with him. “I will not let you forget who you are. I should’ve had your back. You need to finish this campaign,” she says. And it’s a good thing, too, because during his remarks from the pulpit, Hawley calls Randall “fundamentally decent” and tells the congregation that Philadelphia would be in capable hands with either Randall or Brown in office. (Hawley also makes mention of Randall’s two-hour-one-way drive between Alpine and Philadelphia, and we feel seen.)

Beth surprises Toby with replacements of his action figures, but he’s still bummed that they’re not his action figures. She tries to cheer him up by saying, “I know with every part of me that you are going to be our son’s favorite thing.”

ELECTION NIGHT, AGAIN | In California, Toby calls Kate into the nursery to show her the finished decorations… and the replica of Three Rivers Stadium he commissioned a dollhouse maker to create in order to replace the one she’d lost in the fire. She cries a lot, but she’s touched. “For the record,” Toby adds, “I’m going to be our kid’s second favorite thing. You’re the first.”

In Philadelphia, it becomes clear that the official election results won’t be in until after midnight. So Randall thanks everyone who worked on his campaign and sends them home. Outside, Zoe tells Kevin that he’s one of the only people who knows about her dad and what he did to her, and that it’s always been important for her to feel she has her own, secure space. But she does want to live with Kevin, she says. “I think I like what you’re pushing for. I’m in love with you. And I want John Stamos back.” Kevin smiles at her and hands the key over, then they go home.

Later, as they’re unpacking, Zoe finds a postcard dated 1992 in a box of Jack’s Vietnam paraphernalia. “Jack, Last one. — C.K.” it reads, along with a return address we recognize as Nicky’s trailer in Bradford, Penn. “My dad knew Nicky was alive. Why would he lie to us?” Kevin wonders aloud.

In bed that night, a very sleepy Randall ruminates on how “sometimes it feels like there’s been a plan for my life from the beginning.” Then he gets a call. After he hangs up, he turns to Beth and somewhat dazedly gives her the news: “I won.”

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Hit the comments!

Source: https://tvline.com/2019/01/15/this-is-us-recap-season-3-episode-10-the-last-seven-weeks/

[pantryplanet65-blog]

‘Top Chef Kentucky’ Recap: A Christmas Surprise With Eric Ripert

Although this episode was clearly filmed last spring, it’s actually Christmas week on Top Chef Kentucky, and all the cheftestepants must compete in a series of yuletide challenges peppered with surprises from a bunch of guest stars.

The pricey lamb still haunts Eddie

At the start of the episode Nini is still stoked about her elimination challenge win in the last episode, and, indeed, it seems like it will be hard for her to top the universally-praised spoonbread étouffée that she made for the judges. Eddie, meanwhile, just can’t get over his ill-advised Whole Foods lamb purchase, which effectively threw several of his fellow teammates under the bus during the last challenge. “I’m not trying to be the villain, I’m not trying to hurt anyone on purpose,” Eddie tells the camera. “I don’t think this guilt’s going to go away quickly.” In other news, it appears that there is a bromance brewing between tall guys Brandon and Brian, who bond over the fact that they’re both a little obsessed with their hair.

Yankee Swap in the Quickfire kitchen

When the cheftestepants arrive at the Top Chef Kentucky culinary bunker, they are greeted by Padma Lakshmi, Season 4 favorite Richard Blais, and Season 14 winner Brooke Williamson. Jersey David is particularly excited to see Mr. Blais. “I’m geeking out right now,” he says. “I have a man crush, sir.” As you may recall, David also had a similar reaction to learning he’d be cooking for Gail Simmons in the last episode, suggesting that he may just have a thing for Quickfire judges.

Left to right: Justin Sutherland, Sara Bradley, Eric Adjepong, Brandon Rosen, Adrienne Wright, Brian Young, Kelsey Barnard, Eddie Konrad, David Viana, Pablo Lamon

Michael Hickey/Bravo

For this challenge, the chefs have two minutes to collect whatever they can from the pantry and put their loot in boxes decorated like Christmas presents. When the mad dash is over, Padma reveals that the competitors will then participate in a White Elephant/Yankee Swap, a tradition that Brian correctly describes as “a mean-spirited gift exchange.” After some strategic trading, the team then heads to the kitchen to turn those boxes into dishes for the judges, with 30 minutes on the clock. Justin gets the short end of the stick here by picking up Kevin’s box. “This dude picked five different kinds of flour, but no eggs to potentially turn this into a kind of dough or a pasta,” he remarks.

In between all of the chopping and de-boning of poultry, the chefs talk a bit about their holiday traditions. “I’m like the one Jewish kid in Kentucky,” Sara says. “Having Hanukkah in the South is kinda fun. You get a lots of fried food. My mom always cooked chopped liver, latkes, matzoh ball soup, all kinds of stuff.” Kelsey, meanwhile, is not having such a great time working through her box of asparagus and ham. “I do like the way my plate looks,” she says once the dish is finished. “It’s bright green, it’s pretty, but it’s stupid.”

Richard Blais, Brooke Williamson, and Padma Lakshmi

Michael Hickey/Bravo

That riff on bacon-wrapped asparagus proves to be one of the judges’ least favorite dishes of the challenge, along with Justin’s kimchi meatloaf, and Eddie’s carrot curry. The judges determine that the best dishes of the Quickfire are Sara’s riff on chicken liver, Nini’s cranberry chutney, and David’s leek carbonara. For the second week in a row, David wins immunity.

A Christmas Eve feast with a surprise guest

Before leaving the barrel-lined bunker, Padma tells the crew that they have a surprise waiting for them back at the Top Chef Kentucky mansion. As soon as they walk through the doors of the palatial estate, they are greeted by judges Top Colicchio and Graham Elliot. “We decided to surprise you guys with a little holiday cheer,” Tom explains. The mansion’s long dining room table is adorned with place settings for the whole group, holiday decorations, and dozens upon dozens of San Pellegrino bottles. After the 13 contestants sit down, they are also surprised to learn that they will be dining in the company of one Eric Ripert. “It’s great to see you here, and this is a fantastic way to celebrate Christmas — in French, the Reveillon de Noel,” Ripert remarks. “It’s what we do in France. We celebrate with family and friends — just fun.”

All of the chefs seem legitimately stoked to be breaking bread with the legendary Le Bernardin chef. “I’m at an absolute loss for words,” Justin says. “I can’t tell if I’m shaking or I’m going to crap my pants. It’s a scene straight out of A Christmas Carol.” Meanwhile, the chefs start swapping stories about their own holiday traditions: Eric and his family play board games as a throwback to the Blackout of ’96; Kevin’s kith and kin do all the cooking around the holidays so he can get a break from the kitchen; and Nini’s family usually makes a Chinese-inspired feast, although she hasn’t celebrated with them in three years, ever since her brother lost his battle with cancer.

Left to right: Pablo Lamon, Eddie Konrad, Brian Young, Sara Bradley, Kevin Scharpf, Richard Blais, Padma Lakshmi, David Viana

Michael Hickey/Bravo

Midnight madness

After the chefs have tucked into the Christmas feast and drained most of the wine, Tom tosses a surprise their way: there is no dessert course, because they actually have to cook it in the kitchen of the Top Chef Kentucky mansion as this week’s elimination challenge. “Well, here we go, it’s actually midnight — this should be fun and interesting,” Eddie quips. “If I get sent home, at least I got to eat dinner with Eric Ripert.”

Although Tom and Padma have set up the kitchen with enough ingredients and equipment to prepare all manner of desserts, the challenge is still fairly chaotic. “This is brutal,” Kelsey says. “We’ve got 13 people sharing these ovens constantly, and they’re opening and closing them constantly, and you cannot do that with macarons.” During the competition, Brandon reveals that while he is not a pastry chef, he did grow up working at his family’s sweets shop, which was called “Leogold’s Fantazel-madazel Chocolate Factory.”

The ricotta cake that ruined Christmas

At around 2 a.m. the bleary-eyed chefs serve their dishes to Tom, Padma, Eric, Brooke, and Richard, and then head upstairs to bed. In the morning — Christmas morning in Top Chef land — the chefs receive the verdicts on their midnight desserts. After acknowledging the unusual circumstances of the challenge, the judges reveal that they liked Eddie’s strawberry-fennel shortcake, Kelsey’s chocolate pot de crème with biscotti, and Nini’s blackberry & lemon vacherin. For the second week in a row, Nini wins the elimination challenge.

The bottom three desserts are Kevin’s way-too-salty ricotta cake, Brian’s acidic biscuit nightmare, and Pablo’s uneven chocolate and black pepper ganache. Ultimately, the judges decide that the salty ricotta cake was so bad that it shouldn’t have even been served, and it’s time for Kevin to pack his knives and go. “The dessert was just so salty it was inedible, but we’ll see you in Last Chance Kitchen,” Tom tells the Iowa-based chef on his way out the door.

“One thing Top Chef teaches you about yourself is how much there is to evolve,” Kevin says after leaving the barrel bunker. “This has recharged me to reconsider how I look at food and not look at that evolution just because I might be in a small town. This is definitely inspiring me to get out there. Now there’s something that I can work on and build off of, and I’m excited for that.”

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2018/12/21/18151233/top-chef-naughty-and-nice-recap-season-16-episode-3

[starlightafterastorm]

My Thoughts on Bughead’s Emotional Intimacy/Vulnerability

With Each Other and With Others

From episode 1x01 - 1x10

Both Betty and Jughead have issues with letting themselves be comfortable with emotional intimacy. However, as the season continues and as their relationship evolves, Betty and Jughead gradually become more comfortable in letting themselves be more emotionally vulnerable with each other.

Buckle up because this gets kind of long. More under the cut. 

There are few people that Betty lets herself be vulnerable with.

Kevin. Kevin is the first person we are shown having a conversation with Betty. He encourages her to take Archie by the reins and be assertive in her feelings for him even as she’s reluctant. The scene in her bedroom sets them up as close friends and confidants. And even if we haven’t seen much of them together since the first couple of episodes (give them more scenes together please) it’s clear that Betty considers him a dear friend.

Archie. While Betty shares her feelings with Kevin and Veronica and they encourage her to share them with Archie, Betty is incredibly reticent to open herself up in that way. She tries, in the diner and at the dance. But neither time ends happily. Betty is deeply hurt and is reduced to tears but even then she holds back. She keeps the deepest hurt to herself and tries to mitigate the amount of emotional devastation it has caused her. She runs away from Cheryl’s party, walks away from Archie multiple times, and keeps quiet about just how hurt she is to Kevin. She smiles it away until it gets too much and then makes the decision to separate herself completely until she eventually gets past it (fairly quickly actually).

The exception to that is when she lashes out in hurt at Veronica before forgiving and being forgiven. And I think that how they handled that situation allowed Betty and Veronica to become closer friends than they otherwise would have been.

Veronica. She shares Polly’s story with Veronica so soon after meeting her. It makes sense. I think they both felt that kinship that would spark a lifelong friendship between them. They both knew that this is the person who is going to be their BEST FRIEND no matter what. After the closet scene, Betty puts up her walls again and lashes out in anger. But she slowly lets them down again after they make up. It’s clear from later conversations that the girls are sharing their issues with each other, from both sides, though we don’t get to see a large majority of the conversations that must be going on. Betty is shown to be confiding in Veronica and Veronica is shown to be equally confiding in Betty about her dad.

As much as she trusts and cares for Veronica, I think Betty still holds herself back in some ways from reaching out emotionally and letting herself be completely vulnerable. It’s not for a lack of trust, but I think it stems from a place of “I don’t want to burden you”. Look at how quick she is to deny Veronica when Veronica offers to house Polly. She says explicitly that Veronica has her own things she’s dealing with. And in episodes 1x03 and 1x10 Betty plays off her dark side even when Veronica tries to talk to her about it and when she asks her if she’s ok.

I think it’s the same with Archie and Kevin. They’re aware of these issues in Betty’s life but I think she’s hesitant to involve them because she doesn’t want to bother them. Another example is when Archie offers to help Betty and Jughead and she declines because she thinks he has other issues with the talent show.

With Jughead, it’s different. As much as we can speculate about how much Betty shares with Veronica, Kevin, and Archie, we are actually given the scenes she shares with Jughead. The conversations she has with Jughead are incredibly relevant to the plot but relevant in the fact that she is sharing it with him. Betty willingly lets herself be vulnerable in front of him over and over again. She shows him how distraught she is over Polly and her parents and he is there to offer words and hugs and kisses of comfort.

Jughead becomes deeply involved in very personal aspects of Betty’s life, issues that drive her to near tears in 1x06 and 1x09. And she lets him. In comparison, when Archie apologizes for not being there for her, Betty demurs and states that he is there now. But Jughead is the one we see her leaning on, who talks her through her problems, and even helps comfort her crying mother in 1x09.

From Jughead’s perspective, he is very much NOT COMFORTABLE with emotional intimacy or vulnerability on his own end. He uses “sardonic humor” to relate to the world and as a shield. The only people we’ve seen him be vulnerable to are Archie, F.P., and Betty.

Archie. Archie is Jughead’s best friend. That friendship was incredibly strained to the breaking point at the beginning of the series. We saw pointed, almost passive aggressive leading into aggressive remarks between them that then eventually lead into more vulnerable moments. BUT I personally find fault with how Archie unthinkingly exposes Jughead’s vulnerabilities and/or takes unintentional advantage of his trust in him without taking responsibility.

So much of Jughead’s vulnerabilities revolve around F.P. and the rest of his family. It’s the biggest wound in Jughead’s life. He tries so hard to protect that wound, to hide it away as much as possible so that when he is exposed, he feels at fault for it.  

In 1x07, Archie startles him in the locker room and Jughead is forced to reveal his homelessness. Likewise with his dad’s alcoholism and unemployment. Jughead tries desperately to mitigate the amount of information about his home situation as much as possible but Archie forces his hand anyway. This is echoed much more harshly in 1x08 when Archie discovers F.P. leads the Serpents and immediately confronts Jughead about it, in an inappropriate time and place in front of an inappropriate audience. However their friendship re-stabilizes and later Jughead and Archie share a brotherly moment where Jughead apologizes for keeping the secret from Archie but Archie does not apologize in turn for exposing Jughead’s vulnerabilities. In 1x10, Jughead tells Archie explicitly about why he doesn’t feel comfortable about his birthday and then Archie witnesses Jughead snapping at Betty for throwing him a surprise party. However, Archie then almost immediately invites the whole group that Cheryl brings in despite Jughead’s wishes.

F.P. Jughead lets himself be vulnerable to his father in times of emotional turmoil. There’s the scene in front of the police station in 1x07 and in front of Archie’s house in 1x10. Both times, Jughead is visibly distraught and cannot hide away his distress in front of his father due to immediate circumstances. Both times Jughead is also angry, probably at both the circumstances that have led to F.P. confronting Jughead and at the fact that the confrontation is taking place at all.

Betty. With Betty, Jughead has found someone where he can be comforter and comforted.

I think that Jughead is FAR more comfortable being the comforter rather than the comforted. He is far more comfortable being the person that Betty can lean on with her own issues. I think that it’s completely obvious that he thinks the world of Betty. 1x09 is the absolute proof of that. He admires her and thinks she is so much stronger than everyone else, probably himself included.

If he can be the person who can be there for her when she’s struggling then I think that would be something he takes pride in. Jughead is incredibly intuitive and he’s known Betty for so long. He probably recognizes what a big deal it is for Betty to open herself up to him. (Although I don’t think he quite understood the full implications calling Betty “perfect” and he definitely was not aware of JUST HOW MUCH Betty was trying to deal with in 1x10).

In being vulnerable himself, Jughead has a much harder time. The kiss in 1x06 is the first time we see Jughead let down his guard completely around another person. Jughead opens himself up to rejection and his relief is palpable when Betty reciprocates the kiss. And it is directly precedented by Betty herself being vulnerable about Polly and her parents.  The kisses and the time spent together and their whole relationship in general is already so much more than I think Jughead ever expected but when it comes to getting to the darker parts of his life Jughead has already said it, “I was ashamed”.

It was INCREDIBLY LOVELY to see how Jughead opened himself up to a deeper emotional intimacy with Betty in 1x08. Even in just admitting that he was ashamed at all. That honesty and the way that Betty is able to soothe him in the way that he continues to soothe her fears about her family was beautiful.

Jughead could have shut down. He could have walked away. He could have made excuses for why he didn’t tell Betty. But he didn’t. RIsking her anger and the end of their relationship, he waited to talk to her ON HER TERMS (boy probably waited for HOURS as Betty settled things with her mom and sister). THEN, he was completely honest with Betty, acknowledged that he should have told her sooner, and agreed with her when she says she wants to know all of him.

While the fight in 1x10 is absolutely a very vulnerable moment for Jughead, I think that THIS direct confrontation about who his father is and where he comes from is what Jughead might consider the darkest part of himself. That fight in 1x10 is a continuation of Jughead’s low self esteem issues but this in 1x08 is a part of the source of it all. And explaining himself to Betty as well as bringing her with him to confront his father is a huge step in accepting a deeper emotional intimacy with Betty.

It’s also so incredibly important that, when confronted with Jughead’s vulnerabilities in 1x08, Betty does not place any blame or pressure on Jughead. She asks only for his honesty and trust and gives him unconditional belief in return.

Going into 1x10, both Betty and Jughead are tested.

Even though Betty and Jughead have opened up to each other far more than they have with anyone else and far deeper than they probably have ever expected, that doesn’t mean that they won’t falter or make mistakes or regress a little bit.

As much as you can trust and support one another, opening yourself up to someone is scary. It’s terrifying. It’s a continuous evolution and journey and takes an incredible amount of courage to do and to keep doing. And continuing to do so as Jughead and Betty have chosen will allow their relationship to grow.

We have to remember that Betty and Jughead are 16 years old. They’re teenagers and they have already handled so much stress and tragedy in their lives with more emotional maturity than a lot of the adults on the show. They’ve handled their relationship SO MUCH BETTER than most adults on the show.

Betty’s mental health issues is incredibly near and dear to my heart and I understand why she throws herself so fully into Jughead’s birthday party and why she redirected the conversation about Chuck at the movie theaters. The stress is getting to her and she’s trying desperately to keep her head above water while not letting her struggle show. She wants the stability of being “normal” rather than the chaotic whirlwind her mind must be now. So while she does care deeply for Jughead and does want to make his birthday the best one ever and wants to make him incredibly happy, part of her reasoning for throwing the party was selfish. AND THAT’S OK.

I’m writing another meta on Betty and her mental illness and “perfection” but the basic gist is, Betty is a flawed person who gets to make mistakes and be selfish sometimes. She is not perfect. AND THAT’S OKAY. It’s HUMAN to be selfish and still have good intentions and struggle. I like that she’s not “perfect”.

We get to see Betty struggle with her mental illness all episode 1x10; from her mother advising her to NOT trust Jughead with everything, to hiding away her anxiety about Chuck, to fighting with Jughead, and then to Chuck outing her issues in front of everyone. In the end, we see her admitting just how much she is struggling to Jughead and it is absolutely wonderful.

I cannot tell you how incredibly brave it was of Betty to show her hands to Jughead. As someone who struggled to reveal the depths of her own mental illness to her own best friend, I know that Betty must have been terrified of Jughead’s reaction. The biggest difference in Betty’s vulnerability in this episode versus other times she has been vulnerable in front of Jughead is that this is about HER. It’s about her issues and her flaws and willingly offering him physical evidence that she’s not “perfect”.

Jughead’s vulnerability in 1x10 revolves so much about his insecurities. We’ve seen him bullied and arrested for being weird and for coming from the wrong side of the tracks. We’ve seen him ashamed of who his father is and the family life he’s come from.  

I think THE MOMENT Jughead got spooked and threw the brakes HARD was when Betty sang him Happy Birthday. Already he’d been not happy at the fact that Betty threw him the party but then Betty brought out that cake and sang him Happy Birthday and it was beautiful but haunting, as he says. The way that scene is filmed and the focus on Jughead’s face is very dreamlike, which I think was purposeful. It’s a DIRECT callback to Jughead’s dream in episode 1x07. That look on his face was the exact same face he made in the dream right when he flashes to his drunk father and right as Archie calls him out for “stabbing him in the back”.

Jughead’s belief is that every time something wonderful happens, every time he lets himself be happy, it gets taken away from him. Pushing Betty away, snapping at her and instigating that fight is a defense mechanism. Having this “perfect”, girl next door, cheerleader, caring, smart, strong, wonderful girlfriend was too idyllic and too dreamlike for Jughead to ever really believe in. Having Betty bake him a burger birthday cake in a crown sweater and sing him happy birthday was as “perfect” an image as having dinner with the Coopers and sitting next to Betty, smiling with a wedding ring on. It was too “perfect” to be real.  

But it WAS REAL. And it scared him.

With everything he believes about himself and his penchant for drama and pessimism, Jughead was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. They were on “borrowed time”. And with the party and the fight, Jughead rationalized it as “Yeah. This is when that borrowed time ends” (Thank you F.P. for pushing Jughead to work it out and TALK TO HIS GIRL)

So much of that fight was more about Jughead’s insecurities than anything Betty had done. The party was the catalyst but it just set off his low self esteem issues. Jughead was lashing out in order to protect himself. Even as he was lashing out, it was more self deprecating than finding any faults with Betty. He kept praising her even as she denied it and found so many faults within himself.

The diner scene later was gorgeous. It was the two of them, in a booth at Pop’s, with Jughead’s beanie off, TALKING THROUGH THEIR FIGHT AND THE CAUSES OF THEIR FIGHT. My god. I don’t think I need to tell you what an amazingly rare scene that was.

Jughead and Betty both acknowledged that they were only looking at it through their own perspectives. Jughead acknowledges that Betty was trying to do a nice thing for him. Betty acknowledges that Jughead didn’t want the party and she shouldn’t have thrown it for him. Neither can look each other in the eye until the end of their confessions.

Jughead opens up about how he doesn’t believe in people being nice to him. He “short circuits”. He gets scared.

LOOK. DO. YOU. REALIZE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? HOW HARD IT IS? TO ADMIT THINGS LIKE “I’M ASHAMED.” and “I’M SCARED”. I KNOW YOU DO.

And Jughead admits them to Betty. Slow and hesitant and closed off in body language at first but then he opens himself up both figuratively and physically as he turns more fully into her. He tells Betty he is scared of getting hurt and rejected for being himself.

Betty absolutely recognizes these sentiments. They’re exactly why she asked Mama Cooper for advice earlier on. So she responds with her own fears. She tells him that something is “very, very wrong with her”. That there’s a “darkness” inside of her that makes her do “crazy things”. Jughead looks at her almost like he can’t quite fathom it at first, like he almost wants to protest.

But he doesn’t. He sits there and listens quietly and lets Betty say what she has to say. And when she opens up her hands to show him her self harm scars, he gently closes her hands and places a soft kiss to them.

It can be compared to when Betty is confronted with Jughead’s vulnerabilities about his father in 1x08. Just as how Betty does not place any blame or pressure on Jughead, in this exchange it is Jughead who offers unconditional support when faced with what Betty considers the lowest part of herself. And just as how Jughead was the one to initiate the kiss after Betty expressed her belief in him, Betty is now the one to initiate a kiss after Jughead tenderly holds her damages hands.

They’ve had their first fight and now they’ve had their first makeup conversation.

Will they still have issues and make mistakes later on? Yes. Absolutely. Being in a relationship is about growth and evolution and ups and downs. But the way they’ve progressed so far shows just how serious they are about each other and how serious they are about this relationship. They’re scared teenagers dealing with more than they should and it’s terrifying to try and juggle a serious relationship in the midst of all of it. However, as much as it scares them, they’ve now come to a deeper understanding of who the other person is. They recognize it and accept it and find comfort in each other.

It’s a recurring pattern in their relationship that I have no doubt will continue as their relationship grows. Give and take. Reciprocity. An equal exchange.

[militant-holy-knight]

Alleged Lucasfilm Insider Spills the Beans

On May 26, 2018, on the /tv/ board on 4chan an user titled Lfl did an AMA session with the users. Given that the source was anonymous and his refusal to prove his credentials, we should take his information it with a grain of salt. Though I felt like resposting most of what he revealed. I know I am posting this with the good chance that OP was just roleplaying, but time will tell whether any of this is real or not.

>any talk of firing kathleen? She’s certainly not in good standing after the Last Jedi debacle. Absolutely hated in my department and by a lot of others I know of.

>Let me guess this is a thread where you pretend Lucasfilm is in shambles because a single movie is underperforming. Far from it, actually, but we’ve seen better days. TFA killed a lot of the creative/“anything goes” vibe we had, as evidenced by the “Art Of” book. Seriously, take a look at how cool some of the concept art we had that was thrown out for a safer approach. However, R1 was a blast to work on and felt like the old days. TLJ and Solo were very awkward to work around. A lot of wasted potential with Solo and a lot of in-fighting with both productions.

>tell me about Indiana Jones, news on the 5th film, are more films in the future? It’s in development hell. 2019 is a lucky shot in the dark. Overall, I don’t know much beyond the fact that it’s barely been moving along.

>Do you wish Kevin Feige was in charge? Are toy companies pissed off because of the lame characters and designs? Possibly. There are a number of people I’d rather have in charge of the writing, mostly some of the creative veterans like Filoni or Leeland. The general idea around here is that a “hands off” producer who could also keep things under control would work best. Hasbro is actually pissed off at the way information is handled and the focus on “earth tones” and less interesting visuals in both background aliens and main characters. Going forward there will be a push for more “toyetic” and PT-esque designs. I’ve seen some interesting IX designs, especially Kylo/Rey, who both have “battle armor” on. Kylo has some sort of red crystals on his. Not sure if Kyber or whatever.

>Is the next anthology really Obi-Wan? Any plans for Maul in other anthologies? Yeah, Obi-Wan is the next anthology. Bit of a poorly kept secret at this point, but the announcement should happen within the next 3-4 months. I’ve seen some concept art and it’s honestly breathtaking. I have a great feeling about the film as long as it isn’t stiffled creatively. Don’t believe any bullshit about Thrawn being in it. As far as I know, he’s not. Next movie is up in the air, but talks are revolving mostly around a Boba Fett/Bounty Hunters movie. After that a Solo sequel is planned depending on how well this movie does. That’s where Maul should be making his next appearance. If Solo bombs then he’ll appear in the Fett movie. Considering the Mandolorian connection between them, it’s not a bad idea in my opinion.

>When’s Kuntleen getting the boot? How exactly are you going to right the ship for Episode IX? How much internal division is there at Disney/LFL about the direction the franchise is taking? Kathleen isn’t going anywhere until post IX. If that and Solo underperform then she’ll probably be chained to a smaller project that no one cares about, (ala FOD) and given creative control to herself. 9 is going to be very different. Timeskip, more “toyetic” designs. Personally, I think the damage is done at this point. A lot of higher-ups were gunning for JJ to do all 3 movies and are losing their minds at the idea of SW becoming unprofitable. By the way, Johnson’s trilogy will most likely not happen. Overall there is a very tense atmosphere in the upper-class of the company. Very competitive overall. Lower on the ranks, everyone seems a little bit more disgruntled than usual and a lot of the “magic” is gone. A lot of people are just happy to be paid.

>Is there any truth to the rumor that they are abandoning the trilogy structure for a continuous MCU style? That’s bullshit. Trilogies will always remain. Now, the anthology movies are a different case. Those will be handled more MCU-like.

>Anon you’re exposing yourself as a fake too easily here. Nobody shills on 4chan. It wasn’t JUST on 4chan obviously, but on the internet as a whole. Journalism sites, fan sites, ect. I think the lesson Disney learned is that shilling for a SW movie is pointless when the fans are so opinionated.

>How did they try to defend it? Rian Johnson was being toted around as a “true fan of both the OT/PT” here and that was the narrative/marketing strategy for awhile. Backfired when the movie actually came out and marketing had no idea how to handle it, so damage-control mode was engaged.

>Tell me the truth, how much posting on the Star Wars reddit is paid for? I go there for a good laugh every now and then, it’s the only community I’ve seen where people are so determined to be positive about TLJ that they will include stuff like “TLJ was my fav SW movie btw” at the end of completely unrelated posts. Reddit is a huge center of the marketing campaigns, especially since the site is such a hivemind and opinions get parroted once they’re popular enough to stand on their own. /tv/ is very similar, but contrarian, and harder to control. The Force.net is another, albeit smaller, center for damage control.

>what’s Rian like? Weirdo. Easily one of the weirdest fucking dudes I’ve met, and I only met him twice. Words cannot describe how awkward he is.

>What’s Pablo Hidalgo really like? Awesome irl, but a bit of a dick online. He’s constantly bombarded though. Personally, I think Matt Martin handles fan relations much better and more enthusiastically.

>Why is Disney afraid of using classic aliens? Why are all their alien designs fucking shit and the exact same earthy-brown muppets? Honestly, the art design in the Disney films are fucking boring, uninspired and more Dr. Who rather than Star Wars. Don’t even get me started. The reasoning behind it is despicable too. That brown/earthy skin tone is cheaper to cast for the prop department than recreating the colorful classic puppets/mask. It’s all about cutting corners. The amount of humans in the recent movies is so fucking boring and everyone agrees. Hopefully that’s something fixed with the “toyetic” initiative in future films.

>what is the general opinion of the movies and characters (rey, finn, poe) in the office? Not hated, but the general opinion is that nothing will come close to George’s movies/characters. Gotta admit, it was funny to watch some of the OT purists at LFL start to appriciate the PT when TFA came out. I think those movies will age a lot better now that George is gone. I know a fair amount people who really enjoy the ST characters. Rey is obviously the most popular, but everyone seems disappointed that Finn was sidestepped and turned into a joke in TLJ/TFA.

>Are they really talking about recasting Leia? That seems like such a shitty thing to do. Unfortunately, I can confirm it’s been talked about. No idea who the picks are, but it’s a better option than CGI Leia IMO

>Do you know why Trevorrow was Fired? What happened behind the scenes in rogue one between Edwards and Gilroy? He literally had no idea what to do with IX after Rian’s Rape and flipped out. I don’t blame him, who the fuck even cares about IX in the fanbase now?