#and that frank guy deleted his youtube

[rubbish78]

i can’t believe Ryan Ross cursed us all back in 2019

[x-on-the-calendar-business]

ryan ross iceberg (tier 4)

tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, tier 5, tier 6, tier 7, tier 8

the middle of the iceberg:

crankthatfrank interview:

crankthatfrank is a youtuber who had his peak of popularity in 2015-2017 making what was described as “bandom crack” content. a lot of yeemo, cheez wiz, frerard, etc. i personally wasn’t a fan of his content (i think i was just too old to be in his demographic (and i thought it was cringey)), but he was fairly successful within that community. i don’t really know how else to describe his content other than you had to be there.

in 2019, he interviewed ryan, which was actually a really good interview! it was very lighthearted without being too silly and off the wall, like bryan stars interviews were. it was such a pleasant surprise, especially considering the way ryan stans are starved for content. throughout the interview, ryan holds z in his arms the whole time while she cosplays as a corpse so that was interesting. also, ryan revealed his favorite song off of afycso is i constantly thank god for esteban. he said 2020 was going to be the year for the comeback.

that was a lie.

frank sadly deleted the original video, but there is a reupload, thankfully. i highly recommend watching the interview if you haven’t yet!

hair in cupcakes:

so it’s unclear if the hair was in cookies or cupcakes because sources differ, but the sentiment is the same either way. in an interview from 2013, brendon said that in the early days of the band, some fans baked them cookies, and brendon and their merch guy ate them [i]. brendon saw a hair in the first cookie, but kept eating them anyway. he says, “i kept pulling hairs out of my mouth and after no.10 i asked the merch guy if he was pulling hairs out of his mouth and he was” [i]. there turned out to be hairs in every single cookie. ryan also talked about in the paige and friends podcast, which is the next entry [ii].

paige and friends podcast:

also in 2019, ryan featured on the paige and friends podcast, run by paige elkington (ryan really had us fooled for a minute there that 2020 WOULD be his year). they talked some about the panic! and the young veins days, dekc, his sobriety, his absence from the internet, hockey, politics, amongst other things. this was another great “interview” and a fun look into some slice of life things from ryan, so i also recommend giving it a listen here [ii].

chuck palahniuk:

this is one of ryan’s favorite authors – definitely his favorite in the early days of panic! (he is also my favorite author, as is the natural course of being a ryan ross stan). some of his works include: invisible monsters, fight club, choke, and survivor. his writing is primarily satirical with a very distinct voice.

his works were referenced a lot in afysco. time to dance is about invisible monsters, and the song title “the only difference between martyrdom and suicide is press coverage” is a quote from survivor. some of ryan’s other songwriting on that album is evidently inspired by palahniuk’s style of writing.

pet salamander:

this was one of ryan’s bands before panic!. spencer and brent were also in this band, along with another member named trevor. they were often called a blink 182 cover band, but spencer stated that this actually isn't true. they just practiced a lot of blink 182 songs when learning how to play [iii].

their website is still up, and it includes some pictures of the band and each member. it also even contains ryan's old email, discussed in tier 3, at the bottom.

since the member bios aren’t on the site anymore, they are documented here [iv].

his other band isn't on the iceberg, but it was called the summer league. it was basically panic! before panic! actually existed. their sound wasn't similar to what panic!'s was, but it was essentially all the same members.

kanye west stan:

stan is a very loosely used term here, but ryan has said that he likes kanye’s music, and he owns some stuff from his clothing line.

taxidermy:

as you can see in some of ryan’s Instagram posts, he has a lot of taxidermy in his house.

hooters:

in 2010, ryan and brendon ran into each other at a hooters. if i’m not mistaken, i think this is the the last picture we have of them together.

rydan:

this refers to ryan and his friend, dan keyes. ryan posted about him a lot in the 2010s, and he was a member of dead end kids as well. i think the mashup of their names mostly refers to their friendship, but there are people who think they genuinely dated. this tweet here, as well as the replies, references that [v]. it’s also discussed in this tumblr post [vi].

club hockey:

ryan plays club hockey. he actually started playing hockey as a child, and he talks about his love for hockey in the paige and friends podcast.

alex greenwald:

i’ve already mentioned him before in this iceberg, but alex is one of ryan’s good friends and the frontman of phantom planet (you may know this band from the OC theme song). he played with the young veins sometimes, and he played with z’s former band, phases. we’ll talk about him some more in later entries as well.

helena vestergaard:

this is another one of ryan’s ex girlfriends. they dated in 2015, and he first posted about her on instagram in july. his last post of her was in december that year. i don’t really have much to say about this relationship besides she seemed like a really nice girl. these days she has 2 kids. she also used to date anthony kiedis from red hot chili peppers, which is very interesting.

coke picture:

so not too long after ryan left panic!, a picture came out of him with cocaine on a tray in front of him. this was very controversial, and he even commented on it explaining himself here [vii]. i don’t really understand why he had to explain himself though. i am no means a drug apologist (i’m literally straight edge) and i know drugs are bad, but i don’t think he did anything wrong. in the post i linked above, he says he didn’t realize the coke was in the picture, which may or not be true, but if it is, then he might not have even done it.

all he did was be surrounded by beautiful women and do cocaine. what is so wrong with that.

myrtle beach:

this is a ryden entry and basically a theory that ryan and brendon hooked up.

on june 24th, 2006 panic! played the house of blues in myrtle beach, south carolina (and i have been to this venue because i’m from sc…). after the show, panic!, the supporting acts, and crew went skinny dipping at the beach.

greta said this in an interview about it [viii]:

Q: Tell us about your craziest touring experience.

On the 2006 Panic Tour, we played the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach [JUNE 24TH]. After the show, most of the bands and crew walked a mile to the beach and, having not brought our swimsuits, decided to swim in underwear or totally nude. Bob and I opted to skinny dip and, at one point, he was trying to get back to the shore but the waves were crashing over him and he was gasping for breath. I yelled to him, 'Bob, are you going to live? As much as I want to help you, we are both naked so I can't.' (Would have been far too awkward). Thankfully, he survived in one glorious piece.

the thing that really led to rydennies thinking that something happened between ryan and brendon was what ryan posted on lj about it [viii]:

6-25-06 01:21:28 PDT - (No Subject)

The moon bred new Atlantic life tonight.the salt burned you right out of my eyes.and secrets we’re not proud of were taken with the tide. We were all newborns with blurred vision and no sense of direction.

Today I saw cancer, cigarettes and shortness of breath.

this is why I walk to the ocean.swim with jellyfish.I may never get this chance again.

this is why if you want to kiss you should kiss.

If you want to cry you should cry, and

if you want to live you should live.

You don’t have to love me. You already did. At least enough to keep me smiling from South Carolina to Virginia.it's for lovers (orjustfriends)

This is why I do it.

this also lead to the idea that summer was a very important motif for ryden; any references to the season in their lyrics or other postings meant they were talking about each other.

another part that people often cite as proof in that in this interview, the interviewer says they claim brendon is a virgin on stage every night, and ryan says “not anymore” at 01:36. so people think brendon lost his virginity to ryan.

and then the night of the show of the dancers on tour with them, dream, posted this on her lj [viii]:

June 24th, 2006

It’s our last night in Florida and let me tell you… this finally turned into a crazy rock tour… lots of shenanigans happened tonight… but I’ll save this story for the memoirs! Every night I stand on stage and tell the crowd that Brendon is a virgin… let’s just put it this way… it ain’t true!!!!

since this was posted the night of the mb show, she was talking about the florida show, which would already debunk that brendon could’ve lost it to ryan after the mb show. she also said in another post the next night that they met some spirited girls at the show and more than 20 of them went to the beach that night [viii].

honestly, there is no true supporting evidence to prove that anything sexual or romantic happened between them. both of them were probably talking about the girls they met at the show, or one of the other 20 people who were there.

seattle:

another ryden theory i fear.

so the story goes that on the night of ryan’s 21st birthday, keltie threw him a party at pete wentz’s bar. brendon couldn’t attend because he was in seattle (people theorized it was because he was too young to drink). after the party was over, ryan left keltie alone in their hotel in the middle of the night to fly out to see brendon. they went to eat at a diner together, and a fan spotted them, giving us this picture.

this was allegedly what ryan wrote northern downpour about, such as the lines, “i missed your skin when you were east. you clicked your heels and wished for me.” also, rainy seattle is in the north.

when i was a ryden truther, i always said that this was the one ryden incident there was not a no homo explanation for. however, that is not true.

panic! was playing a festival in seattle a couple of days later. in fact, there is an interview from august 31, the day after ryan’s birthday and the day before the show, in which they’re wearing the same outfits from that picture.

the northern downpour theory also doesn’t make sense because ryan was in the east, not brendon. and ryan wrote the song.

if you’re interested in a further debunking of this, prettyoddfever details it here [ix].

halsey ryden truther:

when i say that halsey and i are spiritually connected, i mean it.

in 2013, halsey tweeted that ryden is still her otp.

and then in 2015, they responded to a fan saying that she used to write ryden fic.

also in 2015, ryan tweeted at them saying that they should work together. oh what could have been…

slow dance to the killers:

yet another ryden entry.

in a kerrang! article from 2006, it says this [x]:

all i really have to say about this is that automatically assuming this must mean ryden is real plays into why men think they can’t be affectionate with one another without seeming “gay.”

cheated on keltie:

in her book, which we discussed earlier, keltie revealed that ryan cheated on her with a waitress. she found out about it the day after valentine’s day when she was looking through his phone.

she says [xi}:

I honestly can’t and don’t want to remember what I saw that day, but the dates registered with me. I saw the date of my birthday two weeks before, the day I received two huge bundles of flowers while spending time with my family in Canada. He was with her on my birthday. I scrolled back farther and realized he texted her while we were on vacation in Hawaii. He sang me love songs on the beach while also thinking about some girl.

he wrote about his infidelity in the young veins song, the other girl [xii].

this isn’t particularly relevant, but i did want to include one of my favorite tweets about this just because it lives in my head rent free.

next we move on to some of the darker entries.

tier 5

references:

[i] https://gigwise.com/news/85115/

[ii] https://podcasts.apple.com/jm/podcast/my-friend-podcast-with-ryan-ross/id1483514044?i=1000455535330

[iii] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/685240468337000448/embed

[iv] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/620153208809062400/the-actual-band-bios-on-pet-salamanders-original

[v] https://twitter.com/PwettyOwdd/status/1655280757693186051

[vi] https://pathetic-at-the-disco.tumblr.com/post/171502454686/hey-i-have-a-kinda-legit-question-so-i-see

[vii] http://www.mibba.com/Articles/Entertainment/2788/Ryan-Ross-Talks-About-Cocaine-Picture/

[viii] https://whisperdlullaby.livejournal.com/9051.html

[ix] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/627362228538064896/the-seattle-ryden-story-isnt-real-google-the

[x] https://porraryanross.tumblr.com/post/69946624225

[xi] https://archive.org/details/rockettesrocksta0000coll/mode/2up

[xii] https://genius.com/The-young-veins-the-other-girl-lyrics

[longeyelashedtragedy]

snippet of the beginning of dubcon anthony gordon/frank phonesex fic. set after anthony's england nt callup.

The conversation has been on his mind for months now.  Since Everton.  It traveled with him to Newcastle and it’ll be joining him at St. George’s Park.   He’s even called upon the conversation recently.  To his benefit, he sees, but this wasn’t without its problems.  

When you sell your soul, it might text you from time to time.  

He scrolls through his messages again, resting his thumb on the one he’d responded to.  One swipe left and he could just…delete it.  But instead—the conversation.

You always have to work hard and be smart.  Just like I did, and you’re just like me.

Anthony thought: Am I just like you?

It sometimes took Frank a while to get hard again, but when they had a lot of time together they liked to use every second, so they put in the time until Frank was ready again, kissing and hugging and cuddling and talking.  Anthony had realized Frank loved to hear himself talk.  He played humble, and everyone in YouTube comments was sure that he was— “great guy, top bloke, one of the nicest people you’ll meet.”  And he loved to hear himself talk.

But if something can give you the advantage on top of your hard work—I don’t mean anything illegal—

Yeah, thanks Dad, I know—

—But if anything comes up that you can use to your advantage, don’t be afraid to use it.  If you don’t, everyone else will.  You don’t want your hard work to be for nothing.

The way Frank said the word nothing always stuck with Anthony.  Now, sitting in his parked car, he hears it again in Frank’s accent and feels how the word tickled against his neck back then.  Frank knew his shit when it came to the system.  Things hadn’t always been easy for Anthony.  Some of his teammates had lived a life he never could have lived.  So he didn’t want it to all be for nothing.  

He’d still felt Frank’s breath against his neck when he responded to the gaffer’s text.  And sitting in the car, looking at it among the flood of congratulations, he feels it again, hears the way he always dipped in and out of East London and Press Conference, so many people in that head fighting with each other to stay in and to get out.  Even now, sitting in his car.  He can’t shake it off.

And then make sure you show the proper gratitude.  No matter how big you get, there’s always someone bigger.  They can help you, or hurt you, and they’ll eat their own no matter how proper English you think you are, so always do what you can to make sure they help you.  You understand me?

Yes, gaffer.

My good, smart boy.  I can’t wait to see you shine bigger than Goodison. 

Frank’s come dried onto his cheeks and chin, Frank’s thumb stroking over it.  Stiff on Anthony’s skin when he moved his mouth to speak. 

He shakes the memory off, tries to bring back the buzzing he’s been feeling since the call-up.  He unlocks the car and then he gets the call that he knows has been coming.  GAFFER.  But Eddie is his gaffer now.

And still.  He’s never changed it.

He ignores GAFFER’s call, but he hears Frank’s words in his ear again, as much as a takeover of his senses as Frank’s damp, sticky, soft cock was as it pressed against his ass during that conversation.  He doesn’t remember anything with as many of his senses the way he does his times with Frank.

And then make sure you show the proper gratitude…

And he remembers snuggling against the gaffer’s strong chest, feeling the plump tits and hard nipples brush his back.  Yes, gaffer.  I always will.  You told me you liked that I don’t take things for granted.

That’s right, just how I was raised.  You’re such a good boy, the pride of England someday, I can feel it.  Now.  You’ll help your Frank out with your mouth, won’t you?

He’s not surprised when the missed call does not go to voicemail, and just seconds later, Frank calls again.

It’s late at this point. Frank has a family.  Shouldn’t he be putting his kids to bed, or whatever the fuck he did with his family?  In Everton it was like he was a guy away at his first year at uni.  Staying up late, eating whatever, never mentioning people back in London.  Sometimes they’d come to games—up to Liverpool, or to Everton away—and Anthony tried not to even look in their direction. He could vaguely picture Frank’s famous wife, and his two little kids from his phone wallpaper, and Harry and Jamie Redknapp, but he didn’t want to see them or learn who his aunts sisters nieces nephews were.  He never wanted it to be serious like that.

He answers the second call because the breath burns his neck and the words tickle his ear and Frank’s thick Everton body presses against him, urges him.

“…Hi, Frank.”

“My boy. Wanted to congratulate you in a personal way.  You deserve better than a text.”

My boy.  It’s familiar, too familiar.  Entitled is the word.

[meanya]

If you missed any or all of the Unus Annus livestream, here's a summary of every hour:

~11 hours out: The channel name could've been Annus Singulos (they decided on Unus Annus at a Buffalo Wildwing)

They always planned on it ending on Friday the 13th NOT the 15th (@ MatPat)

The dude who interrupted the sex toys video was not a mailman, he was just some guy. He did not comment on the sex toy stuff.

~10 hours out: They look at memes. Mark "hook car batteries up to my nipples and I'll say yes every time" Fischbach is NOT a masochist, he just wants to know what it feels like to be hit by a car

Frank!!! Frank!!!!!!!

Ethan is going to marry the microphone clip on his shirt

Dollar Shave Club never got back to them about a sponsorship

The workers including the actress in the escape room actually enjoyed having Mark and Ethan doing their shtick there

~9 hours out: Vincent the editor made a best of his edits throughout the videos, it was beautiful, it was mostly just clips of dying

He also wrote them a WHOLE DAMN ORIGINAL SONG!!! IN A WEEK!! About stopping the clock!!! He rapped!

Marcus the editor did a funny edits-roll as well, it was brilliant

~8 hours out: Rachel shows her edits roll! Some of the funniest clips in the whole series!

A comment they read: Mark can do any of his edgy project ideas now and that's terrifying.

Mark: Just wait til you see my next project.

Their merch manager had to buy a 4th warehouse to produce all the merch that had been ordered

If anyone sees Unus Annus pictures or any reminiscence of it in the future and are asked where it's from we are supposed to respond with "You wouldn't get it 🙄"

~7 hours out: they complain more about enema water gun

They re-watch the Pepper spray video. Mark talked about how he thinks about the pain whenever he sees videos of riotors/protestors getting sprayed. Everyone in chat chanted “BLM” and “ACAB” for a few minutes.

Lixian the editor had his edit reel played (”They make em (the people) pretty in Portugal”)

Mark was salty at Youtube because they claimed they didn’t make billboards for YouTube shows and hence, wouldn’t make a billboard for A Heist With Markiplier, but then later made one for James Charles’ show

Mark presented Amy with a BRAND NEW BUG WATCH 😭

Amy: No nothing on their (Youtube’s) Twitter, they’re not talking about it (Unus Annus)

Mark: Guess it’s not important enough...

Amy: They’re too busy tweeting about “World Kindness Day”

Mark: Oh yeah Friday the 13th 2020 wOrLd KiNdNeSs DaY

~6 hours out: Ethan compares the channel dying to putting down a dog. Things get serious for a beat, people in chat start crying.

They look at fanart for a while, Mark criticizes it like an asshole

They watch Pink Trombone again.

Mark and Ethan guarantee that after the channel is gone they will not forget about it. Mark also permits people to make creations / art after Unus Annus is deleted.

~5 hours out: They re-watch Pee Sauna, dying inside all the way.

DJ Burt Blackarach surprises them with a cake and champagne.

Chat is flooded with “❤🧡💛💚💙💜” messages for a while

Looking at memes again, Mark confirms that the noises that the radio made in SCP Amy were 100% just the radios, not them, making the sounds. They still don’t know why they made those sounds.

Mark and Ethan beg for 1mil like in order to see what’s actually in the Unus Annus casket. They might even lay down in it.

~4 hours out: We find out that in the Children’s Games in Total Darkness video, the weird shot of them both in a trance staring into the phone screen was actually just them trying to adjust their eyes back to normal light and it wound up looking super cool.

Vincent’s highlight reel is played again while everyone takes a break, supposedly there is a “surprise” to be revealed soon.

A tattoo artist named Danielle comes on the set, Ethan says he’s going to get an Unus Annus tattoo live.

~3 hours out: More fanart. Mark admits that after this ends, he’s probably never going to wear his suit ever again, he might bury it. (There’s not much room left in his backyard)

Mark talks Danielle the tattoo artist’s ear off about how wholesome and educational and not cursed the channel was.

Mark and Ethan then do a full 180 and confess to Danielle all their sins; cooking with sex toys, pee sauna, pee life straws, the pee soda idea, drilldo, etc.

Amy: (while Eef’s getting tattooed) “Mark, he’s choosing to spend his last day in pain. And you’re not!”

Mark: (looking at a picture of a tattoo) How long do you think that tattoo would take?

Danielle: Probably 3 hours.

Mark: 3 HOURS?!?! That’s more time than we have to live!!

Alex, Mark’s trainer, made them a euology video. It was like a LORE-filled poem made of secret callbacks to the titles of past videos.

Ethan’s tattoo is done, it is a “ 00:00:00 “ on his left arm.

Stevie who runs the merch shop makes a guest appearance. He self descirbes as “tired and sad and a little tipsy.” He seems both grateful and dead inside. He says he’s going to do a matching tattoo with Ethan.

Mark admits he was planning on not doing merch originally, but he’s glad he changed his mind.

~2 hours out: They talk about behind the scenes of Hee hoo. The reason Mark’s still wearing high socks during this video is because of all the burs so he doesn’t scrape up his legs. Amy wrote the whole end credits story about Ethan meeting Michelle Obama and dying a tyrant.

Mark never got to watch Ethan kidnaps Mark, so they watch it.

They watch The Truth about Unus Annus, Amy surprises Mark with a white tophat. #Mark’sNewHat (it’s an extra large)

Mark and Eef make their last tweets as Unus and Annus

Mark got cool Unus Annus custom pocket watches for Ethan and Amy

~1 hour out: Things get serious. Mark and Ethan private the Unus Annus Instagram (so that no one else can take the Unus Annus handle) and delete all the posts.

Mark proposes that Amy be the one to hit the delete button at the end of the channel. They agree to do it together.

They hit 1 million likes. They open the coffin. There’s nothing in the coffin, but the inside is very pretty, split-colors silk. They take turns laying in it for the first time with the door shut. It’s comfy. Even Amy tries laying in it.

Mark says a short eulogy for Eef as Eef does for Mark. They both say a eulogy for Amy. They all get choked up. The coffin is now called the Cry Box.

They delete the Unus Annus Twitter. They set the Subreddit to private. Apparently there were no mods on that subreddit except Mark.

Mark finally confessed to Amy that he punched a hole in the wall. Amy was there when it was being patched up, but she forgives him anyway.

They play The Barrel and sing along. They thank their team. They thank the audience.

Amy comes down. They all put their hands on the computer. “Unus Annus."

Mark: "See you on the other side."

Ethan: "See you on the other side."

they click delete. The channel is gone forever. Memento mori.

[fuckyesdobiegillis]

I've never met another TMLODG fan before! How did you become a fan of the show? Do you like other old shows or just this one?

hey anon! thank you so much for this! i love getting asks on this blog and talking about dobie with yall! also wow i literally received this ask on the day i graduated college (end of may) and thought “wow this is the greatest graduation gift ever! then i waited a month and a half to actually reply, so....

anyways i first became a dobie fan in i think 2014? after russell johnson died (professor on gilligan’s island) tvland started playing gilligan’s island a lot. i became a huge fan of that show and of bob denver. i remember my stepdad mentioned dobie gillis being bob denver’s first show, but i didn’t really look into it at the time. 

i was in ninth grade, and i had this assignment for my english class that i procrastinated until literally the last minute lol. my master plan was to go to sleep early and then wake up at 4 am the day the assignment was due to work on it. i did wake up at 4 am, and i started working on the assignment. that lasted all of like 5 minutes, until i got curious about dobie gillis and decided to look it up on youtube. to my surprise, pretty much all the season 1 episodes were up on youtube. i started watching immediately. that morning i got all the way up to episode 5, when maynard gets drafted. needless to say, i did pretty poorly on my english assignment lol. 

i watched as much as i could until i opened up youtube and saw that all those dobie episodes had been deleted! that was the year that the shoutfactorytv dvd box set came out for sale, and i remember i asked my dad to get it for me and he did. literally what a guy!

that summer i watched the entire show. i was watching like 11 episodes a night in my mom’s basement haha. 

in january of 2015, i was home sick from school one day and started this blog! i think i only kept it up for about a year, but then during covid i started rediscovering a lot of things i loved as a teen, and dobie gillis was one of them.

this show seriously brings me a lot of comfort and joy. i think the humor is something that feels so shockingly modern, and the characters and the bonds between them are so incredible. i love the show’s self-aware moments. i love how subversive it is, and the special place that the cast has in tv history (thinking of bob denver going on to sitcom immortalization in gilligan’s island and sheila kuehl going on to being california’s first openly gay state legislator). also thinking about how this show gave such a rare opportunity for special actors to shine- mostly thinking about frank faylen and florida friebus. frank faylen started out in vaudeville and his only other really notable role was in it’s a wonderful life. and florida friebus was famous on the stage- none of that work was put to film. these two people easily could have been lost to history, but on this show they had second billing- they had a chance to shine. it’s something that is so special to see and im happy that we are able now to see their talent. this answer kind of got out of hand. i think the cast of this show truly makes it special.  

re: the second part of your question. generally i don’t think i prefer older shows? i of course love i love lucy and gilligan’s island. i also like mash but i think that’s kind of different from shows from the 50s and 60s. i like little house on the prairie and the waltons, and the golden girls. but as for “old” shows that’s about it. if any of yall have recommendations i’d love to check them out!

and anon, i hope you’re still around and can read this. im sorry it’s been awhile. this ask really brightened my spirits on my graduation day haha and i hope i was able to give an adequate answer. i’d love to hear your dobie story and what you find special about this show. any other questions you have, i would love to answer. sending so much love out to dobie nation <3

[frumfrumfroo]

What are your favorite movies and TV shows outside of SW? I’m looking for new things to watch since SW was so disappointing

My tastes are pretty eclectic, so I will stick to just things that are either similar to sw or are in the reylo-esque romance wheelhouse and have happy endings:

Chuck. It is a goofy, light-hearted action-adventure show with extremely endearing characters and a very prominent central romance (seriously, heavy romance and there is a lot of payoff for it, you will be FED- it's kind of slow burn but also shockingly NOT slow burn, they are deep into it pretty much immediately). The main couple is the classic Stoic Badass gradually softened by an innocent they have to protect who is a liability in battle but full of the Power of Heart. Chuck is The Heart btw. He is of that vanishingly rare male Beauty (of B&tB) type. He's incredibly generous and open, Sarah is prickly and closed-off. It is Quality. Very much a gender-swap of your typical cliche anime couple lol. I would recommend stopping at the mid-season finale in season 4, because it's downhill from there. The beginning of season 3 is very rough, but it's definitely worth it to stay for the back half, imo. There are several great endings to choose from before things go to shit, so we don't need to talk about the finale. Probably the most tonally similar to SW thing possible without being high/space fantasy. More humour, more silly, but definitely has a spiritual kinship. Has the best THE BEST 'secret revealed' scenes I have ever seen in anything. If you're into that and were hoping for that in ep IX, you need to watch Chuck.

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940 romance/drama film. You've Got Mail is a remake of it. Jimmy Stewart being profoundly adorable, Frank Morgan (aka the Wizard of Oz), various amusing side characters, and an absolutely deathless double blind 'secretly in love with the workplace nemesis' plot that can and probably has been a great reylo AU.

Mirromask. Fantasy/coming-of-age film. Touted as a 'spiritual successor' to Labyrinth by the filmmakers (one of whom is Neil Gaiman) and let me tell you, that is extremely apt. Beautiful, magical, laden with symbolism and Mask Discourse, and has a great ship. I quote it regularly.

Speaking of which, I'm sure you've seen Labyrinth? If you haven't seen Labyrinth, drop everything and watch Labyrinth.

Legend (the Ridley Scott director's cut, not the theatrical cut). Sumptuous fairy tale, runs on proper fairy tale logic, stunning to look at and overall captivating. Tim Curry. Tim Curry as a lonely tragic lord of darkness who tries to seduce the heroine and has drippingly overwrought monologues.

Howl's Moving Castle. Fairy tale adventure/romance film. Beautifully animated, has the ending you want.

The Silence of the Lambs. Thriller/drama film. Actual masterpiece. Use it as a gateway drug to read the books and rejoice that Clannibal is canon and it is spectacular. Just SotL and Hannibal, you don't need to read the other two. Stan Clarice Starling and revel in that ending. Most triumphant 'villain'/heroine ship of all time (he is not technically a villain but for shorthand's sake).

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Terry Gilliam 1988 fantasy/adventure film. THE TRIUMPH OF IDEALISM OVER CYNICS I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW HEALING IT WAS TO WATCH AFTER THE TROS BULLSHIT HIT. Jonathan Pryce's spiritual villain is basically Chris Terrio and it is cathartic to see imagination and sentiment conquer him.

Sabrina. 1995 romance film. Modern fairy tale with Harrison Ford. Rejecting what you thought you wanted all your life for the thing you actually need, growing up but still believing in magic, beautiful character development across all the leads. Could be (and is irrc) a fantastic reylo AU.

The Scarlet Pimpernel. 1934 adventure film. High romance, secret identities, play-acting, people who aren't at all what they appear to be, falling in love with your own spouse, Big Heroism, guile and wit and audacity. It makes me do little kicks like a happy baby. This is one of the 3-5 films constantly tied for my favourite film of all time. There is a good quality rip free on youtube. Watch it and fall in love with Leslie Howard (this is possibly my favourite acting performance of all time).

Oh, related note. Pygmalion 1938 or My Fair Lady. (The musical is based on this film and borrows from it heavily, including its much more romantic ending compared to the original play.)

The Mummy. 1999 action/adventure/romance film. Very tonally similar to sw. A fucking great time, A+ characters.

EVER AFTER. 1998 romance film. The flawless and perfect and best ever Cinderella adaptation. This is the most satisfying film in history, maybe, the ending is so good it is amazing it exists. Also, it has Richard O'Brien being slimy. Huge selling point. Grapples with identity and stewardship, is brilliant.

Fruits Basket. drama/romance anime. I haven't watched the new version yet, but it's following the manga so I know the story. The original anime didn't do the whole plot (because they caught up with the source material) but it's wonderful and I still recommend it. The central ship is (spoiler.........) a B&tB type where we eventually discover the main love interest both feels like a figurative monster and turns into a literal monster. He has an incredible speech about his relationship with people's fear, it makes me weep. I called the endgame from the first episode and always thought it was obvious, but there is a red herring love triangle dynamic. It's really not annoying, though, because it is a red herring. (I hate love triangles)

I am Dragon. Russian monster romance film. Beautiful, simple fable with a really great heroine.

Jane Eyre. 1943 Gothic Romance film. It's Jane Eyre, byronic hero x sensible heroine love story with much atmosphere and Gothic drama. I stan this version because I am an Orson Welles fangirl and I'm also not convinced it can be improved upon. Elizabeth Taylor's film debut btw.

Hellboy. 2004 action/adventure/romance film. Defying destiny, reconciling identity, monster romance. The complete package and a great time. Tonally similar to SW and probably thematically closest to it out of this whole list. Don't watch the sequel.

Beauty and the Beast 1987 tv series. Exactly what it says on the tin. Deals with the classic B&tB themes, but in a different way. He's not cursed and will never transform into an ordinary man. The first season is very episodic and 'case of the week', but the second season gets more into character drama. It's dated, but if you give it a chance you can get past some of the cheese factor and it's really a unique experience. Its concerns are SO atypical that it feels like something fandom would make rather than a mainstream network show. It was so massively, insanely popular with women at the time that a record of Vincent (the beast) reading poetry topped the album charts. Also Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Stop at season two. Point of interest: George RR Martin wrote for this show.

Stargate (the movie not the series) sci-fi fantasy about a nerdy guy who accidentally a hero.

Possession. 2009... mystery/supernatural/romance. Okay. This is a whole thing. Lee Pace and Sarah Michelle Gellar. It's based on a Korean film I've never been able to find for some reason, but being Hollywood they ruined the romanticism and nuance of the original in the theatrical cut to make a shitty punative ending. However. If you buy it on dvd and go to the alternate ending (which follows the original story) with around 20 minutes left (scene after Lee Pace's character wakes from a bad dream-go to deleted scenes and select the alternate ending), you will get a very, very interesting character study/thriller/redemption about sincerity within deception, compassion, and a major question about second chances with a positive answer. It's kind of dark and kind of astonishingly idealistic at the same time. The heroine makes a very powerful choice, twice over. It's fascinating. If you're into the conflicted and uncertain period in reylo, the part where he is most ambiguous, and you wanted more of that and much darker shades to it, you might be really into this. Also, it should be noted, there is a MASSIVE height difference and they show it off. The film is flawed (and the seams show on the Hollywood rewrite) but idk, it's fascinating. Shocking to me that they even got to shoot the original ending. It is pretty balls to the wall with its themes on forgiveness.

I would recommend getting into kdramas because there is a wealth of female-gaze tropey amazing content, but always check the ending before getting invested. My all-time fave is the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, but it's not sw related at all lmao. It has a happy ending with all the elements you'd want, but it's not satisfying in execution, so that's it's major flaw and I find that pretty common with kdramas. One that is maybe more relevant is My Love from Another Star, which has a hero who is a little bit like Ben in personality. The heroine isn't my favourite, though. It does have a decent ending.

Oh yeah- brain fart. Kurosawa films and classic westerns were both very influential on SW. Or you can combine both and watch The Magnificent Seven.

[venus-says]

Healin’ Good Precure Episodes 31-35

The anti-vax go crazy at the sight of the new Healin' Good power-up weapon.

I honestly don't know how to start this post, I think I never actually knew how to do these ever since I began this thing, but anyway back for more Precure! It only took me five weeks to get back this time, hooray!

You know, I wish I was more happy and excited to be back, but being frank, I'm not really? Part of it is because I feel like I lost the touch for writing, but the biggest reason is that I will be kinda negative about the things I have to say and I've been trying to stay away from negativity, especially now that my cat is sick, and I didn't want to be a source for negativity. But it's already December, I've neglected this blog a lot already and I feel bad for it so I decided to do something about it.

But to be honest, those weren't the only reasons why it took me a month to be back... I've actually been avoiding watching Precure. Well, I've been avoiding watching most of the things I write about because I've overdone it at the beginning of the year, and burn out hit me seriously, but from everything Healin' Good is what I've been avoiding the most. I know it doesn't seem like it, considering the last 3 posts I've made in the past 4 months (wow) were of Precure, but I've been watching the other shows here and there, I've just been sitting on a huge pile of drafts in my Evernote because I can't put my thoughts on those shows in a cohesive way for some reason, but when it comes to Precure, while it's easier for me to write about, I didn't feel compelled to get back and watch this show.

Every time I would sit down to watch a Precure episode at the same time I would open YouTube and Twitch in the hopes of something else I was more interested in would be there in my subscription box so I could avoid watching Healin' Good. And it's not like I think the show is utterly bad or isn't even like I don't have a good time when I actually sit down to watch the show, I just... lost interest. I think ever since Earth's debut my interest in the show has been decreasing more and more, and I don't know how to pinpoint if it's actually a problem with the show or if it's just me and the headspace I've been in ever since the pandemic hit Brazil. Yes, the story had plot points that I didn't like and the flaws of the show have been more apparent in my eyes with each time I watch it, but at the same time sitting down to watch one episode isn't an excruciating experience (especially when i'm not live-tweeting, istg i don't know why I ever thought that would be a good idea), I just don't feel attached to these characters as much as I did before and I'm not engaged in seeing what their story will become in the future.

With that being said, I think you all are already prepared for a post that won't be very positive so I guess it's time to put my personal rambling aside and talk about what y'all came here for, episodes 31 to 35 of Healin' Good Precure.

When I left in the last post I know I've said the cliffhanger of Episode 30 was a good one, and well... Episode 31 used its boots to step on my fingers and made me fell from that cliff. I forgot that since we were ending in that action the next episode would begin with the Cures being defeated, the major portion of the episode would be for dealing with the tension, and the new power-up would come at the climax. And that was exactly what happened, except that there was no tension at all and the power-up didn't feel like a cathartic experience just a Deus Ex Machina. The episode was very anticlimactic and just very uninteresting as a whole and once again, I know I'm going to be very repetitive here, it all comes down to the villains.

Everything that is depending on the villains' side to make me feel something 9 times out of 10 won't make me feel anything because of how boring they are. They made such a big deal about the villains evolving after using the Mega Parts, but it feels like anything changed. Shindoine is still just "the girl", Guwaiaru is still just the dumb strong guy, and the so-called power we're supposed to see from these new forms don't really make much of a difference since these two never get into actual fights with the cures, only the MOTW do. Daruizen is the only one they make stuff with, but it's more because they're really desperate to make him and Nodoka to be deeply connected and so they'll mold his character and personality to forcefully match him with whatever Nodoka's problem will be in that episode, if they need him to be the bored one he'll be, if they need him to be the curious type running experiments he'll be that, if they want him to be a selfish lone wolf they'll make him be. And that's just boring, at this point this villainous team and a cardboard cut-out are basically the same thing.

While also speaking about this "evolution" from the villains, you would think the new human-powered Giga Byogen would bring something new to the table, but no. It's just the exact same thing as before just with a bigger range for creating infections and a slightly higher defense stat. They aren't used in creative ways neither proposes a different treat that the other Mega Byogens did, proof of that is that in Episode 35 instead of a Giga they bring back a Mega just to show how irrelevant they are. They're also different from other monsters who draw their power from humans like a Nottrigger, or a Desertrian, or a Zetsuborg, where in most of the cases the summoning of the monster would be relevant for "solving the problem" afflicting either the victim of the week or the people around them. The teacher being affected didn't make his son appreciate the father more than he did before because that wasn't his conflict, Nodoka's doctor didn't have a revelation about his talents for medicine and Nodoka also didn't get anything new that she hadn't already learned before in the episode, neither did Chiyuu and her rival, you could completely delete the fight and that episode would've reached the same conclusion. Heck, the victim of episode 32 had only TWO appearances before he was turned into a monster, I doubt he was on screen for more than a minute, and they didn't need Touji to be there protecting the dog in the middle of the fight BECAUSE CHIYUU WAS ALREADY AWARE THAT HE'S A BRAVE HARD-WORKING KID BEFORE. These monsters are completely irrelevant and they don't add anything else to the show, and that's just really sad.

Back to Episode 31, let's talk about this power-up, shall we? Being straight to the point, I don't like it, both in the visual and narrative aspects. I visually like them even less now that we already know how the movie power-up looks and how much those forms are way more interesting than just a bigger hair and bigger skirts with a set of wings in the back that you could find in a Halloween costume sale. But who cares about how they look when this power, that is the manifestation of the the four cures combined powers together with their respective healing animals, comes out of nowhere without anything specific happening for them to trigger the appearance of the Healin' Good Arrow and the Special Healin' Good Bottle. Guess is needless to say that the Special Healin' Good Style doesn't feel special at all, it's like it only exists just to sell toys. Well, it's not like everything in this franchise is just to sell toys, but they usually know how to merge this with the story of the show and this didn't happen here. Also, for Christ's sake, this is the second year in a row where the name for the group powered-up attack is just the name of the series being used in the more boring way possible, where has their creativity gone to? The only good thing I have to say about this is that it gave us the healing animals doing some sort of rhythmic gymnastics and Pegitan twirling in that is prime content.

Overall complaints done, let's move one. (these will be quicker)

Episode 32, at first I thought I wouldn't like this one because they brought back this weird rivalry Pegitan has with Chiyuu's brother that doesn't have much of a reason for existing, but it was actually pretty sweet and heartwarming seeing Pegitan leave behind that and showing that he actually cares a lot about Touji, this silly rivalry is just his silly way of showing it (Showing it to who? I don't know, since no one but Pegitan and the audience seems to be aware of this, but shhh). This episode also made me like Touji, before he was just a background character to me and I didn't care much for him, but now I see him as more of a character of his own and not just Chiyuu's brother.

Episode 33 was my least favorite of the bunch because it connects to what to me is the worst plot point of the show: Nodoka's illness being a magic thing. If this had never been a thing, I'd be completely here for this episode. Nodoka's Doctor leaving his job because he felt powerless regarding Nodoka's disease and that being what drives him to go overseas to start doing medical research?? That seems great, and Nodoka feeling guilty for him leaving, while in actuality she's his inspiration is actually pretty emotional. But to me, it all just loses a lot of its importance because Nodoka was never sick after all, and unless this dude discovers on his own about the Byogens he pretty much went through all of this emotional trauma because and for nothing, it all becomes sad when you remember this aspect of it.

Episode 34 was going very well to me up until it's last moments where instead of sticking with a somewhat unique perspective on how to do a story like this they just throw it all through the window and instead of making Chiyuu and Tsubasa friendly rivalry exist outside the world of competitive sports they make Chiyuu change her mind and decide to pursue the World Tournament because you obviously can't have other interests and want to pursue different things when you're out of school, you gotta do that all your life, no other option allowed. This got me so disappointed, y'all have no idea.

Last but not least, Episode 35 which was my favorite, probably because it felt completely disconnected from the rest of the show and I could freely enjoy it in a separate pocket dimension without thinking about the rest. But regardless this was just a very fun and over-the-top episode that wasn't concerned about anything else other than just being fun, and that was exactly what I've been needing. Also, volleyball and beach volley is just cool as heck and seeing that incorporated in the fight of the episode was just fun as hell and a good change of pace. Akane sure is proud.

And that does it for now. Much like at the beginning, I also don't know how to close this one, especially after writing all those bad things and the fact that I'm not that excited for what's to come next. Well, let me know how you feel about all this, I don't know when I'll be back with another post but I promise I'll at least reply to any comment I receive. Without much else to say I'll leave you all with my usual sign-off. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time. Healin' Goodbye~

[alwaysforyouscully]

My X-FEST 2 Experience!

Friends and followers this was truly a pleasure. I was only able to go on Saturday but my X-Files heart is full with great memories!

Here's my recap on one excellent day, we (my daughter and I) got our passes and went to the hotel restaurant to eat breakfast. I heard Mitch before I say him. He was at the table next to us and about 15 minutes later Nick came down and joined him. I never thought the back of their heads would be exciting but...

Anyhoo... we go inside the hall and everyone is in their booth. This was really well organized, plenty of space and easy access to whomever you wanted to see. Everyone when straight to the Gunmen and Nick so I went to Sheila:

I was her first autograph of the day and she was sorry she only had a black pen. She asked her assistant if she should have a lighter pen. I said it's no problem just meeting her was great. She said "I hate this picture." I said oh no, it's how I'll always remember you and she said "You know I still have this jacket in my closet." I was like really, do you ever wear it? And we both laughed, I'm not sure why? Lol 😂

Next I went to see Annabeth:

There were a few folks in line and when it was my turn for an autograph, she looked up and saw my shirt. She said "That's me! Where did you get this?" I told her off the internet and she grabbed her phone and told her assistant to take a picture. Just a note, she is lovely! And from this point forward we will have the 'That's Annabeth' count. This is 1.

When I walked into my photo op she grabbed my hand and said "It's you! I sent our picture to my husband and he said where did she get that? It's great!" Again she is a freaking gem!

Okay next was Mitch. As most of you know in April of 2018 I went to South Texas CC to see Mitch and he got the flu and cancelled 😣. My daughter felt so bad for me that she sent him a message on Twitter. He sent her a PM back and said he would send me some cool stuff...he did and after his last message to her he deleted his Twitter. So on to current day.

I get in line and my daughter is at a side table organizing my pictures. The lovely @jenniferalarza painted a piece for me plus I had JJ Lendl's "Kitten" poster for him to sign. When I got to the table I showed Mitch the envelope of all the things he mailed me last April. He was shocked and said "You came all the way here from Texas?" (He remembered 🤗 ) I told him I had to meet him and pointed to my daughter and said she's the one that sent you the message, then you quit sm. He was looking at the painting and without looking up he said, "Yep, she's the reason I quit." He laughed and I said she really thinks it's true. He came around the table and without slowing down, he headed towards her saying "I'm going to tell her it was because of her that I quit" He got to her and I couldn't hear what he said but she flushed and kind of teared up. Next he pulled her into a hug and headed back to the signing table. He signed both pieces then stopped. He said "She really thought she was the reason? Damn, I'm so sorry." Now I was tearing up. 😥

Mitch was the last photo op on Saturday and I still had 3 tickets left. My daughter and I decided to each take one individually and one together. Mitch saw us and we did the group pic first. He put his arms around us and said "We finally made it!" Yes Mitch, we did. Thanks 😘

Mark Snow was next to Frank Spotnitz and both of their lines were consistent but not too long. I owed the beautiful @dontpointdownthere a favor so we went to Mark next.

The favor was to ask about the song playing on the jukebox in "Dreamland ll" when Mulder and Joann, then Morris and Joann are at the bar. I asked Mark if he knew the song and he couldn't remember so he called over to Frank and asked him. I described it as best I could but Frank couldn't remember either. Sad news for @dontpointdownthere . 😥

I went to Mark's panel and I got the lyrics in the mean time. Frank was at the panel too so I showed him the lyrics and he took a picture with his phone. I met back up with Mark later and showed him the lyrics and along with the folks in line we tried to jar his memory. No joy but it was fun trying!

After the lunch break it was off to the Lone Gunmen. Again @jenniferalarza did a beautiful piece for me, so on to the signing:

Tom was first, he was very sweet and loved the painting. After folks in line heard it was fanart, they all wanted to see it. Everyone was very impressed!

Bruce was next and he was, umm, more like Byers than I thought he would be. First words upon seeing my shirt, "That's Annabeth" (that makes 2) He looked at the picture then asked my name. He said "This is really good, lots of fan art isn't, lots and lots are terrible." He started to sign and put my name at the top then stopped and signed his name at the bottom. "Oops! I forgot what I was going to say." Oh well, guess we'll never know Bruce!

Dean was last and his line had been the longest most of the day. I heard him talking with a fan while I was waiting for Mitch and he was telling her how he does pet portraits now. He even pulled out his phone and gave her an impromptu art show! Lol When I walked up he said "Hi! Is this Annabeth? (#3) and I said sure is. So I handed him the painting and he was about to sign then asked "Is this a print on canvas?" I told him it was the original and he was upset about signing it. I said no, please sign it, that's why my friend painted it for me so the three of you could sign it! He was just floored and started asking how much it cost, was it commissioned, how much was shipping from Spain and on and on. He said "I'm doing portraits now so I need to know these things."

His photo op was the last of the Lone Gunmen. The lines for the photos went super fast. Each person was given a 15 minute slot and none used all of the time. I went in and he said "That really is Annabeth!" No joke (this was 4). And just before we took the picture the photographer said hold up a second we're moving a little fast. Talk amongst yourselves. Dean said "So, Annabeth huh? You got this off the internet? I don't know if this really looks like her. Look at that chin, her skin is too dark, the forehead is all wrong. You know it doesn't really look like her at all." (I'm counting this as 5) I laughed and said, I guess not but she liked it. "Oh gosh, she's seen it?" Yep and she took a picture of it too! By now the photographer was ready and off I went.

Nick's photo op was after the Gunmen:

I walked in and I shit you not he said "That's Annabeth!" (Up to 6) Yes, she really loved it. He put his hand out to shake mine "What's your name, we haven't met today" I said, No not yet, you've been too busy. "For you? Never." I did swoon, just saying because the gray scruff is working for him.

While I waited for the photo my daughter went to his table to wait in line, when I got there she was the only one there so perfect timing. He showed up about 10 minutes later and we walked up. He greeted my daughter and there was a card on the table for the 'I wanna believe' X-Files parody show and she asked if he'd seen it. He said "Not yet but it's going to be on YouTube so I'll watch it later." My daughter told him it was worth his time and really funny. I told him Krycek had an important role so he needed to check it out 😊! He signed my picture and called over to Annabeth, she was next to him, "Hey, you saw this?" pointing to my shirt. She said "Yes, isn't it fantastic!" (I'm counting this as 7)

Chris Owens was my last autograph of the day:

This guy is priceless, so warm and funny. He was telling a story about David to another fan when we walked up. He told them that David had called him to come back for S11 because he wouldn't have to put all that shit on his face this time! Lol I guess that worked 😂!

I picked the Postmodern Prometheus pic for him to sign and said I know it's not your best face but I loved this episode. He laughed and said "don't be so sure, this was one of my best." He got up from the table and gave me a hug. I was just in shock by his kindness!

That's finally it folks. A great day all around and an Annabeth shirt that will never live down it's fame!

Thanks for a great day X-Fest2!

And don't forget to check out @iwannabelieveparody 's YouTube channel to see this awesome show!

[sushiexcrement]

An Interesting Wonder about H3H3, George Miller, and the Origin of Vape Nation.

So this is gonna be a long story, but I wanna talk about it. It involves the Baited Podcast, Anything4Views, Joji, and of course, H3H3 Productions, and the creation of Vapenation. It’s a long story, so there’ll be a cutoff. Disclaimer btw, I’m not trying to stir shit up amongst fandoms, I just find it a very interesting topic of discussion.

If you’ve never watched the Baited Podcast, I’ll explain it simply. It is a podcast where Keemstar, ColossalisCrazy (eggs on toast guy), and Chad get together, and talk about what’s going on in the Youtube community. Because Keemstar and Colossal have vastly different personalities, they will argue, and Chad will be the median/moderator of the debate. This Baited episode in particular, was centered around the time that Ethan was under criticism for releasing a mobile game after a break in videos and claiming to be depressed (he was depressed, but the timing was terrible on Ethan’s part). During the podcast (deleted originally because the art got it demonetized and age restricted), Chad says the following,  “Ethan, stop stealing your jokes.” Keemstar then follows up with, “Oh, you mean the Vapenation meme.”  They go on to discuss that they don’t want to talk about who it is, but that it was indeed stolen from someone they all know. 

Later that day, I’m watching Colossal’s Twitch stream, and Keemstar joins the chat. During that stream, they’re talking about how the podcast was good, but a donator asks to know who stole the VapeNation meme from, and in the chat it is revealed by Keemstar that it was George. (This link shows the livestream but not the chat, I’m sorry). 

At first, I was very very skeptical about the idea, because at the time there wasn’t a lot known about George and Chad’s relationship. It felt very friend-by-proxy with Max at best, that is, until Chad started talking a bit more about his relationship with George on Cold Ones. George showed Chad how to boost himself, even at a time where Chad wasn’t really sure if he wanted to be a Youtuber, and gifted him the name Anything4Views. Now that I can see that they did have a decent enough bond, I don’t doubt that they probably talked about video ideas casually or talked about other Youtubers who they were friends with. 

But this brings us back to Ethan and Hila and their relationship with George. They have a pretty good relationship it appears. He promoted them when they were still small creators. Hila made him a Pink Guy doll. They tried to go to his show at Rolling Loud. Overall, they’re pretty supportive. However, if the claim that Chad had made is true, it makes me wonder how George really felt about it. 

It’s not uncommon for Youtubers to swing around video ideas with each other. Max and George talked about the concept for vomit cake on twitter casually though privately, George pointing out how Max at the time got a good amount of views/recognition from vomiting. It should be noted, because George was careful in what he uploaded to his very niche audience. Filthy Frank was a very character oriented channel, and while memes are memes and unpredictable, I can’t see how Vape Nation would’ve worked with any of the filthy frank characters. Ethan portrays himself as silly but overall kind with a bit of an aloof edge, while Filthy Frank/Fake Frank was always pushing the limits of edginess. 

This probably isn’t important now since George has retired Filthy Frank, but it does raise the questions about what happens when ideas are shared. On a platform like Youtube, where creators scrape the barrel for something original, is taking an idea like that stealing? How many other immensely popular videos are out there that were inspired by friends of these creators? And do they see that as stealing or as utilizing an idea that doesn’t have purpose for the platform? 

[geek-gem]

Transformers Dark Of The Moon

I've finally seen the movie again after these years. Let me warn you, spoilers and I have a lot to say.

Their is really a lot to say about this movie. But I'm glad I finally got my to do list of watching the first three Bayformers now.

Another thing I'll be honest about I was gonna play the Dark Of The Moon game on PS3 but it requires more MB's to clear out but I decided fuck it I don't care. Especially it's a short game but I'm not doing that shit. I just wanna watch this film especially remembering this is a long film.

But back to the movie. I'll be honest and I'm not critic and my opinion may be invalid because lots of people hate Bayformers. We have a new continuity with the Bumblebee movie which I think is the best decision this franchise has done.

To me this movie while I like the first film from 2007.

After watching this and I'm still having some feelings after being it. But I feel this is my favorite out of the Bayformers saga. This is basically where it should of ended and should of let the Bayformers end with dignity. Or at least until a new director came along like Travis Knight or others.

Especially like I remember a movie guy named Cure4 on DeviantArt but he's gone from that shit. I agree with him and I'm thinking this is the sequel the 2007 film should of had.

I'm pissed and I hate that Age Of Extinction was the follow up to this film. Despite how people feel about this film, my God Bay tried to redeem himself after Revenge Of The Fallen a film that is like some sort of weird parody there the video game tie in's I see as the best version especially the PS3/Xbox 360/PC versions and even the Wii/PS2 versions.

Another thing I wanna reveal when I saw this film for the first time in theaters I actually used this.

I seriously wore that and it worked and it was awesome. It was a experience despite I felt nervous. I was young but what the hell it's gonna be 8 years since the movie was released. Especially the 3D was awesome when I saw it in theaters.

But back to the movie again I'm sorry. I'm not gonna make this a full review I don't wanna waste anyone's time.

When I think about it Sam is a lot better in this film. While I do feel some moments could be worked on. He should of apologized to Bee after he meets him I know Sam's angry. Especially this development of Sam wants to matter. This is much better then what we had in Revenge Of The Fallen.

Carly I honestly find more likable then Mikaela. Seriously I do especially that moment where she literally tells Megatron that he will basically be Sentinel's bitch if he doesn't do anything. She basically treats Sam with a bit more respect and well I like the relationship more then what Sam and Mikaela had.

Lennox and Epps were always great. Especially Epps during the scenes in Chicago. Simmons is seriously entertaining in this and Dutch is a blessing.

Let me just talk about Dylan Gould. This guy he's been on my mind. I made two joke posts him deleted the first one of he's been waiting for that betrayal towards Sam.

Patrick Dempsey honestly and his portrayal of Dylan is a performance that left an impression on me. Because I was actually surprised by his reveal of who he actually was. But seriously this man is a dick and in a way I like him. Despite seeing in the film him talking about making tough choices and him being on the winning side. Yet over the course of the film he starts to take it a bit personal.

While I kept thinking before seeing the film he was enjoying it maybe. But my view on it changed. I just think Patrick Dempsey kind of owns the role.

Yes we should talk about the robots and let me be honest. What I love about this film it's basically the Decepticons strike back. They are basically winning in this film. I love the Chicago invasion scene.

I do feel like the entire Bayformers series yes their should of been more Transformers screen time. Especially the Decepticons in this case. While I feel in Revenge Of The Fallen I can tell Starscream feels like he's a little snarky in some parts. While I know he's kissing up to Megatron to cover his ass. I would of liked some what....I don't know more snarky shit or something Starscream would say or do. Maybe even during his confrontation with Sam he mentioning after the Decepticons win that he would overthrow Megatron and become the winner.

I remember when I was young when I saw this for the first time. For Starscream I had hoped he would betray Megatron yet that would be so much for one film. Because that's Starscream from G1, Animated, and other continuities. At least one last hurrah before he dies.

Especially I remember when I was young I wanted Skids and Mudflap, along with Leo to come back....I was young and I enjoyed Revenge Of The Fallen a lot more okay. Wouldn't mind Leo but their seems to be a bit much but what the hell I wanted Dinobots in this film.(well it's said Skids and Mudflap are shown as cars but they were supposed to die....they did die by Sentinel in the movie comic)

I dig Soundwave in this film. Even Laserbeak these guys are douches but would of liked to seen more Soundwave. Especially I like this little dynamic between Dylan and Soundwave I know that's weird of me to say. Would of liked to seen more.

Shockwave in this film seriously I was hyped for him when I was young and playing the prequel game. I feel it's stupid he's not as important. He should of had more lines and more interactions. I even agree with a comment on YouTube he should of been in the Africa scene.

While he is badass it's stupid how he goes out but give him a better send off and a fight with Optimus Prime. I wanted to see more Shockwave and I think it would of been better if he was voiced by Mark Ryan. Frank Welker didn't do a bad job and he actually had two lines spoken in English.

At least his driller creature is cool. But seriously after all the hype and I want to just put some promotional stuff.

Whatever if this one is official or not. It's just in Shockwave's own words......logical. Or my own words fucking logical.

The reason I'm saying Mark Ryan because of his English accent and I want to be reminded of Corey Burton. Sorry for sounding weird.

Let me say I feel Sentinel Prime is probably the best antagonist actually we've had in a Transformers live action film especially in the Bayformers. Characters like Shatter and Dropkick are great. Even Lockdown was nice. But I liked Sentinel. I'll be honest I was actually surprised when I witnessed his betrayal when I was young. I thought the Decepticons were gonna force him to use the Pillars maybe even Shockwave but what we got was something else.

Also I really liked the scenes with Optimus and Sentinel. I do feel we should of gotten more and had them be longer. Especially I like Optimus in this. I do see their was this father and son or brother like relationship that Bay talked about. But would of liked to seen more.

The other Autobots are alright cool. I do feel the whole Que/Wheeljack thing was just seriously stupid. Especially now before Bumblebee a Wheeljack design that was more accurate. Tragic about the way he died.

Looking back at the film theirs not a lot of Cybertronian scenes but they leave an impact.

Also I really wanna talk about the ending with Optimus, Sentinel, and Megatron. We should of gotten more Megatron I agree.

But the scene where leading up to Optimus killing Sentinel seeing it in action after going through the movie. It is awkward in a way.

Yet I'll be honest Sentinel basically deserved it. In fact of the Decepticons, and Dylan fucking deserved what they got. Because after everything they did their to me was not a way shit would end peacefully or something. Including your hearing this from a Steven Universe fan a show that deals with pacifism and other shit.

I do feel and I've talked about this before but I might delete it now because I'm gonna mention it here. But I feel if the scene went like it was Megatron who kills Sentinel or this dark idea of Sentinel killing himself or even himself dying from wounds. Especially giving Megatron and Optimus more of a fight even with Optimus haven't one arm.

Or hell seriously Bay should of gone with the original that was kept in the novel that Megatron teamed up with Optimus to kill Sentinel and Megatron would stop what he's doing. Also hearing that it would of explored Megatron more. That ending would have his look in The Last Knight make sense that he went to Cybertron after Dark Of The Moon and over time he decided to go back leading the Decepticons. Instead they had to kill him off and the whole Galvatron thing. Even though Megatron got what was coming to him.

Gonna be honest the Starscream death while I like the idea of Sam having the courage to take on Starscream and even killing him. But I do feel Starscream should of died a more I guess epic death.

Especially I weirdly wanted Sam to be all Cade Yeager shooting Decepticons and some how killing them. I mean you Sam jumping on cars and even sliding under them.

Gonna say before seeing the movie I kept thinking Dylan in his fight with Sam should of died a more brutal death. Such as Sam telling him to shut up after the messager comment and beating him to death. But Dylan's death is perfect. Seriously he gets hit in the face with some sort of pole thing and dies by the pillar.

Listen I'm sorry for rambling a lot. This became more of some review or reaction. The action was seriously nice and the special effects, score was always excellent.

Gonna be honest while I wasn't emotional much throughout the movie. Did feel emotional over the, "The fight will be your own" scene and felt a little at the, "No Prisoners Only Trophies" scene....that should of had more weight. I'll be honest when I was young I was expecting Sam for some reason come out of hiding yelling no in slow motion, surprising everyone then the Decepticon drop ship gets hijacked.

Gonna say did enjoy Wheelie and Brains I like them. Glad they we're still around in later films.

I think I've talked too much. Basically I think this is the best Bayformers sequel, this is what we should got gotten as a sequel to the 2007 film. It's better then Revenge Of The Fallen, Age Of Extinction, and The Last Knight.

My only weird complaint that isn't towards the movie.....Dinobots could of been in this some how.....during the battle of Chicago. We should of gotten Dinobots vs the Driller. Grimlock voiced by Vin Diesel or whatever I've had that weird casting idea I think for years. Or even Devastator in this because it's a huge open battle with so many opportunities. While I understand Michael Bay didn't wanna go larger like he did with Revenge Of The Fallen. I'm just disappointed that the next film we got after this was Age Of Extinction.

Tags dealt with sorry that got wrong, their was a lot to talk about. Glad I could talk about this and again I finished my to do list of rewatching the original trilogy. Bring on the new cinematic universe in the Knightverse that started out with Travis Knight's Bumblebee I'm ready for more excellent films.

[topstreamsmusic]

How did Filthy Frank give us Joji?

On September 25 2020, George Miller, a Japanese alternative musician better known by his stage name Joji, released his second studio album, "Nectar." The 18 tracks on the album, which has received over 500 million Spotify listens, combine beautiful instrumentals, delicate vocals, and simple rhythms to create a dramatic study of love and longing.

It's a vast cry from the record he'd released just three years before, under the name Pink Guy. It's lax, elegant, and more crucially, universally attractive. That CD is a satirical comedy named "Pink Season." It was effectively an 81-minute word vomit of every obscene phrase you could think of, including references to mass murder, animal brutality, and homophobic and racial insults. In fact, a deleted Reddit account claimed that two of the album's songs, "White is Right" and "Dog Festival Directions," were taken off of streaming sites for "unspecified reasons" shortly after the album's release. On the Billboard Top 200, the album peaked at number 70 thanks to his enormous YouTube fan base.

Miller performed the lead role of Frank on the YouTube channel called Filthy Frank. He wore spectacles and a blue button-up. He was the "embodiment of everything a human should not be," according to his station. With the same crude and inappropriate comedy of "Pink Season," it included a cast of returning characters, including Pink Guy. Miller had accumulated almost seven million followers and was receiving tens of millions of views on each video at the time he decided to give up comedy.

The unhurried alternative musician Joji has always been around, hovering in the background. At the height of Filthy Frank's fame, the artist's debut EP, "Chloe Burbank," was released to a specialized amount of acclaim from the people willing to give it a try on SoundCloud. Although the EP gave it generally favorable reviews, it didn't enjoy the same level of popularity as Pink Guy or Filthy Frank. So why give up?

That query has a straightforward solution, despite what some people may believe. Long after regularly updated content had been posted, Filthy Frank gave an explanation for why the Filthy Frank universe he had become famous for was coming to an end in a now-deleted message on his Twitter account. Miller claimed that in addition to not enjoying himself while creating the material, the gruff, low voice he used for the role of Frank had actually damaged throat tissue, and it was challenging to complete the material because of pre-existing neurological issues.

Miller, or Joji as he is more widely known, started distributing his work to a broader audience as he had more time to concentrate on the more "serious" songs. His fan base gave him a respectable start, but when the song "SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK" peaked just one position higher than Pink Season had ever been on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 39 on the Billboard R&B charts, it became obvious to fans that Miller's more "serious" career as Joji was going to be just as, if not more, successful than his prior endeavors.

[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven DVD Commentary - 3.04 Over My Head

Commentary with Gabrielle Stanton, Executive Producer (and writer for this episode) and Matt McGuinness, Executive Producer.

As we see Tommy pull a dead body out of his car in the previouslies, MMG wonders if they “had a real body in there” and decides probably not from the way it hits the ground.

As we see Audrey and Nathan in the morgue, MMG comments that’s a set they built and GS adds, “We finally realised we have enough dead bodies on this show that we could use a coroner’s office.”

The woman we see grabbed at the ATM and who is then scalped by the bolt gun killer is also Emily Rose’s stand in.

MMG mentions they “had a lot of drama” over how grisly they could be on showing the scalping. They agree that the final product is not very grisly at all and GS says that the first cut was “quite grisly-er”.

MMG: “Gabrielle and I are working on season 4 right now and the tattoo continues to play a pivotal role in the secrets of this town.” GS: “And by the end of season 4, you really understand how important it is.”

After a little while of silence, Gabrielle says that commentary is very hard, and Matt adds, “the problem is our show is so fascintating, we just keep watching it.” Gabreille agrees, like, “Oh my god I remember when Claire did this! This was a great epispde!” Matt agrees, “It’s like a visit with old friends because we knew these characters and liked these characters and now they’re gone; poor Claire met an untimely demise.”

As Audrey talks to Claire in Claire’s office, Matt comments on the globe over her shoulder; “There’s a globe with an orange ocean, that’s unusual.” Gabrielle is surprised too, having not noticed before and comments, “That’s very Haven.”

Claire’s office was a set that was built for this season.

At Audrey’s “But I have to try,” at the end of that scene, MMG starts to say there was a lot of drama over that line, but then both of them are distracted by the arrival of Frank, talking enthusiastically about his audition tape. GS; “I went crazy, like a) he has to do this part, and b) I just want to do a spin off series where he just sees stuff and starts screaming. Because he’s so fantastic. He was so good.” MMG talks about having many more minutes of him screaming at a much higher frequence, saying [I’m not sure how seriously] that they should put it up on YouTube. MMG also claims that the actor playing Frank “bears a vague resemblance” to one of their executives, but doesn’t say who.

As we see Lucassi examining the body by the pool, GS seems surprised that the body still has both legs attached; the script had a section of leg floating in the pool. She figures that might have been seen as a bit too grisly.

They discuss/try to remember where the pool scene was filmed and decide it is part of the “Atlantica” resort about 20 minutes away from Chester. GS comments that (in contrast to ice skating rinks) it is not easy to find a swimming pool in Nova Scotia.

As Duke joins them by the pool, MMG says that they had “much debate” about Duke’s attitude in this epsiode and how he would be reacting to what Audrey had done last epsiode in asking him to kill for her. MMG: “So we landed on Duke being difficult and lashing out and saying ‘OK what’s good for the goose is good for the gander and if you guys are going to make me kill people, I’m gonna hang around and do whatever I want.’ And I thought Eric played it great.” GS agrees, “Because you really didn’t know what was going on with him; was he going to start killing people, was he mad, was he OK with it? And that’s a nice thread that runs through the episode with Nathan and Audrey wondering as well what’s going on with Duke.”

They’re both pleased to see Vince and Dave on screen. MMG: “These two guys make us smile.” GS: “They’re really fun to write for. And they always seem to know a little bit more than they’re telling.”

As Nathan is asking Vince and Dave about the ‘tattooed people’, GS says that they had a big debate about this because Nathan got this tattoo, but they had to decide; how much did he know about it before he got the tattoo? “And we landed on the idea that he did it symbolically because of the whole Audrey Duke of it all and he didn’t necessarily know the full back story of it. So that way we could unpack that this season.”

MMG realises this episode is the first time we meet Jordan, “I actually wrote the first Jordan scene. It was fantastic [but was cut]. If you’d like to see it you may find it online I believe.” GS adds that it might be on the DVD extras as well [My DVDs certainly have some deleted scenes, so we’ll see!]

Both of them comment on the lighting in the station as being dark/moody in this episode.

GS says that what she likes most about the character of Claire is that “basically she’s a shrink for Troubled people. Because who else are you going to talk to about that kind of thing.”

As Nathan shows Audrey the evidence of the shark’s tooth, they comment on the species; Porbeagle shark. Despite “sounding like a made up name” this is a real shark that swims off the coast of Maine. Though not necessarily one that eats people.

As Nathan tells Audrey about the Guard, MMG says that they had “much debate about what the Guard should be called” and went through many potential names, GS remembers a couple; The Marked, The Locals. They also had some executives who “resisted strongly the notion that they would have any name at all,” (says MMG). But they are both glad they won that fight because otherwise “how do you refer to them?” “They had to have a name.”

As a wave of water knocks a car across the street they both describe this as a “fun” scene. They discuss the initial wave being CGI and the water actually on the car being really there (dumped from a huge bulldozer) and the difficulties of making convincing CG water.

GS says that production “really loathes” her because she is know for writing a lot of water stuff which is hard to do on set (and also cold). She wrote the “mermen” episode “where I sent 20 extras into the freezing cold ocean.”

GS says that the mural on the wall behind them as they talk to the guy with fish in his car is a real mural in Lunenberg.

There’s some discussion at to why Tommy wears his badge around his neck and whether this is realistic. And they both like Vince and Dave as Tommy leaves the Herald, MMG saying he likes these moments where these “old coots” get up to this kind of stuff and GS saying how Vince and Dave are “always so mad at each other, except when they’re scheming.” GS adds, “Every year we talk about doing a back-in-time young Vince and Dave episode, and one of these seasons we’re going to do it.”

GS is amused by the look that Eric gives Frank’s body in the morgue as Audrey is talking to Nathan. As Nathan tells Duke to “Stay there” as he takes Audrey out into the corridor to talk to her and Duke replies, “With the dead body?” GS says that was an ad lib, but it was good so we left it in. GS: “Eric likes to ad lib and he likes big sweaters. We try to accomodate his requests for both.”

Where they’re talking in the corridor, this is all set built for the show, and MMG comments that he thinks parts of this set doubled for Claire’s office.

As we see Audrey and Duke get out of her car there’s some discussion over the type of car, MMG surprised and unsure about it. GS says it’s not entirely fair that the boys get their cool cars and she has something boring, but MMG says Audrey’s is a cool car.

As Duke and Audrey talk to Daphne’s neighbour who gets covered in black crabs, GS says that he did this really well and she really liked how this turned out. “It’s one of those scenes that you write and you think it’s either going to be really cool or it’s going to look really stupid.” MMG says he had thought that for that effect they had done the same thing as with the water i.e. use one or two real crabs and then CG the rest, but actually they are all CG.

As we meet Jordan, GS says that they built this set, MMG adds that the “Gun & Rose” name of the diner is from Stephen King [The Dark Tower I think - there’s a voice in the background and then both of them speak at once so it’s not too clear].

GS describes Jordan as the kind of character we haven’t really seen in Haven before, “a little more out there, a little more urban,” and definitely in the way she dresses, with her necklace with the little spikes on. “She’s a tough chick, I like that.”

As Nathan meets up with Audrey and Duke at Daphne’s, MMG comments (of Duke and Nathan) “They just don’t like each other.” GS adds “They do in real life. I think they like playing being mad at each other, so they get to be snarky to each other.” MMG adds, “I like when Eric’s snarky and funny, and you’re not quite sure what he’s about.”

As the characters talk, they comment on the laundry hanging up in the background and how does that work in a climate where it rains so much.

As we see Vince and Dave pecking at their keyboards; GS: “I like the way Vince types. It’s actually kind of how I type.”

As Audrey, Nathan and Duke find Reed Harris on the floor bleeding out from a cut in his leg MMG comments that this was a production challenge to shoot. He was supposed to be round the back of the house much further away. GS says that because it was raining they had to move him under some kind of cover to shoot it. Also according to the script there would have been a lot more blood pooling around him because he’s bleeding out.

As we see Daphne in the car, GS comments this is why the actors hate her because she puts them in freezing cold water, and they discuss the shark fin that we see out in the water, GS calling it “scary” and MMG calling it “ridiculous”. MMG: “I didn’t want the shark fin.” GS: “The shark fin makes this scene.” [It’s not like they’re angry or anything though, they’re both laughing.]

As Duke is drowning, GS wonders how they did this in production, did they put little hoses on him to pump the water out? MMG says that when this was broadcast, in this moment as he is drowning with water spirting out of his mouth, a public service announcement came up on the corner of the screen that said; ‘Health tip: for better health stay hydrated. Drink water!’

As the three of them are stood around the map on the hood of the car working out where Daphne is, GS comments how they’re working as a team, each with their own bit of information to contribute. MMG comments on the map angle, saying that he’d like to have a map of Haven.

GS says that the original crabs that she had picked didn’t exist in Maine so she had to find a different species.

MMG: “So if Eric’s that wet, that means that all the water that’s in his hair came out of him. That’s kind of gross.”

As the three of them arrive at the cliff, GS says what a great location this was. It was a big deal to film because Daphne’s car was on a crane to get it down to the bottom of the cliff. GS says she just learned that day that this was the most expensive episode of Haven in terms of VFX to date. GS: “I felt guilty, happy and excited all at the same time.” MMG is surprised but they figure between the crabs, the wave in the street, this scene, the shark fin (though MMG jokes surely that was just a piece of cardboard), and Audrey’s flashbacks to being Lucy. There is actually a fair amount of CG in this scene because the car is being held in place by wires from a crane so they had to CG those out, and then there’s the rocks that fall down towards the car as well. MMG wonders why they didn’t use styrofoam rocks, GS says there was a reason that wouldn’t work though she can’t remember what it was.

They comment again as well about the poor actors having to get in the cold water, but then they figure Eric is used to it what with his surfing.

GS: “Season three was a lot about Duke coming to terms with his new abilities and this is the start of it.”

In the hospital as Duke is talking to Audrey, GS: “Aw, I always like it when he gets real with Audrey.”

After Audrey’s gone and Claire comes back out of Daphne’s room, GS says, “I always thought they could have been a good couple. We didn’t go in that direction, but I could see Duke Crocker dating a psychologist and the problems that would cause.”

Back with Jordan and Nathan in the diner, MMG says this scene was the one they used for casting Jordan’s role, “We heard this scene many many times.”

MMG is also looking at the scenery commenting on the ‘Asian Food’ sign and the light-up waterfall over Jordan’s shoulder/at the back of her head.

MMG starts to talk about something Kate Kelton (who plays Jordan) told him about a “complicated skin regime” she has that “helped her relate to this character,” but didn’t have any more detail than that. They both agree that she “knocked this scene out of the park.”

As the scene comes to an end, MMG comments on the “sexy music” and GS on Nathan’s “sultry” look.

As Vince and Dave join Tommy in his office to attempt their blackmail and we learn from Tommy that Vince and Dave “own half of the commercial real estate in Haven” GS says that this does come up in future and is “part of the overall series mythos about why the Teagues are so important to the town”.

They discuss whether a line made it to the final cut (Tommy’s “You wouldn’t know it from your wardrobe” which MMG says he found really funny) and GS says it’s always funny watching the final product because you’re gone through so many versions of it; between different versions of the script, different cuts, the editing process.

About Vince and Dave as they go to leave Tommy’s office: MMG: “I love when those two get their back up, they’re great.” GS: “You do not want Vince and Dave mad at you.” MMG: “No, they’re really scary. That look!”

As we see the bolt gun killer, MMG says he thinks this is a reshoot; they had to reshoot it because the original version was too grisly.

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, Tech, and Geek Culture

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/last-action-hero-4k-announced/

Last Action Hero 4K Announced

Sony Pictures Home Video has announced a 4K set for classic film Last Action Hero:

SYNOPSIS

Young Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) is a lonely 11-year-old boy who escapes from his bleak reality by watching the action adventure movies of his favorite film character, Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). When his best friend, Nick the projectionist, gives him a special ticket to the new Slater film, Danny is magically transported into Jack’s world, where the good guys always win. Danny becomes his helper as Jack battles a trio of nefarious bad guys, Benedict (Charles Dance), Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn) and The Ripper (Tom Noonan). But things get out of hand when Benedict steals Danny’s magic ticket stub and transports himself into the real world, where crime can, and often does, pay. Jack and Danny must leave fictional Los Angeles for real-life New York and battle the villains without the aid of movie magic or stuntmen.  

DISC DETAILS & BONUS MATERIAL  4K ULTRA HD DISC

Newly remastered in 4K resolution from the original camera negative, with HDR10

All-new Dolby Atmos audio + the original theatrical SDDS mix presented as 5.1 + original theatrical stereo audio

Audio Commentary with Director John McTiernan

Deleted & Alternate Scenes (presented in 4K with HDR10)

Alternate Ending (presented in 4K with HDR10)

“Big Gun” Music Video by AC/DC

Original Behind-the-Scenes Featurette

Theatrical Teaser

SET ALSO INCLUDES BLU-RAY & DIGITAL   *From a 2019 SPHE fan poll and over 30,000 responses, LAST ACTION HERO was the most selected movie when participants were asked to choose from a list of possible 4K UHD disc releases.

CAST AND CREW

Directed By: John McTiernan Story By: Zak Penn & Adam Leff Screenplay By: Shane Black & David Arnott Producers: Steve Roth and John McTiernan Executive Producer: Arnold Schwarzenegger Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance, Frank McRae, Tom Noonan, Robert Prosky, Anthony Quinn, Mercedes Ruehl, Austin O’Brien  

SPECS

Run Time: Approx. 131 minutes Rating: PG-13 for strong action sequences Feature Picture: 2160p Ultra High Definition, 2.39:1 Feature Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible) | English 5.1 DTS-HD MA | English Stereo Surround DTS-HD MA | French (PAR), Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital  

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Twitter: @SonyPicsHomeEnt Instagram: @SonyPicturesHomeEntertainment Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonypictureshomeentertainment YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sonypictureshomeent 

[aleksandrakv]

Social media in Adam Lambert’s life&career

It’s been so long since I’ve written anything longer than a tweet about Adam, but this stanning lethargy doesn’t reflect the level of my interest in the man. It may appear so, but can the lack of online presence automatically imply the lack of interest? In today’s state of affairs, when artists have carefully constructed and heavily monitored internet presence, when YouTube views are everything and the most powerful politicians seem to pay more attention to Twitter than their jobs, it would be understandable if it could. The www. has finally become literally that – a worldwide group chat, where presidents tweet, where actors, musicians and sportsmen keep vlogs on YouTube, writers publish their essays on Facebook, and everybody comments.

Adam Lambert has chosen not to do so. In an era when YouTube stars become singers who get Saturday Night Live slots where they whisper the lyrics into a microphone, and when the top trending video which garnered more than 30 million views in a day is one of a reality star announcing her pregnancy, Adam has taken a quiet step back in the past few years - and I together with him. I couldn’t help it. Twitter has lost its appeal to me ever since a constant possibility that Adam could see a particularly flaily or witty tweet was no longer an option – the magic of giddy anticipation was gone. For all intents and purposes, Adam has semi-abandoned Twitter and moved to Instagram; a Facebook affiliated app which I never took a liking to.

I was upset and a little resentful. I didn’t understand why. Not only did I have to suffer the cruel Atlantic Ocean between us, but now we were on different online apps, which is a fate way worse than living on different continents, according to cyber sense of geography. In my bitterness, I even had an occasional mean thought on the subject. Oh yeah, that’s because he can ogle hot guys there. What about MEEE? Or, even worse: it’s because of the filters. The man LOVES a good filter, the vain queen. Or, absolutely the worst: he wanted to escape the twitter crazies. It was the worst because I should have known that the crazies are everywhere. I was bitchy, mean, and so, so wrong. This essay is my redemption. The price I want to pay for my stupidity, because Adam does have a social media presence, albeit not as aggressive as I might like. There is a reason for that, which he has already given. I had read it before, but it flew right over me like a sparrow, equally tender and fragile, leaving my head unruffled and thoughtless as if nothing had happened.

Even on his preferred social network, Adam’s behavior is somewhat atypical, in a sense that he doesn’t hesitate to share less than perfect photos. Unfiltered, sweaty, in-your-face, flaking makeup photos of the realistic kind - a rare occurrence among the Hollywood hotties. But he is a geek like the rest of us. The anticipation of waiting for the first photos to appear when he has a concert is one of the best parts of being his fan. Adam is incredibly photogenic, but sometimes, those photos are low quality ones, taken by fans on their phones, from pretty unflattering angles. Adam somehow manages to look great in most of them, despite the low angles and the fact that great physical exertion makes everyone look awful. Being photographed in the middle of an adrenaline rush while singing from the top of your lungs for two hours is challenging. His facial features almost rearrange with strain, but Adam simply knows how to pose and is rarely caught off guard – a life’s tiny miracle.  I love those candid pictures. And Adam posts only the best of them.

It’s the professional photos where he shines the most. Those are usually true works of art, crispy sharp and simply stunning in their quality. I don’t think I’ve ever seen less than perfect professional photo of Adam. They capture the moments that would otherwise be missed and allow you to fully appreciate the visual side the concert. In videos, the focus is primarily on the sound and the movement, but if I had to choose which medium reflects Adam’s emotional state and journey during concerts best, I would choose photography. It’s a strange thing to say about a singer, but Adam has a very expressive face and body. It’s like their muteness and stillness don’t subtract, but add to the experience of Adam’s process of creation.

In addition to music photography, Adam posts everything and anything that’s important to him, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. His Instagram page is a mess, a potpourri of professional photos, fan photos, album covers, photos of his family, friends, his dog, travelling photos, fashion photos, and all that in uneven levels of quality which most posters would never allow themselves. Adam has it all, from professional HD quality to grainy and blurry shots taken by a phone. It’s a far cry from carefully coordinated, handpicked and posted after a thousandth try stylish representation of other serious posters. He doesn’t juice for a week before taking selfies. He doesn’t always filter. He doesn’t always look pretty. He isn’t always all mysterious and artistic. He’s sometimes such a goofball. He is definitely an undisciplined Instagram user. 

It’s a revealing fact. He deletes his posts sometimes, and I’m not sure if it’s the morning after self-filtering, or he gets the call. Social media can make or break a career nowadays. But on the other hand, you can be a successful artist without constant media presence – although it is a pretty rare occurrence. The only example coming to my mind is Frank Ocean. There are artists who have a modest number of followers and YouTube views, and yet they can and do fill up arenas, just as there are artists who have millions of followers and cannot have a decent tour. 

In Adam’s case, I feel like he is past making or breaking his career online. At this point, he doesn’t need a heavily moderated Instagram page or a vlogging channel to achieve anything - other than making me happier, that is. The fact that I would love if Adam was more present, by engaging with his fans more, or, in best case scenario, vlogging about his life and career (I would sell my firstborn for that), doesn’t mean much in grander scheme of things. Adam has allowed himself the luxury of doing what he wants, and his Instagram page reflects that in the clearest of ways. I am not saying he wouldn’t benefit from having 50 million followers on Twitter or Instagram, but, he just doesn’t have that. If he can’t get it from doing his job and being who he is, he will never get it anyway. He refuses to participate in the social media race. So, unlike many a budding YouTube star trying to make it in other fields by creating an ideal, unrealistic impression of themselves, with their uniform, heavily filtered, grayscale artsy photos, Adam’s multifarious posts do reveal a lot simply by not being what one would expect. He’s a rebel just for kicks there. 

Oh, there is some vanity there; he isn’t above it nor does he pretend to be. He smizes and pouts in many filtered photos and videos, enjoying his flawless skin provided by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom’s filtering system, turning his head like this and like that like a Valley girl – but that’s just Adam playing with his toy. He has this proclivity for ridiculous behavior; that and the fact that he loves the ageless chibi art of Creative Sharka makes me sometimes think that he has entered a serious fear-of-getting-old phase. It would have been true if he posted such photos only, which he most definitely doesn’t.

Adam is a naturally beautiful man, why does he have to goof around like that? Well, because he is so much more than that. Because more than stunning good looks, he has a killer sense of humor. Because more than looking pretty and feeding his vanity, he loves having fun. He mocks himself, too. “I swear I didn't realize I was making full duck face” is his own comment on a truly astounding full duck face he made while trying to credit Valentino for a clothing item. He loves stand-up comedy. He’s watched the Amy Schumer Leather special, and the Ricky Gervais Humanity special, and posted about both shows. That’s how I know.

There’s a selfie which he took while Antinous was being tattooed on his torso – a particularly painful experience, according to him; hence the awkward facial expression. The photo is so ridiculous and unflattering that it immediately reminded me of the comical selfies which Ricky Gervais takes all the time, trying to look as ugly as possible in them, thus expressing his mockery on the worldwide mania of posting unrealistically perfect photos. Adam has a comedic streak a mile wide, and not only does it come out in concerts and movie roles such as his part of Eddie in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but also in his Instagram page as well. Unlike Ricky, Adam just wants to laugh at himself. Yes, he sometimes looks ridiculous and weird - don’t we all? He’s no bullshitter, and never will be. 

Now would be a great moment to mention his Grandma June alter ego. So, Adam has decided it would be great to make himself look forty years older, name the character Grandma June and rant throughout several videos on many a current topic. Who? What? Adam, the most eligible gay bachelor of several times? Adam, the Zeus in a thong sex symbol for many? Unbelievable. Waves of discomfort could be felt throughout the shallower waters of the fandom. Was he just having fun with it? Was he mocking himself for overusing de-aging filters? Was he helping himself get over his own fear of aging by laughing at his own expense? Was it some kind of reverse psychology/psychotherapy via Snapchat filters? Was it to shock his fans who come to his page for hotness and beauty galore, only to find Grandma June blinking owlishly at them? The list is endless. It’s like he was saying, ‘yeah, I’m hot, but I’m also ridiculous, funny and a little bit on the crazy side.’ Who knows. It’s certainly less ridiculous than me putting words in his mouth. It is also very non-Hollywood of Adam, where ageism is rampant and the anti-aging industry flourishes, where kids start injecting botox as soon as they’re twenty and where a lot of people take faces they’re born with as a slight suggestion. Interesting topic.

We’re now traipsing deeper and deeper into Adam’s more hidden depths. This makes it sound like scrolling through his Instagram page is a voyage into the heart of darkness, the Apocalypse Now style; but it does feel adventurous after you parse through the regular job-related stuff. Such aside interests tell us a lot about him and his fascinations, like his love and respect for other artists. He is a true fan at heart, expressing himself unabashedly and passionately – so many pictures of Freddie, Bowie and George Michael, but also Goldfrapp, Demi, Lady Gaga, and all his musician friends. Sometimes, he puts the flailers in his own fandom to shame. I like that about him. I feel like it’s a level we can relate on. And I love that he doesn’t have cheap, tit-for-tat, I’ll-do-you-and-you-do-me mentality. When he says that he likes something, you better fucking believe that he does.

He also loves nature. He posts sceneries – the beloved Runyon Canyon, the Ibiza cruise, Mexico, Bali, Mykonos in Greece, Argentina, you name it - but, he will also post a photo of a single olive tree. The fandom speculated for three days about what it could possibly mean. He posted a video of a single butterfly flapping its wings, and a colony of bats, and a lonely gecko crawling up the wall and a mother duck and her ducklings swimming in the lake. Endless photos of Pharaoh don’t even count. Details from around him capture his attention in a way that he expresses his emotive, intuitive side by showing us the impact they have on him. In his private moments, he is a far cry from a wild rocker living his wild rock’n’roll life. He’s so much more than that. He’s a tree watcher. A butterfly watcher. A bird watcher. Life and observing life clearly excites him.

He also loves architecture. He will post pictures of streets and buildings, sculptures and monuments, from everywhere he goes, and he travels a lot. Someone else would probably spend all pre- and post-concert time in hibernation accumulating energy, but not Adam. He loves the bas-reliefs, ancient facades, the Greco-Roman culture, supporting columns and carvings of Venetian houses; but every now and then he will also post some strange things, like tombstones. He’s a traveler with a twist. When he goes somewhere new, he sometimes visits cemeteries.  He’s been to Boston Cemetery and Buenos Aires Cemetery. He posted a photo of the entrance to Jesus’ tomb from his visit to Jerusalem. No matter what B Hollywood horror movies are trying to tell us, cemeteries are never about being creepy or frightful -- they are like a library for the imagination. Wandering cemeteries around the globe, reading headstones, thinking about the lives of the people there, the mind wanders into a thousand stories. It can be therapeutic. But, who knows what Adam’s motives were. All I know is that he is more than just a traveler – he is also a spiritual explorer.

In everything he does, he rarely stays within the lines. This diversity tells us that Adam is a complex man before he is an artist, and even less than he is an artist, that he is a promoting artist. His self-promoting campaigns are there, but ever so subtle and discrete - nothing like the aggressive campaigning that has become obligatory nowadays. I’m not talking about the management or the label part in it, or whoever is in charge of his promotion; just Adam’s own role in it. A few tweets, a few Instagram posts, mostly just informative in nature, before a new release. Regarding concerts, a tweet before and after is a rarity. An occasional review. He will sometimes post great photos after concerts, though. I have no idea how to explain such behavior other than to say that he doesn’t want to do it, nor does he feel like he has to. Maybe he is of the ‘an artist should never reveal too much and keep a level of mystery’ persuasion. Maybe he believes the music will find its way to those who want to hear it. Or maybe he just finds it tacky, as I do, the ad nauseam self-promoting of certain artists. Who knows. I certainly wouldn’t find it tacky if Adam did it. We’ll see how Era 4 will roll out and if Adam will be more talkative then. The one explanation I personally find the most believable is that he is a well-mannered man who believes that you should let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips; but that’s because I tend to attribute Adam superhuman qualities. He can’t be that much of a gentleman, can he?

He is not very verbose in his Instagram captions either; most of them, that is. His posts are usually with very little or no comment from him. He tags the people in the photo, or he gives credit to the photographer – he is pretty diligent about it. On few unfortunate occasions when that didn’t happen, we had a mutiny among the photographers which ended with bruised egos on both sides.

So sparse are his comments, that when you do bump onto a few loquacious ones, you just know that it must be something of utter importance or that he feels strongly about. You don’t have to guess anything then, or draw unfortunate conclusions, which is a game his fans like to play and that Adam likes to engage us in by dropping random hints. No game here – his words are loud and crystal clear, concise and to the point, and apart from bringing my attention to the relevance of such particular posts, they serve to remind me what a great thinker and an amazing human being Adam is. Those words are always about love and equality.   

One of such glimpses into his more private, passionate side is certainly his love and appreciation for  Creative Sharka, a fan who makes digital paintings and chibi art of Adam and the moments in his career. He has posted her art several times and even met with her during his tour - such gratitude and appreciation of a fan really warms my heart. It tells me what I already knew: that he is such a fan himself, a great lover of everything that inspires him and open in his heart for the reciprocal love exchange between artists as the highest form of flattery. He’s had such situation in his career several times, on various levels, but this one with a fan feels truly rewarding.

Creative Sharka gives him her art, but it doesn’t have to be a tangible thing. One of the most revealing and emotional comments he wrote under a photo from one of his performances reveals so much. It is a photo whose focal point are the backs of two people, two guys, who are leaning against one another in a hug, their heads connected, and they are facing Adam singing on the stage in the background. They are in the forefront, their body language speaking of love; Adam is in the background, perhaps inspiring such connection. His comment says, “Really in luv w this photo. So sweet.”  I’ve never read Adam saying that about any picture, and it’s one of the amateur, fan ones, too – and all the more precious for that.  

But, does he always feel the love? Do we? Most of the times, I am sure that he does. But I have always imagined Adam as a highly emotional guy, which also means a great capacity for sadness, too, especially with so many reasons for it surrounding us. There is one, literally one sad comment that I have encountered during all these years. It’s under a photo of Frank the Robot’s head, taken before the show, with the top half of it waiting patiently to be connected with its bottom half by diligent Queen crew, so that Adam can ride it and spew obscenities into the audience from its shiny, metallic head. “Sad Clown,” is Adam’s caption. I don’t know if he felt bad for Frank at that moment, or the words are about Killer Queen, but there is a possibility  that the words are about Frank’s rider later on. Sometimes, he does have to hide his sadness and paint his smile on. Who doesn’t.

He truly belongs to one of the rarest of species – a beautiful man who becomes even more beautiful when he opens his mouth and speaks. Or sings. In the pre-Trump, pre-Brexit, pre-Vučić era, I used to take his words for granted. I believed everybody thought so, or almost everybody. I was spectacularly wrong. The bout of sadness that gripped me then is still not easing up. How can it? This Weltschmerz has affected everyone with a soul - Adam, too. Will our physical reality ever satisfy the demands of our minds and souls ever again? I believe so, as long as there are people like Adam, like Emma Gonzalez, like many others who are fighting for it. That is what hope sounds like. With rising urgency, Adam speaks up.

“Black lives matter. For all of u who totally miss the point of this movement, the GOAL is for all lives to matter equally. But as it stands, racism is preventing us from that ideal. We must fix the reality so we can grow toward hope.”

We must fix the reality… We really do, Adam. Faced with such thoughts, don’t all previous words about promotion and lack of internet presence sound frivolous? I am glad that this is how Adam feels. I am so proud of him for sharing his thoughts. 

When he posted a photo of Freddie, pointing out the hypocrisy of the ruling US political party using Freddie Mercury’s music, some people seemed to have an issue with that. This was Adam’s reply:

“I realize that there are many different schools of thought frequented by people following me on social media. EVERYONE is entitled to their opinions and beliefs. Including me. This is MY Instagram page where I share my experiences and feelings. If you don't agree with something, that's perfectly ok with me - but I'm not going to refrain from being me, and no one is forcing you to either.”

And refrained he has not. 

He’s spoken against the gun violence. 

He’s spoken about Orlando. About Paris. About all mass shootings. 

He’s also spoken at the Los Angeles Pride Resist March last year. Here are some of his words:

“I typically avoid publicly speaking about politics because of its divisiveness. People get real sensitive, and I ain’t trying to piss anybody off. But, this year things have gone way too far.

So I’m not speaking today about being a democrat vs. a republican. Today is about right vs. wrong. The current presidential administration has manipulated the country using fear and hate to gain power to divide us. Our differences are being used against us. And the shockwaves of this dangerous rhetoric have rippled throughout our community and beyond. And it fucking hurts. We’ve come way too far to stand by and watch our social progress be yanked backwards. It’s almost as if they’re going, ‘Eh, you’re different. You can’t sit with us.’ What the fuck is that? It’s childish and it needs to end now.

Our pride parade is usually an all out shit show of a party where we all dress up like crazy unicorns and prance around through the streets. Yeah! It’s a celebration of the progress we have made – our liberation, our freedom, our glitter. But this year, we are facing such dark forces that pride has taken on a deeper purpose. Protest. So today, we stand together in order to support anyone whose human rights are at risk. We resist homophobia. We resist transphobia. We resist misogyny. Bi-invisibility. We resist racism. Xenophobia. And we resist extremism, and anything else that helps promote hate. We stand defiant and will not be brainwashed. We refuse to be sucked into that kind of negativity.

But, I ask you not to fight hate with hate. We don’t want to be hypocrites. So how can we resist? I’ll tell you what I think:  with unity, with visibility, truth, inclusion, acceptance, and most importantly – love.”

Don’t his words boom loud? Read them and abide by them. Don’t scroll through or ignore them. 

Shame on those who think that Adam should only do his job and stop voicing his opinions and views. 

Shame on those who, blinded by his beauty, refer to him as a Ken doll. 

Shame on those who say that he is back in the closet. 

In his Love Letter to the LGBTQ community, which was published in Billboard magazine last year, he talks more about what his community means to him:

“Y'all are my true inspiration. You're life lines that have kept me grounded and thankful. All the LGBTQ musicians, dancers, drag queens, bar stars, club kids, DJ's, designers, actors, stylists, glam squads..... YOU are my circus family. It is because of all those years traipsing round our nocturnal playgrounds that I had any sense of how and why I wanted to stay the course; to rep for my queer family!

And now 8 years later, the LGBTQ community has come SO far. I see fellow artists AND civilians coming out with no apologies and no fucks given. Despite the current obstacles we face, I am blown away by our progress. We have come so far. My true fans share the same principles so we continue to welcome other alien weirdos into our family. Thank you ALL for inspiring and supporting my journey. I promise to keep doing the same for all of you.”

Should he speak more frequently? Adam has voiced his opinions time and again, but he won’t misuse the opportunity given to him. He has a sophisticated sense for not crossing the line between his art and his humanitarian fight. He  never pushes anything under anyone’s nose; not his art; not his fight. He never uses just causes as a self-promoting opportunity. 

This is all part of the reply to the question from the beginning about what the lack of social presence can mean. His social presence isn’t lacking, it is just of the unobtrusive kind. It’s all out there, only a few clicks away. Are we so used to the constant media shoveling content down our metaphorical throats that we can’t even register when something’s said only once?

Apparently, I am. Because I have already read Adam Lambert’s own explanation about deciding to moderate his social media presence and it hasn’t even made a blip on my radar at the time. I won’t tell you where his words are from, you can try to guess. It’s a direct quote. It says everything.  

How pathetic now seems the discussion about  flattering vs. less flattering photos? Don’t ask this man about the size of his gauges for a hundredth time and expect him to engage with his fans more. But Adam does, he does engage, for he isn’t a mean man and he answers the same trivial questions again and again. It’s perhaps a much better option than talking, I don’t know, about Weltschmerz. Sometimes, such discussions are better avoided, and not only that - he has already said what he wanted to say. It’s much more bearable to repeat the silly topics than the raw, emotional ones. The repetition hurts, and devalues the latter.  

It really is a journey, from Grandma June, to cultivating self-love and True Individuality; only not to the heart of darkness, but to the one of lightness. It’s all him, the philosopher and the comedian, the Frank’s head rider and the march speaker. Read his words. Don’t forget them, like I did. Laugh with him, but also think with him and be sad with him.

“True Individuality seems daunting in our age of social media popularity contests. Sometimes it’s terrifying to face your true, whole self, stripped of any pretense. The good, the bad, the cracks, and the scars. I am no stranger to the feeling of not liking myself. Once I get past my own body image issues, I realize that I sometimes also neglect my own spirit. Living in a world filled with so much hatred sometimes makes cultivating self-love a very difficult task. I have always struggled with this as I’m sure many of you have. My path is a kind of paradox in that I get to share my craft with the world, but also be willing to throw myself to the wolves. To dare to be different, but still wanting to be accepted. There is vast beauty to be found in life’s contradictions. This non-binary reality allows us to lead happy, expressive lives, and yet this very freedom comes with great risks. I’m not alone in this limbo. Through my art, I pledge to bring empathy and courage to anyone who has been made to feel unworthy or ashamed while daring to be themselves.”

***

~The sources for everything mentioned in the essay are Adam Lambert’s social media pages. I’ve decided against posting any links because I feel like this one reference is enough.

~No photos either,  since I mention too many of them  and this bloody thing is too long already. Just this one.

[sunshinetoday]

 It’s been five weeks since our favorite show is back in production!! Let’s see what happened in this busy week. *First, second, third fourth -week summary also just a warning: shameless self-promotion can be found in some of links😂* 

This week was off to a phenomenal start when we learned that: ‘Following the explosive events of 2016’s stunning finale, Chris Carter, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Mitch Pileggi will delight fans when they premiere an exclusive first look of the new 10-episode event series coming January 2018 to FOX! The Xfiles, Main Stage, NYCC, Sunday 8th October, 1-2pm

We all want Paley Guy, Keith Uhlich to moderate this panel, but he has not yet been approached! Thank you @alienbaby-babymama for the information!

Gillian confirmed the news, they will be at the NYCC!

We got some more filming information:

They were filming a party scene at Langley (6 September)

Tsawwassen Mills Mall (7 September)

Opening a new X-File today. Outlet malls IG pic

Near main science world Skytrain, downtown (7 September)

In studio ( 7 September)

We had this cool BTS pic posted on IG.

The X-Files is setup on W57th near Carnarvon/Balaclava in Vancouver. Not sure if filming there today though. (8 September)

Filming is back at Riverview Hospital (11 September)

David tweeted happy birthday to the actor, playing Jeffrey Spender: ‘Happy Birthday to Chris Owens! An excellent actor and good man. #specialagent #jeffreyspender @thexfiles’   

Some more BTS pictures were posted on IG, thanks @becksndot5 and @inkcollectorus for the info!

Fox uploaded many many videos to their Youtube page. I posted one with Darin Morgan. Filmmaker Files: A Writer Creates Easter Eggs For Longtime Fans | Season 10 Ep. 3 | THE X-FILES

THE X-FILES HAD ITS 24TH BIRTHDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2017. Let’s see how we celebrated!

Some awesome fan arts, I came across which were inspired by the pilot:

in the beginning  -by E @random-ship

happy birthday to us all ❤ @allyinthekeyofx 

Happy 24 years, X-files! @xfilesposterproject 

Here’s to an amazing 24 years @storybycorey

aquarelle piece in celebration of the 24th anniversary of The X-files 🎉👽  @all-thats-left-is-the-heart

“Oh, isn’t it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded.”  @alldolleduppink

‘And now a very special message from everyone’s favorite special agents’ @theogfiles

I made a random Pilot fanfics recs post.

Short and long version of the Pilot Promo spots posted by @lilydalexf

24 years deep confession posted by @whatfallsaway  

David’s tweet inspired this gorgeous gifset by @funtasteec 

David tweeted once, David tweeted twice and down on memory lane, we went. "So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?" Happy 24th @thexfiles and thanks to all the fans! ‘

Gillian tweeted and melted our hearts. ‘ 24 years today. Deja vu all over again. Thanks for repeatedly standing in the mud & the rain with me @davidduchovny. @thexfiles #TheXFiles’

David answered and we all got snappy and very emotional. ‘ What's a little mud and rain between partners.’  

Frank Spotnitz celebrated the 24 years, too and he shared his favourite memory! favourite memory! favourite memory! favourite memory! ‘But watching the opening-night audience react to Mulder NOT kiss Scully in "Fight the Future" was unforgettable.‘

Fox social media team woke up from their sleep, only to make the Pilot streaming available in the US...I guess they don’t think there are fans outside America😂😂 

Okay, they also posted a video GHOSTED Files: Happy Anniversary To THE X-FILES | FOX BROADCASTING which is our first promo, kinda…   

24 years, Philes. 24 years and still counting!❤️👽

Next days articles were the cutest! (X) (X)

Gillian posted another IG story with BTS pictures from inside the studio. Thanks, @youreadarkwizard! Still no Mulder & Scully tho...

*My dash looked awesome with everyone celebrating this day, so I would suggest going to your favourite blogger’s pages and just scroll through all the posts made on this day. It’s worth it, I’m sure of it!*

Press of the week: 

This Kiwi band wrote a song about Gillian Anderson - and she and her fans love it

 ‘X-Files’ New Season Sneak Peek Set For NY Comic-Con

The X-Files Season 11: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson to Unveil First Footage at New York Comic-Con  

Take a Look Inside the New 'X-Files' Children’s Book

25 GREATEST MOMENTS IN SCI-FI FROM THE 1990S 

The X-Files - Celebrating 24 Years Of Mulder And Scully And We Couldn't Love Them More!

40 Best Science Fiction TV Shows of All Time

SEPTEMBER 10 IN SCI-FI HISTORY: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

GHOSTED’S ADAM SCOTT AND CRAIG ROBINSON CROSSOVER WITH THE X-FILES IN THIS CLIP (EXCLUSIVE)

'X-Files' turns 24, and Scully and Mulder are still perfect

Gillian Anderson And David Duchovny Celebrate An 'X-Files' Anniversary Together On Twitter

Gillian Anderson Remembers About Mulder and Scully

In other news this week;

Fight The Future - Deleted kiss scene - commentaries by David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson  (fanvid) by @justholdinghandsok

THE MAKING OF DAVID DUCHOVNY’S EXCLUSIVE LIVE SHOW DOCUMENTARY

be part of the making of David Duchovny’s exclusive live show documentary in his Vancouver concert!  Proceeds from the Vancouver show will be donated to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

I think this is it for our fifth week! *Let me know if I missed something or if you have suggestions what to include in the next week summary, feel free to message me anytime*

Lots of love, fam! For another great week ahead!  ❤️ 👽😄👽

[non-tintedglasses]

1st lesson of 2018: It’s (Clout over Basic Decency) Everyday, Bro

CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE, DEATH & MENTAL HEALTH

For those who have no idea about who this generic American high school jock-looking guy is, the guy above is Logan Paul, an American Youtuber and “actor” notorious for having a obnoxious personality, an even more annoying brother and an equally brainwashed “Logang” consisting of children and pre-teens.

On the 31st December 2017, he uploaded a vlog where him and his friends went to the Aokigahara forest of Japan (also known as the Suicide Forest)  and filmed their “spooky adventure”. During this 15 minute vlog, he stumbles upon a dead body hanging from a tree, films it up close, focusing on certain bits of the corpse & make jokes on it, and uploads it to YouTube for millions of underaged fans to see. In other words, he had no consideration for the culture & laws of the country he was visiting, nor for those who could potentially have flashbacks or suicidal thoughts from this video, and certainly not even for the dead.  As expected, this has garnered a ton of backlash from Japanese & non Japanese people alike, especially those from the YouTube & mental health community and suicide/self-harm survivors or those who have lost someone to suicide. This lead to Paul issuing two apologies on Twitter and YouTube, which seemed incredibly insincere to many. After all, if you have to issue a second apology because you mentioned how you get views & film for 460+ days more than the word “Sorry” and end it with “Peace ✌️ #logang4life”, you bet no-one is going to take your second one that seriously. 

However, what was more harrowing than his actions, were his fanbase that were defending those actions. I can’t blame them, they’re children & they don’t know better. However, despite the fact that their idol told them specifically in his second apology not to defend his actions, they completely ignore that very statement & go on to post many bizarre reasons as to why people should “just let it go” and why they shall forever stan Logan. They even go on to spread xenophobic hate on people who criticise him (case in example, Reina Scully).  Some examples of things I’ve seen in this video is “He’s human like the rest of us. Everybody makes mistakes”, “Can we stop all of the hate, it’s a new year!!”, “It’s not like he killed someone” and even someone saying “That dead body should be lucky that he appeared in Logan Paul’s video” Little do they know, they are completely belittling the fact that a person, who seemed like he was stuck in his completely dark and abysmal mind, took his life, and how his loved ones now have to deal with the repercussions of bereavement and loss; and that another person saw that as an opportunity for exploitation & a joke. They make death seem like a joke, just like their idol did. Which is why I have a few points to address:

Dear #Logang or Logangsters or whatever the hell you’re called,

I understand personally what it’s like to be infatuated with a celebrity. I get a certain light, happy feeling whenever I see my favourite celebrity & I think to myself “Yeah, this person is literally gold!” You also probably get this feeling on a frequent basis whenever you see Logan. I also understand that being part of a fandom makes you feel a sense of belonging & unity. But ask yourselves this. What drew you to this guy? Why do you enjoy his videos?

Is it because he’s attractive? (which in that case, they’re plenty more fish in the sea) Is it because he’s a “maverick” and “living life to the fullest”? Is it because he “appreciates” his fans and the people around him?

The reason why I ask you this is because I really want you to consider his actions. See, whenever you are obsessed with a celebrity, it’s easy to throw moral compass out of the window; it’s easy to forget what’s right and what’s wrong. However, you cannot deny the fact that it is common sense to not film a dead body and to make jokes about it, irrespective of what your coping mechanism is. Even if you have a tiny lapse of judgement, people would have the sensibility not to edit that footage and upload it with a clickbait title for your cult of 15 million children to see. It’s also common sense to not run around a foreign country, disturb its people and nature & treat it as if it’s your playground. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how you find disrespect funny? As far as “living life” is concerned, I’m pretty happy sitting down and leading a calm “boring” life rather than be an obnoxious inconvenience to those surrounding me.

“But.. he’s human?? Haven’t we all done mistakes?” Let me educate you on what a mistake is. It’s stepping on the back on someone’s shoe whilst walking (I should know about that). It’s occasionally forgetting the odd birthday. It’s accidentally spilling something; in other words, something small & occasionally forgiven. However, being disrespected, even after your death, is something the majority of people can’t tolerate. On top of that, he’s a 22 year old, fully developed adult who has the ability to differentiate right from wrong; He isn’t a kid who needs people to constantly educate him on social etiquette and sensibility. He saw an insensitive bait for views, he took it, he screwed up, and now he needs to be held accountable. 

“He just wanted to raise awareness about suicide. Doesn’t that make him good?” This video had the same impact as “13 Reasons Why”. The complete opposite.                                                                                          There are several other ways to raise awareness about suicide, other than going all the way to a suicide forest to exploit someone’s death for views; Sitting down & thoroughly explaining why mental health should be a top priority, explaining the effects of going through suicidal thoughts, self-harm & mental illnesses, and providing resources & helplines to help those who are distraught is more convenient, correct and cheaper (but why do that when you’re an obnoxious brat with a couple of thousands of dollars & yes men to spare?)

“I’ve forgiven him. At least he’s said sorry”   Please, spare me the naivety. To be frank, his apologies (if you would like to call it that) is the equivalent of saying sorry after shooting someone in the leg. If this guy wasn’t a celebrity & if this didn’t get the backlash it received, he would have slithered away in his anonymity. Another reason why he’s apologising is because he wants to salvage the tiny amount of respect that he has so that he can guilt-trip you into liking him again. One of my favourite YouTubers, Nathan Zed, once said in a video that “You have a choice. Entertain & educate, or entertain & manipulate”  It doesn’t take a donkey to realise that Logan is doing the latter. As one tweet rightfully put it, he views you the same way as he sees that dead body: as a way to earn money. Please listen to yourself.

Even to the parents of these children, you have an equal responsibility of monitoring your child’s internet access. In fact, you have a larger responsibility of monitoring what content your child sees, since YouTube are failing to fulfil that very responsibility (with many examples of inappropriate content related to child exploitation on the YouTube kids app not being taken down). I’m not a parent myself, hence I have zero rights to talk about parenting, but all I know is that if my younger loved ones were watching these kind of people that encourage them to forget all human etiquette & join their “cult”, I would tell them to think about the consequences that their actions could face. And possibly break their device & delete their accounts while I’m at it.

You may choose to ignore my advice (after all, it’s mostly a free world and you can choose whatever you want to do). You can “dab” on me like I’m a hater. But when you choose to condone the actions of a celebrity who self-admittedly screwed up royally, and when you look back at this ten or fifteen years later, you would probably think “What the hell was I thinking?” If you think about it, for one person who spouts blatant and shameless ignorance about such sensitive issues, there would be another person who would be thinking that their death would bring nothing but a sigh of relief to those around them and choose to leave. I hope and pray for nothing but that you educate yourselves and become more aware of the effects of depression and suicide. Because as far as I know, if we take out the time to listen and empathise with those who are suffering with such illnesses and lend them a hand, I swear that you could give someone a reason to smile and to live (and to possibly do something Logan Paul couldn’t do, even if he tried). And if this is the generation we could become, then would raise my head high and be proud to be part of this.

Last but not the least, to those who are surviving these dark moments. Please get yourselves the help that you need (I will be reblogging some hotlines, websites and resources as soon as I upload this). I, along with all of the people of this world, have no idea how tomorrow would turn out, but the only way you could know is by being there. And regardless of how tomorrow turns out, I would certainly welcome you with open arms and stand by you.

PS: By the time this post comes out, you would have probably found out that Youtube has severed certain ties with Logan Paul. But considering that him and his brother are still trying to gain sympathy (and subscribers), his head won’t be coming out of his arse any time soon. So please still think about who and what you’re watching.