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babygirlizz · 4 years ago

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izzie’s favorite movies and tv shows of 2020 (aka the worst year ever)

another year, another movie and tv show review. this year has, to put it simply, sucked. 2020 has been so terribly awful that sometimes the only light you can see are the absolute bangers of movies and tv shows that came out this year. with that being said, some of the movies and tv shows didn't come out in 2020. if the are mentioned in this post it is because they either: had a season come out this year, i found them this year, or they became popular this year.

SPOILERS: it may not come as a surprise but just in case you didn't realize, there will be many spoilers ahead, read at your own risk.

tw // death, suicide, drug use, mild adult language. if any of these things might trigger you, i strongly urge you not to read this post.

there is no specific order of these shows and movies, i'm just writing as they come to mind. if you enjoy any of these movies or tv shows, or if you have any suggestions for me, please let me know!

TV SHOWS

1) Santa Clarita Diet

Okay, so I know this show doesn't have anything to do with 2020. But, I found this show in 2020. I put it off for a while, thinking it wasn't my style of a show, but boy was I wrong. I loved this show. Sheila Hammond (Drew Barrymore) is a normal suburban wife and mom. She is a real estate agent with her husband Joel (Timothy Olyphant). She struggles with the fact that she isn't very adventurous. This all changes when she throws up an insane amount at a house showing. She then finds herself craving adventure, and craving human flesh. Yeah, she's a zombie. Not only is this show super hilarious, but it also shows the growth that they have with their characters and their family. I'm also team Abby (Liv Hewson) and Eric (Skyler Gisondo).

2) Outer Banks

So, I'm from NC. And, watching this show at first bothered me because I can very obviously tell this show isn't actually filmed in the obx, and the geography isn't exact, but once I got past that, I loved it. John B (Chase Stokes) is a teenager that lives in the poor side of the outer banks. He has a friend group called the Pogues which consists of JJ (Rudy Pankow), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), and Kie (Madison Bailey). They absolutely hate the Kooks, which are the rich kids. A while after John B's dad gets lost at sea, presumed dead, the group finds some evidence that may solve the mystery, and make them rich. In the process, John B falls in love with a Kook names Sarah (Madelyn Cline) whose father Ward (Charles Esten) may have a little more to do with the mystery than he let on. Through friendship, murder, and secrets, the gang may just figure out what happened to John B's dad.

3) Love, Victor

Alright. I loved loved loved Love, Simon. I also really loved the book "Simon vs. the Homosapien Agenda." So, when I heard about this show, I was so excited. Victor (Michael Cimino) is a teenage boy that moved to Creekwood with his family. He meets Felix (Anthony Turpel) who lives in his building. He also meets Mia (Rachel Hilson) and they begin dating. But, he also meets Benji (George Sear). While trying to get used to a new school, new friends, and a new relationship, Victor finds himself questioning his sexuality. With the help of Simon (Nick Robinson) and his friends, Victor finds it in himself to finally come out, and he admits his feelings, for Benji. This is such a good show, but I was so upset when season 1 ended on a cliff-hanger.

4) The Haunting of Bly Manor

The sequel to The Haunting of Hill House. Now listen, haunting of hill house was an absolute banger. When I saw that Bly came out I nearly died. I was so excited. But, I was alone in my apartment and also a lil bitch. So, I had to wait a week until I was home with my family to watch it. Now, I was so excited to be scared, and there were a few jump scares and ominous moments, but this season was more centered around the story line of Dani Clayton (Victoria Pedretti) and her new life in a foreign country. When seeing an ad for a live in job as an au pair. When she gets there, she meets the two young children she’ll be looking out for and the other workers of the house, including the gardener, Jamie (Amelia Eve). Throughout her stay at Bly she begins to notice weird behaviors from both children and by the end of the series she sacrifices herself for the children. Sadly, this story is being told by Jamie who Dani had fallen in love with during her stay at Bly. Now I was somewhat upset about the lack of horror, but was still very intrigued and drawn in by this series.

5) Julie and the Phantoms

Alright, at first I was not gonna watch this show. I thought it looked a little too young and childish for me, but everyone was talking about it on twitter so I had to. I. Love. This. Show. This show centers around Julie (Madison Reyes). Julie is a teenage girl who, sadly, lost her mother. The one major thing she shared with her mom, was their love for music. Since her mothers passing, she gave up music. This is until, dead musicians from the 90′s show up in her garage. Luke (Charlie Gillespie), Alex (Owen Joyner), and Reggie (Jeremy Shada) all tragically passed away in the 90′s after eating bad street hotdogs. When Julie finds their CD in her garage, she decides to play it and they come back in ghost form. But, only she can see them. With their help, she finds her confidence to play music again. Also, she has to find away for them to stay because they’re slowly disappearing.

6) Derry Girls

Bitch. I love this show. And yeah it didn’t come out in 2020. Shut up. I found this show recently after watching the cast on the holiday special of the Great British Baking Show. I loved the actors so I had to watch the show. This show focuses on Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) a 16 year old girl that lives in Derry, Northern Ireland in the 90′s. Alongside her is her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), her two friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan) and Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), and Michelle’s English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn). During these years, a lot of people in Ireland struggled, especially because it was during wartime. Even thought this show isn’t focused heavily around the war, it’s amazing to see these teens live a fulfilling life while struggling with the state of their country, and the lack of money that their families have.

7) Elite

HA. This show did have a season in 2020 so leave me alone. But bro, I love this show. At first, I didn’t watch it because I thought I could only watch the dubbed version in English, which I hate. I hate dubbed shows they look so weird. But, once I found out I could watch this show in Spanish, I fell in love. But, sadly, theres too damn much to talk about in one little post. It’s crazy. But basically it just follows the lives of teens in high school that are trying to survive. And no, not in the “I’m surviving high school,” sense. No, people be getting murdered.

MOVIES (tbh i didn’t find a lot of movies good this year lmk which movies u liked this year and maybe i’ll like them!)

1) All the Bright Places

After the death of her sister, Violet (Elle Fanning) is devastated. She closes herself off, and has her parents get her out of doing school work that involves working with others. But, as time goes on, they realize she may need to start to move on. Violet then meets Finch (Justice Smith) who is enamored by Violet. He suggests they do a project together. While finding and visiting some of the smallest wonders of their state, they begin to fall for each other. While you are focusing on Violet and her mental health, you tend to miss some of the signs that Finch’s mental health isn’t great either, but by the time you do, it could be too late.

2) Dangerous Lies

Hmm. This was weird for me. I had only ever seen Camila Mendes in Riverdale, and honestly, not a fan. So, Katie (Camila Mendes) and her husband Adam (Jessie T. Usher) are struggling with money. Katie decides to take a job working for an elderly man, and eventually gets her husband hired there as well. Unfortunately, he dies, but for some odd reason, leaves the house and all of his fortune, to Katie. As they get comfortable in the house, they begin to uncover some very weird and dangerous lies.

3) The Devil All the Time

Ok. Iconic. You got so many hot men in this movie. Bill Skarsgård, Sebastian Stan, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson. C’mon now. That’s crazy. But, this story is so long and in depth that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. This movie is a bit disturbing. It involves murder, sexual assault, killing of animals, and so much more so if that’s an issue for you please do not watch this movie. It was also quite long, but it was still good.

4) After We Collided

Okay just listen. I was that teenager. I read wattpad stories and was, embarrassingly, addicted to After. This was not a great movie per say, but it was After. This is a sequel to the movie After. This movie centers around Tessa (Josephine Langford) and her recovery after her breakup with Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). Theres sex, alcohol, bad acting. The whole nine-yards. But c’mon, they’re so cute together.

5) To All the Boys p.s. I Still Love You

Okay it was a good movie. I enjoyed it. This movie focuses on Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and her boyfriend Peter (Noah Centineo) and their relationship post the first movie. But of course relationships aren’t super steady, and John Ambrose McClaren (Jordan Fisher) shows up. Yeah, John Ambrose, from her letter. They become closer and Lara Jean has to decide who she wants to be with. Spoiler, it’s Peter. BOOOOOOO justice for John Ambrose McClaren, he deserved better.

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pynkhues · 4 years ago

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7 for the intimacy prompt with Mick x Mary Pat?

Anon!!! You are my absolute favourite for requesting my favourite crack ship baby, haha.

This is set in the same ‘verse as Navigate a Broken Path, but you don’t have to have read that to read this. I hope you like it.

7. Kissing Scars.

Thing is, he’s waiting for her to ask.

Figures he and her have been doing this long enough now – whatever this is – for her to get her foothold in familiarity. Hell, she’s halfway there already, with the way she keeps apricot jelly (he just likes it is all) in the fridge door and the polish for his boots in the laundry.

Shit.

The way, every night, she keeps him a plate.

Figures they might not ever sit down and tell each other their life stories, but they’ve told each other enough – offered snapshots of memories like flipping through an album – stories of dead parents, exes, old grudges and new ones and Mick had answered and asked in equal measure.

Liked that nothing seemed to phase her.

He thinks she likes that nothing seems to phase him either.

(“You know what it smells like, don’t you?” she’d asked him one night, after a few too many beers. “The dead body of someone you love?”

Yeah, he’d thought. He knew what that smelt like.

Still.

He’d just held her hand.)

It’s why it surprises him, that’s all, that he can catch her gaze in the mirror when he gets ready to go out, see her tracing his scars – the ones across his arms, stomach, burrowed deep in his shoulder – can see her inhale, swallow, wet her lips, and still never hear the question.

Can hear the how? even as she says: “Pot roast for dinner?”

Mick inhales sharply as he pulls his shirt away from the wound, gritting his teeth when the fabric – damp with blood – sticks to the skin already starting to scab.

Across from him, Rio’s gaze flicks up, eyebrow raised – a silent a’ight? – and Mick just nods, getting his shirt the rest of the way off as Rio finishes soaking the small, folded towel in alcohol and passes it over for Mick to press to it.

Stings like all fuck, but Mick grunts through it, throat constricting, as he rests his ass back against one of the crates of liquor in the backroom of the bar. The air is stagnant here, damp almost to the touch, and cold from the Detroit winter outside holding to the stone walls and concrete floors inside. He shivers, and looks back at Rio, who’s still crouched on the floor, knuckles bruised and lip split. He fared okay. Better than Mick anyway, who didn’t even see the flash of silver before the knife was stuck into his gut.

Still, Mick’s had worse.

“You called your girl?” Rio asks, and Mick blinks, gaze re-focusing as the other man starts to unpack the kit they keep stashed back here to stitch him up. Mick swallows, looks down at his belly and pulls the towel away just enough to see it soaked red with blood.

“You called yours?”

Rio just snorts at that, grabbing one of the sealed packets of needles and tearing it open with his teeth.

“Nah, I ain’t the one who got stabbed, man.”

“You really saying that like you would if you were?”

He doesn’t reply to that.

He leaves it a few days before he goes back to her place, but he makes sure to text her so she knows. Tells her he’s on a job, and she texts him okay, she texts him good luck, she texts him Billy really wants you at his sixth grade concert next week, and then, later, I want you there too.

He wants to tell her he wouldn’t miss it, but he doesn’t know how, so instead he just shows up for dinner, and it means something – the way her face lights up, the way the boys yell, the way she had a plate waiting for him in the oven, even though she didn’t – couldn’t have known he was going to show up, but still.

It’s nice.

To feel wanted.

So they watch Monsters, Inc with the kids and he feeds the baby while she gets the boys to bed, and he nurses his movements in a way she doesn’t notice until they go to bed and he figures she’ll just look at it when he takes his shirt off to reveal the puckered stitches (Rio’s never been good at fiddly work like that) and the orchid-blue petals of bruises across his stomach, stark even against his tattoos.

And she does just stare, sitting on the bed in a loose tank and her underwear, her face open, her blue eyes so wide they look like marbles, and Mick should say something, should tell her it’s nothing, that this is what he does, and she knows that, only suddenly she opens her mouth and what comes out is:

“Sharks are mean this time of year.”

Mick blinks.

“What?”

Mary Pat just nods, pushing the blankets down to wriggle underneath them, her hands shaking just a little (just enough that he wouldn’t have noticed if he wasn’t getting familiar with her too).

“They’re just all - - all fangs,” she continues, voice pitching high, and she laughs, shakes her head more to herself than to him, and Mick slips his belt out of his pants, dropping it onto the dresser as he considers her.

“In Detroit?”

Mary Pat hums in affirmation.

“They’re taking over the River.”

“Ain’t it frozen over right now?”

“It’s a new species. They’re called - - Ice Sharks. Or so I’ve heard.”

“From who?”

“I don’t - - shouldn’t you be telling me?” she gestures at his belly, and Mick raises an eyebrow at her. “You’re the one who got in a fight with one.”

She offers it so matter of fact that it takes Mick a moment to catch up. To turn his look from her, half undressed, in her bed, tan sheets beneath her and patchwork quilt being tugged up her soft, bare legs, face set in certainty, and himself, still in his jeans, but otherwise naked, with no idea what the fuck is going on.

So.

He just asks it.

“What are we doing here?”

Through the walls, he can hear a pipe gargle. Can hear Benji snoring (kid’s got the lungs of a guy twice his size), and mattress springs whine as one of the kids rolls over, but in here, Mary Pat just looks back at him, shifts her weight a little, before she jerks her chin down at the barely-healed wound at his gut.

“You wanna talk about it?”

Which - -

Fuck.

��No.” He pauses, then adds stiffly: “It’s just work.”

Because it was. Because it was just another deal with just another guy who thought he could take more than he was owed, and it’s happened before and it’ll happen again, and Mick put a bullet in the guy’s head and it was over.

It is over.

He sighs, rubs a little at his chest, and suddenly, Mary Pat gets back up onto her knees, lifts her shirt up and pushes the top of her faded panties down. Mick blinks, gaze fixing, as she brushes down some of her wiry pubic hair to show a thin, puckered line.

“I had a C-Section with Andy,” she tells him. “You know you’re not supposed to lift your baby for six weeks after a C-Section otherwise you’ll scar? You know how many women aren’t going to pick up their babies for six weeks? I figure it’s a - - a work wound, right? That’s all it is. A part of the job.”

She inhales a little, cheeks flushed, but she still covers it with her hand, lets her shirt fall back down to cover her soft, pale belly, tries to make it look casual and Mick watches her fingers grope at herself, self-conscious, and before he can think anything of it, he says:

“You sure? It kinda looks like you were in a knife fight.”

The laugh is instant, and curls warm in Mick’s head, and she folds back down into the bed as she says:

“I’m guessing you’d know.”

He inhales sharply at that, looking at her, and he can’t figure out if she realizes it’s this one, if it’s what happened this time, or if she’s just figured that it’d be one of them. One of his scars. Wonders if she knows it’s the nick at his ear, or the one at his Achilles heel. Shit. Has she even seen that one? He wets his lips, and from the bed, Mary Pat just grins at him, her eyes a little dark, like she feels this too, but then she hums. The sound low.

“Actually it’s funny you should say that, I was in a knife fight once myself.”

Mick blinks, lip curled.

“Yeah?”

She nods, rolls her eyes up to the ceiling, wrinkles her nose.

“Lilli - - Lisa Bosw - - Bottom. Little Lisa Boss-Bottom. Yep. That was her name. We were at a carnival, and I had just gotten off a ferris wheel with this boy she kinda liked, and she just leapt right out at me. Unhinged. With a knife! There were rumours she was actually a werewolf.”

There’s something to the way she says it – like the lie’s sorta tumble rolling out of her, head over ass over feet, a way to it that makes his lips twitch, and Mick reaches for the buckle on his pants. Slips them off until he’s just in his underwear, before padding slowly towards the bed.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Mary Pat says, and she scoots across the bed to make room for him, lowering her voice when she adds: “You should see me the next full moon.”

She growls then, and then instantly looks embarrassed that she did it, closing her eyes, her cheeks flushing red, and Mick’s grin comes before he can stop it, finally climbing tenderly into bed beside her. Before he can think anymore of it, he sinks low across the mattress, pulls down the top of her panties, and looks at her c-section scar again, and says:

“You sure this ain’t from a bobcat?”

It’s her who laughs this time, her eyes opening, embarrassment still there but not quite running so deep maybe, and he presses his lips to the scar, feels the bristle of hair against his mouth, the bodily hitch of her breath. Then – a hand at his shoulder, calloused, working fingers smoothing over an old bullet hole scar, and fuck, it’s his breath that hitches then.

“I’m guessing this is from a - - a giant bee.”

“A giant bee,” he echoes, hand coming to palm at her too-soft hip as he starts to push his way back up the bed. “How giant?”

“Giant-giant,” she replies. “I heard they were engineering them in a lab in Portland to make crazy amounts of honey.”

It feels weird – how long the smile holds on his face, and his hand coasts up her side to gently grab her arm, hold it up so they can both see where she burnt herself on the iron last week.

“You get this volcano diving?”

She hums in affirmation, before saying: “To save a family of elephants.”

He can’t help it then, the bark of a laugh, but before it can bellow too loud, before he can think to stop it, Mary Pat’s leaning forwards, freeing her arm from his grip to curl it around his neck and kiss him. His laugh lost to the warmth of her mouth and the scratch of her fingers on the base of his skull.

“I know what you do,” she breathes into his mouth. “I know who you are. Please don’t think - - don’t think you can’t come here after.”

The air is sucked out of his lungs, and he leans back just enough to look at her – at her blue eyes and her working scars and the way her gaze holds him, and he thinks I’m not supposed to get this but he just says okay.

#mick x mary pat #i just love them a lot you guys #one day they'll have a scene together on the show #i am willing it into existence #navigate a broken path #fic asks #intimacy prompts #my fic #welcome to my ama #mick #mary pat #Anonymous

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jazajas · 4 years ago

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okay so i finished love, victor a while ago and i saw some other reviews and thoughts about it here so now i've got a pretty good list on my thoughts and feelings.

tl;dr: it has some issues, yes, but im gonna hold out and hope it gets better later on because the same thing happened with the first few eps, i wasn't that into it but then it got good, and nothing is ever great with the first season, because at that point we're getting used to those characters.

⚠️caution: spoilers ahead (im on mobile, i cant get an under-the-cut)⚠️

1. while a leah on the offbeat movie would have been amazing movie sequel (even tho i havent read the book yet, im just here for the wlw content) i am kind of glad we got this instead. mostly because I've seen book series where one movie was good, so they decide to do the rest, turn out bad (hunger games? divergent? percy jackson? the hobbit?) because so much was cut from the book-to-first movie writing, that other scenes wouldn't make sense to future movies if they had those in while cutting others. however, i am sad that i didn't get to make the choice of deciding whether what was cut was wrong etc. about future movies, but i'll take what i can get.

2. LGBTQ+ POC as a lead! that's amazing! as a ace/bi lantina that's close to home (it also is great that victor's from texas and so is ya gorl) and even then it's a mixed latinx family! i think pilar mentioned that at least the grandmother left Colombia and i saw the Puerto Rican flag in victor's room. also the salazar's are definitely from small town texas, even without knowing the name. (church barbeques, the use of the words "such a diverse city" in regards to atlanta)

3. a lack of actual lgbtq+ main storylines (so far) is kind of sad for a show like this. i was getting serious bi/pan vibes (as a lot of other people) from victor from the beginning, and when it was implied that victor was actually gay (while great, not shaming) as it has been brought to my attention, there was a lot of looking at a lot of straight relationship problems (please let us know more about benji)- edit 6/18: upon further consideration, it very much is a show about questioning your sexuality, I'm speaking about the other straight relationship issues, not mia and Victor's, its just the first season.

4. let us talk about cheating for a sec. never okay, in any circumstance. i feel sorry for mia that she saw victor making out with benji and the fact that he was doing any of that in the first place. victor made a choice to lie about the espresso machine and then kissed benji at the hotel and then when benji was fighting with derek, basically confessed his love and mistakes, then proceeded to makeout with benji after he broke up with derek, he built that grave and now he must lie in it. i get having feelings for a guy when you are in a relationship with a girl, and not accepting yourself enough to end that relationship but you really want it to work so you can be "normal". really, he should have told mia after he got back from the trip tho. i get being in highschool and doing stupid stuff and making dumb decisions, but for a show aimed at teens i think we should also remind said teens to make good choices even if we have to lose some realism within the character choices.

4. pilar and her decisions based off her brother pissed me off. because i honestly think that if she'd kept her mouth shut about what she knew or confronted victor about it in the first place we could have avoided a LOT of mess. did she not learn from snooping around her mother's business about her relationships that going behind a person's back doesnt end well? i did, however, like the pilar/felix friendship and was really kind of hoping that they'd get together during their coffee hangout (although now im glad that didn't happen) because they had a deeper understanding of each other. same with wendy/felix, although they do seem to much alike to work out in the long run but i still feel bad for wendy.

5. i don't know how i feel about lake and andrew, as people separate from each other. both seem to be the way they are from their upbringing (not confirmed why andrew is such an ass, but if his comment about his dad is anything to go by i bet it's got something to do with attention) but andrew seems to be less, idk, superficial? like he turned down mia because he didn't want to be a rebound, he didn't out victor, he actually stood up to early teasing the other dudes in the lockerroom were doing at victor (with teasing of his own obviously but that interaction had him on my nice list until much later). lake? lake. i honestly don't have an opinion of her? not really. i mean after hanging out with pilar i was hoping felix wouldn't go back to lake. is her name laken? i feel like her full name is laken. but they also played the "im only like this because my mom is really superficial about stuff and i do like the geeky nice guy but appearances" to "actually screw the norms im gonna makeout with him infront of the whole student body". i honestly thought she was gonna be bi because she kept hitting on mia when she was helping set up for her "date" and "big night" and there was one point where i saw her face fall at something mia said in relation to her and idk i was hoping she'd be bi (i figured early on that victor/mia wasnt gonna work and was like "oh mia/lake would be cute" but now idk.

6. okay on to the "big night", i have one word. NO. i didn't like the peer pressure into having sex. i agreed with felix when he said "your body your choice" but im also disappointed that victor made out with mia and when lake was talking to felix after victor left he didn't try to stand up for victor.

7. on to age gaps because i hadn't really thought of this at first. we'll start with benji/derek: WHAT GRADE IS BENJI?! because that determines my thoughts. if he's a sophomore that meant that he and Derek started dating benji's freshman year and thats eugh, don't do that, don't care if its a gay couple that shouldn't be happening because the maturity of the two characters is DRASTICALLY different (this is also a reason i am not a fan of cmbyn) but that would explain why they were so rocky. hoping the event at the gay bar was open to anyone not just for drinking, but not liking that fact that not one of the adults with victor were like: hey, this is a 16 year old, that's kind of wack when that dude was hitting on victor. that made me question some stuff. although i figure it might be making up for the lack of a gay bar scene in love, simon. but even then, in svthsa it's a restaurant with a bar that some people go to just to drink at, it wasn't just a bar, simon could be there but should NOT have accepted drinks from college kids, not matter how attractive.

8. i loved how bram and simon and their friends helped victor out though. i like how bram was like: hey i know my friends are a lot so here's a gay basketball league becaue there's no one way to be gay. i like how Simon talked about needing help himself just to help victor and how he said his friends were cool with it because it's a community. i like of justin(?) mentioned how being what his parents wanted was putting on a mask and pretending, not him doing drag. my favorite lines from that ep are: "and before you ask my pronouns are they/them/theirs" "'they're all gay? even that guy? he's like [insert really tall number]' 'yeah. you should see him in heels'" "or in simon's case: really unathletic" "and also because bram said that if i wore [the jean jacket] one more time he'd burn it". also katya was there. and the group hug too!

9. the back hand homophobia in relation to family is sad, but realistic and i sincerely hope his parents are kind enough not to be too harsh on victor because of it. anything they say that isn't positive or supportive of victor is bad but i hope they realize that there is more to him than that and that they can come to terms with it because it's not always that hard to be a part of that community and super religious. i am biromantic and catholic. and while there are some things i wont agree on my mom with, i know that it's more of a strike against God for kicking out gay kids from families than it is to be gay, because those parents were given trust by GOD to love those kids no matter what, and be good parents. so in the end, the parents are wrong and harmful and in the case of christians against jesus's teachings to love everyone.

10. this is fan speculation but dont think simon/bram are going through a rough patch? i honestly think it'd be a little cruel to the characters to have on of their actors be producing but then not have that relationship stay. and while it's not set in stone and obviously things happen in the real world, we have no proof script wise about there being a rift. all we have are bad photoshopped ig photos and scenes where two characters are never standing next to each other probably beccaue schedules never link up correctly for minor characters. who knows, maybe nick robinson was filming for a movie where is does have an even more major role than victor's gay guru in a series about victor so his filming time was around that. im gonna keep hope that things are okay.

11. that being said: we need more mainstream wlw content, because someone said it earlier and it really does seem to be catering to straight girls. i'll admit i did freak out when benji played call me maybe which is something i associated with him and victor but then kissed a guy because who wouldn't? we get that serenade and sweetness and then it'a ripped from us. but i did mellow out. if i flipped later it was because victor was making dumb decisions and i had to give myself a moment of compsure before i continued.

in the end, i'd say that there is a lot of growth this series needs to go through, but i also know that some people just aren't going to like it and i get that. but i also know that sometimes the best of stories have rocky starts, nothing is ever perfect from the beginning. and besides, further seasons are on hold until we figure out this covid thing, which means that you bet they're gonna be looking at our feedback. they saw what we thought before, they can do it again

i really did like it but we need more ACTUAL lgbtq+ relationship stuff from this series and better decisions on what we are teaching the younger generations, as well as what we want to focus on and realism within characters. i'm giving it an 8/10, because there is always room for growth and i really hope we get better things out of this than what we have been given in season 2.

edit: someone mentioned it really seeming like it was meant for Disney+ and i felt that. also to anyone who reaches the tags agter reading ALL OF THIS: i am sorry

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beca-mitchell · 5 years ago

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for you, i would fall from grace (1/1)

Written for @bechloe-week day 4: high school. Loosely. Super loosely.

Summary: Chloe Beale hasn’t played dodgeball since high school, but she’s pretty sure this isn’t supposed to be how it goes. Or maybe it is. Nothing feels more like high school than a game of dodgeball with your crush and your crush’s ex.

Word count: 3,744

A/N: I was rewatching Trampoline Dodgeball with Kevin Hart & Anna Kendrick and this idea came to me. Then it got me thinking about all my own personal feelings about dodgeball. Anyway, this was my attempt to capture all those messy high school feelings, those mushy romantic feelings, and everything in between...and wrap it up neatly to present as a semi-serious, semi-crack piece of fanfic.

Kind of beta'd, but mistakes are still my own because this was so last minute. Thanks to my irl loves @summersailedin and Jordan for helping me out. You tolerate everything I do and I APPRECIATE YOU.

Read on AO3 or below.

–x–

It is totally just a game to her at first.

First, because Chloe is a super-senior and she’s kind of over sweating unnecessarily, even if she can admit she sees the appeal in lighthearted exercise.

Two, because the Treblemakers and the Bellas have no more rivalry. All previous rules had up and left with Aubrey’s departure and Chloe sees no point in continuing the long-standing tradition of hating the Trebles. Benji is sweet, Jesse is Beca’s amicable ex-boyfriend, and the other young men are nice enough.

Three, because it is Beca’s idea and Chloe knows Beca could care less about sports generally, so if she’s suggesting this aloud to Chloe’s face, it must mean something. She figures it is more Jesse’s idea than anything and Beca is willing to go along for the ride.

Still, none of that matters and Chloe still giggles when Beca mentions it at their weekly co-captain meeting.

“You want to do what?”

“I want to play dodgeball.”

“Okay, but why? You hate anything that propels your heartrate above resting.”

Beca looks mildly offended. “That isn’t true.” She stares at Chloe for a long moment. “I’m not against all activities.”

Something in Beca's tone makes Chloe's breath catch. She wonders if Beca is thinking the same thing. Of the previous night. Soft lips and damp skin. Exploratory fingers. Beca’s name from Chloe’s mouth, breathless and wanting.

It becomes fairly obvious because the light catches in Beca's eyes and she looks a little distant. Gotcha, Chloe thinks. Beca’s momentary deer-in-the-headlights expression is too fun to pass up. “Oh,” Chloe says, mild amusement coloring her tone. “Sex aside, Bec.” She likes the way Beca’s nickname rolls off her tongue. She also likes the way Beca blushes from her forehead to her neck.

It's a little new, this dynamic. While Jesse is Beca’s ex-boyfriend turned acapella partner-in-crime, Chloe is Beca’s sometimes-bedmate. Sometimes-confidante. Sometimes more.

Always uncertain.

Beca recovers fairly quickly and clenches her fists in some form of personal restraint. “Come on, Jesse thinks it’s a good idea. And honestly, it’s for a good cause. We could also use some Bellas bonding time.” Beca doesn’t flinch once upon completing that sentence. Chloe considers applauding her. “We know we’ve got the semi-finals in the bag and it’ll be a good warm up for when we crush the boys later.”

Chloe has no idea what Beca’s idea of a good cause is, but playing a miniature dodgeball tournament at a local high school for the sole amusement of high-schoolers is not Chloe’s idea of a good time. She isn’t even certain what the cause is.

But Beca is being adorable and Beca is gazing at her so earnestly (a welcome departure from her usual complacent expression) that Chloe complies almost immediately.

And besides, Beca does have a point. The Bellas could always use some good team-bonding exercises. She wishes Aubrey were around to hear this all for herself. She’d be so proud.

So, yeah.

It's just a game or two anyway.

–x–

Wait, but–

Okay, so, maybe there is a little streak of competitiveness that almost instantly rises up in Chloe, she can admit that much. But she chalks it up to the inherent competition between the Bellas and the Trebles. It isn't anything personal. They've been rivals since the day the two groups were created on campus, so it’s out of Chloe’s control, really.

–x–

Beca ends up getting one detail wrong.

Okay, perhaps a few details. But it is totally Jesse’s fault. And maybe Chloe's. Chloe should have asked for all details before agreeing to this.

It’s just a small problem, really.

They all end up being registered to be on one team and it becomes the Barden Acapella Team against UGA’s Competitive Dodgeball Team. To clarify, UGA’s literal competitive team, with matching armbands and uniforms.

Chloe looks at their own assembled ragtag team composed of some Bellas, some Trebles, and all the off-color t-shirts and mismatched socks.

“What the fuck,” Beca whispers furiously to Jesse. “You said this was lowkey.”

“It is!” he insists. “It’ll be fun!’

“We’re going to die,” Beca says, so matter-of-factly that Chloe also believes that to be their ultimate fate. “I’m going to die in a high school gym class like I always thought I would.”

Chloe is distracted briefly, amused at Beca’s aversion to any physical activity. Then, Chloe gets a grip on reality. “Beca, shut up. We are not going to die. Jesse, this was quite the understatement, but I know we can do it. Right, everybody?”

The other Bellas hover with uncertainty. Chloe tries to smile reassuringly at Flo who is the newest member of their team and also a transfer student to Barden. “It’ll be okay,” Chloe says quickly. “This will be fun!”

Flo gives her an amused, slightly patronizing expression. “I know. This is nothing.”

The referee looks bored as he signals for the two teams to close in. “We’ve won an acapella championship before. This is fine,” Beca whispers. “We got this.”

Chloe doesn’t have the heart to tell her this will be quite different.

–x–

Chloe wanders to where Beca is standing in a corner, stretching.

“Need some help?”

Beca scoffs. “No.”

Chloe bumps Beca’s shoulder before she leans down to touch her toes. “Nervous?”

“Why would I be?”

Chloe observes the rest of the Bellas and notes that they’re likely not taking this seriously at all. “You know,” Chloe says. “I’m not sure.”

A series of sneaker squeaks echo suddenly throughout the gym. From the corner of her eye, Chloe can see the rest of the players filing in, like a mass of red and black. The striking colors of UGA. Chloe looks down at her cheerfully green Barden Athletics shirt, stolen from an ex a few years ago.

It appears that the other team already has a captain. He snaps his headband on his head and immediately gathers his team close to start giving orders.

Chloe has to ask herself for the umpteenth time why she's here again, because, really, it is a stupid idea and she’s had her fair share of dumb ideas.

Chloe glances at Beca who is lazily stretching.

Oh. Yeah.

Teamwork.

Aubrey would be so proud of her.

–x–

"Who's team captain?" Amy asks. “Ref wants to know.”

“Me,” Jesse says immediately.

“Um, you’re not my captain,” Amy points out, but otherwise, nobody disagrees.

“We’re all on the same team,” Beca points out. “Just figure it out. As long as it’s not me.”

Beca’s voice pulls Chloe back to the present. Suddenly, the urge to harness all of her competitiveness rises to new levels and she stands up straighter. “Wait,” she says before anybody can say anything else

She’s never had a problem with Jesse so she sees and understands the surprise in his eyes. But something clicks for Chloe then, when the surprise gives way to something else, almost foreign to Chloe.

Perhaps Jesse never really saw her as any real competition.

That feeling is very familiar.

In high school, it had been absurd, but Chloe had always envied the male jocks and their privileges. She hated the way they got to walk around the school with their lettermans and all the confidence in the world.

Chloe had her own share of athleticism and enjoyed modest-enough popularity. She participated in a couple of the women-only teams (volleyball and soccer), but she never got the recognition the boys did. Ultimately, she never wanted to be them, but she always hated the unfairness of it all.

It is also telling that one of her most vivid high school memories is making out with Grace Henderson underneath the bleachers only for Grace to be on Nick Randall’s arm the very next day, his letterman around her shoulders. Grace had shrugged apologetically at her, like it was nothing personal. It was just status.

Before she realizes what she wants to do, her body is acting ahead of itself and she’s suddenly standing next to Jesse, facing the rest of the team. “I’ll be team captain,” Chloe says, as confidently and surely as she can.

The surprise on both Jesse’s face and Beca’s face is enough to tide her over for a while, she thinks. It is Stacie who smirks at her, like she understands what this is all about (even though Chloe herself doesn't want to openly admit it).

Amy flashes her a thumbs up and heaves a sigh of relief. “No offense, Jesse,” she adds as an afterthought.

Beca, to Chloe’s pleasant surprise, looks relieved at the thought of Chloe leading them through this complete chaos.

"Are you joking?" Jesse asks, his eyes trained on Chloe’s chin. He can’t meet her eyes. “Why?” Chloe has the same question floating through her mind.

Benji hovers near Jesse’s shoulder suddenly. “Dude, it’s fine.”

Jesse shrugs in reaction to both Benji and Chloe’s non-response. "Sorry Chloe, but this was my idea.”

Chloe knows from there that she's got him scared. It just fuels her more and she feels an almost manic excitement rise up in her. "So?"

Jesse pounces on that. "Tell them, Bec.” The nickname rolls off his tongue easily and with familiarity.

“Tell us what?” Chloe asks.

Beca is quiet at first, clearly in deep thought. It is the most pensive Chloe has ever seen her and she would laugh at the absurdity of this entire situation if her heart were not threatening to beat right out of her chest.

For Beca, she stands between two very viable options (though not literally because both Chloe and Jesse are staring her intently and it's kind of freaking her out). Of course she means viable options for dodgeball captainship. It is currently the most important decision of Beca’s life. She is not thinking about kissing Chloe. Not at all.

Beca’s first instinct is to throw her hands up and question why they’re all freaking out over dodgeball of all things. Beca never liked dodgeball, not even in high school and it was seen as a free gym period whenever their teacher was too exhausted to actually teach them anything useful in physical education.

She had originally suggested it to Chloe and only Chloe because she heard about the tournament from Jesse. She wanted Chloe to agree to it so they could spend some time together. Yes, with the Bellas, but some time together in an environment outside of school and acapella.

She sighs.

“Sorry dude,” she says to Jesse. “Chloe survived being friends with Aubrey for years. And she can kind of run laps around everybody on our team, so I trust her.”

The tension kind of breaks after that and the Bellas erupt into giggles. Even Benji smiles. Jesse’s lips twitch but he does not look angry. He shrugs and hands the armband to Chloe.

Beca tries not to stare too hard at the way Chloe’s arm flexes beneath the fabric of the armband, visible even beneath the opaque fabric.

She looks away quickly.

Chloe busies herself with adjusting the armband. It’s a garish yellow color which really goes horribly with her shirt and her hair, but she doesn’t care about it. She doesn’t even feel smug about Beca choosing her over Jesse. She just feels the strangest sense of calm, paired with immense satisfaction.

Okay, maybe a little smug. She’s only human. Definitely only human. She couldn’t stop the way her heart skipped a beat or the heat that rushed through her body when Beca’s eyes tracked down her body slowly and surely.

Still, a part of her had expected Beca to support Jesse. Jesse was right, this was his idea, technically.

But God, for as long as Chloe can remember, even meeting Beca for the first time at the activities fair and the series of events that followed, it had been remarkable to have Beca take her side on anything at all.

It felt glorious.

Looking up finally, Chloe catches Jesse’s eyes. He doesn’t quite glare at her because he’s not a mean guy, but the look he gives her is wholly unfamiliar.

Chloe has to remind herself that Jesse’s on their team, so it isn't like she can tell him that he’s going down.

–x–

“What’s some good advice?” Cynthia-Rose asks.

“Don’t die,” Amy supplies helpfully.

Chloe privately agrees, but she figures she should tack on some actual helpful sentences. “Catch the ball when you can. Please don’t get hit by the ball. Look out for your teammates," she rattles off like a drill sergeant.

Men and women alike nod their heads at her.

"That's all?" Jesse asks a little skeptically.

Chloe narrows her gaze on him. "Yes, pretty much.” She channels some Aubrey Posen. “Or you will die."

Amy cheers. Jesse’s face goes white. Beca looks like she’s trying not to laugh.

Honestly, Chloe’s a little serious. If dodgeball is anything like she used to play it in high school, she hopes that she can make it through the game in its entirety.

(If this is a reflection of what her life was like in high school, she truly and desperately hopes she can make it through the year in one piece.)

–x–

Unfortunately for Beca, she is their weakest link. While she is small like Lilly and Flo, she doesn’t quite possess their athletic grace.

Beca’s determination is cute, though.

“Beca,” Chloe says immediately when she catches the other team whispering to each other and looking in Beca’s direction. “They know you suck.”

“How do they know that?” Beca fires back. “We haven’t done anything.”

Chloe bites back a laugh. She loves this woman. “Okay,” is all she says.

–x–

Beca nearly gets beaned in the face twice. Right off the bat. The sound she makes amuses Chloe to no end.

They’re two close calls and it appears that Beca knows when she’s pushing her own luck. Suddenly, she’s standing near Chloe, trying hard not to look like she's using Chloe as a human shield. Chloe feels her presence before she sees her.

“I’ll stop the ball from hitting you. All of them.” Chloe says, catching one deftly as it sails towards Beca’s face.

That catches Beca off guard more than the ball had. "You will?”

"Yeah," answers Chloe. "Of course."

And then Chloe smiles at her like she did on that very first day.

Beca can almost feel the sunshine beating down on her head and her shoulders. Nothing feels quite as warm as the hopeful expression Chloe fixes on her and the millions of unanswered questions that float above them like a blanket of uncertainty.

"Thank you."

Chloe keeps a pleasant-enough smile for only a few seconds more, then she grows serious. "Don't thank me yet. We've barely started."

–x–

Benji gets hit next, right after Chloe sees another Treble go down. It is a hard hit, right on his cheek. He’s pale enough that Chloe can clearly see a perfectly circular red mark.

Right. They’re up against a literal competitive dodgeball team.

She hopes she made it clear that they were going to barely make it out alive. She already feels sorry for Benji, but she can’t really dwell, not when Beca is–

“Beca?” she murmurs, taking a quick second to spin around.

Oh. There she is.

Beca is surprisingly holding her own. For somebody who barely knew how to punch as to not bruise and injure herself, she whips the ball with some ferocity.

–x–

It is not just a game to Chloe.

It stopped being a game when Beca chose her as team captain.

It stopped being a game at each moment the ball barely misses Beca by a hair and Chloe’s breath catches in her throat.

It stopped being a game a long time ago.

Maybe even from the moment Beca walked into Chloe’s line of sight. From the moment Beca opened her mouth and sang.

So it is not just a game. Not anymore.

Chloe is so over games.

–x–

It happens quickly - so quickly - that Chloe doesn’t even think about it. The ball sails towards her and she thinks quickly enough. If she moves in any direction, she leaves Beca unprotected, though Beca seems less and less concerned with protection and more concerned with whipping the ball as best as she can.

If Chloe ducks, she thinks Jesse is behind her somewhere, but she honestly figures that he’ll catch it.

She could catch the ball, she thinks as it sails towards her unforgivingly.

Beca sees it happen too.

She exclaims “Chlo, duck!”

So Chloe does.

–x–

Jesse curses as he’s hit right in the face with the ball. It causes him to stumble and nearly fall over. Chloe can hear the impact it makes. It sounds remarkably painful. When she turns, Jesse’s nose is completely red, but he isn’t bleeding. He swipes at his nose uncomfortably and looks betrayed for whatever reason.

Chloe’s apology dies in her throat, already half-hearted and ill-formed to begin with.

–x–

Jesse is clearly feeling better and Chloe already regrets getting him back in the game. He is unfortunately one of their more decent throwers and he dodges well enough. He looks less winded, but he looks at Chloe reproachfully.

“You could have caught that,” he hisses, within earshot of Beca.

“No, I couldn’t,” Chloe fires back, not even bothering to look at him.

“Guys, it’s just a game,” Beca’s voice comes from behind them. Between the two of them – Beca and Chloe – Chloe never expected Beca to be the one to play peacemaker in any situation. She is vaguely reminded of Beca breaking up her scuffle with Aubrey. Of Beca walking into a chaotic auditorium and using her voice to stop everybody in their tracks.

Beca has always had that effect on her. Chloe takes pause, momentarily forgetting the chaos around them.

Jesse’s voice cuts through again. “Yeah, Chloe!” He’s laughing, but Chloe hears no humor in his voice. Nor does she see any amusement in his eyes. It’s hollow, a little like how she feels right now. “Why are you taking this game so seriously?”

“Dude, shut up. Jesus,” Beca says quickly and quietly.

Chloe feels like she’s in high school again. Being made fun of for having a crush on the track star who would never give her the time of day. Being told again and again that her value was less than the star of the football team. Dating the second most popular boy in the class above her. Holding hands with the girl in her English class.

All of it is a mess.

She knows now that none of those callous words had been true. The stupidity of teenagers - children really - and the way they let societal perceptions mold them into monsters.

Something catches in her chest, like the last fleeting gasp of fresh air before she’s choking on her own self-hatred. It had been bottled up for so long.

I just want to fit in.

I just want to be chosen.

She looks at Beca.

I just want you to stay.

Something in Beca’s eyes shifts then. The change is so wondrous to Chloe that she almost forgets that she’s in a smelly high school gymnasium, surrounded by adolescents who honest-to-God paid actual cash to watch young adults make a fool of themselves.

It could be worse, Chloe thinks. Beca looks at her so softly and so lovingly that Chloe forgets about one-upping Jesse who maybe was never worth all that thought after all. Because, after all, Jesse is not mean or malicious. A little quick to assume, maybe, but they can be adults for a moment.

She is still watching Beca when Beca’s eyes suddenly widen followed by her lips parting in a surprised gasp.

It could be wors –

–x–

Stay.

That’s her last coherent thought.

–x–

“Chloe?”

Chloe wonders if the feeling ever goes away. The feeling that is wrapped up in the smell of dirty gyms and the sensation of being alone in a crowded room.

Suddenly, she’s in high school again, staring breathlessly up at the endless blue sky. She had been winded from a sharp jab from her own teammate’s elbow, which caused her to trip over her own feet.

She had only ever wanted to fit in. To be wanted.

To be loved.

“Chloe,” Beca’s voice comes again, disembodied. “Wake up.”

–x–

“You should probably see a doctor,” comes Beca’s faint voice as Chloe blinks awake slowly. “You went down hard, Chlo.”

It takes Chloe a second to respond. She finds that her shoulder hurts a little bit and the side of her head is a little sore. She’s sure she has a bruise or two, but otherwise, she is fairly unscathed.

“Chloe?” Beca asks again. “You’re like...awake right?” She looks a little frightened.

“I don't need the doctor," Chloe rasps finally. The hoarseness of her voice probably does not help, but she can’t help but offer Beca a reassuring smile. She hopes it does enough.

“That’s what everybody says before it turns out that they do, in fact, need a doctor,” Beca responds sharply. She sounds a little hysterical, in all honesty.

“I’m fine. It’s fine.”

Belatedly, Chloe realizes that she is staring up at a nondescript, sloping ceiling. Pale yellow walls around her.

“Am I in the nurse’s office?”

“Yeah, we helped carry you in here after the ball basically concussed you.” Beca finally relaxes before a smirk spreads across her lips. “I bribed one of the high schoolers to send me a video.”

Chloe feigns hurt, internally pleased when Beca flushes upon catching sight of the jut of Chloe’s lower lip. “Did we at least win?” Chloe asks. “Please tell me we won.”

“Well, I was kind of carrying you here with Cynthia-Rose and Benji.” Chloe tries to make her impatience known with just her eyes. “Okay, fine, we didn’t win.” Beca shrugs. “We were never even going to win.”

Chloe finds that she does not care about that. She finds it hard to care about anything else really because Beca looks so relieved to see her. So genuinely happy to see her.

Beca is there.

Chloe reaches out, pausing halfway in the air between her and Beca. With her hand extended, turned upwards, she waits. Beca slowly and gently places her hand in Chloe's.

"Chloe?" Beca questions.

"Just…" Chloe trails off into a pause, then, "stay, Bec." Her hold loosens, but the mere fact that it's there is enough for both of them. "Stay,” she repeats.

"Okay,” Beca murmurs, all games aside. “I will.”

And she does.

fin.

#bechloe #beca mitchell #chloe beale #dodgeball #mine #my fanfic #fanfiction #pitch perfect #bechloe week #bechloe week 2019

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chrsitophwaltz · 5 years ago

Text

MICKEY MEETS FC BAYERN (PART 3/4)

for the entire houston clownery experience click here

psa: excuse my face and the pic qualities. up until this happened i haven’t really taken pictures of myself (less than 10 in the past two years for family and work purposes and NEVER selfies) and when you meet people you’ve only seen on TV in a very unexpected circumstance, then don’t expect your brain and motor functions to work 100%.

just an addition that i forgot to add in the last two parts: i didn’t get his pic or anything, but seeing Witch Doctor™ müller-wohlfahrt in person was insane. if you watch netflix’s dark season 2, and see 1986 ulrich nielsen, THAT’S WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE SDHBMFSDMNBFNMB

anyway, so i uber-ed to the mall. thank god it was only 5 minutes or so away from the hotel since i was really desperate to get a wristband for adidas. the t-mobile meet with josh and sven didn’t require wristbands, but there was gonna be a line and time’s limited and they might (and they did) cut it off at some point. thankfully, the mall just opened (ish) and i got wristband #53 for adidas. score! i also confirmed thrice with the guy that as long as i have the wristband i can get in. nice!

after getting the wristband, i went up to get in line for t-mobile. thankfully, i was within the first 5 or so people so i can do both meet-and-greets!

multi-tasking! you love to hear it!

i met up with @simplyirenic and a guy named nick who we met at the hotel reception a few days before and chatted to pass the time. finally it was around 1:30 to 2pm and the mall was packed with bayern fans. it was sad to see people, especially little kids, trying to line up for adidas but had to be turned away since the wristbands ran out already.

after a few line games and waves with the t-mobile people, we finally got inside the store to start the meet. while i was waiting my turn and praying that my phone doesn’t die (i only had 8% battery life left at that point), i saw richie (one of bayern’s media guys) and some guy named greg (thought he was with bayern at first, but now i’m not sure) and told them my ulterior motive for the t-mobile thing. they understood and saw that i was about to pass out from fear and anxiety and told me they’d include the footage in the final video. they weren’t kidding sbfdsnmfbmfbdsmfdb (got a gif of it here)

so. it was finally my turn and sven hasn’t looked up yet since he was signing more cards and chatting with josh. i creeped up behind them and said “hallo!” josh was so cute and perky and said “hallo!” back. sven looked like he didn’t recognize me (thank god) but i just couldn’t let it pass so as we were having our pics taken, i put my hand on his back and mumbled (while trying to smile for the cameras): “hey, i don’t know if you remembered in the hotel earlier, but i’m really sorry. i meant to take a picture with you AND leon. sorry!” i don’t know if he remembered it at all or was just being nice, but all the same he said “no, it’s okay!”

i didn’t care. BLESS HIM! my day is saved! so we said cheese one last time before i left.

extra notes: i also wanted to tell him that his red card was BS but didn;t have time for that lmao. also josh is such an angel and his hair was so fluffy and blonde i wanted to die ;__;

i said goodbye to richie and greg and waited for nick (he also had a wristband) and we went down to get in line for adidas. while lined up i met more bayern fans (hello @zomgannalolz and @alex-bregman!). fangirled with them for a bit (and showed them my niko ass videos from the night before sdjnhdnfbdn) and finally we were in! from afar, i could only see manu bc he was standing up (benji and thomas were sitting down) and he was wearing his bright watermelon keeper kit. finally my turn came and said hi to benji again. he signed my shirt (again; he already signed it at the hotel reception) and we took pics (again). SERVUS BENJI!

next up was manu (again)!

me: hi manu, it’s me again

manu: oh hello! the hotel right?

me: *dying that he recognized me and thinking about that near-knockout experience* yessssss

he signed my shirt (again lmao) and we posed for pics. he was so. freaking. tall. i put my arm around him and half my brain was floating and making observations:

1. wrow. he tall. as h e l l.

2. the keeper jersey has a different feel than the normal outfield player jersey. hmmm (scratchier and more... cellophane-y....?)

3. my face is literally pressed up against his right boob. n o i c e

4. my left arm is around his waist. i can feel nice ridges. holy shit. SI D E A BS !!!!!! *scream*

yeah, it was an out-of-body-experience. i also nearly forgot to take his autograph card but he subtly inserted it into my hand as i was leaving. I LUFF U MANU!!!!

it’s probably poetic that my meet-and-greet ended with thomas. he’s my favorite player and i have his jersey. first time he signed it it only had 4 other signatures (at the hotel reception), and the second time was earlier that day at the hotel (with him eating a huge ass banana). i came up to him and he was like “hey!” HE RECOGNIZED ME I JUST----

anyway, i tried to keep it cool and said “yeah it’s me again from the hotel lmao” and he was like “so do you want a third signature?” (he saw he already had two sigs in the jersey). i didn’t care and said “if you want to! i don’t mind!”he reviewed it and quietly said “wow” when he saw my almost-full bayern haul (my jersey was full of autographs by then) and said “let’s just put it up, yes?”

he wanted to put up my müller jersey! thomas freakin’ müller himself wanted to show my jersey! tbh it was a great idea lmao so i said “cool! okay!”

i was literally the happiest binch in the world!!!!!! I LOVE HIM!!!! keep deuter-ing that raum, Raumdeuter!!!!!!!

in the end, with the exception of david (i’m sad, i really wanted pics with alabae), phonzie (saw him a couple times, but never got to him), renato (i always miss him for some reason!!!!), and c*man (i don’t really want anything from him anyway, except maybe goals, so doesn’t really count lmao), plus the other bayern kids, i got everyone!!!!!!

BEST. DAY. EVER. from despairing literally just the night before about wasting my one day extension, to unexpectedly getting more than i bargained for-- the ULTIMATE mega fan experience-- it was just insane. they’re all really nice and accommodating too! that’s how i know i support the best club ever (even if they’re such clowns sometimes but oh well lmao)

now, one last part to go. the actual best (and WORST) part of everything. if you’ve followed me for more than an hour then i don’t need to explain to you just how much i needed to get just ONE CRUMB of niko fucking kovac. and boy oh boy did i get a lil bit more than that......👀

#PART 3 IS DONE AND UP!!!!!!!! NOW Y'ALL KNOW WHAT'S UP NEXT SDHFBSDMFBDS #manuel neuer #thomas müller #joshua kimmich #fc bayern #bayern munich #fcb #*my crappy shit #mickey meets fcb #benjamin pavard #sven ulreich #I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!#if y'all ever get the chance to see them don't hesitate!#they're super nice and it's worth it <3 #ANYWAY ON TO T H A T PART..........#also thanks to the girl who took my pics at adidas she got almost all the interactions dshfsdfbsdjfb

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twotwinks · 6 years ago

Note

benthan for 001, and benji for 002

I hope you realize what you’ve unleashed here- It’s so ungodly long that I’m adding a cut to save your dashes.

001 | Benthan

When I Started Shipping Them

So I went back through my posts because I very vividly remember when I realized I’d fallen for this ship. I first mentioned that I might have started shipping them in the tags of a post on September 15, 2018, and after I acknowledged it, I was sold on it. So I’ve shipped these precious soft boys for just a little shy of two months!

My Thoughts

This is so vague and mean, I don’t even know where to begin… I just… I love them a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever really felt this strongly for a ship before. I mean, I’ve had OTPs before, but never an OTP that actively made me want to rip my heart out because I just can’t handle the emotions it causes, positive or negative. It’s also the first ship I’ve ever written fic for, and it honestly just feels so natural, it’s so easy to write romantic stuff for them and virtually impossible to write something platonic. Plus, without this ship, I never would’ve made any tumblr friends. I’d still just be sitting on the outskirts, randomly reblogging stuff and trying desperately to come up with decent content for my fandom blog. Now I know Ruth and Cassidy and Stanislas and everybody else, and I have so much fun seeing everyone’s posts and participating when I’m brave enough (even though I still sometimes wonder if I fit in, and even if I don’t, I’m just grateful everyone still plays along with me) and honestly it’s one of the brightest parts of my life right now. I see a note or a message or someone tags me in something and sometimes it makes me want to cry because people are thinking about me. So I love this ship even more for that.

What Makes Me Happy About Them

There’s just so much. There’s so much to be happy about them. I love the way they smile at each other. I love how loyal they are to each other. I feel like they fit the “I’d follow you to the ends of the earth with only mild complaining” better than anyone else, because they would, they’d do anything for each other. And even if you look at their relationship as platonic, that’s an incredibly strong friendship, and it just warms my heart.

What Makes Me Sad About Them

The fact that one day one of them is probably going to end up dying trying to save the other one. I’d really like for them to leave fieldwork so they can live happy and safe together for the rest of their days, but I know that Ethan would never be able to live like that. Fallout told us that much. And you can bet that as long as Ethan is in the field, Benji’s going to be right by his side.

Things Done in Fanfic that Annoy Me

I dunno, really. Most of the Benthan fic we’ve got is pretty solid. Some of the smut’s a little weak, but I only occasionally venture there, so it’s not too big of a deal. One thing that does sometimes bug me, even though it’s literally the most nonsensical and ridiculous thing to be bothered by, is when they’re referred to as boyfriends or use terms of endearment on each other. I have no idea why it bothers me, it’s such a perfectly reasonable thing!!! I guess maybe I feel like they’ve just been friends with each other for so long and they know each other so well that they wouldn’t bother labeling it. At the end of the day, they’re still just Ethan and Benji, just like they’ve always been. I don’t know. I know it’s stupid, but it can still sometimes throw off the whole vibe of the fic for me. Which is ridiculous. I’m ridiculous.

Things I Look for in Fanfic

Good characterization. That’s such a big thing for me, especially now that Ethan and Benji have been my daydreaming muses for so long now. Their voices are so strong in my head, especially Benji’s. So a fic has to have really good characterization for me to love it. I also really like reading (and writing!) anything that deals with Benji’s trauma and hurt/comfort with Benji as the victim. He just deserves to be taken care of. Poor guy’s earned a hug or ten.

Who I’d be Comfortable Them Ending Up With, If Not Each Other

I suppose I’d be okay if Ethan and Ilsa ended up together. I really don’t want Ilsa to be demoted to the love interest, though. She’s such a good character, and Fallout already did her so dirty. But she’s the only other person I could see Ethan having a chance of being happy with. As for Benji, well… I think I’d just prefer him to stay a Single Pringle. If Ethan (or I!) can’t have him, no one can! I know Benji/Brandt is also a pretty popular ship, but it’s honestly just not my cup of tea. I can’t see it (or maybe I’m just too blinded by shipping Benthan so strongly).

My Happily Ever After for Them

Preferably for them to never ever set foot in the field again and buy a little house together where they host cozy holiday dinners and snuggle together on the couch after long days of training new agents and teaching them about the importance of the team dynamic. But, as I explained earlier, that’s unrealistic for these two. So, if they must remain in fieldwork, I pray that either they both manage to last long enough that they’re forced to retire (and then Benji will have to help Ethan cope with not being able to prevent bad things, so not exactly ideal) or that they both die together in the field, at the same time, so that neither of them will have to live with the guilt of losing the other (again, not ideal because then they’ll be DEAD).

Who is the Big Spoon/Little Spoon

Benji is the little spoon I don’t care if he’s taller I WILL FIGHT YOU ON THIS. Benji likes being held. It makes him feel safe after all he’s been through. Grounds him, you know? Gives him a sense of security. And Ethan likes holding Benji, because he knows that no one can hurt Benji when he’s there in Ethan’s arms, and even if Benji has nightmares, Ethan’s already right there to help him.

What is Their Favorite Non-sexual Activity

They are cuddlebugs. They snuggle everywhere, every chance they get. I don’t know if cuddling counts as an activity, though. I think they also like reading to each other. While cuddling. Because I can’t imagine a scenario where they could reasonably be in physical contact and yet wouldn’t be. So yeah. They like to cuddle.

002 | Benji

How I Feel About This Character

I… I love him. So much. Probably more than I should. Rogue Nation was the first M:I movie I saw, and I’d been kinda passively watching it until the high speed chase scene. I’d looked up from my crochet enough to notice Simon Pegg (who, at the time, was still just Scotty to me – can you believe that???), but then he started screaming during the chase, and I started paying attention, because hey, that’s exactly what I’d probably do in that situation, I like this guy. And then by the end of it Benji owned my heart, because Simon Pegg is a phenomenal actor and made me feel all of the emotions when Benji was strapped to the bomb. Mostly because Simon’s eyes are incredibly expressive, something I first noticed towards the end of Star Trek Into Darkness and still notice in most of his films. Then I went back and watched all the films, and I made small involuntary happy noises when he showed up in M:I:III. And he was so cute in Ghost Protocol. I nearly had a breakdown in the theater towards the end of Fallout (you know when I mean!) because I’m so attached to him. I actually legitimately said “Oh thank god” in the theater when it all worked out. I might have even cried a little. I was so worked up that I didn’t even fall for the bait-and-switch at the end. I didn’t have the emotional capacity to even process it as a possibility. So yeah, I think I’m unhealthily obsessed with Benji Dunn.

All the People I Ship Romantically with This Character

Ethan. It’s literally just Ethan. Ethan or bust.

My Non-romantic OTP for This Character

Benji and Ilsa are bros. Fire-forged friends. They’ve both gone against each other once or twice, but now they know where their loyalties lie, and they’ll help each other out when they need it. Total bros.

My Unpopular Opinion About This Character

I don’t know if I have one, really. Although I always kinda imagined Benji as a really good baker, or that he at least enjoys baking in his free time, but then I discovered that apparently a lot of people headcanon him as an awful cook? So maybe that’s one.

One Thing I Wish Would Happen/Had Happened with This Character in Canon

I just want his trauma to be addressed. He tries to talk about it in Ghost Protocol, and Jane and Ethan both look kinda worried, but then Brandt just jumps in and SHUTS HIM DOWN, and nothing more is said about it. And he’s been through much worse since then. Even if it’s just a simple, “Hey, you okay?” from LITERALLY ANYBODY. I’d take it. (I’d prefer it even more if Benji got a hug out of the deal. He needs a hug, poor baby.)

My OTP

Benthan. In case you haven’t figured it out by now.

My Crossover Ship

I have never actually considered this. And I’m not sure I will. I’m just so invested in Benthan, I don’t think I have the capacity to ship Benji with anybody else. I can’t even think of anyone he’d click so well with. (I’ve always been bad at the crackship thing anyway.) Maybe a lone Nick Frost character somewhere. Those always make for good ships, right?

A Headcanon Fact

Hmm… I’m really bad at this stuff, aren’t I? I either give away my answers way ahead of time or can’t come up with anything. Well, outside of Benji being a baker and my fun-to-think-about idea that all Simon Pegg characters are actually related to each other, I usually headcanon Benji as a pretty panicky sort. When I write his internal monologues, I usually get going with these long, looping, drawn-out sentences that all circle back and compound on each other and just make everything so much worse for him. He’s a worst-case-scenario kind of person. Even when things work out, he drives himself mad constantly running through the what-ifs. That’s probably me just projecting onto him a little, but I feel like it’s worked out okay in the few fics I’ve written. I also headcanon that he’s a big-time stargazer, especially when he feels overwhelmed, something that I originally chucked into a fic because I needed something for Benji to do (and also as a I’m-probably-the-only-one-who-got-it nod to Star Trek) but now I firmly stand by it as something he does.

There. That’s that. I started this two hours ago. I probably should’ve been in bed an hour and a half ago. This is ridiculously long. I hope someone finds my obsessive ramblings enjoyable instead of just irritating.

Thank you for giving me the chance to gush like this, Ruth! It feels like I never get to talk about the things I love often enough. At least not to people who actually want to hear me gush about them!

#character ask #mt answers #benthan #benji dunn #mission: impossible #ruth

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drbobbimorse · 6 years ago

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I’d be interested in seeing who you fancast! I totally agree with you. It’s boring to see the same faces over and over again.

I honestly don’t remember any except for a handful, because I was doing a fancast of just the original order (with Regulus as a bonus). Here’s the ones I do remember:

I lied. I got inspired to finish my fancast lmao Didn’t do Albus or Aberforth cause they’re both in their late 80s during the first Wizarding War so what’s the point? Richard Harris (yes, the late Richard Harris. He was the literal embodiment and perfect casting choice for Dumbledore and he’ll always be Dumbledore for me, sorry Michael Gambon) and Ciarán Hinds are perfect. Anyway, here’s a complete fancast of the original Order during the First Wizarding War:

Alastor Moody: Sean Bean (Moody would’ve been at least 27 during the First War – it started in ‘70 and he died in ‘97, simple math – but I do love older actors so I kept him aged up. I mean, some of these people live to be over 100! I’m not 100% sold on him though, so suggestions are welcome. Honestly? If Dom wasn’t already Bill, I’d say him for young!Moody)

Alice Longbottom: Romola Garai

Frank Longbottom: Russell Tovey

Benjy Fenwick: Ben Kingsley

Dorcas Meadowes: Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Dedalus Diggle: David Dawson (something about his role on Ripper Street sold him to me as Dedalus and I will never budge on it)

Emmeline Vance: Gemma Chan

Fabian & Gideon Prewett: Robert Emms

Lily Potter: Annalise Basso (only flaw? She’s American lol) or Ellie Bamber

James Potter: Ryan McCartan (another American) or Rupert Evans (when he was in TMITHC) or Ben Whishaw (both are too old but I couldn’t find the perfect combination of British, 20s, thin, untidy black hair and glasses. Seriously, I always see fancasts for James without glasses and like ??? Are y’all dumb af?! The main reason people mistake Harry for his father is because of the hair and the fucking glasses)

Marlene McKinnon: Amara Karan

Sturgis Podmore: Alex Pettyfer (I read ‘square jaw’ and Alex never left my mind lol), or Brett Tucker (also not British but look at him!)

Sirius Black: Ben Barnes (ok ok ok, he’s beyond overused and I’m guilty of it too but he’s literally the only overused fancast I actually like for the Marauders!) or Aneurin Barnard. Another good alternate is that guy who plays Nick Scratch on TCAOS. (Any of these guys would also be good for Regulus, they all look passable as siblings tbh)

Remus Lupin: Charlie Rowe or Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Peter Pettigrew: Philip Wiegratz (again, not British but he’s so hard to fancast! And all the fancasts I see for him are either studs or thin, conventionally attractive Brits. That’s not fucking Peter, okay? He’s a chubby little fucker, fancast an overweight or obese actor, you cowards)

Caradoc Dearborn: Adrian Lester

Edgar Bones: Ioan Gruffudd

Elphias Doge: Jeremy Irons

Mundungus Fletcher: Caleb Landry Jones (again, not British but something about the description of Mundungus brought him to mind and he just didn’t leave)

Severus Snape: Louis Garrel (perfect except that he’s French and a bit too old lol) or Jamie Bell (I always see him fancast for Peter and nope, nope nope nope. With a nose like his, all I can see is Snape lol)

Arabella Figg: Charlotte Rampling

#personal #seize the droid #fancast #hp fancast #thanks for the ask!#a lot of the original order didn't have any appearance descriptions #or they were very vague like 'dark hair' or 'tiny' or 'round face'#so I had a lot of free will to make as many as I could poc #idk why more don't do that as opposed to make canon white characters poc #I think another weird thing people do is make everyone the same age #like most of them? all we know is when they died #we have no idea when they were born or when they went to school #so why assume they all went to school with the marauders?#that's just boring!#they all don't have to be 20 somethings!#my fancast

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winstonhcomedy · 6 years ago

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“Dope A-F” - 3/7-3/19 - “First Weekend Featuring And Some Other Shit”

Listen up folks. It is time to catch up. I’ve been all over the place and not feeling my best lately. I have let this blog get away from me, but I promise I am bringing it back baby so let’s hop right into it laydees.

3/7

This was a nifty night of comedy. Jacob McFadden had gotten me an opportunity to do a live Winstmas Games at VCU’s create-a-thon- I was super stoked for this. I had booked a super strong lineup (Anne Meng, Beau Treauxclair, and Brandon Beswick vs Jacob McFadden, Dylan Vattelana, and Kate Carroll.) Create-a-thon is where a bunch of students stay up all night and work on developing ideas/apps and then presenting them. So this is going to be an all college crowd, they’re going to have been working for like 12 hours, and we are their entertainment for the night.

I meet up with Beau, Dylan, and Kate at Mojos and hang for a bit. I grab my camera and we all head over to VCU’s Temple building to meet up with McFadden, Beswick, and Kate. It took us a while to find everyone but once we did we headed upstairs. They took us to a side room and set everything up. We used Jacob’s PA and I set up my camera in the back. I got a good look at the kids and it gave me some anxiety. You always hear that comedy shows at colleges can go weird. You hear that they are super PC and you have to adjust. My gameshow lends itself to offensiveness. I like that we go over the line and say all types of insane stuff.

Everybody files in and we get started. It was super duper fun. We did a bevy of games and only did about an hour long show. It started kind of slow but the audience slowly got into it as the show went on. The more offensive stuff/sexual stuff they did shy away from, but we were able to hook them. There were a few lulls but there were also some huge pops. The episode will be up on iTunes/Google Play soon so check it out. Honestly Jacob yelling, “get a new man!” at the top of his lungs for 3 minutes absolutely destroyed me. There were some good running gags, and everybody had a blast.

I was able to give out some stickers and people seemed excited to have been there. I packed everything up and headed out. IT was a dope night I’d give it a B+.

3/8

The next day I realized I needed to kind of take a day and enjoy myself. I went to go see Captain Marvel after work. I got a good meal and then took my time getting up to DC. Yes I only did one set, but it was fun. I got to Big Hunt early and got to hang out and talk to my friends.

I got to catch up with Benjy Himmelfarb, Matt Deakins, and a few others before heading downstairs. My buddies Chris and Tj showed up next. We went downstairs and hung out and got ready for our sets.

I figured this would be.a good time to prep for my JFL set. Sean tells me I am going first at the mic. It is my first time going first here and I want to set the table nicely for everybody. So I go up and do a five minute set. It was super tight and I got some big laughs. I felt like I did my job in that spot and I am beyond happy with how it went. Nothing too crazy or special, but I did get some big pops which was exciting. I’d give my set a B+.

I was absolutely exhausted but TJ was going later in the show. So we just all stuck around and chilled. Chris and TJ both had good sets. After they finished we walked to Chris car and I drove them back. Chris at first was like you’re going too damn slow. Hurry up. Then about 5 minutes into the ride he was like, “you know what you’re respecting tf out of my car right now, and I love it.” I drove them back to the metro and hopped in my car and met them at TJs where I immediately went inside and passed out for like 12 hours. I had a big show tomorrow, and honestly just needed to rest.

3/9

This night was going to be super special. Chris and I were going to be doing The After Show. This is a political/social roundtable show. It is kind of a spiritual successor to Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn a comedy show that influenced an entire generation of comedians.

I booked a super dope lineup imo. I tried to have a diverse lineup. The more diverse these shows are the better. I had Francesca Lyn, Clinton Johnston (radio host of Home Grown Live), Paige Campbell, Garrett Barnes, Chris, and myself.

This show I was functioning as a panelist and as fact checker. My job was to read off the topics, fact check, contribute, and Chris was going to lead the discussion of all of the topics.

This ended up being one of the most fun shows I have ever done. There was a nice sized crowd there and they were incredibly into it. We covered some pretty heavy and intense topics and we got some incredibly huge laughs from it. I am so upset that my camera didn’t work. I have absolutely no audio or video of the show.

We covered the Jessie Smollett thing, Michael Jackson/R Kelly, representation in media/comics, anti-vaxxers, race, religion, sexuality, and so much more. It was one of the more fun 90 minutes I have ever spent on stage. People absolutely loved it. The best part was Clinton seemed to have a good time. He isn’t a comedian but he is a super kind, funny, and smart dude. He was worried he wouldn’t do well, and he ended up being on e of the best parts of the night. He kept the show grounded while the rest of the comedians made points but were also mostly just going for laughs. I’d give this show an A+. It was a blast. I headed home and passed out immediately I was so tired.

The following two nights I took off. I was incredibly sick those two days. I even took off from work on Monday which I almost never do. That’s ok though because I had a week of fun shows coming up I needed to get ready for.

3/12

After my days off I had to drive to Winchester Brew Works to open for my buddy from LA Pete Buchbauer. He grew up in Winchester and this was going to be a super fun show.

I left right after work and it is a super long drive to Winchester. Like almost 3 hours each way. I don’t mind it, but I was thankful I got to leave work at 3 that day.

After I get there I walk in and catch up with Pete. I got to meet his gf and he let me know about all the cool stuff he has going on. The venue is a dope brewery. There is a pretty good crowd and turnout but everyone is crazy far away from the stage.

The feature act is a dude name Pat McCloig from San Diego but he also grew up in Winchester so he brought a lot of people too. So we had a good crowd, but we needed to get them closer. I went up to make the five minute warning announcement and told everyone if they could to move up and the show would be so much better. They all listened. They moved every table closer and it looked more like a show than before.

The show starts and I do mostly crowd work and little bit of jokes. The jokes aren’t really hitting. It is such a big room that the laughter sounds weird coming to the front. Also the feature acts father was a minister and he brought some of the members of his church to the show and they sat dead in the front and they weren’t huge fans of me. I got a big laugh though when I said they looked like the last supper. I warmed up the crowd and I’d give it a C.

The feature went up and he did ok. The room was still being weird and I think they picked up on him doing jokes in front of his dad. He did ok, but his closer didn’t really hit at all which sucks. Pete told me I could do a couple more jokes to bring them back and I did. I did about 3 more minutes of just jokes and it did really well. I got the room back and ready for him. I’d give the second set a B.

Pete then came up and did about 25 to 30 minutes and did really well. People were there to see him, and they got a great show. Afterwards I got some nice compliments and got to talk to some of the audience. That room definitely has promise if they do more comedy. I also saw another of my comic friends’ (Sami Sfeir) mom at the show. So I took a pic with her and sent it to him with a joke caption.

I then hopped in my car and drove back to Richmond to go last at Fallout. I needed the stage time, and I needed to run this JFL audition set. I get back just in time and get to watch a few of my friends go up before it is my turn to go. There is a few audience members there which is insane. So I have an actual crowd.

Kate Carroll is hosting and she gives me a super nice intro and I get to go up. I did my 5 minute set and it goes pretty well. I am definitely going to switch some stuff around and add a couple new jokes. It gets a good response though and I close with a brand new joke that I am happy about. I’d give the set a B. I go and pass out as usual. I still feel really sick so I am just trying to keep it together.

3/13

The next day I had double booked myself. I had agreed to close out Clash of the Comics at the Richmond Funny Bone, but I had also agreed two months earlier to ride down to Cozzys with Alex Castagne for Nick Deez show at Cozzys. I was going to record Alex set and Nick was gong to give me a guest spot.

I thought about it, and since I was at Funny Bone rest of the weekend I txted the gm at the Funny Bone and told him I had double booked and if someone wanted my spot they could have it. He said that’d be awesome, and that he had someone who had been asking about it. Then about an hour later at work the gm gave me a call and said that since Lil Rel had cancelled they didn’t have a feature act for the weekend. He offered me a weekend of featuring and I jumped at it.

This was officially going to be my first feature weekend. I have done feature spots but they were always on an off night and not for the whole weekend. This was going to be 6 shows in front a national touring headliner in my home club. This was a huge deal and I could not wait. I knew it was going to be a tough gig, but I just was ready to show how much I have grown over these almost 4 years.

With this news I am basically jumping for joy at work. When I get off I go over to Alex’s place and we head to the grocery store and get some Ukrop’s coffee cake. I then take a nap while he gets ready and then we head down to Cozzy’s.

We have a great ride in the car. We are riffing and raffing. Joking about anything and everything. Getting caught up, and talking about our sets. The main reason I didn’t want to miss this was it was going to be Alex’s first time in a club doing 30 minutes. This is a big deal. It’s super cool Nick felt Alex was ready and asked him to do it. Alex was super nervous, and rightfully so this was a dope and big deal.

We get to Cozzy’s and Nick is hanging outside looking nervous af. He always looks nervous when he is running a show. He is afraid no one is going to be there and quite frankly that is everyone’s fear. The first one was fun, but you never know if that was a fluke or if it will be consistent.

We hang out and talk for a bit and then Alex and Nick head to the corner to do an episode of Nick’s podcast Comedy Buildups and Breakdowns. During this time some of the other comics show up and crowd members start to come in. At first it looks like it is going to be a light night. Which is ok, but I know it isn’t what Nick wanted. I go outside for a bit and what I assume is a homeless dude is on a phone and he starts talking to me about the Redskins and to forgive him if he started watching porn. So yea Newport News is dope.

Then the audience starts to file in. By the time the show is getting ready to start we have a pretty good crowd. I don’t know many of the comics on the show, but they all seem nice. Rock Allen showed up to support and I hadn’t seen him in a while. The other comics on the show included Jose Roman, J Marc Perry, Michael Dillard, Aaron Johnson, Justin King, myself, and Alex closing it out.

Nick goes up and tries to get the crowd in the mood for comedy. He has a bit of a rough set but finishes fine. He gets a couple of laughs, but hosting is always hard. He gets them on his side and brings the comics up. The first couple of comics do ok. The crowd can definitely be cracked, but no one has really hit them in the right spot.

I ask Nick to put me up next. I had felt a little weird this day and I didn’t want to go up any later. He told me that was cool so I got ready. When he called me up I went straight into it. I just tried to wake people up and keep them engaged. I did crowd work, and one bit. I had a super fun set. I didn’t destroy, but I know that I got the audience into. Definitely a hot set that I am proud of. I love being the one to crack the room. I’d give this set a B.

I then went and talked to Alex a bit. He is still a bit nervous about having to do 30. recently Alex has been talking himself out of good sets. Everybody does this from time to time and when I was at the two year mark in comedy like he is I did it a lot more than I do now. I believe in self-fulfilling prophecy and the power of being excited/positive so we try to focus on that.

A couple comics go up and do ok in front of him. Nothing special, just a couple of fine sets. Justin King went up and I hadn’t seen him in a while. He did pretty well going right before Alex. He had some good jokes and left on some laughs. After this set it was time for Alex.

Alex had a fine set. He did his time. He has the material for 30. He lost them a few times, but he was never devoid of laughter. His crowd work did really well, but he kept going away from it to get back to his jokes. This was a crowd that was there for more interaction than jokes. I think if he had mixed it up more, maybe do a 50/50 split of crowd work and material than he would have felt better about the set. I was proud of him for doing it. He got to headline a show in a club and people enjoyed it. That’s all you can ask for.

We said our goodbyes and left. Alex and I talked about this set and comedy the whole trip back. It was a nice way to end the night. I was absolutely exhausted so I passed out as soon as I got home.

3/14

Today was the day. My weekend of featuring at the Richmond Funny Bone was starting. I was so stoked on it. But first I was heading to The Camel to do a quick spot before hand.

I got there pretty early and did some writing. I waited for a few of my friends to show up. I got to see Jason Kusterer who I don’t see very often, Brandon Beswick, and the one and only Kenn Edwards. WE did a lot of ball busting and riffing. It was so much fun to catch up with these guys.

Jameson did me a solid and put me up first. I went and had a good set. I was proud of it. I can’t really remember what I did, but I know it was newer stuff. I got a solid response from the crowd and was happy. I’d give it a B. I then watched Brandon and Kenn perform. They both did well and had some good lines. It was great to see! I grabbed my stuff and headed to the club.

This was my first night featuring for the weekend. I was opening for BoDacious from the 757. Jaye Toler and another comic I’m not really friends with both show up and say they were told they’d get to host the weekend. I am legit thinking please let Jaye be the host. Like I don’t hate the other dude, but I wanted this weekend to be nothing but fun. I wanted my friend I’d known since I started to be bringing me on stage. Thankfully my prayers were answered. Jaye would host all weekend and this dude would get to do a guest spot.

The show starts and we are a little over half full. Which is more than I thought for a Thursday. Jaye has a pretty solid set and the guest spot does well got some real nice pops. I then go up and have a killer first 15 minutes. Like I really hooked them with crowd work and my opening bits. The only problem is after this I lost them. They didn’t enjoy a joke I did and every one after this was me trying to get the good will back. It wasn’t a bad set and I closed strong. It was just one of those things where I had them and let them off the hook. I’d give the set a C/C+. I tell myself I will not let this happen again. I go home and regroup and get ready for the weekend. The Funny Bone is a tough/urban club. It is hard to work and they can be unforgiving. I refuse to let this club beat me this weekend.

3/15

On Friday I had two shows. The headliner for the rest of the weekend was going to be Billy Sorrells (BET, Wild n Out, from Houston Texas).

I got to the shows earlier than everyone else because that is what I do. I went shopping and bought some new jeans and was going to get a new pair of shoes but decided against it.

I go to the club and just wait around. I’m crazy nervous. I don’t want this to be a weekend full of mediocre sets. The GM gave me a shot to feature and I wanted to kill it. So I made my set list and tried to get in a good head space.

Billy got there and introduced his self. He was a super laid back, confident, and nice guy. I was excited to see what he does on stage. We chilled in the back and got to know each other a bit. He played super loud music in the green room (mostly soul/R&B) for the whole show. Even when he was on stage he had it on. I would turn it down, but it seemed odd to me to just keep your phone running in the green room. He also saw I had my videocamera and asked me to record him. Which I didn’t mind doing, but it’s just a pain in the ass to edit people’s stuff for them.

The show starts and we have a little over half of the room full again at the start. I worry it is going to suck like the previous night, but I have to shake this feeling. Jaye goes up and has a pretty good set. After him it is my turn.

Jaye calls me up and I go right into it. I do some crowd work about how people chose to not sit in the front and it was messing up my profile picture I was trying to get. I hit on a bunch of black women in their 20s in the front row. Asking each of them if they’d ever been hit on by a white guy, and eventually I asked another white dude if he had been hit on by a white guy. That killed super hard.

I went into my material and it was also working. After a few minutes a group of people came in and I got them up to speed on the set so far and that did super well. I then asked the black lady in her late 30s if she had been hit on by a white guy and she was like, “right now.” So I told the other people they lost their chance because they sat around and I was going home with her. That destroyed as well. The rest of the set went well but never hit those highs. I am just super comfortable doing crowd work and then getting into my material. I closed strong and got a huge applause. It felt good I’d give this set a B. I knew I could and would do better.

Billy went up and killed for 45 minutes. In the green room he mentioned that one of his best friends was Ali Siddiq and you could tell he had an influence on his comedy. He was laid back and was a great storyteller. After the show I got some pictures with people, handed out some stickers and then headed back inside to get ready,

On the second show Billy’s friend Rob Gordon showed up. He is a DC comic I have never met and he runs the DC Comedy Festival. He was going to be doing a guest spot. He comes in the green room and seems like a super nice guy.

We are all chilling and I am just trying to get in a good headspace and try to follow my set from earlier. So I go and sit in the showroom for a bit.

When the second show starts it is closer to 3/4 full for this one. I was also excited because one of my coworkers hit me up and asked what time the show was. It felt so good to not only know she was coming but to also be able to hook her and her husband up with tickets was so dope.

The second show started and Jaye has a good set. Rob Gordon goes up and is super high energy. He really captured them up top. He was supposed to only do five but he ran tfo of the light and ended up doing 10. I didn’t feel like following his energy, but I knew that I could.

I go up and really get into it. There was a woman in the front who had been weird the whole show. You could tell she had an attitude so I went right at her and got her on my side. I teased her and her whipped bf. They loved it.

She had glasses on and so did the woman next to her. I asked the lady next to her if she was going to be mean like the other black lady with glasses. That got a laugh. Then the original chick was like, “just stereotype us then.” Then I went on a riff for a minute or so about how it wasn’t stereotyping if they were actually just both black women with glasses. I wasn't on stage saying, “What’s the deal with all these black women in glasses. It’s like they’re trying to see or some shit.” I then talked about being too woke for that and it brought the place down. I also mentioned my coworker being my boss and that I was going to lose my job and they ate that up too.

The rest of my set went well too. I did some of my usual material and peppered in some different stuff I needed to try there. I’d give the set a B+. I felt like I just kept getting better and better as the weekend went on.

After the show I got to talk to my coworker and her husband and they were both really into it and impressed. It felt so good. After I said my goodbyes I got Rob’s info and headed home to get some rest even though Billy was trying to hang out. I think he parties a little too hard for me and this was going to be my one chance to get some real rest this weekend so I took it.

3/16

Saturday was going to be better than Friday. Two more sets and I had confidence from the previous night. The shows started thirty minutes earlier so we were all afraid that Billy was going to be late. Which is my biggest fear. The best part is I didn’t have to worry about it since I wasn’t hosting. Being a feature is so much more relaxing.

The show is even more full than last night. As usual Jaye goes up and gets them warmed up. Then it is my turn. I walk up and start talking to a table to the side about their hats. I then get to talk to one of the women they are with and she yells, “I’m the side piece.” This gets a huge reaction so I start talking to them about this. Saying that’s the proudest side piece of all time. I asked her name she said, “Mrs. Side Piece”, and I respond, “I’m pretty sure it’s just miss.”

I then do some teaching and club material. It is going really well. I go back to side piece and do some more crowd work. Then I talk to two people on the side who just met because their friends ditched them. This doesn’t get much laughs for a couple minutes but it set me up for a huge callback later. The rest of the set goes really well and I close strong. I killed pretty hard and I’d rate it a B+/A- so still better than the last one.

During Billy’s set I listened a bit, but mostly decompressed in the green room and ate a bunch of food while I screwed around on youtube. After the show I had a bunch of people asking for pictures, and stickers. It was awesome to see this reaction. Richmond is one of the toughest clubs in the country. I hear that from every feature/headliner who comes through. It is a tough/black room and if you can’t work a black room then this is a difficult place to do well in. I’ve bombed there and felt like shit hosting there countless ties but I do believe that it has made me into the comic I am today. I feel like I have a long ways to go, but when it is on the line I can work any room/crowd around.

The second show went even better. The crowd was electric and I had them from the start. I didn’t slip up once. I had my best crowd work of the weekend.

I had another guy who didn’t want to laugh so I addressed him first and people loved it. I have the video on youtube so check it out at youtube.com/c/winstonhodges .

The dude was a truck driver, and his name was 40. He told me to call him, “black” first and I flat our refused because I was, “too woke for that shit.” I really had them. I told him I was there for his struggle, and I was active listening. I was an ally. Just really hamming it up and people loved it.

I then had a moment during a joke when someone who knows my mom shouted out my name. I talked about how you can’t bring anybody to a show because they always screw it up. I kept going in and out of crowd work and material and people were digging it. I’d definitely give this show an A. It felt like a culmination of four years of grinding. I am now no longer scared of the club. I know what I can do to make it work, and I feel like I am ready to eventually been the road. I left right after my set and once I got home I passed out.

3/17

I was ready for the weekend to be over. Sunday shows are usually kind of tough. They are earlier, and people aren’t always super into it. I was ready for it though. I was so excited because I had a lot of people coming to see me including my parents and my brother. I always want to do super well for them.

The show starts and they were not on board. They were a lighter crowd, but they did not enjoy what was going on at first. I was getting nervous but I had already proved all weekend I deserved to be there.

I get on stage and go right into it. My material and crowd work were hitting. It wasn’t my best set, but I had some super fun moments. It was all in all a great Sunday night show. I had a really fun moment talking to a guy that had been a truck driver for 27 years and married for 33. I asked if the first 6 years of marriage is what made him hit theroad.

I then asked them about how to make it that long. She said communication and he said she is always right. I riffed on that and got back into my material. It was a super fun show. I was so proud and this was a great ending to a superb weekend. I’d give this show a B.

Billy went up and it was weird. His first 45 minutes were just about a story that happened while he was in Richmond and then he did like an additional 50. The audience was tired and wanted to leave. So it was a bummer, but I got some great compliments afterwards and all in all I got like 70 IG followers just from this weekend. I know that’s a small number, but it made me feel really good. I said bye and headed out to get ready for work this week.

This was a huge moment for me comedically. The GM and Billy were both extremely complimentary of me. It meant a lot. Billy asked me about moving and told me to get the heck out of Richmond. I think I am getting closer and closer to a move. That’s why I’m trying to do the best I can while I am here. Almost four years ago I was doing my first set ever on this stage. I went from winning a contest and getting hooked on comedy to being the paid middle act of an actual show. This is my dream and I will make it happen.

3/18

I was feeling under the weather for this show, but I refused to miss the Southern two weeks in a row. I stayed in town a bit and had a bite to eat before driving out there.

I was stoked because most of my friends were there. Paige, Alex, Chris, and almost all the guys were out. It was a lighter crowd than the last few times I had been there, and a smaller comic list (so we all got 5-7) instead of 3 which was nice.

I told myself I was going to do new stuff tonight. I know I shouldn’t since I am prepping for JFL audition, but who gives a shit. I didn’t want to change what I do. I like working on new shit so I decided to do some new stuff, and then also bring back an oldie from the vault that needs some work.

The crowd isn’t super into the show honestly. At least not at first. Paige goes up and he does not enjoy his set at all. He had some jokes hit that he was trying to work out, but he didn’t have the confidence I usually see from him. It was productive but I can tell he hated it.

I went a couple after him and enjoyed mine. I got a laugh on every joke. Some definitely need work, but I had 4 new jokes get something. They will probably be the basis of my next 5 minutes which is cool. I also brought back an old joke I liked and realized needs work. It got a laugh, but I forgot some of it. I always enjoy dusting off the oldies. I’d give this set a B-.

The rest of the night went ok. I helped clean up afterwards, but honestly I don’t remember much craziness from the show. We all had fun shooting the shit and watching each other. Padgett had a solid set. He is really coming along as a comic. He just has to get off of his notebook and put it together as a cohesive set.

We had a few bombs which were fun to watch like McCallie and Sam Wood. Sam went up after this other black comic named Vaughn who did some homophobic stuff and it was funny to watch her mean ass follow him. She got a big laugh and shit all over Colby Knight which made my night. I love these guys and they’re all getting better in their own way. It is cool the scene is growing and getting tighter. I won’t be around it too much longer, but I am glad to have been a part of it while I could.

Alex went last and did well. He hated how a few of his jokes went, but it was a super productive set. He got some really good laughs, and his timing is getting better. I love these fellas.

After cleaning up and talking I headed home to pass out. I was so tired. It had been a lot the past few days. I was so glad that I have a day off on Tuesday. Which I spent relaxing, cooking, and hanging with family. I love my days off now, and I am really trying to have more of them. I used to go out everyday, but now that I am at a position where I can still perform between 8-15 times a week I take my days off and enjoy them

WOW I DID IT. I am caught up again. It won’t happen ever again (JK IT IS TOTALLY HAPPENING AGAIN). I’ve got three open mics tonight and then a weekend in DC doing a ton of shows. This is the life. I love you laydees and baybees so much. Thanks for following xoxo hugs and kisses see you all soon!!!

#comedy #standup #improv #funny bone #comedy club #jokes #hilarious #cvillecomedy #comedyrva

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