#but Dallas has pretty much all the features I have

[dinodogs]

sorry its not a dragon but finally getting back to my roots and drawing furrys,,,god its been so long ignore my shit anatomy. This is Dallas, my fursona (or truesona if u wanna call them that). But Dallas is literally just myself as a dog, and usually how I portray myself in drawings, so they needed a ref! + some outfits under the cut.

(If ur wondering those are the enby and demiromantic flags, and I like womens but I don't like being labelled as lesbian or bi or pan. So please refer to me as sapphic.)

(click for better quality!)

[hugheses]

ellen weinberg

a lot of people online like to praise her because they love her kids, but before she was mama hughes, ellen weinberg was an even more accomplished athlete than her wikipedia page can tell you. well i have way too much time on my hands and an affinity for googling things, so here is a not-so-little primer on the matriarch of hockey who has contributed far more than just her superstar children.

(basically anything not sourced is from the cammi & aj podcast i have a transcript of)

born in st. louis, she was told she couldn't play hockey because girls couldn't play on boys teams in the state of missouri, and there were no girls teams. went to bob johnson's hockey camp in aspen at age 7. moved to dallas at age 8, where she was allowed to play on the boys team. at age 12, is featured in a news clip "girl hockey player" where she says she wants to one day play professional hockey.

at 15, wins nationals with her U-19 soccer team, the dallas sting, and they are sent to represent the US in the first ever FIFA-sanctioned world women’s tournament in china and proceeded to win gold against all expectations becoming the first US team to win any international soccer competition, male or female. also on this team was her best friend, future woso legend carla werden (overbeck). 1, 2

other noteworthy teammates: she played with mia hamm on her state team and was roommates with brandi chastain at her first youth national team camp for soccer.

she was recruited to lots of top schools for soccer, but chose the university of new hampshire because it was also offering hockey. she describes this as "the lack of landscape really drove my next move" because there was only 31 D1 women's soccer programs in the country at the time, and none in the state of texas.

she reached out to the women's hockey coach at unh, russ mccurdy, and told him she was being recruited for soccer but was really coming to unh because she wanted to play hockey, and he told her that it was unlikely she would make the team. so bob johnson called and asked him to give her a shot, and he said ok. he allowed her to have a one week tryout once soccer season was over, and after the first day, he asked, "what size skates do you wear?" and that was it, she was on the team.

the women's soccer coach, marge anderson, was also a lacrosse player, and encouraged ellen to join the lacrosse team that needed more players. so she did. in her own words:

"I wasn't very good. I could run, but my stick skills- and I learned and I did everything, and it was great, and we went to the Final Four, but I was out at that point. So everybody always says I played three sports like, I was on the team. I was, you know, three sports at that level. I was done at that point and I stuck with soccer and hockey after my first year. But it was a really cool experience."

she may have not been very good but she did go on to coach her own kids teams in lacrosse (and potentially owen power, who is confirmed to have played lacrosse with them but it is not confirmed that it was when she coached them)

(she was #21)

she was an elite skater and creative player, and "would often find herself in trouble in Durham for rushing the puck from her defensive post or trying things like a spin-o-rama".

she helped UNH win 3 hockey championships in 4 years, made the all-new england team (soccer) as a freshman, was named an unh athlete of the year finalist after an injury that kept her out for an entire school year, was named to the ECAC all star team, was an ISAA senior recognition award winner, was soccer co-captain in 1990, and then captain of both the soccer and hockey teams as a senior X

in april 1991, she participated in the Eastern Regional Tryouts of the US National Women's Hockey Team

"We've got it pretty good, playing defense," says senior Ellen Weinberg to fellow defenseman Weston. "There aren't as many of us to choose from. But then, when you look at who's there, they're all good!"

she then went on to pursue a graduate degree at UNH where she was an assistant coach for both soccer and hockey for two years, all the while contributing to historical hockey research to the point that she is named in the acknowledgements of Hockey: A Global History by Hardy & Holman

“It was my way of staying involved because I had nowhere to play. Then I participated in the 1992 World Championship, finished my master's degree. Then I really had nowhere to play." (google translated)

The New Hampshire Vol. 83 No. 18 (Nov. 6 1992)

then in 1992, she played for the women's national team in both soccer and hockey.

the soccer team didn't play in any big tournaments that year, but for hockey she went to women's worlds in tampere, finland, where she was an alternate captain. the US won silver, with ellen scoring 3 or 4 assists in 5 games (depending on which source you believe) and ellen was named to the all-star team by the media as the top player in her position.

also in 1992, she was a power skating coach at the summerland female hockey academy, teaching future star hayley wickenheiser.

there was hope that women's hockey would be a part of the 1994 olympics, but when that didn't happen, ellen went to norway anyways to grow the game.

“They were hoping women’s hockey was going to be sanctioned in the ‘94 Olympics and it wasn’t, so the Norwegian ice hockey federation had all this extra funding so they asked USA Hockey for an ambassador to go over and help grow the women’s game,” she said. “We had played in the ’92 World Championships and I was one of the older people and they offered me that opportunity to go over and work with the Norwegian ice hockey federation and what I did was I lived in Oslo. “And I went around to all the little towns and taught the girls how to play. It was awesome. Since Norway was such a small country with four million people at the time, they needed all the buses during the Olympics so everyone went on holiday, so my job stopped for three weeks.” X

ELLEN WEINBERG of Boston and the University of New Hampshire was interested in Coach TIM TAYLOR's tactics at practice. The 25-year-old Weinberg, one of America's best female players, is advising Norway's women's teams. Women's hockey becomes an Olympic sport in 1998. "They complain in Norway that I coach too long on the ice," she said. "They should see this guy, always instructing." X

she was invited to camp in lake placid for the 1994 women’s worlds (which took place every two years then), but suffered a serious knee injury that she believes is because they didn’t have proper support/training facilities

“We didn’t have a gym at the time. It was so different. We just played relying on our athletic instincts. If I got injured, it’s probably because I didn’t have the ideal support,” (google translated) X 

by 1996 she was playing for the itech blaiders roller hockey team in NJ (and her then-boyfriend, jim, was coaching the new jersey rockin’ rollers) while also working in broadcasting

she had been considered a lock for the nagano olympics, despite being “old” but that “blown-out knee effectively ended her competitive career” :( 

she ended up in nagano anyways as a reporter for cbs, one of her first big gigs in her media career, which i can do a part 2 on if there's interest.

and currently she’s on the USA hockey foundation board and is a player development consultant for the women’s national team

[socgf]

matt dillon characters' zodiac signs

this came to me in a dream so i needed to write it out because i think too much about him. i didn't get all his major roles because i felt like we didn't see enough sides of the character to determine their sign (ex. jack duncan in liar's moon) but let me know if u agree or have other hcs!!

richie white (over the edge): taurus

extremely stubborn, loyal in a 14 year old delinquent way. his repeated 'a kid who tells on another kid is a dead kid'. at the same can be self centered and over indulgent: thinking of him ditching carl at the party, all his shenanigans with the gun, and the final car chase. he loves the attention on him! also stoners like him are very taurus coded, not even stereotyping because i am a taurus and i just know he is one. (was.)

tex mccormick (tex): libra

this is actually canon because his bday is october 22nd in the movie. but also makes sense. he has the effortless charm/flirtiness ("god gave me my face but he let me pick my nose" - most libra thing ever.) and is also idealistic to a fault, he lives in his own world and isn't very grounded in reality. matt has said he played tex as a simple and naive kid, and that to me is very libra. libras are my fav <333

dallas winston (the outsiders): scorpio

also canon but very obvious i feel like i don't need to explain this. he's got that intensity and darkness in his emotions under the surface of secrecy and danger. resourceful and fiercely loyal which is why he's the go to greaser when pony and johnny are in trouble. he's unbelievably calm and level headed on the surface even in such an emotional situation - very scorpio.

since this character is so fledged out i feel like i can also say at least in the movie version that he's 100% a scorpio rising with his eyes and dark facial features/intimidating resting face.

pretty sure canonically he has an aquarius moon based on his birthday, but personally i don't see that. aquarius moons are eccentric and freedom loving and dally is very repressed. i think he's a leo moon. he's controlled by his emotions and ego and has the tendency to self sacrifice, as we see.

rusty james (rumble fish): gemini

constant need to be independent and self-reliant. if you pay attention rusty james is constantly fidgeting/tapping his fingers and that's very gemini to me, they can't settle down. also his insane mood swings, going from soft spoken to ready to fight at any moment (thinking of patty argument + all his interactions with steve lol).

bob hughes (drugstore cowboy): capricorn

him being intelligent/calculated/ambitious is the foundation of his character. he of course has that inner need for stability in his relationships which is so earth sign. but this is obvious to me only because every capricorn i've ever met has the most insane hustling hardworking mentality ever. and one thing about bob is he is a hustler for those pills!!! also because capricorns kinda scare me sometimes.. they can be cold.

sam lombardo (wild things): sagittarius

i actually hate sag men so much so i'm gonna try to remain neutral even though i did enjoy sam's character a lot. sags to me are like a ticking time bomb, like they can explode at any minute. very unpredictable, brave, confident, abrasive. all of sam's elaborate plotting and violence... only a sag could think of all of that and go through with it. also tendency toward greed and fierce independence which ends up being his downfall. don't forget good in bed (banging all of blue bay).

[sleepdeprivedsimp234]

How about Texas' City headcanons?

OOOOO FUN

I actually do have some hc’s for them lol

(btw I hc them to be Texas’s kids so that I have an excuse to include mama bear Texas /silly)

The cities I have hc’s for are mainly the big ones, like El Paso (He/Him), San Antonio (He/Him), Fort Worth (He/Him), Dallas (He/They), Houston (He/Him), Austin (He/They/It, FTM), and Corpus Christi (She/Her, MTF), BUT (hehe butt—), I also have stuff for Nacogdoches (They/Them, AFAB)!!

Nacogdoches is the oldest, and Austin is the youngest! Dallas and Houston are twins cuz they give that vibe for some reason. Corpus Christi is the third oldest, and San Antonio is the second oldest.

When Austin was starting to transition, he was TERRIFIED of telling Texas. Little did he know, Texas is also trans and gave him tips on how to safely transition and was very comforting. Austin ended up crying into his dad’s shoulder for several hours. No Texas did not cry with him. Definitely.

Texas was also plenty supportive when Christi transitioned! He didn’t know much about transitioning from male to female, but he was there to make sure that Christi did so safely.

^if anyone in his government said anything transphobic, they would be silenced very quickly.

San Antonio tries SO HARD to be exactly like Texas. Except he sometimes forgets that Texas isn’t gruff tough and scary 24/7. Also he’s short. So what you have there is an angry chihuahua.

^He’s the shortest of his siblings (5’4). Which is confusing seeing as Texas is 6’5.

Christi is one badass scary woman. All her siblings fear her just a lil bit. So does Texas.

Like Texas, both Austin and San Antonio have bat features! (Ears, tail, and wings)

^Both cities have REALLY large bat populations/colonies, and I’m pretty sure that San Antonio has the largest bat colony in the world! (15,000,000+ bats!)

Austin LOVES animals, just like his dad (fun fact! the largest no-kill animal shelter in the country is located in Austin!)

Nacogdoches was a young native personification when they were found

^Texas was patrolling with a few soldiers, and they found young Nacogdoches hiding. They were going to just kill them, since they obviously weren’t human and it wasn’t clear what they were.

^But Texas interfered and took the child as his own, despite also being really young. He did get punished for doing so, but that doesn’t matter. That is his baby and no one shall harm a single hair on their head lest they want to die.

Anyways. Corpus Christi is the tallest of her siblings, being around 6’4 (since tall women,,,) El Paso is a very close second, being around 6’2.

^SOMEONE (*cough* Houston *cough cough*) complains that he should be the tallest, seeing as he’s the biggest city. (bro Houston is still tall, he’s like- 5’11 😭)

Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Nacogdoches are all 6ft.

There are a ton of comments at the statehouse about how Texas’s kids are all giants (except for San Antonio’s 5’4 angry chihuahua lookin’ ass 💀)

No matter their ages or heights, Texas still holds their hands when crossing the street. ("Mama please I’m 30 years old-" "Shut the fuck up 🥰")

Btw I think that Nacogdoches is just some silly lil fae-like creature cuz they just give that quaint lil forest creature vibe

ANYWAYS

I think I’ll end my rambling here for now, hope you like these hc’s!!

[pumpkinsy0]

Headcanons for Mexican American Dallas who feels a bit self conscious about not being seen as conventionally attractive? (Bonus points for Tim comforting him)

mexican american dallas makes a return,,, whats good man,,,

•OK BEFORE I START ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN, dally being self conscious isnt him exactly hiding those attributes of himself, he doesnt hide it, but that doesnt mean he LIKES it, he makes self degrading comments and ppl pass it off, but if u squint, its pretty obvious he is self conscious, but if u told him that he’d laugh at u for a multitude of reasons

•also i dont think his self hatred is just contained to himself, hes not above not making comments about others and their features, but its not really out of genuine malice and hatred for what he is, its just like a,,,deep rooted self hatred, pls tell me u get what i mean

•NOW when it comes to dally back in brooklyn, part of what made him feel insecure was that he just didnt grow up w ppl that looked like him, he grew up in a mainly white neighborhood so nobody rlly looked like him, thats also kinda y hes not connected to his culture id say

•im gonna say that if theres one part about him be’d rlly focus on in particular, id say he doesnt like his nose that much and right after that is his hair and how curly it is, dally canonically doesnt grease his hair and i imagine for this that his hair being curly is part of the reason y, it takes quite a long time to do it

•bc he doesnt grease his hair and thats like, a kinda big part of the greaser culture, he feels a bit like an outsider for it. hes not connected to his mexican heritage and hes not 100% “committed” to being a greaser either in his eyes, so i feel like that messes w him a bit. some times he even watches pony or soda grease their hair and focuses on it being straight, soda and pony r the ones in the gang ppl see to have “tuff hair” and dally thinks their hair being straight is part of the reason y it is

•dally would even go as far as to call johnny lucky for having straight hair, its comments like those that show that he has a bit of self hatred

•id say dally compares himself to the curtis bros quite a bit actually. theyre seen as the “golden family” amongst the gang, and how they look isnt lost amongst dally at all, dally thinks hes just a complete lost cause bc of how he looks and how he doesnt have a chance bc of it, so he rlly doesnt even try to accomplish anything in particular and kinda, does whatever, like a “nobody cares for what i do, so why should i” thing

•id say tim, kinda feels the same way???? but the difference w him is, he tries to still make something of himself. yea he feels like hes not getting as far as the curtis’ would, but he still tries to do his own thing, and he tries getting dally to do the same sometimes, he doesnt push him, but he does plant the seed

•now if hes pale, this is a COMPLETELY different case scenario, but if hes tan, i think he’d look at the curtis bros and just feel a type of way, he doesnt say anything about it, but he doesnt rlly like being near the curtis bros for too long, hes had ppl make comments about how he looks near them, and it annoys him more than anything, so he keeps his distance from them physically, but i think johnny being there helps him a lil

•ok ifffff im not wrong, pls correct me if i am, not too well versed on this topic, but the chicano movement started in like 1965???? somewhere in the 60s, so i think it would b interesting if dally caught wind of it, and it kind of inspires him??in a way??? i hope what im saying makes sense, like it inspires him to look at things differently about the world and himself, considering the movement talked about political AND social issues (like i said, correct me if im wrong or feel free to switch this up a bit, trying my best here💔💔)

•idk if u like,,,,hc the shepards to also b mexican american or if u just want them to stand in like #pocsolidarity, but maybe it was tim who introduced it to dally, and dally was like “mannnn shut up, im not trynna hear that rn” but dally would lowkey b thinking about it a bit more

•going back to that earlier hc, i think what really makes tim pay attention to what dally says IS bc of the comments dally makes towards ppl who look like him, its especially true if u wanna make the shepards mexican, bc most of the comments he makes is towards tim and curly, he even does it to johnny but not as much honestly, but ESPECIALLY the comments he makes towards curly bc of curlys obviously curly hair and how dally feels about his own, that makes tim think, what is UP w this guy

•honestly, i wouldnt say tim “comforts” him, but he does sure make dally think about what he says bc sometimes he just responds w “what is ur problem w it”, at most the closest he gets to comforting is when dally makes a comment about himself and tim calmly goes “i dont mind the look”

[riddleblack246]

Thinking about that OFMD burlesque au again and I have even more specifics with performances and all. Hit me with your ideas please because I’d love to talk about this.

In Izzy’s younger years, his most well known act was to “Babushka” by Kate Bush. He does do it again when he returns to performing and it is just as sensual.

Frenchie will usually play songs he comes up with on his own as something of an interlude to performances, but he will also play a song by Dixon Dallas.

Wee John as Calypso has a semi-iconic number that ends up filmed for social media, which blows up the notoriety of The Revenge. He sings “Pretty Lavinia” by American Murder Song and much of the rest of the “crew” contributes as the chorus.

Ed’s performances are often to Amy Winehouse songs. Yes, he does perform “Back to Black” when Stede seemingly goes back to Mary, and it’s super emotionally poignant and unsettling, why do you ask?

Stede loves the art of burlesque but initially sucks at it. Yes, Ed and Izzy do help him a lot. Yes, they do fuck about it.

Jim’s performances are more typically daring acts involving leather and knife play rather than traditional burlesque, but it is still mad sexy. Oluwande and Archie both occasionally feature in their act.

*remembers the time I saw a burlesque performer in chainmail lingerie dancing and fire-eating to “Joan of Arc” by Arcade Fire and tries to be normal* That’s Zheng.

Izzy is classically trained in ballet and fencing which he employs in his performances. Yes, this ties into body issues with his leg.

The “capture by the English” is the business owners association throwing down about a queer burlesque club. Blackbeard’s Evil Girl Era is him holding onto The Revenge after Stede put him down as a partial owner and he’s running the place into the ground. I want CHAOS.

[sinisxtea]

DOYOUNG ALBUM THOUGHTS

ok welcome to my album review rant today we're reviewing doyoung's album. it's a quite lengthy album too. tbh surprised at the amount of songs i actually enjoyed because ballards are usually a hit or miss for me, because i don't like hearing just straight vocals.

(im a doyoung stan i must stream yknow)

not going to review every song on the album bc i tuned out some of them... 😭

little light

upon first listen, i lowkey almost tuned it out, i'm sorry... but second time listening to it, since it is the title track, i'm paying more attention to it. the song is very j-pop coded?? in my opinion, the ballad-rock kinda vibe does fit doyoung and this was what i expected, but a teeny tiny part of me was hoping for a little bit more sm core style of music, with the experimental stuff, but this works too. havent watched the mv yet but i'll check it out soon, maybe look up the lyrics translation, cause songs have more meaning when you understand the lyrics too.

from little wave

tell me why it's giving mario kart... imagine listening to this while driving on rainbow road damn. no but this is such a car cruising driving song, and i pretty much liked it immediately upon first listen. the chorus is SO GOOD??? like doyoungs vocals shine on the whole album cause he's that talented but this one really demonstrates it i think. you can disagree with me lmfao idc. it's kinda giving 80s love ballad, and that's such a beautiful vibe of music i really like it a lot...

time machine

lowkey was a surprise to see mark and taeyeon featured on the album, but i actually really like this one. the vocals hard carried obviously, but mark + doyoung combo really hits hard lowkey they should do more stuff like this together. i'm a sucker for male-female vocal duets, so this one was so cute and sweet. i know why mark considers himself an "ARTIST" not a rapper lmfao. (also im waiting for mark's solo album...... SM PLEASE)

lost in california

THIS IS THE SONG I WILL BE REPLAYING OVER AND OVER THIS MONTH I THINK. hello it's so good why wasn't this the title track? it reminds me of "i don't think that i like her anymore" by charlie puth and that song hits hard. also the vibes are immaculate. seems way more sm core than ballad so obviously i prefer this lmfao... love the little harpsicord instrumental too that was so neat. sm pick ur title tracks better thanks.

rest

i got more appreciative of the song after the chorus came on, but it gives like jpop vibes?? jpop really has that hard metal/rock aspect, and this album has quite a few songs like that. all in all, this wasn't really a favorite favorite, but it definitely stood out to me because it wasn't a ballad lmfaooo. didn't add this one to my playlist but i do think it's pretty good.

dallas love field

this is so country coded guys...... and guess who actually listens to country? me anyways neat cause it's called dallas love field... but regardless i quite enjoyed this a lot, and seeing the country core vibes radiate off of this... like damn im gonna make doyoung cowboy edits soon just watch. (for legal reasons thats a joke im a doyoung stan don't come for me) the only weird part is the bridge, with all the voices chiming in, but other than that i like the phillips phillips vibes that remind me of my 2010s era.

[socdarlings]

i want to know more about your boiling hot takes about transfem dallas i am enamored 😇😇

alright here we go. this is gonna be a long one. tw for transphobia/dysphoria. these are just my own headcanons, some abt his family, etc. i’ll be using she/her and he/him interchangeably

transfem dally hcs

okay so first off he goes by he/she/they, though he would melt inside if ppl started using she/her for him. i’d imagine it’d be from the gang

pretty much had a feeling she was trans since they were a kid, he stole his sister’s dolls and tried to put on his mother’s dresses when she wasn’t around. had to stop cuz he got caught by his older brother, who’s an ultra masculine douchebag

i feel like this’ll happen no matter what au he’s in (canon, modern au, 80’s or 90’s au, etc) considering he didn’t exactly have the best background

so he never got to explore their gender and was practically forced to shove it down and not tell anyone. ofc this led to him being very secretive and defensive abt his masculinity, where he dials it up extremely when he’s a teen. which is one of the reasons why he’s so angsty in the novel

also being masculine and putting up the tough guy act protected her from the rest of the world, and most importantly: being validated by men. even if she wants to distance herself away from masculinity, internally there will still be that conflict of wanting to be appealing to men

again no matter what au he’s in, i feel like there’d be transphobia everywhere. unfortunately

started growing out his hair and styled it like how those old 80’s supermodel’s used to do it, with the blow dryers and hairsprays. my fav portrayal of dallas is him having really poofy blonde hair (think @/felworthless’ art)

her hair is her pride. absolutely refuses to cut it

is actually quite proud of a little bit of her features, like her ears and her long eyelashes. likes being compared to an elf since elves are always seen as feminine. once somebody drunkenly said she looked like a fairy and her happiness levels? shot through the roof

i feel like she’d start wearing dresses and makeup as a joke on halloween and then continue to wear them in private

actually really likes hair clips. hair clips, berets, hairbands, etc. (if this is a 90’s au, she really likes those butterfly clips)

they would come out to the gang and i’d imagine they’d be confused but accepting

and he’d try coming out to tim who would go like

“we’ve been knew”

would steal sylvia’s perfume and makeup. she also likes smelling sweet, hence the extremely strong strawberry scent i hc she smells like

he wishes he was smaller tho. they feel like it’d be easier to pass if they were johnny or pony’s height

in the future i can see her as an adult either working odd jobs or in radio. i feel like she has that unhinged radio personality, like howard stern’s show in the 90’s

wouldn’t be out out considering the. absolutely difficult circumstances of being trans in the south but within the gang? yeah they’d be really happy. one of the actual few times they’d see them smile w/o it being menacing

likes pink things. pink or red things. also really likes stuffed animals

anything that’s “girly” or “feminine” he really likes

once he came out two-bits been calling him any blonde model he could think of (which was easy since there was a lot of platinum blonde models in the 50’s)

and she’s not opposed to it. not at all

even tried dressing up as marilyn monroe for halloween

in fact i think marilyn monroe and jayne mansfield gave her gender envy big time. maybe was the first time she really wanted to be them

overall. transfem dally my love

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

RANTING ABOUT SAINT D. PETER (HAZBIN HOTEL)

The rant.

As a disclaimer, I am agnostic. As I am no longer Christian, it really doesn’t matter what I think about this. But I still want to share my thoughts, as I love hearing myself talk.

THIS IS GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND, but Hazbin Hotel is a very anti-Christian show. I defend the right of creatives like Vivienne Me D. rano - a queer Latina woman - to criticize Christianity through their artwork. Christianity is the majority religion in America. I know this is a hard pill for a lot of Christians to swallow, but many forms of bigotry have been spread across the globe by Christianity. That being said, I do not respect shallow criticisms of Christianity. I am only interested in nuanced criticisms. I will defend the positive aspects of Christianity, and I do not want to deconvert any Christians with my fanworks. 

(At that, I actually want people of all faiths to be able to engage with my weird fanfiction...not that this is necessarily recommended..!)

One of the most redeeming qualities of Christianity is the Biblical figures – especially, Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, but also the Apostles. Saint Peter – the Jewish fisherman who became one of Christ’s loyal Apostles and a leader of the early church – is one of the most important figures in the New Testament.

If St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) was supposed to depict the actual Saint Peter, it is a horrendous portrayal and criticism is totally warranted! But to me, it is obvious that St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) is not supposed to be Saint Peter at all. 

As many have pointed out, St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) is a completely different ethnicity from the actual Saint Peter. Although he is often portrayed as a Caucasian, the Biblical Saint Peter was actually Middle Eastern. One of the most ancient churches is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; as such, their depictions of Biblical figures are often more ethnically accurate. This is a much more phenotypically accurate portrayal of St. Peter (and St. Paul) than most Americans are used to: 

All these New Testament figures (including Jesus and Mother Mary) are Middle Easterners who would get profiled by airport security. Even in the time period they lived, they were ethnic minorities under the Roman empire.

St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) isn’t just a white boy. This man is the blondest, blue-eyediest, whitiest white boy to ever white!! In all seriousness: While Jesus assembled followers from all walks of life, it is really unlikely that one of his closest followers would be blond and blue-eyed. Unless…Jesus was born in Scandinavia instead of the Middle East…?

HAZBIN HOTEL EXISTS IN AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE OF WORLD HISTORY WHERE JESUS D. CHRIST WAS SWEDISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, sorry…[clears throat] St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) isn’t just the wrong race! Everything about him is just…not Saint Peter!

Saint Peter is often portrayed as an old man. But the TV series The Chosen has one of the more accurate portrayals of a young Saint Peter: 

Admittedly, he would not have looked like this much of a pretty boy, and he would have had less Eurocentric features. But this portrayal is accurate, in showing his Middle Eastern heritage and ruggedness. It is clear that Dallas Jenkins valued Biblical accuracy, and he deserves praise for this! (seriously…The Chosen is an outstanding modern adaptation of the New Testament…!) Saint Peter was a poor, hardworking fisherman. He was also a minority under the Roman empire. Jesus Christ - a minority himself! - selected his followers from the margins and bottom of society, and empowered and defended the poor. This is one of the many redeeming qualities of The Messiah, and one of the reasons why Saint Peter is such an important Biblical figure.

Meanwhile… St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) doesn’t look like he’s worked a day of physical labor in his entire life! He’s just this little Book of Mormon lookin twink!! Even if Hazbin Hotel does exist in an alternate timeline of world history where JESUS D. CHRIST was Swedish, a blond blue-eyed version of Saint Peter wouldn’t look like this! He’d still be a rugged, poor fisherman - not this little nerdy guy who looks like he died in the 21st century.

It is also implied that St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) is queer…specifically pansexual, or maybe bisexual. How much more obvious can it be that he’s not really Saint Peter? He’s the wrong race, physical build, AND sexuality!!

(this is not to shit on St. Peter (hazbin hotel)...leave this man alone!!!)

I don’t know this for certain, but I just kind of assumed that Vivienne Me D. Rano is an ex-Christian, and that she created Hazbin Hotel to criticize the negative aspects of Christianity. Presumably, homophobia and racism would be among her chief criticisms. If this is true, there’s no way she isn’t aware of who Saint Peter actually was. His such an important figure to the New Testament, every church emphasizes his importance in the Gospels and Acts! Assuming Vivienne D. Medrano is an ex-Christian, the decision to portray St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) as a pansexual blond blue-eyed twink must be a deliberate one. My interpretation is (1) This is her way of communicating that St. Peter (Hazbin Hotel) isn’t actually Saint Peter. He’s just some other guy named “Peter” (also a reason I don’t think Jesus D. Christ - and by extension, Mother Mary and the Apostles - exist in Hazbin Hotel…watch me be wrong about this…!). (2) Vivzie D. Pop is trying to tell a story where Heaven is corrupt. If Heaven is corrupt, it totally makes sense that it would be a majority white community. Assuming it's intentional, I really think this is smart criticism about the whitewashing of Biblical figures, and that this can be commentary on structural/institutional racism (e.g. zip code inequality) in the real world!

Still, I can see why this would bother Christians. If I was writing for the show, this is what I would do: Just show a brief scene with St. Peter wearing a little name tag. The name tag says “HELLO MY NAME IS SAINT PIETER”. 

He’s Saint Pieter with an “i”. He’s not actually Saint Peter!

(Although if we get technical here, instead of changing his name you could just show his birth certificate and confirm that he was born with the name “Peter”... This makes it obvious that he’s an entirely different person, because the real life “Saint Peter” wasn’t actually named “Peter”! The Anglicization of the names of Biblical figures (e.g., Yeshua →  Jesus) is arguably a form of whitewashing in itself– OH SHIT! I”m starting to go on another TEDx Talk. I REALLY like hearing myself talk!!)

[karahalloway]

DWAW 2023 - Day 1: HCs

I would not be a proper Drake stan if I didn't make some time to wax lyrically about my fave LI (okay, maybe not lyrically - I suck at poetry, but you know what I mean!) as part of DWAW 2023!

Originally, I planned to do one post featuring both HCs and Appreciation, but both parts ran away with me, so I decided to split it up into two posts. This post will feature HCs, while this other post will feature Appreciation 😇

Headcanons

If you have read my stuff, you'll know that my Drake is not 100% canon, and that I've also filled in quite a lot of blanks left by TRR in his characterisation, so here is a (near) comprehensive list of everything that sits around in my head:

🥃 Whiskey 🥃

We all know that Drake's favourite drink is whiskey, but I HC that specifically it's bourbon. I made this choice quite consciously because (a) he is half-Texan, so the primary choice of whiskey would be bourbon on those parts (rather than scotch), and (b) I HC that this was also Jackson's drink of choice, so Drake took after his father in this regard (this is explored in a bit more detail in Chapter 3 - Hotel Room Service of (Less Than) Noble Intentions and the Burnt Bonus Chapter of (Un)Common Attraction).

Apart from whiskey, I HC that Drake is a coffee addict (and won't touch tea with a ten foot pole, unless - of course - if it's sweet iced tea, in which case he'll drink it by the bucketload like a true southerner🧋)

🇺🇸 Texas 🇺🇸

As far as I remember, the location of Walker Ranch is left ambigious in canon, but in my HC, it's located approx. 2.5 hours from Dallas (in Morris County, somewhere around the town of Lone Star - I know, I know... but when I saw this, I couldn't resist!) because I also HC Drake went to university in Dallas, specifically University of North Texas (see Chapter 20 - Party Yacht of (Un)Common Attraction). I chose Dallas because I liked the look and feel of the city, as well as the surrounding countryside.

Also, as readers will know, I have upped Drake's Texan-ness quite significantly in comparison to canon - he talks with a slight Texan accent, he can put on the southern drawl when he wants to, and his vernacular is a bit of a mixed bag (though he gravitates towards southerinism). I HC that this is because even though he spent most of his life in Cordonia, he (a) had a parent who spoke with a Texan accent at home, (b) he went to university in Texas, so he woud've picked up the accent/lingo while there (yes, accents can change later in life - I am a living testament to this, having lived all over the world), and (c) this was a concscious characterisation choice to differentiate his way of talking from the aristos (who - in my fics - talk more posh British).

💂‍♂️King's Guard 💂‍♂️

Similarly to @angelasscribbles I HC that Drake is a member of the King's Guard (in my stories, he operates covertly, but he does reveal his status to Harper is Chapter 34 - Secrets and Lies of (Un)Common Attraction. This was a very targeted HC in retaliation to the massive cop out in TRR2 where MC asks Drake what he actually does around court and he answers 'Erm... stuff?' 😖😡😒 Epic fail PB... Epic fail.

This is probably the biggest reason why my Drake started to deviate quite significantly from canon during the course of my rewrite - as a result of him being a Guard, he became a lot more focused, self-assured, tactical, pragmatic... basically all the things that readers seem to like about him. Because if he has a job, he has money, he has a purpose, and a position at court - he is no longer just a freeloading hanger-on. Plus this (for me) helps explain a lot of things in canon - like why Liam asked him to look out for MC, why he was helping Bastien with the NY bachelor party photo leak investigation, why he picks up on random things like the lock missing on MC's door at Applewood, etc.

🏋️ Extra-Curriculars 🏋️

Similarly to pretty much every other Drake stan, I HC that Drake is a military routine orientated mofo who always wakes at the crack of dawn to run five miles / go for a swim / hit the gym before eating a protein-filled breakfast (bacon, eggs, toast, orange juice) and then roughing himself into shape (shaving is optional) and getting on with his day.

In addition to this, I HC that he is kind of an adrenaline junkie - in my fics he has a motorbike and a car (like @angelasscribbles' Drake), and he drives like every road is an F1 racetrack (that said, he is a very precise driver and has never had an accident - this is based on a few real-life guys that I know - go figure lol).

He also knows how to ride (I HC he rides Western and Lone Star is a Quarter Horse), snowboard*, shoot, enjoys swimming, sailing, fishing, martial arts, and has tried pretty much every sport (including polo) because he is one of those high-energy people who (a) enjoys physical activity, and (b) uses it to burn off steam. On top of this, he of course goes camping, and has a cabin in the woods that he likes to escape to when court and the nobles get too much for him.

All this kinda combines to make Drake super competitive - people who have read my fics know that he'll compete with Harper for pretty much everything (including who can get up the stairs the fastest), and this is the rationale behind the (in)famous karaoke scene in Sleepless in New York - even though he hates performing, or putting himself on show in any way, he can't allow himself to lose a bet (which is why the fact that he loses the pool game during his birthday party is that much more significant).

*I thought this was more of a Drake sport than skiing (and it was something that he and Harper could bond over), though I also HC that Drake learnt to skii first and the switched to snowboarding)

💓 Sex💓

If you've read my stuff, you know that sex with Drake is... intense. The reasoning behind this is multi-fold:

Underneath the closeted and slightly stone-faced exterior that he presents to the world, he is a raging inferno of emotions underneath (fear, doubt, uncertainty, inadequacy, guilt, etc.) So when he has sex, all the pent-up emotions that had built up inside of him get released and he actually seeks out sex (or equivalently hard-core physical activity) in order to achieve this kind of release because he does not always know how to 'deal' with his emotions in a rational/intellectual way - see the Burnt Bonus Chapter of (Un)Common Attraction and Chapter 5 - Sparks Fly of (Less Than) Noble Intentions.

Sex - especially with MC as I think this kind of applies to other Drake x MC pairings that I've read - is a way for him to express how he feels about MC, even (or especially if) he does not want to / feels he cannot express how he feels using words (so he lets his body do the talking) - see Chapter 2 - I've Been Waiting for You and Chapter 13 - Invidia of (Less Than) Noble Intentions.

He is just plain good at it 😆 I think several (if not most) Drake stans have the HC that before MC came along, Drake was a raging poonhound (either because he got burnt by a previous relationship, or he just feels like he does not have the time/energy/emotional capacity to invest in a serious relationship), so, he has many notches on his bedpost, and with those notches comes experience - see Crazy Bonus Chapter of (Un)Common Attraction and Chapter 3 - Hotel Room Service of (Less Than) Noble Intentions.

🍔 Food 🍔

As we all know, Drake enjoys the simple things in life, especially when it comes to food, and I kept this aspect of his characterisation in my rewrites. He loves a 99c burger, BBQ (especially ribs), basically anything you can eat with your hands, but also enjoys a good steak with fries and knows how to cook (see Chapter 2 - Sparks Fly of Sleepless in New York, Chapter 9 - Go Nuts for Cronuts of (Un)Common Attraction, Chapter 3 - Hotel Room Service and Chapter 7 - Independence Day of (Less Than) Noble Intentions).

However, I don't HC that he's a fussy eater - except when it comes to fancy hors d'oeurves at royal functions. Because let's face it - there's only so much cocktail shrimp you can eat before you start choking on it.

🕺Dancing 🕺

Anyone who's read by stuff knows that one of the biggest changes I made to canon is that Drake can dance (see Chapter 25 - When You Move and Chapter 38 - In the End of (Un)Common Attraction, as well as Chapter 4 - Showtime, Baby! and Chapter 6 - Let It Whip of Sleepless in New York).

The rationale for this is that (a) Drake grew up at court, so even if he never had dance lessons specifically, he'll have seen other people dancing, and also chances are high that Liam/Leo/Max would have roped him into dance practice, so he'd have at least a basic knowledge of the common ballroom dances (waltz, tango, foxtrot, etc.) but (b) him being Drake, he doesn't like dancing ballroom (too stuffy and formal), especially at royal events (aristos watching and judging), but he's got moves and knows how to use them 😏

This is also why I HC that Drake can speak more than just Americano - in my fics, he is fluent in French (because of his mom* and the fact that he went to school in Cordonia, which I situated between France and Italy) and Italian (because of Bastien, who I HC is from Corsica), and also understands / knows basic phrases in a variety of other European languages - if he grew up at court with the Liam, Leo, Max, etc. and travelled around all these countries, he would - at the very least! - be able to order food and drink at a restaurant in the local language (looking at you, TRR2 Italian restaurant scene 😒

*In my fics, I switched the nationalities of Drake's parents around, so Jackson is from Texas and Bianca is from Cordonia.

👖Threads 👖

Another (relatively) big change I made from canon is the way that Drake dresses. In my fics, while he 100% prefers comfortable and functional clothes (his go-to ensemble is cotton button down shirt with sleeves rolled up, distressed jeans and boots), he will dress up for formal events (even if he doesn't really go all out - he leaves his top button unbuttoned on his collar, he doesn't do ties or bowties (except very occaisonally), and he ditches his jacket the first chance he gets) - see Chapter 3 - Masquarade, Chapter 13 - Table of Exiles, Chapter 24 - When You Move, Chapter 36 - Down to the Wire and and Chapter 38 - In the End of (Un)Common Attraction.

The main rationale for this is that while he may hate court and the aristos, I cannot see him showing up to an even in jeans and a t-shirt because (a) he would not actually be allowed in, and (b) I think he has a lot more self-respect than that (also, it's physically impossible for someone to have that many jean shirts).

Permatags

@twinkleallnight @lovingchoices14 @kingliam2019 @petiteboheme @aussiegurl1234 @queen-arabella-of-cordonia @tessa-liam @alyshak92 @secretaryunpaid @princessleac1 @walkerdrakewalker @angelasscribbles @nestledonthaveone @tinkie1973 @twinkle-320 @knaussal @nikkis1983 @lunaseasblog @ficloverevie @indiana-jr @differenttyphoonwerewolf @xpandass420x @eversoaringqueen12 @peonierose @3pawandme @alexabeta @veebug8 @fangirling12566 @queenmiarys @lancelotsimp​ @coco-lina-s @lolablackwrites @ivyflowers13 @persephone13 @hollygirl1269 @adri-ja-96 @harleybeaumont @katedrakeohd @uneravine @drake-walker-appreciation

......

[moviemunchies]

Honestly, so much of this movie relies on its twists, so I’m struggling to figure out how to talk about it. For a brand new movie like this, I don’t want to spoil it for readers who haven’t seen the movie.

I can tell you that the book wasn’t wasn’t written by Taylor Swift, though?

Ellie Conway is the successful author of the bestselling Argylle series, a sequence of spy thriller novels that have captivated the world. Ellie herself, though, is mostly a recluse, with a small social circle, an anxious disposition, and lives alone with her cat, Alfie. She’s struggling to write an end for the series, so she books a train for herself and Alfie to her parents’ house for a brainstorming session. But on the way, Ellie meets a supposed spy, Aiden, that tells her stories are eerily accurate reflections of an actual, real-life conspiracy in the intelligence community. And now some actual bad guys are after her, and Aiden’s the only one who could save her. The line between fiction and reality gets blurry, and Ellie has to help Aiden figure out what’s actually going on.

Alright, so most of the critical conversation about this movie talk about how twisty the Plot is. And it is very twisty, because, well… that’s kind of The Point of the movie. Like many critics, I can’t help but think that it doesn’t quite all add up. At the end of the day, I’m scratching my head, thinking, “Wait, that was the villains’ plan? They couldn’t think of anything more effective than that?” I also suspect that there will come a point when the viewer will see some of the twists right before they happen.

That being said, I think if you can say to yourself, “Alright, this movie is built on ridiculous twists–so bring it on,” you will have a much better time. I certainly did. 

This being a Matthew Vaughn film, there are pretty great action scenes throughout the movie. It’s not John Wick, no, but it’s stylish, cool, and fun to watch. Towards the end you get some fight scenes that are truly ridiculous, and they’re lovely like that. It reminds me of some of the great fight scenes in the Kingsman movies.

One thing that felt a bit odd was the marketing of the film. The first few minutes are featured heavily in trailers, despite them being a version of the action from the book Ellie Conway wrote, rather than an actual event occurring in Ellie’s life. It’s fine that the sequence is there, because it is actually relevant, and it’s great fun. Still, it felt very weird that it took up so much of the marketing, with Dua Lipa being on the poster for the movie when she’s barely in it.

Henry Cavill is one of the people from that opening sequence, and he continues to be through the movie as an active piece of Ellie’s imagination. And he is delightful, honestly. The man is clearly having a blast with his ridiculous haircut and over-the-top fight scenes, and I say that we should let him continue having a blast with roles like this. 

Honestly, the rest of the cast looked like they were having fun, too. Notably, Bryce Dallas Howard gets to do an active part of action scenes! I don’t know how often she does that, so it’s quite fun. Sam Rockwell gets to be a bit silly as a spy who is supremely competent but absolutely tired of all of this crap and would rather Ellie listen to his instructions, thank you very much.

And the cat! I was fond of Alfie the cat! However! I was less fond of how much of the cat is computer-generated in this movie. I get that for the stunts he’s got to be CGI; they’re not going to put a real cat in danger (especially because he’s played by the director’s wife’s cat). There are still scenes, like one in which he’s on the desk in a hotel room, where he’s quite obviously CGI and it’s distracting.

All in all, it’s a fun movie, though it’s not anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is. There’s too many twists that don’t add up. But if you manage to let go and let yourself have a fun time with a ridiculous spy movie, that mostly knows that it’s a ridiculous spy movie, then you’ll have a good time watching this movie.

[technovillain]

i love jameela to death so here’s some questions:

-after “fuck giving rich people dangerous technology” does she distance herself from technology entirely or does she keep making personal stuff and/or stuff that’s much harder to exploit? i think she could make some fucking awesome animal monitoring tech (like keeping track of individuals of endangered species, citizen volunteer data collection on bird populations and stuff)

-what’s her flavors of queer and/or neurodivergent

-does she ever end up doing missions or is she not super duper into the agent stuff

-is her dad a rich asshole or just oblivious and ignorant or a mix of the two

-how do you think she’d get along with some of the junior agents, especially norma, gisu, and sam

HI THIS ASK IS ANCIENT BUT I'VE BEEN HOLDING ONTO IT THINKING ABT IT MEANING TO ANSWER IT SO HERE WE GO. ALSO THANK U SOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE INSIGHTFUL QUESTIONS I LOVE THIS.

After that, she pretty much makes a vow to herself to never make a psychic invention again!!!! (....) and then time passes and she goes "Well just one little thing for myself." (....) "Okay just another for just myself." (.....) "Okay it's fine if I'm only making things for myself, even if it's a lot of things. I need technology." What you said there is Exactly the kind of stuff she'd be making too! While she takes a very loud approach to her activism, her approach to saving the world by trying to prevent the horrible future she saw is much more under the radar...mostly because she's still using the psychic technology that she built for herself but pretends that she didn't build at all because she said she swore it off! (She is constantly fighting herself in her own head about this lol.)

I haven't fully decided on this! But I would say that she is asexual and has OCD.

She really kind of functionally.... leaves the Psychonauts after a certain point. Like in a "You're always welcome to come back" kind of way. This is something that I still need to do more thinking on because I need to decide how I think the Psychonauts, being a government funded organization, would feel about psychic activism entering the public sphere.... But anyways yeah I see her leaving for an extended period but coming back when there is suddenly a mission that requires her assistance specifically (one involving Gusty and Veranda.)

I'd have to say he's definitely a mix of the two, leaning more towards the second one. I can't remember exactly how much detail I went into on her story and how it might have changed since I last posted about it (bc tumblr's tag search feature is functionally useless rip) BUT Dallas Delmarro is indeed a tech guru so while his concepts were birthed from those "childhood dreamer with a lot of big ideas" mindsets you always see in people like him, he ended up really focused on his company's bottom line. Business school changed this dude. He is still a pretty good dad considering everything. But considering he's a single father and his job pretty much consumes his life it is pretty easy to see why Jameela felt a strong need to get good at inventing things from a young age (cough cough so she would feel more important to him)

I like to picture these characters existing at the Motherlobe a few years after the events of Psychonauts 2, just so I don't have to think too hard about where they're at in regards to the plot of PN2. Just assuming that most of the big things regarding that plot have died down at this point. So all of the interns/junior agents from the game would be a few years older than Jameela when she gets there. I think she would probably like Norma okay from afar, but not really have any desire to become friends with her...because she can see how she gets. I think she would not know anything at all about Sam and be a little put off by her and not able to read her at all. She would totally be jealous of Gisu though. Because I see Gisu in a few years as working alongside Otto. And in Jameela's story, she came to the Motherlobe to work with Otto but something urgent came up regarding developing some sort of technology, and Sasha and him and Gisu were all working together to develop it. So Jameela doesn't really care for Gisu or Sasha just because they're interfering with her track to success.

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

ARGYLLE SUCKS

Okay, it doesn't totally suck; I just really wanted to use that headline.

Opening in theaters this weekend:

Argylle--For about the first half or so of this action comedy, our heroine Elly is pulled through chases and shootouts, squealing in girlish fright. Played by Bryce Dallas Howard, Elly is an author of popular spy thrillers featuring the flawlessly suave secret agent man Argylle, represented in her mind's eye by Henry Cavill.

One day on an Amtrak train she's accosted by Aidan (Sam Rockwell), a scruffy obnoxious guy who tells her that she's in grave danger, as her books are proving prophetic in real-world counterintelligence. Within seconds Aidan is defending her, and her put-upon Scottish Fold cat Alfie, from countless assassins in extended, cartoony hand-to-hand and gun combat, all the while dispensing reassurance and encouragement, and she's swept off into a globetrotting adventure.

You may recall that this was the central gag in the lame 2010 comedy Night and Day, with Cameron Diaz as the civilian and Tom Cruise as the hypercompetent and comically supportive secret agent man. Rockwell's woebegone manner is funnier and more agreeable than that of Cruise, but even so too much of this film feels derivative of previous spy parodies, both recent and vintage, from 2022's Bullet Train to the Mission: Impossible and Bourne flicks, and beyond. As in many of those films, the preposterously over-choreographed action scenes carry no real emotional weight, and I found the first part of the movie pretty tedious.

It started to grow on me after a while, though. The stars help; I've long been inclined to approve of Howard, with her lush pin-up beauty and her sweetness, and as Elly delves deeper into the case and gains more confidence, Howard is able to overcome the condescending hysterical woman stereotype she's forced to play along with early on. And she and the self-assured sad sack Rockwell play off each other nicely and without phony bickering.

The supporting cast is also top-notch; director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jason Fuchs would have to work hard to prevent Bryan Cranston, as the fed-up evil kingpin, or Samuel L. Jackson as another spy boss, or the great Catherine O'Hara, pestering Elly to spend a weekend with Mom, from giving the audience any amusement. Along with Cavill's Argylle, the movie offers such overtly glamorous types as Jon Cena and Dua Lipa and Sofia Boutella and Ariana DeBose and Richard E. Grant, and they add another layer of drollery.

But just about the time I was loosening up and starting to think that Argylle was pretty good after all, it overplays its hand in the way of so many contemporary action blockbusters, shoveling one exhaustingly explosive finale after another at us. At two hours and twenty minutes it's at least thirty minutes too long. After a while you might start wondering if the movie has ended, and you're already a half-hour into Argylle 2.

[dweemeister]

June 22, 2023

By Josef Adalian

(Vulture) — It seems somehow appropriate that the company whose TV library includes Dallas is now being run by someone who often seems to be channeling the ghost of J.R. Ewing. Okay, maybe that’s not fair: J.R. was a villain audiences loved to hate, while many in Hollywood (at least those on social media) don’t feel any love at all toward Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. That became clear again this week when the latest round of layoffs at WBD took out pretty much the entire senior leadership of Turner Classic Movies, one of the company’s most beloved brands.

Officially, nothing has changed about TCM’s on-air offering. There are no announced plans to shutter the network or to fire all the on-air hosts who film introductions. And Warner Bros. Discovery execs are still issuing memos saying how important the brand is to the company. “I want to assure you that we remain fully committed to this business, the TCM brand, and its purpose to protect and celebrate culture-defining movies,” Kathleen Finch, chief content officer for WBD’s U.S. TV networks group, told staffers at the company Tuesday in a note announcing the departure of TCM general manager Pola Changnon. Problem is, after a year of cost-cutting and brand-eroding moves by Zaslav during his first year in charge, it’s hard to believe Finch’s words will match reality as the full impact of this week’s firings is felt over the next few months.

For one thing, what Finch didn’t mention in her memo (which doubled as a press release for the showbiz trades) was that she hadn’t just parted ways with one senior exec. As The Wrap would later report (and other outlets confirm), WBD also let go TCM’s program chief, its head of production, its head of events, and its marketing chief. Or, as one industry insider I spoke to this week told me upon hearing the news, the folks who were fired are “the people who’ve been the architect of the brand for decades.”

Networks go through creative shuffles all the time, and it is possible for even the most storied of brands to survive a regime change. HBO, after all, has launched some of its biggest hits ever in the years since longtime boss Richard Plepler stepped down and Casey Bloys took over much of his role. But what’s happening at TCM isn’t just a changing of the guard. Instead, it feels a lot like what Zaslav has been doing with his company’s youth and animation brands (Cartoon Network, Adult Swim) or what Paramount Global execs have done with MTV and Comedy Central. It feels like the beginning of the end. As the industry vet lamented to me, “They’ve completely dismantled the networks so that they don’t have their own identity anymore. They had these passion brands they managed, which had rabid fan bases. It’s gone.”...

... In researching this story, I came across one more example of how WBD seems to be moving on from TCM, its words aside. Buffering has learned that there have been serious conversations at TCM in recent weeks about ending the practice of producing outros for its feature presentations as soon as next month. Introductions to movies wouldn’t be impacted, but the network would no longer regularly tape new segments to air following the conclusion of a film, according to three people familiar with the talks. The good news is that, apparently, that plan is no longer happening: A source familiar with the situation says that while the idea was discussed, there are no plans to move forward with the cutback.

TCM killing outros would have prompted loud howls of protest from the network’s many supporters, particularly given the backlash to this week’s layoffs, which was so intense, it resulted in Zaslav talking to directors Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson.  After that meeting, the trio of directors released a statement Wednesday saying they were “heartened and encouraged by the conversations” they’ve had with the WBD chief. “We have each spent time talking to David, separately and together, and it’s clear that TCM and classic cinema are very important to him,” the statement said. “Our primary aim is to ensure that TCM’s programming is untouched and protected.”

I don't trust Zaslav's honeyed words to Spielberg, Scorsese, and P.T. Anderson. I just don't. He is going to hollow out the one place where so many of us learned almost everything we know about classic films. TCM is American cinephilia at its most inviting, accessible, expansive, and life-affirming best.

#saveTCM

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Shut In (Caruso, 2022)

The most notable thing about this movie and the reason I sought it out was the involvement of Vincent Gallo, who came out of retirement for almost a decade to appear in this movie. His participation can likely be explained by the fact that Gallo is an outspoken conservative and that this movie was produced by the Daily Wire, a conservative media company owned by a deeply unpleasant man who shall not be named and who is something of an intellectual hero to the right on the basis of many arguments where he DESTROYS the dumbest people on the left by talking too fast for them to keep up. Who could this person be? We will never know. But Gallo's involvement gets a lot harder to explain when you realize he has like ten, maybe fifteen minutes of screentime, or at least scenes where he's given some dialogue. Maybe he didn't read the script beforehand, but what I can say in favour of the movie is that his presence hangs over the rest of the movie. His portrayal of a pedophilic meth addict is so sleazy and so forcefully performed that he makes the movie around him feel a touch extra noxious. To the extent that Shut In works as a thriller, a good amount of credit goes to him.

Now, I have not seen the Daily Wire's other productions (I'm not particularly keen to support their work directly, and that school shooting movie sounds a little too vile even for me), but I understand that as far as explicitly conservative movies go, they're supposed to be closer to real movies than all those movies where Kevin Sorbo rails against atheists, abortions, antifa and probably Anthony Fauci. (I haven't actually seen those movies, I'm going by secondhand reports.) Given Dallas Sonnier's involvement as a producer, I can make a comparison to two Cinestate productions, Dragged Across Concrete and The Standoff at Sparrow Creek. Both of those are similarly grimy thrillers and can be read as right wing (although I think there's some ambiguity with the latter), but despite their politics, I think those movies know how to work as examples in their genre and are willing to muddy the moral waters of their protagonists. The heroine here is defined as a recovered drug addict who loves Jesus, and the movie has no idea how to make this dramatically compelling. We get long scenes of her looking longingly at the cross nailed on her wall, and one very long scene of her reading the bible. In the middle of a home invasion. Exciting stuff.

And her recovery from addiction is nominal, because the movie never depicts her as being even remotely tempted by drugs during the runtime. Some of this is the movie's gross views on addiction at play, as the drug addicts in the movie are almost comically evil and crippled by their addictions, and the movie makes the not terribly subtle metaphor of throwing out bad apples or cutting out the rotten bits (and does so repeatedly, meaning we get lots and lots of shots of apples). The movie posits that drugs are something only bad people and good people can never succumb to them because they're good people. Which, despite never having been near hard drugs in my life, reads as entirely dishonest to me. I recently watched The Boost, (starring James Woods, who shockingly enough hasn't shown up in one of these movies despite the views he's voiced through his deranged Twitter account), and 8 Million Ways to Die, and what those movies get (despite the former plunging into a worst case scenario style depiction), is the idea of constant temptation and threat of relapse. This one features the heroine being handed some supposedly high grade meth and batting nary an eyelash, instead scheming how she can use it against her assailants.

Aside from that, much of the movie has the heroine locked repeatedly in a pantry while her dumbass kid proves useless in helping her get out. Which means that it's pretty low wattage as far as home invasion thrillers go, although D.J. Caruso does provide some sturdy visual direction. That being said, the fact that the heroine's comically run down house looks like something out of a Conjuring sequel and is shot in fecal tones to boot means that it never registers as a real, lived-in space, which greatly undermines the immediacy of the premise. So no, I do not recommend seeing this movie, although Gallo's performance is pretty engaging and the few minutes of conscious screentime he has could be edited into a pretty tense short film.

[dankusner]

LEE HARVEY — As in OSWALD...

A quick shot of Lee Harvey's appeared in LERMA’s Super Bowl ad — about Jesus.

As for its current stance, He Gets Us explains on its website: 

"So let us be clear in our opinion. Jesus loves gay people and Jesus loves trans people. The LGBTQ+ community, like all people, is invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider his example of unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness of others."

Jenn Mundia — sings INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart.” https://lermaagency.com

Dallas bar Lee Harvey’s taking heat for appearing in ‘He Gets Us’ Super Bowl ad

A photo taken inside the neighborhood dive bar was featured in the ad with a Jesus-centered message.

During the 2024 Super Bowl, the most watched televised event since the Apollo 11 moon landing, Dallas dive bar Lee Harvey’s made a brief and barely perceptible appearance. For less than two seconds, a photo of a gruff, bearded man sitting in the bar’s wood-paneled front room flashed across screens around the world. If you blinked, you missed it.

The bar’s owner, Seth Smith, almost missed it himself. 

All he knew was an ad agency came by Lee Harvey’s on a Wednesday in early January and asked to shoot photos — a regular occurrence at the funky, photogenic dive bar. He heard the photos might be used in a Super Bowl ad, but he didn’t know by whom or for what purpose.

The ad, it turned out, was one of two Super Bowl ads from Dallas advertising firm Lerma as part of the “He Gets Us” campaign, which shares Jesus-centered messages of loving one’s neighbors. 

The campaign has been called out for being backed by funders who have supported anti-LGBTQ causes.

Regarding its stance on the LGBTQ community, the campaign notes on its website that “Jesus loves gay people and Jesus loves trans people. 

The LGBTQ+ community, like all people, is invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider his example of unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness of others.”

Lee Harvey’s is now under fire in online comments for being associated with the campaign.

“Well I guess you won’t get any more of my business for helping to support a hate group!” said one of many recent comments on the bar’s Facebook page.

Smith told The Dallas Morning News that he’s horrified that people think he and his bar, which he opened in the Cedars two decades ago, are in any way anti-LGBTQ or aligned with people who are. He said he and his staff rarely know what people plan to do with the photos they take at Lee Harvey’s, and this situation was no different.

“There was a single picture of a gentleman drinking beer and smoking a cigarette in the front room of our bar and that’s pretty much the whole thing,” Smith said. “We’re in no way in association or affiliation with them. We love everyone. We are very inclusive and that’s the way we’ve always been.”

The dive bar and Lee Harvey’s Dive In, its sister swim club across the street, host drag shows and LGBTQ happy hours from time to time. Being inclusive has always been a priority, Smith said.

“I am a Christian and I believe in Jesus, but Jesus didn’t cut people out,” he said. “We love everyone and we’re open to anyone.”

Smith said he hopes people don’t write off Lee Harvey’s because of this.

“I hope we’ll be OK. We’re a little dive bar that tries to make sure our beer is ice cold and that everyone has a good time,” he said. “We love you now matter which shape, size or package you come in, and that’s the way we’ve always run it.”