#but elevator is so poignant because it feels so much like the bottom of the well

[devil-changmin]

again, in tags, and dec 18 tw

[aeide-thea]

This is a gentle request for any Geraskier fics you want to rec, because the number of them in the tag is a bit overwhelming but I KNOW there are gems in there 👀

i’m pretty sure i’ve reblogged things in the past! but it’s true that i haven’t done that in any systematic way, so—let’s see. under the cut are 20-ish recs alphabetized by author, which seemed like a good way of avoiding having to make any hierarchical declarations:

o, empathy by almostnectarine/@nectarine-pit: bodyswap! i forgot how much i loved this fic. geralt and jaskier walk a mile in each other’s shoes, and learn to appreciate each other better; this is keenly observed and thought-through, and frequently extremely funny. a thoroughgoing delight.

Jaskier pulled a face and swiveled the straps such that both swords almost fell from their scabbards at once, ruining the moment. “Geralt,” he said, “this leather itches. You’ve lived five lifetimes—” “Not that old,” said Geralt, in protest, and then, considering: “Maybe three.” “—and you never once thought, hm— oh, I see why you do that all the time, it is quite fun, isn’t it— hm, maybe I’ll add a little padding?!” His mimicry of Geralt’s tone was very good, although perhaps it was cheating, when the voice was already the same.

public displays of affection by autoschediastic/@bluesoaring: geralt and jaskier go to a sex party! (not to be confused with the other fic by sospes in which geralt and jaskier go to a sex party, which is also excellent.) if that wasn’t enough of a sell, well, you confuse me, but—the flavor of the power dynamic here is a little complex and unusual in a way i enjoyed, plus frankly the description of geralt stripped down for this party is really, uh. really A Lot. i admit to being biased in favor of sex party stories in general but this one is definitely a keeper.

to you always, also by autoschediastic/@bluesoaring: in which geralt is a demanding, insatiable bottom. ...honestly, this fic has significantly more emotional weight to it than that description might suggest, but i still stand by it. also the initial setup is just really funny to me, because jaskier getting hilariously outraged by geralt’s sheer infuriating geralt-ness is, like, my fave flavor of jaskier. (that’s a lie, every flavor of jaskier is my favorite flavor of jaskier, but i do really delight in this one.)

@blossomsinthemist’s mixing memory and desire series (wip) is basically my favorite thing ever, like, just truly perfectly crafted to please me personally. it’s h/c, and just astonishingly luxuriant and languorous and lovely—or, okay, let me actually just quote a comment i left on an early chapter:

this is just so exquisitely tender and molasses-lovely-sweet so far, my god the glimpses we get dimly through geralt’s hazy bemused perception of what jaskier’s feeling are so heart-clenchingly poignant—and then of course the glimpses of what geralt himself is feeling for jaskier without understanding it, this stunned rapt gratitude for everything jaskier is doing but also everything jaskier is, the lovely gentle sturdy solicitous gift he is & keeps making of himself to geralt, who would probably call it undeserved except that of course we can see precisely what in geralt has tugged this tenderness from jaskier, this terrible aching wounded gallantry that’s so astonished to meet with respite…

the meet death sitting (wip) series by @bomberqueen17 is my other favorite thing—much plottier than the previous, with a much wider cast of characters, and while i’m ultimately in it for the geralt/jaskier and therefore being strung along in exquisite agony while all sorts of plot things get in the way of any real resolution of that, it’s honestly worth it; what you lose in immediate gratification you gain in, like, a sense that this story inhabits a real, full world, with real events that aren’t just arranged to suit our heroes’ convenience. if i could only get you to read two things it would be this series and the previous one: between them they have my heart. anyway i guess i may as well quote myself again:

it’s the rich realistic interweaving of things that’s so remarkable here, how the absolute throat-thickening aches run abruptly up against the entirely mundane and all of it has to be coped with, because that’s life, and this story has life within it, in a realer way than probably anything else in the fandom, maybe anything else i’ve read in a long time. and of course a large part of me is so, so desperate for geralt and jaskier to finally come back together, with enough time and space to settle into a mutual secure tenderness instead of the current wordless, longing, poised-always-to-spring-away-like-deer-in-a-forest situation; but the story is coaxing me into a more adult patience, an appreciation for the smaller quieter incidental pleasures that aren’t the one subsuming great love, and then also teaching me to live with the wounds one inevitably acquired along the way, the pull and ache of those that makes the whole thing real, not a shining fantasy but a homely pie with a rich satisfying filling, savory and bolstering.

my body bruises at your touch by @brawlite: jaskier gets tied up by geralt as bait for the monster of the week, and discovers he likes it quite a bit. smut (and then aftercare) ensues.

demand an encore (wip) by emamel/@theaceace: jaskier is a witcher of the viper school, or used to be. he doesn’t remember it, but geralt does.

it’s been a while since i read this, but the way the layers slowly start fitting together is really satisfying: all the joy of what i think the kids call ‘identity porn,’ with the twist that here, it’s geralt who knows both identities, and jaskier who’s still in ignorance. ugh, i want chapter 3 now.

musica universalis by flirtygaybrit is bookverse and clearly so—it’s not romantic, but there’s a particular ambiguous flavor of solicitous tenderness that elevates this ‘friendly drunken hookup’ scenario to something memorable for me.

of cherries and dandelions by heyriel: in which a still-virginal jaskier bites off more than he can chew, and tries to disguise it until he can’t anymore. as i said to the author:

this is lovely and realistic in its navigation of, like, trying to Be Cool and the ways that can sometimes get you in trouble as a young sexplorer—geralt is so good to jaskier here and i’m having feelings about it!

also geralt uses a dildo on jaskier, which was not a thing i’d known i wanted before reading this, but it turns out i’m very decidedly here for it! i haven’t seen a ton of sex toys in geraskier fic and this story makes me wish there were more.

gentle-sharp and strange by lisztful has some excellent touch-starved pining geralt, also a performatively public bath scene with very satisfactory sexual tension, also an Ancient Tradition which is maybe the thing i remember most about this fic.

i know that you would want it (if i could sink my teeth into you) by objectlesson is... look, there’s an actual emotional arc to this story, but really what i always remember about it is that it’s got the most overwhelmingly visceral rimming scene i’ve maybe ever read? it’s a lot, it’s a gift, go read it.

@pasdecoeur has several stories that are very funny with some very piercingly erotic moments! briefly sketched in some ways and more pining than porny but no less effective for it.

benefits by @shastafirecracker is a pwp story in which jaskier is first surprised to find geralt wants him to top, and then determined to give geralt the best dicking he’s ever had. jaskier’s inner dialogue in this one is really fun; geralt’s exterior dialogue is true to the show in that it’s minimal but nonetheless includes a bad pun. :)

even a small love by shecrows/@leighway is like. you think you know how things are going to go, and then jaskier balks and it abruptly swerves sideways and develops a whole plot, and then comes back around to where it started, but deeper and better. don’t you love how you can summarize a fic without saying anything meaningful or even helpful about it? anyway: read this one.

snowmelt by silklace/@silkcoeur is a/b/o and somehow both extremely hilarious and extremely hot in full measure. the banter is a fucking delight but so are the tension/sex/feelings.

It wasn’t until they were well on the road away from town that it really hit him, though possibly he should have been paying attention to the way the backs of his knees had started sweating the minute he’d seen Geralt walking towards him outside of Yennefer’s manor, or to the way his throat had gone hot and dry despite the taste of sweetness still on the back of his teeth from the wine skin he’d pilfered from her pantry on his way out. In his defense, he’d still been recovering from spending the prior evening steadfastly spitting his insides up onto his outsides. Also, he tended to always get a little sweaty around Geralt, a fact they were both apparently extremely united in assiduously pretending was not happening.

the sevenfold path by star_flaming/@europeansdomusicalsbetter: in which jaskier is demonstrably extremely well educated, and geralt has feelings about it. (i also have feelings about it, but mine are in my pants.)

you are in my blood by @suzukiblu​: au where jaskier is a bruxa. this alters his character significantly—hard to be too skittish about bloodletting when you’re a vampire!—but the story’s so engaging you probably won’t care? plus, uh, hot. :)

Jaskier’s just debating how much trouble he’s actually in when Geralt, marvelously, talks them out of it. After that, well... Jaskier still wants to eat him very badly, but he supposes it’d be a bit ungrateful of him. Geralt isn’t very impressed with the song he writes for him, unfortunately—which, rude—but doesn’t try to run off and leave him either, so.. Well, Jaskier’s a bit smitten. A delicious-smelling witcher who can talk his way out of being murdered is very impressive. And he always has wanted a pet.

taran (@iamtaran)’s manhandling without plot series has no sex but lots of violent, compellingly visceral hijinks and i like to think of it as preslash. three times geralt hauls jaskier out of trouble.

Jaskier is flat on his back with his chemise rucked up to his armpits, salve burning on his bruised ribs, breathing hard; he is drunk, but not nearly as drunk as he was when he threw that first punch; Geralt is stupidly strong and has him pinned beneath one hand and the sheer girth of his own hips, looking grumpy and short on patience, and under everything—the aromatic menthol and chamomile smell of the salve, the aching of his cheek and lip, the relief of seeing Geralt just as upright and uninjured as he had been when he left, Jaskier is… He had thought he was furious. He still is, somewhat. Like… like a seed is a flower. It was, at first, before it became something else. And given enough time it might become such again. It is what it is in the meantime, however. Fury. Seeds.

last but not least, @toyhto​ has a bunch of fics that crack me the fuck up: geralt is unbelievably oblivious to his own emotions even as he acts on them, and it’s just—it’s so, so funny. also sometimes quite sweet, and sometimes quite painful! there’s a particular air of, i don’t know, almost see-spot-run impenetrability to the writing here that lends itself perfectly to the thing the stories are doing, where geralt is just operating totally on a surface level and, like, feelings are moving in the deep but he can’t quite see them...

...and that’s all for now! more to come later, maybe; but this seems like plenty for a first pass, and anyway i’m blurbed out.

[doomonfilm]

Predictions : The 93rd Academy Award Film Nominations (2021)

As much as I try to prepare for the Oscars every year, even I’m impressed with how thorough I was in checking out the 2020 nominees.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that streaming dominated the year, which therefore changed the nature of access, but in my humble opinion, I found no dip in the quality of the films and shorts that I took in.  I saw some familiar faces, I learned about some new talent on the scene, and I found more than a few films that spoke deeply on the human condition.  There are a few categories where a winner seems clear cut, and even more where it will be a genuine surprise at the end of the night.

With my confidence running high, it’s time to do my annual prediction list of potential Academy Award winners... that way, I can gloat if I end up being mostly right, and I can have counterpoints ready for the films that I get wrong.  Feel free to play along at home, and we will reconvene on after the day after the awards air (Sunday, April 25th for those curious) to compare numbers.

Editor’s note : Due to a lack of access to AppleTV, the films Greyhound and Wolfwalkers were not taken into consideration.  Due to a similar lack of streaming and theatrical access at the time of this article, The Man Who Sold His Skin, Opera and White Eye were also left out of my research and consideration.

Best Picture The Father Judas and the Black Messiah Mank Minari Nomadland Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

PREDICTION : Minari

Every film this year has something poignant to say about the human condition : The Father is a frank and unflinching look at the aging process and the impact of dementia, Judas and the Black Messiah puts the focus on systematic racism and the far-reaching lengths used to disenfranchise minorities, Mank talks about how personal and political stances can get you blacklisted, Nomadland shines a spotlight on societal ills surrounding class and financial struggles, Promising Young Woman opens up a path for difficult discussions on sexual assault, Sound of Metal is all about depression connected to having your passion ripped away from you, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a damning portrayal about how political unrest manages to stay the same despite changing times.  

Minari handles its subject matter (immigration and assimilation, respectively) with the same weight as the previously mentioned pictures, but there is an artistic integrity to the overall presentation of the story due to the immaculate performances and beautiful production design that elevates the Minari experience a step ahead of the rest of the pack.  I would not be surprised if Nomadland continues its epic run right up to the top, but if there were one film set to upset the Best Picture category, it’s Minari without a doubt.

Best Director Lee Isaac Chung, Minari Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman David Fincher, Mank Chloé Zhao, Nomadland Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round

PREDICTION : Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

While I consider Minari to be the Best Picture of the year, I believe that comes down to a combination of look and performance for me.  When it comes down to the film that seems the most interesting in terms of how it is put together and the general choices made for execution, however, I think I’d have to continue giving  Chloé Zhao her flowers while she can still smell them.

As mentioned previously, Minari is a standout film, and two other films did threaten to give Nomadland a run for its money in terms of direction : Mank looks, sounds and feels like old Hollywood, while Promising Young Woman feels so much like an exploitation film from the 1970s with an infusion of high-style art that it saddens me it hasn’t received more recognition in the form of awards.  Nomadland, however, feels as close to a documentary as it can get without being one, and as dramatic as a film with a heavy documentary film can get, and all the while, Zhao’s choices make the camera feel like an observer and a confidant, to great effect.

Best Actor Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Anthony Hopkins, The Father Gary Oldman, Mank Steven Yeun, Minari

PREDICTION : Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

From the second that the final credit rolled on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, I had Chadwick Boseman picked as a lock for Best Actor in any award show worth its salt.  

Riz Ahmed makes us feel his pain in his characterization, as does Anthony Hopkins (though his delivery is connected to much more levity than Ahmed’s).  Gary Oldman embodies his chameleon-like abilities that we’ve come to expect and enjoy from his work, and Steven Yeun reaches depths I had no idea he was capable of achieving.  All that being said, however, Boseman left everything he had on the film reels, and even if not for his untimely death prior to the release of this film, I feel he would still be receiving universal praise for such an emotionally raw, daring and vulnerable performance.

Best Actress Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman Frances McDormand, Nomadland Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

PREDICTION : Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Of all the categories this year, Best Actress was far and away the toughest one to choose a prediction for.  I could give it to Andra Day based on the Golden Globes momentum she has coming into the Academy Awards and feel confident.  I would feel equal confidence in choosing Vanessa Kirby for the pain she captured in her frustration with her husband and her stillborn baby, Frances McDormand for her down to Earth nature and bold curiosity (not to mention her penchant for winning these things), or even Carey Mulligan for her brave and confident performance.

I am choosing Viola Davis, however, because while Chadwick Boseman could have easily made every other character’s performance irrelevant in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom with his sheer presence and execution, Davis simply refuses to be ignored as the titular character, and is the only one strong-willed enough to check Boseman’s character.  Her win would also be a historical moment for minorities and women when it comes to the Oscars, and I doubt that the Academy would miss an opportunity to make that statement, especially in today’s climate.

Best Supporting Actor Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7 Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami Paul Raci, Sound of Metal Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

PREDICTION : Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

This was another tough category to make a prediction in, mainly because of the conundrum that came with the choice.  On the one hand, choosing between the performances of Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah seems inherently wrong, not only because both were stellar, but because this nomination makes it seems like the film was absent of a leading male.  If Stanfield (who, in my opinion, would be the one considered lead in this film) were to be nominated in the Best Actor category, however, he would almost certainly be nullified by Boseman in that category.  No disrespect to the other nominees in this category, but Stanfield or Kaluuya feel like sure things for this category, and for my money’s worth, Stanfield left the stronger impression.

Best Supporting Actress Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy Olivia Colman, The Father Amanda Seyfried, Mank Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

PREDICTION : Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

Initially, this was a tough category solely because of the films I’d seen from this category prior to this week.  Maria Bakalova was the front-runner by default for me, as it felt odd to consider Amanda Seyfried as the Best Supporting Actress of the year for such a marginal role, and Glenn Close felt odd because of Hillbilly Elegy and nothing else.  Up until this week, I’d yet to have seen Minari or The Father, and in my head, it felt like Olivia Colman would likely be my pick.

Then, I saw the movies.  Colman was great in her role, but with her acting chops so refined, and the story being one based so heavily in reality, the work she was doing seemed likely to be lost in translation for the average viewer.  Upon seeing Minari, however, my decision was immediately made for me, as  Yuh-Jung Youn easily displays the most range of anyone in the category, and does so while managing to be one of the funnier elements of the film, as well as the catalyst for the ultimate heartbreaking moment.  If  Yuh-Jung Youn doesn’t win, I will personally demand a recount.

Original Screenplay Judas and the Black Messiah Minari Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

PREDICTION : Promising Young Woman

Sadly, I think Promising Young Woman will continue to be the bridesmaid and not the bride of this award season, but if there were a category that it seems like it could leave its mark in, it would be Best Original Screenplay.  While the other stories are certainly compelling (two of which give us deeper insight into recent race-related turmoil), Promising Young Woman is the kind of movie that can open up important conversations that many men and women are hesitant to have.  The film also cleverly sets itself up to be some sort of revenge fantasy piece, only to reveal how truly grounded and thought-provoking it is in a final act that will almost certainly take your breath away.

Adapted Screenplay Borat Subsequent Moviefilm The Father Nomadland One Night in Miami The White Tiger

PREDICTION : The Father

Of all the films nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Father is the most compelling and well-put together screenplay, with its production execution feeling like it matches the high standards set by the narrative journey.  The White Tiger comes close in terms of the way it sets and subverts expectations, but it lacks the heartbreaking gut punches that The Father uses to fuel its melancholy, which in turn allows it to pierce the soul in a much more direct and easy to perceive manner.

Animated Feature Onward Over the Moon A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Soul Wolfwalkers

PREDICTION : Soul

Is there really any doubt that this is Soul’s category to lose?  I did the due diligence and watched all of the competition (minus Wolfwalkers), and while the rest of the field was entertaining, nothing in the pack can hold a candle to the technical prowess and appeal to humanity that Soul thrives in.

Production Design The Father Mank Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom News of the World Tenet

PREDICTION : News of the World

At first I wanted to give this award to Mank due to the way that the film feels authentically from the era it presents to us.  Not too long after that, I wanted to put my money behind Tenet, almost strictly as a way to offset the largely negative response to what feels like a strong piece of Christopher Nolan art.

Then I saw News of the World, and of the films nominated in this category, it is the only one where the world feels authentic and lived in (outside of The Father, which essentially takes place in a single flat).  From the levels of dirt on the clothes to the weathered nature of towns, News of the World feels like modern day cameras were transferred back to a simpler time, and in tandem with the acting prowess of Tom Hanks, it is certainly one of the slept-on gems of 2020.

Costume Design Emma Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Mank Mulan Pinocchio

PREDICTION : Emma

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my many years of film-watching, it’s that a British film always seems to have the edge when it comes to Best Costume Design.  While Mank and Mulan in particular should be given recognition for their costume designs, Emma makes the extremely lavish and extravagant gowns and outfits worn feel and look like a million bucks, both in their fit on the cast and in the way they work with and offset the surroundings.  

Cinematography Sean Bobbitt, Judas and the Black Messiah Erik Messerschmidt, Mank Dariusz Wolski, News of the World Joshua James Richards, Nomadland Phedon Papamichael, The Trial of the Chicago 7

PREDICTION : Erik Messerschmidt, Mank

While the Best Cinematography award is usually one given for breakthroughs and innovations with the camera, Mank feels like one of the first films that could win the category for its dead-on emulation of an era that we have since evolved from and not looked back to.  2020 wasn’t necessarily absent of crazy camerawork, but it appears that this year’s nominees are more about capturing the feel of a world, and none of the films nominated have a visual style that does it to the degree that Mank does. 

Editing The Father Nomadland Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

PREDICTION : The Trial of the Chicago 7

This was another surprisingly tough category to pick a winner from.  The Father does some extremely clean and subtle work with editing to make us feel just as disjointed as Anthony Hopkins does during the course of the film.  Promising Young Woman brings in exploitation style and flare, but ultimately settles down into a much more serious and somber nature where the editing loses a bit of its steam.

What really works best for The Trial of the Chicago 7 in terms of its editing are two key factors : its ability to manage such a large collection of main characters with ease, and the integration of real footage from the Chicago Democratic National Convention, not to mention additional footage from the film Medium Cool, in a seamless fashion.  Aaron Sorkin films are generally known for their writing, but this film shines in how well it was put together, as Sorkin takes a step back and allows the event to be the star of the show.

Makeup and Hairstyling Emma Hillbilly Elegy Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Mank Pinocchio

PREDICTION : Pinocchio

It’s tough sometimes to separate your perception (and reception) of a film from its technical aspects, which is why it was ultimately hard to choose Pinocchio as my pick for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.  While I did not enjoy this film, I do have to give it respect for its lack of digital effects, with much of the creature creation and Pinocchio’s wooden look achieved solely through the use of makeup.  Emma seemed more about wardrobe, and Hillbilly Elegy felt a bit silly in terms of hair and makeup... I likely overlooked that aspect of Mank, and the acting held my attention in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, so maybe Pinocchio  is purely a sympathy vote for me.

Sound Greyhound Mank News of the World Soul Sound of Metal

PREDICTION : Sound of Metal

Sound of Metal is likely going to be the most overlooked film of 2020 in terms of awards recognition, but if there’s one category that feels like a can’t miss opportunity for the film, it’s Best Sound.  The narrative lives and dies off of our connection to the protagonist, especially when he starts experiencing his hearing loss, and if the production team wouldn’t have been able to capture that experience the film would’ve been a wash.  Luckily for everyone, they nailed this aspect of the film, and in turn, the world was gifted a modern day classic.

Visual Effects Love and Monsters The Midnight Sky Mulan The One and Only Ivan Tenet

PREDICTION : Love and Monsters

To my knowledge, subtlety doesn’t get you far in the Best Visual Effects category, which could likely be the reason that Love and Monsters was my pick to win this year, as the effects are anything but subtle for this film... the attention to detail in the oversized animals and bugs is as impressive as it is intimidating.  The only other film I considered is The One and Only Ivan for its work with the animals, specifically the way they were able to communicate with their eyes, but ultimately Love and Monsters feels like the bolder statement.

Score Da 5 Bloods Mank Minari News of the World Soul

PREDICTION : Mank

It feels like Soul is the favorite headed into the Oscars this year, which makes it all the more hilarious that the duo of Reznor and Ross will find the stiffest competition in the form of themselves.  I put my money behind Mank for the Golden Globes, and while I may have been wrong then, I refuse to believe that the Oscars would ignore the authentic-sounding era-specific music created by the duo.  A nod must also be given to the scores of Minari and News of the World, who if not for the Reznor/Ross tandem would likely be the ones fighting it out in this category.

Song Husavik (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah) Lo Sì (Seen) (The Life Ahead) Speak Now (One Night in Miami) Hear My Voice (The Trial of the Chicago 7)

PREDICTION : Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah)

Lo Sì (Seen) may have stolen the Golden Globe, but I refuse to believe that any song on this list can beat Fight for You twice.  You never know, however, when it comes to the Oscars and music... just ask Three 6 Mafia. 

Documentary Feature Collective Crip Camp The Mole Agent My Octopus Teacher Time

PREDICTION : Collective

I am honestly and genuinely confused how any human with a working brain, heart and soul could watch a documentary like Collective and still choose My Octopus Teacher as the Best Documentary Feature.  No disrespect to My Octopus Teacher or any of the other nominees, but the light that Collective shines on the healthcare system is not only damning, but relatable to people all over the world (including America), and the story is told absent of narrators or interviews, which makes the presentation that much more piercing in its reality.

International Feature Another Round (Denmark) Better Days (Hong Kong) Collective (Romania) The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia) Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

PREDICTION : Better Days (Hong Kong)

Trying to pick between Better Days and Quo Vadis, Aida? was like trying to pick between two exquisite meals... both had compelling trailers, both stories were well-told, timely and necessary, and both films stick with you after the point of resolution.  I think I have to go Better Days, however, simply because of the level of dramatic flare it brings to the table, not to mention its story being more relatable on a human level, rather than a political one.

Animated Short Burrow Genius Loci If Anything Happens I Love You Opera Yes-People

PREDICTION : Genius Loci

If any category were a personal sure thing for me, it’d be the Best Animated Short category, because Genius Loci spoke to me in a very real way.  I feel so strongly about this, as a matter of fact, that I’m going against what is likely the smart money pick, the moving and painfully relevant If Anything Happens I Love You, another hand-drawn affair (with Genius Loci also utilizing traditional animation) that frames itself around a school shooting.  Hopefully I will get to see Opera soon, as the small portions I was able to find looked impressive, but I have been sharing Genius Loci with anyone willing to listen. 

Documentary Short Colette A Concerto Is a Conversation Do Not Split Hunger Ward A Love Song for Latasha

PREDICTION : Do Not Split

The 2020 Academy Awards contains quite a number of nominees that focus on issues that are currently impacting our world, and the Best Documentary Short category is rich with content of this nature.  While Colette does find its center in the Holocaust, its main thread focuses on how people generations removed still refuse to face and accept it directly.  A Concerto Is a Conversation and  A Love Song for Latasha both speak on the modern day impact of racism from the past.  Hunger Ward is a gut-wrenching look at the struggles that war-torn Third World nations face.

The documentary short with the most impact and relevance of the bunch, however, is Do Not Split, a film that looks specifically at Hong Kong’s struggles against mainland China, and with a wider lens, the ever-evolving nature of protest in the information age.  The film walks right up to (and directly into the midst of) the COVID-19 pandemic, making it extremely timely, and it speaks a version of the struggle for identity that most anyone can relate to and feel on a personal level.  All of these nominees are worthy, but Do Not Split feels like the choice that would make the most impact if given a stage to raise its awareness.

Live-Action Short Feeling Through The Letter Room The Present Two Distant Strangers White Eye

PREDICTION : Two Distant Strangers

I’ve been trying to hold on for White Eye, because the word on the street is that it is a one-take affair, and with the competition in the Best Live-Action Short category all resonating on a feature-length level in terms of creativity and execution, it would take a magic trick like a one-take film to stand out from this crowd.

Out of the films I did get to see, however, the battle for my prediction spot came down to two films.  The landmark casting of a Blinddeaf actor in Feeling Through was not lost on me, and it’s always a pleasure to see Oscar Isaac do his thing (as he did in The Letter Room), but once I saw The Present, I felt it had all of the elements it took to win... a foreign setting with risk involved in the production, a father-daughter dynamic with an incredibly touching and inspiring arc, and some compelling things to say about prejudice, specifically in volatile conflict areas.

Then I saw Two Distant Strangers.  As touchy as the subject of fractured and damaged relationships between Black Americans and the Police is, this film not only found a way to address it directly, but also symbolically, and in ways that made you really and truly think about (and understand) how helpless the often tragic interactions can feel between the two camps.  On top of everything, who knew that Joey Bada$$ could act?

[sasorikigai]

The Midnight Stain || Hanzo Hasashi x Cassie Cage (Modern) 

@heamatic​ 

💥|| The young blonde rectified her posture rising out of the night’s entrancing sleep with a single purpose in mind. As all the trees rustled and swayed and windows opened with each whistling of breath of wind caressing her arm and tracing over her exposed shoulders, her attention focused on the exuding heat resonating from her behind. Hanzo’s sleeping form, bare, hard, sleek and warm like the crackling hearth, as the curve of his chest imperceptibly ebbs and flows with his heated breaths.

Her eyes fill with such promise, perhaps sympathy; it’s extremely rare when he sleeps like dead with exhaustion embedded around the caved-in eyes. Perhaps it is a sin to pursue whatever she feels, which had lain beyond the ocean’s distant horizon with Hanzo’s frequent absence, but Cassandra Cage has found a thousand dripping jewels in Hanzo Hasashi’s poignant expression of swallowing flames and her insight is crystal clear. Life’s too complicated for simple dichotomies and she isn’t the one to shy away from fulfilling her needs, fulfilling his needs.

Thus she moves like a feline, in silence in response of the peaceful day approaching. There are no words to combat absurdity when she realizes carnal want is as the truer sin as it gets when it comes to her freedom. This is her break towards it and it is her private hell and heaven that completely encompasses her.

Does a tree bloom because it stayed inside its seed? That is all the encouragement she needs, as she breaches through a jewel-like radiance of the sun above with inimitable iridescence shimmering in her mellow, honeyed eyes. After all, it’s Hanzo who opened the fire swelling in her so rapturously as their worlds dimmed into the early twilight and the destination of today was delayed in the exquisite moment in time. With their hearts pounding in their ears and a feeling like jumping off a cliff in their chests. She has stood before him, but not like this when she finds a wordless trance she found herself in. Their life isn’t a frivolous dream, yet the shared passions affect them all the same with sincere laughter and an inspiring meeting of minds. She knows she could never completely wash the stain permeated through Hanzo’s heart and soul, but she could calm the angry rivers and flatten the battered earth as their constellations and lights become personal celestial universe that would scintillate and shine beyond their clouded view. 

She reaches towards Hanzo’s front and nestles close enough to feel his fervent heat with a gentle shove against his abdomen. The velvety petals of her lips saturate with the words she fails to speak, but she knows, the gesture is more than enough. She may resemble a posture of a humbled server begging for his reaction, but there always is a greater purpose in every aspect of this sudden faithfulness. Such perfidy of her mind and body matters less when she’s the one surrendering to Hanzo Hasashi’s heat in all of her zeal.

He isn’t all sinewy, chiseled pipe dream with his eyes and scars. He’s a man who’d seen the dark that she’d seen and like her, treaded endlessly through the seas of doom. They can be so ruinous together. While Hanzo makes no visible sound as his left shoulder blade sinks further into the mattress, Cassie’s already onto his length, that has built up on him like a temperature gauge going into red. She could almost feel the blood gather as the faint scent of his smoldering fire and subtle hint of damp earth thickens.

And everything falls into place with Hanzo’s widening eyes, and he’s already the closest thing to freedom, the surest path to heaven he doesn’t deserve to be in. If there was any chance at prolonging this young bliss and concurrent plunging into the bottom of the ocean he’d feel with her, he would draw his sharpest katana and the most aggressively utter his blunt honesty and fight through the earth, conjure whirling wind and halcyon fire to embrace this particular moment. How it restores his heart to its former loveliness as his heart elevates as blood speeds through the last stretch of darkness towards his hardness.

It was this thrill she birthed in him that was so terrifying. Not just in this moment, but also the first time she entertained his wild drivel. Reciting her name like a sacred mantra, while his baritone intonation sunk further and further as he gasped and moaned. When Cassandra presents herself like a dream and an angel without wings, his earnest laughter sounds like a fucking miracle. And soon, the images of the wild dream that had dizzied his mind unfurls, as the rose-stilled air between them explodes. As she sings those words she was destined to speak, the song that had swam through his mind urges with wanton need. He smiles at her and simmers in her bare grace as the last glimpse of the night closed in around them to coalesce them in unity.

The hand that she reached out to him faded away in both swirling grace and rough pinning and he drowns in her natural beauty, which never ebbs away from the intensity of his gaze. And the eyes that sparkled like diamonds are the last trace of life he finds before he free falls down into the bottomless ocean of her ichorous softness that swallowed him.

He feels no anger, no distress, he simply realizes the truth - as both of their stomachs clench as he feels her legs shake, given enough time there would be burning to pressure where her softness and his hardness meet - she is everything to him. His falling hair dips further into the ripping waters of the contracting muscles of her shoulder. Despite the expanse of pain, Cassie’s lungs burn with pressure, breathing Hanzo in as love between them worked something like this; their conversations replayed in their mind as perceptions distort and runs too fast. As furious shade of red dominates them whole, He bites his lips, as his bare shoulders and glutes become tense as white hotness emanating the summer’s soporific in the most charming way as all his feelings come crawling out and hold vigil in this break of dawn.

As he breathes in the salt brine of their mingled scents, his blistering passion turns sensible with his emotions in a way he had never been with the others. More exhaustion creeps in the crevices of his spine, his ribcages and his fingertips; yet the sensation itself teaches him how to breathe, with every breath he takes in is heaved out, which in essentiality, taught him how to walk when he felt more or less like a fish out of water, with near-fatal scar and the scraps along the way with worst of his battered bruises and the feeling of helplessness. How he treads in the middle of the ocean, exhausted, barely keeping his head above water - yet he does not have to miss sleeping next to her as much, at least not much as he’d expect, as his world remains lit by a bare swinging light of her alabaster flesh. 💥|| 

[pipesflowforeverandever]

Stars

Hey so I regularly harass @thebutchergang and we accidentally got??? Really deep? So I wrote a drabble based on it. Also a bit of a test run if I want to write Edgar into my fic series or not.

It was completely and utterly ridiculous what she had to put up with for the past few days.

Finally the woman trapped in the studio had a moment to sit down, dismayed by the sound of a slight, sloppy noise as the bottom of her soaked pantlegs hit against the wall. Dangling her weary legs over the ledge where this unreasonably tall structure the elevator was situated, the stranger had to actively remind herself she was safe as a firm thud landed recklessly by her side.

Well, she was probably safe.

Indeed, as she looked over Level 14, as of late a monster had joined her as a traveling companion.

What a bizarre story. She hardly believed it herself. How did this happen again?

Tired eyes glimpsed over to the round, multiarmed fiend without turning her head; she had learned from experience that movement around this one only brings about chaos. All the same, the Striker caught sight of her irises flashing his way, and she soon found her shoulders raise and stiffen with a light but disturbed gasp, the creature having leaned that bulbus head of his into her personal space as far as he could stretch.

And as two beings strange in this world in totally different ways observed each other’s inexplicable response- his invasiveness and her discomfort- a flash of recollection swarmed the woman alongside a shiver.

Whether the little gremlin found her or if she found him earlier might as well have been a coin toss. Realistically, they just…bumped into each other. Just as the woman turned a corner, she felt a solid but corpselike cold hit her torso, sending her to the floor. God, that was an unforgiving fall- she could still feel it now as an ache in her lower back- but the pain in her chest from a pounding heartbeat was soon the most prominent feeling to pulse through her.

Because just as she had fallen, the intruder found that she brought someone down with her. One painted cartoon eye stared back alongside a strained human eyeball, seemingly dipping into its eye socket to tie it to its own skull.

A skid along the floor. Her phone- she had been using it for a flashlight-!

They looked at each other for one dreadful second. Shock still wanted to immobilize her, but she had to make a choice. Dive for the phone or turn tail and run. And in the end…yes, neither of them had chosen to meet the other. Definitely, however, it was the monster’s decision to snatch her cell phone right out of her hands as soon as she held it once again.

“H-HEY!” she had screamed. It was a yell intended as a demand this thing return it to her, but her word could have probably better served as a warning. As the twisted human spider investigated the device, its gloved hands jerked the back of the phone towards itself- a flashlight fully shining into that lone real eye. Once again- almost comedically- the cartoony gargoyle fell back on its bottom, leaving the woman standing over the beast in both wonder and disbelief.

Her eyes flashed down to the phone. Yup. She was going to do this. She really was. Alright then.

And so the woman lunged for the device even as it was still in its grasp, hoping against hope it was stunned enough to let her just take it back already-

She saw and felt a dirtied white glove grip her forearm just long enough to allow her eyes to go wide in fear. An eyeball rolled around in that hole in its head. It didn’t seem to blink. Didn’t seem capable to.

She wasn’t sure she could read its emotions anyway.

But instead of tightening its strange, fidgety grip- instead of pulling her down to the ground with it- instead of using this moment to its advantage to attack…the being’s stare fell down to the phone once more. Hesitantly and despite the flashlight shining over half of her face, she looked too. Under it’s abnormally large thumb was a shining screen, turned on sometime in between the two falls it had taken; the lower portion was grey with…keys. Typing keys. Its finger lifted and somehow, some way, the creature’s totally bare eye seemed to widen even more as a smear of the hand allowed letters to appear.

Language.

And they stayed like this for a long time it seemed, that terrible pain in her back only worsening as the intruder of the studio was forced in place, an incredibly uncomfortable lean over the little monster as one hand refused to let go and the other two were pressing at her phone.

Well, maybe “mashing” and “assaulting” would be better words. It even smacked the screen at one point, and she wondered if it was the dread of its life in her hands or the possibility of this violence cracking the screen that made her feel sick.

But eventually, eventually…-

…

“’E…Edgar?’” she read, the monster thrusting the screen into her face.

And he hadn’t left her since.

So that’s how it had been. The quirky walking corpse had figured out just like that that he could, in fact, speak after all these years of silence. Ironic for someone with two mouths. It took a bit to figure out- a few pleading, puppylike gazes and a dash of anxiety that the violence towards the phone to turn towards her instead- but there came to be a unique sort of agreement between the two. He’d follow her around and yell nonsense through text and she’d put up with it or else god knows what. Pretty fair deal, in the end.

And boy was it some sort of nonsense.

“DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE”

“I WILL EAT YOUR TEETH”

“Your liver will be shaped like a carrot when I’m done with it”

It’s understandable that each time Edgar handed the phone back to her to read what he had proudly authored, a nerve-wracked grin of dread fell upon her face like the darkness of death itself.

But that seemed to be…the extent of it. As she walked along these haunted halls, the little thing would tug on her hand every so often like a young boy that needs a bathroom break- sometimes with huge 20-minute gaps of time in between and sometimes beseeching her so frequently the bones in her wrist started to ache. And then-

“!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!”

This verbalization was…different. Still not comprehendible but…not a threat. The surprise of it made her stop in her steps, a cautious but still curiously raised eyebrow facing down at her new shadow. The gremlin almost seemed…proud? Something in its expression; it stayed in place so much that any sort of change was noticeable in a snap. Yes, “Edgar’s” human eye seemed to wrinkle just a tiny bit.

Another glance towards her hand explained why.

“cucumber”

“Oh my god,” she said out loud but to no one, realizing that she had accidentally smudged some sort of series of keys that provoked spellcheck before handing it back down to him once more. A palm hit her face and slid down…and when it left her, she saw another expression on the fiend’s face. Maybe it was her exasperation, maybe it was the silliness of it all, but…the small spider seemed to be beaming. Yes, that was undeniably a smile curving his sausage-like lips.

Indeed, a slip of her own hand accidentally replying to his written screaming was all it took to start a conversation. And so joining insanity seemed to be the correct response to its existence.

“Lime”

“Flavour Taste”

“Slurp the lime gurt”

“I want to eat an abple”

“I have one! It is several weeks old. It has white fuzz and a friend inside”

“Can I eat”

“yes but be warned. You might die”

“okay im eat now”

“yeah sounds good”

It didn’t take long for it to be unclear to a hypothetical observer which of these two had likely suffered decades of head injury and lack of human interaction. Indeed, the woman was having fun. She questioned the actual intelligence of the creature still, but he certainly seemed…very far gone. As amusing as these conversations were, it couldn’t be helped that they were tinged with a very dark sort of humor.

And that’s where she was now with him, sitting together like a pair of siblings.

How long had it been? At least a day it felt like since they became a purposeless duo. And yet…she enjoyed the company. Eventually. And it seemed to be doing him a service. It must have been quite a while since he had a friend.

…

Reluctantly, as they looked face to face in the present, it was undeniable he thought her a friend. How utterly uncanny that she was beginning to say the same. The lightness of their garbled talk- almost like he was just a toddler that knew how to kill someone- had made her laugh more than a few times, and certainly Edgar seemed to jump each time the woman did.

Had she noticed that he had caught on to her smiles, that he was trying to make her do it more and more? She was searching endlessly for an escape, but certainly these little quips were an escape unto themselves.

But now something was…different.

“Wow,” the woman had sighed under her breath. The elevator had fallen and fallen until they stood above a giant pool of ink. It seemed to gaze upon them as they gazed upon it, the glimmers of the waves almost glinting like sets of eyes. Something about the way it shined, something about the way the lights reflected upon them…

As he invaded her personal space, his stitched head only inches from hers, she felt a weight in her hand once again, the communicator placed irregularly gently in her grasp; and as he pulled away, the monster’s aura seemed mysteriously…sad. All the lines on the current note app were his and his alone.

“There are 6 stars in the sky”

“One for me. One for my wife. Two for my 2 kids. And two for me and my wife’s existing parents.”

“Damibly”

Speechless. Beyond the screen, the traveler saw her companion turn his head away and slowly glance towards the stars scattered over the liquid ground. He…He was…

This whole time, the woman hadn’t considered that Edgar used to be a human being. It left a big gaping hole in their conversation; even if their talk was audibly silent, this quiet was inexplicably poignant.

She had to say something.

“Oh”

“I bet they’re beautiful”

That was all she could come up with. After a moment, the phone was passed back to her.

“They’re so pretty and sparkly”

“You think stars can be eaten”

“I tried to eat the alice door star and she punched me”

Inevitably, a snort came from the woman’s nose and her face wrinkled in a grin at the thought of Edgar trying to eat a prop. His head tilt was invocative that he approved, almost as if the gremlin was worried he had sucked her joy away entirely just before. His turn to read now:

“Are you a star?”

“I think you’re a star”

It too was asked in humor, and yet words weren’t needed to see his heart only sank. Soon hers would too, uncovering a whole second lifetime of longing and suffering with three mere lines.

“I wish I was so I can be with my other stars”

“If I die again, I might come back as a star”

“I hope”

And the woman realized she could grasp how but never what it truly felt like to be pushed to the point that one wished to die in hope that maybe the life after the next may give back what had so wrongfully been stolen.

Hair was pushed behind her ear as a silent sigh moved her whole body, revealing that a glitter was with her too; but it felt best to not let the lost soul see her cry. He had already gone through so much. Maybe she was in pain, maybe she was scared and tormented too…but she was fresh to this cartoon hell. She still had a bit left to give for the sake of someone more broken than she.

One last exchange. A shadow fell over the screen as Edgar’s head titled parallel to it. A long pause, as if he was reading it over and over.

Finally, the warped spider remembered that a nod could mean “yes” when not even typed words were easy to make out. The woman’s offer was accepted, and the being who used to be human nuzzled his scarred face into her chest, letting the warmth of her hug wrap around his body in hopes that it would start to hurt just a little less.

“I got ya, Edgar.” Her chin tilted towards the emptiness ahead, unknowing of what power had done this to the man and if it lied in wait for her too. “I got ya.”

[reminiscingdreamer]

Castlevania season 2 thoughts

TL;DR It’s somehow too long yet too short at the same time.

Spoilers ahoy

In three words: Too many flashbacks. In four: Too many unnecessary flashbacks. What could’ve been compressed into 3-4 episodes has instead stretched into 8 which considerably damages the pacing. We already know what happened to Lisa so a flashback in her point of view is meaningless (unless you’re starting Castlevania on season 2 and well... why would you start a show at season 2?), I didn’t care or know enough about Hector himself to want a flashback from him when Carmilla asks how he joined Dracula (and the way it was inserted was awkward anyway. The brief flashback of his parents scorning him as he stared into the fire would’ve been enough because it very cleanly tells viewers why he joined Dracula), and the same goes for Isaac’s flashback. I don’t understand the attention given to Godbrand when all the other generals were left as background mooks with no personality and thus ill-defined powers when they fought the trio and Godbrand dies in the end anyway without achieving anything important. What was even the point of him? Dracula’s flashback of massacring the people who offended him was... pointless. Carmilla’s flashback is perhaps the only one that’s okay because it adds something to her character while remaining short and sweet.

I think the show was trying to characterize everyone through the flashbacks but you don’t need flashbacks to characterize characters. It could just be shown through actions and dialogue. After all, if they could illustrate Trevor’s melancholy and rediscovery and his family’s past glory when the trio visit the Belmont manor in a way that is poignant but doesn’t use flashbacks (which I can only be grateful for), they could darn well illustrate anything else using similar methods just as well.

Meanwhile, the trio sort of flounders around the Belmont library for several episodes expositing to each other what Alucard and Trevor’s issues are while Dracula sits around in his study and talks to people there. Nothing is being done while flashbacks parade one after another. Carmilla feels like the only active agent with an actual plan and ambition and the only spot of color where every other character feels like they’re only listlessly going through the motions. 

And then it literally takes only one library trip to defeat Dracula. Props to Sypha for being powerful enough to drag the castle to her, but it only makes me question the limits to her powers, if they even exist. She didn’t even need to take a breather after all that effort where she was struggling and sweating and then almost immediately after, she can summon an ice elevator and fight vampires. I think it’s one of the problems this show has: setting the characters’ limits. What can’t they do? Trevor fights with unlimited stamina. I’ve never seen him lose his strength throughout any battles. Sypha can apparently use magic endlessly with no consequences. At least Alucard has the excuse of being half-vampire and is actually shown to be completely pummeled during his fight with Dracula. In fact, Dracula’s fight was the only thing that put into perspective how utterly outmatched these three were for the first time and even then, Alucard ended up fighting him alone despite announcing he has companions to help him this time.

This season has the problem of both being too long and too rushed. Too much time wasted on flashbacks and the Belmont library and the vampires’ discontent which wasn’t really shown or resolved in any satisfying way, too little time spent developing any of the characters and the trio’s new group dynamics (learning to work together and trust each other) and on Dracula’s plans. 

This season would’ve benefited from character exploration: have the trio stop and help a few villages or random people, introduce the new characters, start working in Carmilla’s schemes while also moving along with Dracula’s plans so he’s not just moping in his study all the time. Instead, this season tried to do everything at once and ended up doing a sloppy job.

As a result, in the space of only one night, Dracula is defeated. Dracula, who’s supposed to be incredibly powerful; the last boss.Now I’m worried about the future of this show. Without a final boss to overcome and test the limits and bonds of each character, this show runs the risk of being aimless. Sure, there’s loose ends such as Isaac and Carmilla, but I’ve seen what happened with Korra and the “villain of the season” and it didn’t work out so well because it didn’t present a united theme. Korra ended up being whatever the plot needed her to be and I’m worried this is going to be what happens to these characters. If Dracula was still on the table as the final boss, we could see the characters slowly working out their issues instead of having Sypha say “you’re better now!” at the end and Trevor just agreeing. It’s nice and it’s sweet, but it feels somewhat unearned since (and maybe I’m blind but) Trevor didn’t go through any trials or decisions to test his character (beyond the first season he reclaims his Belmont heritage and I really don’t think that’s enough to resolve all his other issues underneath) or go through any self-revelation that I can see beyond Alucard telling him to knock the shit out and decide what he wants to do when the monsters were barging in.

I would’ve loved an adventure to defeat Dracula where the trio thwarts off invasions, learn to travel with one another, try to come up with a plan with each other, meeting the generals and perhaps being outclassed by them and then having them become determined to be better, slowly learn about themselves and each other, helping each other out of their problems, sniffing out a whiff of Carmilla’s schemes, having her as the second to last boss enemy, and then finally, having everything accumulate to the moment they arrive at Dracula. But I suppose that’s only one way of doing things. The only way to find out where this story goes is in the next season and I’m hoping it’s not nearly as long-rushed as this one.

Still, for all my criticisms, I really enjoyed the fights. They were exciting, well-choreographed, and smooth. The emotional bits were done really well too. Dracula’s realization that he’s killing his own son was sorrowful, but what especially broke my heart was when Alucard sat down and finally processed everything that happened to his parents and to him and just broke down from it all.

I also started feeling worried for Hector because at this point, I know he loves animals and he is kind in his own way and seeing him chained up and forced to work as a slave for the woman who tricked him is kind of distressing. Given that humans hate him for his work and the vampires are going to treat him like a pet, Hector’s situation is rock bottom, to say the least.

Anyway, let’s see what happens season 3. Season 2 doesn’t exactly have me as hyped as season 1 got me for 2, but I’m cautiously excited to see where all this goes.

[robedisimo]

Black Panther [SPOILER-FREE REVIEW]

[Disclaimer: this review is based on the Italian dub of the film. As such, all opinions on the quality of dialogues and acting are subjective and partial.]

So, it’s been a while since my last review and, to be completely honest, I didn’t expect Marvel’s Black Panther to be a hard one to come back on. I went into this movie expecting to enjoy it thoroughly, and in many respects I did, just... not as much as I thought I would. To cut a long story short, I spent the better part of a week trying to make up my mind about whether I walked away from this movie impressed or disappointed. Here’s what I’ve got so far.

First of all, let’s address the mini-skirted elephant in the room: in more than just a few coincidental ways, Black Panther is a retread of last year’s Wonder Woman. Both films star characters who were introduced as supporting players in a previous movie, in both cases big tentpole cross-over films – Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War, respectively – revolving around a conflict between the two main figures within the respective mega-franchise universes. Both act as more self-contained tales, in terms of cross-franchise elements, than previous movies in their narrative universes, and both feature different but thematically contiguous settings in the shape of secluded, secretive, mythology-laden kingdoms ruled in utopian perfection by a fictional society reflective of one of America’s mistreated social minorities.

On the production side of things, both were surprisingly helmed by directors known for poignant, socially-involved projects – Monster’s Patty Jenkins and Fruitvale Station’s Ryan Coogler – and, on the promotional side, both sailed towards theatres on a wave of sheer hype, being hailed as the beginning of a new era for Hollywood blockbusters and propelled forwards by baffling headlines – born, I assume, either out of stunningly poor memory or else a frankly understandable wish to forget that Steel, Supergirl and Catwoman ever happened – about how they were the first female-led, or black-led, superhero movie ever made.

Neither film, it goes without saying, rises to meet those unrealistic expectations. Though entirely enjoyable in its own right, Wonder Woman was an uneven and ultimately formulaic film that tried to juggle too many things and be too many different movies at once, and Black Panther certainly falls into the same category to a lesser degree. Part James Bond instalment, part Lion King and in part also Thor rerun, what we got on our hands in the end was a fairly mundane genre flick with a number of highs but also a handful of lows.

The good: the film looks amazing. Where its DC equivalent was content with just a few opening minutes of generic pseudo-Greek utopia, Black Panther instead realises its fictional setting to a much deeper, richer degree, to often impressive results. The mythical kingdom of Wakanda is most definitely a kind of spectacle not before seen in theatres, a bold vision of African futurism that meshes hi-tech sci-fi with tribal spiritualism in oftern stunning fashion. Its setting is easily the film’s best aspect, brought to life on the shoulders of the great conceptual design work done by Marvel’s art team.

On top of that, Black Panther is energetic and well-acted, perhaps with less overt humour than most recent Marvel projects but certainly fast and action-y enough to satisfy genre fans. The story is emotional and poignant, and Michael B. Jordan definitely shines – although I feel a pang of white guilt in reporting that Andy Serkis, for once appearing with his own tribal mask of a face, steals away the trophy for most enjoyable performance in the film – as one of the MCU’s most complex theatrical villains to date... if not, like Cate Blanchett’s Hela before him, one that truly and definitively manages to buckle well-established Marvel villain trends.

The soundtrack – if a touch obtrusive at times – is another of the movie’s high points, way less hip-hop-heavy than trailers suggested and much more genuinely African in its tones and beats. For a film that’s obstensibly about identity, the fact that its visuals and acoustics come together to form such an original, easily-identifiable cinematic brand is certainly Coogler’s, and everyone behind him, greatest achievement here.

The bad: the film looks amazing, except when it doesn’t. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is definitely developing an overreliance on CGI lately, and even Black Panther’s rather sizeable budget can’t do much to distract from some of the film’s worst effects – no spoilers, but you’ll know when you see it – and its general overabundance of green-screen shenanigans, especially in the cliché-laden climax.

The action itself isn’t especially praise-worthy either, despite a couple brief highlights: much like in Creed, Coogler blows his best action scene midway through the film and it’s all downhill from there, with a few missed opportunities along the way. The film’s focus on hi-tech gadgets, for example, sort of fizzles out without much fanfare after a while, with the same two or three tricks being repeated throughout the movie.

Other issues may be found in certain aspects of pacing, although in that area your mileage may vary. Black Panther starts off a tad slow, and then unfolds as a series of self-contained vignettes that take too long to develop a coherent throughline. When the plot finally kicks in it works in fairly satisfactory fashion, but there’s one big twist that honestly could’ve been dropped earlier in the film’s generous runtime and, generally speaking, I feel that the script could’ve stood one more round of polishing.

So make no mistake: on my personal scale, as far as enjoyment of my theatrical experience is concerned, the verdict at the bottom of this review should not rise above ��MOSTLY POSITIVE”. It gets knocked up a peg for two specific reasons:

Black Panther’s impact on the American public is undeniable. In the United States, the film’s themes resonate in a way they simply can’t anywhere else, and as such this is the one Marvel movie that is perhaps the least designed for, and the least accessible to, foreign audiences... even if it is frankly quite mystifying that Wakanda’s core values would end up being framed in the context of the plight and struggle of people of colour in America, rather than pretty much anywhere in the surrounding African continent. Ultimately, I think, it’s not even a matter of said themes being satisfactorily addressed or resolved, and indeed Coogler’s film presents challenging ideas that are entirely unexpected from a superhero movie, but – partly because the script starts dealing with them too far into its runtime, as I mentioned – there’s not really the proper time for them to breather. Other critics have written that Black Panther is more interesting to think about than it is to actually watch, and I tend to agree: the ideas behind this movie are impressive, but their execution is not always the best. Despite that, Black Panther most definitely is an important film, at least in the here and now. Its missteps are easily overlooked in light of that, just as I imagine Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historical speeches would’ve still be commended for their convention-buckling message even if the reverend himself had been saddled with a comical stutter. This movie’s heart is in the right place, and it’s easy to see why that is being rewarded above all else.

From a purely technical standpoint, my viewing of this film was crippled by an adequate, and just adequate, Italian dub. I’m perfectly capable of recognising when a mediocre localisation gets in the way of a film’s original underlying richness and this was most certainly the case, with the whole English-language cast providing an array of diverse – and, I’m sure, memorable – performances, many of them in fictional African accents, that got “flattened” to an unvarying standard inflection in the version I got to see. At least in that respect, I expect a second home-video viewing in the original language to elevate my opinion of the performers’ work.

So in the end we’re left with a pretty tough question on our hands: is Black Panther a movie that exploits the genre to draw attention to relevant political themes, or one that exploits those political themes to justify its run-of-the-mill script? It is perhaps both, and that becomes a rather large problem when the film can’t make up its mind as to which of its two identities deserves its full commitment. Nonetheless, I’m eager to see how this franchise, and the larger Marvel machine whose gears grind around it, carry forward what’s been put in motion here. For the time being, Black Panther is perhaps not as good as it could’ve been... but even then, it seems to be good enough.

[Verdict: POSITIVE]

[remainseatedatalltimes]

And the decade ends with a...

So concludes another year, and with it, another decade as well.  Now, I wish I could sit here and reflect on what a game-changing, exhilarating and revolutionary year 2019 was in the world of cinema.  But I can’t.  In fact, in my 8 years of writing this one time annual blog, there has never been a year that was as insipid as this past year was.  So much so, that unlike in previous years where I have always started this blog highlighting some of the greats of the year that was, this year I’ve decided to start with the bottom of the barrel. But don’t fret, there are a few glasses of the good stuff left.  Not many, but a few.  

To set the scene, my least favourite film of 2019 is a movie (and no, it’s not the one you’re thinking of), that will likely go on to be nominated for several Academy Awards in just a few short weeks’ time.  And it should be nominated. There is plenty to praise about this film.  But incredible performances, stylish directing and a story centered around one of the most fascinating events in modern history does not always a good film make.  Not when it’s told in such an obnoxious, pretentious and self-indulgent way.  So, to kick things off, I present to you, my least favourite film of 2019 – Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

I should say straight off the bat that I am only a moderate fan of Quentin Tarantino’s work.  I love his film knowledge and his passion for making unique, and also highly nostalgic films.  But I’m also a firm believer that storytelling is at the heart of great cinema, and I often feel Tarantino sacrifices storytelling for brilliant, but often bloated camerawork and cinematography.

I had high hopes for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood however.  This was Tarantino working with an incredible cast, telling an original story set within one of Hollywood’s most infamous eras – and when the wonderfully retro and charming trailer dropped, I couldn’t have been more excited. This should have been the perfect canvas for Tarantino to shine.  

But instead, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a frustratingly tedious, hedonistic film that almost feels like it’s mocking its audience with its in-jokes and smarmy blurring of lines between real events and fiction.  In just shy of 3 hours, Tarantino essentially conveys 3 things: actors are self-doubting creatures that need constant re-assurance (no surprise); Hollywood is a game of relationships where not rocking the boat is paramount (again, no surprise – most industries are the same); and that shocking audiences is apparently very easy when you take a non-fiction story and completely change the ending (1 plus 1 equals 7).  I know what you’re thinking.  How can that possibly make for a near 3 hour film?  Well, I refer you back to Paragraph 2 of the Remain Seated At All Times Tumblr blog post titled “And the decade ends with a....”, where I stated that this film is “obnoxious, pretentious and self-indulgent”.  Just like that entire last sentence is superfluous…well…you get the point.

So to prove that moving on once you’ve made a point IS achievable, let me then proceed to the other atrocity of 2019:  Roadkill.  Sorry. I mean, Cats.

Now before anybody jumps up and down and complains that a movie that is – in fact – so much worse than Once Upon A Time In Hollywood isn’t my worst film of 2019, I offer you this one short piece of commentary.  Cats is the kind of epic, unequivocal, indescribable disaster that actually transcends awful into a place of almost fascination and reverence.  You know what I mean.  Like watching a YouTube video of someone mixing paint. You know it’s ridiculous to sit there and watch it – but you can’t look away.  You’re transfixed.  And I will take that over boring arrogance any day.

Cats is NOT boring.  It’s far from it.  Much like the musical that inspired it – which so happens to also be one of the worst musicals ever created – Cats is a bold, daring attempt to deliver something no one ever wanted to see.  Humans behaving like cats singing boring ballads.  Add to it an insipid score that needs serious remastering, awful special effects, and an enhanced story-line that makes zero sense (yes, I know, they’re dancing humans dressed as cats – why am I surprised by a ridiculous story-line?), and you have 90 minutes of sheer bewilderment.  The only saving grace:  Hopefully the movie has sufficiently taken the last of nine lives from this atrocious musical so that we never have to endure another performance – either in film, OR on stage.

So now that we’ve taken out the kitty litter, let’s look at some of the brighter sparks of 2019. Because, whilst there were actually NO films last year that I reviewed higher than 4-stars, there were still a few gems that warrant some attention.  These include last year’s Best Picture winner, Green Book; the dark and twisted take on one of DC’s greatest villains, Joker; the hilarious and earnest original whodunit, Knives Out; and the epic end to the greatest movie franchise in history, Avenger’s Endgame.

But taking the spot of my 3rd best film of the year was the latest film in the franchise that constantly delivers the impossible – a better film with each and every sequel.  In its simplest form, Toy Story 4 is a beautiful romantic comedy featuring two stand-out lead characters.  But whilst the lovely romance of Woody and Bo Peep take centre stage, it’s the gobsmackingly clever new characters including the show boater with no self-confidence – Duke Caboom– and my absolute favourite new character of 2019 (and spirit utensil) – Forky – that ultimately steal the show.  Pixar never ceases to amaze, and Toy Story 4 is no exception. The idea of creating a kids movie positioned around a romantic comedy, where a core character is made of trash, thinks of himself as nothing more, and needs to learn self-worth from scratch, is something truly extraordinary.  So thank you Pixar for giving me Forky.  A character that taught me so much, even at my age!

Speaking of education, slipping into 2nd place is Olivia Wildes glorious directorial debut – Booksmart.  This joyous, hilarious and utterly original coming of age story is spearheaded by stellar performances by its two leads.  But it’s the way the film manages to use its often absurd humour to elevate its very sincere reflection of growing up in today’s day and age that really set this film apart.  Booksmart continues the trend of unique, smart coming of age stories where young love is not the focus.  Instead, it simply heroes its two smart and strong female leads and showcases that there’s no one more important than your best friend.

And so we come to my favourite film of the year – although, favourite is probably not the best word to use given how uncomfortable I found this film to watch.   But it’s precisely that discomfort that elevates this harrowing and heartbreaking film to my number one spot.  That film:  Hotel Mumbai.

I understand that putting a dramatized version of a horrifying real-life event at the top of my list may seem odd – and for many reviewers, this movie felt exploitative. But I couldn’t disagree more.  For me, Hotel Mumbai deftly balances the fears and bravery of its protagonists with a dismaying reflection of the motivations (or often lack there of) of the terrorists.  Add to that some social commentary on the political failures that made the tragedy far worse, and you have an uncomfortable to watch, but ultimately poignant reflection of just one of recent history’s most horrifying incidents, and my number 1 film of 2019.

Now, to avoid ending this recap of 2019 on such a dire note, I should point out that there are a large number of additional films I feel should be included in this list including Roma and The Irishman.  However – given I don’t review movies I see outside of cinemas (how can I honestly review a film I watch on a plane the same way I do on a giant immersive screen), I’ve intentionally left these off the list.  Likewise, there’s a number of films I missed this year – including the well-reviewed Parasite, and the latest from the genius that is Taikia Waititi – Jojo Rabbit – that I feel would likely have been quite high up in my rankings had I seen them in cinemas earlier in the year.   Although, given Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was my least favourite film – and yet it just walked away with a Best Picture award at the Golden Globes – then perhaps not.  Which is probably why I shouldn’t give up my day job.  Call me old fashioned, but I like my movies to have a plot.  And a point.

But for now, that’s a wrap on 2019.  Lets home this new decade brings with it more reasons to return to a cinema near you.  See you next year!

[juggieheadcoopers-blog]

The Girl From the Journal (Pt 2)

Part 1

Surprise! I finished the second part to my soulmate AU! Sorry it took 62 years to finish. Enjoy!

A/N: In this AU, Riverdale is a much bigger city than it is in canon, so the Riverdale Register is much bigger as well. Also, shoutout to @birdlovesafish for giving me the idea for Betty’s nickname that Polly’s kids call her. Thanks, lovely!

–

Betty Cooper stumbled through the revolving glass doors of the tallest building in town, the Riverdale Register. Betty took a look around the recently renovated lobby, her eyes widening in awe at the pristine marble flooring and state of the art computers on every desk from the receptionist’s right in front of her, to the reporters’ in the back room. 

“May I help you?” The man standing behind the reception area asked in a nasally voice, his nose turning up to the tall ceiling at the sight of Betty and her too-tight ponytail and wrinkled baby blue skirt clumsily sliding her way across the recently mopped wet floor. 

“Yes! I’m looking for a Mr. Jones,” she explained once she had made her way safely over to him, holding onto the counter tightly with one hand and smoothing down her blouse with the other. “Um, he left something of his at my sister’s cafe this morning and I’m here to return it.” 

“Do you have a name?” the man wanted to know, glancing down at his computer briefly to check something before flicking his eyes back up in her direction impatiently. 

“Uh, I do. But whatever name you give him won’t mean anything to him,” Betty informed him, her words coming out rushed and jumbled as she scrambled to explain herself. “He doesn’t actually know me - I mean apparently he writes about me, but he’s never met me. Well technically he met me this morning, but it was only briefly and I don’t think he really even looked me in the eye or-”

“Rambling crazy lady with a journal,” the man spat, cutting her off and eyeing her with a look of annoyance as he picked up the phone on the counter to punch in a number. “That’ll be enough of a description for him, thanks.” 

“Rude,” Betty muttered under her breath, backing away from the desk and rubbing her arms up and down uncomfortably as she waited for the receptionist to make his phone call. 

“He’ll be down in a moment,” he told her. “Try not to touch anything while you’re waiting. In fact, try not to even look at anything breakable until Mr. Jones arrives.” 

“Well okay then,” Betty mumbled, making her way over to the wall on the opposite side of the reception area where she found row after row of noteworthy articles from past news editions, framed and polished for the entire office to read. 

Betty scanned the wall, taking in title after title until one particularly lengthy column that sat at the very end, nearest to the staircase, caught her eye. It was written by the very man of whose journal she was lugging around in her purse, and as curiosity got the better of her, she began reading until she was completely immersed in his words, just as she had been when she was reading his journal. 

 “Wow, he’s good,” she breathed, staring at the article in awe, feeling completely captivated by this stranger’s thoughts on the boycott at the local theater a few months back. 

“I hated that article.” 

A voice coming from behind Betty startled her into shuffling backwards, nearly knocking a ceramic vase off the shelf hanging on the back wall. She turned to find the man she had seen at the cafe that morning descending the stairs, the beanie he was wearing earlier now absent from his head, leaving him with a thick head of dark hair that Betty thought suited his features very nicely. 

“I sat outside that theater for sixteen hours waiting to talk to some C-list celebrity who supposedly organized the entire event and who, turns out, had no idea what he was even boycotting,” Jughead explained as he took the few steps to stand beside her, his eyes focused on the wall in front of them. 

“Well apparently it was good enough to make the wall,” Betty pointed out, turning on her heel to gesture to the framed articles laid out before them. “Looks like you have a lot of wall-worthy articles.”

“Yeah,” Jughead muttered, his expression distant as he finally turned to meet her gaze. “So what’s this I hear about a crazy lady and a journal?”

“Right! First of all, not crazy,” Betty began, turning back to glare at the smug receptionist with as much disdain as she could muster. “Well, I mean I might be crazy. I lied to you. I’m not here to give you back your journal - well I am, but I think that we should talk about it first - not in a weird way or anything. I just think that-”

“I’m hoping that there’s a ‘second of all’ amidst all that… whatever that was,” Jughead teased, quirking an amused eyebrow in her direction as he gestured back towards the receptionist polishing the counter with his coat sleeve. “Because I’m really starting to see what Matthew was saying about your tendency to ramble in long strides now.” 

“Second of all,” Betty said with mock-annoyance, stepping forward to shove the leather-bound book into his chest. “Here’s your journal.” 

Jughead took the journal from Betty, their fingers brushing ever-so-slightly and lingering atop the front cover for just a split second. To anyone watching from the outside looking in, it would have looked like an accidental encounter - nothing more than a meaningless touch from two strangers. But they felt it in their fingertips - that electricity that clued them into the idea that maybe this was more than a coincidence. Maybe this was fate. 

“Uh,” Jughead blinked as Betty quickly drew her hand away from the journal, shaking his head as a way to snap himself out of his trance. “Thanks for returning it. I rarely go anywhere without this thing, so it would have been a tragedy of monumental proportions if I had lost it.” 

“No problem,” Betty smiled shyly, backing away from Jughead and crossing the room to fiddle with the vase she had almost knocked over that was sitting on one of the shelves hanging on the back wall. “It’s really beautiful by the way. The journal itself I mean, not the writing. Not that I’ve read you’re writing - other than the article on the wallI mean! But I’m sure that if I did read it, it would be beautiful too I just-”

“You definitely read it,” Jughead concluded, smirking knowingly at the flustered look creeping onto the pinks of her cheeks as he resisted the urge to burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

“Yeah, I really did,” Betty admitted, biting her bottom lip nervously as she turned back to meet his gaze with a look of guilt plastered on her face. 

“So if that’s what you wanted to talk about,” he muttered, taking a few steps along the shiny marble floor to meet her in front of the shelves with a smug grin. “Don’t let me stop you.” 

“The girl you write about in the journal,” Betty began, the cautious tone to her voice causing Jughead’s eyes to shimmer slightly with amusement. “Is she real?”

“I’ve been writing about her since I was sixteen,” Jughead explained, his eyes flicking down to scan the picked-at leather on the book he still was clutching in his hands. “But I’ve been dreaming about her long before that. I can picture her in my mind, but I never actually see her face. It’s mostly just lines and faint hues of color but what stands out - what makes her real to me - is her presence. So poignant and vibrant and beautiful. But to answer your question, no she’s not a real person. I’ve never met her. I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t think a woman like her could ever really exist.” 

“I mean she could,” Betty said slowly, her brows drawing together in annoyance at the skeptical tone to his voice. “There are people all over the world with those qualities. You could have passed her in the street and not have even known it. In fact, she could be in this very building right now and you could be missing the opportunity to tell her and show her everything you’ve written in that journal.” 

“I don’t think so,” Jughead said confidently, although there was a faint line at the corners of his lips that gave the impression that he didn’t truly believe the words he was saying. “Like I said, I’ve been writing and creating her character with my own words for so long - I would have known if I had crossed her path.” 

“I just think you’re too quick to assume that your mystery journal woman is just a fantasy,” Betty shot back, her hands moving to her hips as she hurried to follow him as he made his way towards the elevators. “In fact, I find it pretty presumptuous of you to assume that you’re talented enough to create such a dynamically strong person with just your words alone.” 

“Is it now?” 

“Yes,” Betty spat, her arms flying into the air dramatically as she resisted the urge to rub the smug grin off his face with the elbow of her rose-colored cardigan. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a room full of energetically frustrated third graders to teach so - you’ve got your journal back. Goodbye, Mr. Jones. I hope you and the girl from the journal have a wonderful life together on pen and paper.” 

With the swing of her slicked back ponytail, Betty spun around to march away from the man in the expensive-looking suit and fancy briefcase, her small hands pulled into tight fists as she tried to control her breathing. 

“Ms. Cooper?” 

“What?” Betty quickly turned around to meet his amused gaze with a look of fuming aggravation, her sensible loafers skidding to a stop so suddenly that she was sure that they would leave a scuff on the pristine floor. 

“The exit is that way,” Jughead pointed in the opposite direction, his smirk still evident on his lips as he tried his best to hide the amusement that was bursting through every pore. 

“I knew that,” Betty muttered, pulling on the hem of her white blouse and stomping her way to the front of the newsroom’s main entrance. 

As he watched her shuffle her way out of the building, throwing a menacing glare in the rude receptionist’s direction before pushing through the glass doors and stepping out onto the bustling streets of Downtown Riverdale, Jughead couldn’t help but smile faintly to himself as he clutched the worn leather journal in his fist. Bringing it up to rest in front of his chest, he flipped it to the very last page, grateful that Betty had only thought to read the first few entries. 

Her golden hair may have resembled that of an angel’s glowing halo, immaculate and knowing not of anger or malice, but the fire in her eyes as she flicked her chin up and away from his playful gaze revealed the secret that she had kept locked away in the confines of the very darkest parts of her. She was more than just a kindhearted school teacher from the very heart of suburbia - she was a rebellious warrior that wouldn’t stand for mistreatment or judgments of any kind. The boy knew, as he followed her swinging ponytail and swaying hips out of the towering glass building, that he was going to have a tangling mess of a time attempting to exist in the same world as her. But it was going to be a thrilling whirlwind of a time trying.

Jughead closed the journal, tucking it beneath his arm as he turned on his heel to head back in the direction of the elevators. 

“Exactly what I thought she’d be like,” he whispered to himself once the doors had opened, leaning forward to press the button that would send him to the fourth floor. Thinking back to the day he had written that entry over a week ago, he was still completely in awe with the accuracy of his words and how they had matched the real-life encounter precisely. As the doors closed, Jughead wondered what he was going to write next, and if it would ever measure up to the feeling he got when he was in the same room with the real Betty Cooper. 

–

“He’s unbelievable, Pol,” Betty mumbled into her bowl of ice cream, adjusting her position on the stool and glancing up to meet her sister’s gaze. “I swear I’ve never seen someone so pompously in love with his own writing before, it was insane.” 

“From what you’ve told me, it sounds like he just confirmed that the girl he was writing about in his journal wasn’t a real person,” Polly admitted, bending down to pick up a clean spoon from underneath the counter and helping herself to Betty’s sundae. “And it sounds like your anger stems from the fact that he wasn’t actually writing about you.”

“So not true,” Betty denied the accusation through a mouthful of vanilla ice cream and rainbow sprinkles, pushing the bowl across the counter and frowning. “This sundae doesn’t have enough chocolate syrup.” 

“What’s the matter, Betty?” Polly quirked an amused eyebrow at her sister. “The ice cream not bitter enough for you?”

“I am not bitter,” Betty gasped, narrowing her eyes at her sister as she reached forward to swipe at her arm with the back of her hand. 

“You might wanna tell our class that, Bebby,” Betty’s niece, Jenny, hopped onto the stool next to her, reaching across the counter to pick up the spoon that she had just abandoned and shoveling a scoop of sundae into her mouth. Betty smiled faintly at the nickname that Jenny and her twin brother JJ had given her when they were two and couldn’t say their t’s correctly, secretly grateful that it had stuck so that she could revel in the fond memories she had of them when they were babies every time they said her name. “Our morning work today was to create a short story around a character based on someone we know in real life and to ‘not assume that our characters are the end all be all of literary genius that the world was lacking until we picked up a pen and put it to paper.’“ 

“Elizabeth Cooper,” Polly’s mouth dropped open as she pulled the bowl of ice cream away from her daughter, eliciting a disapproving pout to form on her lips as she leaned back in her stool. “You’re telling me that I’m sending my kids to school to be taught by some sourpuss teacher who can’t separate her personal life from her job?”

“It wasn’t my finest teaching moment,” Betty admitted, turning in her seat to place a hand on either side of Jenny’s smooth cheeks. “But that was privileged niece-auntie information, little miss. You’re making me consider asking Principal McCoy if I can have your brother in my class instead of you.” 

“You wish you had the better twin,” JJ told her as he sauntered his way over to his family from the back of the room. “But we can’t all be that lucky.” 

“JJ, go back to the loser’s section of the cafe where you belong,” Jenny teased her brother, her long red hair nearly smacking him in the face as she swiveled her stool around to face him. “Girl talk doesn’t involve boys who can’t remember to shower everyday like a normal human being.” 

“At least I don’t have bad breath,” JJ shot back, warranting Jenny to stick her tongue out at him in protest and for JJ to tug on the bottom of her ponytail. 

“Enough you two,” Polly intervened, nodding to the storage room with a flick of her chin. “Go get your stuff, your Dad is going to be here any minute to pick you up and Aunt Bebby and I aren’t finished with our conversation.” 

“I think you should just talk to him,” Jenny told Betty as she hopped off the stool, placing a small hand on her cotton-covered shoulder and shrugging. “Grandma Alice says that boys who play hard to get are really just hiding something that they’re too afraid to show the rest of the world.” 

Betty pulled her niece into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head before pulling back to smile down at her with a dumbfounded look on her face. “Are you sure you’re only nine?” 

“I have a complex insight into the perils and tribulations of the world for a kid my age,” Jenny shrugged, pushing off on the edge of the counter and turning to join her brother at the other end of the cafe. 

Both sisters turned to look at the pint-sized beauty with wide eyes, her fair skin and flaming red hair resembling her father’s own twin sister more and more each day. “Get out of here, you little rugrat,” Polly ushered her daughter to the back of the room and leaned across the counter to meet Betty’s gaze. “She’s right you know. If you’re so sure that his journal was written about you, I think you should tell him that. He might think you’re insane and suggest I send you to a mental institution in the end. But it’s worth a shot, you know?” 

“I don’t know, Polly,” Betty mumbled uncertainly. “What if I don’t measure up to the girl in the journal? He already said that he doesn’t think she could exist. How could I live up to those kinds of standards?” 

“You don’t have to live up to any standards,” Polly reminded her, coming around the counter to place a hand on either side of Betty’s shoulders. “You’re my sister and if he doesn’t like you for exactly who you are, regardless of what he wrote in that silly journal of his, then he’s not worth your time. In fact, send him to me and I’ll teach him a thing or two about messing with my little sister.” 

“Thanks, Pol,” Betty gave her sister a grateful smile, squeezing her arm reassuringly as she fiddled with a chipped piece of wood on the countertop with her other hand. 

“You really believe that you have a connection to him?” Polly asked, reaching up on her tiptoes to retrieve the chocolate syrup from the top shelf and setting it on the surface in front of Betty. “You really think you guys could have been writing about each other for all those years even though you’ve never met until this morning?”

“I feel it,” Betty said confidently, lifting the syrup container and squeezing the sugary liquid onto the semi-melted ice cream until the frozen treat was completely coated in chocolate. “I know that sounds crazy and I know it doesn’t make sense, but I think that we were writing about each other’s lives so that we could eventually find each other and-”

“And what?” 

“I don’t know yet,” Betty admitted. “But I guess I’ll find out when I talk to him.” 

The ‘ding’ coming from front of the cafe caused Polly’s head to snap up, watching with wide eyes as the customer who had just walked through the door turned the corner to head to his usual booth. “Well you might want to figure it out soon,” Polly told her, pointing to the raven-haired man sliding into his seat in front of her. “Because he just walked into the cafe.” 

Betty followed her gaze to find Jughead Jones pulling that same leather-bound journal out of his messenger bag, placing it delicately on the counter as he reached for the menu resting on the table beside him. 

“Wish me luck,” Betty mumbled to her sister, jumping off the stool and straightening out her slightly-wrinkled blouse with a quick tug of her hand. 

“Luck,” Polly told her, giving her a lopsided smile as she watched her sister march her way over to the boy sitting in the booth. 

Betty took a deep breath and navigated her way through the dining area, nearly knocking over a petite waitress carrying a tray full of coffees and tripping over a slightly-too-pulled-out chair before stepping in front of the booth with a look of determination. 

“Elizabeth Cooper,” Jughead greeted her without looking up from the menu to meet her gaze with that same amused grin. “Come to snoop through my journal and call me names again or did we think up a new tactic this time around?”

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” Betty demanded, willing herself to stay focused and to not get swept up by the way his hair fell elegantly over his eyes or how his lips did a deliciously attractive twitching motion when he was restraining himself from smiling up at her. “We need to talk.”

“What could we possibly have to talk about?” Jughead asked innocently, his hand resting on the journal sitting on the table next to him, causing Betty to narrow her eyes at him suspiciously. 

"I think the girl that you’ve been writing about is real,” Betty admitted, her heart pounding wildly in her chest as she mustered up the courage to say what she had been feeling since she had found the journal earlier that morning. “And I think that I’m her.”

Jughead’s head lifted slightly to meet her eyes for the first time since she had walked over to his booth. “Have a seat, Betty,” he said calmly, his expression remaining neutral as he gestured to the other side of the booth with one hand. “I guess we have more to talk about than I thought.”

[angelofdirewolves]

Underneath the Stars Playlist

This is a playlist of songs that I listened to when writing this story, or that have special meaning in regards to the characters. Apologies for length despite that it’s only songs long, because I got very meta-y in compiling this and quoting the songs and explaining why they fit. Spoilers for the entire fic are present in the meta paragraphs, and links to each song are embedded in the name.

Songs Mentioned in Fic:

Light on the Horizon by determamfidd “There’s a light on the horizon, there’s a ship upon the sea, now the world is so much wider, for you wander it with me.” This song is one of many that was written, composed, and performed by the author of the absolutely stunning LoTR fanfic Sansúkh. Sansúkh is a story about family and healing and what it means to forgive yourself and to forgive others, even if it is too late, thus making it extremely fitting for the end of this story, because all of them need to learn to forgive each other, to heal the breaches that time has wrought, and nothing exemplifies that better than this fic, and no song promises that better future than Light on the Horizon.

The Star Cycle: A series of three songs that are all based on the stars, not an official term, just one coined by me for the fic, because Aoife would have little playlists of three or four songs and call them pretentious names, mostly created when she was a child with Amanda.

Underneath the Stars by Kate Rusby. “Underneath the stars you met me, underneath the stars you left me … they come and go of their own free will, go gently.” Jenny’s favorite song of the Star Cycle, and the titular song of the fic. While Jenny adored this song long before the events of this fic, it becomes especially poignant once Aoife abandons her to go complete the Kolavar. The song speaks of being abandoned by one who loves you for your own good, and about someone who has no friends but the stars. It rings painfully true both before and after the events of this story.

All the Stars by the Wailin Jennys “All the Stars in the sky say goodbye say goodbye, we were here yesterday now it seems so far away … oh you don’t know me, you know one side of the story.” Keith’s favorite song of the Star Cycle. Again, this becomes very poignant when Keith is on earth, because no one can truly know him there, and he has no one but Shiro, and even he leaves to go to Kerberos eventually. Even into canon, no one really knows him because he keeps shut about his relationship to Zarkon, and to Aoife and Jenny because he’s always been trained to keep quiet about that, even with people who he’s supposed to trust, and trusting is still a difficult concept for him.

Starlight by the Wailin Jennys “I have come back to you broken, take me home … kingdom come their will was done, and now the earth is far away from any kind of heaven, take us home.” Aoife’s favorite song of the Star Cycle and the song Jenny was singing when Shiro found her. Aoife has always internalized her relationship with Zarkon and Lotor and Haggar more than Keith has, and Jenny is the only other one that comes close. She was raised in part by them, and if not for the interference of her mother, she would have thought that the way they were raising her, to be the unbreakable face of the empire was the way things always were, the only way things could be. The only thing that she doesn’t like about this song is a line about the singer being in need of mercy, because she doesn’t feel that she deserves mercy for anything she has done.

Ave Maria by Kevin Memley “Ave Maria, gratia plena (translated) Hail Mary Full of Grace.” This song is rerecorded by Aoife to be Ave Amanda, because she reveres her mother in a way that elevates her almost to sainthood. Also rings true because due to science, Amanda does not have children in the normal way- Aoife enjoys those particular coincidences. Jana’s name also means Grace, and Amanda was the one that named her, so there’s also that connection.

Aoife’s Songs:

Uneven Odds by Sleeping at Last “I once knew your father well. … As your guardian I was instructed well, to make sense of their love in these fires of hell.” Aoife’s song for Keith and Jenny, because she was the one that raised them all on her own from the time that she was fifteen, still half a child herself. She loves Keith and Jenny with everything that she has, but sometimes that isn’t enough, because she knows that Keith deserves Amanda, and she knows that sometimes she can’t even look at Jenny without thinking about the trauma Aoife suffered at the hands of Jenny’s unknown father. So she sees herself both as the guardian and as the fires of hell for them both.

Sun by Sleeping at Last “We are the dust of dust, the apple of God’s eye. … We are infinite as the universe you hold inside. … let there be light let me be right.” Aoife was Zarkon’s beloved granddaughter, and he was the closest thing to a god that exists for the majority of the universe. She was also Haggar’s niece and protégé. Aoife is the most powerful manipulator of the fabric of universe ever recorded by the druids and ‘taught’ by the next most powerful quintessence user. She’s constantly hoping that she is the one that is right, the one that will prevail against these two night divine beings.

Third Eye by Florence and the Machine “That original lifeline. … There’s a whole where your heart lies and I can see it with my third eye, and my touch it magnifies… I’m the same, I’m the same, I’m trying to change.” In the battle that kills Zarkon, Aoife loses Thace, who she’s been bonded with at the brain since they were children, as seen in the interludes, the person that kept her alive by his mental support after the death of her mother, and he’s gone, so she gets much, much worse, which leads her to the Kolavar. At the end of the story, coming out of the healing pod into Keith and Jana’s arms, Aoife recognizes how much she has hurt her children by her actions and her lessons. She has a lot of amends to make, and she’s trying to change, but it’s a difficult process that will take time and a lot of effort, and not a few relapses. But she’s trying, and for now, that’s enough.

Jenny’s Songs:

North by Sleeping at Last “We will call this place our home … We’ll tell our stories on these walls … We call this fixer upper home.” Jenny’s main issue beyond her family, is that she never had a place to call home. They never stayed anywhere more than a few days, a few weeks if she was lucky. The closest thing to a permanent home she had was the ship Aoife stole when she escaped, and while that was where she lived, it wasn’t home, because it was so incredibly small and so confining to all of them. Once they landed on a new planet the basic way it went was to leave the ship and stay outside it as long as they could before they had to leave again. Jenny knows every piece of the machinery, but it wasn’t her home. Aoife had a home for six to fourteen years, and Keith (from her viewpoint) had a home for five years, but Jenny has never had one and feels that loss keenly.

Pluto by Sleeping at Last “I leaned in and let it hurt, let my body feel the dirt. … Show me where my armor ends, show me where my skin begins.” Jenny  right as she starts to fight with Keith. She’s been strong for so very long, her whole life. Repressing her anger towards her mother, repressing her anger towards Keith, and when Keith said everything would go back to the way it was she just snapped and let all those walls she built over her life down. She loves her mother, loves her little uncle, but she had to wear armor to be around them, after those five years of Aoife’s grief, and Keith not being there. She doesn’t quite know where her love for them and her anger for them meet, but with time and a thousand apologies and honest open conversation, facilitated by Coran, she will be able to get there, eventually.

Queen of Peace by Florence and the Machine “Oh the King gone mad within his suffering … And now you have me on the run, the damage is already done … like a boat into oblivion because you’re driving me away.” For Jenny after Keith ‘died’ this was her life, Aoife gone mad because of his loss, and damaging her daughter in her wake. She’s asking Aoife if this is what she wanted. The fact that Light on the Horizon at the end of the story mentions there being a ship upon the sea indicated that the love between them has been drawn back from oblivion, but not quite to solid land yet.

Keith’s Songs:

East by Sleeping at Last “I set out to rule the world … so I draw my sword with the morning sun… I bear little resemblance to the king I once was, I bear little resemblance to the king I could become, maybe paper is paper, maybe kids will be kids.” Even though Keith was the younger sibling, he was the second in line to the imperial throne right after Lotor. Jenny was after him, then Haggar, and then Aoife after her, because Druids are automatically placed at the bottom of the line of inheritance because it’s more important to the Galra that they serve the Ladies first and then the clan. So Keith always knew, even though he wasn’t living with the Galra that he was in the line to rule the Galaxy, and when he was a little toddler he thought that was awesome, but as he grew up and realized the damage that the Galra Empire did, he went nope away from the thought. And now he’s a member of Voltron, and entity that while not ruling the Universe, is going to rebuild it, which is a different type of ‘kingship’ than what he idolized as a kid, but is more suited to the realities of the universe as it is.

Mercury by Sleeping at Last “In a holding pattern to find myself, … I’ll go anywhere you want, anywhere you want me. … to know the worth of my life made of precious metals.” Keith basically stifled on Earth for five years because he was desperate to know where Amanda came from, because he didn’t worship her the way Aoife did, but he needed to know about who she was where she came from, if she could have ever loved him. The precious metals line and the fact that his made-up-by-necessity last name means gold is just a bonus.

Which Witch by Florence and the Machine “I’ve had enough, it’s obvious, and I’m getting tired of crawling all the way … been in the dark since the day we met, fire help me to forget.” Keith is actually, genuinely surprised that he wasn’t recognized by anyone before Jenny. Allura and Coran he can let slide as they were asleep while Amanda and Aoife were in the universe, but everyone else? The Olkari and the Taujeeri, and the Galra, and the Balmerans? Amanda was well popularized, she went to events at Zarkon’s and Lotor’s sides and was praised as mother to the next generation of the empire, and Keith looks scarily like Amanda. He’s fairly sure that Zarkon recognized him when they fought while the others were rescuing Allura, when he started the taunting about ‘you fight like a Galra soldier’, to which Keith was internally like, ‘DUH of COURSE, because I was ENGINEERED THIS WAY TO YOUR SPECIFICATIONS’ while he wasn’t terrified out of his mind. Zarkon and Lotor and Haggar have been a shadow over him for his entire life, and he’s ready to cast them off and cast them away.

Miscellaneous Songs:

Why We Build The Wall? By Anais Mitchell This song doesn’t get a quote, because if I started quoting it I’d never stop. This describes perfectly the mentality of the Galra Empire, their teaching strategies, call and response echoing back ten thousand years, so that the ones in charge don’t even need to give the answer, because it’s so ingrained into their subjects. Jenny will listen to this and cry whenever she’s feeling particularly maudlin over her family.

Leave my Body by Florence and the Machine “I don’t want no future, I don’t need no past, one bright moment is all I ask. I’m going to leave my body, I’m gonna lose my mind. (Moving up to higher ground.)” The inspiration behind the Kolavar ritual in song format. The total subjugation of your past, any chance at a future, for one moment of judgement. Ignoring the needs of the body and becoming lost in your mind for weeks beforehand.

Daughter of Heaven by Kate Rusby “Oh Daughter of Heaven, oh daughter of now, the stars are your jewels, the rubies your crown, we all stand in awe of your right to astound, she’s gone to a new place now” This is the way that the universe as a whole sees Allelee and Aoife. Allelee as the daughter of traitor Altea, saved by her love for the Galra King-turned-Emperor. Aoife as the granddaughter of that same Emperor. They ultimately wind up leaving the reach of the Empire, Allelee through death, and Aoife though escaping into the border lands and never leaving it. Also Zarkon called Aoife his jewel, and she wore rubies as part of her ceremonial dress, as Allelee did. (They went surprisingly well with her hair, which was more of a red orange, than her little brother’s neon orange.)

Only if For a Night by Florence and the Machine “My body was bruised and I was set alight, … and although I was burning, you’re the only light, only if for a night.” This is Aoife and Thace in a nutshell. They’re each other’s light, each other’s source of hope, of sanity in a world gone mad at the whim of a family of dictators. They were tied together by a mental bond, one that wasn’t romantic, but was in the process of developing in that direction before it was interrupted by Haggar and then by Aoife’s pregnancy. They only saw each other in the flesh twice after Aoife ran away from her family, once before Lotor caught Aoife and once after, which marked the turning point in her use of illusions of Keith, only for a day and a night each time, because Aoife could never stay in the same place, and Thace had two opposing masters who he could almost never flee from. Thace would have sent her an apology through the bond before he died in the season 2 finale, and Aoife screamed and then went silent, though her mind was never silent, it was just a wail of anguish until she could speak to Jenny again.

[noisylibrary]

KANYE WEST ALBUMS RANKED WORST TO BEST (according to me) 

It's no secret: he's one of the best to ever do it, and today he turns 40. Considering a few notable publications have put in their two sense and have made lists ranking his albums from worst to best, I thought I would do the same. So without further ado, Happy 40th Birthday Kanye West and here is my list of Kanye's albums ranked worst to best (excluding Cruel Summer. Sorry.) (Keep in mind, this is my personal opinion, obviously.) 

Life of Pablo 

Yeezus 

Watch The Throne 

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

808's and Heartbreak 

Graduation 

Late Registration 

College Dropout 

8. Watch The Throne - Obviously, I couldn't go without mentioning this album, but to be honest, after revisiting it, a lot of songs on here did not age all that well. It has a few great songs ("Gotta Have It", "Otis", Murder to Excellence") It has some pretty interesting ideas ("No Church in the Wild") but painfully corny tracks like "Who Gon' Stop Me?" and "Why I Love You" take this album's quality down multiple notches. And "That's My Bitch"? Really? BEST SONGS: Gotta Have It, Otis, Murder to Excellence (sorry, N****s in Paris is so overplayed that I don't enjoy it that much anymore, and I wasn't even a huge fan of it, to begin with). 

7. Life of Pablo - As far as I'm concerned, this is Kanye's worst solo album. But, even on the album that I think is his weakest, there are shining moments. Songs like "No More Parties in L.A." and "Feedback" proved that Kanye was still versatile and could hop on a plethora of different beats. And of course, "Ultra Light Beam" will probably go down as one of the best Kanye songs, period. However, "Father Stretch My Hands", "Wolves", "Fade" and "Facts" kind of kill the consistency, in my opinion. BEST SONGS: Ultra Light Beam, Highlights, Famous, Feedback 

6. Graduation - Graduation will always have a soft spot in my heart, as it was really my first true exposure to Kanye (I was 10 at the time of it's release). And even though I can acknowledge that this album has all too many traces of the 2000s, I will continue to love songs like "Good Life" and "Homecoming" for a long time to come. However, it just doesn't hold up as well compared to it's predecessors, and songs like "Drunk and Hot Girls" and "Everything I Am" are forgettable, to say the least. BEST SONGS: Good Morning, Champion, Stronger, Can't Tell Me Nothing, Homecoming 

5. Yeezus - This album is SOOOO overrated, I'm sorry. Which is kind of sad, because ignoring all the over-the-top praise this album receives from fans, it's a really solid album. The stellar single "New Slaves" is aggressive and undeniably eerie, as is "Blood on the Leaves". Then there are more intimate tracks, like the personal favourite of mine "Hold My Liquor", brings together the unlikely pairing of Chief Keef and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon for a really dynamic, well-written song. Still though, "On Sight" and "I Am a God" are pretty disappointing as far as industrial hip/hop goes, and "Guilt Trip" and "Send it Up" are just painfully boring songs. Thankfully, "Bound 2" closes everything out smoothly, and I can't help but continue to return to the best songs here, even if I find myself skipping over a few of them. BEST SONGS: New Slaves, Hold My Liquor, I'm In It, Blood on the Leaves, Bound 2 

4. 808's and Heartbreak - This was the album I was most excited to return to, mainly because the sound that Kanye was experimenting with on this album ended up becoming ridiculously influential just a few years later. It made sense at the time why this album was so polarizing, but Kanye took a crazy amount of risk on this album, and for the most part, they pay off. This album is sad, it's mellow, and it's very well produced (of course). I can understand why people who are fans of Kanye's rapping and his knack for sampling b=might be put off by this album's synthetic properties, but I think it's a solid listen from front to back. 

3. College Dropout - Where it all began; Kanye's debut still stands of one of the best debut's in rap. Conceptual, loaded with personal, yet hilarious and likeable lyrics, and phenomenal production all packed into over an hour of material across 21 tracks. The ambition that Kanye displayed with this album was so fresh and commendable, as he was able to justify its length with catchy, well-written songs. The poignant, often funny song topics are just so much fun, from "New Workout Plan" to "School Spirit" to the still creative and mind-blowing "Through the Wire". While it isn't my favourite of his, there isn't really much I would change about this album (honestly "Breathe In Breathe Out" is probably my least favourite song, just because Ludacris sounds just that on this song, but still. Decent track). BEST SONGS: We Don't Care, All Falls Down, Spaceship, Jesus Walks, The New Workout Plan, School Spirit, Two Words, Through the Wire, Last Call 

2. Late Registration - Honestly, the toughest decision for me while making this list was putting this 2nd, because it is easily one of the grandest statements in hip/hop. Only onto his second album, Kanye took the themes of his debut and elevated them to a cinematic level. The instrumentals are grander, the concept more refined and direct, and the Kanye is on point track after track, constantly outshining the numerous guest features without making them feel too inferior. "Roses" is a heartbreaking story about his grandmother, "Gold Digger" tells about a lady who's only sleeping with him for his cash, and "Hey Mama" is one of the best tribute songs I have ever heard. "Gone" has two of the best features on the album, with Cam'ron and Consequence joining Ye, the latter of which brings some clever wordplay to tell a heartbreaking tale. Also, can't forget closing song "Late" which is a personal favourite of mine from any Kanye album, and one of the best closing songs on any rap album. That's just 5 of 22 songs on this album; to this day, the album has not lost any of its grandiosity, and it will continue to be incredibly influential for years to come. 

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - I know I said the decision was tough to put this ahead of Late Registration, but at the same time, I was pretty sure this would be my number one spot when I started this list. After a very polarizing album and some not-so-classy public outbursts, Kanye came back in 2010 to prove once and for all why he would go down as one of the best to ever do it. This is Kanye's Citizen Kane; a young, trouble-making artist dropping a masterpiece seemingly out of thin air. Kanye has gone on record to say that he spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours on each song from this project, and it shows in its sound. These songs are towering, in their sound and their lyrical content. It's easily one of the biggest statements ever made in the genre. Nicki Minaj of all people kicks off "Dark Fantasy" as if we are about to partake in some kind of fairy-tale and the title of the album immediately becomes clear. This song also contains some excellent wordplay and is oh-so dreamy in it's instrumental. "Power" remains one of the most monstrous hip/hop songs of the decade, and uses an incredible King Crimson sample. "Runaway"'s hauntingly simple piano and the personal, self-deprecating lyrics are a major highlight. The album ends with a slow, modest applause as if the whole record was some elaborate stage-play, but few people are heard, perhaps because the rest of the audience is just staring in awe. Bottom line, this album is incredible, though I'm sure most of you know that already. BEST SONGS: Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous, Power, Power, All of the Lights, Monster, Devil in a New Dress, Runaway, Lost in the World, Who Will Survive in America

[dothewrite]

Ringleaders - Prologue.

Here is the original ask for this prompt. Here is the announcement for this project!

Chapter One. Chapter Two.

‘HOW BLIND ARE YOU? HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY SEE? IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AT SOMETHING OTHER THAN A POLITICIAN’S ARSE AND YOUR EMPTY POCKETS, GOOGLE US AT ‘YOUTH AGENDA’. WE’LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT’S LIKE PAST THE RABBIT HOLE.’

It’s quite a long catchphrase, but Kuroo knows that the very point is that they’re not trying to sell anything. Anyone who doesn’t take the time to read through the whole thing on the obscenely large billboard probably wouldn’t be what they were looking for, and all in all, he thinks it’s an effective message to those who’re searching for something new in their lives. Something different; something just like what’s past the figurative rabbit hole.

Of course, there isn’t a rabbit hole. There’s only the box that people like to wear about their heads, cover their ears and peer through the little cut-out slits in the cardboard and pretend that just because there’s built in elevator music in that helmet of theirs that everything’s fine.

He kicks a pebble to the side and watches it fall into the water beside him with an unceremonious plop. No skips, no fancy ripples, just a rock sinking to the bottom of the harbor because someone kicked it halfheartedly with their foot. It’s an almost philosophically stupid wonder how some people can expect to soar through the skies with just a simple nudge, too complacent to even throw their arm back to toss the stone.

“Oi, you there,” Kuroo swivels his head around at the voice, fingers still rubbing against each other in the warmth of his coat pockets. It’s a chilly day today, and it’s about to get a little warmer. “You that fucker who took out Franker last week?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. What do you want?”

The man, heavily built but not overly clumsy, Kuroo’s eyes focus on the jagged muscles bulging out from those biceps and at odd areas of his arms and torso- not training then, he decides, but street fighting in all the wrong positions. The man’s walking closer, each heavy step accentuated by a pair of flashy metal tipped boots, and Kuroo turns to face him properly, his back left for the water to guard.

“Want to make things even between the two o’ ye. You left him bleeding out in front of a hospital. Your skinny ass thinks you can flip us off like that and walk away scot free?”

“Apparently not,” Kuroo answers smoothly, a small grin on his face that looks more on the rough side of grim than actually entertained. The man doesn’t seem to notice however, his brows still surly and his words rough, so Kuroo continues. “I left him in front of a hospital, didn’t I? At least it wasn’t a dumpster. I could have charged for delivery.”

“You piece of shit-”

Kuroo dodges the wild, uncontrolled swing at his face with a sudden throw of his body to the left, and landing on one arm, he pushes himself up enough to level a harsh kick at the man’s abdomen. It throws the bulk of the man back with a harsh grunt, but the precise blow to the kidney doesn’t stop him. The large man lurches forward again, and Kuroo has to roll forwards over his head before he’s pummeled into the ground. Ignoring the way his palms whine underneath his weight and the bloodied marks from the harsh grain of the cement floor, he swings out a leg to knock the man’s feet from underneath him and when the hulking figure falls to the ground with a thundering smack, Kuroo pulls his right fist out from his pocket and aims at the crooked nose and the dilated eyes. He marks it, and punches, silver knuckleduster and all with the full momentum of his right side, and the man cries out in agony from underneath him, clutching at his face whilst trying to throw Kuroo off with wild twists of his pelvis. Kuroo finds it a little inconvenient, trying to reach a good angle to punch at while someone’s writhing underneath him, so with metal plated soles of his own, he grinds his heel into the man’s groin with a punctuated shove before standing up and pushing his foot against the thug’s windpipe. One more punch for good measure, just in case he starts to recover most of his vision.

The man’s face is almost caved in on itself, nose completely crushed and the sockets of his eyes bruised from the brutal force of bare, heavy metal, and Kuroo steps down a little harder on the man’s throat to let the effect truly bring itself out.

“Don’t bother us again, got it?” Kuroo’s chest is heaving from exertion when he delivers his message. The pumps of adrenaline that he feels gushing through his arteries light him on fire on the inside, and he ignores the fact that his fists are shaking in their hovering position.

“I-I dinnd-”

“Yes you did,” and there’s a crunch of bone- he hopes for the man’s sake that it’s his collarbone and not his actual throat. He can’t always control the precision of his feet, unfortunately, but he’s learned from experience that an inch or two off the mark doesn’t make too much of a difference. “I don’t give a fuck who hired you, but you stay away from our people, and we stay away from you. Buying them out won’t work, understand?”

If he could still breathe properly, the man would laugh. Instead it comes out as a bloody gurgle, a strained choke against the weight of a whole leg and Kuroo watches intently as the man’s fingers start to curl into fists. “Erryone w-wants money,” he grins manically at his captor, “if we dun buy ‘em out, sumbuddy else ‘ll.”

Kuroo steps off the man, who lets out a heaving groan once oxygen starts flowing into his brain again, and pushes his hands back into his pockets.

“They’ll try, yeah,” he snaps at the prone figure beneath him, the man who, like so many other people in this god-forsaken city, would sell their own face for some coin in their pockets, “but clearly, none of you have experienced it.”

The thug holds a bruised hand to his equally bruised face and eyes Kuroo venomously. Kuroo retaliates by nudging the prone body a little closer to the right with the tip of his shoe.

“Exprrenced wut?”

Kuroo is no longer looking at the man. There’s a large ship that’s sailing into the busy port at this time of day, on this day of the week, and he turns his head to watch it calmly as the large, private ship floats along the water with thousands of tonnes of private cargo.

“Something to believe in,” he answers. There’s no warning whatsoever when he lifts his foot up and with a long-suffering heave, he kicks the man into the murky water before he can attempt a response.

And the body sinks, with an unceremonious plop, just like a large pebble.

Kuroo’s hands are a little sticky with blood, even though some’s his and some isn’t. Just another jacket to wash out when he gets home, he supposes, and rubs his wrist against the fine fabric. Today’s work is just about done, with the last threads tied up and a man threatened within an inch of his life, he thinks he’s bought them another few months before someone tries again. Or rather, the truth is that it’s always the same someone. Just in the form of different paid groups, time and time again like a nursery rhyme on loop.

“You always were the best fighter,” another voice slides out from behind a large cargo box, but Kuroo relaxes at this one. This one, he recognizes. “Too bad making you take on these odd jobs is like pulling teeth.”

“They’re hard,” he groans, rolling his shoulders in a way that makes his coat pinch underneath his arms, “and you know I’m not the best fighter. I just think when I fight. You’ve got the strongest punch. ‘Falcon Punch!!!’” He tries to imitate with a terrible shounen voice. It doesn’t work, and his attempt at humour sounds dry as dust to his own ears.

Oikawa strides into full view, as he always does- to him there’s no point in doing his hair perfectly if he’s just going to be mysterious and slink around in the shadows. That’s Akaashi’s job. Just to make a point, he runs a smooth, pale hand through his artfully coiffed locks and levels Kuroo with a huffy stare. “Yes, if you give me a man who’s standing stock still then sure, I have the strongest punch. But if we’re counting it like that then clearly it’s Ushiwaka. He’s literally a walking combat machine. All fight and no soul.”

Kuroo laughs. “You’re still calling him that? He’s going to hate you a little more each time.”

“Pfft, he doesn’t hate me,” Oikawa waves it off, a sly smile starting to creep up onto his handsome face, “and who’s going to tell? You?”

“If I’m having a bad day, probably.” Oikawa smacks him on the arm for the comment and Kuroo laughs even harder.

“Y’know, that isn’t half as bad as I thought it’d be.”

“What, the billboard?”

“Yeah. It’s not exactly Jake from State Farm, but it delivers the message. All of it.” There’s a poignant pause before Oikawa sighs dramatically. “You’re good at this.”

“I’m saving this moment for my patronus. A compliment from Oikawa Tooru himself.”

“You’re never getting your acceptance letter, Kuroo, you should look in the mirror more often.”

“Alright then, and neither will you your alien contact. Two million light years and they end up talking to you?”

“Oookay, now it’s on-”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m turning it back off,” Kuroo grins maddeningly and pats Oikawa roughly on the back, sending him forward a few steps from the force of it. “Stick around and see who reads it, alright? I’m gonna head back first.”

His friend gives him a solid nod and Kuroo gives a parting one of his own. The whole shipyard they’d chosen for this operation is a wide stretch away from the nearest taxi stand, but it does give him some time to calm down so he doesn’t mind the ache of his calves as much. His hands are no longer shaking, but the grin slips off more and more with each step he takes away from his colleague. Deep breaths, in and out, a good, long stare at the grey, cumulonimbus-filled sky and he can feel the pumping of his heart slow and his mind clear itself from the irrational urge to break someone’s spine and enjoy it.

The blood on his hands is completely dry; uncomfortable, brittle flakes of iron stains his knuckles and Kuroo remembers why he hates these jobs so.

Once he sees someone’s face bleeding and broken, the hardest thing for him isn’t to win. It’s to stop.

[a-novel-ty]

★★★¾ | May. 23. 2017

Goodreads Summary 

Elevate Me! I think the title should have been "Girl you TRIED it" because BOY did Nyah try my goddamned nerves. I don't know how Shai dealt with it for so long and was able to be so patient with her because, in the words of Monica, I would have been 'SO GONE!' Reading about Nyah makes me wonder if I was that insufferable at 23. At 25 now, I know it seems a bit pretentious to speak on how a 23-year-old acts, but good GOD did I want to smack her throughout the entire first half of this book. Not only just because of her sheer ignorance but also because of the extent of her naivety. That aside, I really enjoyed this book. I liked that AshleyNicole didn't sugarcoat or play down Nyah's misgivings. A lot of times, authors will really hold back on giving their main characters too many flaws I think for fear that the reader will end up hating the character. But I think it's important sometimes to have characters start at the bottom, that way their growth is that much more poignant and valuable. At the end of this book, there is a distinct difference in both the way Nyah acts and thinks and it just makes the journey that much more rewarding. I would like to say it's hard to believe that people go around the world thinking and behaving the way Nyah and her friends did but saying that would be a straight up lie. Because of the way Nyah was raised and the "values" instilled in her by her miserable mother, Nyah believed anyone who didn't have a prestigious name or old money, was not worth her respect or just basic comment decency. Meeting Shai Jacobs, a man who could enjoy the same perks Nyah does, having 'well off' parents of his own, helps flip Nyah's entire world view right on its head. He's worked for everything he has, takes care of himself and the people around him but doesn't look down upon or pity people who Nyah would consider "beneath him" ... you know, he acts like a decent human being! I just really enjoyed seeing the dichotomy between these two people who had backgrounds so similar, they very well could have had the same exact outlook and ideals. What I realized while reading this book and in particular while reading about Shai and his issues, is that AshleyNicole is an equal opportunity defamer when it comes to her characters. The females in her novels have issues and baggage that they need to work through, the males also have baggage that they have to work through as well. Shai played a large part in Nyah's mental and emotional glow up by calling her out on her bullshit and making sure that she knew that regardless of who she was, she was responsible for her actions and had to accept the consequences of those actions. But he also had a bit of mental growth to endure as well and it was really gratifying to witness it. I read so many of these books and the men are just these perfect specimens who are only in the book to look pretty and fix everything that is wrong with the woman in their lives. Very rarely do I come across a book that has a male character that doesn't just have all of their shit together and has to grow and mature right along with their significant other. The emotional rollercoaster that Shai went through in dealing with the residual hurt from being abandoned and feeling betrayed was painful and tough at times to read but it was also refreshing because it's just not something that I am used to getting. Emotional and mental deficiencies aside, I need me an original Shai Jacobs design ASAP!

[jeremystrele]

51 Rustic Coffee Tables That Redefine Shabby Chic

A coffee table isn’t just a fantastic place to rest your feet or a cup of tea, it can also serve as storage space, an anchor for your living room layout, or even a makeshift workspace. But with so many types and styles available, which one is right for your home? If you are looking to embrace Farmhouse, Cottage, Beach, Country or Industrial style, a rustic element can be a great choice. A coffee table with a rustic finish or design can add the perfect finishing touch to rooms that are in need of a little texture and character. Plus, many are made of long-lasting solid wood that only garners more character with a few knicks and scratches!

$230BUY IT Rustic Wooden Coffee Table With Wheels: Consider rolling this option into your home for a look that is Industrial and chic. With its wood design, metal accents, and wheels, this is one rustic coffee table that will make sure your furniture stays stylish and your essentials are in reach.

$200BUY IT Rustic Chevron Patterned Wooden Coffee Table: Contemporary meets Mid-Century Modern with this simple hair pin leg coffee table that has been elevated to new heights thanks to its chevron patterned table top. A wonderful choice for smaller homes that want simple furniture with an artistic touch.

$150BUY IT Rustic X Coffee Table: X marks the spot and in this X coffee table’s case, it is showing us the way to one of the best rustic furniture pieces! Promising Review: “Absolutely love this table!!!! Came packaged nicely and was very easy to put together. I am very impressed with the quality and just how sturdy it is for the price. We just moved into a new house and am going with the Farmhouse look and it’s just perfect. I highly recommend this table and couldn’t be happier!”

$399BUY IT Rustic Farmhouse Style Coffee Table: The recycled Elm table top and contrasting finishes on this rustic coffee table help give it that highly sought after Farmhouse vibe. The matching side table and console table are also available.

$490BUY IT Large Rustic X Coffee Table: The large and contemporary coffee table that every Farmhouse or Cottage style home needs! The clean lines, natural finish, and contrast on this piece rocket it up near the top of our list of favorites. Matching end table and sofa table also available.

$407BUY IT Rustic Rectangular Grey Coffee Table: Charm, vintage appeal, and storage, this coffee table has it all! The metal detailing elevates this design to new heights by perfectly contrasting the light wood. A must for anyone that wants pieces with vintage appeal and functionality.

$118BUY IT White Reclaimed Rustic Wood Coffee Table: Who knew such a small coffee table could have such big style!? This reclaimed wood option is sure to add some personality into any space with its distressed finish and rustic charm. Not looking for a white coffee table? This design is also available in a Natural finish.

https://amzn.to/2LAPKgVBUY IT Rustic Nesting Coffee Tables: Sleek and stylish, these nesting tables are Contemporary gems. With their rustic wood tops and chunky hair pin legs they harmonize well with Farmhouse homes and Contemporary decor.

$53BUY IT 3 Table Top Rustic Coffee Table: 3 table tops is better than 1! This multi level design is sure to add intrigue to any room. Perfect to display a special piece of decor and hold your coffee. For a little over $50, this option is hard to beat!

$76BUY IT Rustic Industrial Coffee Table: Rustic and chic, we can’t believe how affordable this option is! This should be seriously considered for rustic decor lovers on a budget.

$272BUY IT Rustic Barn Door Coffee Table: Leaving the barn door open isn’t such a big deal for this coffee table. This design excels at hiding clutter while infusing any room with a refined, rustic touch.

$264BUY IT Rustic Pine Wood Coffee Table: Whether it’s coffee among friends or movie night with the family, this large pine coffee table is up to the task! It not only features a generous amount of table space, but it also has ample storage. An amazing multi-tasking piece that will help you stash away extra blankets, pillows, or other odds and ends.

$173BUY IT Square Rustic Gray Coffee Table: When simplicity is key, this rustic gem is a home run! The crisscross base and butcher block top with tonal variations allows for just the right amount of intrigue, all without stealing the spotlight. Matching end table also available.

$143BUY IT Black Rustic Coffee Table: If our last choice was still not simple enough for you, then try this table. It has no fancy bells and whistles, but it has a dramatic dark finish that gives it some mega style points! Want something fresh and airy? This coffee table is also available in White.

$1195BUY IT Square Rustic Country Coffee Table: Rustic elegance was the first phrase we thought of when looking at this beauty. Its curved columns and rustic finish create a look that is well-suited for Farmhouse, Beach, or Country decor.

$310BUY IT Rustic Wooden Coffee Table With Pull Out Drawers: A rustic coffee table that will not only infuse your home with some poignant style, but some extra storage space as well. With 1 large drawer disguised as 3, this rustic charmer has room to house everything from remotes and magazines to extra pillows and blankets.

$223BUY IT Rustic Glass Coffee Table With Storage: This coffee table has an airy aesthetic thanks to its glass top and seemingly weightless floating drawers. A versatile option that many decor styles would benefit from.

$148BUY IT Rustic Oak Coffee Table: This coffee table has “Farmhouse Chic” written all over it. A great choice if you are looking to store more visually appealing items like books, magazines, or select accessories.

$168BUY IT Rustic Lift Top Coffee Table: A lift top coffee table with a rustic vibe? Finally! This multi-tasking table is great for both storage and an extra work area, all while remaining affordable and Farmhouse chic.

$191BUY IT Rustic Reclaimed Oak Lift Top Coffee Table: Much like the previous option, this rustic gem is full of storage both under and inside, plus it features a handy lifting table top that instantly makes any couch into a workspace. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to work from the comfort of their couch!

$453BUY IT Modern Rustic Lift Top Coffee Table: We love the versatility of lift top coffee tables, so we couldn’t resist adding another to our list. This one takes on a more minimalist look and a more airy aesthetic thanks to its simple build and open bottom.

$660BUY IT Long Rustic Coffee Table: If intricate is more your style, then this rustic coffee table might be the one for you. Designed with X-braces made out of lacquered pine wood, it is a prominent centerpiece for your living room that will anchor your space while accentuating your decor.

$1040BUY IT Rustic Ottoman Coffee Table: This ottoman coffee table strikes the perfect combo of rustic and cozy with its wood base and lush tufted top. Available in Beige, Dark Grey, and Grey (shown).

$188BUY IT Rustic Style Wood And Galvanized Iron Coffee Table: This unusual coffee table is sure to be the talk of any dinner party or soiree. It is crafted from reclaimed wood and recycled iron barrels to create an eye-catching piece with a truly unique look.

$980BUY IT Rustic Mediterranean Style Storage Coffee Table: The weathered finish on this solid wood coffee table gives it a poignant Mediterranean vibe. It is equipped with two drawers that are perfect to stash away any odds and ends, plus it requires zero assembly.

$800BUY IT Rustic Storage Trunk Coffee Table: Another trunk table, but this time with a more refined style thanks to its polished finish and intricate detailing.

$430BUY IT Rustic Chic Coffee Table: It’s not every day we see a concrete and wood table with such undeniable style! This sturdy and functional accent piece uses a mix of both shapes and materials to draw the eye.

$101BUY IT Small Rustic Coffee Table: Because even small living rooms and dens should have a coffee table! This small double tiered table has enough room to display a few key pieces and rest a drink or two. Looking for a fresh feel or bold color? This option is also available in White or Turquoise.

$110BUY IT Rustic Barn Wood Coffee Table: Add some rustic charm to low furniture setups with this barn wood coffee table. This simple design leaves all the embellishments to the grain of the wood and we can see why—with a gorgeous grain like that, there is no competition.

$110BUY IT Rustic Log Coffee Table: This natural beauty is a must for cottage and cabin decor. The rough, chiseled ends and natural finish make this log table a stand out choice.

$599BUY IT Rustic Style Hexagonal Reclaimed Fir Wood Coffee Table: Add an earthy aura to any living space with this hexagonal coffee table. Made from reclaimed fir, it has a distinct rustic vibe that will meld well with everything from Traditional to Contemporary decor.

$1700BUY IT Round Rustic Glass Coffee Table With Driftwood Base: Bring the feel of nature into your home with a coffee table perched upon an earthy driftwood base. Due to the nature of the wood, no two coffee tables will be alike, leaving you with a piece of furniture that is one-of-a-kind. You can also get a cheaper, smaller version here.

$460BUY IT Teak Branch Wood Coffee Table: We’re going to go out on a limb here and say this is one of the most interesting coffee tables we have ever seen. If you are looking for table that is sure to turn a few heads, then this option should definitely be on your shortlist!

$1440BUY IT Tree Slice Coffee Table: This little slice of heaven is a must-have for those looking to incorporate rustic organic design and natural elements into their home. Each one of these coffee tables is distinct thanks to the variation in grain pattern.

$497BUY IT Rustic Nautical Themed Coffee Table: Looking to embrace some quirky, nautical themed decor? This coffee table is all about that- or should we say aBOAT that. Made from solid wood, no assembly required.

$419BUY IT Round Coffee Table: If fresh and simple appeals to you, then check out this round coffee table. The mango wood and natural finish give it a fresh and earthy feel that will pair well with many decor styles, although it would look especially stunning in a Scandinavian or Coastal style home.

$397BUY IT Round Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table: The simple design of this coffee table really allows for the beauty and intricacy of the wood grain to shine through. It is made with reclaimed pine and fitted with casters for mobility.

$288BUY IT Round Solid Acacia Wood Coffee Table: Another rustic barrel coffee table that uses subtle wood patterning and varying tones to great effect. Instead of only featuring the wood’s natural grain though, this earthy stunner takes it one step further with a wire brush surface treatment to create a horizontal distressing pattern.

$599BUY IT Rustic Round Distressed Wood Coffee Table: Dings and scratches will blend right into this round coffee table’s rustic finish. Your decor will love its unique shape and your books and accessories will find a new home on the bottom shelf—well, that is if your pets don’t claim it first!

$99BUY IT Rustic Metal Cauldron Coffee Table: An offbeat choice that gives off some major Farmhouse vibes. This smaller coffee table is ideal for tighter spaces that still demand unique and eye-catching furniture.

$530BUY IT Modern Rustic Concrete Coffee Table: There is concrete evidence that this table is a great choice! Just check all the wonderful reviews for yourself. With its concrete build and acrylic finish, this table has the durability and style that any Modern or Industrial home could benefit from.

$1381BUY IT Modern Rustic Wood And Concrete Coffee Table: A rustic coffee table that is aching to be incorporated into Industrial or Farmhouse decor. The combo of the warm wood finish and concrete base give this piece an aesthetic that is a mix of cozy and edgy.

$2400BUY IT Rustic Recycled Metal Coffee Table: Recycled tin gets a second chance of life in this patchwork style metal coffee table. An amazing addition to Industrial style homes both big and small.

$2300BUY IT Premium Rustic Metal Coffee Table: Organic design and luxury collide with this fun metal coffee table. Sculpted from fiberglass resin and overlaid with a brass finish, the design is well-suited for either residential or commercial decor.

$517BUY IT Rustic Oval Coffee Table: The Acacia wood top on this table is overflowing with a rustic warmth that you can only get from real wood. This a fantastic choice for contemporary cottages or anyone that is a fan of Mid-Century Modern and Scandinavian style.

$800BUY IT Rectangular Live Edge Coffee Table: A simple solid wood coffee table that would look great with almost any decor. The smoothed out edges of this live edge option give it a softer look than many other tables on our list, making it ideal for rooms that want to cultivate a relaxing or cozy feel.

$477BUY IT Rustic Live Edge Coffee Table: The rough edges of the live edge table top contrast flawlessly with the clean and simple hair pin legs in this design. Pair with a plush carpet (like shown) to effortlessly create a contemporary and cozy vibe that feels grounded in nature.

$994BUY IT Rustic Style Tree Stump Coffee Table: A beautiful way to integrate a hint of organic design or nature in any space. This tree stump table is handmade and naturally one-of-a-kind since every tree is different!

$1489BUY IT Square Teak Slice Coffee Table: Conserving the environment has never been so stylish! This teakwood coffee table is sure to leave a lasting impression with its unusual, organic shape that has been crafted with scraps that would of otherwise been routed to the landfill.

$1249BUY IT Rustic Themed Faux Stone Outdoor Coffee Table: While most outdoor coffee tables stand out like a sore thumb, this one is a master of disguise with its faux stone finish. It is the perfect piece to incorporate into your backyard if you want nature to take the limelight. Plus, like all the best rocks, it requires zero assembly!

$363BUY IT Rustic Outdoor Coffee Table: Harsh weather? No problem! This rustic outdoor coffee table is made with an all-weather, rust resistant powder coated aluminum base and a porcelain table top. Amazing for everything from displaying mouthwatering spreads of food during BBQs to holding a few cocktails during happy hour.

Recommended Reading:  50 Wooden Wall Art Decor Finds To Help You Add Rustic Beauty To Your Room

Related Posts:

50 Unique Coffee Tables That Help You Declutter and Stylise Your Lounge

50 Unique End Tables That Add The Perfect Living Room Finish

51 Glass Coffee Tables That Every Living Room Craves

20 Uniquely Beautiful Coffee Tables

50 Modern Coffee Tables To Add Zing To Your Living

51 Round Coffee Tables To Give Your Living Room A Boost Of Style

[drewebowden66]

51 Rustic Coffee Tables That Redefine Shabby Chic

A coffee table isn’t just a fantastic place to rest your feet or a cup of tea, it can also serve as storage space, an anchor for your living room layout, or even a makeshift workspace. But with so many types and styles available, which one is right for your home? If you are looking to embrace Farmhouse, Cottage, Beach, Country or Industrial style, a rustic element can be a great choice. A coffee table with a rustic finish or design can add the perfect finishing touch to rooms that are in need of a little texture and character. Plus, many are made of long-lasting solid wood that only garners more character with a few knicks and scratches!

$230BUY IT Rustic Wooden Coffee Table With Wheels: Consider rolling this option into your home for a look that is Industrial and chic. With its wood design, metal accents, and wheels, this is one rustic coffee table that will make sure your furniture stays stylish and your essentials are in reach.

$200BUY IT Rustic Chevron Patterned Wooden Coffee Table: Contemporary meets Mid-Century Modern with this simple hair pin leg coffee table that has been elevated to new heights thanks to its chevron patterned table top. A wonderful choice for smaller homes that want simple furniture with an artistic touch.

$150BUY IT Rustic X Coffee Table: X marks the spot and in this X coffee table’s case, it is showing us the way to one of the best rustic furniture pieces! Promising Review: “Absolutely love this table!!!! Came packaged nicely and was very easy to put together. I am very impressed with the quality and just how sturdy it is for the price. We just moved into a new house and am going with the Farmhouse look and it’s just perfect. I highly recommend this table and couldn’t be happier!”

$399BUY IT Rustic Farmhouse Style Coffee Table: The recycled Elm table top and contrasting finishes on this rustic coffee table help give it that highly sought after Farmhouse vibe. The matching side table and console table are also available.

$490BUY IT Large Rustic X Coffee Table: The large and contemporary coffee table that every Farmhouse or Cottage style home needs! The clean lines, natural finish, and contrast on this piece rocket it up near the top of our list of favorites. Matching end table and sofa table also available.

$407BUY IT Rustic Rectangular Grey Coffee Table: Charm, vintage appeal, and storage, this coffee table has it all! The metal detailing elevates this design to new heights by perfectly contrasting the light wood. A must for anyone that wants pieces with vintage appeal and functionality.

$118BUY IT White Reclaimed Rustic Wood Coffee Table: Who knew such a small coffee table could have such big style!? This reclaimed wood option is sure to add some personality into any space with its distressed finish and rustic charm. Not looking for a white coffee table? This design is also available in a Natural finish.

https://amzn.to/2LAPKgVBUY IT Rustic Nesting Coffee Tables: Sleek and stylish, these nesting tables are Contemporary gems. With their rustic wood tops and chunky hair pin legs they harmonize well with Farmhouse homes and Contemporary decor.

$53BUY IT 3 Table Top Rustic Coffee Table: 3 table tops is better than 1! This multi level design is sure to add intrigue to any room. Perfect to display a special piece of decor and hold your coffee. For a little over $50, this option is hard to beat!

$76BUY IT Rustic Industrial Coffee Table: Rustic and chic, we can’t believe how affordable this option is! This should be seriously considered for rustic decor lovers on a budget.

$272BUY IT Rustic Barn Door Coffee Table: Leaving the barn door open isn’t such a big deal for this coffee table. This design excels at hiding clutter while infusing any room with a refined, rustic touch.

$264BUY IT Rustic Pine Wood Coffee Table: Whether it’s coffee among friends or movie night with the family, this large pine coffee table is up to the task! It not only features a generous amount of table space, but it also has ample storage. An amazing multi-tasking piece that will help you stash away extra blankets, pillows, or other odds and ends.

$173BUY IT Square Rustic Gray Coffee Table: When simplicity is key, this rustic gem is a home run! The crisscross base and butcher block top with tonal variations allows for just the right amount of intrigue, all without stealing the spotlight. Matching end table also available.

$143BUY IT Black Rustic Coffee Table: If our last choice was still not simple enough for you, then try this table. It has no fancy bells and whistles, but it has a dramatic dark finish that gives it some mega style points! Want something fresh and airy? This coffee table is also available in White.

$1195BUY IT Square Rustic Country Coffee Table: Rustic elegance was the first phrase we thought of when looking at this beauty. Its curved columns and rustic finish create a look that is well-suited for Farmhouse, Beach, or Country decor.

$310BUY IT Rustic Wooden Coffee Table With Pull Out Drawers: A rustic coffee table that will not only infuse your home with some poignant style, but some extra storage space as well. With 1 large drawer disguised as 3, this rustic charmer has room to house everything from remotes and magazines to extra pillows and blankets.

$223BUY IT Rustic Glass Coffee Table With Storage: This coffee table has an airy aesthetic thanks to its glass top and seemingly weightless floating drawers. A versatile option that many decor styles would benefit from.

$148BUY IT Rustic Oak Coffee Table: This coffee table has “Farmhouse Chic” written all over it. A great choice if you are looking to store more visually appealing items like books, magazines, or select accessories.

$168BUY IT Rustic Lift Top Coffee Table: A lift top coffee table with a rustic vibe? Finally! This multi-tasking table is great for both storage and an extra work area, all while remaining affordable and Farmhouse chic.

$191BUY IT Rustic Reclaimed Oak Lift Top Coffee Table: Much like the previous option, this rustic gem is full of storage both under and inside, plus it features a handy lifting table top that instantly makes any couch into a workspace. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to work from the comfort of their couch!

$453BUY IT Modern Rustic Lift Top Coffee Table: We love the versatility of lift top coffee tables, so we couldn’t resist adding another to our list. This one takes on a more minimalist look and a more airy aesthetic thanks to its simple build and open bottom.

$660BUY IT Long Rustic Coffee Table: If intricate is more your style, then this rustic coffee table might be the one for you. Designed with X-braces made out of lacquered pine wood, it is a prominent centerpiece for your living room that will anchor your space while accentuating your decor.

$1040BUY IT Rustic Ottoman Coffee Table: This ottoman coffee table strikes the perfect combo of rustic and cozy with its wood base and lush tufted top. Available in Beige, Dark Grey, and Grey (shown).

$188BUY IT Rustic Style Wood And Galvanized Iron Coffee Table: This unusual coffee table is sure to be the talk of any dinner party or soiree. It is crafted from reclaimed wood and recycled iron barrels to create an eye-catching piece with a truly unique look.

$980BUY IT Rustic Mediterranean Style Storage Coffee Table: The weathered finish on this solid wood coffee table gives it a poignant Mediterranean vibe. It is equipped with two drawers that are perfect to stash away any odds and ends, plus it requires zero assembly.

$800BUY IT Rustic Storage Trunk Coffee Table: Another trunk table, but this time with a more refined style thanks to its polished finish and intricate detailing.

$430BUY IT Rustic Chic Coffee Table: It’s not every day we see a concrete and wood table with such undeniable style! This sturdy and functional accent piece uses a mix of both shapes and materials to draw the eye.

$101BUY IT Small Rustic Coffee Table: Because even small living rooms and dens should have a coffee table! This small double tiered table has enough room to display a few key pieces and rest a drink or two. Looking for a fresh feel or bold color? This option is also available in White or Turquoise.

$110BUY IT Rustic Barn Wood Coffee Table: Add some rustic charm to low furniture setups with this barn wood coffee table. This simple design leaves all the embellishments to the grain of the wood and we can see why—with a gorgeous grain like that, there is no competition.

$110BUY IT Rustic Log Coffee Table: This natural beauty is a must for cottage and cabin decor. The rough, chiseled ends and natural finish make this log table a stand out choice.

$599BUY IT Rustic Style Hexagonal Reclaimed Fir Wood Coffee Table: Add an earthy aura to any living space with this hexagonal coffee table. Made from reclaimed fir, it has a distinct rustic vibe that will meld well with everything from Traditional to Contemporary decor.

$1700BUY IT Round Rustic Glass Coffee Table With Driftwood Base: Bring the feel of nature into your home with a coffee table perched upon an earthy driftwood base. Due to the nature of the wood, no two coffee tables will be alike, leaving you with a piece of furniture that is one-of-a-kind. You can also get a cheaper, smaller version here.

$460BUY IT Teak Branch Wood Coffee Table: We’re going to go out on a limb here and say this is one of the most interesting coffee tables we have ever seen. If you are looking for table that is sure to turn a few heads, then this option should definitely be on your shortlist!

$1440BUY IT Tree Slice Coffee Table: This little slice of heaven is a must-have for those looking to incorporate rustic organic design and natural elements into their home. Each one of these coffee tables is distinct thanks to the variation in grain pattern.

$497BUY IT Rustic Nautical Themed Coffee Table: Looking to embrace some quirky, nautical themed decor? This coffee table is all about that- or should we say aBOAT that. Made from solid wood, no assembly required.

$419BUY IT Round Coffee Table: If fresh and simple appeals to you, then check out this round coffee table. The mango wood and natural finish give it a fresh and earthy feel that will pair well with many decor styles, although it would look especially stunning in a Scandinavian or Coastal style home.

$397BUY IT Round Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table: The simple design of this coffee table really allows for the beauty and intricacy of the wood grain to shine through. It is made with reclaimed pine and fitted with casters for mobility.

$288BUY IT Round Solid Acacia Wood Coffee Table: Another rustic barrel coffee table that uses subtle wood patterning and varying tones to great effect. Instead of only featuring the wood’s natural grain though, this earthy stunner takes it one step further with a wire brush surface treatment to create a horizontal distressing pattern.

$599BUY IT Rustic Round Distressed Wood Coffee Table: Dings and scratches will blend right into this round coffee table’s rustic finish. Your decor will love its unique shape and your books and accessories will find a new home on the bottom shelf—well, that is if your pets don’t claim it first!

$99BUY IT Rustic Metal Cauldron Coffee Table: An offbeat choice that gives off some major Farmhouse vibes. This smaller coffee table is ideal for tighter spaces that still demand unique and eye-catching furniture.

$530BUY IT Modern Rustic Concrete Coffee Table: There is concrete evidence that this table is a great choice! Just check all the wonderful reviews for yourself. With its concrete build and acrylic finish, this table has the durability and style that any Modern or Industrial home could benefit from.

$1381BUY IT Modern Rustic Wood And Concrete Coffee Table: A rustic coffee table that is aching to be incorporated into Industrial or Farmhouse decor. The combo of the warm wood finish and concrete base give this piece an aesthetic that is a mix of cozy and edgy.

$2400BUY IT Rustic Recycled Metal Coffee Table: Recycled tin gets a second chance of life in this patchwork style metal coffee table. An amazing addition to Industrial style homes both big and small.

$2300BUY IT Premium Rustic Metal Coffee Table: Organic design and luxury collide with this fun metal coffee table. Sculpted from fiberglass resin and overlaid with a brass finish, the design is well-suited for either residential or commercial decor.

$517BUY IT Rustic Oval Coffee Table: The Acacia wood top on this table is overflowing with a rustic warmth that you can only get from real wood. This a fantastic choice for contemporary cottages or anyone that is a fan of Mid-Century Modern and Scandinavian style.

$800BUY IT Rectangular Live Edge Coffee Table: A simple solid wood coffee table that would look great with almost any decor. The smoothed out edges of this live edge option give it a softer look than many other tables on our list, making it ideal for rooms that want to cultivate a relaxing or cozy feel.

$477BUY IT Rustic Live Edge Coffee Table: The rough edges of the live edge table top contrast flawlessly with the clean and simple hair pin legs in this design. Pair with a plush carpet (like shown) to effortlessly create a contemporary and cozy vibe that feels grounded in nature.

$994BUY IT Rustic Style Tree Stump Coffee Table: A beautiful way to integrate a hint of organic design or nature in any space. This tree stump table is handmade and naturally one-of-a-kind since every tree is different!

$1489BUY IT Square Teak Slice Coffee Table: Conserving the environment has never been so stylish! This teakwood coffee table is sure to leave a lasting impression with its unusual, organic shape that has been crafted with scraps that would of otherwise been routed to the landfill.

$1249BUY IT Rustic Themed Faux Stone Outdoor Coffee Table: While most outdoor coffee tables stand out like a sore thumb, this one is a master of disguise with its faux stone finish. It is the perfect piece to incorporate into your backyard if you want nature to take the limelight. Plus, like all the best rocks, it requires zero assembly!

$363BUY IT Rustic Outdoor Coffee Table: Harsh weather? No problem! This rustic outdoor coffee table is made with an all-weather, rust resistant powder coated aluminum base and a porcelain table top. Amazing for everything from displaying mouthwatering spreads of food during BBQs to holding a few cocktails during happy hour.

Recommended Reading:  50 Wooden Wall Art Decor Finds To Help You Add Rustic Beauty To Your Room

Related Posts:

50 Unique Coffee Tables That Help You Declutter and Stylise Your Lounge

50 Unique End Tables That Add The Perfect Living Room Finish

51 Glass Coffee Tables That Every Living Room Craves

20 Uniquely Beautiful Coffee Tables

50 Modern Coffee Tables To Add Zing To Your Living

51 Round Coffee Tables To Give Your Living Room A Boost Of Style

[blackchurchpost]

Thabiti Anyabwile Shows, by the Grace of God, an Amazing Display of the Christ-like Spirit When in Fact, He, a Black Man, Took on the Sins of Many White Men and Apologized to a White Woman for the Hurt They Caused Her. Doggone It! We Might Have Revival Around Here in a Minute!

Thabiti Anyabwile

Sister Beth Moore needs to publicly hear from some prominent white brothers—and not Ed Stetzer and Russell Moore. The truth of the matter is, we doubt if Thabiti Anyabwile is guilty of what Beth Moore is dealing with in her “Letter to My Brothers.” And we know Russell Moore and Ed Stetzer are not. She needs to hear this from others. We do not know Thabiti Anyabwile personally, and he will not say this, but one of the reasons he was one of the first to respond to Beth Moore’s letter is because what she is saying in the letter sounds so familiar to a black, believing Christian who tries to fellowship with white evangelical Christians as a servant leader. Nobody likes feeling marginalized and dismissed, and that’s how many black Christian servant leaders feel among conservative evangelical Christians—just like Beth Moore. So maybe even Thabiti Anyabwile, Dwight McKissic Sr., and Tony Evans ought to receive an apology from somebody.

Anyway, here is Thabiti Anyabwile’s Christ-like response to Sister Beth Moore:

An Apology to Beth Moore and My Sisters

Today Beth Moore penned a poignant letter to her brothers in Christ in which she points out the sinful root at the bottom of a lot of male attitudes toward women in general and women in ministry specifically. It deserves a wide and genuinely prayerful reading.

I read it with a broken heart. Not merely because I was moved by what she described of her treatment and because I recognize some of what she described among some Christian brothers and leaders. I am broken-hearted because I recognize something of the attitude in me, and I recognize that I have had that attitude in years past toward Beth, though I didn’t know her and hadn’t spent any time reading her materials.

Dear Beth, if you read this, I need to confess and ask your forgiveness.

I first became aware of your ministry when I was a young Christian in the late-1990s. Christian women around me were often expressing how blessed they were by your ministry, how much they learned from you, and how they felt seen as a consequence of your ministry. I was happy for them but not at all aware of how much they were really telling me about what it meant to be a Christian woman—how invisible and underfed that experience could be.

Some years later, I thought I had learned a few things. By then, I had become a “complementarian,” though my understanding of that view wasn’t deep. I had picked up the attitude—the patronizing and chauvinistic attitude—of some professing “complementarians.” My heart met nearly every mention of a woman in ministry with a scoff and the suspicion that that woman did not understand or accept the Bible’s teaching on gender roles.

That scoffing attitude and that instinctive suspicion grew stronger in me. Here’s where I need to ask your forgiveness most. Not knowing you personally and having not read or watched you teach, I passed along that suspicion and doubt to others in my pastoral care. I didn’t say much about you with words. I can’t recall saying anything about you as a person. But with a raised eye brow, a shrugged shoulder, a “hmmm” before a redirecting sentence, I passed along what was in my heart, the sinful attitude rooted in the very misogyny and chauvinism you describe in your post. If we communicate most in non-verbal ways, then I’m afraid I’ve “said” a lot about you, and I have slandered you.

And I have let others slander you. I’ve been in rooms where your name was mentioned with disparaging tone. And rather than ask a few basic questions (how do you know this about her, do you have any evidence you can point us to, and so on), I said and did nothing. I wasn’t any different from Saul standing by holding clothes while Stephen was stoned.

I know your open letter isn’t about you alone. It’s about you along with the scores of women who have suffered the same with less notoriety and resources than you have. And while I know your post doesn’t pretend to describe the universal experience of women, I also know that my attitudes and actions (or lack thereof) have affected more women than I know.

Over the last 18 months, my heart has grown even sicker with grief as I’ve watched you valiantly stand with African Americans in our complaints and concern about treatment in the world and sometimes in the church. I’ve been astounded at how the Lord has used you and how much you have courageously risked to stand with us and to join the conversation. You did it all with no promise of an “up side” or reward but because convinced by Scripture you thought it was right. As we’ve interacted online, you’ve been used of the Lord to heal a good number of things in my heart that you’re not even aware of. I’m still set free by an interaction between you and Ray Ortlund, an interaction that’s allowed me to return to blogging and lean into some things I was pretty hopeless about. For that, you’ve earned my deepest respect and admiration and profound gratitude. You have been far kinder to me than I deserve. Your kindness has heaped coals on this poor sinner’s head.

So, I want very much to ask your forgiveness.

I want to admit my sin publicly, because my sins have affected a wider public than I know. I don’t want to pass under the radar hoping others might afford me the benefit of the doubt or because they might appreciate something else about me might put me in the category of men you so graciously say you’re not addressing.

I want to accept responsibility for my action and inaction without qualification. There are no “if,” “and,” or “but” statements to justify or excuse my wrong. I only wish I could describe my wrongs more fully and forcefully, because it is displeasing before the Lord. I do not wish to be the Pharisee thanking God that I am not like some brothers I imagine to be worse than I am. There’s no relativizing my sin; I accept responsibility for my wrong here.

I want to acknowledge the hurt I’ve caused. I cannot imagine what it’s like to share an elevator or a car with men who would not even acknowledge you. I didn’t do that to you, but I’ve certainly contributed to that kind of treatment by failing to advocate for my sisters and to challenge such things among men. I am grieved that I have damaged your reputation among others.

If this means we cannot have a relationship, I accept the consequences. I will have been the one who broke trust and failed to love and protect my sisters and you specifically.

I do now commit to being a more outspoken champion for my sisters and for you personally. Not that you need me to be but because it is right. I hope, with God’s help, to grow in sanctification, especially with regards to any sexism, misogyny, chauvinism, and the like that has used biblical teaching as a cover for its growth.

Dear Beth, and all my sisters, I hope you will forgive me.

Thabiti Anyabwile Shows, by the Grace of God, an Amazing Display of the Christ-like Spirit When in Fact, He, a Black Man, Took on the Sins of Many White Men and Apologized to a White Woman for the Hurt They Caused Her. Doggone It! We Might Have Revival Around Here in a Minute! was originally published on BCNN1 - Black Christian News Network