#desperately hoping that my current 8 days off in september don’t get booked up

[excelsior9173]

job hunting is the most exhausting, demoralizing, and dehumanizing process i think i’ve ever experienced

i constantly feel useless, like i have no applicable skills and it’s honestly terrifying. but it’s also irritating because how am i supposed to gain any of these skills if no one will hire me and let me learn? all i want is to learn. but nowhere seems willing to even give the chance to develop. it’s all mandatory experience required and if you don’t have it fuck off don’t even bother

i am also incredibly frustrated by employers who don’t reach out even if it’s a rejection. at the very least it feels like a decent thing to do, just a quick “sorry, we didn’t select you for the position, good luck in your search!” would be sufficient. if they’re feeling real nice they could explain why they don’t think you’re a good fit. at least that would help me figure out what exactly i seem to be missing

i am just. so tired of sending applications. i am tired of looking at job postings. i am tired of thinking i’ve found a decent opportunity only to see experience requirements and being immediately rejected by a fucking ai system

anyways. sent one in to be a parks labourer, and also a receptionist at a car dealership. really hoping something pans out. i’ve applied for well over a dozen positions now and i know that that’s really not a lot in the long run but i’m so burnt out at my current job i desperately need a change and i’m getting impatient. plus i need a bigger paycheck so i can support my sister and i better. i don’t want her to stress about finances while she starts university. i need to make more to take care of us.

[gra-sonas]

Exclusive interview with Michael Vlamis from Roswell, New Mexico

Protagonist of this month’s web interview is Michael Vlamis, known for having played a small role in the television series “New Girl”, now he is seeing his career taking off thanks to Michael Guerin, the character he plays in Roswell, New Mexico, series created by Carina Adly Mackenzie and inspired by the Roswell High novels written by Melinda Metz. He recently produced and starred in his first feature film 5 years Apart and is currently engaged in several projects as a writer and actor. In this interview Michael talks about his passion for acting, his first difficulties in playing dramatic roles and his character in Roswell New Mexico. Through his ironic and light narrative, Michael advises emerging actors to follow their truth and honor their uniqueness, without forgetting to enjoy life to the fullest.

1) Roswell New Mexico will arrive in Italy in September 2019. Can you tell us more about your character and the plot?

Bout time! But seriously, I’m excited for all of you. Our show centers around three aliens living amongst humans in secrecy in small town, Roswell, NM. After being away for 10 years, an old flame of one of the aliens returns to town and begins to uncover the truth behind her sister’s death, which leads to us potentially becoming exposed. It’s a fun, wild show that has romance, action, sci-fi, and more. I get to play Michael Guerin – an alien bad boy with a heart of gold. Yes. I just said that about myself.

2) Have you ever seen the original series of Roswell, or read the Roswell High novels? If so, did Michael’s characterization inspire you in any way?

I was familiar with the 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, but I hadn’t seen the show or read the novels. Once I booked the role, I did research on both to have a feel for the original properties, but I preferred to not dive in too deep, especially not into the original character. It was easier to bring a fresh take that way. Ignorance is bliss. But I have heard the original Michael and myself both have wild hair. So there’s a similarity.

3) In the series, topics such as immigration, its social consequences and sexuality are discussed, were you expecting the reactions that fans had about the Malex couple?

I had no idea what to expect! This was my first show. And the first time I’d be getting intimate with a man. All I knew was that I wanted to honor the story and the character as truthfully as possible. I poured everything into our scenes, as did Tyler Blackburn, the other half of Malex. He was an absolute joy to work with and a huge reason people have resonated so much with our relationship. I receive messages on social media daily from fans who say our characters inspired them to come out to their own families, which means a lot to me.

4) Where does your passion for acting come from?


There’s nothing I love more than story telling and as an actor you’re constantly telling a story. I also love being honest and living without a filter, but that’s not always acceptable. When I act, I can do anything I want because I’m in character and I’m “acting.” If you aren’t living your truth, you’re holding back, and holding back is the worst thing you can do on screen. I relate and feel so much when I watch great actors and I can only hope I’m doing the same for our fans. The truth is what fuels me.

5) Have you ever had second thoughts or doubts about not being able to realize this ambition of yours? If you hadn’t become an actor, what would you have wanted to do?


I didn’t realize I wanted to be an actor until my senior year of college. I was studying business and playing baseball at the time, but was always getting hurt. After my second knee surgery, I decided to hang up the cleats and audition for a short film. I booked the role and after acting in the film, I knew it was what I wanted to do. And to be honest, I never had a doubt I wouldn’t be successful.

I was so naïve, but I think it’s important to be naïve sometimes. If you live life practically, you’ll never achieve your dreams. Because dreams aren’t practical. They’re dreams! And I never knew what I wanted to do, even while I was in school, so I really don’t know. Probably a writer, director, or producer, which are all just has hard! I got really lucky. And I recognize that every day. But I think it’s important to note that even if it took until 90 to achieve my dreams, I would say I got lucky.

6) Did you have any difficulty in embracing new roles that didn’t belong to comedy?


Oh, yeah! I got in my first acting class when I was 25 and it messed me up. The first four weeks I performed comedies and then my teacher, Sandy Marshall, started giving me dramas, which I struggled with. After a scene, she once said, “Michael, that was good. But we don’t have good actors in my class, Michael.” She was saying she only had great actors. She was very tough on me because she saw potential and one day, I had a breakthrough. Something clicked. I realized there’s no “right” way to do a scene. All you have to do is make the circumstances real and live truthfully from moment to moment. Sounds like the easiest thing in the world, but it was surprisingly hard for me to recognize. Once I did, I never looked back.

7) Have you ever encountered difficulties in identifying yourself with a character with completely different life experiences than yours?

I haven’t because the character, no matter how different, is made up of my own life experiences that may not be similar, but do relate. For example, the character I play in Roswell grew up in the foster system and was severely abused. He’s also an alien! Obviously, I’m not an alien and I didn’t grow up in foster care, but I was a fat kid longing for acceptance and felt like I had a lot to prove. I bet Michael Guerin felt similar. As for scenes where I have to portray something I’ve never experienced, such as losing a parent, I convince myself what’s happening is real. I have to, otherwise I feel phony. The difficult part is going to a place so deep and dark you feel sick to your stomach, but that difficulty is my favorite thing to do.

8) What would you recommend to a beginner who would like to pursue this career?


Don’t be afraid to break the rules and never compare yourself to anyone. That’s a dangerous road and gets you nowhere. Everyone has a different story and all the things that make you unique are what are going to give you a career. Oh, and get really damn good at acting. That’s your only shot. Unless you have an aunt or uncle in the biz or something. If you do, let them know I’m down to be in their next film. Thanks.

9) What gives you the right charge to start a day of shooting on the right foot?


Music and coffee. In that order. I also always drive to set with the windows down, even when it’s snowing. Adds a little bounce to the curls. Kidding. But maybe not…

10) Are you currently working on other projects?

I recently produced and starred in my first feature film, 5 Years Apart, which should come out next year. In addition to that, I have a TV show I co-created that’s getting some great traction, and a feature film I wrote just got optioned by a big producer. In 2017, I wrote every day out of desperation. Now, I’m known as a writer and those projects are taking off. Life is hilarious. Enjoy it.

~ latestmagazine.com

[migleefulmoments]

I don't think anything of what the cc fandom posts anymore is "continued optimism". It looks like sheer terror that they're losing their game. Abby is in pure desperation mode, trying to rally the troops because she can see Darren's life is turning out to be nothing like she predicted. She can no longer validate that Darren NEEDS her, he keeps going against her. They're losing their grip. This isn't optimism, it's because everything Darren is doing equals Abby losing control of the narrative.

I agree with that they were in panic mode since the wedding but the 72 hours or so after Hollywood was announced they were euphoric that this was proof that Darren would be coming out soon.  That has worn off already and they are back to their normal crap but for a few days, they were giddy. They were even speaking about a divorce in very near future.

I am going on record, I like AW and I like her a lot.  She is team D, I really have no doubt and everything she is showing is that she is on his side and around to protect him often and frequently. 

Yes she is giving us the illusion that she and PBB are besties that love to take intimate photos together but in reality she is showcasing exactly who M is, how much she lacks chemistry with D, some really not so pretty moments behind the scenes btwn D&M (there was some golden footage from European trip number 1 includng that video from the fireworks where E is all snuggled into her man and D&M look like virtual strangers), she flew to that island to babysit, and she announced the business family honeymoon.

Keep your friends close, your enemies closer. 

AW is team d. She is a hard working, extremely successful men’s stylist with a pretty impressive client list at this point.  And while she would absolutely have loyalty toward D, as she built her career styling him, she should not be this involved. A friend just reminded me that her other client, FW is currently promoting the J/udy Ga/rland movie.  That is something AW usually would accompany her clients to, she follows D everywhere.  yet no one questions why instead of being with FW she spent 2 days in a row with PBB.

I think she and d are working together and i believe she provides d with comfort. She babysits M, she works as a buffer, and unlike so many other enablers, she has D’s back.  She is smart, she knows how to play M and her stans.  On the surface she looks like she might almost be in love with M (seriously she has way more chemistry with her than D), but it is all a mirage, done for show. And if you look behind a lot of what she posts, it is harmful to m/iarren.  

I know I have repeated the same think a lot over the past 48 hours, but I am so scared to allow myself to believe that change is ahead. And i got burned with ACS because I BELIEVED with my entire being this was the beginning of change and then everything escalated to full on disaster.  But I still think no one got burned more than D&C because I am fairly certain they thought change was ahead as well.(Again the narcissism just has to rear it’s ugly head). 

But I cannot stop myself from being optimistic and it is not just the RM partnership.  It is the totality of the circumstances. It is watching the past 7 months since the sham mockery.  It is seeing how they past 7 months were designed solely to promote her, not D, and done mainly using people only seen by fandom (her employees/friends, SK, PBB’s team).  She got the massive exposure and the press from the “wedding” and some RCs as the “wife” but not much more and has now been relegated to mainly being promoted by the aforementioned. And that is only seen by fandom. Add, for the past several months, D himself has hardly tried.  A random good pic here and there, but otherwise he orchestrated group honeymoons, barely touched her even when kissing, the jerk, bitch glare, the back turn.  D has gained nothing until now. He certainly did not do this for a show he sold 3 years ago that is being written by, like them or not, Hwood novices.   I hardly think he needed a wife to score the TB commercial. And SA doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who cares who d’s partner is, it was just a great collaboration.

And here we are, September, D is filming R/oyalties and we get the announcement that he is collaborating with RM again, not just as the star, but exec producer of a show that largely involves, based on early press, LGBT+ themes.  And I have to HOPE.

The stage is set.  D “married” her.  He has been set up to take the blame as well as his team, thereby absolving RM.  And it would make a lot of sense for RM to now step in and play the “hero.”  We know the truth. D and C know the truth.  But RM has the power to smooth what is going to be a difficult narrative to navigate. And it is a win for D&C and a win for RM.  The m/iarrens are going to be devastated, as they are so invested in being right and D being straight (No we aren’t)(again the narcissism and her soul-crushing need to be right-is this about Darren or Abby?).  And even if we just get a separation it will all be questioned. Because M is the only thing that makes him straight (not true, Darren identifying as straight is what makes him straight).  Everything else points at the opposite.  Add the press has not helped him at all on his path to come out, so it is going to be difficult to navigate.  Having the “king of television” in his corner speaks volumes.

And then there is his horrific, abusive, incompetent team. And they haven’t just fucked with him, it seems with their no queer article they fucked with RM.(Huh? What?) I really hope they live to regret it.

Karma is a bitch.. May she rear her ugly head and finally give these people what they deserve. If i am sitting here a year from now and nothing has changed, I will be heartbroken for him.  And wonder if maybe he did choose career.  I just can’t believe that is who he is. I think he is a fighter and everything he has ever shown confirms that (DELUSION-ville) thought even if there was some confusion when the fraud in NOLA first occurred.  

Here is hoping nonnie.  Here is hoping.

I think a major decision like this was made together.

Read the book when it comes out in Oct 1. I thought c references RM. now I’m near positive.

And Hwood itself was initially announced in February.  I immediately thought this was the project RM was cooking up (curious if FW and CF join the cast).  But then there was silence for months,

And the first 8 months of 2019 were a complete shitshow that included that absolute fiasco in NOLA, excessive PBB promo, ads, ads, ads, TB, and SK.  Not a single one of which were worthy of D’s time and attention.  And to all onlookers, we were dazed and confused.  utterly and completely and not sure what to think or believe.

But putting the pieces together prior to last nights announcement, logically and rationally looking at everything, it seems to me that finally D was tying up loose ends.  While I do think D himself was dazed and confused in the first few weeks after that fraud occurred, it has been clear to me that starting with the work family group honeymoon (I think of all the arrows to m/iarren that have been shot, this might be my favorite) something shifted.  How anyone can not see that that woman was being way over promoted is beyond me (Because “promotion isn’t a thing, Abby”). But clearly the 1st 8 months of 2019 were devoted to giving her everything and anything she ever wanted.  Add in SK, the biggest enablers, that are being rewarded, first by raising an obnoxious amount of cash, and now with R/oyalties with D’s writers being his partners in the business. All of these things are massive pay out.

And last night we get this announcement from D.

notes-from-nowhere

do you want to know what I find very intriguing in all of this? The fact that all of that has been said in this topic pretty much sums up what we have said in the last 15 months if not more.

The latest news only uncovers the thread that keep all of “out theories” together. Of course something might be wrong, misplaced or misunderstood but the big picture is there for all to see (No, you don’t say?).

I do think it is too soon for me to fully embrace the idea that finally things are on the right path but well, please, excuse me for my optimism after a year and a half of struggle.

I’m going to root for D to have back his life and to finally be free to make his own choices. I hope this career advancement (or for better wording: this career extension) will give him what he wants and the power to just be his fully self and spread his wings.

I will watch what’s unfold in front of my eyes with interest from now on and a reneview wave of hope. 

I do trust D is going to take the best decision ever among those available to him. My only fear is that those options may not be the one I hope for him but all I can do right now is wait and see. Hope for the best and expect the worst. Is the wiser thing I can do

ajw720

@notes-from-nowhere it’s impossible to not be skeptical. I didn’t see that “wedding” a 1000 miles away. (SMH) I care way too much (a me problem). I felt like my heart broke that day and I need to take care of me and be cautious. But I’m leaning this is good and I do think the public evidence to date supports this.

This is what euphoria looks like in cc fandom.  

It’s interesting that she convinced herself this is Darren coming out when she thought he would come out during Hedwig based on this:

He and C were very relaxed, joking at interviews when G/lee was ending, both in France at the same time, the C/ol-Fur joke, the repeated telling of mandate.  Everything seemed to point to a positive resolution.  C even scheduled his book tour to be finished the day prior to d’s last performance. and then D was nominated for an emmy and everything seemed to shift and spun out of control and here we are, 4 years later.

She “rationally analyzes” the data and comes to the conclusion he’s coming out rather than understanding he’s just living his life. 

[luminous--dreamer]

Top 20 of 2020

s this year began to unfold I wondered if I would be able to come up with amazing things that happened at the end of the year, or if I should just give up and call it a wash. It has been the most heart breaking, difficult year I can remember, with one blow after another, but instead of letting ourselves sink into the pain that we experienced, as a little family we decided to rise above our circumstances and look at the brighter happier blessings we did in fact receive. So with 2020 coming to an end, we are choosing to release those harder aspects of the year and hold on to the beautiful parts. 

1. Jamaica

We were so lucky to enjoy an absolutely blissful week in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The most relaxing and peaceful vacation of all times. We saw sights, swam and swam (with dolphins!), read lots of books and fully re-charged. We’ve held on to these warm memories throughout the year and let the caribbean sunshine continue to warm our hearts.  As we flew out of Jamaica an earthquake shook the ground, sending everyone at home into a panic. Luckily for us, we flew out safely and happily. Haha maybe it was a sign for the year to come!

2. Maple Syrup

While everything is frozen around us, in a cold Canadian winter, a bright spot for us is making maple syrup. Chris and Bobae spend hours outside collecting sap and boiling it down to create the glorious liquid gold. There is nothing like pouring maple syrup from our own trees onto fresh pancakes. Sitting around the fire with a the sweet smell of syrup wafting in the air is pure winter/spring happiness. 

3. We planted a garden!

This year we planted a garden. It grew and grew until it didn’t. It was a really dry year, and our sad little garden didn’t quite make it. We did get 2 beans and a handful of tomatoes so we will call that a success and a learning year. Chris and Bobae built garden beds which made caring for the garden much easier. We will hope for more rain next year and try again! 

4. Playhouse 

Chris built Bobae a beautiful playhouse. I drew a picture of what I wanted it to look like and he made it happen (!!). Bobae helped a bit with each step and the final product is a magical little oasis! 

5. Work + School From Home 

When the pandemic reached our area, we switched to school and work from home. I had a lot of mixed feelings, worrying that I was letting every one down switching to a home office for a few weeks. I worried and fretted and felt a sadness that I didn’t feel safe or confident to come to the office but made the decision to switch to at home work until things stabilized, feeling like I had disappointed.. who?.. I’m not sure.. I guess.. everyone. I worried that some were left in the office potentially exposed, working hard and picking up slack or jobs I couldn’t do from home (answer the phone, etc).  I missed the daily chatting with co-workers and the ease of a fully equipped office, but found such a sense of peace being home with my family. Safe, sheltered and together. I desperately needed to unplug from the world, that’s what my soul truly needed. In my life I never would have had a chance to stay home that long. Ever. And as an introvert, that space and time away from every one and every thing, was a blessing that I will forever be grateful for. 

6. Campfires at Home

When it became apparent we would need to stay home for a long time, we made the decision to take our home off the market and commit to staying in our current location for a few years.  With that decision made, we settled in and enjoyed many warm evenings around the campfire in our backyard, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, lighting sparklers, watching flames, making wishes, and eventually boiling cobs of corn.  There is no better place to be on warm summer and fall evenings. 

7. Tree Climbing 

This was the summer to learn to climb “the tree”.  We have a lot of trees, but there is one large maple tree in particular that seems to beckon everyone.  It’s large, welcoming and beautiful.   Sine we were spending hours and hours in our back yard working, playing, doing school and relaxing, Bobae decided she wanted to learn to climb it. It started out with many attempts, getting stuck, getting up but not getting down until one day it clicked. We couldn’t keep her out of the tree. Any friends that visited would immediately go with her to climb the tree. 

 8. Bobae’s 9th Birthday 

Bobae turned 9 during the pandemic. In lieu of her usual big birthday party we had a small gathering at home. The weather was beautiful and the kids enjoyed a mostly outside party.  Bobae’s only request was a pinata, which we tied to her tree. 

9. The Haircuts

Chris needed a haircut.  Hair shops were closed. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED! I got to cut his hair! It started out rough when I tried to use scissors. Which resulted in some unsightly bald spots, especially around the ears. We moved on to a set of clippers and that’s where the fun began. The amount of pleasure and satisfaction I find in cutting his hair is unparallelled.  I love it. I love it so much. He’s agreed to let me continue cutting his hair forever. We even let Bobae give it a try. Bobae and I also cut our long hair short. I was terrified to let her cut her beautiful hair but she was so very happy! 

10. Grand Manan 

Since we couldn’t leave the province (and really didn’t want to), we decided to take a vacation to a place I had wanted to visit for 30 years. Grand Manan. A remote fishing island off the coast of New Brunswick, where my grade 1 teacher grew up. She told us stories of her childhood and I dreamed that some day I would visit.  It did not disappoint. We enjoyed an amazing few days, soaking in every drop sea water, fresh breeze and peacefulness. I am so very happy we decided to take this trip and we are looking forward to visiting again. 

11. Saint Andrew’s Girls Trip

This year, the work girls took a trip to Saint Andrews.  We are so lucky to have such an amazing group of women working together, who really enjoy each other’s company. We could stop thinking about work for a while and really relax into a much much needed mini break.  We ate delicious foods, shopped the boutiques and saw minke whales on a whale watching expedition.

12. Kombucha Production

We learned to make Kombucha! Our pilates instructor Hannah supplied us with a mother and at work we learned to ferment, bottle and enjoy this probiotic drink. We felt very accomplished. 

13. Book Club

I’ve always wanted to be in a book club. But I’ve never really had a group of people to book club with. This year, my pilates instructor Hannah invited me to join her book club. I was so nervous. Scared. Terrified. How could I go to a place with people I didn’t know? How could I drive there and back myself? How could I be brave?  I’m not someone who can go places.. make friends.. 

On the first night of book club, we arrived at Andrea’s home, to a room full of strangers. I was terrified and out of my comfort zone. But from the first minute, I had a happy happy feeling in my heart. I was so happy. I felt like I had found my people. I felt like I was in a movie! Plants all around the room, snacks, welcoming faces, and conversations about books. I left that evening feeling like it had been a dream. I was finally in a book club.  As the year has gone on, these strangers have become dear and loving friends, supporting each other through so much more than books. Women who welcomed this introvert gladly into their inner circle. And for that, I am so grateful. 

14. The Year of Friends

I didn’t think I could have friends. I thought that adults can’t make new friends. If they aren’t your childhood friends, they couldn’t possibly be real friends. I didn’t have time for friends. I didn’t have enough mental space left in my heart for real, in person, friends.  Guess what? That was all wrong.  It started with Ashley, and extrovert who loves people. She wanted to be my friend and I couldn’t understand why! But I finally decided to accept friendship and from there on my life has been enriched. Ashley introduced my to another friend, Dee. Together we made a pact to share something we are grateful for each day. It was hard a first, scraping up items from otherwise bleak days, but as time went on, our lists grew longer and brighter.  We’ve had times where we miss a few days, and I always notice that those days don’t feel as happy as the days we actually make an effort to dig deep and create the list. 

I’m so grateful for those friendships, as well as the friendship from Hannah and the other book club members. I’m shocked. Honestly, I can’t believe that it’s true you can make real friends as an adult.  I needed extra support this year, and it took me a while to understand when my friends really cared, and wanted to listen and support me. It was not easy to believe them, that it was okay to tell them my troubles.  The gratitude I feel for you, my friends, is infinite. 

15 Renovation 

We did a renovation! Since we decided to stay in our home, we made plans for a renovation. Phase one is complete now, we opened up the kitchen, changed countertops, smooth the popcorn ceilings, built a fireplace unit, and changed the flooring throughout. Phase 2 to start next week is adding a master suite with a walk in closet and SOAKER TUB! And renovating the current bathroom. 

16. Anniversary Trip 

We celebrated our two year wedding anniversary in September and decided to splurge and spend the night at the beautiful Algonquin Resort. I have never stayed there and always considered it out of my price range, but there was a good deal and we booked it. It was so fun! It’s been a long time since we had that time alone and we really really enjoyed it.  We ate delicious foods, shopped for antiques, and enjoyed quiet drives and sight seeing. 

17. Halloween Parties 

Restrictions lifted and our province was doing really well with no new cases.  We’ve always wanted to have a Halloween party but never really committed to it.   We decided to go all out, bought boxes and boxes of decorations from a marketplace post and got to work. We decked out the garage with everything imaginable, and a smoke machine, making everything super creepy. They loved it!   On the actual day of Halloween, I embraced my “Year of Friendship” and had a full moon witches party. It was SO FUN.  We all dressed as witches, talked about creepy things, did oracle card readings and a full moon ceremony outside.  All of my heart’s desires were fulfilled.  

18. Blossom & Boo Arrived! 

We lost our Mystique this year, and she left a large space in our hearts to fill.  We adopted Boo, a scary sweet black cat from the Debec animal shelter and also welcomed Blossom, a baby goldendoodle pup.  It’s a busy busy place at our house now! 

19. A Real Christmas Tree 

Chris has been wanting a real Christmas tree for years and I have resisted. The maintenance, the mess, the worry.. But this year I decided we could get a real tree, IF we left it out on the porch and decorated it there.  We drove to the tree lot and the magic of the place was so strong! I felt so happy.  We picked the perfect tree and brought it home.  There was no way I could leave that tree outside. It grew it’s whole life to be a Christmas tree and deserved to live inside with us. So now we have a real tree, and it’s beautiful. I was feeling sad that it would just die now, but Chris said not to worry, it would be used to help us make the fires for maple syrup. 

20. Kings Landing Christmas 

Every year we go to Kings Landing HIstorical Village for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. This year we did book a Christmas dinner but it was cancelled due to a two week orange phase restriction in our zone due to a sudden increase in cases.  They opened up two last minute tables for a special new type of experience. Instead of eating in the restaurant, it was a full experience. Dressing up to co-ordinate with the year of the house we were visiting, a horse and cart ride to the home, and eating in the real historical house! It was wonderful and a great way to wrap up the year. 

[hpcc-advent-calendar]

Anxiety and Alcoves

By @talktomeaboutcursedchild

2.7k words, G rated

*

September 1st, 2017

Albus couldn’t feel the tips of his fingers and there was a buzzing in his ears, making it difficult to hear the instructions he had been given. The tall blonde girl who was talking to the first years looked smart in her green robes. 

He squinted towards the Gryffindor table. Rose was leaning across to his older brother, who looked solemn. Albus thought that she had less to worry about at this particular moment in time. She would be wearing the correct coloured robes for the next seven years. He was currently dealing with a lot. 

Being disowned. 

Never making any friends.

Figuring out if Slytherin green matched his eyes. 

The newspaper headlines his mum wouldn’t bother to stop because she hated him. 

Living in a dungeon. 

Possible torture and death. 

He didn’t know what Slytherin was really like. He didn’t mean to ask the hat to let him be different. He didn’t mean to ask for Slytherin. It had just happened absolutely without warning upon seeing the kind grey eyes of the only person he had really wanted to talk to on that train smiling up at him. He thought that maybe they could partner-up in class. Strike up an unlikely inter-house friendship. Potters couldn’t actually be Sorted into Slytherin. 

Albus saw James rise from his seat and mouth a “you okay?” towards him. He wanted to cry. He was not okay. So he simply didn’t respond because he didn’t know what to do. 

He wanted his mum. But she wouldn’t want him anymore. 

He felt a sharp elbow poke him in the ribs as Scorpius’s forced his face into Albus’s line of sight. He smiled at him. He had an infectious grin, like he’d practiced it in the mirror and knew that it made him difficult to say no to.

“We need to go now Albus.” Scorpius chirped. 

Albus didn’t move. 

“Albus? Are you okay?” Scorpius paused and leaned closer to his face, whispering to him. “I’m not okay either. But we need to go.”

Albus and Scorpius were used to being stared at and they both hated it. However, unlike Albus, the stress of the Sorting had made Scorpius hyper-aware of his surroundings. They were being stared at much more than usual and Scorpius felt every set of eyes on him like daggers. 

“Potter, Malfoy. You need to come now,” the Slytherin prefect girl shouted. She paused. “That is not a sentence I expected to have to say today... Please follow me.”

Albus forced his legs to straighten. He desperately looked around the room for one of his cousins but they had all left for Gryffindor. He was used to being surrounded by family and now he was really alone. Part of him was terrified but part of him felt like a weight was lifted. He was free to be his own person.

The two new Slytherins caught up to the other first years at the end of the entrance hall. Two prefects had been nominated to take them to their dorms. The tall blond girl looked like she never missed a deadline and the boy, who Scorpius noted had the build of a beater, looked like he wasn’t to be messed with. They were both smiling down at the younger children. 

Albus knew he needed to pay attention to this part, but he was using all his concentration keeping upright. He vaguely noted that he had always been good at finding his way around so he probably wouldn’t get lost, but he did want to know a little about his new house. He turned to look at Scorpius, who looked eager and attentive. That was the first time Albus noticed that none of the other students were standing too close to them. 

“Welcome to Slytherin! Congratulations on being sorted into the best house in Hogwarts, we have the best time here,” the girl began. “My name is Neave. I’m one half of the sixth year prefect team. This is Ryan, also in sixth year. If you have any questions feel free to grab us in the common room or around the castle. Contrary to myth, we’re a friendly bunch." 

"Except the Bloody Baron!” Ryan interrupted. 

Neave rolled her eyes and began to walk down a corridor leading away from the grand staircase. “Follow me to your new home." 

"Come on, Albus!” Scorpius whispered, tugging on his robes to make sure he followed. Albus wasn’t sure why Scorpius was being so kind to him. He was meant to be a Slytherin and would be better off talking to the other students in their year, but he stuck close by Albus’s side as they walked down the first corridor. 

Albus automatically took a mental note of the direction they were walking in. 

Through the stone door with the green panelling. 

Left after 20 steps.

First left again.

Down some long stone steps. 

Albus expected it to get darker and darker, but he found that the torches that lined the passages were warm and comforting, and the feeling of dread was yet to consume him completely. He started to listen to the words of the perfects ahead. 

“Breakfast is always at 7:30. You have about an hour to eat and we’re close enough to the Great Hall that you can pop back and get your books. Not like the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, they have to show up at breakfast ready to go." 

Backtrack at the bottom of the stairs through the small wooden door to the right of them. 

Straight down to the end of the corridor. 

"Hogwarts is a lot bigger than it was in your parents days. We’ve got a few teachers per subject to squeeze us in. It’s nice to get the perspective of several experts on your work.”

Down the spiral stairs with the warm, green light. 

Sudden left.

15 steps then turn right. 

The large black door was set back into an alcove. 

“‘Ambition’ is the password to the common room. Passwords are changed every few weeks and will be posted on the notice boar,.” Neave announced, stepping closer to the door and saying the password clearly. 

Albus’s hearing had returned enough to hear a faint click, then Ryan pushed the door open. 

The entrance to the common room was much larger than Albus thought it would be. The ceiling was at least 4 times his height, and tiled with green and silver. There were alcoves along the corridor, all filled with older students catching up after the summer holidays. Albus wondered if that would be him next year… but then the sinking feeling returned, so he stopped trying to think about the future.

They took a few more steps into the main common room. It was a large room, but not too large; about the size of Grandma and Grandpa Weasley’s front yard. The large fireplace at one end of the room was blazing, filling the room with light and warmth, and the large serpent above it seemed to be moving in the candle light. Albus wasn’t sure he could get used to having a massive snake in his living room, but he supposed he had a lot of adjustment to do. 

“The giant squid has come to visit. Don’t worry – it can’t get through the glass.”

Albus’s head whipped around with more energy than he had shown since he’d been Sorted. Massive tentacles were clinging to the glass opposite the fireplace. He was never going near that wall. It all made him feel quite sick. 

Albus felt another tug on his robe from Scorpius, who finally looked as worried as Albus thought he should. Albus found the strength to drag himself down another two sets of stone steps. 

“First year boys with surnames M-Z through here, please. Your bathroom is attached to the room and your bags will already have been brought up for you. Try to get some sleep, classes start at 8:45 tomorrow morning. Alarms will go off at 7:15 automatically, but feel free to set them however you’d like." 

Albus saw his trunk immediately as he entered the room. It was much less grand than the common room but just as warm. The far wall of the square room had windows looking out to the lake, and there were eight beds lining the edge, three to the left, three to the right, and two along the back. There was a small wooden door on the right which Albus assumed led to the bathroom. His trunk was at the foot of the bed immediately to his left, next to Scorpius’s. Albus wondered if Hogwarts had known that they would get along. 

Albus threw himself onto his bed and closed the curtains around him. He needed space to breathe, and the noise the other overexcited boys were making was causing him anxiety. He tried to lie there in silence to clear his mind as his room mates unpacked, but he heard his name being mentioned far too often, so he recounted the directions to the common room from the great hall. 

Green panelled door.

20 steps.

First left.

Stone steps.

Door to the right.

End of the corridor.

Spiral stairs.

Left.

15 steps. 

He repeated this in his head until the he heard the door close behind the other boys, who clearly wanted to explore Slytherin more. Without leaving his bed, he leant down and opened his trunk, pulling on his pyjamas, which he had thankfully packed at the top in case something terrible like this happened. He wanted to shower but he didn’t dare get up. He went to pack his robe back in his trunk and saw a small piece of parchment folded near the top, 'Al’ written on the corner. He recognised his mother’s handwriting immediately and felt a comforting glow wash over him. 

He lent back against his headboard with the note. The weight of the situation dawned on him again. Would this be the last time he saw his mothers writing? Would his family ever write to him again? He carefully unfolded the parchment. 

Hi Al,

Your father and I are so proud of you for making it to Hogwarts. We hope you’re settling into your dorm and making lots of new friends. 

Remember to ask James for help if you need it and write to us on your first day of classes. We’ll send Barney so you don’t need to find the Owlery.

We love you so much, Al. 

Mum x

The comforting feeling disappeared. What would he say to his parents tomorrow? James had probably already sent an owl explaining what had happened in the Great Hall. His parents were probably talking about him right now. Everyone was probably talking about him now. The buzzing in his ears returned. He vaguely heard the movement of his dorm mates getting into bed. He needed to calm down. 

Green panelled door.

20 steps.

First left.

He was crying silently. 

Stone steps.

Door to the right.

End of the corridor.

He wanted nothing else than be able to walk up some stairs and ask his brother to comfort him. Or Vic. Or Roxanne. 

Spiral stairs.

Left.

15 steps. 

There was nobody here for him. 

Green panelled door.

Potters don’t belong in Slytherin. 

20 steps

He threw himself over, sadness and panic being replaced with anger and self-loathing. 

First left.

This was his fault. 

Stone steps.

Door to the right.

"Albus?” 

Albus heard a very quiet voice from just outside his curtains. He froze. 

“Albus?” The voice said again, then it stuttered, “I-I can’t sleep either.” 

Albus slowly leaned up and grasped the edge of his bed hangings. 

Please be Scorpius. 

The blond boy leaning next to his bed looked as dishevelled as Albus felt. Perhaps he had been crying too. 

“Albus!” Scorpius’s lips twitched into a slight smile. “Can we go to the common room? I have sweets.”

Albus nodded. There was no need to stay crying in bed all night. If he was only going to have one friend, Scorpius seemed as though he would be a good one. He swung his legs around and stood up, padding around to his trunk and pulling out an old Harpies hoodie. It smelled like home. They exited the room in silence, walking up the stairs that led to the deserted common room. The fire was beginning to burn out but it was still warm. Playing cards lay abandoned on the tables, piles of parchment with scribbles showing signs of life that had left the room not long ago. Some of the lamps were off. 

“Do you think it’s eerie down here?” Scorpius asked, stopping beside Albus.

“No,” Albus replied, surprising himself with his answer. 

“Where should we sit?” Scorpius whispered as a question to himself as much as Albus. 

Albus knew the answer to this immediately and led Scorpius to the first alcove on the left leading out of the common room. The walls were lined with cushions and blankets were strewn on the floor. The boys got comfortable awkwardly, bony knees bumping against each other, not sure if it was ok to be touching. 

Without speaking, Scorpius offered Albus a sweet. Albus realised how hungry he was, having been unable to stomach dinner earlier. He grabbed a handful of sugar mice eagerly. 

“Thank you,” He mumbled. 

Scorpius giggled. “I noticed you didn’t eat anything.” There was an almost comfortable silence as they ate, the sloshing of the lake against the windows could be heard. “You know I always assumed I would be sorted into Slytherin. My family will be happy. But I’m disappointed that I’m not different enough.”

“It’s not all its cracked up to be, trust me.” Albus grumbled back. 

Scorpius shrugged. “I’m glad you’re here. You might be the first person I’ve met who understands what it is to live in the shadow of your father and desperately want to escape." 

Albus looked up at him, searching for mocking or sarcasm, which he was used to from his cousins when they said something as emotionally vulnerable as that. He saw nothing but sincerity. 

Albus must’ve been frowning at him because Scorpius went bright red and mumbled an apology. "I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

“No!” Albus began quickly. “You’re right.” He paused. “I’m just not good at talking about things like that." 

"That’s okay.” Scorpius handed Albus a handful of jelly slugs. “We have seven years to practice.”

“That’s terrifying,” Albus whispered. “This is all wrong. I mean, it doesn’t feel so wrong, but it is...” He leaned back against the stone wall, pulling a blanket around himself. “I’m going to get picked on.”

Scorpius sighed. “Me too." 

Albus frowned. "Not necessarily. You could be popular! This is where you’re supposed to be." 

Scorpius laughed. "I am the son of…” He paused. “Well according to them. Sorry, my dad is bad at saying his name still and I need to learn to break the habit." 

"Voldemort?” Albus questioned. “People are still afraid to say that?” Albus had never considered what had happened to the death eaters after the war. 

“Of course.” Scorpius looked surprised. “My dad might’ve been on the opposite side of the war but it was by force. I don’t think anything could hurt him more than knowing I had no friends because of a stupid rumour." 

"I’m your friend!” Albus butted in. 

“I thought you only stayed for my sweets?” Scorpius mocked. 

Albus smiled at him. “The sweets are a perk.”

Scorpius looked like he’d accomplished something. 

“What?” Asked Albus. 

“Nothing. I’m just really glad you’re here.” Scorpius leaned back too. He had made a friend. His first ever friend. 

Albus couldn’t bring himself to reply. He wasn’t happy that he was in Slytherin, but he was happy that he’d met Scorpius. He had a chance to be different and be accepted for who he was, and that filled him with optimism. He saw Scorpius’s eyes begin to drop closed. “Bed?” Albus asked, pulling himself up. 

Scorpius nodded and followed Albus. They wore the blankets back up to their dorm like capes, for warmth and protection, filled with anxiety and anticipation for the morning, eyelids heavy, secure in the knowledge that they had each other. 

[dmitri-smerdyakov]

1st September - a Newt/Tina (+ children) fic

Prompt fill for @fantasticprompts

 (Late,  but better late than never!)

Phoenix – June 1931 – 15 (going on 16, 5th year) Linnet – January 1933 – 13 (going on 14, 3rd year) Leo – March 1935 – 11 (going on 12, 1st year) Wren – May 1941 - 5

Kowalski Children:

Toby – October 1929 – 16 (nearly 17, 6th year) Daisy – April 1931 – 15 (going on 16, 5th year) Ruth – November 1933 – 12 (nearly 13, 2nd year) Abel – November 1933 – 12 (nearly 13, 2nd year) Eli – January 1939 – 7 (going on 8) Lucy - September 1941 – 4 (1 week away from 5) Penny – January 1943 – 3 and a half

You also see Linnet’s Michael (you all know Michael/the Linnet/Michael headcanons, I’m sure ;) ) and it’s all generally very busy on Platform 9 3/4 !

Set 1st September 1946.

It was a crisp Autumn day as the family headed to Kings Cross Station that morning, desperately trying not to get separated as the crowd began to thicken. Two older children pushed trollies with trunks in front of them, already moving further ahead in their excitement; behind, a younger and smaller boy with glasses pushed his own trolley, assisted by his father, as the youngest child – a small girl with a bow in her hair – clutched to their mother’s hand tightly.

“It’s so busy,” Wren said quietly, pressing her lips together.

Tina seemed to hesitate only slightly, though she didn’t stop walking; it seemed rather silly now, she thought, to bring a Legilimens as young as their daughter to a busy train station, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been better for one of them to stay at home with her instead.

Wren frowned, giving her mother’s hand a tug forward. “I’m fine. I wanna see Phee and Lin and Leo go, Mummy!”

So stubborn, Tina thought fondly to herself; Linnet was stubborn too, so it was likely that Wren had picked it up from her older sister, given how much time they spent together.

They found their way to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, somehow managing to not become separated by the other civilians rushing about the station. In the time they waited for their parents and younger siblings to catch up, Phoenix and Linnet had managed to start a disagreement as to who was going first through the barrier.

“I’m a girl,” Linnet stated primly. “Ladies go first.”

“I’m the oldest,” Phoenix reminded her tersely. “I go first.”

“Not again,” Newt groaned, though there was obvious affection behind it. “Alright, no need to fight in the middle of the station, you two: it doesn’t matter who goes first, but if we don’t hurry then we’ll miss the train altogether.”

For a moment his two eldest children locked eyes, silently trying to force the other to back down – and then, finally, Linnet sighed. “Fine. Phoenix can go first – but only because if it’s blocked then he’ll smack the wall and not me.”

Phoenix sent her a dirty but triumphant look as he marched towards the barrier with his belongings; Leo watched in fascination as his brother disappeared easily, mouth agape in awe. Linnet followed shortly after, head held high and without a moment’s hesitation.

“Alright, now you, Leo,” Newt urged gently, putting his hands on his son’s shoulders. “Nervous?”

Leo swallowed. “No. Yes. Maybe.”

His father chuckled, shaking his head to himself. “I thought so. It is always slightly nerve-wracking the first time, I must say. You’ll be fine, Leo, I promise.”

The boy swallowed, trying to steel himself as he stared at the barrier between the platforms; it looked easy, but he still couldn’t help but worry that it wouldn’t work for him for some reason, that he wouldn’t be magical enough or something. It wouldn’t do well to hold everyone else up, of course, and so he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and started a half-run to the barrier.

When he opened his eyes, a scarlet steam engine appeared before him.

This platform was just as busy as the muggle one he had come from, though it was now filled with families wishing their children goodbye as they prepared to leave for school. Groups of children crowded together to coo over magical pets, over books on potions, and a few were even clamouring to look at what broomsticks their friends had.

By the time his parents and sister appeared, Leo still hadn’t been able to see his older siblings or his cousins; Tina looked around as well as they made their way down the platform, craning her neck and frowning to herself. “They should be here already…”

“I’m sure they’re here somewhere, love,” Newt assured her, also looking around carefully. “And I’m sure Phoenix and Lin are with them too… Ah, over there!”

Moving through the mist, it became easier to make out the shape of another family clamouring near one of the carriages of the train; Queenie beamed at the sight of them, immediately stepping forward toward her sister with her arms open. “Teenie!”

Tina smiled as she hugged her sister back tightly, laughing when Daisy rushed over to greet her; her niece was wearing her prefect badge on her jumper already, clearly pleased with herself. “Still proud about being made prefect, huh?”

“Of course!” Daisy said excitedly, though she looked somewhat tired. “It means I can boss Phoenix about now properly.”

Phoenix rolled his eyes but said nothing, helping Jacob lift the trunks onto the train instead. Leo had grown silent, smiling somewhat nervously when Abel looked over his way; before his cousin could say anything, though, Ruth had bounded over excitedly, blonde curls tied back in braids that bounced over her shoulders. “It’s gonna be so fun, Leo!” She exclaimed, pulling him into a hug without warning. “What house do you think you’ll be in? I think you’ll be a Hufflepuff, that’s the best house of course, and it was Uncle Newt’s house – you don’t want to be a Gryffindor like Phoenix and Daisy, they get in trouble a lot for doing stupid things…”

Meanwhile, Wren had silently taken Newt’s hand as she watched her siblings and cousin prepare to board the Hogwarts Express; after a few seconds, she looked up at him with wide eyes. “Can I go, Daddy? I’ll be good, I promise.”

He chuckled fondly, giving her hand a tight squeeze. “I know you’d be good, Wren. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until you’re a bit older, however – it won’t be too long now, you’ll see.”

“It’s forever away,” She complained with a pout. “I’m five, and you have to be eleven…that’s…” She hesitated, trying to count her numbers in her mind. “That’s…six years away!”

“It is,” Newt agreed, amused by the disappointed look on her face. “But it’ll pass in no time, you’ll see.” After all, just think about how fast time has passed for the other three…feels like only yesterday they were just mere babies.

Wren huffed, shaking her head to herself. “I’m not a baby either… And time isn’t passing for me. It’s not fair. I’m going to be all on my own.”

“Not completely – me and Mummy will still be here,” He reminded her gently. “You’ll have us all to yourself, and you can do more around the case now without them. How does that sound?”

“Well… Okay, I guess,” She relented half-heartedly.

Linnet, who had gotten onto the train to put her trunk away, appeared then, now chatting amicably with a tall lanky boy; he was wearing a Hufflepuff scarf, dark hair tousled as he nodded and smiled with whatever she was saying.

Wren’s shoulders lifted, wrenching her hand out of her father’s so that she could run over to them. “Hello, Michael! It’s good to see you again!”

“It’s nice to see you too, Wren,” Michael laughed quietly as she threw her arms around him. “You’re getting taller – soon you’ll be taller than me.”

She pulled a face. “I hope not.”

As they continued to talk, Newt decided to see how Leo was faring; his youngest son was now currently with his mother, having been released by Ruth, and looking anxious as she helped him to load the last of his things onto the train. When she reappeared, she looked rather melancholy – and it didn’t require Legilimency to understand why.

“You’re sure you’ve got everything?” Tina checked, and Leo nodded wordlessly. “Books, cauldron, wand, jumper… All of it?”

“Yes, Mum.” He hesitated. “I’ll write when I get there…I mean, once I’m sorted and everything; I’ll tell you what house I’m in and everything.

She bit her lip, and when she spoke her voice sounded surprisingly close to breaking. “Alright. Have fun, okay? Try to stay out of trouble, and make some friends too – I don’t want you being lonely over there.”

“I won’t be,” Leo assured her, though he didn’t sound too convinced himself. “I’ve got Phoenix and Lin and all the others… I think I’ll be okay.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything – but then suddenly Leo was lurching forwards, burying himself into his mother’s coat and embracing her desperately. Tina looked surprised but said nothing, instead running her fingers through his hair as she held him tightly.

“I’m gonna miss you, Mum,” He admitted, growing tearful. “I know I’m being a baby, I’m eleven, but… I will miss you, Mum, I will.”

“I’ll miss you too,” She agreed, closing her eyes to hide the fact that she was tearing up too. “I’ll miss all of you while you’re gone – but I know that you’re going to have a great time too, learning how to use magic properly.”

He nodded, almost to himself. “Yeah, I know…but I’m still gonna miss you a lot, Mum.”

Although Leo wasn’t her youngest, he was still very much her baby in many ways – perhaps because he was exactly like Newt, from his ruffled hair to his love of animals and the natural world. It was always emotional when a child was about to start their first year, as they had learnt with Phoenix and Linnet over the previous years – but with Leo, it was slightly more so, given the close relationship he shared with his mother.

Queenie had also been watching with a small smile, moving now to stand beside Newt. “Teen’s worried about him – he’s a quiet boy, and she doesn’t want him to get picked on by the bigger kids. I was the same with Abel.”

“I can’t believe he’s already off to school,” Newt murmured, shaking his head to himself. “I can’t believe any of them are off to school, quite frankly…seems strange to consider.”

“I know,” She agreed forlornly. “I always thought… I figured that if I had kids then they’d go to Ilvermorny, even when I was just a little girl. It’s real odd to think that they don’t sometimes.”

He wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, but thankfully the whistle from the train cut him off – a sign that it would be leaving shortly.

It was a flurry of goodbyes and final embraces on the platform as parents said farewell to their children and wished them a fun term at school; Queenie was sure to kiss all of her children and then her niece and nephews goodbye as they prepared to get onto the train, beaming brightly and bidding them a fun year. Jacob grinned at each of them as they hugged him goodbye, slipping each of the children small wrapped-up pastries as he did so.

“You know, for the journey,” He said, chuckling to himself when Daisy embraced him tightly in thanks; he would, of course, continue to send them baked treats all throughout the school year, as was tradition now in their family.

Unsurprisingly, Leo was the last to board the train; he lingered to say goodbye to his uncle and aunt before turning to both of his parents once more. He looked uncertain of what to say, of what to do, as he gnawed on his lip thoughtfully. “I’ll send an owl as soon as I can,” He said finally, and behind his glasses his eyes were glistening. “I…I’ll miss you both.”

Tina moved forwards, pulling him into a tight hug and closing her eyes. “We’ll miss you too – every day. But you’ll have fun, Leo, I promise; just don’t get into too much trouble, and…and have fun.”

“I will, Mum,” Leo promised quietly, pulling away from her.

“Besides, we’ll see you for the holidays,” Newt added, patting his son on the shoulder. “It’ll give you something to look forward to, won’t it?”

Their son’s face brightened slightly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“I wanna go,” Wren mumbled, looking saddened as she folded her arms. “I’m the only one not going – it’s not fair.”

“You’ll go too someday,” Newt reminded her fondly. “It won’t be long at all now, you’ll see.”

Leo gave his younger sister one last hug and smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Wren – I’ll think about you every day while I’m gone: I’ll even write letters just for you.” When she looked unconvinced, he added, “I can get Phoenix and Linnet to buy stuff in Hogsmeade, and I’ll send it to you. Would you like that?”

“Hmm… Okay!” She agreed, and she gave him a small grin. “But don’t forget, Leo, because you promised!”

They watched as Leo clambered onto the train, and just a minute later he was poking his head out of the compartment his siblings had claimed earlier. All of the children were hanging out of the window as best as they could as the train started to pull out of the station, waving and calling their goodbyes to their parents loudly. The train slowly started to gather speed, and it wasn’t too long before the children disappeared from sight.

Wren was crying softly against her father’s side as she continued to wave, clearly unhappy to be left behind and to have to say goodbye to all of her older siblings; Newt patted her with one hand as the other waved. When he cast his gaze over to his wife, there was a few tears running down her face – small but still there.

“He’ll be fine,” He murmured to her. “They all will.”

“I know,” Tina sighed, still staring at the disappearing train – but a smile was slowly making its way onto her face. “I just…can’t believe how fast they’ve grown up.”

Wren tilted her head. “Even me?”

“Even you,” She affirmed affectionately, somewhat amused as she squeezed her daughter’s shoulder. “Come on, I guess we should head home then – your Auntie Queenie invited us for lunch.”

The station was starting to empty now that the train had gone, families leaving as they chattered quietly; Newt kept a firm grip on Wren’s hand as they made to leave, feeling himself rather overcome with emotion. It was hard to believe that three of his four children were now attending Hogwarts, learning to control their magic and use it properly, when it seemed only recently that they had been mere babies he had carried about his case with him – and he knew that Tina felt the same, even without her saying it.

Dear Mum and Dad,

I’m at Hogwarts now! The train journey was fine, nothing dangerous or out of the ordinary happened – though Phoenix did eat a bean that tasted like vomit (or so he says). It’s only my first day, but I already miss you and I miss Wren too. Will you tell the creatures I miss them as well?

I’ve only seen a little bit of Hogwarts, but it seems so big!  The others said that I’d get used to it, and that if I wanted help finding my way around then I could just ask them, but it seems so strange at the moment. The staircases move all the time, just like you said, Dad, and there were ghosts at the feast! They were mostly polite, however, so I’m happy.

The main reason I wrote this letter was to let you know that I got sorted, and guess what? I’m in Hufflepuff, just like you, Dad! Phoenix looked slightly put out that I’m not in Gryffindor like him, but he congratulated me all the same. Ruth and Toby are happy that I’m in the same house as them, and Linnet’s friend Michael let me sit next to him at the feast. I feel better about being at Hogwarts because I know some people already – mostly family, but also a few other people who are friends with Phoenix and Linnet.

I’m going to write at least once a week because I still miss you both so much. Remember to tell the creatures that I miss them, especially the bowtruckles, and that I’m thinking about them every day.

Lots of love,

Leo

*

[canaryatlaw]

mmmm okay it’s late. today was mixed. most of it was okay, just some bad stuff at the end. same deal for court mornings, had my alarm set for 8:45 when I got a call at like 5:43, luckily I’m pretty good at being coherent on calls when I’ve just been awoken by them, it was just the lawyer on one of the cases that was up, they still have no idea what they’re doing with the hearings, it’s ridiculous. my boss is supposed to have one tomorrow and we have no idea what’s gonna happen because I guess it’s supposed to be over Zoom but I know she’s going to move to have it in person because there’s a ton of evidence and other stuff that would be very difficult over Zoom. the judge we had today was currently booking hearings in December but that was still up in the air, so we decided to just get a status date for setting a hearing. I like the other lawyer, he’s always been very pleasant and polite, he was actually the one I’d spoken to in like September of last year just after starting when I got a file shoved in my face and said my coworker couldn’t make it, so I opened the file and walked upstairs haha so I had pretty much no idea what was going on. and I met him then and he made the comment that he was “the nicest defense attorney you’ll ever meet) and I was just like well my dad is a defense attorney so that’s a pretty high bar, which he thought was hilarious. all of this to say though, since this case got transferred to me in January, I don’t think he’s actually made it to any of the court dates, I’m always getting a call a day or two before and there’s something going on so if I could just cover it, and it’s not a big deal and I really don’t mind doing so because it’s that much easier if I can just get in there, summarize the situation for the judge and ask for what we agreed, so it makes my life that much easier, I just thought it was kind of funny that he’d kept missing them. but oh well. When I logged in I told them I should be the only party on both cases and they said they’d try to get me in early (it seems like they are beginning to give attorneys preference, which was something they said they wouldn’t do at the beginning, so this is definitely good). there was some delay but I got in around 10:30, in and out quickly, easy peasy. I was on the hotline supervisor again today and then again tomorrow, it happens because we usually rotate Mondays and my regular day was Tuesday so I’ve done it before, this will actually be 3 in a row counting Friday too but oh well. not too many calls which was good because I had a lot of work to get done, but this one fucking call I wanted to scream and pull my hair out. without details, it was an elderly client who had a male “friend” helping her with tech and they were both fucking terrible with technology and then he’d insist he did everything right and it must be something on my end, all of which took place twice between submitting the papers and getting on Zoom. after so much shit we finally get to the hearing, the EOP gets granted, we’re almost good to go when this dude gets on the fucking line because he wanted to ask some stupid questions, then ended by telling the judge her laugh (because we were all laughing) reminded him of Kamala Harris, and that was a compliment, then finally got off the line. I was literally face-palming and laughing because this was just insane, and I stayed on the line a few extra seconds just to thank the judge for her patience (i’ve learned judges really appreciate hearing that) and thankfully we were all just laughing at the situation, because if this had happened with the judge two courtrooms over, the judge would’ve like, sent out sheriffs to go arrest him for contempt of court (this is the judge who kicked the defendant off the Zoom call in my one case because he was being an asshole, so I was very glad it ended up with this judge, she’s a criminal judge so I don’t see her much, she’s been on most of the criminal cases I’ve worked on (which is like, 3) and they just cycle the criminal judges through the EOP rotation so we end up in front of criminal judges sometimes, which can be both a bad and a good thing. but anyway, we finally got the damn thing, the dude calls me back and wants to know all this shit and I was like okay it’s in the email and I’m done with this you have no reason to call me again and blah blah and of course at the end he was like well we’ll call if you have any issues which was fucking great to hear. however, when I was entering their info into the system it turned out we had a conflict, so if they call me again I have to be like there’s a conflict and hang up, so I was happy for that at least lol. I finished up some paperwork (like printed out and getting put in envelopes, then went to meet friend for dinner, and this is where the bad part started. I was mostly good getting there which is like, two blocks over from me so not far, but right when we were about to sit down my legs started shaking and for some reason I didn’t just try to grab my cane so I just fell on my butt and I was like I’m totally fine this is nothing and it really wasn’t anything, but I was kinda irritated at myself for not going to grab the cane right away. but yeah, dinner was very nice definitely enjoyed, but afterwards instead of just walking home I made the mistake of walking to Walgreens with friend because I wanted some damn milk to make pudding with, and that was another few blocks over. so we’re walking there and mostly good, fine in the store but they were literally sold out of milk other than the one that’s like special and costs like $5 and I’m not buying that. they did have this really cool thing on their beverage refrigerator things with like a virtual picture of what’s on the inside, I don’t really know how to describe it but it was cool. but yeah, we check out and head home, and that’s where things really start to go downhill. it just started happening again and like I could barely get past the cars trying to get out of the parking lot we were working across, and we ended up having to stop and take a break to see if we could get it calmed down and it did a bit, we weren’t actually far from my apartment (we kinda did a loop so we were back on that side) but between where we were and where apartment was that dang huge intersection, it’s not the same one I had issues in, it’s one block north of it, and it’s so big and there were a lot of cars on the street. and so I start to get up and walk a bit but it just kept coming and I was like yeah there’s no fucking way I’m making it across that intersection, so we went over to the bench on the side of the road and called an uber to drive me like 3 blocks, because I couldn’t make it myself. by the time I got to my building I was mostly okay and able to get up the stairs and get into my apartment without issue, thankfully. at that point I was just more upset than anything else. I just don’t know what to do right now. like sometimes I can tell if it’s going to be bad that day if I go out, but other times it’s more sudden, and like, what am I just going to never leave my apartment or have to be stuck here every time it’s going bad? I can’t do that. and my whole thing with the cane was my effort to be able to walk by myself even when it’s giving me issues and like...it’s just not going to happen. there’s just points where I can’t walk without falling, and I just....I really don’t know. I’m going to call my doctor in the morning, I was already going to do so because I need a referral from her to the other neurologist that specializes in movement disorders, because the one neurologist is a specialist and one specialist can’t refer to another, so it needs to come from my primary care doctor, but the neuro people already clear it and everything so that shouldn’t be an issue. and yeah, when I got home I just kinda chilled and watched Psych until I decided to shower and start getting ready for bed, and now I’m here. I spent way too much time on this post but I guess I needed to get it out, and now I desperately need to go to bed, so I’ll be doing that now. Goodnight babes. Hope your Monday was better than mine. 

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND 8/17/18 – Crazy Rich Asians, Mile 22, Alpha and More

I’m going to do things a little different this week, because one of my absolutely favorites from Sundance is coming out this weekend, and after seeing it again last week, it’s probably going to end up in my Top 5 for the year, and that is…

JULIET, NAKED (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)

I’ve been a fan of Nick Hornby’s writing for a very long time, but when I received a copy of his new book in 2009, I was immediately caught up in its story of a has-been musician, his diehard fan and his ignored wife. I was really excited to hear that it would be adapted by director Jesse Peretz, who had been making big waves (and got an Emmy nod) for directing shows like Girls, New Girl and GLOW. The general story revolves around Rose Byrne’s Annie, a woman living in a British seaside town married to Chris O’Dowd’s Duncan, an avid fan of an American singer-songwriter named Tucker Crowe. Duncan runs a website dedicated to his idol, but when he receives a previously unheard demo recording called “Juliet, Naked,” he gets into a squabble with Annie, because she is quite vocal about how much she hates it (mainly to get Duncan’s goat). When Duncan sleeps with a co-worker, Annie kicks him out, but then the real Tucker Crowe (played by Ethan Hawke) gets in touch with Annie (over her negative review of the rare demos), they begin a transatlantic correspondence that leads to them meeting and more. It’s another great story from Hornby in the vein of About a Boy and High Fidelity, one that creates an amazing portrait of this woman who feels she’s in a rut and how she connects with the famous musician who walked out of a concert 20 years earlier and has been raising a young son in upstate New York.

This is a fantastic romantic comedy from Peretz that’s produced by Judd Apatow and others with all-star writing team including Peretz’s sister Eugenia, Jim Taylor (Sideways) and his wife Tamara Jenkins (The Savages), who all did an amazing job adapting Hornby’s work.  

Here’s my interview with Jesse Peretz over at NextBestPicture... Enjoy!

INTERVIEW WITH JESSE PERETZ

Juliet, Naked will open in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, expand to more cities next week and then hopefully be fairly wide on August 31.

But that isn’t the only Ethan Hawke movie this week, nope. The actor is having quite a good year indeed...

On top of that, Hawke’s latest film as a director, Blaze (Sundance Selects), will be released in Austin on Friday, as it slowly rolls out to arrive in New York City on September 6 and then in L.A. later in September.

Blaze tells the story of Blaze Foley, played by musician Ben Dickey, who was the lesser-known blues singer who collaborated with his friend Townes Van Zandt. Not knowing much about the Austin native, this is a fascinating film by Hawke that shows a lot of his dysfunctional relationship with his Jewish writer wife (and the film’s co-writer) Sybil Rosen, played by Alia Shakat (who is simply fantastic in the role). Musician Charlie Sexton pulls off a respectable version of Van Zandt, and look for cameos by the likes of Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Kris Kristofferson and Hawke’s long-time collaborator, Richard Linklater.

This is another great music-based film from Hawke, and a much better narrative feature than his earlier features, 2006’s The Hottest State and 2001’s Chelsea Walls. There’s also a connection between Foley and Hawke’s Juliet, Naked character, because the fictional Tucker Crowe similarly became the subject of urban legends after vanishing from the public eye following a concert. (Foley was actually killed in a scuffle after recording a live album at one of his club performances, which acts as the framing device for the film.)

And now, back to our previously scheduled wide releases, and how ironic that the proverbial “Dog Days of Summer” would begin last weekend with an actual movie called Dog Days, and it bombed? And a giant shark movie starring Jason Statham opened with almost $45 million… crazy times! Yeah, these last few weekends of August have never been known as a good time to release movies, and most movies that end up here are ones that studios just want to get off their coffers before their even slower fall months. That would normally be the case, but that is definitely not the case with…

CRAZY RICH ASIANS (New Line)

The first August anomaly is this romantic-comedy based on Kevin Kwan’s best-selling book, which is the first major studio movie since The Joy Luck Club25 years ago to feature a predominantly Asian cast. This one is about an Asian college professor who takes his Asian girlfriend to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding where she discovers that his family is super-rich and he’s a very in-demand bachelor.

The movie features an amazing cast that includes Constance Wu from the hit ABC sitcom Fresh off the Boat, veteran Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh, comic superstar Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken) as well as fresher talent like rapper Awkwafina, last seen in Ocean’s 8, Gemma Chan and newcomer Henry Golding as the male lead. The movie is directed by Jon M. Chu, who has directed an odd number of movies from G.I. Joe: Retaliationto Step Up 3 and the Jem and the Holograms movie, the latter a huge bomb despite being made for not so much money.

Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy, and obviously, there’s a limited audience for the genre normally, but possibly even more when you have Asians in every role, because you’re never sure whether women of other ethnicities will be as interested in this as they might be with Valentine’s Day or other rom-com hits like The Proposal or Pretty Woman. Of course, we can also look at the long-standing legs of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which drew in a large Greek audience at first, but word-of-mouth helped lead it to $241 million domestic, the highest gross for a rom-com ever.

There haven’t been that many successful rom-coms in recent years unless you include Mamma Mia: Here We go Again or Greg Berlanti’s Love Simon, the latter which grossed $40.8 million opening in March with $11.7 million. Crazy Rich Asians is likely to sway more towards the former, I’d imagine.

What’s interesting and maybe not unexpected is that the Asian-American community has been rallying around the movie, whether or not they’ve read the book or even like romantic comedy films, with many entire theaters/screenings being bought up in advance. It’s likely the community realizes that Crazy Rich Asians will need to succeed if they’re going to see more Asians and Asian-Americans in significant leading roles. Even so, you have to remember that Asians only make up 6% of the U.S. population and maybe a little more in Canada, so how much impact can a movie have even if every single Asian person in the country goes to see it? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Crazy Rich Asians is opening on Wednesday, which kind of throws a wrench in trying to project how the movie might do, because a.) people who desperately want to see the movie might rush out to see it on Weds if b.) some might not even realize it opens on Wednesday and will wait for Thursday or Friday. (There weren’t any Tuesday previews to give us any sort of hint of what’s to come.) One presumes the point of the earlier opening is to help drive word-of-mouth for the weekend, although New Line also gave the movie sneak previews last Wednesday, which might do the trick.  Reviews are excellent with it currently holding a respectable 96% on Rotten Tomatoes but there are many more reviews to come.

Expect the movie to do big business on Wednesday and Thursday, possibly $9 to 10 million, and then another $20 million plus over the weekend, although it shouldn’t be surprising if it does more than $30 million in its first five days. After all, we’re definitely entering new territory here. Even so, word-of-mouth should help it over the rest of the summer and into September, so don’t be surprised if it ends up making close to $100 million or more, especially if it’s as good as I’ve heard.

MILE 22 (STXfilms)

A movie hoping to bring in the business that will have little to no interest in Crazy Rich Asiansis this new action-thriller from actor Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg, who now have made three movies based on real events: Lone Survivor (’13, $125 mil. Gross), Deepwater Horizon (’16, $61.4 mil.) and Patriots Day (’16, $31.9 mil.). That’s a fairly dramatic drop from their first movie to their last one, and Mile 22 is an original story not based on real events about a CIA task force who have to protect an asset from terrorists over the course of 22 miles. (And yes, that does sound a lot like the Bruce Willis-Mos Def movie 16 Blocksfrom 2006, thanks for noticing.)

Besides Wahlberg, it stars Lauren Cohan from The Walking Dead, John Malkovich (who also was in Deepwater Horizon), MMA champ and WWE contender Ronda Rousy, Indonesian martial arts star Iko Uwais (The Raid) and Berg himself. It’s a great cast but we’ve seen similar movies like this one with great casts that don’t do so well from Hotel Artemis earlier this summer to John Hillcoat’s Triple 9 in 2016, although both of them looked like they could be good.

Obviously, Wahlberg is going to be this film’s biggest draw, but his filmography has also run the gamut of hits and bombs. Last year, Wahlberg appeared in Michael Bay’s Transformers: The Last Knight, the comedy sequel Daddy’s Home 2 and the beleaguered Ridley Scott drama All the Money in the World, continuing his run of two to three movies a year with varying degrees of quality and success.

Like so many other movies in theaters and quite a few from STX, Mile 22 is a Chinese co-production, which doesn’t mean a heck of a lot for the film’s domestic success. Last year’s The Foreigner starring Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan is a good example as that topped out at $34.3 million domestic after a $13.1 million opening, although that movie did three times its domestic take overseas.

This might be why STX decided to dump the movie into late August, because maybe it isn’t as strong as some of the Berg-Wahlberg’s previous offerings, but is more of a throwaway action-thriller instead. The studio also isn’t screening for critics until Wednesday night, the day before it opens for Thursday previews, so I wouldn’t expect it to be one of “Da Bergs’” better-reviewed films.

On top of that, there’s also just too much competition for older males in theaters, so this might have a hard time doing more than $15 million this weekend, a third place showing, as it struggles to make $35 million by summer’s end.

(Note: I may run a mini-review and make a few changes above after I see the movie tonight.)

ALPHA (Sony)

The odd dog or wolf of the weekend is this big screen adventure epic set during the Ice Age starring Kodi Smit-McPhee (X-Men: Apocalypse), which looks a lot like Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 BC. Hopefully, it isn’t nearly as bad. (See my review below. It isn’t.)

Alphais the new movie from Albert Hughes, one half of the Hughes Brothers, who broke out with urban crime films like Menace II Society and Dead Presidents before making From Hell with Johnny Depp and The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington. After the latter, the two went their separate ways and after a couple failed projects, Albert decided to make this very different movie as his solo dramatic feature as a director. It’s a strange choice for sure, but Sony have doubled down by giving the movie an IMAX release to push its big-screen nature.

There should be enough awareness of this movie being that it was supposed to come out last November and then earlier this year – I was seeing trailers for this in front of Thor: Ragnarok in early November and over the Christmas holidays as well – but Sony clearly doesn’t have much faith in the movie as they moved it to the dumping ground of late August. The studio has also completely changed the marketing as the movie’s release neared, pushing it more for the wolves that might get women and kids excited to see it. Personally, I don’t see the switch in marketing gears helping much, as I was already tuning out about the movie after seeing the trailers too much last year. (Reviews, surprisingly, are STELLAR so far, but there are only eight on Rotten Tomatoes, so that might change?)

Although people might know about the movie, it really doesn’t look that appealing from the marketing, and it won’t help that schools have already started in many places cutting potential business for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Frankly, it will be a shocker to me if Alpha makes more than $7 million this weekend even with the higher incent and price for IMAX tickets.

Mini-Review: When I was younger, I used to love watching pre-historic epics like 1 Million Years B.C. on television. Hopefully, some young boys and girls will be as inspired by watching Albert Hughes’ solo narrative debut as a director, but Alpha is definitely not the type of movie that should be watched on a television set.

It gets off to a rough start with young Keda (Kodi Smit-Mcphee) not living up to his chieftain father’s hopes as a warrior. When the tribe takes on a herd of buffalo, Keda gets knocked off a cliff and he’s left behind for dead by the tribe. Trying to survive, Keda faces off against a pack of wolves and one of the wolf pack is injured in the melée. The caring young man brings the injured wolf along on his journey of survival as the two of them work together to catch prey and survive. 

This is where Alpha picks up greatly, becoming tale of a boy and his “dog” survival tale that’s charming and heart-warming and not nearly as corny or obvious as the earlier storytelling might lead you to believe. (It doesn’t take long to get over the awkward decision to begin with the buffalo hunt, then cut back a  week as Keda is about to go over the cliff, and then show the buffalo hunt again, throwing Keda over the cliff for real the second time.)

If nothing else, one needs to commend the impressive job by Hughes and team -- from the animal trainers to the visual FX department, sound and music – for bringing this tale to life in a way that keeps you glued to the screen and benefits greatly from the IMAX 3D projection. It might be good to note that all of the film’s dialogue is in some ancient prehistoric dialect, so if your kids are too young to read subtitles, then they may get frustrated by not understanding what is being said.

Though there are problems in the first third, the fact is that if Terrence Malick or Alejandro Innaritu made this exact same movie, it would be thought of as a revelation. The late August release and lesser status of Hughes as a filmmaker will mean this film will mostly be overlooked, which is a true shame.

Rating: 7.5/10

Either way, this weekend could be a close call for #1 between Crazy Rich Asians and the second weekend of The Meg  as both are vying for somewhere in the high-teens to low-$20 millions. Even so, I think the marketing/hype behind the New Line romantic-comedy will be enough to push it over the top to win the weekend.

This week’s top 10 should look something like this…

1. Crazy Rich Asians  (New Line) - $21.5 million N/A 2. The Meg (Warner Bros.) - $19.5 million -56% 3. Mile 22  (STXfilms) - $15.3 million N/A 4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout  (Paramount) - $12 million -40% 5. Christopher Robin  (Disney) - $7.7 million -38% 6. Alpha (Sony) - $7.5 million N/A 7. BlacKkKlansman  (Focus Features) - $7 million -35% 8. The Spy Who Dumped Me  (Lionsgate) - $3.9 million -48% 9. Slender Man  (Screen Gems) - $3.7 million -67% 10. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again  (Universal) - $3.5 million -40%

LIMITED RELEASES

While I gave some extra attention to Juliet, Naked above, there are a bunch of other limited releases worth checking out this weekend, especially as the wider releases become less interesting to the masses.

First up is The Wife (Sony Pictures Classics), an amazing drama starring Glenn Close as Joan Castleman, wife of the elderly reknowned author Joseph Castleman (Jonathan Pryce), as the couple travel to Stockholm for him to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature along with their son David (Max Irons). Joe can be a handful and Joan finds herself caught in the middle of a domestic feud between her husband and David, while a pesky biographer played by Christian Slater tries to get info from both Joan and David about Joe, a known philanderer. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge, best known for his film Happy End, this is a terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside. The Wife will open in New York and L.A., and there will be QnAs in both cities on Friday and Saturday. Glenn Close and screenwriter Meg Wolitzer will be doing QnAs at the Paris Theater in NYC on Friday night after the 7:30 screening, while Wolitzer will also do a QnA on Saturday night. In LA, actress Annie Starke (who plays the younger version of Close’s character) will be doing QnAs on Friday and Saturday nights at the Arclight Hollywood and the Landmark.

A terrific doc worth checking out is Megumi Sasaki’s A Whale of a Tale (Fine Line Media), which opens at the Quad Cinema in New York and then in L.A. on August 24. If you liked the Oscar-winning doc The Cove, this is sort of a follow-up as the filmmaker travels to the town of Taiji in Japan where the dolphin killings continue. AP journalist Jay Alabaster has embedded himself in Taiji since The Cove came out and along with Sasaki, they document the town’s attempts at making necessary changes without giving up their legacy of “whale-hunting” that’s hundreds of years old. This is the type of movie that might make you question your own ecological leanings even as it gives a fairly well-balanced overview of the situation, particularly between the townspeople of Taiji and the world at large.

Another worthwhile doc is Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap (Hulu/Magnolia), a very personal look at the life of the filmmaker over 12 years living in Rockford, Illinois, focusing on two of his skateboarder friends’ whose upbringings affect their lives, including 23-year-old Zack whose relationship deteriorates after the birth of his son, and 17-year-old Keire trying to deal with the death of his father. The film won a jury prize at Sundance for Breakthrough Filmmaking with Steve James acting as exec. producer. It will get a theatrical release at the Metrograph on Friday as well as being available on Hulu before screening on PBS POV in 2019. (I want to add that this is a fantastic film well worth seeking out... Liu is an amazing new and young filmmaker to watch.)

After premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, the self-explanatory doc Ed Sheeran: Songwriter (Apple Music/Abramorama) will open in select cities. I never got around to watching it, but I’m not really a fan of Sheeran other than him helping to bring the Electric Light Orchestra back together for the Grammys. It opens at the IFC Center on Friday, in L.A. on Aug. 24 and then will be available on Apple Music starting Aug. 28.

A venerable horror franchise returns with its 13th(!) installment Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (RLJE Films), co-directed by Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund from a script by S. Craig Zahler (Brawl in Cell Block 99). It stars Thomas Lennon from the State as Edgar, as a recently-divorced man who returns to his childhood home where he finds an evil-looking Nazi puppet in his brother’s room. For this one, the unmistakable Udo Kier plays the evil puppet master André Toulon, and it also stars Charlyne Yi, Barbara Crampton, Jenny Pellicer and Nelson Franklin. I hope to watch it soon, but I’ve heard some atrocious things about the overt racism in the movie.

As far as other and hopefully tamer genre films, if you’re in New York City, you can see The Ranger, the directorial debut by Larry Fessenden’s producing partner Jenn Wexler, when it plays at the IFC Center, following its Closing Night premiere at What the Fest?! and Fantasia in Montreal. It will also screen in L.A. on Sept. 7. It stars Chloë Levine as Chelsea, a girl who hangs out with her punk friends who get in trouble when her boyfriend stashes drugs in her bag, so they head to a cabin in the wilderness where they encounter a ranger. It premieres on Thursday night with many QnAs with Wexler, producer Heather Buckley and the cast over the weekend.

A movie that premiered at Sundance that I wasn’t that into was Jeremy Zagar’s adaptation of Justin Torres’ novel We the Animals (The Orchard), about three young boys going through their adolescence under the gaze of parents (Raul Castillo, Sheila Vand) who have their own tumultuous relationship, and are trying to protect the youngest Jonah from heading the same direction as his older siblings. It opens in New York Friday at the Angelika and Landmark 57 West, then will expand to L.A., San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia next Friday. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie, it is a nice fictional counterpart to Minding the Gap.

Ricky D’Ambrose’s Notes on an Appearance (Grasshopper Films) deals with the disappearance of a young man named David and the two people who go looking for him but become diverted by the strangers they meet on the journey.  It opens at New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center on Friday.

Opening in New York and L.A. on Friday and on Demand Sept. 4is Josh Crockett’s dark comedy Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks (Gravitas Ventures) about estranged brother and sister who reunite after the death of their parents.

Based on Lois Duncan’s Y.A. novel of the same name, Down a Dark Hall (Summit/Lionsgate Premiere) stars AnnaSophia Robb as Kit, a difficult girl set to a boarding school to deal with her temper via the headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) and the other four young women. Also starring Isabelle Fuhrman from Orphan, it opens in select cities, On Demand and on iTunes Friday.

Emmanuel Finkiel’s Memoir of War (Music Box films), opening in New York this Friday at the Film Forum and Film Society of New York and in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal and Regal Edwards Westpark 8 next Friday, adapts Marguerite Duras’ novel The War: A Memoir, and it stars the ever-present Mélanie Thierry as Duras. In 1944, Duras was a Resistance member along with her writer husband Robert Antelme. When he is sent to the Dachau concentration camp, she becomes friendly with a French collaborator (Benoît Magimel)to get information to help her group. (Interesting fact: Duras was the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima, Mon Amour.)

A few more odds and ends…

Shirley McLane and Gina Gershon star in a modernized live action adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid co-directed by Blake Harris and Chris Bouchard. Not sure what more can be said about that.

Opening in New York at the Cinema VillageFriday before its digital release on Sept 4 is the doc Davi’s Way (2B Films) about Italian-American Robert Davi, a Frank Sinatra enthusiast and stylist who prepares to recreate Sinatra’s famous 1974 concert at Madison Square Garden.

Actor Peter Facinelli makes his directorial debut with the dark comedy Breaking & Exiting (Kali Pictures / Freestyle Digital Media), starring Milo Gibson as house thief Harry who stumbles upon (film co-writer) Jordan Hinson’s Daisy and tries to save her from herself.

Not a ton of repertory things on my radar other than a Winona Ryder retrospective at the Quad Cinema called “Utterly Winona,” including all her great movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s. I guess there’s a Truffaut retrospective at the Metrograph, but you know what I always say: Truffaut... Tru-cares? (I don’t always say that so don’t write me angry letters Truffaut-fans. I don’t mean to cause a Trufuffle for anyone.)

Last but not least, streaming giant Netflix offers the Spanish film The Motive from Manuel Martin Cuenca based on the novel by Javier Cercas, about an aspiring writer who seeks inspiration for his novel by manipulating lives.