#diggs: josh.. baby-

[jrueships]

Love the idea of Josh and Stef and Trey having a Jay Z, Beyonce, Solange thing going on

NOOO NOT JAYZ JOSH NOOO 😭😭😭

[0sincerelyella]

Can you do a Josh Allen one shot where you are comforting him after losing a game? Possibly with cuddling and smut 😊 thank you!

Wins and loses -Josh Allen

Summary: Josh can take losses if big games a little harsher than other people, taking it personally, and beat himself up way more than the others. the only way he gets out of that headspace is y/n

Notes: UGH IVE BEEN WAITING TO WRITE FOR JOSH ALLEN he so is my second favorite NFL quarterback. we can ALL agree that josh allen is, pardon me, a giant cry baby during games, from ACTUAL fits, to yelling at his teammates, which doesn’t make me love him any less it just makes this plot so much easier to write so thank you for the personality trait josh. i

hope you love it!

i’m writing y/n as a bengals fan (from a bengals fans perspective maybe i’m bias but it’s to create more drammmmaaa)

i also may do a part two or make a josh allen series bc i had so much fun writing this, would anyone read it?

the score of the game was very conflicting to y/n. It was the play off game before the AFC championship, and unfortunately for y/ns love life and fortunately for y/ns sports influencer life the bengals had just beat the bills and are going to the AFC championship.

Y/n, growing up in cincinnati, was on the social media team for the cincinnati bengals. she grew up in ohio, and moved to wyoming for college in 2014 where she met her long term boyfriend when he transferred in 2015. in 2017 the two of them graduated and y/n traveled around the country for her boyfriends job until 2020.

in 2020 she got an offer to work on the bengals social media team, and she couldn’t turn the offer down. so she moved away from her boyfriend, josh allen, who lived in buffalo and was the quarterback for the buffalo bills, and she moved to cincinnati.

days like this made the relationship hard to maintain. she hadn’t seen josh since last may towards the end of off season when he had visited her. she texted him every day and called him every night, even showing up at his games all the way across the country to support him, but never being able to see him due to the teams tight rules.

today was especially hard. Today was the AFC divisional round leading up to the Championship game. The bills were playing against the bengals in cincinnati, the first game against the teams since the Damar Hamlin incident.

The bills had just lost, and like every bengals win, y/n walked onto the field, this time not only to congratulate her team, but also to chase after her extra emotional other half.

since they lost, their season is over and josh is going to stay with y/n for awhile. it’s all bittersweet.

y/n ran across the field. throwing mindless congratulations towards the teammates who are playing kansas city next week. She chased after josh who had already buried himself into the locker room. He took these loses. especially in the playoffs. feeling like, what the internet calls, “the bills curse” is all his fault.

y/n say down outside the locker room and waited. players passed her going in and out. she waved hello and goodbye to bills players as they retreated to their hotel before they flew back to buffalo tomorrow.

stefon diggs stopped as he left the locker room, sitting next to y/n. “he’s worse than usual” he said, leaning his head back on the wall. “do you know why?” he sighed. “i think it’s cause you were watching”

“i watch all his games stef.” y/n knew the bills very well. though she barely ever saw them, she texted them checking on josh often. she and stefon have grown to be good friends.

“yeah but i think this has something to do with your job, i think it’s mixed with jealousy” y/n nodded, sighing as the coach walked out of the room.

“no one else but josh. go ahead” coach said, causing y/n to practically fly out of the seat. she ran into the locker room in search for josh.

“joshy” she called out. he was sitting in a chair, in the middle of the room. it was empty, the only thing in the room is josh’s jersey he disposed of in the middle of the floor.

he sat in a chair, his head in his hands. y/n could tell from his red knuckles he had been punching the punching bag that hang in the corner of the locker room. she knelt infront of him. “hey joshy?” she placed her hand on top of his and waited for him to look at her. Josh moved his hands, and rested them on his knees. “y/n” he said, he’d been crying.

“oh josh,” she said, hurting for her boy. “it isn’t your fault” she said, gripping the hand on his knee. “y/n you don’t get it.” he tilted his head back. “no i don’t, i don’t know what it’s like to feel like you’ve done the wrong thing in such an important situation” she said, hinting to the decision between her job and her relationship

“y/n you know that’s not what i meant”

“i know i’m sorry, but really joshy. it isn’t your fault. it takes a whole team, and sometimes the other team just had an advantage” josh scoffed

“you have to say that, it’s your job. your team, the most important thing to you”

y/n moved her hand, placing it on his cheek, his hand moved to hold onto hers in fear of if he let go he’d lose her like he lost this game

“Josh. you know i couldn’t turn this down. it’s close to my sister and her kids, i grew up here. she said, watching tears well up in his eyes. “nothing is more important to me than you, but that doesn’t mean that other things arnt important to me” he nodded.

“but i’m sat there, infront of hundreds of thousands to millions of people who are saying it’s their year and i can’t make it. i can never make it” her heart broke as his desperate tone.

“babe, you need to practice staying cool”

“did joe teach you that?”

“joshua.” she said, huffing at his accusations “do you watch him play josh? you are just as good if not better than him” he watched her intently as she tried to make him feel better

“the only difference between you and joe, is your temper.” she stood up, reaching her arms out. “come here give me a hug” he smiled, stand in front of her, pulling her swiftly into a hug. “i’m sorry i snapped at you beautiful” he swayed them back and forth. “i just get so worked up and i don’t know how to control it, but never should i take it out on you” he kissed her forehead as she curled into his chest.

he hugged her close. “i love you beautiful” he said, smiling happily. “here stand on the chair let’s go to the car” he said, standing in-front of the chair, letting her jump onto his back.

he walked to her car, sitting her down, opening the passenger seat to let her sit while he drove her home.

the drive home was peaceful, he held her hand, resting it on the automatic stick in front of the consul. When the two arrived to y/ns apartment, the two of them changed, y/n into one of josh’s tshirts that she kept from before she moved, and josh in a pair of sweatpants.

the two turned on a movie and layed on the couch. josh held y/n on his chest, he played with her hair as he pretending to watch the movie that played. “you know princess, if you were on the field with me all the time i would’ve won the super bowl already” he laughed, hoping she’d laugh at his joke. instead of laughing, as he waited for a response all he got was heavy breathing. “oh come on, that was the most hilarious joke i’ve ever made and your sleeping” he whispered, tucking the blanket around only her as he skillfully snaked out from under her.

with perfect ease he picked her up and walked her to her room. after tucking her in, he got into her next to her and cuddled up next to her. he kissed her cheek, “i love you princess” he whispered and held her close. he yawned, closing his eyes and finally getting a good nights sleep.

[willowsnook]

Can we get something for Josh Allen? Maybe going out after a win :)

Josh Allen x Reader (Post game celebration)

Heading to Founding Fathers with Stefon and Kyle. See you there?

You took a break from curling your hair to look at your phone to see a text from your boyfriend Josh. After replying that you would be there in 15 minutes you called out to your roommate Jaelen.

"15 minutes and we need to be walking out the door," you yelled. You heard a muffled reply and continued getting ready. It was late but after freezing your ass off at your boyfriend's game you wouldn't mind an alcohol blanket on his tab. You kept on the same outfit you wore to the game minus the jacket: high-waisted black leather pants with a cropped vintage Bills tshirt. Jaelen was waiting for you in the living room when you came out and you noticed the added makeup for tonight.

"Trying to impress someone? Maybe someone with the last name Diggs" You teased and she rolled her eyes. Your roommate had caught the attention of Josh's friend/teammate the first time they met but she had been playing hard to get.

The two of you headed downstairs to where your Uber was waiting to take you to the pub. Founding Fathers was one of your favorites in Buffalo and Josh usually made you go after every game. The pub was crowded as you pulled up and you spotted the boys sitting in the back. After saying hi to a couple of people you knew towards the front you made your way back there.

When you got the table Josh held out his arm pulling you against him in the booth. He gave you a sweet short kiss before pulling back.

"Hi baby," he said smiling. You returned his smile.

"Hi." He kept his arm around you as he turned his attention back to the conversation. Stefon had already checked out, deep in conversation with Jaelen who was seated next to him.

"Did you have fun at the game tonight?" Josh asked you.

"Yeah but you threw an interception so that was a little bit embarrassing for me," you replied. Kyle laughed and Josh rolled his eyes.

"I swear you are rooting for me to do that just so you can make fun of me," he said pouting. You feigned shock, throwing a hand over your chest.

"Who me?"

You had fun the rest of the night hanging with Josh and his teammates and before you knew it the clock was close to one. You found Josh talking to Kyle by the door and came up to him.

"I think I'm going to head out soon," you told him and he shook his head.

"No, you are coming home with me," he told you. You sighed.

"You know I have to work tomorrow," you reminded him. You were a Physician's Assistant at a doctor's office in the suburbs and the commute was killer. Josh gave you the puppy dog eyes and you tried to look away.

"But baby, I won just for you," he said with a smirk causing you to roll your eyes.

"Oh I'm sure," you replied with a laugh before giving in. "Straight to bed though," you said pointing your finger at him.

"We'll see," he replied. The two of you bid your goodbyes and headed back to Josh's place for what you hoped would be the end of the night.

[rucciavelli]

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‎MUSE LIST

JEVON CHATMAN, 30. [ BDLILBROTHER ] — STUDENT, HAIR STYLIST [ARROGANT TAE TALENT CLAIM]. | -BIGMOUTH & +FRIENDLY.

ISIAH WILEY, 31. [ PARDISON FONTAINE ] — ‘CANCELED’ RAPPER. | -WEAKWILLED & +BRAVE.

SANTRELL BUTLER, 29.  [ STEFON DIGGS ] — CLUB OWNER, NFL PLAYER. | -HOSTILE & +HONORABLE.

MARCELLO PRIZZI, 22. [ JAY CINCO ] — HOTEL HEIR. | -SADIST & +ARTICULATE. | [rich dude acting hood.]

JIRANI HEARD, 21.  [ JOSH CHRISTOPHER ] — STUDENT ATHLETE — BASKETBALL. | -OVERCONFIDENT & +WITTY. | [involved with paying refs and gambling on games.]

JASEN HEARD, 22.  [ JALEN GREEN ] —  STUDENT ATHLETE — BASKETBALL. | -ARROGANT & +WORLDLY.

BASIM RODGERS, 33. [ QUAVO ] — FIREFIGHTER & GANGBANGER. | -CALLOUS & +SELF CRITICAL.

JAFARIS BATTLE, 25. [ NLE CHOPPA ] — MECHANIC, EX-DEALER. | -SKEWED PRIORITIES & +GENUINE. | [moved from Baltimore to North Carolina after a fight, living with his pastor uncle.] 

DWANE ‘PLUTO’ PALMER, 39. [ FUTURE HENDRIX ] — MEGA CHURCH PASTOR. | -SLIMEBALL & +FORTHRIGHT. | [dirty pastor.] 

K’AUNTÉ FLOWERS, 25. [ TOOSII ] — STUDENT ATHLETE — FOOTBALL. | -SPOILED & +MORAL. | [nepo baby, son of hall of famer.’]

NASSAU MILLS, 27. [KEY GLOCK] — ENFORCER, MAN-FOR-HIRE. | -OVERPROTECTIVE & +LOGICAL. | [raised by a drug dealer after his mother sold hold for drugs.]

NOEL HARMON, 30. [ TEYANA TAYLOR ] — NASCAR DRIVER. | -REBELLIOUS & +FORTHRIGHT.

RASHED 'LIL GLOCK' ALSTON, 23. [ LIL TJAY ] — BREAKOUT RAPPER. | -NEAT FREAK & +LEVEL HEADED.

GIOVANTE WARREN, 29. [ LIL BABY ] — ASPIRING BOXER. | -PERFECTIONIST & +DISCREET.

RAIN MORGAN, 29. [ DWAYNE BACON ] — RODEO COWBOY. | -HERO SYNDROME & +CHARISMATIC.

TORIELLE MOSLEY, 23. [BKTHERULA] — STRUGGLING DJ. | -EGOTISTICAL & +PLAYFUL.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎﹒���─── ✩！ᶻz ⸜⸜⸜⸜⸜⸜⸜⸜ㆍ﹒

[anthonybialy]

Buffalo Bills Out of Overtime

Sean McDermott probably doesn’t hate you.  But he’d coach no differently if he did.  The most Buffalo Bills result ever couldn’t have been engineered more deliberately to crush its supporters.  This franchise should be taken to The Hague and tried for torture.  Awful mistakes paired with maddening decisions are the legacy they can’t escape.

What was the most frustrating part?  I’ll submit it’s that we’ll ever get to stop asking.  The broader view brings understanding along with woe.  

Removing Stefon Diggs in key situations is an experiment to measure your tolerance for aggravation.  It’s paired by waiting almost a full quarter before targeting him.  Haven’t the Bills seen the campaign lawn signs?  Allen/Diggs campaign materials are this decade’s “Baby on board” accessory for Western New York households.

The Bills screwed that up so badly that they distracted from criminal officiating.  The touchdown near half’s end showed Diggs is capable of righting a wrong.  A horse collar is a penalty.  On the collared player.  Disregarding victimhood distracts from the atrocious intentional grounding in what we hope was unintentional incompetence by officials who act too ridiculously for professional wrestling.  We saw “Ball don’t lie” in action as karma caused Philadelphia to fumble.  The closest thing to justice in a rotten world is the afflicted party fixing it themselves.

Mistakes are bound to happen even in victories.  For this cluv, that’s presently theoretical.  The Eagles game evolved to where they’d overcome shortcomings or lose because of them.  This is the Bills, so you already know it was the latter even if you just woke up from a Thanksgiving nap.

James Cook proves chaos theory.  A butterfly flapping its wings leading to buffalos not stampeding.  His drop on a seemingly sure score early on led to magnified aggravation that continued through the other team’s final score.  Dalton Kincaid similarly knew he was going to get hit, so he may as well catch it.

Josh Allen’s determination went to waste this week just like it has for his sixth season.  Ken Dorsey screamed at the Applebee’s TV that you can’t let him run like that.  Maybe he knew the Bills would screw up anyway, so there’s no reason to expose the dear quarterback to hazard.

Nothing will teach ambivalence like sports.  The interception was the absolute worst time for hasty Josh to arrive.  I would rather deal with Date Mike than Allen thinking he’s too cool to check coverages.  His costly turnover is near the bottom of the list of reasons why they lost, although he could make his own case easier.

Stopping the Eagles was often a lethargic process.  It looked like Dorsey taught tackling.  The Bills always have one good aspect and one lousy aspect. Special teams would like to point out that they’re not the dog despite two monumental missed field goals that might have changed the course of everything.

Sunday served as Jordan Poyer’s unofficial retirement.  Keep him in if you’d like more plays from someone only technically playing.  His clear unwillingness to have anything to do with stopping Hurts on the game-winning score was the cherry on top.  By contrast, I hope hitting the Eagle who scored on his watch made him feel better.  At least his partner is as unhelpful, as seen when Poyer combined with Micah Hyde to simultaneously whiff on the next touchdown.  They’re presently at the same points in their respective careers.  Unfortunately, that means they’re equally washed.

Younger players flaunted shortcomings, as well.  Gabe Davis spaced out at the most inopportune time.  The offense will struggle for as long as its second receiver is starring in a Cheech and Chong reboot.

Going in the wrong direction is not just figurative.  We’ve seen Von Miller head toward the quarterback before.  It was mostly with other teams.  Now, he’s overshooting or turning inward.  None of his moves are bringing him anywhere near sacks, which might be why they’re so easy to execute.

Monty Python fans know the legend of Brave Sean McDermott who bravely kneeled away. The capitulation to end regulation was the McDermottest play ever.  Buffalo may not have even gotten to overtime if he had the ability to weigh benefits versus risks and believe he leads enough talent to overcome the latter.  Those spreading the narrative of Josh going 0-6 in overtime should shift focus upward.  His coach has this particular quarterback at his disposal yet still can’t prevail in ties.

Philadelphia is already a tough team to tackle or stop in any other regard.  The Bills can’t blame a foreboding schedule for their failure to live up to the challenge.  The better team displayed resolve.  As a hint, it’s not the one McDermott coaches.  His timidness haunts Buffalo.  

What does not seizing opportunities look like?  Oh.  Many promising moments got squandered if you don’t feel infuriated enough.  We’re finally seeing players in motion, which can be very confusing.  But don’t fret, as that’s the point.  Philadelphia’s defense was thankfully as perplexed.  Accepting underneath options is also a sign of offensive maturity.  It took going to Philadelphia and firing Dorsey to holster the shotgun on fourth and short.

But meekness prevailed, which means the Bills didn’t.  This week would’ve been a good time to make the sort of bold move McDermott never does, namely by firing someone who’s overseeing declining.  Instead, ownership is as soft as his late-game zone.

McDermott’s real NFL home awaits him moving back.  Sadly, he’ll stay right where he is.  With the Carolina job open again as per annual tradition, he could stop kidnapping their players and simply keep them there.  He’d be better off leading the Panthers out of woe than causing more for the Bills.  The task most suited to McDermott’s abilities is naturally the opposite of the one he’ll retain.  A coach who’s skilled at rebuilding is tearing down his previous work.

A bye means time to brood if you’re a fan of this particular team this season.  We suffer through an extra agonizing week with nothing but memories while bracing for a game we rightfully fear will be just as brutal.  It feels like we’re doomed.  But there’s no blaming fate when the same workers are allowed to keep making regrettable decisions.

[coloradohq]

+3 wanted connections have been added.

MAIA KELLY is looking for HER FATHER. they’d like the faceclaim to possibly be someone along the lines of UTP 50’S ISH BUT SHOULD BE WHITE, but you must reach out to FADEDSTARSFMS to find out more! ( Maia’s parents met on a con, utp if he was a mark/in on the con/just random bystander idk we can plot this and more!!! ��) 

BIANCA GAGLIARDI is looking for HER EX FIANCE/BABY DADDY. they’d like the faceclaim to possibly be someone along the lines of ACTORS 40+ UTP BUT SOME SUGGESTIONS ARE: JOHN KRASINSKI, JAMES MCAVOY, MICHAEL PEÑA, DAVEED DIGGS, LEE PACE , but you must reach out to FADEDSTARSFMS to find out more! (+ the two of them met when the carnival travelled through his town when they were young, thinking like 18-22 ish, they fell in love fast.  Had a fast engagement but come the day of the wedding he didn’t show up and she went back to her family.  A little bit later she found out she was pregnant so most likely he would not know about the baby !)

BIANCA GAGLIARDI is looking for HER CHILD. they’d like the faceclaim to possibly be someone along the lines of ANYONE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 21-26 ISH WOULD WORK, ULTIMATELY UTP BUT SHOULD BE HALF WHITE. SOME SUGGESTIONS ARE: TOM HOLLAND, JOSH HEUSTON, AMANDLA STENBERG, SOPHIE NÉLISSE, THOMASIN MCKENZIE, HALLE BAILEY, but you must reach out to FADEDSTARSFMS to find out more! ( + Bianca loves her child so much.  while she grew up traveling with the carnival Bianca absolutely didn’t want that for her child so they stayed pretty much in one place until about six years ago when they moved to Denver to be closer to family  !)

[disneybuddy]

UPDATE: Disney has announced that they're not just doing this new theatrical Muppets movie - they also somehow got their hands on the movie rights to Sesame Street AND Fraggle Rock! In fact, they have plans for a "Muppet Cinematic Universe".

Just like the Muppets movie, both movies will utilize CGI to bring the iconic characters to life as opposed to puppetry as per usual. Because CGI is automatically needed for a movie to be successful. And do you know what ELSE is automatically needed for a movie to be successful? Celebrity voices!

Rumor has it that the writers of 2022's Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers will be writing the scripts. Brian Henson will serve as producer on all three movies. In the announcement, he said, "These films are going to be great. They're total love letters to the art form that is puppetry. You'll love them. And no, I'm not just saying this because Disney paid me and my sisters a lot of money." We reached out to Sesame Workshop, but they were unavailable for comment.

The voice cast for the Sesame Street movie:

Tony Hale as Big Bird

Bobby Moynihan as Elmo

Jim Gaffigan as Bert

Andy Samberg as Ernie

Jordan Peele as Cookie Monster

Ryan Reynolds as Grover

Marc Maron as Oscar the Grouch

Daveed Diggs as Mr. Snuffaluffagus

Anya Taylor-Joy as Zoe

Margot Robbie as Abby Cadabby

Jason Mantzoukas as Telly Monster

Stephanie Beatriz as Rosita

Keegan-Michael Key as Rudy

Billie Eilish as Julia

Andy Serkis as Gonger

Fred Armisen as Count Von Count

Josh Brener as Baby Bear

Will Forte as Herry Monster

Jay Leno as Guy Smiley

Constance Wu as Prairie Dawn

Cedric the Entertainer as Hoots the Owl (who literally only has one line, by the way)

The voice cast for the Fraggle Rock movie:

Tom Holland as Gobo Fraggle

Charlie Day as Wembley Fraggle

Zendaya as Mokey Fraggle

Jenny Slate as Red Fraggle

Billy Eichner as Boober Fraggle

Christopher Lloyd (who totally wasn't blackmailed into doing this) as Uncle Traveling Matt

Beck Bennett as Junior Gorg

Nick Offerman as Pa Gorg

Leslie Jones as Ma Gorg

Ty Burrell as Doc

Alan Tudyk as Sprocket

Lilly Singh as Cotterpin Doozer

Jonathan Groff as Cantus

Rob Riggle as Convincing John

Wanda Sykes as Mahjory the Trash Heap

Two random people on TikTok as Philo and Gunge

Prepare to give Disney your money, because as soon as you see the trailers for these films, you're surely going to run to the theater and see them multiple, multiple times!

Hey, everybody, guess what?!

Disney just announced that they're doing a new Muppets movie! A theatrical one, too!

No word yet as to what the plot will be, but we DO know that there'll be lots of meta humor - after all, it worked SOOOOOOOOO WELL in the Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers movie!

It's also been revealed that the film won't use puppetry at all. Instead, the Muppets will be CGI. But it'll be really good CGI that mimics puppetry - again, just like the Swedish Chef parody in the Chip and Dale movie. You won't be able to tell the difference!

But the film's biggest selling point is its star-studded voice cast. After all, movies NEED to have celebrities voicing the characters in order to be successful. Just look at how successful Strange World was. And Delgo. Yeah, that was a huge success, wasn't it? And yes, it's been confirmed that none of the celebrities will be making any sort of effort to actually sound like the characters. Nobody would be able to take the characters seriously if they had their usual voices for a full movie, right?

The cast is as follows...

Seth MacFarlane as Kermit the Frog

Melissa McCarthy as Miss Piggy

Chris Pratt as Fozzie Bear

Danny Pudi as Scooter

Tracy Morgan as Rowlf the Dog

John Mulaney as Rizzo the Rat

Diego Luna as Pepe the King Prawn

John Oliver as Sam the Eagle

Seth Rogen as Sweetums

Flula Borg as the Swedish Chef

Eric Andre as Dr. Teeth

Kevin Hart as Floyd

Maya Rudolph as Janice

Ken Jeong as Zoot

Chris Rock as Animal

Johnny Galecki as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

Idris Elba as Beaker

Ed O'Neil as Statler

Lewis Black as Waldorf

Adam Devine as Robin the Frog

Snoop Dogg as Bobo the Bear

Nick Kroll as Beauregard

Awkwafina as Camilla the Chicken

Various YouTube/TikTok celebrities as the various monsters, chickens, penguins, and rats

Oh yeah, and Dave Goelz is reprising his role as Gonzo... which I'm sure means that they care about the integrity of these characters as opposed to them only keeping him on board so we don't get mad that they replaced all the other puppeteers.

Surely this will be a wonderful, very successful movie and not a stunt-casting-ridden, painfully unfunny abomination that flies in the face of everything that the Muppets stand for!

[wideouts4life]

NFL Week 10

The Wideouts came to play this past weekend. Watching the Minnesota Vikings come back to beat the Buffalo Bills had me jumping with excitement and going crazy on Sunday. For what Justin “The Man” Jefferson did when the game was on the line is nothing short of spectacular. I’m sure most fans thought the corner-route pass thrown by Kirk Cousins was picked off and game was over…until Jefferson rolled over with the ball shifting from his right palm into his left arm as the pass was completed. The next play Jefferson ran a dig-route and took a hit securing the catch at about the 3-yard line. In overtime he caught another sweet catch on the same corner route at the end of regulation. Of course Mr. Jefferson takes home the WOW award. He finished the afternoon with 10 catches for 193 yards and 1 touchdown. His team secured the victory as well against a formidable Buffalo Bills. 

On the opposite side was another dangerous wideout who goes by “Him.” All world wideout Stefon Diggs put on a show himself. Diggs did not find the end zone Sunday but he didn’t leave the field without having an eye dropping catch. Toward the end of the 3rd quarter, QB Josh Allen scrambled out the pocket right and fired a dart to Diggs who jumped up catching a 1-hand pass for a 25-yard gain. The next play he shook the corner and caught a slant where he broke a few tackles for the 20 yard completion. He’s currently number 3 in total yards with 857 and added to that total with 128 yards and 12 catches. I’m loving the way Stefon has played this season. 

Ceedee Lamb sometimes plays like the baby sheep his last name implies and at other times he’s the grown version of that sheep. Against the Green Bay Packers, Lamb caught 11 of 15 balls for 150 yards and 2 Touchdowns. Lamb will make an incredible catch and usually drops the easy ones. Since Dak Prescott has returned his targets and production have gone up. I believe the Cowboys are using him in the backfield to increase his confidence by getting him the ball against guys who can’t cover. I’m all for whatever works as long as he continues to get better. 

I believe this is the second week in a row that Terry McLaurin’s name has made this blog. Against one of the better defenses in the NFL (Eagles) McLaurin had a big day. Eagles corner Darius Slay was getting his ass whooped up and down the field. One play in particular was a beautiful release where McLaurin jabbed outside causing Slay to jump hard outside and stumble while he released inside catching a 45-yard go-route. Terry caught a bunch of slants and had another dope release on a corner route he caught near the end of the 2nd quarter. 8 catches for 128 yards is one hell of a game to beat the undefeated Eagles…Keep it up kid. 

Davante Adams is top 3 in the NFL when it comes to press releases. On a simple quick out he tore the DB ass up and finished with an acrobatic one-hand catch for a 5 yard gain. He then lines up inside and does the same thing on an 5 yard in-route against #58 of the Indianapolis Colts. Adams toyed with the backer all game. Early in the 4th Adams broke free on a 48-yard dig to score his lone touchdown. 

I’m glad a kid I once coached made the top wideouts of the week blog. Amon-Ra St. Brown finished the afternoon with 10 catches for 119 yards. I like how he’s being utilized in the run game to get him more touches. The Detroit Lions have a solid receiving core. St. Brown catches passes from the backfield, slot, and even receives handoffs. It appears teams in the league are copying what San Francisco does with Deebo Samuel and what the Atlanta Falcons have done with Cordarrelle Patterson. Line up your top athlete and utilize him against the teams worst defenders. I’m pushing for Amon-Ra to stay healthy so he could follow-up his rookie campaign with another 1,000 yard season. 

To conclude this weeks 100-yard performers are two names I’ve never heard of. Had it not been for the game Justin Jefferson had; Christian Watson of the Green Bay Packers would have been the wideout of the week. The rookie from North Dakota State had an hat-trick scoring 3 times against the Dallas Cowboys. The 6’5 wideout is a blazer. He blew by the corner on his first touchdown for a 58-yard bomb from Aaron Rodgers and scored the games final touchdown on a play action over-route to tie the game…eventually leading to his team kicking a field-goal to win. Christian Kirk caused havoc against the Kansas City Chiefs catching 9 passes for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns. The contract he received sure seems to be paying off for the talented wideout. Lastly is the other wideout I had never heard of. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine of the Tennessee Titans had an impressive afternoon. His first touchdown was a nice toe-tapping catch in the left end zone. Nick then caught a 64-yard flea flicker making a Broncos defender miss a tackle has he scored his second touchdown of the day. He finished the game with 5 catch for 119 yards and 2 TD’s. 

Another week to be great wideouts…let’s go, keep grinding, finish strong, and ball to the wheels fall. 

[markoftheasphodel]

Some thoughts on the Detroit Production of Hamilton (3/13/19):

1) It was great.

2) Now that we’ve established I had a wonderful time, let’s get into the details.

Given I saw the OBC cast in November of 2015 (minus Josh Groff, as Andrew Rannells was wearing the crown of George III that night), I really wanted to see the spin this touring group gave to the characters. I didn’t get to see the Chicago production but I’ve heard great things about that one from friends who did and I hoped the roadshow coming to Detroit would be equally good.

The venue: My first time in the Fisher Theater, which is a visually lovely venue. I think the audio was generally fine but a few of the faster rap numbers got blurred. 

The crowd: Detroit audiences can really pull some shit at rock concerts but honestly the crowd was attentive and tuned-in and actually sat down and hushed up after the Intermission, which the NYC audience DID NOT. Extremely diverse crowd, too.

The actors:

Peter Matthew Smith made for an extremely malicious King George. The audience loved it but I didn’t recall the humor being quite that OTT with either Groff on the album or Rannells live. 

Cherry Torres played Peggy Schuyler/Maria Reynolds last night and was fine.

Chaundre Hall-Broomfield played Mulligan/Madison and also was fine but didn’t quite capture the nuances that Okieriete Onaodowan brought to the role IMO. 

Jon Viktor Corpuz played Laurens/Philip Hamilton and had a very different stage presence than pretty, pretty Anthony Ramos. I think I preferred Ramos as Laurens (shining idealistic martyr/auxiliary love interest) and Corpuz as Philip (bright, willful child with too much on his shoulders).

Bryson Bruce played Lafayette/Jefferson and I figured that would be the toughest role to play and while I definitely preferred Daveed Diggs as Lafayette, Bryson did prove quite the scene-stealer as Jefferson. Maybe a bit too much so-- as with Smith’s George, some of the antics of Bruce’s TJ were broadly played compared with what I recall from the OBC. He did play off against Hall-Broomfield very well in both acts.

Paul Oakley Stovall’s Washington can only be called “commanding”-- physically dominating the scene and projecting old George’s real-life anger in several scenes. I love Chris Jackson’s Washington on the OBC recording but Stovall came across more powerful in live performance-- EXCEPT on “One Last Time” where Jackson’s less aggressive Washington had a perfect apotheosis.

Stephanie Umoh was very good as Angelica Schuyler. Renee Elise Goldsberry was spectacular as Angelica. 

Hannah Cruz made a lovely Eliza and I enjoyed her every bit as much as I enjoyed Philippa Soo-- except her final scene in “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” didn’t quite land for me the way it did with the OBC. Her “Burn” made up for it, though.

Josh Tower’s Aaron Burr was definitely not the interpretation I’d seen before. I love love LOVE Leslie Odom Jr’s Burr, but as with Jackson’s Washington, I felt the subtleties of Odom’s Burr got muted in live performance. Tower’s take on the character felt shadier, even a little bit scuzzy right from the get-go (the “trust fund baby” line was a clue). Which, IMO, is a perfectly legit spin on the character-- when Hamilton refuses to back down on calling him a dangerous disgrace, there’s been plenty of evidence before our eyes to support Hamilton’s point. Tower did capture the tender side of Burr in “Dear Theodosia” as well as the shady side, but he wasn’t as elegantly seductive as Odom’s Burr IMO. 

I watched Edred Utomi’s Alexander Hamilton very closely, trying to dissect the nuances of the body language in scenes like the “Meet Me Inside” confrontation and other key scenes where different actors have put their stamp on Alexander (example: Utomi didn’t give the cocky little shimmy that LMM performed in “Non-Stop” when boasting about his law career). On the “young, scrappy, hungry” spectrum Utomi hit Young > Scrappy >> Hungry IMO, though he actually did a fine job at playing the older, post-tragedy Hamilton. He definitely differed from LMM in the delivery of some of my favorite tossed-off bits of dialogue. More streetwise, maybe? It wasn’t a carbon copy, it wasn’t a radical change, but there was something subtly different about Utomi and I enjoyed it.

Random chorus moment: One of my absolute favorite lines is “Who the F is this?” in “Non-Stop” and last night it was delivered in a weary way as opposed to the indignant little explosion on the album. Still good but waaaay different.

All in all, good show, but in some ways the touring production felt like it was rendered in broader strokes than the OBC used. King George is more eeeevil, Jefferson is hammier, Burr is shadier, Washington is angrier. The audiences loved King George and TJ and I found Burr and Washington perfectly valid takes on the characters, but taken as a whole those changes added up to a more comic work than I remembered seeing before.

[bloodsweatandbeerspart1]

Why do I play this 'sport' again?

Aaron is a Karen- OKAY WE GET IT, LEXI. I'm tired of praising you, someone beat this girl already lol

Raiding LaMar-a-Lago- anything you can do, Lexi can do better

Jerry had a Little Lamb- Steven on the up-and-up! Will he be the one to finally take down the undefeated Aaron is a Karen? Tyreek Hill and Joe Mixon do have this team off to an exciting start this week, but Lexi does have Josh Allen, Nick Chubb, the Buffalo defense... dammit Lexi, how did you draft all of these fantasy point machines?!

Baby Dropped Dal- If Patrick Mahomes, Stefon Diggs, OR David Njoku decide to deliver one of their star performances this week, there's a good chance Baby Dropped Dal can pull off the upset over the consistently trash Denver Sucks - wait, Sex - Dungeons.

Miss Commish- Speaking of trash, shoutout to the worst coaching decision of the week. The LA chargers can go kick rocks for taking 4 points off my already dangerously low fantasy score. Sometimes, I make decisions that I think will be good ones and then they turn out to be horrible ones. Like that day I decided to hike to class but half the 10 mile 'hike' was walking through the streets of SLC, with stomach pains, no restroom in sight.

Denver Sex Dungeons- Jack, I'm still trying to understand your loyalty to the Colts defense.

Sorry for the quick version this week, y'all. Being back in Texas is very time consuming. I was going to write this yesterday before the football week kicked off, but I had 4 hours of Dahmer to watch first.

[jrueships]

AY!!!!!!!!!!

Their foreplay is playing great football, that's why their romanticism suffers after terrible losses

[goodnewsjamaica]

Joshua Henry has changed theater (and a few diapers)

New Post has been published on https://goodnewsjamaica.com/world-view/hes-changed-theater-and-a-few-diapers/

Joshua Henry has changed theater (and a few diapers)

Samson Peter Henry, his parents’ first child, made his debut on the cusp of spring, at around 9 o’clock one morning this March. For his mother, Cathryn Henry, a postpartum nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, it was a kind of Have Your Child at Work situation.

For his father, three-time Tony Award-nominated actor Joshua Henry — most recently for his lead performance as Billy Bigelow in Jack O’Brien’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” — Samson’s birth had the advantage of exquisite timing.

“We were in the middle of previews, and like a good boy he came on the day off,” Henry, 33, said over lunch at a diner on the Upper West Side, near his apartment. He’d logged only 3 1/2, maybe four hours of sleep the night before, but he was energetic anyway. When he realized it had been exactly a month since his son was born, he high-fived the reporter across the table.

 It’s a bounteous time for Henry, who is toppling a boundary as the first Black actor to play Billy Bigelow on Broadway. Billy is Henry’s highest-profile stage role so far, while becoming a father is, he said, the biggest moment of his life. What’s strange, and powerfully serendipitous, is how perfectly that intersects with the biggest moment in Billy’s life, when he learns of his impending fatherhood.

“My boy, Bill,” Billy exults, envisioning a son in his famous song “Soliloquy.” When Henry performs that solo now — in what Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review, called “a heaven-rumbling voice” — he summons thoughts of his boy, Samson: his face, his strong little body, even his cry. Like Billy, he is awed and invigorated by what he owes to this tiny person in his life. In both men, actor and character, something has changed.

If, when he was 15, Henry had been given a glimpse of his future — the Broadway debut at 23 in “In the Heights”; his first Tony nomination, at 26, for “The Scottsboro Boys”; a second three years later, for “Violet” — it would have seemed foreign to him. The youngest of three children of Jamaican immigrants, who attended a small Christian school north of Miami where his father taught math, he’d always been musical. But he’d never seen professional theater and had no idea it could be a career.

“I had fully intended to work at an accounting firm like my mom,” he said.

Then came an intervention that Henry credits with everything good that came after. When he was 16, his choir teacher, Birgit Fioravante, urged him to audition for the school production of “The Music Man.” He ended up playing the male lead, Harold Hill.

“Afterward, she took me aside and she was crying,” Henry said. “She was like, ‘You can do this for a living.’ And I was like, ‘Do what?’”

In an interview, Fioravante said that she’d worried about encouraging a student to follow a path where the odds against success are so steep. “I’d never done it before,” she said, “and I haven’t done it since.”

For a year, she gave Henry free private voice lessons at her house. She prepared him for his audition at the University of Miami, where he was admitted into the musical theater program and met his wife, who lived across the hall. More recently, Fioravante helped to train him vocally for “Carousel.”

At college, he knew within a week that theater was something he could do for life. From 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., alone in a college studio, he would devote his nights to what he calls “Josh obsession time,” honing his skills.

“I would just be there with the mirrors,” he said, “and I would play cast album after cast album after cast album after cast album. And I would start to learn the directors, the music directors, what musical theater was — how it was constructed, how a show was made. While I was listening to music, I was practicing dance.”

He was also studying the careers of Black musical theater actors like Michael McElroy, Taye Diggs, Norm Lewis and Brian Stokes Mitchell. “I was like, if there’s a template for me out there, I have to know exactly what that is,” he said.

Yet even as he searched for that template, he didn’t want to be limited to roles written for Black men. And while he willed himself to believe that he would perform on Broadway within three years of graduation — a goal he wrote down in a planner he still keeps on his desk — he wasn’t sure that the theater, an overwhelmingly white industry, would welcome him.

But his timing, coinciding with the emergence of Lin-Manuel Miranda, turned out to be impeccable.

In the fall of 2006, Henry drove a Penske truck from Florida to New York and moved into a basement apartment in Washington Heights. Within weeks, he was cast in the original ensemble of Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ breakthrough off-Broadway musical “In the Heights.”

The show was “from a world I was from, from a vocabulary musically that was all about hip-hop, R&B, salsa and reggaeton,” Henry said, recalling the production’s first read-through, when musical director Alex Lacamoire sat at a piano and sang “96,000,” surrounded by a company of Latino and Black actors.

“I was having flashbacks of the nights at 3 in the morning, trying to find myself and my craft and wondering if there was a — not knowing if there was a — hoping,” Henry said, hitting that word hard, “that there was a place for me in this business. I lost it. I was crying so much in that read-through. A lot of us were.”

After he did that show, which transferred to Broadway in early 2008, “couldn’t nobody tell me anything about where I’m supposed to be,” he said.

It means something to him, then, to play a classic role like Billy Bigelow. Billy, though, is a dark-hearted carnival barker who beats his wife. Henry is so gentle-spirited that the director George C. Wolfe, who worked with him on “Shuffle Along,” remarks on the rare sweetness he exudes, while composer Jeanine Tesori, who worked with him on “Violet,” mentions his “radical kindness.” He didn’t have many ways, aside from fatherhood, to connect with Billy.

To Henry, playing this deeply flawed man in a show with a famously glorious score is “an opportunity to leave a bigger mark than just the notes and the scenes” — to expand younger Black actors’ notion of what they can hope to do onstage. He was cautious, though, when producer Scott Rudin floated the idea of the role. In a musical that’s controversial for its seeming indifference to domestic violence, casting a Black actor ran the risk of demonizing Black men.

“My first question to him, when he approached me about it,” Henry said, “was ‘How are you looking at this cast? Are you trying to use the fact that I am an African-American man to tell the story?’ That wasn’t his thought. He was like, ‘I want to get the best people to tell the story.’”

That is largely how his casting has been received, though Hilton Als, the most prominent Black critic in the American theater, found another dimension in it. He argued approvingly in The New Yorker that the production — which has a white Julie Jordan, played by Tony winner Jessie Mueller — offers a rare instance of colorblind casting in which thought has been given to a Black character’s presence in a largely white world.

Aside from his ensemble role in Green Day’s “American Idiot” in 2010, all of Henry’s Broadway roles until “Carousel” were written to be performed by men of color, often in stories about Black culture — most recently “Shuffle Along,” in 2016, about the first Black musical. After that, he spent 15 months playing Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” in Chicago and then on tour, in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

He was playing Burr last summer when he and his wife found out she was pregnant. Suddenly “Dear Theodosia,” Burr’s tender pledge to his little girl, became a song that Henry was singing to his unborn child. A couple of times — on the lyric “I’ll do whatever it takes, I’ll make a million mistakes, I’ll make the world safe and sound for you” — his voice cracked with emotion onstage.

Early in the run of “Carousel,” he’d been singing to his unborn boy, too, tapping into his own anticipation to portray Billy’s in “Soliloquy.” As Samson’s due date approached, Henry’s castmates teased him, saying he’d never be able to sing it the same way again. The first time he had to perform it as a father, the day after the baby’s birth, he didn’t know how he would.

“I’d only gotten like two hours’ sleep,” he said. “You want to let go in the character, you want to let go emotionally, but I was concerned that if I did that, I would feel the actual feelings that I’m feeling in my….”

He broke off, paused a long moment, misted up, exhaled. “Um. And if I felt all those things, I still had to sing the song, this 7 1/2-minute mammoth of a song. There are certain technical things you have to do to just get through it. I don’t even remember that show. I thought I would.”

Mueller does. She gathered with some other actors to watch “Soliloquy” from the wings that night.

“Because it was a moment, you know?” she said. “I was thinking about him a lot, because I knew he has the most on his shoulders in this play. I was so surprised by how calm he seemed.”

O’Brien, their Tony-winning director, remembers, too. The change he saw in Henry’s “Soliloquy” was so profound that it altered the structure of the production. In the first weeks of previews, O’Brien recalled, he had often been moved “but not stunned” by what struck him as a concert-perfect, too-safe performance of the song.

“The weekend that the baby was born, it was like a dam burst inside him,” O’Brien said. “I didn’t say anything about it. He just started to relate, I think, to the depth of his own feelings, and wow. You know, there’s another scene in Act 1 as written, and we decided we were idiots to do it, because he was hitting the high point in the show, and what did you want to see after that? Nothing.”

So in this “Carousel,” that’s when the first-act curtain falls, with the company’s festive departure for the clambake cut from the show.

In Samson’s life, of course, the curtain has only just risen. And his father — brimming with plans as usual, including for a funk and soul album of mostly original songs that he hopes to drop in September — feels the effect this small person is having.

Henry had always been an ace at compartmentalizing, filing away for later anything he didn’t want to think about right then, keeping the personal firmly separate from the professional.

Samson, apparently, doesn’t play by those rules.

“It’s so weird,” Henry said. “He is rounding my edges a little bit. He’s making me see this is all one thing.”

By: Laura Collins-Hughes

Original Article Found Here

[un-enfant-immature]

Apple TV+ scores Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Meryl Streep, announces release dates for new shows

Apple has scored more big names for its newly launched streaming service, Apple TV+, including “Veep” and “Seinfeld” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as Meryl Streep, the latter who’s attached to an animated short film about Earth Day, set to premiere on April 17. In addition, Apple has now announced several new series for Apple TV+, plus renewals and premiere dates for others.

The upcoming Earth Day film, titled “Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth” will also star the voice talents of “Room” actor Jacob Tremblay as a 7-year old child who learns about the planet, and Chris O’Dowd and Ruth Negga as his parents. Streep will provide the voiceover narration.

Meanwhile, Louis-Dreyfus hasn’t announced specific details of her projects. Apple says she’s inked an overall deal with Apple TV+ as both an executive producer and star — her first overall deal with a streaming service. Under the multi-year agreement, Louis-Dreyfus will create multiple new projects exclusively for Apple TV+.

Joked the actress: “I am thrilled about this new partnership with my friends at Apple. Also, many thanks and kudos to my representatives for structuring the deal in such a way that I am paid in AirPods,” she said.

Apple has previously signed other overall deals with names like Alfonso Cuaron, Kerry Ehrin, Jon M. Chu, Justin Lin, Jason Katims, Lee Eisenberg, as well as studios A24 and Imagine Documentaries, and Oprah.

In addition to the big-name talent grabs, Apple also on Friday announced a new documentary series, “Dear…,” from Emmy and Peabody winner R.J. Cutler. Due out this spring, the series will profile internationally known leaders including Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Spike Lee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Yara Shahidi, Stevie Wonder, Aly Raisman, Misty Copeland, Big Bird (uh, what?) and others.

This is not Apple TV+’s first documentary. It’s currently airing the Peace Award winner “The Elephant Queen,” about a tribe of African elephants. And while not a documentary, per se, the service is also now featuring real life-inspired tales of immigrants in the U.S. in the Apple TV+ anthology series, “Little America” which have a documentary-like vibe. Other documentary series and films in the works include “Visible: Out on Television” “Home,” “Beastie Boys Story” and “Dads.”

Newly announced “Visible…,” exec-produced by Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Wanda Sykes, and Wilson Cruz focuses on the LGBTQ movement and its impact on television. Premiering on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14), the series will also feature narration from Janet Mock, Margaret Cho, Asia Kate Dillon, Neil Patrick Harris, and Lena Waithe.

  Another new show is “Central Park,” an animated musical comedy from Loren Bouchard (“Bob’s Burgers”), executive producer Josh Gad (“Frozen”) and executive producer Nora Smith (“Bob’s Burgers”), will arrive this summer. The show features a family that lives in Central Park, the Tillermans, and includes a voice cast with the talents of Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs, and Stanley Tucci. The animation style has the distinct look of “Bob’s Burgers” as well.

Apple’s first original series from the U.K., “Trying,” will premiere on May 1st globally. This series stars Rafe Spall and Esther Smith, hails from BBC Studios, and was written by Andy Wolton. As the name hints, the story is about a couple — Jason and Nikki — who are trying to have a baby. But Apple describes the show’s larger theme as one about “growing up, settling down and finding someone to love.”

A new thriller, “Defending Jacob,” based on the 2012 NYT bestseller of the same name, will premiere April 24.

The limited series stars Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Betty Gabriel, and Sakina Jaffrey, and tells of a shocking crime that rocks a small Massachusetts town. The story follows an Assistant District Attorney who is torn between duty to uphold justice and his love for his son. Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons guest stars.

Apple also announced its live-action comedy that follows a team of video game developers, “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet,” has been renewed for a second season ahead of its global premiere date of Feb. 7.

The show was co-created by Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Megan Ganz, and also stars McElhenney as the fictional company’s creative director, Ian Grimm.

Other shows awarded a second season include “Little America,” “Dickinson,” “See,” “Servant,” “For All Mankind,” “The Morning Show,” and the soon-to-premiere “Home Before Dark.”

Despite not sharing any sort of viewership data — even with the shows’ stars — the renewals speak to Apple’s confidence in its original programming.

“Home Before Dark” is a dramatic mystery series featuring young investigative journalist, Hilde Lysiak, and is exec-produced by Jon M. Chu. Based on the real-life kid reporter of the same name, the series takes Hilde’s story into fictional territory by telling a tale of a young girl who moves from Brooklyn to a small lakeside town where she ends up unearthing a cold case that everyone in town, including her dad, has tried to bury. The real Lysiak, however, runs an online news operation, Orange Street News, which made headlines when the then 11-year old girl scooped local news outlets by being the first to expose a murder in her hometown of Selinsgrove, PA.

Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” has also now been given a premiere date of March 6. The rebooted anthology series is run by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (“Lost”), and features episode directors Chris Long (“The Americans,” “The Mentalist”), Mark Mylod (“Succession,” “Game of Thrones”), Michael Dinner (“Unbelievable,” “Sneaky Pete”), Susanna Fogel (“Utopia,” “Play By Play”) and Sylvain White (“Stomp The Yard,” “The Rookie”).

Also previously announced, Apple set a premiere date for the new documentary series “Home,” which will air on April 17. The series offers viewers a look inside some of the world’s most innovative homes around the world.

Though only two months old, Apple TV+ has already landed its first Hollywood industry award, as “The Morning Show” star Jennifer Aniston snagged a SAG Award for best female actor in a drama. Co-star Billy Crudup also won a Critics’ Choice Award for best-supporting actor.

“The Morning Show,” meanwhile, had been nominated for three Golden Globes, but didn’t win. However, the Globes largely snubbed streamers this year with Netflix earning only two wins, despite 34 nominations.

[thedenfantasyleague]

The Den Fantasy League Recap: Week 11

Gents, 

We’re getting into the chaos that is playoffs, Cabana Boy, and the trade deadline. Let’s get to it. 

El Commish v. Kalabar’s Revenge

One of the topics of conversations this week was the new waiver format of bidding. Well lucky for everyone, it turned out extremely poorly for me. I looked at my roster going into this past week thinking: I need a running back. I had the money, I needed the guy, so I pulled the trigger. My $45 payment ($45 because I knew Rob was going to bid $41; amateur) backfired to a measly 3.8 from one Brian Hill. Other than my two tight ends set and the ever-faithful Pats D, there was a lot left to be desired. My quad of current/former Falcons (Ryan, Tevin, Hill, and Julio) really let me down this week and were the deciding factor in G’s win. For G, he held onto hope going into MNF with a decent lead and good players still left to play. Leading up to MNF, he found success in Le’Veon (15.2), Gallup (14.8), Big Country (12.7), and Raiders D. Lucky for me, Mahomes and Sammy both underperformed in Mexico City but it was still enough to put his team over the edge. 

The Perfect Ten v. Wilmore Cinderella

In our matchup of league winners, we saw two 4-6 teams both looking to make up some ground in the playoff hunt and Cabana Boy race. JP left Sunday with a lead thanks to big games from Hyde (12.5), Thomas (17.4), Sutton (13.8), Cook (9.3), Rams D (10), and a massive game from Brown (25.7). People forget that Gabe gave him Hyde and Sutton, in addition to Carson. JP’s biggest question mark is always going to be Jameis. The dude who has 18 picks and 4 fumbles on the year is a wildcard week in and week out. Can JP find success while having Jameis at the helm? His other concern: JP is addicted to James White. Can’t quit him. Could this be another stumbling block as he tries to get back to his winning ways? Speaking of winning ways, E has found himself in the middle of the pack fighting for something. E’s problem appears to be that he leaves a lot of points on his bench week in and week out. Despite having big games from Kyler (26.7), Ingram (20.5), Ekeler (13.2), and Jets D (11), he still left big games from Calvin (20.3) and Marvin (15.9) on the pine pony. To E’s credit, could he have foreseen Tyreek’s injury? Or that OBJ would be tackled at the 1-yard line? Simply put, no. However, it has to be frustrating to look at bench numbers and think about what could have been. 

Hank Mardukas v. Stick With Us PVO

We have a new leader in the clubhouse. After Debbie Rowe choked, Scott is now our new projected #1 seed as we’re a couple of weeks away from the playoffs. Scott probably had some concern coming out of TNF when both Baker and Jarvis’s performances were overshadowed by the melee that ensued at the end of the game. For Dylan though, that was about it. No one else on his team scored more than 5.7 points EXCEPT Marlon Mack. Why is that such an issue? Dylan’s already banged up Colts got worse when Mack fractured his hand during his game on Sunday. This is a crucial loss at an important time for Dylan. Scott, who missed his projection by almost 17 points, was able to secure this victory well into Sunday afternoon. Led by his MVP candidate, Lamar (33.5), Scott was able to seal the victory. However, don’t let that big number overshadow that no one else other than Tyrell and Lutz met their projections for the week. Can Lamar keep up his success and lead Scott to the promised land? Only time will tell. 

Professor Remus Lupin v. Team Timshel

I didn’t envy Gabe’s position last night. Going into a Monday night up but playing against two players? Nightmare. That’s exactly what Gabe had after losing by less than a point. Gabe saw his week begin with a slow-start on TNF when Chubb and Conner put up a combine 10.8 after a projection of 27.1. He did, however, find a way to make up some ground as he moved on throughout the weekend. The newly acquired Diggs (18.1) made up for his trade partner’s (Conner) poor outing, Zeke had 17.3 BUT a costly fumble, and finally, the 49ers did everything they could to get Gabe the win (Jimmy G, 29.7, and D, 16). That early Zeke fumble most-definitely cost him the game. What didn’t help was Mike going into MNF with two key players: Melvin and Keenan. Mike was helped earlier in the week by his Ravens (Andrews and J-Tuck) and by Dak’s open hips. Unfortunately for Gabe, Mike’s success came all within 24 hours. It started on SNF where Todd Gurley racked up 17.3 points and finally, Melvin and Kennnan combined for 22.1 points to seal the victory. Gabe’s season has fallen to symmetry: after starting out 0-3 he surged back to a 5 game winning streak, only to have lost his last three. They say water finds its level but with Gabe sitting at a game under .500, does he have it in him to sneak out a couple of wins in the last two weeks of the season?

Mixon It Up v. VP

Sometimes all it takes is a name change to get you back on track. Luckily for Rob, early signs are showing that this could be the case. Rob, who had lost his last four in a row, desperately needed a win after falling to .500 and obtained it by a very gross score of 67.7-65.6. However, as we all know: a win is a win. Rob had, once again, a below-average week. In fact, he only had two players in double figures and only one of those met their projections. Thank goodness who got Mixon. You never should look too far ahead but Rob takes on Mike next week and then meets his boogeyman in Dylan the week after. Vinny, on the other hand, was starting to show signs of life until he ran into an issue known as “lack-of-scoring” this week. Similarly to Rob, he only had three players in double figures but the rest of the starting cast gave him nothing. Vinny’s three RBs combined for a measly 10.7 points this week which is not what you want to see out of a valued position. Vinny, who has been historically a thorn in my side, faces off against yours truly as we’re both fighting for our playoff lives. 

Debbie Rowe v. Virg. Gardening Minmaxers

Was this a fluke? Was this a David v. Goliath moment? It may be too early to tell but the worst team in our league just wiped the floor with the best. How did we get here? Jane, who was a force to be reckoned with, had good games from CMC (19.1) and Saints D (17). From there, not a single other player reached double figures and only one surpassed their projections. Having both Jones and Lockett on bye would be enough to cripple a team but, for Jane, it was much worse than that. His rough start on Thursday flowed into an even worse 1pm hour for his beloved Texans. Deshaun, who was projected 20.5, ended with an embarrassing 4 points. Yup, 4. I, for one, didn’t imagine Jane losing again for the rest of the season, let alone to Al. So how did Al pull off the upset? Moments before the clock rang 1pm, a subtle trade was executed but its implications rippled throughout the whole league. Al’s two new players that were active combined for a simple 18.4 points but that’s not where the story is. Despite having 0 from DJ, Al was able to win off the success of two players: Josh Allen of DraftJoshAllen.com and DJ “Baby” Chark. Allen put up a cool 33.8 and DJ an impressive 22.4. So what are some man-alytics we can learn from this matchup? Jake is 1-3 when Deshaun is outscored. Does this challenge the notion that CMC is the backbone of his team? 

Cabana Boy Clinch:

Magic Number: CLINCHED: Debbie Rowe CLINCHED: Hank Mardukas CLINCHED: Kalabar’s Revenge CLINCHED: Team Timshel CLINCHED: Mixon It Up 1: Professor Lupin 1: El Commish 1: Wilmore Cinderellas 2: Stick With Us PVO 2: The Perfect Ten 2: VP Virg. Gardening Minmaxers: 3-8

The Biggest Loser

We’re back this week with Gabe who was our biggest loser after a tough MNF loss. 

Good luck to everyone as we get closer to the playoff and CB hunt. 

Your beloved Commissioner, 

Jared R. Mosqueda

[smoakingskye]

So Runs The World Away Ch. 3: Just Set the Course North

Read on AO3 // from beginning

Rating: Teen

Chapter Summary: Felicity fights to get home. Oliver fights to find her. 

Chapter title from Josh Ritter’s Another New World

The guards have turned away as she finishes the algorithm. They chat about something in the corner of the room, neglecting their duty to watch her, to watch the screen, and to take her away when her work is done. It’s been a long day, and she doesn’t blame them. She almost feels sorry for them, before remembering where she is and what these people have done to her.

Her eyes flick across the room. Another man, another prisoner looks at her and nods just enough for her to see. She takes a deep breath and counts to three. The man collapses, the guards rush toward him, and she turns back to the computer.

She knows she has to act quickly, but she’s ready. She’s been waiting for this moment for too long, over 3 years too long. With a flick of her wrist, she types something in, breaking through a barrier designed to contain her work within this system in mere seconds.

A few more seconds, and she’s left her mark. Small, barely noticeable, but hopefully traceable. That’s all she needs: for it to be traceable. ARGUS will trace it. She knows they can. They will find her and she will go home.

Swiftly, she covers up what she’s done, replacing the barrier, hiding her mark. Hiding what she’s done as best as she can and still allow it to be traceable. She hopes it is enough.

It’s not.

They come for her that night. It’s not the first time they’ve beaten her, but she hopes it is the last. If they found out about what she did, maybe ARGUS did too. Maybe they found it in time. Her captors torture her for information, but she doesn’t say a word.

She’s determined to go home.

March 29th, 2024

“Oliver?” Diggle’s voice breaks through muddledness in his brain that comes from hours of staring at a computer screen. “Isn’t it about time you went home?”

He looks up blankly. “What?”

“It’s late, Oliver. You need to go home.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Oliver struggles to remember what their plans were for the evening. “Donna’s there tonight, with Meg.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can overwork yourself here. What are you doing anyway?”

He rubs the back of his neck. “Working on things.”

Diggle sighs. “What ‘things’, Oliver?”

Oliver doesn’t look at him. “Take a guess.”

“So, not QI work at all.”

Oliver does not respond, turning back to the computer.

“You’re searching for her. You’re trying to find things that might lead you to her. Watching that damn security footage over and over again, looking for clues that aren’t there.”

Oliver slams his hand on the desk, allowing a brief moment of anger to show through. “What do you want me to say, John? That I’m not? That I’ve given up?”

“Oliver…”

“This is Felicity we are talking about. My Felicity. My wife. I will never give up. Not until I know.”

Diggle softens slightly. “Why tonight, Oliver?”

He leans back in his chair, looking up at the man he considers a brother. “You know I look every chance I get.” Cisco had set up the best scans he could on their systems. Curtis was working with him on setting up an even better system. Not as good as Felicity could have done, but it’s something.

Diggle scratches the back of his neck and sits on the back of the couch. “It’s different tonight,” he observes, clearly expecting a response.

Oliver sighs. “Today is show and tell at Meg’s school. Specifically, Dress-Like-Your-Hero day.”

“I know. You sent me the picture.”

“Yeah, and what did you notice, Digg?”

Digg gives him a look. “She dressed up like Felicity, Oliver,” he says patiently.

“She dressed like Felicity. Now keep in mind that Meghan has no good memories of her mother. She only knows what I’ve told her, only seen her in pictures. But Felicity is still her hero. And if there is a chance that I can bring her home, I am going to.”

“Ok, Oliver. But tonight, your daughter probably wanted to tell you about her day. You need to be there for her. You know she doesn’t sleep well unless you tuck her in.”

Oliver deflates slightly. He glances at the clock, telling him it’s after 9pm. He’d nearly forgotten about Meghan, and Green Arrow-ing hadn’t even crossed his mind. “Roy’s and Thea going out on patrol tonight?”

“Their day of the week. Looks like it’ll be quiet though. Go home, please.”

Oliver sighs, shutting down the computer. He’d said it before, and he’d say it again: Felicity was the only one with enough expertise to find someone who’d gone missing like this. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to stop trying.

Meghan hasn’t gone to bed yet when he arrives home, and Donna sits with her, reading storybooks. When Donna leaves, Oliver asks if she wants one more story before bed.

“No. I want you to tell me about Mama.”

Oliver expects this question now, but it still hurts sometimes. He’s told Meg something about Felicity almost every day for the past three years. He’s showed her all the videos and pictures they have, wishing there were more, and the little girl soaks it up for all it’s worth.

“What do you want to know, baby?”

She considers this, leaning back against her pillows and hugging her teddy bear to her chest.

“Did Mama ever get scared?”

Images flicker through his mind. Felicity in the underground casino on her first undercover mission, a gun to her temple. Felicity standing on a landmine on Lian Yu. Felicity behind the Count’s needle, Slade’s sword, Cooper’s gun, the prison doors in Nanda Parbat. None of them are memories he can share with his daughter.

“Yeah, baby, everybody gets scared sometimes. But your mom never let that stop her from doing the right thing, the brave thing.” He sighs, pretending to think hard. “I think the time I saw her the most scared, though, was when you were almost three months old.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” he snuggles down next to her on the little bed. Not all of the stories he tells have Meghan herself in them, but the ones that do seem to be her favorite. And he’s not lying either: as terrified as Felicity was when facing their biggest foes, this was the moment she was most scared of all.

“You got really sick one night. At first you were just crying a lot, really fussy, and your Mama was a little irritated because she was tired and didn’t know why you wouldn’t go to sleep. You didn’t want to eat anything and your diaper was dry. There was no reason at all why you should be crying.”

“What was wrong with me?”

“You had a bad ear infection. We didn’t know that for a while. Mama tried to put you to bed, and you just wouldn’t stop crying. Eventually, she went to get you and came back worried. You were rubbing your ear and you were breathing very quickly but not very deeply.”

“She was really scared then?” Meghan’s blue eyes are wide, much like Felicity’s had been on that night over five years ago.

“Not quite yet. She was a little worried, but not badly scared yet. She tried feeding you again because you hadn’t eaten much but you wouldn’t take your bottle. So she decided to take your temperature since your skin was really warm, and a few minutes later came running back into the bedroom because your temperature was very high. We decided to go to the hospital even though it was almost three o’clock in the morning. It’s a good thing we did, because the infection was pretty bad. They had to give you oxygen in a tube and an IV for fluids and antibiotics to fight the bacteria.”

“And that’s when she was really scared.”

“That’s when she was so scared she could barely breathe.” Oliver smoothes his hand over Meghan’s messy hair, smiling down at her. “The doctors were even a little worried about you, and your mom was crying and shaking and wouldn’t calm down. She was so afraid that she had done something wrong and we were going to lose you. This wasn’t something she could fix by typing on a computer. She had to sit there and watch you fight to breathe, this tiny little baby surrounded by great big machines and hooked up to lots of tubes and things.”

“But I was ok.” Meghan brightens, knowing that she (obviously) made it through that night.

“Yeah.” Oliver taps the tip of her nose, making her giggle. “Your mom didn’t sleep for nearly two days straight, until we knew you were going to be alright. She was exhausted, but she wouldn’t leave your side, because she was afraid something would happen while she was gone. When the doctors finally told us the antibiotics were working and you had made a turn for the better, she collapsed right there in the hospital room, sobbing uncontrollably. I promised to stay with you and Uncle Digg took her home for a few hours to get some rest. He told me she fell asleep in the car and slept for almost 12 hours before coming back to the hospital.”

“But she wasn’t scared anymore? Because I was better.”

“Oh, she still worried. For a long time after that, she was very protective of you if you were extra fussy for any reason. Whenever you got a cold in the next six months, she would fuss over you and fret unnecessarily. You were always fine, but she worried.”

“Because she loved me?” Meghan cuddles her teddy, knowing the answer but needing Oliver’s confirmation.

His throat tightens with tears, but they aren’t all sad. “Yes, Meghan. Because she loves you. She would do anything at all to protect you.”

“I’m glad she’s my mom. Even if she’s not here right now.”

Pulling Meghan close, Oliver lets a few tears fall, kissing his daughter’s head. “I’m glad too, baby. I’m so glad too.”

December 17, 2021

Oliver turns the rings over in his hands as he sits on the edge of his bed. The tears flow freely tonight, dripping down his face onto his shirt, but he doesn’t care.

Eleven Months. Eleven months since his Felicity, his light, his love, his light, was abducted. Almost a year, and all he has of her are her wedding rings.

“Oliver?”

Donna Smoak knocks lightly on the door. He looks up and nods for her to enter. Moving toward him, she offers a small smile that he doesn’t return.

“How are you tonight?” she asks, placing a comforting hand on his back as she sits beside him.

“I could ask you the same question.”

She scoffs lightly, causing him to glance at her. “It’s not my wedding anniversary, Oliver.”

Scrubbing a hand over his face, he draws a shaky breath. “I dreamed of this night. For the last eleven months, it’s been a personal delusion of mine that somehow she would find her way home today. That she would come back, whole and safe and unharmed and we would celebrate.”

“Oliver.”

“I know. It’s stupid. She’s not coming back. Ever. Especially not tonight.”

“Oliver, it’s not stupid. I have dreams like that too.”

He turns toward her, his wonderful mother in law. She smiles softly. The last year has subdued her vibrant personality slightly, but now more than ever he can see where Felicity got her strength.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” he admits, brokenly.

She rubs his back gently. “Oliver, you aren’t alone.”

“I know. But Felicity was… she brought out the best in me. I don’t want to fail as a father, as CEO, as the Green Arrow. I need her.”

“You know what she would say, if she were here?”

He shakes his head. The ache in his chest is making it hard to breathe.

“She would tell you that she believes in you. You are good, you are strong. Yes, she compliments you well, but you are a good man with or without her. If I’ve learned anything over these last few months, Oliver, it’s that you love wholly and selflessly. You’ve done that for Felicity, and you can do that for Meghan, if nothing else.”

“I don’t want to fail her.”

“You won’t Oliver.”

“How do you know that?”

She places her hand on his cheek. “Because I know you, Oliver. And I know my daughter. She trusts you, and so do I.”

April 10th, 2024

“Green Arrow, turn left on 9th Street.”

Oliver spun the bike left, tapping the com. “I have no visual. There’s too much traffic.”

“Six cars ahead of you. Black vehicle,” came the reply. Oliver could hear typing as Digg tried to get better visuals himself. “There’s a stoplight coming up. Swing right and take the alleyway to 10th.”

Oliver complied, hoping that Digg knew what he was doing.

“Speedy, you there? Take your next right and you might be able to cut her off.”

“Copy that.”

Oliver could hear the roar of Thea’s bike through the com as she sped toward them from the other direction. He skidded to a stop in the alley, cut off by a mess of dumpsters and no way over them. “Spartan, I’m held up. Speedy, do you think you can take this one on your own?”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

Oliver jumped off his bike, shoving one of the dumpsters closer to the wall, where it was supposed to be. It took him a few seconds only, but by the time he’d gotten back on his bike and through the alley, the car was gone.

“Losing the signal. Speedy?”

“I don’t have a visual yet. Do you know which car it is?”

“I didn’t get a clear reading on the license plate. Trying to enhance…”

“Spartan, I think we lost them.” Oliver pulls to a stop on the side of the road. “Give it up, Speedy.”

“You sure?”

Oliver sighs. “Yeah. She was just a low-life criminal anyway. If she pops up again, we’ll get her, but for tonight I think it’s lost.”

“Sorry,” Digg sighs. “I just don’t know how to do all this tech stuff right. I’ll call Cisco again and see if Curtis is free tomorrow to run me through it one more time.”

“Sounds good. We’re headed back.”

No more criminals pop up that night, and they turn in early. Oliver hopes the police caught their thief, but nothing comes in. It’s a small loss, but Oliver can’t shake the feeling that he’s had the last few years: without Felicity, team Arrow is just barely keeping its head above water.

April 12th, 2024

“Mr. Queen? You have a call on line one.”

Oliver barely suppresses his groan. His last meeting of the day had gone over by almost 45 minutes and his head is throbbing. There is a mountain of paperwork left, and all he wants to do is go home and spend some time with his daughter. With Thea and Roy on patrol again tonight, a relaxing evening in had looked promising.

Nodding at his secretary, he answers the phone, his tone clipped and annoyed, unprepared for the breathless voice on the other end.

“Oliver, we have a lead.”

His heart catches in his throat, even as his mind races to catch up to what the man on the other end of the line is saying.

“What? Who… Captain Lance?”

“We found something. Something came up and we found something. Well, ARGUS found something. I don’t want to get your hopes up quite yet but it might be her.”

Lance sounds like he’s running, making his words hard to hear, not to mention he’s speaking very fast. Oliver frowns.

“Her? Quentin, slow down. What are you saying?” He holds his breath, waiting for the answer. Lance has never given up on the search for Felicity. He’d liked her, a lot, thought of her as another daughter of sorts, and even after the SCPD dismissed the case, he’d continued pushing and searching as hard as Oliver had.

“Don’t get too excited, but ARGUS might have a lead on Felicity’s case.”

“A lead. What does that mean?” He can’t breathe. The throbbing in his head is drowning out all rational thought. Looking down, he realizes his free hand is shaking.

Lance pauses. When he speaks again, it is soft and clear.

“Lyla thinks she might have found the men that took Felicity.”

[coloradohq]

+2 wanted connections have been added.

BIANCA GAGLIARDI is looking for HER EX FIANCE/BABY DADDY. they’d like the faceclaim to possibly be someone along the lines of ACTORS 40+ UTP BUT SOME SUGGESTIONS ARE: JOHN KRASINSKI, JAMES MCAVOY, MICHAEL PEÑA, DAVEED DIGGS, LEE PACE , but you must reach out to FADEDSTARSFMS to find out more! (+ the two of them met when the carnival travelled through his town when they were young, thinking like 18-22 ish, they fell in love fast.  Had a fast engagement but come the day of the wedding he didn’t show up and she went back to her family.  A little bit later she found out she was pregnant so most likely he would not know about the baby !)

BIANCA GAGLIARDI is looking for HER CHILD. they’d like the faceclaim to possibly be someone along the lines of ANYONE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 21-26 ISH WOULD WORK, ULTIMATELY UTP BUT SHOULD BE HALF WHITE. SOME SUGGESTIONS ARE: TOM HOLLAND, JOSH HEUSTON, AMANDLA STENBERG, SOPHIE NÉLISSE, THOMASIN MCKENZIE, HALLE BAILEY, but you must reach out to FADEDSTARSFMS to find out more! ( + Bianca loves her child so much.  while she grew up traveling with the carnival Bianca absolutely didn’t want that for her child so they stayed pretty much in one place until about six years ago when they moved to Denver to be closer to family  !)