#for a film about brian i felt it said really very little??????

[plexiglassonion]

What..... what was midas man. Like, sure, competent biopic but also so....man....

[youngerfrankenstein]

Popping in briefly because I finally watched Transformers ONE!

It. Is.

OKAY! It’s pretty fun. Thoughts under the cut.

I was not wrong about a lot of the humour being quite bad. Not that there weren’t also moments that made me laugh but enough made me eye roll to not mention it. B-127 did get the worst of it, with perhaps one joke near the end that had me losing it while mostly wishing he was mute in this movie too.

It also really fell into the trap of what seems to be a lot of modern Transformers media trying to cram in as many iconic catchphrases as possible. It gets exasperating. Make a new one. That said there were a lot of little referential moments that made me smile! Like Wheeljack’s one major contributing factor to the story being accidentally blowing something up.

Story was alright, but felt really rushed to me. Like I get that they had an hour and a half to get everyone at least adjacent to their starting positions, and they did the best they could. But it still felt off. Particularly D-16 given his fall felt less like a descent and more like finding out one awful truth and plummeting off a cliff to become turbo-Hitler. Though I will say they do a decent enough job given the parameters. Things like Orion immediately going “okay how do we help everyone else?” and Dee going “I want personal revenge.” Highlights the main differences between them and why one of them is cut out to be a leader. Also things like Dee being the one to always stick to protocol and will be the leader whose style is very much “do as I say or die.” I will say they did a good job of actually making D-16 and Orion feel like friends with the limited time. Which is good, because I don’t know if the movie could have worked otherwise.

Nothing particularly surprising either. Though it’s kinda to be expected. Guessed Sentinel sold out Cybertron to the Quintessons well before the movie came out. And fortunately they don’t really expect you to care about robot politics besides “Sentinel Sucks”, though looking back I’m not sure why I was worried. Also I think he’s my favourite character. I’m a real sucker for fun villains as is probably very clear by now, and he is very fun. Even if the engineered confession was cliché. Part of this is probably also because I tend to like Jon Hamm. Which I guess brings me to the cast.

If I’m being totally honest the voices for none of the main four really work for me? Brian Tyree Henry is definitely the one who works the most to his credit. Hemsworth is… fine. He’s fine. He could be a lot worse. Though other than them most of the cast works well for me. Though I do still wish there was more respect for voice acting as an actual career by Hollywood. That said Soundwave’s voice was done well and that is all I ask.

As for things I just straight up enjoyed the animation is REALLY good. And I really like a lot of the designs! The bots, the train, THE QUINTESSON SHIP!!! Also kind of like the whole Fisher King thing Cybertron seems to have going on

[Cinematic Parallels]

And the fact it’s constantly transforming. The ACTION! So well done. All I really wanted was a thrilling punch-up between Optimus and Megatron and I GOT IT! There’s also the frequent use of blatant irony which is MY cringy dialogue trope! Favourite of course: “No more false prophets!” <- False prophet seconds before robot Jesus shows back up.

(Perhaps irony is not quite right but it did make me smile.)

And the most minor one, Oppy getting the Castlevania axe subweapon.

All in all I do hope we get a Transformers TWO. I think there’s more story to be told in this universe, it feels somewhat fresh. And I think with a bit more space to flesh things out it could be quite good! Also I just want to see the gang fight the Quintessons. (Big Quintesson fan here. #bringbacktheG1origin)

Was it the best Transformers film? No. That’s still Bumblebee, and by a country mile.

But was it a good time for the kids?

Yeah, I would think so! Mission accomplished.

[weclassybouquetfun]

The Game's Afoot! The Spirit Awards, Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes nominations have been announced, the Academy Awards shortlist for ten categories have been released.

While I am very happy for some of the nominations, I hate that some really good films seem to have little to no steam. Iceland's submission TOUCH was a very early favourite, but lost ground to KNEECAP and now KNEECAP is fading with I'M STILL HERE becoming the new International Film darling. But hope is still alive as all three were shortlisted.

And with even the starfxckers of the HPFA not recoginzing Michael Gracey's stunning Robbie Williams fantastical biopic BETTER MAN,

I worry that (outside of the technical categories) the film won't be recognized by the AMPAS. Thankfully the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) has given the film 11 nominations. I hope people don't get deterred by the device that Robbie is played as a monkey (with actor Jonno Davies giving a tour de force motion capture performance). The rationale behind the simian depitction? While interviewing Willams, he remarked on how he felt like a performing monkey and that stuck in Gracey's head. Gracey also said that people tend to feel more compassion for animals than other people, so by not showing Robbie as a human, people won't get hung up on notions that he's unrelatable due to his celebrity or judge him by his addictions. I think people need to see it for themselves beause BETTER MAN is spectacular on every level, truly; ridiculously so.

Beyond BETTER MAN, there are movies/performances I love and want to see win like CONCLAVE, TOUCH or KNEECAP for International Film, and Clarence Maclin for SING SING, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for NICKEL BOYS, Adam Pearson for A DIFFERENT MAN and NOSFERATU for Sound Design; but the only film I have really felt truly passionate about this year is BETTER MAN.

What are some of the other in contention films I've seen?

My lazy rankings - up arrow for "Loved", down arrow for "Didn't Love", straight line for "Good / Adequate".

TL; DR-ness

A24's FYC Slate.

Happy that Sebastian Stan is being recognized for A DIFFERENT MAN (and THE APPRENTICE), but it is outrageous that his costar Adam Pearson isn't being talked about. He's sublime. Without his counter to Stan's character, there would be no movie.

And if Clarence Maclin doesn't get a nod for Best Supporting in SING SING, I'd be destroyed.

AMAZON/MGM's FYC SLATE

Amazon/MGM is really bullish on NICKEL BOYS and that cast have shaking hands and kissing babies since September. While not a terrible film it is a slog to get through and the fact that it is told in first person perspective, for me, felt like it tamped down on the storytelling. UNSTOPPABLE is a really good film, but nothing about it screams cinematic. It's just a solid inspirational true story sports film the same way Amazon/MGM's THE FIRE INSIDE is (with a strong performance from Ryan Destiny and an excellent one from Brian Tyree Henry) and the same way Disney's YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA is.

FOCUS FEATURES FYC SLATE

Very strong slate with CONCLAVE and TOUCH being the best of the bunch. PIECE BY PIECE is special because using Legos as stand-ins is 1) so him; and 2) vastly helps it from being a staid documentary.

And the real treat? Having all of the absolute bangers Pharrell has had a hand in lined up. People turned on him for "Happy" and "White Lines", and many have taken sides in the Pharrell Williams /Chad Hugo estrangement, but no one can *ever* say Pharrell isn't a musical genius.

NOSFERATU should get recognized for sound design, most definitely; maybe makeup/costume design. An excellent film, sure, but nothing (other than the technical aspects) stands out.

NETFLIX FYC'S SLATE

EMILIA PEREZ's rock opera aspects turns people off, people are criticizing Zoe Saldana for running in Supporting when many thinks she is a co-lead (therefore our first (only?) accusation of Category Frau this season; and actor Eugenio Derbez slagged off Selena Gomez's performance, but I loved it.

THE PIANO LESSON is fantastic! Director Malcolm Washington (son of Denzel and brother of John David, who stars in the film) really made August Wilson's play cinematic. Incredible performances all around and while Danielle Deadwyler is the name being bandied about the most (for very good reasons) Michael Potts and, amazingly, Ray Fisher, were the MVPs in my eyes.

PARAMOUNT's FYC SLATE

A QUIET PLACE DAY ONE is an also ran. They are not serious about that film. BETTER MAN should be the one they push; SEPTEMBER 5 (the telling of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack told from the ABC Sports news team)-another excellent film: riveting, timely, but this could have been on Paramount+.

SEARCHLIGHT FYC SLATE

SONY PICTURES FYC SLATE

An embarrassment of riches. SATURDAY NIGHT is atrocious and should have been a TV movie and HERE - a film about a house and its inhabitants through centuries - is sweet and poignant, but no stand out performances.

UNIVERSAL'S FYC SLATE

WB'S FYC SLATE

SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY is fantastic and I love that it not only focuses on him, but his wife Dana, as well. It's a very well-rounded, warts-and-all look at Reeves.Sadly, it did not make the Oscar's shortlist.

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS FYC SLATE

[ralith]

My late review of the new digimon film. Overall I really enjoyed it, but it did have some issues. TW for mentions of child abuse as that was a central theme to one character's backstory.

Pros:

-The return of several of the OG voice cast. Brian Donovan is so great as Davis, and Steven Prince returning as Ken and Veemon is perfect.

-New versions of 02 songs sound fantastic.

-Updated graphics, especially digivolution sequences looked great.

-A simple plot to follow that expands the digimon anime lore and creates more questions that we may never get an answer to.

-The plot is not afraid of dealing with darker themes, namely Lui's childhood abuse. Both visually and emotionally, this is a painful theme in the film. It didn't treat the audience as children and met darker issues head on.

-The bonds between Digimon and Tamer were on full display and handled well.

-The film didn't toss out the epilogue to the 02 series and leaned heavily into the digidestined following careers paths that match the series finale.

-Battle animations were smooth and vibrant.

-Lui and Ukkomon are wonderful new characters with depth (I prefer them over anyone introduced in Tri. I didn't watch Kizuna.)

Cons:

-This is a short film of about 1 hour 30 minutes. The first 3-4 minutes of the film were shown early through various promos, and these scenes were unchanged in the film. So nothing new there to watch. (They showed the first 2 minutes of the film at NYCC during the digimon panel.)

-An overwhelming portion of the film is setting up Lui's tragic backstory. In a longer film this may have been okay, but in a 90 minute film, this used up so much time there was no breathing room before they had to pivot to the films climax.

-The final battle was short, and very little fighting was actually done. I think the original movie "Our War Game" had more fighting in a shorter time frame.

-The short run time didn't benefit from several scenes that dragged out in silence. They were supposed to build up the tense atmosphere and severity of the situation, but it felt like padding and should've been dumped when the film needed to move.

-The 02 cast felt like they took a backseat to Lui most of the film. Even the final battle had them feeling like background characters. Unless you were Davis/Ken/Veemon/Yolei, the movie didn't give you much attention.

-Cody did bog all the entire movie, so sorry if you were a Cody fan. He got shafted the most.

-The replacement of several VAs was VERY noticeable. They weren't...awful, but you couldn't ignore they weren't your favorite OG voices. Wormmon was the most tolerable voice replacement, but damn I missed his original VA. Stingmon didn't sound right either.

-The worst voice though? Armadillomon. What. In. The. Actual. Fuck. Did they do to Armadillomon? I know his original VA passed away, but they didn't even try to find a comparable replacement. Where was his Texas southern accent? He sounded like a fucking squeaky toy that was so high pitched my ears were ringing.

-The "resolution" to Lui's childhood abuse I don't feel was handled well. His mother beats him til he's purple, locks him outside in the dead of winter for so long his hands and feet begin to frostbite, and they turn around at the end of the film by having Lui travel back in time and tell his mother (acting as a stranger bc she wouldn't recognize her adult son, (also because Ukkomon killed her(?) that 'hey, it's not nice to abuse your son bc he loves you. I know you're stressed out, but please be nice." And this shit pep talk was supposed to change his mother's entire attitude and change the future?? Like they actually said stress was the reason she beat her son until he was bleeding, not because she was y'know a fucking abuser or anything, and a 30 second pep talk from a stranger was enough to change her behavior. WTF.

-Ukkomon transformed into some fucking Eldritch being and it really did fuck all for most of the battle except some tentacle attacks.

-Again, the final battle was lacking in action and ended very fast. Imperialdramon is just that effective! He finished Ukkomon off in one attack.

-Hi Angewomon!...Aaand she's been defeated in 10 seconds. Bye Angewomon! Sorry if you like Angewomon.

-The final battle and Lui's time travel end up rewriting the past so the majority of the movie setting up Lui's tragic childhood doesn't matter anymore bc it never happened?

Favorite parts:

-Anytime Davis and Veemon were on screen. MY BOYS 💙

-The Davis/Yolei/Ken polycule vibes that permeated this film.

-Davis/Ken shippers were eating good!

-Yolei teasing Davis and Ken for flirting.

-Wormmon's deadpan face in the intro scene is its own fucking emotion.

-Lui and Ukkomon are, again, great characters.

-Ukkomon's arm wiggles!

-The scene where Ukkomon reveals he's been manipulating Lui's parents as puppets to make him happy (it's implied Ukkomon may have killed Lui's parents and is controlling their corpses to make them good people, but it's never made clear.)

-The cameos of the World Tour arc digidestined and WILLIS IS THAT YOU? AND TERRIERMON AND LOPMON HOLY SHIT

-The baseball bat scene with Lui and Ukkomon. My theater audience let out a collective OH SHIT when Lui pulled out the bat and we were all sure he was gonna beat Ukkomon to death.

-You're telling me Lui hit the digivice with the bat so hard, and it flew back at him with such velocity that it destroyed his eye?! What the fuck are these digivices made of?

-Patamon is so dumb I love that flying potato.

-The scene using footage from Diaboromons Revenge Holy Shit! I feel like that movie is practically lost footage in the west.

-The biggest threat to the world was not Eldtritch Ukkomon. It was Ukkomon creating so many digimon to give to every person on the planet that it would throw the planet into utter chaos because the population would explode and infrastructure would fail immediately. And it was all so Lui would have new digidestined friends.

[justajollyclown]

Here are some of my favorites I've watched (more like finally watched lmao) in 2024:

Self-explanatory 🤡🎀

I love Christmas horror! It's such a niche genre and I feel like a lot of horror fans don't want to give it a chance.

Black Christmas is a classic so it's a must watch. It's one of the oldest ones on my list which just proves that it really is holding up well after more than 50 years! There's no blood or gore (a lot of R rated language tho) so it's a plus if you like your horror without those. I really liked the atmosphere in this one, it's both very festive and anxiety inducing. Really liked the characterization too, most characters feel like real people. Also Olivia Hussey??? HELLO?? It's a must watch just because of this Queen alone ❤️. Silent Night Deadly Night again another classic! Before watching this one I read about it being almost banned because it was too gory, but to be honest it's not that bad people! It's actually kinda corny but still a very fun watch. Compared to Black Christmas this one is definitely more of a slasher Christmas film though so expect some low budget filmmaking. However, Robert Brian Wilson totally slayed (literally and figuratively) as Billy.

Christmas Evil is imo one of those "so bad it's good" films. It's my guilty pleasure Christmas slasher just because it's sooo audacious? The stuff that happens in this film is so insane the writers must've been on something 😭. The main protagonist, Harry, is a middle-aged toy-factory worker who wants to BE Santa Claus. He spies on the neighborhood kids and writes "naughty" and "nice" lists. At one point, Harry steals a ton of toys and just starts giving them out to kids on Christmas. The plot sounds so simple but the film is just so surreal, it feels like a fever dream. Honestly, it's the AUDACITY for me. This plot is SUPER corny but idk it just works and the film is unintentionally hilarious.

Won't babble too much about these, I should've watched them ages ago. Sleepy Hollow was more enjoyable than I thought! For some reason, Tim Burton's films aren't really my thing but this was a nice surprise because it DOES feel very Burtonesque? It's more of a "10yr olds first scary movie" but idc, I got scared a few times lmao. American Psycho truly is the DIVA of horror. Enough said 💅.

I don't even know if The Menu can be classified as horror, even though it has a lot of horror elements. Still I really liked it! I thought the premise was unique and well executed (no pun intended). There's also a nice little twist at the end so I really recommend it! Also, Anya Taylor-Joy ❤️.

Not me shivering while watching The Conjuring 😭. I swear this is the ONLY horror film that has actually done that to me! Horror films with religious undertones really do spook me the most I guess. The sound design is PHENOMENAL in this one, so if you like to get scared I really recommend this one (I've watched the second film in the series but the first Conjuring is still way more spooky). Smile was also a pleasant surprise. A friend recommended it to me even though we have vastly different taste. I'm not really the psychological horror type but Smile really was solid! I know this is an unpopular opinion but Smile 2 kinda pales in comparison to 1 in my opinion. The reason I liked the first so much was because it looked so gritty and ofc the reveal of the monster was at the very end for just a few minutes. I feel like the protag being a psychiatrist and still not being able to deal with her inner turmoil contributed more to the monster's scare factor. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Naomi Scott's performance, I think she really deserves all the praise, but the second film kinda felt more cartoonish to me? I think it might be because of the abundance of jumpscares and the CGI was everywhere so the monster ended up looking more goofy in my eyes (like- creepypasya tier goofy). Smile 2 was still an okay film but I def recommend the first one!

favorite horror films you watched in 2024? here are mine:

i really started getting into horror this year but in 2025 i will have more movies 😋

tagging @dominionatrix @artsfavoritehorn @xenoanamorph @justajollyclown @evilvvithin @garlic-the-gnome @fatal-feast @aviesaurusrex @clownyclaushoe @thatspookyghoul996 @milescounty & anyone else who wants to participate <3

[angeloparker]

finally have some free time, so a little summation of panda at baltimore celebfest 6:

I met Sonny first. I got so emotional even going up to the table that she immediately looked at my face and went “DO YOU WANT A HUG!?” when I passed by later she yelled about my shoes.

Met Tully next and he was very kind and sweet. We talked about his old matches and wrestling in general and he was just very actively listening and very nice.

Then I ran over to Arn and Brock. They had a combo special with a really cool poster with both of them to sign, a picture with Arn, a picture with Brock and a picture with both. Brock seemed genuinely surprised that I was excited to meet him and watched his Dark/Elevation matches and was sincerely grateful which means I have collected him as a favorite. Arn seemed really pleased by this as well and he was so sweet making sure I was like comfortable holding his old belt and all after he heard me offhandedly mention having bad shoulders to the promoter.

Julia was next, she had a line at this point so I tried to not waste her time but she was very sweet. (More on coming back to her later).

Kip was next, we talked for a LONG time about the BritWrestling promotions and he recommended me more stuff to watch and his character development in AEW. He was chuffed when I said I’d made the Kip in a Box music video. We talked about wrestling in general and he took a picture of my Cutler tracksuit to send Brandon and we talked about how good Brandon is because he’s so in character with everything he does in the ring.

Penelope remembered me from October. She was so nice and her and Vertvixen asked me about my shoes. Vert and Viva Van actually both wrote about my shoes on my 8x10 and Vert shared my IG photo with the caption “The coolest girl with the coolest shoes.”

I met Fred Rosser next. I wanted to tell him how much he meant to me going as far back as when he was Darren Young and it was a very different time to be an out wrestler especially someplace like the E. I told him how much he meant to me and that I never miss an NJPW match and he walked around the table to hug me. We talked for a LONG time and when he heard I was going to Capital Collision got really excited and told me the passion I had for wrestling gave him goosebumps and he gave me another hug. He also promptly followed me on Twitter after I shared my photo and reminded me to tell him my Cap Collision seat when it gets closer so he could say hi.

Swung back around to Julia’s table to meet Brian Cage who was doing other stuff. I congratulated her on her engagement and she gave me lots of details on like behind the scenes stuff that already happened that felt neat. Like how they walked her HOB turn, what her original plans were, and filming Rhodes to the Top.

Brian was actually really sweet, was happy I watched Lucha Underground and noticed somethings about his matches I appreciate especially after Brandon once talked about it.

Tony Schiavone was also a total sweetheart. Trey Miguel and I talked about Impact but also my outfit.

[harrisonstories]

Ray Cooper talking about George Harrison in the documentary, An Accidental Studio.

Happy Birthday, George. Thank you for making this world a little brighter. In so many ways.

“I didn’t know what to expect, because a lot of other rock stars had turned us down, including  Mick Jagger who we had also represented. I eventually secured a meeting with George and went along to see him at Apple. He met me at the door and told me how much he admired the work we were doing. As soon as we sat down in his office, he opened his desk drawer and, without asking questions or making any conditions, he took out his check book and wrote a check. I was so grateful and so amazed that I said my thanks, took the check and walked out of the office not even daring to look at it. I expected maybe £10 or £20 but, when I eventually looked at it, he’d given us £5,000 [...] which saved us from closing. When I saw how much he’d given us, I burst into tears." - Caroline Coon [x]

“George said to me after the second session, ‘What are you doing, Doris? Are you free?’ I said, ‘Yeah, man, I’m free.’ He said ‘Do you want to sign to Apple?’ I said ‘Sure! Are you serious?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Well, I want to be writer, producer and artist, OK?’ He said ‘OK.’” - Doris Troy [x]

"Yesterday, as [Janet Guthrie] announced that she would receive 'somewhat more than  $100,000' in oil money to attempt to take part in the million‐dollar race May 28, a representative of George Harrison, the former Beatle, called to say he, too, would like to sponsor the only woman in history to appear in the auto racing classic. The representative was told Harrison was too late." - New York Times [x]

"Later that winter I got a message telling me to head down to the offices of Dark Horse Records and Harrisongs in Sloane Square, where a very smart, prim and proper lady handed me a cheque, written out by the record label, for £50,000. ‘You are the third person this week and it’s only Tuesday!’ she smiled, shaking her head." - Steve Parrish [x]

“I’d be calling into George, and he’d say, ‘I’ll pay for it,’ so I thought ‘Yeah yeah yeah.’ And all the time he’s saying, ‘No I’ll take care of it.’ We were looking for $4 million. Nobody has that amount of money, you know? Eventually when we finally got to California, George says, ‘Yeah, I figured it out. We’re gonna create a company and we’re gonna give you the money,’ and it’s $4 million, and he mortgaged his house to put up the money for [Life of Brian] because he wanted to see it, which is still the most anybody’s ever paid for a cinema ticket.” - Eric Idle, Living in the Material World

“'There was this guy who wanted to start up a garden centre near Henley in a village called Woodcote and they gave him such a hard time. He battled for years and years to get permission to open. It is now lovely to see people at the weekends driving out from his little place with tiny trees sticking out of their car windows!' I asked Harrison about the help that he is so often said to give to local people in situations like this. For example, had he paid for the garden centre proprietor’s planning appeal expenses? Harrison smiled and said, 'You know, I never answer questions like that. It’s better simply to think that God ensured the right decision was reached, ultimately.’” - Nick Dent-Robinson [x]

"If you are involved in Handmade, the possibilities really are quite extraordinary. You could just come up with a lollipop wrapper and say, 'I'd like to make a film about this character on the lollipop wrapper.' 'Yeah?' [laughs] And they'll listen." - Bob Hoskins, Movie Life of George

“I really was shocked that he actually said that he would help. But he helped lots of people in different ways that you never get to hear about, so I didn’t like to talk about it. I felt really grateful to George for helping me out at a time when I really needed a leg up." - Damon Hill, Living in the Material World (book)

“When I arrived home, Christina already greeted me with a huge smile on her face. What had happened? Christina had, as discussed, faxed the offer [from a moving company to transport materials for a Lakota youth building] to George. Two hours later, his assistant called with the request to be sent to bank account number of Christina’s organization Lakota Village Fund. 'George wants to pay for the shipping costs.' 'But he only wanted to find a cheaper moving service for us?' Christina was speechless. 'I don’t know anything about that. He told me to send over the money for the shipping right away. Good luck, Christina.'” - Klaus Voormann, Last Visit with George

"[The Harrisons] have always been in contact with us and when George died, he gave my foundation $30,000 to teach mariachi classes in Los Angeles." - José Hernández [x]

"For a man who seemed to have everything, and who could hardly stop himself from being amusing when he was in front of a microphone (even if his interviewers often seemed to miss the joke). George Harrison could come across as being surprisingly unhappy. He wore his heart on his sleeve and his opinions on his lips, and didn’t make any attempts to keep them hidden. For all his obsession with the saintly life, he certainly wasn’t one himself, as his nearest and dearest would probably be the first to admit. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, and sometimes he gave the impression that everyone else was a fool. Yet, as I’ve said, he was also perhaps the most generous soul in music history - certainly the man who gave away the highest proportion of his income." - Peter Doggett, British Beatles Fan Club magazine

[intimidating-fettuccine]

📹Anon reporting itself!!

I know I shared the backstory for my catchphrase, but today happened something related to it that I mUST share 👀💦

⚠Warning! Long happy rant text ahead!!⚠

_________________________________________________

So, my bestie and I were calmly talking in a bench of a park near my house at almost 7pm, and in a point of the conversation I brought up this little thingy that we had here (ya know, me having an anon emoji and an anon catchphrase inspired in our "days full of youth" lmao 😂)

And my bestie went all hyper like "Well! What about only for the nostalgia we go to that house in ruins near here?? The one in which we filmed our first video? Ya know, to have a good time and recall our cringey 13 y/o teenager days!" And, being the nostalgic bitchy girl I am I said "HELL YEAH"

So now we were at the already mentioned house in ruins (Which was completely safe to be inside of) and then a huge ass deja vu happened 😶

'Cause the two of us were just randomly laughing in a quiet way remembering all the stupid shit we did there and suddenly we hear two feminine voices saying.

"Hello to everyone watching this! Here is [female name] reporting herself and as the camera girl we have the lovely [female name2]!"

And so, my bestie and I, with our 19 years peck out of a corner to see two young girls of about 12/13/14 recording a video in the house, and I swear to god I feel my heart warm inside my heart when the two girls turned around and started screaming excitedly when they saw us.

Turns out that two little girls found out about our old youtube "channel" a week or two ago and living in the same town as us they wanted to follow our steps to investigate the "paranormal". They talked to us with so much excitement that I felt like I was a celebrity or smth, and also they were a super chaotic and funny duo, just like my best friend and I were back then, the classic pair of stupid heads who want to involve in scary ambiences and places when they're just a pair of scaredy cats lmao. We took photos with them and recorded the video together and we even uploaded it to our youtube channel! (channel which hasn't been active in 4 years, 'cause we quited doing videos at 15 when the high-school started getting prety difficult and by default we needed to dedicate more time to studying so we could keep our good grades) We also exchanged mobile phone numbers when we finished the video at like- 9:30pm I think (? And found out that [female name2] lives in the same street as me!!

_________________________________________________

Dude, omg, I know this text is like- so long but I just had to share the warmth that has been in my chest since two hours ago, I swear the serotonin is still hitting hard- like- really hard. And those two girls were just- a pair of sweethearts- and the way they looked up to us as if we were their Tim and Brian to our 13 y/o shelves was so beautiful- 🥹

Aaaaanyways, sorry again for the long text and the happy rant '^^ Hope you have a good day Aubrey!! Keep yourself safe and hydrated!!! <3

Another day another not Aubrie :p But that was very cute!!!! And I’m very happy for you, that sounds like a whole lot of fun and I’m very happy you got to have that experience!!!!

[ingravinoveritas]

i've seen atwi80d already and loved it, mostly for the emotions david brought to the character. there's lots of chaos and silliness, but then there's suddenly such depth and so much sadness. (in his eyes especially, dunno how he does it). i'm already looking forward to your review! the series reminded me a little of doctor who, because it really does have a bit of everything, adventure and drama and romance, lots of blatant humour, but also scenes that'll leave you quite touched. (plus david's english accent). and while i never warmed up to verne's phileas fogg, david's version (which is entirely, entirely different, just like most of the plot) made me agressively root for him from the very first scene in the reform club.

(uh and another reason for why i think you'll definitely like it is that david's fogg is the kind of character that has my opinion on whether i would like to top him or be topped by him basically change with every second scene. which, i suppose, is nothing new, regarding his characters. Or david himself, if we're being honest. yeah, it's probably just him).

so these are my thoughts on it. i hope you'll share yours when it's out in the states! next thing on the watchlist would be michael's little christmas movie, i'm sure he'll give just as much to it.

Hi, Anon! Thank you for sending me this lovely message. I wanted to wait until I’d watched all of ATWI80D to reply, and now I have, so onward and forward with my full review of the show!

Right off the bat, I will say that for me, the two biggest strengths of the show were the actors and the cinematography. The settings were absolutely gorgeous (from what I understand, Romania was where they filmed all of the “cold weather” settings, and South Africa was where they filmed the “hot weather” settings). The set designers did a magnificent job of making us feel that we were really at these locales, and were further helped by the excellent costume department highlighting the attire not only of each place, but of various social classes in those places during that era. You truly felt as if you were there.

I also loved the opening credits of the show. The reference to the ticking clock, obviously, but it also reminded me of shadow casters. Shadow casters are metal figures that you put a light in front of, and the shadows that are cast show something you would not otherwise see (and the shadows can even be put together to tell a story). I think that’s a good metaphor for the characters of Phileas, Passepartout, and Abigail. That it’s only in darkness, in challenging times, that we see another side--good or bad--to each of these people that would not be seen under normal circumstances.

The other strength is, as I mentioned, the acting. David is wonderful and absolutely does carry the show, but David is never not wonderful. Like you said, he is able to portray countless emotions--joy, sorrow, anger, fear--just with his eyes and microexpressions. Ibrahim and Leonie also delivered excellent, nuanced performances, which you very much needed for this threesome to work, and played off David beautifully in all of their scenes together.

(Also, the actor who plays Fortescue, Jason Watkins, is the same one who played Brian Masters, Des’ biographer in Des, because of course he is. I love that David literally acts with the same five people in every project...)

In terms of the show/plot itself, overall, I thought Around the World in 80 Days was a little uneven. Initially, I found myself harboring more sympathy for Passepartout than Phileas. Part of this I think was an intentional choice on the show/David’s end, to make us think about who Phileas is and what he represents, and whether that is something to have sympathy for. But while I know the character is meant to be closed off and tightly wound and needy, I have truly never met someone more in need of a prostate orgasm than Phileas Fogg in the first two episodes of ATWI80D.

(Give the poor man some lube and a baguette, for crying out loud...)

HOWEVER...I do love that we got a flicker of the softness under that repressed exterior with Alberto, the little boy on the train in Italy. You start to see that Phileas really is just a big kid dealing with grown-up hurts, and is covering that pain with an existence as bland as the brown soup he eats at the Reform Club. He’s punishing himself, and what he sees in Alberto is possibility, the potential for a future that he thinks is lost to him, so when Phileas sees that potential threatened, he is moved to save Alberto, and in the process, it’s the start of him saving himself.

But it is a very slow start indeed, and it isn’t until our trio gets to India that things begin to take off.

The episode in India had some truly memorable moments, most notably David’s acting when Phileas is drugged, because no one does that type of comedy-to-dramatic acting quite like David does. The manic energy he gave where what he’s doing makes perfect sense to him even if it makes no sense to anyone else was a brilliant combination of the Tenth Doctor and Crowley’s legs vaguely sauntering down the street to commune with a cow. Also, we finally (finally!) get some emotion out of Phileas in the form of him talking to Abigail as if she is Estella, and it’s so heartbreaking, and that combined with his impassioned speech at the court martial was what really got me to start feeling for him.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my other favorite part, which was Phileas having his shirt dramatically ripped open, Roger Daltrey-style, by Passepartout FOR NO GOOD GODDAMN REASON WHATSOEVER:

(Thank you to @somethingjustsouthofbrilliance for this gif!)

I think it was somewhere around this episode that somebody from the BBC or one of the other 5000 production companies behind this show suddenly went, “Eye candy, we need eye candy for the girls and the gays, we have David Tennant here and he's not naked enough, WHAT DO WE DO” and, well...there you go. To quote the legendary Alexis Mateo from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 3: “This is just soft porn. It’s kinda hot.” Even Abigail seemed to be into it, looking from Passepartout to Phileas and back to Passepartout like, “Um...do you boys need a moment? I’ll just be over here in my room behind this thin little curtain, NOT AT ALL LISTENING IN.” Girl...same. You would think that there was already enough gratuitous Phileas flesh in India, but ohhh...no. Because the hijinks got even higher when we were in Hong Kong, and whump, there it is, my other favorite part:

(With thanks to @sic-vita for gif #2!)

Now, I could write an entire paragraph about colonial/patriarchal oppression and the sociopolitical connotations and loss of privilege experienced by Phileas in this entire sequence, as others have so eloquently done. But I’m going to keep it 100% real and say that until this moment, I do not think I understood what the word “whump” truly meant.

Because having David Tennant in chains, shirtless, with miles of pale, freckled skin on display, shoulder blades jutting out with each fluttering breath, and a whip unfurling ominously in the foreground was absolutely and without question a CHOICE. The lashing itself was, of course, difficult to watch, but even in his pain and agony, David/Phileas was beautiful. David acted every inch of that suffering, and the relief when Passepartout and Abigail came rushing in and Passepartout draped the shirt over him was palpable.

The hurt. The comfort. The realizing that Phileas doesn’t even know if he thinks he deserves to be comforted. It was just...extraordinary. Whoever had the presence of mind to include this scene (and I know it very well could be David, because he was an EP on this): Thank you. Bless you. I would like to send you a fruit basket. With flavored condoms.

For me, the strongest moments of ATWI80D took place from the end of India to Hong Kong to the desert island. We go from bottom!Phileas on the continent to top!Phileas on the island, taking charge and nursing Passepartout back to health. But it was also on the island where the dynamic between Phileas and Bellamy and Phileas/Passepartout/Abigail fully solidified for me.I will attempt to break my head canons down to the following three points, as I feel like I’ve rambled on long enough already:

1. Phileas is bisexual.

2. Phileas and Bellamy were boyfriends in boarding school until Bellamy dumped him because he is a jealous old queen who hated that Phileas is so much hotter than he is but didn’t know it yet, and has had to keep putting him down so Phileas thinks he can’t do any better than him.

3. Phileas/Passepartout/Abigail are in a polyamorous “V-style” arrangement, where Passepartout is in relationships with both Phileas and Abigail, but they are not in a relationship with each other.

It’s not until the three main characters are away from civilization that we see the walls between them fully break down. Phileas is humiliated and emasculated in “society” while in Hong Kong. But on the island, the only thing that matters is survival and having each other’s backs (and also not using an incredibly rank fruit like durian as a sole form of sustenance, for the love of God). The bond between Phileas and Passepartout and Abigail is cemented by the realizations they have about each other and themselves and the trials they endure on the island. Phileas draws a line in the sand both literally and metaphorically, and I thought his change of heart and how he speaks to Passepartout and Abigail about how Bellamy only ever tore him down while this journey has lifted him up was just so moving and so well done.

...Which is why, then, I found it really jarring to go from that setting and that emotional apex to the episode in the Rockies. To me, this sequence was not only the weakest of the show, but also belied an underlying problem that I noticed in every episode, which was the script. The script did not serve the show and certainly did not do justice to the actors’ performances. And nowhere was the script clunkier than in this episode, making it feel like a parody of the Old West rather than a genuine portrayal.

It seemed very disconnected from the rest of the show altogether, and were the decision in my hands, I would have scrapped everything in the West entirely...with the possible exception of the female stagecoach driver who so obviously wanted to peg Phileas:

I mean...come on. We all knew exactly what she was thinking at this moment because we were all thinking the same damn thing. This was a self-insert for each and every person in the audience who wanted to put the reins and saddle on Phileas instead of the horses (seriously, what is it with David and saddles??), and my god, whoever greenlit all of this is so clearly one of us and not even trying to hide it. Wow...

Anyway, for the most part, I did enjoy ATWI80D, or least every episode other than 7. I think what took me out of the story most was the weak script, but also when the story tried to do more, but didn’t do it effectively. The two specific examples of that are the gender-related and racial issues with which both Abigail and Passepartout are confronted, respectively. I understand what the show was trying to do by raising these issues, but it seemed to address said issues only superficially instead of on a deeper level, and as a result, did not do justice to Abigail and Passepartout. Leonie and Ibrahim are talented actors, as (of course) is David, but even the most talented actor can only do so much with the material they are given.

David’s Phileas Fogg was the linchpin of the show, and nowhere was that more evident than in the reunion with Estella in New York. There, we see his heart, see the broken boy who has become a man, who comes to understand that true cowardice is not admitting your mistakes and not learning from them, and that the only way to heal from the past is to live fully in the present to make a better future. 

So those are my thoughts on ATWI80D! I didn’t mean to write so much, but I guess I had more to say than I realized. I’m glad you enjoyed it as well, Anon. Thank for writing in! x

[omgsquee2001]

You Have My Blessing: Part 3

~~~~

It had been a few months in the making of Bohemian Rhapsody. They were currently filming the Rockfield Farm scene, where Bohemian Rhapsody had been created by Freddie. In that time, you had grown very close to the Borhap Cast, however, you developed an even stronger bond with Gwilym. You smiled as you stood out of the way of the camera, watching Gwilym play the guitar just like your God Father did all those years ago.

"How's that?" Gwilym asked as Brian when he had finished the guitar solo. Your God Father glanced at you and smiled, seeing the love in your eyes for your now, best friend.

"I think that was beautiful. It was almost perfect." Rami said as Freddie. Gwilym frowned in confusion.

"Almost?"

Rami nodded.

"Yes. Almost. Play it like you wrote it."

Gwilym nodded.

"Well I did, I wrote that part." Gwilym said. You smiled, playing with a necklace Brian had given you for your sixteenth birthday.

You always held it close to your heart because it reminded you that you were stronger than you thought. Whenever you doubted yourself, you always touched that necklace and all yourself doubt was replaced with self love and confidence.

Taking the piss. You mouthed to your best friend, along with Rami's line. Gwilym resisted the urge to shake his head at you, remaining in character.

"Yes give it more rock n roll." Rami said. Gwilym smiled.

"Well I’m always up for that Fred." He said. Rami smiled.

"Put your body into it." Rami said.

"Yeah okay, put my body into it. I’ve got it." Gwilym said. You had to hold back a little laugh as he gave a little wiggle of his hips.

"Not like that!" Rami chided, making you giggle a little bit. Gwilym shook his head.

"No I’ve got it, I’ve got it. Bit more soul, bit more soul."

"Alright. Bit more heart." Rami said, speaking over Gwilym.

"Alright, and cut!" Director Brian Singer shouted. "That was a good take guys. Let's take a five minuet brake and then get back to going over that scene." He said. With that, Gwilym walked over and started gently prodding you in the sides, making you laugh and bend your body over, gently taking a hold of his wrists to stop him from tickling you.

"You cheeky little minx! You almost made me break character!" He chided, laughing. You chuckled and moved away from him a little bit.

"But you didn't and the scene went perfectly, as always." You said, taking his hands in yours and swinging it from side to side. Gwilym smiled gently at you. Over the past months that they had been filming, Gwilym had fallen in love with you. He wanted to tell you, but he didn't want to ruin what you had in friendship. Little did he know, that you felt the same way.

~~~~

`A Week Earlier`

The guys were all hanging out in Ben's trailer, playing video games and just messing around. They had a few hours before they had to go film again. [Y/N] was with Lucy in her trailer. Gwilym was silent, thinking about whether he should ask you out or not. He jumped when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Gwil, you good?" Rami asked. Gwilym blinked and shook his head before nodding.

"[Y/N], you alright, darling?" Lucy asked. You were having a girl's hour with each other before she had to go back to filming. They were going to go over Mary and Freddie in Biba.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." He said unconvincingly. Joe looked over at his friend.

"I hope it's me you're thinking about!" He said, before returning his attention back to the video game he was playing with Ben. Gwilym chuckled and shook his head.

"You wish, Mazzello," Gwilym said. He sighed. Rami smiled slightly.

"It's [Y/N], isn't it?" He asked. Gwilym looked at his friend and sighed.

"It's Gwil, isn't it?" Lucy asked. You sighed and nodded.

"Yeah. It is. I-I really, really like her and I don't, I don't want to ruin anything we have between us." Gwilym said.

Lucy hummed in thought.

"I understand that." She said.

"Well, why don't you just ask her?" Rami asked. Gwilym chuckled and shook his head, like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world to consider.

"No. I couldn't." He said.

Lucy frowned, adding another coat of paint to your nails. You were taking turns paining each other's nails, you just for fun, and Lucy for her character.

"Why not? You two are already very close. People might actually think that you're dating." She said, examining your nails.

Gwilym sighed.

"It's not that simple, mate." Gwilym said.

"I have Brian to worry about. Ever since my parents died, he's been really protective over me." You said.

Rami nodded.

"Well yeah. That's expected. I mean, if my two best friends died in a car crash leaving their child with me, as the God Father, I'd want to make sure nothing evil ever toughed that child." Rami said.

You nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you do have a point." You said.

Ben looked over at Gwilym.

"Just talk to Brian, mate. He's a really chill dude. Just tell him that you really like her and ask for his blessing for you to ask her out." He said, turning his attention back to the game.

Lucy blew gently on your nails, helping the paint to dry faster.

"Sweetheart, if you really like him that much, just tell him. And if he rejects you, then at least you can say that you tried." She said. You sighed and nodded.

Gwilym nodded.

"Okay. I will."

~~~~~

Gwilym looked over at Brian, who was talking to Dexter, the Producer of the film. Gwilym looked back at you. He gently cupped your cheek.

"I'll be right back. Stay there." He said, quickly rushing over to Brian and waiting patiently for his conversation with Dexter to be over. Brian turned and smiled at Gwilym.

"Gwilym, amazing performance there." Brian praised, extending his hand to shake. Gwilym smiled and shook his hand in thanks.

"Thanks, Brian. Um, listen, there was something I wanted to ask you about." Gwilym said. Brian crossed his arms and smiled, nodding his head. Gwilym swallowed nervously. "Um, so, I-I really like [Y/N], as in more than a best friend type of way," Gwilym said, gaging the rock star's reaction. Brian's smile fell slightly, nodding. "Um, and I was wondering if, y-you might give me your blessing to take her out to dinner tonight." Gwilym said, nervously. Brian sighed and looked down at the floor, contemplating his answer. Brian then looked at Gwilym and nodded.

"You have my blessing to take [Y/N] out to dinner tonight," Brian said. Gwilym sighed in relief. Brian smiled. "However, I do ask, that if you do start dating, that you treat her with respect and kindness. She's already had to deal with one heartbreak over the years and I don't want her to suffer another." He said. Gwilym nodded.

"I promise you that I will look after her and protect her with everything I am." Gwilym promised. Brian smiled.

"Good lad, now, go and get your girl." He said, patting Gwilym on the shoulder. Gwilym chuckled and made his way back to where you were, talking with Lucy.

You jumped slightly as a hand was placed on your upper arm. You turned and smiled when you saw Gwilym.

"Hey." You greeted. Lucy gave a knowing smile.

"I'll leave you two alone." She said, walking over to engage in conversation with Ben, Rami and Joe. Gwilym smiled at you.

"Hey." He said. "Um, I have something to ask you," he said. You nodded, letting Gwilym know that you were listening and to continue. "Um, I was wondering if you would be willing to let me take you out to dinner tonight." Gwilym said. You smiled and pulled your lips together to form a line. You looked down at the floor. At the iconic clogs that Gwilym wore as Brian. You then looked up and smiled once more, nodding.

"I would love to go out to dinner with you tonight, Gwil." You said. You stood on your tippy toes and pressed a kiss to Gwilym's cheek.

Gwilym smiled slightly as you kissed his cheek and pulled away. You smiled and made your way over to where Lucy was. She had offered to help you get ready in the event that Gwil did ask you out.

"Oh, and um," you turned towards Gwil. "Wear something fancyish." Gwilym requested. You smiled and winked.

"I'll keep that in mind." You said.

[revengeisalwaysanoption]

I’ll go in alphabetical order. Axel: I could tell that is brain goes faster than his mouth, so he struggled a bit translating what he meant to say, but that struggle made him even more endearing. Unfortunately, I missed all of his panels and it was too noisy in the pizzeria to hear what he was saying unless he was turned towards me. One of the guys in my table clearly was a big fan of him and they had a lovely conversation in which I was told Axel mentioned that he was bullied in high school and that made him feel connected to Lucas in S3… Now that he’s kind of famous, of course, all his former bullies pretend to be old friends. Axel had a lot of chaotic energy, as usual, and jumped on the autographs table instead of going to around it to hug two girls and pretended to be a Neapolitan pizzaiolo when he got the pizza (he wanted a Bufalina, but the waiter told him he couldn’t have it… in Italian. So Axel couldn’t really understand what was going on :/ ). He has been in Italy twice before this Con, both times to Rome. The first time, he went there with his mother since it was a present for her birthday. They managed to find a 3 stars hotel not too far from Trevi’s fountain that had an amazing view of the city. He went back there, in the same hotel. Since Italy was on lockdown (not complete lockdown, but we couldn’t move from one region to another), he got to enjoy all the touristy spots as they were nearly deserted. His favourite scene to shoot was the “intervention” to help Lucas out in S3: it was the second scene they shot and the one he struggled the most with. After it though, he felt like he was finally starting to connect with the character. From January to June he will be busy with a play in Paris, and he is working on a piece together with Robin and Leo (who is going to provide the music) Leo: He is a big fan of anime, especially dark ones. His favourite is Berserk, but he also enjoys the darkest parts of Naruto (he mentioned Itachi’s arc), Attack On Titan (his favourite character is Eren). He started acting because of his favourite film, American History X. He was amazed at the fact that he could empathize with the white racist boy (if you’ve seen the movie, you know who he’s talking about) and wanted to accomplish the same… He grew up in a city that wasn’t too far from Italy, and his parents were big fans of the country. Unfortunately, he had to face a lot of racists there (and yeah, nobody can argue with that) and wasn’t a big fan of the country until he started meeting people from Italy for the conventions. He has been in many places all over Italy but he doesn’t remember much. Since he mentioned Turin, I asked if had any memory of it and what was his favourite corner of the city and he said that he still remembers about the market (I guess he was talking about Gran Balon, a big street market that happens on the 2nd Sunday of the month). His favourite scene to shoot was the fight between Arthur and his friends on St. Valentine’s Day and he still thinks that people misinterpreted Yann’s reaction to Lucas’ coming out. Maxence: As for Axel, I wasn’t at any of his panels and I didn’t have an autograph session with him so we just managed to talk a little at the coffee break activity. I asked about House Of Gaunt, and he told me that it has been very frustrating to be slowed so much by COVID but that he’s happy about it and that it’s finally out. His favourite spot in Paris is La Petite Ceinture, because it’s full of secret passages. His favourite season is, of course, S3 but he did agree that we got to know Eliott a bit more in S6 as well. I’ve been told that he lost Brian for a while and that he called the police about it. He also asked if he should tell the other people who were living in the building about the fact that he couldn’t find him, but they said “absolutely not”. I can’t remember anything else, because I was too busy basking in his sunny disposition (and well, he’s even more beautiful in person, so…) Robin: He started acting because he was a big fan of Twilight (Team Edward!) and wanted to be the next Robert Pattinson. He finds villains more interesting to play, especially when they commit heinous crimes. He's a fan of anime too, but I can’t remember if he mentioned any titles. He didn’t mention his favourite scene to shoot – or if he did, I wasn’t there – but he did say that the most challenging one was the one in the pool because he doesn’t really feel comfortable when he is in the water… Besides, the season as a whole was harder than the others for him. There was the switch between French and French Sing Language, which he wasn’t really fluent in, and he had to make sure there was always eye contact between him and Winona, otherwise they would have travel communicating. Robin had a quite unpopular opinion: he loved S3 of Wtfock, especially for that scene after Robbe and Sander’s date… If he could be any other character, however, he’d be Giovanni of Skam Italia because he seems always so happy and chill. He has been to a couple of different places in Italy, but the one that he remembers the most are Cinque Terre. He was there on a cruise, but he hopes he will get a chance to visit them better next time. He is currently playing a role of a 25-year-old (a nice change from the teens he used to play) in a movie based on “L’Etabli” (The Assebly Line) by Robert Linhart. But of course, if you follow him on Instagram you know about it already. He says he can’t wait to go and watch it with his mum, and that since there’s a very famous French actor in it it should be also great for visibility…

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

By My Side (Part 9)

Summary: The reader and Jensen have a relaxing afternoon where they discuss their future with one another...

Masterlist

Pairing: Bodyguard!Jensen x reader

Word Count: 2,000ish

Warnings: language

A/N: Please enjoy the final part! I had a lot of fun with this series!

_________

One Month Later

“Hey Mikey,” you called from the hammock you were sharing with Jensen in the backyard. He popped his head up from one of the patio loungers, his head deep in a legal brief. “Don’t you have a date tonight?”

“She’s coming over later for the party,” he said, going back to work.

“Did you clear that with head of security?” asked Jensen.

“Head of security can suck my dick,” said Michael as he flipped a page.

“Suck your own. I set you up on this date you know,” you said.

“Ah, this is what I missed,” said your dad as he sat at the table playing a game of chess against Chuck.

“If you can imagine they were worse as teenagers,” said Chuck, moving a piece. “You were planning to have more, weren’t you?”

“We were discussing it. Y/N kept asking for siblings,” he said. “Glad she found some.”

“They never got on very well until recently,” said Chuck.

“Dysfunctional family is kind of our thing,” said Michael, reviewing another paper. Your mom took a sip of her drink, giving Brian a smile. You saw him go to hold her hand under the table but he hesitated, your mom taking his anyways. She rested her feet over Chuck’s lap and you shook your head. 

“They’re so loud,” you mumbled to Jensen. You curled into his chest and he gave your waist a light squeeze.

“They’re alright,” he murmured against your neck. “Wait until you meet my family.”

“God I hope they aren’t crazy like mine,” you said.

“No one’s quite at that level,” he chuckled. “They’re not crazy. Just...odd.”

“Your family or mine?”

“Probably both,” he said. “Want to go for a walk before the party?”

“Sure,” you said. You both rolled out of the hammock and said you’d be back soon, Jensen taking your hand as you walked to the front of the house. A car pulled up at the new gate and you let it in, smiling as you saw Nick and his friend climb out of the car.

“How was the flight?” you asked as he stretched out.

“Good. This is Spencer. Spence, Y/N and her boyfriend bodyguard, Jensen,” said Nick. 

“Nice meeting you guys,” he said. “Nick says you’re why Y/N’s dad is back in the picture?”

“Something like that,” said Jensen. “We’re gonna take a quick walk but feel free to show Spencer around the house or take a dip in the pool.”

“We’ll start cooking in about an hour but snack on whatever you like,” you said. You and Jensen gave them a quick wave before you were walking down the street, Doug whistling from his driveway.

“You two kids staying out of trouble?” he asked.

“Only the bad kind,” said Jensen. “See you and the girls at the party in a bit.”

You hummed as you walked, Jensen squeezing your hand when a car went past.

“Your bodyguard rules are a tad conflicting you know,” you said, smiling at him. “Put you between me and a vehicle but if we’re walking on a city street, put myself closer to the street and you closer to alleyways.”

“Not confusing at all. You stay away from the danger,” he said. “I let you slide on some stuff.”

“I have sex with you, Ackles.”

“I know and I wanna keep doing that so I let you slide,” he teased. He bopped your nose and you laughed, slowing down a bit as you hit the quiet stretch of road with lots of trees around. “I was talking to Chuck earlier. He no longer hates me.”

“See? I told you he’d come around.”

“Strong disdain was now in play,” said Jensen. “I still can’t believe I fucked up like that.”

“Well first off, Chuck doesn’t have the high and mighty card to play. His own sons thought for a split second he was capable. Even mom.”

“How’d the family therapy session go this week?” he asked.

“Okay. The boys all cried. Mom and I aren’t gonna go unless they ask us to anymore. Everyone seems okay,” you said.

“Your dad and Chuck are getting along pretty good now,” he said. 

“I don’t know what those three are going to do, honestly. She loves them both still.”

“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” said Jensen.

“I disagree with that sentiment. Sometimes you have to choose if love is more important than other things, things that might be just as vital as love. But I don’t agree that loving someone alone isn’t enough,” you said.

“Quite a hopeless romantic you are,” he said. He threw his arm over your shoulders and kissed the top of your head. “Anyone in particular you’re loving these days?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” you said with a shrug. Your face felt hot, Jensen slowing his walk to almost a crawl. 

“I’m not afraid of you running off on me,” he said. “Not after everything.”

“Good cause you’re important to me,” you said. 

“That what we’re calling it?” he said, your arm sliding around his back, hand settling on his waist. 

“Shut up,” you said, resting your head against his shoulder. You snuggled him for a brief moment before you started walking again, Jensen’s hand grazing your cheek. 

“You’re important to me too,” he said quietly. 

“Okay,” you said. You smiled and you both moved your arms so you could go back to holding hands, Jensen taking his baseball cap off his head and putting it on backwards on your own.

“Can I tell you about what happened to me sometime?” he asked. You turned your head towards him, Jensen shrugging. “You know...the not so great stuff with Hall and all that.”

“Always. I’d never tell a soul,” you said.

“It’s probably not as horrible as whatever you’ve dreamed up in your head,” he said. “But I don’t want you to worry about it anymore. I’m not so scared of you changing your mind about me if you hear it now.”

“I just want to be able to help you the way you’ve helped me,” you said. “That’s what we do.”

“True. I’m still your bodyguard though,” he chuckled.

“Yeah but that’s like an assumed role with you being my boyfriend anyways. I feel like you’ll always be my bodyguard,” you said.

“Always?” he asked. “Always doesn’t sound so bad.”

“You know what I mean,” you said.

“I know,” he said. “A man can dream though.”

“When we met, what was your gut reaction?” 

“Within half an hour of meeting you, I wanted to quit. I knew...I knew there was this something that I don’t know what it was, it just really wanted to know you and make sure you stayed safe. I didn’t think I could do both effectively.”

“So we were both a bit mean to hide things.”

“Well, you are kinda a sassy client. You don’t always listen to me like the time you nearly got a concussion,” he said, bumping your shoulder with a laugh.

“Excuse me but I escaped, not you, and I saved your perky little ass,” you said.

“Oh so you did notice it’s perky,” he said. You rolled your eyes but giggled, Jensen kissing your temple again. “Maybe you can be my bodyguard too.”

“That sounds fun,” you said. “I’m not wearing a suit though.”

“You could just wear what I do.”

“One of your shirts?”

“Yeah, just that’s good,” he said, chuckling as you lightly smacked his chest. “To be honest, I hate the suits. I prefer the laid back look.”

“I prefer anything where I get to see more skin,” you said. “But that does bring up a point I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Yes?”

“If I wanted you to stay on as a bodyguard...for like work and events moreso cause at home I think boyfriend Jensen could handle that job, would you still work for me?” you asked.

“I’d do it for free,” he said. You cocked your head and he shrugged. “I’m serious.”

“Well I’m still gonna pay you. I just wasn’t sure if you wanted something more...exciting,” you said.

“I’m good with quiet. You still have your fair share of crazies out there. Like the stalker guy,” he said, your eyes wide. “I’m joking.”

“Why do I feel like you’re not?” you asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “You’re safe.”

“Never thought I wasn’t,” you said. “Jensen.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to get away this weekend? Somewhere quiet before I start filming my movie next month?” you asked.

“Yeah. I’d like that,” he said. “After our epic party tonight of course.”

“It’s not gonna be epic,” you said. “It’s like fifty people max.”

“No, it’ll be epic,” he said. “Cause I got you a present you’re gonna love.”

“Tease. What is it?”

“If you must know,” he said as he pulled out his phone. He handed it to you and tapped the screen, scrolling for a minute before he got where he wanted.

“Plane tickets? For tomorrow to the Maldives?” you asked. “How...Jensen you can’t afford this. You have to let me pay for-”

“Oh, honey. I haven’t paid my own rent, utilities, food in a very long time. That plus these hot shot hollywood types and their fancy contracts? I’m better off than you think I am,” he said. “You like, legit saved my life and made me as happy as I’ve ever been and I just want to take my girl on vacation to a place she’s always wanted to go.”

“Fine but only cause I really want to go with you,” you said. 

“I knew I’d win you over,” he said.

“You did that a while ago,” you said, a guy walking past on the other side of the street. Jensen took his phone back and glanced over his shoulder once he was gone. “A pap again?”

“Yup,” he said, sending a text off to Jake. “Oh wait. I forgot to do my favorite part.”

He turned around with you and let out a loud whistle, the guy spinning around.

“You do know last guy we caught in the neighborhood we got arrested, right?” called out Jensen. The man paused but kept staring. “I see one photo or your ass around again, we’re gonna have problems.”

“He’s really a sweetheart!” you said. “Probably want to get out of here before we come back around though. He’s a tad protective.”

The man walked a bit faster, Jensen chuckling as you both watched him slip in a car and head for the entrance out of the neighborhood.

“Ah, I love doing that,” he said. “I am a sweetheart, aren’t I.”

“Yes, yes you are,” you said. He squeezed your hand and you looked around, not spotting anything out of the ordinary. “What?”

“That one’s just for me,” he said. He kissed your lips, pulling back with a big smile. You kissed his cheek, breaking off and kissing his lips, cupping his face. 

“That one’s for me,” you said.

“Better do it again, just in case,” he said.

“Whatever you say, Mr. Bodyguard.”

_______

[outerrangesource]

We loved you in Outer Range. How much fun did you have playing Autumn?

I had a lot of fun because I feel like there was a lot of opportunity for the character. Sometimes female roles can be condensed to fit into small spaces [but] there was something I felt on the project that was tangible.

It was a sense of becoming something else – becoming something other – and sort of stretching wide out and that was really fun. It felt like a new opportunity, actually, to get to do that.

Do you feel that there aren't as many meaty roles like that for women still?

I think it subverts the kind of female role that may have come along before. I understand that people have had quite a visceral reaction to her as a character, and a lot of people really dislike her. I question how much of that is the disturbance they feel that it's a female character who's causing them to react that way. Maybe they expected a smoother ride.

And, yeah, I find it quite satisfying that people are finding her so unlikeable, because I don't think we have enough of those female roles around. But I do think it's starting to change. I just hope that people's appetites remain excited for characters, whether they're male or female, to not have to be constantly cosy people to be around .

Autumn definitely wasn't cosy. How much does she know about her past as Amy? Is she starting to remember bits?

I had the pilot script, and then I had some long discussions with Brian Watkins and Zev Borow, who are our showrunners, but because of the way the information was sent to me, I was unable to have an overview, going into the project, of how much Autumn knew and didn’t know.

So I had to just be really present in the moments that I had with other characters, and I understand that I was probably told different things to what Tom Pelphrey was told or whatever.

So I was really piecing it together as we made the show – apart from the major reveal at the end. That's something I knew, that she was Amy.

But in terms of the link to that, and the pockets of memory and pockets of time, I didn't have a complete overview. So I had to sort of remain true to each moment, if that makes sense?

Yeah, definitely.

Without having to have an extensive notion of: "She went to this time zone, and then she went to the future, and she came back." It was far more interesting to play that deep kind of curiosity, and that hunger.

One of our favourite scenes is that monologue in the restroom. Can you explain a little bit about what Autumn was trying to say?

Sure. Well, obviously it's lifted from Dune, that speech, and I think that there is, through the show, this indication that Autumn is a real disciple. You know, she's a fan, in the darkest sense, of certain writers and thinkers.

I can totally see why she may have watched a film – considering her fragmented notion of reality as it stands, I can see her really committing to a hero in a movie, and that kind of persona is something that she wants to adopt.

So I think it's part of that.

I remember in the filming of the scene, I thought about Allen Ginsberg's live recordings, when he read Howl, and how there was a monotony to the way that he said the words. It's almost like the beats of a train on the train tracks.

It felt like that's where maybe it should land, when she's almost whipping herself up into that frenzy. And there's something really weird about an incredibly calm psychosis. She's like an athlete just before the real shit hits the fan.

It would be easy to brand Autumn as crazy, but can you talk a little bit about her mental health? We know that she’s on lamotrigine, which is a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

Yeah. That was in the script, and that was something to bear in mind. But, you know, it's always a very fragile line. You don't want to make it a role that is sort of a lazy, generic personification of what it means to have mental-health issues.

I think, really, what's at large here is someone who’s locked into something bigger than them. I think that with the progression of the character, you start to see that fusion of she's not entirely well, coupled with this sort of very intense, almost fanatical sense of what she's there to do.

I'm sure we can all draw parallels to people, you know, in the media, where things have occurred, where some of the views have just become incredibly extreme, and, yeah, there's devastating results.

Do you think that Autumn's ability to see the world in a different way makes her more in tune with the supernatural?

That's interesting. It's funny, isn't it? You think about people, like all of us, how we move through the world, and what you choose to entertain, and what you don't. I think it's very easy to dismiss the way that other people think that doesn't align with your own kind of experience.

It's difficult to talk about it, without wanting to say it's a good thing or a bad thing, to be more in tune with the supernatural. I think she perhaps has that frenzied personality that you often find coupled with people who are scientists, or thinkers about space and black holes and something outside of reality.

But actually, that is in no way supernatural. Of course, talking about space and talking about time – these are all things that we really know incredibly little about.

On the one hand, I'd say she's actually engaging with stuff that is important and on the other hand, when you're coupled with a talking bear, you just have to take that with a large grain of salt.

What was it like filming with Tom Pelphrey? Were you an Ozark fan?

Yeah. I'm just a big Tom fan. I'm just the biggest Tom champion. His work, I'd seen, and obviously I thought he was incredible but I love him dearly. We became incredibly close. He was sort of my main buddy on the show. You kind of end up going to funny, little dinners in the middle of weird places with your castmates.

He was my "phone a friend" when a colony of cockroaches just came knocking at my door in Santa Fe. I called Tom, and he was like, "You know, they've got to live somewhere."

Which wasn't much of a consolation but he was an incredibly great friend during that, and we loved working together.

We have this joke where we think we've both got really big faces – like, really big surface areas on our faces. So we'd sort of refer to ourselves as the Big Faces.

What can you tell us of Autumn's gameplan? How did she plan to change the world? Because that's something that comes up a lot.

I think… I mean, an overarching answer would be, obviously, just supreme and ultimate power which is the makings of a sociopath. I think there's a sense that it's something that belongs to her, which is a very insidious argument, because, of course, we shot this in New Mexico, even though it's based in Wyoming.

It's a very upsetting and enlightening conversation when it comes to: who does that American land belong to originally?

So I think there's things to do with that, which is the delusion that she believes it's her right.

I also think that it's kind of those answers to find out about your own life, which we all feel in our, you know, small ways.

So I think she's someone who's almost become physical in trying to sort of find answers and locate the truth.

I suppose power. You know, power is the answer to that question but it's what form does that take and what she wants from it all? Because, of course, there's also playing people off each other. Is that even necessary? Or is that someone who's just a little bit bored, and knows that they have a firm hold on what death means?

If you go into the hole and come out of it again, does that mean that you ever actually die? If you've made good with death, then what are your boundaries, if any?

There's a moment when Autumn's on the phone, and she mentions "mum". Is that actually Rebecca? What's the relationship with her mom like? Do we know?

The mother figure isn't ever, in the script, revealed or suggested that it's Rebecca. So that's still an unknown, whether that is Rebecca, or whether that is a woman who brought Autumn up, or whether she's even on the phone with her mum at all, despite saying that.

There's a lot of symbolism within the show. Can you explain what some of that means? Especially the buffalo? Can anyone explain the buffalo?

Symbolism is kind of fun, isn't it? Because you can take from it what you want or not. It's interesting – when I think about the buffalo, I think about the myth of the American West. There were stories of way back when the Land of Milk and Honey, and the American Dream, and all of that sort of original founding of that myth.

People literally said – I can't remember what type of animal it was, whether it was a buffalo or whether it was a pig or something. But there were images of these animals running around with knives already in them as if there was just so much food and the riches that were to come.

That's at least what I took away with the buffalo, how sinister that is, and the haunting of that myth. What good has it done? It's given people a lot of hope, but it's also been very destructive.

For me, the buffalo sort of resembled a kind of hologramesque notion of the American West. But someone else might have a far more lucid and relevant response to that.

[natromanxoff]

Queen live at The Forum in Inglewood, CA, USA - September 15, 1982

Photos supplied by: Bill Cordero

(x)

This is the final concert Queen would ever play in North America. The tour was ultimately not nearly as successful as previous outings. Four nights at the LA Forum had become two. In a 1999 interview with Mojo magazine Roger Taylor recalled, "I remember suddenly realising that we weren't packing them in quite as much as we used to."

According to this review, Staying Power was played on the last night.

Billy Squier, who has opened for Queen at every show on this tour, joins them in the encore during a one-off version of Jailhouse Rock, adding vocals. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting is also played before Bohemian Rhapsody for the last night's sake.

A bit of video from this show exists. The band are seen going through the corridor to the stage to begin the concert, and Michael Jackson is with them (thanks to Julien Cohen for the link).

Currently, recordings commonly labelled as being from one or both of these Los Angeles dates are from one of the umpteen bootlegs of the Fukuoka '82 shows. Genuine audience tapes and even an 8mm film are rumoured to exist (most likely due to the historic nature of this show), but have never been confirmed.

The concert pictures, snapped by Robert Matheu, are from Phil Sutcliffe's excellent book, The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock.

Here are a few more pro pics: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Reflecting on this tour, Squier had some kind things to say about Freddie Mercury. "He loved to perform. I think all the words about how great a performer he was have been used up. I just used to stand and watch him every night thinking, 'How do you do that? Just how do you get away with it?' It was the onstage Freddie that was most fearless. He believed in what he and the band were doing so much. He never projected the slightest fear or self-doubt and that just swept the audience along with him. He just knew that the show was going to work. He was made for the stage. His sense of theatricality was the key, and it was a key which so very few other rock performers have at their disposal."

About a week after this show, Brian May was interviewed for the January 1983 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Here are some excerpts:

"We used to do the song 'Son and Daughter' on stage, and the solo section in the middle of that became what was in 'Brighton Rock'. After 'Brighton Rock' was recorded, that solo evolved a lot more. One facet of it was the way it is on the live album, but it's changed a lot since then. Sometimes we've dropped it because I felt I got stale. I don't like to do exactly the same thing two nights running. That should be a time when you can do something different. Now we don't do "Brighton Rock" anymore, so it's gone full circle. In the beginning, the solo was there and the song was around it. And now the song's gone and the solo's there.

"It's just a delay machine set on one delay rather than a multiple, so it's not a sort of echo effect. It's one line coming back at you. I have two delay machines, so I can do three-part harmonies with that: I can play alone - maybe two or three notes - and then it comes back and I can play along with it. And then it comes back again and there are three parts. The delays are mostly about one and a half seconds. A lot of things can happen: You can play in synch with what comes back and make the harmonies, or you can play chords and then single notes on top to get a playing-in-rhythm effect. You can also do various kind of counterpoints. Sometimes they work. It all depends on whether I can hear myself well. If it's a good night and I can really hear well, I can do things that demand very close timing. On this tour I've been experimenting with steps which are not exactly on the beat: so when it comes back at you, they are in a different place each time. I found I could do all sorts of strange things with that, just making them mesh in a different way.

"I've thought it was obsolete many times. We've thrown it out. We haven't done it every night on this tour. But somehow it seems to creep back in there. It's weird. I did it for years, and nobody would talk about it. And then when I threw it out, people said, "Hey! How could you do that?" On this tour we did some special things with the lights. We had t hose pods which can fly about, and I used to do a little battle with those. That gave it a new lease on life. People would tend to notice that. As opposed to not saying anything, they would say, "I like the lights in the solo [laughs]." I've found that people seem to appreciate long solos more on this tour than they did before. I think a lot of people thought our material was veering too far away from the heavy side, and they thought the solo stuff redressed the balance to a certain extent.

"I didn't feel that this tour was making me very happy. I've often felt that in the studio, but that's the first time I felt it on tour. I didn't feel happy until the last concert. The last night in L.A. I felt quite cheered up. I was prepared to think, "Well, I don't really want to do this anymore." Somehow when it got to the last one, Freddie was really on form and giving a million precent, and I felt that it was going well. So the end of the tour finished on a good note for me. I felt like I did want to be out there doing it again sometime. But we are going to have a long rest." [Of course, after the six shows in Japan next month.]

Back in 1977 Brian was quoted saying, "We've always thought it was wrong to regard a tour purely as a promotional exercise, because some people have done that, and gone out and slogged away at the hits and the new album, and I don't think that makes for good touring." Maybe that's at least partly the reason why he didn't enjoy himself this time around.

(x)

[typhos-c-dragon]

perhabs,, early relationship, Paul wanting affection but being anxious and not knowing how to go about it?

Ceej, you understand me and my Paul hcs on a spiritual level, thank you for my rights and an excuse to write soft nonsense. It's uh... It's a little long.

Being in an honest-to-god romantic relationship was taking a bit of re-getting used to for Paul. He hadn't dated anyone since college, and suddenly wham, he's head over heels for a cute, snarky barista who seems to return his affections. It was odd, but no less wonderful, feeling his heart flutter in his chest whenever Emma so much as smiled at him. He hadn't felt this way about someone in damn near a decade, and then this beautiful 5'0 biology student walked into his life, and god, his brain just didn't know how to handle it.

Paul and Emma had started seeing each other around late October, hooking up in the Beanies break room during a Halloween party her boss Nora had thrown. It was mid-December now, a week and a half before Christmas, and things were still going strong between them. Though there had been... something strange on Paul's mind for a few weeks now, something that had never bothered him before in his past relationships.

Paul was a tactile guy with people he liked, something his friends all knew well. He was never sure exactly how he'd rank the five love languages as applied to himself, but touch was definitely his number one. Casual shoulder squeezes and light nudges were common gestures of his among friends, as Bill could easily attest. With romantic partners, this was cranked up a bit. Lots of light kisses to their temple or resting his hand on their back, stuff like that. It was always the easiest way for him to show that he cared. His partners... were never as tactile as him. It was very all give and no take on Paul's end when it came to physical affection, and he hadn't really minded it. At least, he was pretty sure he hadn't...

But now? With Emma? Her touch was something he actively craved. And it's not as if Emma never touched him outside of sex, far from it, she was probably the most physically affectionate partner Paul had ever had. She held his hand, kissed his cheek, cuddled up against him during movie nights, and gave him playful little jabs in the side when he was being a smartass. But she wasn't quite as casually affectionate as Paul was with her, and he couldn't help but wish she was.

And sweet jesus christ, did Paul find it embarrassing. It made him feel like some dopey lovesick teenager whenever he thought about it. Like, what was he supposed to do? Ask her to touch him more often? He'd sound like a total fucking weirdo if he tried to explain it to her. But still, he couldn't help but think about it a lot.

It had been a lazy Sunday evening, the one day of the week when neither half of the couple had work. And of course, they were... taking advantage of their day off, as it were. On Paul's living room couch, no less. They'd just finished up, and Emma had gone off to use his shower and whatnot. After washing up a bit, Paul had promptly put some comfy sleepwear on (because it was December in Michigan and Paul was not one to lounge around in the nude with temperatures like that outside), and was now absentmindedly channel surfing whilst laying on the couch.

Nearly half an hour later, Emma had emerged from the bathroom, hair tied into a braid and clad in a bright red hoodie that Paul recognized as his own. He couldn't help but smile, it was so big on her, and she looked adorable in it.

"Find anything to watch while I was in there?" she asked.

"Hallmark movies, a bunch of stock Christmas faire, and like three separate Harry Potter marathons," Paul replied. "None of which I'm particularly interested in watching, so we might have to retreat to the DVD shelf again."

Emma shrugged. "Hey, fine by me, TV edits are usually garbage fires anyway," she said. She strode over to the other side of the living room, where Paul kept his DVDs, and eyed the shelf. After a minute or two, she plucked a case off the shelf, snickering. "Monty Python: Life of Brian, that's a Christmas movie, right?"

"Absolutely," Paul quipped. "Anything can be a Christmas movie if you stretch the definition enough."

"Good, because I wanna watch Monty Python."

After popping the disk in, she turned back to the couch, and Paul sat up to give her some room. As she sat back down, Paul took in the sight of her. God, she was lovely. And she looked so cozy in his hoodie, it was hard not to find the sight of her absolutely heart-melting. His heart fluttered a bit, he was getting that feeling again. Unfortunately, Paul found himself staring at her instead of the screen for a bit too long, and she took notice.

"Paul?" she piped up, snapping him out of his trance with a befuddled smile. "You good, babe?"

Paul felt his cheeks flush. Had she ever called him "babe" before? "It's, uh... it's nothing," he stammered unconvincingly. "I just zoned out for a bit."

Emma, being the observant person she was, eyed him with skepticism. "You look like you have something on your mind," she noted. "What's up?"

Well, shit. Feeling his face burn hotter, Paul attempted to weasel himself out of this inevitable awkward conversation.

"N-nothing's up, I'm fine!" he tried to assure her, perhaps too defensively to sound convincing.

"That's the voice of a man who definitely has something up," Emma observed. She grabbed the remote, and paused the film before continuing. "Something's bothering you, Paul, I can tell."

"It-it's just..." Paul tried to begin, feeling momentarily reassured by Emma's soft gaze. But when the right words wouldn't come to him, he groaned and buried his flushing face in his hands. God, why was he like this? "Nevermind, it's really stupid, can we just watch the movie, please?"

"Paul, I know stupid, I work at Beanies," Emma retorted playfully, earning a brief chuckle from Paul. "Whatever's bothering you, it can't be any worse than the shit my co-workers complain about on the daily. I promise you I won't laugh."

Paul removed his hands from his face, meeting her gentle gaze once more. "You mean it?"

She nodded. "I'm all ears."

Exhaling a deep breath, Paul took a moment to think of how to word his self-imposed predicament in the least stupid way possible. Probably best to start small.

"Um, y'know how... when we watch movies or whatever together," he began, trying to force himself to talk above a whisper. "You'll like, lean against my chest, and I'll wrap my arms around you and play with your hair and all that?"

Emma nodded, looking somewhat confused. "Yeah...?"

"Do you think we could... do that the other way around this time?"

There was a brief moment of silence, and Paul was pretty sure his face had turned a shade of red that had only ever been seen by shrimp before. Jesus, that must've sounded so stupid.

"That's all?" Emma asked.

Yep, there it was. Paul looked down at his lap again, embarrassed beyond belief. "Basically, yeah..." he chuckled despite himself. "I know, I know, it's really dumb, and I probably got you all worried for nothing-"

"Whoa, whoa, Paul, slow down!" Emma cut him off, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She smiled at him softly. "I mean, sure! If that's what you want, we can do it!"

Paul took another deep breath. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Emma replied. She leaned back on the arm of the couch, and opened her arms. "Come on, bring it in."

Still nervous and flustered, Paul slowly eased himself against Emma, resting his head against her chest. He could feel her heartbeat, even through the thick fabric of the hoodie. Emma rested one hand on his back, and began to thread her fingers through his hair, just like he would do with her. Paul felt a chill go down his spine. God, he forgot how much he loved having his hair stroked. He wrapped his arms around her torso, face still flushing like nobody's business.

"How's that?" Emma asked, undoubtedly noticing the ridiculous smile that had forced itself onto his face.

"Wonderful..." he sighed, finally beginning to calm down a bit. "Thanks, Emma."

"No prob," Emma snickered, still stroking his hair. "But before we un-pause the movie, can I ask why it was such an ordeal for you to ask me about this?"

"It's kinda hard to articulate," Paul explained, adjusting himself so that he wasn't muffled by the hoodie. "My, um... my past partners weren't really the, uh... the affectionate kinda types, y'know? So it just kinda felt weird to ask you to... do this... I guess..."

"...Well," Emma began after a moment's pause. "I'm not your past partners, so I'd be more than happy to do this more often."

"You would?" Paul inquired hopefully.

"If it makes you feel as loved as it makes me feel," Emma said, rubbing a calming circle between his shoulder blades with her thumb. "Then I'll do it anytime."

Paul could've melted right then and there. He was loved... In a somewhat indirect way, Emma said she loved him. Perhaps now was the time...

"Thanks again, Em," he said, slightly choked up. He craned his neck a bit to press a kiss to her neck. "I, um... I love you."

Emma briefly paused in her stroking of his hair, only to resume moments later, and press a kiss to his forehead.

"I... I love you too, Paul."

[knives-out20]

The Impact Of The Intergalactic - David Bowie Opinion Essay - by Beck S.

This is an essay I wrote about the span of David Bowie's career. I wrote it for a summer school course I took last year (August 2021) for a course called History of Rock & Roll.

My teacher gave nice feedback after he marked it, talking about how it was an "Excellent paper. It charts Bowie's progress throughout his career well, and includes significant detail. I could really feel the passion you have about him throughout. In fact, there is *too much* detail! The paper was supposed to be 3 pages max, double-spaced. Still, this is a good problem to have; better too much than too little."

So...enjoy!!

From his early works like Hunky Dory, to Black Tie White Noise in the 1990’s and stretching over to Blackstar as his final album, David Bowie has rarely had a bad album or song- in my opinion. His career has had ups and downs, his musical creations ranging in the way he would pitch his voice and what instruments he would use, the people he would produce with, and the wild things he would say. Charting David Bowie’s development over time is in fact an interesting journey.

Early on in his dreamy career, Bowie would have done nearly anything- or in fact, anyone- to grow in the music world. Hopping from band to band (like The Velvet Underground), producer to producer, doing whatever he could do to get ‘in’ in the industry. His early albums weren’t taken very highly in their times- especially with the ‘man-dress’ he wore on the British release of his The Man Who Sold The World album. Although, this dress was only the start of the androgynous appearance he would soon be known for, over the course of his 5-decade-spanning career.

The 1970’s were strange, to say the least. He married Angela Bowie at the start of the decade, then welcomed their son Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones a year later. Bowie went on to be hopped up on cocaine. David donned the look of one of his famous personas, The Thin White Duke. The same persona with slicked-back ginger hair, a white button-up under a black waistcoat and paired with black dress pants. The same Duke who called Adolf Hitler one of the first ‘rock stars’ and gave off a lot of faschist energy. He said many statements he’d later apologize for and grow as a better man from, which is good- it’s better than standing by then, or even backing himself up and supporting them. David Bowie called that period the darkest days of his life, and blamed the crazy statements on his horrid addiction and deteriorating mental state. The late 1970’s were more favorable, seeing as it gave the world what was dubbed the Berlin Trilogy alongside Brian Eno and David’s personal friend, Iggy Pop. Made up of three of his albums: Low and Heroes (both in 1977) and Lodger (1978). He moved from Los Angeles to Switzerland, then to Berlin as a further decision to escape his addiction (the reason he moved away from LA in the first place). It was in Berlin, of course, where he wrote his famous song Heroes, about two lovers, one from East Berlin and one from West.

Speaking of Berlin, David Bowie performed near the west of the Berlin Wall in 1987; he played so loud that crowds gathered on the east to listen. At this time, Bowie had no idea he would be the beginning of the city’s soon-coming unifying. After his death in 2016, the German government thanked him for bringing the wall down and unifying a divided Germany.

Music isn’t all he is known for, though it is a majority. He also starred in movies from time to time. Being the titular man in The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976, Jareth the moody goblin king in Jim Henson’s 1986 Labyrinth film (what is most likely his most famous role), Monte the barman in the 1991 movie The Linguini Incident, cameoing as himself in Zoolander (2001), Nikola Tesla in the 2006 movie The Prestige, and even Lord Royal Highness in Spongebob Squarepants’ Atlantis Squarepantis in 2007, among a few others. David Bowie dabbled in the art of acting, and was not that bad at it. He was good enough to gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, too. Sometimes it bends my mind that my first introduction to my all-time favourite musician was in a Spongebob Squarepants movie, back before I knew who he was, but David Bowie was never one to shy away from foreshadowing. At least one song from many of his albums would hint at the direction he’d go in for his next release. For example, his track Queen Bitch on Hunky Dory foreshadowed his soon-coming Ziggy Stardust. And the Diamond Dogs track 1984 actually hinted at the Philadelphian soul of Young Americans, which is a more famous song of his, which he went on to perform on The Cher Show with its host.

The 1990’s were certainly an experimental time for David Bowie. But to my knowledge, I think the 1990’s was a time for everyone. He married supermodel Iman some days after performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and released the album I named earlier, Black Tie White Noise. It is known to have had a prominent use of electronic instruments, as was his other 1990’s album, Earthling. The early 1990’s greeted David’s first real band since the Spiders From Mars, dubbed Tin Machine. They recorded three guitar-driven albums which received mixed reviews from the masses, but Bowie looks back at this period- as do I- with a certain fondness; “a glorious disaster” he called it, when talking to journalist Mick Brown. Tin Machine is a period I don’t listen to often, compared to his solo stuff, but I don’t press the skip button when it comes on.

Alas, the starman’s career drew to a close as the 2000s rolled in. David Bowie greeted the 2000’s with the birth of his and Iman’s daughter, the beautiful Alexandria Zahra Jones. After suffering a- strange, as it were- heart attack symptoms mid-song during a concert in 2004, he took a hiatus from his career. I say strange because given what I know, he was trying his best to stay healthy at the time. According to my special Rolling Stone edition magazine about David Bowie (released at the start of this year), he was on tour and performing in a really hot arena. But Bowie was sober, and had quit smoking. He was taking medication to lower his cholesterol, and worked out with a trainer. Bowie looked great, and yet he felt a pain in his shoulder and chest, along with a shortness for breath. A bodyguard rushed onstage to usher Bowie off of it, cutting the concert short. He only performed live once or twice after that point, but was set on never going live ever again. And he kept his word on that, unfortunately but also fortunately. Unfortunately, because David Bowie live would have been quite the experience- I wouldn’t know, personally. But fortunately, because I do not believe anyone needs a repeat of the 2004 Reality scare.

I am actually not too fond of speaking of his final years. Nobody really likes to speak of the last years of their idols’ life before their death, so it’s no surprise. Blackstar was David Bowie’s 25th and final album, recorded entirely in secret in New York alongside his long-time producer, Tony Visconti. The album's central theme lyrically is mortality, and seeing as Bowie was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer at the time, I see it as his way of coping with his incoming death. His producer Tony Visconti called him a ‘canny bastard’, when he realized Bowie was essentially writing a farewell album. Every song on the album is what is considered a swan song, a swan song in question being a phrase for a final gesture of some sort before retirement or death. In this case, death. Over the course of recording the album, David Bowie’s chemotherapy had actually been working and he had an eerie optimism while recording. But by the time they shot the two music videos Blackstar and Lazarus, where he showed off the definite passage of time and cruelty of chemotherapy through sparse and gray hair with sagging skin, he knew his condition was terminal and that this would be a battle he would lose. Blackstar wasn’t the first album to have been made by a musician succumbing to a fatal illness, but in my opinion it is in fact the most beautiful. It’s jazzy, and elegant, showing how at peace he had become with dying.

Blackstar the album was released on January 8th, 2016. Also known as David Bowie’s 69th birthday. Two days later, David Bowie died at his Lafayette Street home on January 10th after living with liver cancer for up to 18 months. Beforehand, he had let it be known he did not want a funeral nor a burial, but rather that his body be cremated and the ashes to be scattered in Bali by his loved ones. His wish was received, and planet Earth was very much bluer and quieter without his colour and wonderful noise.

As I said earlier on, David Bowie’s career came with ups and downs. His mysteriously close relationship with Mick Jagger, his cross with famous underage groupie Lori Maddox, the births of his two talented children, his faschist bender in the 70’s, and final bang of Blackstar in his final year on earth. Through the highs and lows, his career and his music meant a lot to the quote-unquote misfits and freaks of the world, myself included. David Bowie turned and faced the strange, shouted “you’re not alone!” To those who felt the loneliest, he surely spent his career helping those who needed to be themselves, feel more freer and braver in doing so, no matter what they may be when they are themselves. He never went boring, he never went stale, he sang what he wanted and dressed how he pleased, and kept to his word on how much more to life there is when you’re just that; yourself. A year after David Bowie’s untimely passing, his son Duncan Jones accepted an award for British album of the year that was won by Blackstar at the 37th annual Brit Awards. When he accepted it, he made a speech about his father that I will leave here, and never forget. Seeing as it perfectly encapsulates David Bowie’ legacy, and the true meaning of his extraordinary career.

“I lost my dad last year, but I also became a dad. And, uhm, I was spending a lot of time- after getting over the shock- of trying to work out what would I want my son to know about his granddad? And I think it would be the same thing that most of my dad's fans have taken over the last 50 years. That he’s always been there supporting people who think they’re a little bit weird or a little bit strange, a little bit different, and he’s always been there for them. So...this award is for all the kooks, and all the people who make the kooks. Thanks, Brits, and thanks to his fans.” - Duncan Z. H. Jones (February 22 2017, at The O2 Arena in London.)