#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.

[maidenmelanie]

I’m a Reddit lurker, and one of the places I like to lurk in is the Lost Media subreddit. I find the idea of lost media fascinating, but this one mixed with my love of metal so I had to give it a little search. I had a long weekend so, why not? Sadly I wasn’t able to find the video, but I will compile all the findings here in case someone is more search savvy or has possible connections. Feel free to share this wherever.

Anyway, this weekend a post was made to the Lost Media sub asking about Chuck Schuldiner’s last interview. A quick breakdown, Chuck was the singer and guitar player for the metal band Death. He sadly passed away in 2001 due complications from a brain tumor. This last interview with him took place in 2000, and there are multiple threads and comments discussing when it was shown, where it was uploaded, and how long the interview may be. I found several comments stating that Chuck’s nephew said the interview was an hour long. I guess it was possibly cut down to fill time constraints.

There is this very low quality clip from the interview, lasting 17 seconds. In the clip Chuck is talking about money. A user in the comments (obi-wannabekennotbi2418) transcribed what he’s saying.

"Everyone's... A lot of people been really good about it so far... uhm... ran into few problems here and there... and uh... you know when people especially when they hear you are in a band they assume you have a lot of money, that's unfortunately not true you know..." (There was a bit more at the end, but it’s hard to make out and the user didn’t have any luck)

https://youtu.be/18LWHP9m7JI?t=537  (8:57 - 9:24)

This tribute video has a longer version of the clip slowed down without any sound. It shows that it was possibly shown on an MTV News commercial cut-in. You can see Brian McFayden speaking followed by a clip from the interview. The date posted on the clip is 1.18.00 and says it was filmed in New York. After viewing plenty of MTV commercial spots and watching plenty of the channel in my youth, it was common for MTV News to do quick cut-ins like that followed by interview clips.

On MTV’s website, there was clearly a link to a video in this article and on the sidebar, which you can see in the screenshot above. This was probably the clip we see above which seems to feature more of the interview. I tried everything to get the page to load, even finding the old page that the Real media player was hosted on. Sadly the video has been fully removed from their servers. This would have been the direct link to it: http://www.mtv.com/sitewide/utils/playmedia.jhtml?id=1442580

I’m also adding a Wayback Machine link to it as well.

The two images I used in the banner were also taken directly from MTV’s website as they were used in multiple articles.

If the interview was an hour long, it’s possible MTV News was planning on showing it during one of their “Special Report” which was longer segments of their program. And this is where I hit a wall. Sadly I think unless someone has a recording of the interview saved somewhere, we will never see it.

I don’t know why I felt compelled to search for this. Maybe it’s just that I love metal so much and Chuck was a brilliant musician and seemed like such a nice guy. Combing through the news updates on EmptyWords.org left me feeling angry about the entire situation and sad that he was taken from us way too soon. Anyway, if you read this far, thank you and if you go searching, hopefully you have better luck than I did.

RIP Chuck.

[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.

[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!!!!

[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.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

By his own account, Freddie didn’t start sleeping around until he felt his partners were only using him for money and fame. Friends and acquaintances have said Freddie wasn’t promiscuous in the early and mid 70s. Another gay man that was a serial monogamist was Howard Ashman (brilliant musician that wrote hit songs for Disney’s early animated films). In his documentary, they talk about how he liked being in committed relationships. He wasn’t into the crazy lifestyle.

Oh yes, I know about Howard Ashman. Poor man.

I'm going to push back a little bit here though on a few things. First of all, it very much seems like Freddie slept with women on tour while he was with Mary. Brian said something about the people going back to Freddie's room on tour with him changed from hot women to hot men, so he wasn't a monogamist in the early 70s in the band. Even if you say the "what happens on tour stays on tour" kind of sex was different from an open relationship back home, it was still cheating. Freddie did say that he started to have sex without emotions after people broke his heart, but that doesn't mean he was only having "emotional" sex with his current partner in the past. He also said he was "very promiscuous and greedy" in the past, in the interview where he said people went through phases and he found casual sex boring by that point in 1987. I do think he probably started to have a hell of a lot more sex when the entire band really got sucked into the rock 'n' roll lifestyle (it's something Brian alluded to when he said he was overwhelmed by sex and pretty much thought Freddie went through the same thing), but it doesn't seem like Freddie was ever good at monogamy until Jim put his foot down and Freddie was willing to commit tbh.

[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

[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

[conradscrime]

Inspired by the Scream Franchise: The Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart

October 07, 2021

Cassie Jo Stoddart was born on December 21, 1989 and attended Pocatello High School in Pocatello, Idaho. Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik also attended school with Cassie, and were friends with her boyfriend, Matt Beckham. 

Brian had spent most of his childhood in Utah, before moving with his parents to Pocatello, Idaho, meeting Torey and the two soon became best friends. The two boys both shared a love of film and would often walk around the school video-taping their classmates and making their own movies. 

Cassie was a very responsible well-behaved girl and that’s why her aunt and uncle, Allison and Frank Contreras, asked her to house sit for them in northeast Bannock County on the night of September 22, 2006. They needed Cassie to come house sit because they owned three cats and two dogs that needed to be taken care of during the weekend while they were away. 

While Cassie was house-sitting that night, her boyfriend, Matt, came by around 6pm to hangout for a bit. A little while later, Brian and Torey also showed up to hangout with the couple. Cassie gave the boys all a tour of the house, including the basement before going back up to the living room to watch ‘Kill Bill, Volume II.’

Brian and Torey left the house before the movie finished saying that they would rather go watch a movie at the local movie theatre instead. Cassie did not realize that before the two boys left, Brian had unlocked the basement door so he and Torey could return back to the house at a later time. 

At one point, Brian and Torey had come back to the neighbourhood, parked down the street, and changed into dark clothes, gloves and white masks. The re-entered the house through the basement door while Cassie and Matt were still watching TV in the living room. The boys tried to make some loud enough noises to get Cassie and Matt to go down to the basement so they could “scare them.” 

When this didn’t work, they found the circuit breaker and turned off the power in the house, hoping the couple would walk downstairs to check the breaker. Cassie and Matt still did not come downstairs so the boys turned some lights back on. 

Even though Cassie had not gone down the stairs to check anything, she was still freaked out by the power outage and Matt had noticed that one of the dogs had been barking and growling near the basement stairs. Because Cassie was obviously freaked out, Matt called his mother and asked if he could stay the night with Cassie but his mother said no. Matt’s mother did invite Cassie to come stay the night at the Beckhams, offering to drive her back to her aunt and uncle’s house the next morning. Cassie felt that it was her responsibility to house sit so she decided to stay and Matt left. 

Matt left around 10:30 pm, thinking that he was leaving Cassie alone in the house. Matt called Torey’s phone and asked where him and Brian were, possibly to see if they could meet up after. Matt could not hear Torey on the phone because he was whispering, and Matt just assumed this was because they were still in the movie theatre.

Brian and Torey heard Matt leave and they decided to turn the lights out again, hoping that Cassie would come downstairs to turn the lights back on, but she did not. Eventually, Brian, carrying a dagger-type weapon, and Torey, holding a hunting-style knife, went upstairs. 

Brian opened and slammed a closet door to frighten Cassie who was on the couch in the living room. The boys then attacked Cassie, stabbing her about 30 times, with 12 of these wounds potentially fatal. The weapons the boys had used were purchased at a pawn shop with the help of an 18 year old named Joe Lucero, as Brian and Torey were only 16 at the time of the murder. 

Police originally questioned Matt, who they thought was a possible suspect because Matt did not show a whole lot of emotion. However, when Matt began to tell the police that Brian and Torey were also at the house that night, police began to look at the two boys. Matt had also passed a polygraph test.

When police questioned Brian and Torey they discovered that Brian had a crush on Cassie, but she was not interested because she was dating Matt. The boys also told police that they had been at the movie theatres that night, which they had movie stubs for the movie ‘Holes.’ However, when police began asking simple questions about the movie, the boys could not answer. Police asked the boys what the movie was about, who was in the movie, ect, and the boys could not say anything about the movie besides they remembered thinking that it was boring.

Police really began to view the boys as suspects, because they were movie fanatics and went to the movies all the time. If they were huge movie buffs they should be able to remember details of a movie they were supposedly at a few days ago. The police questioned the girl who was working the ticket booth at the movies that night, and the girl said that neither Brian or Torey were at the movie theatre that night. She said she would’ve remembered seeing the two boys, as they were regulars. 

Because Brian and Torey were movie fanatics and had dreams of directing and filming their own horror movie, the police discovered later that the two had filmed their entire plan to murder Cassie, which was planned at school. They also filmed themselves right before the murder, talking in the car about how they were about to murder her. 

This video footage was played at their trials. 

Brian and Torey were both arrested on September 27, 2006, charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. When questioned, both of the boys automatically turned against each other. Brian said though he was in the room while Cassie was murdered, he did not stab her. He then later said he did stab her but only under Torey’s commands. Brian’s DNA had been found under Cassie’s nails on both her right and left hand, but Torey’s DNA was not. Brian showed police where they had disposed of the clothing, masks and knives they had used that night. 

At the trial, Brian admitted that he had been inspired by the Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Torey said he had been inspired by the Scream horror films franchise, which is often what this case is known as. Brian was found guilty on April 17, 2007 and Torey was found guilty on June 8, 2007. Both boys received a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, and 30 years to life for being convicted in conspiracy to commit murder. 

Both Brian and Torey are serving their time at Idaho State Correctional Institution and have filed many appeals since, all being denied. 

In 2010, the Stoddart family filed a civil lawsuit against the Idaho School District claiming that the school should have known that Brian and Torey posed a threat to others. This case was dismissed, saying that the actions of Brian and Torey were not foreseeable. 

In 2012 the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory sentences of life without parole are unconstitutional for youth offenders, even in the case of murder. In 2016, it was decided that this doctrine should also be applied to cases retroactively as youth who commit such crimes have the ability to change. Brian and Torey’s case falls under this as they were 16 when the crime was committed. 

Cassie’s family suffered quite a bit after her murder. Her teenage cousin who was 13 at the time, was the one who had found her body, suffering from severe trauma, and at one point had tried to take her own life. Cassie’s aunt and uncle also had a hard time, her aunt was so depressed she lost her job and often felt responsible for Cassie’s death. 

Cassie’s aunt and uncle tried to sell the house for years, but no one wanted to buy the home because of the horrible tragedy that had occurred there. 

There was a documentary that came out and Brian and Torey were interviewed during this documentary. Brian did show some remorse, though Torey did not not. In the interview Torey’s mother refuses to believe that Torey committed murder and acts like he is the victim in this. 

The boys had a list of people they wanted to kill, and it is a tragedy that the succeeded in even one of these murders. I will never understand people who look up to mass murderers as idols, and who are so intrigued with copying popular horror film franchises. 

[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…

[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.

[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)

[stomp-that-ho-regard]

Retcon

noun

(in a film, television series, or other fictional work) a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency.

verb

revise (an aspect of a fictional work) retrospectively, typically by introducing a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events.

Retroactive Continuity

Reframing past events to serve a current plot need. [...] In its most basic form, this is any plot point that was not intended from the beginning. [...]

Post-hiatus C2, and the Great Retcon... 

(The retconning really started with the playlists, but we’ll come back to those.)

First, some context:

SDCC (July ‘18) - Marisha was asked directly about Beau and Yasha and if she and Ashley had discussed it. “After the first few times that I kinda put the moves on her, we were at break, and I could sense that Ashley was wanting to ask me something. And she was like, ‘Hey, I’m just curious... is Beau- ’ And at that exact moment someone’s like, ‘Yo Ashley! We gotta go! We gotta get on stage!’ And I was like, ‘Bye!’” Then Brian asked, “And you haven’t had a further conversation about it?” Marisha said, “Nope!”

(Seven months into the campaign, and no discussions. Hmm.)

NYCC (Oct. ‘18) - Marisha was asked about who would Beau get flustered over if they ever flirted back, and yes, she said Yasha and laughed, but then said, “It’s like throwing pebbles at a brick wall.” Meaning, she was putting stuff out there and not getting anything back. (And, she really wasn’t. I still remember when a major portion of the fandom, including the diehard shippers [of which I was one at the time], weren’t sure if Ashley was even interested in this. More than that, it wasn’t until the Zuala reveal, that the fandom and the players found out for certain that Yasha was actually into women.) 

(To me, Marisha’s answer here also suggests that at this point, there were still no discussions.)

Talks Machina for ep61 (May ‘19) - Marisha was asked ‘What was going through Beau's mind when Yasha revealed her past with Zuala? Has this changed any feelings Beau might have? Or has Beau's character growth allowed her to mature a little more with regards to her feelings about Yasha?’ Which Marisha instantly pegged as a shipping question. And she said, “I’m trying to figure out a way to answer this to not ruin everyone’s internal canon, in their brains. I don’t want people to overestimate Beau’s intentions towards Yasha. But then also, is that on me? Have I been leading everybody on?”

So, you had all of that, all the way up to ep61.

None of this indicates that ‘it’s been happening since ep1′ or that it’s ‘the slowest of slow burns.’ In fact, it shuts that down completely.

Moving forward to the Beau and Fjord convo (ep108)...

Marisha suddenly having Beau say “There was something about Yasha from the moment that I saw her”. She’s retrospectively attempting to give that moment more weight, when (based on the examples above) we know that the over-the-top flirting was just for fun. And truthfully, she really wasn’t flirting with Yasha any differently than she was flirting with any hot female NPC the party crossed paths with.

And now it’s clear that that one line she said is the reason why BY shippers have suddenly clung on to the idea that “It’s been happening since episode one! SLOooOowBuUuuUrn!!!!!” when its clear that it was not planned. (Not before the hiatus-from-hell, anyway.)

Then Marisha having Beau go from describing Jester as “She's fun. She makes me laugh. I like her ridiculous plans. I think she's complicated and layered.” to “It’s easy to lust after her”. I’ll direct you to Talks for ep85. After Marisha had mentioned that it was a bunch of little things that build, and then pinpointed a few of them, Brian tried to make a joke and said “So you’re saying it’s been more a series, than just one moment that you can point to and say ‘It was right here when I went, let’s fuck!’” Marisha specifically countered that with “It’s not even about 'let’s fuck’. It’s nothing sexual in this case.” (Having her backpedal on this so heavily was such a huge gut punch and was the thing that wholly soured everything for me.)

There were so many better, more delicate ways Marisha could’ve had Beau examine/come to grips with her feelings for both women, but all the reduction and saying they were ‘transferable’ was nothing short of insulting.

On that same Talks episode, Marisha also said this: “Going into this campaign all of us were like, ‘No relationships!’ I didn’t want it! I didn’t ask for this!”, while smiling. What this shows me is that she was thinking of a relationship in regards to Beau’s feelings for Jester. As if she was maybe even anticipating this culminating into something? Why even mention relationships at all if this was nothing serious and was always meant to fall by the wayside?

Brian then followed up with, “In my opinion, as a viewer, Beau’s someone who seems to be on the search for innocence. Whether innocence lost or just innocence in general. And to me it makes sense that you would be attracted to someone who exudes genuine and sort of intrinsic innocence.” Marisha replied with “Fairly astute.”

The next question was, ‘Beau has taken a pretty casual, no-strings-attached approach toward sex and relationships so far. How do her feelings for Jester compare to her previous romantic flings?’ Marisha answered immediately and very seriously with, “Noncomparable. It’s more than that.” She wasn’t playing coy and it didn’t take her a century to find the words. She didn’t even have to think about it. Succinct and direct.

How did all of that ‘organically’ disappear completely, after only 14 episodes?

(Everything felt more genuine back then, because it seemed like Marisha was going where the character was taking her, and not where she thought the character should be going.)

Post-hiatus, everyone and their mother are acting like BY is some epic romance-of-the-ages that was all mapped out, and like Beau having feelings for Jester was just some sort of temporary curveball. That Beau was confused, or was just missing Yasha and projected onto Jester. 

That’s really fucked up no matter how you try to justify it. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen another piece of media backpedal this hard, and this callously.

None of that squares with what we were shown or with what we were told. Until, everybody made a hard pivot and now they've done (and continue to) do everything they can to rewrite campaign history, even though we have plenty of footage that contradicts the new ‘company line’.

Now, where the retconning truly began, with the playlists...

Remember the first round of playlists? Those were released randomly, whenever the cast felt like posting them. I also don’t remember there being announcements every time one came out either.

This time though, they had a fixed schedule, complete with official twitter announcements. As they started to just get back into the swing of things, Yasha’s playlist was released right after the first episode back.

So, right out of the gate, they had to make sure they started to drill home a certain mindset for viewers. That’s why Yasha had a song called ‘Let Me Hold You’. (Lo and behold, a few episodes in, Beau randomly asks Yasha to hold her.)  A few weeks later, Beau’s playlist was released, and there was a song with the caption saying ‘Ultimately, all she really wants is someone to hold, and someone to hold her’. (But sure, no planning here! The wording is just a total coincidence, folks!)  

The other song, directly about Yasha, mentions ‘a crush forged in battle’ (ok), and ‘awkward flirtations’ (???). Yasha never openly flirted with Beau before the hiatus, until maybe right after the Obann arc, in a very vague way.

On Beau’s playlist, there’s nothing about Jester. The one track that mentions her is actually about Artagan. Which, after all they’ve been through together, is fucking ridiculous no matter how you slice it.

In addition to that, Marisha had made Beau’s time in Kamordah (ep92/e93), and the incidents with her family and the Hag, about the group now, not about Jester, fully contradicting her own reiterated words that ‘Jester saved Beau’.

When Beau was talking to her dad, reverting back to her old self and getting all riled up, Jester helped her in that moment, and saved her. Yes, the group was very supportive, and yes, Yasha said something to him before they left the house (that Beau was out of earshot for by the way), but Jester was Beau’s rock throughout that whole thing. 

With the Hag, when the group was having a hard time coming up with a solution, and they realized they might actually lose Beau, Jester stepped up and took control of the situation. She, single-handedly, saved Beau/the group from the Hag. And with that, Jester also became Beau’s hero.

In both instances, Marisha thanked Laura/Jester. First on Talks for ep92 with both of them on it. She reiterated, “You saved me. You saved Beau.” Then on Twitter after ep93 with, “Still processing last night. Saved by a cupcake? Eh - saved by @LauraBaileyVO ... again.” 

But now suddenly, it’s the group. Just the group? 

Now, don’t get me wrong. The entire party showing Beau support was incredibly important. The M9 showed her that they value her, that she’s important to them. It solidified the theme of ‘found family’, which was beautiful. But, to not also highlight how crucial Jester was in all of this, after making such a big deal about it? 

That is very deliberate retconning of some hugely important, highly emotional moments for Beau that directly involved Jester.

Any of Beau’s organic and genuine connection with Jester (which encompasses their deep friendship as well as Beau’s romantic feelings) has been massively reduced (and now erased), specifically to prop up a supposed ‘deep’ connection with someone else that was barely ever there, is still barely there, and has no actual depth at all.

Case in point, the BY date (ep126) showcased this fact to the most extreme degree...

Yasha’s infamous line: “I fell in love with you in Kamordah.” So, Yasha literally watched Beau relive her childhood trauma, and caught feelings during it. I’m not wrong in thinking that that’s just a little disturbing, am I? Also, if that’s the moment she supposedly fell for her, why did she not offer her any form of help? I mean, besides that one sweet moment with TJ, the entire time Beau was in Kamordah, she was the most broken down she’d ever been and needed some real comfort, which is something Yasha did not give her. (Jester did though. In spades.)

So, on multiple levels, this seems highly out-of-place. 

Several people have said that that line was not thought through. In my opinion, it actually was thought through and was only said specifically to have viewers completely dismiss everything else that happened in the Kamordah episodes. Despite the FACT that Beau and Yasha barely interacted during those episodes, they have now stripped down the party’s experience there, and twisted it into a giant BY shipping moment. (Further feeding into the retcon.)

Their ‘trip down memory lane’ was laughable. Most of the things that were mentioned, Yasha wasn’t even around for. 

Gee, remember when the cast was actually good at separating what they knew from what their character knew? When you start injecting what you know into your character (who isn’t supposed to know, because they literally were not physically there), you are metagaming. 

The entire date was one big metagaming bonanza. And it had to be, or else they would’ve had nothing to talk about. There is not one thing they have to call their own. To people who don’t have BY tunnel vision, it was made glaringly obvious that they have nothing in common and their dynamic is fairly shallow. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast are sitting there watching this unfold, smiling and nodding along as if it all makes perfect sense and isn’t utterly ridiculous. (And I’m sitting here wondering when I got shunted into the Twilight Zone.)

The shallowness holds true for FJ as well. Aside from both of them being from the Menagerie Coast, what exactly do they have in common?

While Fjord has grown as a character, as far as Jester goes, he still does not seem to have the capacity to fully understand her as a person, or fully respect her abilities/emotional strength/intelligence. He doubted her often, which led to Jester getting irritated with him several times over the course of at least the last third of the pre-hiatus episodes. He even continued to doubt her judgment (in regards to the Traveler) in the post-hiatus Rumblecusp episodes. But hey, they’ve kissed now (ep118) so all of that gets wiped clean, and he’s being touted as her ultimate romantic soulmate who’s oh-so-perfect for her.

For fuck’s sake, why does that sound like something pulled right out of a CW show?

(I'm convinced that the only reason FJ is ‘popular’ is because the shippers have projected Travis and Laura’s real-life marriage onto the characters. If Fjord and Jester were played by different people, or Travis and Laura were not together, people would realize how paper-thin and half-assed this pairing is and hardly anyone would care about it.) 

Beau and Jester had developed the deepest, most genuine friendship and overall dynamic in the entire party, that should have absolutely been given the chance to be explored further. They constructed a pretty solid foundation that could have easily been built upon, and the fact that it’s been unceremoniously pulverized and snuffed out in favor of such overwhelming tepidity and flavorlessness will never not infuriate me.

Finally, to finish this off, I will say with my whole chest, that that is one of many nasty, rotten patterns that I’ve seen far too much of in all kinds of scripted media, which is...

Not wanting to commit to the thing that’s actually growing organically, because it’ll ruffle too many feathers. It’s too inconvenient. It gets in the way. Because of course, nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to take a risk, or you know, actually follow where the natural fucking chemistry is taking you. Of course not! Heaven forbid, we go down a different road! You have to go with what’s ‘expected’, no matter what, at the great expense of something new that’s come along that’s clearly better. Even when what’s expected is hollow as fuck and doesn’t make sense anymore, because characters have grown and dynamics have changed, they decide to dig their heels in with the most fanservice-y options instead.

Yet this is UNSCRIPTED media. A D&D campaign, that’s supposed to be mostly improvised. D&D, that’s all about taking chances/going with your gut/making bold choices/etc., from people who have claimed up and down that they “like to see things play out at the table”.

So why are those same disingenuous patterns being utilized here too?

One of the big reasons I got into CR was because I naively believed that because the format was different, that the storytelling would be different. I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about running into this nonsense here. That I wouldn’t have to worry about getting bullshitted, jerked around, and having my intelligence insulted left and right, but alas, here we are.

In conclusion...  [TL;DR, kinda?]

Reframing past events (between B & J, and B & Y) to serve a current plot need (railroading BY):                                                                                      

Beau playlist ignores Jester’s importance to what transpired in Kamordah. (minimizing/erasure)

Beau playlist doesn’t acknowledge/hint at Beau’s feelings for Jester. (total erasure. could have at least included a song about feelings being lost, or being confused about feelings for a friend, but Marisha took the cowardly route, and didn’t bother mentioning it at all.)

Beau playlist claims that Beau and Yasha have both been flirting forever. (easily debunked by session footage.)

In her conversation with Fjord, Beau says, “There was something about Yasha from the moment I saw her”. (it was just about hooking up then, and stayed that way for a majority of the campaign. This line suggests that Beau has had ‘deeper feelings’ for and/or has been ‘in love’ with Yasha since the first episode, that this was all intentional build-up, which again, is easily debunked by session footage, panels, and TM.)

In her conversation with Fjord, Beau says, “It’s easy to lust after her.” (minimizing/erasure/twisting of Beau’s feelings for Jester, which Marisha had previously stated were ‘noncomparable’ , ‘more than that’, and that her attraction is ‘nothing sexual in this case.’)

This isn’t a fucking conspiracy theory. This is plain evidence of a planned retcon.