#from what i remember in s1 and 2 the initiation is pretty 50/50

[brzatto]

I just wanted to say I love your Carmy/Richie fic.

The way Carmy just feel so safe and grounded when Richie has him wrecks me.

I just love the idea of Carmy having a hard day or knowing he's going to have a breakdown, finding Richie, and just clinging to him. Head buried in Richie's neck, fingers desperately grabbing at handfuls of shirt, and maybe even siting in his lap. Because I really need that or them finally sleeping all tangled up together.

I haven't started the second season so maybe it gets addressed more but also, I like the idea of Richie hovering protectively or even nervously over Carmy a lot. We know that boy is not handling life well and I just think part of Richie wants to hide him away from the world and make sure he's safe and happy.

I hope you continue with the fic and also tight more because the fandom needs stories like yours.

Sorry for the rambling. I just wanted to send some love and let you know I can't wait for the next chapter!

aww don’t apologize this is so sweet!!! thank you so much 🤍🤍 if you didn’t notice already i’m a big sucker for tenderness and emotional vulnerability + intimacy in writing whether it be subtle or not and i think carmy and richie are both desperately in need of Tenderness in their lives so i try to include as much as possible in my own.

for me i actually think of richie being the clingier (or probably handsier is the better word) of the two..? richie’s more open and personable and better with people so in my head he’s never had a complicated relationship with physical contact, it comes easy to him and he doesn’t overthink it and probably doesn’t even realize how big of an impact it can have on someone who isn’t as used to receiving it. in contrast since carmy’s always been reserved and socially awkward he isn’t as well versed in it and won’t initiate it but he does genuinely enjoy it and will let himself reciprocate if he feels comfortable enough. s2 gave us a glimpse of just how dysfunctional his family life was growing up but i don’t think he was touch starved as a child at all—i think he grew up absolutely showered in physical contact from all his relatives during family gatherings and especially from nat and mikey at home, i can see the berzatto siblings being really open and physically affectionate with one another growing up but as carmy grew older + started distancing himself from his family once he started pursuing a professional culinary career he never really developed close enough relationships (platonic or otherwise) to receive that sort of physical contact anymore so for years he just didn’t have it. he definitely craves it but it isn’t something he realizes he misses (or at least not just how much) until he gets it again from someone who he actually trusts and wants it from, and i think richie’s good for him in the sense that he’s pretty unreserved (read: annoying) about that stuff. in my head richie’s the one who greets carmy with back hugs and drapes casual arms over his waist when they lay in bed together and shoves his cold hands underneath carmy’s shirt. in the self indulgent alternate universe where carmy’s less emotionally unavailable i love the idea of him being clingy but don’t worry knowing me there’s a lot more physical intimacy in store between them in the future for this fic so you’ll still get your wish <3

i’m actually obsessed with richie’s protectiveness of carmy it’s the type of protectiveness that comes alongside a lot of insults and a slap upside the head rather than the conventional mother henning (although i def think richie’s that way with eva) it’s there nonetheless. i have lots of fun of writing richie taking care of carmy in bcm and trying to keep it as close to canon as possible as well but carmy also has that stubbornness to him about getting taken care of/accepting other people’s help that manages to make him come off as bratty lol

[itsthenovelteafactor]

Umbrella Patrol: Part 1

Still in a TUA headspace, and really enjoying Doom Patrol! I feel like there is a lot of potential for fun crossovers between these shows, and some neat parallels between them. Here are some very disorganized ideas because I’m too busy to write out an actual fic: 

note: these are primarily based on s1 of Doom Patrol and s1&2 of tua because I am still in the middle of watching Doom Patrol s2. I would love (love! love! love!) to chat with other people who like both of these shows, but know i am still in the “avoiding s2 spoilers” stage. I might do more of these after I finish s2, hence “part 1″

- they would not get along well in the beginning because, let’s face it, neither group has a very good track record for getting along well with anyone ever. (love them all to death) would a fight break out? probably. would all of the team members and powers and general chaos get so confusing for everyone involved that they would have to stop fighting to try and figure out what was going on? most likely. 

- Five definitely knows about the Doom Patrol from when he worked at the commission and was probably very relieved to not have been the person assigned to deal with the whole De-Creator/Re-Creator debacle. 

- Vic is probably at least aware of the Umbrella Academy because they were pretty famous as kids, but has no idea what really happened to them after except there was this huge scandal a few years ago when one of them wrote a book about how they were all secretly assholes? Something like that.

- Allison is a fan of Rita’s work (I’m thinking she played one of her characters in a remake), but remembers hearing that she was kind of a terrible person? She isn’t sure. I feel like it’d be awkward initially but they’d end up vibing and talking about acting and Hollywood and having the team braincell. 

- Diego: So... you’re a robot. Cliff: Yeah. Klaus: Not that there’s anything wrong with that!! Diego: Our Mom’s a robot. 

- Cliff is like “well, I nearly died and then the guy who I thought was my mentor did an experimental procedure on me that left me in a body that I’m uncomfortable with and feeling like a monster and a freak and I’m unable to interact with people and be seen as normal because of it and am also incredibly strong and worry about accidentally hurting the people I care about and oh, turns out the guy who I trusted and thought was my mentor turned out to be the worst person ever who was only using me as a means to an end” and Luther’s just “same hat!”

- There is definitely confusion around the whole “we travelled back in time to the 60s were not actually from then - can you imagine we’d be so old now?” and “we are actually from the 50s/60s we’re just long lived due to a series of horrifying experiments that were done to us wtf you’re all literally children”

- Dorothy sees Five and is like friend! My own age! And Vanya tries to gently explain that Five is mentally 58, he only looks 13 and that’s how they figure out that Dorothy’s actually over 100 years old. Somewhere in the confusion Five ends up agreeing to attend a tea party. 

- Klaus meets Danny. Enough said.

- But also,,, let’s say more because it makes me very happy to think about. Klaus meets Danny and just feels so at home and gets to talk about fashion with Maura and drag his siblings into singing karaoke and the Hargreeves get to show off their A+ dancing skills 

- TBH, they all try to explain what’s been happening with them and the Hargreeves all thought “well out lives couldn’t be any weirder” and then they hear about the puppet show and are just like “...okay, nevermind. we were mistaken. please continue” while for the most part the Doom Patrol are like “okay, butler’s a chimp, that guy’s in love with a mannequin, all checks out” 

- Larry and Klaus talking about their time in the military and dealing with homophobia. Larry and Luther talking about isolation and taking care of plants. 

- Vanya playing the violin while the Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter paints.

- They at one point get drunk and have a “who’s father figure was worse” competition but somehow halfway through it devolves into Jane and Diego each being that one John Mulaney bit (do you want me to kill that guy for you?? because it sounds like he sucks, and I’d totally kill that guy for you)

- Cliff definitely has some Robot-envy around Grace like, wow she looks and moves like an entire regular human wtf Niles? she shows him how to make smiley-face pancakes. 

- I have no idea how this would work logistically but Ben and Larry would vibe you can’t change my mind. 

- There was definitely some crossover between members of the Cult of the Re-Creator and Destiny’s Children (I’m not sure which one was first chronologically, but I was thinking about the one guy who was like “this is way better than last cult I was in” and how funny it would be if he was talking about Klaus’ cult) . I feel like Klaus and Dr. Harrison have a very weird kind of bond over it.

- Vic “I am literally asking for the bare minimum here in terms of heroics please could you all just follow simple instructions for twenty minutes so the world doesn’t literally explode” and Five just *acknowledging nod of mutual frustration*

- Mr. Nobody keeps talking about crossovers and some guy from My Chemical Romance. no one quite gets it.  

[kaypeace21]

I have a question but I just want to say first that I love your theories. They’re very well thought-out and interesting. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you could explain how Mike is queer-coded? I’ve seen you mention it and I’ve seen others talk about his attraction to androgynous El, but is there more? Thanks!

ALOT MORE! I talked about it here in the past- but without getting too much into s3 (since I’ve already talked about s3 byler extensively).I’ll just have links for everything I noticed in s3 at the bottom of this post. In regards to s1 and 2, Mike was heavily coded as queer. But most significantly this was done in s1- arguably he was more queer coded than Will ever was. I won’t get into all the details (we’d be here all day) but the highlights, at the top of my head are-

s1

- Mike in his his basement has a red heart being propelled by a rainbow.

- 4 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. When El loses her wig , Troy said “she doesn’t even look like a girl” to the cops. But Mike just calls her “really pretty”

-Nancy says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve … Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!

- Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns when talking about crushes using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrassing himself because he can’t articulate the difference between friendship and romance. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative  answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’.

Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone. 

You know someone that you like” 

El: “a friend?”

Mike: ‘not a friend uh … uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)

-Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just … want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide”  (which is heavily queer coded)

- when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays,   “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded . And how such a lyric is oddly romantic- if we’re supposed to see their bond as nothing but platonic XD

-his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”.

- when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee  and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea (for the first time) that Will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is THE ONLY ONE physically assaulted (like a gay-bashing) .  They leave Lucas and Dustin unharmed. Even though Lucas just proposed to another guy- which should have gotten him a beating by the homophobic bullies.

It’s supposed to subconsciously hint Mike is queer like Will, and likes Will. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El and have a guy propose to Mike. Mike says to “ignore them” ( the homophobic remarks) but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed . 

2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront, unlike his straight friends who are in the background . But this time Mike initiates the confrontation), as the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies. All happy and gay”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier , telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally/wanted to defend Will). 

The framing of Mike once again being in the front and snapping at the homophobic remarks (these gifs don’t do it justice, just rewatch the scene -Mike eyes water at the remarks). Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” (like Troy said) thanks to El . Troy at the police station even uses the word “fly” not levitate.

- Mike proclaiming “I’m the only one who cares about Will!” Seems like something a kid with a crush might say ( because obviously his other friends care about Will). But he thinks he cares the most.

-Mike sneaking out to find Will, as Steve sneaks in to Nancy’s. They both even make eye contact (and pretend not to have seen each other).

- they share dinosaur toys , in s1 and 2 they appear to be the only ones with dinosaur toys.

- The s1 mom hug scene where Mike feels he lost Will is paralleled in s3 - signifying how he lost him a 2nd time.

- Mike in the 1st ep being the one to insist on looking for Will in the rain (callback to s3). But he never went looking for El when he saw her through his window? Even when Mike saw Will’s dead body, the second he heard his voice he convinced his friends to help rescue him!

- You remember the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings, and how he caresses the drawing after thinking Will was dead. That’s totes platonic.

s2

- Will in all 3 seasons identifies as a wizard. But in s2 Mike (the paladin) says Will is a cleric. Meaning this reflects how Mike actually feels about Will. In d&d, they have similar moral values, powers, and generally need and depend on each other in the lore of d&d. Paladins have similar healing powers to clerics, but clerics have stronger healing abilities - which is interesting since Mike has always been viewed as the protector. But to Mike Will has helped him (maybe deal with the loss of El and other trauma) , just by being there. And if Mike says Will is a cleric,despite Will still identifying as a wizard in s3, it shows how deeply Mike actually feels about Will. It shows he views Will as one of the only people who understands him and views him as a healing presence and his moral compass.

“ strength of conviction gave many paladins a sense of common fellowship but did not always endear them to others. In many cases, paladins did not get along quite as well with other non-paladin adventurers, with the exception of clerics with similar beliefs.”

“A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress his or her oath (of honesty, courage, compassion, honor ,and duty). A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.

-Mike stands next to Will under the rainbow poster

- Mike forces Will to dance with a girl, but you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like  ‘what,why’d I do that ?’ And after this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these 2 shots.

- All the mileven byler parallels or byler scenes were almost ALL initiated by Mike. If the parallels were meant to show a one sided love triangle (on Mike’s end). They would of made Will the instigator not Mike! Parallels can be watched here , start at 6:50)

-Mike initiated the “crazy together’ line- and in s3 he said ‘blank makes you crazy’. So subconsciously he knew the line had romantic connotations.

-Mike initiating the hand hold (with a zoom in shot) and in the show this is only done for romantic pairings. Also Mike being the one to initiate the ‘arm thing’ which is generally romantic. But in s3 , Lucas also does this, saying “I am spending quality time with my girlfriend’

-Mike saying, asking him to be his friend was the “best thing I’ve ever done”

-Mike constantly following Will around, asking if he’s okay or biking to his house to check on him. In s3 running out to chase Will to the garage and apologizing, and running into a storm to apologize a 2nd time.

YOU SEE A PATTERN! Mike is whipped! And is the one constantly chasing and pursuing Will, not the other way around! Before s3, people always portrayed Will as the (stereotypical- problematic trope of ) a sad-pinning-gay in a one sided love with Mike. It’s like people didn’t even watch the show (and just assigned tropes/stereotypes they wanted, that weren’t actually there). Will (probably too shy or scared to- because of homophobic taunts) never initiated a single byler moment- it was ALWAYS Mike!!! If people were actually objective, they would of thought it was Mike who was the one pinning! I talked about it here. 

We literally only saw Will pine or be jealous in s3 when Mike was in a relationship with El/when they fought.  

The cannon Spotify playlists

called ‘Mike’s basement beats’- These are character playlists that Spotify and St worked on together after s2.

-his first song is “small town boy” an 80s LGBT anthem about living in a small town and being queer and bullied. Every band member was openly gay.

-his 11th song is ‘don’t you want me’ from a “celebrate your gay pride” album

S3

I’m not repeating my literal essays so here are the links to pretty much all my s3 byler meta.  (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

- brief s3 mentions) it’s implied Will and Mike go on movie double dates all the time (right after he makes out with El). He celebrates the holidays (generally associated with introducing s.os) with Will/El. The breakup with El is treated comedically - and all Mike does is complain and burp on the couch. The byler breakup is serious (with the backdrop of rain)while Mike was visibly upset he hurt Will and apologized twice almost immediately . Running to the garage and then into the rain and banging on his door (s2 callback). The “it was the best thing I’ve ever done “ shed scene was shot purposely more romantic than the pool shed scene of “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”. The fact he think “blank makes you crazy”,and he used a similar line on Will in s2. The fact that Mike equates falling in love with girls as a part of growing up and his love for El as something “old people” say. While his affections for Will , he believes are childish (like d&d) and something he has to grow out of. The “I love her” scene was treated comedically. The last Mike/Will exchange vs Mike having his eyes open and not kissing El back . Not remembering he said “I love her”, and dismissing it as something he said in the heat of the moment. Mike looking back at the Byers house , then flashing to Will crying, than flashing back to Mike hugging his mom. Then those scenes having a monologue about not wanting feelings to change but how it’s inevitable.

Also we see in s3 (in El’s room) the return of the heart being propelled by a rainbow.

No hate, but I’m honestly flabbergasted when people think Mike is straight when he’s literally MORE queer coded than Will. Is it just my autistic brain seeing things as obvious, that others easily miss- or just people refuse to see it … or heteronormativity getting in the way?

gif credit : (not sure about the first 2, tell me if they’re yours so I can give credit), last 3 by  eggogorgon , the last gif by cath-avery

[birdlord]

Everything I Watched in 2018

I neglected to write this list up this time last year, so I’m catching up! 2019 is soon to come.  Every Movie I Watched in 2018

The number in parentheses is year of release, asterisks denote a re-watch, and titles in bold are my favourite first watches of the year. 

01 So I Married an Axe Murderer (93)* possibly the most early/mid-90s film ever made. Centre parted hair, slam poetry, pre-tech boom San Francisco, Steven Wright cameo?!

02 The Florida Project (17) first theatre movie of the year came early!

03 The Long Goodbye (75)

04 Call Me by Your Name (17) I and some friends made an effort to see movies we thought might be oscar-nominated this year, so there’s a few of those coming up. 

05 LA Story (91)* a forever rewatch

06 Personal Shopper (17) Feels like there’s a thin veil between K Stew and the characters she chooses.

07 I, Tonya (17)

08 Comfort and Joy (84) 80s Glasgow!

09 Faces, Places (17) made me want to pick up a camera again

10 A Futile and Stupid Gesture (18)

11 Creed (15) not for me. 

12 Black Panther (18)* I found this lost a lot of its lustre the second time around. 

13 Ghost (90)

14 Youngblood (86) Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze hockey movie filmed in 80s Toronto? Sign me up!

15 The Living Daylights (87)* basically sometimes I want to see a Bond film, and really any of them will do. 

16 Brigsby Bear (17)

17 The Ice Storm (97) 

18 Disclosure (94) strong competition for Most 90s Movie, this time set in a Seattle CD-ROM company. One of those movies I remember staring at the cover of, in the movie rental place. 

19 Saturday Night Fever (77)*

20 Barry Lyndon (75) God, the look, the costumes, the performances! This killed me dead.

21 Fried Green Tomatoes (91)* Another forever rewatch!

22 Howard’s End (92)* rewatch prompted by watching the new series version. 

23 Sense & Sensibility (95)* keep those costume dramas coming...

24 The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (01)*

25 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (02)* 

26 Breakfast at Tiffany’s (61)*

27 Paterson (16)

28 Three Kings (99)*

29 The Talented Mr Ripley (99)* 99 was a good film year...I’ll go to this version of Italy anytime. 

30 The Equalizer (14)

31 Paddington (14)

32 Paul (11) the initial charm doesn’t carry the movie through til the end.

33 The Virgin Suicides (99)*

34 Friday the 13th (80)

35 Sea of Love (89)

36 Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (18) a great opportunity to shed some tears in a movie theatre.

37 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (17)*

38 Wild (14)

39 Housekeeping (87) love me a Bill Forsyth, as you can see. 

40 Predator (87)* if it bleeds, etc

41 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (77)*

42 Fever Pitch (05) the US remake...

43 Fever Pitch (97) ...the UK original 

44 Bridget Jones’ Baby (16)

45 Stand by Me (86)*

46 Three Identical Strangers (18) 

47 Mission Impossible: Fallout (18)

48 Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (11)*

49 Election (99)*

50 The Killing Ground (17) utter brutality in the Aussie bushland

51 Eyes Wide Shut (99) never saw this at the time, and thought Nicole Kidman’s perspective was more important within the film but GUESS WHAT, IT ISN’T

52 Repulsion (65)

53 Crazy Rich Asians (18)

54 Halloween (78)* the start of Spooker Season

55 A Star is Born (18)

56 The Hunger (83)

57 Annihilation (17)

58 Scream (99)*

59 Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (98) this was...terrible

60 Halloween (18)

61 Deep Red (75) one of the better Argentos, imo, but no Tenebrae

62 Dead Ringers (88)

63 Rocky Horror Picture Show (75)*

64 Silence of the Lambs (91)*

65 Nosferatu (22)

66 The Italian Job (69)

67 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (01)*

68 Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (02)*69 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (04)*

70 Gangs of New York (02)* Wow, I hated this! If I never see sweaty Leonardo DiCaprio again, it’ll be too soon. 

71 Shirkers (18)

72 Terminator 2 (91)*

73 Little Women (94)*

74 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (18)

75 Life Itself (18) this movie has left my mind ENTIRELY, wow did it even happen?

76 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (89)*

77 Home Alone (90)*

78 Gremlins (84)* turns out I’d forgotten more of this than I remembered??

79 The Shop Around the Corner (40)

80 You’ve Got Mail (98)*

81 Mr Smith Goes to Washington (39)

82 Widows (18)

83 Roma (18) I did see this in theatre, so the surround-sound experience was in full effect. 

84 Ghost Stories (17)

85 200 Cigarettes (99)

DOCUMENTARY:FICTION - 3:82

THEATRE:HOME - 11:74

I had no idea I’d watched so many movies from 1999 this year! It was certainly not done on purpose, but that year had some great movies. Spooker Season was a particularly strong one this year, too, with ten horror/spooky movies over the course of October. It’s always interesting to me to see how many comfort viewings vs more challenging fare that I manage to watch in a given year (probably correlated to how many times I was sick and/or had a rough work day). 

Every TV Series I Watched in 2019

01 The Crown S2 - the difficulties of royal marriage are a strong theme in this season, but there’s also some great sister-sister material between Elizabeth and Margaret. 

02 Lady Dynamite S2 - too weird to live, I guess?

03 High Maintenance S2 - this is the second HBO season, and the first one that really tries to grapple with high-level world events, in this case Trump’s election, spoken about as if it was a natural disaster.

04 Queer Eye S1, S2 - I’d never seen the original series, so this was my first exposure to the concept. It aims for pathos, but you have to accept a pretty rosy world to get into it. Easier to enjoy before any of the boys had book deals/got Milkshake Duck’d.

05 Love S3 - still watching for Bertie, I love her.

06 Collateral - thorny British political police procedural, ultimately pretty forgettable, barring Carey Mulligan’s performance. 

07 Alias Grace - the Atwood adaptation that people *weren’t* talking about. It’s great, though!

08 Atlanta S2: Robbin Season - Atlanta got weirder, more idiosyncratic, and even better in its second season. 09 Barry S1 - Barry got a lot of plaudits this year, and while I really liked the cast, and the plot was engrossing, something didn’t stick for me, and ultimately I didn’t watch the second season. 

10 Howard’s End - it is a truth universally acknowledged that most books are better adapted as a miniseries than a single movie. Not that I hate the ‘92 movie, but this gets deeper into the class relations than it ever could. Plus: TIBBY!!

11 Killing Eve S1 - the series that hackneyed “smart, stylish and sexy” critic descriptions were made for.

12 Detroiters S2 - pouring one out for my fave pals, who never got a chance to make another season of this little darling (though there were a couple of episodes in this season that didn’t do it for me). 

13 Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat - perhaps the only adaptation of a cookbook that I’ve ever seen, and certainly one of the best food shows ever. 

14 Big Mouth S2 - More of the same, so if you could hack it in the first season, then keep it up!

15 Bodyguard - another in the sexy/dark/procedural vein, with bonus Scotsman from Game of Thrones.

16 Utopia/Dreamland S1-S3 - an Australian comedy series about a government infrastructure department, which has apparently spawned real such departments in the country, even though it doesn’t come off all that well. The first title is the Aussie one, it’s known as Dreamland everywhere else. 

17 Baroness Von Sketch S3 - Canadian series that I actually watch are rare as hen’s teeth, so I was delighted to find a woman-centric sketch show that has kept me laughing. Plus, sometimes I see my neighbourhood? That’s fun!

[missjackil]

Never Underestimate Sam Winchester!

One of the million things I love about Sam is his strength... inward and outward. I think that every one of us, that love this man, will agree he has more than earned the “F” as his middle initial right? So why do I see him underestimated by so many of you? And Im not talking about the anti-sam people, Im talking about the full on Sam girls. Many of you talk about him as though he’s a fragile little egg, ready to shatter at the slightest touch, yet you’re more than willing to talk about how much of a badass he is,  I know that Sam is human and he has weaknesses. He suffers quietly, he’s been brutalized, disappointed, had his heart, body, and mind broken, and at time’s he has even been terrified, but he ALWAYS bounces back, and is even stronger when he does. So I must say it upsets me when I see him reduced to scared, abused wife from the 50s, or claims that he has an eating disorder, or practices self harm, or even scared of sleeping in a dark room. Im pretty sure some of you are projecting you’re issues on to him. And thats alright, really, if it helps you cope, but it wont help you if you dont know you’re doing it, or wont allow him to overcome.

Sam does not have an eating disorder. In fact his relationship with food, is probably his most healthy relationship. Ive seen many of you say he only eats when Dean eats, or only eats salad, or some have even said he’s a vegetarian, and none of these are canon. Sam likes salad, egg white omelets, smoothies and probably other healthy food we don’t see him eat, but he also (canonically) likes steak, chicken, pizza, cheeseburgers, burritos, mashed potatoes, ribs, and corn flakes. He doesn’t only eat when Dean eats, but he doesn’t eat as much as Dean does. Also, have you seen the size of him? You don’t get to be that size by eating like a bird.  Sam doesn’t practice self harm. In Season 7, he did press on the scar on his hand to help him focus on what’s real, but he didn’t re open the scar, didnt cut a new one, and as soon as it stopped working, he stopped using it. Some of you like to believe that he still did this in S8 and S11, but even Jared said that the hand scar was never used again after S7, if you saw him rub his hand after then, it’s just a thing he (Jared) does when his hands get fidgety.  Sam is not afraid of Dean. Dean is more aggressive than Sam, and used to hit him unnecessarily in the early seasons, but Sam never ran,  cowered away, or begged him to stop. He wouldn't normally fight back, but that’s not because he was too scared to, but because he’d just rather not. Now, I dont personally care what activist, whose parents could afford to buy them a PhD after their name,’claims is abuse, and Im sure neither do 2 big strong brothers, who would rather die themselves, or have others die, than  have any harm come to the other. As far as verbal abuse goes, Sam is usually unaffected by it, or most we’ll see is him give Dean a dirty look, but when Sam has had enough, he has no problem speaking up for himself. However so many of you hang on an abuse tag and turn Dean into monster, and Sam into a little boy huddled shaking in the corner. Which is not close to the case for either.  Remember in S1 when Sam would tell Dean not to call him ‘Sammy’ but Dean did anyway? Eventually it became “Only he (Dean) gets to call me that” and eventually it didnt matter who called him Sammy, or any other nickname they could make up. I’ve seen some of you go on about how Sam let other’s strip him of his identity and step all over his boundaries and so on, when really he probably realized there’s so many more important things in life to fight about than who calls you what.  Now, what kind of Sam do you want? The badass that saved the world, survived Hell, can sleep through torture, fight off a bunch of werewolves, while gut shot and bleeding to save his brother (but is also scared of clowns hehe) or one that thinks he’s abused, unloved, can’t sleep with the lights off,  and spends most of his time wanting to die or run away? Because you can’t have both.  Sure, Sam has issues he’s still working through, and there might come a time when all his trauma comes to a head and he pops a cork, but maybe there wont be either, Remember he’s a fictional character, and doesn’t have to suffer the same way we do. In the same way that he can be bloody and broken in one episode, and be back to normal in the next, so are the traumas. The aftermath exists for only as long as the writers want them too.

[theworstbob]

the thing journal: 6.4.17 - 6.10.17

capsule reviews of the seven+ pop culture things i took in last week. in this post: solid state, the untouchables, in-ter a-lia, noenemies, the beautiful game, more issues than vogue, let’s not be friends, looper, the last man on earth, and selma

1) Solid State, Jonathan Coulton: This was a very good album of nerd-leaning alternative-rock songs made by a very smart individual who has been making those songs for decades. I feel like, in this capsule, I'm doing the thing where I'm saying "it fulfilled my expectations" as a piece of criticism, when this album was not made with my expectations in mind? I'm gonna do it with the Flobots review, and I'm doing it here, and I'm not sure how much that statement has to offer y'all, because a) you don't know my expectations, and b) this album was not made with my expectations in mind. It's why I think overrated/underrated are bullshit nothingwords, y'know? I can tell you this album did everything I wanted it to do, but it doesn't tell you what I actually thought of the album. What happened is, I thought this album was Very Good, and then I didn't have much to say beyond that, so I threw in the thing about what I wanted, and that sounds like I'm saying something when I'm actually saying nothing. So: this album was Very Good, and then other words until the paragraph looks as full as I want it to be.

2) The Untouchables, dir. Brian de Palma: There's nothing like the sense of relief which comes from finally seeing one of those movies with a dozen all-time quotes you've been hearing for years and years. Like, I can't remember any specific instance of my father using a line from this movie in place of advice? But I'm sure it happened, and I am thrilled to understand him better. This is just a solid film, this would be one of those films I'd watch if I had basic cable and it came on while I was flipping channels. Brian de Palma knows how to direct a B+ movie, and Sean Connery is fucking amazing as the wizzened Chicago veteran, like half the reason this film has so many iconic lines is his delivery. I am about to say something blasphemous, given I am trying to tell y'all I'm a film nerd, and say I didn't like the score? It's Morricone, I know, I know, he's great, but I think the film loses something by scoring this film about Prohibition-era Chicago with a standard orchestral score. I feel like jazz should have figured more prominently into the equation.

3) in-ter a-lia, by At the Drive-In: I have no idea why I listened to this album, to be perfectly frank. I like "One-Armed Scissor," but with all the music that has ever existed being immediately available to me at my leisure, I could have picked up the At the Drive-In album with "One-Armed Scissor," I believe it is called This Station Is Non-Operational, though that might just be a line from "One-Armed Scissor" I thought was cool. I am not a hardcore fan of this band and didn't need to listen to their reunion album. I didn't need to hear lines like the poetry book of the balding dude with dreadlocks, "How many bites do you think it takes to get to the cyanide tooth" like ugh, being howled wildly over abrasive guitar tracks, just loud and fast and never stopping. I didn't have a pleasant time with this one.

4) Noenemies, by Flobots: The most surprising thing about this album is that it isn't just Flobots saying "I told you so" for 50 minutes.That would've been my move, given that, after 2016, I started to listen to the Flobots songs I thought were way too left for me and saying, "You know what, fuck. I should've listened. I'm sorry. I get it now. Please help." It's an album that doesn't yet know how to get unstuck from the mire, but is absolutely certain that the mire is the only obstacle in their way, that justice will prevail and the good people will win. It's not my favorite album of all time, but it's exactly what I wanted and needed from a Flobots album in 2017.

5) The Beautiful Game, by Vulfpeck: As far as albums I listened to because someone played one of the songs in a donation message on a Twitch stream, this was decent! I think reading the summary of this band's history colored my opinion on it, because it does sound like a couple of white kids who met in college, discovered they both loved Kanye West, talked about the old-school samples on his tracks, actually took the time to listen to those songs, realized they loved those songs as well, and decided to make those songs. It's a pretty OK album, maybe I wouldn't have paid $3.50 to convince 200 strangers they should listen to it, but OK enough backing for a bus ride.

6) More Issues Than Vogue, by K. Michelle: I think I might have the least to say about this album than anything else this week. It's an eminently enjoyable pop/R&B album that doesn't give you a lot to chew on, but does give you a lot to love. And while I know that the challenge of the Thing Journal is to get me to think about the pop culture which I experience, you gotta sometimes recognize when an album has such an infectious charm and tight production and solid vocal work that thinking about it might distract from the experience it wants you to have, that you should just listen to the thing because it wants you to hear it. It's an album of great joy, and I'm glad I got on its wavelength in time to let go and enjoy the hell out of it.

7) Let's Not Be Friends, by The Girls!: On the bus the other day, I was looking up Lydia Loveless, because I knew Lydia Loveless was right up my alley but hadn't actually listened to any of her stuff beyond her AUdiotree session, and in looking up and adding all her albums to my library, I discovered she had a sister in a punk band with an exclamation point in their name, and "female-fronted punk band with an exclamation point in their name" checks off three things I need from a band to love them, so I knew I was gonna love this, which is why I listened to this before any of that Lydia Loveless nonsense. I fucking loved this album. I love anything that's 12 tracks of pure, joyous punk/rock with a tinge of '50s-pop influence and no shortage of eternal teen angst. It bums me out that this is the only full album listed on their Wikipedia, and that they haven't been active on any sort of social media I could find for nearly a year. I need more of this in my life. (Also: I have now listened to 20 2014 releases! I actually hit a point where I felt I was caught up on my queue and, needing new things to listened to, am gonna go back and fill in the gaps in my musical experience, starting with 2014. Like, I've listened to all the punk things, I know I covered that ground, but that year and all years in music have so much more to offer beyond what I was looking for, and I'm stoked to finally listen to offerings such as Beyonce's self-titled, Anderson .Paak's Venice, and 2NE1's Crush.

8) Looper, dir. Rian Johnson: As someone who spends most of his time either yelling at his past self for the poor choices that put him in his present situation or making choices with little to no regard for how they impact my future, I loved that scene in the dinner, where JGL and Bruce Willis are basically doing that, Bruce Willis sternly warning JGL of the mistakes he'll make and the need to find the woman in China, and JGL being flippant and focused solely on the present danger being brought by Bruce Willis.I also have made respect for, in that same scene, Bruce Willis saying, "Look, we could sit here for fucking days trying to figure out the science, but fuck that, 100% fuck that." I assume the time travel makes sense and am mostly unconcerned with how it works, so thank you, movie, for being a movie! I do kinda wish the film had done more with the concept of chasing your past or future self, the film goes somewhere and then stays there for an hour, and like it's still a pretty decent movie, Rian Johnson has no shortage of imagination or skill, but it didn't need to be a movie about time-travel if you were just gonna put one of the characters in a barn the whole time? But, whatever, solid B+. Dope film. Not a lot of complaints. (Perhaps because I watched it between the hours of 2 and 4 AM Saturday morning because MY LIFE IS TOGETHERRRRRRRRRRRR and might need to rewatch this at a more reasonable hour?)

9) The Last Man on Earth s1, cr. Phil Lord & Christopher Miller: I love how unafraid this show is to let its characters be horrible fucking people. At no point after the first episode does the show let you feel anything like sympathy for Tandy; he just does awful thing after awful thing, all in self-interest, and always making things worse for the small community. (And he drags everyone down with him! He corrupts Todd, he tricks Carol into abandoning Tucson for him, he goads Phil into leaving him in the fucking desert. No one on this show is good, but that’s in no small part due to Tandy’s influence. (Also, as you can tell, I loved when the show just switched to calling him Tandy. Like, minor initial resistance, and then he was just Tandy.)) It's such a fascinating concept, the idea that one of the last people on earth is an anti-social monster, and I can't believe that a broadcast television network aired this experiment. I'm bummed I've been missing this for so long but stoked to finally be beginning this journey.

10) Selma, dir. Ava DuVernay: For the longest time, I was watching this film, trying to figured out why everything looked so muted. Every shot was filled with earth tones, reds and browns and greens always, and it looked like they left it just a couple notches above sepia, and while I was never removed from the film, it was in the back of my mind the whole time, what is the reason for this choice. And then near the end, when they added in the archival footage that was sepia-toned, it hit me: it was trying to be two notches above sepia-toned. It wanted to have that feel of the archival footage, a matter of historical record, but it also wanted to root itself in something modern, because this is very much a modern story. We still see horrible acts of police brutality, we still see black people being denied the right to vote, we still see out government leaders doing nothing but wishing these people would stop bothering them. Or, perhaps it goes for half-sepia because sepia is typically associated with nostalgia, we color over our memories of the past to make it better, but they leave some color in there because there's no making the past better in this instance. It's a remarkable film, and one I bet won a thousand Oscars! I don't see how it couldn't!