#gainey

[roughridingrednecks]

Gainey

[wine-porn]

Pure Gains

You’d have to be living in a pretty deep cave to not recognize The Gainey Vineyard as a classic stalwart of SYV. Pretty much eponymous Merlot for the region possibly hit hardest by the made-up Merlot Flu. Few bottles have crossed my desk, but I have tasted in on numerous occasions–to varying results. Solid, a bit crowd-pleasing perhaps, but definitely delicious. This is my first experience with…

[ljones41]

Locke & Sawyer in "Confirmed Dead"

I recently did a rewatch of the "LOST" Season Four episode, (4.02) "Confirmed Dead". And I enjoyed it as much as I did during previous viewings. However . . . there was something about Oceanic 815 survivors John Locke and James "Sawyer" Ford that had eluded me during those past viewings.

How can I put this? There seemed to be a great deal of hypocrisy emanating from the two men. While questioning Locke's sanity in "Confirmed Dead", Sawyer had pointed out the older man's murder of Naomi Dorrit, an inhabitant from the newly arrived freighter, in the Season Three finale, (3.23) "Through the Looking Glass, Part II". And yet . . . Sawyer had recently committed two murders during late Season Three - Anthony Cooper in (3.19) "The Brig" and Other member Tom Friendly in the Season Three finale.

Later, Sawyer gave former Others leader Ben Linus a beat down after the latter had insinuated Kate Austen's preference for the Oceanic leader Jack Shephard over the con man. Then he had suggested to Locke that they "execute" - namely kill - Ben, because the latter was being a nuisance. But this wasn't the last of it.

After encountering Charlotte Lewis, another inhabitant from the freighter, Ben tried to kill her by shooting her in the chest. At that moment, Locke decided to punish Ben by killing the latter. Sawyer offered to do the job, but Locke decided he must be the one to "clean his own mess". Only Ben's revelation of his knowledge of Charlotte's background, the reason the freighter had arrived at the island and his spy aboard the freighter had saved his life.

Watching all of this unfurl made me shake my head with amazement. Locke was willing to execute Ben for attempting to do to Charlotte what he had recently done to Naomi in the Season 3 finale - namely kill someone from the freighter. As for Sawyer . . . he had punched Ben for making insidious comments about Jack and Kate. Then he wanted Ben dead for the attempt on Charlotte's life. This reminded me of his reason for murdering Tom Friendly. Sawyer had claimed he did it for 10 year-old Walt Lloyd's kidnapping in the Season One finale, (1.25) "Exodus, Part II". Yet, not once did he go after Ben for the same reason.

For years, I never understood why so many "LOST" fans had turned a blind eye to the crimes of most of the Oceanic survivors. Or made excuses for their crimes. I guess one should consider personal bias as a reason. But after my rewatch of "Confirmed Dead", I'm surprised that hardly anyone had noticed the Oceanic castaways' hypocrisy, including that from John Locke and James Ford in this episode.

I

[camyfilms]

LOST 2006-2007

We’ve done our best to live on this island. Some of us have come to accept we may never leave it. Not all of us have survived since the crash. But there is new life, too, and with it, there is hope. We are alive. Please don’t give up on us.

[coffee-n-bagels-comic-universe]

Faith & Fate - A Leap Of Faith Fanfiction

As I told Emily (@philhoffman ) I have started writing a Leap Of Faith story, which I have now titled 'Faith & Fate', it takes place in 1993 and in the fictional town of 'Lead Springs, Texas'. And I shall now word dump on you some info:

Major Changes to the plot / Spoilers:

After the ending of 'Leap of Faith' Jonas was dropped off the next town over by the truck driver. The trucker thought Jonas was mad and threw him and his bag out.

Jonas had to call Jane, she and Sheriff Braverman came to get Jonas and they (Jonas and Jane) re-joined the crew, heading off to the next town, eventually reaching Lead Springs, Texas by January 9th of 1992, where 'Faith & Fate' begins.

So basically, I'm using 'Leap of Faith' as a 'movie becomes series' (like Buffy for example) to lead into 'Faith & Fate'

As per usual, if you wish to be tagged or untagged from the story, please let me know, either through asks or DMs

Characters (OCs & From Leap of Faith):

Under cut due to length. These are just the characters I'm certain I'll include as of now (8th June '24)

Jonas Nightengale & Jane Larson

Aka the two least deserving of anyone's trust, the Boss (Jonas) and the ACTUAL boss (Jane). I don't trust either of them, but I trust Larson more because of the butterflies scene. Jane is dating Sheriff Braverman long-distance and Jonas still keeps in touch with Boyd and Marva, though he isn't particularly close to either of them.

Ages: Jonas - 47. Jane - 37

The Choir & The Crew (General)

More than likely underpaid (even though Jonas has a bag of golden watches), but good people. I know several of the crew who put together the gigantic tent have tattoos, so possibly a mix of types of Christians, including maybe some who aren't fully Christians

Ages: Unknown, Approx. 20s-40s mostly

Tiny

First of all, he's a giant, dude's like 6'3. My name for him is Timothy Smalls, so in my head at least Jonas nicknamed him Tiny because of the character of Tiny Tim and it just stuck. He helps with building the tent, collecting money, gathering info, etc.

Age: 44

Matt

(Image credit - @philhoffman / Emily) Matt, my beloved, young dumb and full of… energy, this man has so much energy. My name for him is Matthew Braddock. He helps collect money and gather info, but is also the one who Jane and Hoover (Meat Loaf) send to do random tasks, like an intern.

Age: 25

Hoover

The driver of Jonas' bus, as in the main bus at the front of the pack of 4. His name's Tobias Hoover. His family is my OCs, specifically his 2 brothers and niece. I like his fashion choices, but I know they're not for everyone, also I have been unironically listening to mostly Meat Loaf songs while writing these characters.

Age: 43

(OC) Jedidiah 'Jed/Bubba' Hoover

Eldest brother, and the only Hoover brother to have kids, big (6'2") cuddly papa bear, but seriously don't come near his daughter, he protects her like she's a miracle and her mother / Jed's wife died when Cai was very young.

Age: 46

(OC) Micaiah 'Cai' Hoover

Jed's daughter, Cai's been raised by practically just men, her family has always been in Lead Springs, her uncle Tobias was the only one who left. She suffers with CIDP, which means she's often in a wheelchair but manages as well as she can to be independent. She doesn't work, not due to disability but rather due to lack of jobs, as well as the mistreatment she receives in Lead Springs.

Age: 22 (turns 23 within the first few chapters)

(OC) Zechariah 'Ari' Hoover

Tobi and Jed's younger brother, and Cai's uncle. Zechariah goes by Ari, which can be confusing. He lives with Jed and Cai, acting as a second father to Cai while working with Jed at the town's diner. Most days he regrets letting Tobias leave, but has to remind himself that his brother has his own life.

Age: 40

(OC) Reverend B.J Deacon

The young, new Episcopal church reverend/deacon, fresh faced and just out of seminary school. He's very new to actually leading a church and very inexperienced, hoping to learn from Jonas how to engage people with their faith.

Age: 22 (turns 23 within the first few chapters)

[wardrobemoments]

fucking adorable

[dodger-sister]

Guest Stars Of Note: Justified season 1 ep 7

Ray McKinnon who you might know from Dopesick or Sons Of Anarchy, but I know from a great movie called Take Shelter & ofc as H.W. from Deadwood.

M.C. Gainey who’s Swamp Thing from Con Air & Tom Friendly from Lost, as a Crowder so he’ll be around

[clemsfilmdiary]

Starman (1984, John Carpenter)

7/29/23

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

💙 + all your Tangled descendants babies aka

Callista - Finley - Fitz - Gloria - Robin - Rylan

there's so many of them (also I'm officially down to only 50 left to update my descendants masterlist which sounds like a lot ubt is also so much progress thank you for your service to the cause)

[pedroam-bang]

Django Unchained (2012)

[mockingjayne12]

Reunited!

[ljones41]

Commentary on "LOST" (4.08) "Meet Kevin Johnson

The level of hypocrisy featured in the "LOST" Season Four episode, "Meet Kevin Johnson", struck me as truly amazing.  

First, there were Ben and Tom, exploiting Michael's guilt for killing Ana-Lucia and Libby in order to recruit him.  Every time Michael brought up Walt's kidnapping, both men had failed to express any remorse for it.  Tom had responded to Michael's accusation by gaslighting the latter over Ana-Lucia and Libby's deaths.  I guess exploiting Michael's guilt was more important to him than acknowledging his own over the kidnapping.  I suspect that recruiting Michael to serve as Ben's spy would have been easier for Tom if he had acknowledged the kidnapping and expressed remorse for it, off the bat.  

Ben did the same.   He ended up committing a major mind fuck by ordering Tom to instruct Michael to kill the Kahana crew.  And Ben also provided a package - a bomb - to Michael.  Upon meeting Martin Keamy and his mercenaries, Michael programmed the bomb to set it off.  The bomb proved to be fake.  Apparently, Ben wanted to prove to Michael that he was a good guy and incapable of killing others.  I found this rich, considering at this point, Ben already had his father's blood on his hands and God only knows how many others.  And why on earth did he order Tom to instruct Michael to kill the Kahana crew in the first place?  Why deliver a bomb - namely a fake one - to Michael?  What made this whole situation so ironic is that in the end, Ben (with Keamy's help) proved to be the one who killed the remaining Kahana crew, along with Michael, when he killed Keamy inside the island's Orchid Station.  Hell, it took Ben six years to express any remorse over Walt's kidnapping.

Then, there were Sawyer and Sayid.  Both men had condemned Michael for his actions in late Season Two, when they discovered he was among the Kahana crew.  Sawyer accused Michael of killing Libby and Ana-Lucia in order to free Ben and get off the island.  Period.  After discovering that Michael was working on Ben's behalf, Sayid condemned Michael for being a traitor to the Oceanic castaways, when he led Jack, Hurley, Kate and Sawyer into a trap set by the Others.  Sayid even turned Michael over to the freighter's captain.

Not once did Sawyer or Sayid mention Walt.  Not . . . fucking . . . once.  I found it odd that Sawyer  had forgotten that Michael's actions had stemmed from his desire to get Walt out of the Others' clutches.  I find this odd, considering he called himself killing Tom in retaliation for Walt's kidnapping.  Then again, Sawyer never went after Ben for the kidnapping.  As for Sayid, he had witnessed Naomi's lies, Daniel's lies, Miles' hostility on the island.  Aboard the Kahana, Sayid met the crew, Captain Gault and other crewmen engaged in strange behavior.  He also met Keamy and his fellow mercenaries aboard the Kahana.  This should have made Sayid more leery of the Kahana crew.  Instead, he became outraged over Michael working for Ben and exposed his fellow Oceanic castaway to the Kahana's captain.  He accused Michael of not only working for Ben, but also for being a traitor to his fellow castaways.  And NOT ONCE did Sayid mention Walt or the kidnapping.

As I had stated earlier "Meet Kevin Johnson" reeked with hypocrisy from the likes of Ben, Tom, Sawyer and Sayid.  Now that I think about it, even Michael had his own hypocritical moment when he accused Ben of being responsible for Ana-Lucia and Libby's deaths. I don't know if all this hypocrisy could be viewed as questionable writing on the screenwriters' part, or deliberate. I hope it's the latter.

[stripesysheaven]

[camyfilms]

THE MIGHTY DUCKS 1992

Have you guys ever seen a flock of ducks flying in perfect formation? It's beautiful. Pretty awesome the way they all stick together. Ducks never say die. Ever seen a duck fight? No way. Why? Because the other animals are afraid. They know that if they mess with one duck, they gotta deal with the whole flock. 

[rookie-critic]

Con Air (1997, dir. Simon West) - review by Rookie-Critic

What an absolutely wild time the late '90s must have been that this was a big blockbuster production. 1997 alone was absolutely wild, with this, Event Horizon, Contact, Face/Off, and so many others dropping all within the same cycle around the sun. Studios were really just throwing absolutely anything at the wall to see what stuck, and sometimes it really paid off (Strarship Troopers), and other times it didn't (Speed 2: Cruise Control), and sometimes I think it landed right in the middle, somewhere between good and awful, where it's really riding that line, but is just self-aware enough to be incredibly entertaining, and that's where Con Air lives. You have Nic Cage there to bring the zaniness, to give us brilliant moments like the classic "put the bunny back in the box" scene, and the absolutely asinine premise completely backs him up and gives him as much room to play around in this bananas space as he wants. There are some side characters that also help the zaniness move itself right along (I'm lookin' at you, Danny Trejo and Dave Chappelle). The one-liners range from eye-roll inducing to exceedingly clever, and the action set pieces are big and bombastic and generally just a crazy, explosive good time. All of this is fun. It doesn't hold together in the slightest, but it is fun. However, you then have Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, and John Malkovich delivering absolutely great performances that aren't Cage's brand of "good by humorous proxy," they're actually just really good. I found myself slack-jawed from the whiplash between bonkers scenes of Cage using the body of a dead con to send a message to ground level (something that I really don't think would have actually worked, which is indicative of a lot of the stuff in this film), and these amazing scenes where Malkovich or Buscemi just get to interact with their environment or even just give a line read that is way above and beyond the quality of the line itself. I know that Malkovich, at this point in his career, has almost become a bit of a meme (possibly in part due to the general goofiness of his name, probably in part due to the 1999 cult classic film Being John Malkovich, which I don't think he ever really was able to reclaim himself from fully), but damn, he's just an amazing actor, and this is someone saying this in reference to his performance in Con Air, of all things!

I don't want to just rant my bias for goofy self-aware action films on this one, though. For one, I already did that recently with Plane (which Con Air is vastly more ridiculous than), and two, there are quite a few problematic things in this film [TW AHEAD: mentions of rape]. I think firstly is Danny Trejo's character in general, who is a con doing time for raping 23 women, possibly more. His entire arc as a character is that there is one female guard that is a hostage onboard the plane, and Trejo wants nothing more than to... well, you get the idea. Granted, everyone else in the film, even the other criminally insane convicts, try to prevent him from accomplishing this, and the film is not so depraved as to ever actually let him get away with it, but it was something that was massively uncomfortable anytime it was given attention, and something that was, at the time, probably seen as "edgy" or "envelope pushing," but really was just incredibly problematic. The film is also just kind of vaguely racist any time a white character is referring to a nonwhite character, especially at the beginning. There's also a character, referred to in the end credits of the film as "Sally-Can't-Dance," (I have looked it up and the character's name is actually Ramon Martinez, which I think they're maybe only referred to as once in passing) that is a... problematic(?) portrayal of a character that is trans (again, while watching the film I wasn't entirely sure they were being presented as trans, but every article and piece of writing I've looked at refers to them as trans, so I'm going with that). I put a question mark next to problematic in the last sentence because, while Ramon never does or says anything that is inherently problematic or questionable, the way that everything surrounding them presents is like the butt of a joke, like we as the audience are meant to be laughing at "how ridiculous this character is." Maybe that's an incorrect read, but regardless it didn't sit right with me. It also has that classic, cheesy as all get out opening and closing with an incredibly sappy song that has no business being in a movie that is even remotely like Con Air. In this case, the song is the Dianne Warren-penned, Trisha Yearwood-performed "How Do I Live," which I had no idea was actually written for the film and was even nominated for an Oscar at that years' Academy Awards, where Con Air was also nominated for Best Sound. Granted, those are two fitting categories I guess, but the fact that this film was nominated for not one, but two Oscars is absolutely baffling. Getting back on track, it follows in the steps of songs like Top Gun's "Take My Breath Away" and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' "Everything I Do (I Do It for You)" as songs that clash in every possible way with the films they were written for, and it's an aspect of action films from that era that I am so, so happy has not carried over to the present. Despite all of these many faults, I can't lie and say that I didn't have a lot of fun with Con Air. I'm not sure I can recommend it in good faith, but if you're a fan of dumb, bananas action movies like I am, then Con Air basically fits the bill.

Score: 6/10

Currently unavailable to stream unless you have the Live TV add-on on Hulu. It is available to rent/purchase on digital (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) and on Blu-ray & DVD through Disney/Buena Vista.

[wardrobemoments]

Sam and Pete in s3e02, Cackle-Bladder Blood

Sam!!! Sam you beautiful fairy. I love the goldenrod shade of her robe and the sundress, paired with her little headband/scarf. She's so glamorous next to Pete with his ugly ass sweat-stained cap and wifebeater, but they still fit.

Sam doesn't wear jewelry -- I imagine she wouldn't have any valuables out and about at the carnival -- but she adds soft or silky textures, florals, and embroidery to make her look feminine and delicate.

She has some lovely touches around the trailer too:

Potted plants, the colorful drapes that let in the warm light, and bright patterns everywhere. I like the decorative(?) crystal ball on the table, the many throw pillows, the polaroids, and the mug tree. It's not new or fancy, but it's welcoming and homey.

My favorite detail about Pete is his shamrock tattoo. I couldn't tell what it says in full, but the top script seems to read "himself."

They're so adorable and I'm so glad they make another appearance on the show.