#hbo is cruel for doing this on her birthday

[queenwhoneverwasx]

'Rhaenys was born in 74 AC on the seventh day of the seventh moon of the year'.

Happy birthday Princess Rhaenys Targaryen.

[shivvytheshiv]

ao3 is fucking me up so i’ll post here for the time being. please share with the credits only!!

fandom: hbo succession

ship: roman roy x gerri kellman

themes: it was supposed to be a five times fic but we lower it to three and dont ask questions. precanon + s2 + postcanon. gerri’s practically doing roman character analysis and roman is a slime puppy

It’s 2AM when that happens for the first time — or, at least, that’s how she recalls it an abyss of ten years later. A crazy day filled with Baird’s relatives, hyperactive five graders and “Happy Birthday” pop-tarts was soon to be over, with girls in their beds and Baird hopefully deep in his sleep, and Gerri is cherishing her moment. Any crazy management malfunctions consisting of sleepless nights and Logan throwing laptops at the wall could never stress her out as much as kids birthdays did, but for all she knew she did okay. This one wasn’t a total disaster. Was about time she’d take her mascara off, finish that martini (or what’s left of it), and head to sleep.

Obviously, that’s when the phone rings. How could it not. Gerri takes a long sip and makes up her very own mental kill list, — she will flip Kendall off, she will give Frank a minute to try and talk some sense and flip him off eventually, she will flip Karl off.

”Roman Roy mobile”, her screen confidently says. Gerri likes to think that’s where the problems started.

Roman has always struck her as some twisted middle ground, if that fuckery of a family could ever produce a middle ground. He wasn’t the second Ken, being all over Waystar sniffing cocaine off the executive floor. He wasn’t totally estranged in a different career field (or most literally a field) like Shiv or Connor. Roman was… there, technically. Middle son, various boarding schools, now constantly flying back and forth from California and being a pain in Frank’s ass. Pretty eccentric around the studio. Never missed a corporate retreat. Most information Gerri had on Roman Roy would fit in a nice dry portfolio.

Heavy caged breathing, almost loud enough to disturb the speakers, would not. Sobbing — is he sobbing?

“Gerri. Did they, did I even get the fucking number right? Did they tell you? Are you, like, there yet? You going at all?”

She can physically feel a freezing blow down her spine. He was surely sobbing. Did the old man have a stroke overnight?

“I’m home, Roman. What’s going on?” She tries to balance out the world’s stiffiest question with some softness, too much to her liking, but to no avail.

“Fuck. Fuck! Because I’m dragging my ass all the way from the fucking La-la-land to some hospital, I don’t have the slightest clue where the fuck that’d be, and they didn’t even tell you, and Shiv’s in France for all I know, probably eating a lobster and blowing the cruises dingbat. And dad’s gonna go mental. A great fucking night. They didn’t tell you?”

The shook in his voice is real, and Gerri wishes to believe it’s from the rush: dealing with her own emotions is enough of a challenge, figuring out emotions of a twenty-something nepobaby sounding so broken something sinks down in her ribcage, while knowing so little, is cruel.

“Gerri. Is he, like. Dying?”

Yet, she tries. She puts the glass back on the kitchen sink with a loud, dull noise, she goes for her jacket and the door keys. This fucking job, Gerri thinks. And this fucking family.

“No one is dying, alright? I’ll check on the hospital address and will get back to you. I’ll see you there, Roman.”

*

Surely it was Kendall. Kendall used a bunch and drove his car into an ice cream stand somewhere around Upper Side; smashed the hood, passed out thanks to the airbag and the weight of his own stupidity; the Hosseini kid company didn’t help much. Karolina gets ahold of the situation an hour later, and that’s how Gerri finds out he got away with few broken bones and that the car was apparently Logan’s (a wild and unfortunate combination of factors, if you ask her, but at least Roman’s concerns didn’t live up to be real).

Gerri walks down a hallway and it’s as messy as hospital hallways get: nurses here and there, Shiv’s nervous voice soaking through Karolina’s firm grab (she’s on speakerphone for God knows what reasons), Frank on his phone. She steps into one of the most depressing waiting rooms she’s ever seen and there’s Roman.

Roman is sitting on the floor, head pressed against a couch, eyes closed. An hour isn’t long enough to fall asleep like that, is it? She’s still quiet when sitting down on that very couch. He moves an inch and rests his head against her knee in dead silence.

Not exactly corporate ethics.

“I told you it’s gonna be alright.”

“Yeah, well. He’s one dumb motherfucker.”

The kid’s a mess, after all. Gerri freezes but gives him a moment, — silence, a hand on his forehead, bit of nothing and everything, — and moves out of the picture right before it turns weird.

**

Gerri is reading through an impressive pile of emails when her phone buzzes. And it buzzes some more.

Roman’s been on the trainee programme for three days.

“Roman. What is it?” No deep breaths could help her get through that bullshit, but oh well. Gerri puts him on speaker and tries real hard to concentrate on the legal department’s claims.

“I will literally unalive myself. Not even joking. You have no idea how many rape victims kill themselves per year and this is worse, because that’s mind rape. They have a chainsaw going through my fucking head.”

“You don’t how many rape victims kill themselves per year. How’s that my problem anyway?”

“Yeah, let me think, Professor Fucking Evil. For starters, you sent me.” Roman sounds like he’s about to howl. Gerri hides a smile in her palm and looks around at the office, lights from her lamp playing on glassy walls, her daughters’ framed picture by the computer. Good god, she must look stupid. Nothing about the thing was normal, but Roman Roy had a free pass to everything not-so-normal, and she was genuinely confused at the borders of professionalism and playfulness.

Not unamused though.

“It’s for the better. The outlook back in here is highly positive, Logan’s content, Frank is ecstatic. If I were you I’d strategically choose less whining, more working. Yeah, soldier?”

“Okay, whatever, Herr Gerr. One quality picture would’ve bo-o-o-oosted my work efficiency, just saying.” The line between recent despair in his voice and cat-like audacity is way too blurred.

“Oh, fuck you.”

***

There’s beeps. Some more. Gerri sees him through the matte glass door, back hunched, a red shirt she recognizes from a lifetime before; he doesn’t hang up and stares at the screen. She waits for a split second before hanging up.

Honestly, she’s thankful for not seeing his face.

Gerri thought walking inside is hard but approaching the bar is painful. Roman is gazing at his vodka tonic like there’s some serious answers at the bottom, she breathes in one more and thinks about that nightmare of a company, the work that’s to be done, the way Kendall popped his stitches in that room, the way he stomped all over her twenty five years of work, — not something Gerri would easily forgive, — and the way there’s no saving for these kids. If there was, is it right to drown it in a fucking vodka tonic?

“Hey, rockstar”.

“Hey, molewoman”. A chalk-on-the-board voice. Gerri hesitates for another moment and puts both of her hands over his shoulders.

They stay for a while like that.

[clandestine-j]

Gossip Girl, EP. 4 Reaction & Review

Finally, I've gathered all of my thoughts for ep. 4! I had this really cool extra post to the intro and had more thoughts but then I lost the entire thing so I had to re-write the entire post SO, yeah, this is all I have for this part. Also, if anyone has those bts photos please let me know, i’m looking for the ones that have the audience reacting to max’s dick pick from the fashion show, aki biting his lip. please send. 

ADULTS:

Kate & CO: JAIL JAIL JAIL. We had that one teacher being turned on by incest and ruining kids lives. DO BETTER IN JAIL. I'll say tho, the male teacher makes a better gossip girl, he doesn't feel bad and is enjoying it. Kate could never.

Rafa: JAIL. JAIL. JAIL. JAIL. JAIL. I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU. I hate that they showed us this man having common sense. This man, pushing Max away sexually but understanding that he needs serious help. I hate that they just didn't have them flirting and show us him saying no, I'm so upset. I'm even more upset that I fell for him being the character to subvert the trope. I can only blame myself but blame HBO as well. I also hate the comments saying it's okay or well, the show needs scandal and spice. They could've been photographed together in normal clothes, just standing next to each other. Max could lie to GG. There are a bunch of ways these could become an IC scandal without having them cross the line. If you support this, you need help.

OUR KIDS:

Max: My boy needs therapy, lots of it. Maybe rehab. On one hand, he's being taken advantage of because he's clearly going through something and more than just his dads and he has been for a while. His escapism is dangerous and anyone would be able to prey on that. On the other hand, I need someone to beat his ass. His lines to Rafa about money and career were punch worthy and out-right willing to lie about Rafa doing something to him, even just to press Rafa's buttons. He needs help, he needs to be taught boundaries, he needs a lot. And why were the only two people concerned for his week-long disappearance Aki and Audrey, the whole squad should've had the guns out, friends since childhood, sure.

Obie: My boy, I get that you didn't like where you saw Zoya headed. I get that in some aspects you were right about her being a little too involved and suspecting Julien. That being said, she was having real problems and troubles and needed support. Do better. Obie still isn't the worst character on the show and many of them are SOOOO much worse. He doesn't deserve the all of the smoke he's been getting when their are better people for it.

Monet & Luna: I hate them as people and love them as characters that move the plot. I guess I could see how they thought the fuck school thing was horrible (and Julien too since she planned on showing Obie). The directors cut, I don't think they thought it'd ruin Zoya, they're just fucking cruel and found it funny. Let's box. Also, why are ya'll so pressed over this CHILD. Like get over it, find a real up-coming social media star. 

Aki & Audrey: My good sis, you brought a gay man to make Aki jealous. I'm sick, it was fucking funny. Her comments at first were off the wall, I wish the writers would've done something else but a lot of woman don't see it as normal so I sort of get it. I'm glad she came around by the end. And Aki...he was a little spicy this episode, my boy was ready to pop off a bit AND I AM HERE FOR IT. My dude said, 'I don't regret kissing him' I was THROWN. Aki being with Audrey helps me like her more because she's a bitch that's still ready to gun for a now 15 year old girl but her and Aki's relationship is cute. They could break up and be fine which is great, I love that their relationship is really more than just dating and the friendship is strong. I'm here for it.

Zoya: It's just bad writing but my head canon is trauma. Trauma from her moms death death, trauma from the past and current bullying that caused her lash out. I felt like this was her breaking point (so far) and anything gossip girl related as always came around to Julien. If she trusted Julien more, she wouldn't have thought of her as the person causing her issue's but she doesn't trust her. They were civil but even at the end of ep 2. Her 'hell yeah' to Julien about bonding was too dry, too dry. I think a big part of her just doesn't trust Julien and she'll always think the worse because she's seen mostly the worse. And that video, horrible, I'd hate everything about my birthday too after that and even before. Her emotions during the scene and the talk with Julien, ouch. And while I'm happy that Zoya found herself in the end, YES GIRL POP OFF. THIS IS WHAT I WANTED. THIS IS THE FLAVOR. I WAS WAITING FOR THIS AND I WANT MORE. I DEMAND MORE. I SEE A SPARK OF A BITCH, LET HER OUT GO, GO ALISON DELAOTRUINES ON THESE BITCHES.

Julien: Once again, I love Julien as a character, I know she's supposed to be struggling and for that, It's fun to watch her BUT. Julien could never be on my team, she's too wishy-washy. That is my issue, she's too, just...flip-floppy with no substance. Like, when she does things wrong, they're expected  to be forgiven / are forgiven without true reflection or anything on her part. She fucks up, she see's its wrong and then she says sorry and goes on it does it again. This episode was just the worst example, like, the moment she heard buffalo, she was ready to send in a tip. Instead of just doing the party normally and being best because she's hear, she sends the video to Monet. She believes Luna and Monet (Monet talking about her throne being taken when Zoya isn't even an influencer) and she eats it up. They were the ones who did the dick pick thing, like girl, THINK. And why does she never get the full plan, why would she not watch the video or why is she so shocked that Luna and Monet would play something like that? She knows them. Friends since childhood? Sure. Using your moms name to make the party about charity? SIS, THE FEUD IS NOT WORTH IT. She says she wants to be sisters but then she switches up so fast and the witches up again, it's whip-last and I'm sick. I hate that she's doing this to her and I hate even more that's is the writers fault. I don't mind a character having personal conflict but make it a conflict. Like after four episodes, why is she still friends with her sisters bullies? At the end of the episode, she says she's gonna tell them to lay down their weapons, NO, shut it down. correct them. make it clear and make it known. I love my girl because she's flawed but I wish they'd linger on things and have her really think about it. I was fine with the i'm sorry speech up until the camera part.

Other random thoughts

fuck the rafa max thing again, i'm not over, i will never be over it

evan mock isn't the best but he does give me face at times, his 'wtf stare', little sly looks, the 'wtf' moment when audrey first asked him if he was gay like 'this bitch' also, give him more annoyed, irritated scenes, he gives in those

have julien go full nice or full evil for a while, pick a side and stick with it for more than one episode

i wish zoya was a bitch at her old school but i'm fine with this too, it explains why she was so reactionary when it came to the bullying at constance, not again!

i wish we could've seen julien talk with davis after that stunt

nick and davis, KISS, the ride scene was 100%

don't talk about obie so soon

i like that she chose to be with julien for the night, it was cute

emily makes these faces that i can't get with

eli brown is a good actor, that shot of him during the traumatic reveal

i will say, zobie might be boring but when they talk, they talk, their communication is p good, i don't hate it

i’d be here for obie x aki bc they’re friends, they got chemistry, aki was giving look lil up and downs this episode, aki was giving a lot of looks this ep, honestly, idk i just don’t want him heart broken 

aki menzies is still my comfort character

i couldn't take rafa serious with his ass out,

whitney's acting in that talk scene, perfect, my girl had me in tears because DAMN

jordan is pretty good but in that scene, go girl, give me nothing

fuck max and rafa

max lied about his dads or at least one, AT LEAST one, i don't think they'd do that, he saw his in and took it

aki and aud, just have that open relationship, ya'll will make it, the way he tucked into her, it was so sweet

davi and nick secret relationship plot

jail for all of the teachers, once again

the hallway scene was great, the cinematography is been clutch overall

music wasn't as jarring

that's about it! i have more thoughts on the show overall that might be another post, they have a lot of amazing ideas but they need to stick with one and flush it out is the overall gist, i'm still into it!

can't wait for five bc i love the angst that's about to hit.

[basilone]

top 5 the Pacific characters and top 5 scenes? :)

Thank you! ❤️ I really don’t think the top 5 of characters is gonna contain a surprise, but.. the scenes one is embarrassing. It really is. I’m going to just.. quietly shrink back into the corner as y’all laugh at me.

Top 5 The Pacific characters

John Basilone (did you expect anyone else? did you? hahahahaha I am the one sitting here going LOVE JOHN BASILONE YOU COWARDS on repeat indefinitely and I will not stop my love for this man is relentless I have no dignity left in my body)

HOOS!! (I scream, top of my lungs, in exactly the way one should scream about Hoosier. if you don’t love him then what are you even doing, please love yourself and give yourself the care and affection you deserve by investing in this salty bastard’s wellbeing)

Andy Haldane (if I were to hashtag this man, he’d be #husbandmaterial and that’s that on that. I would follow him anywhere in the world I’m so soft for him)

Eddie Jones (.. where one goes, the other.. you got it. I can’t not name Eddie, he’s a sweetheart and his reactions give me life. one of the most capable lieutenants you’ll ever see, one of the most accidentally intimidating men in the world)

Lena Riggi (I, too, would fall in love with her. smart, capable, independent, cute as heck, keeps you on your toes -- what’s not to love??)

Top 5 The Pacific scenes

John almost getting into that bar fight while drink-mixing like a pro to honor Manny’s passing (it’s the epitome of his character, enjoying life to the fullest but also always ready to throw hands -- if you need to understand why I love him this much, watch that scene again and pay really close attention to his non-verbal stuff)

John -- yes, again -- going out golfing and getting war flashbacks (it’s the finest depiction of how subtle PTSD can be, how it can just sneak up on you when you’re in the middle of something else, how utterly displaced John was back home and how cruel it was to take him home like that and expect him to be okay)

John (I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST ONE) doing the most at Guadalcanal and just.. essentially snapping into that battle frenzy and gaining some kind of preternatural calm that lets him do exactly what’s needed at the moment it’s needed (it’s so good and it’s done so well, that exhaustion at war with what needs doing and that inner peace in the middle of all that chaos)

THE TANK SCENE THE TANK SCENE THE TANK SCENE (do I need to explain myself no I do not it is the biggest moment of “holy shit these guys are insane in the best way” in the entirety of HBO War shows and not a day goes by when I don’t think about Andy and Eddie stopping a tank)

“You are ugly, I want Hoosier” followed by “take a number” (the flirting! the looks! the HCo stupidity on full display! the way this scene evolves into them singing happy birthday to Sid! the cuteness and softness please!)

[hopeandlimerence]

( warning long post lol I’m sorry I got carried away also some triggering topics about ann’s life )

GETTING  TO  KNOW  THE  MUN :

NAME : Danielle NICKNAME :  Dani FACECLAIM :  

PRONOUNS : she / her HEIGHT :  5′3 BIRTHDAY :  January 25th AESTHETIC : Lots of t-shirts, jeans, I wear bows in my hair a lot, I almost always wear mascara but sometimes I like to wear the whole eyeshadow, foundation, eyeliner, lipstick, etc.  LAST  SONG  YOU  LISTENED  TO :  Ashes by Celine Dion  FAVORITE  MUSE (S)  YOU’VE  WRITTEN :  My top 3 favorites have been 1. Ann (this blog) 2. Semira from underworld @ my multimuse @inacciaio and Marisa Coulter, who I’ve yet to play on tumblr, mainly because there isn’t a His Dark Materials/Golden Compass fandom on tumblr but with the BBC/HBO show coming out soon, hopefully that will change~

GETTING  TO  KNOW  THE  ACCOUNT :

WHAT  INSPIRED  YOU  TO  TAKE  ON  THIS  MUSE : I am insanely fascinated with Ann Fleming’s life. Like I’ve always been a James Bond fan, ever since I was a child, and I’ve also always been into history, so when a biopic miniseries came out called Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, I was really intrigued by that, so I began doing research on Ian Fleming, Ann Fleming, and when I started researching them, I kept having more questions, and those answers led to more questions because they were very complex people with very complicated lives and relationships, especially their relationship in particular. But after a while of researching Ann, I began forming an attachment to her honestly, like her life was hard, man. People made her out to be this person who had it easy because she was rich and because she came from a good background but like 1. her family didn’t even really want her, like her mother died when she was young, and her father wanted nothing to do with her until adulthood where they somehow became friends like ??? okay 2. she had such a lack of affection growing up plus physical and emotional abuse and neglect gave her such a warped view of affection and love, like it hurts me 3. her relationships were honestly so broken and painful and it’s complicated to describe them. like Ann enjoyed cruelty. she found comfort when her partner was cruel to her. at her core, in her subconscious, she craved things like agony, violence, meanness, and her last husband Ian Fleming had similar childhood abuse that led him to crave the same things, which was why they were both so connected with a deep understanding of each other, yet so volatile and destructive towards each other. and they both thrived yet were barely holding on by a thread at the same time with this kind of mentality and desires. they both insisted that they were each other’s true loves however, being very passionately in love and having a surprisingly loving and affectionate relationship despite all of the ways they hurt each other, and the only time their relationship ever truly “died” was when they got older, their sex life slowly diminished, and Ian began seeing other women, then Ann seeing another man out of spite.  4. she outlived almost everyone she ever cared about. She outlived a. her parents, b. all three of her husbands c. her youngest sister who died of alcohol poisoning d. a lot of her best friends e. she had a miscarriage d. and probably the most painful, her youngest son killed himself in his early 20′s. Like her life was tragedy after tragedy and in the end she had to face it almost completely alone. By the time she was near her death, now diagnosed with cancer, the only people who were really close to her and still alive were her two children Raymond and Fionn who both had their own lives and responsibilities, living far away, etc. So yeah, I became extremely attached to her and there have been so many times during researching her life I’ve just straight up cried. Was she a perfect person? No, of course not. But she also had a lot of wonderful qualities among her faults, like she was a wonderful friend who genuinely liked putting others before herself, she so badly wanted to be a good person and tried her hardest to be, and she recognized most of her faults when she either realized them or someone pointed them out to her. So me being so passionate about this person + the miniseries coming out, of course I had to make Ann into a muse. WHAT  ARE  YOUR  FAVORITE  ASPECTS  OF  YOUR  CURRENT  MUSE :  I love how charismatic Ann is. Like she can talk her way into a lot of things, she is friendly to pretty much everyone, and she can blend in to practically any crowd. Even people who are wildly different from her with wildly different opinions, 9/10 times she still wants to be friends with them. Also I 100% love writing all of the crazy shenanigans she got into. Like I have a book of letters written by her, to her, about her, etc. and so many of them contain fucking gems of wacky stories, wild adventures, quirky little happenings in life and her friends lives and they’re a a joy to read and a joy to portray.  WHAT’S  YOUR  BIGGEST  INSPIRATION  WHEN  IT  COMES  TO  WRITING :  When it comes to writing Ann, a lot of music and any kind of scenes from movies or tv shows that remind me of her or her life. The miniseries is especially an inspiration, Lara Pulver’s portrayal of Ann was absolutely perfect and it’s why Lara Pulver is my face claim for Ann. Her book of letters is also a huge inspiration to me, so if I ever need inspiration for writing Ann, I’ll usually either 1. listen to her ever growing playlist 2. watch the miniseries again or 3. read her letters FAVORITE  TYPES  OF  THREADS :  I love shenanigans. They’re probably my favorite of all time. Along with that though, I also like shippy things, angst things, with Ann they usually go hand in hand, but there will still be a lot of fluff in between. Some of my favorite letters between Ann and Ian are the ones talking about how much they love each other and how wonderful they think the other is, some of their letters are honestly so sweet and mushy, it’s adorable.  BIGGEST  STRUGGLE  IN  REGARDS  TO  YOUR  CURRENT  MUSE :  Writing some of the hard stuff is definitely a struggle. I’m always partially afraid of writing it because I don’t want to upset anyone who might be going through/has gone through some of these things, though that’s why in my blog disclaimer in my rules, I try to get across that I am going to be discussing these really hard topics on this blog, because they were huge parts of Ann’s life and personality, like without these things, Ann wouldn’t be an accurate representation of who she was. And speaking of accuracy, of course with Ann being a historical figure, I always worry that there may be certain things of my interpretation that are grossly inaccurate, or disrespectful, and it’s never my intention and I hope that this is never the case because as said above, I genuinely care about Ann. I love and adore her, if I could meet any historical figure ever, without a doubt it would be Ann. Not because she’s the best historical figure or anything, but because she’s so fascinating to me and I feel such a bond with her as stupid as that probably is. Like I’ve been researching her since I was 17 and I’m 23 now, I care about her honestly more than I probably healthily should lol. Ann means a lot to me and I hope that my writing is doing her justice, and I hope that I’m portraying her as accurately as I can without the ability to do something like interview her or have every single piece of information about her life.

TAGGED  BY : @shcrpwits TAGGING : @lettergave, @mysterymanjoseph, @warringpeace @revcl @wineinthewidow @motherwitch @magaprima  @killedinstead @betterhealing @blockbustertm @ineffablemum @pressedsuits @pierre-renaldi @hatesamateurs @hrhmonpetitchou and anyone else who would like to do this! 

[fuckyeahevanrwood]

"No Bra, No Panties": How Thirteen Defined A Generation Of Women

Catherine Hardwicke was paid $3 on Thirteen — $2 for the screenplay, which she co-wrote with actress Nikki Reed (then 13), and $1 for directing. Fifteen years later, that film stands out as a still-potent cultural milestone for women who grew up in the early aughts — a searing snapshot of the twisted, painful turmoil of being a teenage girl, without the redeeming after school special epilogue. Thirteen spoke to us, not at us. 

“I was a first time director,” Hardwicke said during a Refinery29 roundtable for the landmark movie's anniversary— the first time Hardwicke, Reed, and Evan Rachel Wood have been together since its release. “All the characters are women, and it was going to be rated R and about a teenager. That does not check the boxes for any studio.”

So, in her pursuit to get the film made, Hardwicke worked for nothing and poured whatever money she could into production. The filmmaker, who would go on to direct the first installment in the massive Twilight franchise, used her own furniture as props. Her car makes an appearance, as do some of her clothes. She and the cast, including leads Wood and Reed, slept in the rented house in Los Angeles where they filmed, often in the same bed. (Since then, the film has turned a profit — Hardwicke says she received a check for $18,000 two months ago.)

All of this — the paltry $1.5 million budget, the whirlwind one month summer shooting schedule — contributes to the raw, dizzying atmosphere of Thirteen, a dark and gritty take on the experience of being a teenage girl at a time when the only cinematic alternatives were Freaky Friday and The Lizzie McGuire Movie. Harmony Korine’s Kids — perhaps the closest example in terms of impact and subject matter — had come out nearly a decade before.

I vaguely remember the circumstances under which I saw Thirteen. It was likely a hot, humid early September day in Montreal — the kind that would make my best friend and I seek refuge in one of the city’s downtown movie theaters. I was 13; my best friend was days away from her own 13th birthday.

What I vividly recall are the feelings the film elicited. I remember being terrified, a fear I couldn’t exactly name, but which gnawed at my innards as I watched Tracy Freeland (Wood) morph from a prepubescent innocent into a sexualized harridan who hides her tongue and belly button piercings from her mother. Would I be like that? Should I be? I remember feeling seen, recognizing how intimate a relationship between two teenage girls can be. I remember squirming at the scenes showing interactions with boys, things I was starting to think about but couldn’t imagine myself actually going through. 

Of course, none of these anxieties were voiced as the lights came up, and my best friend and I wandered back out into the haze of the afternoon. But Thirteen had made its mark, as it has on countless women of my generation.

I wouldn’t learn until years later that the film was helmed by women. The script emerged out of a collaboration between Hardwicke and Reed, who had a personal connection: Hardwicke had been in a long-term relationship with Reed’s father and thought of her as a surrogate daughter. They kept in touch after the breakup, and Hardwicke started noticing that something wasn’t right with Reed. Much like Tracy, she was acting out, rising rapidly through the ranks of popularity at her West L.A. school. And then her friends got busted for selling crystal meth.

In her concern for Reed, Hardwicke invited the teen to her Venice Beach home. It was there that over a six-day period in January 2002, the pair wrote the script that would become Thirteen. In the aftermath, they made a pact: If Hardwicke could get the film into production, she would direct it, and Reed would star in it.

Still, the road ahead was rocky. An R-rated movie co-written by a teenager with female leads wasn’t exactly an easy sell. Securing funds wasn’t easy for Hardwicke, who was then working as a production designer in Hollywood, and had no prior directing experience; Reed, meanwhile, had never acted onscreen, and the screenplay was her first. It wasn’t until Holly Hunter, who would go on to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Tracy’s mother, signed on that the project finally got off the ground. After an acclaimed premiere at Sundance, where Hardwicke won the top directing award, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film for distribution. Thirteen was released in five U.S. theaters on August 20, 2003, and grossed $116,260 opening weekend. But the salacious subject matter resulted in word-of-mouth and heightened press coverage, especially for the teen leads. By its third week of release, Thirteen’s gross had increased by 622%, as did the film’s reach, as it went on to screen in 73 theaters, and then up to 243, for a total domestic gross of $4.6 million. 

But the value of seeing oneself represented on screen is something that’s harder to quantify.

“It takes women to tell female stories,” Reed says during the interview. This is something we’ve heard many times as Hollywood grapples with the way the industry historically treated women, as well as the systemic inequality that has resulted in a still-egregious gender gap.

Thirteen was an extreme portrayal of the alienation of an especially troubled teenage girl. But that hunger for an outlet for those complicated emotions is universal. “I had a need in me, like Tracy, to just explode,” Wood said. “And acting was something I did so that I could do that. I felt like I couldn't do it anywhere else.

”If it’s been a while, here’s a quick recap: Tracy Freeland (Wood) is a good girl. She gets straight As, loves golden retrievers, and wears her fair blonde hair in cute dual buns. But that doesn’t mean everything’s rosy. Her poetry is an intense, poignant exploration of early teenagehood. Her single mother Melanie is a recovering alcoholic who runs a beauty salon out of her kitchen, and though she’s an attentive parent, she’s overwhelmed. And Tracy’s father (D.W. Moffett), constantly behind on child support, is too focused on his new family and new job to care very much. Tracy copes by locking herself in the bathroom and resorting to self-harm, an act that was shocking to many at the time. But not to Wood.

“I hadn't really done drugs,” she said. “I was a lot of talk, sex-wise, but wasn't really doing much. But the emotions, and that feeling of frustration and being lost and angry, and the dynamics with the family and the cutting — those were things where I was like, ‘Oh. I know what this is. Like, I understand this really well.”

“That's one of the reasons why I wanted to do it too,” the actress, who recently testified before Congress about a sexual assault that led her self-harm and two suicide attempts, explained. “Because I was like, I didn't know cutting was a thing until I read the script. And that's when I was like, ‘Other people do this?’

”So, when classmate Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed) comes along with her jeweled cross necklace, long glossy hair, and jeans so low you can see her thong peeking out, Tracy is already primed for some acting out. It would be easy to paint what comes next as black and white — and in fact, many of the film’s critics did so at the time. Evie and Tracy strike up a friendship, which leads Tracy down a bleak path of drugs, questionably consensual sexual encounters, illicit piercings, and shoplifting. But the truth is more complicated. In her own way, Evie is as vulnerable as Tracy. She lives with a woman named Brooke, sometimes referred to as her guardian, other times her cousin, whose main occupation seems to be recovering from Botox injections and getting drunk. She doesn’t care what Evie does with her time, as long as no ones calls the cops. With Evie by her side, Tracy upgrades to It Girl status at school. But that comes at the expense of her grades, her relationship with her mother, and even her own mental health.

The acting is fantastic. Seasoned child actress Wood, who would be nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award, handles Tracy’s descent into hell with fiery zeal, concealed under angelic looks. When, towards the end, she’s wandering Hollywood Boulevard in a crop top and smeared black lipstick, drunk, she looks like a nightmare version of herself, her inner turmoil having taken over. It’s a duality that would come into play later in her career, as Dolores, the mild host-turned-avenger on HBO’s Westworld. Reed exudes an uncomfortable degree of sexuality for such a young woman, but there’s also a sadness to her, a need to be loved. And as Melanie, a mother who loves her daughter fiercely, but is blind to the scope of what’s going on behind her closed bedroom door, Hunter quivers with anger, anxiety and concern.

Watching the film for the first time as an adult, I was amazed at how avant-garde it feels.

The central relationships aren’t romantic in nature. Instead, the film focuses on the dynamics between female friends and mothers and daughters. That fraught connection between Tracy and Melanie is one that we’re only just starting to see again, in films like Lady Bird, and, veering sharply into supernatural horror, Hereditary.

Evie and Tracy’s friendship is complex and intense, vacillating between almost sensual devotion and cruel rivalry, especially where Melanie’s affections are concerned. That need to be utterly consumed by one’s best friend while grappling with latent jealousy is so specific to young women of that age, and a dynamic that’s rarely portrayed, even today.

It’s so true to life that while filming, Wood and Reed developed a rapport that mirrored the one they were portraying on screen. “There were moments that I was completely in love with you,” Wood, who came out as bisexual in 2011, told Reed.“

We had this kind of innocence about our relationship that was so personal to us,” Reed responded. “It was ours, and it was so real [...] And then, because a lot of that was in the movie, when it became something that the press could talk about, suddenly it was like our actual relationship, in a sense, was put out there for people to talk about.”

As often happens in Hollywood, especially where young girls are concerned, the stars were held up for comparison by the press. Who was cooler? Who was hotter? Who would have the best career? Things actually got so acute that, like Tracy and Evie, the two drifted apart, not speaking again until nearly a decade later.

“We had to talk about it when we were 25,” Reed said. “I actually went to [Hardwicke’s] house, and I said, ‘You know, I haven't talked to Evan in so long, and I really miss her.’ You gave me her number, and I said, ‘Do you think she would even want me to call her?’ You were like, "Yeah. You guys are in such a similar space.’ We had both gotten married. I called [Wood], and it was so cool. [She was] like, ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’"

Still, Thirteen is best remembered for its shocking scenes — and there are many, including the opening shot, which shows Evie and Tracy sitting on a bed, huffing paint and punching each other in the face, laughing. A provocative confrontation later in the film shows Tracy bragging to her mother that's she's not wearing a bra or panties. 

In one memorable moment, Evie and Nikki seduce an older neighbor, played by then-27-year-old Kip Pardue, who reportedly wasn’t aware that the actresses were 14 until he showed up to shoot. “‘He was in shock,” Hardwicke said.” I was trying to talk him down off the ledge, ‘Look, we're going to be safe. I'm going to be there, the teacher's going to be there. It's all gonna be cool.’"

Ground rules were established: A studio teacher was present at all times, sitting behind the couch the three were kissing on. “Couldn't touch the nipples,” Wood recalled. “Couldn’t touch the top of Kip’s pants.”

All the same, the final film was extremely controversial, so much so that, Hardwicke said, juvenile court judges and directors of rehab centers, accompanied her at Q&As after early screenings so parents could voice their concerns.

“Three mothers stand up: ‘My daughter would never do that,’ she recalled. “And then the judge would say, ‘Excuse me, this movie is mild. Not one person got pregnant. No one got in a car crash, no one [died by] suicide. Nobody died. I see much more elevated cases in this every single day.’”

“I found myself in a weird position where I was being asked to be sort of the spokesperson for teen angst,” Reed said. (A clip from her 2003 appearance on Ellen shows her on the defensive, explaining that she’s a straight-A student: “I just got my report card.)

Both Reed and Wood are parents themselves now. Reed and husband Ian Somerhalder have a one-year-old daughter, Bodhi Soleil. Wood’s son Jack, from her previous marriage to actor Jamie Bell, is five. “I'd show it to my son,” she said of Thirteen. “ I think boys need to be watching more female-centric films anyways, so they have a better understanding about women, and opposite sex.”

Still, they now feel they have a deeper understanding of the visceral reaction adults, particularly parents, had to the film at the time. “I see it all differently,” Reed said. “I’m totally terrified, and I’m also really grateful for it. I feel like I have a really good understanding of some of the things that are going on.“

The movie helped open the door for Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, which graphically depicts scenes of sexual assault, self-harm, and suicide, and even to a certain extent Eighth Grade, Bo Burnham’s film about the inner life of a 14-year-old girl who turns to the internet to compensate for the feelings of inadequacy she’s facing in the real world.

The lack of social media does date the film, as does its inability to really grapple with race and privilege. As a white middle-class young woman, Tracy is afforded the benefit of the doubt, not to mention a second chance. If she’d been a woman of color, she might never have recovered from her year-long bender. In fact, the only people of color in the film are the guys that Tracy and Evie alternately hook up with, and buy drugs from, a setup that is particularly iffy in hindsight.

Overall, however, Thirteen holds up in a way that never would have seemed possible to Hardwicke or Reed at the time they wrote the script. The impact it has had over the last 15 years far exceeds its original reach. Hardwicke’s $3 payday went a long, long way.

“Literally the other day, a woman came up to me, she's like 28 or 30, working at a cool company, Hardwicke recalled. “She goes: ‘You know what, I saw Thirteen,’ and it scared her straight. She never drank or smoked in her life, or did any drugs.”

“I don’t know if there will ever be anything quite like it,” Reed said. “It was kind of just magic.”

If you or someone you know is considering self-harm, please get help. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

[aion-rsa]

Best Horror TV Shows on Netflix

https://ift.tt/37wD6uz

So you want to be terrifed. Well, you’ve come to the right place, my friend. Everybody already knows that Netflix is a splendid place for viewers coming in search of all their bingeworthy content. But less appreciated is how satisfyingly scary some of their horror offerings are.

From originals like The Haunting of Hill House to foreign classics like The Returned, Netflix can be a go-to spot for the scariest horror TV shows available to stream. Here is a sampling of the kinds of series that horror thrill-seekers may appreciate.

Editor’s Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page to see what the best horror shows on Netflix are at your convenience.

The Haunting of Hill House

Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House is considered one of the most important texts in the horror literature canon. It’s only fitting then that it’s Hill House that Netflix turned to when the time came to make its first big original horror series. It’s also fitting that they turned to Hush director Mike Flanagan to make it happen.

Flanagan’s version of The Haunting of Hill House is quite different from the novel from which it takes its name. This Haunting is a modern story that follows the Crain family as they try to recover from the trauma they sustained as kids living in the terrifying Hill House. Of course, Hill House is still out there just dying to call them all back home. Netflix is going to keep “The Haunting” going with The Haunting of Bly Manor and presumably more to come after that.

The Haunting of Bly Manor

The consensus is that The Haunting of Bly Manor is significantly less scary than Mike Flanagan’s original Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House…and that consensus is correct. But there are still plenty of scares to be had in this worthy followup.

Read more

TV

The Haunting of Bly Manor Timeline Explained

By Louisa Mellor

TV

Why The Haunting of Bly Manor Needed a British Script Editor

By Louisa Mellor

Bly Manor borrows elements from the works of Henry James, including The Turn of the Screw, to craft another affecting ghost story. Hill House‘s Victoria Pedretti returns as Dani, a young American woman who takes on a job as a governess to two young children at the titular Bly Manor. Soon Dani and all involved will come to find that Bly Manor holds some serious (weirdly romantic) secrets.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

After the Archie comic universe got a gritty reboot in The CW’s Riverdale, it was only a matter of time before Archie cousin comic Sabrina the Teenage Witch got her turn. Thankfully Netflix stepped up to the plate with the Kiernan Shipka starring Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and even more thankfully…it’s gritty as all hell.

Read more

TV

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3: Ending Explained

By Chris Cummins

TV

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3: Archie-Verse Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

By Chris Cummins

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina brings witchcraft back to its absolutely metal satanic origins. Sabrina Spellman (Shipka) is like any teenager at Baxter High. She’s concerned about her grades, her social status, and her impending 16th birthday in which she must undergo a dark ritual in which she’ll have to grant her loyalty to the Dark Lord Satan. Such is life for a half-mortal/half-witch.

Ash vs Evil Dead

Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series (consisting of Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness) are some of the most deliriously bloody and fun slasher films ever committed to celluloid. Surely, however, a TV series made decades later couldn’t possibly bring the same level of thrill, could it?

Wrong! Starz’s Ash vs Evil Dead is another installment of fantastic comedy horror. Bruce Campbell returns as Evil Dead hero Ash Williams, who has done seemingly little with his life since battling the forces of evil (and dead) 30 years ago. That all changes when the dead walk once again and Ash, and some new friends must pick up the chainsaw once again.

Black Summer

In a zombie television landscape largely dominated by AMC’s The Walking Dead, Syfy’s Z Nation found a nice with a more playful, tongue-in-cheek presentation of the zombie apocalypse. In this spinoff, Black Summer, things get a touch darker.

Jamie King stars as Rose, a mother who is separated from her daughter during the height of a zombie apocalypse. Rose sets out on a mission to recover her and in the process builds a group of like-minded individuals looking for something they’ve lost.

Stranger Things

It seems so obvious now but in hindsight there was little buzz about this nostalgic tweenage horror project on Netflix from the relatively unknown Duffer Brothers. Little did we know that the Stev(ph)ens Spielberg and King inspired Stranger Things would be one of Netflix’s biggest hits.

Stranger Things takes place in the fictional Hawkins, Indiana in the mid-’80s. Hawkins is your typical smal ltown American city. The kids like to ride bikes, play Dungeons and Dragons, and tease one another. Little does everyone know that the mysterious government building on the outskirts of town may have opened a portal to another world – a portal that will usher in multiple seasons worth of monster fighting mayhem.

Castlevania

Netflix has beefed up its anime offerings in recent years and one of the first IPs they mined to do so was atmospheric Konami videogame series Castlevania. Originally planned as a film, Castlevania makes good use of its serialized format to pick up the horror story from where it begins with 1989 game Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse

Read more

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Netflix: Scariest Films to Stream

By David Crow and 2 others

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

By Alec Bojalad and 3 others

And what a story it is. Wallachian lord (and vampire, obvs.) Vlad Dracula Tepes (Graham McTavish) falls into a mighty rage after his wife is wrongly accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Vlad summons an army of the dead to declare war on the living of Wallachia. The only people who stand in his path are a ragged band of heroes led by Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage).

Haunted

Haunted is a bit of an odd duck among Netflix’s horror offerings. It was introduced for the 2018 Halloween season, just a week before the juggernaut Haunting of Hill House. As such, it got lost in the spooky shuffle. Still, this is a surprisingly effective take on your classic “tell a scary story” style TV series.

In Haunted, people tell their real life scary stories. That’s it. This is well-trodden ground on long running cable series like Ghost Stories and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Where Haunted differentiates itself is in its shockingly high production values, as witnessed in the ethereal screengrab above. Also, these stories are like…really scary.

Chambers

Chambers only survived one season at Netflix, proving once again that it’s tough out there for horror television shows. But the one season legacy the show leaves behind is a decently spooky one.

Chambers tells a story that contains a pretty familiar, yet effective horror trope. Sasha Yazzie (Sivan Alyra Rose) receives a much-needed heart transplant from a girl named Becky Lafevre. Soon, Sasha begins to experience troubling visions and begins to unravel a conspiracy that brings her into contact with Becky’s parents (Uma Thurman and Tony Goldwyn).

Devilman Crybaby

Anime has always been ahead of the game when it comes to horror and there’s no better evidence of this than Devilman Crybaby. This Netflix anime is based on a manga Devilman and creates a lushly realized gothic world. 

In Devilman Crybaby, an ancient race of demons has returned to take back the world from humanity. Akira Fudo, a sensitive young lad, decides to save the world the only way he knows how: by fusing with a demon. The resulting freakshow, called Devilman, possesses the powers of a demon but the soul of a human. Now hopefully that’s enough to defeat the forces of evil.

American Horror Story

Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story is revolutionary in quite a few ways. Not only did it help usher in a renewed era of anthology storytelling on television, it also was arguably the first successful network television horror show since The X-Files.

Read more

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Hulu

By Alec Bojalad and 1 other

Movies

Best Horror Movies Streaming on HBO Max

By David Crow and 2 others

Like all anthologies, American Horror Story has its better seasons (season 1 a.k.a. Murder House, season 2 a.k.a. Asylum, season 6 a.k.a. Roanoke) and its worse (season 3 a.k.a. Coven and season 8 a.k.a. Apocalypse). Still, for nine years and counting, American Horror Story has been one of the go-to options for TV horror fans.

Scare Tactics

Scare Tactics is what happens when someone looks at the prank camera show format and thinks “What if this but also dangerous and terrifying?” The concept of Scare Tactics is simple: take normal people, put them in elaborate horror movie situations, and film what happens. Awful? Yes. Entertaining? Absolutley!

Shannen Doherty hosted the first incarnation of the show that premiered on Syfy in 2003. Stephen Baldwin took her place in the middle of the show’s second season. Then after a three-year hiatus, Scare Tactics returned with Tracy Morgan at the helm and lasted three more seasons of hilariously cruel pranking.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Unsolved Mysteries

Any reboot of continuation of the classic ’80s/’90s true crime series Unsolved Mysteries just needs one element to be considered authentic: that music. Thankfully, this modern iteration on Netflix maintains a version of the original’s haunting theme. Beyond that crucial aspect, Unsolved Mysteries honors the original by continuing the formula to great success.

Read more

TV

Unsolved Mysteries Review (Spoiler-Free): True Crime With More Questions Than Answers

By Tony Sokol

TV

Unsolved Mysteries Volume 2 Review: Reboot Fits a Flatfoot More Than a Bigfoot

By Tony Sokol

Unsolved Mysteries remains largely a true crime enterprise. The show covers unexplained disappearances, murders, and crimes. But it also spends plenty of time with the truly unexplained: the paranormal. This reboot has covered UFOs and some tsunami ghosts. That, combined with the atmospheric music, makes this a suitably spooky watch.

The post Best Horror TV Shows on Netflix appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/35lT4oJ

[slayingcervx]

1. I only like women.

2. Gay. It’s just the first word I ever had to describe myself and I feel best using it.

3. Since birth.

4. I like a woman who is intriguing, casual, fun. I like a girl with meat on her bones who’s not afraid of my dirty jokes. Feminine.

5.I stood up at my dads house after we were going through some old baseball cards and said, “ I gotta get going but I wanted to tell you I’m gay”. All he said was “and”?

6. It makes me happy, and it’s my birthday month so it seems fitting

7. I try if I have time. But I always stay informed

8. Positive representation of any kind is valuable to our community

9. I have insecurities but my sexuality is a cross I honoablely bear.

10. No one in my family. But films and books helped me find that I wasn’t alone.

11. Fourth grade. Her name was Macy. I don’t know how to find her because she moved at the end of that year. She was also my first kiss.

12. Take your time and come to terms yourself. You don’t have to justify anything to anyone but you.

13. Yes at 14

14. I hope it disappears one day

15. Only for those who live in fear.

16. Take it slow and pick people you trust first. You don’t want to start your jeourney with negativity

17. No masculine, chubby/thick women

18. Well Gentleman Jack on HBO is incredible. And very real

19. I distinctly remember asking my teacher what a word was in a book in fourth grade. (It was the word gay). She looked at it and said ew before she told me what it meant.

20. With women it’s easier, but still always.

21. Dark minds, drugs, closed heart. Obsessive. Cruel nature.

22. Being into me. Being sexual. Intelligence. Good conversation.

23. Great! But need more for women seeking women.

24. I don’t mind it. For me I don’t associate it as a slur.

25. It’s the USA. Do they fully accept anyone but straight white men?

26. Sarah Paulson

27. Just treat us like regular people....because we are

28. Did you ever give men a chance?

29. Depends on the motive.

30.

pride month questionnaire.

the following questions can be used both in character and out of character, depending on what you want to answer. these questions are meant to make people familiar with the various shades of love, attraction and identity, feel free to add your own. happy pride 🌈

what is your sexuality?

what do you identify as?

how long have you been aware of your sexuality/identity?

do you have any preferences?

share a positive memory about coming out!

how do you feel about pride month?

do you participate in pride related events? any other events?

how do you feel about lgbtqa roles in media?

do you feel pride in who you are?

who has been your supportive idols in your self discovery?

tell us about your first crush?

what sort of advice to have you lgbtqa teens? 

have you come out to friends and family?

how do you feel about the term “coming out” ?

do you believe there is a “closet” to come out of?

any tips on coming out?

what’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtqa characterization in media?

what’s your favorite parts of lgbtqa characterization in media?

what did your teachers say about the lgbtqa community in school?

do you practice safe sex with the same sex?

what’s an absolute turn off for you in people?

what’s an absolute turn on for you in people?

how do you feel about lgbtqa clubs/apps/websites?

how do you feel about the term “queer” ?

how does you country view the lgbtqa community?

favorite lgbtqa actor/actress?

any tips for heterosexual people on how to handle lgbtqa events/news?

what’s the most annoying question you have ever gotten?

how do you feel about receiving questions about your sexuality/idenity?

what is your romantic affiliation?

[jmsa1287]

Lena Dunham's HBO Comedy 'Camping,' Starring Jennifer Garner, is a Bad Trip

hi i wrote about the new HBO comedy “Camping” from Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner starring Jennifer Garner.

Over its six seasons, HBO's "Girls" earned its fair share of criticism and chief among them was that it featured a cast of "unlikeable characters." Lena Dunham, who co-created and stared in the show, played Hannah Horvath, who seemed to draw the most ire from haters. (Many also had trouble separating the real life Dunham from Hanna.)

Those who couldn't stand Hannah's self-absorbed, selfish and whiney ways will absolutely want to stay away from "Camping," which debuts Sunday on HBO. And those who did find something endearing about Hannah and "Girls" (like this writer) may also want to stay away from "Camping," which marks Dunham and her (ex) creative partner Jenni Konner's first TV project since launching "Girls."

Starring Jennifer Garner, "Camping" is based on a 2016 British series and consists of eight half-hour episodes. At its center, it shares the same kind of beating heart as "Girls" — about a group of friends who... probably don't actually like each other very much.

The new comedy follows Kathryn (Garner), an uber-organized, super-controlling and aggressive L.A. mom (who has 11,000 followers on Instagram!), planning a birthday camping weekend for her husband Walt (David Tennant). Along with their son Orvis (Duncan Joiner), Kathryn invites some friends and her sister Carleen (Ione Skye) and her family. Of course, this weekend getaway isn't going to go smoothly.

Over the four episodes provided for review, "Camping" finds Garner's Kathryn tested in every possible way. Her A-type personality often bumps up against the easy going mentality of those joining her for this trip, including Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto), who recently separated from his wife, and his new girlfriend Jandice (Juliette Lewis) a free-spirited woman who is new to the group. When Jandice convinces the gang to go skinny-dipping into a nearby lake instead of the scheduled activity of fishing, Kathryn almost has a breakdown. When Jandice accidentally knocks over Orvis during a game of football, the entire day is halted as Kathryn demands her son go to the hospital.

If you thought Hannah was irritating and hard to watch, Garner takes things to a whole new level. It's her first major TV role since the ABC action series "Alias" ended in 2006. Though it's wonderful to see Garner back on the small screen (she's had excellent turns on the big screen, including "Love, Simon" and "Dallas Buyers Club"), and it's exciting to see her working with Dunham and Konner, she's woefully miscast here. Garner gives it her all and manages to pull off the cruelness of Kathryn (she's constantly undermining her sister) but she also brings an innate warmth when she acts. There's something jarring in Garner's performance that counter acts the venomous lines she spews and the way she spews it.

Elsewhere, "Camping" struggles to be funny. There are glimmers of hilarity —Jandice is an excellent character, who Dunham and Konner have fleshed out to be more than a one dimensional archetype, and Lewis has a great time playing Kathryn's foil. Comedian Bridget Everett pops up as Harry, who runs the campsite with her wife. She doesn't get much to do but when she's on screen, she's fantastic as a no-nonsense tough woman, who encourages Kathryn to scream at bears in order to get rid of them.

"Camping" peaks with the fourth episode "Up All Night" when Kathryn is given Adderall instead of Ambien by Jandice and wonders into a nearby camp group. Turns out, a few of Kathryn's gal pals are having a weekend camping trip of their own. These Instagram mommies, played Busy Philipps and Nicole Richie (both of whom are incredible and actually provide the best moments in "Camping"), tolerate a high Kathryn. Though the episode is quite funny, it also exposes some depth into Kathryn's character.

It's possible "Camping" finds its footing after the great fourth episode but up until then, the comedy is a difficult hang. There are strong performances from the rest of its cast, including "This is Us" star Chris Sullivan, "Twin Peaks: The Return" actor Brett Gelman and filmmaker Janicza Bravo (who is married to Gelman in real life and plays his wife on the show).

But Dunham and Konner's painful new comedy is missing the agency and authenticity that made "Girls" a cultural lightening rod. Not that "Camping" should be what "Girls" was but the show isn't really sure what it is at all. It's cringe humor taken to the extreme and has brief flashes of insightful moments. "Camping" would work if it weren't so frustratingly unfunny.

[heichouswitch]

Early Warnings of Domestic Abuse

I’m watching this new HBO show called Big Little Lies on HBO and a scene in the second episode really seemed to hit home for me. Alexander Scarsgard (I’m so sad that he’s playing an asshole character. I loved him as Erik Northman ;_;) is fighting with Nicole Kidman’s character, his wife and he becomes violent and abusive towards her. But as soon as he had hit and pushed her he immediately apologized profusely, trying to act sympathetic and sweet.

What bothered me was it all seemed so much like what my ex would do and that really scares me. He never physically abused me. But he was manipulative and emotionally abusive. He would do something wrong or would treat me badly and then would immediately beg for forgiveness and pretend he was very sorry even though clearly he wasn’t because actions repeated themselves. I was lucky enough to notice a pattern forming and to become fed up with his behavior roughly 6 months in and I broke things off. It really scares me though because things could have taken a turn for the worst.

I really wanted to post this on here as a PSA so that anyone in a relationship like this gets out. Yes, it is abusive! And behavior like this is textbook, many relationships that start like this end in physical abuse. Take note of the signs and educate yourself on what abusive partners do. It may not look like abuse or even seem like a warning sign but it very well might be.

Some early warning signs of abuse:

Not every charming, romantic date will have bad intentions but just keep this in mind. Abusive partners tend to start out by trying to be very romantic, sweet and charming. They will do anything to woo you and to capture your heart. If it seems too good to be true, it may well be. They do this to distract you from anything they do that is negative. When I first started dating my ex he was ridiculously charming - on our first date he opened doors for me and would give me gifts. And he continued to try to do such things to cover up the way he would become overbearing and manipulative.

They will want the relationship to progress quickly. They tend to move too quickly. After just dating for 2 weeks, my ex began mentioning marriage and wanting to spend the rest of his life with me. Within a month he was talking about plans of where to spend Christmas. Everything with him was far too quickly, like he needed to lay some sort of claim on me.

They will start to become controlling and jealous. I never experienced the jealousy from my ex - unless I went out with friends instead of spending my day on the phone with him but he gradually became really controlling. It got to the point where he constantly needed to be on the phone with me when we weren’t together. Every little bit of my free time was consumed by him. He tried to isolate me and keep me from seeing my friends and only spend time with him. I couldn’t even take a shower without bringing the phone with me. If I didn’t call him back or if I was angry and ignoring his phone calls he would continuously call me, then my house phone and sometimes my mother.

They will flip flop between being sweet and being a nightmare. My ex definitely did this, which I guess is why I stayed enamored by him for so long. He would do things that bothered me even when I continually would tell him not to. He would ignore me when I was talking. He would do disrespectful things around my friends, he would only think of himself and make me feel an inch tall. And then he could be sweet and caring when I became really upset. He would make me feel guilty for yelling at him or being upset with him.

The biggest warning sign and the one that caused me to wake up was that they will play the victim. My ex constantly did this. It didn’t matter if he was at fault, he was so good at manipulating others that he would make it seem like he never did anything wrong. Our entire relationship he portrayed his parents as cruel people and his mother abusive. This was not the case at all, they were very sweet people, he just treated them very badly and acted like the victim when they yelled at him for doing something bad. He was fired from his job? Not his fault, they screwed him over.  He spent all of his money on something for himself and now his plans to take me out for my birthday are ruined? Oh no, he was working very hard and I was the asshole for getting upset. Things like these are gigantic red flags! Abusers never truly own up to doing anything wrong. I know, some claim to and say “I will change.” but that is just an illusion to get you to see past them doing the same old shit as before.   

I broke up with him after an incident where he degraded me, disrespected me and showed no care for anyone but himself. I was tired of being emotionally drained and constantly upset and having to try so hard to make the relationship work. Post breakup he of course played the victim. I was the bad guy for breaking his heart. I was terrible for breaking up with him and ignoring him when he begged for me back.

Texbook abuser behavior. I later found out after a few of his other ex girlfriends came forward that he physically and sexually abused a few ladies. So please, consider these signs if your significant other does these things. You deserve much better than that. If anyone in a similar situation needs to talk you can feel free to message me.

[theenetflixnerd]

REVIEW Big Little Lies Episodes 1 -3

A PERFECT LIFE IS A PERFECT LIE

That’s for damn sure!! It did not even take the first few minutes of this show to have me hooked. In fact, I was so intrigued and curious that I went straight onto the apple store download the e-book which I then proceeded to finish that same night. You may have gathered that I’m not such a patient person hehe. Any ways if you’re a reader yourself and haven’t yet read the book - I truly recommend it, it’s an excellent story and incredible writing. I’ve since read another three of Liane Moriarty and they’re all amazing. (I’ve done an author spotlight on her on my other blog if you want to give it a read  https://www.tumblr.com/blog/candyc0at3d ). Absolutely massive recommendations on Liane Moriarty’s works all around. She’s an extremely skillfull story teller and I couldn’t put her books down. 

So of course HBO is blessed with an incredible story to tell. David E. Kelly did a fantastic job at adapting this book into a TV show as well. So far the first three episodes have done the book major justice and I think that the casting is magic. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in these roles - but naturally who doesn’t love the three powerhouse lead females. Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley are all amazing and I love them all individually in what they’ve done before this - but having them all together on the same screen ... It’s just incredible. Absolutely perfect casting. 

Seeing as I am rolling three episodes into one here let me try and condense this as much as I can by breaking up the recap / review into characters & families. (From Monday I’ll be reviewing episodes individually, weekly as they are released).

I’ll start with the lead character : Madeline Mackenzie.  I LOVE the character of Madeline she is awesome and delivers some amazing quotes some of which I honestly feel describe my own life.  For example:  “ I love my grudges, I tend to them like little pets.” 

Maddie is entertaining and extremely relatable as a person, wife and mother. I think Reese is portraying her absolutely perfectly. I adore her. 

I loved this quote from when her daughter wanted to move in with her father ... 

Maddie: “She wouldn’t leave if I had cancer” 

Ed (Maddie’s husband): “But you don’t ...”

Maddie: “Well I’d be willing to get it.”

So Maddie is married to Ed, and their daughter Chloe is in Kindy (the parents of the Kindy group is what the story centres around). Maddie is divorced from Nathan (more on him later) with whom she has a now teenage daughter, Abigail.

Ed is a fabulously cool husband and father and he really supports Maddie and stands up for her (even against Nathan!), despite her (at times) crazy antics and refusal to butt out of other peoples business and let bygones be bygones. 

Abigail is being a typical rebellious teenager who is just driving me insane and I can’t stand her to be honest. But whatever, she’s not really such a crucial part of the story. She decides to move in with her father and his new family because she ‘can’t be herself at home’ with Madeline.

Chloe is cute and funny. I love her grown up kind of sass she has for her age (maybe it’s a little too grown up at times?) but it’s unfailingly hilarious.

Side note - In the book Maddie also has a son ( I assume with Ed), who is in between Abby and Chloe - but I don’t think his presence is really missed to be honest. He didn’t actually add anything to the main storyline.

Then we have the family of Maddie’s ex , Nathan. He is now married to Bonnie and their daughter, Skye is also in the same class as Chloe. Talk about awkward!! Nathan is not a bad guy (I don’t think) and Bonnie is a lovely lady, she is kind, caring and compassionate and a total earth child, hippy complete with vegan diets and yoga. Abigail likes this lifestyle and seems to have a better relationship with Bonnie than her own mother. I feel a bit of tension with Maddie’s jealousy here - but it’s also understandable - Bonnie had taken Abby to get ‘the pill’ without consulting Maddie first and I personally think that’s a line that as a step parent you just shouldn’t cross. 

Maddie has a best friend Celeste. Who, according to the books is effortlessly beautiful, so no wonder Nicole Kidman was cast in this role. I mean, does the woman ever age? Celeste has a seemingly amazing marriage and family she is married to the handsome and charming Perry White and they have twin boys Max and Josh, who are also in the same class as Chloe and Skye. However, as the story develops it turns out that Celeste’s marriage may not be all that it seems, and this is where the story touches on a rather deep issue - that of Domestic Violence. Behind closed doors things are not great for Celeste as she has to walk on egg shells around Perry who although charming, has a dark side, that is controlling, violent and cruel. Of course, he is always apologetic after and showers her with gifts and flowers but this isn’t enough for her to threaten leaving him. (Only the reader or viewer gets this insight into Celeste’s life however, and she maintains the facade in the community and her friends (even Maddie doesn’t know). They do try and see a counsellor in the third episode but who knows where the relationship will go from there. 

In the beginning of the series, Maddie meets new single mum in town Jane. They meet at the school, obviously, where Jane’s son, Ziggy is in the same class as the others. Jane is lovely, but you can see she is haunted by some tragic events of the past and is harbouring some dark secrets of her own. (Although all this is only later, slowly revealed).  Jane is besotted with her little boy, and you can see the love she has for her son, and she’ll do anything to protect him. My heart breaks for Ziggy in the first episode when on his orientation day at school a little girl, Amabella, accuses him as being the one who tried to choke her. He maintains his innocence, and I totally believe him. I mean .... how easy is it to just target the new kid to pick on right? .... Of course this is kind of the start of the feuding and drama as naturally the parents begin to take sides. (Maddie is obviously Team Jane and Ziggy). This storyline touches on another deep issue of BULLYING (well I guess Domestic Abuse is also a form of Bullying) but what saddens me most here is that even grown ass ‘adults’ can stoop so low as to bully a young child and make them feel excluded and inferior. I’ve had much personal experience with being bullied myself and despite that, I could never imagine ever wanting to make even my own bullies feel as horrible as they made me feel. Why would any decent human being want to make another person feel like that? I don’t get it, and I don’t think I ever will understand how anyone can be cruel to another person. 

This leads to the final ‘core’ family which is that of Amabella and her parents, more particularly her mother, Renata. Renata is hard core, business woman. Renata immediately has it in for Ziggy since her daughter singled him out as the one who tried to choke her on orientation day. She becomes totally anti-Ziggy and excludes him from Amabella’s birthday - although Maddie isn’t having it and finds away to sabotage the birthday by taking Ziggy and another group of children to Disney on Ice on the same day as the party.  I do kind of enjoy the casting of Renata and think that the relationship between her and her hubby is kind of sweet and they have an interesting dynamic going there.

This whole conflict between parents only gets worse and more intense as the story goes on and well as we know from the little snippits that one of these parents was MURDERED at a school function. But, and I find this an extremely interesting twist on the classic who-dun-it, we have no idea WHICH OF THE PARENTS WAS MURDERED. 

Naturally, each character has their own reasons for why they could possibly be the victim (or murderer) as their is no shortage of fueds and drama between various different groups and individuals through out this story. As I said before, extremely masterfully thought out and written.

I can’t wait for Monday’s episode. So tune back in for my in depth recap of Episode 4!