#i am so sorry for posting this prematurely and hopefully you still see the full response and not the halfway completed one that i drafted...

[whatsupitsthatkai]

Whiskey and Cigarettes

It's 2AM here but it's still Sirius' birthday in the US

I've been wanting to write something inspired by this gorgeous piece of art for ages and Sirius' birthday seemed the peferect oppurtunity to finally do it. Hopefully this is mostly coherent

------------------------------------------------------------

It was quiet in the house.

Quiet save for the groan of old timber settling, and the odd whistle of wind rattling the windows in their panes.

It smelled like old wood and dust, gloom and the hauntings of memories lingering in every dark corner. It was a dismal place, of that there was no doubt, and yet Remus had chosen to enter, to search the large house room by room, a single target in mind.

The crackling of a fire caught his ear, and he chased the sound, tracking it through grim hallway and creaking stairs until he saw a beam of warm light shining bright ahead of him.

He paused outside the door, closing his eyes and breathing deep. Whiskey, cigarettes, and-

“If you're just going to lurk outside the door you might as well leave, there are enough ghosts in this house.”

The door whined as he pushed it open, standing under the frame as he settled his hands in his pockets and looked inside.

Sirius was sitting near the fire, long legs sprawled in front of him, sleeves rolled up to the elbow and shirt front nearly half unbuttoned, exposing the tattoos etched into his skin. His hair hung loose and a bit haphazard around his shoulders.

There was a cigarette dangling from his fingertips, ash dropping carelessly onto the floor as his fingers fidgeted. A bottle of whiskey sat near his feet, more than half empty already.

“Dumbledore send you?”

Remus shook his head. “No.”

Sirius snorted, flicking more ash from his cigarette before taking a drag. “Course not, not like anything has changed, I'm still to sit here and do nothing like a good little dog.” He exhaled the smoke slowly, sending some through his nose as he sighed. “Why are you here, then?”

Remus’ fingers curled around the small package nestled at the bottom of his pocket. Things had been...odd between them since they reunited. There was too much history, too many years apart thinking the worst, too much that had never been said. As wonderful as it was having each other in their lives again, there was the question of how and where they fit there now.

“I came to see you.”

Sirius’ eyebrows lifted slightly, a spark of interest glittering in his eyes. “Oh?” He took one last pull from his cigarette and flicked it into the fire, snagging the whiskey bottle as his legs unfolded beneath him and pushed him back onto his feet. “Want a drink?”

Remus turned and grabbed a glass from the shelf against the wall, walking over to join Sirius at the table set on the other side of the room.

Sirius was already sitting, whiskey sitting to his right on the tabletop where his forearms were planted casually on the surface.

Remus sat to his left and set the glass down, unbuttoning his worn coat as he settled into his seat.

“So, what can I do for you, Mr. Lupin?”

Remus’ eyes roamed over the man beside him, looking for the boy he once knew. He could see him sometimes, when he smiled or laughed, when his eyes lit up and glinted like polished steel. There was the ghost of him in the line of his brow, now folded with thin lines, or the cascade of midnight hair that tumbled down his shoulders, streaked with premature grey now.

“Are you going to pour me a drink?”

Sirius reached across Remus and snagged his glass before pouring a healthy serving of whiskey into it. He plopped the stopper back into the decanter and reached back across Remus to set the glass back where it had been, motioning to it with a small flourish of his hand. “Enjoy.”

As he pulled his hand back, his fingers brushed against Remus’ knuckles, and he paused, resting his forearm back onto the table slowly, his fingertips gently resting atop of Remus’. Neither of them said anything, they just sat and listened to the fire snap behind them.

Remus shifted his shoulder just a bit closer, his heart pounding uncertainly at the close proximity. Sirius’ eyes were focused everywhere but his face, as if he were afraid of what he might find if he looked into Remus’ eyes. Remus himself couldn't look away from Sirius’ eyes, marveling at how his emotions and thoughts still played across them so plainly.

“Who are we, Remus?” He asked it softly, voice shaking. His fingertips slipping down Remus’. “What have we become?”

Remus shook his head ever so slightly. “I don't know.”

Sirius leaned closer, his gaze searching across Remus’ scars, searching for familiarity there. “I look in the mirror and I don't see myself. And I look at you and-” he closed his eyes, “-and I see someone I should know, but I don't.” His breath shuddered as it left his lungs. Eyes half opening again to stare at Remus’ lips. “I once knew you better than I knew myself. But now...now I don't know who you are.”

Remus felt the weight of twelve long years press down on his chest, there in front of him he could see the boy he had loved, vulnerable and uncertain and scared.

Reaching up, Remus brushed his fingers against the hair hanging in Sirius’ face, fingertips lingering against the silver streaks before he tucked it carefully behind Sirius’ ear. “I'm not sure who I am anymore either.”

Sirius let his head fall gently forward, resting his forehead against Remus’. They shared another long moment of silence together, just soaking in the presence of the other. Letting years old wounds lay bare.

“Happy Birthday, Sirius.”

He lifted his head ever so slightly, face now inches from Remus’, bewilderment flickering through his eyes. “Is it-” he shook his head slightly. “I've lost track...Merlin I was able to track time better in Azkaban.”

Remus frowned slightly. “Really?”

“I had a window where I could see the moon and stars, scratched a line in the wall for every cycle.” He bit his lip. “Every full moon I would...I wasn't there- I just...I'm sorry, Remus, fuck I'm so sor-”

Remus pulled Sirius forward and silenced his apology with a kiss. He was the one who was sorry, so unbearably sorry for doubting him, for believing he could have betrayed James and Lily for all those years and leaving him to rot in Azkaban.

Sirius had one hand cupped behind Remus’ neck, the other clung to his coat for dear life. His body pressing closer as if he were afraid Remus would fade away if he didn't hold on tightly enough.

Remus brushed his thumb against Sirius’ cheekbone as he curled his fingers in his hair, using his free arm to wrap around Sirius’ shoulder and pull him closer with a hand planted firmly between his shoulder blades.

They kissed each other like it was the first and the last time, desperate and content, familiar and unusual all at once.

Clothes were quickly shed and time was spent relearning the other. New scars were learned, old ones were lovingly remembered, years blurred until they found themselves again, and there in front of the fire, at last they had found some peace.

As the night crawled into the early stretches of the morning, Remus untangled himself from Sirius’ arms and fumbled for his discarded jacket, digging in the pocket for the small package which he handed to Sirius.

“What's this?” Sirius asked, turning the package over in his hands.

“Open it and find out.”

He sat up and slipped the twine off, tearing open the paper to reveal a small book. “A little notebook...charming.”

“I said to open it, Pads.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and flipped open the cover, his fingers stilling as he looked at the first page. “This...this is…”

Remus nodded. “All the notes we used to pass to each other during class, a couple of scraps from James’ notes on the Marauders or prank schemes, Marlene’s song lyrics, Dorcas’ poems, Mary’s recipes, Lily’s positive post its that she used to stick all over the place. It's a memento book, I thought it might help remind you of the good things.”

Sirius’ finger traced the odd loop James’ ‘G’s’ always had. “Thank you.”

Remus smiled and rested his head against Sirius’. “Happy birthday, Sirius.”

[seoultraveller]

WOW I”M DUMB... OKAY! 🙃🙃🙃 anyway,

YEOSANG! Yes! ��🏾 I have the hugest crush on him at the moment... and I am not sorry about it (I still love you Seonghwa ❤️)

If you keep doing what you have been doing, then I am sure that you will be fine. I believe that you can and will do well. What subjects are the tests on? I have no doubt that you will do well, especially if you are already doing well in the class. ☺️☺️ My entire weekend was actually not so good. My brother and his wife showed up, with their big dog (don’t get me wrong, I Iike pets) to see their son for the weekend. Long story, short. They smelled really bad, the dog pooped in the house, and they ate up a lot of the food leaving me to just not have dinner all weekend... 🙃 and the work week started off okay, but now I’m just ✨ over it ✨ . I am keeping my starting time of 7:30am (although I am not scheduled to work until 8:45am) just so my mom does not have me drop my nephew to daycare. ✨If I don’t look busy, people just seem to think I am doing nothing✨ I understand how doing it in-person creates structure, you never really think about how structured school is until you don’t really have it anymore, I remember I was like that. I think a hybrid situation is good, although I still prefer online. I have faith that you can do it!! 💪

I never thought about it like that!! But yeah! They did raise the bar for themselves! Everything about it is just so~~~~~ amazing!! It’s making me anticipate more. 😏

MIXED CURL PATTERNS!!! I love that!! 💗 I understand what you mean when you say having a lot of hair but it not being thaaat~ thick. For me, honestly 4C is a lot to handle but ever since I got dreadlocks it’s pretty... simple. I just wash and sometimes retwist. I feel as though maybe my hair is getting thinner the longer I have dreadlocks. I really have no desire to do anything different with it though. 😂 Oh no~ just average looking 😂 😂

I’ve noticed. 🥰 Thank you. 😘

My plans for the weekend is to wash and re-twist my hair. Also, perhaps come up with a schedule/regimented routine. What about you? Do you have any plans?

Ughhh I can only imagine how frustrating🙄 students realllyyyy don’t care (coming from experience lol) but yes!!! Cheers to us for catching up on all of the new content🥂🥂 I’ve added so many videos to my to watch playlist on YouTube so I’m gonna sit and binge watch them some day😅 Awh re-watching ateez content is so damn nice !! Which are your favorites to watch??

Damn right, as you should🥳 Stanning ateez is really a ride because every member be coming for you at every direction while you try to stay loyal to your bias/biases lmao💀 (atiny are all cheaters🤣😭). Yesss so true !!! He’s only getting better and better at what he’s doing and I’m so glad that he seems more confident this comeback but also since inception🥺 Yeosang is just so great🥰 YES that change in his gaze like WOW. Mhm same here, I cant wait until the dance practice !! They really are so talented wow

So true, it is important to know when to take a break🥺 So far ive been pretty good this week but I’m anxious for the coming three-ish weeks because I have soooooo many tests up ahead... My teachers all decided to prop our schedule with so much examinations :(( Though I hope your weekend was good even if you spent Friday cranky ahh :( I really like online classes because I can relax more but getting work done is really hard, so being in person is easier for work and maintaining routines- but it makes me exhausted and my mental health spirals so I don’t really know😞 But I do think I would need to adjust some to in-person school again

Ah I’m glad The Leaders grew on you, I find it so catchy !!🤩 it truly is a bit different which I really enjoy and it just made me feel like ateez has yet again raised their own bar😂 but great to hear on your part!! Though the whole album is just so damn good

Uhmmm my hair has a lot of mixed curl patterns, but ever since I cut it it’s gotten more curly at the back. But I have like mostly 3b, but also 3a and the heaviest parts are 2c :)) some parts are tight but other parts not😂 it’s not thaaatt thick but I have a lot of hair so it feel thicker than what it is y’know. Agh 4c must be a lot to handle😮 I’m sure it’s beautiful though !! Ooohhh that’s nice you’re probably very pretty in both hairstyles🥰🥰

Maybe you’ve noticed my likes on your Sonny posts🤣 I’m showing my support lollll😌

So, how’s your week so far?? Any plans for the weekend or the rest of the week?🥳

Ah! You know... I’ve never done that. I just make a list, written out by hand, on which videos I need to catch up on 😂 🤡 I am going to add some videos to my “to watch” playlist on YouTube now. Thanks for that. ☺️ I actually really enjoy re-watching their most recent Studio Choom video, the relay dances for THANXX, WAVE, ILLUSION, and Pirate King, ANEWZ (because I’m a sucker for Yunho and his humor 🥺), and although I don’t regularly watch ASMR I love the MARS ASMR episode where he is dressed as a prince and is eating sweet pastries with a green horse called (?) Maltese (?) (that’s such a random name). I watch it because it has me dying of laughter Every. Single. Time. 😂😂😂 What about you? What are your favorites to watch/re-watch?

“ATINY are all cheaters 🤣😭” OOF- felt this one in my core

[clubdolan]

Baby Dolan #4

“What’s up, guys?! We’re back!” Ethan and Grayson said at the same time. Their video was sponsored, testing foreign candy. Packages sat in front of them with writing they couldn’t understand. They tried a cheese flavored gummy, a sour candy that tasted like watermelon, and Ethan was opening a horrible smelling bag as his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He ignored it, handing a smelly, stick like object to Grayson. “I do not want to even be holding this.” He tried to read the bag, no words looked familiar. “It smells like... fish and dirt.”

“Dirt and spoiled meat.” Grayson guessed, smelling it again. Ethan’s phone vibrated again as they tried it, immediately spitting it out into their buckets. Water, milk, other candy; nothing got rid of the taste.

Grayson’s phone started going off sitting next to him as he dug through the box of candy for their next try. He grabbed out a neon yellow package. seeing bananas on it, “This looks safe.”

Ethan pulled his phone from his pocket, “E, really? Not during filming, now we have to do that again.” Grayson groaned, tossing the package back in the box.

“It won’t stop, yours is going off too.”

1 Missed Call: Val

2 Text Messages: Val

4 Missed Calls: Izzy

2 Missed Calls: Emily

2 Text Messages: Emily

Grayson grabbed his as Ethan looked, “Why is Emily calling me--

“Val! Baby!” Ethan screamed, jumping off the couch and digging for shoes, “Drive me there! Get your keys!”

Grayson was still looking at his phone.

“Izzy said that they’re at the hospital, Val’s--- oh.” He followed Ethan’s lead, grabbing shoes and digging for keys on the counter.

Somehow Grayson drove them there safely, letting Ethan off at the door before taking off into the lot.

He found Emily in the entry way, “She’s upstairs getting tests done, we went to lunch and she went to pee and she came out crying and said there was blood so we rushed her here and they said she might be going into premature labor but we don’t know anything past that.” She grabbed his arm as he tried to go around her, “Don’t, you can’t get in the room now. She’s going to be okay.”

It seemed like they were in the waiting room for hours but it was really twenty minutes before a nurse came out and got them. Ethan went in first, stopping himself as he walked in, trying to prepare for what could be around the corner.

The all white room was full of machines, all hooked up to Val. When she heard the door close she looked up, everything seemed to be washed from her. Her skin seemed white, her hair was pulled back, her face was damp from crying, one hand was covered in IVs and she could barely turn her head towards him.

“I’m so sorry, we were filming and didn’t think it was anything. You’re not due for another month and a half, what’s going on?” He leaned over, pushing her hair from her face. “C’mon babe, talk.”

Trying to hold back tears Val spoke, “I-I-I was going to the bathroom and it-it-there was blood. I just-I told Em and we came here and I got hooked up and blood taken-I-I-I don’t know-they haven’t said anything. It was a lot more than anything normal, like it was a lot-I don’t know-I just-don’t-”

Ethan shushed her, sitting down next to her and hugging her the best he could. “It’s going to be okay.” He mumbled into her messy hair, “You’re both going to be okay.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes and were startled when her doctor came in followed by nurses.

“You’ve gone into pre-mature labor, it wasn’t blood but the fluid from your amniotic sack, it’s filled with the babies fluids as well.”

“She’s not due for--

“We know, that’s why we’re going to monitor everything and take our time. She’s been experiencing small contractions fifteen minutes apart. We’re going to keep an eye on your blood pressure and the babies heart beat. Try to keep yourself comfortable--

“Am I having my baby now?” Val asked, knowing she wasn’t ready at all.

“At least within the next one to two days. Once your amniotic sack has broken you have to give birth.”

She felt nauseous, dizzy, confused, and was imagining the pain she might have to go through. A nurse stayed in the room and continued to explain to them that within twelve hours if contractions didn’t get more intense than they would have to induce her. They said they would bring food when she needed it, that they could have everyone come back in, what visitors needed to do if they showed up...

But Val couldn’t pay attention.

Her parents were 2 hours away in San Diego, Ethan’s parents were across the country. They didn’t have the nursery ready. The baby wouldn’t be ready to come out this early. They hadn’t even bought the necessities for having a baby. Ethan was barely moved into her house; he had been lagging in the moving department.

“I have a meeting tomorrow.” She sat up, interrupting the nurse, “The big meeting with Urban Outfitters.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” Ethan said, pushing her to sit back.

“No, it’s huge. I’ve had it planned for months. My site depends on the--

“Valerie, you need to calm down. It’s not good for you or the baby.” The nurse said, typing on the computer next to her. “I’ll let you be for a while, if you need anything, push the button. Would you like me to get your guest?”

“No, I’ll get them in a second. Thank you.” Ethan smiled. “Babe, you’ve got to calm down. I’ll have Emily talk to your manager about the meeting and anything else you have scheduled. Your focus right now, is the baby.” He placed his hand on her stomach, “When you’re calm, the baby is calm.”

“But I--

“I know you’re a control freak, especially about your site. I’ll get your computer and you can make a post about it. Everyone will understand. Make a list of things you want from your house, I’ll go get stuff later--

“You can’t go.”

“Okay, Emily or Izzy will. You’ll have to let them know where it’s all at. I’ve got to call my parents so they can get on a flight as soon as they want--

“My mom. My dad. I have to tell them.”

“We will. Let’s get everyone in here and get something planned. You have to stay calm, you have to keep your blood pressure down, you have to keep her safe for as long as you can.”

“But she’s going to come out too early--I-I-I can’t --

“Val, babe, come on.” He hugged her, knowing that her mind had to be racing at double the speed of his.

-

Plans were made, parents were notified, Grayson was packing stuff for Ethan, Emily was packing stuff for Val, Izzy was helping keep her company while nurses checked on her every so often.

Afternoon went into night, her contractions hadn’t gotten much worse but they were still waiting it out.

valerierose.com

A Quick Update!

I’m currently in the hospital, attached to six different machines, waiting for Baby Dolan to make her appearance.

Yes, I’m a month and a half early! My water broke while I was at lunch & they think due to how small I am that my body went into pre-mature labor.

Since my water has broke there’s no stopping her! Within 24 hours I will hopefully have a baby! (Or I’ll break out of this hospital and Uber to my comfortable bed at home.)

There are scheduled posts that will be coming here on my site as well as Emily & Izzy here to update my other social medias if they need to.

Thank you all for the well wishes, they’re much appreciated!

--Val

Since she had announced it, Ethan put a quick update on his media.

A simple picture of his wrist, a white band on it.

Dolan, Ethan GUEST 1

Gordon, Valerie Rose

Labor/Delivery 59442 - NICU 12

Dr. William S. Hanson

ethandolan: I guess she doesn’t want to wait. #BabyDolan coming soon(er than we thought)!

camerondolan: Last minute flights to LA? Check. Hold on Baby D. We land tomorrow morning! (& I told graysondolan I would be the first one to hold her.)

It was 8am the next morning and Val had only dilated a little bit. Her contractions remained steady as well as the baby’s stats.

Her parents were almost to the hospital, Ethan’s were on a plane; Grayson, Izzy, and Emily had all made themselves at home in the hospital room.

They had waited till the last minute to start her on Pitocin which should begin to heighten her contractions and cause her to dilate more. It was just another IV going into her arm.

By the time her parent’s had arrived her contractions were worse, but she had somehow gotten her body into a comfortable enough position to take a nap and no one dared to wake her.

She had to wake up for a mandatory check up by her doctor, but the good news, “You’re six centimeters dilated.”

A sudden sigh of relief and terror went through Val. Relived that she was finally getting somewhere but also terrified because soon, she would have to go through labor.

Four hours later it seemed like hundreds of people were in their room, but it was all family. Their families talked, ate food, discussed future plans, all while Val bounced on an exercise ball and ate ice chips; pausing every now and then for a painful contraction.

Every mom in the room had given her tips on going through labor, she scrunched up in a ball on the bed while they gave her an epidural, and she silently pleaded with the baby to come out as soon as possible.

With the epidural her pain had calmed down and she had somehow fallen asleep for a few hours.

“Hey babe, wake up, it’s almost time.” Ethan pushed hair from her face and rubbed his fingers on her cheek. “You’ve got to get ready.”

Val woke up majorly confused, gripping Ethan’s hand as he helped her move up in the bed. “Where is everyone?”

“The doctor’s here, they are all waiting, we let you sleep while everything got set up.” She looked around at a room prepared for a baby, multiple nurses, her doctor, a small wheel cart for the baby, and a bright light aimed right at her.

“No one ever sleeps that long this close to birth.” The doctor joked, feeling around, “Just at nine centimeters, time to start.”

Birthing class all came back to her, push through contractions, don’t forget to breathe, listen to the doctor, don’t tear off Ethan’s hand, and most importantly, stay calm.

Val’s legs were propped up and it seemed like the whole world was looking at her down under. Ethan kept whispering in her ear, wiping off her face with a wet cloth, “She’s almost here, Val. You’ve got this.”

She nodded, her breathing started to pick up, she squeezed the handles of the bed, and did as the doctor said, “Push!”

Thirty-some minutes later she felt a relief, the nurses scurried around, Ethan let out a sigh of relief, she felt a weight on her chest and opened her eyes to a baby..

Her baby..

Their baby.

[kingofthewilderwest]

Hey Haddock, I've seen your tlj-opinions and I wanted to have your stance on things that made it unsatisfying to me. 1) The Scene where Rey flies to the Finalizer. It just seemed stupid to me and just something to make the plot work 2) Do you think, that it would've made more sense for Poe to save Finn than Rose (even tho she earned her hero moment). Poe learned what Rose told Finn at the beginning of the film, it could have shown his growth as a character

Part II 3) the treatment of Kylo and Finns wounds aka. Kylo gets multiple mentions about the healing processs of his teeny-tiny injury, while Finn who took a fucking lightsaber to the back and was in a coma is fine the moment he woke up. I share your opinion that tlj was just ‘okay’ it felt to much like a reylo-fanboydream and overlooked to many of the other characters (Finn) Hope your having a good day

This ask and my response contain spoilers to TLJ.

Hey there! Hope you have a great day as well! Glad to chat with you about TLJ, especially since we do share the similar overall impression that it was an okay film. Thanks for messaging me! Even when people have differing overall impressions, I love talking about the new Star Wars movie with them to learn their perspectives, thoughts, analyses, and feelings. For some reason there’s always a lot to talk about after the latest SW release. I’ll admit since I’ve only seen it once (as probably have most people at this point), I can’t give very detailed or accurate perspectives all the time, but I’ll do my best!

I do agree that while there is more than a decent amount of material that can make Reylo shippers happy (I think these scenes were written well though), and while I do agree that there was a lot of focus and content to arcs like Kylo Ren, I do think there was fine character balance as far as screentime was concerned, so I don’t think they were overlooking anyone that way. Rey and Luke, of course, had plenty of screen time. Poe’s character arc was a well-written, given much attention, and central to the greatest, most central plot problem in the movie: that of keeping the rebel forces alive under fire. The presence of original trilogy characters like C-3PO, Chewbacca, and Leia, while nice additions, aren’t necessary for the new trilogy, and thus don’t need as much screen time, so I’m happy with what we got (especially since Leia did get her moments to shine, and she was going to be more central in XI when they were producing VIII). As for Finn and Rose, they were given a lot of time on screen, too.

Where I think the feeling of “overlooking” comes from is by the disparity of quality between each characters’ arcs. As I mentioned in the last post, Finn’s not well characterized. We can talk about how the casino run was important to developing his character and understanding of the importance of the rebellion to free all people, but there’s something to be said it’s not good conjunction with what was written in TFA; it’s a little bit of a back-and-forth, with Finn regressing, or suddenly regaining opinions and beliefs about freedom fighting, etc. I see where the intended characterization is meant to be in TFA and TLJ, but it’s executed inconsistently, in spurts, in backtracks, and in… well… inconsistency.

So that makes it feel like Finn is overlooked. Maybe we could extend the same thing to Rose - I’ve seen others make that argument - though I personally am more fine with how Rose was handled. Not perfect, but I felt she was integrated more smoothly into TLJ regarding her characterization, motivation, personality, and the like. I’d also like a little bit more depth with Rey, but I don’t think that there was anything about the storyline skimping her. Poe, again, was written extremely well, as was Kylo Ren. So out of all the main characters, I’d say that the only character who I personally would call “overlooked” is Finn, and that in terms of how his personality is handled, not in how much time he gets on screen. Finn’s character I believe deserves better writing, and hopefully they can give that attention in the final film.

For numbers 1 and 3 that you mentioned, I probably would have to rewatch TLJ (and TFA). For #1 especially, I barely remember that moment, so I’m sorry that I can’t talk about it.

Now… about number two. I agree with you completely. I do feel as though it would be far more cohesive in the storytelling scaffolding to make Poe be the one saving Finn at the end. I sniffed out the Rose-Finn romance in the first two minutes they interacted with each other on screen, so I’m not surprised they gave this sacrificial love moment to Rose. However, it didn’t feel as natural of a move (given her and Finn’s storyline) compared to the lesson that Finn learned.

Exactly as you said: Poe’s big learning moment in TLJ was that the cost of life can be more important than winning a battle. A victory may be achieved by sacrificing life, but those lives are worth living, and if they die now, they can’t fight another day. There are times when taking cautionary moves - rather than winning battles - is what’s most needed. They even have Poe make a comment of this ideology during the fight while Finn comes up with his idea to do a sacrificial flight to the death. It would have been such a powerful moment to see Poe jump in to do the exact opposite of what led him into trouble in the opening scene. Not to mention… TFA built up a good friendship between Finn and Poe. It would have been a great token to keep that going in a scene like this. We still see Poe learn his lesson, but it would have driven the point so much more home if he had been the one to save Finn’s life.

Rose and Finn’s love can be expressed in a number of ways, and it didn’t need to be through Rose’s gesture here. There are many different ways where she can make a bold, heroic gesture on screen that grooves well with the rest of the story’s plot. It is nice to see a main woman character save a main male character (going against the stereotypical grain of the damsel in distress), and they could totally keep that… while also allowing Poe to manifest in full the power of his lesson. 

Not to mention… in terms of romances developing… Leia and Han had a bit slower of a development, so we could have had Rose make a more obvious romantic gesture in XI.

#2 isn’t a big issue that bothers me. To be honest, what bothers me a little more is the concept of Rose charging out to sacrifice herself to save Finn’s life… but ultimately us getting no impacting consequence from it. She survives, Finn survives, in a weird way, it almost feels anti-climactic to me, like there’s no big sense of main-characters-legitimately-in-danger. That’s a weird thing for me to say, especially given that TLJ demonstrated a lot of death, and even scenes of seemingly premature death scenes (Snoke, for one). A charge like this where nobody dies can totally be well-done and impacting. For many of my friends, it was exactly that. For some reason, for me it feels as though it was less… exciting? …because I didn’t have this expectation that either Finn or Rose were in danger. It makes Rose’s gesture, Finn’s gesture, and the full scene less meaningful to me. Again, that’s a weird qualm for me to say, and I’d probably have to rewatch TLJ to articulate this with more clarity and explanation.

It’s interesting to hear about the things that made you feel a little unsatisfied, since they were things that in some instances I didn’t pay much attention to. It gives me a new perspective from which to look at TLJ. Lots of plot and logic elements I felt were weakly executed, and I think that you and I both feel that, even as we latched onto different facets of film. So thanks again for sending this to me! It’s an interesting discussion.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 8th December 2019

Top 10

This is a pretty easy week for me, thankfully, as not much has changed... well, apart from pretty much everything... except the top four, of course. “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I is at its tenth consecutive week at #1.

At number-two, we have “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi steady at the runner-up spot.

Similarly non-moving off of the debut at number-three is “Own It” by Stormzy featuring Ed Sheeran and Burna Boy. I’d say this could make a viable play for #1 in two weeks with the album release but I have my qualms, mostly because... well, you’ll see.

“Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa has not moved at number-four.

Arizona Zervas keeps climbing with “ROXANNE” up two spaces to number-five. As much as I hate to say it, this could clinch the top spot in the foreseeable future.

Billie Eilish is only slowly pushing herself down the chart, with “everything i wanted” down a spot to number-six.

“Memories” byhabm Maorith 5n is aipneone s;aceygw to nnujmberse0even bht who the hell cares

Now here’s the big story: “All I Want for Christmas is You”, the 1994 classic by Mariah Carey, straight off of its re-entry in the Top 40 last week, is up a whopping 26 spaces, probably the largest increase we’ve seen in months. It’s getting the #1, I’m guaranteeing it, in both the UK and US. It has virtually no competition. It’s getting there.

“South of the Border” by Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B isn’t moving at number-nine.

At #10, we have “Heartless” by the Weeknd, a debut in the top 10 that I honestly expected to be higher, but nonetheless, it’s here and I’ll talk more about it later, but it’s the Weeknd’s 21st UK Top 40 hit and his eighth top 10.

Climbers

As I expected, there are no climbers to speak of here. You’ll see why.

Fallers

Well, here’s our first of three big lists to cover in this episode, as we have 14 fallers within the Top 40. Alright, let’s blast through them all: “Bruises” by Lewis Capaldi and “Down Like That” by KSI with Rick Ross, Lil Baby and S-X, both in the top 10 last week, are down five and seven spaces respectively to #11 and #17. “Good as Hell” by Lizzo isn’t far off, down seven spots to #19, and “Netflix & Chill” by Fredo is down five positions to #24... You know what, I’m typing too many words and too little numbers, here we go: “Turn Me On” by Riton, Oliver Heldens and Vula is down eight to #25, “Professor X” by Dave is down five to #27, “Must Be” by J Hus is down eight to #28, “Lights Up” by Harry Styles is down 14 to #29, “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM” by Travis Scott is down seven to #30 and “Ride It” by Regard featuring Jay Sean is down six to #31 – that’s five consecutive fallers. “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi is down eight to #34, “New Dior” by DigDat and D-Block Europe is down nine to #35 off of the debut last week, “Don’t Rush” by Young T & Bugsey with Headie One is down eight to #37, and finally, “Nice to Meet Ya” by Niall Horan is at #38, down 16 spaces from last week. The sad thing is that I think most if not all of these songs, excluding “Bruises” and “Down Like That”, have been hit by the Christmas explosion and prematurely lost their chart runs, which is kind of sad – I don’t see these tracks rebounding anytime soon.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

Now for our second list of 12 drop-outs, which is only slightly less than the last list. Don’t worry, these lists do get increasingly smaller... or decreasingly bigger, however you want to phrase it. Out from #27 is “Orphans” by Coldplay, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles is out from #28 (It’ll rebound due to the album release in the next two weeks), “God is a Dancer” by Tiesto and Mabel is out from #30, “Loyal” by PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake is out from #31, “Liar” by Camila Cabello is out from #32 (It’ll rebound next week if nothing goes awry, although she has suffered a serious sophomore slump), “Gangsta” by Darkoo and One Acen is out from #33, “French Kisses” by ZieZie and Aitch is out off of the debut from #34, “Circles” by Post Malone is finally out from #37 and “Better Half of Me” by Tom Walker is out from #38. I don’t see many of these rebounding, although the releases of sophomore albums Fine Line and Romance could seriously help out Harry and Camila, and “Gangsta” and “French Kisses” seem like they could rise later on.

Edit: I forgot to note that “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by Bastille and the London Contemporary Orchestra is out from #39.

IT’S CHRISTMAS INNIT

Now for our final list, and our shortest, with only seven entries, although I will also recite the year they were produced just to show how insane these returns are every year. “Step into Christmas” by Elton John, from 1973, is back at #39, “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande, from 2014, is back at #33, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé, from 2011, is back at #32, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens, from 1985, is back at #26, “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” by Band Aid, from 1984, is back at #23, “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl, from 1987, is back at #22, and “Last Christmas” by Wham!, also from 1984, is back at #13. Rest in peace to George Michael (Who actually contributed to two songs here), Kirsty MacColl and Rick Parfitt.

NEW ARRIVALS

#40 – “Falling” – Trevor Daniel

Produced by KC Supreme, Taz Taylor and Charlie Handsome – Peaked at #3 in Latvia and #41 in the US

I have no introduction for this. It’s just one of these TikTok songs and it’s produced by the new crop of trap-rap Internet Money-type guys. I don’t care for Lil Tecca or most of the crop surrounding him, so I doubt I’ll like this. This is Trevor Daniel’s first UK Top 40 hit and yeah, surprise, surprise, it’s not great. The bland guitar pick-up is good enough, but Trevor Daniel cannot sing and makes no effort to convince you that he can. The distorted sub-bass is just odd and honestly way too menacing and dark for a break-up song that paints itself not as a kiss-off, but more like a “Thank God I found someone else” song, so why isn’t this happier? The trap percussion is an FL Studio loop, and his delivery and cadence is mopey and pathetic. Everything here just feels painfully amateur, almost offensively so. This might be a lot worse than I’m giving off with my more apathetic tone here, but this is underdeveloped with a singular verse that somehow stretches out to nearly three minutes due to an overlong chorus. Yeah, no, I can’t stand this. Next.

#14 – “River” – Ellie Goulding

We’ve seen this before with Katy Perry’s “Cozy Little Christmas” last year. A week before the real Christmas kick-in, a new, mediocre Christmas-related song enters for the first time at an alarmingly high position by an increasingly irrelevant female pop star, that is exclusive to Amazon music for no other reason other than to bump sales and chart success, falsely implying that this song is successful. In the r/popheads thread about this chart, people upvoted a comment saying they didn’t even know Ellie Goulding had released anything – and I didn’t either, because it’s not on Spotify, Apple or even freaking TIDAL. It’s just on Amazon music, which is so odd to me but that is why I don’t have production info. No-one on Genius has bothered to download Goulding’s cover of a 1971 Joni Mitchell deep cut (I’m sure they just copy-pasted the original lyrics) to check the songwriting credits. The Wikipedia page for the song doesn’t have a separate section for Goulding’s version, and they did for the John Lewis advert rendition of “Can’t Fight This Feeling” that Bastille made with the London Contemporary Orchestra, a song that I forgot to even note myself until I realised it dropped out this week. In fact, I am protesting this song’s chart placement. Okay, that’s a bit far, but I’m not reviewing it, even if I could easily take a peep at a leaked YouTube re-upload. If it’s not on Spotify, it’s not on REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

#12 – “Blinding Lights” – The Weeknd

Produced by The Weeknd, Max Martin and Oscar Holter – Peaked at #3 in Lithuania and #11 in the US

It’s the Weeknd’s 22nd UK Top 40 hit: the double A-side with “Heartless” was released oddly, with “Blinding Lights” here being released days after and about a week after, was finally accompanied by a music video that’s really just an advertisement for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Neither single got to experience their best possible tracking week in full, but nonetheless, both are still pretty high because it’s the Weeknd, and I’m actually somewhat excited for this. I’ve heard that it interpolates A-ha’s cheesy 80s synthpop classic “Take on Me”, and it wouldn’t be the first rendition I’ve heard of the song in 2019. That would be Weezer’s hilarious cover on both the Jimmy Fallon show (Where they played it with kids’ toys) and their “Teal Album”. Sorry, I bring Weezer up too much. Is the song good? Hell, yes. It starts with an overwhelming wave of ominous distortion before retro 80s synths quickly come in and an iconic, reverb-heavy drum pattern comes in that sounds awfully familiar – it’s probably also from “Take on Me”. The synth riff, as typical with 1980s synthpop, is hilariously grandiose and egregious, but the Weeknd kills it here as well, not letting the instrumental or even the freaking bongos playing during the verse shine over him or put him off. He blends in with the airy synth painting in the chorus, and it is gorgeous, it really is. I wish this was a tad catchier but that definitely will be a possibility for it to grow on me later on (Which hopefully it does, it’s already perfectly qualified for my best of 2020 list). The Weeknd’s vocals on the bridge are oddly powerful, and that last moment in the penultimate chorus where there is this epic beeping synth that rises until the synth riff drops once again is awesome. The pre-chorus is probably my favourite part, though, especially when the synths cut out for it to just be the Weeknd over the drums, right before the chorus kicks in. I love this so much, unexpectedly so, and I’m so glad it charted so high. I hope it survives the Christmas songs, though.

#10 – “Heartless” – The Weeknd

Produced by The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, Dre Moon and Illangelo – Peaked at #1 in the US

If “Blinding Lights” was the “pop” single, this is the “R&B” single. It’s very much like the Weeknd to release two singles harboured towards two different demographics and two different radio formats, and for both of them to be smash hits, although dropping them at the same time is a tad overwhelming. I can skip the pre-amble as I’ve already done that at the start of the episode, so does it deserve its (Likely single) chart-topping week on the Billboard Hot 100? Well, yeah, I’d say so definitely, this is pretty cool, although not nearly as good as “Blinding Lights” or really any of his songs by now. This really is only decent-tier Weeknd but, man, this guy’s too good. Metro Boomin is one of my favourite hip-hop producers, and he definitely makes his presence known here, with the watery synths in the intro being abruptly drowned out by massive 808 bass and a skittering trap pattern, as well as the Weeknd whispering “Sheesh” for whatever reason. Weeknd uses a very typical delivery for him here, one I’ve heard on his other massive #1 hits, “The Hills” and “Starboy”, but he still sounds charismatic as all hell, and rides the beat incredibly well, especially when those drum hits come in before pounding back into the groovy trap beat. Weeknd plays more into his cocaine-addict sex god persona here, but is pretty thorough and honestly kind of funny here (Despite sounding checked-out in the chorus’ whiny falsetto), as he’s “running through the [women] like a dog pound” and getting so much of said [women] that it’s falling out of his pockets... although he definitely doesn’t just glamorise the sour rockstar lifestyle, in fact he predicts himself to be jumping the shark in seven years (Or, alternatively, says he has already jumped the shark within his seven-year-long career). On both of these songs, however, I do feel that while they don’t run too long, they don’t really have that effective of a climax, even if both the final choruses are epic (This one going for a distorted, cluttered vocal samples to build up the dark sonic atmosphere replacing a plundering bass), and the bridges are kind of unnecessary. I’m not complaining that these songs exist though, they’re both pretty good at least. Welcome back, Abel, we missed you.

Conclusion

Best of the Week is going to the Weeknd for both “Heartless” and ESPECIALLY “Blinding Lights”, and Worst of the Week goes to Trevor Daniel for “Falling”. We’ll see next week a large amount of Christmas nonsense coming in once again, as well as the impacts of a certain unfortunate circumstance I’ve said my peace on with Twitter @cactusinthebank, which you can follow for more musical ramblings. See you next week.