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hopesiick · 4 years ago

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𝐉𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐃 // vice detective, thirty-three, red ridge native.

— unflinching, grudging, brainy, irreverent, plucky, mulish. loosely inspired by dominique dipierro (mr robot), laurie blake (watchmen hbo), eve polastri (killing eve), wendy byrde (ozark), and allie pressman (the society). this vine, too.

howdy, folks! i’m dev. 🤠 this is my dearest brain babie, jordan. normally, this is where i’d get all mushy-gushy on y’all, but the rest of this introduction is already too long as it is, and i’d rather not add insult to injury hehe. just know i’m happy to be here & even more excited to get to know you all + your brain babies, too! 🥳 @redridgeimp

— pinterest, stats + connections page.

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑: bullet points marked with three asterisks (***) feature mentions of domestic abuse and unfit parenting. reader discretion is advised.

the toussards are old money. her mother’s side of the family have made their fortune off of hay farms scattered across the state of nevada, and her father’s side of the family have mostly been cattle and dairy farmers. together, they decided to venture into real estate, too, by buying up farm land plots and selling them at a higher price, along with residential plots, too.

they’re not showy people, but they definitely make good use of their money. jordan’s childhood home is a plantation-style house on a big ole plot of land situated on the outskirts of town. they had healthy green grass with sprinklers and a full garden. inside, everything was real wood, ivory, and silver. they had a maid and gardeners and the whole nine yards. still, if you hadn’t seen that or recognized their family name, you might have expected them to be any other family belonging to red ridge.

to many, they gave off the image of a picture-perfect, all-american nuclear family. it’s easy to pretend, seeing as they live so far away from all the glitz and none of them -- no matter how they feel -- are willing to shatter that golden reputation, but it isn’t real. elise, her mother, wanted a doll more than she wanted an actual child, and it was society’s pressure on women to give birth that forced her hand, not any sense of innate desire for expanding the family. joseph, her father, was too caught up in his wife’s every wish and whim to really pay attention to jordan in a deep way. he never turned his back on her, but jordan never felt any deep belonging to him either -- if anything, he felt more like a 2d stand in for the father she wished she’d had.

*** that meant there was only one adult left to really pick up her parent’s slack, and that was corinne, her aunt. corinne, who had an awful habit of bringing terrible men home. corinne, who was bipolar and unmedicated, and often in charge of taking care of jordan from the moment she was in diapers to the moment she graduated college. corinne, who was manipulated by her own sister. corinne, who was helpless to protect jordan against her mother’s attacks, and unable to shield her from the rage her boyfriends spat. corinne is like a mother to jordan. she was the hand that rubbed her back when she was sick. she was the open arms that held her when one of jordan’s teenage dates went sour. she was the one to cover for her when she snuck out and the one to teach her everything her mother considered too immoral and dirty. corinne is her mother in the way elise never could be, but still .. jordan can’t help but feel anger towards her.

*** jordan’s known how to use, fire, and clean a gun from the age of eight. she learned how to hunt at the age of ten. she knew and helped her father field dress a handful of animals by the age of twelve. you may think this was just a bit of heavy-handed bonding between a father and daughter, but it wasn’t. elise and joseph used to go away a lot, both for pleasure and business, which left jordan in corinne’s sole care. that wouldn’t be a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that a grand majority of corinne’s relationships were abusive, specifically physically. jordan was a child, but she was a child with a duty -- a duty to protect her caretaker if necessary. at the time, jordan didn’t think much of it. she liked feeling like she had an in with her father, liked feeling important. it was only when she got older that she realized how fucked up everything had been, and how that’s the driving factor behind the feeling of fear she just can’t drop, and the mistrust she has in others. the anger she feels towards corinne is rooted in that. she can’t help but feel like it’s corinne’s fault and she hates that her aunt -- a fully grown adult -- was the center of her childhood, instead of her own self.

skipping forward a bit, jordan went to college right after high school to major in criminal science. her lifelong exposure to such abuse left her with a taste for vengeance. see, jordan wanted to be a police officer to protect her hometown, sure, but she also wanted the badge so that she could finally dish out the punishment that so many of the officers she’d seen were unwilling to. the only way to stop that culture of turning a blind eye was to do it from the inside, and that’s exactly what she did.

jordan’s been a cop for twelve years now. she started her career doing patrol and eventually working with the gangs and narcotics team for five years. after a lot of pestering and brown-nosing, jordan became a g&n detective. she was mostly in charge of surveillance, carrying out raids, and the planning of both. ( she had an opportunity early in her career to go undercover, but jordan’s too obvious for that. ) eventually, jordan switched departments over to the special victims unit, but that stint really only served as a segue into where she is now: the vice and support department. she used to specialize in community outreach, helping bridge the gap between the community and the precinct. she worked with groups focused on helping those affected by drugs and sex workers who have been abused. when one of the detectives assigned to missing persons cases left, jordan was quick to apply for it. needless to say, she got the job and has been doing that since.

she’s got the nose for it -- all the digging and reviewing and passion for the relentless pursuit. she doesn’t particularly like dealing with the families of those affected, but it’s part of the job. on most days, she genuinely enjoys it, but with the rise in crime and the amount of deaths at their feet, jordan can’t help but rethink her choices. she’s competitive by nature; she can’t handle these losing games.

jordan’s a very cutthroat cop -- especially in her g&n days, when it was all heat, all pressure, all the time. she’s got an eye for weakness and isn’t afraid to exploit that on the job. she’s not above making threats -- promises, really -- and has always been the type to gather as much evidence as humanly possible, because she wants prosecutors to see justice through. she’s just really efficient. she wouldn’t be where she was at only thirty-three if she wasn’t. most of the time, you can catch her putting in overtime hours.

that being said... jordan has a big heart. she doesn’t believe in institutions as a whole, but she does believe in people. the law is the law and rules are vital for a functioning society, but .. she may be willing to look the other way sometimes, if you’re close enough. ( i mean, she was married to a valencia member at one point, so. ) she may not agree with what some people do, but she’ll really only go after you if what you’re doing is truly heinous. ( but don’t tell her supervisors! 🥺 and don’t mention the hypocrisy to her face. )

outside of work, though, jordan’s pretty chill. she used to be a loudmouthed firecracker in her youth, but she’s calmed down significantly since then. really, she’s not so bad! maybe it's because she can't handle being alone, but she thrives from being in groups + will strike up a conversation with anyone and everyone. if she likes your shoes, she'll tell you. if you need a ride home then she’ll walk with you because she’s most likely equally as inebriated. kind of the person that you’re hesitant to approach, but when you do she treats you like you’re old friends -- even if you're not. you know that drunk girl in the bathroom that gives you sagely advice or tells you she loves your hair? that’s jordan, except she’s not drunk.

when jordan makes her mind up on something, it’s almost impossible to get her to budge. it doesn’t matter if she’s in the wrong, she’ll trudge on no matter what. her flippancy in the face of danger – a prized act at this point – has landed her in trouble before, and it most certainly will again. she’s unyielding and unapologetic; not willing to change herself for anyone. getting her to talk about her emotions is like pulling teeth, except even that would probably be easier. she’s incredibly honest about some things as a way to hide behind it; it’s a farce that distracts people into thinking she’s being honest with them, when really she’s not -- not entirely, anyway.

loves love, but she’s rotten at it. her anxiety gets in the way, tells her that she’ll mess it up somehow until she finally does, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. ( something-something abt the fact that she can’t comprehend someone loving her if not even her own parents could ). she’s a much better friend, and jordan thinks that’s more important anyhow. genuinely, if you’re her friend then she loves you endlessly and earnestly.

𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓 !

jordan is that friend that gets a little bit too into car karaoke.

she’s also the type to order a screwdriver during an 11a brunch.

it’s a wonder that she doesn’t have tinnitus, considering she always blasts heavy metal music in her car.

makes jokes about getting married and divorced, because if you can’t laugh at your pain then you’re fucked.

if you ever visit her unannounced, you’ll spot her in t-shirts that say “milf in training”, “god looks like me”, and more.

if you’re mean to her she’ll give you a parking ticket.

she plays dirty in fights. used to bite a lot as a child and she still does. all is fair in love and war, babie! enjoy getting that tetanus shot and lovely hospital bill! 💋

pantsuits from monday to friday, and overalls without a bra on the weekend because fuck that shit. also extremely partial to shirts with low plunges. a lil bit of side titty for everyone.

if you’re leaving a drink behind she’ll finish it for you because daddy didn’t raise no quitters.

has a lot of self-worth issues, but she’d sooner die than ever tell anyone about them or even confront them herself.

don’t let the pantsuit fool you! there’s pure muscle underneath that two-piece, babie.

𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒄. 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔:

“i am the shape you made me. filth teaches filth.”

"can i be blamed for my efforts? all men are drawn to the sea, perilous though it may be."

"there is a place, deep in the heart of fear, where you trap yourself and claim that is safety."

"still, a great deal of light falls on everything."

"i hold a stalk in my hand. i am the stalk. my roots go down to the depth of the world."

“i always figured when i got older, god would sorta come into my life somehow. and he didn’t. i don’t blame him. if i was him i would have the same opinion of me that he does.”

“nothing washes off.”

“you cannot be stolen, ransacked, looted like an emptied bank account or a burgled house. you are the tough old tissues, the exquisite scars. you are the thing that would not die.”

𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒔 ! ( open to any gender )

jordan can’t function without a best friend, so.. gimme, please! 🥺🤲

i once read a passage talking about how the friendships you make in your childhood can never be mimicked in your adulthood, and you know what.. #true. where’s jordan’s childhood friends at? do they still keep in touch? did they have a massive fallout as teenagers where jordan told them to get hit by a truck because she was a very dramatic 16 yr old? were they frenemies? do they still have one of jordan’s things because she was terrible at remembering everything after a sleepover? did jordan’s parents help your muse’s family out? idc, just gimme!

exes / almost exes. remember what i said about jordan being a shit when it comes to love? they could’ve been serious at some point whether as adults or in their youth, maybe it was short-lived, maybe jordan never even let it get off the ground. could be on good terms or bad terms or no terms at all.

neighbors!! jordan pulls some odd hours n sometimes plays her music a little too loud and burns her food more often than she should at 33 yrs old. she may or may not be the best neighbor to have is all i’m saying, but she tries!!

friends!! platonic love is the most purest form of love there is and she’s got a lot of it to give!! come and get ya some!

enemies / hateships because sometimes .. it just be like that. whether this has to do with a falling out of some sort, just straight up hate at first sight, or something to do with an encounter on the job, or something else entirely i’m here for it!

one night stands / [old] fwb. i’m gonna be honest with y’all: if jordan likes you, then she can’t sleep with you. now, i’m gonna be honest with y’all again: jordan’s very much a yes-girl. she says and does things just to get a reaction sometimes or see what’ll happen ( something-something "sometimes if you let people do things to you, you're really doing it to them" ). that being said, she’ll sleep with just about anyone. maybe they don’t talk about it ever, maybe they only ever talk when they want something, maybe they regret it, maybe it’s all gucci, and maybe it was good until it wasn’t. idk!

jordan has been shot twice in her career thus far. the first time was during a noise disturbance call and the second time was during a narc raid. if your muse wants in on that we can discuss the deets!

and also literally whatever else your heart desires because i’m both here for the fluffiest deepest connections ever and also the angstiest makes-me-wanna-die type shit. i literally don’t say no to anything so if you have any ideas you think jordan can be a good fit for, i’m all ears!!

#redridgeintro #did i really have to write all of tht? no. but did i do it anyway bc i love jordan with my whole entire heart? yes. yes i unfortunately did.#tldr is that she's just a messy ole scaredy cat with a big marshmallow heart !!!!#domestic violence tw #domestic abuse tw

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ktwrites · 6 years ago

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Breaking Up With Game of Thrones- But Not Saying Goodbye

There’s only so much one can take in any relationship until they reach the breaking point. The excuses they’ve made can no longer justify sticking with something or someone. After last week, I’ve realized that I’ve reached my own personal breaking point with Game of Thrones. It’s time we break up.

I came to GoT at a point in my life where I was adrift, for lack of a better term. Stuck somewhere after I graduated from college with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, but before I made the decision to start graduate school to pursue my Masters in Library Science, in what I now affectionately refer to as my “gap year”. I was working part time at the library I’d worked at since High School after moving back home and also going to school part time thinking maybe I’d be a teacher?

I remember it being a Friday night in September and I had the evening free to myself. I knew of Game of Thrones, but once I found out that it was a fantasy show and not really historical fiction, my interest waned. Dragons? No thanks. Still, while searching through shows to watch OnDemand, I paused at the first episode and thought I’d give it a shot.

That’s really all it took. That Friday night I watched three episodes in a row, followed by the remaining seven the next day. I’m fairly certain there was some kind of educational psychology homework I should’ve been working on. Whatever. I was hooked in the best and worst kind of way. Daenerys was far and away my favorite character.

At the time, it wasn’t so much that I saw a lot of comparisons between her life and my own, but that her journey from the beginning of season one to the end was so fascinating to me. Hindsight is 20/20 and I now fully regret liking Dany and Drogo to begin with. I made excuses for them, too, and it wasn’t until I had some distance from season one that I saw how toxic their relationship was. I blame Jason and Emilia for this one. Mea culpa. Thanks to anyone who helped me see the light in those early days.

It didn’t take long for me to begin liking the idea of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen being “together”. In the beginning, I’ll admit that I shipped them because they would look damn good together (and they really fucking do). The more I delved into the books, the more I watched the show, the harder I shipped them and the more I saw their eventual relationship as an inevitability. A matter of destiny.

I kept waiting for them to meet. Surely it would happen by season four or five at the latest! How wrong was I? We all patiently waited until season seven for the two of them to meet. By that time I had already started a fic about them almost two full years before they even met on the show. I loved everything about them. They shared so much in common, yet they were so different. They were a perfectly complementary couple.

Until season eight.

Well before season eight, fans of the show- especially female fans- had many causes for concern. Pacing, poor continuity, the treatment of women and people of color were all problems that existed before season eight began, but the final season seemed to exacerbate each and every one of those problems. Everything that GoT did so well has been sacrificed on the altar of shock value and no character has seen such assassination as Dany. The symbol of hope and female strength throughout the entire series has been reduced to nothing more than a caricature of a bad Disney villain. I thought Disney endings were supposed to be bad? Seventy-one episodes of character progression gone in a flash.

Dany’s turn to the dark side has not only happened at break-neck speed, but has also happened in a most cruel and unjust way because it not only degrades her character, but characters like the Dothraki and the Unsullied.

Dany’s madness is so infuriating because it’s rooted in actions and events that she should be rightly justified in being angry about. She’s lost more than any other character this season, she’s been hurt and betrayed by a number of supposed allies, she’s been undermined, and attempts have been made on her life. But, you know, she’s CRAZY.

If we’re all crazy for liking and rooting for Dany all this time, then so be it. I’ll never stop talking about what a great character she was until season 8. I’m not ashamed to be a Daenerys fan just because some petty white men decided to erase everything she achieved and accomplished.

I can’t stomach it anymore. So I’m breaking up with what GoT has become. In this divorce I’ll be taking with me the following:

*Daenerys Targaryen

*Jon Snow

*Boatie Targaryen, First of Her Name

*Drogon and Rhaegal

*Ghost

*Davos

*Missandei

*Grey Worm and the Unsullied

*The Dothraki

*Ser Jorah

*All of my fanfiction past, present, and future

*The theories I’ve contributed to

*The friends I’ve made along the way who are just as hurt as I am.

I’m letting HBO and David and Dan keep the following:

*Blatant misogyny

*Terrible Writing

*”Bad Pussy”

*The Bells of King’s Landing

Moving on from a breakup is hard. It hurts. Dany, Jon, Jonerys, and GoT will always hold a place in my heart. I want to get past this week so I can start looking back on all the things I enjoy about them, all the things I love. I’ll continue to write my fics, to make posts, and reblog the gifsets that all of you talented people create. I know it’s not something everyone can do and I completely respect that. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making this fandom a joy to be a part of. I’ll be damned if I let Dan and Dave steal my joy.

Daenerys doesn’t belong to them. She belongs to anyone who has been doubted and defied the odds. She belongs to anyone who was knocked down but didn’t stay down. She belongs to every woman and girl who looked to her over the years as a symbol of strength, hope and resilience. She belongs to us.

#Game of Thrones #Daenerys Targaryen #Jon Snow #Jonerys

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cinema-tv-etc · 6 years ago

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‘Game Of Thrones’ Built Up Its Female Characters Just To Watch Them Fall

The women we championed for nearly a decade suffered confusing character shifts in the final season.

By Leigh Blickley 05/14/2019

Bells continuously chime as Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), sitting atop her fire-breathing dragon Drogon, stares out at King’s Landing. She’s enraged, having recently watched Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) order the execution of her best friend, Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), shortly after her dragon-child Rhaegal was speared to death.

Before facing those losses, Dany fought the army of the dead, held her adviser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) as he took his last breath and discovered that her new love, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), was actually her nephew, the true heir to the Iron Throne. At this particular moment, she’s unhinged. And bells are ringing. And ringing, and ringing.

With the Red Keep in sight, Dany snarls as she decides to forgo everything she’s become in favor of an old Targaryen tactic: “Burn them all.” She goes full villain in the penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones,” scorching enemies and innocents alike as she surrenders to madness.

Yet many viewers saw little forewarning that a character twist of this magnitude was coming, and her erratic change of heart was a punch to the gut. Instead of the satisfying conclusion of a long descent to depravity, Dany suddenly shifts modes, from a woman who graciously earned loyalty over seven seasons to a power-hungry monster who murders thousands of men, women and children.

Sure, she wasn’t always perfect, but the Daenerys Targaryen we knew was the fearless Mother of Dragons. She was Khaleesi, who united the Dothraki after the death of Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), later rallying them to fight for her claim to the Seven Kingdoms. She was Mhysa, who freed the Unsullied and was lifted up by the slaves of Mereen. Dany rose from the ashes to break chains and then risked everything to protect Jon and the North from the Night King’s army.

To see a woman so fully represented over 70 hours of television, especially in a fantasy epic, was groundbreaking. But, with a final season of just six episodes, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss decided that a couple of scenes were enough to turn the unburnt beauty bad ― and essentially muddied her yearslong journey.

The “Game of Thrones” audience had devoted so much time to Dany, and other characters, only to now watch Benioff and Weiss hurry along the ending (and move on to their “Star Wars” trilogy). Why couldn’t they, after spending nearly two years crafting the final season, show us Dany’s slow decline into madness? Why do we have to watch “Inside the Episode” to figure it all out?

Surely George R.R. Martin, who wrote the unfinished “Song of Ice and Fire” book series on which the HBO show is based, told Benioff and Weiss where he wanted the storyline to go: “Mad Queen” Dany destroys King’s Landing, demonstrating that humanity, not necessarily the dead, is the true enemy. The thing is, the showrunners decided to shorten the final two seasons of “Game of Thrones,” to seven and six episodes respectively, and rush through key plot points to reach Martin’s goal. And it’s turned into a bit of a nonsensical mess.

Sure, make Dany evil ― women can be monsters, too. We’ve certainly seen glimpses of her “madness” in the past, whether it be callously watching as her brother Viserys (Harry Lloyd) is killed by Khal Drogo in Season 1 or perhaps prematurely burning alive the father and brother of Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) in Season 7.

But whereas, lately, the show tells us what to think, the books present Dany’s inner monologue. Readers can see how she fights to shake her violent family history as not only her actions but her wide-ranging relationships with siblings, friends and lovers are described.

From “A Storm of Swords”:

“I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn’t have done that. He wasn’t just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can’t protect themselves?”

“Some kings make themselves. Robert did.”

“He was no true king,” Dany said scornfully. “He did no justice. Justice ... that’s what kings are for.”

Ser Jorah had no answer. He only smiled, and touched her hair, so lightly. It was enough.

Although “Game of Thrones” used to give us more context around characters and their decision-making, once it passed the books’ timeline in Season 6, the series faltered a bit in terms of depth. It didn’t show us the intricacies of Dany’s small council, her romance with Jon or her friendship with Missandei, who is only a young girl in Martin’s novels. Perhaps if we saw the show’s version of Dany and Missandei have a meaningful conversation about fear or loneliness ― versus men and sex ― we would have understood Dany’s underlying fragility and why Missandei’s murder triggered a rage within her. Instead, we saw the one woman of color become a plot device to turn Dany, as well as her own lover Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), to the dark side.

That’s all to say that the recent rushed storylines have prevented us from getting that nuance we previously used to connect the dots.

The same flaw also hurts other women on “Game of Thrones,” including Cersei, Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams).

Brienne is one of the strongest warriors in Westeros. She killed Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) and took down the 6-foot-6 Hound (Rory McCann) ― with a few solid punches, might we add. Yet she turned into a puddle of mush when Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) left her for Cersei ― something she would’ve never done three seasons ago. In one sense, it’s wonderful to see a vulnerable woman on screen. But Brienne ― who is rarely shown out of armor ― sobbing in a nightgown came out of left field. (Love makes us do crazy things?)

And Cersei was so shocked and afraid to meet her rubbly end during Episode 5, Season 8, that it’s easy to forget she once told Ned Stark (Sean Bean): “In the game of thrones, you win or you die.” The ruthless Cersei we’ve studied over eight seasons, the most cunning of the cunning, would’ve known to flee the city when she saw dragon fire (especially if she wanted to protect her unborn child). Or she would’ve at least had another plan in case those scorpion artillery weapons didn’t work out.

We’re not watching the most adventurous show in the world for uninventive writing. Yet here we are.

During the most recent episode, The Hound easily convinces Arya to go home and forget about killing Cersei. She hugs him goodbye, gives up on Cersei and tries to make it safely out of King’s Landing.

Eh, what? We’ve watched Arya train for years to become an assassin. She just destroyed the Night King with a stab of a dagger! She doesn’t fear death! She just traveled weeks to get to the capital for one sole purpose: to murder the woman who betrayed her family.

Too-fast, terribly thought-out writing has reduced “Game of Thrones” to a soap opera. We miss the scenes where Dany argues the advice of Ser Barristan Selmy (Ian McElhinney). Or when Arya secretly soaks up intel from Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance). Or how about when Sansa Stark feeds her abusive husband Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) to his own hounds?

Now we see a half-baked “Mad Queen” and a woman like Sansa crediting sexual violence, not her own strength, for making her a power player in Westeros.

THE HOUND: None of it would’ve happened if you left King’s Landing with me. No Littlefinger. No Ramsay. None of it.

SANSA: Without Littlefinger and Ramsay, and the rest, I would’ve stayed a little bird all my life.

It’s that bad.

Riddle me this: Why does a show featuring four leading ladies have barely any female writers? (Bonus: Michelle MacLaren was the only female director brought on to helm episodes, the last of which aired in 2014.) Although Gursimran Sandhu is credited as a staff writer for Season 8 on IMDb, only two other women, Jane Espenson and Vanessa Taylor, wrote for the series, with both of their runs ending by 2013. That, my little birds, is the root of a very big, now unfixable problem.

Espenson helped craft scenes like the aforementioned death of Viserys, and Taylor had a say in that memorable lunch between Sansa, Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and Olenna (Diana Rigg) as well as Arya and The Hound’s Brotherhood Without Banners meetup. Those back-and-forths soar in comparison to Season 8’s Sansa-Dany stares or Cersei’s unexplained cowardice.

Clearly, Sandhu couldn’t have singlehandedly saved the final season, but other women’s voices in the writers’ room might have provided more perspective into these characters’ closing motivations.

Still, Martin created these women, and Benioff and Weiss have shown they can write strong dialogue for them on this show. It just feels like the latter two’s desire to be in a galaxy far, far away perhaps trumped their desire to give these ladies what they deserve: earned arcs.

RELATED COVERAGE

‘Game Of Thrones’ Fans Had A Lot Of Feelings About Daenerys’ Fiery Choice

The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 8 Premiere Was Good. But Why Wasn’t It Great?

Why That Daenerys Twist On ‘Game Of Thrones’ Burns So Badly

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/game-of-thrones-women-daenerys-cersei-arya-sansa_n_5cd98811e4b0796a95dfd968

#Game Of Thrones #final season

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acsversace-news · 6 years ago

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Finn Wittrock received his second Emmy nomination this year for playing Jeff Trail, victim of serial killer Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” Wittrock was previously nominated in this same category of Best Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor category for his twisted role as Dandy in “American Horror Story: Freak Show” in 2015.

Wittrock recently spoke with Gold Derby contributing writer Charles Brightabout playing Jeff and all of his “contradictions,” what it’s like to work with Ryan Murphy and the funny way he learned about his Emmy nomination. Watch the exclusive web chat above and read the complete interview transcript below.

Gold Derby: Finn Wittrock, you just received an Emmy nomination for your work in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” What was your reaction to that when you read the episode script that you submitted, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”? What was your reaction to that?

Finn Wittrock: I continued to be surprised by the writing of that show. Really though, Tom Rob Smith, who wrote all of the episodes, continued to surprise me in the direction that it went. I knew a little bit about where they were gonna go with it but I didn’t quite expect the entire episode would follow Jeff’s own little arc, sort of mini arc. I really admired the way that he crafted these episodes in terms of having the basic through line of Cunanan and [Gianni] Versace and these offshoots based on sometimes the victims, at the end you follow the father figure, so each character gets their own self-contained episode and then that works its way back into the thing. I was very impressed by that. I was very surprised and happy how much time they took addressing Jeff’s own coming to terms with his identity and his sexuality and how complicated and contradictory it was for him to come out as a gay man and come out against a policy, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” which he disagreed with, but he was a fundamentally very patriotic, very loving of the military kind of upright, responsible young man. All those contradictions. I think often I’m looking for how many contradictions can we fit into one person. That just excites me and so, all those elements were there.

GD: I like that you mentioned how it was structured, because we first saw your character in the previous episode but we only saw you for like two minutes and then you’re bludgeoned to death.

FW: Yeah, my friends called me and they were like, “Man, you were filming that for so many months. That’s it? Just for those two scenes and then you were dead? What were you doing all that time?” I’m like, “Guys, it works backwards. Figure it out.”

GD: What was also brilliant about that was in watching the next episode, the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” episode, it just made everything in that episode all the more tragic, ‘cause in a way, Cunanan was this life preserver for Jeff but it was also his undoing, unfortunately. It just encapsulated the tragedy of it so much.

FW: Yeah, that is what tragedy is, knowing that the ending is gonna be terrible and yet being along for the ride and still hoping illogically that things will turn out differently. You can watch “Romeo and Juliet” as much as you want and if it’s well done… I mean they tell you at the very beginning, “Star-crossed lovers who die at the end.” The prologue says that, and still, if it’s well done production, you’re watching on pins and needles, like hopefully this time they’ll wake up and find each other. So I think that playing with that element of knowing what the end is, knowing it’s gonna end in tragedy, it does something specific to us as an audience, I think. It kind of engages us, hopefully, in a different kind of way.

GD: So in the lead-up to shooting your scenes for this series, did you speak with anyone who had lived through “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in the military?

FW: I talked to some people who had been in the Navy at that time. We had a really good Navy advisor. It’s a sensitive subject. People don’t open up that easily. But the fodder that I really got was there’s that interview in the episode, my face is in shadow and then talking about the policy. That’s a very, very accurate reenactment of a real interview that I got to see that I had on-hand on my phone all the time to reference continuously throughout the shoot, which is really him trying to be anonymous, having this very, very honest, in-depth conversation with this reporter for the show “48 Hours,” I believe. So that was my biggest go-to in terms of character reference research.

GD: What was also really magnificent about it was the dynamic between you and Darren Criss as Cunanan, especially when it all just comes to a head, I don’t know if it’s the final scene but right towards the end with you just accosting him in your apartment. What was it like to film that? What was that dynamic like between you two?

FW: That was a long day. After that day was done it was like, “Clocked.” I feel like we put in a good day’s work. We played with it a lot. We did a lot of different variations in terms of how heightened and how confrontational it was versus some versions being more wanting to avoid it, wanting to be a little more self-torture, and ultimately the thing that was working was restraining, restraining, restraining and then finding a moment to just explode and go at each other. Yeah, no holds barred, take off the boxing gloves. Like all of working with Darren and Daniel Minahan, who directed the episode, it was a lot of great experimentation. A lot of finding as we went. There wasn’t really a pre-planned way that they wanted it to go. We were exploring new territory, really, finding it.

GD: Did it ever get you that when you realize you’re acting in something, showing how shitty things were for gay people, that was only 20 years ago? Is that a very startling thing to realize?

FW: Yeah, definitely it is, and how recent it was and yet how alien it seems to my own way I live my life. I have so many openly gay friends, but I also know lots of older gay people who really responded to that, people who lived through that period and maybe now are out but at the time weren’t. That really affected people. I had real heart to hearts with some people who saw that later and were like, “That was my life.” But yeah, it is crazy. It’s crazy how far we’ve come and how not far also.

GD: One of the other things that I thought was so interesting about this is that for a lot of the Cunanan story, there’s just a lot of stuff that we just don’t know for sure. A lot of stuff, even in the Maureen Orth book that the series is based on, some of it is kind of just filling in blanks and I was wondering, was that weird to try to portray something of which there’s a lot we don’t know about?

FW: We know where things ended and we know whether things began but a lot of the stuff behind closed doors, no one knows what really happened, ‘cause most of the people who were there are dead now. I think like anything, it’s historical fiction. These events really happened but we have to use artistic liberty to fill in all the blanks and that’s really where the emotional arc comes through. History has given us the exoskeleton, and so it’s your job as an actor and the writer and the creative team to fill in the blanks to bring that to life. It’s like that old saying about never let truth get in the way of a good story.

GD: It’s very true. So this is actually the third time that you’ve worked on a Ryan Murphy project. You were of course on “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” Season 4. Actually, I think it’s the fourth time you’ve worked with Murphy.

FW: Technically it’s the fifth ‘cause I did his movie “The Normal Heart” before that on HBO.

GD: I was counting that. I have “Freak Show,” “Hotel,” “Normal Heart” because oh god, I’ll never forget watching your scene with my roommate. We were a wreck at the end of that. And this one. What was the other one?

FW: Oh, well it’s almost unfair to say ‘cause I’m unrecognizable in my one episode of “Roanoke,” “American Horror Story.” Jether was my name. I died pretty quickly but I was one of the inbred hillbilly monsters and it’s all shot in grainy, like it’s shot on cellphone, so even if you could see my face, you probably couldn’t tell ‘cause I also had this crazy prosthetic stuff. But yeah, technically I was in “Roanoke.”

GD: You’ve worked on so many projects that have been associated with Ryan Murphy. What does he bring to a project that makes him so desirable to work with?

FW: A lot of things. The first thing is you know that you’re gonna work with great people, on-camera, off-camera. He has such an amazing repertory of actors that you’re gonna get to do some really juicy stuff with. That’s already fulfilling. Also, he’s gonna challenge you. You know he’s gonna challenge you in a way that is specific to you. He knows what you’ve done before and he’s gonna find something that sort of goes in the polar opposite direction of that, to stretch your actor muscles. And also there’s the fact that I feel like whatever he does generally is talking about in some way some kind of zeitgeist, some kind of cultural conversation that we’re having. Even “Freak Show” is really about, the freaks are any ostracized group of people. Be that for race or sexual orientation or what have you. Even the stuff that seems totally off the wall and bonkers, somehow there’s always some element of something that you find very current and alive and on the pulse of right now. It just always seems to affect people. That’s why these shows are so freakin’ popular (laughs).

GD: You brought up all these amazing people through the Ryan Murphy projects that you’ve gotten to work with. Is there any one person that you were most excited or most intimated to do scenes with?

FW: I’ve gotten pretty lucky. I had a lot of fun stuff to do with Sarah Paulsonthat first year, both of her heads. And it was like, I really like Bette but Dot was such a bitch (laughs). Oh god, not Dot again! No, she was really astounding in that. I obviously had fun working with Lady Gaga. That was sort of a pinch me, is this real life situation. She was really just such a brave, impressive force and it’s been cool to get into her sphere a little bit. I only had one scene with Jessica Lange but I want more. That was fun. Kathy Bateshas been an amazing person to work with and is also an incredible philanthropist in her own life. I’ve just been lucky.

GD: It’s one of those things where you look back and you’re like, “Wow, I’ve been a part of all of this.”

FW: “This really happened? Is this real life?”

GD: As I said before, you got nominated for your second Emmy this year, this one for “Crime Story.” You were nominated for “Freak Show” four years ago, I believe. What was nomination morning like for you, finding out that you had gotten nominated again?

FW: This was disbelief. Sarah, my wife, read me the list and I was like, “You must be looking at the cast list.” And she’s like, “No, this is the list!” It was truly an out of the blue, random Wednesday morning, like, “Oh, my life has changed now than it was five seconds ago.”

GD: So it wasn’t your agent or anyone calling you? It was your wife who was looking at the nominations and she said, “Hey look at this”?

FW: Yeah. I was making coffee, it was kind of early. It’s 8 a.m. and that happens, it was like, “What are you talking about?” Then suddenly yeah, my phone starts to vibrate for the rest of the day. It’s funny the way they do it, ‘cause they announce some of them live but then they put the rest up online. Television Academy, I love you, obviously, but the website could use a little guiding help. You have to click to a whole lot of things to find out what the nominees are. It really takes a second. They don’t make it easy for you.

GD: This year was weird because usually right after the nominations come out, you can go and find the link of the PDF of the whole 7,000 pages of all the different categories that they have, but this year it took a while. For some reason there was something going on.

FW: (knocks on computer) “Give me my trophy!”

GD: I almost threw a computer out a window but then I remembered that I was at a place of work and then I was like, “Yeah, that’s probably not good.”

FW: You need some young, tech-savvy people to come in.

GD: One other question. What else do you have coming up down the road? We were talking before we started this about some of your theater work. Do you have any theater work that’s coming up on the horizon?

FW: No plays on the new horizon. Last year I spent about seven months in New York. I did two plays back to back. I did “Othello” with Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo, which was amazing, and then I did “The Glass Menagerie” on Broadway with Sally Field. I really got the theater bug well exercised, if that makes sense. No plays that I know of, although I’m always hungry to do a play. There’s a movie called “Judy” which will be out next year, about Judy Garland that I’m in. Renée Zellweger’s playing her and I think it’s gonna be really cool.

GD: Oh, I know a lot of people are gonna be waiting for that one.

FW: I know. For better or for worse, right?

GD: Exactly.

FW: There’s a movie coming out soon called “If Beale Street Could Talk,” which is Barry Jenkins’ next film, which I have a part in, which is beautiful. That’s gonna be really cool. There’s also this movie called “Semper Fi,” this military film that I did. I think that’ll come out sometime soon. So a lot of things in the pipeline. There’s a couple smaller movies, some interesting Indies that I did that are making the festival circuit right now, too. We’ll see if they come to a theater near you, or a screen near you.

GD: We’re definitely hoping. Finn, I can’t thank you enough for this. We wish you all the best on Emmy night. Thanks so much for joining us.

FW: Thank you so much.

#acs versace #finn wittrock #gold derby #interview #article #september 2018

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fourtrisheafanfic · 7 years ago

Text

Money Well Spent (complete fic)

Rating: Mature

Summary: Money Well Spent is a modern-AU, jonerys one-shot written for the 2018 Jonerys Valentine’s Week. I selected the Prompt Dark!Jon or Dark!Dany for day one (2/14/18). While meeting the prompt for day, I think it’s pretty obvious that both Jon and Dany are portrayed OOC. :) This short story is about a man who is obsessed with power and his career. He has found that part of getting ahead relies on maintaining a certain image. Rather than deal with the hassles of dating, he makes sure the high end escort agency sends him the right type of woman he needs to have on his arm. He feels it is money well spent, getting exactly as he demands. Will this new one be more than he bargained for?

**I have no rights to these characters, all belong to HBO and Author, George R.R. Martin**

Chapter Summary: 2018 Jonerys Valentine’s Week on Tumblr. 2.14.2018 Prompt: Dark!Jon or Dark!Dany.

Read it on Ao3: (X)

~ Night of the Westeros Industries Gala ~

Sitting in the back seat of the town car her agency set up for her, Dany adjusts the top of her strapless black gown. She knew the moment the stylist in Wardrobe had suggested this dress to wear that this evening’s event was going to be highbrow and fancy. The gown material clinging to her body in all the right places, the plunging neckline showing off Dany’s full bosom.

Biting the inside of her cheek anxiously, Dany reviews the fact sheet the agency sent over earlier that day. She has a very specific role to play this evening, as the date of Mr. Jon Snow.

Currently in her second year of law school at the University of Chicago, Dany recently started working for a high end Escort Service in the city. Thanks to her pretty looks, and well educated demeanor, she was only given high end assignments for the agency. The money is incredible, it’s not something Dany could overlook when this opportunity presented itself.

Having been recruited by a few agencies, Daenerys Targaryen was very careful when selecting which company she would sign up for, making it very clear she would never get paid for sex. Dany is the furthest thing from being a prude, but she draws the line at being paid for sex or any type of sexual favors. Sadly between being in law school fulltime and then this job, Dany has had zero time for dating. She misses sex a lot. Masturbating just doesn’t cut it, but at least she can get some relief on her own.

Diving back into the fact sheet for tonight’s event Dany chortles with a roll of her eyes. She was supposed to have a quiet dinner with one of her regulars this evening, but then forced to cancel on him as she was needed for this assignment. Tonight’s client sounds like quite the pain in the ass. His detailed list of demands on the fact sheet, leads Dany to believe he sounds like an old, pretentious, fart.

Fact sheet (excerpt):

Female must be no taller than 5’3 in height (Dany is 5’2)

Blond strongly requested

Good teeth/ smile

Heels no taller than 3 inches in height

Articulate

Black ball gown

Her understanding is that Mr. Snow is a Tier One client at her agency, meaning he has a ton of money and pays for the absolute best. Supporting that is the fact they cancelled Dany’s previously arranged evening with the sweet old widower who sees her once a week for dinner and a movie.

As her car pulls up to the event Dany opens the Escort company’s management app on her phone and checks in. The app tracks the locations and time of the employees, for safety and billing purposes. Dany steps out of the town car in front of the McCormick Place Convention Center, Westeros Industries is hosting a huge awards gala and charity event this evening. Dany remembers Jon Snow’s resume while entering the front lobby of the center.

Mr. Snow is the senior vice president of acquisitions and mergers, he has roughly two thousand employees reporting under him. He sounds very accomplished and career driven, which Daenerys can appreciate. She can only imagine just how old and hideous Mr. Jon Snow is. Why else would he need to spend money for a woman’s company?

Speaking of old and hideous, scanning the room Dany’s spots the polar opposite in the form of a gorgeous young man that is extremely handsome. Her eyes lock with the handsome man that is standing by the bar and speaking with a small group of men.

The upper half of his gorgeous ebony black hair is tied neatly into a man bun at the back of his head, he has the sexiest short trimmed beard surrounding his luscious lips. The intense look he gives her makes her pulse race, her body reacts instantly to him. He is the sexiest man she has ever seen. Dany’s mind conjuring images of what he could do with that mouth.

Quickly Dany remembers where she is and why, immediately looking away and breaking their shared eye contact. She can’t be caught checking out some young hot guy at this event. She is here for a job. Knowing her luck, the handsome young man will be introduced to her later as a coworker of the old man that is to be her ‘beloved date’ for the evening. That would be disastrous and extremely unprofessional.

Walking further into the lobby she stops by the coat check room to hand over her things. Per the directions she is to stand at the bar and order herself a gin and tonic and then wait until Mr. Snow finds her.

Per instructions she heads towards the bar, she notices the young man’s eyes still intently on her. His peers are speaking around him, but his attention is fully on her. She needs to nip this in the bud, she can’t allow silly complications this evening. Dany forces herself to look at him coldly, as if she sees right through him and then goes to the separate bar area. Ordering a gin and tonic, per orders so her evening’s date can find her.

“Hello, Daenerys,” a deep voice murmurs behind her. Dany turns around, shocked to see the handsome man from earlier. For a moment she worries that he is just some guy who likes a challenge and is stepping up his game after her earlier dismissive look. But the fact he knows her name makes her consider that he could be her date for the evening. Could this young man be Mr. Snow?

Looking her up and down, even glancing at her heels, Mr. Snow leans closer to whisper in her ear. “Isn’t this a pleasant surprise, your agency finally sent someone that meets my requirements.”

Dany is put off by his coldness while also remembering this is a job for her, and something this man is paying a great deal of money for.

“Hello, Mr. Snow,” Dany quietly says, before taking a small sip of her drink to calm her nerves. She has been on dates with a dozen different men, no one having this kind of effect on her. Why the hell is she nervous? She knows what she needs to do this evening. Be the pretty girl on his arm, and that is it.

“Call me Jon, It’s nice to meet you,” Jon speaks softly so that he is not overheard. “And you ready to get the show started?”

Gazing into his eyes, Dany smiles beautifully and nods.

Jon Snow is a successful business man that has no personal life to speak of, and he likes it that way. His job is extremely demanding and something that he welcomes. Jon Snow has been closed off from his family for many years since his father passed away. A terrible relationship with his stepmother and distance had made it easy to lose that close relationship. Jon will exchange the occasional email with his brother Robb who now lives in Jordan after falling in love and starting a new life there with his new wife.

Jon’s greatest joy is paying for the education of his two younger sisters that are college students out of state. Aside from helping them, he knows it drives his stepmother insane that his great success allows him to help where she fell short. It’s a double win.

Appreciating everything about her, her smile, her incredible breasts, even her platinum blond hair, Jon can’t believe how stunning this gorgeous woman is. He noticed her the moment she entered the lobby, immediately hoping she was the date he had paid for.

Jon is not some creep that pays for sex. Although having previously worked with other escort service companies, whose dates had aggressively offered him sex, he always kept it professional and declined. He has a very important image to protect at work and even for his personal life, nor is he one to mix business with pleasure. It’s one of the reasons he is so pleased with the current escort company he uses, there is a strict no sex policy in place for each of its employees.

The moment he saw Daenerys he prayed she was his date for the evening, he can’t wait to play the role with her. He wants to know what she smells like, what she feels like on his arm. Jon is ready to get started. For the first time he truly believes a date with this woman will be money well spent.

Leaning over slowly Jon gives Dany a gentle kiss on the cheek before whispering in her ear. “Because of my position there will always be someone watching and judging us at tonight’s event.”

Feeling her heart race at the contact, Dany needs to remind herself that Jon is acting. Posing as a romantic couple is part of the deal. Dany leans closer to him, running her fingertips along his jaw and smiling.

Jon’s eyes darken as he studies the beautiful woman that is touching his face and watching him. Shit, it is crazy how drawn to her he is. He is tempted to grab her by the hand and sweep her off to have a private romantic dinner so he can really get to know her.

But what would I learn? This is work for her, she could have a serious boyfriend for all I know. Ugh!

Jon ushers her through the lobby to greet some of his peers. Dany smiles politely, as she is introduced as his date, Daenerys. Their story is that they met through mutual friends and had just recently started dating. Jon’s arm always around her possessively with his hand on her lower back, but never too low. Dany finds herself shamelessly fantasizing what it would feel like to have his hands gripping her ass.

As cocktail hour continues the couple work the room. Jon notices that a few of his coworkers are gawking at Daenerys’s loveliness. It doesn’t hurt that her amazing cleavage is on display thanks to the cut of her black dress. The contrast of the black gown and her creamy skin shows off what amazing tits she has. Jon has to actively control himself from looking or even thinking about them. He doesn’t want to get a huge boner while in the middle of a work function. He has never been turned on by one of his escort dates before.

Right before the silent action portion of the evening starts Dany smiles at Jon and tells him she needs to use the ladies room. Jon nods and offers to walk her over. Turning down his offer so he can continue his conversation Dany leans up and kisses his cheek before walking away. She can feel his eyes on her as she retreats.

Once in the restroom stall Dany takes a moment to calm her nerves. She purposely walked to a restroom further away so that she could take a moment to be by herself. Posing as Jon Snow’s date this evening has left her confused, his sarcastic wit and snarky tone has given her butterflies more than once. She was tempted to kiss him on the mouth before escaping to the bathroom. She’s now intrigued as to why such a young, handsome, successful man needs to use an escort service. Not being completely blind, Dany recognized the cold glares of quite a few women at being introduced as Jon’s date. He is obviously highly desired by numerous ladies.

Before Dany can ponder it any further she hears peels of loud laughter erupt as a small group of women enter the restroom. She is about to leave her stall when the foul language and complains about this evening’s event stops her short. The stalls in the restroom are little rooms with a true door, the group probably thinks they are in here alone and thus acting so unprofessionally.

Part of her role at these events is avoiding conflict whenever possible. Dany cringes remembering the time she literally bumped into two women talking about giving their boss a blow job at the same time under his desk, and then later that evening realizing they were talking about the man that was her date. It was horribly uncomfortable for all.

Dany makes the quick decision to stay put and hopes they will leave soon. As the women continue to chatter Dany determines there are three women in the restroom with her.

Conversation:

Woman 1: Joffrey is such a little prick! He knew this event was on the calendar when he told his assistant to schedule us for the red eye flight tonight. What an asshole. I don’t even know if I should have left my things in the coat check room, it may be closed when we need to head out.

Woman 2: Relax, Val. I already tipped the coat check idiots, they will keep our things right by the door so we can just grab it and leave. Our car to the airport will be here at 9:30PM, so the coat check room will be unmanned at that time.

Woman 1: Good thinking. Ugh, 9:30! The awards presentation won’t be even be done by then! I really wanted to see it.

Woman 3: Oh just shut the fuck up, what do you care? It’s not like you’ve been nominated for anything.

Woman 2: Don’t be so nasty, Ygritte. I know you are pissed because Jon Snow is here with a hot date!

Woman 3: Fuck him. He obviously has no taste! Stupid asshole, I have offered to fuck him so many times just for him to say no. I even heard a little rumor that he is into kinky shit, and I offered him that too. Prick still turned me down.

Woman 1: Well, his date is really…something.

Woman 3: His date looks like a bleached-head prostitute, with her huge tits on display.

Woman 2: She does look trashy, maybe that is just his type. Although then I think he would have given you a chance, Ygritte. (The group laughs, even Dany smirks from her stall)

Woman 1: I wouldn’t worry about it, Jon looks miserable with that tramp as his date.

Woman 3: I’m not worried. Jon Snow can do so much better that that trashy skank on his arm tonight. I doubt we will ever see her after tonight.

Dany is now thoroughly pissed off. Normally she would laugh off such catty behavior, but the comments about how Jon looks miserable (WTF – does he?) and how she isn’t good enough for him have struck a nerve. She is offended, even though she isn’t quite sure why she cares so much.

Flushing the toilet, signaling to the three women that they are not alone, Dany hears a gasp. Walking towards the sinks with her head held high Dany begins washing her hands. Two of the three woman immediately step away and look mortified. The third woman, a fiery redhead stands her ground and glares at Daenerys while also standing at the sinks.

After drying her hands with a towel Dany purposely looks down to fix the top of her dress. Feeling all eyes on her, she makes sure her beautiful cleavage is still correctly displayed as designed by the dress. Dany notes that the redhead, who she recognizes as being called Ygritte has no tits and her body looks like that of a twelve year old girl. How sad for her, Dany looks directly at her chest area and smirks before walking out. Leaving Ygritte looking furious and her friends gawking at her nerve.

Dany is furious as she charges back the area where she last left Jon, knowing she needs to calm herself down. It would be completely unprofessional for her to act upset with him. Plus, it’s not his fault that women can be so mean.

Jon is getting more and more irritated by the minute. His date has been gone for a really long time, and he doesn’t like to wait for anything or anyone. Finally seeing her, he pushes aside the urge to just admire her gorgeousness. “That took much longer than expected,” he snaps at her, letting his displeasure be known.

Daenerys smiles sweetly at him and slips her arm around him before pulling closer to him. She completely ignores his grumpy mood and treats him as though he had just paid her a compliment. They finally lock eyes, both knowing what she is doing. He has to admit, he likes her sass, and he is very drawn to her.

Jon finally smiles at her before rolling his eyes at her playful demeanor and she bursts into a genuine smile that lights up her entire face.

“Come on, dearest. We must work the room for the silent auction portion,” Jon talks near her ear, making it look as though he is whispering sweet nothings into his would-be lover’s ear. Dany smiles eagerly and looks forward to spending more time with him.

They enjoy their time talking when they are able to be alone, which isn’t often as it is obvious that Jon is often the center of attention at this event. There are a couple of times that Jon is pulled away for a brief work discussion, some of the older gentlemen making it a point to tell Daenerys what a stunning beauty she is and how much they love her dress. Complimenting her dress while staring at the top part. Dany smiles politely, while also making it clear that she isn’t interested.

Jon always returns to her side, immediately pulling her close to him. He has never been so touchy-feely with a date. Everything with her feels different.

“I’m going to have to beat some of my coworkers off with a stick. Am I correct in noticing that it is the really old ones that are being the most forward,” Jon teases Daenerys as she laughs.

“You would be correct, I am pretty sure old men think they can play the age-card and get away with saying just about anything!” Dany giggles before Jon reaches down to brush his lips against her bare shoulder, both of their hearts racing at the contact.

“I better watch my back then, some of these old men may steal you away from me!” Jon jokes, enjoying their banter.

Playful, Dany laughs and assures Jon he has nothing to worry about. “I won’t be taking any of the offers from these old folks. I need a man who can keep up with me in the bedroom!”

Jon’s eyes immediately get dark with lust as he watches her closely. Dany blushes slightly, realizing what she said. But then shrugs it off since it is true, so why apologize?

Jon pulls Dany even closer to his side, he is going crazy with appreciation and desire. As his hand glides lower down her back a sudden booming voice stops him in his tracks.

“Dany Targaryen! Wow, you look gorgeous this evening. That dress, holy shit. What are you doing wasting your time with this loser?” Ramsey, a lawyer from one of the firms they use as outside counsel, jokes as he moves to stand in front of the couple. Jon feels Daenerys jump in his arms, probably caught off guard at hearing her last name rattled off.

Jon’s hold on Daenerys tightens slightly, he can’t stand Ramsey Bolton. He is obnoxious and a pain to work with. “How do you two know each other?” Jon asks coolly.

“The lovely Dany was a summer intern at my firm last summer. How is school going, Chicago Law correct?” Ramsey questions while his eyes blatantly roam up and down Dany’s body. Dany fights the urge to squirm, especially as she is in Jon’s arms and she doesn’t want him to know she is being affected.

“Yes, school is going well,” Dany says calmly. Feeling Jon’s eyes burning into her. She wonders if he is just annoyed at the intrusion or actually jealous.

Ramsey and Jon have a tense exchange about a work issue, it is obvious they don’t particularly get along. Jon hates that his company always invites members from outside counsel to this event. Especially when it is someone he doesn’t like. The men begin to get heated in their discussion, Dany noticing that they are drawing the attention of others around them as their voices begin to rise.

“Jon, my darling. I’m parched, let’s get a drink at the bar before the banquet starts,” Dany says pleasantly, placing her hand on Jon’s arm to break his attention away from Ramsey.

Jon is thankful Dany broke the moment, he was about to throttle Ramsey in the middle of this charity event, and that would have been a problem. “Yes, babe. Let’s go,” Jon then looks at Ramsey coldly before saying goodbye.

But Ramsey isn’t done there, he makes it a point to lean close to Dany and loudly whisper in her ear so that Jon can hear, “You are way too good for Jon Snow, you should give me a call.”

“Don’t hold your breath, Ramsey,” Dany retorts charmingly, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. Dany makes it a point to wrap her arms around Jon and pull him close. His eyes are blazing mad as Ramsey smirks and walks off.

“And that asshole is still checking you out,” Jon hisses, his fists clenched with anger. He and Daenerys walk off the side of the crowd as Ramsey’s leering gaze follows them. Jon is tempted to walk back over to Ramsey and break his nose for looking at his date as though he is undressing her with his eyes.

“Then let Ramsey watch as you kiss me, and hard,” Dany smiles coyly at Jon, then grinning while he pulls her body tightly against his. The idea of that asshole watching them is a turn on for her.

Jon’s mouth crashing down to capture hers in a kiss. With Jon’s back to Ramsey Dany vigorously wraps herself around Jon, pulling him even closer. One of her hands around his lower back and her second hand entwined in Jon’s gorgeous curls that falls against the back of his neck. Mouths open as their tongues move in sync for a passionate kiss.

Finally breaking apart, although it was supposed to be a fake kiss both seem to know that is not the case. Jon rests his forehead to Daenerys, both panting. Finally Dany can take no more, she leans up and kisses Jon for a second time. She doesn’t even care if Ramsey is still watching or not.

Her second kiss catches Jon by surprise, both knowing that it this is not for Ramsey’s benefit alone. Jon leans in, pulling her even closer than before.

++o++ ++o++

Jon and Dany enjoy flirting while at their table in the ballroom. Thankfully Ramsey seems to have gotten the message as he will not even look in either of their directions. One of Jon’s hands always touching or near Daenerys at all times. It gives her a rush to feel so close to him, although she wonders if he is like this with all of his paid escorts. Deciding to push the thought away, Dany tries to enjoy the remainder of the evening. She is with him tonight, not anyone else.

Dany always has a quick witted answer for Mr. Snow, especially when he tries to get grumpy with her. One of his peers casually mentioning that he has never seen Jon look so happy and at ease. Dany smiles graciously, reminding herself that she is being paid to entertain Jon. That’s all.

Later in the evening Dany gets goosebumps, sensing that someone is watching her. She notices that the three women from the bathroom are seated a few tables away and have been watching her and Jon intently. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, Dany feels invigorated. The idea of those mean-girls watching her and Jon enjoying their date is a turn on to her.

While Dany and Ygritte have locked eyes in a glare, she suddenly feels Jon’s breath on her bare shoulder. Jon whispers in her ear, “I really want to kiss you again, with or without Ramsey watching.”

Dany smirks and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Maybe later,” she says with dismissive tone, fighting to hide her grin as Jon huffs in annoyance.

Jon doesn’t like to be teased. But he has to control his urges, his hand twitches. He would love nothing more than to smack her bare ass while she is bent over his lap. Gods, he is crazy about her.

“Daenerys, I need to go backstage and get ready to present an award for the internship program,” Jon says softly. “I’ll be back soon, love.”

“Good luck,” Dany says before giving him a rushed peck on the lips. “There you go, the kiss you wanted.”

Jon’s eyes narrow at his lovely date, she seems to enjoy toying with him. And he is loving every fucking second of it. With other attendees smiling at him, Jon is forced to accept her taunt of a brief kiss with a smile.

Once Jon is gone Dany picks at the dessert on her plate while politely watching as the awards ceremony continues. When Jon is on stage and talking about the internship program Dany gets lost in thought while admiring how attractive he is. It’s more than his looks that have drawn her in, there is something about his personality that excites her.

Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted. Gasping with shock, suddenly Dany almost jumps out of her skin as she feels ice cold liquid fall down the front of her dress, wetting her breasts.

“Oh, no! I am so sorry ma’am. Look at how clumsy I am!” Ygritte cries while standing right behind Dany’s chair with a large glass of ice cold water in her hand. “I hope you can forgive me…”

Dany is seething but realizes that all eyes in the vicinity are on her. Glancing over she sees that the two other girls are sitting at their table and laughing hysterically. This was no accident. This bitch calling her ma’am was an extra nice touch.

As much as she would like to explode. Dany handles it graciously, which awards her with many onlooker’s smiles. Using a napkin to pat her chest and dress dry of the water and even some ice chunks. Ygritte looks disappointed that Daenerys didn’t lose her cool. Dany looks at her watch, it had just turned 9:00PM, she remembers these women need to leave early to watch a flight. Dany smirks to herself, remembering that timing is everything.

Not long later Jon returns to his seat and notices that Dany is getting sympathetic looks from some older women at their table. He asks, Dany if something happened.

“Someone accidentally spilled their drink on me, I thought I got it all, but…” her voice trails off, she notices that Jon looks concerned. “Actually, would you walk with me to the restroom? I think I still need to get cleaned up.”

“Of course,” Jon immediately agrees, he doesn't like to see her distressed. What’s up with that he wonders?

Exiting the ballroom Dany pulls Jon towards the empty coat check room, telling him she has something in her coat that will help with her clean up.

They get there – as she expect the coat check is unmanned because not prime time arrivals or departures of the event. Dany pulls him in any ways and asks him to help her with her dress. Jon follows obediently, having no idea what help she may need but willing to do whatever she asks of him.

Dany purposely leans against a table so that Jon will be facing away from the door. Jon’s eyes brighten with anticipation as Dany pull him close. She bites her lower lip teasingly and enjoys how his eyes don’t leave her mouth. She knows he wants her, just as much as she wants him.

��I was a little mean to you earlier, with that tiny little kiss,” Dany whispers as he moves closer to her, pressing her back against the table.

“Yes, you were. You were being a little naughty,” Jon groans as Dany runs her fingers through his hair and gives it a little tug.

“Just a little, but I hope I haven’t made you angry with me,” Dany says while eyeing him hungrily. She literally wants to devour him.

Jon briefly kisses her mouth, biting her lower lip as she had done before. “I was angry with you, but I am working on forgiveness,” Jon hisses into her ear and his hands tighten around her petite waist.

“Here is the kiss I believe you initially asked for,” Dany says as their mouths crash together before she can finish her sentence.

Their kisses are rough and passionate, Dany completely forgetting about the world around her as Jon holds her closely. Jon presses her harder against the desk as both are panting and making small noises to voice their enjoyment of the physical connection they are sharing.

Suddenly Dany hears horrified gasps coming from the room’s entrance. In her highly distracted state it takes her a couple of moments to realize that is the three girls that had been irritating her all night long. Dany got so caught in the moment with Jon she forgot all about them. She smiles sweetly at them as Jon peppers kisses along her jaw.

Jon doesn’t even look to see who it is, because he doesn’t give a fuck. “We are busy in here, get the hell out,” he snaps over his shoulder while running his hands up and down the outside of Daenerys’s thighs.

“So rude,” Ygritte hisses as she slams the door shut behind them.

Once alone again, Dany laughs as Jon buries his face in her neck to resume kissing her soft skin. She is thrilled that those dumb bitches got to see them fooling around. There has always been a dark part of her that enjoys people watching her in these sexual moments. Dany kisses Jon’s lips hard and slides her hands all over his built chest before sliding her hand to grip his tight ass.

“I thought you needed some help because your dress got wet,” Jon murmurs while kisses down Dany’s collar bone. Going a little slower he begins kissing down her cleavage as she whimpers with anticipation.

Dany guides his hand to the top of her dress where the material is still moist from the water bath she had endured. Jon buries his head in her chest as he kisses the soft flesh in between her beautiful tits. His hands kneading her breasts as he kisses and licks between them. He is rock hard and wants to do things to Daenerys Targaryen that might scare her. There is a darkness in him that he has always denied himself, he wants it with her. He wants it with her right now.

Jon slowly moves his hand from the outside of her thigh to her knee and then kisses her mouth while slowly moving his fingers up her dress. Dany kisses him harder, her heart racing as he gets closer and closer to her core. Jon’s fingertips caress over her thong, he groans at feeling her wetness through the thin fabric.

“You’re wet here too, baby. What can I do to help you with this?” Jon croons, he wants to touch her, to pleasure her.

Dany gasps with desire, but then reality comes crashing down around her. She quickly grasps his wrist and moves his hand away from her aching pussy. Jon immediately lets her guide him away from her.

“Jon, stop. We can’t,” Dany pants, feeling regret but also knowing that she can’t do this. “We need to remember what ‘this is’, please.”

Jon nods in agreement and knows she is referring to the fact that he is paying this gorgeous woman to be his date tonight. On the other hand the connection they share is something he can’t ignore. But he also knows she is not a prostitute that will be paid for sex. This is a high end agency that does not tolerate money for sex. Nor does he.

But he still feels drawn to her and he won’t ignore it. He has never felt this way about another woman before.

“Let’s get out of here, baby,” Jon whispers before nibbling on her earlobe. “My driver can pull my car around and take us anywhere, let’s just go for a ride.”

Dany knows she should say no, but with his arms around her and his lips pressed to her neck she has lost all restraint and common sense.

“Okay.”

++o++ ++o++

“I am serious, Daenerys,” Jon says for the second time. His driver is taking them for a long ride around the city of Chicago while they talk things out. “I want you to quit your job, no more dates with other men.”

“I know you are serious,” Dany says calmly, but she is not the type of woman that is going to be told what to do. “My answer is still no, Jon.”

Jon scowls, this is not what expected. He can’t stand the thought of Daenerys going on other dates through her job as an escort. He fucking hates the idea. Jon’s eyes flash with anger, he is getting more and more upset.

Why is she fucking fighting me on this? Shit, what if she has an actual boyfriend?

Oh well, fuck him. I am not giving her up without a fight.

“I don’t want to keep discussing this in the car. Come to my condo, so we can work this out,” Jon demands of her. He can’t imagine saying goodbye to her for the night, or forever “The night isn’t over.”

Dany can sense his desperation, his passion right below the surface of his cold demeanor. She also knows that her resolve to avoid getting physical with Jon is quickly faltering. Dany know that she wants him, badly.

“Okay. But just to talk,” Dany mumbles.

Jon smirks and agrees before instructing his driver to take them home.

As the ride continues, Jon pulls her nearer. She melds her body next to his, her heart races. She longs to be close to him. Jon traces patterns on her knee with his fingertips, Dany sighs happily in response. As the car nears his home Jon begins to plant wet kisses on her neck, going lower with each kiss. Daenerys moans his name, squeezing her legs tightly to help ease the ache she feels.

The couple pause to stare at each other, with no words needed between them, their lips meet in a passionate kiss. They kiss and hold each other until the car is parked in the underground garage of Jon’s building.

Thanking his driver and asking him to keep his cell phone on, Jon tells him it is possible that his guest will need a ride home this evening.

“If you choose to leave, of course. I want you to stay,” Jon tells Daenerys confidently.

Dany blushes but says nothing. She isn’t sure what she really wants or what will or won’t happen this night.

Jon takes his date on a full tour of his home, which he knows is impressive. Dany is polite as Jon leads her through his high end condo. They continue to flirt as the evening progresses, finally settling on a game of pool in Jon’s game room.

As Dany bends over to line up her shot, Jon places his hand on her back for the sole purpose of touching her. The couple has been very touchy-feely throughout the night. Dany takes her shot and pockets two, she laughs as she has finally caught up to Jon. Standing up, she feels him directly behind her as he plants a firm kiss on her bare shoulder.

“Daenerys, I want you. I want to lay you down on my bed, be rough with you while giving you extreme pleasure,” Jon admits, he can’t take it much longer.

Daenerys hears his words, frowning. She can’t blame him for saying or thinking these things. But she just can’t get over feeling like it would be wrong. It is one thing to be a paid escort that goes on fancy dates that says goodnight at the end of an event, it is another to be paid while having sex with a man. Even the physical things that Dany has already done with Jon this evening has her feeling embarrassed, ashamed even.

Jon Snow has completely put her into a tailspin.

“Say something,” Jon pushes, seeing her internal struggle.

“Jon, part of me can’t even believe I am standing here. I am twenty four years old, a college student…this is a job for me. That is all,” Dany says bleakly, making Jon visibly cringe. “To be clear, I have never been physically affectionate in this job. I certainly have never been paid for sex!”

“I understand, Daenerys. I get it because I’ve never paid for sex, period. And yes, I’ve used the escort service numerous times...but only for public events,” Jon admits. “I hope you believe me.”

Dany nods softly, she is somewhat relieved to hear this isn’t a regular thing for him but it still doesn’t solve her internal dilemma.

“I would do anything...to have you, right now,” Jon says while pulling her closer and kissing her neck. Jon’s hands holding her closely. “I want you, baby. Only you. Tell me you don’t have a boyfriend or somethings like that.”

“Would you please hand me my purse,” Dany says softly, ignoring Jon’s confused look as he does as she asks.

Thanking him, she pulls out her cell phone. Opening the phone app for the Escort Company she pulls up her user account. Jon’s eyebrows furrow as she ignores him and begins selecting buttons. She positions the phone so that he can see what she is doing.

Daenerys signals that her in progress date with Mr. Jon Snow has ended. Effectively clocking her out.

And then she flags Mr. Jon Snow as someone she will not see again as a client.

Jon is crushed, he takes a step away from her. He is surprised at how much her rejection hurts.

“Okay, if that is what you want. I will call my driver, he will get you home safely,” Jon says coolly, he is upset. Jon gets his phone out of his pocket, shaking his head as he scrolls through his phone to call his driver.

Dany is confused by Jon’s actions for a second before realizing what Jon must be thinking. He actually thinks that was her way of letting him know that she was done with him. He couldn’t be further from the truth. “I have a better idea, Jon Snow. How about instead you kiss me and take me to your bed. Since I am no longer getting paid for this evening. You made some pretty big promises earlier….the words extreme pleasure and rough were used.”

Jon’s mouth falls open and then he sees the laughter in Dany’s eyes, she is actually amused at his distress.

Jon frowns, pulling her close and kissing her before speaking. “But you flagged me as someone you never want to see again?”

“Yes, I did,” Dany laughs at his cross expression. “From now on, if you want to spend time with me - you can ask me out the old fashioned way. And take me out on a real date.”

Two can play this game, Jon thinks to himself.

“Look Daenerys, that is great and all. But now that you have flagged me as someone that you don’t want to see again, that may impact my overall customer rating...what if that influences access to all the other woman I can date at your escort agency…” Jon says seriously, looking concerned while not really paying attention to her.

Dany realizes he wants to keep seeing other women through the escort service and gets pissed. “Screw you, I am out of here!” she hisses while pushing past him. She can take a cab she decides.

“Now, now. Don’t be hasty, the least I can do…” Jon scoops the petite beauty into his arms as he walks her to his bedroom. “Is make you come before you leave.”

Dany’s mouth falls open at his nerve, she is about to demand he release her when his mouth finds her earlobe and nibbles on it sensually. Sighing, she allows him to pull her closer to him. She is upset, but her desire for him is overwhelming.

“Fine, you can make me come. That is the least you can do,” Dany huffs as Jon places her gently on his large bed.

“You are so fucking hot when you are mad,” Jon says while flipping Dany to lie on her stomach, his hand finding the zipper at the top of her dress. “Really, you are fucking hot at all times...but your wrath excites me, love.”

Dany gasps quietly as Jon slowly lowers the zipper of his dress, leaning over her he kisses down her body as the opening zipper reveals more and more of her bare flesh. She closes her eyes as the zipper nears the top of her thong, her heart racing with anticipation.

Jon groans appreciatively when he sees that she is wearing a bright red thong, a contrast to the black dress that has enticed him all evening. Feeling the blood rush to his cock he can’t take it any longer, he bends down and slowly licks behind the trail the opening zipper leaves.

“I was just joking about my rating, I don’t want anyone else but you,” Jon says while pulling her dress down and off. “But your fiery temper was a complete turn on.”

“Is that so?” Dany murmurs as she turns over to lie on her back, enjoying the way Jon’s eyes darken at seeing her now exposed breasts. “I think you better get to work, Jon Snow. I am expecting ‘extreme pleasure’ - I’ve waited long enough.”

Jon frowns, “You being a little naughty still. I told you I was joking, that I only want you, and you still seem cross with me.”

Sitting up on her elbows Dany raises her eyebrows, “And what if I am still cross with you? What are you going to do about it?” She challenges him.

Pulling off his shirt to toss aside, he studies her face to ensure she knows what she is asking for. The things he wants to do to her, he is hungry for her.

Jon roughly pulls her off the bed to stand in front of him, she is absolutely stunning. “I am going to start by kissing the shit out of you, and then I am going to fuck you.”

(Photo credit: Edit made by Tumblr user @motherdragons86 - check out her awesome work) @motherofdragons86

Dany throws her arms around his neck as Jon’s lips crash to hers. His hands sliding up and down her bare back before resting on her ass. He squeezes and kneads her plump cheeks before pressing his hard bulge against her. As their kisses intensify Dany moans loudly, Jon kissing down her neck until he reaches her tits.

Licking and sucking Jon explores her breasts as he has fantasized about all night long. Dany pulls the hair tie out of his hair to release his dark curls, then running her fingers through his hair in order to move his head closer to her body.

Jon sits on the bed, moving her to stand in front of him. He begins kissing lower and lower, until slowly pulling down her thong. “I need to taste you, I want to make you scream,” he tells her.

Dany whimpers, she is desperate for him. Jon guides one of her feet to rest next to him on the bed, effectively opening her legs to him. With her legs spread open, Dany gets excited at being fully exposed to him. Jon leans in and kisses her sweet pussy, his hands holding her waist steady as she shakes with arousal. The flicker of his tongue sending her waves of pleasure through her entire body.

Jon licks, and sucks until his darkness intensifies, testing her comfort level he gives her a small bite at the fleshy side of her pussy.

“Oh, Jon! Fuck, yeah…” Dany groans as his teeth nip her again, she can feel her body about to peak.

Jon’s mouth is all over her, his tongue fucking her as his fingers circle her clit. Dany screams out and releases, her body shaking as he holds her tight, helping her not to fall.

Lapping her juices as she calms down from her orgasm Dany trembles in his arms. She is a little sore from his bites, but she also really likes it. He didn’t overpromise. The pleasure he just gave her was incredible.

“Jon...I want more,” she whimpers with longing.

In record time Jon pulls Daenerys down to be bent over the bed, her bare ass taunting him. Jon gives into his desire and smacks her right ass cheek hard. Dany yelps in surprise before squeezing her thighs closed, she is so wet with arousal. Her juices of desire flowing again.

Jon undoes his pants and begins stroking his hard cock. Watching his hand print bloom on her creamy white skin excites him tremendously. He has never felt so comfortable with a woman, this girl is making him crazy. He traces his hand print on her ass cheek, she whimpers with longing. He knows she wants more, he knows she wants him.

Jon curses under his breath.

“Baby, what is it?” Dany asks quietly, still recuperating from her orgasm and the slight sting of his last smack on her ass.

“It’s been a really long time for me, I don’t have any condoms. Do you?” Jon asks as his fingers begin pleasuring her slowly.

“I don’t, but it’s been a really long time for me too. Oh, no boyfriend by the way. I’ve had the birth control shot, and I’m clean...I mean if...well…” Dany’s voice falters as Jon’s fingers increase their speed.

“I am clean too, I want you. I want to fuck you hard,” Jon groans while tugging and pulling at his own dick, rubbing it along the crevice of her ass.

“Then do it, now!” Dany hisses. “Fuck me!”

Jon’s free hand slaps her right butt cheek again, Dany cries out in response as he feels her clench around his finger that is still working her. He knows she likes it, it makes her aroused.

Both breathing hard Jon leans over her, his large hand clutches her throat gently. He is testing to see if she is okay with it. She doesn’t protest as he pulls her up to arch against his chest. Daenerys breaths in quickly, her head falling back on his shoulder in submission. She wants him to take her, she wants him to be in control.

Jon groans in appreciation, he wants to dominate her and take care of her at the same time. He wants her to be submissive, he needs her to trust him.

Jon wets his shaft with her wetness, she is so aroused it makes him groan with excitement as he remembers her taste on his tongue. Jon positions his tip at her slick entrance, she is so wet, he thrusts forward. His cock sliding roughly into her, making her gasp loudly at the intrusion. There is a slight sting as he completely fills her. Jon pushes every inch of his cock into her, holding her as she shudders against him.

Once Dany signals that she is ready, Jon begins frantically fucking her, and hard. With his hand still around her neck he places his other hand tightly on her hip to hold her still as he pounds into her from behind. Daenerys gasps as he pushes in and out, his pace frantic. The sound of skin slapping against skin filling the room.

“Oh fuck...yes, yes, please fuck me harder!” Dany cries as she clenches tightly around him, her ass pushing into his body.

Jon releases a short guttural sound, his hand tightening on her hip as he bends her over the bed again. This time his hand moving from her throat to hold her hair. “Your fucking amazing, Daenerys. God I love this,” Jon grunts with lust, his eyes closed tightly as his body strains to take her.

Dany gasps as he resumes taking her, the different position allowing him to fuck her even harder and faster.

“Shit!” Dany screams. “Just like that, don’t stop.”

Jon watches his thick cock slide in and out of her body, the sight is enough to make him cry out as he continues to move. He feels himself about to release, he wants her to come with him. Moving his hand from her hip he leans over her, reaching around to stimulate her clit.

Dany moans and whimpers as her orgasm rolls over her. Jon lean over and bite her shoulder as she climaxes, her pussy spasms around his cock as Jon holds her sweet flesh gently in his teeth. Jon resumes pounding into her until his orgasm rolls through him.

He pushes in deep as his seed spills into her, holding her tightly against him. His balls snuggly pressed between them.

Both crawl up the bed as Jon pulls her tightly into his arms. Dany is panting softly as she tries to control her breathing. Jon’s heart still racing as he caresses her skin.

“Jon?” Dany whispers.

“Yes, love?” Jon mumbles, kissing her forehead.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Dany smiles into his chest, her body still enjoying the delicious ache from the proper fucking he just gave her. “I will stop seeing other clients, I will quit my job as an escort.”

Jon smiles broadly, he is thrilled and relieved all at once. He really cares about her and doesn’t want to share any part of her.

“This evening with you, just getting to meet you, to know you...was money well spent. Thank you for quitting that job, it means a lot to me,” Jon tells her with a smile on his face as he cranes his neck to look into her eyes. “Now I won’t have to spank you again.”

Daenerys just laughs before kissing him tenderly. She also knows that there is no way in hell that was the last time Jon Snow will spank her, the thought exciting her.

++o+ Story End +o++

Part II: Money Can’t Buy Me Love - Read here (X)

#jonerysvalentines #jonerys #jonerys fanfic #jonerys smut #jonerys fanfiction #jonerys fics #jonerys ff #Jon Snow #daenerys targaryen #GoT #got fanfic #@mhysaofdragons

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writesandramblings · 7 years ago

Text

The Captain’s Secret - p.81

“Pineapple Surprise”

A/N: Continues with episode 12, "Vaulting Ambition."

By the way, the pineapple is based on a WiFi Pineapple, which is a real thing fellow viewers of HBO's Silicon Valley will be familiar with. That it also happens to be Malcolm Reed's favorite food is just the most lovely coincidence you could ask for.

Full Chapter List Part 1 - Objects in Motion << 80 - People They Fall Apart 81 - How Not to Be Afraid When You’re a Ghost >>

The pineapple was not edible, even from Lalana's rather broad perspective on the subject. It was a device a bit bigger than a basketball assembled from various communications components that Groves explained as a "system Trojan horse that hijacks transmissions, grabs security and access codes as it passes them along, and gives them to you."

It was also a complete and utter mess. Whatever Groves' skills, fabrication was not among them. Parts were taped together and fragile antennae jutted out at potentially risky angles. Because Groves had assembled it in his lap instead of on a flat surface, it did not lay flat and was in constant danger of rolling around and breaking, so Lalana sat with it in the copilot seat, her tail holding it still.

Amazingly, it had passed its first test already. No one had authorized the shuttle launch on Discovery. The pineapple had bypassed the normal systems protocols entirely. Not that this meant anything. Compared to Terran security protocols, Discovery's systems were virtually unguarded, even with the upgrades installed after the Mudd incident.

Larsson was in the pilot's seat, tapping his finger on the dash in nervousness. While there was no risk of him running into his doppelganger, if anyone recognized him, he would probably end up just as dead. The main point in his favor was that, in both this universe and the one they had come from, he had never made much of a name for himself. He was forty-five years old, a bachelor, and had stalled out at the rank of lieutenant. All his shipmates were dead twice over and since they were most of the people he knew in his universe, it stood to reason the situation was much the same here.

Still. He was also a six-foot-four Swede, so those people who did meet him tended to remember it. "If we don't survive this..."

"We are going to survive this," said Lalana.

Larsson looked at her with an annoyed expression that said it was his turn to talk. "I'm just saying. If we don't survive this, same thing you said to those idiots. It's been a pleasure."

Lalana clicked her tongue. "Emellia is one of the smartest humans in Starfleet."

"Yes, well, someone who needs help putting her uniform on straight is an idiot in all the ways that count," said Larsson. Lalana's tongue clicks sped up to a rapid flurry. It was as true now as it had been when they first met nine years ago: Larsson was not a nice person, but Lalana liked that about him. The shuttle beeped. "Ah, security checkpoint. Time to find out if that thing's worth its weight in anything."

Some lights flashed on the pineapple. A comm channel opened. "Discovery shuttlecraft, transmitting encrypted coordinates. Engage your autopilot."

"Copy," said Larsson, and closed the channel. He sat back in his seat. "Unbelievable. It worked."

"Did you think it would not? John is almost as smart as Emellia."

After bunking with Groves for the better part of seven months, Larsson's impression was that Groves spent all of his time playing games. The fact he had any usefully-developed skills whatsoever came as something of a surprise. Larsson gestured at the pineapple. "Lalana, look at that thing. Did you think it was going to work!?"

"Nnnn," hummed Lalana dubiously, which was her way of avoiding answering.

They sat in silence. The shuttle beeped again, this time to alert them they were arriving. They dropped out of warp as Burnham's shuttle had half an hour earlier and beheld the Charon in all its glory.

Seeing the giant sphere of orange energy that powered the Charon, Larsson swore in Swedish. "What the hell is that?"

Lalana stared at it with unblinking eyes. She recognized the particles. "Mushrooms," she said.

"Why is everything food," grumbled Larsson. And all of it inedible at that.

Lalana and the pineapple went into the waiting crate, as usual, alongside a phaser set to stun, but when Larsson went to close the crate, Lalana stopped him with her tail on his arm. "Did you notice the captain changed after the Buran?"

"What?" There wasn't time for this. "Changed how?"

"If you have to ask, you did not notice," said Lalana cryptically and withdrew her tail. Larsson closed the crate.

Maybe the captain had changed after the Buran, but so had Larsson. He had lost most of the people he considered friends when it went down. Kerrigan, Arzo, even Morita and Yoon. The universe seemed so much colder in the aftermath of that tragedy.

Some part of Larsson felt he should have died with them. Knowing that he had done so in this universe was both a comfort and a reinforcement of this fact. As far as he was concerned, he owed Lalana his life, such as it was, because that one little history project had changed the course of his fate.

Larsson was standing at the ready when the shuttle touched down and the door opened. The dockworker who approached glared and demanded to know the purpose of Larsson's visit and the nature of his cargo.

"Delivery," said Larsson. "Cargo's above my security clearance, so I assume it's above yours. Now show me where I can find Macarius O'Malley to deliver this thing and make it fast. If Captain Killy hears that you kept me waiting, god help us both."

It worked. Even on the almighty imperial flagship, everyone knew and feared this universe's Sylvia Tilly.

There remained a Klingon prisoner in Discovery's brig.

Her name was L'Rell. She had been at the Battle of the Binary Stars as a follower of T'Kuvma, the original master of the now-vanquished Sarcophagus, whose vision of a united Klingon Empire she shared. When Michael Burnham had fired the phaser that claimed T'Kuvma's life, L'Rell had clung to that vision as fervently as she did T'Kuvma's chosen successor, the albino outcast Voq, Son of None.

Voq represented everything T'Kuvma envisioned. A warrior of great strength and honor, he had risen to his position not because of any politics or impressive bloodline, but on sheer merit. That was what made T'Kuvma such a visionary: that he would ignore the house of one's birth and judge you by your own worth. That was a foundation for a strong empire.

But when T'Kuvma fell, the other Klingon houses refused to follow Voq. They listened to T'Kuvma only out of regard for his noble origins and Voq did not share this illustrious birthright. The other houses did not see a war with the Federation as a cause for unification but as an opportunity for personal glory. Kill the Starfleet scum not because Starfleet's malodorous ethos stood counter to everything that was pure and Klingon, but because doing so grew your personal renown as a warrior and increased the repute of your house.

As the turmoil of the disparate houses consumed them all, Kol of House Kor had seized the opportunity to fill the power vacuum with a vision of his own, a vision of himself and his own house's greatness. He was a factionalist through and through and his rise was a guarantee that outcasts like Voq would never be seen as worthy or equal, that strength and power would be forever tied to the blood of your parents.

There was nothing she or Voq could do to stop Kol.

So L'Rell had pledged herself to Kol and stood beside him, said the words Kol wanted to hear, and took on the role he assigned for her. Torturer, warden, shepherd of the war prisoners. In this task she had learned the true depth of human wretchedness. Rather than stand proud and tall and die in battle, humans would scurry and cling to life by any means possible, like vermin. They did not possess the sort of honor that lived in the hearts of all true Klingons.

She spoke the words of allegiance to Kol, but in her heart, she followed Voq. With him she hatched a plan to destroy Starfleet from within, avenge T'Kuvma, and put Kol in his place.

She harvested the DNA of Ash Tyler and used it to reconstruct Voq in Tyler's image. She harvested the mind of Ash Tyler and used it to craft the perfect disguise—a disguise that was perfect because it was not a disguise at all. For all intents and purposes, there was no Voq. There was only Tyler, oblivious to his own true nature.

When they captured the captain of Discovery, it was no accident that he found himself imprisoned in the same room as her creation. Their subsequent escape was also no accident. L'Rell waited to hear from Voq again with news that would assist them in completing their ultimate aims.

No news came. Weeks turned to months. She realized Voq was lost and began to search for a way to escape Kol.

Kol brought her a Starfleet admiral to interrogate and she saw an opportunity. With a prisoner of such high rank and value, she could defect. Even if the Federation represented everything she hated, she could not stand by and watch Kol poison what she loved from the inside. The admiral, Cornwell, was amenable to the defection, coupled as it was with her own escape.

But Kol discovered L'Rell's quiet disloyalty and locked her up alongside Cornwell. It seemed like the end had finally come.

Until in walked Burnham and Tyler, come to rescue Cornwell. L'Rell looked at Tyler and spoke the words that should have awoken Voq within him.

The words did not work. Her carefully-planted trigger failed. Tyler remained Tyler, and in Tyler's mind, which contained only confusing flashes of what she and Voq had shared, she was a rapist and a torturer who had used him in deplorable ways.

Beset by terrible prospects at every turn, L'Rell took hold of Cornwell as the humans and Voq beamed away in a last, desperate bid to escape.

She had been locked up in Discovery's brig ever since.

As Saru stood in front of her cell, L'Rell learned the ultimate outcome of her long machinations. Voq, her paragon of true Klingon virtue, her leader and her love, was now irreversibly broken.

And she had done this to him. Her trigger words had not worked properly, but they had worked on some level. The two psyches held within Voq's grey matter were now locked in a battle that threatened to destroy them both.

Saru sought to remedy this. "I do not know where your Voq ends and our Tyler begins, but they are both in jeopardy. The question is, will you ease their pain?"

He beamed Tyler into her cell. He was barely conscious and covered in self-inflicted wounds. L'Rell clung to him, appalled at this pathetic thing in her arms, appalled at herself for turning Voq into this.

"It can be undone!" she wailed. "But only my hands can tend to him."

As she sought to undo her terrible achievement in Discovery's sickbay, she could hear Voq ranting in barely-coherent Klingon, reciting bits and pieces of Klingon scripture. It was impossible, she realized. She could not shed Tyler's mind from Voq's. She could only quiet them together.

She did so. Voq switched to the voice of Ash Tyler and called for Burnham and spoke Klingon no more. In that moment, L'Rell knew she would never see or hear Voq again. She let out a wail of grief and fury.

Commander Macarius O'Malley, Imperial interrogator, answered the door to his workshop with a scowl and found himself dwarfed by a giant of a man carrying a large crate and accompanied by an Imperial guard wearing docks livery. "What!" he shouted at them both.

"Delivery from the Discovery," said Larsson. "Captain Tilly asked me to bring it to you personally. Where would you like me to put it?"

O'Malley stared at the crate. The O'Malley in this universe had a perpetually angry, haggard look. "Tilly? What the hell does that miserable bitch want now."

"I don't know, I'm just the errand boy," said Larsson.

"Tch," went O'Malley. "I really hate that girl. She's the worst. Set it down over here."

The workshop was dark save for a single, yellow light in the middle illuminating a blood-stained slab with multiple restraints. A tray of equally bloody tools stood next to it. Larsson followed O'Malley over to the dark shape of a table against the wall. The door slid shut automatically behind him. O'Malley gestured for Larsson to put the crate down on the floor next to the table.

"It had better not be severed heads again. I can't extract information if she removes the heads from the bodies first."

Larsson opened the crate and took a step back. "See for yourself," he said.

The offer was entirely insincere. O'Malley began to lean forward and Larsson slid sideways, wrapping his arm around O'Malley's shoulders and clamping a hand over O'Malley's mouth to prevent him summoning help. The hand was so large it fully eclipsed the lower half of O'Malley's face. Pinning O'Malley's arms to his side, Larsson pulled O'Malley tightly against his chest and whispered in his ear, "Don't struggle. I won't kill you so long as you play nice, all right? You're going to go to sleep, and when you wake up, this will be like a bad dream. But try anything, and you can forget the bad dream. I'll make it a waking nightmare. Got it?"

O'Malley nodded. Lalana hopped out of the crate, phaser curled up in her tail, and O'Malley's eyes went wide with shock at the sight of her inhuman form. He squirmed, but not in a manner indicating he was trying to free himself, simply because he was entirely unnerved and panicking.

The panic did not last. Larsson tightened his arm around O'Malley's neck until O'Malley went limp. Lalana watched with knocking hands. "I am glad you were able to do that. I truly did not wish to have to shoot him. He has the face of a friend."

"Well I have no compunctions about it," commented Larsson. "He's not my friend." Lalana's hands slowed and she clicked a few times, finding some sort of consolation in the cruel amusement.

Larsson administered a sedative they had brought with them for this occasion and picked O'Malley up like a rag doll, strapping him down to his own torture table as an extra precaution in case the sedative wore off too quickly.

"Well, good news is, he sounds just like our colonel. Guess we wasted ourselves a trip."

"Nonsense," said Lalana. "We could not take that chance. What if he had a lisp, or was missing teeth, or slurred his words due to partial facial paralysis, or had grown up on a different region of Earth—"

"All right, I get it!" cried Larsson, throwing up his hands. "Do your magic."

Lalana reached into a pocket on her thermal suit and withdrew a small object the size of a bottlecap—a phonemic modulator. She attached it to her translator and addressed the Charon's computer. The voice from her translator came out sounding like O'Malley. It was a trick she had learned many years ago from the original Lorca and refined during her work for Starfleet Intelligence in the intervening years. Larsson shuddered at the freakishness of it. "Computer, locate Gabriel Lorca."

The voiceprint combined with the pineapple gave them all the access they needed.

They dragged Lorca to a private torture chamber. It was a dark room lit by strips of blue lighting running up the walls, high ceilings to make the screams echo. "Check his pockets," one of the two agonizer technicians ordered the guards. Sometimes people smuggled weapons into agony booths and made their displeasure against those charged with operating the booths entirely too evident.

They found it, of course. The insignia that had once belonged to this universe's Michael Burnham, to his Michael Burnham. The technician turned it over in her fingers and smiled. The emperor would be pleased with this. One of the guards, too, realized its significance. He outranked the technician and ordered the insignia turned over to him so he could deliver it personally and curry some small favor with their tyrannical leader.

They shoved Lorca into the agony booth. Burnham's nerve dampener worked wonders. Lorca stood in the booth, energy crackling across his skin, and screamed almost believably at the sensation.

Almost. Anyone who had heard his screams on the Shenzhou could tell there was a certain degree of desperate urgency lacking in the noises he was currently making. His throat was not being ripped raw and he sounded a little like Burnham had, shouting for shouting's sake. His movements, too, were not the same fervently uncontrollable spasms they had been previously. His arms shook, but with the uneven, occasionally distracted staccato of someone who was playing up the shaking intentionally and losing track of the action every so often.

Turned out that faking agony was harder than actually enduring it. It required an ongoing empty vigilance that bored him. Some part of him was beginning to think he should feign unconsciousness just for a change of pace, but he had to keep the ruse going because he suspected Georgiou was watching, and besides, he had a reputation to maintain.

At least this time he had an awareness of his surroundings. Back on the Shenzhou, pain had consumed everything. Here, he was able to keep track of the pair of techs at the agony booth controls, carefully balancing the power levels against his vitals to ensure their emperor's prized adversary remained as painfully alive as possible. If his stress levels seemed a little low, well, that was only because this was the great Gabriel Lorca. They could hear him screaming well enough. That was proof they were doing their jobs.

He was equally aware of the doors opening and Larsson arriving, but he could not hear the exchange of words that followed.

Larsson's greeting to the two techs was all business. "Interrogator's on his way," he announced, managing to ignore the sight and sound of Lorca's performance almost entirely. "I have his tools. You may want to make yourselves scarce. He's in a terrible mood and might want to use someone as a... demonstration."

The two booth technicians at the console exchanged a look. They seemed less than wholly convinced, but then the comms in the room sounded and O'Malley's voice rang out: "Lieutenant! You had better be there by the time I arrive or—"

The technicians made themselves scarce.

In the booth, Lorca saw the door close behind the technicians. He continued shouting and tried to indicate to Larsson that they were being monitored, but Larsson was not paying attention. He set down the crate he was carrying and up popped Lalana.

Lorca let the exaggerated scream on his lips peter out into sharp grunts of discomfort. He stood in the agony booth, red lightning dancing across his skin, still shuddering and jerking at the painful sensation, but entirely in control. He pounded on the doors. "Monitors!" he shouted at them, angry and disappointed.

Larsson went to the console and turned off the booth. Lalana opened the door with her tail.

"Gabriel," she said in light chastisement, "this is not my first mission." Except the voice was not hers, it belonged to O'Malley. Lorca was aghast. She brushed her tail over her translator, removing the modulator and returning her voice to its usual tone. "Apologies. It was a useful subterfuge. We should be clear for six minutes." The pineapple was still giving her and Larsson significant access to systems in its immediate proximity and she had used this access to construct a video loop.

Lorca let out a sigh of proud relief and smiled broadly at her. "You made it."

"Did you doubt me?"

He had. This universe had been making mincemeat of Burnham and she was human and had a place in it. He was gratified to know Lalana was faring better. "Did you get everything?"

"All relevant files have been downloaded to our pineapple," Lalana reported.

The word threw Lorca. He frowned in disgusted confusion.

"Don't ask," said Larsson.

Lorca shook his head. There was no time to dwell on any of this. "All right. Burnham's gonna be dining with the emperor. We'll want to move then." He knew Georgiou would not move against Burnham during dinner and that no one would dare disturb Georgiou while the meal was in progress. Dinners were oddly sacred to Georgiou. He'd endured enough of them to know. "Let's say... 1945. And be ready for a fight."

"Aye, sir," said Larsson.

"Just keep yourselves safe until then."

"Einar will hide nearby. I will remain here with you," said Lalana.

"Hang on a—"

"This is not a negotiation," said Lalana. "I have not come all this way to lose sight of you now."

There were no hiding places in the room. Lorca pointed this out.

"Hiding is not about finding a place, it is about making yourself one with your surroundings," said Lalana. She turned and went to the darkest corner of the room. Lorca and Larsson watched as she ascended the bend in the walls with the ease of a gecko. She climbed all the way up into the top of the corner, a good five meters from the ground, using the tension of her legs and hands against the walls to hold herself in place. She pressed herself as far back into the corner as she could and shifted colors, becoming a faint ghost of an outline with two giant green eyes staring down at them. The eyes were a dead giveaway, of course, but then something slid over her eyes and they vanished. The broad, flat end of her tail.

He recalled the forest in San Francisco. Back then, she had melded herself into natural patterns and textures. This was something else entirely. Even knowing she was there, she was hard to make out. You had to know exactly where and what to look for. If you did not, all you would see was a faint set of smudges. She even somehow folded the surface of her torso to create a false series of planes that mimicked the appearance of the corner's geometry. (Unbeknownst to him, the filaments on her back were also gripping the surface of the walls and ceiling. She was cemented into this spot as surely as she had been attached to the leskos.)

"Honestly, captain," said Larsson, "did you forget who you were dealing with?"

Lorca had not forgotten. He had never known the full extent of what she could do in the first place. For most of the seven months he had known Lalana—including the month in null time—she had been sitting in a lab doing essentially nothing.

"Don't come down until I tell you!" he called up to her.

"Then I will enjoy the show," she called back, her voice seemingly disembodied. Lorca stepped back into the agony booth and closed the door on himself. He signaled Larsson to turn it back on. He was a little miffed to see Larsson did not hesitate.

As the red crackle reappeared across Lorca's skin, Larsson picked up the crate with the pineapple. "Try not to die, either of you," he bellowed at them as he walked out.

In the hallway, he addressed the door guards. "Hey, those two who were here, get them back here pronto. Emperor cancelled the interrogation. If she finds out they left..." He left the suggestion open-ended and strode away, smiling to himself as he heard one of the guards recall the two techs to their post. With any luck, they would be close enough to their positions on the video loop for the seven-second "glitch" Lalana had programmed into the loop's terminus to feel believable.

Larsson made his way back towards O'Malley's dim little workshop. It was a fair distance from the torture chamber, but it was a confirmed safe position. Right now, that was his main priority. Get somewhere quiet and lay low.

Only problem was, a six-foot-four Swede was a lot harder to hide than a lului. As he retraced his steps, Larsson walked past an intersecting hallway and the person down at the other end could scarcely believe her eyes. She immediately touched the nearest wall console and opened a comm line. "Captain Maddox," she said. "You're never going to believe who I just saw."

Part 82

#Star Trek Discovery #Star Trek #Discovery #Gabriel Lorca #Captain Lorca #pineapple #Vaulting Ambition #Mirror Lorca #Mirror Gabriel Lorca

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thezachrogers · 7 years ago

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TOP 50 OF 2017

(revised 1/15/2018)

Well everyone, as 2017 comes to a close, and as the holidays are just a head of us full of the best and most anticipated films of the year...it is time to recap some of the best and worst movies I have seen so far this year...50 of them to be exact!

WORST TEN:

10. Life (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Sony was very vague about if this was a prequel to the upcoming Tom Hardy Venom spinoff. Even if it was or wasn’t, it would not make this film any better. So if and only if it is in fact a Marvel film, SPOILER ALERT, the symbiote makes it back to Earth, darkens (goes from white to black when hitting Earth’s atmosphere) and can kill or keep its hosts alive. The end.

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes 67% My score - 2/5 Stars

9. Transformers: The Last Knight (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

This is arguably the worst installment of the explosive franchise. I keep scratching my head as to why these films keep getting made. And then I remember, “oh yea, toy sales.” Even though Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg are calling it quits, a sixth installment is in motion set as a prequel in the 80s that will be loyal to the original transformers animated series will drop sometime in 2019. Don’t waste your time on this piece of garbage.

IMDB - 5.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 16% My score - 1.5/5 Stars

8. Death Note (available for stream on NETFLIX now)

I laughed repeatedly at how ridiculous this movie was. Based off the anime, Willem Dafoe stars as Anti-hero/Villain Akira who is a demon that comes along with a book titled “death note” that allows you to kill anyone you want by writing their name down in a book. Production is quality for Netflix, and I can say that I did enjoy this movie even though I knew it was bad. Definitely one for the tweens.

IMDB - 4.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 40% My score - 1.5/5 Stars

7. GOLD (now available for stream on Netflix, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Why does Matthew McConaughey now think he has to completely change his appearance and body weight in order for us to assume he is a good actor? It worked with Dallas Buyers Club because he didn’t just change his body, but it was also the token gay film of the year to take home all of the awards. Gold however has no gay undertones, neither does it have humor, nor a good story. Just a fat, balding, snaggle-toothed version of himself with an excessively hot out of his league version of Bryce Dallas Howard. Another true story that is crap and should have been made into a movie, this film should have been a straight to Redbox or Netflix feature.

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 43% My Score - 1.5/5 Stars

6. The Heart of Man (one night only documentary for Fathom Events at AMC)

I don’t even know y’all. Why do Christians feel the need to put crap like this in theaters? I can’t even call this a documentary - there was this weird analogy/metaphorical scene throughout the film with this “God” like character (old and bearded hipster) playing a violin and this other dude, let’s call him gaptooth, running away chasing his definition of hot girls (guess they couldn’t find any to be in the movie) and he didn’t want to play violin anymore. Then the girl he is making out with turns into a crack head dude (so I guess she’s a tranny?) and he/she locks gaptooth in a cave. Whaaaaaaaaaaa? Throughout the “artpiece” there were people spilling out their guts in interview format on committing adultery. Yea it was weird. I walked out with my community group thinking “so do all of our wives think we are cheating on them?

Yea this was just a giant turd. Don’t bother seeing it.

IMDB - 8.6/10 (probably from christian bloggers) Rotten Tomatoes - no score (surprised?) my score - 1/5 Stars

5. Baywatch (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Wow, this was so bad. I don’t know when Dwayne Johnson will ever make a good film. How is this dude the highest paid actor in Hollywood when he ONLY makes trash movies? I know he’s a great person and all but...we need a good movie from you man. With the exception of the eye candy as seen above there is nothing watchable about this movie.

IMDB - 5.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 19% My score - 1 star

4. Power Rangers (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

You are probably not surprised, but the worst five films I have seen this year were all my wife’s doing. This one is on the list as well. I grew up a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers fan and knew this one was going to be terrible as well. Another movie made simply to sell toys. Such a garbage movie with too many good actors like Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks, and Stranger Things 2′s Dacre Montgomery. Please don’t waste your time with this movie unless you have kids that want to watch as they will probably love it and want to go to the store after and buy toys.

IMDB - 6.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 43% My score - 1 star

3. A Dog’s Purpose (now available on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD)

AND THE WORST MOVIE THAT I SAW IN 2017 GOES TO...

AND THE WORST REBOOT OF ALL TIME GOES TO...

AND THE WORST START OF A UNIVERSE/FRANCHISE GOES TO...

AND THE WORST MOVIE OF RUSSEL CROWE’S CAREER GOES TO...

AND THE WORST MOVIE OF TOM CRUISE’S CAREER GOES TO...

2. The Mummy (2017) (now available to not watch on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

1. Flatliners (review coming soon)

IMDB - 5.5/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 16% My score .25/5 Stars

TOP 56 (revised 1/15/18)

56. The Lost City of Z (Now on Amazon Prime, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)The cast is superb. This a true story as far as script goes, not really much you can change..it’s just not a great story. No great character development, even though the acting is great; halfway through the movie, junior has a time jump and grows to be Tom Holland, who we now know and love as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. The movie is just weak.IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 87% My score - 2.5/5 Stars

55. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

54. The Case for Christ (2017) (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Not bad Pure Flix Studios, not bad at all.

IMDB - 5.9/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 55% Me- 3 Stars

53. Despicable Me 3

52. Bright (Review Coming Soon)

51. Better Watch Out (now on Digital)

Fun, suspenseful, thrilling movie that brings a twist on the Holiday genre. Another one for Dacre Montgomery in 2017...this is a satirical horror, and is nothing like Home Alone as what you may have thought from the trailers.

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 90% My score - 3/5 Stars

50. The Fate of the Furious (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

49. Kong: Skull Island (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

Do we need another King Kong reboot? No. Was the movie cool? Yes. This film also sets up to be a follow-up of 2014′s Godzilla and opens up to a monster universe franchise.

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 76% My Score - 3.25/5 Stars

48. Murder On the Orient Express (2017) (now in theaters)

Probably the most A-List Ensemble cast of 2017 and directed and starred by Kenneth Branagh, this movie was lots of fun! I would recommend waiting for rental early in 2018 rather than seeing in theaters but without seeing the original film, this story will keep you guessing till the end on who did it!

IMDB - 6.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 60% My Score 3.5 Stars

47. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (coming soon to Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Just as fun as the first movie, excited for the third!

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 51% My Score - 3.5/5 Stars

46. Hush (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 94% My Score - 3.75/5 Stars

45. Lady Bird (Review coming soon)

44. Gaga: Five Foot Two (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

A peak into the life of the last two years of Gaga’s life recording and realasing her latest album “Joanne” leading up to her superbowl halftime performance.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 75% My Score - 3.75/5 Stars

43. Silence (now available on Digital and DVD)

42. Super Dark Times (now on Digital)

This has been the year of suspense/horror! This film is super dark (pun intended) and definitely a period piece that captures life for teens in the late 90s during the times of the Columbine shootings. Video Games do affect the brain y’all!

IMDB - 6.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 91% My Score - 4/5 Stars

41. Logan Lucky (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

The Redneck Ocean’s Eleven from the same director with dry humor. I enjoyed, definitely a must rent.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% - My Score - 4/5 Stars

40. Ingrid Goes West (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Brilliant film about people obsessed with instagram likes and revolving their whole world around social media. Reminds me of ABC’s The Bachelor/The Bachelorette pretty people.

IMDB - 6.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 85% My Score - 4/5 Stars

39. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

The fourth and final film of Adam Sandler’s four film Netflix contact, he FINALLY delivers. Meyerowitz has already won sever film festival awards and critics’ awards. I see Oscar nods for the future of this movie. Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Adam Sandler, and Ben Stiller all deliver in this melancholy dry-wit drama, definitely has a taste of Woody Allen in it.

IMDB - 7.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% - My Score - 4/5 Stars

38. Justice League (in theaters now)

37. Happy Death Day (review coming soon)

36. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

35. The Founder (now available to stream on NETFLIX, Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

34. The Lego Batman Movie (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

33. Beauty and the Beast (2017) (now available to stream on NETFLIX, Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

32. John Wick: Chapter 2 (now available to stream on HBO GO/NOW, Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

31. American Made (now in theaters)

Based on the events of the life of pilot Barry Seal. Seal (Cruise) was an airline pilot recruited by the CIA to pilot for Pablo Escobar and the Medellin and Cali Cartel and monitor activity for the CIA. Ironic how one of Cruise’s best and one of his worst films can come out with in three months of each other.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 87% My Score - 4/5 Stars

30. Our Souls at Night (now available for stream on NETFLIX)

When three Hollywood legends like Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, and Bruce Dern are on screen together; it’s movie magic. Hands down, Netflix’s best original film to date. I’m throwing Oscar nods it’s way.

IMDB - 7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 91% My Score - 4/5 Stars

29. Goodbye Christopher Robin (review coming soon)

28. War for the Planet of the Apes

The final installment into the Caesar’s prequel trilogy, this is hands down the best Apes film of them all. Woody Harrelson plays the best antagonist in the Apes saga and this movie ends with you wanting more.

IMDB - 7.6/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% My Score - 4/5 Stars

27. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (review coming soon)

26. The Greatest Showman (now in theaters)

25. IT (2017) (now in theaters)

The reboot of the infamous clown that terrorized my childhood. Blows the original 1990 miniseries out of the water. I am so jacked up for the second installment as this film has made so much money that tells me that the all grown up versions of the characters will get an A List cast!

IMDB - 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 85% My Score - 4/5 Stars

24. Split (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

23. Wind River (now in Theaters, on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

No, this is not a Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), and Punisher (Jon Bernthal) spinoff...however it is one of the best thriller/suspense/murder mysteries to release in the last decade! The whole cast brings it on a story about a murder on a Native American reserve where the law can barely touch.

IMDB - 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 88% My Score - 4.5/5 Stars

22. Hidden Figures (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

21. Blade Runner 2049 (now in theaters)

Not my 11th favorite movie of the year, but it deserves to be this high up on the list of “best films” to appreciate what the first Blade Runner did for film and the sci-fi genre as a whole. If you’re wanting a lot of Harrison Ford, this is not your movie, he doesn't show up until 1 hour and 55 minutes into the movie. Gosling is definitely the protagonist. They left it open for there to be third movie but I also think they left it open for us to imagine what comes next as if there will not be a third. All in all it was visually stunning and was a great script for the long awaited sequel 35 years in the making.

IMDB - 8.4/10 Rotten Tomatoes 87% My score - 4/5 Stars

20. Dunkirk (Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

My all time favorite director made another masterpiece. I can say that this was an attempt at story, not character which was a little shocking to say the least coming from Christopher Nolan! Harry Styles definitely stole the show with this one! Tom Hardy's character arc was my favorite story line out of the three narratives in the film. Definitely a Blu-Ray to buy for Christmas!

IMDB - 8.3/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 4.5/5 Stars

19. Spider-Man: Homecoming (now available on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

read review in previous post here

18. The Big Sick (now available for stream on Amazon Prime, Digital, Blu-ray, DVD)

Hilarious and heart felt, this is the true biographical story of Kumail Nanjiani as portrayed by Kumail Nanjiani.

IMDB - 7.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 98% My Score - 4.5/Stars

17. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (now in theaters)

16. Patriots Day (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

15. Stronger (review coming soon)

14. Get Out (now on digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

review posted here

13. Darkest Hour (review coming soon)

12. The Disaster Artist (now in theaters)

11. Wonder Woman (now on digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

review posted here

10. Baby Driver (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, and DVD)

Filmed in Atlanta, takes place in Atlanta, shows off some hot spots in Atlanta I have been to on several occasions, I can say I have some bias on why this movie is so far up there. Unfortunately, this will probably be the last film of Kevin Spacey’s long career. I do enjoy his work, hate to hear who he is as a person though. Spacey did play a very minor role in this film. Arguably the best role of Jamie Foxx’s career, Ansel Elgort’s breakout performance and definitely throws 2015′s Live Action Cinderella’s Lily James as an A-List actor from here on out. Great film to watch in 4K as it is action packed, check this movie out now!

IMDB - 7.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 93% My score - 5 Stars

9. Brawl In Cell Block 99 (now on Digital)

Hands down, the best film of Vince Vaughn’s career. He should be nominated for the Academy Award. 180 from Wedding Crashers y’all, believe me. This film is exploding with hand to hand combat violence and acting like I’ve never seen from a comedic actor in my life. Probably the darkest action film this year next to LOGAN. I cannot say much more as I do not want to give the plot away, I think it’ll be the worth the watch if you don’t know much before watching the movie.

IMDB - 7.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 5 Stars

8. I, Tonya (Review Coming soon)

7. Coco (now in theaters today!)

Pixar never disappoints as this is one of their best films yet! Heart-warming, fun, and full of laughter, I would say this is Pixar’s best film since 2015′s Inside Out! This Pixar instant classic will remind adults and show kids the importance of family (especially this time of year)!

IMDB - 9.1/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 95% My Score - 5 Stars

6. Thor: Ragnarok (now in theaters)

Now in my top three favorite MCU films EVER!! (next to Avengers and Iron Man) Ragnarok will make you pee your pants laugh as it is funnier than Guardians 2 from earlier this year and as it was directed by co-creator of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords Taika Waititi! Learning the movie was 80% improv by the actors made it this movie that much better. The entire cast from Hemsworth to Ruffalo to Blanchett, Thor finally gets the movie this superhero deserves.

IMDB - 8.2/10 Rotten Tomatoes - 92% My score - 5 Stars

5. Wonder (now in theaters)

Can’t...stop...crying. The feel good movie of the year. Ask my wife, I literally cried from the first five minutes to the last second of the movie. This film broke my heart in all the best ways. Wonder (based on the NY Times best selling fiction novel) is a very real story about boy with Treacher Collins’ Syndrome (facial deformities) starting public school in the 5th grade and everything that comes along with it for his family and friend’s as they walk through this journey with Auggie. One of the best takes on character I have ever seen in film. This picture will be nominated for several Academy Awards including best lead actor by none other than Auggie Pullman himself 2015′s Room’s Jacob Tremblay. I want to hug every kid in this movie, the entire ensemble cast was superb.

IMDB - 8.1 Rotten Tomatoes - 86% My score - 5 Stars

4. The Post (review coming soon)

3. Molly’s Game (review coming soon)

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

1. LOGAN (now on Digital, Blu-Ray, DVD)

see review in previous post here.

and there it is fam - my top 50 list of 2017! Feel free to share, comment, and like! As the holidays are coming upon us this list will get updates and I will be posting single movie reviews as well!

- Z

#movie #2017 #coco #wonder #thor ragnarok #justice league #thanksgiving

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badgesandlanyards-blog · 7 years ago

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What was the Comic-con Westworld activation like?

*Skip this first part if you aren’t interested in the prep/line waiting that accompanies almost every SDCC story.

When it was announced that HBO was going to be hosting an offsite activation for Westword, I immediately added it my short list of “must-do’s” at Comic-con. I dropped by the Hilton Bayfront on Wednesday night to see where the line was located and asked hotel staff if people were allowed to stay overnight in the lobby. Since I hate that people (including myself–especially myself) camp in lines I was thrilled when I was told that no one would be allowed to line up over night or sleep in the lobby where the line was located. With my evening free I went off to meet up with friends and have dinner at Filippi’s Pizza Grotto in Little Italy. We had some delicious and affordable pizza and a very large amount of sangria.

As preview night rolled on press covering Comic-con began to tweet about how amazing the Westworld experience was, as well as mentioning that the experience could be limited to only 100 people per day. As a result, I told my two friends that were going with me we needed to be at the Bayfront before six and I set my alarm for 5am. Being in line before 7am had never failed me before. I figured adding an extra hour to be safe would have us in the front of the line with no issues. We also wanted to have our choice of appointment times because one of my friends had several press appointments Thursday.

The next morning we rolled out a little before 6am, half-asleep and packed up for the day. When we arrived it looked like there were about 35-40 people in line. We congratulated ourselves on our timely arrival, confident that we could secure reservations. Appointments for reservations were supposed to start at 9:30 so we had about three-and-a-half-hours to kill. We sent someone to go get coffee and settled into our camp chairs.

The normal SDCC front-of-the-line expansions began around 7am, and then kept going… and going. For those who have never been in a line at SDCC what I mean by “SDCC front-of-the-line expansion” is when everyone gets in line with their friends. You may be thinking “hey, that’s just cutting! That’s not cool”, and you’re right! It’s not cool. But lines are complicated at Comic-con. I’m not really sure how it got so complicated since queuing is a simple concept, but it has reached the point that you never actually know how many people are in line ahead of you anymore. The line for Westworld expanded from one-to-two people wide to having large groups of ten or more people spanning from the walkway over to several couches placed along the widows.

We were told by HBO staff a little after 8am that we were numbers 85-87 in line and we started to get nervous. By 8:30 we were being told that we would most likely not get to make reservations that day. However, we were still in the 80s. We figured out that we would need to be above 120 to miss out so we decided to stay. We watched two women join a group almost directly in front of us after 8:30 and knew we had been pushed into the 90s. I told security that there was a large number of people there who had not been present before 8am; not really in an effort to get them kicked out because we knew it was impossible (I have never seen anyone pulled out of line at any SDCC event), but because we hoped that they wouldn’t let more people in before we got to make our reservations.

There was a player piano next to the check-in desk that started around 9. It played the Westworld theme and music from the show; drawing more attention to the reservation desk. Two actors dressed as hosts (in the all white dresses and suits hosts wear when they greet guests as they arrive at Westworld in the show) started taking reservations at 9:30. The reservation process was slow. At first, one person at a time went up to the host at the desk to make their reservation. After about 20 minutes they began to process the line in groups.

We finally reached the front of the line around 10:30am. We watched as the last group of people that they had room for on Thursday made their reservation (including those women who walked up at after 8:30 ::boo hiss::). We were told by staff that we could split up and individually make a standby reservation. They took one person for each time slot. I finally got my chance to approach the desk where a female host sat and was instructed to pick a time for standby. After she input my name and information into her tablet I was given a black business card for Westworld that had the address for the Hotel Palomar and my designated time. The host instructed me to come no earlier than ten minutes before my appointed time and that if I arrived ten minutes late that I would miss my reservation. The acting on the host’s part was very well done. They were doing a kind of monotone, calm and collected thing. I went off to enjoy the rest of the day after my friends and I consoled each other for our failure to secure an actual reservation. If you have never been in this situation as a result of late-comers getting in line it is pretty heart breaking. Please consider not letting your friend that woke up at 9am join a line of people who have been in line for more than three hours unless there was an extremely good reason that they couldn’t be there (ie: on-site badge pick-up, medical reasons, young children). The decent thing to do is be considerate of other attendees when an event is extremely limited.

And now on to what happened at the experience.

I arrived at the Hotel Palomar shortly before my designated time (it was a 15-20 minute walk from convention center) and checked in with the same host that gave me my reservation in the morning. I was told that I would be escorted up to the lounge, but that if everyone arrived for the time slot, I would not be able to do the complete experience. I crossed everything in hopes that someone would not show up and tried to console myself with the fact that, if I had to leave, there was something else I wanted to do that was literally a three minute walk from the hotel.

We were escorted to the elevators by the host that checked us in. Once we got off the elevator it was clear that the designers of the activation had done a great job. The design of the Hotel Palomar lent itself to a sleek modern look that complimented the Delos signs that were posted in hallways and on doors that directed guests to “quality control” and “guest services” among other things.

Actors portraying hosts met you in the lounge. They took our cards and greeted us individually by name. Every time that the hosts interacted with the group they would say each person’s name. It was an excellent way to make the interactions with them seem less human. The lounge was a recreation of the rooms where William (Jimmy Simpson) chose his wardrobe and weapons before entering Westworld on the show. There were actual props and costumes from the show.

Amazingly, someone actually missed their appointment and I didn’t have to stop at the lounge! I was extremely excited. So excited that I forgot to take pictures for a few minutes. They escorted us down a hallway past sculptures or molds of heads like they had in the show. The host stopped in front of a door that said “Research and Development” that had a sword fight noises coming from it and, what I assume, was Japanese symbol or something that is derived from one on the door.

We arrived at a hall of doors that were labeled “Concierge Analytics”. They split us up and had us privately meet with an actor in a small empty room with two chairs. I was asked several questions including: what finger would you cut off if you had to, and would you join a group of outlaws shooting up a bar, run away or fight them? The questions were similar to the quiz that you can find at this Westworld website. Then the actor interpreted your results to give you an eerily accurate personality assessment. There was a black hat a a white hat hanging on the wall of the small room. The actor then chose a hat for you based of your personality assessment and placed the hat from the wall on your head for you. I was a white-hat.

After you get your hat you were escorted by yet another host to watch a video introduction to Westworld. The video started to glitch as did the actor/host while we watched the clip. It was a little unsettling. The host then appeared to return to normal and she escorted us to a small recreation of the Mariposa bar. The bar had several bar tenders and a host that was dressed and acted like Maeve (Thandie Newton) when she was the madam at the Mariposa. They made us three craft cocktails that were delicious. There was another player piano in the bar playing music from the show.

Overall, the experience was unique and something that I had never experienced at Comic-con. It is very rare to get to experience something so geared toward you as an individual in a sea of opportunities that are autographs but only on posters the studios supply, and panel halls that are filled with 6,499 other people. The hat was a unique piece of swag and the booze a welcome gift. The only thing that I would change is that I wish that I could have done the experience with my friends. I still feel terrible that they missed out. I found out while I was in the experience that one of the women there had never even seen the show which was a huge disappointment for me since I know several fans of the show that really wanted to attend. Hopefully next year an experience like this will be able to be made accessible to more of the attendees.

HBO’s SDCC Westworld Experience What was the Comic-con Westworld activation like? *Skip this first part if you aren’t interested in the prep/line waiting that accompanies almost every SDCC story.

#Comic-con #conventions #HBO #SDCC #Westworld

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miragerules · 6 years ago

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I suppose it is a both good and bad that Tumblr had so many fandoms and Shippers on its site. People find other people who love a show, character or a couple as much as they do, and then they can talk, share fan art/fanfiction, and support one another. That is the good part of Tumblr.

However the unfortunate bad part of Tumblr is this rabbid fandom sometimes leads to blind hate if thing don't go your way on a show or in a film. I am not going to get in all the ways fandoms can be bad. You can just look around on Facebook, Twitter and here on Tumblr.

One way upset fandoms try to destroy a show when a show or ship does not govthe way you want is to blame the writers saying the writing is terrible even though the writing was really good, and has been good if not excellent for 8 seasons. That is apparently what is happening inside the Game of Thrones fandom with fans of certain characters or ships. I am a fan and a shipper. I do ship or have shipped Root/Shaw (Person of Interest), Jason/Elizabeth (General Hospital), Katniss/Peeta (Hunger Games), Geralt/Triss (Witcher games), Bruce/Natasha or Matt Murdock/Natasha (Marvel Films/Marvel Comics) to name a few and I love tones of characters like Tyrion, Jamie, Davros, Arya, and Jon on Game of Thrones.

However I don't let that love of a ship or character ruin my love of a show or film just because said film or series does not go the way I want it to especially if show or film is still good if not excellent like Game of Thrones. One example is Bruce/Nat. Bruce and especially Nats story arcs throughout the Marvel films were not handled that well, but that disappointment does not blind me to how pretty good to great Endgame was and the Marvel films were. As for the Game of Thrones fandom I guess people have not truly read the books or have really watched deeply into each episode of Game of Thrones or cetain Game of Thrones fans would not be complaining nearly as much. Of course I am not happy with everything on Game of Thrones. Many times in season 7 and 8 the writing felt rushed like the writers decided how can they end the show as quickly as possible. HBO could have drawn the series out for a 9th or 10th season to make itva fuller fleshed out experience to reach the point we are, but that complaint does not change the fact the producers, directors, and writers still have consistently done a good job with the series. Do not let you fandom and shipper disappointment blind you to that fact.

Wow I talked for a long time when all I wanted to do was share a link/review by the A.V. Club that does an excellent job of getting into last nights episode of Game of Thrones. Still it felt good venting a little bit.

Any way below is the full review of "The Bells" I copy and pasted from the link above. Hopefully the fans who are blindly bashing last nights episode will have a better understanding of the episode and series in general.

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Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones

By Alex McLevy

Yesterday 9:20pm

Well, this all seems...horrible.

It’s not that Tyrion’s plan worked, exactly. Jaime didn’t make it to Cersei in time, didn’t give the order to ring the bells and surrender the city. But his hopes nevertheless came to fruition; the soldiers of King’s Landing surrendered, throwing down their swords, the bells rang out, and all was won. Or so it seemed. Immediately thereafter, Daenerys Targaryen ignored the sound of supplication and laid waste to the city, burning innocents by the thousands, bringing half the buildings crumbling to the ground, all while Grey Worm led a bloodthirsty slaughter of the populace, far beyond the soldiers forced to abruptly pick their swords back up and defend themselves. It was cruel, capricious, and wholly avoidable. Varys, sad to say, was right.

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8

A-

"The Bells"

EPISODE

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls,” goes the famous paraphrasing of John Donne’s sermon. “It tolls for thee.” The bitter truth of this aphorism—that the loss of any life is a loss for all—gets a brutal workout in the aptly named “The Bells,” arguably the best representation of George R.R. Martin’s deconstruction of fantasy tropes we’ve seen in several seasons. The bells of King’s Landing, it turns out, don’t toll for the loss of Cersei’s authority. They toll for the loss of everyone in the city, quite literally. This story began as a way to invert the cliched stereotypes of the hero’s journey, to twist the traditional narrative of swords and sorcery in a radical way and rethink how such epics are delivered. This episode brings that philosophy home. There are no good wars; any battle that begins with hearty cheering should end with somber melancholy; it doesn’t matter who the good guys and bad guys are in the face of death; nobody wants to die; the chaos of war makes villains and victims of us all.

The simplest rejoinder to all of Daenerys’ justifications is that this bloodshed could have been avoided. She was given a moment to choose, and she chose blind vengeance, the kind that eliminates any benevolence she hoped to bring to the seven kingdoms by burning it right out of the minds of anyone who saw her astride Drogon, mowing down men, women, and children with abandon. It gives the lie to her name for this fight, “The Last War.” There will be another, of course—maybe it will be led by the child who watched as her mother’s throat was cut in the streets by the so-called liberators of King’s Landing. Violence begets violence, and the only people still remaining will do the very thing that the living were fighting to preserve during the battle against the Night King: They’ll remember, and keep the memory of this bloodbath alive.

The progression from exhilarating hope to tragic denouement was skillfully executed by director Miguel Sapochnik, demonstrating a much better command of large-scale choreography here than we got to see in “The Long Night.” Honestly, the pivot from “fuck yeah!” (Daenerys laying waste to the Iron Fleet, then blasting the front gate of the city open from the inside, demolishing the lion’s share of the Golden Company in the process) to “Oh, dear god, no” (Dany and Grey Worm laying waste to everything after) was as solid a rug pull as could be hoped for. The build-up to Daenerys’ heel-turn this season hasn’t been as effective as it should have been given the way its foundation was laid during the mess in Meereen in previous seasons, and it was a bit simplistic to see her pin her sole hopes for optimism on the idea that Jon Snow still wanted to get it on with her (really? “Fear it is, then” because your nephew doesn’t have sex with you any more?), but Emilia Clarke sells the desperation. The younger Targaryen feels as though she’s lost any intimacy that tethered her to compassion and humanity, and so all that remains is the imperious need to rule that has driven her all these years, now bereft of the warmth that previously tempered her. When she hands Grey Worm Missandei’s old collar and he tosses it into the fire, Dany’s last thread of empathy burns as well, snuffed out even before Jon rejects her and ends her last-ditch plea for affection.

Varys would hate to have been proven right, but probably not as much as Tyrion hates himself right about now. After the Master Of Whisperers starts composing his written testimony about Jon being the rightful heir to the throne, Tyrion turns on his old friend and offers him up to Dany. It’s unsettling to see the presumable queen’s first assumption be that someone has betrayed her, but it’s even more telling that her first guess as to the betrayer’s identity is Jon. Varys even leans on Jon to assume the Iron Throne, which means he very well knew he wasn’t going to be around much longer, if he’s openly advocating others commit treason as well. But Tyrion can’t let Varys die thinking it was anything but their conversation, admitting to the spymaster that he turned him in. The moment when Tyrion firmly grabs his friend’s arm just before Dany utters the cue for Drogon to burn the eunuch alive is affecting, because it conveys both how much Tyrion cares for his friend, and also how much this is costing him. He’s pinning everything on his new queen, in hopes she’ll do exactly the opposite of what she does. (“I hope I deserve this, I truly do,” Varys even offers.) Whoops. The best of intentions, and all that.

Instead, Tyrion’s last genuine connection turns out to be his final conversation with his brother. Peter Dinklage and Nicolaj Coster-Waldeau have always had good chemistry, and Tyrion springing his brother free in what turns out to be a futile hope of preventing bloodshed and saving his sibling’s life is affecting in a way that Dany and Jon’s exchange lacks. “Cersei once called me the stupidest Lannister,” Jaime admits, and his world-weary resignation pairs well with Tyrion’s frantic hope for keeping his older brother alive. Commanding Jaime to try and escape with Cersei through the underground tunnels in order to escape to Pentos and start a new life—while ringing the bells of surrender on their way out, of course—gives the two one final chance to embrace. Tyrion’s tears contain the symbolic weight of his whole life; he wouldn’t be here if not for Jaime, as he admits, and his last hope is to give the man who risked everything to help him survive the same chance. Tyrion knows it’s a death sentence from Daenerys to betray her in this way, but he no longer cares.

And Jamie’s arc takes him from the heart of our heroes’ campaign to the arms of Cersei Lannister, with a brief stop along the way to put an end to Euron Greyjoy. The gleefully sadistic killer pushes Jaime into a fight, telling him that he slept with Cersei, and after a protracted struggle, even sinks his blade into Jaime’s side. But it turns out that a metal hand can be valuable in battle, after all, and Jaime uses it to help sink his own sword into Euron’s stomach. The irony of the manic Greyjoy’s final thoughts—“I’m the man who killed Jaime Lannister”—isn’t just that no one is around to bear witness. It’s that Jaime doesn’t die by his hand, but rather the crumbling bricks of the Red Keep.

Those final minutes with Cersei and Jaime are strong, mostly for how they upend the expected revelry of seeing one of the show’s true villains get her comeuppance. Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear. The staging of their reunion is superb: Cersei standing on the map she created of Westeros, reeling as the citadel comes falling down around her, while the one man who actually still cares for her helps her sink beneath the surface of the city for a few moments of closeness before death. The odds were never good she was going to survive, but in being buried under the rubble of her failed ambition, she achieves a kind of pathetic grace in her downfall.

But enough pathos. On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum: CLEGANEBOWL! It’s the match the show has been teasing almost from the beginning, and overall, it didn’t disappoint. The Mountain versus the Hound played out entertainingly, with the elder Clegane still outmatching his younger brother pound for pound and blow for blow. Being turned into a walking zombie of sorts didn’t just amplify his strength; it essentially obviated the need to parry blows, as even Sandor sinking his sword deep into his undead brother didn’t seem to slow him down in the slightest. There’s a tense, horrifying moment when it looks like we’re going to get a replay of the Viper’s fate, as the Mountain starts to push his thumbs into Sandor’s eyes, and I cringed, awaiting the head crunch. But Sandor shoves his knife through his brother’s head, and when that doesn’t stop him, he sacrifices himself to kill his sibling, knocking them from the tower and plunging into the blazing fire below. R.I.P., Sandor Clegane and your malevolent brother.

Better still, all that time spent with Arya and Sandor Clegane pays off in an unexpected manner, as the Hound warns the youngest Stark off her single-minded devotion to her kill list. Rather than heading up to kill Cersei, he brings Arya up short with a pointed question: “Do you want to be like me?” In that moment, he reminds her of everything she still has that he doesn’t: Family. Friends. A purpose beyond murderous retribution. He brings her back to a moment akin to her disavowal of the House Of Black And White (“A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I’m going home.”), pushing her to realize she still has reason to live. It’s in keeping with her character: Arya has always been the one to learn lessons where others might stubbornly plunge ahead (and she paid a serious price when she didn’t), employing boldness and caution in equal measure. Clegane gives her one last gift: Cersei is going to die regardless. No reason Arya should die with her.

Besides, Arya had one more, vital role to serve this episode. She becomes the audience stand-in to bear witness to the horrors of war. For those of us who haven’t read A Song Of Ice And Fire, this nonetheless feels like the most vivid display of the philosophy Martin has been playing with since the start. Death, in the early seasons, was always harsh and brutal and often unfair. For the first time in a long time, it was again. Everywhere she turns, Arya sees scared families, dying in awful ways. The woman who helps her survive, pulling her to her feet, dies screaming, holding her daughter as Dany burns them alive. A more evocative demonstration of the cost of the North’s fealty couldn’t be imagined.

Jon, watching the chaos unfold, is in shock. A Stark in spirit if not blood, he comes to the aid of a woman before she’s raped by a fellow soldier, but mostly, he’s struck dumb by the needless violence playing out around him, eventually able to do little more than exhort everyone to fall back and flee the city. Arya, conversely, springs into action on a smaller scale, as she always has. She tries to save people, even if it’s just those who helped her. As the show nicely mirrors the beats of Sandor and Arya’s struggles, cutting between them as if one body, the difference comes in Arya’s moment of aid: the woman’s hand reaching out to pull her up. Arya Stark is saved by a random woman who then dies horribly at the hand of the woman to whom her brother has pledged allegiance.

As she rides a horse out of the city, Game Of Thrones only has one episode remaining, but the hopes of the future ride away with Arya as well. Daenerys has become the person it was believed she wouldn’t be, and both Jon and Arya observe the terrible results of that transformation. By the end, Arya, half-blind and coughing up the dust of the city’s remains (and the remains of the bodies all around her), gets a front row seat to the carnage wrought by Daenerys Targaryen. Riding her dragon and leveling fire at friend and foe alike, regardless of intent, the Mother of Dragons comes across for all the world like a vengeful deity, a god of death reigning down fire upon the world. And what does Arya Stark say to the god of death?

Stray observations

R.I.P. Qyburn. The most loyal confidante of Cersei Lannister receives the ignoble death of being thrown headfirst into rubble by a grouchy Mountain, annoyed at being told to obey his queen.

It’s a gorgeous shot of Tyron entering the city, the camera registering a static image from behind him as he stands in the blown-out rubble of the city wall, watching the devastation unfold.

Again, Sapochnik’s direction was so much more assured and elegant here. His depiction of the spatial geography of King’s Landing was excellent, ably showing the massive distance between where Jon, Davos, and Grey Worm confronted the surrendering soldiers and the Red Keep far in the distance. Touches like that help to convey the scale and layout of the conflict in a more emotionally satisfying manner.

I quite liked Jaime being denied entrance to the Keep as Arya and Sandor passed through just ahead. Forcing him to go all the way around, essentially missing everything and receiving a mortal blow by coincidence from the unexpected appearance of Euron, helped keep a sense of frustrated expectations to the goings-on—sometimes, things just don’t go your way.

Dany’s words to Tyrion turn out to be far too prophetic: “It doesn’t matter now.”

What do you think the favor was that Tyrion asked for from Davos? My first guess was the orchestration of men sneaking into the city to ring the bells, but I’m far from confident about that.

I’m very pleased to report that I have very little clue what’s going to happen in next week’s series finale. I have some guesses about what could happen, but this episode was a refreshing tonic to the sometimes conservative mode of traditional heroics Benioff and Weiss have been dishing up this season.

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

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Michelle Wolf Is the Future of Stand-Up Comedy

The stand-up comedy world is in the throes of a sea change, as three of its marquee namesAziz Ansari, Louis C.K. and T.J. Millerstand accused of various degrees of sexual misconduct. Muddling matters further is the largesse of streaming giant Netflix, whose lofty $20 million-per-hour paydays for male comics Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, and Dave Chappelle have caused much consternation among lesser-compensated women (and understandably so).

As the so-called Bad Men dissolve from the pop-culture consciousness faster than the McFly family photo in Back to the Future, and as women across all industries reclaim their time, a confident new comedy voice has emerged from the maelstrom.

Her name is Michelle Wolf. And she is fucking hilarious.

If you havent seen the 32-year-olds HBO comedy special, Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady, well, you should get on that immediately. It was, in this writers estimation, the funniest stand-up special of 2017, packed with sidesplittingand blessedly Trump-freejokes on topics ranging from the fragile male ego (A soft penis looks like the sound of sad) and the feminism of naked selfies to pay equity and Caitlyn Jenners brave transition (I still fucking hate your personality). Throughout the hour-long ride, she is both cutting and ebullient, her piercing voice, bobbing red mane, and chortle accentuating each clever punch line.

The through-line is the outmoded concept of the nice lady, and how, in the immortal words of The Real World, its time for women to stop being polite and start getting real. Though the special was recorded in August, two months prior to the disturbing Harvey Weinstein revelations, its a sentiment that aligns perfectly with the current #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.

I dont want to say serendipitous, because so many terrible things are happening to so many people, but its kind of serendipitous, I guess, offers Wolf. Its just a good time in comedy right now for women, because its a perspective that people are now more open to.

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Unlike her male contemporaries whove struggled with addressing the epidemic of sexual-harassment allegations, Wolf has proven to be more than up to the task. In late October, just after the Weinstein stories dropped, her Daily Show boss Trevor Noah tasked her with creating a humorous bit on the truly horrifying casein just a few hours, no less.

Its a hard thing to make jokes aboutespecially that soon, she recalls. I struggled to find a take on it. Its good to have emotion behind something, but sometimes your feelings can blind you comedically. You have to remain fairly neutral, stand back from a situation, and think of the way it will actually work, not the way it will make your heart feel better.

The result was both funny and spot-on: My solution? Every time a guy gets caught sexually harassing someone, you dont just fire him. You have to replace him with a woman. Its a policy that I call, Pull out your dick, get replaced by a chick.

Wolf is also fearless. In addition to skewing Caitlyn Jenner in Nice Lady, she takes a few clean shots at Hillary Clinton, or rather the patriarchal system that made Hillary Hillary, from one so-called shrill voice to another.

I do have a theory on why Hillary lost: I think its cause no one likes her, says Wolf in the special. You shouldnt like Hillary. Shes a bitch. You have to be a bitch to be that powerful. Were never going to have a nice lady run for president. Nice ladies arent in charge of things, and if youre in charge of something and you think youre a nice lady, no one else does.

Thats the balance you have to create, she says, explaining the bit. I come from the train of thought that you can joke about anything as long as its funny enough. You have to anticipate what peoples arguments against you will be so that you can make a joke-rationale for it. That Hillary bit goes pretty aggressively at her but then it turns into a compliment. Im not a lawyer but I think its similar to writing a good argument where you have to cover all your bases.

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Wolf wasnt always the self-assured comic you see on HBO and The Daily Show. At the College of William & Marythe same school Jon Stewart went to, strangely enoughshe was a real big nerd who majored in kinesiology, working in a cardiovascular molecular physiology lab, and ran track and field.

I used to watch those old Gatorade commercials from the 90s where the athletes are hooked up to wires on the treadmill and I wanted to be the doctor working on those guys, because I knew I wasnt a good enough athlete, she says.

After graduating from college in 2007, she took a job at Bear Stearns working in mutual funds and separately managed accounts. Then came the financial collapse.

I was the low person on the totem pole but I felt terrible for the people there whod been there for their entire careers and invested in the company. That was heartbreaking, says Wolf. It would almost have been better if everyone got fired on one day, but it dragged on for years. Youd just hear about people getting pushed to other departments and would think, yeah, theyre getting pushed out. It was pretty soul-crushing.

In March 2008, right around the time Bear Stearns was falling apart, a few high-school friends came to New York City to visit, and they all went to a taping of Saturday Night Live. Afterward, she thought, How did they get to do this? So she Googled the cast members and discovered that each and every one of them had done improv.

She immediately signed up for a beginners improv classlevel 1 at The PIT, or Peoples Improv Theaterand found it exhilarating. She had, after all, grown up idolizing Carol Burnett. Wolf would go directly from Bear Stearns (and later JPMorgan) to The PIT.

I used to go to improv classes in my skirt-suit from work, wearing heels, she remembers with a laugh. I finally started bringing pants and sneakers to wear and thought, Oh yeah, you can move!

At one of her improv classes, she befriended someone who worked in a computational biochemistry research lab as a recruiter. And so, after three-and-a-half years in finance she took a job there, because it provided her with more flexibility to explore comedy. She soon got into stand-up, and worked on it all day, day after day, writing jokes, performing sets, and tweeting.

It gave me a ton of time to sit at my computer and tweet all day, which really helped with my joke-writing, shares Wolf. I would just read the news and tweet jokes about the news. It teaches you an economy of words.

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Wolf eventually began doing less and less work at the lab, devoting more and more time to comedy, and got fired. But shed saved up enough money, along with her severance, to last a year: I tripled down with so much fear inside of me because I was like: This is it. I have a year to make it.

She was fired in January 2013. In January 2014, she got hired on the new show Late Night With Seth Meyers, where she worked in the writers room and participated in the occasional sketch. Then, feeling the itch to perform more on-camera, she joined The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in April 2016.

Nice Lady is no accident. Its a late December evening and Wolf has, with the aid of an entire French press, worked from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. writing jokes (a process they call gangs) all day at The Daily Show before meeting me for more coffee. After our chat, shell head downtown to perform three stand-up sets, including at the famed Comedy Cellar.

I did 21 shows last week, she says, and thats on top of her Daily Show job. I have a new hour Im working on. I wanted to go on tour after the special came out, and I didnt want to do the same stuff. So Im workin on it. Its great and terrifying to work on new jokes.

She pauses, reflecting on her regimen. Its a lifestyle thats not necessarily conducive to women most of the time, because touring and doing stand-up a lot is not easy when you have a baby. Its easy for a guy because the baby can stay home, but Ali [Wong] brings her baby with her all the time, which is a very tough thing to do, and she has a great support system around her. But thats not the norm.

Wolfs well-received Comedy Cellar sets soon caught the eye of high-profile stand-up comedians, including Hannibal Buress. When host Chris Rock was recruiting joke writers for the 2016 Academy Awards, Buress recommended Wolf. She vividly remembers running into Seth Meyers office and frantically yelling, I just got a voicemail from Chris Rock telling me to call him back. What should I do?! You should call him back, said Meyers.

Several of Wolfs jokes made it into the Oscars telecastincluding a great sorority racist bitand Wolf eventually opened for Rock on several European dates.

Hes become a friend and a mentor, which is crazy. Theres no past me that would ever have thought this would happen, she says.

Another of her mentors is Louis C.K., whos been accused ofand confessed toserial sexual misconduct. Wolfs guest-starred on Louis web series Horace and Pete, opened for him on tour, and spent many nights shooting the shit with him at the Comedy Cellar.

When I mention the Louis scandal, she says matter-of-factly: Hes always been very supportive and generous, and my experience with him is very different than others, I suppose. But, in this kind of big moment in my career, I dont really want to talk about stuff that a man did.

Fair enough. After all, it wasnt Louis C.K. who performed thousands of stand-up sets or spent years in a pair of late-night writers rooms meticulously honing her craft, transforming from a nerdy scientist into the stage-commanding badass in Nike His you see before you today. It was Michelle Wolf.

To do stand-up, you have to have a strong point of view, and doing stand-up gave me that strong point of view, she says, cracking a smile. It made me a person.

Michelle Wolfs The Not Nice Comedy Tour kicks off Feb. 1 in Philadelphia. Shell be performing March 8-10 at Carolines in Manhattan.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/michelle-wolf-is-the-future-of-stand-up-comedy

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2IIElYJ via Viral News HQ

#IFTTT #Viral News HQ

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spiderfan22 · 7 years ago

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DAY THREE HUNDRED AND TEN - 3/19/18

“THE TALKBACK” by DJS

Another page and a half from the one-act. You do what you can do with the time you have.

Characters

Mark Storey, an actor in his late twenties

Sarah Klein, an actress in her forties

Constance Romero, a costume designer in her sixties

Setting

The stage of a theater, be it a blackbox, regional theater or Broadway.

An audience talkback after a performance of the play-within-the-play “The Final Sitting”:

We’re watching the closing moments of the play-within-the-play. From backstage. Through a door leading onto the set.

The scene is between a young Renaissance painter (played by the actor Mark Storey) and his subject, a housemaid (portrayed by the actress Sarah Klein).

She is on her way out the door. He blocks her exit.

Note: there is something affected about Sarah’s performance here, a rawness that is both deeply moving and not entirely within her control. She has trouble getting out the words.

MARK (on the verge of tears) Ingrid, please. (No response.) Please!!

SARAH (choked) No.

MARK Then I will burn this painting.

She begins to protest and they struggle.

I will, every vestige of it—of you! Till it is nothing but ashes! Or better, drive a knife through the canvas, through your heart for abandoning me now!!

SARAH This is foolishness—

MARK No—

SARAH Folly! This is folly! The talk of a child!

MARK (roaring) You dare call me a child?!!

He grasps her tighter. She breaks down in tears.

SARAH Oh God, how do you of all people not see?! You who can capture the truth of a moment in a few simple brushstrokes—with your gifts—that even after everything you’ve subjected me to—the, the the the insults, the, the degradation—

MARK I??!!

SARAH Yes, you!! You!! (A deep sigh.) That for all your faults, your many, many faults, and terrible sins, unforgiveable… for me to somehow still respect your talent? Do you know how difficult that is—to, to reconcile in my mind? The artist… And the man.

MARK (quietly) I am both, am I not?

Long pause.

SARAH You are. Of course you are. (Pause.) And a boy no longer.

He releases his grip on her. She turns to go.

MARK Please… Ingrid… to feel your lips on my cheek one more time…

She pauses.

SARAH One last time.

And Sarah kisses Mark softly on the cheek, as she would a child.

The effort should be like moving a mountain for her.

Then she exits, closing the door behind her.

She is very still in the darkness backstage. We can just make out her outline. She has trouble catching her breath.

On the other side of the door we hear Mark weeping loud actor-y tears.

Then the lights go out completely and the play-within-the-play is over.

A burst of applause (recorded).

The scene changes and we are out front now.

It’s after the show.

Three chairs have been set up downstage, with a small table between two of the chairs with a carafe of water and two glasses.

Constance Romero (wearing a body mic) enters from the wings to some applause. The audaciousness of her outfit choice should surprise and delight us.

She addresses the audience from the foot of the stage.

CONSTANCE Thank you. Good evening. It’s nice of so many of you to stick around after the show with us. I’m sure it’s because you’ve been so tremendously moved, not to mention stimulated by this amazing production as we all have that you’re just dying to know more.

My name is Constance Romero. And in case you missed it in your program there—the type is rather small—I designed the costumes for the production. Which, I kid, but was truly my honor to join this remarkable team of theater artists who brought this story to life, that begins at the very top with a great director—who just so happens to be the artistic director of this theater, Mr Dylan Graham, and who, fortune would have it, couldn’t be here tonight because he’s off living the high life in New York—yes, he’s left us all behind—directing a revival of The Cherry Orchard off-Broadway—which is why he couldn’t be here in person himself.

Actually, it was fairly unceremonious how I came to be chosen to moderate this Q and A, really simple convenience. I live just down the block, you see, so they knew they had a sure bet on that end. (A small, nervous laugh.) And while this isn’t my usual “thing”, conducting interviews that is, I will try my damndest for you all to ask the penetrating questions I’m sure we’ve all had stirred up. Because the play, this play The Final Sitting, it does spark a good number of very intriguing, you know—and since you’ve all just seen it I’m not giving anything away—debates it might cause over the actions of the characters, etcetera.

I also must confess to stalling for time a little here. Our actors will be out any minute. Or so I’m told! But, you know, at the same time, it’s a show, right? There’s a certain period of I don’t know what you’d call it—decompression?—and especially for a show like this, so intense that you—that we’re asking them now to hurry that process along. But they’re very eager—I spoke with them both briefly right after coming offstage—to see you all, really see you, with the houselights up, and have a chance to answer any questions that may still be lingering. So we will try to reserve some time for those questions from you at the end. We just ask that any questions do come in the form of a question and not a statement. Good? Thank you? Yes. Makes it easier all around. (She glances towards the wings for confirmation on this.) Oh, yes? Well it seems that’s my cue. (Clears throat.) So ladies and gentlemen, please now will you join me in welcoming back to the stage with a warm round of applause, the stars of this production— Mark Storey and Sarah Klein!

She joins the audience in a round of applause.

Mark enters from the wings, followed a good moment later by Sarah.

They’re both wearing comfortable semi-casual attire and have that fresh, still slightly damp look people have when they’ve just gotten out of the shower and had to dress quickly. They wear body-mics as well.

Mark smiles in a faux modest way while nodding appreciatively to the audience in a gesture of humble gratitude for the warm reception.

Sarah’s smile is weaker, clearly forced, though she’s honestly trying, and her eye contact with the audience isn’t quite what it should be given the situation.

They take their seats, Mark in the middle nearest Constance.

CONSTANCE (as the applause fades) Welcome. To both of you.

MARK Well it’s pretty great to be here, isn’t it?

CONSTANCE I would say—I would say after a show like tonight’s, which seemed just electric. And maybe that’s as good a place to start as any—what is that feeling when you know you’ve sufficiently “upped the ante” let’s call it.

MARK Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean I don’t want to speak for Sarah, but it really felt, you know, like we were just going on all cylinders, you know? Firing— (More to the audience.) Sorry, I get a little (Makes an “I’m crazy” gesture.) just, you know, after a show. Still all keyed up and stuff—

CONSTANCE I’m sure, right, coming down—

MARK Right, yeah. Don’t even know if I’m saying actual words.

He is joking; something Mark has a natural talent for. It’s part of his charm.

CONSTANCE And Sarah, how about you?

SARAH Uhh. The same. Yeah.

MARK (to Sarah) It’s palpable isn’t it? (Back to Constance.) (Thinks.) Alchemy! And you’re lost in it, in the moment! So much so you don’t even know how good it was, you were, until after, and then it’s just like—it’s more like a dream you had at that point. I’m serious, everyone’s patting you on the back like “You were so amazing tonight, the places you went to, yah-yah” and the whole time you’re thinking I don’t even know what happened out there, but I guess thanks for the compliment anyway?? Yeah, it’s weird, you never know what to say. So just say thank you, I guess, try to be gracious?? I don’t know, I’m new to all this, I would ask Sarah. Maybe she has a better perspective, approach.

SARAH (having drifted off) What?

MARK You know, handling praise and everything? I was just saying you might have a better system, how to react to that, given your years of experience. And being so much more talented I think we can all agree?

He leads the audience in applause for Sarah, who smiles uncomfortably.

Seriously, c’mon, give it up for this woman. Like if you ever want to see just a crazy scene of people making absolute fools of themselves—there’s a bar, Flannigan’s, we all go to after the show—and the line—the line-up of folks just waiting to, like, shake this woman’s hand, to offer up their congratulations. It’s like that scene in—what’s the movie? With the two guys, they have like a cable access show—I think it started on Saturday Night Live—why can’t I think of it?

SARAH (small) Wayne’s World.

MARK Wayne’s World, right, yes! Where they bow down, the guys—“We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” All in praise to Sarah here.

Constance has been eating all this up.

God, that takes me back. We used to watch that movie all the time on HBO. When I was in drama school—it would like, always be on for some reason. Mike Myers, right?

CONSTANCE I think, I’m not sure. And we should mention that when you say Drama School, you of course mean Julliard.

MARK Guilty. Now you’ve done your research haven’t you?

CONSTANCE Some light prep, that’s all. Everything’s on these notecards here, I’d be lost without them. So school was Julliard for you—and for you, Sarah? I have down you went to UCLA?

SARAH Undergrad, right.

CONSTANCE Was that a conscious decision then—moving to California I mean? Had you originally wanted to go into movies or TV?

SARAH Well I had… like probably for a lot of people whose first experience was, I had started acting in high school, where I first really—

MARK Exactly. And weren’t those just the worst? I mean looking back? (To Sarah.) What did you guys do? Like, what monstrosity did your teacher force you to go up there and put on? Because for us it was Our Town. Like I still can’t stand that play.

SARAH I don’t know—

MARK �� It was Our Town. And then we did a Shakespeare. The Comedy of Errors—ugh.

CONSTANCE And yet you persisted somehow.

MARK Well, me, I’m an attention whore. I just like being stared at under pretty lights, in fancy costumes. Thanks for that, by the way, because—and this is in all honesty, Constance—this has gotta be my favorite costume I’ve ever worn. Bar none—

CONSTANCE Oh. Well thank you—

MARK I mean I can’t speak for Sarah, I’m not the one in a corset, but—

SARAH (feeling the need to praise Constance as well) Oh. Yes—

MARK And that’s so important for a role isn’t it—to actually inhabiting another person, if you’re gonna have any chance—which I think is what we ultimately as actors try to do, try to give—the end goal of the whole process I mean, to become someone else by whatever means at your disposal—fully. And, what I was saying, it’s really the final piece, the clothes. They make the man as they say.

CONSTANCE Well, while I certainly appreciate the compliment, I’m rather in the same boat as you, I’m not the best at taking them.

MARK Who is? Politicians, maybe. I guess.

CONSTANCE So getting back to you, Sarah—

MARK Right, apologies—running this whole thing aren’t I? When I should just shut up—let the lady speak.

CONSTANCE Sarah, college for you was UCLA, southern California, coming out from the Midwest, Ohio I believe? (Sarah nods.) So did you originally have the impulse to try for TV, the movies, or—?

SARAH No, that—I never considered that, no.

MARK Too smart.

CONSTANCE And you followed that up—you didn’t go to grad school correct?—but followed that up with stints at some of the most prestigious regional theaters around the country. Berkeley Repertory and A.C.T. in San Francisco, Arena Stage in Washington DC, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival—

SARAH I did, yes—

CONSTANCE Where you played parts as diverse as Catherine in A View From a Bridge, to Caliban in an acclaimed all-female production of The Tempest. Now I have to say, as a big fan of that show in particular, I would have loved to see that.

MARK You and me both.

SARAH Thank you. Thanks, yeah—

MARK Yeah and in case anyone ever wonders, this is what my jealous face looks like. Yeah it’s Sarah’s resume I think of, like a little scroll in my head, anytime I have to emote that onstage. (Turning on Sarah.) God you’re infuriating, woman!!

Faux mad, he makes to throttle Sarah but doesn’t actually lay hands on her.

Laughter from all but Sarah, who has a pinched smile, caught.

To be continued…

#actors #metoo #regionaltheater #q&a #interview

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oijio · 8 years ago

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My Favorite New Shows of 2016

2016 was packed with great, new television on several different platforms, from online, to streaming, cable and network. Netflix seemed like it was releasing new shows every week, add that to all the great content on cable and network, there was just so much television out there, from all over the world that there just isn't enough time to consume everything, and 2017 doesn't seem to be slowing it down (here’s a link to the 2015 list). Before continuing on to the New Year, let's look back on the shows which made their debuts in 2016 that I just loved watching. This isn't even a comprehensive list. When there's hours of British TV I just didn't get to watch, and Netflix now releasing supposedly great TV shows from places like Israel, Brazil, and Spain among their original content, you just don't have enough hours in the day to watch it all. Oh well, one day!

Before we get to my top 10 favorite new shows of 2016, let's take a peek at the continuing growth of Peak TV this past year and which shows I think deserve an honorable mention:

The reboot of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life isn't a new show per se, but still worth a look

Same goes with the retooled Black Mirror

Comedies like Better Things, American Housewife, and Fleabag

Netflix' other good new shows like Love, Trollhunters, and Easy

Cheesy summer horror-thrillers like American Gothic, Braindead (also a comedy), Dead of Summer, and Channel Zero

Riveting cable TV like Preacher, The Night Of, Outcast, and Animal Kingdom

And a range of miniseries from War & Peace to The Time Traveling Bong

Onto the Top 10 New Shows of 2016, which this year includes miniserieses because they're anthologies or may have future episodes anyway!

10. Westworld (HBO)

Classic or popular movies being rebooted into TV shows seem to be all the rage these past few years, and HBO got in on it with this updated version of the 1973 Western classic. Westworld is as exquisitely, expertly crafted as the robots within the show, with two interweaving storylines set decades apart, and so many mysteries surrounding all the characters. While sometimes it can be more mystery than story, Westworld has built a great base for something more engaging in the future.

9. Speechless (ABC)

There are way too many similar family comedies on TV nowadays that when something different comes along, like ABC's Speechless, it's sure to grab attention. This one has a not-so-well-to-do family, with a son who has cerebral palsy. The latter, while it might be the focal point in the pilot and is used for an emotional moment or two in some episodes, it is never exploitative or cheesy. For the most part, they just hired an actor who happened to have cerebral palsy to play the older teen boy role. Minnie Driver is also great.

8. Atlanta (FX)

Donald Glover has always seemed like someone that was just waiting for the right time to break through on his own. Kind of like Chris Pratt or Aziz Ansari from Parks & Rec. Enter Atlanta, a dramatic comedy about a couple of cousins working the rap scene in Atlanta. Smart, subversive, and sleek, Atlanta was the “cool” show of the year that featured a black Justin Bieber! Not someone who was like Justin Bieber, in Atlanta's world, Justin Bieber was black. It was better than it sounds, I promise.

7. Queen Sugar (OWN)

I wasn't sure about catching a soap-ish drama on Oprah's network, but Queen Sugar is a show created, produced, and directed by Ava DuVernay, the extremely talented director of films like Selma, Middle of Nowhere, and the documentary 13th. I had to see her first real foray into TV, and it did not disappoint. Queen Sugar, about three siblings who inherit their father's sugar cane fields, has soap opera elements to it (like Charley's main NBA wife storyline) but it's done in a really classy way and written intelligently. Charley's story is the best, too, thanks to Dawn-Lyen Gardner's terrific performance.

6. The Crown (Netflix)

Netflix had a really good year, with two shows on my top 10 new shows, and then the reboots of Black Mirror and Gilmore Girls among many others that premiered. Their most high-profile new show though has got to be The Crown, famously noted as the streaming site's most expensive show yet. Detailing the life of Queen Elizabeth II beginning with right before she took hold of the crown, and the show hopes to take it all the way through her over 60-year reign. Beautifully made, with great performances all around from the likes of Claire Foy, Matt Smith, and John Lithgow, The Crown is royalty TV.

5. This is Us (NBC)

Recently, Dan Fogelman has been creating silly, absurd comedies like The Neighbors and Galavant, so to see him tackle something as dramatic as This is Us, a touching family drama that will make you cry almost every episode. Starring Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore, we find four people all celebrating their 30th birthday on the same day, each with their own issues to deal with, like one finding his real father, one dealing with weight problems, and another about to welcome his first kids into the world. Simple, but effective, This is Us is the twist-filled drama that won't make your head hurt, but will make your eyes weep.

4. The Good Place (NBC)

Sitcoms this past year have stuck to formula with a twist, because it works perfectly fine, but The Good Place is unlike any other sitcom this past year. Taking a more serialized approach, and not holding back on the absurd, The Good Place is the newest sitcom from Mike Schur, co-creator of Brooklyn Nine Nine, The Office (US), and Parks and Recreation. In it, Eleanor (a perfectly cast Kristen Bell) dies and is sent to “The Good Place”, a kind of Heaven-like place where all the good people go. Unfortunately, Eleanor is not a good person – she's a terrible one and because of a mix-up, she was sent to the Good Place instead of “the Bad Place”. She tries her best to be nice, but her being in the wrong place causes craziness in The Good Place. Enjoy this high concept sitcom that's incredibly funny, entertaining, and different.

3. The Night Manager (BBC/AMC)

Gorgeous scenery, heart-racing tension, and incredible performances all around from Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Debicki, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, and Hugh Laurie, this exciting, beautifully made miniseries is based off John le Carre's novel and is like James Bond for TV. Danish film director Susanne Bier, who's done things like In a Better World and After the Wedding, and screenwriter David Farr adapt le Carre's novel to the present day with tautness and thrill. Hiddleston plays Jonathan Pine, a former soldier and now hotel night manager that gets entangled in a nefarious plot involving arms dealing that takes him on a globe-trotting adventure from Egypt to Switzerland to Spain.

2. Stranger Things (Netflix)

Who knew this little show released by Netflix randomly during the middle of the year would become one of its biggest hits and one of the most talked about shows of 2016? Stranger Things, an 80s throwback fantasy series in the vein of E.T., The Goonies, and other 80s classics swept the pop culture nation by storm. Stranger Things had some exciting storytelling, a haunting atmosphere, a terrific soundtrack, and a winning cast. Featuring a band of young kids, their powerful new friend, unreliable adults, and a monster, this was the perfect throwback to the 80s while also being a great show for today.

1. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)

Ryan Murphy loves his anthologies, and his new one, American Crime Story, hopes to focus on different “true crimes” every season. The first one just happened to be golden, focusing on the trial of OJ Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Focusing on heavy themes such as the problems of the US justice system, fame, and race, while at the same time telling in fresh, compelling detail a story that most people already know makes The People v. O.J. such important viewing. Add a brilliant cast that included the likes of Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden, and Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran, and The People v. O.J. was the best new thing on TV in 2016.

To recap:

10. Westworld (HBO) 9. Speechless (ABC) 8. Atlanta (FX) 7. Queen Sugar (OWN) 6. The Crown (Netflix) 5. This is Us (NBC) 4. The Good Place (NBC) 3. The Night Manager (BBC/AMC) 2. Stranger Things (Netflix) 1. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)

These shows are solid TV, and three of them made their way into my overall Top 10 favorite shows, two of which are 3 and 4! Another, a reboot, made its way into the Top 10 as well. So great. Even if Game of Thrones returned to form this past year, The Americans just happened to raise their game even higher. Here's to the great TV this 2016!

10. Broad City (last year: 9) 9. You're the Worst (last year: 7) 8. Black Mirror (NEW) 7. Bates Motel (last year: 2) 6. The Night Manager (NEW) 5. Veep (last year: 5) 4. Stranger Things (NEW) 3. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (NEW) 2. Game of Thrones (last year: 4) 1. The Americans (last year: 1)

2017's already off to a cracking start with Netflix shows One Day at a Time and A Series of Unfortunate Events, then you have FX's Taboo starring Tom Hardy. And that's just the first couple weeks of January! TV is only getting bigger and sometimes, better! 2017, here we go. Find the show you like or love, and watch! Let me know if there's anything you like as well!

#blogs #blog #personal #tv #lists #stranger things #people v oj #the night manager #the good place #this is us

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