#i know this is due to having different directors and shit for these 3 films but its still interesting. im still thinking about it

[sumbreon]

im still thinking about ambroses monologue about how ethan operates and how mi:3 just throws that out the window. and in mi:1 the line about how the imf people are essentially ghosts and they trained them to be that and they only know where he is cause he wants them to whereas in 3 they know where he is pretty consistently regardless of if he wants that

fascinated by the juxtaposition of mi:2 having a guy monologue about how ethan will go out of his way to avoid any harm to 'civilians' to mi:3 having ethan go wild shooting and throwing grenades around 20 minutes in. im certain the film will not address this at all but i will still be mildly disappointed it wont

[xxmayxx05]

Love at first sight: Enzo vogrincic

Pairing: Enzo Vogrincic x Fem reader! Singer

Summary: You are invited to the premier of the movie of the Society of the snow. It was finally the night that you meet the handsome upcoming and rising actor Enzo. It's very surprising when you find out that he was a fan of you and your music. Both of you get very comfortable with each other in a short amount of time, and he decides to make his first move and not risk it.

Warnings: None!

Author's note: Hi guys! I hope you like my imagine! I was thinking about making this into a small series, please comment if you'd like that and send any requests, they are highly appreciate it! Please heart and reblog. Hope you guys like this story<3

____

Today, was the first big premiere that you have ever been invited to and you were excited about it. After your album hit number 1 in different platforms, you were finally getting the recognition that you truly deserved after working so many years behind the scenes in the music industry but now you were in your dream place. 

You were invited to the premiere for the movie “Society of the snow”. Your manager had gotten the invite to the premier due to the fact that your song was part of the soundtrack and that director of the movie J.A Bayona specifically asked you to be a guest in the premier, was a huge honor. When you wre recording studio,trying to write a song for the movie was bit of a hassle. Having to do your own research about the real life tragic events, you were truy inspired and wrote the song. 

J.A Bayona was truly amazed with the song that you have written for the movies soundtrack and now you were here in the premier. Your limousine pulled up slowly to the blue carpet premier, you saw some of the actors that you saw in the trailer but one caught your eye the most. 

His name was Enzo, you had remembered because J.A showed you photos of the cast when he had invited you out for dinner one day. You were mezmerized by how handsome he was and you couldn’t wait to be able to meet him one day. Now you were less than 10 feet away from him and he was even more handsome. You took a deep breathe when your manager opened the limousine door for you and helped you. 

The black satin dress hugged your every curve, your make up was done to perfection to bring out your eye color, you just felt more beautiful and confident with yourself. Walking up to the blue carpet, you turned to the paparazzi and let them take pictures of you. All you could hear was the screams of paparazzi, telling you where to look and the click of the cameras. Little did you know that you had caught the eye of the handsome man you were excited to meet tonight.  

—

Enzo was feeling nervous but happy that his most important project is about to be released, he was very proud of the cast, the production crew. Today was finally the day that everyone was waiting for. Looking at the cameras, and posing casually for the pictures. He turned his head to the left slightly and saw the most beautiful that he has ever seen. Her dress hugged her beautiful body, her hair slicked back in a loose bun, make up done to perfection, her plump lips looked so kissable. 

“Enzo, you are staring” Agustin said in a teasingly matter. 

“Shit” Enzo said and quickly looked at Agustin, when he had made eye contact with you. He softly blushed when you gave him a smile and went back to posing for the cameras. “She is here” Enzo whispered in Agustin’s ear and both of them began posing for the cameras. 

“Yeah, Bayona mentioned something about her coming” he said in his ear and wrapped his left arm around Enzo’s shoulder and kept smiling. Agustin knew that Enzo had the biggest crush on you, he kept raving about your album while they were filming the movie. He caught Enzo scrolling through your instagram and liking your pictures, he was a simp for you. 

“You better make a move before the end of the night” he told Enzo and patted his shoulder. Walking away with the rest of the cast. 

Enzo took a deep breath and nodded his head. He had to make a move, tonight what’s so ever.

—-

Finally making your way inside the theater after taking more pictures, did a couple of interviews, and finally meeting up with J.A. He lead you into the theater and stood by your side because he knew you didn’t know many people. 

“Do you want to meet the boys” he asked you as he hooked his arm with yours. You guys had known each other for sometime, so it was something that you guys always did when you hangout together. “Enzo is going to be very happy to see you” he teased and nodded his head when he saw the boys huddled up together talking. 

You look at where Bayona nodded his head and there he was. The guy that you had a small crush on. “Let’s see where this night takes me” you smiled at him and laughed softly when he immediately took you to where the cast was. 

“Guys, meet Y/N” He said as he presented you to the very tall handsom group of boys. 

One by one they greeted you with a kiss on the cheek and saying how big of fans they where to your music. The last one was Enzo. You both made intense eye contact and you were left breathless when he leaned down to kiss your cheek. His cologne and aftershave was a very calming scent to you and you didn’t know why. 

“Hi love” he said and kissed your cheek. Enzo felt a bit nervous on finally meeting you but thankfully the boys told him that you were coming there way and he gave himself a small pep talk to calm his nerves. You were more beautiful up close and you smelled like heaven, he really needed to make a move tonight or he would regret it. 

“Enzo right?” you asked, knowing that it was a risky question. 

“Yes I am” he said, his eyes widened a bit when he realized that you knew him. “Really big fan of your music” he said with a small smile. Enzo looked at the guys and he was thankful that they were all talking with Bayona and it was now him and you. 

“That’s very nice to hear” you smiled, feeling pride that he liked your music. “I’m going to release new music soon, hopefully I’m going on tour next year you told him with excitement. 

“I would love to go see you live, the boys and I would listen to your music during our filming break” he chuckled. He blushed softly when he heard you angeletic laugh. “Really it was me who would put your music” he decided to confess. 

“It’s very nice to know that you are an amazing fan” you said confidently. “Maybe you could come see my first show, I would love to see you there” you said with a smile. 

“It would be an honor to come and see you” Enzo said with a small chuckle. He was feeling even more confidence with himself and liked how comfortable you both were getting with eachother. “Would you like a drink?” he asked looked at the open bar. 

“Yes I would” you said softly both of you walked to the bar. He ordered you both a martini and clincked the glasses together softly as a little pre-celebration. “I’m very excited for the movie.” 

He smiled at you and he felt a lot of pride that the movie was finally going to be shown for everyone to see the incredible movie. Him and the boys went through a lot of hard training before going to the andes and filming in the cold. “Yes, so am I. we all worked very hard to complete this amazing story. It’s the first ever project or huge project that some of us have worked on. Hopefully we all get more opportunities in this industry.” he said and took a sip of his martini. 

“I agree with you on that, this industry is very difficult but i’m pretty sure that with this project you guys will succeed more than you think.” you gave him a heart warming smile. 

“Thank you, Linda” he said and leaned in kissing your cheek. Enzo felt like he needed to do it, hoping that it will show you that he felt someway about you. 

“No problem” you said a bit quietly and blushed softly. “I would like to invite you to one of my future shows” you said while pulling your phone out from your small clutch and handed it to him for him to type his number. 

 He grabbed you phone and type his number, he decided to take a little leap of faith and added a black heart at the end of his name. 

“Excuse me?, could i please take a picture of you both?” a random photographer said, surprising you both. Enzo looked at you with a little smile. 

“Of course” you told the photographer and blushed when you felt Enzo wrapping an arm around your waist. You stood closer to him and softly put a hand on top of his firm chest. Both of you smiled and the flash went of. “ Thank you guys” he said before walking away. 

You looked up at him and blushed when you realized that he was already smiling at you. “Here you go, Linda” he said and handed you the phone back. 

“Thank you” you said softly and leaned to get your drink. Both of you kept talking and finishing your drink. Completely getting even more comfortable with each other and his arm was around your waist the whole time. 

“Um, guy we have to head inside the theater” Bayona said when he came up to you both and was very pleased that you guys have gotten very close with each other in such short amount of time. 

“Alright, we will be right in” Enzo said as he put his glass back on the table and took yours when you handed it to him. “Let’s go?” he asked you, smiling softly at you. 

“Let’s go” you said and both of you started walking inside the theater, Enzo never removed his arm from your waist and lead you both to see the showing. 

—-

After almost three hours, the movie ended and everyone was heading out. You cried practically the whole entire time and Enzo comforted you along the way. 

“I’m sorry for crying the entire time” you laughed softly as you both walked out. He had offered to walk you to your driver. 

“It’s very understandable, it’s a very emotional ride” he said and looked down at you. Enzo say how your teeth were slightly chattering when the cold air unexpectedly hit you when you walked out of the theater. He removed his gray suit jacket and wrapped it around your shoulders. 

“Thank you” you said softly when you felt him covered your exposed arms. Both of you kept walking in a comfortable silence until you saw your driver stand by the limousine. “Well, this is where I go” you said with a chuckle and turned to him. 

“It was really nice meeting you, I hope we can see each other very soon” Enzo said and looked down at you. He loved the height difference that there was between you both. 

“I will make sure of it” you said and got on your tippy toes. Leaning in you kissed his cheek. “Goodnight Enzo” you said with a smile and turned to walk to the car. 

“Goodnight Linda” he said with a smile as he saw you walk to your car and go inside. Enzo was surprised when you kissed his cheek, he wished it would of been a real kiss but he was content with just a kiss on the cheek. He started walking back to meet the boys so that they could go back to the hotel to get ready for the interviews tomorrow. His phone buzzed softly in his pocket and he took it out. 

“I hope I could see you really soon, thank you for tonight… xo Lina” said the unknown number. He smiled and immediately save your number, typing your whole name with a red heart on the end. 

“I would like to take you out on a date tomorrow night, if you are available” he texted, biting his bottom lip at his bold move. 

“I’ll be waiting <3” you texted, right back. 

“Fuck yes” Enzo said to himself. He had a nice feeling about you and he didn’t want to loose this chance. He didn’t want to loose you. 

[lesbian-disaster-tm]

Here's my submission for your ask game!

- I'm a huge fan of old stuff; classic literature, history, mythology, folklore and so on.

- I'm a sucker for sapphic characters in general and love sapphic relationships

- I'm both an artist and writer (mainly draw digitally)

- My favorite era in history is the 1920s

- The games I mainly play these days are Hades II and Fate/Grand Order

- I'm in college atm but unsure about what occupation to take; a career in history, perhaps?

- Top 3 favorite deities are Hera, Hebe and Persephone

- Burritos and Reese's Pieces cereal are amongst my list of comfort foods.

- I'm very out of touch with most modern media lol

- I have participated in the online art event ArtFight since 2022 and intend to participate again next year and so on.

Actually spend like an hour writing this before accidentally closing the app so this post might be a bit shitty. Apologies in advance.

Hi anon! I don't know who you are but you sound like a very interesting person. I actually found figuring out what to recommend you a bit challenging so instead of settling on one I kinda made a list. Hope you don't mind

•MOVIES:

•Forrest Gump:

A cult classic comedy. I first watched this movie a few years back with my father. If you haven't watched it already then I definitely recommend it.

“Forrest Gump is a 1994 epic romantic comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was a huge commercial success, earning US$677 million worldwide during its theatrical run making it the top grossing film in North America released that year. The film garnered a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations, of which it won six, including Best Picture, Best Visual Effects, Best Director (Robert Zemeckis), and Best Actor (Tom Hanks).”

“The film tells the story of a man and his epic journey through life meeting historical figures, influencing popular culture and experiencing first-hand historic events of the late 20th century while being largely unaware of their significance, due to his borderline intellectual disability. The film differs substantially from the book on which it was based.”

Series

•Legends of tomorrow

Thought some parts might be a bit difficult to understand without having seen any other Arrowverse series, I'm pretty confident you can watch it as a standalone.

The thing you need to understand about this series is that the first season flopped. Hard. It was supposed to be a SERIOUS superhero series filled with action and shit. But the finished result was just. Pretty bad.

You would have of course expected that after that the series would have been canceled right? Nope. While still a series about time traveling superheroes it took on a more light-hearted, chaotic and comedic approach. The results were great. Personally when I rewatched other Arrowverse shows which I loved when younger I find myself disliking them a lot. But not this one. I can honestly say I've rewatched it more than five times.

Bonus: the main characters change a lot over the seasons and while there are plenty of queer characters the only protagonist that stays for all seasons is sapphic.

When heroes alone are not enough... the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat – one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?

While the first season received mixed reviews, the series enjoyed improved reception in subsequent seasons, which saw a shift in tone, as well as frequent changes to both the setting, themes, and cast of characters as the show went on. Originally premiering as a self-serious superhero drama where heroes battle high stakes throughout time, the consensus of critics was that the show found its feet as a more light-hearted DC series associated with meta-humor, social commentary, and the greater creative freedom afforded to its cast of mainly lesser-known or wholly original characters.

•First kill

I'm gonna be honest with you on this one. I barely remember anything about it. I binged it when it first came out and it was honestly kinda meh.

BUT I do remember that I loved the main pairing which is a sapphic, interracial couple, vampire x monster hunter.

When it's time for teenage vampire Juliette to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire family, she sets her sights on a new girl in town named Calliope. But much to Juliette's surprise, Calliope is a vampire hunter, from a family of celebrated slayers. Both find that the other won't be so easy to kill and, unfortunately, way too easy to fall for...

•Chilling adventures of Sabrina

Yet another one of my favorites. I might be way off with this one as it's mostly based on vibes and not something specific you said. It also has plenty of queer characters.

The series is centered on the Archie Comics character Sabrina Spellman, portrayed by Kiernan Shipka. Originally in development during September 2017 at the CW, the series was intended to be a companion series to Riverdale; however, in December 2017, the project was moved to Netflix with a straight-to-series order, consisting of twenty episodes. Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Reimagines the origin and adventures of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult, and witchcraft. Tonally in the vein of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist," this adaptation finds Sabrina Spellman wrestling to reconcile her dual nature--half-witch, half-mortal--while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family, and the daylight world humans inhabit.

Finally

•Books

•Percy Jackson and the Olympians

I think you've most likely read this or at least heard of it but im putting it here either way cause its one of my favorites even though it butchers some myths

Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series follows the protagonist, Percy Jackson, a young demigod who must prevent the Titans, led by Kronos, from destroying the world.

•Temeraire

Actually, I haven't finished the series yet. I finished book three a few years back. But I really love it (it has dragons!!!) and it's written by one of my favorite authors (Naomi Novik).

Temeraire is a series of nine alternate history fantasy novels written by American author Naomi Novik.[1] The novels follow the adventures of Captain William Laurence and his dragon, the eponymous Temeraire, and reimagine events of the Napoleonic Wars with "an air force of dragons, manned by crews of aviators".[2] His Majesty's Dragon, the first entry in the series, won the Compton Crook Award in 2007[3] and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel the same year.[4] Temeraire: In the Service of the King, an omnibus volume collecting the first three novels, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2007.[5] Temeraire was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2017.[6]

[ellipsis-guy]

50 things to do to seem smarter!

Hello! I really don't know how you discovered this part of the internet. I would love to assume that you are a serotonin-deficient almost drop-out college student who has papers due in 4 hours and has to study for midterms that haven't seen sunlight in days. Given this scenario, it's nice to think that I'm a great person who suffers from imposter syndrome but hell no! Sadly, it's no imposter syndrome, it's actually the real me! Hence, the creation of this list to seem like a smarter person!

Listen to experimental music/ an obscure song from an obscure source created during an obscure time like an Icelandic rock band during the hippie movement.

Use the word "social order" when pertaining to a group of people or to society in general.

Own a satchel... and yes, it must be made out of leather. I don't care if you are vegan, this is different since that cow willingly chose to be a piece of leather.

Only drink coffee if it is cold brew and from a French press and an espresso.

Own something older than you, perhaps a 1970s commercial typewriter that doesn't have ink because it is a norm! Duh...

SMOKE!!! Specifically smoke Marlboro Reds, especially during parties outside on the balcony. (I don't encourage you to smoke, it's bad but it's so intellectual)

Use the word "derivative" when describing the nuance of an object meanwhile, use the word "manifest" when describing the obvious.

Use graphs and diagrams when trying to explain a topic that doesn't need graphs or diagrams.

Have an affinity for works with lengthy titles like "Someone Who Will Love You for All Your Damaged Glory" or "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"

Collect quotes to use in random conversations, bonus if the quote is in a foreign language. It can go like this, "Hey, have you heard that Regina & George broke up after a 7-year relationship?" "If the partner becomes a God he can just easily become the Devil..."

Say that you are craving Ukrainian food for 3 years now...

Reblog the New Yorker. The only valid magazine out there, fuck you New York Times.

Perhaps enjoy a coffee from a convenience store or coffee machine and say that it's worker's coffee that tastes like shit but is consistent so you won't face any Coffee-esque Capgras' delusion.

Have a favorite cruciverbalist, columnist, or documentarian in your favorite newspaper.

Abuse the ellipsis... like make it your bitch!

Shoot random things at your home with a "digital camera with a flash-on lowlight" aesthetic.

Be in love with Evelyn McHale's photo or stuff that looks like The Smiths album cover.

Learn the art of the mixtape with an actual VHS and not spotify ewww... but they could still work tho.

When buying cheese, answer it like participating in a spelling bee. It's like, "Can I have the country of origin?"

Own a wine decanter because wine is a living and breathing organism which is something that an embryo would never be so stfu pro-lifers and deal with it.

When talking about your feelings and emotions, express them in metaphors and oxymorons.

Have a Criterion Collection or a Poster of your favorite film by your favorite director.

Rewatch children's cartoons cause there are probably things you missed from back then or you were just never loved as a kid.

Have a favorite Simpson's episode! if you haven't seen it, go watch it!

Record all the times you've cried and post a selfie with it with a review.

Back your vices and addictions with scientific claims regarding how beneficial they are.

Detest TED Talks with a burning passion considering how they create faux intellectuals in the current social order

Know what sarcasm is and how to identify it...

Carry a Moleskine journal filled with alien hieroglyphics that is your handwriting.

Try not to clean your glasses because you are thinking about more important things in life.

Be a twittertature writer or a blogger on tumblr even though you fucking hate writing!

Listen religiously to NPR or their podcasts.

Watch Marvel films and series that you enjoy ironically.

Start ridiculous conspiracies on Reddit that would have your account banned considering that they can spark the next world war.

Talk to the rat eating its m&ms on Youtube for hours because you don't know how to be vulnerable with your emotions. Yes, this is a personal attack.

Own a bike... that hangs on your wall because you don't know how to ride it.

Use Habitica and be active in a guild and the only remaining party member active in it.

When doing sports, wear proper gear with something slightly off

Make Notion formats for every project.

Play a game that can only be played through a Discord Game Refugee Server.

Make a zine, hopefully, something not about cheese.

Title your works in alliterations or puns to show wit.

Pirate textbooks and research articles, like how Jesus died for our sins; Socrates died for our knowledge.

Learn Morse Code and use it to communicate with your friends; if you have no friends, use it to communicate with the spirits of WWII vets in the cemetery.

Write your notes in a mirrored manner because you wanna write on a glass board cause it's cooler.

Use vegan recipes from meal kit delivery services without subscribing to them because fuck capitalism!

Join a Parliamentary Debate organization in your school to flex your intellectual muscles despite sucking at it.

Always buy Rye or Bourbon as your alcohol of choice.

Buy camping gear just in case the apocalypse happens or you suddenly want to escape your life right now and be a part of the post-modern beat generation.

Fall asleep to lengthy ass video essays with no proper fucking arguments.

I know there are other things that can make you look smarter so feel free to add a bit more. These things are mainly based on the observations of the people around me and people's typical descriptions of faux intellectuals.

[iamdispleased]

Yippee ki yay, mfers!! Oh, boy, do I live for this shit!! Theatre/acting is one of my special interests. I’ve been in plays, been a casting director, script writer, and helped with costuming, so I’m not just pulling this out of my ass.

I say this because I know that everything is absolutely intentional. Maybe some things are random stuff that worked out, but most of the time— assume everything has some meaning.

I think Grace Chasity and her hair is a really good example of things like this.

In the opening, she starts out with little girl-esque pigtails.

The next time we see her, the pigtails are gone; however, the little butterfly hair clips are still there, keeping the ‘purity/little girl’ aesthetic.

By the time she has done horrible things, like stealing a gun, threatening her friends with it, lying to the police, touching herself, and helping dismember a body, her hair becomes more and more disheveled.

Her butterfly clips have fallen from their place, hanging loosely, and sometimes, one is even missing in shots (I do presume that’s due to different filming days).

The wild hair tossing is also seen throughout the musical, all having to do with secksual situations.

It’s in her ‘Dirty Girl’ fantasy.

Used for the awkward stereotypical seduction style.

And then, of course, in the beautiful chaotic masterpiece that is ‘Dirty Dudes Must Die’.

Which at the end, leaves her looking like this.

Cute <3

Bonus: I absolutely think the clips represent devil/goat horns.

Bonus 2.0: Fun fact for those who may not know; in the New Testament (a Christian Bible thing), God’s followers are called ‘sheep’, with the idea that they are easily led and docile, while 'goats' (sinners) tend to have a mind of their own. This is why the general public associating goats to the Devil, Satanism, and Paganism has bled over into mainstream media, such as Nerdy Prudes Must Die.

Bonus 3.0:

I love the juxtaposition of Steph wearing a red dress, while Grace wears the light blue one.

In western media, red is often associated with the evil, seduction, etc., while light blue is always the color of purity and general ‘goodness’. For my Hamilton fans out there— think about Eliza Hamilton’s demeanor and dress color. Compare that to Maria Reynolds, who is decked out in red.

To add, in general, hair is already used as symbolism for changes in a character's state of mind quite frequently. If you’ve seen ATLA, you can compare this to both Zuko and Azula.

Starkid went ‘flip-flop’, warped the universe, and I appreciate the hell out of it.

But, yeah. To bring it back to your original topic— I wouldn’t be surprised if that was intentional.

If you guys liked the whole "Stephs flannel matches Peter's suspenders and bow tie" thing then this costuming detail is in tgwdlm gonna fuck you up.

When we get our first scene with Paul and Emma, the two are dressed in their respective main outfits. These are the ones people tend to associate with them.

But throughout the show, as they get closer and bond, their outfits become more and more similar. Pretty soon Emma's lost the apron

Then at the professor's house, Paul loses the jacket

and by the time McNamara is infected, Paul has his sleeves rolled up and Emma's bow tie has come undone.

At this point, the two are at their most aesthetically similar, and also the closest they've been the entire show. This is moments before the helicopter crash and their failed kiss. They remain this way for a good chunk of time...until Paul comes back

It's like some fast-paced foreshadowing. Emma remains in her changed state, the same as her character, but Paul is back to square one. He's wearing the same outfit he was when they met, and they no longer align. She doesn't know who he is anymore.

I don't know if this was intentional (and if it was, no one explained it to Jon) but it plays out so damn well.

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

Universal’s ’47 Ronin’ Gets a Facelift With Female-Skewing ‘Blade’

Production wraps this week in Hungary on “Blade of the 47 Ronin,” a sequel to Universal’s 2013 Japanese-themed action classic “47 Ronin.” The new movie represents a substantial revamp that emphasizes Asian fantasy heroes and female characters and addresses some of the cultural criticisms of the previous Keanu Reeves-starring picture.

The action is moved forward by some 300 years to present-day Budapest, which is intended as a metaphor for East-West confluence, and where a meeting of the five Samurai clans is taking place. In addition to the male clan leaders, the meeting is also attended by three Onna Bugeisha (literally ‘Women Warriors’), though their presence is initially resented.

Production was handled by Universal Studios through its 1440 Productions unit for Netflix. The streamer is expected to release it sometime in 2022, though a specific date is still unknown.

The existence of female Samurai who fought alongside their male colleagues in feudal Japan is well documented. But their stories have rarely been told due to societal pressure and political turmoil. In “Blade” the women lead the campaign to reunite two halves of a mythical sword and keep it out of the hands of a villain who wants power for himself.

The cast is headed by: Anna Akana, a U.S. actor and YouTube creator; U.S. martial artist Teresa Ting; Mike Moh, who played Bruce Lee in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”; veteran Vietnamese-American actor and filmmaker Dustin Nguyen (“Warrior”); Australian Chris Pang (“Charlie’s Angels,” “Crazy Rich Asians”); Japanese actor and model Chikako Fukuyama (“Terrace House: Aloha State”); and seasoned action specialist Mark Dacascos (“John Wick 3,” “Wu Assassins”).

They are joined by Luna Fujimoto (Chinese hit “Monster Hunt 2,” and the upcoming “Wandering Earth 2”) as one of the three female leaders; Koieyama Akira (“Samurai Marathon,” “47 Ronin,” “Sense8”); and Nino Furuhata (“Spaghetti Code Love,” “Tetris,” “The Limit of Sleeping Beauty”).

The ensemble is pulled together by director Ron Yuan and producer Tim Kwok.

Yuan acknowledges that the preceding film was accused in some quarters of “whitewashing” and by others of distorting Japanese history through the use of elements such as Chinese-style dragons. “We need people who know the genres, people that know the history, people that can understand how to bring these stories, make it fresh and pop off the screen. Not like those old TV shows where every time there’s an Asian theme, or an Asian character, you hear the gong going ‘ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding dang’,” he told Variety. “None of that shit anymore.”

Yuan also wanted to use the sequel to give the franchise a facelift. “It was important that this new samurai and Ninja culture could be opened up to different personalities, not just in the Asian world, but all over, making it more international,” he said.

“It is an English-language film. But I purposely have two of our actresses speak to each other in Japanese. It is a homage, but it is also just to let people know, they can speak Japanese, they can speak English, it doesn’t have to be either-or.”

(via Variety)

[sanstropfremir]

Why are the theatre/film schools like that? 💀💀💀

In mine most profs were complete idiots. One of them, a well know actor and the president of the Academy at that time, did absolutely nothing in class. He bailed most of the time due to “shootings” and the few days he came we practically did nothing, just some chats with him about his job. To grade us he asked us to write in a paper what we thought we deserved. I kid you not.

Another one, who was a tv producer, was most likely very mentally ill and undiagnosed cause he would have the most random shitty ideas that we had to comply with and a lot of mood-swings. The day of the final exam he came 40 mins late because he was smoking week in front of the back door and then proceeded to give us the weirdest exam ever that kept us a minimum of 3 hours there. We had to make a plan of how to shoot an event and he kept adding snipers, famous people and animals to the mix.

There was one that I deeply hated cause we had 3 classes with him that were practically the same. He was more on the sociology side but did not know at all how to be a professor. His classes consisted of spiting facts and giving 10+ random bibliography per day. I learned nothing and I still have murderous waves every time someone mentions his name.

There was a couple who were married and had the sane vibe of old and way to classical. They were harmless until the end, when we learned that they blocked A LOT OF THINGS to make the space and curriculum better. Like, requesting funding to take a paid intern for their research lab of 3d shit, choosing the one (a friend of mine), signing the contract and then NEVER DO ANYTHING NOR SPEAK WITH THE CHOSEN PERSON. She had to go crying to the dean for a response and even then they were not held accountable. The school employed her as a paid intern in another department to make up for it but the rest never got resolved.

Other profs were alright, just very weird characters. The screenwriter prof was a very funny man but deeply depressed and had us all worried at first hour on Mondays (his Very Bad Day).

And on top of that was The Building™️. You see, ours was made by a very famous architect and it won several awards. Every couple of weeks we had someone taking photos of it. However, it’s the most impractical building ever because it was built as at a museum and not a school. The chairs are absolutely demential. So uncomfortable and very easily breakable BUT they cannot be replaced until 20-30 years from now because they signed a contract with the architect that said so. There is one (or two if your lucky) power plug per class but millions on the corridors. The bathrooms stalls are so narrow that if you want to enter with a bag/backpack you cannot close the door. In fact, some of those doors barely close without anyone inside. The editing rooms have gigantic windows where you cannot block the light so you can’t see shit on the computers. Well, windows are a thing in general. Classrooms have them but only one of them can be open partially with a button and let me tell you it does not help to ventilate properly 🙊. And the doors, boi, most of them had the handle broken so someone was always at risk of getting trapped there. You taught that they would fix this but it’s been more than 6 years since I finished and it’s still the same. There’s a twitter account that posts the shenanigans that are going on and most shit is the same.

So yeah, wild shit is always happening I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

✨🎥 anon

literally all film/theatre schools are same shit different channel slkdfjsldkjflskdjflskdjflsdjflsdkjf oh i feel you for all of this. most of our profs did actually know what they were talking about thank god, but a lot of them were old bastions and hadn't worked professionally in AGES so they were sooooo out of date to how the scene actually operated in the modern era. we had a couple of real characters and one of which was the director for my thesis show, who was five foot zero inches and thin as a twig, wore leather pants frequently and called everyone 'lovey'. and like i previously said, was somewhere between 65 and 85 and nobody could tell bc she occasionally went to switzerland to have some crazy type of botox done to her face. we did have potentially maybe two sexual abusers?? i never got confirmation on any of it bc it was kept sooo tightly under wraps but in one case i'm not sure if there was any evidence brought forward (he was just a regular abuser though, that guy fucking SUCKED), and the other guy i only found out about from a former student bc the whole thing got swept under the rug bc his wife ALSO worked in the department. also the whole staff was like. so racist. the year after i left one of the shows that went up to committee for season suggestion was a show written in the 70s that had a bunch of racial slurs in it (and no people of colour in the script) and almost the entire student body put a petition up to remove it from selection but the director wouldn't stand down so they did it anyways 💀💀💀 i was fucking glad i was out of that hellhole by that time.

and oh my god the building architecture.....never before have i been so glad that there's no famous architects from anywhere near my hometown bc fuckin YIKES. we had a designated separate building from the rest of campus that was built in the 80s specifically for the theatre department, so we rarely left bc all the rehearsal rooms + class rooms were all in there with the theatres. and almost no non-theatre students came in bc there was only one 'theatre' class that a non-registered theatre major could take, and that was a public speaking class, so every time that class happened once a week we'd all give eyeballs to the lost looking business and sciences majors coming in. also there were signs on like every door that said 'no non theatre personnel beyond this point' (bc the building also had the box office and held audiences for when the shows were running) so anyone who was lost always looked extra lost. plus the whole thing was a huge maze bc there were upper level catwalks and corridors that connected the grid + fly systems between the two theatres, so the techies sometimes would go up to the upper levels and not come down for the entire day.

oh and there was a tradition where if you had sex in the building you would mark the spot with a black 'x'. in my first year we did a show with a big coffin as one of the setpieces and on one of the last nights of the run two of the actors fucked in it

[13uswntimagines]

I Should Sleep With You More Often (Sam x Reader)

Sequel to Works Like a Charm  where Sam and Reader finally get together. It’s a very fluffy piece, with a little bit of late night breakfast making and a surprise kiss. 

special thanks to @literaryhedgehog​ cause this wouldn’t have happened without her. 

Hello?”

“Hey, I can’t sleep.” Sam’s voice comes over the phone, getting straight to the point with frustration.

“And you’re calling me about it? At 3 am. I could have been asleep you know.” You huff into the phone, pinning it between your chin and your shoulder. 

“Were you?” She asks, and you can almost see her eyebrow quirking up. 

You look down at the frying pan where you were about to pour your egg-cheese scramble. “No. But still.”

“Don’t worry, I appreciate the irony of the situation,” she says, with an attempt at humor. “can I come over?”

“Sure. You can split my omelet.” You hum, your tongue poking out as you make sure the entire omelet landed on the plate instead of the floor. 

“Omelette?” Sam asked, sounding amused. “I thought you weren’t supposed to --” 

“Eat anything after 9 pm I know, I know. But I woke up and was hungry, and couldn’t just ignore it to fall back asleep for two hours. I had to eat something or I was going to get nauseous.” You interrupted her, waving your hand dismissively. 

“What?” Sam asked entirely confused. 

“You know that feeling, where you’re like, so hungry that you get kind of nauseous?” You tried to explain again. 

“No…” She trailed off. 

“Oh, well it’s the worst. I like to try to eat something before it gets too bad because otherwise, the food won’t do anything. Anyway, I made enough you can have half of it, just let me know when you get here so I can send down the elevator for you.” You said, whipping your hands off and walking towards the door. 

“I’m actually just parking,” Sam’s voice came sheepishly over the phone. In the background, you heard the unmistakable sound of her car being locked. She always insisted on clicking the lock button twice so it would beep, like she didn’t trust it to lock the first time. 

You shook your head and left your apartment to buzz her into the building. “You’re telling me that at 3 am, before even checking to see if I was awake, you just decided to come to my apartment because you couldn’t sleep?”

“Yes?” 

“You’re insane,” you said, hanging up the phone as the elevator door opened to reveal her tall frame. 

She ruffled the hair at the back of her neck, grinning. “I knew you would be awake?”

“Bullshit.” You led the way back to your apartment and grabbed two plates from the cabinet. “You want soy milk?”

“What?” 

“Soy milk. I’ve got vanilla or dark chocolate.” For some reason, soy milk helped reduce the insomnia nausea more than anything else most days. Still, the omelet smelled amazing. 

“Um sure, vanilla please.” She shrugged, and you rolled your eyes. Vanilla was for the weak. 

You pulled out both cartons and two glasses, before cutting the omelet in half and handing her a fork. 

“Don’t I get my own plate?” Sam whined, cutting off a piece of the Omelet and popping it into her mouth. 

“People who come barging into my apartment at 3 AM have to share with the host. Unless you wanna do dishes?” You raised your eyebrow at her, pointing your fork in her direction, smirking when she emphatically shook her head no. 

She quickly changed the subject, avoiding your eyes as she ate. “So how are you liking your apartment, it’s new right?”

“Yeah, I moved in four months ago, you know when I suddenly got traded to North Carolina,” you said, a very bitter edge in your voice. How Mark could let you leave the thorns you would never know, but at least Hinkle was retiring. 

You took another bite “So why couldn’t you sleep? At camp, you’re usually snoring like a freight train by now.” 

Sam paused mid-bite, fork in the air. She looked like she was debating how to answer then, stuffed her last piece of omelet in her mouth. “I donb snowe.”

“You totally do. Rose even sent me the video evidence if you wanna see it,” you smirked, standing to go get your phone. 

“No!” Sam jumped up and you sprinted across the kitchen to get out of her reach, grinning. “You really don’t have to do that, it’s not a big deal.”

“Oh, but I really don’t mind,” you taunted, starting for your phone before Sam tackled you. Well, it wasn’t a tackle so much as a grab, but she had a good foot and a half on you, so same difference really. 

“Put me down. This is highly unnecessary,” you sputtered, laughing from Sam’s shoulder. “I’m not supposed to exercise within an hour of bed. My therapist would be unhappy with so much activity.”

“Yeah cause eating an Omelette at 3 am is totally something she would approve,” Sam rolled her eyes, as she tossed you onto your couch.

“Lies and slander. I won’t get the alleged snoring video, but seriously. Why are you here?”

Sam sighs, and slouches onto the couch next to you, dropping her head into your lap. You smile down at her, liking this new angle. While you certainly didn’t mind being the baby of the team, it was kind of nice to do the petting for once.

“I don’t know,” Sam said, furrowing her eyebrows.

“You were never a good liar. It’s why everyone catches you when you try to pull pranks. I hear it helps if you talk about it,” You murmured, using your thumb to smooth out the crease that formed between her eyes. 

“Fine, I couldn’t sleep because I kept having nightmares. It felt like, I was tossing and turning for hours, and then every time I dozed off, my brain came up with these fucked up images. Like, silence of the lambs shit. I could sell some horror film director the plotlines and make bank, I’m telling you. And since Rose and Wilma moved out, my place has felt so empty. It felt like, the panic attacks I used to have before games. When I had to always bring a bag with me to hyperventilate into before I could get my mind on the game.”

You frowned. “I don’t remember that.”

“Once you became my bus buddy I didn’t have that problem. You got me out of my own head with fun word games and stupid jokes. Remember that time you gave me the sentence ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog?’ You kept grinning telling me to stop stressing out, it would be alright, to just guess a letter.” 

“Because whatever you guessed would be right.” You hum smiling down at her. 

 “You couldn’t take that shit-eating grin off your face, you jerk, but like, it helped me stop second-guessing myself. Sitting on the bus with you, I’ve never felt more calm going into a season. And so I just thought. It’s dumb but I hoped coming here would help.” She shrugged. 

“It’s not dumb Sammy. You help me sleep too. Why do you think all the vets insist I sit with you?” You said softly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. 

“Because you used to fall asleep literally everywhere and they hoped I could get across the aisle and catch you before you hit your head?” She giggled and you snapped her shoulder lightly. 

“Wow. Thanks.” You said in a monotone, “Or maybe it’s ‘cause you’re my favorite teddy bear.”

“If anyone is the teddy it’s you. You’re like half my size,” She giggled. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” you muttered, playfully pushing her head off your lap. “Come on you giant.”

“Where are you going?” She asked, allowing you to pull her to her feet. 

“To go grab you a toothbrush and a fresh pillowcase for the bed.” You said, your tugging getting a little more insistent. You really wanted to get to sleep tonight. You had been so good lately (ignoring the random omelet you cooked tonight).

“Oh, um. I was hoping we could just watch television on your couch and I would fall asleep,” Sam rambled, eyes wide. “I mean, not that I mind, but I didn’t want to like, invade on your--”

“Just come up to my room. It’s no big deal, it’s large enough for both of us, and I honestly don’t think that couch is even big enough to fit you. Besides, maybe it will help you sleep to be on a mattress actually purchased in this century.”

“Hey, I like my mattress!” She grumbled indignantly, crossing her arms. 

“You flip it twice a month because it keeps forming an indention where you’ve slept!” You said exasperated. That sleepover had been a terrible idea and you stood by that. At least your bed didn’t spit out feathers when you turned over too fast. 

“Well, I. um. No comment.” you hear her say as you go to take your turn in the bathroom. 

When Sam gets back from brushing her teeth you’ve done everything except turn out the lights. You look up from your side of the bed as she pauses in the doorway. 

“Is this… Welcome to Night Vale?”

“It helps me ignore my thoughts. Can you get the lights please?” 

You had to replay the podcast the next day after Sam left. You couldn’t remember anything after “Wednesday has been canceled due to a scheduling error” because within moments you were asleep.

*****

You thought that sleeping with Sam was only supposed to be a one-night thing, but it wasn’t. One night turned into two, which turned into the two of you usually crashing at each other's places. 

If you were being honest, it was the best sleep you had ever gotten. It was nice to have someone there to hold onto, to protect you from the bad dreams. The problem was that your feelings were edging past the line of friendship, and you had no idea what to do about it. 

It started with a team party you both went to, where Sam offered to be the designated driver. After she dropped everyone else off, you told her she might as well stay the night at your place since it was already so late and she did. And you both slept great. And then you had your usual Saturday spa night the next night, and you were several shots in and it wouldn’t have been responsible to drive home. And you both slept a solid seven hours. 

Not that Sam was a magical cure to your insomnia. You still had nights where your brain was like a train running off the rails, unstoppable no matter how hard you tried. Yet, having her there helped. She made sure blue lights went off when they were supposed to, and your late-night breakfast-making was kept to a minimum. AND after the first few nights, you realized that she was amusingly clingy in her sleep. Which meant that occasionally if you woke up and tried to get out of bed, she would sleepily grab you and hold you in place murmuring about whatever was happening in her dream. Since you couldn’t get up you had to just lay there, which normally might have been boring, but with her was amusing as you listened to her rambling state of consciousness. 

You sighed, staring up at the ceiling. You really needed to get your shit together and just ask her out. But what if she said no, and you lost your cuddle buddy? That would suck royally, and if you lost your bus seat it might completely curse the USWNT. 

“Alright, I can practically feel the steam coming out of your ears, spill,” Sam groaned, rolling over and throwing an arm around your waist. 

“Isn’t it weird?”

“What?”

“Time. Like someone decided that seconds were a thing and a certain number of seconds equaled a minute and there were a certain number of minutes in a day. Like someone just decided it was a thing, and everyone went along with it and now we all have to plan our lives around this arbitrary system. I wonder if that asshole realized that people would use it to put kids in detention and force them to cram so they could regurgitate facts in a specified amount of his made-up system. And like the Romans made a Calendar and the Mayans did one too…” Your rambling was cut off by Sams’s soft lips touching your own in a quick peck before she collapsed back into the pillow. “Just blame capitalism babe.”

You stared at her for a minute, shocked, before she bolted upright. “SHIT. Sorry, I just. I forgot to ask for consent. I just forgot--”

“I consent, yes, more of this please,” you said, leaning over to kiss her again. Your hands cupped her cheeks and her fingers tangled into the baby hairs at the back of your neck. 

After a few minutes, Sam broke off the kiss, both of you breathing heavily. “Um, wow. You know, I’m not sure this is helping you get to sleep, love.”

You smirk, biting your lip and straddling her hips before you lean in to kiss her again, slowly. “You’re the one who said you needed to sleep with me more often.”

[opbackgrounds]

so I was doing some research after watching movie 6...

...and apparently it was originally written as a comedy

Yeah, I was surprised, too

Baron Omatsuri is not my favorite One Piece movie—Film Z has too many of my favorite tropes to be usurped from that position—but I do think it is the most daring. Of all the supplemental material I’ve seen and read, it feels the least...One Piece-ish. 

Yes, that includes the noodle commercials. 

If you haven’t seen the movie and can stomach a little spookiness, do yourself a favor and give it a watch. Unlike movies like Strong World or Z that have the look and feel of a manga arc, Movie 6 transplants the Straw Hat Pirates into a world that doesn’t feel like a One Piece story, taking risks and exploring themes that would never fit in the manga proper. 

In addition to the obvious changes in art and animation style, there are supernatural elements that don’t make sense within the One Piece world. None of the Straw Hats win a fight—Luffy included, although he is heavily implied to have killed the big bad at the end. The moral of the movie, if it can be said to have a moral, is if you lose the people closest to you, the answer is to forget about them and make new friends. The story ends with many questions left unanswered and the main drama between the crew unresolved.

And, if you allow me to get philosophical for a moment, I wish there were more movies like it. As I wrote in my review of Novel A, I don’t go to supplemental material or side stories looking for a repeat of what’s in the manga. Oda has written 1000 chapters of One Piece—why not spice things up a little and try something different for a change?

I know the answer isn’t that simple, and by their very nature not all risks will pan out. There will be people who don’t like this movie because it’s different, both in look and tone. But there’s something to be said about a creator putting their heart and soul into a work and having it show in the final product. 

Which brings us back to the original premise. How does a movie go from a light-hearted comedy based on a variety show theme to...this

Baron Omatsuri was directed by Mamoru Hosoda and came out in 2005. To put that into perspective, the movie was in production when the Luffy vs Usopp fight was first seen in the manga. Manga!Luffy had not yet faced the challenge of an inter-crew disputes when the story was being written and boarded, nor did the creative team have the events of Sabaody and Marineford to see how Luffy would react to the loss of his loved ones. They were working without a full understanding of Luffy’s character, and to a lessor extent the character of the Straw Hat Pirates, and it seems like Oda was much less involved In production than has been in movies since Strong World and beyond. 

Likewise, Hosoda had just left a tumultuous situation at Studio Ghibli while working on Howl’s Moving Castle, and if this interview is anything to go by (https://instrangeaeonsblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/mamoru-hosoda-on-omatsuri-danshaku-animestyle-interview-part-1/) was going through a lot of personal shit when he was brought on as director. The script he was given was originally written like a variety show—something that was carried over into the various trials seen in the final movie—and meant to be a lighthearted affair after the relatively serious Movie 5 (which I have not seen am thus unable to compare tone). 

With that backstory in mind, it’s easy to see how the bickering and backbiting between the Straw Hats early in the movie is a metaphor for Hosoda’s time at Ghibli, which is something he admits to in the interview. Movie 6 feels different than any other One Piece movie because it’s the project of a man who has had to endure the loss of those who he was close with, at least in a professional capacity. 

There are moments in Movie 6 where Luffy doesn’t feel like Luffy. More than once a member of the Straw Hats ask him to intervene during arguments, moments Luffy either ignores or doesn’t notice. It’s a version of Water 7 where instead of fighting Usopp, Luffy ignores the underlying differences within his crew, and as a result loses everybody. 

The structure of the three trials follows a clear path of deterioration within the crew, the initial goldfish scooping game showing the Straw Hats at their best and inciting the jealousy of the Baron, the ring toss sowing discord among the crew even as they snatch a narrow victory, only for them to be utterly crushed in the third and final challenge as they’re unable help one another survive. 

It is somewhat implied that the Breaking of the Fellowship(TM) is magical in nature—that like the One Ring, the Lily Carnation was able to influence the Straw Hat’s thoughts and actions, but this is never stated outright and I prefer the more mundane interpretation: That without strong leadership the Straw Hats fell victim to the manipulative machinations of the Baron, and simply self-destructed as a result.  In the end, it’s up to the interpretation of the viewer. 

And speaking of things up to interpretation, I love how the Lily Carnation isn’t explained in the slightest. The plant that initially absorbs the Straw Hats looks more like the stem of a devil fruit than a flower, it for some reason rings like a gong when hit, and somehow is able to turn pieces of itself into facsimile of the Baron’s old crew who can somehow move around despite being plans. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and the element of the unknown works so well in the horror-lite setting. 

My personal theory is the island somehow managed to eat a devil fruit which manifests itself as the Lily Carnation (which due to the L/R conflation in Japanese, is pronounced ‘reincarnation’, which I think is a nice touch of foreshadowing that may or may not have been intentional).

(Also, I can’t decide if little chewing animation it makes when it’s eating people or the weird bullseyes it makes when shit gets real are the most terrifying thing in the movie.)

Hmmm, tasty.

Anyway, this is getting long, so here are some final thoughts:

1) This movie has some low key fantastic outfits. The Straw Hats all look very cool without being over designed like a lot of recent movies. Big hat Robin is of course a fave, and makes me really want to see her in a Carmen Sandiego getup.

2) Screenshots do not do the animation of the movie justice. It’s very fluid and has a lot of excellent expressions/poses, although I admit the 3D is jarring at times. Do not let the art put you off if you haven’t seen it 

3) Also, I don’t think there’s any shading? Like at all? The movie does a lot of cool stuff with color instead. For example, the scene where Luffy initially loses to the Baron his skin goes all grey, and I thought it was because he was fighting at night, but it stays grey even in the better lighting of the underground tunnels and stays that way until he finds out the Straw Hats are still alive, where it returns to his normal color

4) There’s an extended Benny Hill-type gag when Luffy first chases after the little mustache pirate that’s perfectly timed to the music, and ends when Luffy just uses his power to grab him. The comedic timing is amazing and it’s probably my favorite funny moment in the movie, of which there are several despite the overall darker tone

5) The extended jungle shot from Nami’s POV? Very cool

6) I love how from the earliest scenes nothing is as it seems. The opening text is Robin reading the map, but the storm that’s seen on screen is the one that sank the Baron’s crew. Likewise the whole fancy city is shown to be fake panels early on, the goldfish catching game is a trap, etc., etc. It does a good job clueing the viewer in early that’s something’s very wrong on the island, even if they don’t realize it at first

7) I don’t think this type of movie would work in modern One Piece without somehow nerfing Luffy. Horror works best when the protagonist is weak and vulnerable, and that fits best with a pre-Gear 2/3 Luffy (same with the rest of the crew, tbh. I was waiting for Nami to use her lightning stick during the games, forgetting it hadn’t been boosted yet). 

8) I like how there are four captains on the island representing different levels of loss—the Baron has lost his crew and wants to destroy all others because of it, mustache pirate lost his crew and is willing to put it behind him to make new friends, Luffy has freshly lost his crew and hasn’t decided what path he will go, and coward dad hasn’t lost his crew yet but is at risk if he doesn’t change his cowardly ways

9) I think the reason why Chopper was the first Straw Hat to disappear is he’s the most likely to play the part of peacemaker. He’s also the only crew member needing rescuing at the end of the goldfish scoop game, when Luffy foolishly puts his life at risk trying to save him from drowning, just like he recklessly charges the Baron at the end of the movie. Except that time there was no Sanji to save him, leaving Luffy to get his ass thoroughly kicked

10) This is a very good Halloween movie, and I’m glad I watched it in October

[eideticmemory]

EVER SINCE NEW YORK | MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER

Description: I was messaged saying: “If you don’t write a young Matthew enemies to lovers fic featuring an obsession with sucking on boobs then what’s the point 😔.” So, here it is, folks! The ultimate College!Matthew fic.

PART 1! - for Sara [@bravadostyles], the ultimate muse. 

SOUNDTRACK:

Empire State of Mind - Jay Z.

Animals - Maroon 5.

Dopamine - Børns.

Word Count: 4,731.

Rating: M.

Warning/Includes: Sexual intercourse, recreational drug use, a bit of angst.

Spring, Freshman Year. 

Tisch School of the Arts,

New York University.

New York City. 

“You’ve got that face on,” Claire said. 

“What face is that, Claire?”

“Your trademark ready-to-go-home face,” she giggled. “You tired?”

“Just a little,” you whispered, head resting on her shoulder, feet hanging off the bed. “Had a long day at rehearsal.” 

“Ah,” she nodded. “Well, if you wanna go, we can go. I’ll walk you home.”

“No,” you shook your head, and placed your hand on her arm. “It’s fine. I’m having a good time.” 

Soft music played through the small speakers on Jonathan’s desk, mixing in with the chatter of your friends. Everyone sat in different spaces around the room, some on the desk, some on John’s bed, and you and Claire rested on his roommate’s bed. Open solo cups of beer were scattered amongst the room. It was calm, chill, and then the door swung open.

“Yoooooo!” The entering voice rang, instantly earning a happy response from Johnathan, who hopped off his bed and ran towards the entrance. 

“Gube!” John exclaimed, arms open wide to embrace his friend. He always got a little touchy-feely when he was tipsy. “Where the hell you been, man?”

“Consider my good time ruined,” you murmured to Claire.

“Be nice, [y/n],” she responded, patting your leg. “Everyone’s having a nice time, don’t start anything.”

“Me? Me? I don’t start anything, I never start anything. It’s him who starts it. That di—“

“Hey, [y/n],” Matthew greeted, taking a seat beside John. “Hey, Claire.”

“Hey, Gube,” Claire smiled. She gave you a gentle nudge with her elbow. 

You rolled your eyes, “Hi, Matthew,” you reluctantly replied, refusing to make eye contact. 

“Aw, c’mon, that’s all I get?” Matthew teased. “What’s wrong, sleeping beauty? You tired?” 

“Oh, you have no idea,” you told him, finally looking over at him. He wore a white polo, paired with a busted pair of jeans and white converse with his mismatched socks poking out. On his chest sat his trademark gold chain, the medallion set in the center of his sternum. 

“Might be past your bedtime,” he shrugged. “Really. Might be better if you just left.” 

“Me?” You scoffed. “Why don’t you leave? We were perfectly fine before you got here.”

“Oh, God,” someone groaned. “Here they go.”

“John wants me here. I’m a little more fun than someone who falls asleep mid-conversation, so I can see why.”

“Matthew, why are you talking to me? Can you just pretend,” you waved your arms around. “Pretend there’s a wall here.” 

“Don’t mind her,” Claire interjected. “She’s crabby because she hasn’t started editing her project yet.” 

You gasped, “Why would you just announce that, Claire? I didn’t wanna be reminded of that.” 

“[y/n], you’re gonna be fucked if you don’t get that shit done. It’s due next week.” Another friend told you. 

You groaned, “Yes. I know that. But I’ve been killing myself practicing for the show every night. And when I finally sat down to start editing, I didn’t know how to work the damn software!” 

“You don’t know how to work EasyEdit?”

“No,” you sighed. “I missed class that day. I tried to learn on YouTube, and that confused me even more. So, I have since then given up.”

“Hm,” John hummed. “You know who’s really good with EasyEdit?”

“Who?”

“Gube,” John answered. This prompted Matthew to lift his head up at astronomical speed, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “He taught me how to use it. He could help you, [y/n].”

“John...” Claire said. 

“What, Claire?” John replied. “[y/n] needs help and Gube can help. I’m just saying.” 

You cut your eyes over to Matthew, who was watching you, but he quickly turned away when you made eye contact. 

“You’re not clever,��� Claire shook her head. “You’re nosey is what you are.” 

“Nosey?” You pipped, tapping Claire’s arm. “What do you mean nosey?” 

“I mean, if you and Gube just...” John said. “I’m gonna say it - fucked - one good time, the two of you could get over this whole rivalry already.”

“And stop arguing all the damn time,” someone added. “The shit’s annoying.”

Your jaw had been dropped since the word ‘fucked’ was uttered. You looked up at Claire who gave you a sympathetic smile. 

“I-“ You stuttered. “I...never say that again, John! Ever. Ew!”

“Ew?” Matthew exclaimed. “You’d be lucky if I tossed you a bone.”

Your jaw dropped even lower, stunned by Matthew’s words. “You arrogant son of a bitch,” you muttered. “And this is who you want me to allow near my final project?” You directed at John. 

“Hey, if you don’t wanna fuck me, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Matthew taunted, biting his lip and tilting his head. 

“No. I don’t wanna fuck you! I also don’t want to spend any more time with you than I absolutely have to. So I will learn EasyEdit by myself.” 

“Okay,” Matthew shrugged. “You’re not gonna figure that shit out in time, but fine, princess. Be stubborn.” 

You rolled your eyes at him, shaking your head in annoyance. 

“[y/n], let Gube help,” Claire said. “You’re gonna drive yourself insane with that and the show coming up, plus finals? Just this once.”

You looked over at Matthew, instantly getting angry again. Hate is a strong word. It’s a very, very strong word. And you’d never use it against anybody. Ever. Except Matthew Gubler. That may sound a bit dramatic, so to clear up any confusion, here’s a composite list of every asshole, dick, bastard, bitch-ass move he’s made in one semester:

1. Broke your editing equipment trying to do magic tricks in class.

2. Didn’t apologize.

3. Called your last documentary “uninspired, dry, a little like a lullaby.”

4. Took the last spot for an internship over Christmas break. 

5. Which he knew you wanted.

6. Refused to partner with you on a final project because “you can’t even get to class everyday.”

7. In front of everyone because he’s a jackass.

8. Told you that you were insane for majoring in film making AND ballet. 

9. Proceeded to tell you that you look better in a leotard than a suit.

10. Fucked your roommate.

11. While you were in the room.

12. Insisted that Wes Craven is a better horror director than Tim Burton? Is he dumb?

13. Calls you ballerina barbie, short stack, princess, anything other than your actual name. 

14. Won’t drop dead. 

And, because you’re not going to let anyone treat you that way, here’s a list of things you’ve done in retaliation: 

1. “Accidentally” stepped on his canvas. 

2. 3 times.

3. Uploaded a video of you calling him a dick in place of his documentary. 

4. Yes, he did play it for the class on accident.

5. Told him you didn’t want to be his partner anyway since he walks around stoned 24/7. 

6. Laughed. 

7. Told him he’d be a good ballerina. His tiny dick would fit perfectly in a leotard. 

8. Fucked his friend. While said friend was supposed to help Matthew with his project. 

9. Told him none of Edgar Allan Poe’s work was actually interesting enough for screen time. (He almost passed out, he got so mad.)

10. Told him his mismatch socks were dumb. 

11. Consistently call him asshole, dick, jackass, or just Matthew. All synonyms.

12. Refuse to let him mess with you. 

So, the idea of him helping you with your project, coming into your room, bothering you for hours on end, was a ridiculous thought. You should punch John for even mentioning it. Except. It wasn’t a bad idea. 

“Hey, pants stay on,” Matthew said, giving you a smirk. “Boy Scouts honor.” 

Everyone was looking at you. It made you queasy. Annoyed. Angry. And you couldn’t take it. So, you sighed heavily and cut your eyes towards Matthew. “Fine,” you grimaced. “Fine. Monday night. You will teach me how to use EasyEdit. And then we can all drop this.” 

“Ah, success,” John cheered. “I’m not worried, though. Look at [y/n], she’s so innocent. She looks like she belongs on top of a Christmas tree. She does ballet for crying out loud. I doubt fucking is on her to-do list.”

“And on that note,” you pushed yourself off the bed. “I’m going to my room. Goodnight.” 

Your room was just down the hall, and you showered, changed, brushed your teeth and got into bed in all of 30 minutes. Just about to fall asleep, you were disturbed by the sound of keys jingling in the door. Sloppy footsteps stumbled into the room, accompanied by silly giggles.

Thinking you were asleep, your roommate admired your sleeping frame, “Awwww,” she cooed. “Precious, precious, [y/n].” She walked over to you and rubbed your shoulder. 

“You’re crazy to not wanna fuck Matthew,” she whispered, chuckling. “You don’t know what you’re missing, kid.”

And you stayed still, silent, pretended to snore. All while Claire crawled into her bed. 

When Monday rolled around, you spent the entire day with a chip on your shoulder. Claire kissed the top of your head and insisted you’d be fine, that your project would be done by the end of the night and you’d be grateful for Matthew’s help. But she knew that was a  dead cause in her heart of hearts. You both knew it’d be a miracle if Matthew and you made it through 15 minutes of editing. 

When she left to go to a friend’s place, you changed into pajama pants, combined with a cozy cropped button sweater. You sat at your desk, and waited. You’d told Matthew to arrive at 7. 

He got there at 7:59.

By then, you were laying in bed, pissed and upset that you’d actually been convinced to give Matthew a chance. He knocked on the door, and you answered with an attitude. “Go home, Matthew.” 

“Don’t be like that, short stack,” he sighed, following you as you stomped into the room. “I got caught up. I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah? What’d you get caught up with? A gram?” You spit. 

He laughed, “Haha, so funny. No, I was not getting high. I was working on my own project. That I finished. Ahead of time. Can you relate, [y/n]?” 

“Get out of my room,” you scoffed. “I asked you for one thing. One. And you couldn't even do that. You knew how important this project was to me, and you didn’t give a fuck. I wasted time waiting for you that I could’ve been working or rehearsing! I—Are you listening?” 

Matthew’s eyes had been concentrated solely on your chest, “Are you wearing a bra?” He asked. 

You took a step back, stunned, blinking rapidly as you searched around the room. “I’m sorry,” you said. “I’m just trying to find where the hell that came from?” 

“It came from that itty bitty shirt you’re wearing,” he replied with a shrug. “Doesn’t really leave much to the imagination.” 

“Stop staring at my tits!” You shouted, face turning red. “God, Matthew, I can’t stand to look at you right now. Just, leave. Please.” 

He did not stop staring at your tits. Not for a very long time. But when he did, he had this look in his eyes. Like a wire had snapped. And he kissed you. Cupped your face in his hands, pulled you close, and kissed you. You pressed your hands against his chest, face contorting in shock and confusion. 

You pushed him away, lips retracting with a sharp smacking noise. Saliva dripped from your lips, and you stood there, huffing and puffing like the two of you had just run a mile. “What the hell was that?” You snapped, your fingertips lightly touching your bottom lip. 

He didn’t reply. He was just as speechless as you were. Speechless, and confused, and out of breath, and so, so pretty. He was so pretty. Has he always been that pretty? 

You grabbed onto the hem of his shirt and pulled him back in, pressing your lips together in an aggressive collision. Matthew’s hand gripped onto your hair, his body pushing itself against yours in an eager attempt to get as close to you as possible. His other hand made its way to your waist, gripping onto your skin so hard, his nails left marks. Both his hands began to snake down your body, landing on the back of your thighs. 

Very suddenly, Matthew scooped you up in his arms, yanking your feet off of the ground. You let out a breathy ‘oof’ as you found yourself perched in his grasp, your legs wrapped around his torso, your hands on his shoulders. He supported your weight so easily, all while sliding his tongue into your mouth. 

He carried you over to your bed, where he abruptly dropped you onto the mattress, and looked down at you with a lustful grin. Standing beside the bed, he leaned in as if he was going to kiss you — slowly, with his hands reaching out to touch your body — but he didn’t. Instead, he placed his hands on your ribs and pushed your sweater up, over your breasts to reveal your chest. 

“I knew it,” he whispered. “I knew you weren’t wearing a bra.” 

Your breath caught in your throat, before you released it shakily. His lips wrapped around your nipple, wetting it with his tongue and applying light suction. A soft moan left your mouth, and you gripped onto his hair in ecstasy. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He sucked harder, to the point of pain, just to hear you make some noise. Any noise. When one nipple began to pulse between his lips, he moved to the other, leaving a trail of love bites between them. 

The heat between your legs was suffocating, and you rubbed your thighs together for some relief. Matthew noticed this, and proceeded to stick his hands down your pants, fingers sliding underneath the band of your underwear. He smirked at how soaked you were already and rubbed your clit as he licked a trail up to your neck. You tightened your thighs around his hand, gasping at the friction and pulling at the bedsheets. 

The sound caused Matthew to take in a sharp breath of air. His cock was pressed against the zipper of his jeans, and was getting to the point that it was excruciating. So, as he massaged your nerve, he undid his pants and pushed them down his legs. 

He nibbled on your ear, and as you gave him a quiet moan, your eyes flickered down to look between your bodies. Flushed, and horny, and suddenly so desperate, you grabbed onto Matthew’s large erection and pressed the tip against your clit. 

He grunted and pulled back to stare you in the eye, a sly grin creeping onto his face. He laughed, “I knew it. I fucking knew it. Innocent? Innocent, my ass.” 

As you rolled your eyes at him, he kissed your lips softly, hands holding onto your thighs. You positioned his cock at your entranced and allowed him to press into you. He stood up straight, watching his cock disappear inside you, slowly, steadily, before he suddenly slammed into you. The sound of skin colliding on skin mixed in with your and Matthew’s moans, and he watched your head roll back in pleasure. 

He licked his lips, smirking. And he did it again. And again. And again. Pulling out all the way and pushing back into you. Hard. The sensation struck your chest, and elicited vulnerable moans from you every time he pounded you. Matthew instantly began to speed his hips up, nails digging into your thighs as he pressed your legs open for him. His used all his strength to fuck you, your head knocking into the wall with every thrust. It was sloppy and messy and you couldn’t stop whimpering. Your eyes were screwed shut, and when you opened them again, the first thing you noticed with his chain. The gold medallion dangled in your face, Matthew’s lips pressed against your cheek. 

Absentmindedly, you tangled your fingers in the chain, tugging on it as your volume increased. “Fuck,” you muttered. “Oh, fuck.” 

He brought his hand up to your face, placing his thumb on your bottom lip. “Open your mouth,” he ordered, quietly, softly. And you did it without thinking. His thumb slid into your mouth, twirling around your tongue and stifling your moans. 

He removed his hand and placed his thumb on your clit, wetting the skin with your own saliva. You let out a loud yelp at the new sensation, and a bubble instantly formed in your stomach. 

Oh, no, not Matthew, you thought. Don’t let it be Matthew. 

But with his cock and his hips and the way he kissed your neck and rubbed your sensitive nerve all at once. You came, you came with a fit of pornographic moans, trembling and writhing around on the bed. 

And it was Matthew — the first guy to make you come. Ever. 

He licked his lips as he watched you come undone beneath him, proud of himself — to the point of cockiness. Giving you a few more forceful pumps, he pulled out of you and released himself onto your chest, watching the fluid cover the hickies he’d left there. 

He looked angelic on top of you, moaning, panting, swearing under his breath. But the moment he finished, he stepped back, fastened his pants and walked away. You propped yourself up on your elbows, watching him in a daze. 

Matthew logged onto your computer, pressed a few buttons and then closed the laptop shut. Then he left. 

However, the next day he sent you an email. Your project. Fully and perfectly edited. 

Okay. So, that happened. They said it would happen and it happened. Didn’t necessarily make you hate Matthew any less, but it happened. It was good. You hated to admit it. And it was all you could think about. You couldn’t even touch yourself or hold your pillow without thinking of Matthew. It was bad. 

Especially, given the fact that after the whole situation, he decided not to talk to you. At all. Not in class, not while hanging out with friends, not even to pick a fight. Complete and utter radio silence. He looked at you enough though. Not while you were looking at him, of course. So, as far as you knew, you were far off of his mind. But life had to go on. You had to focus on school, and on top of that, you were due to perform in NYU’s production of Swan Lake in less than two weeks. 

You landed the main role of Odette, meaning for the next two weeks, you had to eat, sleep, breathe ballet. You practiced for hours on end, barely saw your friends, which gave you a good break from seeing Matthew. 

Opening night rolled around and you were so nervous, you thought you might puke. Only a freshman, it was a miracle you landed the role in the first place, which meant your performance tonight was a make or break moment. Claire could tell you were sick to your stomach and tried to distract you by taking a bunch of pictures on her phone.

“Smile, pretty girl!” She beamed, the flashing going off in your face as you posed. “[y/n], you’re gonna kill it! I’m so excited! Aren’t you excited?”

“Yeah...” you whispered. “Deathly excited.”

“Aw, poor baby,” she swung her arm around your shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m gonna be front  and center, cheering you on. Just focus on me, okay?” 

You smiled and nodded, taking in a deep breath. “Okay.” 

Your body was on autopilot out on stage. The movements you’d practiced everyday, for hours and hours on end, just flowed. The lighting in the audience was dark, but you could just barely make out Claire’s figure under the soft hue. 

It wasn’t until the finale, when you stood ready for your closing performance, that the lights switched to their full intensity and you noticed a hand resting on Claire’s shoulder. An arm resting behind her head. Someone whispering in her ear, making her laugh. 

Matthew.

He was here. He was here and he was with Claire. He was with Claire and he was watching you. And it made your stomach feel weird. But then the music kicked up. So, you had to go. You fell into your dance, your rhythm and for some reason, you could not stop staring at Matthew. 

Every twirl, you made him your focal point. Looking at him again, and again, and again. Until the lights went out. 

Supporting ballerinas cheered you on as you walked offstage, throwing flowers at your feet and giving you applause. Your instructor marched right up to you, kissed both sides of your face and embraced you. It was a wonderful feeling, but right then, you were drained, emotionally, mentally, physically, you needed some rest. 

You locked yourself away in your dressing room, taking a seat in the mirror and beginning to remove your tights. Pressing a makeup wipe to your skin, you jumped, startled by a knock on the door. You rose from your seat and walked to the entrance casually, expecting Claire to greet you. 


But you froze, as soon as you opened the door. Eyes glazing over the person in front you, your breath caught in your throat. “Matthew.” 

“Hey,” he smiled. He looked you up and down — your naked legs, your breasts poking through the thin material of the leotard. “You...you were amazing tonight.” 

“Thank you,” you whispered. “Bye.”

You attempted to close the door on him, but his put his elbow against the frame, stopping it in motion. “Whoa,” he exclaimed, pushing his way into the room. “What the hell is your problem?” He closed the door behind him.

“My problem is that I’m very tired, and still need to change, and greet everyone waiting for me. So, I don’t have time for this.”

“Time for what?” He crossed his arms over his chest. 

You ducked your head down, “Nothing. Nothing. You need to leave.”

“Hey, hey, hey, ballerina barbie,” he mocked. “What’s your deal?”

“I don’t have a deal! I have nothing to say to you Matthew. Same way you have nothing to say to me.” You scrunched up your face in a frown.

“I...” he paused, laughing under his breath. “I never said I didn’t have something to tell you. In fact, I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” 

You looked up at him — the gel in his hair, his black button down shirt flowing over his belt buckle, his dark eyes, his lips and the way they were pouting just a little. And like a magnet, you found yourself being pulled towards him. You jumped into his arms, hands on his face, and connecting your lips, mouths open, tongues touching. 

Matthew held you up, moaning against your lips. “Mm,” you hummed. “Wait, what if someone comes in?” 

Matthew thought quickly, hiking you up in his arms and shoving your back against the door. “Well, now they can’t get in, can they?” He mumbled, leaving kisses along your neck.

Your jaw dropped and you started to undo his belt, freeing his cock from his pants. He grunted against your skin as you stroked him, your head leaned back against the door, your chest heaving. You used your other hand to pull your leotard to the side, revealing your throbbing core. 

Matthew smirked, letting you guide his dick to your entrance, and pushed his way into you swiftly. You instinctively wrapped your arms around his shoulders, burying your face in his neck to keep yourself quiet. His thrusts were quick, rough, messy. He was much more vocal this time, making no effort to stay silent.

“Fuck,” he moaned in your ear. “F-fuck, I forgot how good your pussy is. Fuck.”

The feeling was mutual. For the past month, you’d be wondering what the hell about Matthew had you so stuck. So fixated on him. And this was it. He filled you up perfectly, could manhandle you however he wanted, and always, always made sure you came. 

He fucked you harder when he noticed your orgasm nearing — your quickened breaths, frequent moans and whines, and your legs tightening against his torso. “Oh, my God,” you whimpered. 

“Shit, are you gonna come?” He asked. “Good.”

Breathless, speechless, you stared into his eyes helplessly as your body began to crumble. All power left your body and you held onto his shirt for dear life. He gave you a small smile, and flipped his hair out of his face, looking down at his cock. He could pinpoint the exact stroke that did it. The one that sent you into a state of euphoria, sent your eyes rolling back, your body into intense shock. 

You let out a long and weakened sigh as the wave washed over you, and Matthew continued to plow into you like nothing was happening. 

“It’s so cool how your pussy tightens up when you come,” he chuckled. “It’s hot.” 

You rolled your eyes at the sound of his voice, clawing at the back of his neck. His breathing became ragged and hoarse, and he had to pull out of you before he came. He jerked himself off until he exploded onto your clothing. And with you being dressed in all black, his stains stood out perfectly on your costume. 

This time, he gave you a kiss on the cheek before he left.

The week after that was finals week. And neither of you could be bothered to reach out. Despite the not-so-subtle confession of bitterness and the very intense orgasms you shared, you and Matthew simply went back to not talking. Your friends thought it was strange, even commented that they missed the bickering. The two of you shrugged in response. 

Most of your dorm room was in boxes by the time you finished your last final exam. Claire was slower to pack up than you were, considering she only lived an hour away, but she applauded you for your determination. The day Claire did start packing was the day before you left for the summer. The two of you spent the day getting everything cleared out, cleaned, squared away.

While the two of you sat on your bed, watching Netflix, a knock sounded from your door. Claire hopped up and headed towards the entrance, opening it with a grand smile. “Gube!” She shouted, instantly opening her arms for a hug. Matthew wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, carrying her into the room with a smile.

 “Are you about to leave?” She asked him, holding onto his arms as he placed her feet back on the ground. 

“Yeah, my mom’s here. So, I wanted to stop by and say goodbye,” he nodded. 

“Aw, Gube, you softie,” she giggled. “[y/n], come say bye.”

“I can say bye from right here, Claire,” you replied. She gave you a look, and you felt compelled to get off the bed. So you did, you approached them, “Bye, Matthew.” 

“Bye, shortcake,” he laughed. “Bye, Claire.” He pulled your roommate into another hug, while you stood there, crossing your arms in annoyance. 

Matthew peeked at you over Claire’s shoulder. One hand rubbed her back and the other reached out to you, holding a small note.

Your eyes went wide as you looked at him, then the note, then Claire. You ripped the paper from his hand, and stuffed it into your pocket right away. He smirked at you, and turned his attention back to Claire. 

“Hey,” he said to her. “Come back to my place, I want everyone there to show my mom I actually have friends.” 

Claire chuckled and nodded, “Okay,” she shrugged. “Let’s go. [y/n], you coming?”

“Uh, no,” you shook your head. “I’m gonna keep packing, but I’ll text you later.”

“Okay,” Claire smiled, and she let Matthew whisk her away. 

You sighed, and as soon as the door closed, you pulled the crumpled piece of paper from your pocket. You opened it up to reveal — not a meaningful message, not even a few words. Just one string of numbers, writing in his handwriting:

505. 

[PART 2.]

[honeysorwell]

(a very unprofessional) game changer

Pairing: Audrey Tidall x fem!Reader x Diane Sherman

Summary: Audrey Tidall ends up conquering the role of the protagonist in the expected film that marks the great director and screenwriter Diane Sherman return to the film market, Run, that the blonde one desired really much. The filmmaker has only managed to return now since she left her job almost twenty years ago to take care of her daughter. She has no real plans other than finishing the film that will mark her return, but her nonpeaceful coexistence with Audrey during the filming, along with the loneliness that consumes her personal life ends up instigating an unexpected affection - and that grows every day - for Y/N, the costume designer for Run.

What Diane did not expect, when giving Y/N anonymously flowers during the recording months, is that the costume designer has been in a secret relationship for more than months with Audrey. However, the feeling of indifference and disdain that the director feels for the actress gradually dies after a heated argument between the two, leaving an unnamed tension in the air, while Y/N searches for her secret admirer with her girlfriend.

[gif by @sapphiclesbian​ ]

[gif by @cherry-jimin] 

A/N: I was extremely surprised when I posted You rush into my life, stay a little while (I know that we can have it all), and in less than a month I got +50likes (after all I barely know how to use tumblr and I discovered these days how and where to look at the followers that I have lol). And thanks to that, I will use (a very unprofessional) game changer as a social experiment, to see if you guys really like what I write, and if the answer is also positive, I will open requests to write things in my free time. And yes, my first language is not English so maybe something might sound strange.

I had this idea as soon as Run was released, thanks to Diane's passion for films... And since Audrey is an actress, I thought it would be good to combine these two...

I can say that this is a big AU because Diane is a lovely mother, and no one from Roanoke dies (because I don't have time to develop any of this shit).

Hope you all like it!

Synopsis of the story + Chapter 1 ,  Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , Chapter 8 , Chapter 9 , Chapter 10 (final one)

Chapter 1

Chapter’s summary: Audrey and Y/N get to know each other thanks to Diane, and even though they are about to start recording Run, they decide that it is worthwhile to continue with their relationship. Even if secretly.

Warnings: In this chapter at least, none. Just implicit mentions of smut, it's not really something!  

Word Count: 1,2k

In theory, when someone wins an award as important as The Saturn, their career between movies becomes more likely to invitations to productions. Films, miniseries, or even theatrical productions. But that didn't happen with Audrey.

There was a voice in her head that said it was thanks to her age. But since none of the actors in Roanoke's cast, especially women, were so different in this aspect, Audrey continued to ignore that voice.

Everything was relatively ready for the British woman to participate in Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell, however after her breakup with Rory, the blonde one preferred to focus on something new. She quickly fell in love with him, but when the red-haired man asked about marriage, everything was clear to Audrey. Their paths and thoughts were so different, even with the significant feeling between them, that it was better to break their love relationship before their friendship was affected. And this was what she did.

It was audacious. Refuse a proposal for the same program that gave her fame and awards, to audition for a new film that she barely knew would happen. Some people would call her crazy, but the email she received from her agent was enough to give her courage.

Or rather, four words from that email. Directed by Diane Sherman was what caught her attention and prompted her to try to venture out to take the test.

She can still remember. Years ago, while she was still fighting for a minor role in any theatrical production in England, Diane Sherman was already acclaimed worldwide for the grandiose films with unexpected endings that she produced, even at a young age.

All the films of the woman with a reddish tone between her brunette hair strands became hits. But in the midst of it all, Diane decided to take a break from her career, and less than five months later, a pregnancy was announced.

After that, twenty years passed and no film was released, no interview, no magazine cover. Such a gloriously famous woman disappeared from everyone's view with her baby. But only up to now.

That test was probably the one that tired Audrey the most in her entire career. To portray in a few minutes the pain of the life of a woman who is obsessed with her daughter to the point of making her sick was difficult. But she did, and so, while her former co-stars were locking themselves up in a seemingly haunted mansion, she was getting a call from her agent saying that she got the lead role.

Everything worked well when the blonde received her script and started working with Diane on how they would like this character to be seen by the audience, but as the conversations flowed, Audrey understood why all of the woman's films were such a success. She was a perfectionist and her authority was clear.

Everything needed to be perfect. Including the costume.

And so Audrey met Y/N. A beautiful costume designer with so much talent to spare to the world.

The first time they saw each other, Diane was not present, after all, it was just a date to take Audrey's body measurements. As the story was about a housewife, movable and comfortable clothes had to be designed, which did not force Audrey to strip naked to have her measurements known by Y/N, even if an unprofessional part of her wanted to.

Quick encounters followed, some with Diane briefly present, just to define new color palettes or to approve and disapprove something. The director never stayed more than twenty minutes with the two women, but thanks to Y/N's perseverance, in producing everything exactly as Diane wished, and Audrey's free time, due to her mind being ease in memorizing lines and just a few friendships outside England, the two woman became relatively close.

When the costumes were all designed and in the final process of being made, Diane decided that she would like Audrey's hair to be longer. Some wig tests took place, but a joint decision was made.

The film would be postponed in five months from there, so that the blonde's hair would grow.

It was frustrating, to say the least, and maybe that was the trigger for Audrey's disapproval with Diane, but one thing was good. The time now acquired has started to be spent on Y/N.

Always at discreet lunches or afternoon teas in their homes...

Y/N thinks it might be extremely inappropriate and absolutely unprofessional to get personally involved with a co-worker, even outside the set, and even though their work on Diane's film was relatively distant. But, after many glasses of wine and random conversations, nothing made more sense to Y/N than Audrey's lips against hers.

A one-night stand. That was what they thought they were born to be. But the skin on Audrey's stomach was so smooth that Y/N didn't know if she wanted to kiss her until she moaned or laughed, confused as she tried to understand which one of the sounds was the actual responsible for her heart beating faster.

A one-night stand. Because Audrey didn't feel ready to start a relationship after such a recent breakup. But there was nothing more beautiful than Y/N's face full of pleasure while she was being touched, or her face concentrated on redoing a crooked seam, even if she was the only one that noticed the defect in the piece.

A one-night stand. That turned into two, three, ten, thirty... and when they noticed, Audrey's hair was long enough for the film to start recording and their mind was unconsciously bought each other's favorite foods at the supermarket.

And on one of those nights, when they were both lying on Y/N's bed and Audrey was drawing imaginary flowers on the bare skin of her right hip, a whisper escaped the actresses lips:

"I don't want this to end because we are going to work together... Does that make me unprofessional?", The moment the question escapes her lips, she raises her face towards Y/N and looks deeply into her eyes.

"Well ...", the costume designer starts and stops, distracted by the beauty of Audrey's brown eyes and a lock of her hair - now longer - that is hindering the Y/N view of the blonde's cheeks, but that soon puts the hair strands behind her ear and continues - "Count me in because I don't want this to end either..."

It is a smile so beautiful that it takes hold of Audrey's lips, that the courage to take possession of Y / N's body and one more phrase escapes her lips.

"I think I'm in love with you."

The word think sounds so low, it's like it's not even there. Because Y/N's mind knows that she is sure, even scared and that is why Y/N's eyes focus on the whole room, except the face in front of her. Until delicate fingers touch her chin and direct her to see brown eyes bathed in tears, amid the same glorious smile of seconds ago.

"And I don't know how you didn't notice that I fell in love with you too."

And so they come to an agreement. Nothing will be explicit while they are on set. At work, they will be just friends, close friends if the distance wraps their stomachs, but still, just friends.

For the sake of their reputations, their jobs, and the Diane Sherman film they will be just friends.

[flodaya]

Honestly I hate sex scene in movies or tv shows. I love slam france because it's my favorite shit show (also I'm french and my taxes pay for it 😔). But the sex scene ? It was the worst ! Flavie was only 17 at the time. If you look at one gifset of this clip (maybe you see the one I'm talking about...) It has 25k notes ?? And the comments my god... Flavie said she was okay with it and stuff like that... But... She was only 17, don't tell me she didn't feel forced to do it. David is the worst <3

skamfr is like that trash-y teen show that i love watching when i need to turn off my brain, i’ve only recently rewatched s3 for the 2019 nostaliga dkjfshsdk so i get you

25k nOTES??? holy fucking shit..... i mean at least on tumblr this is most likely due to the lesbian side of tumblr and not weird straight dudes but it’s still....... something. and sure maybe she was okay with it, just like the wtfock actors were fine filming a softcore zoom-sex scene, but it doesn’t make it a good portrayal of sex. and neither does it take into account that there is a huge power imbalance between 17yo flavie and the middle-age director 

sex scenes in movies are like either the worst and most unrealistic sexualized or they are well done, no in between, and most definitely suck. i feel like one of the only shows (especially shows targeted at teenagers) that gets credit for doing realistic and positive sex scenes in sex education, they really know how to portray the awkwardness mixed with the excitement and the fumbling and the intimacy without making it uncomfortably sexual porn

to bring this back to the topic of skam, i still always have to mention druck as a positive example of sex scenes, i mean hanna/jonas and mia/alex scenes weren’t too memorable (i actually have like mixed feelings about mia/alex; fun fact: the first time they go further than kissing is the most watched druck clip by far slkdfjsl) but david and matteo’s must be one of the best out there. it’s a very different approach to a sex scene than sex education has, it’s less “comedic” and instead very emotional but it still manages to portray the awkwardness, the nervousness, the excitement, the fumbling, and the intimacy without oversexualizing or fetishizing their mlm couple. it’s such a good accomplishment and i am ✨ manifesting ✨ we get the same for our wlw couple this season 

[rainbow-whitewashing-jar]

I did plan on giving Fate a chance but the casting continues to irk me. As a black fan of winx I was thrilled when they didn’t white-wash Aisha. But I can’t celebrate now because they did Flora and Musa so dirty 🥴 like if you’re going to get rid of the only Latina winx then why not get a Latina actress to play the new character? I’m also bitter about Musa, the Asian community was very vocal about the damage erasure does after the whole Scarlet J situation. Idk what are your thoughts?

Scarlet Johansson is dying her hair black to play Musa as we speak

lol this turned out waaay longer then I expected so it’s a readmore kind of post

My feelings on Fate are complicated to say the least.  I follow almost all the cast and I really enjoy them.  They seem to have a great chemistry which should translate to film well.  I think Abbey will be great as Bloom.  I love Precious (Aisha) and Danny (Sky) and am so excited to see them in the series.

I’m kind of shocked they didn’t whitewash Aisha or cut her out entirely considering she wasn’t in S1 - I can only assume someone at Netflix sat Iginio down and told him that was a bad idea because (obligatory BOING BOING afro scene yikes here).  But that being said - why pull this shit with Flora and Musa?  Musa especially, who has never been portrayed as less Asian in promotional art or the like.  And not to be all #conspiracy, but I have to assume her agency at least knew what they were doing, considering her bio used to list her as Singaporean and now doesn’t.  That puts her in much worse light for me than Eliot, who may not have realized this was Flora because the character had a different name, meanwhile you can google Musa and clearly see she’s Asian.  Time will only tell how true that is, maybe more information will come out the closer we get to airdate (which is supposedly in January of ‘21).

I want to be clear that I’m not trying to make excuses for Eliot or Elisha (Terra and Musa, respectively), but the situation is more complicated now because we’re dealing with real people.  We can’t tell Elisha how to identify herself, and we don’t know to what extent Eliot knew her role was Flora with a new coat of paint.  Eliot especially I’m hesitant to say a lot on due to her quitting IG (apparently from harassment from Winx fandom, because let’s be honest, the Winx fandom knows how to harass people).  I don’t know why people who are so mad at them aren’t equally mad at Kate Ringsell, the casting director for the series, like I am.  Or the production crew who thought this was a good idea (IT WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA).  There’s a lot of blame pie to go around.

In the end I’m honestly confused by the decision.  So many magical girls shows (until recently) have had casts of all one race (because they’re anime) or with the Token Minority.  It’s what made Winx stand out when it was first released, and it’s what it should have done to keep up with the diverse casts that are lowkey expected in teen-aimed shows right now.  Like what, Netflix thought ‘eh there’s only 1 black kid in Stranger Things, one of our most popular shows, that should work fine for Winx too?’

I’m really disappointed in decision like so many others.  I do want to try and give them the benefit of the doubt with the Terra situation, because it honestly seems like there might be more than went into her change then they’re letting on right now (because Flora is one of the top 3 girls they market with Bloom and Stella so taking her out seems strange), but there’s not enough information right now.  I will say at this point I’m still planning on watching the series, out of morbid curiosity and to roast it more than anything else, but I totally get people who don’t want to.  And I have a feeling when the first trailers drop there is going to be a lot more uproar over Elisha playing Musa as casual fans who lost touch with the show find out what’s happened.

That is if Netflix even markets it.  Who fuckin knows with them.

[nostalgicgeminiii]

astrology & upcoming changes in hollywood 🎬

While reading about the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike of ‘07/08, I took time to check out the astrology of that time and was pleasantly surprised how the transits supported and illustrated the strike. 

The following post will take a look at the transits that influenced the strike and the Golden Globes’ recent decision to cancel its 2022 awards ceremony in a protest against the HFPA who Netlfix, Amazon have also taken a stance against due to their lack of diversity in their voting members.

                                       Let’s get straight into this shit.

A little background info first : WGA announced a strike on Nov 2 ‘07 and the strike began on Nov 5th, the following Monday in attempt to gain increased funding for their writers which were significantly smaller compared to the profits that larger studios and producers in the country made. The strike was one of the longest for the guild and reportedly, the industry lost $500 million dollars to due productions stopping and forcing networks to show reruns.

The transits of that day (using Nov 5th when the strike actually started) that were most important were 

Saturn in Virgo at 6 degrees - as we know Virgo rules over workers and it’s ruling planet is mercury (writing). The double influence of Virgo with Saturn (limitations + larger organizations) showed there was some restructuring that needed to take place.

On the first day of the strike, Jupiter was transiting Sag at 20 degrees (20 = Scorpio deg = jealously / the writers were upset at the lack of funding they received compared to the other parts of the industry ) and moving towards Pluto which was also in Sag at 27 degrees (27 = Gemini = writing). They would make a conjunction in the sign sometime in mid December of that year. Jupiter and Pluto together ->  brought on a wave of upheaval which left plenty of productions put to a halt, productions that were viewed world wide (sag) and networks had no choice but to show re-runs of shows affected. Obvi, Jupiter expands everything it touches (good or bad) and unfortunately during the period the strike took place, not a lot of common folk realized the extent and depth of the issue.

Additionally, the north node was @ 3 degrees in Pisces (3 = Gemini + writing and Pisces = Neptune = film industry) was in opposition to Saturn. They felt a need for order in the workplace with Saturn touching the south node transit in Virgo.

And the cherry on top of the sundae, is the moon - venus conjunction in virgo that happened that first morning. 

In the beginning, Saturn was in the opposite sign of both Jupiter and Pluto’s transiting signs and by the time the strike ended, Jupiter and Pluto both went into Capricorn (Saturn's ruling sign) making a trine aka an easy aspect to Saturn in Virgo. The negotiations between the WGA and other party finally were agreed upon and the strike was able to end with rules and legislation (cap) that supported the writers (virgo). Remember Virgo traditionally rules the 6th house of work and its trine to the 10th house of career, public institutions trad. ruled by Capricorn.

As a writer myself, this is a big issue we can face. We watch actors like RDJ and the Rock earn $50 million for one movie and directors cashing in similar profits while the writers who create these stories have a greater chance of getting snubbed. They also are not really the face of the industry as that role is given to the prominent actors and filmmakers. Writers and other professionals in the industry are often forgotten and not visibly recognized. 

TL:DR /// All that Virgo energy came in and said nah we want some order in this shit 

                                                Now, the recent shit.

Early 2021, saw The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) came under repeated backlash and fire for the lack of diversity in their members and for an email sent by a now - former member of the HFPA that called the BLM movement a “racist hate movement”, to other members. In addition to other actions that were made by this former member ( I rlly wanna call him an ass***), they tried to take action by promising a reform that would bring in inclusive policies and more members of colour specifically black voting members. However, groups like NBC, Netflix, Amazon, WarnerMedia and others made arguments that the proposed changes were not enough to tackle the inclusion challenges in the industry AND it would not be completed soon enough to reflect in the 2022 GG broadcast. The HFPA ultimately decided to cancel the 2022 Golden Globes Ceremony and made this statement:

"change of this magnitude takes time and work, and we feel strongly that the HFPA needs time to do it right"

The HFPA made this history making decision on May 10 ‘21

This acc happened a day before the new moon in Taurus went exact. (note: the moon was in Taurus on this day as well) New moons represent new beginnings and Taurus is associated with - slow & steady. As a result of the arguments and concerns that were brought forward, the change that the HFPA thought was appropriate was actually going to take longer than they believed. Look back at the above quote [ needs time to do it right ] That’s very much Taurus new moon energy right there.

Saturn was transiting Aquarius at 13 degrees. 13 - Aries (first) aqua (groups of ppl specifically marginalized communities) This was the first taste of karmic actions that organizations such as the HFPA have to fix and correct to include equality and inclusion of less represented individuals in an industry that has incredibly dense roots in whiteness and patriarchy. This was the first time that an awards show was cancelled to address this issue.

Jupiter was transiting the final degree of Aquarius (29 deg = Leo) and with Jupiter representing opportunities, this was symbolic of black people (aqua = different/ marginalized groups) getting the chance to be equally represented in the entertainment (leo) industry. 

Coincidentally, on both the dates of the HFPA announcement and the WGA strike, mars was in its detriment sign - Cancer - This transit could bring about strikes and fighting with groups of a close belonging. Take a look at the writers on strike. They were a close knit group of ppl (aka family) within their industry or community who helped defend each other and defend against limitations (Capricorn/Saturn) that threatened their livelihood and security (cancer).

I have an additional interpretation of the mars in cancer transit however (idc if ppl get mad) SOOO imo and from what I’ve read, white ppl are ruled by the moon/cancer and the book of rulership suggests that black ppl are ruled by Capricorn/Saturn. Now when mars was in cancer in 2007, Pluto was in sag which is inconjunct from the sign mars was in (cancer). Sag = other cultures, international -------- The conflict affected not only the country that the strike took place in but many parts of the world that consumed American media. Note: this was also media that majorly represented white Americans (ruled by cancer). Now fast forward to 2021: Pluto has been in Capricorn since ‘08 - a time which marked a visible rise of black achievement in the US (Obama becoming president, black voices being given bigger platforms and so much more) and heavy discussions and protests revolving around the growing violence and systemic oppression against African Americans (BLM, Trayvon Martin) Capricorn is opposite to Cancer so with the recent mars in cancer transit that was opposing pluto in cap we saw actions that needed to be taken to bring about change and mars in cancer moves slow to make those changes and really only makes changes and takes action based on comfort and now  with pluto in its opposite sign being like “cmon bitch move yo ass” changes are finally slowly coming together. Pluto defo destroys and rebuilds but leaves what needs to be kept.

My take on what could happen as Pluto leaves Capricorn and enters Aquarius, we could see the film industry being left and cared for by the general masses. Pluto in Leo brought the control of the industry to a select few and the nepotism in the industry that exists today was fortified. We could really start to see everyday ppl, really different ppl outside of the “norm” brought to prominence. Neptune’ future transit into Aries will help strength this change. (aries = first). I’ll make another post in the future talking about what I think Pluto and Neptune’s transit into aqua and aries will possibly bring 🚗

[thefilmsimps]

Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time (dir. Hideaki Anno)

-Jere Pilapil

I can’t describe how satisfying an ending (for now…?) this movie is for Neon Genesis Evangelion. I’ve watched the TV series, watched the movie that revised the ending, read the manga (by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto) and watched the Rebuild of Evangelion series. In some ways, fans have watched these characters live through hell 3, maybe 4, maybe more times. And I think creator/director Hideaki Anno is trying to express something that’s hard to express, each time he returns to the series.

The end of the TV show gets deeply abstract in its last two episodes, mostly featuring the characters talking in circles, analyzing each other. Really, it feels more like Anno is trying to sort out his thoughts for himself, using the characters to bounce his contradictory thoughts and emotions off each other. Compared to the show that preceded it, it’s at least jarring and kind of gives up on the characters in favor of making his point. The animation is deeply limited: often repeated images of the characters speaking with a black background while flashes of text prod the characters, asking questions and offering contradictions. Throughout, we see some shots of an empty theater setting (stage, lights, curtain). Shinji gets a happy ending here, but it feels weird and unearned. I can see why fans were critical of it. (The anime Bakemonogatari made these episodes its entire aesthetic.)

The End of Evangelion gave Anno another opportunity to end the series, and this one makes things much clearer, both in terms of what happened with all the giant robot shit and easing the audience into Anno’s philosophical questioning. The first half picks up where the 24th episode of the series ended and actually writes a reason for Shinji’s perspective to become abstract (to get deep into the details would both be a spoiler and require too much explanation). Here it becomes clear that some of the approach in the series was not, as rumored, a budget issue: Anno tears away the artifice of film with shots of empty and full movie theaters, a live action intrusion on the animated movie. Some parts of it feel like it’s wagging a finger at the audience that rejected the original ending. The ending is more ambiguous, tonally, but more satisfying than that of the TV show.

So Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time (it’s 1.1 on Amazon due to minor revisions again between the Japanese and international releases. Art is never over!) ends the series once again. And in some ways, the three preceding movies diverted greatly but wound up in the same place: this is an abstract investigation on what it means to be human and to know humans. It’s about what it means to need a community and to know that proximity leaves you open to pain. But much like an musician revisiting an old song or Walt Whitman republishing Leaves of Grass, time gives the creator new understanding. Hideaki Anno was in his 30s at the time of the TV series and is 61 now. He’s a different person now, it would seem (and I would hope). That extra time gives this revision a gentler, more serene tone than the previous endings.

It’s a wonderful, open-hearted work. All of Neon Genesis Evangelion is, really, wearing its scarred, depressed, anxious emotions on its sleeve at all times. But this one winds up in a place that’s so much more poetic, straightforward without dumbing it down for the audience at all. As much as the mythology (the spears, Lilliths, Adams, Impacts, Instrumentality) can be confusing, emotionally, the series has always told the audience exactly what emotions it’s trying to convey in exact language. It’s just that there’s always been so much that it sometimes doesn’t leave room for much else but a torrent of words and ideas.

But that’s just the end. The rest of the movie is incredible, too. Following up from the end of 3.0, Shinji, Rei and Asuka spend the first hour of the movie living in an idyllic village. The world has near-ended a few times over at this point, so life isn’t easy. But the villagers our protagonists meet are so sweet and optimistic, I almost wish this movie could have been 2.5 hours of these characters living in tranquility. The giant robot fights are the hook, but Neon Genesis Evangelion has always done slice of life, small stakes interpersonal drama so much better. Of course, the giant robot fights accentuate and inform the quiet emotions of the smaller moments.

In the context of this movie, the action is a little more chaotic; in some bad ways a later setpiece it reminds me of The Rise of Skywalker, lacking in gravity (both literally and metaphorically) and feeling “epic” of the sake of “being epic”. But it’s also a love letter to the Evangelions - one last shot at choreographing some fist-pumping, ultra-cool moments for our pilots. And they lead directly into revelations and send-offs for some characters, fitting and beautiful and tragic all at once. It’s not perfect, but I get it.

The end of the movie, though. I’ve been thinking about it all day. It made my hear swell, soundtracked by a perfect Hikaru Utada song. Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 works as a fitting “goodbye” to a beloved series, sure, but it’s also a tribute to the power of time to mature and clarify. Beautiful.

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Black Widow: MCU Easter Eggs and References Guide

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Black Widow spoilers. We have a spoiler-free review here.

The MCU is finally back on the big screen! Marvel’s Black Widow was supposed to be the official kickoff of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but then the pandemic happened, it got bounced around the release calendar, and Disney managed to release three MCU TV shows before Natasha got to take her curtain call on the big screen.

But that’s thankfully behind us, and Black Widow delivers terrific blockbuster action in the mighty Marvel manner. And you know what that means! Let’s try and spot all the cool MCU references and Marvel Comics Easter eggs in Black Widow.

The Prologue

Setting this prologue in 1995 gives us the approximate age of Natasha. If she’s supposed to be about 11 or 12 here, that conveniently makes the character the same age as Scarlett Johannsson, who was born in 1984.

The general premise of Natasha’s childhood, in which she was the daughter of two Russian spies is highly similar to that of the FX series The Americans. 

This seems to be the late summer of 1995, which puts it roughly around when Captain Marvel was taking place (the official word on that is 1995, but little details in it, like Stan Lee reading a Mallrats screenplay could place it in 1994). 

Young Natasha is played by Ever Anderson – the daughter of actress Milla Jovovich and Event Horizon director Paul W. S. Anderson. You will not be able to unsee her resemblance to Milla. 

The first song choice in the movie is young Yelena’s fixation on Don McLean’s fixation on “American Pie,” a song about (among other things) the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson. That being said, “American Pie” is about a larger loss of innocence, a theme that weighs heavily throughout this film.

Before Alexei turns the radio off to play “American Pie”, the station is set to 105.1 FM. This is WQXK, a country station based in Salem, Ohio that serves the Youngstown market. Natasha and Yelena’s American home is likely based in Eastern Ohio.

There’s an episode of DuckTales playing on TV in the background while they have dinner. We can’t tell what episode it is, but DuckTales ruled, and the new series was even better. And hey, we get some payoff later in the movie when they play an aircraft crash for laughs while having everyone just casually walk it off.

Alexei was working undercover in the US at the North Institute, which he burned to the ground before making his escape. In Black Widow Vol 3 #1, Natasha decided to retire to Arizona but she and other Red Room victims were hounded by the North Institute. Spurred to investigate the situation, Natasha returned to Russia where she discovered much of the terrible truth behind her past Red Room manipulation. This was a story that also featured Yelena (and Daredevil, believe it or not).

There’s definitely an early SHIELD logo on the trucks chasing the family to the very end there.

The plane number is 258. In Incredible Hulk #258, we get the first appearance of the Soviet Super-Soldiers (later named the Winter Guard), a communist superhero team created for the sake of rivaling the Avengers. The original lineup was Ursa Major (more on him in a minute), Darkstar, Vanguard, and the fifth Crimson Dynamo (more on this, too). Over time, Red Guardian joined their ranks, though it was Josef Petkus and not Alexei Shostakov.

This is a perfect cold open, the kind that James Bond movies excelled at, and it’s far from the only Bond parallel we’ll get in the film. 

The Opening Credits

There’s all kinds of stuff happening in the opening credits, including the film’s villain Dreykov being inserted into photos with various world leaders, including President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and others. The Red Room’s influence knows no national boundaries, it seems.

The overall effect is to imply that Dreykov and the Widows have been putting their fingers on the scale for quite some time.

It’s also a nice touch that many of the “news broadcasts” we see here are from MCU staple WHIH.

There’s a shot of some vials with blue liquid, which allude to the Red Room’s attempt to create Captain America-esque super soldiers, which they succeeded with to some degree with the Red Guardian, but also makes us wonder if they tried enhancing any earlier Widows.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

The opening credits are set to a version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Malia J. You may have heard her covers of Seal’s “Crazy” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” in trailers for shows like Bloodlines and The Handmaid’s Tale.

We wrote more about the Black Widow version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” here.

When Does Black Widow Take Place?

This movie takes place in 2016, shortly after the events of Captain America: Civil War. General “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) is here to remind us all that Natasha is still in trouble with the government.

What’s kind of neat about this is that it’s the first Marvel “prequel” that feels like it is designed to be watched in its chronological sequence (minus that post-credits scene, of course). Captain America: The First Avenger makes more sense as a flashback interlude between Thor and The Avengers, while Captain Marvel makes more sense as a breather between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. But Black Widow feels like it should be watched right after Civil War.

Thunderbolt Ross

Natasha brings up Ross having his second triple bypass. In Captain America: Civil War, Ross talks about how he had his first heart attack while playing golf and it gave him perspective and convinced him to retire from the US Army. It seems chasing down Cap’s allies hasn’t been so good for his health.

Red Guardian

We know that Alexei has been active as Red Guardian since at least 1983 or 1984 based on the tales of fighting Captain America he tells while in jail. He was apparently sent to the USA for undercover work in 1992, and then imprisoned a few years after their 1995 escape back to Russia.

Red Guardian’s knuckle tattoos say “Karl Marx” which is kind of adorable but…shouldn’t they be in Cyrillic/Russian characters and not Latin/English? Is this to troll his capitalist opponents so they can read them as he beats their asses?

Red says he fought Captain America in 1983 or 1984. The simplest explanation is that he’s lying but…what if he isn’t?

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he’s telling the truth and there really was yet another secret Captain America active in the ‘80s. Now that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is done, we know that there was at least one “replacement Cap” and the comics indicate there were others. Or maybe it’s just Steve in the timestream…maybe we’ll find out one day, but we wrote much more about some possibilities for this here.

Ursa

Red Guardian breaks the arm of a man named Ursa… Ursa Major (Mikhail Ursus) is the name of another Russian superhero in Marvel Comics, whose mutant power caused him to turn into a literal talking bear. He became a staple member of the Soviet Super Soldiers/Winter Guard along with a Red Guardian. While the movie doesn’t depict him like the comics, Red Guardian does joke about him being a bear.

Taskmaster

This is a very different version of Taskmaster than the one we got in the comics. Marvel Comics Taskmaster has “photographic reflexes” and is a man named Anthony Masters. Here, in addition to the new gender (Dreykov’s daughter is named “Antonia” as a nod to the comics character), Taskmaster is cybernetically enhanced to make those “photographic reflexes a little easier.

There is precedent for a female Taskmaster. The series Deadpool MAX reimagined Deadpool in a cynical, dark, and very adult (albeit absurd and humorous) way. This lent itself to Deadpool-adjacent characters. Taskmaster was depicted as a woman roughly in her ‘50s who trained Deadpool and warped his mind.

There’s also Finesse, a member of Avengers Academy, whose powers are so similar to Taskmaster that she believes him to be her biological father. Unfortunately, due to memory problems, Taskmaster doesn’t know for sure and refuses to offer any DNA to find out the answer.

In the course of Taskmaster’s action scenes, we see her mimic a number of Marvel heroes, with a particular focus on those who played a part in the recent (by this movie’s timeline) Captain America: Civil War including Hawkeye, Captain America, Black Panther, and even Natasha.

We have more on Taskmaster here.

Who is Mason?

Rick Mason first appeared in his own 1989 graphic novel called Rick Mason: The Agent. Mason was a SHIELD agent mostly remembered for being the son of Phineas Mason, the Tinkerer. Granted, the Tinkerer we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming isn’t nearly old enough to be Rick’s father in the movies and he looks nothing like him, so I wouldn’t expect any secret connection.

In the comics, Rick was practically forgotten about and killed off-panel. His son was one of the victims of Nitro’s explosion in Stamford, Connecticut from the beginning of the Marvel Comics version of Civil War.

Melina Vostokoff

The Melina Vostokoff of the MCU is pretty different from the one in Marvel Comics (who created by Ralph Macchio and George Perez in 1983). There, she was known as (we shit you not) Iron Maiden, and she was at least a former Widow-esque agent as she is here in the film.

Yelena Belova

Yelena and Natasha’s first meeting being over a bio-weapon/agent is very faintly similar to Yelena’s proper introduction in the comics, a 1999 Black Widow comics story where they were explicitly fighting over a bioweapon, not a “mind control antidote” as we see in this film.

The “face swap” trick that Natasha and Melina pull in the film’s final act also has the faintest of echoes of another early Yelena story, where Natasha “swapped faces” with Yelena to try and break her mind and get her on the side of the angels.

What Happened in Budapest?

“You and I remember Budapest very differently,” Clint Barton famously told Natasha in The Avengers during the Battle of New York. But now we know what went down…

Basically, Taskmaster’s origin story is tied to Natasha’s superhero origin. To fully defect from the Red Room and go to work for SHIELD, Natasha had to assassinate Dreykov…which meant the collateral damage of Antonia.

Of course, that led to Clint and Nat getting hounded by Red Room agents, which led to them hiding out for days together. 

And before that, they were in that safe house apartment that was currently occupied by Yelena, hence the arrow damage to the walls.

Crimson Dynamo

Yelena (probably on purpose) refers to Alexei’s superheroic days as when he was “the Crimson Dynamo.” Sure, this is cute, but there really was a Crimson Dynamo in Marvel Comics! Crimson Dynamo is primarily an Iron Man villain, lots of different Russian agents have worn the Crimson Dynamo armor. It…didn’t end well for any of them. 

The original Crimson Dynamo was Anton Vanko, otherwise known as the old man dying in the beginning of Iron Man 2. Although his son was known as Whiplash, Ivan Vanko was more of a cross between Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo. In the comics, “Ivan” was an alias Anton used.

We’re gonna choose to believe that Yelena isn’t just making this name up and that the Russians really did have an armored hero called the Crimson Dynamo, and if we’re lucky we’ll get to see him in a flashback of some future MCU project. After all, there’s that Armor Wars series on the way…

Also, there’s one thing that Crimson Dynamo has over the Red Guardian: he was immortalized in the lyrics of a song by a member of The Beatles. Paul McCartney and Wings have a tune called “Magneto and Titanium Man” which involves “a robbery” where “the Crimson Dynamo came along for the ride.” It’s great, and it’s on Wings Venus & Mars album.

Thor

Yelena’s line about how a “god from space” doesn’t “need to take an ibuprofen” after a fight is kinda priceless.

Mutants in the MCU

Dreykov tells Natasha that they were searching for the “genetic potential in infants.” Sure, this could mean anything like how athletic someone might grow up to be, but is there a chance they could also have been searching for a mysterious x-factor in a baby’s DNA?

James Bond

Natasha is watching one of the lesser-regarded Bond flicks, Moonraker. Of course, she still knows every word.

Dreykov gets a classic “Bond villain monologue” wherein a baddie spells out his plans for world domination before a hero who he surely thinks is either neutralized or could be swayed to their cause.

Antonia/Taskmaster is a Bond Girl! Olga Kurylenko played Camille Montes, a Bolivian agent with a vendetta in Quantum of Solace.

Remnants of the Red Room

Black Widow was written by Eric Pearson, who also wrote Thor: Ragnarok.

So… Natasha probably couldn’t taste that peanut butter and jelly sandwich from Endgame, right? That’s too bad.

It doesn’t seem that “Fanny Longbottom” is a thing from Marvel Comics, but as Mason points out it is most certainly a real name. Also, Yelena’s dog in the post-credits scene is named “Fanny.”

We get an explanation for Natasha’s blonde look in Infinity War here, as Mason gave her the hair dye. But the way it’s presented here feels slightly like a sisterly tribute to Yelena, which is really sweet.

Natasha makes a crack about “the cavalry” as Ross’ troops close in, but folks hoping that’s an Agents of SHIELD reference are probably going to be sorely disappointed.

Dreykov’s pheromone trick that he has implanted in the Widows (and Natasha in particular) leads to this scene playing out like when RoboCop tries to arrest Dick Jones in the classic 1987 film.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Natasha tells Dreykov with a smirk after getting him to monologue his evil plans. This is as close as we get to a Black Widow catchphrase – she also ended a veiled interrogation with Loki using the exact same words in The Avengers.

The Post-Credits Scene

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) is back after her appearances in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. If we had to hazard a guess, she’s putting together a team of “Dark Avengers” or “Thunderbolts” for the MCU.

Florence Pugh is indeed confirmed to appear in the upcoming Disney+ Hawkeye series, as well.

We went into much more detail about what the post-credits scene means for the future of the MCU right here.

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Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

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