#i know this is five seconds. no dialogue. but that final shot is iconic to me

[lovevalley45]

so far no one has voted for the deleted grilling scene on my ‘most iconic spooner moments’ poll and that makes me believe it isn’t as common knowledge as i presume it is. why does it look like they’re abt to have a grilling date here in the galley. the one time i’ve shipped esperastra fjfjjd (if you can’t tell, it’s from “bored on board onboard”)

[hunterofdeer]

Everyone, Finally, Knows That (Substack Link in Bio)

I didn’t foresee myself watching a 1986 porno in my living room today, but there have been stranger things. The adult film begins with humble opening credits, and then an eruption of thunderous clouds fills the screen. Zoom in. There is an almost imperceptible narration. Cut to a man getting into a car. Headlights flash, and a guitar riff overtakes the soundtrack. The tires screech even louder; he might want to get those checked.

We immediately jump to a scene where a woman is performing cunnilingus on another woman (Friend? Partner? Coworker?). A man, mustache and all, opens the door and chuckles, “You two are the horniest girls I’ve ever met!” I’m assuming this is something he regularly walks in on. More credits and driving sequences are dispersed throughout, along with bits of the usual porno exposition. There’s another plot with a couple in a car—the man kind of looks like Fred from Scooby-Doo. The two make out, but the poor guy jizzes his pants, much to blondie’s dismay. The woman, in particular, has a terrific sardonic delivery of “Yeah, call me.” Get her an Emmy! Primetime, of course.

Title card: Angels of Passion. The storyline is expectedly choppy, but it appears to go from threesome to car crash to threesome in heaven. (A surprisingly artistic low-angle shot had followed the trio walking about their incandescent surroundings in the nude. Yes, the carpets matched the drapes.) After more run-of-the-mill intercourse, a man in white emerges from a glowing ball and introduces himself as William. He’s aware of their confusion and assures them that they’re dead. “Oh, bummer,” says pornstache.

The cause of death was a drunk driver colliding with the motorhome where the trio had set up sex-shop. The following dialogue is achingly slow, but we get a minute-in-heaven-is-days-on-Earth spiel, setting up pornstache’s wristwatch to be Chekhov’s X-rated gun. Jesus Christ, I didn’t suspect a time-manipulation narrative. Then again, this was the 80s. 

William says he’ll be gone for five minutes, and the trio wants to take their ménage à trois on tour before he gets back. To travel to Earth, all they had to do was snap their fingers like in the movies, as pornstache aptly puts it. They pull the shenanigans you’d think they’d pull, using their newfound angelic statuses to improve the sex lives of mortals, naturally including demonstrations. The character count expands: a sexually-latent secretary, a suicidal businessman, and even domestic fucking terrorists, emphasis on the fucking. 

Now I realize I’ve spent a few too many paragraphs describing a porno, and I don’t think my mother would be very proud. But it is this video that contains the lewd answer to a musical mystery.

WatZatSong.com is a website where curious users submit song snippets, hoping someone can come along to identify them. In 2021, a user named Carl92 uploaded a 17-second scrap that could’ve been a backtrack to an 80s pop-fueled summer vacation. It was incredibly catchy and stirred up a cyber storm. How could something sound so familiar be unknown?

People dubbed the elusive audio as “Everyone Knows That” (EKT) or “Ulterior Motives” in accordance with the limited lyrics, which were still highly debated due to the muddied sound quality. Eventually, Carl92 stopped interacting on WatZatSong, and people perceived this to be a dead end. 

In 2023, the audio was uploaded to YouTube, and the uploader used a picture of a glittery pink CD player, which tied this song to that iconic image. As more and more days passed by, this tune attracted a substantial and dedicated following. People were restricted to only 17 seconds of sound, and all they could see was the flash photo of a CD player, its round speakers like alien eyes.

The r/everyoneknowsthat subreddit now has more than 40,000 members, which is a higher population than Liechtenstein, if that example makes any sense to you. The subreddit was made to guide the search, and it is littered with memes, potential leads, and debunked cases. After u/One-Truth-5867 heard a similar song in a random clip on YouTube, they enlisted the help of u/south_pole_ball to search a catalog of vintage pornos. And then they found it.

At approximately 01:07:30 in Angels of Passion, you can begin to hear the synth-pop beat between breathy moans and grunts. Hilariously, the famous snippet occurred during the rare moment of silence between the actors, suggesting Carl92 had cut around the erotic noise to avoid any shameful admission of the music’s source. However, I can understand why Carl92 would be motivated to find this song. The classic steamy bedroom sex, with a bright-red Coca-Cola sign hanging on the wall, underscored by a peppy, libidinous track, puts you in the fantasy and keeps you wanting more.

At the end of the film, the once booming, gray clouds start to clear. The credits roll, and for the score, I see two names: Chris & Phi. The names, which I’m sure were shortened for discreetness, point to Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth, identical twin brothers who composed soundtracks for a variety of pornos. Currently, they produce, direct, and compose for seemingly low-rent horror films (as if horror films aren’t already low-rent enough). What they do, however, is not up to my judgement; if they are content, then I am, too. They clearly are talented enough to create such a craze around a song in a dated adult film, and I would be open to seeing more of what they have to offer.

I try to imagine myself in a 1980s fairytale, and I wonder what it would be like if I were some hunky actor who pursued pornography in that era’s energized, consumerist culture. This blue movie, while not necessarily great by any means, was interesting in the fact that it was determined to tell a story and entice the viewer into a make-believe of their base desires. 

The reality of all this, as usual, doesn’t check out. Adult production studios, which are extremely male-dominated, obviously take advantage of pornstars. Shit wages, shit contracts, everything is shit—and I’m certain it was worse back then. Two of the actors in this film, Tracey Adams and Steve Drake, were involved in a court case where distributors Charles Brickman and Thomas Ingalls were accused of felony pandering in the production of sex tapes. I looked more into Tracey, and apparently vodka has become her sleep medicine. It’s a messy industry, to say the least.

This whole event is darkly humorous to me. “Everyone Knows That” mocked its obsessive, clueless audience with each replay. Ill-fated Carl92 has become infamously linked to whacking his willy to the song. The song, itself, is just some porno jingle meant to accentuate the carnality on screen. I saw a comment that speculated, in another universe, if the roles were reversed and Madonna’s “Material Girl” ended up being the fleeting ditty, later reduced to a few mere seconds for a community to investigate; and I wondered why people, myself included, lived in these nostalgic fever dreams.

[blue-is-a-sapphic-color]

For the ask game, maybe 14, 17, 25?

Hi!! Thanks for the ask, and thank you for creating such an awesome ask game <3

14. What’s your favourite c!Dream line of dialogue?

Suddenly I don't remember a single c!Dream line of dialogue- uHH probably when he's taunting c!Tommy right after the prison escape. ICONIC. people who hadn't stream hopped were completely caught off guard by a fully decked out c!Dream popping up out of nowhere. Also props to cc!Dream for his insane positioning and timing like DAMN.

Also whenever he's begging, whining, or pleading...! especially when it involves c!Sam. The scene after he hides beneath the prison floor and c!Sam loses his mind and he manages to convince c!Sam to not tell c!Quackity is Insane.

17. What are some of your favourite c!Dream fics?

The fics on this list aren't going to be... recent/current? I haven't read dream smp stuff (that isn't @sunshine-in-a-bottle's writing) in a Good While. So for example @simplepotatofarmer's rabbit run isn't on it because I just haven't read it yet! (Even though I've only heard good things and it's been on my to read list for forever...)

Now for the fics:

for queen and country by @cgogs

It's technically not canon!Dream, it's an AU, but it is based on dream smp lore so it counts for me.

OKAY BUT SERIOUSLY I SPENT LIKE THREE PLUS MONTHS THINKING ABOUT THIS FIC AFTER I READ IT AND I STILL THINK ABOUT IT SOMETIMES. the fic was discontinued, but I genuinely think chapter six works perfectly well as an open ending!

Medieval fantasy Royalty AU, angsty c!DNF with hopeful and/or bittersweet vibes, amazing and creative writing, and the literal first time Briar appeared in a fic? SURELY A MUST READ.

Oxeye Daisy by @cgogs

It needs no introduction, it's a c!DNF classic. But if you haven't heard about this fic...! Well now you have! Go read it!

We have since lost Angela to c!awesamdream-isms (<< literally has c!awesamdream demons myself) but I still remember the c!DNF era <3

martyr wrapped in butcher paper by @aetherknit

god!Dream/king!George spanning the dethronement era. And it has fanart..... (if you've never checked this one out you really should, it's a short one-shot!)

encore by Anonymous (the author has since either changed their name, privated or deleted their account)

A near-future c!Drunz one-shot with worldbuilding with some great vibes. Featuring accidental alien!kid!Purpled acquisition, hurt but healing c!Dream, and not perfect but still caring and domestic c!Drunz.

a second change from beyond the grave by Lieyantosh

The egg kills the server and everyone in it, but everyone gets reincarnated into the modern world with their memories. Except Dream doesn't remember.

Does this fic suffer greatly from being written before the staged finale was revealed? Yes. Is c!Tommy the main pov? Yes. But is chapter five a masterpiece, written from c!Dream's pov, and made me stay up until 3am? Also yes !!!

25. If c!Dream had to join an existing/former DSMP country or faction, which one would you choose for him?

Either the Syndicate or the Eggpire. Opposite vibes, I know, but both have tons of potential for him individually, and for great interactions with the members.

Syndicate AUs are pretty popular and always a banger, but c!Drunz together during the height of the Eggpire? They would've been unstoppable (and full of trauma <333).

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

please. i can’t do this alone.

Titans 3.01

thoughts! thoughts! thoughts! some red hot thoughts!

SPOILERS ahead.

1. one episode in, and this season already looks set to give me everything i want. its abandonment of plot and storytelling conventions as it goes from one point to the next at breakneck speed; its cheerful bastardisation of iconic storylines from the comics; the ‘as-you-know-bob’ clunky exposition on one end and extremely restrained, subtle explorations of complex character dynamics on the other; endless shots of neon bleeding into black and blue corridors, shadows and silhouettes; my delight in seeing it celebrate and deconstruct the dark nolan-y batman aesthetic at the same time; my bafflement that it’s so fucking goddamn obsessed with the batfam when it’s supposed to be about the TITANS; kory just... saving every overburdened, clunky scene that she’s in by her sparkling charisma. just... *chef’s kiss*. muah. my show is back, in all its glory.

MY SHOW IS BACK, Y’ALL!

1.5. i mean... this show is so artful and weird and not afraid to go absolutely bonkers in exploring its characters’ psyche, but can just about barely stage a passable comic book fight when every tom dick and harry and their new streaming services can deliver ones that are far more exciting. i love this show with every atom of my body.

(there’s something to be said about rooting for the underdog as well. a pleasure in finding something to love about what other people dismiss. but! enough navel gazing! i have fictional characters’ navels to look at! metaphorically! and maybe literally!)

2. i expected jason’s death to come about pretty early in the season as soon as i heard rumours that red hood was showing up, but for it to happen in the first five minutes of the first episode... that’s a record. 

(well. “happen.” still don’t know what exactly went down there.)

2.25. GOD. jason is such a tortured and tragic character in this show, used and passed around by people with alleged good intentions, never really fitting in anywhere. he’s veritably bleeding vulnerability and the need to belong, the need to be known, and yet the tragedy is that his death proves that nobody in his life knew anything about him at all; that they only saw the flimsy walls he put up to protect his soft core, and thought that that was all there was. that they say they loved him, but blame him for his own death. 

dick is flabbergasted that jason can read, though we know from last season, from what jason revealed to rose, that he has a love for plays and music. barbara is quick to dismiss his actions as ‘impulsive’. bruce has no idea that his supposed son was building his own little chemistry lab right under his nose, and beyond that, no idea that jason needed structure, stability and validation beyond being left alone in a huge house with a treasure trove of dangerous weapons. kory thought his decision to fight the joker was from not learning and growing when the guy tried to kill himself last season and nobody apart from dick even tried to talk to him about it! did you consider that he might still be suicidal? especially after the titans admitted to having “given up” on him because he was just “too hard”?

2.5. the one thing that’s been consistent across all three seasons (so far) of the show is the unreliable narrator trope. there’s a reason why the characters’ dismissals of jason’s actions as impulsive is so repetitive; why jason’s death is a mystery dick feels compelled to solve. it’s a flailing attempt to know his brother much too late--but with red hood, maybe he gets a second chance, just like he got one with the titans. this is what jason’s arc has been building up to. this is ‘death in the family’ but more fucked up in some ways. it didn’t linger on the death because the death wasn’t the point. the joker isn’t the point. everything that came before it is.

this way it will also make perfect sense that the red hood’s main enemy becomes the titans rather than batman.

2.75. goodness knows what’s going on with jason’s little chemistry project. at first i thought he was immunising himself to joker gas or something, but maybe it’s what passes for lazarus pit juice in this universe? 

anyway, it’s pretty impressive that jason learnt all of that from a college chemistry textbook. STOP BRINGING UP THAT HE READ SOMETHING, DICK--

2.8. i’m glad that dick doesn’t immediately sink into self-loathing and guilt and tries to investigate jason’s death while also acknowledging how he failed him. it’s like he actually learned something from the last two years! 

anyway. more about dick later. 

3. oh how i love titans!bruce. a lot of characters had a lot of Opinions on his reaction to jason’s death in this episode, but again, i ask you to consider that they’re unreliable narrators, and this universe’s bruce is a product of how it shaped him. bruce wayne has become a phantom to himself--an artifice borne out of vigorous discipline and crushing self-denial. 

bruce has been batman for a very long time, and without a robin for much longer. (dick must be... in his early thirties? so he was robin for about, say, 10-12 years according to the timeline of the show. that still makes bruce pretty old when he took on his first robin.) things have... calcified (possibly parts of his brain). the personal cost and the collateral from the mission he’s taken up for most of his life is too much to countenance; it has to be a war, and war requires sacrifice. 

on some level bruce knows that’s a lie. he’s so goddamned alone. what’s he going to do? sit down and cry? who’s going to listen to him now? oh, is he going to just stop being batman? who’s going to stop gotham from consuming herself then? he’ll just have to forge ahead, do better next time, maybe he’ll be firmer with them, or kinder with them, or notice more things, or train them harder, or spend more time--

3.25. don’t get me wrong: titans!bruce is an asshole and a half. his roster of potential robins was honestly bone-chilling. the fact that there’s a twisted root of compassion makes it more disturbing. 

3.5. alfred’s dead! it must’ve been pretty recent, because i could’ve sworn that dick tried to call alfred in the very first episode of season 1, or at least considered calling him... 

what a devastating double-blow for bruce then, losing his father-figure and his, uh.... son-figure so close together.

4. i don’t know about barbara yet. i mean, i like her, but she had so much clunky expository dialogue to deliver this episode, and for an episode that was named after her, she only showed up halfway through it. but i like the weight of history behind her interactions with both bruce and dick and her compassion to bruce before he cruelly crossed a line. i also like the implication that she and dick have been in touch recently, and that she didn’t immediately try to guilt-trip dick about some perceived abandonment. it’d be too repetitive.

4.5. there’s also a sense that she ran interference for dick a lot whenever there was something Too Big and Emotional for him to confront directly, and i like and appreciate that character beat.

5. dick, my man! it really does feel like a substantial length of time has passed between the end of s2 and the beginning of s3... kory’s got a new costume, they’ve become celebrities in SF, working missions together, and dick’s actually smiling! genuinely enjoying his work and having fun with it for possibly the first time in the entire series! it’s really a far cry from the fractured, dysfunctional mess that they were at the end of the last season.

i just hope this doesn’t mean that they’ve magically reached a resolution off-screen to all of their fucked-upness from last season, and that the repercussions--for gar in particular--are actually addressed on screen. 

5.25. i mentioned this briefly above, but it really is so refreshing that dick doesn’t wallow in guilt and self-loathing after jason’s death; he acknowledges his and the titans’ failure, is able to admit to barbara honestly that he’s not doing great, and is actively trying to reach out to bruce to make sure he’s ok, is trying to investigate what made jason seek out the joker on his own, and is probably the only person not immediately buying that it was jason’s recklessness that got him killed. i love that dick is finally beginning to trust his instincts or just employ them at all after years of guilt and paranoia and self-loathing. we love some positive character growth!

5.5. another thing i love? the bruce-dick interactions on this show. every scene they’re in together is so fraught with tension, both of them holding themselves back, their emotions on a whipcord-tight leash. dick wants to reach out to bruce, is even somewhat familiar with this brand of denial in the wake of grief, but wants barbara to make the first move because he genuinely does not know how to get bruce to open up. his instincts are right, and wonderful, and genuine, but his expression has been smothered by years of trauma, emotional and physical self-discipline, and what i suspect is poorly treated mental illness. 

it takes a lot for him to finally explode at bruce at the end of the episode--in a way he hasn’t done even when his only opinion of bruce was ‘fuck him’--and it’s all the more startling for how subdued he’s been through the episode, how much he’s been holding back his emotions for bruce’s sake. love it.

5.75. it sort of hurts my heart to see the flying graysons poster in jason’s room. there are a few implications:

a) jason settled into dick’s old room despite living in a giant mansion with dozens of other rooms he could’ve used

b) he didn’t take down dick’s poster--not when he moved in and was idolising him, not when he moved out of the titans and was sort of hating him. i wonder if the reminder of what dick was before robin--that he was forged out of unspeakable tragedy--gave jason the connection to dick that he so desperately wanted in real life

c) dick moved right back into the room and slept on the bed that was now jason’s. grief can be so quiet and piecemeal sometimes.

6. i spy the beginnings of actual arcs for both gar and kory! i just hope that with the move to gotham their stories don’t fall to the wayside...

6.5. i’ve known tim drake for less than ten minutes but if anything were to happen to him i’d kill everybody 

7. this review has gone on for too long and i am tiRED. however, before i leave: i miss some of the dedication-to-aesthetic that titans season 1 used to have. remember how the first few episodes didn’t really feel like a superhero show but something out of gothic horror? there was something gorgeous and raw about that, about open landscapes and the road and creepy buildings looming up at the end of it. moving to titans tower in s2 really ruined a lot of that for me, given its ripped-from-architectural-digest aesthetic, all smooth and clean and artificial. 

i hope that we really explore gotham’s hellscape in interesting and innovative ways instead of camping out in the batcave all the time and indulging in the show’s unending love for long corridors, neon backlights and silhouettes.

8.....

9.  wait, fuck, HOW CAN I FORGET ABOUT HOT PSYCHIATRIST GUY (TM)??? NONE of you prepared me for his return! NONE OF YOU! i gasped! i got up and did a happy dance! 

listen, titans writers, if you’ve had a peek at my titans s3 wishlist, please go ahead and give the other items on the list a go too, thankyouverymuch.

[trespasserswillbeeaten]

One Second of Every Episode of the West Wing

Whenever I think of any of the iconic moments from The West Wing, it’s always tangibly connected to Thomas Del Ruth’s gorgeous, shadowy cinematography. As with any compilation I’ve made, it started with befuddlement from a YouTube search that ‘One Second from Every Episode of the West Wing’ didn’t yield results. During the making of this video, it became clear why: 155 episodes of a single television series is A LOT of content to trawl!

I opted to take a different tack than most 'One Second of Every of BLANK show' videos, which is dictated by out of context noises and dialogue, instead choosing to go in the direction of Andy Kelly's Twin Peaks montage from 2018 where he set scenes from the series to an atmospheric Angelo Badalamenti score. Simple yet elegant. And perfectly appropriate for this beautiful show, too.

If you don’t see your favorite shot in there, please know I made every effort to include all the iconic dramatic and comedic scenes. When I assembled this video, it originated with a shot list with four or five alternates from any given episode. There were some painful cuts to reach the final shot compilation that I made. A big thank you is due for the women who run ‘thefinestmuffinsandbagels’ Tumblr site, whose page I constantly used as a reference throughout this project.

Your site was invaluable in sourcing which clip belonged to which episode and provided inspiration when I was stumped otherwise. Without you, I would have been a lonely, stir crazy man scouring my Complete Series Box Set looking for clips. Thank to Hrishi Hirway for keeping the spirit of the West Wing alive!

[deadwalkerpedia]

The Walking Dead, “Days Gone Bye” | Analysis

The final season of The Walking Dead comes in August, so I decided to rewatch the show from the beginning as the end is nigh. TWD has been a part of me since I started to watch TV series, and I’ve watched Days Gone Bye more than seven times, so this is certainly one of the pieces of audiovisual media that I’ve consumed the most. To add a new interesting layer in my rewatches, I’ve decided to see the episodes with a critical and analytical lens, seeing it more than just as a pastime, and write my thoughts here. This will be a great ride for me, and I can’t wait to see again some iconic moments from TWD throughout the seasons and write about them.

Part 1: The World Before

Before getting into the first act of the episode, let me talk about the teaser – the first five minutes of the episode – quickly. As this is our introduction to the world of TWD, Days Gone Bye couldn’t simply start with Rick and Shane having a chat. So it was necessary that the teaser served as a way to establish both the tone and setting of this story, and it certainly does. The teaser tells us that what we are watching is a gritty survival horror story that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, and the teaser establishes this perfectly without no more than two lines of dialogue. It is established visually: Rick stops his car on a deserted road with no traces of civilization anywhere, then goes to an abandoned gas station where other cars are  – and those cars have dead bodies inside. From there, we know right from the start that this isn’t the world we live in. When Rick sees the young girl that is in fact a walker, it is established that this is a world where the main threat are zombies. At least for some part, as in future episodes the series will show us something far more scarier than walking cannibal dead bodies is the real danger. 

Now storytelling-wise, TWD already proved its value in the first five minutes. Frank Darabont directed the episode and wrote the script, and his work in the episode both as director and writter is fantastic and set the bar high if the series wanted to have a consistency of greatness in its episodes. After the perfect five minutes purely composed of visual storytelling, the first scene of the first act is dialogue-heavy and character-driven. One would think that it is to establish to us that Rick and Shane are friends, that Rick has a wife and son and that they are cop buddies, and one would be right, but it is also more than simply introduction and exposition, and that’s the beauty of the audiovisual medium as a whole.

Reading books about screenplay writing, I’ve come to know more about subtext and its applications in both movies and series. Despite this first scene doing great work in introducing us to the two main characters of the season – their mindset, persona and some backstory – it also adds so much worldbuilding-wise. Shane goes on his rant about women not switching off the lights in a house before leaving it, and Rick talks about a discussion he and Lori had earlier. See, the teaser showed us a decaying world with walking bodies. Now, the first minutes of act one show us a world where people worry about such trivialities: switching off the lights. In the tagline for the first volume of the comic book, it reads “The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility“. The scene I mentioned is basically the live-action adaptation of it. We see the world of commerce and frivolous necessity in this introduction so we can understand better and fear the world of survival and responsibility that will come later in the episode. TWD started geniously: it went from visually-driven to dialogue-driven, and after that to visually-driven storytelling, all without losing its verisimilitude and charm.

Now, something about the visuals I loved: the grainy aspect. Because this episode was shot on film – in fact, up until season ten all episodes were shot on film – the film grain is obviously visible. But instead of being just an aesthetic choice – shooting in film or digital – I think it’s also meant to have implications tone-wise. The comic books this series adapt is in black-and-white (something unusual in American comics), but it’s because the writer Robert Kirkman wanted the comic to feel like a classic George Romero zombie flick, and it worked completely. Commercially, a black-and-white TV series wouldn’t be much embraced by a large and mainstream public, but I think that Darabont solved that problem and succeeded in maintaining an aesthetic similar to the feel the comic book wanted to transmit. The excessive film grain – something that made me feel like watching a Panos Cosmatos’ movie but without the acid trips – works because it resembles the Romero zombie flicks in color, like Dawn of the Dead. It is a classical and archetypal zombie story – even if it subverts some conventions various times throughout the series – and the visuals tell us that.

Not only that, but the episode has many moments that resembled The Mist in some ways: the camera being close to its characters to make the story feel grounded and experienced by real people, the back shots to make the audience feel like they are following the characters in their journeys, the handhold camera moments that gives a documentary feel, adding a realistic perspective. All that grants a grounded vibe to the episode, which works because this is a story about how people react and live in a lawless world which can kill them at any possible moment without any warnings. It’s where chaos and anarchy reigns and where death always lurks. A story like that works better when it’s experienced through the eyes of the characters. It’s also best represented in the moment where Rick leaves the hospital and sees the sun for the first time. In the shot, the Sun is blinding us with its shining light, but then there’s a cut, and in the next shot we see only Rick covering his eyes while the blinding sun rays don’t make it to the camera. It’s the switch of subjective to objective perspective, as in the first we see the world with Rick eyes – it’s a man getting out of the dark for the first time in months – and in the second we see the same moment but from outside lens, and it showed us that this a day like any other where the sun doesn’t blind you. Besides, this episode has a low budget sensitivity – not meaning that the quality is subpar, but that it has an authenticity that is extremely convincing. It is that low budget quality that makes the story feel real in a certain way. That is, of course, until the tank in the middle of a city is shown, but even with the realism, it is still tangible, and the story continues to feel realistic in its depiction of a zombie apocalypse in the “real world”.

Not only that, but the episode has many moments that resembled The Mist in some ways: the camera being close to its characters to make the story feel grounded and experienced by real people, the back shots to make the audience feel like they are following the characters in their journeys, the handhold camera moments that gives a documentary feel, adding a realistic perspective. All that grants a grounded vibe to the episode, which works because this is a story about how people react and live in a lawless world which can kill them at any possible moment without any warnings. It’s where chaos and anarchy reigns and where death always lurks. A story like that works better when it’s experienced through the eyes of the characters. It’s also best represented in the moment where Rick leaves the hospital and sees the sun for the first time. In the shot, the Sun is blinding us with its shining light, but then there’s a cut, and in the next shot we see only Rick covering his eyes while the blinding sun rays don’t make it to the camera. It’s the switch of subjective to objective perspective, as in the first we see the world with Rick eyes – it’s a man getting out of the dark for the first time in months – and in the second we see the same moment but from outside lens, and it showed us that this a day like any other where the sun doesn’t blind you. Besides, this episode has a low budget sensitivity – not meaning that the quality is subpar, but that it has an authenticity that is extremely convincing. It is that low budget quality that makes the story feel real in a certain way. That is, of course, until the tank in the middle of a city is shown, but even with the realism, it is still tangible, and the story continues to feel realistic in its depiction of a zombie apocalypse in the “real world”.

The whole sequence of the car chase and the shooting between the cops and the criminals is beautifully conducted by Darabont, who knows his craft remarkably and executes it in a manner like no one else does. The memorable shots, shot by Darabont, immortalize the whole sequence and reach its climax – the gunshot Rick suffers – perfectly in a crescendo that works better here than in the comics, this being an easy task, but still, Darabont managed to do it in an impressive way, totally deserving a bravado status.

Also, something that I also appreciated, and I think it’s overlooked: when the police cruiser where Rick and Shane are passes through a road, we see a single crow eating a roadkill. What do this mean exactly? Animals can’t turn to zombies so one might think this is only a moment with no meaning behind it. But now I interprete it as a symbol. It is meant to represent that society has be decaying long before the dead came to eat the living. It remembers me the first Mad Max, where the world is not in the same level as it appears in Mad Max 2: Road Warrior – a full-on post-apocalyptic society – but it is in its final stages, leaning to barbarism and uncontrollable chaos. The producers of TWD announced an anthology spin-off series named Tales of the Walking Dead, and it certainly would be interesting to see more of the transition between our world and the post-apocalyptic zombie-ridden world, showing the process in-between of transformation and decay.

Part 2: Brave New World

The second act starts as Rick steps out of the hospital and faces the current reality of his world, and it’s an ugly one. Rick sees dead bodies everywhere and discarded military gear. Something dreadful happened when he was in a coma. The world undergone a change so great in his sleep that it’s impressive that Rick didn’t drown in total madness when he first saw what’s left of society. Most of act two is about Rick having to come to terms with his new life: one entirely ruled by survival. Now, another interesting element that is also a symbol in my interpretation: the bicycle girl. The bicycle girl (which is the zombie without its lower body) is the first walker Rick encounters. He is scared by her and runs away from her with the bicycle that was there next to him. The bicycle girl is nothing more than the remains of the past life of Rick and the world before. It is dead and alive at the same time – like the walkers – but in a pitiful state. It can’t be on its feet and is always trying to grasp and touch Rick, but, ultimately, it can’t. Rick fears it, and because of that he runs.

Most of the second act is focused on the interactions of Rick and Morgan Jones. Morgan, after encountering Rick and saving him from a nearby walker, takes him inside his house, but fearing that the gunshot wound was in fact a walker bite, Morgan rightly tied Rick to a bed and waited for him to wake up to ask some questions. Now, it’s incredible how this episode never misses a beat and is not made of only three truly great scenes, but all of the scenes are great. The whole dinamic of Morgan explaining to Rick what happened and what it takes to live in this new world felt so natural that no critic could say it was bad exposition. It was exposition done right, revealing more about Morgan’s character, showing him as a good man and a father to his son Duane. It’s easy to understand why Rick and Morgan liked each other one day after meeting for the first time. The chemistry is real, and it’s unbelievable how seasons later, when they see each other again, the chemistry is still there. 

Andrew Lincoln and Lennie James are spectacular actors. Their acting in this episode is astonishingly extraordinary. I’m pissed that they didn’t won any awards for it, they certainly deserve it. Andrew’s acting was great all way through, but when he first arrives at his house and cries for Lori and Carl you could feel the man’s pain and suffering. One moment that is perfect and maybe one of the bests of all TV history is when Rick is having an existential crisis. “Is this real? Am I here?”, asks Rick while facing the ground. It’s such a powerful reaction to the absurdity he is experiencing and it feels so damn real because Andrew Lincoln can cry like a pro and give the gaze of a man that is lost. Rick is lost. And this scene can provide such a powerful punch to the audience that you can’t help but be already invested in Rick’s journey. He just wants his family, so he can put some sense in a mad world. Without them, Rick is lost.

The second act makes us empathize more with Rick and Morgan. They both have admirable goals. They just want to live and provide for their family. Their bond is developed exceptionally in their final moments together – before Rick travels to Atlanta – that you are left caring for them and wanting a reunion. The final scenes of act two were made to make you feel emotional without doubt, and I’m sure that it worked on some people and made them fall in love with the series instantly. It’s when Rick kills bicycle girl and Morgan fails to kill his dead wife, now a walker. The soundtrack by Bear McCreary is phenomenal and adds so much dramatic and emotional weight to the scenes, and it fits perfectly with the tone of pretty much the core of the series. It’s a haunting song, a sorrowful one full of melancholy, but it also has a spark of hope in it. It makes a statement: everything is sadly collapsing around us, but there’s still hope of rebuilding. The Mercy of the Living is TWD summarized in an orchestral piece, and I feel like crying every time I listen to it, just like the piece Alive Inside of Telltale’s game, that also does a masterful job in creating a sad but hopeful atmosphere in its melody. The bicycle girl – which is the past Rick and the world before – must be killed by Rick if he wants to continue his voyage, to which destination is his family. Rick is teary and heartbroken in killing bicycle girl because now he has to fully embrace a life ruled by survival. “I’m sorry this happened to you.” is Rick final message and requiem to the world and consequently to his past self – a quiet Rick that didn’t want to discuss with Lori in front of Carl –, both who had problems that they couldn’t resolve before the tragedy that hit them.

Part 3: The Beginning

The third and last act are in fact the beginning. We saw a peak of a world before the zombie apocalypse and Rick waking up in this desolated society in the first two acts, but the third one is to introduce and set up what the series is about and what will do to its end: show the characters in a battle for survival, and ultimately in a quest for the return of humanity and civilization. Both are depicted in the scenes where Rick is trying to save himself from a horde of walkers that attack him and his horse, and the other with Shane’s group listening and trying to talk in the radio with a mysterious survivor (Rick himself) who warns about his coming into the city, showing their efforts to help fellow survivors who might enter Atlanta without knowing its dangers, thus demonstrating that they are still human after all.

The episode show us a little about the relationship of Shane and Lori, as well as a glimpse to their group. It wasn’t exactly necessary, but it doesn’t hurt in any way the season’s progress and development. The third act is best represented by Rick entering Atlanta and having to escape a humongous horde of walkers. Rick manages to survive by hiding in the tank that was parked in a street. The scene also show us that zombies had some intelligence  – they crawl and try to open things – and some of them look cartoonishly green or grey, instead of the realistic putrid rotting flesh look the marvelous make-up by Greg Nicotero can provide. And both of these things are common to the iconography Romero made for the zombies. It’s very clear that Darabont takes inspirations from his movies and respect their legacy by expanding it to a new range of people and an audience that is maybe not that familiar with Romero – I wasn’t when I first watched TWD and when I saw Romero’s movies I was impressed by how it influenced the series. 

Days Gone Bye is a masterclass of how a pilot should be made. This quintessential pilot introduces a storyline that will be finished within the episode. while also setting up what’s coming next in the season, laying ground for all the future episodes in the best way possible. It introduces a protagonist that proves that he can sustain a show on his own – he is a caring father, loving husband, a good man and a kind of Western hero, we see him riding in his horse towards the imminent danger full of guns and determination searching only for his family. The Walking Dead may not be recognized as a TV series that revolutionized the medium, but it revolutionized its genre, and overall it is a great series that deserves recognition, and so does Days Gone Bye. It is simply the perfect pilot.

[tbhwhocaresanymore]

Nancy Drew 2x6

As promised I am done with my most stressful finals and am now posting my review albeit two weeks late, and let me say to start off that this episode would have made a fantastic season premiere.

Ghost kiddies: 1 Lamia: 0

Speaking of things I need to get off my chest wow I can’t believe the arraignment for the morgue break in finally happened. I assumed it had happened and she got off, or that everyone just forgot about it but more the fool am I. Because it is back and kicking off our second season.

And for the record as someone who despises insects and all forms of creepy crawlies with a passion this episode was a teensy bit horrific and not in the fun way.

Like I said at the top though, this episode would’ve made an amazing season premiere. It set up a whole bunch of fun new season plot lines in addition to being a killer episode in its own right. For example I’m assuming with Nancy’s 443 hours of community service to go we’ll be seeing more of Connor the Surly Coroner, and what if his flower shop wife works at the place the gang scammed a few weeks ago to get AJ Crane’s address? I mean be real how many flower shops can one small town have.

In other news I continue to yearn for Chief McGinnis to return. Like WHY in the name of all that is holy would you throw away a perfectly good, lovable book character, not to mention Native American rep, in favor of this new asshole that nobody likes? (This is only 10% me being bitter about my Tamura being AJ’s son theory not panning out.) The only (ONLY) upside to Tamura being here is that Nancy and McGinnis were becoming friends, and now we have a very rude cop for Nancy to be sassy to. “Not a real holiday.” “Not a real necktie.”

Speaking of lovable book characters, it causes me pain how Hannah and Nancy’s relationship was like shot in the head and dumped in a ditch. Like must she eternally be at odds with one of her book parental figures? For those of you who don’t know, in the books Hannah Gruen is the Drew’s housekeeper/cook, and a surrogate mother to Nancy. Like I’m thrilled that Nancy and her dad are back on good terms and working their way towards being the iconic father/daughter duo we all know and love, and I understand that Hannah has every right to be furious with Nancy, but the pain is still there.

Moving onto more lighthearted aspects of the episode, I love the balance this show has found between comedy and horror. Riverdale could never. The scene with the five of them in Nancy’s kitchen and the autopsy was comedic gold. Ace and Bess and George, fairly quickly getting on board with it, Nick convinced they all want to send him back to prison in possession of the group’s one brain cell. But then he immediately loses the brain cell because when somebody shows up AT THE FRONT DOOR, NONE OF THEM THINK to hide the body in plain view in the kitchen??? Guys! Oh and that absolutely iconic bit of dialogue: “No, we are not performing an autopsy in your kitchen!” “No you’re absolutely right Nick, we should do it in the living room there’s more space.” *wheeeeze*

So that’s the comedy now for the horror. So many little delightfully creepy moments sprinkled throughout the episode. George drifting off and singing in French, when the body in the back of the van opens its eye, when the dad stops the car and gets out and it SITS UP, when Charlie and Ted see something outside and all you can see is its silhouette, when the lamia is like sucking their souls out looking like a skeletal cretin straight from the depths of hell. Delightful.

Getting back to season long arcs, my writing sixth sense is tingling and it’s telling me the Women in White are going to be important. How? I don’t know. But there is sooo much potential. What if they’re all comatose a la Sleeping Beauty waiting for someone to call them back once some sort of evil reawakens? What if they’re immortal and walking the earth solving problems in secret? What if they were corrupted and had to be killed by their loved ones? The possibilities are endless and I’m here for it.

Time for my Drewson shipper talk so if you’re not into that skip this paragraph. Ooooh Lordy the scene with Nick and Nancy in the seamstress house made my heart do a happy little tap dance. Really any time they share the screen at the same time, but they had lines directed at each other and it was beautiful. And that gorgeous line of dialogue, “Hey, you can still fix this. No one’s gotten hurt yet.” aeexoijxoij

Now I will close out with some thoughts I had while watching.

Nancy can be so smart but also so dumb, like she hears a mysterious thumping sound and Hangs Up The Phone??? Girl it could be a human killer!

And is it just me or does it seem like if twelve children in a small town were all murdered on the same day and the killer was never caught that would be the sort of thing that lives on in town legend

Nick has the absolute WORST British accent oh my GOD. Understandable, because the actor is Scottish, so at that moment he was a guy with a Scottish accent pretending to have an American accent faking a British accent but still.

Cannot believe on their way to the Claw to stop a soul sucking spirit they had to stop at the grocery store for caramel apples and candy canes like them all running around must have been a hell of a sight for whatever sleep deprived Safeway cashier was on duty

Finally, what in god’s name is George going to tell Jesse? Not the truth I imagine, but I have no idea what possible lie she could sell. Personally I think I’d just tell her I drugged the water as a joke and gaslight her until she forgot about it.

Normally this would be the part where I theorize about what could happen in the next episode but at this point you already know what happens in the next episode so I’ll sign off with my typical schtick instead. Ahem

Writers give me Lucy Sable

[365days365movies]

March 2, 2021: The General (Review)

Just like The Gold Rush, this was a charming movie!

Keaton, unsurprisingly, turned out a fantastic film, especially for the time period. Seriously, it’s insane how well this film holds up today! Shame that it almost ended Keaton’s career altogether. Because this film was NOT successful in 1926, mostly because dude made a film about the Civil War, with the Confederates as the heroes, only about 60 years after the conflict! Yeah, people weren’t hyper-jazzed about that.

UA was now super-against funding films where Keaton had complete and total control. But, he was still Buster Keaton, so they kept him on, but put some restrictions on him. Ironic, given that UA was founded to prevent EXACTLY that. Keaton was not about it, even though the two films that followed were at least somewhat successful. One of them, Steamboat Bill, Jr., produced ANOTHER of the most iconic shots of film history.

Yeah...wow. But this was the last film that Keaton made with UA, and he moved to another studio after this: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM. And THAT was a HUGE mistake, because his creativity was heavily restricted by the mega-studio, and they would deny many of his requests. If it weren’t for them, Keaton would’ve broken into talkies FAR earlier than he did, and may have revitalized the entire industry. They also made him use a stunt double, forced dialogue on his scripts when he’d purposely omitted it, etc. He wasn’t happy.

And not just in his career, either. See, it’s around this time that his marriage to Natalie Talmadge completely falls apart. They give it another shot in the early ‘30s, but officially separate and divorce in 1932, with Natalie getting basically all of this money, and taking his kids away from him. This, combined with his struggles with MGM, drove Keaton to alcoholism, and he was institutionalized. There, he met his second wife, nurse Mae Scriven. That lasted 2 years, after an unhappy Keaton cheated on her in 1935. And again, the divorce left Keaton essentially bankrupt.

MGM was tired of him, too, and in 1933, they fired him. Not a great year for Keaton. He signed on with a few other studios, became a writer for the Marx Bros (more on them tomorrow), and was eventually hired by Columbia Pictures in 1939. And that was...OK, but Keaton wasn’t happy still. And then, on the horizon...look! It’s another marriage! This time, it was to Eleanor Norris, whom he married in 1940. Their marriage would last for 26 years.

And Keaton was still around. This happy marriage apparently stabilized him a little bit, and he’s able to re-release his old films with new music. He also gained new fame on a new medium: television. He appears on talk shows and game shows from the 1940s into the 1960s, while also appearing in films throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s! He eventually made a return, and even had a cameo in...It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World WAIT WHAT

HOLY SHIT IT IS HIM!!! How did I never know this? One of my favorite comedies of all time, with a metric fuckton of cameos in it, and how did I not know that Buster fuckin’ Keaton was one of them? Hot damn! His last major film appearance was in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum three years later, and at 70 years old, he still did his own stunts and pratfalls. A class act until the end. Literally.

Because, much to his own surprise, he died of terminal lung cancer on February 1, 1966. And I say to his own surprise because...well, nobody ever told him he was diagnosed with cancer. Yeah, he thought he had bronchitis, and was diagnosed a month before his death! He never found out that he had cancer! Isn’t that fucked? Today, he’s buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Hollywood, CA, with a hell of a lot of other stars. Crazy, huh?

Oh, and do yourself a favor: even if you don’t watch his films, just browse this website (or even the GIF feature in post-writing) for GIFs of Buster Keaton. He’s a legend, and you can see why through these GIFs alone. But enough about his career as a whole: what about this film by itself? Well, read this for a Recap, and read on for my Review!

Review

Cast and Acting: 9/10

Well, first things first, Buster Keaton was a star for a reason. He’s unsurprisingly fantastic in this film, and his comedic stylings are far different from Chaplin’s. His deadpan expression is oddly iconic, and works well in the environs of the film. And that’s not saying anything about the action...but I’ll save that for later. How was everybody else? Marion Mack was pretty good, better than Georgia Hale was in The Gold Rush, anyway. Glen Cavender...existed? Yeah, outside of those two, nobody gets much attention. Granted, it’s Buster Keaton, so the film could get away with that.

Plot and Writing: 8/10

Obviously, here, we need to focus more on the plot than the writing, but it’s still good! I didn’t touch upon the real historical event this is loosely based on (and I do mean loosely), but it’s an interesting story. Throwing in the love story alongside wasn’t a bad idea, either. Do I think it’s perfect? I mean, no, for a few reasons. Mostly the fact that...this doesn’t really feel like a comedy. Like, I know that it is, and there are enough moments that feel comedic...but just barely. This works far better as an action film than it does a comedy, is what I’m saying. Is it fair to judge it by comedic metrics, then? Maybe not, but this film has always been billed as a comedy, and...I don’t think that fits. Sorry...all five writers of the screenplay. Damn, really? Yeah, alongside Buster Keaton, we’ve also got Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman, Charles Henry Smith, and Paul Gerard Smith on this. Huh. OK, then.

Direction and Cinematography: 10/10

I mean...come on. This is fantastic. Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton direct, while Bert Haines and Devereaux Jennings are the cinematographers, and all of them do a fantastic job. I don’t even have much to say here, because the directing and shot composition of this film are wonderful. Seriously, no compaints.

Production and Art Design: 10/10

THEY. COLLAPSED. A BRIDGE. WITH A TRAIN ON IT. FOR REALSIES.

Music and Editing: 9/10

Finally, I did enjoy the music for this one! Editing here (by Buster Keaton and Sherman Kell) is great, while the music (by...one of  people, depending on the edition you’re watching), is great! I think my version was by William P. Perry, but I’m genuinely not sure. I version I watched had some great music, though! Not as memorable for me as The Gold Rush, but still fantastic on its own.

92% capacity on the Hype Train! All aboard!

A hallmark of film history, as previously detailed! But now that that’s done, it’s time to break the silence. See, in 1927, the “sound film” or “talkie” finally came onto the scene, thanks to new cameras and film-making technology. Sound could now be tied with film footage, leading us into a new era for film, and for the comedy genre of film. Now, you could HEAR the jokes, rather than see them. And, as if to make up for lost time, the next burgeoning film stars would be fast-talking, wisecracking jokesters, and the next heirs of the vaudeville era. And one group would take this role above all others. And we’ll look at them next.

April 3, 2021: Duck Soup (1933), dir. Leo McCarey

[milkovichs]

if you’re used to enormous fandoms (e.g. marvel, harry potter, etc.) it can be pretty hard to find fics for a fandom like sunny that has a much smaller tumblr presence, especially if you don’t really know where to start – so i decided to make a list of my favorite macdennis fics! most of these are on the long side because i tend to prefer longer fics, but i threw in a couple one-shots that i also really love. as always, make sure you read the author’s warnings!

— guardians of a rare thing by yennefers – explicit / 102.1k words

Sometimes Mac will kiss him to calm him down. It’s a no strings attached kind of thing, until it isn’t.

[my notes: this fic is so, so, so good. it takes place after season twelve, so we’ve got an out-and-proud mac, and a dennis who is slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that his feelings for his best friend aren’t entirely platonic, after all. i really love the deeper look into dennis’s bpd, as well as his internal struggle with his own sexuality.]

— each the other’s world entire by quixoti – explicit / 13.2k words

Mac and Dennis survive each other. Mac and Dennis will always survive each other.

[my notes: this is the first macdennis fic i’d ever read and to this day it’s an absolute banger. it follows the boys through their first meeting up until season nine, and it’s just so heart-wrenchingly beautiful.]

— not like the old days by quixoti – teen / 6.5k words

It’s a tragicomedy, this fate of theirs, and like a beggar who steals bread Mac gorges himself on it, fills himself up, allows himself for this one day, in this hotel room halfway across the country from where he belongs, to be happy with no strings attached.

[my notes: this fic is so gorgeous, honestly. after “the gang hits the road” in season five, mac and dennis decide to actually make good on their plans to see the grand canyon. i’m in love with how this author writes the boys, their voices are so spot on – and yet at the same time it’s as if we’re witnessing a side to them we’ve never seen before.]

— these things get louder by kafkian – explicit / 58.9k words

Mac hatches a secret plan to repair his and Dennis’s friendship. Dennis is pretty sure he knows what the root of the problem is, though, and he isn’t going to let up until Mac admits to it.

[my notes: mac devises a plan to try and make dennis happy, however, he’s missing out on one key detail and it’s driving dennis crazy. this fic takes place after season eleven and it’s seriously amazing. the author does such a good job in addressing mac’s religious guilt due to his sexuality, and dennis’s growing frustration over it.]

— your soul is changing by kafkian – explicit / 41.3k words

Dennis comes back.

[my notes: starting post season twelve, this fic delves into the gray area of what exactly went on in north dakota, and how dennis found his way back to the gang and, most importantly, mac – who just so happens to be dating rex, and seems as if he’s perfectly happy. dennis does not approve, obviously.]

— an impossible view by kafkian – explicit / 65.3k words

“You’re what?” Dennis asks blankly.

“I’m moving out,” Mac explains. The same three words he said a second ago, and they don’t make any more sense in that order than they did the first time. “I was just – I was thinking about what you said, about wanting – uh. Wanting me to move out. And it kind of made sense, so. I guess I’m doing it.”

“How did it make sense?” Dennis asks.

[my notes: i’m a huge fan of dennis being a dumbass who’s only just realizing he’s in love with his roommate, so this fic ticks all the boxes for me. it takes place after season thirteen and features mac moving in with rex, which frankly causes dennis to go feral with jealousy.]

— it’s you by theentiregdtime – mature / 4.7k words

Mac isn’t sure how he ruined sex, but he definitely ruined it. Somehow, he ruined it, and he’s so, so pissed at himself.

Maybe Dennis wasn’t ready to do this, Mac had considered. Maybe being with a guy for real was too much and too sudden. Maybe whatever he’d repressed over the last forty-something years was clawing its way back up to strangle him. Mac had firsthand experience with that. He knew what it looked like and he knew what it felt like.

Then Dennis let out a shaking breath and said, “It’s you.”

That was what Mac was afraid of.

[my notes: this fic was originally posted to tumblr, but thankfully the author decided to post it to ao3 as well! it takes place sometime post season thirteen, with mac and dennis finally pulling their heads out of their asses and acting on the love that’s always been there between them, burning underneath the surface. i absolutely adore how soft and tender it is.]

— mac and dennis conduct an experiment by pavonine – explicit / 35.9k words

Dennis convinces Mac that the only surefire way to prove his straightness is to sexually experiment with another man. Of course that man happens to be Dennis. Of course Mac buys into this as a reasonable plan of action.

Of course it backfires on them both.

[my notes: this fic takes place somewhere in the middle of season eight, with the boys putting their friendship in peril over an ill-advised plan of sexual experimentation. this author writes such incredible dialogue, it feels as if it could have been plucked directly from an episode, it’s just so in character.]

— mac and dennis get a new apartment by pavonine – explicit / 59.6k words

After Dee’s landlord threatens to kick them out for squatting, Mac and Dennis get a place of their own and it’s all downhill from there. Dennis tries to keep himself together. Life’s got other plans.

[my notes: it’s time for the iconic bed-sharing fic lads! it’s set a few months after season ten, with the boys moving out of dee’s place and into, you guessed it, a one-bedroom apartment. chaos ensues.]

— the day you move (i’m probably gonna explode) by sinnabar – explicit / 7.5k words

He could maybe get addicted to this, if he let himself. Or: five times Mac and Dennis toed the line between friends and lovers, and one time they crossed it for good.

[my notes: this fic follows the boys from dennis leaving for college all the way until after season ten. it’s your classic 5+1 fic, told through kisses and missed chances. eventually, the boys get it right.]

[ruoyeming]

My Fav Books, another chaotic list

Another quarantine review fest! I know I ranked my top anime but this is seriously too hard so I’m just going to list them to avoid hours of debate. Enjoy!

1) The Skulduggery Pleasant series

This whopper of a series (now at 15 books jesus christ I didn’t know there were that many I’ve only read about twelve) has a special place in my heart. I was FULLY obsessed with it throughout my tween - and teen - years, and for a reason. This shit just butters my bread like nothing else. The story follows a young girl Valkyrie Cain (who eventually becomes a young woman through the series) and her partner in crime, a fashionable living skeleton called Skulduggery Pleasant. They’re MAGICAL DETECTIVES!!!! Bitch!!! They use elemental magic - water, earth, fire, air - to fight off magic-wielding bad guys and look good doing it. The duo is hilarious and seriously shaped my sense of humour, the dry wit and comedic writing style stuck with me and influenced my own writing style to this day! As the series progresses we get a massive cast of characters but to me they’re all memorable, likable (mostly) and well-developed so that’s not an issue. I have no fukcing clue how Derek Landy comes up with his stories because every book in the series has an absolutely wild (yet unique) plot with its own twists and turns. It gets REALLY dark and depressing at times, gory, brutal etc etc especially in the later books I have no idea why this is labeled as a kids series.

10/10 for badassery, humour, and MAD codependency issues

2) The Feverwake series

This bitch is one hell of a YA series. It’s actually only a 2 book-series which is rare, but that’s not the only thing that sets it apart from other creations of its genre. It’s hard to explain the setup without waffling so I’ll just quote the blurb of the first book: “In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.”

As you can tell from this, the series is heavy on its politics but in a grounded, realistic and relevant way which is different to many other YA series. Marxist theory is brought up, and you can make some pretty strong links between the books and real events. The magic also has a semi-scientific explanation which is cool and adds to the realness. Anyways this series is action packed and full of twists, plus there’s a bisexual main character and queer romance at the core!! Wig!!! Very good for moral debate - how far is it acceptable to go to protect the oppressed before you become one of the oppressors? Dark and exciting series.

10/10 queer representation and political themes.

3) Spin the Dawn

It’s probably obvious that I’m biased towards YA books but they’re just so exciting and cool! Anyways this is about a girl living in a kind of alternate universe ancient China where magic exists. Maia Tamarin is a skilled seamstress who dreams of being the Imperial Tailor, a position that can only be held by a man. She poses as her brother to go to the royal palace and enter a competition full of skilled tailors, all vying for the role of imperial tailor. She also meets Edan; a mysterious, annoying, but SEXY mage who seems to know her secret identity? Oho? IMO this would be an elevated book if Edan had been a girl but that’s just me being gay. As the final challenge Maia is tasked with making 3 dresses from the sun, moon, and stars - a mission that takes her to the ends of the world in search of these magical materials (obvs Edan goes with her and they kiss kiss fall in love). It’s a fairly classic YA plot and characters but the combination of Project Runway, Mulan, and kind of Lord of the Rings(??) vibes makes for a very entertaining read. It’s also really fun to imagine what the clothes look like, plus the romance between Maia and Edan is very cute. Second book is yet to be published but sounds lit.

10/10 magic fashion and romance (despite its heterosexuality)

4) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Usually I steer clear of angsty gay stories because I’ve consumed too much of the depressing narrative which is all about suffering because of being gay, but fuuuuuuck this book is like the definition of bittersweet. Mostly bitter to be fair but it has a happy ending which was lovely after the emotional torment of the book. It’s about two teen boys - Aristotle is angry and repressed, Dante is eccentric but kind, and the two eventually form a strong friendship after meeting at the local pool. It’s kind of obvious that Ari is in denial about a few things, which leads to some real sad boi hours. There’s also a devastating moment around halfway (not sure) through with a car accident which makes the whole thing 10x heavier. Despite all this, the book has its sweet moments - parents play a big role, but not in the way they usually do in queer stories - and like I said the ending is the bandage for your broken heart. I’m not sure what it is about the writing style, maybe the way it just cuts between scenes randomly or perhaps the way the dialogue and actions are so realistic, but it’s so different to any other book I’ve read that it’s stayed in my mind for a while after reading it.

10/10 really good philosophy plus supportive parents

5) The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Okay if this was a ranked list, this bad boy would be on its way to the top spot. It’s got everything: historical setting, gays, pirates, alchemy, humour, adventure, angst, character development, and some healthy second-hand embarrassment. It’s not complicated or philosophical but reading this book all in one go is like taking five shots and diving into a pool. It’s exciting and witty, but deals with darker themes like child abuse too. One of the MCs also has a disability and doesn’t treat it as something to be cured, which is a lesson our protagonist has to learn. Speaking of protagonists, Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is a great main character. He’s obnoxious, oblivious, and hedonistic yet quick-witted and passionate, and he has a good heart. Sometimes you just want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him for being such an ignorant idiot, but throughout the book he grows and learns to open his mind more (as well as becoming more humble). He’s a great example of a flawed yet likable main character. He is also a bisexual icon.

Oof forgot to even talk about the story. Monty embarks on a tour of Europe, usually taken by lads his age to get all cultured before they settle down and inherit the family company or whatever. With him are his younger sister Felicity, a girl with a brilliant mind for science who isn’t taken seriously by anyone because of her gender, and the lovely Percy, Monty’s lifelong best friend (and crush). Monty ends up stealing a very valuable object that turns the Tour into a manhunt across Europe, and drags the trio into a big ol’ conspiracy involving something that may or may not be the philosopher’s stone????

Issues of race, gender, and disability in historical context are really well done, and it’s an absolute banger of a book.

10/10 very exciting adventure, plus GREAT GAY ROMANCE

6) Heaven Official’s Blessing

HOOOOOO BOY. This is probably my absolute fave on this list. It’s a webnovel (originally Chinese but the full translation is online). Set in ancient china in the cultivation world (difficult as shit to explain if ur not into all of that but I’ll try), basically there’s three realms - the heavenly realm, the human/mortal realm, and the ghostly realm. If a mortal reaches a certain point (good deeds, power etc), they ascend to become a god - or if they fall far enough, they become a ghost. 

I’ll just quote the author’s description again cause I don’t have the brain cells required:

 “Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however, due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again–only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension. Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a god thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious demon who rules the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this demon king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.”

It’s hard to describe the enormity of this story and all the emotions it encapsulates, you really have to read it for yourself. But bitch the undying, pure, Hozier-devotion-level LOVE is by far my favourite part of this story. If you’re looking for an epic, god-tier gay romance, then this is it baby!! This story has comedy, action, and downright harrowingly depressing moments, but throughout is this achingly beautiful love between fallen god and last believer.

I don’t wanna give too much away cause there are some big ol’ plot reveals, but oooh this shit made me cry. The protagonist is MY FAVOURITE EVER I didn’t think it was possible to like a protag so much!! He’s legit my fave character! At first he seems oblivious and carefree but he’s just doing his goddamn best after all he’s been through and he’s so fukcing kind and just wants to help everyone for fuckcs sake excuse me I need to go have a breakdown.

Okay I’m back, anyway there’s a great cast of characters, even the background characters are all incredibly memorable and all given their time to shine and develop. My faves include Quan Yizhen, a rowdy himbo who just wants to fight, and Shi Qing Xuan, a friendly genderfluid god who controls the wind. Read this shit I’m not joking it’ll change your life. 

10/10 for everything

[yearsblog]

How do you follow up a smash hit album that, in your native country alone, sold over a quarter of a million copies, spent two weeks at Number 1 (and didn’t budge from the Top 40 for over a year), spawned both a Number 1 (which itself sold just shy of a million copies) and a Number 2 single, and earned you four Brit Award nominations? With a bit of time and patience, it seems – or at least that’s how Years & Years have done it. The London-based, British-Australian trio’s second studio album ‘Palo Santo’, the follow up to 2015’s banger-filled, world-beating debut ‘Communion’, which put singer Olly Alexander and multi-instrumentalists Emre Türkmen and Mikey Goldsworthy on the proverbial map, has just been unleashed onto the world and currently boasts a handsome score of 82 on Metacritic, a 14-point increase on their previous offering. They may have, by their own admission, suffered from a little Difficult Second Album Syndrome, but the numbers don’t lie – their patience in crafting this record has absolutely paid off.

In reality, it’s not been an inordinately long wait for Years & Years fans, just three years, almost to the day – shorter than we were made to wait for recent sophomore offerings from Lorde, HAIM, Sam Smith and London Grammar. We meet for our interview on the third anniversary of the release of ‘Communion’,four days after ‘Palo Santo’ dropped, on the afternoon of the London instalment of the brief run of gigs across Europe and North America that are serving as the album’s launch parties. Despite being in the middle of a mad release week, packed with media appearances and album promotion, there’s little sign of fatigue from the band. The mayhem of the day hasn’t yet gotten to Emre, who has the clarity of mind to quickly fix an issue with our Polaroid camera, nor Olly, who is supposedly on vocal rest ahead of the performance, but voluntarily sings lines of ‘Sanctify’ as we snap our pictures. With his hair freshly re-dyed red, he’s in a chipper mood. “We can’t wait to be inside you,” he offers as his message to fans in New Zealand, before rethinking his contribution: “Bit weird.” Similarly cheeky humour comes from the stage late in that night's set: “I’m really wet,” he tells the adoring crowd, adding, “Sign of a good night, if you ask me.” There’s no shortage of banter on this promo circus.

If the magic took a little time to return during their writing and recording sessions in the British countryside last year, you wouldn’t notice from listening to ‘Palo Santo’, a record that manages to capture an unmistakeable Years & Years sound, while also pushing them into new territory. There’s particularly noticeable progress in the lyrics: whereas on ‘Communion’, the tracks often sounded as if Olly was writing them while looking directly into the eyes of their subjects, ignoring all surroundings and speaking purely from the heart, on ‘Palo Santo’, the lens is widened and we’re given more context, as well as a greater sense of space and time, to aid our understanding of each of these relationships and encounters. This advancement is particularly evident on ’Lucky Escape’ (in which a bitter scroll through an ex’s Instagram leads to a disparaging sense of relief at having ended things) and the title track (about the complicated experience of being the third party in an open relationship), each about different, yet fully-realised romantic partners.

This lyrical evolution is also apparent on first single ‘Sanctify’, the tale of a fling with a straight-identifying man, suggesting that a discrepancy in two partners’ confidence in their respective sexualities can lead to an interesting power-play in the bedroom. Despite the erotic thrill of the track, Olly’s writing manages to remain sympathetic to a man who “lately life’s been tearing […] apart." "I know how it can hurt / being cut in two and afraid,” he discloses, with surprising depth and warmth for a song so carnal. He’s a lyricist of great heart, trying to make sense of troubled men who are in turn trying to make sense of themselves, even if the romantic relationship he has with them doesn’t extend beyond the bedroom.

Olly’s background as an actor has gained new relevance with the release of ‘Palo Santo’, which sees him take a lead role in the accompanying short film and reteam with co-stars from his years on stage and screen. Before Years & Years properly got going, it was for supporting roles in films like ‘God Help The Girl’, ‘The Riot Club’ and (as Mikey teasingly reminds Olly during our interview) ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ that Olly became a recognisable face. He even featured opposite Greta Gerwig, the future Oscar-nominated director of ‘Lady Bird’, in the tiny 2011 indie ‘The Dish and The Spoon’, and could often be found on the London stage, turning in a string of critically-praised performances in plays between 2010 and 2013. The final play in which he appeared was John Logan’s ‘Peter & Alice’, which imagined the meeting between the two real life inspirations behind ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Peter Pan’, played by Dame Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw respectively. In cutaways to the fictional world created by J.M. Barrie, Olly played Peter Pan, fighting for his right to exist despite the wishes of his non-fictional counterpart, Peter Llewelyn Davies, that his life hadn’t been stolen from him by Barrie.

Jump forward five years and these three co-stars are reunited in another fantasy world in which Olly is a different kind of exceptional boy at the mercy of older powers, striving to assert his individuality. Dench is now the cryptic “mother of Palo Santo,” and Whishaw, who also appeared in one of the earliest Years & Years videos, for ‘Real’, makes a fleeting appearance as a hologram, giving an announcement to the city’s inhabitants. The film, shot in Thailand, is wild and ambitious in a way that, away from the output of the Beyoncés and Gagas of the A-list, pop often isn’t anymore. It also gives Olly the chance to sink his teeth into a role beyond just a dialogue-less, short-form music video. His character, also named Olly Alexander, is made to perform repeatedly for audiences, before growing tired and dismayed with being exploited and finding a way to explore his emotions away from the control of others.

Tonight, it’s on another London stage, a couple of miles north of the one they previously shared, that Olly and Dame Judi are reunited. Her voice is woven through the band’s live show at Camden’s Roundhouse, just as it is through the film. The iconic 83-year-old Oscar-winner’s narration has become an integral part of this project, but those hoping for an appearance from the Dame herself tonight are left disappointed, but probably not surprised, at her absence – she remains a formless, floating voice, just as in the world of Palo Santo.

But what does ‘Palo Santo’ actually mean? Despite its placement as the penultimate song on the album, the title track is the record’s centrepiece, a meditative and powerful cut more mature than anything found on their previous LP, on which Olly cries out, “You’re the darkness in me, Palo Santo.” In its most literal sense, the title comes from the name of the thick, wooden incense blocks that the party in the open relationship with whom Olly was involved was burning during their time together. The direct translation is, somewhat amusingly, ‘holy wood’, and their vapours are said to purify the air and cleanse it of evil and darkness.

But such is the expansive universe that the three-piece have built around this two-word term that it now carries several possible interpretations beyond the literal. Alternatively, ‘Palo Santo’ could be a moniker for this man himself, and the short-lived love triangle relationship, which perhaps represents a time of darkness for Olly.

Given the double use of ‘Palo Santo’ as the title of the record and of the futuristic, android world of the accompanying short film, a couple of further, more meta readings avail themselves to us. ‘Palo Santo’ the album could contain the darkness in Olly, with many songs, such as ‘Lucky Escape’, ‘All For You’ and ‘If You’re Over Me’, depicting him at challenging moments following a break-up, as he attempts to power through and come out on top of love rather than be defeated by it.

The world of Palo Santo seen in the film also has a strong connection to a possible darkness within Olly, as it explores the intersection of disconnect and emotionlessness with sensuality and performance. “The divine, amazing and incredible Olly Alexander”, as he is introduced by the Showman character, is one of very few non-androids in Palo Santo, and the androids, as we learn from the Star Wars-esque pre-scroll in Fred Rowson’s film, “desire nothing more than to experience real emotion,” which feels resonant with Olly’s outspoken discussion of his own mental health struggles. When taken alongside songs like ‘Hallelujah’and ‘Rendezvous’, which tell of rather non-committal sexual encounters, we see the same topics in ‘Palo Santo’ that Olly explored last year in his BBC documentary ‘Growing Up Gay’, of how struggles with mental health are sadly pervasive within the queer community.

In the live performance, it’s during ‘Palo Santo’ that Olly, donning a sparkly robe of almost ten metres in length, is raised up on a platform in front of a huge moon, a star ascending across a dark night. It’s a triumphant, almost unbelievable moment of spectacle meeting emotion. There may be “darkness” in this album, but it’s notably never in the form of sadness, and almost entirely hidden in joyous moments of pure pop. In their live show, Years & Years take the chance to show this overcoming of difficulty and adversity through a visual metaphor that literally grows before the audience’s eyes, and it’s an awesome sight to behold.

Despite being a Palo Santo Party, their setlist is equally balanced between their two albums. The newer cuts – such as the snappy ‘Karma’ and thumping ‘Hallelujah’, both just days old to fans – are received ecstatically, and the familiar hits bring some of the night’s most notable moments. Olly is briefly distracted by his front row devotees during ‘Take Shelter’ and stumbles to the end of a verse, before later bringing out an Italian fan who, thanks to the Make A Wish Foundation, gets to sit with him at the piano as he plays ‘Eyes Shut’, leading to one of the night’s biggest cheers. It’s when MNEK returns to the stage for the encore, following his spritely support set, for the debut of a new duet called ‘Valentino’, that the night hits peak gay, much to the fans’ delight. A Latin-flavoured bop telling of an infatuation with a boy “from the outskirts of East LA,” it owes a generous debt to Lady Gaga’s ‘Americano’ (a 2011 album track which opens “I met a girl in East LA…”), as well as the best of 90s girl-band R&B. Fingers crossed we get a studio version ASAP.

Earlier that day, we spoke to Years & Years about developing their songwriting for ‘Palo Santo’, avoiding sadness on a break-up record, when they expect they’ll finally be coming to New Zealand, and much more…

COUP DE MAIN: So it’s three years today since ‘Communion’ came out. EMRE TÜRKMEN: Is it? CDM: It is, happy birthday to it! How has release week been different this time around? OLLY ALEXANDER: It’s similar in the sense that I can’t remember much of it, because we’ve been so all over the place. I guess this time round, you’re… MIKEY GOLDSWORTHY: More of a veteran? OLLY: Yeah, I guess. First time around, I felt like I was hit by a truck. Not in a bad way, not in a negative way, just because it’s so overwhelming. But I think now I feel more grateful that fans have stuck around and that people like the new music. Because you can never take it for granted, can you? What about you guys? EMRE: The first time felt more intense, actually, I seem to remember. Because you know what to expect, in a certain way, it’s less mental. MIKEY: We’re doing similar things. We did [BBC Radio 2 show] Chris Evans last time. We did three countries in one day. CDM: Did you have a big launch show like this one? MIKEY: Not a big one, it was in a little club near Oxford Street. OLLY: We didn’t do anything in America though, did we? I think this time, we tried to do Palo Santo parties, like, East Coast and West Coast America, Berlin and here, so in that sense it’s been way more ambitious. Generally, I think we tried to be a bit more ambitious this time around.

CDM: There seems to be a real progression in your lyrics on this record. They’re more precise and specific than they were on ‘Communion’, and even involve some clever wordplay, particularly on ‘straight’ and ‘mask/masc’ on ‘Sanctify’. Did you approach writing lyrics differently this time around? OLLY: Yeah. Songwriting, especially lyrics – the more you do it, the more you uncover and the more you learn about your own process. The stuff that you write when you’re 20 is going to be different from the stuff you write when you’re 25, which is going to be different from the stuff you write when you’re 27. So I think, by its very nature, it develops and changes. But just as a human being, I feel more confident to write the shit that I actually have in my head. Not that it felt like I was stopping myself before, but I think it made a difference feeling more confident in myself this time around.

THE NEW SONG WE’RE MOST EXCITED TO PLAY LIVE IS…

CDM: I think my favourite song on the album is ‘Karma’, which grapples with whether what you’ve done in the past will lead to good or bad fortune in the future. (“No I can’t tell what’s right or wrong / Is there a consequence for all I’ve done?”) Was there something you were trying to answer about the role that guilt has in your life, and whether it’s worth holding onto? OLLY: I guess there’s some specifics that I relate to my own life. Some of those are to do with relationships, some of those are to do with my childhood, and generally about morality and, like, is karma real? And that song, the beginning of the session, I was writing with my friend Sarah Hudson who’s amazing and she’s very like witchy and into like occults and esoteric stuff, and she did a reading for us at the beginning and one of the cards was called ‘karma’ and we were like,“Oh, yes! Let’s write a song called ‘Karma’.”

CDM: How was the experience of writing with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter on ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Preacher’? OLLY: Oh, good! It was kind of intense because they’re songwriting royalty. I had the head of our label call me up before the session, because everyone was freaking out. They think if you put people in a room, you’re going to come out with a number one song, and there’s so much pressure on it to be good. So I was quite nervous to meet them, but they’re so warm and so inviting. Julia’s a legend too, but because Justin has had such a trailblazing, queer career and because he’s such a queer force in songwriting and in pop music, I was really humbled to be in his presence. And it was fun, you know, it was nice to work with them because you get to see into another writer’s process. I had no idea if my ideas or the stuff that I’ve been doing as a songwriter was any good, and then when I worked with them, I realised that they do similar things, and I was like,“Okay, this is nice, to be able to do this.” And we got a good song out of it!

MY FAVOURITE SONG WRITTEN BY JULIA MICHAELS AND JUSTIN TRANTER IS…

CDM: ‘Palo Santo’ seems to be very much a post-relationship record, with ‘If You’re Over Me’, ‘All For You’ and ‘Lucky Escape’ – as well as the Kele Okereke song that you featured on last year, Olly, ‘Grounds For Resentment’ – detailing how an ex can continue to occupy space in your mind and life once the relationship is over. It’s kind of lacking in heartbreak, unlike most break-up records we hear. Were there sadder songs you wrote for the record that didn’t make the cut? OLLY: I’m trying to think now. MIKEY: There were slower songs. I don’t know if they were sad. OLLY: We had a lot of songs, and then whittled them down. The ones we put on the album felt like the strongest ones. It wasn’t until I saw them together as a group like that where I realised the theme did feel like looking back on a relationship and trying to sort of dig through the shit that happened and feeling sort of angry and frustrated about that, but in a place of empowerment rather than feeling destroyed by it.

CDM: Olly, you’ve described ‘Lucky Escape’ as a petty song. Do you think that pettiness is a necessary, or helpful, part of the post-break-up experience? OLLY: Kind of! I think that I really, really bite my tongue in arguments with people, and I never say the thing I wish I’d said. But in a song, you have way more time! <laughs> MIKEY: It’s annoying when you have an argument and you go back and you’re like, “Ah, I should’ve said that! I would’ve sounded so smart!”

CDM: Olly, you gave Rihanna the first LP of ‘Palo Santo’ after you appeared with her on The Graham Norton Show. So say she’s scouting for new writers for her next album, and just one song from the record could be your calling card, which one would you want her to listen to and think, “I want him to write for me”? OLLY: I’m trying to imagine myself as Rihanna and think what she would like. Maybe ‘Palo Santo’. I’m just proud of the song and the songwriting on that. It’s quite unusual for a pop song. I guess you can argue, “What the fuck is a pop song?” But maybe that one. I feel like she might vibe with that.

CDM: ‘Palo Santo’ is so ambitious and high-concept, in a way that you don’t see many other British artists attempting or getting away with. It seems to come more naturally to American artists like Janelle Monáe and Halsey. Do you think there’s something about British culture that makes it easy to ridicule or be cynical about these sorts of ideas? OLLY: There’s some truth to that, I expect. MIKEY: David Bowie was British and did a lot of that kind of stuff. EMRE: I mean, I think the first concept album of all time was The Beatles. <laughs> Pink Floyd springs to mind… CDM: I guess I mean more in the present. OLLY: But you’re right, I agree. MIKEY: I know what you mean, Americans seem more confident with not caring what other people think. British people always seem to scrutinise other British people. Australians have inherited a little bit of that culture, as well. Especially in Melbourne. OLLY: Brits can be cynical, but I like that about being British. I guess you could say Americans definitely go for bells and whistles and big statements, and are generally considered more ambitious. CDM: Was there ever a concern about people not getting on board with it? OLLY: Yeah, I was worried all the time. But I realised that I was the best salesperson for the project, so I was telling everyone it was going to be so amazing. I went into the label and gave them a PowerPoint presentation about how everything was going to look and all the videos and the merchandise and the live show. I compensated feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing by being extra, extra, extra confident on the surface. <laughs>

HOW YOU GET TO PALO SANTO…

CDM: You’ve reteamed with your former co-star Judi Dench for the narration on ‘Palo Santo’, which is quite abstract – did she have much of an idea of what it was she was saying? OLLY: Yeah! Well, I said to her that she was the queen of androids. She’s sort of like the mother of Palo Santo, so she’s like this omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent – all three – character within Palo Santo, but she’s also kind of serving a poetic Beyoncé voiceover in ‘Lemonade’. So I told her all of that, and I think she was a bit like, “What the fuck?” But she loved it. She was like, “Are you telling me I’m old? Like an old android?” And I was like, “No!” So she was a bit upset about that. But she killed it!

CDM: Back when you were acting, Olly, you played quite a few innocent or corrupted boys dealing with something traumatic, however your character in ‘Palo Santo’ is more powerful and strong, even though he’s in a subordinate role. How much of an impact did being cast in those sorts of roles have on how you saw yourself, and are you trying to push back against that image of yourself now? OLLY: I mean, you put it in a really good way, actually. When you’re acting, you’re just taking the world that you’re given and you don’t really have much choice in the matter. In that sense, I found it quite creatively stifling, because you’re just doing someone else’s work and you’re playing [roles] other people are putting you into. But even when I look at the music videos we did for ‘Communion’, like ‘King’… I guess by the time we got to ‘Worship’ it had shifted, but in all our music videos, I’m getting thrown around, or beaten up, or in ‘Shine’a building collapses on me. I got more and more dissatisfied with being passive, and I think part of the reason I wanted to make a film of ‘Palo Santo’ was so that I could embody a character I would want to be.

CDM: The film has a pretty ambiguous ending, with your character onstage, unable to sing. Will we get to see more of this world, will it be expanded? OLLY: Yes, it will be. As soon as the label give us more money! <laughs> MIKEY: It’s expensive, Palo Santo.

CDM: When can we expect to FINALLY have you play in New Zealand? Because there was the whole situation in 2016 with the cancelled shows… OLLY: I know… It wasn’t our fault! MIKEY: Wait, what happened with that again? OLLY: It was the Ellie Goulding support slot. [The band had to pull out of the Australia and New Zealand leg of Ellie Goulding’s Delirium tour due to logistical difficulties.] MIKEY: Oh, sorry, yeah! My family bought tickets, so I owe them all, like, a hundred quid. There’s talk of next year. I mean, don’t quote me on this, which you will. <laughs>But there’s talk of Oceania/Asia vibes next year. That would make sense. I can pretty much 100% say we won’t be in New Zealand this year. OLLY: I really hope when we go that we get some actual time to spend there, and not just, like, one day. MIKEY: Yeah, it’s beautiful. One of the best-looking countries.

MY FAVOURITE THING ABOUT EMRE IS…

MY FAVOURITE THING ABOUT MIKEY IS…

MY FAVOURITE THING ABOUT OLLY IS…

‘Palo Santo’ is available now. You can watch the accompanying short film below:

[ollyarchive]

INTERVIEW: YEARS & YEARS ON THE WORLD OF 'PALO SANTO', THE DIFFICULT SECOND ALBUM AND DAME JUDI DENCH.                                          

24th August 2018 by

Rory Horne

How do you follow up a smash hit album that, in your native country alone, sold over a quarter of a million copies, spent two weeks at Number 1 (and didn’t budge from the Top 40 for over a year), spawned both a Number 1 (which itself sold just shy of a million copies) and a Number 2 single, and earned you four Brit Award nominations? With a bit of time and patience, it seems – or at least that’s how Years & Years have done it. The London-based, British-Australian trio’s second studio album ‘Palo Santo’, the follow up to 2015’s banger-filled, world-beating debut ‘Communion’, which put singer Olly Alexander and multi-instrumentalists Emre Türkmen and Mikey Goldsworthy on the proverbial map, has just been unleashed onto the world and currently boasts a handsome score of 82 on Metacritic, a 14-point increase on their previous offering. They may have, by their own admission, suffered from a little Difficult Second Album Syndrome, but the numbers don’t lie – their patience in crafting this record has absolutely paid off.

In reality, it’s not been an inordinately long wait for Years & Years fans, just three years, almost to the day – shorter than we were made to wait for recent sophomore offerings from Lorde, HAIM, Sam Smith and London Grammar. We meet for our interview on the third anniversary of the release of ‘Communion’, four days after ‘Palo Santo’ dropped, on the afternoon of the London instalment of the brief run of gigs across Europe and North America that are serving as the album’s launch parties. Despite being in the middle of a mad release week, packed with media appearances and album promotion, there’s little sign of fatigue from the band. The mayhem of the day hasn’t yet gotten to Emre, who has the clarity of mind to quickly fix an issue with our Polaroid camera, nor Olly, who is supposedly on vocal rest ahead of the performance, but voluntarily sings lines of ‘Sanctify’ as we snap our pictures. With his hair freshly re-dyed red, he’s in a chipper mood. “We can’t wait to be inside you,” he offers as his message to fans in New Zealand, before rethinking his contribution: “Bit weird.” Similarly cheeky humour comes from the stage late in that night's set: “I’m really wet,” he tells the adoring crowd, adding, “Sign of a good night, if you ask me.” There’s no shortage of banter on this promo circus.

If the magic took a little time to return during their writing and recording sessions in the British countryside last year, you wouldn’t notice from listening to ‘Palo Santo’, a record that manages to capture an unmistakeable Years & Years sound, while also pushing them into new territory. There’s particularly noticeable progress in the lyrics: whereas on ‘Communion’, the tracks often sounded as if Olly was writing them while looking directly into the eyes of their subjects, ignoring all surroundings and speaking purely from the heart, on ‘Palo Santo’, the lens is widened and we’re given more context, as well as a greater sense of space and time, to aid our understanding of each of these relationships and encounters. This advancement is particularly evident on 'Lucky Escape' (in which a bitter scroll through an ex’s Instagram leads to a disparaging sense of relief at having ended things) and the title track (about the complicated experience of being the third party in an open relationship), each about different, yet fully-realised romantic partners.

This lyrical evolution is also apparent on first single ‘Sanctify’, the tale of a fling with a straight-identifying man, suggesting that a discrepancy in two partners’ confidence in their respective sexualities can lead to an interesting power-play in the bedroom. Despite the erotic thrill of the track, Olly's writing manages to remain sympathetic to a man who "lately life's been tearing [...] apart." "I know how it can hurt / being cut in two and afraid," he discloses, with surprising depth and warmth for a song so carnal. He's a lyricist of great heart, trying to make sense of troubled men who are in turn trying to make sense of themselves, even if the romantic relationship he has with them doesn't extend beyond the bedroom.

Olly’s background as an actor has gained new relevance with the release of ‘Palo Santo’, which sees him take a lead role in the accompanying short film and reteam with co-stars from his years on stage and screen. Before Years & Years properly got going, it was for supporting roles in films like ‘God Help The Girl’, ‘The Riot Club’ and (as Mikey teasingly reminds Olly during our interview) ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ that Olly became a recognisable face. He even featured opposite Greta Gerwig, the future Oscar-nominated director of ‘Lady Bird’, in the tiny 2011 indie ‘The Dish and The Spoon’, and could often be found on the London stage, turning in a string of critically-praised performances in plays between 2010 and 2013. The final play in which he appeared was John Logan’s ‘Peter & Alice’, which imagined the meeting between the two real life inspirations behind ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Peter Pan’, played by Dame Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw respectively. In cutaways to the fictional world created by J.M. Barrie, Olly played Peter Pan, fighting for his right to exist despite the wishes of his non-fictional counterpart, Peter Llewelyn Davies, that his life hadn’t been stolen from him by Barrie.

Jump forward five years and these three co-stars are reunited in another fantasy world in which Olly is a different kind of exceptional boy at the mercy of older powers, striving to assert his individuality. Dench is now the cryptic “mother of Palo Santo,” and Whishaw, who also appeared in one of the earliest Years & Years videos, for ‘Real’, makes a fleeting appearance as a hologram, giving an announcement to the city’s inhabitants. The film, shot in Thailand, is wild and ambitious in a way that, away from the output of the Beyoncés and Gagas of the A-list, pop often isn’t anymore. It also gives Olly the chance to sink his teeth into a role beyond just a dialogue-less, short-form music video. His character, also named Olly Alexander, is made to perform repeatedly for audiences, before growing tired and dismayed with being exploited and finding a way to explore his emotions away from the control of others.

Tonight, it’s on another London stage, a couple of miles north of the one they previously shared, that Olly and Dame Judi are reunited. Her voice is woven through the band’s live show at Camden’s Roundhouse, just as it is through the film. The iconic 83-year-old Oscar-winner’s narration has become an integral part of this project, but those hoping for an appearance from the Dame herself tonight are left disappointed, but probably not surprised, at her absence – she remains a formless, floating voice, just as in the world of Palo Santo.

But what does ‘Palo Santo’ actually mean? Despite its placement as the penultimate song on the album, the title track is the record’s centrepiece, a meditative and powerful cut more mature than anything found on their previous LP, on which Olly cries out, “You’re the darkness in me, Palo Santo.” In its most literal sense, the title comes from the name of the thick, wooden incense blocks that the party in the open relationship with whom Olly was involved was burning during their time together. The direct translation is, somewhat amusingly, ‘holy wood’, and their vapours are said to purify the air and cleanse it of evil and darkness.

But such is the expansive universe that the three-piece have built around this two-word term that it now carries several possible interpretations beyond the literal. Alternatively, ‘Palo Santo’ could be a moniker for this man himself, and the short-lived love triangle relationship, which perhaps represents a time of darkness for Olly.

Given the double use of ‘Palo Santo’ as the title of the record and of the futuristic, android world of the accompanying short film, a couple of further, more meta readings avail themselves to us. ‘Palo Santo’ the album could contain the darkness in Olly, with many songs, such as ‘Lucky Escape’, ‘All For You’ and ‘If You’re Over Me’, depicting him at challenging moments following a break-up, as he attempts to power through and come out on top of love rather than be defeated by it.

The world of Palo Santo seen in the film also has a strong connection to a possible darkness within Olly, as it explores the intersection of disconnect and emotionlessness with sensuality and performance. “The divine, amazing and incredible Olly Alexander”, as he is introduced by the Showman character, is one of very few non-androids in Palo Santo, and the androids, as we learn from the Star Wars-esque pre-scroll in Fred Rowson’s film, “desire nothing more than to experience real emotion,” which feels resonant with Olly’s outspoken discussion of his own mental health struggles. When taken alongside songs like ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Rendezvous’, which tell of rather non-committal sexual encounters, we see the same topics in ‘Palo Santo’ that Olly explored last year in his BBC documentary ‘Growing Up Gay’, of how struggles with mental health are sadly pervasive within the queer community.

In the live performance, it’s during ‘Palo Santo’ that Olly, donning a sparkly robe of almost ten metres in length, is raised up on a platform in front of a huge moon, a star ascending across a dark night. It’s a triumphant, almost unbelievable moment of spectacle meeting emotion. There may be “darkness” in this album, but it’s notably never in the form of sadness, and almost entirely hidden in joyous moments of pure pop. In their live show, Years & Years take the chance to show this overcoming of difficulty and adversity through a visual metaphor that literally grows before the audience’s eyes, and it’s an awesome sight to behold.

Despite being a Palo Santo Party, their setlist is equally balanced between their two albums. The newer cuts – such as the snappy ‘Karma’ and thumping ‘Hallelujah’, both just days old to fans – are received ecstatically, and the familiar hits bring some of the night’s most notable moments. Olly is briefly distracted by his front row devotees during ‘Take Shelter’ and stumbles to the end of a verse, before later bringing out an Italian fan who, thanks to the Make A Wish Foundation, gets to sit with him at the piano as he plays ‘Eyes Shut’, leading to one of the night’s biggest cheers. It's when MNEK returns to the stage for the encore, following his spritely support set, for the debut of a new duet called ‘Valentino’, that the night hits peak gay, much to the fans’ delight. A Latin-flavoured bop telling of an infatuation with a boy “from the outskirts of East LA,” it owes a generous debt to Lady Gaga’s ‘Americano’ (a 2011 album track which opens “I met a girl in East LA...”), as well as the best of 90s girl-band R&B. Fingers crossed we get a studio version ASAP.

Earlier that day, we spoke to Years & Years about developing their songwriting for ‘Palo Santo’, avoiding sadness on a break-up record, when they expect they’ll finally be coming to New Zealand, and much more…

COUP DE MAIN: So it’s three years today since ‘Communion’ came out. EMRE TÜRKMEN: Is it? CDM: It is, happy birthday to it! How has release week been different this time around? OLLY ALEXANDER: It’s similar in the sense that I can’t remember much of it, because we’ve been so all over the place. I guess this time round, you’re… MIKEY GOLDSWORTHY:More of a veteran? OLLY: Yeah, I guess. First time around, I felt like I was hit by a truck. Not in a bad way, not in a negative way, just because it’s so overwhelming. But I think now I feel more grateful that fans have stuck around and that people like the new music. Because you can never take it for granted, can you? What about you guys? EMRE: The first time felt more intense, actually, I seem to remember. Because you know what to expect, in a certain way, it’s less mental. MIKEY: We’re doing similar things. We did [BBC Radio 2 show] Chris Evans last time. We did three countries in one day. CDM: Did you have a big launch show like this one? MIKEY: Not a big one, it was in a little club near Oxford Street. OLLY: We didn’t do anything in America though, did we? I think this time, we tried to do Palo Santo parties, like, East Coast and West Coast America, Berlin and here, so in that sense it’s been way more ambitious. Generally, I think we tried to be a bit more ambitious this time around.

CDM: There seems to be a real progression in your lyrics on this record. They’re more precise and specific than they were on ‘Communion’, and even involve some clever wordplay, particularly on ‘straight’ and ‘mask/masc’ on ‘Sanctify’. Did you approach writing lyrics differently this time around? OLLY: Yeah. Songwriting, especially lyrics – the more you do it, the more you uncover and the more you learn about your own process. The stuff that you write when you’re 20 is going to be different from the stuff you write when you’re 25, which is going to be different from the stuff you write when you’re 27. So I think, by its very nature, it develops and changes. But just as a human being, I feel more confident to write the shit that I actually have in my head. Not that it felt like I was stopping myself before, but I think it made a difference feeling more confident in myself this time around.

CDM: I think my favourite song on the album is ‘Karma’, which grapples with whether what you’ve done in the past will lead to good or bad fortune in the future. (“No I can’t tell what’s right or wrong / Is there a consequence for all I’ve done?”) Was there something you were trying to answer about the role that guilt has in your life, and whether it’s worth holding onto? OLLY: I guess there’s some specifics that I relate to my own life. Some of those are to do with relationships, some of those are to do with my childhood, and generally about morality and, like, is karma real? And that song, the beginning of the session, I was writing with my friend Sarah Hudson who’s amazing and she’s very like witchy and into like occults and esoteric stuff, and she did a reading for us at the beginning and one of the cards was called ‘karma’ and we were like, “Oh, yes! Let’s write a song called ‘Karma’.”

CDM: How was the experience of writing with Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter on ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Preacher’? OLLY: Oh, good! It was kind of intense because they’re songwriting royalty. I had the head of our label call me up before the session, because everyone was freaking out. They think if you put people in a room, you’re going to come out with a number one song, and there’s so much pressure on it to be good. So I was quite nervous to meet them, but they’re so warm and so inviting. Julia’s a legend too, but because Justin has had such a trailblazing, queer career and because he’s such a queer force in songwriting and in pop music, I was really humbled to be in his presence. And it was fun, you know, it was nice to work with them because you get to see into another writer’s process. I had no idea if my ideas or the stuff that I’ve been doing as a songwriter was any good, and then when I worked with them, I realised that they do similar things, and I was like, “Okay, this is nice, to be able to do this.” And we got a good song out of it!

CDM: ‘Palo Santo’ seems to be very much a post-relationship record, with ‘If You’re Over Me’, ‘All For You’ and ‘Lucky Escape’ – as well as the Kele Okereke song that you featured on last year, Olly, ‘Grounds For Resentment’ – detailing how an ex can continue to occupy space in your mind and life once the relationship is over. It’s kind of lacking in heartbreak, unlike most break-up records we hear. Were there sadder songs you wrote for the record that didn’t make the cut? OLLY: I’m trying to think now. MIKEY: There were slower songs. I don’t know if they were sad. OLLY: We had a lot of songs, and then whittled them down. The ones we put on the album felt like the strongest ones. It wasn’t until I saw them together as a group like that where I realised the theme did feel like looking back on a relationship and trying to sort of dig through the shit that happened and feeling sort of angry and frustrated about that, but in a place of empowerment rather than feeling destroyed by it.

CDM: Olly, you’ve described ‘Lucky Escape’ as a petty song. Do you think that pettiness is a necessary, or helpful, part of the post-break-up experience? OLLY: Kind of! I think that I really, really bite my tongue in arguments with people, and I never say the thing I wish I’d said. But in a song, you have way more time! <laughs> MIKEY: It’s annoying when you have an argument and you go back and you’re like, “Ah, I should’ve said that! I would’ve sounded so smart!”

CDM: Olly, you gave Rihanna the first LP of ‘Palo Santo’ after you appeared with her on The Graham Norton Show. So say she’s scouting for new writers for her next album, and just one song from the record could be your calling card, which one would you want her to listen to and think, “I want him to write for me”? OLLY: I’m trying to imagine myself as Rihanna and think what she would like. Maybe ‘Palo Santo’. I’m just proud of the song and the songwriting on that. It’s quite unusual for a pop song. I guess you can argue, "What the fuck is a pop song?" But maybe that one. I feel like she might vibe with that.

CDM: ‘Palo Santo’ is so ambitious and high-concept, in a way that you don’t see many other British artists attempting or getting away with. It seems to come more naturally to American artists like Janelle Monáe and Halsey. Do you think there’s something about British culture that makes it easy to ridicule or be cynical about these sorts of ideas? OLLY: There’s some truth to that, I expect. MIKEY: David Bowie was British and did a lot of that kind of stuff. EMRE: I mean, I think the first concept album of all time was The Beatles. <laughs> Pink Floyd springs to mind… CDM: I guess I mean more in the present. OLLY: But you’re right, I agree. MIKEY: I know what you mean, Americans seem more confident with not caring what other people think. British people always seem to scrutinise other British people. Australians have inherited a little bit of that culture, as well. Especially in Melbourne. OLLY: Brits can be cynical, but I like that about being British. I guess you could say Americans definitely go for bells and whistles and big statements, and are generally considered more ambitious. CDM: Was there ever a concern about people not getting on board with it? OLLY: Yeah, I was worried all the time. But I realised that I was the best salesperson for the project, so I was telling everyone it was going to be so amazing. I went into the label and gave them a PowerPoint presentation about how everything was going to look and all the videos and the merchandise and the live show. I compensated feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing by being extra, extra, extra confident on the surface. <laughs>

CDM: You’ve reteamed with your former co-star Judi Dench for the narration on ‘Palo Santo’, which is quite abstract – did she have much of an idea of what it was she was saying? OLLY: Yeah! Well, I said to her that she was the queen of androids. She’s sort of like the mother of Palo Santo, so she’s like this omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent – all three – character within Palo Santo, but she’s also kind of serving a poetic Beyoncé voiceover in ‘Lemonade’. So I told her all of that, and I think she was a bit like, “What the fuck?” But she loved it. She was like, “Are you telling me I’m old? Like an old android?” And I was like, “No!” So she was a bit upset about that. But she killed it!

CDM: Back when you were acting, Olly, you played quite a few innocent or corrupted boys dealing with something traumatic, however your character in ‘Palo Santo’ is more powerful and strong, even though he’s in a subordinate role. How much of an impact did being cast in those sorts of roles have on how you saw yourself, and are you trying to push back against that image of yourself now? OLLY: I mean, you put it in a really good way, actually. When you’re acting, you’re just taking the world that you’re given and you don’t really have much choice in the matter. In that sense, I found it quite creatively stifling, because you’re just doing someone else’s work and you’re playing [roles] other people are putting you into. But even when I look at the music videos we did for ‘Communion’, like ‘King’… I guess by the time we got to ‘Worship’ it had shifted, but in all our music videos, I’m getting thrown around, or beaten up, or in ‘Shine’ a building collapses on me. I got more and more dissatisfied with being passive, and I think part of the reason I wanted to make a film of ‘Palo Santo’ was so that I could embody a character I would want to be.

CDM: The film has a pretty ambiguous ending, with your character onstage, unable to sing. Will we get to see more of this world, will it be expanded? OLLY: Yes, it will be. As soon as the label give us more money! <laughs> MIKEY: It’s expensive, Palo Santo.

CDM: When can we expect to FINALLY have you play in New Zealand? Because there was the whole situation in 2016 with the cancelled shows… OLLY: I know… It wasn’t our fault! MIKEY: Wait, what happened with that again? OLLY: It was the Ellie Goulding support slot. [The band had to pull out of the Australia and New Zealand leg of Ellie Goulding’s Delirium tour due to logistical difficulties.] MIKEY: Oh, sorry, yeah! My family bought tickets, so I owe them all, like, a hundred quid. There’s talk of next year. I mean, don’t quote me on this, which you will. <laughs> But there’s talk of Oceania/Asia vibes next year. That would make sense. I can pretty much 100% say we won’t be in New Zealand this year. OLLY: I really hope when we go that we get some actual time to spend there, and not just, like, one day. MIKEY: Yeah, it’s beautiful. One of the best-looking countries.

[lokidiabolus]

Offline Age - Chapter 1

Fandom: Dragon Age Origins

Pairing: Alistair Theirin x Elissa Cousland

Summary:   Alistair was never really a lone wolf or anything, but having a place only for himself had its appeal. He didn't plan on taking responsibility for anybody in upcoming years, until one fateful night his doorbell decided to wake him up at 2 AM and show him he was so, so wrong.

OR

How Alistair subconsciously harbored mother hen tendencies towards completely unknown person in five minutes and then fell in love so hard it almost broke all bones in his body.

Warnings: Slow Burn, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Tons of overused tropes, Prequel to Online Age

Can be found on Ao3.

Notes: No beta, we die like men!

I blame it all on the so called trailer for Dragon Age 4 that made me: 1) Feel the need to write for Dragon Age again; 2) Realize I left Online Age in disarray; 3) Re-read it and get horrified of the sheer absurdity of the middle part and so many absolutely pointless dialogues; 4) Spend a week editing it; 5) Start playing Dragon Age Inquisition again and romancing Cullen again; 6) Feel a heart ache when seeing King Alistair showing up in Redcliffe being flawless; and 7) Start to write randomly about him while playing Dragon Age Origins (because I hate myself. And Deep Roads).

So yeah, all the trailer's fault. And idk, I just really love Alistair, okay :(

Also a note: so many tropes here. SO MANY.

And another note: This is connected to Online Age, but it's sort of a prequel (aka about uh several years back, 5 or 10 or something), this time about (super young) Alistair and his one-day-to-be-wife-he-would-gush-about-to-everybody

It was precisely 2:12 AM, Alistair checked when Hell called, telling him they want their bad puns back. The coherence of apprehending the situation dropped to its lowest around midnight and dragged onward, he was glad he made his legs and arms cooperate enough to lift his sore, sleepy body off the bed, walk it to the main door of his flat and reach for the handle on the third try.

He didn’t really expect anything in particular, a half of his half functioning brain was still sleeping, so when he opened without checking first and saw a small, head to toe drenched girl shivering on his doorstep, nothing came from him apart from huh?

“Hi,” the girl greeted him with chattering teeth. Her blond hair was plastered over her forehead and around her neck and shoulders and there was an undeniable moment of oh crap, this is why I should not watch horrors late at night before Alistair woke up enough to realize the girl was not a ghost but a real, living person. Standing in a puddle, in pyjamas?

“Are those pyjamas?” his brain farted out and the girl opened her mouth, stopped, closed it, looked at her clothes consisting of plaid pants hanging on her lips too loosely and a shirt with Pooh Bear on it, and then back at him.

“Yes,” she said after. “They had them on sale.”

“K,” his brain supplied unhelpfully. “Hi then.”

“Yeah, hi,” she repeated the greeting and the shivering multiplied. “Sorry to bother you. But didn’t you, um. Left your water on or… your washing machine or something?”

“Not that I know of,” Alistair turned back to the innards of his flat, and the only noise that greeted him back was the clock on the wall, ticking its minute way through the dial. It showed wrong time but he was not able to correct it for about year and half. He looked back. “Why?”

“Why do you think?” she stared at him in the dark corridor, water dripping from her Pooh Bear shirt and Alistair could swear he saw the loading icon in front of his eyes for a second, before he raised a hand and went back to the flat to check on the bathroom.

No leaks, everything was quiet and peaceful. He double checked the taps and toilet and when nothing looked even remotely broken or dripping, he returned back to the door, now almost awake.

“Nope,” he told her with a shrug. “All dry up here.”

“I see,” she stared some more, then slowly nodded. “Sorry to bother you. Thanks for looking.”

She turned around and started padding from her puddle to the elevator, leaving wet footprints in her wake. Back to the flooded flat or something? Alistair shook his head, quickly grabbed his keys and followed her.

“Wait a sec,” he dropped his voice as low as he could to be still hearable but not enough to alert the neighbours, and she looked at him with a frown.

“What.”

“Lemme look at the leak,” he insisted despite her unhappy scowl. “Maybe I can help.”

The frown deepened and the elevator dinged, the light from it when the door slid open almost blinded him. She got in, crossed her arms on her chest and sighed.

“Fine,” she motioned for him to follow her, so he did. “But since it’s not from your place, there’s no point, really.”

“Story of my life.”

She looked even more pitiful under the artificial light and unusually pale, almost sickly. He refrained from commenting on it, but it took lots of his self-control, especially when she looked at him like he had lost his mind.

Her flat was on the lower floor right under his, which made her a lucky lady, since he was rarely at home to make any sort of noise that would bother her, at least from above. The name on the bell read Cousland and when she unlocked the door and opened, the smell of wet paint hit him right in the face. It took them only few steps inside towards the bathroom and he already saw the flood from there, dripping from the wall behind the bath, ruining the red coloured wall and tiles.

“Uh oh,” he let out, stepping in to assess the damage and the water under his feet splashed too loud in the otherwise quiet flat. “The pipe must have broken above there.”

“Oh no,” she walked in as well, her face horrified. “So, it’s not from somebody’s flat, it’s somewhere inside the construction?”

“Yep,” he stood up on the edge of the bath, pulling himself higher to the ceiling to see any cracks. “For now, let’s just turn off the water here. And in the morning, we call a landlord about this.”

“He’s going to kill me…” she buried her face in her hands and Alistair stepped down again to find the water lock hidden in the wall behind the toilet.

“Nah, it’s not your fault,” he said for the record, “This is an old house. He should let it checked anyway, the construction is ancient enough to remember dragons.”

“Are you a plumber or something?” he heard her asking behind him and it made him snort while closing the water with a quiet hiss. The wall stopped gushing out and he closed the lid and looked at the distressed owner.

“Wish I was, I heard the pay is good,” he shrugged, wiping his wet hands to his shirt. “But I know a thing or two about house stuff. And few other things around. And lots of things completely unrelated.”

“Right,” she shook her head and looked around at the mess on the floor. “Thanks for the help. I better start cleaning before it soaks to the neighbours…”

“Want help?” he offered faster than his common sense kicked in and that’s how it all began.

***

“-tair. Alistair!”

He almost fell off the chair when a slam on the table startled him from the definitely-not-dozing-off moment, just sheer luck managed to keep him balanced enough from meeting the floor.

“I wasn’t sleeping!” he announced in self-defence and then Duncan’s unhappy face came to his view.

“Didn’t I tell you not to stay up past midnight?” Duncan crossed his arms on his chest and Alistair realized it was already past eleven when he looked at his watch, and he somehow missed two hours. By totally not sleeping.

“Yeah, sorry,” she rubbed his eyes and fought down the yawn that threatened to overwhelm him. He still must have made weird face since Duncan’s scowl deepened.

“Wipe the drool away at least,” the dark-haired man sighed, handing Alistair a napkin out of nowhere, like an ultimate mum he was sometimes. “I’m making the roster now, you want the long shift this week or another one?”

Alistair was completely sure he did not have drool anywhere, but still used the napkin for Duncan’s satisfaction. For his defence he did go to sleep around eleven, but after the debacle with the flood he didn’t get back to sleep at all. When they were more or less done (actually less than more, the flat was in super bad shape, since apparently the leaks weren’t only in the bathroom) it was already six in the morning, so he just went home for shower and to brush his teeth and then kicked himself out to work. His eyes barely held up open during the morning meeting and he thanked whoever was above him for not dragging it for too long, or continue with a drill. He would fail so hard that Duncan would probably disown him on the spot.

“This week,” he mumbled, but then his hand shot towards Duncan’s forearm to stop him from leaving. “No, next week. Totally next week. Can’t this week.”

“Okay?” the older man glanced on the hand gripping him and then back at Alistair’s face. “Will write you up for a short one then. Something happened?”

Well, to put it mildly. The landlord was going to bark on a wrong tree, he was sure, and the girl would let him, probably, not really knowing where the real fault was. So he had a plan. Or part of a plan, at least, making it up as he went.

“Do we have my house’ construction plans by any chance?” he asked and when Duncan cleared his throat while pointedly looking at Alistair offensive hand, he finally eased off his grip with an apologetic quirk of his mouth.

“In the archive,” his mentor nodded towards the estimated location, then crossed his arms on his chest. “Why?”

When Alistair was looking for his own flat, Duncan helped him with choosing between three possible places by finding the construction plans, because if he could be labelled by anything, it would be precautious. Old houses are the best, he would say. So they dug into plans, found the ones that looked the best in Duncan’s opinion and Alistair moved in with light heart. No problems until yesterday, but then again, not really his problem, so that counted for something.

“Just want to look up the piping,” Alistair dragged himself up from the table. “I’ll be there if anything.”

“Do I look like your secretary?” Duncan hollered after him, but Alistair was already out of the room and only hitting his shoulder against two doors on his way. It was a small, meaningless victory, but victory the same.

***

He got out on the floor under his own because of some strange, unexplainable calling he heard in the back of his mind (or maybe it was his stomach because he was hungry). He wanted to stop home at first, take a shower and eat, but somehow his hand pressed the lower button in the elevator instead of his and he was glad for it, because when the door opened, he heard the angry voice of the landlord all the way to the cabin.

“Here we go,” he huffed, packing the copied plans under his arm and taking long strides toward the offensive voice that rang through the hallway so loud it was probably illegal.

“-for two months and you already flooded it?!” the landlord kept on barking, up until he came into Alistair’s view, standing in front of opened doors of the compromised flat, his stance all wide and up in arms. Alistair internally groaned.

The girl stood in front of him, dry for the first time he saw her, in a hoodie and khakis. Her hair was in a messy bun and she looked even more tired than Alistair felt.

“I didn’t flood anything,” she was saying the moment he finally stepped close enough for them to notice him. “I- oh, hey.”

“Hey,” Alistair gave her small salute and nodded towards the landlord. He saw him about twice since he started living here and kind of doubted the man even remembered his face. “Afternoon.”

“Are you here because of the leak?” the man gestured towards the flat, his eyes a little confused. “I’m sure I didn’t call firefighters though…”

Oh right, Alistair realized. He was still in the uniform, since he shot out of work without changing. Well, that worked too.

“I’m familiar with the situation,” he elaborated, making a show of looking into the flat like he was assessing the damage. He already did yesterday though and could tell it sucked balls for the repairs needed. The landlord was so not going to like it. “Looked over the construction plans, the pipes are damaged in the proximate area of the bathroom and living room. The wall needs to be torn down and the piping repaired.”

“Torn down?!” the landlord probably only by small margin avoided heart-attack, judging from his red face and the vein popping on his forehead. Alistair was glad he had the ambulance on quick dial.

“The bathroom one definitely, the water damaged it. I’d advice to have them checked as it is in the whole house, but of course that can be done through stacks for that part,” he handed one of the plans to the landlord who reluctantly took them and had to applaud himself for actually sounding serious so far. “The piping is old and rusty, random breaks happen all the time. I can point you out to a company dealing with these types of problems, though since the Christmas is coming, I’m not entirely sure how fast it’s going to be.”

The landlord opened his mouth, and then closed it. He repeated it two more times until it was apparent no words were going to come out, and then he settled on a nod.

“Great, glad we came to an understanding,” Alistair gave him a broad smile. “I’ll send you the company’s number in a text, in case you wanted to use their services. Happy to see landlords are taking care of their houses and tenants.”

Another nod from the poor man and then he was out of the hallway like a wind. Alistair wondered if he thought firefighter could actually send him to jail for disagreeing but he wasn’t going to try his luck.

“Huh,” the girl stared after the landlord even after he disappeared around the corner. “That worked like a charm. Good idea with the uniform.”

“What can I say, I aim to please,” Alistair commented and then took a step further to take her appearance in. “You’re dry.”

“Yeah, shocking,” her mouth quirked up in a smile. “I can do that sometimes.”

“I feel like I don’t even know you anymore,” he sighed dramatically but then it hit him. “Wait, I really don’t know you. What’s your name?”

“Elissa,” she introduced herself just like that, in her khakis and a hoodie and looking like she went through hell and kicked her way back, and somehow Alistair expected her to have tougher name, like Boulder or Killer.

“That’s a fine name,” he gestured towards her, to her whole appearance and the abundance of the puddle under her feet. “I’m disappointed it’s not something waterier though.”

“Waterbenders don’t have water names, you know,” she shot back and Alistair crossed arms on his chest.

“Elissa,” he tried her name and she mimicked his posture like a mirror. “As a waterbender… I gotta say, after what I’ve seen tonight, you suck at it.”

“Still learning,” she opposed. “Next time the pipe breaks, I will be ready.”

“I hope there is no next time,” he nodded towards the flat. “Don’t think it can take any more.”

That made her lose the posture as she followed his gaze and her shoulders sagged. It was a sad image, really.

“This suck,” she uttered. “It had been just two months. I have the shittiest luck ever.”

“As long as you don’t wind up somewhere without your pants, you’re still alright.” He took a step closer to the door, the smell of paint still hanging in the air. He noticed a packed bag resting in the hallway with a suitcase next to it and several shirts lying on the floor, soaking the moisture from it. The hallway itself looked super bad, the water completely ruined the laminate flooring, made it look like a skateboard park for snails. “Oof.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she stood next to him, staring at the mess. “When I need a quiet place, something naturally has to go wrong. And expensive. Hope it won’t take long.”

“Yeaah, about that,” he offered her an apologetic look, even though it was not his fault, or hers, or anybody’s, and she must have understood since the groan she let out had enough frustration to lit up a town.

“You mean it’s going to take long?” she whined so loud he heard a door opening at the end of the hall, probably to look what the ruckus was.

“Well. It’s almost Christmas. And if you take in the state of the flat – and the piping – and the walls… That’s gonna take at least two months,” he checked once more, stopping at the floor. “And the flooring. And tiles in the bathroom.”

The majority of tiles fell off during their night cleaning, and most of them naturally broke in half. Elissa didn’t comment on it back then, but she definitely stomped harder when carrying the empty bucket to fill it up again.

“Okay,” she sagged even more, almost to her knees. “Alright. Okay.”

Alistair didn’t like that. Sure, he saw tons of misfortune in his life already, majority of it tied to his job and some of it not, but he couldn’t really do much about complete strangers losing their homes to fire. All he could do for them was to pat their back and wish them luck. When all of their stuff was gone.

Elissa’s stuff was not gone, but she was in similar situation. If she could at least go back to her parents or something, he’d be able to rest easy.

“You have a place to stay?” he asked in a softer tone and she nodded. Then took a deep breath. Shook her head. He took a step closer and crouched next to her. “Not even your parent’s place?”

“No,” her words were barely hearable. Then she cleared her throat and shook her head again. “I’ll manage.”

“You can stay at my place, if you want,” his mouth said.

Huh.

“What?” she looked at him as if he’d gone mad (rightfully so).

“My place,” his mouth repeated. Huh. “I’m not home that often, it’s better than nothing?”

She had big, blue eyes. She used them in full force now, staring at him so hard he was afraid a fist was going to come out of them.

“You don’t need to do all this,” she said finally and Alistair thought yes, I don’t need to do all of this. But I do. Because you look like somebody just died, good grief.

“You woke me up at ass o’clock in the morning and kept me up all night cleaning, now I feel emotionally invested in it. Sorry, I don’t make the rules,” he responded instead, light-hearted and nonchalant, and it was the first time he saw her genuinely laugh.

[codename-bewareofthefangirl]

About Me: Being A Writer

I was tagged by @oiivkawa 😍 Thank you dear, sorry if it took me so long!

tagging: All the ones tagged here :3 (If you feel comfortable) And everyone who read this and want to share: I’d love to know you.

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? 

I discovered Tumblr while I was searching a place where I could talk and enjoy my fave anime and shows without being judged or anything else because I’m a nerd, socially awkward etc. etc. I wanted to create a safe space for myself and then for others. Nobody except two people knows about this, so I felt like I had a secret hideout -> I felt like an agent undercover.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (Bookmarks/ Subscriptions/ Hits/ Kudos)

Surely the ones I used to write in Italian, I reached the 1000 XD Now that I write in English I’m sort of an underdog. I have some popular posts or ask. As in for proper ff, it’s Confetti 

3. What is your AO3 profile icon and why did you choose it? 

Uh I still don’t have one. At first, I created the account only to follow my fave authors and to comment, I didn’t think I was enough good to post my works. I’ll probably put the same one on my blog, Iwa-chan. As I empathize greatly with Oikawa, I admired Iwaizumi a lot; plus, the image is a lot calming and beautiful.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters? 

I love everyone who spare their time to comment. I don’t have “regulars” on ao3, but here on tumblr @jenasisity , @ru-cchi and @secret-fujoshi-diary have been with me from the start. @mhioislife is always there for MatsuHanaIwaOi and I love her blog. And I go crazy when people, especially artists, I admire comment positively in my posts (ex. my lovely @nyciel )

5. Is there a fanfic you keep going back to read again and again? 

I have a good memory for stories, so I don’t re-read many of them. Coffe King by Oiivkawa and few others are my exception.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked? I subscribed to nearly 100-105 ff and bookmarked 99. 

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most? 

I LOVE AUs, I’D LIKE TO WRITE MORE. I love Uni/College Au (being a uni student too), Soulmates Au and Fantasy/Historical but I have barely written for them here. 

I’ve been requested more than once (and I enjoyed them greatly) Zombie!Au, HarryPotter!Au, Bodyguards!AU and Spy!Au. I also love Crossovers.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? 

On AO3 subscriptions: 36 bookmarked: 40

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!) 

I’m scared every time I write in English, terrified. I’d love to be more confident and being able to finish my projects, since I get discouraged easily when I don’t have feedback. (I was spoiled when I wrote in Italian, but I’m working on it) I’d love to write more AUs, even small shots!

10. Is there anything you’d like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc. 

MY ENGLISH. I WANT TO HAVE A FLUENT ENGLISH. And I’m not comfortable with explicit smut, so I avoid it. (and updating with frequency, but my studies don’t let me)

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often? 

I usually ship popular ship...i think? It depends on the anime. My OTP are IwaOi, KuroKen, BokuAka, AoKise, GaLe and KiriBaku. 

I have some rarepairs: I’d die for AoKawa (Aomine x Oikawa, Crossover), BakuShimaNari, TodoDenki, my OT4 MatsuHanaIwaOi and (idk if it’s rarepair) BoKuroo

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day? 3

13. How many stories do you have saved in/ with your writing program? Like WIPs? 

HAHAHAHAHAH. Only stories, without headcanons or scenarios? 104

14. Do you write down story ideas or just keep them in your head? 

It depends, I’m constantly creating stories, especially if I’m bored, and always before sleeping. I think at least one or two a day so…no, I write down the only ones I project to write or to which I’m particularly attached to. Otherwise I keep them in my head.

15. Have you ever co- authored a story? 

Yep, more than once. It’s fun and motivating if you manage to get along.

16. How did you discover AO3? I was searching a new base to read fanfiction from, in English this time, and I stumbled upon it.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3? Nope, no really. I was in my Italian fandoms XD Now I just enjoy sharing small things and reading beautiful ffs. 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers? 

Survivors. (jk, I don’t have one) I call everyone “dear” or “sweetheart” since I don’t want to offend anyone by assuming things.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write? 

In general? Probably my father when I was little, but it was spontaneous. I’ve always created stories, I just needed a way to let them out and…puff, I started writing.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author? 

Everyone starts from the basics, making mistakes, receiving few appreciative comments or kudos…don’t let this discourage you. First, because practice makes you better. Second, because even if it’s one person who reads it and leaves a “like”, it means you have made them happy. You don’t know how important for them your story has been, you can’t know, so don’t sell yourself shortly. I’ve been saved over and over by the most unexpected stories.

And, always write something you love.

21. Do you plot out your stories or do you just figure it out as you go? 

Both! I have a vague idea and some scenes I’m sure of, but while I write it I understand all the rest. Arguing and discussing with the characters also helps. Half of the time, for most of the short stories, I start writing without having any idea of what I’m doing and they come up on their own.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do? 

Not really, just corrections or correct observations, especially about my grammar or the logic flow. I thanked them, correct the ff and learnt from my mistakes. 

Ah, but I’ve received today my first hate on my character analysis of Bakugou Katsuki and…nothing, I’m bothered and a bit annoyed, but haters who have decided to not even try having a dialogue are not worth bothering. It’s just toxic. I tried to focus more on the positive or/and constructive feedback.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (Action, smut, etc) 

Nearly unable to write real, explicit smut (I get embarrassed and I don’t know the real dynamic sooo….) and action is also difficult if you want to describe a specific style of combat.

24. What story(s) are you working on now? 

I’m always working on my first book, I’m editing it. I also answer asks for fun (even if I’m horrible slow) and works on Confetti and Hell Mission (I, II)

25. Do you plan your new projects before you finish your current ongoing story(s)? I'm thinking of trying to write an otome.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? 

HAHAHAHHAHA NO I WOULD KILL MYSELF. I only set them for my book, for the rest I do it for pleasure and to relax.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started? ABSOLUTELY YES.

28. What is your favourite story that you have written? 

My book, some old Italian fanfictions and…I have some favorite posts: Fantasy/Heian Iwaoi, Star Child, (okay, nearly everything IwaOi and MatsuHanaIwaoi)  my Aokise Zombie!Au (Red Sunset, Finally), my AkaMido The Ballad Of The Robin and my AoKawa Series (especially Shooting Stars)

29. What is your least favourite story that you have written? 

Usually, if I write or publish something, it means I love it. I often re-read what I’ve written, even if it’s embarrassing seeing how bad it was.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years? 

WITH A BOOK PUBLISHED I HOPE. Still writing fanfictions too, I like people smiling.

31. What’s the easiest part about writing? 

The spontaneous thinking part, during the first moments of creation, when the ideas come up to you; or when you have that five minutes flow where the words write themselves. The rest is pure hell, from the start to the end.

32. What is the hardest part about writing? 

Editing. I correct over and over the same parts, especially in lengthy stories. Deciding what to cut or not for me it’s torture, I want to keep everything.

It’s also difficult creating new, consistent, realistic, congruent characters.

33. Why do you write? 

It’s the thing I love the most in the world, I don’t know what could I do without it. I need it, it has saved me. And I love making people smile, I’m trying to do what other books and authors have done for me: Give me reasons to go on, hope, warmth, acceptance, a smile…I want to be able to do it.

It’s also my way of thinking and expressing myself since I’m socially awkward; it’s my way of communicating.

And, well, also a ways to have fun and relax when things get tough :3

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY AND WAYNE NEWTON

S2;E22 ~ February 16, 1970

Directed by Danny Dayton ~ Written by Milt Josefsberg and Ray Singer

Synopsis

The Carters go to Las Vegas to see the shows, but Lucy loses all their money in a gas station slot machine. On their way home they discover a stray pony and return him to the owner, who turns out to be singer Wayne Newton. The Carters take jobs as Newton's ranch hands to make enough money to return to Vegas.  

Regular Cast

Lucille Ball (Lucy Carter), Gale Gordon (Harrison Otis Carter), Desi Arnaz Jr. (Craig Carter), Lucie Arnaz (Kim Carter)

Guest Cast

Wayne Newton (Himself) previously played himself in “Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton” (S1;E9) and “Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (TLS S4;E14). He is one of the best-known entertainers in Las Vegas, known by the nicknames the ‘Midnight Idol,’ ‘Mr. Las Vegas’ and ‘Mr. Entertainment.’ His well-known songs include 1972’s “Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast” (#4 on the Billboard chart), “Years” (1980), and his signature song “Danke Schoen” (1963). This is his final episode of “Here’s Lucy.”

Jerry Newton (Himself, Guitarist, right) is the older brother of Wayne Newton.  He also appeared in 1968’s “Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton” (S1;E9).

Jerry’s catch phrase is “Oh, gosh yes.”  Although Wayne Newton calls him by his first name, it is never mentioned that the two are brothers.

Tommy Amato (Himself, Bass Player, left) was a bandleader and Wayne Newton’s bass player. He also appeared in 1968’s “Lucy Sells Craig to Wayne Newton” (S1;E9).

Amato is not identified by name in the dialogue.

Tiny Tim (T.T.) is an Angolan miniature horse from South America.  

This is the second and last episode for director / actor Danny Dayton, who also was director of “Lucy Protects Her Job” (S2;E14). 

The final draft of this script by Josefsberg and Singer was dated October 1, 1969.

Following the original broadcast of this episode, “The Doris Day Show” featured ‘Lucy’ supporting players Bobby Jellison, Mabel Albertson, and Hal Smith. 

This episode is filmed on location in the San Fernando Valley. Second unit footage of the Las Vegas Strip featured doubles for the cast. The in-car driving scenes were done using a studio process shot.  

In his introduction to the episode on DVD Wayne Newton recalls that this episode nearly caused a rift between him and Lucy due to the demands of the production.  

Musical Director Marl Young takes over the introduction and enthusiastically recalls writing the jazz background music for the montage of the drive down the Las Vegas strip. Young mistakenly calls “Gary Morton” and “Gale Gordon” “Gary Martin” and “Gale Garden.” 

Sunset Strip Montage

Caesars Palace – opened in August 1966 and is still operating today.  The marquee headliner is Frank Sinatra with Little Richard with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  

La Concha - was a motel that opened in 1961 and closed in 2004. The sign is restored and preserved in Las Vegas's Neon Museum. It was named after the resort community of La Concha, Spain. It was neighbors with the Riviera, which is in the background. 

Stardust – was located at 3000 Las Vegas Boulevard South. It was first opened in 1958 and demolished in 2007. The famed Stardust sign became one of the symbols of Las Vegas. The entertainment roster featured with the spectacular French production show Lido de Paris.

International - opened in 1969 and was known for many years as the Las Vegas Hilton, then briefly as the LVH - Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. It was renamed the Westgate Las Vegas in 2014. Upon opening, the International was the largest hotel in the world. The headliner at the time of the filming of the footage was Bill Cosby with Lionel Hampton. Interestingly, the International boasts the opening of a Children's Youth Hotel!  

Sands - was a historic hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip that operated from 1952 to 1996. The Sands was the seventh resort to open on the Strip. During its heyday, the Sands was the center of entertainment and hosted many famous entertainers of the day, most notably the Rat Pack. The Sands was featured in “Lucy Hunts Uranium” in 1958 (inset).  

Flamingo – opened the day after Christmas 1948 and is still operating today. It is located at 3555 South Las Vegas Boulevard. The hotel was the third resort to open on the Strip and remains the oldest resort on the Strip still in operation today. The headliner at the time was comedian Pat Paulsen.  

Frontier - was the second resort that opened on the Las Vegas Strip and operated continuously from October 1942 until it closed on July 16, 2007 and was demolished. It has the distinction of hosting Elvis Presley's first Vegas appearance in 1956, and the final performance of Diana Ross and The Supremes on January 14, 1970. At the time of filming singer Abbe Lane and comic Dick Shawn were headlining. Shawn guest starred in “Lucy and the Pool Hustler” (TLS S6;E13) in 1968. At one time, Abbe Lane was married to Xavier Cugat, Desi Arnaz's mentor and Ricky Ricardo's competition.

Thunderbird – was located at 2735 Las Vegas Boulevard South and operated from 1948 to 1992.  It was the fourth resort to open on the strip and had a Native American theme that featured a Navajo-based restaurant, the only bowling alley ever on the Strip, and a showroom. The marquee here promotes a stage production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1958 Broadway musical Flower Drum Song starring Jack Soo, who had also been in the 1961 film adaptation. Interestingly, the Thunderbird wooed gamblers with the promise of 'Free Nylons with  Jackpots'! From 1976 the property was known as the Silverbird and then, finally, El Rancho.

Bonanza – opened in July 1967 on land formerly occupied by Three Coins Hotel and Casino. It was later renamed the New Bonanza Hotel and Casino. In 1973 it became part of Bally's Las Vegas. It is not connected to the Bonanza Gift Shop, a landmark store on the Strip and one of the largest such establishments in the word.

Riviera - operated from April 1955 to May 2015. It was the first high-rise and the ninth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. Liberace cut the opening ribbon, and became the first resident performer.  The building was demolished in 2016.

The only sign that is missing from the montage is the iconic “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign that is now visually associated with the gambling town. 

Craig notices that Dean Martin is playing at the Riviera. Desi Arnaz Jr. was in a band with Martin's son. Kim says “He's one of my favorites!”  Martin guest starred as himself (and his doppelganger) on “The Lucy Show.” His opening act at the Riviera is comedienne Totie Fields, who will act on a 1972 episode of “Here's Lucy.” In 1975, she was one of the comics to roast Lucille Ball on “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast.”  

Harry's 1970 yellow Plymouth Satellite convertible was previously seen in “Lucy and Viv Visit Tijuana” (S2;E19).  

Also during the driving scene, the background shows a marquee for P'zazz '70, a lavish stage show at the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino, in operation from 1950 to 2000. The show started out as P'zazz '68 and was updated.  

Their drive down the Strip also takes them past The Castaways casino, where Cotton Club Revue 70 is playing. The above snapshot was taken in September 1969, around the same time as filming. Castaways operated from 1963 to 1987, when it was imploded to make way for the Mirage. In 1967, the Castaways was sold to billionaire Howard Hughes for $3 million as part of his spree of buying Las Vegas properties.  Coincidentally, the reclusive millionaire is also mentioned in this episode.

CRAIG (to Harry): “If you didn’t come to Las Vegas to see shows, what did you come for?” LUCY: “He came to kiss Howard Hughes’ ring.” 

The foursome encounter a miniature horse on the side of the road but don't know exactly what sort of horse it is. Lucy says she can't imagine John Wayne sitting on it; Mickey Rooney, yes. John Wayne appeared on both “I Love Lucy” and “The Lucy Show” while Mickey Rooney starred with Ball in Thousands Cheer (1943) and as an acting teacher on a 1966 episode of “The Lucy Show.”  

Wayne Newton purchased the first five acres of what is now Casa de Shenandoah in 1966. It was raw land, with no well or electricity. The first house was built between 1966 and 1968, along with four stalls for a horse barn. He lived in that home with his parents and older brother. He then acquired additional acres between 1969 and 1972. Construction of the Mansion began in 1973 and was completed in 1976. Today, Casa de Shenandoah is one of the top tourist attractions in Las Vegas.  

Although the episodes were by different writers, Newton and the Carter family remember meeting each other in 1968 (above). Newton remembers Harry because when they first met he asked for two choruses “Hey Big Spender” (which didn’t actually happen in the episode). The song is by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields and was written for the Broadway musical Sweet Charity in 1966 and was included in the 1969 film starring Shirley MacLaine.  

Lucy's qualifications for working on a ranch are that she saw every Gene Autry picture three times. Gene Autry (1907-98) was a Texas born motion picture star dubbed “The Singing Cowboy.”  

Wayne Newton shares that is half Cherokee. Craig says that means he is “one of the original Americans.” Awareness of the plight of Native Americans was heightened during the late 1960s. “Lucy and the Indian Chief” (S2;E3) was shot on location on Navajo land using Native American tribe members for extras.

At the barbecue, Newton sings “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” accompanied by Jerry on guitar and Tommy on bass. Kim and Craig sing back-up while Lucy and Harry look on. “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” is a song by Bob Nolan and sung by Gene Autry in a 1935 film of the same name. In 1970 it was covered by Don Everly.  

When Newton says that Kim and Craig have “good seats” (ie; ride horses well), Lucy misunderstands and nonchalantly admits to having “paddled” Kim and Craig!  Yikes! 

Lucille Ball was an experience rider, having ridden horses in her films and television shows, but here (at age 59) leaves the riding to her children. She does, however, help Harry rope a calf for branding, but only manages to brand Harry instead!

Lucille Ball wears tinted glasses for the exterior shoots, just as she did the previous year on location at the Air Force Academy at the start of season 2. These lenses allow viewers to still see Lucy’s expressive eyes, but also provide protection from the sun’s rays. 

Lucie and Desi Jr. were sent to horse trainer Glenn Randall to learn how to ride the dancing horses used for the episode's finale. Randall famously trained Trigger, Roy Rogers' horse.

Lucie Arnaz later recalled, “We would drive two-hours in rush-hour traffic all the way up to this mountain where we get on with this horse dressage and learn from scratch how to ride so that we could do that show with Wayne Newton. I mean stuff like that just blows my mind."

For the finale, Wayne sings "I've Got the World on A String" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler written in 1932. The song was made popular by Frank Sinatra. Wayne performs this song while on his dancing horse. Kim and Craig are also on dancing horses that perform while he sings.

What Happens in Vegas....

A quick subliminal callback happens in the very first moments of the episode, when Harry’s car drives past the Las Vegas Tropicana. Their sign is only briefly seen from behind [I’ve reversed the image on the left] while the focus is on the Caesar’s Palace marquee. Desi Arnaz borrowed the name from the original Tropicana nightclub in Havana for Ricky Ricardo’s club on “I Love Lucy.” Ironically, the Las Vegas casino hotel opened in 1957, just after Ricky changed the name to Club Babalu. It is still in business today. 

Lucy Ricardo was in Las Vegas for “Lucy Hunts Uranium” (1958, above) hunting for her fortune in the Nevada desert rather than the casinos. The Sands, whose sign is seen in the opening montage of “Lucy and Wayne Newton”, is where Ricky Ricardo performed and the gang stayed during the episode. Location footage featuring the cast was shot in the California desert while a second unit team and cast doubles were filmed in Las Vegas. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were invited to the Sands' fourth anniversary party in 1956.  

Lucy and Ricky Ricardo were also in Vegas for “The Lucy-Desi Milton Berle Special” in November 1959 on NBC. 

Lucy Carmichael and Viv won a trip to Sin City in “Lucy Goes to Vegas” (TLS S3;E17) where being broke doesn't stop them from being high rollers.

In 1975, Lucy Collins traveled to the Nevada gambling town to meet her celebrity crush, Dean Martin, in “Lucy Gets Lucky”, which also begins with a montage of the Strip, ending on the exterior of the MGM Grand, where the action is set. 

“Lucy Discovers Wayne Newton” (TLS S4;E14) also was set on Newton's farm and also featured a horse, although not shot on location.  

The rear-projection shot of the cast driving down the Las Vegas Strip is visually similar to the now iconic image of the Ricardos and the Mertzes driving across the George Washington Bridge in “California, Here We Come!” (ILL S4;E14), which was the first process shot used on television.  

Deja View! As with most rear projection process shots, the Harry’s car passes the same Las Vegas Strip landmarks several times as the scene goes on. 

BYOB (Bring Your Own Bass)!  Kim surprises everyone by asking Wayne Newton to sing. It is convincing enough that Newton’s brought along his guitar, to a picnic by the river, but it seems a stretch that Tommy has packed his upright bass!

Children & Animals! Working on location with live animals causes a few overlaps in dialogue and a few skillful ad libs by the cast. 

Ouch! Talking of the unpredictability of animals, when Harry chases the calf around the pen, Gale Gordon smashes into the barn wall with his right shoulder. Like the trouper he is, Gordon continues the scene! 

Stunt Roper?  When the script has Harry lasso Lucy instead of the calf, the camera goes in for a medium shot of Lucy, with Harry off screen for when the lasso lands around her. It may be that after several attempts, Gale Gordon allowed a more skilled roper to throw the rope around Lucy and then walks into the shot. There is a definite scene change for when Lucy and Harry have (supposedly) subdued the calf in order to brand him. Gale Gordon (63) and Lucille Ball (58) are obviously winded from the scene, but are definitely doing most of their own stunts with the live (and lively) calf. 

“Lucy and Wayne Newton” rates 3 Paper Hearts out of 5

[if-only-angels-could-prevail]

here’s my LONG ASS POST where i talk about my favorite movies of the year!* i included 11 favorites, 6 alternate choices, a list of my favorite performances, and a list of my favorite music in these movies.

*in this case, “year” means “awards season”

THE BEST ONES (11 picks because I couldn’t narrow it down to 10)

20th Century Women

After Mike Mills’ masterful ode to fatherhood in Beginners (a movie that changed my life as much as any movie ever has), he matches his predecessor and then some with 20th Century Women. This is a brilliant, moving, and funny rumination on womanhood and motherhood, on what it means to be a woman, and even an examination of what feminism means in America’s constantly-changing cultural landscape. Partly based on Mike Mills’ own childhood, he described the movie as a love letter to the women who raised him, and the affection and honesty is on full display. It examines three very different women, played by three wonderful actresses, and their effect on the adolescent Jamie, Mills’ own self-insert. It’s timely, political, charming, and full of stunningly relevant dialogue about gender conformity and what it entails. This is a movie about womanhood, for everyone.

American Honey

This is a movie best described by contradictions. It’s intimate and it’s epic, it’s dreamlike and it’s realistic, it’s devastating and emotionally fulfilling. There is very little story to speak of--Star is an 18-year-old woman who joins a ragtag group of young people who sell magazines across the country. The whole movie is meandering, but Andrea Arnold (a brilliant director, also check out Fish Tank) fills this simplistic storyline with so many quiet observations and confrontations that by the end, one feels both completely full and all the more curious. It is contemporary filmmaking at its most poetic and immediate.

Arrival

This is a movie that will leave (or rather, has left) everyone talking, which is exactly my type of science fiction. It’s a quiet testament to critical thought and language, and how thrilling it can be. My only quibble is that as wonderful as Amy Adams was (and she really was pitch-perfect), I think I might have enjoyed it more with unknown faces playing these characters. But that’s not the point. The point is there was one single moment--literally down to the very second--immediately before the end credits rolled when the entire movie clicked for me, and I was overjoyed. Such moments are extremely rare in film, and I can only hope other audiences experience (or did experience) the same ecstatic epiphany that I did in that final moment. 

The Handmaiden

A Korean gothic lesbian revenge story. I was sold as soon as I heard the description. This movie reminded me of all the most exciting plot-twisty mind-bending Hollywood creations (Gone Girl came to mind a lot), but the thrills were propelled even further by the sheer visual panache and gorgeous design work that are sometimes lacking in said genre. The acting was extraordinary as well. Another movie that’s probably best knowing very little about before you see it. It’s thrilling, violent, beautiful, and passionate storytelling. 

Hell or High Water

I’m slightly biased because I love the idea of the contemporary western (True Grit and The Homesman are two of my recent favorites), and this is a prime example of old-fashioned western filmmaking with a strong contemporary sensibility. Like 20th Century Women, it seems to exist in multiple generations, and even as the characters talk about something completely unrelated, I was acutely aware of the divide, of the fascinating visual contradictions. To me, this cultural conversation was the underlying force behind the way this old-hat story was told. But don’t get me wrong: this is a pitch-perfect screenplay, possibly the best of the year. And the cast is insanely good. 

Hidden Figures

I wanted to stand up and cheer at multiple points. I teared up during at least five different scenes. This is Hollywood filmmaking at its most shamelessly crowd-pleasing, and I ate it all up. I think when you have a story as worth telling as this one, a little crowd-pleasing is earned. It’s entertaining from beginning to end, and its cultural imprint (highest-grossing of all the best picture Oscar nominees) will be empowering from years to come.

Jackie

The best biopics are about more than one person. The best biopics both relate someone’s story with accuracy and use their story to confront the audience with their own selves. This is exactly what Jackie does: it’s an unsettling movie that gets under your skin, asking questions about celebrity, about luxury, about culture, about womanhood, all the while offering a stunning character portrait of one woman. This isn’t just a history lesson: this is a confrontational masterpiece, using this figurehead as a lens to examine our own selves. Jackie Kennedy passed away when I was less than a year old, but by the end of this movie, I felt like I knew her, and I felt like I knew myself better than I had before.

Lemonade

Beyonce casually reinventing the movie musical genre. Lemonade celebrates black femininity in a revelatory and empowering way. And yet, speaking as a white boy, it can be adored by anyone with an appreciation for aesthetic beauty, and anyone who loves music. (Seriously. Amazing music.) Like some other movies on this list, the narrative is thin, but it’s thematically tight, gripping, and always exuberant to watch. It will move anyone who’s struggled through an adult relationship, and even those who haven’t will feel privileged to watch this raw and emotionally naked portrait. It also proves that movie musicals need not be nostalgic fluff pieces (*cough*)--they can be current, they can be iconic, they can be culturally relevant, they can be hot-blooded, angry, sensitive, thrilling, poetic, feminist, and last but not least, unapologetically and exuberantly black.

Miss Sloane

I’m biased because I love Jessica Chastain. But his movie delivered. It’s about a fast-talking political lobbyist and how she navigates the political sphere, confronting her coworkers, her enemies, the law, and (most significantly) her own conscience. Its conversations are timely, as one would expect. But I found it most interesting as a contemporary morality play. Like Jackie, Miss Sloane is a character study which isn’t content being a mere character study--it confronts the audience on well-worn but ever-timely questions of how we define morality, happiness, and success. Some of the dialogue comes across as cheesy faux-Aaron Sorkin, which has drawn some criticism. The critics are right, but I ate it all up. This movie is more entertaining than any movie about a political lobbyist has any right to be, and even when it veers toward the unbelievable, it’s an awesome ride.

Moonlight

If I keep going back to the phrase “visual poetry,” it’s because this year in movies was an embarrassment of riches in that regard, Moonlight being a prime example. Every shot, every frame, felt so vital, deliberate, and beautiful. Moonlight is many things--a careful rumination on masculinity, a testament to parenthood, an artfully-crafted coming-of-age movie--but above all else, it’s a love story. A black gay love story, told with sincerity and a lot of heart. Quietly groundbreaking and cathartic.

Silence

Is it too bold to suggest this could be Scorsese’s masterpiece? It’s certainly among his most ambitious. And it’s painstakingly crafted, and dramatically tight. Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver (both acting up a storm) play 17th-century Jesuit priests who experience extended religious oppression in their efforts to spread Christianity throughout Japan. I know that sounds boring. But Silence is a force of nature, jaw-droppingly epic in scope. And yet for all its hugeness, for all its passion and melodrama, there is a stinging intimacy throughout that keeps one caring for these characters as if they’re longtime friends or brothers. And like every good period drama, it feels achingly contemporary, and the story feels heartbreakingly current. It’s a behemoth of a movie that my own paltry superlatives can hardly scratch the surface of, but trust me: it’s incredible.

ALTERNATES 

Allied

Great old-fashioned filmmaking without pandering to nostalgia. It’s an extremely handsome movie, and it’s dramatically taut, but the story still manages to defy your expectations at every turn. Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard are wonderful movie stars, perfectly cast in this old-fashioned yarn. I wish it had managed to find more of an audience, because it’s top-tier Hollywood storytelling.

Fences

Fences is indisputably a great play, so even a version that feels like a self-conscious adaptation is still going to be awfully good. Viola Davis is perfect, as we all know. Denzel Washington's performance felt too big for my taste, as if he didn’t do much in terms of translating his performance from stage to film, but obviously he’s a wonderful actor and charismatic as hell. Since not everyone can see Fences onstage, this movie is a damn good substitute.

Hail, Caesar!

The Coen brothers are likely my favorite movie directors working today--their last three movies in particular have all been extraordinary (A Serious Man, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis). Hail, Caesar! seems like an unusual next step for them, going back to some of their zanier antics, with a loving tribute to old Hollywood. But this isn’t cheap nostalgia--this is a deliciously original story, full of wacky surprises, a LOT of kooky characters, and some completely unexpected gags. It’s pure entertainment, if you’re buckled up for a lot of weirdness.

The Jungle Book

Another “pure entertainment” entry. I was awed by this live-action remake of the Disney classic. The artistry in the CGI was mind-blowing, and it had such an awesome power on the big screen. The classic story was told with care and economy, but the design and visual beauty was the main draw. And I always support unprompted musical numbers in non-musical movies.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Beautiful, beautiful designs, and a wonderfully original and twisty story. In retrospect, I wasn’t sold on all the plot elements, and the mostly-white cast playing Japanese characters seemed indelicate for several reasons. But it was visually stunning, the music was gorgeous, and the story was laudably original and full of imagination.

The Lobster

What makes dystopian stories so appealing is they offer the audience a lens to look at their own society through a foreign and fictional concept. The Lobster is a great example, offering a look at society’s expectations for how we treat romance and sex. The script starts to verge toward too much concept at points, but I found it compensated for its heavy plot turns with a treasure trove of wry observations. The acting and the execution is good, but in this instance, the script is the main draw, and one that left me thinking long after I had finished.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES I LOVED

Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig in 20th Century Women

Amy Adams in Arrival and Nocturnal Animals (despite my quibble about casting movie stars in Arrival, she delivered a brilliant performance)

Viola Davis in Fences

Kim Min-hee and Kim Tae-ri in The Handmaiden

The always-brilliant Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water

The entire cast of Hidden Figures

Natalie Portman in Jackie

Beyonce in Lemonade

Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in Loving

Michelle Williams in Manchester By The Sea

Jessica Chastain in Miss Sloane

Ashton Sanders, Andre Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali in Moonlight

Nathan Lane in No Pay, Nudity

Andrew Garfield in Silence

Paul Dano in Swiss Army Man

MUSIC I LOVED

Hail, Caesar!

Hidden Figures

Jackie

The Jungle Book

Kubo and the Two Strings

La La Land

Lemonade

Moana

Moonlight

Silence

Swiss Army Man