#i think my jeff design got a whole lot more beautiful in this one

[rainyarcades]

Something something graphic novel panel redraw

Who is this man. That's not Jeff

[theinstagrahame]

One of the things I like to do on Twitter is periodically post all of the stuff I've gotten from various crowdfunding and other Indie RPG sources. I am (apparently) a Kickstarter Superbacker, not in the sense of "Person who's constantly in the comments asking where something is", but in the sense of "Now that I've got some disposable income, I put a lot of it into the Indie and Small Press TTRPG scene."

This represents about 2-3 months of Crowdfunders coming to fruition and a couple of purchases from a couple of stores. Here's what's in the list (and a bit about why I'm hype for it!):

Top row

Arcon: The City of Neon Daylight - This year, I've getting into system agnostic setting guides. I recall hearing a lot about this one, because it set out to make a Cyberpunk setting that avoided some of the problematic tropes that tend to fall in with that aesthetic.

Public Guest 5 - It's an RPG on a poster! I was intrigued to see how it would play out, and really like the aesthetic. I have it framed and sitting behind my desk. Been thinking of working it into a (stalled) Ironsworn campaign to create an in-world artifact.

Die RPG - I'm admittedly a big Rowan, Rook and Deckard fanboy. I also read and enjoyed some of Kireon Gillen's work, and was intrigued by the team-up. Having since read the first 5 issues of the comic, I'm super into this whole thing. It seems like a really powerful skewering of some tropes in fantasy gaming, combined with an emotional intelligence that I'm really curious to dig into.

Upper-middle row

Anyone can Wear the Mask - I'm admittedly a big Jeff Stormer fanboy... (I was doing a bit, but honestly, he makes rad stuff. Check out Party of One asap). I loved Dee Pennyway's work on the system this is based on, and having heard a couple of playthroughs of this game, it's a must-have. Jumped on it as soon as it was available.

Scraps - Cesar Capacle's work in the scene is one-of-a-kind. I have yet to read it, but it bills itself as a crafting RPG with a hopeful streak, which I'm super intrigued by. I think I can learn a lot of design stuff from it, and I think it's going to just be a great game.

Derelict Delvers - Another Capacle banger idea. Again, got it in part because of the creator, but the concept is one I'm also intrigued by. Scrapping in space is something I've been more and more intrigued by. So, I'll have to make some time to get into this one.

The Vaults of Vaarn - I'm admittedly susceptible to peer pressure... I mean. Wait. No. I've heard really good, intriguing things about this, and Games Omnivorous has made a ton of really amazing, high-quality volumes that I guess I'm starting to collect? Lately, I've been getting a lot of Weird Sci-fi stuff, and I understand this is part of that world.

Lower-middle row

Broken Cities - I picked up another of Come Martin's works, Meanwhile, in the Subway, a little bit ago. It's an RPG printed on a subway map, that takes place in a weird public transit. This game takes place in the city that the transit serves. It's standalone, but I can't wait to see how they connect.

The Fall of Home - Zinequest is a rough month for me, because so many people make such rad stuff that I struggle to control my purchases (see, Superbacker, above). Fall of Home hit a lot of intriguing touchstones, and... well, I'm fascinated by a lot of things, but exploring ruins with a very personal touch just grabs me.

Rad-Hack - I've got a couple of other Skullfungus titles, and I keep hearing about the Black Hack. This was an impulse purchase on Lulu, where Cesar Capacle's books are printed, but I'm curious to see how close this skews to the Fallout series, and whether it's a better fit for my tastes than the Fallout RPG...

Bottom row

Spindlewheel - Honestly, when I backed this, I expected to get a beautiful, tarot-like set of cards to use as an oracle or for games of its own. I underestimated how beautiful this set was going to be. Gold-edged, they're shiny and printed on fantastic card stock. I've mostly stared at these things, I almost worry that if I play them too much I'll damage them.

Down we Go + Beneath the Necropolis - Backed this initially because I've been getting more embedded into the Plus One EXP community of late, and I think this is their flagship title. Having heard a couple of APs, and played around with the system a little, I'm super hyped to really dig into the system.

No Way to Make a Living - Early on in my time in the indie RPG scene, I recall hearing Sandy Pug Games talk about this book. A series of interviews with creators in the space, from huge names down to the more esoteric folks. When I heard this was being printed by Metal Weave Games, it became a Must-have. (Arcon was an impulse purchase to go along with it).

The Million Islands of Doom - I really love Snow's work in general, and again, setting guides are my go-to. It feels a lot like Zelda (a series that means so much to me, my therapist has told me to play more of it as therapy homework...), specifically Wind Waker, but with a more RPG-flavored world. I've skimmed it, but really want to dig in. I'm constantly trying to figure out how I'll pair this up with either Games Omnivorous' Bottled Sea, or Skullfungus' Isle of Ixx.

Dinocar - Dinoberry Press makes the raddest stuff. I nearly passed on this, but I do spend some time with some family friends whose kids are into dinosaurs, the parents are into RPGs, and I figure if we should start them early. Plus, the thought of building a city and sending dinos in cars through it? Yet another of my many jams.

On Twitter, because I kinda hate typing stuff on my phone, I don't really get this deep into why I'm hype for the stuff I get. This was kinda fun, though! Maybe I'll do it again in a couple of months.

Bonus, some other gaming and game-design stuff I've gotten

Thunder Road Vendetta - When I was a kid, a friend's family owned the original version of this game. I never played it, but always wanted to. I very loosely understood some of the components, and wanted to see how they fit together (why it took me to my mid-30s to get into game design, I'll never know). So, when Restoration Games announced a revamp, I was in. I've picked up a couple of their other titles, and they make good games.

Self Made Man - Several years ago, I went to visit a friend in Portland, ME. They had gotten really into the community for a local comic shop up there. Periodically, the owner (and some other folks in that community) make comics, like this one. I like to support them both because they're friends, and because their stuff is always fun.

The Affinity Designer Workbook - I didn't pick up the Affinity Publisher workbook when I first got Publisher, and kinda kicked myself when it fell out of print. When Affinity put out their 2.0 suite, I grabbed it, and Designer is the next on I want to learn, so when I saw it on Thriftbooks, I snagged a copy.

My hope is that these posts don't come off as anything other than me being hyped about all the really rad stuff that the Indie RPG and small press gaming scenes are coming up with. I try to give each of them a similar amount of hype, because there are some really cool designers toiling away in near obscurity, and they very much deserve to be mentioned in the same breaths as some of the bigger names.

So, if any of my hype rubs off on you, go check 'em out!

[sheraphic]

hiii could you do one of these instagram things with eve.frsn and harry, i just love her style xoxo ♥️♥️♥️

𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

◃────────────────────────────────▹

author's note; hi there anon, sorry for the waiting but here it is your request, hope you like it.

warnings; there can be a few mistakes with the grammar.

「 REQUESTS ARE OPEN 」

It would be wonderful If you ~reblog it~ that help me a lot, it inspire me for write more.

// masterlist //

◃────────────────────────────────▹

Liked by nickjonas, barbarapalvin and 3,633,820 others

yourinstagram walked all day and couldn't find the rainbow

View all 32,712 comments

harrystyles I'm looking at one right now

⤅ynfan992 he calls her rainbow 😩

⤅harryfan672 who gave you the right to be the most perfect boyfriend in the world?

⤅harryfan888 @harryfan672 only on this world?

⤅harryfan672 @harryfan888 you're right, let me correct it; the most perfect boyfriend in the whole universe

barbarapalvin love how you guys match in a heavenly way

yndaily I'm not gonna say who took this picture bc y'all know it already

⤅yourinstagram a stranger

⤅harryfan623 @yourintagram omg hahaha poor harry

⤅ynfan018 @yourintagram like, who's harry?

harryfan540 but- her eyes... so damn beautiful

stinegoyastudio lovely lady

yourbffinstagram saw it from my window 🌈

harryfan092 PROOFS!

⤅ynfan176 @harryfan092 what do you mean?

⤅harryfan092 @ynfan176 that they walk all around the city and no one saw them

⤅ynfan176 @harryfan092 uhm?? it's not like every single person in the city gonna be looking for them... You know, everyone have their own bussines

⤅harryfan800 @ynfan176 exactly! Why someone have to confirm that they were walking?

⤅harryfan092 @harryfan800 bc then it's not real

⤅ynfan176 @harryfan092 omg... Get outta here

lookitsnyoh i'm the blurry spot behind you

ynfan388 everyday passed by without being blessed to be beside you

ynfan729 ok but I want the beanie and the scarf

Liked by yourinstagram, gemmastyles and 8,629,820 others

harrystyles In the middle of a rainy june

View all 52,913 comments

yourinstagram all that green and your eyes are still my favorites

⤅harrystyles @yourinstagram I'm blushing. On my way to... Where am I going?

⤅harryandyn guys stop, i can't cry all day

⤅yndaily she's a poet and he's her inspiration

⤅harryupdates @harrystyles love, i think you got a little bit flustered

⤅harryfan723 i want what they have!

harryfan811 when it will be my turn?

kaiagerber can she be my photographer?

harryfan402 everybody, say thank you to yn for took this picture of a lovely man

⤅harryfan331 @harryfan402 just imagining that he posed for it 🥺

alessandro_michele what a cutie

harryfan101 can- can i be god's favourite for once?

cazoff model material, naturally

adamprendergast_ what a pretty boy smiling at the void

⤅harryfan699 now i now that adam is the annoying friend of the gruop

emiozmen @harryfan699 don't even doubt it

harryking may a offer you an umbrella, my lord?

⤅harrynews one fan said he had an umbrella, but he just doesn't use it

⤅harryfan782 let the boy get wet

⤅harryfan226 @harryfan782 YOU DIDN'T

⤅ynfan335 @harryfan782 this is my favorite comment ever

troyesivan my life is brighter now

⤅harryfan602 @troyesivan we need a collab

⤅columbiarecords indeed

⤅harryfan602 @columbiarecords wait wtf

Liked by gemmastyles, emmalouisecorrin and 5,290,214 others

yourinstagram contrast 🔹🔻

View all 30,171 comments

florencepugh = 💜

⤅yourinstagram :)

harryfan222 omg i get it now

ynfan889 this is so adorable

yoursisterinstagram this is a lot of chaotic energy for my board

yndaily we love their eclectic little world

zendaya big fan of your hair

ynfan022 how can i not love this two weirdos?

harrystyles you said crazy pose, not dramatic

⤅yourinstagram @harrystyles your smile it's crazy delightful

⤅harryfan700 @yourinstagram can i be you girlfriend too?

⤅harryfan191 @harryfan700 same, i fell in love because she knows exactly what she's doing

⤅ynfan748 this man won the best woman ever

harryandyn god, i see what you do for others

charlotteanneclark a mood

harryfan882 i really love that he feels so comfortable with her and their relationship to let us see this.

⤅harryfan525 @harryfan882 ikr he finallt let us see this side of him and I'm an emotional mess

⤅harryfan106 @harryfan882 i think we finally understand that he has a life and can love whoever he chooses

rosalia.vt happy but confused at the same time

harryfan441 ugh, they are so foolishly in love

t_chalament it's a yes from me

⤅harryfan722 timothee represents me

ynfan831 she matches his personality so perfectly

annetwist lovely pics!

⤅ynfan029 she loves her 🤍

Liked by dualipa, harry_lambert and 8,190,644 others

harrystyles The route was traced, the playlist was ready; and even like that we get lost.

View all 76,882 comments

yourinstagram told you to give the map and you said no

⤅harrystyles @yourinstagram I wanted it to be a surprise!

⤅harrynews i can't bear too much cuteness

⤅ynfan551 these two are the only couple that made me belive that true love exists

⤅yndaily ow, an older couple having a disagreement🥺

⤅ynfan670 @yndaily i have high hopes for them getting married

mitchrowland I explained to you three times how the gps works...

⤅harryandyn harry and technology doesn't mix well

harryfan661 @mitchrowland he's a baby, you know?

⤅ynfan771 I'm from the future, and i came here to tell everyone that mitch doesn't know how a gps works either

⤅harryfan880 @yourfan771 I CAN'T WITH HITCH

pillowpersonpp oh, to get lost with great music in the background because your boyfriend it's too stubborn yo let you be the guide... Yes, it happened to me too

⤅yourinstagram @pillowpersonpp i hope god receives us both in paradise for having dealt with these men

⤅harryfan720 stoooooop mitch and harry twins

⤅ynfan182 @yourinstagram you're just a genius with your comments! 🖤

⤅harryfan788 @mitchrowland you gf exposed you, what are you gonna do about it?

⤅lookitsnyoh @harryfan788 the best thing he can do it's to bake some bread for her

helenepambrun so that pic was while you guys stop for indications or...?

⤅harryfan693 HELPPPPPPP

harryfan this it's so harry you can't tell me otherwise

harryfan ok but her dress, the vintage car and the vibe of being lost with your lover-💗 ugh, please leave alone with my singleness

mrbenwinston "the route was traced"

⤅harrystyles It was.

⤅harryfan837 HAHAHAHAHA STOP

⤅harryfan681 all his friends are roasting him lol

⤅harryfan716 he's upset, someone quick give him a lollipop!

⤅ynfan682 i really love this side of his fans

⤅harryfan346 @ynfan682 it has to be this way, otherwise he'll throw a tantrum

zanelowe harry mate, you better start listen to your girl

harryfan380 i'm laughing more than i should, sorry for them, but this it's golden comedy

Liked by harrystyles, jefeazoff and 3,190,644 others

yourinstagram excuse the sunburn

View all 38,672 comments

harrystyles sorry, didn't know the lipstick would be waterproof

⤅harryfan806 did he just say that he kissed her cheeks while wearing lipstick?!

⤅traceeellisross @yourinstagram your boyfriend burned you sweetie haha

⤅harryfan992 i need the name of that lipstick, no matter if i have to give all my money

⤅harryandyn I can't, i just can't stop thinking about harry pecking kisses all over her face

⤅yndaily @harryandyn just thinking how funny It was the moment she realized that the kiss prints couldn't be wiped away and give harry a look like 😠

⤅harryfan714 @yndaily shut uppp! And he just giggling like the fckin demon that he is

harry_lambert ok guys you need to stop because i can't spend the whole day liking all your comments...

⤅harryfan782 then tell them to not be this iconic 🤧

dovecameron it's like seeing an angel in her own heaven

ynfan602 this queen and her eyes are the only reason i'm still alive

reiflerpaige you and italy are old lovers

harryfan503 i love that her hair it's the exact same color as her eyes! It's insanely accurate!

harryupdates you dind't hear this from me, but someone said that harry made that neacklace for her

⤅ynfan101 please don't do this me, i don't have enough tears to express how happy that makes me

⤅harryfan559 I KNEW IT!

⤅harryfan883 @harrystyles do you ship internationally? I would like to order one piece, pretty please 🤍

Liked by arianagrande, annetwist and 7,380,721 others

harrystyles Malva thoughts.

View all 82,110 comments

gemmastyles I'll never share my favorite color with you again.

⤅harryfan733 this is so funny

⤅harryfan892 yep, that's something aquarius would do

⤅harryfan019 @harryfan892 no proof but i have zero doubts

yourinstagram Isn't that my white tablecloth you're painting on?

⤅ynfan129 someone is in trouble

⤅harryfan899 no in a white tablecloth harry!

⤅harryfan782 i can see a storm coming

⤅harryfan673 @harrystyles hey lad, i think they looking for you

⤅harryfan018 @harrystyles that's it, you'll sleeping on the bathtub tonight

zoeisabellakravitz Try periwinkle.

⤅harrystyles It's already in my notes

⤅harryfan820 most iconic interaction

anthonyturnerhair need to know where i can get those flower pots

⤅harryfan675 omg me too!

⤅harryfan772 i bet he has really cool items all around his place

⤅harryfan099 @harryfan772 i bet he was an interior designer on his past life

⤅ynfan681 @harryfan772 those are yn's flowerpots actually and you can find them on amazon! 🤎

⤅harryfan772 @ynfan681 wait, really?? They're sooo cool omg

⤅harryfan388 @ynfan681 so that means they're living together?!

mollyjane_x Prodigy

⤅harryfan819 he can sit on a rock and we'll say he's a fucking legend

⤅harryfan912 where's the lie?

claraamfo music, reading, painting... Leave some for the rest of us, the mortals.

⤅harryfan891 right? It's like, why he has to be so good at everything?

⤅ynfan723 And he's also @yourinstagram broyfriend 😩

⤅claraamfo @ynfan723 that's what hurt the most

sammywitte I never knew you knew how to paint.

⤅jefeazoff leave the kid explore.

⤅harryfan662 hahahaha i can't with jeff's comment

⤅harryfan982 @harryfan662 it's like they just comment to roasting him

⤅harryfan222 @harryfan982 and we are loving it!

⤅harryfan116 true friendship it's this

flammedepigelle inspired.

⤅harryfan671 oh, well...

⤅harryfan927 now e news it's going to write a ridiculous post about a love triangle between yn, harry and sharon

⤅ynfan813 @harryfab927 don't give them ideas! 🤫

⤅harryfan927 @ynfan814 omg you're right, I'm gonna delete it!

jennynails delivery will be this wednesday!

⤅harryfan712 harry's nails will be malva?

⤅harryfan991 omg that's so cute

Liked by tchalamet, zendaya and 4,375,092 others

yourinstagram I'm Malva.

View all 42,713 comments

harrystyles In fact, you're the whole palette, my darling

⤅yourinstagram 🤍

⤅harryandyn he loves his little rainbow

⤅harryfan881 yep, that's my heart full of happiness to see him be so in love with her

⤅harryfan092 she is perfect for him. I mean it.

⤅harryfan330 she will take him to the moon for us.

⤅harryfan445 @harryfan330 and all we can say is thank you to the wonderful yn.

⤅harryfan672 @harryfan330 you should stop with that because it's ridiculous... She already took him to the whole milky way 🌌

⤅ynfan168 @harryfan672 omg i thought you were about to say something nasty about their relationship

⤅harryupdates @harryfan672 we thought that too, we were ready to reply back

⤅harryfan610 @harryupdates to fight back*

⤅harryfan777 @harryfan672 your comment was genious

⤅harryfan672 @harryupdates omg, didn't expect my comment will attract so much attention.

⤅harryfan672 @ynfan168 the only nasty thing i could say about their relationship it's that i'm deeply jealous

yndaily yeah yeah, so cute. When is the wedding?

massimobottura Undeniable expression of love.

⤅ynfan220 now i picturing them eating massimo bottura's delicious food... leave me alone please

⤅harryfan688 @ynfan220 this warms my heart

selenagomez Oh, he draw you ❤️

⤅harrystyles He indeed did it

⤅harryfan672 I can't with this man referring to himself in the third person

⤅harryfan339 @harryfan672 he's a weirdo

⤅harryfan980 thank god it's yn's problem now

⤅harryfan100 we finally can have some peace

⤅ynfan764 good luck honey @yourinstagram

⤅harryandyn this comment section it's gold

glenne_azoff now is when you decided to post in b&w?

⤅yourinstagram aesthetic

⤅harryfan771 I'm laughing more than i want heeelp

⤅harryfan821 @yourinstagram idol

annetwist I will need a copy of it

⤅harryfan111 guys I'm crying and it's just 8am

⤅harryfan337 if queen anne loves her, y'all need to do it as well. No excuses

⤅ynfan008 @harryfab337 has been decreed

harleyweir Didn't know i needed to see this, but I'm happy

charlotteanneclark You two put my expectations so high

⤅harryfan723 someone finally say it

⤅ynfan092 now i need a harry to my yn

spaceykacey lovers in their little birdhouse

tylersamj I see a stubble :)

⤅mitchrowland don't give him hopes, @tylersamj

⤅jefeazoff don't crash his hopes, @mitchrowland

⤅gemmastyles stop defending him, @jefeazoff

⤅harrystyles I want to grow a lumberjack beard :)

⤅yourinstagram we already talked about this, Harry.

– comments have been limited –

[that-crazy-five-foot-two-chick]

You ready? Cuz ITS FRIDAY WHOO!!

This week I am asking what is one (or a few) of your favorite lines of dialogue that you've written? :D

So this turned into an actual database of excerpts that took me half a day to compile but have at it (some that come from very earnest parts of my heart and a lot that just make me cackle):

Kitten:

"I don't know or care what you're implying about me, you jerk, but you can keep your nose out of Al's business." Ed's voice softened. "Anyone that innocent, especially after all we've been through, deserves to be able to stay that way."

-

[Ling] "You wound me so, Edward! Where was the kinship we shared when we ate your boot?"

You Infect Me:

[it's so freaking dumb but you gotta give me points for creativity]

[Saeyoung] He grabbed a bottle and a bag and took a running start. He leapt like February 29th! Spun like a silkworm! And flopped like diving flippers! Onto the couch.

-

“What have you been doing all day anyway? Hacking into government files? Destroying the world one cat at a time?” Saeran shuddered. “Making those stupid TokTik videos?”

-

Saeran rolled his eyes. "Just get in the shower. Maybe when you get your pants off, you can get on the toilet and relieve some of that emotional constipation."

Blind Trust:

"HOLY FUDGE NUGGETS ON BACON ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME???" [MC]

-

[innuendo ahead; MC and Vanderwood]

"Do I otherwise have to wear anything in particular? That's not a lot to go off of."

"Doesn't matter to me. Now go change before I do the job myself."

"I wouldn't complain."

"This is not that kind of date! Go!"

"Fine, Sir Panties-in-a-bunch."

-

[Vanderwood and MC, after sassing]

"Such a docile wife I have. Never difficult, never demanding."

"You think it's sexy. Don't even try to deny it."

"I would have filed for immediate divorce if the description 'docile' actually fit you."

-

"...I've long come to the realization that every person is hardwired to desire love of one kind or another. I know I'm still unlearning all of my coping mechanisms, and I know I'm still sharp with some people, but with you?" [Vanderwood] smoothed a hair back from her face. "I'll take whatever love you can give me."

-

MC cackled. "You cannot be serious. I've got to be a mess right now."

"You act as if that's a contradiction. It's the mess that makes you more beautiful."

-

"Shame indeed," MC parroted, trying to steal another kiss from his lips and stealing one from his nostrils instead.

-

"You think you can charm your way out of anything," MC responded airily. "Well, you're right."

-

"Vandy…" She exhaled. "We've gone over this whole 'not deserving it' thing. Whether you deserve it or not doesn't matter. To me, what matters is your heart. You have such a beautiful heart, Vandy."

Waste It on Me: [spoilers for anyone who hasn't read it, but it's one of my top favorites]

Vanderwood growled in frustration. "Why is it so hard for you to believe that you deserve good things and that those things aren't unrealistic?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Why do you think it's such a waste of your time if you know what you want and what you don't want and if it could make you happy?"

"Because I've lived over a quarter of a century and not seen it once, Vanderwood!" Her voice broke. "Not once."

He gritted his teeth. "Fine then, MC. Fine. If love is nothing more than just a waste of your time, why not waste it on me?"

Golden Eyes and Golden Drinks:

[Winry re: Edward] "Who's off-brand Gerard Way in the corner?"

-

[Winry and Edward]

"I'm trying very, very hard to keep this to a stage whisper, but if you keep trying to set me up with some random creep, I won't be able to!"

A distinctly male voice grumbled, "I'm not a creep."

"Keep telling that to the girls on Tinder. I'm sure they'll understand eventually."

"Yeah, and I'll bet if you look at your 'Live, Laugh, Love' sign a little more, you'll understand it eventually."

-

[Ed and Winry; I'm proud of this one for the ADHD rep]

And for your information, coffee doesn't really help me wake up. It just helps me focus on homework." He lifted up his empty cup and gave it a shake.

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"ADHD is a weird thing, and yet, here I am."

I Want Your Lips More Than Your Repair Bills: [Winry POV]

But maybe, just maybe, kissing Edward would make him forget the scars on his heart. Just for a moment. His smile was like the noonday sun, and she would get to feel it pressed against her own lips. In the end, his happiness might just be the real reward.

Elric Escorts: (including all my chapter titles)

As [Edward] looked through the front door, three thoughts jumped to the forefront of his mind:

Holy mother of Jesus, she's gorgeous.

Being the kid of a former pastor really takes a toll on your use of expletives.

How does a woman so small carry a bag so gigantic and heavy?

-

[Winry and Ed]

"The plating design seems awfully familiar though...what company made your leg?"

"It was actually some local hag. Name's Pinako Rockbell."

"WHAT?"

"Alright, alright, geez, I'm sorry I called her a hag. She's always on my case for every little thing, though."

Winry's expression of utter shock remained unchanged.

"Is it that I go to an independent outfitter? I would have thought that you'd be more understanding, considering your family business and all."

Winry finally spoke up. "No, it's not that. Pinako Rockbell is my grandmother. Granny and I run the family business. So yeah. I'm Winry Rockbell."

-

[Alphonse, to Edward]

"Or, you know, I could just send myself your cringiest selfies to use for blackmail. Fyi, angling them from below doesn't make you look taller. It just makes you look like a Facebook mom."

-

[Mei] "I just like the idea of stabbing people for a living," she said, looking up at Al sweetly.

-

Alphonse snickered. "The cat's name is Jeff?"

The corners of Mei's mouth twitched. "Jeff Bezos, actually."

"What?" Al laughed incredulously.

"The owners have a peculiar sense of humor. The way they explained it to me, they thought that the idea of telling a billionaire to stop pooping on the carpet was amusing."

-

The aforementioned cat was vastly uninterested in discussing their shared past, finding herself more keen on making sure a certain giant stranger was worthy of their presence. The intruder held out a hand smelling suspiciously of her best friend's makeup. Maybe he stole some! Xiao Mei bravely came to her friend's defense, biting the giant's hand as hard as she could. Alas! He barely even flinched!

-

Basically, any AlMei that I've written are my favorite lines.

If anyone got through all of this, I applaud you but also wonder what the heck you're doing with your life. You must really like my writing for some reason.

[365days365movies]

May 7, 2021: TRON (1982)

Starting to leave lo-fi sci-fi with this one.

Can I just say, I am VERY excited for this one. Mostly because it’s hard to get more ‘80s than this movie, specifically in terms of computers. I’ll explain. Y’know Jurassic Park? Yeah, the same movie I’ve brought up far, FAR too many times this month. Is...is that my favorite sci-fi movie? Shit, it might be? I’ve read the books, I’ve seen the movie COUNTLESS times...I’m pretty sure it is! Huh. Go figure. Anyway, where was I?

Oh, right! Remember the most irritating character in the movie? This is, in my opinion, older sister Lex Murphy. In the book, for the record, she’s a VERY different character. She’s the youngest sibling amongst the two, and she’s a sports nerd who hates dinosaurs. And she’s also the most annoying character in the book, so at least they kept that consistent. However, you may be saying to yourself: “Jesus, this dude really loves Jurassic Park. Even in the intro for Tron, he’s talking about it. Why the hell does he keep bringing it up?”

Well, allow me to explain. When I was 9 years old, I was super into two things: dinosaurs and reading. You may think that I wasn’t very popular in school as a result. And the truth won’t surprise you. Anyway, on January 3rd, 2001, it was a cold morning in the supermarket when

...OK, lemme get to the point. IT’S A UNIX SYSTEM!

See, this moment when Lex hacks into the computer to reactivate the locks (a task given to Tim in the book, but whatever) does two things. One, it makes Lex relevant in a film and story where she’s almost entirely unneeded. And two, it established something in the minds of movie-watchers everywhere: a completely misguided idea of what computer programming is.

And this is just one of MANY examples of Hollywood weirdly representing computers to the public. This was kind of a trend throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, as computers were beginning to become available to the public. Examples are:

WarGames (1983), dir. John Badham

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), dir. James Cameron

Revenge of the Nerds (1984), dir. Jeff Kanew

Weird Science (1985), dir, John Hughes

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), dir. Russo Bros

That last one isn’t a great example, and it’s not even within the right time period. I just love Arnim Zola, and he NEEDS TO RETURN to the MCU. Goddamn it, I want this guy back, complete with his full robot body! COME ON FIEGE, LOOK AT THIS GUY! That last one may or may not be my fanart for the character with my own design NEVERTHEGODDAMNLESS!

Look, all you gotta do is connect the various machinations of Arnim Zola to the foundations of AIM, which is easy given their link in the comics. Zola and his fellow Paperclip scientists helped fund Aldrich Killian’s AIM, and the project to give Zola his sick-ass robot body eventually wound up being a part of the project that would create the hovering robotic chair used by this guy.

THIS IS ALL I’VE EVER WANTED PLEASE

...Ahem.

Anyway, the weird-ass ways that Hollywood’s represented computers, hacking, and all other associated things can be traced back to 1982, when the first film to use mostly computer generated imagery for its setting was created. This was, of course, Disney’s TRON. And while I haven’t seen it before...I’ve see its sequel in theaters?

On a related note, Tron Legacy might be a mediocre film with a mediocre soundtrack, but GODDAMN DO IT LOVE THE FUCKING VISUALS. It’s genuinely my favorite aesthetic. That whole “outlined in light” thing? Goooooooh, BABY, how I love it.

Style over substance, but OH THE FUCKING STYLE

Anyway, despite that, I’m looking forward to seeing where the whole thing came from. I dig that style, too. Is there a name for those aesthetics? Let me know, so I can devote my life to it forever. Anyway, shall we get started?

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

So, we start this movie off with a BANG, jumping into an arcade where two kids are playing none other than Lightcycle, and jumping into said Lightcycles to meet one of the drivers, Sark (David Warner). A sadistic program, he takes great pleasure in executing programs in Lightcycle races.

One of these programs, in fact, is being brought into imprisonment now, to be set against Sark in a race. The program, Crom (Peter Jurasik), speaks with fellow prisoner Ram (Dan Shor), where we get some idea of the lore of this place. Many programs believe in “the Users”, god-like figures who they believe created them and tell them what to do. However, the mysterious Master Control Program is rounding up the programs that believe in Users, taking over their functions or executing them. Diggin’ the lore so far.

In the real world, we meet Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer programmer commanding his own program, Clu (also Bridges), and...look, I’m not sure what they’re doing, but OHHH. IT’S A UNIX SYSTEM, BABY. The beautiful bullshit that this movie uses to denote computer activity and programming, it’s...MMMMMMMMMCHEF’SKISS, it’s so FUCKING GOOD!

Anyway, Clu’s apparently being sent to find some information, but he’s caught by Master Control. Jeff Bridges shows off some pretty over-the-top acting, but it’s charming as hell. Clu’s interrogated by Master Control Program (also Warner), and killed, or “derezzed”. This frustrates Flynn, but why?

Well, we get a clue from MCPs concentration with Ed Dillinger (David Warner), who arrives at his office in the COOLEST FUCKING HELICOPTER I HAVE EVER SEEN. I will never make enough money to have this helicopter, but maybe one day I can do it to a car, holy shit. Anyway, Dillinger lands and enters the ENCOM building, where he speaks with his computer table, which contains MCP.

Is this a thing with computer programmers? Do they, like, physically talk to their programs, and the programs talk back? Is this a thing that happens? Are the conversations interesting? Are IT people literally computer-whisperers? I gotta talk to my friends in computer sciences and IT about this.

Apparently, Flynn’s been snooping around their servers for a specific file, and they’re trying to stop him from getting that file. Meanwhile, in an office in the building, a man named Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) is blocked out of the system in an attempt to flush out Flynn’s location. Bradley’s summoned to the office for what seems like a routine interview, but is actually more of an investigation. Doesn’t go anywhere.

On a side note, by the way, it would appear that MCP is somewhat in control of Dillinger. Although, how and why is unknown. In any case, he’s attempting to amass power. Additionally, the fact that he’s directly speaking to one of the Users is...interesting. And on a second side note, Bradley is preparing something, a security program called “Tron”. That might come up later.

MEANWHILE, elsewhere in the building, a group of scientists are conducting an experiment to digitize solid matter and transport it into computers. It succeeds with an orange, much to their delight and celebration. One of these scientists is Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan), Flynn’s ex-girlfriend and Alan’s current girlfriend. They go to the arcade to reconvene with Flynn, much to Alan’s irritation.

Flynn not only owns the place, he’s also a game whiz, brilliant computer programmer, and recently fired ex-employee of ENCOM. He’s also been sneaking into the ENCOM system, and he details exactly why he’s moving against them. While working for ENCOM, he had started writing programs for some very complex video games, which could’ve have made him quite a bit of money. But Dillinger stole his files, and uses it to climb up the ranks to Senior Executive of ENCOM, while Flynn lounges in relative poverty. He’s planning on getting into the system to get evidence of Dillinger’s wrongdoing.

The trio plots to take down Dillinger and get the evidence together, breaking into ENCOM that night. Meanwhile, Dillinger’s meeting with Walter Gibbs (Barnard Hughes), a co-founder of the company, and one of the other scientists who made the digitizing machine. Dillinger says YOUR TIME IS OVER OLD MAN, and brushes off his concerns about he’s handing the company.

He’s not the only one with issues, as MCP decides to take over FOR Dillinger. Apparently, Dillinger’s talents are stealing data and creating Cybernet/HAL 9000. Good job, buddy. But that may end, when Alan goes to finish and install his program, Tron, which will hopefully take MCP down. Meanwhile, Lora and Flynn go to the basement with the digitizing machine. At the computer terminal, MCP decides to stop Flynn by...well, you know where this is headed.

Yup! Flynn’s brought into the computer by Lora’s machine, and is digitized and put into the game grid. And since we’ll be spending a lot of time there, I think I need to acknowledge something: I really love how this movie looks. The CGI is rudimentary, but it’s used surprisingly well. Consider that this is also made in an era where this is the kind of imagery that computers could literally generate at the time, and you’ve got a pretty great movie in-context.

Flynn, now in those spiffy program duds, is sent by the MCP to compete in the Game Grid, under Sark’s supervision and tutelage. He’s thrown into the brig with the other imprisoned programs, where he learns more about this world. Once brought into the throes of the Game Grid, he’s told that those who believe in the Users are to be trained poorly, ensuring their inevitable death. Meanwhile, those who renounce their belief will be spared. And of all the programs who still believe in the Users, there is none quite as powerful...as Tron (Bruce Boxleitner again).

We see Tron’s badass skills in Ultimate Frisbee. And OK, it’s not Ultimate Frisbee, but you throw discs that contain all of your essence and all of the things you’ve learned in your time there. You basically pour your entire essence and being into the disc as you throw it. So, really, it is Ultimate Frisbee, according to that one dude who’s REALLY into Ultimate Frisbee.

Flynn is commanded to play one of these games, and he winds fairly easily. However, when he defeats his opponent, he’s almost about to die. However, Flynn refuses to finish him off, leading Sark to do so instead. And Sark is tempted to kill Flynn as well, but he holds off at the last moment.

Flynn finally gets to meet Tron, where he feigns being a program that knows of his User, Alan. Of course, Tron looks exactly like Alan, which is why Flynn blurts out his name. But as they’re discussing this, Flynn, Tron, and fellow prisoner Ram are sent to compete in the Lightcycles. And, yes, I’m now looking for a game like this on my phone, because GODDAMN to I love Lightcycles. Can’t WAIT for the Disney World ride, oh my GOOOOD. 

So, our guys get in the Lightcycles, and they outmaneuver Sark’s guys. They’re actually able to escape the arena and the Game Grid, making it outside the citadel. They encounter a, uh, bitstream, and soak up some energy before moving on. On the way, though, they’re nearly killed by Sark’s guys in tanks, and Tron is separated from Flynn an the unconscious Ram.

Flynn and Ram finds a place to rest and hide, and Flynn discovers that, as a User, he actually has the ability to somewhat manipulate the reality within the computer, and he makes a version of MCPs ships, the Recognizers, which resemble the villains in Flynn’s game that Dillinger stole. Now realizing that Flynn is a user, Ram asks him to help Tron, before dying and disappearing into pure code. Whoof.

Tron, meanwhile, ends up finding an input/output program named Yori (Cindy Morgan), who helps him in his escape. She takes him through the city, where we see some interesting designs for control programs, almost like a Hunger Games Panem sort of deal.

Flynn has trouble driving his ship, as he meets a “bit”, a small bit of data that only answers in yes or no. He, too, ends up in the city, and you start to notice that this film has a really heavy influence in our cyberpunk concepts and fashions today. Honestly, I really dig this whole thing. Kevin uses his programming powers to disguise himself as one of Sark’s guards, while Yori and Tron find their way through the main citadel of the guards.

They make their way through to the access tower, where they ask the program Dumont (Barnard Hughes again) to let them access the interface that will allow them to speak with the Users, specifically Alan. Reluctantly, Dumont agrees to let Tron through, where he goes to the access port. Which, for the record, looks awesome. He goes to speak with Alan, and he does that one pose. Y’know, the famous Tron pose that’s on the poster?

Yeah, that’s the good stuff. Anyway, he gets information written onto his disc that’ll allow him to kill MCP. Neat. And unfortunately, that’s exactly when Sark and his guys show up, taking Dumont away as Tron and Yori escape. Yori gets them onto a Solar Sailer, a device that will transport them to the central computer. Tron fends off some of Sark’s guys with video game noise kicks, and the Solar Sailer arrives to take them away.

Sark chases after them, but the pair manage to outrun his very cool-looking ship. MCP threatens to destroy Sark for his failure, but he promises that he’ll be able to get them. On the ship, Tron looks down at the side to see Flynn hanging on. Turns out that he was one of the guards that attacked the two. Tron pulls him up onto the ship, and Flynn reveals that he is, in fact, a user. He also reveals that Users aren’t exactly the gods that programs believe them to be.

Anyway, how’s Dumont doing?

Ah.

Well, the Recognizers find Tron, Yori, and Flynn, and chase after them on the light beam the Solar Sailer is on. However, with his User powers, Flynn manages to get the Sailer onto a different beam, while pulses on the original beam destroy the Recognizers.

Doesn’t end up mattering much, though, as Sark finally catches up and intercepts the group. The Solar Sailer is destroyed, and Yori and Flynn are thrown in the brig with Dumont, who’s still alive! Can’t say quite as much for Tron, apparently. But, again, I can only assume that Ton is still alive. We’ll see, though. Sark denies Flynn’s identity as a User for some reason (I mean, MCP told you who he was, but OK), and he sentences them all to death. Outside the ship, of course, is Tron, who’s hiding and waiting for the right time to strike. And that is when we finally see him.

Glorious. Absolutely goddamn glorious. MCP is taking the remaining programs that believe in Users, Dumont included, and incorporating them into his mass. Meanwhile, Sark has found Tron, and the two are fighting with a classic game of Ultimate Frisbee. Tron nearly defeats Sark entirely, but MCP revives him, and gives him the power to take out Tron. He grows gigantic, and it looks genuinely really convincing.

Flynn prepares to take out MCP once and for all, and kisses Yori just beforehand, which is weird as shit. He jumps into the program, and controls it just long enough for Tron to throw his disc at it and land the finishing blow. And with that, MCP is ended, and the threat of take over is gone! The I/O towers light up, and the Video Warriors have won! Don’t ask me what that means, I study birds.

And with ALL OF THAT DONE, Flynn gets the proof he needs from a print-out that, to be honest, I feel like he could’ve just typed up himself. It doesn’t look like that much. But, still, MCP is gone, Dillinger’s screwed, and Flynn now gets a cool-looking helicopter of his own, as the new CEO of ENCOM. And from there, he will become a deadbeat dad that abandons his kid to live in computers forever. Or something like that, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Tron Legacy.

And that’s Tron, a goofy movie of its time, but one that’s a lot of fun all the same. And with some effects that, to be honest...I actually really liked! But more on that...IN THE REVIEW! See you there!

[chemiste]

Foresight ~ ch. 5

a/n : happy easter or national grilled cheese sandwich day if you don’t celebrate easter :) 

p.s- sometimes if i describe an outfit harry or the reader is wearing, i’ll embed a link into the words so you can see a picture of it if you want to. also to note that if the photo had a model wearing the outfit, i’m only showing it for the clothes not the size or skin tone!

masterlist

Mitch went first, then Sarah, Adam, Harry and finally you.

The glasses helped considerably from the flashes of phones and the pink sweatshirt seem to draw all the attention to Harry and not you. 

But then, a girl in the crowd trying to get to Harry pushed you from behind and you stumbled slightly causing a few pairs of eyes to look at you. 

Soon enough, more people started directing their attention to you instead of the superstar. It was when you got cut off from the line of band members did you worry. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, I can’t get through!

People started calling out your name and you couldn’t see the back of Harry’s body anymore. It was like a wave went through the crowd, the bodies surged toward the hotel of a sudden, knocking you to the ground.

You caught yourself by the hand that wasn’t holding onto your backpack for dear life.

Call for him, right… now!

“Harry!” You shouted, hoping he heard you. Suddenly, a pair of tattooed hands grabbed hold of you by the shoulder and nudged through the crowd, left arm securely wrapped around you and the other using his elbow to create space between the bodies.

 “Hold on Y/N.” Was all you heard him said in a low voice.

After what felt like an eternity, you made it to the front door which opened the slightest bit to let you two sneeze inside before it slammed shut again. 

Harry held onto you until both of you were out of the crowd's eyesight, then looked at you with a worried expression, both hands holding you by the shoulders as he examined you. 

“Are yeh okay Y/N? ‘m so so sorry I lost you in the crowd, they were bloody brutal.” You took a shaky breath and looked up into the concerned green eyes.

 “T-thank you for coming back for me.” He scoffed, “ ‘f course I would.” 

In a flash, you pressed your body against his, wrapping your arms around him and burying your face into his chest. “That was so overwhelming,” You mumbled in between his pecks. 

You could feel the vibrations of his laughter and he gave you a squeeze. “Wouldn’t be fair of me to leave m’ best friend to be eaten by paparazzi piranhas now would ’t?”

Everyone got their hotel keys, and to your astonishment, you had your own room too. What’d you think we were gonna do, make you sleep in the hallway? Jeff had said as he handed you the room key. 

After getting your luggage the crew had snuck in through a back door from the tour bus, you were all on the 7th floor. Everyone started scanning the door numbers looking for their assigned rooms. 

“What number you got?” Harry asked as pulled his suitcase adjunct to yours. “F16” you replied. “Sweet I got F17, we’re right across from each other!” You gave him a small wave as you both entered your rooms.

Once you closed the door, you put your suitcase on the rack and dug through it for something else to wear. You abandoned pieces of your current outfit on the ground. Instead of taking the clothes, you’d change into in the bathroom after you shower.

When you finished your lovely, warm, shower and skincare, you changed into black jeans and a white t-shirt. You opened the lavender curtain to see the beautiful view before you.

The river! Oh how gorgeous.

As you studied the view, a knock on your door interrupted you swooning of different angles you could capture the light reflections off the water. “Coming!” You called as you opened the door.

There stood the rockstar who made girls and boys melt at his feet.

He was stuck in the sweatshirt.

“What in the world happened?!” You laughed and you lead him into the room. His arms were bound by the sleeves over his head somehow, his undershirt riding up a bit from his struggles, showing the tips of the two ferns.

“Can I take a pictu—”

 “Don’t you dare!” 

“Okay fine, fine!” 

You circled him, looking for the easier way to unravel him. 

“How’d you even get to my room?” “Lots of prayers an’ bumpin’ t’ things,” He mumbled. “Come ‘ere,” you guided him closer to the bed so you could stand atop it. 

So damn tall.

“‘kay, here we go, one, two, three!” You pulled the sleeves up and to the right and out stumbled a dazed Mr. Styles. 

You very trying very hard to keep your laughter contained as he shook his hair and ran his ring clade fingers through it. 

“How did you even…” “It’s small for me okay?!” That’s when you burst out in laughter, you fell back on the bed, not trying to contain the giggles anymore.

 And soon enough, Harry was cracking up beside you. You caught your breath and turned over to mirror his position on the bed, one arm tucked underneath his head. “What’s the story for us?”

“Pardon?”

“Like, how are we best friends? What’s our origin story?”

 “Oh…” He thought for a moment before looking back into your eyes. “Where ya from?”  You moved to lean up against the head, propping up a knee and hugging it. 

“Moved from my hometown at 12 to New York, cause of my Dad’s job. He’s a graphic artist, does a lot of political mail and campaign design. Well, he had a small independent business but a colleague of his died that I think he knew really well from his 20s left him his whole business so Dad took over as the CEO and we moved to Larchmont so he could travel to Manhattan if he had a big meeting for the political season.” 

He didn’t say anything so you continued. “It’s pretty nice and I made some good friends from the book club I joined.” 

“How’d you meet Maggie?” 

“She was actually one of the first models I shot for a fashion line. It was her first time too so we basically bonded over feeling scared.” You cracked a smile at the thought of 16 year old you and Mags, working together for the first time.

 “I did online classes for high school through the community college nearby and was technically a junior when I transfer to NYU, these two classes are my last and then I’m done.”

 “That’s fantastic.” “Yeah, I happy about it.” You glanced down at the boy in front of you, he seemed to be deep in thought but then sat up and faced you. 

“What if you take pictures of me? For your assignment?” 

You shook your head, “Harry I couldn’t ask you to—“ “nonsense! We’re already becoming friends right?”

 “Right…” 

“And since Mags is gone, you’ll need a muse for some of your other pieces and look right here! Probably the best muse you could find!” 

“You really are a narcissist aren’t you?”

 “Hey!” 

You both chuckled and smiled at each other. “If you’re sure, Harry…” 

The popstar nodded with a Cheshire cat grin on his face. 

“Oh also, I’m thinking that I met you in December 2014 cause you were out taking pictures and we chatted about our love for photography? Or somthin’ like that?” 

You perked up at the idea, “Yeah! And we exchanged numbers to send each other photos we thought the other would appreciate but didn’t get closer until recently when you asked from my thoughts on the album and its cover photo.”

 “Perfect, we got it down then.” A buzz came from Harry’s pocket and he immediately froze, “Shit, I need to be doing a face time interview in like 5 minutes.” 

He bounded up from the bed and raced to the door. “Keep the sweater, I bet it smells like me so it’s don’t pass out from the sexiness emitting from it if you put it on.”

“Harry!”

 He gave you a conical smile that was on the verge of sexy— not that you were thinking of it that way.

Once the door closed you melted back down into the bed.

“Fuck me.”

The show was about to start so you decided to hang out in the back of the pit for this performance. Before you left Harry handled you a crew pass that you put in the pocket of your jeans.

“If the fans get to be too much fo’ you, just show the security guard this badge an' hop the fence. You can walk up the makeshift aisle that goes down the middle o’ the pit an’ get backstage easily.” 

You nodded before making your way out into the crowd, squishing through excited fans to get to the more spacious back area of the floor.  

As you chilled, lean against the railing, waiting for the show to start, a girl in the corner of your eye caught your vision. She looked no older than 14 and kept looking in your direction, walking close by every few minutes before coming back.

When she turned to look at you again, you made eye contact with her and waved her over.

 “Hey,” you said in a calm voice, not wanting to scare her off.

 She seemed a bit nervous to approach you which confused you. “Do you— are you, um, ah—“ 

“Take a deep breath, I’m just a normal person you can talk to okay?” The girl gave you a small thumbs up and took a breath, then in one quick sentence, she said, “Are you Harry Styles’ best friend? Can I take a picture with you if that’s alright?”

“Why would you want a photo with me?” You asked, awed that she would even know her. 

She’s a dedicated fan of his, she recognized you from the photos online probably. 

The girl stuttered in front of you and then gave a laugh as if the answer was obvious.

“I’ve been a fan of Harry’s for a while now but I’ve never seen any pictures of you together—“ You tensed up a little, “That's only cause we—“ She cut you off, “No no, don’t worry! All I was gonna say if that since I’ve never seen pictures of you and him together, he must want to protect you from the media and all that icky stuff. So that must mean you’re a good person, and if he trusted you enough to share his songs with you, then I think so too. So, of course, I would want a picture with a good person, there aren’t that many left in the world ya know.”

Her answer was shunning, but it also made you feel incredibly guilty, this girl was basing you off of a complete lie you and the band had told to cover for the press. 

You swallowed the lump in your throat and took the picture with her anyways, she gave a sweet thank you! Before disappearing into the crowd as the rubric cube light lit up the crowd.

After the show, you were back in the dressing room with the band but a bit quieter than usual. The girl’s words were still caught up in your mind and you didn’t realize Harry coming up to you till he tapped your shoulder.

“Y/N?” 

You snapped out of it, “Huh? Oh, sorry, what’s up?”

“You just seem out o’ it, yeh good?” 

“Harry…” you swallowed and lean in to talk quietly, “ do you ever feel… bad that we’re lying to your fans?”

“What? Wha’ d’you mean?” He said, looking shocked at your question. 

“Like, your fans think we’re best friends but we basically just met! I don’t even know your favorite color.” 

You ran a hand through your hair, “There was this girl in the audience that said if I was your best friend that meant I was a good person, but how am I a good person if I’m lying?”

You both didn’t say anything for a moment, just listened to the chatter from others in the room and contemplated your thoughts.

“M’ favourite colour ’s blue.”

You glanced up and saw a small smile stretch across his face. 

“Mine is yellow.” You replied, starting to smile as well. He put his hand on your shoulder, “I consider you m’friend, so you’re not lyin’ love.” 

With that, the singer walked back to the group to give conjugations on another performance and you stood in the corner, watching his every move with a new found calm washing over your shoulders.

As you closed the door to your hotel room, you let out a big sigh and kicked your shoes off. Slipping your jeans off, you put on a pair of black leggings and your favorite sweatshirt. You had just finished your skincare for the night and were snuggled into bed when a knock caught your attention.

Maybe it’s the guest next-door…

But then it came again, this time a little louder and you definitely tell it was from your door. 

“Y/N!” 

A muffed voice came from it and you quickly padded over to look through the peephole.

It’s Harry!

You quickly opened the door, popping your head out to see if anyone else had heard him. 

“What are you doing? It’s 1am!”

 You said in a hushed voice, ushering him into your room. 

He was wearing black skinny jeans and a Tommy Hilfiger Down Jacket with a beanie on his head. He wore a sneaky grin on his face that made you worried.

“Wan’ ta sneak out?”

<3

telephone hour #5

ch. 6

masterlist

[lonelynightproject]

From abstraction to reality

If you have landed here without context (as usually there isn’t any), this post is a reflection, reminder, and note to self about failure, moving ahead, and not getting trapped in a repetitive pattern of thinking while trying to make a game. 

Failure and learnings from proto 0.1 

The multiplication/growth mechanic with which I had started doesn’t seem to work out and move any further, I’m not able to think of any good progression to it which would create a meaningful context for the players. I tried a few ideas but it felt forced, choices are not interesting and it is difficult to make a mental model of the game for the players to be able to move intuitively. I think I mixed up a few things and also did not take any thematic elements into consideration, due to which the game could not be made playable and it just ended up with a single mechanic with no context/motivation to play. I think I got into the classic trap of low skill, high expectation, where I’ve been thinking of traveling to a place without even considering where I am standing right now. I completely ignored the fact that one can only start from where they are, no matter where they want to go. 

I also confused the mechanic, theme, and experience which I want the players to have, they all seem to counter one another and a seamless play was not possible. I should have stuck to one element and made it a center around which other things can be built. I made the same mistake in my last project and wasted a lot of time doing it over and over again, analyzing, reading theory, and then just being paralyzed with no results which lead to a feeling of frustration and you think I can never ever make a game. Maybe I should have some intelligence and learn from my mistakes and not repeat it every time and waste time reflecting and learning them again. Last year I had made a note that every time I face this problem I will remind myself of this Doha by Rahim - एकै साधे सब सधै, सब साधे सब जाय। रहिमन मूलहिं सींचिबो, फूलै फलै अघाय।। but again, I felt into the same trap and made the same mistake, humans never learn! An idea should be nurtured carefully, not be burdened with all sorts of philosophies, theories, and expectations. 

So, basically what happened, the objective, mechanic, and the feedback loop was not working properly in sync, many of the things were just not possible with the mechanic and I just could not leave certain ideas or think of new ideas which would work with each other. It was an idea that had some metaphoric values, but it just could not work in the game form or I could not make it work. It could have been made as a simulation or an art installation, but the whole point of making a game was so that players, as an active agent, can make the choices, take actions and realize the consequence of their desire-driven actions, what they are doing to other players and to the game environment. 

Moving ahead

After two or three tests and discussing it with Jeff, I realized that this idea was not going to work, so I started thinking of some other ideas around growth. This time I was not thinking of going abstract but something that has a real-world connection and a pattern of growth which can be observed, so that there is a context to work with. It also helps in building connections between different elements of the game thematically or gameplay-wise.

After a few days, one night when I was taking a walk, I saw a few flower plants and started thinking about flowers, and I observed that flowers also have a pattern of growth, how a small seed, a non-living thing when put under a certain condition and nurtured carefully grows into beautiful flowers, full of life, this is just pure amazement. This evoked me to think of the same process in a game form, and I started to think of the journey of a plant from seed to flowers and all the other things associated with it. 

I’ve always lived with this thought that “beauty can only be appreciated, you can not do anything else with it”, so every time I feel beautiful or amazed I just stand still and be there with no actions. On the other hand, I also think why not create something beautiful yourself when you feel beautiful or amazed? And then a conflict arises and the beauty seems to fade away, so I’ve been choosing to not think and just be. But this time I decided to express and contribute to the beauty and amazement by making something myself, at least try to make something, and something was obviously going to be a game. 

Just when I thought of this, my next thought was, why do you want to make a game, is a game a good medium to express this phenomenon or the feeling? Why do you want to imitate nature, what will you get by expressing? Why are you trying to relive moments, trying to unnecessarily stretch something,  nature can not be abstracted, or made any more beautiful, don’t think of yourself as a creator, you can not create any beauty. My mind got filled with all these jumbled thoughts and suddenly I washed them away in a flash and told myself, not this time, not again. You have got to try, you have got to explore, test and see, these thoughts are always going to be there, and you will never get over it, you have got a life, you are alive, and you are allowed to express, create and the only way to do this is to go through it and test it yourself which side is actually true by experiencing how it feels to express, to create and to connect with the creation, and even after making it, if you still have these thoughts, let it be, at least you lived with it and tried to make something yourself.  Next prototype

So, now I’m exploring this idea of growth in the context of flowers, plants, and taking care of a small garden. I don’t know how or if this is going to get into a game, but I feel it can take a form, and soon it will be something playable. I will go with the fail early, prototype fast process, and get the ideas realized in material form as quickly as possible even if that means going with bad concepts, broken game, or no meaning. I will try to make it better once I have something tangible, and not plan or reject the ideas before really testing them. As they say, good designers make bad games and they improve on it until it becomes good. so.. yeah, quotes sometimes help. Also, I’m ok with bad, there is no problem in creating something which doesn’t meet your expectations, as I’ve started to realize that the perfect day is never going to come, no one ever will really understand you. So stop thinking about what could go wrong, and just start from where you stand, anyway there is no other option you can start from anywhere else, the mind can roam around, but that doesn’t really change where you are. and in reality, you only can take one step at a time no matter how far you want to go. 

[randomshoes]

How does the newsroom compare to west wing

Um, poorly? I’ve only seen the first season of The Newsroom, but it seemed like it embodied all the things people claim about The West Wing that aren’t really true. 

Aaron Sorkin (like Joss Whedon, actually) generally needs someone to tell him no sometimes, or things get out of hand. With Joss Whedon he just becomes sort of incoherent and random and you lose any sense of theme or meaning (see: Dollhouse). With Aaron Sorkin, and keep in mind I say this with love, you need someone to keep him from crawling up his own butt. I think my favorite mitigating force on Sorkin was actually David Fincher, but that’s another story. 

Also they apparently hated each other, so we won’t get that treat again any time soon.

On The West Wing it was a whole slew of very talented directors and producers (Thomas Shlamme, John Wells, Christopher Misiano, Alex Graves) taking Sorkin’s wordy scripts and making them visually beautiful. The whole look of The West Wing, the famous long shots and walk-and-talks, that’s them. Plus the warm, low lighting and incredibly detailed White House set (see: many unsung designers). This isn’t quite what the question was about, but I think they don’t get enough credit and I got up on my soapbox and wrote this already, so I guess I’ll leave that in.

Back to art criticism: what made The West Wing so damn good was the characters. If you loved the show, it’s because you fell in love with these people. Josh Lyman was my first great love (age 10), and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who, on some deep level, feels like Jed Bartlet was a real president. Oh, and don’t let anyone tell you that CJ Cregg isn’t one of the best professional women characters ever seen on TV.

The West Wing isn’t about telling you what to believe or dryly discussing politics, it’s about these people trying to navigate political life and how they figure out what to believe. It’s about what happens when you try to do these jobs day in and day out. It’s what Aaron Sorkin does best: a workplace drama in the true sense of the word. Some people do this unusual job: let’s see what that looks like. Sports Night was the same idea. As was, for all its flaws, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Think of the early seasons of E.R. or Law and Order.

At first glance, The Newsroom looks like more of the same: it’s about a bunch of people who work in a place. But the core of the story has nothing to do with the job of producing a news show and everything to do with a political crusade a la Network. And you can do that, you can make a story that puts politics center stage and has a very explicit message and isn’t as character focused, that’s fine, but it doesn’t work here. 

The first problem is that putting the politics center stage without filtering them through characters highlights some of the problems with Aaron Sorkin’s actual politics. This becomes an issue not just because I disagree with some of them, but because if you disagree even a little with the point of an episode it becomes hard to watch. This happened occasionally in West Wing but it’s near constant in Newsroom. That makes it harder to get immersed in the world, because the world sort of bends to the desired political message instead of characters arguing different things based on their actual personality and life experiences. There are many, many instances in The West Wing where characters we like and know argue about important issues and we’re never told that one person is right. In any given scene in The Newsroom, I can tell very, very quickly who is “right” and that’s kind of exhausting and also fairly boring.

The second problem is related to the first. In the Aaron Sorkin seasons of The West Wing there is a basic optimism underlying everything. The characters believe that they can, just maybe, make a difference, and the world, occasionally, proves them right. Things are just a little bit better in this world, a little bit more reasonable. This works as aspirational and is also necessary if we’re going to sympathize with them and their struggles. But keep in mind, The West Wing went on the air in 1999 and Aaron Sorkin left the show in 2003.

Problem is, by 2012, for understandable reasons, Sorkin’s underlying political optimism seems to have degraded quite a bit, and the worldview of The Newsroom is condescending and angry. This could also be a perfectly good underpinning for a show (see: The Thick of It) but Sorkin doesn’t take it far enough and it just ends up feeling sad and kind of outdated. Also the world around the characters is still unrealistic, but it comes out more like an antagonistic world bending to a Mary Sue than anything else.

All that said, I enjoyed watching the show, Jeff Bridges is an amazing actor, and I never get sick of witty Sorkin dialogue, but then I just…never watched the second season, and I can’t remember any of the characters’ names, and I think that says a lot. 

tl;dr Josh Lyman is my waifu

[dmydfilmreviews]

DRUNK RANKING OF FIFTY MARVEL SHITHEADS

 The villains are all rubbish aren’t they? Well whatever, fuck if there’s more than fifty they’re not worth remembering, let’s go now SPOILERS

50. CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON HAVING NO FUN

49. SOME BIG BULL GUY WHO’S NOT CALLED SCOURGE

48. FUCKING TASERFACE

Oh my God this is the shittest joke and they know it, it just goes on and on and on. Bradley Cooper’s awful in this bit too and he’s usually great

42. NOT THE MANDARIN

Bald

46. BIG BLUE MAN CALLED LAWFI

Was he Loki’s dad or something? Well done for that I guess. Did he die? I don’t know

46. THE DESTROYER

Big Dildo

47. GO FISH HENCHMAN

HOT

37. THE SOVEREIGN

Loads of Guardians 2 is boring and annoying and these guys are boring and annoying

45. KORATH

WHO?

47. SCOURGE

Yeah, yeah you’re supposed to love him or whatever but he’s a big afterthought. What was up with that shot of him slinking away with the people on the bridge all hooded or whatever? He sucks, nobody likes him

46. TWO SHOCKERS

YOU GET A SHOCKER, YOU GET A SHOCKER, YOU GET A SHOCKER one of them is Bokeem Woodbine, who has the coolest name in the world and deserved much better

37. THE VIDEOGAMEY PEOPLE FROM INFINITY WAR

Great movie, video-gamey looking people

45. THE TERRIBLE TINKERER

Seems like a cool guy. The actor is in everything!

45. RONAN

A VERY SHOUTY WASTE TWICE NOW

44. HERR STRUCKER IT’S THE AVENGERS

Very funny lines revolve around him but it’s probably good he got done offscreen we don’t need to give Nazis anymore airtime

34. MICKEY ROURKE

Oh for fucks sake

33. SONNY BIRCH?

Sonny BITCH

31. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH DICKING AROUND WITH CGI AGAIN

Very underwhelming (like a lot of Doctor Strange) for what should have been a huge amazing satan like threat or whatever. It is fun to hear benedict cumbernaut say his name over and over again though DORRRMOOMOOOO

34. CROSSBONES STYLE

I DON’T FUCK LIKE THAT NO MORE

45. MADS MIKKAELSON

forever horny

47. GHOST

Not really a villain and kind of rubbish effects but a trier or whatever

47. BATROC ZE LEAPER

It is AMAZING that they got this guy in seriously google him

27. JUDE LAW AND THE BLUE BALL BUNCH

Yoghurt? A nice avatar for the myriad failures of the shittest gender

39. ALEXANDER PIERCE

HE’S ROBERT REDFORD!

38. SURTUR

BIG MONSTERRRRRRR! Does exactly what he says on the tin

40. ABOMINATION

Oh my god tim roth tries so, so hard but he just ends up looking like a big claggy poo. Roth’s a real slimy ratbag for the rest of the movie though, good effort, underrated

52. GENERAL ROSS

What a knob, don’t you ever get tired of being wrong? A poohead

41. JUSTIN HAMMER

A lot of fun, they should bring him back. Looks like he sleeps with a lot of sex workers and cries a lot

41. NOT THE MANDARIN TWO

Great, cocky, has absolutely fucking horrible shoes. A dirty man

29. A MAN CALLED ‘DARREN CROSS’ WHO SQUASHES A LAMB

Oh man this guy is so fucking good and terrible! He squashes someone into like a disgusting bubble of flesh and he also looks like he cries a lot and I think he wears a leather jacket at some point. Amazing. Bald

19. SUPREME ANNETTE BENING

What a sassy fucking bitch she looked like she was having a great time in that nirvana concert dream place, rocks a leather jacket way better than ‘darren cross’. Skillful

39. EGG

I don’t know what the fucking hell was going on here but they wasted KURT RUSSELL but still, it’s KURT RUSSELL LOOK AT THAT BEARRD

22. NOT THE MANDARIN 3

This guy is genuinely funny and the only good thing Ben Kinglsey had done in like fifty eight years and it was amazingly funny how it pissed off a load of twats. It’s better than the comics!

10. JEFF BRIDGES

Oh, you know the line. What a line. Bald. Says ‘hold still ya little prick’ to tony at one point and there’s a bit where he wears pyjamas in a really pissed off way. And he rides a Segway. Incredible.

26. ARNIN ZOLA

This is a hell of a performance, both times. Toby Jones is always amazing and he’s amazing here, a perfect comic-booky little nazi turd who’s horrible and can’t stand it when tommy lee jones chews a steak in front of him. He’s so good. And then in winter soldier he’s even fucking creepier! That is hella design work! Love it

14. TALOS SLURPS A SMOOTHIE

Ok he’s not really bad but he seems like a great guy who you’d love to hang out with. He also beats the SHIT out of Samuel l Jackson in that library or whatever and he can become anyone else on this list so he can be like Sam Rockwell with Toby Jones’ dick or whatever, if that’s what you want. Ben Mendellsohn is the GOAT

28 and 29. TWINSIES

Again, not really bad but they’re bad for a while. They’re Avengers, of course they’re cool. Joss Whedon seems to like looking down her dress too much though, seriously it happens all the time, come on

12. NEBULA

NOT BAD AGAIN but while she is bad she’s great, she’s the only actress who realizes how funny it is that she’s SHOUTING ALL THE TIME. And she’s all clicky, it’s disgusting

11. KLAW

Andy Serkis is having a FUCKING BALL in these movies BRING HIM BACK

10. JEFF GOLDBLUM

Hahahahahaha

9. RED SKULL

Just like the comics. Horny boy.

8. WINTER SOLDIER

Scary as fuck

7. THE VULTURE

Everything homecoming does is fucking great and taking a shitty pile of shit like the vulture and making him great is one of the bestthings. Actually relatable, actually a great guy, fuck tony stark, even his design is amazing with that jacket and those little eyes and his huge scary rig. Fucking Michael Keaton man. Give the vulture his own movie. Bad dad.

6. HELA

SISSY THAT WALK

5. ZEMO

WHOOO HE’S NOT A CHARACTER HE’S THE AVENGERS OWN FAILINGS AND LIMITATIONS GIVEN FORRRMMMMM WHOOOOOOO

4. KILLMONGER

Should have had more screentime and suffers from some wonky plot issues but hell, still. The most compelling, real-world grounded villain they have and a complete monster but still, so, so sad and kind of right. This one burns

3. ULTRON

A huge sexy ass, a fascinating mass of deranged AI and tony stark’s failings and fucked up rubbish humankind not being able to sort itself out. Acts like an absolutely terrifying child through the whole thing and a huge prick by the end. But you still feel sorry for him. His final exchange with the vision is one of the most beautiful, poetic things ever written for the whole MCU.

2. LOKI

A hero. But also, what a villain.

1.       THANOS

The terrifying embodiment of failure and inevitability, but also somehow a multi-faceted and intriguing character in his own right. Infinity War is his movie, and he’s a huge piece of shit but you somehow feel sorry for him. A triumph of writing, performance and design, his battle on Titan is one of the most incredible realisations of comic book superpower fighting ever put on screen. Terrifying. There’s no way Endgame is going to fuck him up. Also: Daddy.

1.       GREGG TURKINGTON

Yeah he’s too by the book but he’s actually the universes’ biggest hero IF HE HADN’T HAVE FIRED ANT MAN FROM BASKIN AND ROBBINS THEN NONE OF THAT SHIT WOULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED AND THEY WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GO TO THE QUANTUM REALM IN ENDGAME LIKE THEY’RE GOING TO AND THANOS WOULD HAVE WON FOREVER A TRUE HERO FIVE BAGS OF POPCORN BRING BACK THE HOBBIT

POPULAR MOVIES THAT SPEND AGES BUILDING UP THEIR HEROES INTO CHARACTERS YOU WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH ARE NATURALLY NOT GOING TO HAVE AS MUCH TIME TO BUILD UP THEIR VILLAINS THE END

[karlieklosssource]

Supermodel Karlie Kloss turns coding passion into a summer coding camps for girls

It's about 7 a.m. on an early autumn day in New York City and supermodel Karlie Kloss is quickly becoming a morning person.

“I don’t know when or how this happened, I don’t think I’ve slept past the sunrise any day this week,” Kloss told ABC News’ Chief Business, Technology and Economics Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis in an interview for “Nightline.”

On this particular morning, Kloss is coming off of a 16-hour day filming Project Runway and is getting ready for an event with Adidas, one of her many brand ambassadorships.

Despite the long days and early mornings Kloss embraces it all.

“That’s kind of my life but the good thing is I really love what I do,” said Kloss.

The 40-time Vogue cover girl got her start at just 13-years-old when she was discovered at a mall in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. She was approached by two modeling scouts, Jeff and Mary Clarke, the husband and wife duo behind Mother Model Management, who also famously discovered Ashton Kutcher at The Airliner Bar in Iowa City.

In Kloss’ case, they were recruiting for a charity fashion show.

“I was just at the mall with my friend and I was wearing Birkenstocks and just living my life at 13 years old…And at that time I literally had no interest in that [modeling] or really idea of like what the fashion industry was. It just wasn't in my world.”

Kloss said she realized quickly “it really was something I really enjoyed” and it didn’t take long for her career to take off. The modeling scouts introduced her to agents and by the time she was 15-years-old she was walking in her first major runway show.

“That fall when I started my freshman year of high school I got an opportunity to walk in New York Fashion Week for Calvin Klein and I was 15 years old. Like literally had started high school two days before and it just put me on the map.”

Kloss became a breakout star in the industry, walking in 31 shows her first New York Fashion Week season. Over the course of the next few months Kloss got an apartment in New York City and was traveling around the globe with her first major fashion campaigns for Bvlgari and Dolce & Gabbana.

But while she was living the life of a glamorous and worldly model, back home in St. Louis, pre-social media, she was just an average teenager.

“I was 15 years old, I was tall and lanky, no boys were paying any attention to me. I felt totally out of place in St. Louis, just like every teenager does. And it kind of was like this secret alter ego that I got to live out and build a career. And no one really knew about it back home.”

(MORE: Karlie Kloss goes back to school)

Over the next 11 years Kloss would become one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, gracing the runways of major designers like Oscar de la Renta, Christian Dior, Versace and Diane von Furstenberg.

She also served as global brand ambassador for Estee Lauder and starred in several major international campaigns for brands like adidas, Versace, Dior, Carolina Herrera and Swarovski

“I was going back and forth between, like, sitting in my chemistry class, getting on a plane that night right after school going to Paris, walking Dior Couture opening the show…and then going back home and like needing to like still turn in my five paragraph essay,” said Kloss. “But it was really amazing dual world and life that I lived and still live, I guess.”

Today that “dual world” includes another passion -- coding. On the surface it’s one that might seem unexpected, as the couture-clad super beauty doesn’t necessarily fit the stereotype of a hoodie-wearing coder, but Kloss has had a love of math and science from the beginning.

(MORE: Karlie Kloss goes back to school)

As the daughter of an emergency room physician, she looked up to her father, fascinated by his ability to problem solve and help people using science.

“I definitely thought being a doctor would be my kind of career path. I always was really fascinated by science, by math and I loved the idea of being able to help people with a skill set,” she said.

Kloss discovered her own love of coding by taking classes at The Flatiron School in Lower Manhattan. Her instructor and dean of the school, Avi Flombaum, said that she was a natural.

“I met Karlie, I was doing a class for two of my friends and they asked if she could join...She showed up on day one, really took to it and outperformed my two friends,” Flombaum told ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis.

(MORE: How to get your girls involved in coding)

After that first lesson in 2014, Kloss was hooked.

“That whole week, and more and more, she started emailing me if we could spend time on the weekends coding and that sort of snowballed,” Flombaum said.

But eventually, Kloss wanted to do more than just learn herself. She wanted to figure out a way to give other women the skill that she found so valuable. With the help of Flombaum, she started a scholarship giving 21 teenage women across the U.S. the opportunity to take the Flatiron School’s two-week pre-college program coding class, the same one that Kloss took when she fell in love with coding.

“I have this audience of young women across the country around the world, and I really care about the message that I'm sending them both through my words and my actions. And I thought, you know what, I would love to offer them something more meaningful than just a picture backstage at a runway show.”

Just one year after starting her own coding journey, Kode With Klossy was born.

Today the free two-week summer coding camp has grown to 50 camps across 25 cities across the U.S. girls ages 13 to 18 can apply to attend through the company’s website and be placed in classes of 20 where they learn to code real-life apps.

It’s not abnormal for Kloss to pop into one of the camps, and she’s become a mentor for many of the young women who have been with the program since the start. “Nightline” joined her for one of those visits at a camp in New York, where level 3 campers are learning Swift, the coding language used by Apple developers.

“It’s really amazing because I feel like I really have seen them grow so much, beyond just learning code...They’ve been able to grow as humans. I think it’s such an intense moment in life being in your teen years and high school and you’re kind of figuring out so many things and I see these girls kind of come into their own power, come into their own confidence, and they realize all that could be possible in their lives, in their careers, and it’s just so fun and amazing to watch. I get goose bumps, I really do. They’re my little sisters.”

In the beginning, the young coders first learn the basics of the new language and then collaborate to design and build a new app. They were in the final stages of creating applications targeted at real world problems when “Nightline” stopped by. But it’s not just the curriculum that these young coders love, it’s the relationships they are building with other young women in technology.

Many of the coders we spoke to said that the camps provide a supportive place to grow and thrive. Valeria Torres-Olivares, 18, began learning to code in her sophomore year of high school. But she said the past two summers she has spent at Kode With Klossy have “been a rejuvenating experience having amazing girls to work with and talk about code with.”

“You don’t feel comfortable asking your peers questions because most of the time they are male and most of the time, whether they are mean to you or not, they do make you feel like you are less than them,” Torres-Olivares told ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis.

Many of the female coders “Nightline” met say they are outnumbered by their male counterparts at school.

“It’s just like three girls in the front row and then the rest of it is all guys. Basically feels like a guy’s club. So being here feels like a safe space,” 16-year-old camper Ivana said.

Sofia Ongele, 18, who started learning to code at the Kode With Klossy camp in 2016, added that one of her favorite things about the program is the network of women she can connect with to talk about coding. “I could just hit up my girlfriends any time that I wanted to and be like, ‘hey, help me out here.’ So that was really great.”

When creating the camps it was important to Kloss to focus on women. Today, while women make up more than half of college-educated workers, they only make up 25 percent of those in STEM fields, according to the U.S. Department of State.

“There are multiple problems too, I think, why more girls don't get excited about tech or see themselves in that industry. A -- barrier to entry of not having opportunities, not having a class to even take to learn the skills. And B -- what society tells us or the image that we see and I think we need more visibility around women in the industry and they exist.”

With over 16 million followers across her social media platforms, Kloss is helping to increase the visibility around women in technology, showing that the stereotype surrounding STEM aren’t real.

“Everybody expected me to be one thing, to be on the catwalks or in magazines...And so I definitely think a lot of people noticed when I started coming out and talking about my love of science and math and more nerdy passions,” said Kloss. “I think that me standing up and kind of identifying my nerdy passions has ignited that for so many other girls and that impact is something that really drives me to want to keep being true to who I am, and supporting other young women.”

Watch more from Karlie Kloss on "Nightline" tonight at 12:35 a.m. ET and hear more of her interview on the ABC News podcast, “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis."

[racingtoaredlight]

Leo Fender, Les Paul and the Birth of the Solid-Body Electric Guitar Industry

Interesting timing on a number of fronts...chiefly being that a book about this very subject is being released shortly.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve really dove into all the various design details that Leo Fender engineered in the 1950′s, and my favorite parts have been talking about the designs in a historical context.  Design features like the foam mute on the P-Bass “ashtray” that helped combat issues with primitive amplification.

And while I’ve alluded to things like “there not being third party parts manufacturers at the time,” I never really touched on the industry in general.  Given that some of what I’ve written the past few weeks might be fresh in the memory, it’s a good time to look at the two titans of the guitar world, and how things came to be.

***

The top picture is the two most famous electric guitar models ever made.  On the left, a reissue 1957 Gibson Les Paul “Goldtop.”  On the right, a reissue 1957 Fender Stratocaster.  The bottom picture is the third most famous electric guitar model, an original 1952 Fender Telecaster.

Fun exercise time...I’m going to take every guitar player I mentioned in my Greatest Guitarist Series, and mark if they primarily played one of these three models.  I’m going to strike any classical musicians, (non-fusion) jazz musicians, acoustic-primary guitarists and guitarists who made their impact before the Korean War.

Jimi Hendrix STRAT Eddie Van Halen *MODIFIED STRAT SRV STRAT Andres Segovia John McLaughlin Jimmy Page LES PAUL Eric Clapton STRAT (also played Les Pauls) David Gilmour STRAT (has played all 3) Steve Vai Danny Gatton TELE (has played all 3) Julian Bream Chet Atkins Pat Metheny Duane Allman LES PAUL  Les Paul LES PAUL Ry Cooder STRAT (has played all 3) Yngwie Malmsteen STRAT Keith Richards TELE (has played all 3) Wes Montgomery Tony Iommi BB King Charlie Christian John Petrucci Prince TELE James Hetfield John Jorgenson TELE Chuck Berry (has played Les Pauls and Teles...famous for ES-335) Robert Johnson Steve Howe  (has played Les Pauls and Teles...famous for ES-175) Joe Pass Al DiMeola LES PAUL Django Reinhardt James Burton TELE Brian May Jerry Garcia (has played Strats and Les Pauls) Paco de Lucia Paul Gilbert Eric Johnson STRAT (has played all 3) Brent Mason TELE Shawn Lane  Muddy Waters TELE Buckethead Billy Gibbons LES PAUL (also plays Teles)  Slash LES PAUL Larry Carlton (has played all 3, but his nickname was Mr. 335) Frank Zappa STRAT (has also played Les Pauls) Christopher Parkening Marty Friedman Robben Ford TELE (has played all 3) Jeff Beck STRAT (has played all 3) Buddy Guy STRAT Lowell George STRAT Mark Knopfler STRAT (has played all 3) Ritchie Blackmore STRAT Elmore James LES PAUL John Lee Hooker Joe Satriani Woody Guthrie Hank Marvin STRAT Kirk Hammett Dimebag Darrell Jerry Reed TELE

That is a decent representative list of great guitar players, and those three models...the Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul...account for the easy majority.  And even if a guitarist wasn’t known for one, they likely recorded with one at some point in their careers.

It’s easy to know where to attribute Fender’s success...Leo Fender was an engineering genius.  Gibson, however, had an established reputation long before they ventured into the solid-body world...but they wouldn’t have made that transition if not for Les Paul.

***

The State of Things Today

Before we get into the feud, it’s probably a good idea to get to know where each of these two companies are today.  The companies we’re going to talk about in 1952 bear little resemblance to each in the modern era, having both been passed from numerous ownership groups.

I’ve talked a lot about Leo Fender’s ouster at the hands of CBS...which led to the company’s darkest period which took more than a decade to dig out of.  CBS themselves were ousted by a group of Fender employees in 1985, and the company they started (they couldn’t use the original facilities) now boasts annual revenues well over $500 million.

It’s reflected by the company’s offerings.  Never attempting to be high-end our boutique, Fender’s brilliant branding allowed them to manufacture the same instruments that Leo designed, keeping costs low and making it easy to freshen up long-standing iconic models.

Gibson on the other hand, filed for bankruptcy last year.  Long derided for resting on the laurels of their name, Gibson is another victim of predatory private equity...being used merely as a conduit to acquire more debt.  Bad news intensifies...they’re also responsible for having strict international regulation regarding the types of wood used.  Gibson got in deep doo doo for using illegally farmed woods, and varieties of woods that had been prohibited from foresting due to excessive use (Brazilian rosewood).

Their offerings were staid and stale.  Any new innovations were seen by the guitar market as clumsy and hideous.  And, making things worse, the nature of their guitars’ construction is much more expensive and labor-intensive than Fender’s ever could be.

Fender will live to see the next 50 years.  Gibson likely will not...certainly not under this ownership group.

***

This is Les Paul holding his prototype solid-bodied electric guitar, nicknamed “The Log.”  Yes, it looks ridiculous.  No, another solid-bodied electric guitar did not exist at the time.

Les Paul had a longstanding relationship with Gibson.  Gibson was good to him.  Being a jazz guitarist, the whole Gibson lineup was perfect for Les, and they gave him ample ear to chew with all his (at the time) crazy ideas.  It was a great partnership.

Me being a Fender fanboy and my comments regarding their business should by no means suggest that I’m not a fan of Gibson guitars.  I absolutely love them, especially the Les Paul model.  They feel like the guitar version of driving a Cadillac...smooth, comfortable, refined, classy.

But, like I said above, Gibson was a long established company even in the late 1940′s.  They didn’t make gimmicks.  They made works of art out of the finest woods that produced these beautiful, natural, organic tones.  Even their electric hollow-body models replicated an acoustic tone as close as possible.  Philosophically, it was going to take something major to get Gibson to budge.

"If you don't do something, Fender is going to rule the world."

-Les Paul

***

When Les Paul received Leo Fender’s prototype in 1951, he knew what it meant.

Sure, it was a gift in the sense that Leo Fender wanted him to have that instrument, but it wasn’t just an instrument, it was an overture.  Gibson was a guitar behemoth that dominated an industry that was teetering on the edge of being revolutionized.  Fender was that metaphorical disruptor.  Both were already well aware of each other.

Fender wanted Les Paul on board, plain and simple.  They were hardly even a real company at that point, and getting someone of Les Paul’s status on their roster would be a coup of epic proportions.  From a marketing and branding perspective, Les Paul was a guitarist that could’ve established their brand before they even released a product catalog.

But that wasn’t it.

Les Paul’s reputation for having prototype solid-bodied guitars had created waves.  He was a recording maven, had a giant audience, and whether Gibson wanted him to or not, exposed people to the sounds possible with a solid-bodied guitar.  Leo Fender wasn’t a musician, but he was making the same type of noise within in the industry.

Fender sent out one of his right-hand men who reported back to him on the gift-giving.  That dude thought Les Paul was kind of an egotistical dude and didn’t think much of it.  Les Paul himself actually did like the instrument a lot...a huge amount given what he said to Gibson execs...and as the two guys who were leading the solid-bodied guitar revolution, there was equal parts kinship and rivalry.

*Les Paul with Leo Fender’s gift...a 1951 “Nocaster”...called that because Fender hadn’t come up with the name Telecaster yet, and there was no model under the Fender logo.

I don’t think it needs to be said that Les Paul ended up staying at Gibson.

***

In 1952, Gibson released their first solid-bodied model that had Les Paul’s name on it.  It would define their company.  Also in 1952, Leo Fender released the Telecaster (and Precision Bass), the genesis of the company that would grow into the largest guitar manufacturer in the world.

The sheer amount of music that’s been recorded using Les Pauls and Telecasters (as well as the Strat) is simply mind-boggling.  It’s almost impossible to quantify.

While the electric guitar industry might be well past the point of peaking, they’re still a major part of American culture.  Something that’s come to define us internationally as much as baseball or apple pie.  And it’s these three models from Fender and Gibson that so many people are able to instantly identify, that have recorded so much iconic music, that will live on well into the future like a Stradivarius violin or Steinway piano.

And for a brief period in the early 1950′s, it almost came to be that the two most prominent figures in the modern electric guitar world joined forces.  Almost.  It’s a shame they didn’t...might have been a good thing, given that each was given full creative control without the other’s presence...but the modern musical world was largely impacted by these two guys tinkering around in their basements.

It’s a cool story and easy to let your imagination run wild about what they could have done together.

[hockeyplayerstories]

Auston Matthews | Something Like Romeo And Juliet

Fun fact: I had written this for English class before I decided I'd post it but not before editing.

Auston’s P.O.V

I stare from afar, with warm ups just starting, there was barely anyone in the stands but from the people already seated only one or two were wearing Maple Leaf jerseys the rest were Red Wings fans. From across my teams zone, where I am currently stretching on the ice, through the glass I spot a beautiful girl. She is wearing a red wings jersey but I don’t care to much about that, captured by her natural beauty as it appears she isn't wearing any make up, her bright blue eyes , golden brown hair flowing down her shoulders in waves, stopping just a couple inches from the top of the red wings logo. After 2 minutes of stretching, staring also, I decide to take a lap around when I notice the rest of my teammates start to pour out onto the ice with 10 minute left in warm ups before the game. Skating around my teams net with a puck on my stick, practicing my dangles and dekes, I lift my eyes to look at her but quickly look away when we catch eyes for a few seconds. I look down at the puck blushing because she was smiling, ‘I hope no one saw that’ I think to myself but when i look back up to see where I am going, I am quickly corrected because I hear someone comment on it.

“Yo, Matts?! What’s got you all red?” I hear Mitch question me.

“Nothing!” I say quickly, passing him the puck, looking down when others, who ever heard what Mitch just said, turn to look at me to see if I really was blushing.

“He’s all red because he was taking a good long look at Dylan Larkin’s cousin, Y/N” comes another voice to the conversation, William, says. I stare at him wide eyed. “I was right behind you the whole time” he explains

“Shit” I mumble “AWWW, Auston has a crush! Auston has a crush!” chants Mitch as he picks up a puck and skates towards the net to shoot it then come back to us to say ”Good luck getting through Dylan if you want to date her cuz” He pauses to laugh to himself a little ”Y'all have this little fight/argument thing going on for how long as this has this been going on for? Years? I think it’s time it’d stop” He stats “Alright! I don't think he will let me so yeah let’s stop talking about it and get back to warm ups!!” I say skating away from the two to set the example. I take a look at the clock and notice only 2 minutes left and curse to myself quietly ”I wasted all my precious warm up time talking to those idiots” I mumble to myself.

Y/N's P.O.V

I have never seen anyone as handsome as him before. From where I am sitting, I see he has a strong stature, well built, very tall. Matthews #34 plays for Toronto, that’s all I know, oh and his beautiful brown eyes that shine in the light, he looks good in a white jersey, I have seen him in pictures wearing a blue jersey when playing at home in Toronto. Dylan, my cousin, has told me a lot about him, how he used to play with him for team USA. Along with telling me he is one of the best and how much he hates him for being one of the best. Maybe I can ask to meet him?

Auston’s P.O.V

The game went by like a blur. No one scored until the second period though in the first some good battles were fought. Red wings scored first in the game but James opens the score for us two minutes after. Then Mitch scores to gain the lead in the game. I scored myself, but in the third period after the Red Wings tied the score. We win the game with a score of 3-2.

Upon arriving to the locker room after hugging congratulating my team for the game, I spot Coach and Red wings head coach, Jeff Bashill, speaking together in the hall, as if they were old buds and not enemies.

By time Coach came to the locker room, I was already changed and showered, my gear packed into its bag making its way to the hallway to a trolley by a equipment staff to be put in the bus but because it’s not here yet it has to wait like I am doing at the moment, I was stuck in my thoughts before Coach got all of our attention so he could talk to us.

“Ok ! Can I have everyone's attention please?!! Sit down it won’t take long. Alright the bus should be here soon so sit tight. First off I want to thank James for putting us on the board, Mitchy for tying it up and Matts for scoring the game winner. Lets not forget Andersen for blocking all shots and to who ever else did so too” he paused so we could clap for our hard played game. "We have the opportunity to attend a party organized by the red wings, some of you know this already but if you don't I used to coach the wings which is why we got invited so clean up nice, we leave tomorrow to go home with a couple days off. Ok! See you on the boys on the bus”. With that everyone resumed to what they were doing before Coach started talking. Still waiting for the bus, I pull out my phone to answer some texts I got before or during the game. “Hey Matts!” I hear Mitch yell to me over the music in the locker room. “Yeah?” I answer him looking up from my phone to see him smirking at me ”With Y/N being Dylan’s cousin she will be there, maybe you could make a move, don't you think?” he pretended to think with his pointer finger and thumb stroking his chin. I blush thinking about an answer “Now that I think about it Larkin never mention a cousin before when we talked , like normal people. I told him almost everything about myself but he has said almost nothing about himself. We almost always made team USA together” I mutter the last part to myself,” bus is here!!” someone yells in the locker room “Finally” almost everyone cheers, excited for the party.

From the rink to wherever the party is taking place it took at least 20 minutes. The bus was quiet, barely anyone saying a word to each other until we got to the party . Everyone was talking now because it was not a house we pulled up to it was a freaking mansion! Once the bus stopped everyone tumbled out of the bus in order to get to the party quicker.

My feet had just barely landed on the ground when I was tackled slightly from the back by an excited Mitch. William not far from him when he pushed passed me to get to the front. “let’s go party!” came from some of the older guys “yeah let’s go” I cheered with some others, smiling I begin walking towards the entrance with the team.

Entering the mansion,  I look around. Amazed with all the details on the ceiling and everything around, everything looked expensive . With my eyes still wandering, they catch sight of Y/N who was stood at the top of the beautifully designed staircase. She was wearing a cream coloured dress with lace, not much showing but just enough, she kept her hair the same as before. Our eyes meet and we share a smile. She begins to descend the stairs while I walk towards her our eyes still connected until a hand on my shoulder turns me around harshly toward them, “Matthews! You don't look at talk to or even think about my cousin! She doesn't need someone like you in her life, only good people deserve her kindness. Go find some other girl to mess with not my cousin! You hear me?! Do you hear me?!!!!” Dylan yells in my face, I take a look at Juliet , the person Dylan is yelling at me about and notice she looks worried but I just smile in away to tell her it’s ok “yes I hear you but I wasn’t planning on breaking her heart or hurting her or even messing around with her like you think i would do with her. I was thinking more of treating her like a queen than what you are thinking. I don't know man but i never thought love at first sight existed until i took a look at her. I’d give her anything she ever wanted in the whole wide world. I’d give up hockey if she wanted me to” Dylan thought over my words, luckily no one really paid attention to what happening. After a whole minute, Dylan looked towards Juliet, still stood on the staircase, I looked also. She was trying to convince Dylan to give me a chance ”Ok I am going to let you date my cousin but one word of you doing something that upsets her, you’re dead” Dylan says after a couple seconds and walks away.

I watch him until Mitch is in my face ”Hey! Go get your girl! He gave you permission.” he laughed at my face as realization took over, I turn quickly to see Y/N begin to turn to go back up occasionally looking over her shoulder to see if I was following, with a smile on her face. I sprint to the stairs and take two at a time to get to her faster.

Once standing next to her at the top of the stairs, she smiles up to me and holds out her hand for me to take into mine. I place my hand into hers and I am mesmerized at how our hands fit like puzzle pieces, her tiny delicate hand is smothered by my giant one. “So” I snap my head up to at the sound of her, like her looks, beautiful voice. “What should we do first?” she asks me as she leads me to what I assume her bedroom “we should get to know each other” I suggest to which she nods her head. Exactly a hour later, many questions and laughs were shared ,now we just stare at each other in silence until she decides to break it “I feel like this is from Romeo and Juliet” she smiles at me “Really? How?” I say surprised “Because of how we got to this moment” she blushes, I smile because I caused it “Well we could call this ‘Something Like Romeo and Juliet’ then” I say  “That sounds perfect” she laughs, I love her laugh and I plan on hearing it for the rest of my life.

[fanfictiontrash9766]

Chance - Jeff Hardy Chapter 4

“I did, there’s no makeup in the world other than Jeff’s that could cover everything up. I’m just not sure what I’m going to do about tomorrow night they’re going to have me come in and introduce myself. I can’t even wear my gear-oh no. No no no no!.” Alex felt the wind go out of her at the realization that her gear was gone.

She had spent an entire year saving up for and designing the gear that she had so carefully made sure was safe. An entire year was wasted now and she was slowly spiraling into her own thoughts with no clear way out, the air seemed to stop in her throat as she stood up straight. The mirrored walls of the elevator showed her face looked calm in stark contrast to the panic that filled her. Her brain scrambled to find some solution to the problem but was coming up with nothing so she clamped down on the fear and shoved it into the back of her head. She could deal with it later when the two men she shared the elevator with were out of sight and earshot.

“You might not have to wear your gear since you’re only signing the contract, you have another week to figure out gear. I used to be pretty good at making Jeff and I’s gear we can work on it after Raw tomorrow. Maybe you could come up with your own style of body paint and act like it’s part of your character?” Matt’s voice ripped her out of her own head and she could have hugged him for it. Even if he didn’t realize what he did for her

“You think that could really work? Won’t WWE be pissed that I’m not in my gear that I said I’d be in?” Alex could feel the tendrils of the doubts clawing their way back into her head.

Matt walked the few steps over to her and put his hands on either shoulder, she must sound like a total basket case to him right now. Her eyes flicked to the floor indicator and it was still a few more floors until the hotel rooms.

“They might not even televise the signing from what I’ve heard around. They are trying to find the next Trish and Lita so just stop thinking about it so much.” Matt said before moving back to where he had been leaning on the wall of the elevator.

Alex wanted to scream at him that it wasn’t that simple, there was so much else attached to the bruises she would have to explain when management saw them. She instead swallowed the retorts and looked to Jeff who seemingly hadn’t noticed the whole transaction. He was transfixed on whatever he was reading, by the looks of the frustrated expression he didn’t like it either. She tried to weigh the pros and cons of asking if everything was alright but she ultimately didn’t have to make that choice because the elevator dinged. Signaling their floor.

The doors opened and she was pretty sure her eyes were burning when she saw the man behind them and his overly bleached hair. He was attractive looking she figured but couldn’t get passed that fried bleached out hair. He had stunning blue eyes and she wanted to punch him when his eyes raked up and down her form.

“Keep your eyes off of me if you want to stay conscious.” Alex hissed, in no mood to have men ogling her.

“I’d love to see you try, but I don’t think you could actually reach my face darling.” The smirk on his face only pissed her off more. Something clicked in her head and she remembered where she had seen him before. In the Spirit Squad on WWE.

“At least I wasn’t a cheerleader on national television.” Alex brushed passed him after she said it, leaving both Hardy boys staring at her in confusion before they left the elevator.

She peered back to see how far they were and they weren’t far behind. A name flashed in her mind as her eyes slid back to the other man, Nicky. She had never paid much attention to the Spirit Squad but she would watch them on occasion when there was nothing else on television.

“What was that about?” Jeff asked after catching up to her, Matt had just walked ahead of the two of them looking for the room numbers.

“I don’t enjoy being looked at as if I’m a slab of meat. I can tolerate it for WWE but outside the ring I don’t put up with it.” Alex said before she scrubbed at her face with her hands. Only to grimace and remember that she had paint on her face.

Alex followed Matt and Jeff into the hotel room once Matt found the number and she ran right to the bathroom. As much as she liked the look of the face paint Alex needed it off, she was quiet enough that she could hear the brothers talking as she scrubbed her face.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t have taken her to the hospital? Maybe she has a concussion? How are we going to explain away the bruises to Vince? H-“ Matt started to rant in a hushed tone.

“And whoever did that to her is her family from what she said, they would be called because with a concussion you can’t do shit Matt and you know it. I get that you don’t think I thought this through but we can’t just throw her to the wolves either. Maybe if we talk to Stephanie first she could get more details and actually be able to help her.” Jeff sounded tired all of a sudden and she frowned at her reflection as the paint was mostly off her face. The white hand towel in her hands was a disturbing red and black that made her shudder from memories that tried to surface.

Guilt washed over her while she started on the paint on her neck. Being a burden was the last thing she wanted, especially when she hadn’t even officially started working in the WWE. Alex pulled out a small leather wallet from her bra and looked inside to see how much money she had left. Just a little over one hundred dollars out of the two thousand she stashed remained to her. Her father had probably found her stash of money and gambled it away already. Stuffing the wallet back into her bra and removing the rest of the paint she hesitated leaving the bathroom. A knock on the door made her jump a few feet in the air before she opened it.

“Just wanted to know if you were close to taking the paint off. Sometimes it just doesn’t like to come off all the way. I thought you might want some other pants to sleep in.” Jeff said a bit awkwardly as he tried to keep his eyes from her throat or her right eye. He held out a pair of big baggy grey sweatpants to her and was surprised when she hugged him.

Jeff just wrapped his arms around her and put his head on top of hers, she  was shaking from head to toe. His fingers threaded through her hair as he made a mental note to try and her some more information out of her about what happened. Matt had gone to get some pizza so it was just the two of them. Jeff pulled back a little and tilted her head up to him when he felt her take a shaky breath.

“Thank you, for everything I-I don’t know how to thank you for all of this. I’m sorry if I’m a burden of any kind.” Alex’s voice quivered as she spoke.

“Matt went to get us some pizza so get changed and just relax a little. Whoever they are they can’t get you here and if they tried I’d feel really bad for them.” Jeff slowly let go of her once she stopped shaking. Alex took the sweatpants from him and small laugh came out of her when he said he pitied whoever tried to come after her.

With a quick in and out of the bathroom she was in the comfiest sweatpants she’d ever worn. Alex plopped on the big comfy couch and stretched out. She didn’t take up a lot of it so Jeff settled in on the other side with what looked like a sketchbook. It didn’t take long for him to be absorbed in what he was doing and Alex took in the room around her. It was a modest room with expensive furniture and big enough to be a small apartment with everything it had.

Night and day to where she had lived, her house was a small cramped thing that had carpeted floors that looked the color of soot. In reality they were beige carpets. Broken bottles and odds and ends furnished the living room and all the bedrooms. All but hers at least. Hers was always kept semi clean and barren because she had to hide her belongings from her family so they couldn’t sell them. Any money they made went to her father who spent the money on gambling and booze mostly. So she had learned to forge numbers on a pay stub, it was never a lot only a couple hundred dollars each time.

Alex was brought from her thoughts when she heard the door open and close, bringing the smell of pizza with it. Alex had to try not to laugh as Jeff was up within seconds and taking the two pizza boxes from his brother. He opened the top one and took a slice out and putting it in his mouth before bringing the rest of the pizza over to the table. She felt Matt’s eyes on her for a minute and she did her best to ignore it as she took a slice of the pepperoni pizza. Alex couldn’t help the sound that came out of her when she tasted it because it had been so long since she last had pizza. Her face turned beet red and Jeff had upraised eyebrows while she heard a snicker from Matt.

“Shut uuuuup!” Alex squeaked out with a smile and tried to hide her face with the curtain of her hair.

“Oh, I grabbed these while I was out too. I thought you might need these Alex.” Matt remembered when he dug into his pocket, she heard something in a bottle and Matt tossed her something. It was a travel container of painkillers so Alex wasted no time in swallowing a few pills with her next bite of pizza.

“Thanks Matt, I’ll have a chance of sleeping now.” She smiled at him.

Alex felt a sudden surge of energy and took advantage of it, finishing another slice she said she’d be back in a little bit. Alex opened the door adjoining the two hotel rooms together and she proceeded to the bathroom attached to it. She impatiently waited for the water to heat up and inspected her body in the mirror, her clothes were already off and neatly folded on the sink for when she got out.

Alex turned and surveyed her back, thankfully hitting that tree didn’t leave her with any bruises on her back. She supposed that without the bruises and hollow look in her eyes she would be beautiful. Alex had given up on dating years ago because every time she would start dating someone they would find out about her family and run for the hills. Not that she could blame them, her father had threatened to hospitalize one she was going to move in with.

Alex ripped her eyes away from the mirror and stepped into the finally hot shower. She didn’t know how long she stood under the stream before she reached for the shampoo but it was long enough that her muscles stopped aching.

—————

“Jeff don’t go after her we have enough problems as it is. She probably won’t make it passed a year anyway and we will never see her again after that.” Matt warned his brother who was back to sketching after eating half a pizza.

“You didn’t see her before I found her like that and I’m not even thinking about anything romantic. She just seems like a cool person to know.” Jeff rolled his eyes at his brother. He could already tell he wouldn’t be able sleep tonight everything ached and he was out of anything that could help with that.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 5

@evilangel84

[uomo-accattivante]

I love this interview! 👍🏼

Writer/director Alex Garland set a high bar for himself with Ex Machina, his stellar 2015 directorial debut. That sci-fi movie had a lot on its mind, but his newest film, Annihilation, is far more cerebral. It’s one of the most challenging movies of the year: bold, beautiful, and haunting in a way that occasionally verges on being experimental.

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Garland and actor Oscar Isaac, who plays a key role in the film, to talk to them about bringing this story to the big screen. We touched on the film’s behind-the-scenes clashes, whether or not Garland was concerned with audiences being able to keep up with what he’s doing in this movie, Isaac’s approach to his troubled character, and much more. Read our full Oscar Isaac and Alex Garland interview below.

Warning: Both Garland and Isaac occasionally drop spoilers in a couple of their responses. If you’re 100% spoiler-averse, I’d suggest bookmarking this and reading it after you see the film. Our interview follows.

***

For me, watching this movie was like walking through a beautiful nightmare. I have not read Jeff VanderMeer’s book yet, but can you tell me about how you crafted the visual aspects of being inside The Shimmer?

Isaac: Sure. (laughs)

Garland: (To Isaac) Go on, do it. (laughs) Yeah, we knew we wanted it to be beautiful and disturbing, often concurrently within the same shot. So really, what happened was, there’s a script. And in the script it’s straightforward in many respects, because it says, like, say, this scene, you’d say, ‘INTERIOR. HOTEL BAY. Three people sit around a coffee table.’ But then of course, production designers and set decorators need to make it something where you can stick a camera. So the script was disseminated among the collective, the group of people who work together, many of whom I’ve worked with for a long time – some of them twenty years. Me and [set decorator] Michelle Day and Mark [Digby] on the production design team, [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] – we’ve worked together on seven or eight movies, so we know each other backwards.

It all goes out, and really what happens is, a conversation starts. Everybody’s got a voice, and everybody’s chipping in, and an organic, evolutionary process begins and it doesn’t really stop. It doesn’t really stop until the picture’s locked. Right in the 59th minute of the twelfth hour, or whatever the right thing to say is, in the grade, these things are being affected hugely. How much do you saturate the colors? Where do you choose to desaturate? Where do you choose to put a bright point in the screen and do we have a vignette on the shot to focus? So it never really stops. It’s a big collective all working together and getting there organically.

Isaac: But at the same time, nudging it towards ‘What’s most disturbing?’ As an example, without trying to give away too much stuff, the ‘fight’ scene at the end between the alien and Lena. I was there for a lot of those rehearsals, and just seeing – it’s such an ephemeral thing. Why is it more disturbing if she’s less aggressive here, but pushing into her? Why is it weirder if this movement happens as opposed to this movement? It’s hard to say why, but it’s one of those things where we wouldn’t think of it, but then (nods to Garland) you’d suggest it, and suddenly we were all like, ‘Yep. That’s definitely creepier.’ Something as subtle as, this alien being, all it is is intention. So seeing the physicality of that idea happen. The collaborative part is, you say that, and then we have to interpret that. How do you physicalize just intention? Then somewhere that alchemy comes together, and everyone gets on the same page and creates something really crazy.

By the end, Kane turns out to be unlike any character you’ve played before. But in the beginning, I was noticing a couple of similarities to the soldier you voice in the Homecoming podcast. Did you think about that character at all when you were making this?

Isaac: Oh, is that right? No, I didn’t. That one, he was a private. Sure, he had kind of gone through some weird stuff, but I think with that one, there was a bit of an innocence. Kane maybe has…it’s a little bit of a different thing. There’s a deeper, darker bubbling thing underneath him.

As the film goes on, it feels increasingly impressionistic and almost experimental at certain points. Were you worried at all about audiences not being able to keep up?

Garland: No. Not really. That’s not to say there’s anything to do with ignoring audiences. It’s not that. But it has to do with what you’re concerned with in relation to the audience, you know? For example, the kind of area where I’d think about it a lot would be to do with strangeness. So the film was, in some ways, conceived backwards. There was this crucial aspect to me that began as Natalie’s character is walking along the beach, and then contains the sequence within a lighthouse. I knew that was the goal, and I knew that I wanted us collectively to achieve a particular level of strangeness and beauty and oddness. Things like the dance sequence that Oscar was just alluding to. It needed to have information, but not information that was stated. It was more inferred. They key thing would be about strangeness, right? What it feels like to watch it. The crucial thing is what would it feel like? So then, you have to think, ‘How do you construct feeling?’

One of them, say in the case of strangeness, is that there’s a diminishing return with it. So if you begin strange, by the time you get to the end strange, you’ve got acclimatized to it and you’ve lost the thing that you’re shooting for. So that created a built-in structure, which on set and in pre-production, we used to call ‘suburbia to psychedelia,’ because it sounds neat and it’s a nice reduction. It’s a nice sound byte, isn’t it? But it’s got truth in it. Because if you start in suburbia, you start in our world, it gives you the chance of getting truly strange, in a way. So everything was sort of structured that way.

Along those same lines, there were some heavily publicized behind-the-scenes clashes about the making of this movie. I know you’re someone who’s not afraid to speak your mind, so I’m just wondering if you’re pleased with how it all turned out.

Garland: I only really give a shit about the film, OK? That’s actually all I care about. So as long as the film honors the intent of the collective, I’m basically happy. That’s what I care about. I think we did everything we could, and I’m proud of it, and I love it, so I’m fine with it.

I’m curious about your process. What kinds of conversations did you guys have about Kane, and was there a moment when you were developing your take on him where everything clicked for you?

Isaac: (Jokingly) Yeah, I had it all figured out, and I walked in and said, ‘Shut up. Sit down. And point the camera at this.’ (points at his own face)

Garland: He set the lens. There was some discussion about the lighting, but Oscar won. That’s the way it goes.

Isaac: (laughs) Yeah, we talked. That’s what we do. We like to talk a lot and we think about things in similar ways, I like to think, and we have a similar sense of humor. So I think my first question was, ‘I know it’s not Predator with girls, but tell me why it’s not Predator with girls.’ No, I’m kidding. I just read it and thought it was fascinating and thought it was so strange and so beautiful, and I wanted to play this character. What was so cool is that he has all this stuff bubbling underneath, as I was saying, so that’s what was most interesting to me. There was almost a Pinter-esque quality to it, where there’s all these pauses and all of this subtext that’s just emanating out of these two people. But they don’t say it. Like Alex said, it’s inferred. So we spoke a lot about that. ‘What is it that’s happening underneath, and what is the nature of this relationship? What do I know now that I’m not saying? In this scene, now what do I know? What does she know?’ Trying to map those things out. Everything had a palpable energy between the characters.

Then coming up with different ideas: ‘Where might he be from? What if I try making his voice sound a little like this? What do you think about that?’ And then at the end, just the nature of the energy of how do we do this speech at the end that’s being filmed? What’s the reason we’re filming it? What’s the intent of it? Getting very specific about that stuff. That’s what a lot of it felt like. And with Alex, it always feels like we’re building a motorcycle together, or building a car. We’re just kind of handing each other the tools and making it together. That’s what’s really fun about it.

Garland: It was actually all built backwards. So for me, for what it’s worth, the whole thing was about earning the speech that Kane says at the end in this locked off shot that just sits there and lets him do it. It’s about the words that are contained there and the things he’s expressing there. Everything else is in support of that moment. The whole film actually is in support of the last thirty minutes, basically. Which sounds like a sort of stupid thing to say, because truly all films are. But actually that’s not exactly true. In a way, every single thing that happens is just inching your way towards this strange metaphysical sequence. And having it not as just abstract firework fun, but having content.

Isaac: Or pain. I think what the last thirty minutes are just this metaphysical pain and despair in some ways.

Garland:(To Oscar, jokingly) That’s how you’re choosing to sell the movie? Are you out of your fucking mind?

Isaac: Let’s go back to Predator with girls. Predator with girls! (laughs)

Garland: It’s true, though. It’s true.

With this and Star Wars, you’re a part of two big recent sci-fi movies that proudly feature women at the forefront of the cast, which is really cool. I know you’re separated from a lot of the ensemble here, but tell me about working with Natalie on this.

Isaac: I was shooting Star Wars at the exact same time, too, so that was a wild thing to –

Wait, you were jumping back and forth between sets?

Isaac: It was literally the same studio.

Oh, cool.

Isaac: So some days I would walk from – I think I still used my trailer from Star Wars…

Garland: Yeah, we didn’t have trailers. But there were days where you were, on the same day, shooting both things.

Isaac: Yeah, there were. I would shoot something in the morning and then have a little bit of down time and then switch it up. So that was wild.

Garland: We’d catch him at his lunch break and say, ‘We’ve got to shoot this now!’ (laughs)

Isaac: I think I visited, too, still dressed up as Poe on the set.

Garland:Yeah, totally.

Isaac: It was pretty wild. It reminded me a little of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, when he’s on the lot and you see all the different actors walking around. There was something very classic about it. So there was very little time, and not a lot of rehearsal time, and Natalie and I didn’t know each other. It happens in movies, obviously – you have to suddenly be very intimate with someone very quickly. I think the fact that she was willing to trust me and I was trusting her, and we just went in there and did it and tried to find a real intimacy. Which is always a weird, awkward, strange thing to do suddenly in front of a bunch of people. But we found that, and I really enjoyed those scenes with her. She is very focused, but also in those scenes, very emotionally available as well, so I really enjoyed that.

Garland: It makes me want to name-check Rian [Johnson] and Ram [Bergman], the producer on Star Wars [The Last Jedi]. I think because they come from an indie film background, here they are making like the biggest movie of all time, and they were unbelievably helpful and accommodating to us. And they really didn’t have to be at all. Most big productions would not even dream of doing that. And they went out of their way – whilst making fucking Star Wars, for Christ’s sake – to help this really small movie next door. It was very cool and I’m truly grateful for it, actually.

Making a movie with all female protagonists almost feels like a political statement today. Was that something that specifically drew you to this?

Garland: I really just want to dodge that question.

Really?

Garland: Yeah. The answer that I’m saying – which I’ve said before, so I apologize for it, but I’m in a position where this is the answer that I have – is that the previous film that Oscar and I worked on together [Ex Machina] had within it a very conscious set of deliberate arguments which related to gender and objectification. As well as other stuff about sentience and AI and all of that kind of thing. And what interested me about this project was the absence of an argument. So if I now talk about that, I dismantle the absence of the argument. So I’d just like to leave it at that.

Understood. You wrote this long before the Times Up and Me Too movements came to light, and I certainly don’t want you to explain the ending of your movie, but there’s some symbolism and imagery at the end that could be interpreted as being aligned with those causes. Does the film feel even more relevant now than when you wrote it, considering what’s going on culturally?

Garland: No, it doesn’t. I can’t lay claim to that. I wouldn’t want to. For me, it was a film, internally – by the way, let me just say, any time you present a narrative, in a book or a film or whatever the fuck it is, what is really happening is that fifty percent of the narrative is not provided by you. It’s provided by the subjective nature of the person receiving the narrative. So they fill in gaps, they provide stuff, they create agendas, whatever it happens to be. That is not problematic to me, that is just in the nature of the job. Right? For me, personally – so it doesn’t have to be for you – in as much as it is about something, which it is, to me, it is about the nature of self-destruction. It was about an observation I made, which is that everybody appears to be self-destructive. Some people are very obviously self-destructive because they’re addicted to heroin or alcohol or they act in a psychotic way or whatever, and they offer their self-destruction to you. Other people are very comfortable in their own skin, and they’ve got a fantastic job and a fantastic life and everything seems to be bulletproof. They feel like they’ve sort of cracked something about life. But then when you get to know them, you discover odd bits of self-destruction, which then become significant bits of self-destruction. It was the universality of it, that even the people who’d cracked it all had not cracked it all. And then I started trying to think –

Isaac: Where does it come from?

Garland: Where does it come from? Why is it that you have a really good marriage and you dismantle it? Why do you have a really good friendship and you dismantle it? Why do you have a really good job and you dismantle it? Whatever it happens to be. And the film essentially presents that question and an answer to that question by inference. To me, that is what it’s about.

*****

Annihilation hits theaters on February 23, 2018.

[riverdames-blog]

Disappointed But Not Disheartened: Reflections on A Wrinkle In Time

In early 2016, when it was announced that Ava DuVernay was attached to A Wrinkle In Time, I tweeted about how excited I was for it and she favorited my tweet so I screenshotted the notification and showed it to everyone on the planet and have been anxiously awaiting this movie ever since.  Jennifer Lee, one of the two screenwriters for the project, is who I aspire to be, and Ava DuVernay is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best filmmakers of all time, and, although I honestly don’t remember much about the plot, I read at least 3 books in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet as a child and definitely really enjoyed them.  (I may have read Many Waters and completely forgotten it, but I think I was just not that interested in transitioning to the next generation and so peaced out after A Swiftly Tilting Planet.)  In the months before its release, I declared multiple times that A Wrinkle In Time would probably be the movie of the year for me.

Now that I’ve seen it, I can say more confidently: it’s not my movie of the year.  Just to be sure, I saw it twice this weekend (and I also watched the 2003 TV Movie in between to compare – it’s not great but it’s also not, like… resoundingly worse).  The second time around, I enjoyed it way more than the first, and I think it’ll only continue to grow on me with time.  Visually, it’s just spectacular: Ava DuVernay and Naomi Shohan have built a gorgeous and imaginative world.  Production design is maybe the only element of cinema that L’Engle’s original novel lends itself to easily, and they tapped that to its fullest potential.  But something about the storytelling just didn’t quite click for me.

And before I go on, I want to be clear: no one working on this movie had anything to prove.  People will frame it that way – can a black woman direct a $100 million movie? or can a little brown girl carry an action-adventure blockbuster? – but none of that is really up in the air.  Black creatives have proven time and time again that they can and will carry franchises, so we can stop pretending that was ever even a question.  And we all saw The Dark Knight Rises and were like, “hm, very middle of the road”, and yet no one raised an eyebrow when Christopher Nolan got a Best Director nod this year.  Ava is still one of the best working visual storytellers in Hollywood (and has increasingly excellent brand recognition – any studio would be lucky to have her helm another blockbuster).  Storm Reid is charming and will continue to get work.  Jennifer Lee is still my hero.  It is dumb that I’m nervous to admit that I was disappointed by A Wrinkle In Time, like if it wasn’t the perfect movie no one will ever try to make movies like it again.  Creatives do not have to break new ground with every movie they make for their work to be considered valuable.  And in a lot of ways, A Wrinkle In Time was groundbreaking.

So, bearing in mind that this movie doesn’t in anyway reflect on anyone’s capacity for great filmmaking, what made A Wrinkle In Time feel disjointed to me?

My first thought was maybe it was just a failure of casting.  They apparently searched for 7 months for someone to play Charles Wallace, and as cute as he is, Deric McCabe felt awkward and stilted to me the entire movie on first watching.  Levi Miller was the cutest stalk of celery I’ve ever seen but that’s kinda the most I can say for him.  Everyone was charming, but no one – Storm Reid included – really had the chops to carry the weight of all the bonkers exposition this movie demanded of them.

That said, the performances felt less stilted to me when I watched it a second time – Storm Reid and Deric McCabe did have some really keen and nuanced moments, and Levi Miler, despite speaking like he’s never met another human being before, gives truly excellent face.  And the adult casting was superb; Chris Pine as the affirming father of a biracial daughter seems like an obvious and sincere choice, and also ZACH GALIFIANAKIS.  Clearly Aisha Coley knew what she was doing because it takes some serious insight to look at Zach Galifinakis and think, “this schlubby comedian will play the kindest, gentlest father figure in cinematic history.”  No actor is actively wrong for their part, and no one is phoning it in – the younger folks are maybe just still figuring some things out.

So if the performances felt awkward but it wasn’t a failure of casting, I hate to even suggest it, but maybe then it’s a failure of direction.  If these actors had the potential to perform this script well, maybe Ava just didn’t direct them appropriately.  There are some moments where I think this is actually true: if you’re working with young talent struggling to create a genuine sense of chemistry, maybe don’t block things so they’re standing several yards apart as they exchange intimate dialogue.  There were multiple weirdly slow, far apart exchanges between Meg and Calvin that probably would’ve felt loaded with meaning with more competent actors but just felt bizarre and confusing with these kids.

That said, I am reluctant to criticize Ava’s work here, largely because these children have spoken quite sincerely multiple times about how kind Ava was and how safe they felt working with her.  When working with young actors, I think that’s the most important thing.  And so if these kids felt most comfortable shouting at each other from across a football field, then fine.  I’m okay with that.  And also, let’s not forget: Zach. Gala-friggin-akis.  Ava knows how to get what she needs.

So then perhaps there was something weird about the camera.  The cinematography of this movie felt deliberate, like it was meant to create a real mood around this story.  It felt like the idea was to shoot this thing in a way that was disorienting to reflect the magic and uncertainty of the world these characters occupy.  But that didn’t really click for me: I mostly just felt like the camera placement was in the way.  Maybe because the performances weren’t strong enough to come through, but maybe because cutting from a traditional over-the-shoulder shot to a strikingly tight 90 degree profile is always going to take you a little bit out of the moment.  (There were two particularly striking moments that made me chuckle they were so disorienting: one when Ms. Whatsit and Meg’s mother talk in such a tight, shallow-focus profile shot, I could’ve sworn they were about to kiss; the other when, in the middle of a conversation between Meg and Principal Jenkins, there was a cut to a close, shallow-focus shot of his name placard, and then a very artistic but completely unnecessary tilt up as the focus racks a very tight shot of Mr. Jenkin’s face.)

Weird cinematography can interrupt the flow of even the best scenes.  But maybe – and I hate to say this even more than I hate to suggest Ava’s work wasn’t as good as it could be – but maybe, I am just making excuses here for Jennifer Lee.  Maybe this was a failure of script.  And I do think that Jennifer Lee and her writing partner, Jeff Stockwell, made some really positive changes.  I think they captured and amplified the essential relationships and motivations in this story.  I think getting rid of the twins and playing around with the Murry family structure, as well as adding a lot of scenes with the dad and giving him a central character flaw, gave this story a clearer and cleaner direction than the Weinstein-produced adaptation in 2003.  And I think that the whimsy of the book was captured in a way that felt visual and cinematic in this screenplay.

But it’s hard to deny that this screenplay felt a little clunky.  There was a lot of exposition and no clear moment when a goal or central question was obviously stated, which probably would’ve helped me enjoy the film a bit more on my first watching.  It was somewhat unclear when the acts were changing, which made it hard to be totally swept up in the beautiful and immersive imagery.  The sequencing at the end is awkward – why does Calvin just watch a deeply intimate conversation between Meg and her dad?  (He’s just smiling in the corner of one shot when they hug at the end and I truly burst out laughing in the theater.)  What did Calvin and Mr. Murry do in the backyard for all that time when they tessered away without Meg and Charles Wallace?  Why did Charles Wallace get so easily distracted by the family dog (for a seemingly very long stretch of time) when he ran into the house to get his mom?  Why did Meg not laugh out loud at Calvin when he said, “Funny how it took a trip around the universe for me to have the strength to confront my crazy dad!”?  And speaking of Calvin, while I think the decision to trim a lot of the fat around the Meg-Charles Wallace sibling dynamic was a good one, it sort of begged the question: why is Calvin even here?  (It’s actually sort of nice bit of commentary – to help save the universe, men simply need to trust women and affirm that their ideas and instincts are correct – but it felt undeniably odd that Calvin came along when all he did was fall off Reese Witherspoon’s lettuce leaf body and then eat a bunch of sand.)

Having said that, it does seem like there were some fairly substantial reshoots or at least major cuts made after principle production, because based on the trailer, what seems like a big expositional scene got left on the chopping block.  I’ve also heard in interviews that they shot and were starting to animate an Aunt Beast scene between Mr. Murry’s tesser and Meg’s final confrontation with The It.  Perhaps the original script did a better job of integrating Calvin and establishing clearer act breaks and character voices.  Maybe, for reasons beyond their control, this script needed to be torn up a bit and it was too late for the writers to polish the rough edges that were left behind.   Or hey, maybe Jeff Stockwell took hostage of the whole thing and made a bunch of bad changes at the last minute that Jennifer Lee couldn’t talk him down from and her hands are clean!  (I don’t know enough about WGA rules to totally tease out what that cowriting process looked like based on the billing – that is maybe very possible – but it’s not very kind to Jeff to just assume that about the script so I won’t.)

At the end of the day, A Wrinkle In Time did not come together for me like I hoped it would.  It’s not easy to tell why major sequences got cut pretty late in the game or why the cinematography decisions and acting decisions came together as awkwardly as they did.  Whatever the reason, this movie just didn’t do it for me.  But even as I left the theater feeling a little disappointed, I was not disheartened.  This movie wasn’t anything like, say, Suicide Squad, which feels like a project that was fought over, a project where everyone involved seemingly knew the movie was a train-wreck but also “knew” it wasn’t their fault.  It’s hard to point the finger at anyone here; everyone has something to be proud of (and something to be less proud of).  No sequence feels pulled because the studio didn’t trust its creatives or because the director didn’t trust her actors.  It feels like a product that was made by a whole, a whole who struggled with this beast together.  A Wrinkle In Time feels delightfully collaborative, a movie made by committee in the best possible way.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway, then, is that adapting L’Engle’s bonkers novel is a hard thing to do.  To no one’s fault, the stakes of her story are simultaneously impossibly large and surprisingly small.  Her characters speak with a rhythm that is odd even when done well, and the world she built evokes more the concept of beauty than actual images of it.  (And let’s not even begin to unpack cinema’s troubled troubled relationship with Christian-influenced fantasy storytelling.)

But here is a group of people who all earnestly rose to the challenge.  They made the thing.  And it is flawed in a lot of ways.  But as Meg Murry knows better than most, its faults are not undeserving of love.

[letoscrawls]

I finished. I finished it all.

I wanna die what the hell was that last movie

WHY DID EVERYONE AND THEIR SISTER DIE

And the deaths were so pointless???? Like omg????? i'll get to the rest but first let me vent on the stupid deaths!!!! In order of stupidity!!!! btw i haven't read the book but i'm pretty sure i would be as mad as i am rn i'm sorry Tolkien but it's true

Kili: okay i'm mad mostly because this poor guy almost died in the second movie and he got to suffer all over again. What was the reason of Tauriel putting him before anything else etc etc??? i was kinda annoyed by the romance but in the end i was rooting for those two HARD. what the fuck i have no words poor Kili. He didn't even get to say goodbye to Tauriel or talk to her for more than thirty seconds???? Peter Jackson i'm in your walls????

Thorin: HIS DEATH DIDN'T MAKE SENSE AT ALL. Who will get to rule Erebor now?? (sister said "his cousin" BE FOR REAL. THE GUY SHOWED UP THE LAST TEN SECONDS AND HE GETS TO SIT ON ALL THAT MONEY AND JEWELS??? I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.) Okay i get it he lost his mind for a good half of the movie but c'mon we are all humans (dwarves), i was rooting for him even when he was speaking like Smaug (omg btw i will also comment on Smaug my belovedest <3 cutest dragon ever!!) bc he lost his home!! he worked his ass off for years, made deals with stupid humans for a couple of broken knives??? i'm sorry but to me he was kinda right and the narrative wanted to villainize him too much. anyways. HE CHANGED HIS MIND WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE OH MY GOD. Also the whole dynamic with Bilbo...........man. just beautiful.

Fili: SOMEONE HOLD ME. I HAD NO IDEA HE DIED TOO WTF. He was the cutest, most loyal unproblematic little dwarf, all he did was doing his job and being so cute it hurt. I'm mad. He died a stupid death whose only purpose was to make Kili mad and eventually killed too. Fili you were my fav dwarf and i will always root for you. bless you my little scrimblo bimblo. Mr Tolkien i dont' care if you are dead, Frank Herbert is too but i want ANSWERS from both of you. This isn't over we'll see each other at the gates of the afterlife

Anyways moving on even though i will never move on.

Smaug was the cutest!! okay yes he killed people, he stole a treasure, destroyed a mountain and caused a lot of problems but. did you see how his tummy glowed when he was about to spit fire. did you see it??? i can't hate a dragon with such a magnificent design. case closed. Dear dwarves maybe don't keep a giant hoard of gold in a mountain next time? smh

Oh by the way i said i didn't quite like Tauriel in the last post well i lied. I'm physically incapable of hating a female character unless i'm provided with undeniable proof of said character being a total fascist piece of shit with no morals etc. But i love girls, i will always root for girls, especially elves with beautiful hair and a dwarf boyfriend. That is all.

GOD BLESS BILBO one of the few smart main characters i've ever seen. Even though i'm still mad at him for indirectly putting Frodo in the mess that was the journey to Mordor, I think he was the only character using his brain the entire time while also being genuine, good, funny and loyal <3 He deserved a happy ending but the finale felt so empty and numb. idk it was pretty sad.

And finally, a huge round of applause to Lee Pace and Orlando Bloom for carrying these movies on their backs with their grace, combat skills, killer looks, iconic lines, fake blue lenses and thick eyebrows. I love my elves. They were all so beautiful and perfect, Galadriel and Elrond were exceptionally amazing too. Idk there's just something about playing elves that turn actors into ethereal beings for three hours of movie (this further proves that the design of the elves in that jeff bezos show was horrible. yikes)

btw why in the name of sanity didn't Thorin give back the elves jewels. It was THAT simple :|

Finally gave up and started The Hobbit wish me luck