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dommexbritt · 4 years ago

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FONDUE FOR TWO // ELECTION WEEK ⤷ VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATES RECAP

Aaaaaaaand we're back again with part deux of Fondue For Two Election Edition. This time we've got the line up of Vice President candidates, looking cute very serious and ON TIME. Totally appreciated.

The fondue is reheating so you're going to want to give it a minute and careful, there's some sneaky pepper jack in there, we're keeping things spicy today. Just like with the peeps who were running for Pres, lets do a quick intro from everyone and tell us why you've decided to run..

RIE: Well, yes! Hi! I'm Rie Anderson. I'm running because I believe I could do a great job in helping students communicate their needs to the people running the Academy. I'm a political scientist and one thing that I've learned is how important listening and being transparent is. And I believe we can make this place even better with the students' input. We are the ones taking the classes and putting the acquired knowledge to use. Then, as Vice President, I'm going to work together with our President, to make sure we, as students, are always heard.

BRITT: A cutie with some solid declarations, we totally love to see it! Next on the panel...

EMERSON: Hello all, my name is Emerson Patterson Fabray and I’ll be running for vice president. I believe those who are running for president are strong contenders but they’ll need another voice to help them reach where they want to go, someone to bounce ideas off of, and ultimately share leadership and school decisions with, and I personally believe I’m the woman for that job

BRITT: Excellent. Totally makes sense! And lastly,..

NORA: My name is Nora Cricket Toussaint and... I’m running on an education based platform but these women beside me are very well spoken so---

BRITT: SO SUPER HOT! You are absolutely right Cricket! You may all know her as Cricket or as the cutest of her partners long list of girlfriends, Nora Toussaint everyone! Totally VALID and third VP candidate in our line up!

Now... lets get to the real stuff. Rapid fire questions! Emerson, you’re up first!

Q&A W/ EMERSON FABRAY -

B: The hottest dish of the day and personally the most burningest question on my mind just happens to also potentially be some family drama... it looks as though you are running alongside Mateo Weston rather than your own namesake, do you expect there to be BAD BLOOD circa 2015 terrible carbon copy of an already terrible black and white movie adaptation of Sin City, no matter the election outcome?

E: No Quinn and I are adults and my views align more with Mateo’s. There should be a system in place that what happened with the interim deans never happens again, equality in both our education and simply in our campus life, regardless of legacy status or not, is the most important thing and not to mention of course order is needed. A lack of proper structure can wreak havoc, but too much structure to the point corporal punishments willy nilly, in public no less, red robes to mark those who have decided to push back against a broken system? Is simply insanity, and also not conducive to any sort of learning environment. Back to the question at hand I wish my sister the very best, of course I do, and I always will but my I 100% stand by my choice to run with Mateo Weston.

B: The rumor is that you’re starting a all blonde volleyball team, are potentially co-heading a belief group, and have recently entered into a claim... do you feel you’ll have time to devote to the Vice President position should you be elected?

E: I mean.. I’m simply in the Volleyball team I’m not starting it, and I’m not sure what belief system you’re referring too but... I can confirm I did enter a claim and that’s part of the reason I decided to do this. I have 5 sisters at this school, countless friends, and now a submissive who were all affected by what happened last month which means I’ll be more than dedicated enough to devote time to both her, and this position if I’m elected into it.

B: Same as I asked your running mate, as there seems to be a connection here in your joint purple candidacy, do you believe in the separation of church and state?

E: [short pause] ...Yes I do believe 100% in the separation of church and state.

- Q&A W/ RIE ANDERSON -

B: As the most technically qualified candidate for both the Presidency and VP, how do you plan to implement your MIT political science degree here at Deveruex?

R: When I was in college, I learned a lot about law making, laws in general and political communication. Those are all things that are going to help me here. Also, one thing that my professors were very strict about, was the fact that we should always look at situations with an unbiased opinion. Then we would know what to do, how to solve problems in a way that would be good for the Government but also for the People. So I plan to implement my degree by being a VP that listens, analyses and comes up with good solutions!

B: During a deep dive of your social media accounts I discovered that the adorableness of your face is so very distracting to any other thought processes, that I don’t think I read a single caption. Are you going to use that asset to your advantage while intellectually pulverizing the board standing your ground on student issues?

R: [laughs] Well... Why not? As a great VP I should always use all the assets available to my advantage! As long as I can help the students be heard!

B: Maybe not a hot dish but totally sizzling, if you had to choose only one other Anderson to spend the rest of your life stranded on a deserted island with... which would it be?

R: I know I said I'd pick Mark to go with me not a long time ago, but you just said for the rest of my life. So assuming I can't leave the island ever again, I'd totally take Blaine with me. He's my favorite Anderson, so he seems like the correct choice!

Q&A W/ NORA TOUSSAINT

B: Hey, Bestie's babe. You are an absolute angel. I don't have any questions for you, I'm just going to give you the next three minutes of air time. Go for it.

N: [ speaks on popular issues and education issues and the incident with the deans last month and how it’s unacceptable ]

- FINAL QUESTION FOR EVERYONE -

BRITT: We've heard your main concerns about the campus, is there anything you'd like to add? And also, what is the first action you are planning to take if elected?

EMERSON: My first act as vice president would be to make sure any legacy privileges become something attainable to all students. The divide is something that simply cannot last in a school that presents itself as forward thinking and liberal.

RIE: When I'm elected, I'd like to sit down with the President and talk about plans to make the school a better place for the students. I'd also like to set up an official anonymous communication channel for the students to be able to give their opinions without consequences. I'd also like to speak with the Deans to know what's their expectations of us, as students. From there, we'll start working!

NORA: [ clears throat ] My first act as vice president would be... To make sure our education is as up to date as possible. That we’re getting the most updated practices are being taught to us, and not something that was given to us 10 years ago that doesn't apply now. -

Well you heard their intentions here folks! Thank you all for joining me, it’s really nice to hear everyone’s best foot forward on campus and student issues. I don’t know about all of you listeners, but I’m ready to get to voting!!

This has been your election dish here on Fondue For Two!! I’m your host Brittany S. Pierce, signing off until next time...

#; FONDUE FOR TWO #fft: Emerson Fabray #fft: Nora Cricket #fft: Rie Anderson #emerson fabray #nora cricket #rie anderson

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shirtlesssammy · 5 years ago

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15x04: Atomic Monsters

Then:

Becky was an obsessed, gross fangirl, and it was not awesome.

Now:

We open to the bunker under attack. Dean is in full beard and kicking ass. Boy, the director of this episode sure knows how to make Dean pretty. He makes it to the bunker’s kitchen to find Benny (!!!!) on the floor dying.

I don’t rewatch Taxi Driver for a reason, Show. I loved Benny and Dean’s friendship, so while this was great just to have him back for old time’s sake, it still makes me sad that he’s still gone. (And spoiler, this is Sam’s dream. I just like to think about how Sam still thinks about this friendship he didn’t want Dean to have and it haunts him to this day.)

Dean’s looking for someone. He walks into the war room and finds him: Sam, all powerful on demon blood. Dean tries reasoning with his brother, but he’s past all that. Sam kills another hunter sneaking up on them, and then he kills Dean.

Sam wakes up from his nightmare, gasping. SAM!

He heads to the kitchen to find Dean looking for cases, drinking coffee, and eating a plate of bacon. Dean says it’s veggie bacon when Sam tries to turn down eat some. Sam also tells Dean that his self-proclaimed nickname “Meat Man” isn’t what he thinks it means. Dean apparently knows exactly what it means and he’s standing by it. Ahem. Dean also calls Sam out on not handling their recent losses. The Just Brothers show is a real bummer.

Anyway, the case Dean found is in Iowa. There’s been a string of cattle mutilations and a young woman’s body found ripped to pieces.

Also, it was real bacon and Dean’s a dick for trying to trick Sam into eating it.

At Beaverdale High School, Sam learns Susie, the vic, was a popular girl and there’s going to be a prayer vigil for her at the school. Two parents show up asking about the game getting canceled --or rescheduled. They’re just can’t have that happen. There was going to be a scout coming to that game for their son, Billy.

Sam is appalled (and I’m sad for him, so close to losing family he cared about.) The vice principal shuts down the pushy parents, and after they leave mutters, “I swear, the parents are worse than the kids.”

Sam meets back up with Dean (eating again). Dean was just at the morgue and found a vamp fang. This one’s a weird one. Vamps don’t usually tear their victims apart. Also, she didn’t even try to fight off her attacker.

Later that night, a fellow student leaves the school only to be attacked by the camera in the bushes!!

Sam and Dean check out where Susie was found. No blood means she was killed elsewhere and her body was dumped in the woods. Sam soliloquies about how taking care of the monsters is their job and they carry the weight of everyone. Dean drinks from his flask. They are coping SO WELL, guys!

Sam gets a call that another girl is missing.

WHOA. Becky, fangirl and Sam kidnapper extraordinaire, is married with kids and is looking forward to having the house to herself for the day. Just as her husband and kids pull away, she sees her old ex, Chuck, across the street. Run, Becky, Run! Chuck wants to talk. UGH.

The VP fills the brothers in on the new missing teen.

Chuck checks out Becky’s maquettes and learns that she’s a successful Etsy seller of Supernatural merchandise. She fesses up to how wrong what she did to Sam was, admitted to counseling. She kept writing. She wrote the good stuff, amirite? Chuck disagrees and thinks that people like the monsters. (Natasha: raises hand.) Becky’s a busy person so Chuck better cut to the chase here. Chuck won’t let the whole monster thing go.

Chuck admits to having a falling out with the Winchesters. He also tells Becky that his sister won’t help, because “she sucks.” Becky can’t believe that Chuck thinks he can come crawling back to her. She’s got a good life now. She doesn’t need him.

Becky’s nice though (can’t believe I just wrote those words), and asks Chuck, what makes him happy. Writing. She tells him he has to write.

Back at the high school, Dean is interviewing a man in a beaver suit while eating a hot dog.

JESUS CHRIST ON A CRACKER. (I’m conducting an experiment with my GA co-worker about Dean is bi-Dean/Cas. I can’t wait to hear what she says about this. She did call The Breakup a “bro-fight” so I’ll keep you all posted.)

In the school gymnasium, Billy and Veronica bond over losing Susie. Billy’s mom interrupts and he runs away.

The third-in-line-to-the-throne cheerleader practices her eulogy alone in a gym. I obsessed over this scene in this post about stories, because it was such a strange beat in the episode. The Winchesters confront her. They ask her to head off with them alone (GURL never do that with anyone you don’t know) when Sam notices that she wears braces.

Sam and Dean leave the gym in a huff. Vampires don’t wear braces! Foiled by braces yet again! They go back to the drawing board.

We finally get a peek in the happy lacrosse family’s home. Everyone’s argumentative and on edge, and when we get a closeup of the dad he’s washing blood off his hands in the sink.

The camera pans through the house to the garage where the kidnapped cheerleader, Tori, lies bound and gagged. UGH.

Chuck experiences the downside of Becky-in-momland: no booze! Chuck complains that he can no longer see Sam and Dean in his head and subtly touches his hidden bullet wound. Ooooo. Becky lays out some truths for Chuck. “You’re a writer. A writer who’s not writing. And when a writer’s not writing, they feel sad and they get lost. Why do I feel this way? Why am I so sad and lost? And what is all this naval gazing and hair pulling amount to in the end? Procrastination. Distraction. Just one million ways the writer avoids doing the one thing that is guaranteed to make the writer feel better. Which is…”

“Writing,” Chuck finishes the thought. Go Becky! Except…um…now Chuck is inspired to write again. And when Chuck writes? The world ends.

Chuck takes over Becky’s computer (RUDE) and starts his next opus on supernaturalstory-onebillionparallelworlds.com.

Sam and Dean check out the security footage from the night Tori was abducted. They nab a suspicious vehicle and a license plate which lands them at...Billy’s house.

At Billy’s house, strife continues to be the word of the day. The parents argue that they want what’s best for Billy - whatever that is. Sam and Dean head inside, looking as dangerous as panthers.

Sam heads for the garage while Dean cues the dad into a little fun fact: they’re not FBI. No, they’re considerably scarier than the FBI. Dean pulls out a machete which is probably NOT FIELD ISSUE OKAY.

Sam discovers that the girl has been hooked up to an IV - she’s become a slow-release food source. The mom interrupts them with a GUN.

Danger mom escorts Sam and the cheerleader back to the living room where they have a gun vs. machete stand-off. Obviously Dean would win this matchup, okay? He’d probably, idk, stop the bullets in his teeth or something.

Becky reads over Chuck’s work. She adores it! Chuck pushes for some notes. She asks for higher stakes and while we get distracted by her rambling about the lack of classic rock and Cas, Chuck’s expression grows GRIM and DARK and VERY SCARY. (Good job Rob, you talented cinnamon roll!)

“You want jeopardy? You want danger? I’ll give you danger.” Thanks for the trip to CREEPY TOWN, Chuck.

Billy heads downstairs and witnesses the confrontation between the Winchesters and his parents. Dean does his usual monologue, explaining how the dad got turned into a vamp, tried to eat cows, and started eating teen girls instead. But Sam observes Billy and points out something very different. “It’s not the dad, it’s the son.” Billy confesses: he was kissing his girlfriend when he lost control and ate her instead. Man, I HATE it when that happens.

Billy told his parents, who covered it up. They kidnapped Tori as a longer term feed option. But now their son lays it all out. He’ll take the fall for everything, including Tori’s kidnapping and assault. And he’ll take a one-way ride with the Winchesters.

UGH now everything is terrible. Dean executes the son in a dark wooded area as the rest of the world washes any trace of the supernatural away.

Back with Chuck, Becky finishes reading his higher-stakes take. She’s disturbed. “You can’t,” she pleads. “This is just an ending.”

“Yeah,” Chuck says, pleased. “I don’t know how I’m getting there, but I know where I’m going.” That destination, to be specific, is just a tombstone with the word WINCHESTER on it. (Can I get a hell yeah for this meta-awareness and roundabout promise that we WON’T get this ending?)

“You can’t do this to the fans!” Becky insists. But she’s prevented from saying more by her husband’s sudden return. She starts to explain the presence of Chuck, when Chuck just ZAPS her husband out of existence. Her kids call out and BOOM they’re gone too. I start to get worried that we’re gonna have some sort of icky reverse-Misery situation here when Chuck decides to zap Becky away as well. (Can’t wait until Becky kills God at the end of the series, guys!)

In the car, Sam directly parallels Billy to Jack. Dean admits that he wanted to “cash out” in the crypt, but that Sam’s insistence that they matter pulled him back. (Me: RLY?) Sam’s bitter. Dean’s tense. “We still do the job,” Dean says. “We do it for Jack. For mom. For Rowena. We owe it to anybody who has ever given a damn about us to keep putting one foot in front of the other. No matter what.”

Dean goes on to say that with Chuck gone, they’re finally free to “move on” and EXCUSE ME while I go throw myself into a Destiel trash bin at that phrasing. Sam’s not in the Destiel trash bin with me, because he tells us he still mourns Jessica and now we’re HURTING for other reasons. SAM BBY!

Back at Becky’s house Chuck continues to write...INSIDIOUSLY. I can’t wait for Chuck’s next book: Sad Boys in the Impala.

______________________________

Read These Quotes Backward for a Demonic Spell:

The end of the world is the end of the world

They have no idea what’s out there

But people LIKE monsters

I need wine

Why am I so sad and lost? And what is all this naval gazing and hair pulling amount to in the end? Procrastination. Distraction. Just one a million ways the writer avoids doing the one thing that is guaranteed to make the writer feel better.

Nobody even mentions Cas

To see your child in pain rips your heart out

We can bury them out back. Under the peonies. Everything is going to be FINE

Fans are gonna love it

Oh, Becky. I can do anything. I’m a writer

We do the ugly things so that people can live happy

Monsters are cool. What? They’re all teeth!

______________________________

#spn recap #spn 15x04 #atomic monsters #dean winchester #sam winchester #chuck shurley #becky rosen #benny lafitte #supernatural season 15

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evilelitest2 · 4 years ago

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I know I hear it a lot and this is 4 years later but why was Hilary Clinton such a flawed and disliked candidate outside of misogyny and sexism?

Beyond the sexism and conspiracy theories? Well its important to understand, there are two different reasons why people hate Clinton outside of Sexism, and those reasons are very different if you are on the left or the Right. So first

Why Do Conservatives Hate the Clintons

Sexism its mostly sexism....oh wait but other reasons

So the year is 1992, after 12 years of Republican control of goverment, and 24 years of controlling the political agenda, the seemingly impressive Bush Sr has just been defeated in a reelection he should of won, despite the fall of the Soviet Union. And some nobody from Arkansas shows up and destroys the Republican paradigm. And then he goes on to be the first Democrat since Truman to win reelection, in both elections by huge margins. And his term is a massive economic success, being the first president since the 20s to balance the budget, and seemingly define the post 9/11 order. and the HATED him. Like, republican hated Clinton as much as we hate Trump, because until he showed up the Republicans were kinda winning. After democrats basically running the country between 1930-1968, and having partial control between 1968-1980. So for 12 years the Republicans have been able to push back against 40-60 plus years of Democratic control in their bid to establish their own world view when out of fucking no where this dude shows up, wins, and runs the show for 8 years, in that time seemingly making a lot of their ideology look fucking stupid and lame. Culturally the 80s were basically “Republicans rock”, while the 90s started to look at them as lame has beens.

In fact, unless something crazy happened, like a terrorist organization destroying the symbols of American capitalism with planes, Cultural Conservatism looked like it was on the defeat. Religious fanatics started to be seen as nutjobs, country music started to consider dropping the racists, and the confederate flag starts to get you side eyes in restaurants. Republicanism’s dream of overturning the legacy of FDR had been thwarted, and what pissed them off so much is that Clinton seemed immune to their attacks. No matter what happened, no matter how much they hated him, no matter how sleezy he was, he just was untouchable. He got a blowjob in the oval office by taking advantage of an intern and managed to use that to win the midterms. Nothing they did could stick on this guy, if Bush Jr hadn’t cheated in Florida, the Republicans might have found themselves rendered irrelevant for 12 more years.

And right next to him is wife, Hillary Clinton, who unlike most First Ladies actually plays a major role in politics, while Al Gore was technically Clinton’s VP, really it was Hillary. in fact Hillarly was sort of a co president, like a Roman style Jr. Partner Emperor, one of their slogans was “two for the price of one”. She was as smart as her president and manage the administrative stuff while he did the social stuff. And it was basically clear to everybody involved that Hillary Clinton was going to continue the Clinton legacy as soon as she could, with Al Gore as a stop gap. And since much of the Republican Party had designed themselves in opposition to the Clintons and they knew she was coming, they spent the last two years of Bursh Sr.’s terms, all 8 of Clinton’s years, all 8 of Bush Jr., and all 8 of Obama’s trying to rally Republicans to fight against her as if it was the literal end of the world, to the point of supporting Donald fucking Trump. Because after 26 years of hating her, Hillary Clinton had turned into this sort of boogieman end of the world figure in the Republican imagination. And since republicans are republicans, they turned to conspiracy theories to explain their dislike and oh hey, its the Pizzagate

Also lets be honest here, a lot of Republicans were upset because a women was playing such an active part in politics and they couldn’t do anything about it.

So the Republicans hate Clinton because of a 26-27 year old hate boner. What about the Leftists

LEftists reasons to Hate the Clintons (or why I hate the Clintons)

So the Clintons pissed of the Right and brought a technical end to the Era of Reagan. But if you were a real leftist, and by that I mean “thought the New Deal was a good idea’ then the Clintons are the worse (who aren’t Republicans). The Clinton strategy was part of the ‘Third Way” style liberalism, which is basically “Republican Lite”. massive deregulation, embrace of corporate donors, harsh crime bills, Militant international policy..basically everything leftists don’t like about the Democratic Party had its heyday under Bill Clinton, whose plan for defeating the Republicans was “Take Republican Policies, mix moderate New Dealism into it, and cut out the Movement Conservative” Which while better than the fucking Reagan years, basically helped continue the embraced of soft Neoliberalism we have had since 1980. Also unlike Obama, the Clintons were sleezy as fuck and really did act like the left was as much as a threat as the Right. The Clintons also regularly indulged in dirty politics which backfired in 2016.

To talk about Hillary personally, she was a terrible campaigner who regularly made self inflicted errors, like praising Nancy Reagan for the AIDS crisis. It was extremely frustrating and the total indifference to outreach really didn’t help her case.

but we should also acknowlege the left also had (has) a bad problem with sexism regarding Hillary Clinton, especially the Chapo House Dirtbag left types

#ask EvilElitest #Bill Clinton #Hillary Clinton #sexism

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daggerzine · 5 years ago

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Ray Farrell on music and his time at SST, Blast First, Geffen and many more.

Ray Farrell has had a lifetime surrounded by music. First as a fan as a young kid and then eventually working for a series of record labels. He’s obviously a fan first and foremost as you can tell by reading below. It also seemed like he was there at the beginning of some major music scenes happening.

I had met Ray very briefly at one of the A.C. Elks hardcore shows that Ralph Jones put on in Atlantic City in the Summer of 1985 though Ray doesn’t remember it (honestly, a bunch of us were standing in a circle and chatting so I’m not even sure if any proper introductions were done).

Anyway, knowing some of the record labels that Ray had worked for I wanted to hear the whole story. I contacted him and shot him some questions and he was more than happy to elaborate and let us know where he’s been and where he’s going. Take it away, Ray!

Where did you grow up?

RF-Jersey City and Parsippany, New Jersey in the 60/70’s. I have two younger brothers.

What did you listen to first…classic rock or stuff earlier than that?

RF-Rock wasn’t classic yet. My earliest memories of music are my parents’ modest collection of 45’s and grandparents’ 78’s. My mom had a handful of singles on Chess and Satellite (pre-Stax) that she said fell off a truck. We rented our house from a family connected to the mob. The records probably came from them. My mom and her sisters often sang Tin Pan Alley era songs at family gatherings. Harmony was encouraged!

Some records I heard as a toddler stayed with me forever. Lonnie Donegan’s “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor?” is a skiffle classic. Chuck Berry’s “Guitar Boogie” and “Last Night” by the Mar- Keys are still favorites. I remember being spooked by the overblown production of the “Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams” e.p. on Sun Records. In the mid 60’s, my mom had top 40 radio on in the house unless my dad was home. When I was in kindergarten, a high school neighbor in our building babysat me for a couple hours after school a few days a week. Her girlfriends came over regularly. They listened to a lot of doo-wop, which I still love today. The babysitter and her friends taught me how to slow dance, even though I wasn’t nearly a full grown boy. J

My best friend in 7th grade was a Beatles fanatic and we immersed ourselves in decoding clues to the “Paul McCartney Is Dead” gimmick. That was a brilliant scam and a fun short term hobby. It was a deep dive into The Beatles music as a junior music detective. By the time I started buying records, The Beatles were on their way out.

I happily lived for many months on only three albums-

CCR’s “Bayou Country”, Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gadda Da Vida” and the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper.” I joined the Columbia Record Club. I got the first twelve albums for one buck. That was a popular scam. Those first twelve records shaped my taste because they were the only records I had. I didn’t know what to order but I chose very well in retrospect. After that, I bought a lot of records. I didn’t smoke, but many of my friends did. A carton of cigs cost the same as an lp- 5 bucks.

I learned in 7th grade that if I knew the songs that girls liked, we would have something to talk about. Girls loved Tommy James and The Shondells and The Rascals. I still do! I had a wider range in music taste than most of my high school friends. Everyone in my extended circle loved the Stones, Neil Young and the Allman Brothers. In a tighter circle we were into David Bowie, Lou Reed, Sparks, Todd Rundgren etc. I loved Mountain, Led Zep, Hendrix, Budgie, The Kinks, Alice Cooper, Sabbath. At first, The Stooges seemed too deep and serious for me. A little scary because I thought if teenagers felt like this all over the world, I’m doomed. I bought the album with “Loose” and played that song for weeks before listening to the rest of it. The girl next door had Iggy’ s “Raw Power” album the week it was released. When glam rock was happening in England, there was a weekly NYC radio show that played the Melody Maker Top 30 singles. I was fascinated by T.Rex, Slade, Hawkwind. I don’t recall if prog rock was a tag yet, I knew that I didn’t like songs that rambled on for more than 7 minutes. There were exceptions of course- some King Crimson, Yes, Mahavishnu. I was impressionable. Radio station WBAI hosted “Free Music Store” concerts with local acts. One show was a keyboard group called Mother Mallard that had banks of synthesizers on stage. They were similar to the music of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, who you would only hear on that same radio station. I talked myself into buying their records, but it took years to comprehend them. I was too young to be listening to such serious stuff. I played soccer and ran track for a couple years. During meets at other schools, I made friends. At parties I heard Issac Hayes, Bohannon and James Brown records. Brown was all over top 40 radio. Rhythm guitar was my jam! Soul and funk records were best for that. I spent many nights listening to AM radio. The signal travels farther at night, so I’d listen to stations far away. It didn’t matter what kind of music it was. Some of my relatives had short wave radios. I was more interested in radio production than short wave content. The production quality has not changed much since then. It often sounds like broadcasts trapped in the ether for the last 30 years.

While I was in high school, it was common for local colleges to host rock and jazz concerts for low prices, sometimes free. The schools had to spend the money sitting in the student union coffers. There was a live music club in my town called Joint In The Woods. The venue began as a banquet hall that doubled as a meeting hall for Boy Scout Jamborees and the like. When it became the Joint, it was a disco. The first night of live music was a show with Iggy & The Stooges. The regular disco patrons were pissed! The guys were mostly goombah’s in Quiana print shirts and bell bottoms. Three or four guys smacked Iggy around after his set. Sure enough, he played Max’s Kansas City the next night as if nothing happened. Because of this club, touring bands were suddenly playing in my town. Badfinger, Roy Wood’s Wizzard, Muddy Waters. The NY Dolls were scheduled but didn’t show up. Springsteen was often an opening act. The N.J. legal drinking age had just lowered to 18. It was a great time. I was still in school, so I wasn’t staying out on weeknights.

I was determined to learn NYC music history by hitting all the Greenwich Village clubs and talking to the owners and bartenders. It didn’t matter what kind of music they specialized in- I was into the vibe. There were occasional scary nights parking near CB’s or jazz spots in that neighborhood. Folk music was on FM radio at the time. A high school friend booked a local coffee house called Tea & Cheese. Mostly locals and ambitious tri-state artists. Martin Mull, Aztec Two Step, Garland Jeffries. Some of Lou Reed’s touring band, The Tots, played there. I went to all kinds of record stores, mainly those that sold rock imports and cutouts. I was fascinated by the street level buzz of a record. In ’74, I heard dub reggae for the first time. The only stores to get that music were in Queens because there was a strong West Indian community there. It may have been the “Harder They Come” soundtrack that got me started. There was a “pay to play” radio station in Newark - WHBI. DJ’s had to buy their airtime. Arnold “Trinidad” Henry had a weekly show playing new calypso and reggae. He was more into calypso than reggae. A lot of calypso was political and comical. Arnold was fascinating! There was often a personal crisis he’d talk about on the air. My favorite incident was when he said that his life had been threatened during the program, so he locked himself in the studio.. Someone called the cops. They convinced him to unlock the door. He just wanted more airtime. Arnold played the first reggae dub track I’d heard- full dub albums were a new concept at the time. Most dub was found on the flipsides of reggae 45’s. One of the shows sponsors was Chin Randy’s Records in Queens. I trekked out there by train to buy my first dub records. That was a trip! Randy Chin’s family went on to start VP Records.

What was the first alternative/independent music you got into? How did it happen (friends? older siblings?)

RF-The term “punk” as a music style hadn’t been coined yet. I vaguely recall equating “punk” with the great “Nuggets” compilation or something Greg Shaw might have writ in Bomp Magzine. I didn’t identify labels as independent. I knew that if the label design was simple and the address was listed, it was probably a small company. There were plenty of record stores carrying obscure stuff. I bought import records from a few NYC stores. I took the bus in until I was old enough to drive. One store Pantasia, was up in The Bronx. I went there one Christmas eve day to get the import of the second Sadistic Mika Band album. The clerk talked me into buying the harder to find first album as well. He said it sounded like Shel Talmy produced it. I knew who that was and it was a revelation to talk to somebody in a record store at that level. That is what a record store should be! I read Phonograph Record magazine, Bomp and Trouser Press regularly. Patti Smith and Television self released their debut singles- those are the first “indie” records I bought, followed by the first two Pere Ubu singles. I remember hearing the Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner” from the Bezerkley Chartbusters comp on WFMU and thinking that there must be more music like that. It was refreshing.

Seeing Patti Smith and Television perform at CBGB’s changed my life. I connected the dots. I had BÖC albums on which Patti had co-writes. She had a poem insert in Todd Rundgren’s “A Wizard, A True Star” album. She read a Morrison poem on a Ray Manzarek lp. She wrote for rock music mags with distinctive style. I read a brief story about her in the Voice and went to see her do her annual Rock N’ Rimbaud show. Shortly after that she and Television played CBGB’s for six weekends in early ’75. Both bands were really great. Patti didn’t have a drummer yet. Richard Hell was a big inspiration to me. He looked cool. He played bass like he just picked it up the month before. That was a new concept. Television changed bass players in the middle of the residency. Television was the first band I saw with short hair and they dressed like teenage delinquents circa 1962. The CBGB’s jukebox had a good number of 60’s garage records. In my head I conceived Television to be inspired by that music. Made sense to me- Lenny Kaye, who assembled the “Nuggets” comp, is in the PSG. When I went back to see Television headline, The Ramones opened. Seeing The Ramones again, Talking Heads opened. It seemed like the streak of seeing great new bands would not end. They were distinctly NYC sounds. They could not have merged anywhere else. I remember avoiding the band Suicide because I didn’t think the music could be good J. Bands like Tuff Darts, Mumps and The Marbles opened shows but I wasn’t thrilled by them. A CBGB’s band that doesn’t get mentioned much is Mink DeVille. They wore matching outfits like they were playing a low budget Miami dive in 1962J. The club still had the small corner stage. The p.a. was ok and the bands had small amps. The music wasn’t loud in a “rock” way. You could sit at a table right in front of the band. Although we consider the club a birthplace of punk, the club showcased local bands that had been around for a while. I think the club upgraded the p.a. once before building the big stage. I realized at that point that when a band was great or at least interesting live, the records were basic documents of the band’s sound.

What was your first job in the music scene/industry?

RF- Before realizing I wanted to be in the business, I hounded import mail order guys on the phone about non-lp b-sides and albums that weren’t released stateside. I was fascinated by the process. Why were some records not in stores even though they had local airplay? My dad did not listen to much music, but he had an army buddy that made a living in Al Hirt’s band. He came to our house once. He gave my dad a copy of John Fahey’s “After The Ball” album, which he played on. I liked his stories about the session man side of the business. Fahey treated him well. I was generally shy, but when it came to music I would approach anyone I thought I could learn from. I heard horror stories about the music biz in NYC but learned later that those were a mob related labels. At the time, I thought the entire NYC music biz might be that way. I planned to move to California anyway. In high school, I go-fer’d at local Jersey radio stations and talked my way into meeting a few top FM radio dj’s. I thought I wanted to be a professional dj, but my dad wisely talked me out of that. The itinerant radio jock life would not be for me. It was a racket.

In ’76, I took a long low budget cross country trip with my high school sweetheart. Along the way, I stayed in Memphis for three weeks with a cousin who was stationed at the Millington naval base. Got a job at a hip movie theatre that served liquor. I found Alex Chilton in the phone book and spent an afternoon talking with him. I wasn’t yet legal drinking age in Tennessee. It amused him that a fan showed up in his town who was not old enough to drink. En route to Cali, Tulsa, OK was on my route to find Shelter Records and studio , but it shut down and the label moved to L.A. At the time, Dwight Twilley’s “I’m On Fire” was a radio hit. I didn’t think there were still bands like that. Twilley was from Tulsa, but had moved to L.A. by that time.

When I arrived in L.A. I visited small label record company offices. A few offered me jobs or references. I spent two weeks crashing at the Malibu house of a distant family friend. I didn’t want to live in L.A. but I was encouraged by the opportunities. I got a job at the famous record store- Rather Ripped in Berkeley, CA.

Patti Smith told me about Rather Ripped before I left Jersey. In ’75, she and her band went to California for shows in L.A. and Berkeley. The northern Cali shows were set up by the store. She did a poetry reading there. This is well before “Horses” was released. I bought a couple records from the store’s Dedicated Fool mail order service. They had a monthly catalog on newsprint. Thousands of records in tiny font. Every record was described with a few words. This is 1976 and punk rock was just getting started. I worked as a prep cook in a charcuterie associated with Alice Waters’ famous restaurant Chez Panisse. The proprietor knew the record store owners. I wasn’t actively looking to work there, but I talked about music all day every day. They fast tracked me for an interview. Because of a scheduling mistake, Tom Petty interviewed me for the job. His first album just came out and “American Girl” was close to being a hit single. The band came to the store before a local show. Tom overheard the owner apologizing for not being able to do the interview, so he offered to conduct it. It was great. I knew all about his label, Shelter Records. I deliberately avoided talking about The Ramones and Patti Smith because punk was new and against the grain. At the end of the interview Tom told the owners that if he lived in Berkeley, he’d buy all his records from me. The store owner still had to interview me formally the next day, but I knew that I nailed it.

It was owned by two dynamic gents that were connected to Berkeley society and Bay Area journalists. They weren’t typical record store guys. They celebrated the 70’s in the moment. They held court with well known music scribes, musicians, dj’s. They were good friends of The Residents. Perhaps my strangest story is meeting The Residents with the Rather Ripped owners at a S.F. Irish bar that specialized in Irish Coffee’s. I had only recently heard of the group, so I was not cognizant of their marketing myth. At the bar, we were with our girlfriends and wives. One of the Residents tried to convince me and my gf to go back their place for a hot tub session. I laughed out loud and said “geez, what a bunch of hippies”! We didn’t go. In retrospect, I should have gone on the condition that they wore eyeball heads in the tub. At that time, The Residents rarely performed live, but they did in 1975 for the store’s birthday party. The early Bezerkley Records (Jonathan Richman, Greg Kihn) was distributed to stores through Rather Ripped. Their office was a few blocks away. At the store, each employee had unique music taste and expertise. Pop music was changing rapidly with a new energy. Some of us were tapped into it. We all had to know the key new releases in every genre because we were tastemakers. Major labels would beg us to do window displays for new releases. But if they could not find a store employee that liked that artist, it was no go. So, no Pablo Cruise window display. We weren’t against major labels, but we put a lot of energy into selling the ton of music that we loved. Our focus was on imports, indies, promos and cut outs where we could get a good price mark up. We had a rare record search service with customers all over the world. We’d find rare records through trade-ins and by combing record stores all over the state.

There were a few import distributors, but they weren’t hip to many small run U.S. independent releases. That was understandable because bands didn’t often press enough records for a distributor to get excited about. In other words, why spend half your day hunting down records that were only pressed in small quantities. Just as they start selling, you’re out of stock. There gonna sell a hell of a lot more Scorpions’ picture discs! As always, some distributors financed exclusive re-pressings of records that had momentum. The only way to get records like Roky Erikson’s “Two Headed Dog” single or The Flamin’ Groovies’ “You Tore Me Down” 45 was directly through mail order. I wrote to label addresses listed in Trouser Press and fanzines to buy direct in order to sell them in the store with no competition. Major label sales reps didn’t prioritize us because we didn’t shift bulk units of the hits. However, we were so plugged in to the lesser known artists that we were a good place for record companies to try and start a buzz. We could swell 50-100 of a record that all the other stores sold a handful of. Bands showed up at the store while touring. Springsteen bought Dylan bootlegs from us by mail order. Patti Smith’s manager Jane Friedman used the store as a home base when Patti and John Cale came through the area.

Berkeley is in the East Bay of the S.F. bay area. A few months after starting at Rather Ripped, I realized that the city had a rich music scene well before punk /new wave started. There was Fantasy Records, a well known jazz r&b label but best known for CCR; Arhoolie, Solid Smoke, Metalanguage; the contemp classical labels- Lovely Music and 1750 Arch; folk and blues labels like Takoma and Olivia. Of course, bands like Chrome and others started labels to release their own music. Ralph Records was started by The Residents, and they began signing bands. Rather Ripped was also a center for improv, electronic and meditation records.

In ’77 or ’78 I joined the nascent Maximum Rock N Roll radio team. This was well before the magazine. In the early days there were weeks when we didn’t have enough new punk records to fill the two hour weekly show. Tim Yohannon was all about energetic, real rock n roll, so he filled in the program with records by Gene Vincent, The Sonics etc. BTW, Tim applied green masking tape to the three closed sides of every record he had. He gave me a Mekons double single he decided he didn’t like. It was in a gatefold sleeve that he sealed shut with his green tape! Sometimes he re-designed the cover art…never for the better. He made his own pic sleeves for 45’s that didn’t have them. Bands would stare at their own records in bewilderment. Tim was archiving the records of the entire punk and hardcore movement worldwide.

Eventually, Tim brought in Ruth Schwartz, and Jeff Bale as co-hosts- both great people. Jello Biafra was a frequent guest. Tim assembled the “Not So Quiet On The Western Front” lp and later organized syndication for the radio show. I remember hearing the first Disorder ep and thinking -this is the future! J It was exciting. But soon, most hardcore records sounded alike to me. It was like- “Do you want more fries with your fries?” I went to plenty of live shows without knowing a lot about the bands playing them. I was happy when the fashion trended away from jackboots to sneakers…getting a boot kick to the head in a stage dive could be brutal. I didn’t see a lot of skinhead violence at shows, but I know it was changing the scene.

San Francisco and Berkeley were important music centers, activist meccas as well as creative artistic and intellectual hubs. Yohannon had history as an activist. He identified with public protests for causes & social issues. For many teenagers, punk rock was a rite of passage. I think it changed a lot of kids’ lives for the better. The overriding message was to be civically aware of what is going on around you and what affects your life.

Tell me about your time at Arhoolie Records. Where was it located?

Rather Ripped’s owners had a falling out and the remaining owner just wanted to sell records and antiques with his wife. He moved it to a nearby city. Just before the store closed, he told me of an open position at Back Room Distribution, a division of Arhoolie. It was in El Cerrito, a small town north of Berkeley. Chris Strachwitz, the owner of Arhoolie is a legendary record man. He recorded many of his early blues albums with a tape recorder in his car. He owned the legendary Down Home Music store in the same building. Separated by partition behind the store was Back Room. It was an indie label distributor for blues, folk roots music. Rounder Records was still a new label at the time. I gotta admit, when Rounder issued The Shaggs “Philosophy Of The World’ I was in seventh heaven. I worked primarily for the distributor, grooming to be a sales rep but I spent a lot of time in the store. At first, I didn’t yet relate to blues and country music. But there were a lot of touring artists in those styles making a living. It was a strong network of clubs, fans, radio shows and press that fueled it. The store had an incredible selection of obscure 50’s/60’s rockabilly and garage band comps. The Cramps were my favorite band at the time. The rockabilly comps mostly on a the Dutch White Label, were treasure troves of insane songs. My heart was in new music- whatever you wanna call it, punk, new wave, art music. That’s the business I wanted to be in. I used my time to learn more about distribution operations. The people that worked at Arhoolie and in its community were fun music heads. There were a lot of good musicians among them. It was a great time to live in Berkeley.

What was next, Rough Trade and CD Presents? Was that in San Francisco? I went to that Rough Trade store a few times and it was an amazing store.

I knew folks from Rough Trade UK because I bought imports from them to sell @ Rather Ripped. When they wanted to open in the U.S. they contacted me, but at the time the wage was low and there wasn’t enough space to work. I was interested in working in the distribution division, not the store. They speiled something about it being a socialist business. I stayed at Arhoolie for a little while longer. In the meantime, I was offered my own weekly late night radio show on Pacifica’s KPFA in Berkeley- same station as Maximum Rock N’Roll. I took over a show called “Night Sky”, an ambient music program. My interim program title was “No More Mr. Night Sky” until I settled on “Assassinatin’ Rhythm”. The station’s music director was a contemporary classical composer closely associated with avant -garde and 20th century music. A major segment of my show was for industrial, post-punk and undefinable music. I hosted a few live on- air performances with Z’ev, Slovenly and Angst among others. Negativland’s “Over The Edge” program started on KPFA around this time. KPFA was 100,000 watts of power with affiliate stations covering the Central Valley down to Fresno and Bakersfield.

When the time was right, I moved to Rough Trade’s U.S. distribution company in Berkeley. The record store was in San Francisco. We distributed a lot of British records sent by Rough Trade UK, often in small quantities. Rough Trade US was set up to press and distribute select RT and Factory records by Joy Division, ACR, The Fall, Stiff Little Fingers, Crass. It was cheaper and more effective to press in the U.S and Canada. I also distributed some U.S. labels but there was one Brit on the staff that hated most American music. On top of that, it could be a dangerous place to work. One of the staff was importing reggae records and weed from Jamaica to our warehouse. The local connection was shot on his porch shortly after he picked up a shipment! I was lucky to spend a few days travelling with Mark E.Smith of The Fall. He loved obscure rockabilly and garage band records. I was able to return to Memphis for a while to prep the first Panther Burns album for release. Tony Wilson of Factory put up most of the money to keep RTUS going. He was a brilliant character, but I learned from talking with him how not to conduct business. I often got sample records from bands that wanted distribution. Pell Mell’s “Rhyming Guitars” e.p. was the start of my long association with the band. I enjoyed selling records to stores all over the country. I learned about local scenes, records, fanzines, clubs and college radio stations everywhere. Making these sources connect for touring bands and record sales was exciting. Because Rough Trade is British, we had the benefit of connections with club dj’s. We pressed and promoted New Order’s “Blue Monday” single on a shoestring budget. For a long time, it was the best kept secret from the mainstream. I left Rough Trade for Subterranean Records ( Flipper etc) for a spell while working in a record store. The guy that put up the money for the record store ran guns to Cuba through Mexico. Thankfully, not through the actual store. I booked Cali shows for Panther Burns, The Wipers, Sonic Youth, Whitehouse.

Who owned the CD Presents label? I remember that Avengers compilation.

It was owned by a lawyer, David Ferguson. He had a recording studio as well. I didn’t understand why he wanted to run a label. He did not have an ear for music. But we did release a Tales Of Terror lp! He almost released a DOA album that I thought the band would kill him over. Many years later I got into a fist fight with one of David’s employees in a limo ride shared with Ferguson and Lydia Lunch. We fought through the window separating the driver from the passengers. I would love to recreate that for a film. Good times!

My main role there was to set up the first Billy Bragg record in the U.S. Billy’s manager was the legendary Peter Jenner and both were great to work with. They were using CD Presents as a stepping stone to a major label. In the meantime, I knew a few people at SST. Joe Carducci is an old friend. He was pitching me to move to L.A. and work there, but I resisted for a while. I had just met the woman that I knew would be the love of my life. I didn’t want to move to SoCal. Joe gave me an ultimatum. He sent three advance cassettes that convinced me to go- Meat Puppets’ “Up On The Sun”, Minutemen’s “Double Nickels” and Huskers’ “New Day Rising” That’s an excellent recruiting strategy. I later married the love of my life.

On the side I booked shows for bands I loved. Gerard Cosloy asked me to book Sonic Youth first northern Cali shows. I also booked shows for The Wipers and noise band Whitehouse

Was SST Records next? How long did you last there and what was that like?

I was there for three years. “How long did you last there?” sounds like I was biding my time :) I’m often asked about my time with SST.

Carducci hired me to do PR. That meant publicity, college radio, regional press. Video was a valuable promo tool. MTV’s “120 Minutes” program was a great way to promote our records.

In 1987 we put out more records than Warner Brothers. By that time, I hired people to help.

I’ve done a number of interviews about SST. If you have specific questions, shoot. I recall that my social life was almost entirely with my co-workers and bands on the label. I was nearly oblivious to music from other labels. I was a big fan of Dischord and Homestead. Metallica, COC, Voivod and the Birthday Party/Nick Cave were my non-SST staples.

I think around this time I had met you briefly in NJ at one of the Elks Lodge shows that my old friend Ralph Jones put on. Were you living in NJ at that point or just visiting?

You’ve mentioned that before and I don’t recall the specific show. I moved out of NJ permanently in ’76. I came back for annual summer visits to NYC, north Jersey and Philly. Some high school friends went to Upsala College, then the home of WFMU. On my first visit back in ’76 I met Irwin Chusid and R. Stevie Moore. Some high school friends were connected to Feelies before they took that name.

Was Blast First! next? I met Pat Naylor once and hung out with her at a show and she was really sweet.

Yeah around the time I left SST, the folks in Sonic Youth called saying that they had left as well. They wanted me to be involved with Blast First! in the U.S. I knew Paul Smith because he released their albums in the UK. Blast First UK released a number of Touch N Go and SST records. The label was a division of Mute which had a U.S. deal with Enigma. My job was almost entirely “Daydream Nation” promotion. It was so much fun to be able to go deep with one album. We issued Ciccone Youth shortly afterward, which augmented the overall Sonic Youth story. The only other active touring band was Band Of Susans and on a limited level, Lunachicks and Big Stick. It was only one year of work before Enigma cut Mute/Blast First loose. I went on Sonic Youth’s Soviet Union tour and I had a few memorable meetings with Sun Ra. David Bowie called a few times asking about recording studios that Dino Jr and Sonic Youth used. Bowie had a brilliant idea to record Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream” with Glenn Branca’s large guitar group. We tried following up on it but Bowie was immersed in Tin Machine and other projects.

Was it on to Geffen then?

Yes, Sonic Youth had good meetings with the label. I had recently met Mark Kates who was championing the signing. He suggested that I come in to meet the entire company. He brought my name up with David who said, “we need someone like that here”.

I had fleeting thoughts that working for a major was “selling out”...punching corporate clock. I wanted to apply what I knew on a larger scale.

What was that like, working for a proper major label? Was David Geffen still involved?

On my second day there, David called me into his office. He is down to earth, street smart. Like many of the best in the biz, he didn’t have an attitude. He had met with the Meat Puppets. He sensed that Dinosaur Jr. was important. I reminded him that I was not hired for a&r.

He said- “I don’t assign job titles. If you find something else you’d like to do here, you can pursue it ‘after 5pm’ ”. I found reissue projects like the Pere Ubu box and Raincoats catalog. I recorded a new Raincoats album. I signed Southern Culture On The Skids, Garrison Starr, Skiploader. I assembled and recorded Rob Zombie’s Halloween Hootenanny comp. With Sonic Youth, I pondered making records with John Fahey and Townes Van Zandt. After ten years, it was time to move on.

Tell us what you do now, didn’t you get involved with digital music at some point?

Geffen Records was folded into Interscope in 1999 and I was bored with the limitations of the business as it was. Digital music was gaining ground solely through illegal file trading on Napster. I knew there would be a major shift in the business moving to digital. I worked for the download site. eMusic.com, signing distribution agreements with labels. This was years before iTunes and YouTube. Major labels would not work with us because mp3 files are open source files that could be traded freely without control. They saw eMusic as a facilitator of illegal file trading. Like marijuana use leading to hard drugs! In the big picture, I knew that digital downloads weren’t “sexy”. But at some point, digital music would develop into something easier to track and use. We skipped the major labels. The bigger independent labels understood that digital music would be the future. It was a great place to be. I knew a lot of music, but I had no idea there were so many labels in every country. One label owner told me that I had the best job in the world. I knew that to explain this new unproven music format it could be an uphill climb. So I took the time to research label websites for song samples. That way I could find common ground with label owners. There’s surf music in Brazil? There’s a young female cellist duo in Prague that make energetic music? There’s archaic royalty rules connected to opera arrangements? Bring it on! It certainly changed how I listen to music.

It was a time when business rules and legal rights had to change in order to deal with digital income disbursement. For example, digital downloads could be sold by the song while royalty payments were based on album sales. eMusic was at the forefront of those changes. When iTunes launched, digital music was “legitimized”. Borne out of eMusic was RoyaltyShare which provides a royalty accounting platform for labels. It is now a division of The Orchard and I divide my time between The Orchard and RoyaltyShare.

Who are some current bands you are into?

A loaded question! I listen to a lot of new music. I spend a lot of time listening to records and cd’s in my collection. Of current artists, I really like Steve Gunn’s music. I listen to the projects involving members of Sonic Youth. Bill Nace, Kim’s partner in Body/Head is a guitar genius. Body/Head’s music is a cathartic experience for me. London is lucky to have Thurston Moore living and working there. I think the music they make separately is far more exciting that what Sonic Youth would’ve made if still together.

Lately I’m digging Melenas from Spain, Hayvenlar Alemi from Turkey. Quin Kirchner is a Chicago based drummer that put out a great jazz record in 2018 called “The Other Side Of Time”. I think he plays on Ryley Walker ‘s records.

Because I’ve spent so much time with the music of Sonic Youth, Branca and Rhys Chatham, I crave the occasional dive into instrumental symphonic guitar army and tonal stuff. Current favorites in that vein are Bosse De Nage, Pelican, Sunn O)))

Given the chance I’ll see any performance by Mary Halvorson, Ches Smith, Marc Ribot or Mary Lattimore.

It took me years to get it, but I’m now a big fan of Keiji Haino’ music. Dean McPhee is a British guitarist I really like. I just bought a couple of Willie Lane lp’s on Feeding Tube.

I research music history and the development of the industry. There are historical and social components of every type of music by culture, country, time period. I love stories about riots at premieres of new avant garde works. I read a book about famous classical composers in the 18th Century playing home concerts (salons) where people are talking the entire time…but they are paid handsomely for the performance. Streaming music sites and YouTube are vast repositories of music and cultural documentation.

Do you still make it out to many shows?

I go to two/three shows a month when I’m home and more when traveling especially NY/London. I start work early in the morning so I’m not out late often. I understand why people see less live music as they get older. I’m done with music festivals. The Big Ears Festival is the only Stateside event that might inspire me to stand for eight hours.

I always hear music by new artists that I really like. I don’t always go to see the live show. Sometimes I hear a new band that sounds like a band I liked 20 years ago. I wouldn’t deliberately see a band that uses another band’s sound as a template.

What are your top 10 desert island discs?

I cannot do 10. It’s 20 or nothing. If you say sorry Ray, it will be nothing. FineJ If I’m on an island, I’ll listen to the ocean waves and sounds of nature. If I’m relegated to a desert, I’ll listen to the blood coarsing through my veins.

Miles Davis- Kind Of Blue

Television- Marquee Moon

Peter Brotzmann- Machine Gun

Sex Pistols -Never Mind The Bollocks

Rolling Stones- Let It Bleed

Soundtrack – The Harder They Come

Billy Harper – Black Saint

Kleenex/Liliput- First Songs

Patti Smith Group -Easter

Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers- Houserockin’

Led Zeppelin- Houses Of The Holy

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation

Elvis Presley- Sun Sessions

The Cramps- Songs The Lord Taught Us

Pell Mell -Flow

Procol Harum- A Salty Dog

Sibelius- Complete Symphonies

Lou Reed -Coney Island Baby

Meat Puppets- Up On The Sun

The Kinks- Kinks Kronikles

“Hmm....Flow or Star City?”

Any final words? Closing comments? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask.

I’ve been involved off and on with the artist Raymond Pettibon for a music project called Supersession. He has made records under this moniker before. This project began in 1990 and stalled for many years. We revived it a couple years ago. I play bass. Raymond wrote many pages of words and lyrics that he passed to the band, encouraging us to write music behind them. It’s different from Raymond’s other records because it is not improvised. Rick Sepulveda, our guitarist is a great songwriter and he wrote music for Raymond’s words. Rick sings a bunch of the songs because Raymond loves his voice. We did a NYC performance in November that was really fun. So now of course, I’m thinking we should play monthly in L.A. We are nearly finished with the album that we recorded at Casa Hanzo, the San Pedro studio Mike Watt owns with Pete Mazich. Raymond is a brilliant man; fun and inspiring to work with. When I practice with Rick, he’ll often break into a cover song deep in the recess of memory. Like John Cale’s “Hanky Panky Nohow” ,Kevin Ayers’ “Oh Wot A Dream” or the Doors “Wishful Sinful”. We may cover a Harry Toledo song. It’s a blast. I hope to have the album finished in July.

Tav, Bobby, Pell Mell and Ray

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#WriteInBernie

WHEN COMMON GROUND IS THE PROBLEM John Mcbroom: It doesn't matter if they are working together or not, in the end, We The People get screwed most of the time. Let's go back to 1973 when 93rd Congress (D controlled both houses) passed a bill letting the healthcare system in this country operate as a for-profit system and the then-president Nixon signed it into law. This was phase one of their reform. Phase 2 which got put on hold because Watergate broke out was the original version of the concept the ACA is founded on. Then a few years later they elected Reagan, who A. did away with the fairness doctrine, B. lowered the top tax rate with the help of a D congress and C. made it so SS income could be taxed and at the same time made it so the medicare system could 'cost share' with the people. Enacting co-pays and supplemental insurance for medicare. All with the support of a D house for all 8 years and a D Senate as well for the last 2. Then came along Clinton who gutted Glass-Steagall allowing the predatory lending practices which directly led to the recession of 2008 and enacted the telecommunications act which is why we have a handful of corporations in control of 90% of our media sources. Both of which were done with an R congress. Signed the crime Bill JRB wrote that is responsible for the massive increase in minority incarceration and the asset forfeiture expansion responsible for billions of dollars worth of property being stolen from people never convicted of a crime. Then, of course, GW came along and started 2 unfounded wars, and outsourced much of the activity to contractors making his VP a very rich man and passing the Patriot Act which has been renewed twice since(once under O and once under DJT). He also used 'tax rebates' to postpone the inevitable housing bubble until he was nearly out of office. Next was O, he continued and expanded those unsubstantiated wars, signed an amendment to the Smith-Mundt Act which up to that point had prohibited government-produced propaganda being broadcast in the USA and he got the ACA passed, which looked good on the surface but really was just an old GOP concept that was meant to bolster the insurance companies with government money and force citizens to buy their product without any real protections. And in many cases just saddled people with insurance they couldn't afford to use with high co-pays, deductibles or 'in-network doctors' too far away.

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rgr-pop · 5 years ago

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little-brisk replied to your post:

Just wanted to let you know I am wavering but...

i’ve been reading warren’s multistage healthcare plan as a serious commitment to a long-term fight rather than a hedge, and it’s not clear to me that there’s any solid evidence to tip the balance of credibility toward either her or sanders. i literally want them both to be president because i literally want an ideological hardliner sharing the office with someone who loves to work a system. if i could smash them into one person i would. thanks and goodnight i vote in pennsylvania & don’t matter

I think there was a time when she could have convinced Sanders voters as a vp pick, I think that time has passed. FWIW re: a VP pick, I don’t see any reason why she’d be the best one, when there are so many women with equal or more state/governing experience than her on his team already, with better ideas and better positions. (In any case, it would have been unwise--strongest argument against a Warren ticket of any kind is that she is going to lose hardest against Trump! Not because she is a woman--see: the 2016 popular vote, again--but because of that whole... uhh hsorry this is where I have a hard time taking Warren supporters seriously. extremely racist long con on her record, a thing which Trump himself has already successfully cornered her over! It’s bad, it’d be unforgivable anyway but her behavior about it over the past few years is really really damning and would make her a liability anywhere.) That’s just the “politics” of this, imo.

I just don’t understand where this idea that he’s the idealist and she’s the “system” wonk came from, that’s the point. She’s a lawyer, sure--anybody can be a lawyer lol--but even being generous outlining her “political” experience, he has a good fifteen years on her in office alone. He has served in elected or appointed government leadership positions for what, almost three times the period of time she has? The elections won argument is bananas--she’s won, what, two elections total? Because she has only served in office for like...literally less than two congressional terms. Less than a decade. He’s sponsored or co-sponsored like four or five times the amount of bills that have become law and he is on the lower end re: congressional productivity. There’s just no substance here. If anything, I had feared his long entrenched bureaucratic career would have been a liability! But no: only certain kinds of people (and ideas) are granted wonk status.

The republican thing is also extremely concerning to me, but it seems an unwinnable fight! I normally don’t advocate that we argue about consistency because I think this position will fail us and yolo the world is ending people change, but her case is pretty bad. She’s on the record saying that she became a democrat because in the nineties democrats became the party defending “conservative economics”--she’s half-right about the mid-Clinton democratic watershed but also spinning a weird little fantasy about an anticorporate republican party of the 1980s. (If this was true, which it is obviously not, it would just be Milton Friedman anyway, and ffs, even Hillary got owned about Barry Goldwater.) (tldr: the democratic party of the nineties shifted rightward, although not suddenly, and not necessarily in proportion to a parallel rightward republican shift!) the democratic party of the nineties, the one that wooed her, was the party of dismantling the welfare state for good. it was a long time ago but not so long that I don’t remember hearing these arguments--about trade, “conservative economics,” and welfare--on like, literally mtv news. She tries to tell a different story about nineties politics and I don’t buy it. And, re: that, doesn’t it seem like “capitalist to my bones” is the actual “ideological hardline” position? Unlike a lot of my peers, I don’t see Warren as an inconsistent candidate. I see her as a consistent political figure who hasn’t always been as skillful as her peers at selling and explaining democratic market liberal positions to her constituents.

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siremasterlawrence · 6 years ago

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The Transfer Of Power Part 1

It was a rainy day when I forcibly was abducted by the cops. It is those cops in particular who are working for Lex Luther. He knew of my Power Transfer Machine I recently created. I was quickly knock out as I was forced onto the chair. As all three men are laughing at my easy defeat by the cops.

I was soon tied up by the cops on the chair. I hear a loud crash come through the window as I wake up to see The Man Steel. Superman lands on the ground as he quickly does a good spin. He knocks out both of the cops as he faces Lex Luther sternly. He shoves him into the wall quickly as he unfastens the ropes.

I hear a loud siren coming as the cops called for back up by lying to their co-workers. I quickly run out of the building as Superman jets out after me. “Hey you Sir, Are you ok? Is everything alright?” He ask me quickly as he puts his hand on my shoulder. I turn around looking at him my yes begin to flow an he jumps.

It was too late Superman’s body lost all power as it froze in time to my will. “Yes I am find Superman but enough about me because it’s all about you. I can feel your fear eradicating away as you listen to me carefully. You are my humble Slave from this point on now give in. I feel your power begin to surge through me.” I say with authority.

Superman can’t stop rather wont stop looking at me. As he falls to his knees in utter destruction with my power surging through him. He was my property now throughout his body. There was no more Clark Kent and definitely no more Daily Planet. He loves me now solely not that morbid and obsessively noisy Lois Lane.

“Master, I am bit confused at who I was before you not that it really matters anymore. I just really love you my king and I need you to be mine. You have my powers surging in you and yet we share that true connection. I wish you could use my powers as well but I will serve you endlessly.” He says literally in complete awe of me.

He stands up as he looks back at the scene of my abduction angrily flies off. He breaks in through the window as he knocks out all the cops. He calls me back as I walk into the scene again as he kneels at my feet. My eyes glow as the cops wake up ready to obey me completely. In no time they have handcuff Lex Luther.

Lex Luther who has call up his own personal and private lawyer to submit documents. He transfer everything of his into my name as tonight. The papers will be signed tonight an submitted in tomorrow morning. The entire police station enters as my eyes glow again an they are enslaved. The Metropolis police department now works for me.

The next morning I wake up to fine Superman out of my bed instead he was by my dressing table. He quickly turns to me smiling with those sexy lips. He blows me a kiss as I sit up in my bed in total wonder of my eyes. He ditches those lame ass excuse for secret identity glasses. He walks over to me hugging me in the process I can smell his scent.

“Master, I was was watching you while you slept but I did not want to disturb you. I wanted to be very productive so I read through plan very thoroughly. I will keep be the new President of The United States under your rule. However if we are going to keep this country contained we need a good VP.”He says a bit worried I smile as I knew exactly who that was.

I tell him about my plans on how to restructure everything but for now we have more important things to do. I switch the television on to the M news only to be very pleasantly surprised. The Stark Tower has just now finished its renovations the same day Captain America returns home. “The only Avenger in town Master I see.” Clark smiles.

Superman smiles as he floats into the air flying over to me he picks me up. We float into the sky as we make out in the moonlight I see a man in the shadows. It was silvery white moon light silhouette by a nearby building. We stop as Clark holds me tight looking over he can use his x-ray vision. Unfortunately for him a huge circular object flies his

He evades it with no effort drops me onto the building below as he floats over. The man in shadow jumps out to be revealed as him Captain America. “What happen to you Superman? I thought you were the man of principal of all kinds of respect.” Steve says a scowl covering his face.

Clark bursts out into a loud bolt of laughter as Steve heard enough he jumps in the air. His legs begin to extend straight as he kicks him into the nearby building. I sit on the roof quite happy at was to unfold below me. Captain America looks up at me as he lunged up to me. Now on the top of the roof he approaches me I turn my back to him.

His anger is swelling I can sense his blood begin to boil as he threw a punch my way. I block it as I use my foot to pin him to the wall an I look his way. “What is wrong with your eyes.” He questions me even in fear. “Look at you Captain Aka Steve Rogers the ever the Soldier from another time. Give it up stop being a good toy for the United States governments. “ I say not really caring.

“Look at me Steve you know I am right. Join me at my feet let us be the heroes the world needs now.Be mine let us rule kindly and also justly.” I say to him as he crumbles at my feet in no time I watch the life drain from his eyes. The battle was over an I won as Superman lands at my feet. He kisses me with all hair might as Captain America joins in.

Should I continue?

The end.

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spn-meanttobe · 5 years ago

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Spn Meant To Be Masterlist - 2016

Here is the roundup from the last spn_meanttobe challenge! The entries were wonderful and stay tuned for details regrading a brand new challenge coming this way soon!

RPS

Title: Butterfly in a Glass case Author: all_the_damned Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 5K+ Warnings: dollification, spanking, rimming, indentured servitude, prostitution, BDSM, dubious consent/non-con, hurt/comfort, mental atrophy, body modification, control collars Prompt: "Captured": Lifelong best friends James Laird and Lola Caraway are reunited when Lola moves to LA after college. Lola is starting her new life, new job, and a new romance with a successful lawyer--a relationship which forces James to question the nature of his feelings for Lola.James has always been a master at pleasuring women, so it was an easy transition to play a Master on-screen in a series of BDSM videos which have brought him fame and the promise of a lucrative career. The films have also brought him the attention of hardcore producer Eva Satana, who wants James to be a ruthless Dominant -for real- in her brutal and extreme BDSM scenes.James soon finds himself caught in a contract he cannot break and compelled by threats to the woman who's stood by him through everything.Summary: When you’re a doll, there’s not much to do other than dream. Jared can barely remember a time when he wasn’t a doll. On the best and worst days, he gets to be with Jensen. Link to fic: Ao3 (Must be logged in to read) Title: Can a Girl Ever Have Too Many Cowboys? Artist: beelikej Pairing: Danneel/Jeff/Jensen/Jared Rating: PG-13 Medium: Photoshop Warnings: Polymory Prompt: 33. The Trouble With Texas CowboysNo sooner does pint-sized spitfire Jill Cleary set foot on Fiddle Creek Ranch than she finds herself in the middle of a hundred-year-old feud. Quaid Brennan and Tyrell Gallagher are both tall, handsome, and rich...and both are courting Jill to within an inch of her life. She's doing her best to give these feuding ranchers equal time-too bad it's dark-eyed Sawyer O'Donnell who makes her blood boil and her hormones hum.Link to art: LiveJournal Title: Home of the present Author: crimsonepitaph Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: R Word Count: 32K Warnings: language, mentions of depression Prompt: A man in need of a comeback…A woman in need of love. Off the court, tennis star Jason Cartwright's playboy image is taking a public beating. On the court, he's down forty-love. A comeback is in order, but the makeover he needs is in the hands of the woman he loved and left fifteen years ago. While single-mom, Izzy Connors, sees people for who they really are through the lens of her camera, even without it, she knows Jason isn't the star he appears to be. All she sees is his wasted talent and playboy lifestyle. Will the click of her camera shatter his world as well as his heart? Summary: Jared Padalecki is a failing tennis legend striving for a comeback. Jensen Ackles is the unwitting photographer co-opted in the makeover project, a biography meant to change the game. Single dad, definitely not a fan of Padalecki's, and a cynical human being in general, Jensen takes the job out of necessity, and gears for a year long charade. But what happens when Jensen discovers more than he signed up for - not just about Padalecki, but about himself?Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Jensen's Choice Author: zara_zee Artist: amberdreams Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 44K Warnings: Kidnapping, violence, torture, minor character deaths, dubious consent*, rough sex, light kink (bondage, spanking, edging/orgasm delay,cock cage, slight D/s), crime, discussions of child abuse, smoking, drug use, addict in recovery, bad language and homophobic insults.*For the purposes of a dark romance, I’ll say dubious consent, however it should be noted that in the beginning, Jared has all the power and Jensen’s consent is definitely coerced. In the real world, I would classify that as rape. On the whole many unhealthy attitudes to consent are conveyed here.Prompt: An ex-pool hustler must fight her attraction to a sinful, sexy biker when she's kidnapped by the Dragons MC and sold to the club's Vice-President. Summary: Seven years ago talented pool hustler Jensen Ackles fled LA for his home state of Texas—with a price on his head and HellSpawn MC on his tail. Now, Jensen’s past has finally caught up with him. His debt has been bought out by the Vice-President of HellSpawn, Jared Padalecki, who expects Jensen to satisfy his dark sexual appetites. But even worse than life as the VP’s beck-and-call boy is the very real possibility that Jensen just might be falling for the sinfully sexy biker. Link to fic: on LiveJournal Link to art: on LiveJournal Title: Pranking the Padalecki Author: whiskygalore Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 9K Warnings: younger Jensen, older Jared, spanking, bad language, schmoop with a happy ending Prompt: The Brat Next Door Tessa Randall has loved playing practical jokes on her brother's best friend, Trace Samuels, for as long as she can remember. But when she pushes him too far one day, she finds herself getting her long-overdue comeuppance over his lap. When Trace follows this treatment with a kiss, Tessa's confused emotions take an unexpected twist. Has she been menacing the boy next door her whole life, just to get closer to him? Has it been her motive all along to simply get his attention? And if so, where does she go now that she unquestionably has it? Summary: Jensen Ackles has loved pranking his brother’s best friend, Jared Padalecki, for almost as long as he can remember. But when he pushes Jared too far one day and finds himself on the wrong end of a spanking, Jensen lets slip a secret that might change things forever.Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Up Against Your Will Author: amypond45 Pairing: Jared/Jensen, past Jared/Genevieve, past Jensen/others Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 17K Warnings: reference to past rape/abuse (not graphic or specific) Prompt: Blind Wolf: Julia has never been on a date in her life. She's a curvy girl with no money, no education, and no way out of the town she works in as a library assistant... until Damien shows up. He's just like the prince charming Julia always imagined would sweep her off of her feet. There are just a few things standing in the way of true happiness: he's blind, he's dating someone, and he's WAY out of her league. Oh, and he's a werewolf. Damien lost his eyes two years ago in a wolf battle. Ever since then, the straggler pack of disabled wolves he leads has been searching for a place to call home. One house seems like the perfect choice, but Damien realizes too late that the person who lives there is the girl he met at the library. The human girl. Damien is torn between loyalty to his pack and raw lusting desire for the girl who haunts his dreams day and night. She's a human. How could she be his true mate? Summary: Jensen wasn’t planning to rent out the apartment in his basement. But when a tall, handsome stranger offers him a deal he can’t refuse, Jensen puts aside his natural shyness and lets Jared move into his home. Now Jensen’s having intense dreams, hearing strange sounds in the night, and one day he sees a wolf in his backyard. Can Jensen regain his carefully ordered life (and his sanity) before it completely unravels? Or will he give in to his passion for the beautiful blind man with all the wildness in his heart? Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Dead men do tell tales Author: siriala Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 18K Warnings: mildly creepy and supernatural stuff surrounding death (which is not made into a major issue in this fic), shady but friendly Chad, voyeurism, judgmental and mean people Prompt: Her Ladyship's CompanionIn the Scottish countryside of Selkirk, Lady Isabella Stirling resides at Bowhill Park, serving penance for a sin that nearly ruined her family. For five years she has been condemned to a loveless marriage and confined to the estate where she does little more than tend her rose garden. With her husband absent for months at a time and few visitors, Bella lives a lonely existence, denying the passions that burn within her very soul.Then her cousin comes for a visit and makes an outrageous suggestion: what Bella needs is a lover. A hired lover. Despite her need, Bella says no. But soon Mr. Gideon Rosedale arrives-and he is at her service for two weeks. Indulging in what she intends to be a harmless flirtation, Bella is overcome by Gideon's intoxicating presence. And when she at last permits him to satisfy her desires, she discovers she's done the unthinkable-she's fallen in love.Summary: Jared has been alone most of his life. Good thing dead people can't be picky when he talks to them. Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: The Roommate Author: ashtraythief Artist: beelikej Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 for fic, PG-13 for art Word Count: 12.6K Warnings: ummm… there’s porn? And description of unhygienic storage of clothes? Unhealthy amounts of cereal consumption? Idk, this is just really schmoopy and floofy. Prompt: One Night With Her RoommateEver since her former roommates deserted her, Meg has had to share an apartment with a lazy, obnoxious ass. He won’t pick up after himself, and he refuses to get a good job. Plus, he doesn’t always wear enough clothes—which is really a problem, because he’s hot. Maybe he’s occasionally funny. And every now and then he can be sweet. But mostly he’s just annoying. It doesn’t matter how much he’s starting to flirt with her—Meg is going to resist. She’s way too smart to fall for a guy who never takes anything seriously. But then everything changes in only one night.Summary: When Jared moves in with Jensen, Jensen’s life is turned upside down. Jared is a terrible roommate; messy, loud and entirely obnoxious. Unfortunately, he’s also pretty hot and even kinda nice when his socks aren’t clogging up the sink. Not that Jensen would ever do anything about that, because Jared is straight and a giant slob. Or so Jensen thinks. Link to fic: on Ao3 Link to art: on LiveJournal Title: My Wicked Pirate Artist: kinkajou Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: G Warnings: none Prompt: Azure-eyed Alanis was by far the most exquisite treasure ever claimed by the black pirate known as the Viper, but his motives went deeper than his silken promise to ravish the feisty Yorkshire heiress. Commanding the waters of the Caribbean was his means to an end: reclaiming his birthright—and his blood debt against those who had betrayed him.Then he gave her nights of wicked pleasure...Comfortably betrothed to a nobleman, Alanis never imagined the heady emotions involved in the true games of seduction—games this blackguard seemed to thoroughly enjoy playing with her. Swept up into an adventure that soon revealed a gentleman and kindred spirit beneath the ruthless veneer of a privateer, Alanis began to soften towards her enigmatic captor, as her pride and her heart fell under his erotic spell.Link to art: on Ao3 Title: After All This Time Author: safiyabat Artist: vilabelle Pairing: Jared/Jensen, Gen/Danneel, Jared/Stephen, J2DG Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 7K Warnings: Internalized homophobia, het sex, Chad Prompt: Kinky Neighbors: The Mitchells and the Harts have been next door neighbors and friends for the past year. They have loads in common; double incomes, professional careers, no kids...and a kinky streak. Now they're about to become very good friends...with kinky benefits. The sex between them all is hot, naughty, and unbearably exciting. It isn't merely swapping partners and moving to another room; it's true foursome sex, same room, same bed, all four involved. For Drew and Cat Mitchell and Logan and Alexis Hart, it's about barreling through boundaries none of them have ever crossed before, doing kinky things they've only fantasized about. But when they begin to exchange not just sex but emotional connection, the problems start; a little jealousy, feeling left out, wanting more from the wrong partner. Can two couples really share everything without losing it all? Summary: Jensen's a pretty happy guy. He's happily married to his hometown sweetheart, Danneel, and he's got a thriving law practice in Austin. He lives next door to his lifelong best friend, Jared, who is married to his and Danneel's girlfriend, Gen. When Danneel and Gen suggest bringing Jared into the bedroom, though, things get weird. Jensen thought Jared had gotten over his schoolboy crush on Jensen, but it turns out that Jared isn't the only one with lingering feelings.Link to fic: on LiveJournal Link to art: on LiveJournal Title: The Lost Author: phoenix1966 Artist: amberdreams Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 93K Warnings: swearing, murder (off-screen), violence, m/m, top!Jensen, bottom!Jared, bottom!Misha (offscreen) Prompt: Al King is a rock singer and selfish stud extraordinaire. His brother and manager, Paul King, gets Al whatever he wants and boy does he want a lot. Dallas is a former hooker gone beauty queen/actress. Everyone wants a piece of her and she plays hardball like the best of them. What happens when the plane they are on crashes in the middle of the Amazon jungle? Summary: Big screen star Jensen Ackles was on his way to Brazil to continue filming his latest project. He was glad to lose himself in the role and bury the pain of his broken heart by slipping on a stranger’s skin. Because of his manager’s twisted attempt to help, he found himself on a private jet with a high-class rent boy. Before he could figure out what to do with that, a bolt of lightning sent them tumbling into the rainforest. Link to fic: on Ao3 Link to art: on LiveJournal Title: The Other Wesson Author: firesign10 Artist: milly_gal Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 8K Warnings: none Prompt: Beth Bradley has a problem. Everyone is expecting her successful music executive boyfriend, Charlie, to be her date for her best friend’s wedding. There’s one hitch: Charlie doesn’t exist. Unless she can think of something fast, she’s headed for the most humiliating weekend of her life. Alex Tanner has a problem. The former Navy SEAL's search for a double agent lands him at the Kensington Hotel, and he needs a cover to finish the job. When the sexy maid of honor blackmails him into pretending to be her lover, he thinks he's been handed the solution. Except Beth has a way of stumbling into trouble, and when the man Alex is hunting starts targeting Beth, Alex has to decide between solving the mystery or protecting the woman who has stolen his heart. Summary: Jensen Ackles has a problem. Everyone is expecting his successful accountant boyfriend, Sam Wesson, to be his date for his best friend’s wedding. And Jensen is the wedding planner! There’s one hitch: Sam doesn’t exist. Unless he can think of something fast, Jensen is headed for the biggest humiliation of his life. Jared Padalecki has a problem. The government agent's search for a possible sex trafficking ring lands him at the Isla Grande Resort on the Gulf of Mexico, and he needs a cover to finish the job. When he meets the sexy wedding planner while planting a bug in his room, Jensen blackmails him into pretending to be his boyfriend. Jared doesn't mind--he thinks he's been handed the ideal cover. Except Jensen stumbles into trouble, and Jared has to decide if this resort romance is just play-acting—or the real thing! Link to fic: on Ao3 (art embedded in fic) Title: These Violent Delights Author: dimpled_sammy Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 82K Warnings: Violence, gangsters, minor character death Prompt: Romancing the Mob Boss. Trina Hathaway is a waitress in a Las Vegas strip joint who spends a romantic evening with a good looking hunk she met at the club. Hoping to see him again, but not disappointed when she doesn’t, she goes on with her life. But a week later, when she interviews for a job at the renowned PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, and discovers that the owner of the hotel is the man she had slept with, a man who very much wishes to rekindle what they had captured that passionate night, her entire life spirals into a new and dramatic world where family ties and ever-increasing violence ropes them in. Summary: Jared Padalecki has only ever wanted to get out of Sin City. Trapped by extenuating circumstances, he works as a waiter in a Las Vegas strip joint, doing what he can to get by, including spending a romantic evening with a handsome stranger who wanders into the club one night. Hoping to see the stranger again, but not disappointed when he doesn’t, Jared moves on with his life. A month later, Jared interviews for a job as a financial consultant at one of the largest and newly made over Hotels on the Vegas strip. Jared gets the job, only to discover that his new boss is the same man he slept with: Jensen Ackles, the enigmatic and ice cold business man. Jensen Ackles, the city's biggest mob boss. Torn between his longing to get out of the city and his yearning to be closer to Jensen, Jared finds himself being sucked into a new and dangerous world where loyalty is everything, passion exists on a knife-edge, and the ever-increasing violence makes it impossible to escape. Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Heartstrings Author: madebyme_x Artist: quickreaver Pairing: Jared/Jensen Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 7.5K Warnings: Language and references to drug and alcohol abuse Prompt: Heartstrings. As Julia prepares to settle in for another typical 12-hour shift in the ER, she's ready to handle anything...That's before Slade Hale rolls into her life...on a stretcher surrounded by 15 doctors and nurses. To her he's just another patient, and a cocky asshole Rock Star with an ego. Or at least that's what she thinks. When she's assigned to be his personal nurse, Julia suddenly feels out of her comfort zone. Slade is the most beautiful man she's ever seen in person and even in his vulnerable condition he seethes of raw sex appeal. When he starts to wake up, that's when the real trouble begins...Julia desperately attempts to fight his charm and wit, to stay professional, to keep the upper hand. Summary: Washed-up rock star Jared is rushed to hospital, and it's up to uptight nurse Jensen to fix more than broken bones. But what is it that they say? Opposites attract, or something like that... Link to fic: on LiveJournal Link to art: on LiveJournal

Supernatural

Title: Behind Glass Author: museaway Pairing: Dean/Castiel Rating: Teen Word Count: 21.3K Warnings: Temporary Character Death Prompt: Life as he has known it is over for Adan when his mother tells him she has bought a mansion in an exclusive community high in the redwood mountains. There are no other young people living there except one, a girl named Chrystal who has never been outside the community before or known anyone her own age. But Adan can only admire Chrystal from afar, she is beautiful and he is covered in scars. Summary: Castiel has spent his life secluded in the woods. At his father’s warning, he’s never left the property. He has no memory of his mother, and his father doesn’t come above twice a year with supplies now that Castiel is grown. But when he befriends a boy named Sam who trespasses on his land, and Sam's older brother, whose face and arm were maimed in an accident, he begins to doubt everything his father has told him. Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: The Trouble with Benny Author: angelus2hot Pairing: Dean/Benny Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 2K Warnings: none Prompt: Can a girl ever have too many cowboys?No sooner does pint-sized spitfire Jill Cleary set foot on Fiddle Creek Ranch than she finds herself in the middle of a hundred-year-old feud. Quaid Brennan and Tyrell Gallagher are both tall, handsome, and rich...and both are courting Jill to within an inch of her life. She's doing her best to give these feuding ranchers equal time-too bad it's dark-eyed Sawyer O'Donnell who makes her blood boil and her hormones hum.Summary: It took awhile for Sam to realize even though Dean could have almost anyone he wanted, his brother only wanted Benny. But when he did he and Garth devised a plan to get Dean to finally go after what he wanted. Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Happenstance Author: stonenumberone Pairing: Sam/Dean Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 18K Warnings: Pre-series AU, underage sex, underage drinking, complete lack of listening to the concept of Stranger Danger, swearing and just a little bit of angst and sibling incest. Prompt: Colin Hartman can now add college to his list of failures. On the coast-to-coast trek home from California, Colin stops at a gas station in the Nevada desert, and can’t help noticing the guy in tight jeans looking like he just stepped off a catwalk. When he realizes Catwalk is stranded, Colin offers a ride. Riley only intended to take a short ride in Colin’s Jeep to the Grand Canyon. But one detour leads to another until they finally find themselves tumbling into bed together. However there are shadows in Riley’s eyes that hide a troubled past. And when those shadows threaten to bury the man whom Colin has fallen in love with, he vows to get Riley the help he needs. For once in his life, quitting isn’t an option… Summary: Dean’s never been really good at that whole “accomplishment” thing. Drifting is the one thing he really knows how to do, and a trip after his latest failure—college—with just him, his car, and the wide open road is exactly what he needs. Running into a boy with legs longer than the California coastline was definitely not on the agenda, but hey, it’s not like Dean has anywhere else to be. When the trip becomes more of a series of detours, Dean finds himself more and more drawn to the young Sam, who seems to be carrying more baggage than Dean originally thought. A secret revealed threatens to shatter everything they’ve built together in this short time; will they make it through or crash and burn like every other thing Dean has ever touched? Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Sunrise Cove Obsession Author: smalltrolven Pairing: Sam/Dean Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 9K Warnings: Beyond Awful!John Winchester Prompt: Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes. Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the kindly residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up—especially the determined Xander Keaton. Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away. Summary: When the boys are forcibly separated at twelve and eight by a father gone mad their lives take very different turns. When they are then reunited fifteen years later, they don’t recognize each other. Dean’s promise to stay away from Sam even though unwittingly broken brings a danger back that may kill them both. Link to fic: on Ao3 Title: Indelible Author: dare_darcy Pairing: Dean/Sam Rating: M Word Count: 25K Warnings: Light BDSM Prompt: Leni Brewster should have been disappointed when her twin sister had to bail on holding her hand during her first tattoo, but going to her appointment solo means time alone with the sexy-as-hell tattoo artist who falls into the Do Not Touch category. Only Jamie Rodriguez isn't as off-limits as Leni thinks. Privately single for months, Jamie finds himself more than looking forward to having the hot little librarian in his chair. And when she accidentally reveals a naughty secret about herself, he can't get his hands on her fast enough-he has to know what else she's hiding under that buttoned-up exterior. What he discovers sets his blood to boiling, igniting a burning determination to test every single one of the boundaries, both personal and physical, that she's set for herself. Summary: Dean Singer is a tattoo artist, single and unhappily so. Sam Winchester is the sexy librarian who has been feeding his secret book habit. When Sam walks into Dean's shop, will Sam break through Dean's walls and see the man beneath? (Summary to be fixed when I'm not sleep deprived.) Link to fic: on Ao3

#spn meant to be #masterlist #2016

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letterboxd · 5 years ago

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The Missing Linklater.

“Any time I’m on a set with Rick I feel very fortunate.” We talk to the writers behind Richard Linklater’s new missing-person feature film, Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

An adaptation of Maria Semple’s 2012 comedic novel about a reclusive architect who goes missing just before a family trip to Antarctica, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? stars Cate Blanchett in the title role. Bernadette’s daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) sets out on a quest to find her, with Bernadette’s husband Elgie (Billy Crudup). Laurence Fishburne, Judy Greer and Kristen Wiig also star.

Directed by American filmmaking icon (and co-founder of the Austin Film Society) Richard Linklater, the screenplay was co-written with his frequent collaborators (and married couple) Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. If their names are not familiar as scriptwriters, that’s because they usually work further behind the scenes for Linklater, and have been since 1993’s Dazed and Confused, when Holly was a production coordinator, and Vince a second second assistant director.

Vince became Linklater’s first AD for the films Bad News Bears, Fast Food Nation, A Scanner Darkly, Before Midnight, Boyhood, Last Flag Flying and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?. Holly co-produced Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles (2008), which she also wrote with Vince.

Reviewing Where’d You Go, Bernadette? on Letterboxd, Tom suggests that after a “generic” opening, the film “slowly starts to show its true colors as the character of Bernadette is unwrapped… it’s a story that is touching and even a bit inspiring for those who aspire to be their own artist in life.” J Oled agrees: “This could’ve been a Hallmark special, but because Linklater generally loves humanity, and is always experimenting, this film is quite watchable, it’s warm, relatable, and modest, and I wasn’t asking for much else.” Melissa, who has read the novel, offers: “If you’re a fan of the book… the movie is starkly different. But if you’re a fan of Linklater… you’re going to love it. Cate Blanchett may be the best actor of the decade.”

We spoke to Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. about their collaborative writing process with Linklater, mining their own relationship for inspiration, and making films for the social-media age.

Cate Blanchett as Bernadette and Emma Nelson as Bee.

How you were brought onto the project? Holly Gent Palmo: We have worked with Rick [Linklater] for many years. We first met on Dazed and Confused, where we were on the crew, and we’ve worked on many projects with him. He’s one of our close friends. He was brought onto the project and then we read the book and loved it so he brought us on. We started from scratch, it was all based on the novel.

What did you relate to in the book that made you feel you had the right perspective to take it on? HGP: This is a movie that for me personally is very relatable because it’s about a woman who has really lost herself in motherhood and as much as she loves that journey, she’s also really looking to rediscover her passion of her past creative impulses. I think that’s something that Rick, Vince, and I all can relate to, not only as parents, but also as people trying to do something creative in this world.

Was the book’s author Maria Semple involved at all? HGP: First of all, the novel is fantastic.

Vincent Palmo Jr: Love the book, love the book.

HGP: Maria knows so much about the filmmaking process and has that history herself that she knew that she wanted to hand it off to Rick. She talked to Cate and she talked to Rick but she did not take part in the writing.

Richard Linklater seems like a great writer to collaborate with. What is it about him that makes that operate so well? HGP: With Rick, the way we work is that we talk a lot in the beginning and clearly discuss every aspect of the book. This one was particularly challenging in that it was a modern epistolary novel told in emails and transcripts. It’s not a straight narrative and it’s not told in a linear fashion, necessarily. So we had to sort out the chronology of our story and what would be included.

Screenwriters Holly Gent Palmo and Vincent Palmo Jr. / Photo: Wilson Webb/Annapurna Pictures

It’s the way he works with actors and everyone. It’s a really respectful, really collaborative process where everybody gets to bring to the table their own personal point of view in their own lives. With Rick, we dove into the parts of the novel we liked best and what threads we were going to pick up and carry through.

VP: It was a pretty deep exploration of the novel, of all the different characters and situations. We talked through all that and came to an agreement between the three of us for what we felt said the themes best.

Vincent, you’re also Linklater’s first assistant director, which is an interesting combination of multi-tasking. On set, would you pitch in on the script-side? VP: No, on set as a first AD I’m more concerned about the day’s work and really having everything in place and ready to go so Rick just has to say “action” and “cut”. I don’t talk at all about the script. At that point we’re all dialed in anyway.

When Holly’s around they have their conferences and I’ll be arranging the next set up. I’ve done a lot of things with Rick. I did all twelve years of Boyhood. There’s a shorthand there that I’m intent and focused on each day’s shoot and what’s coming up the next day.

HGP: By the time Rick gets to set, he’s totally prepared and ready. He has his rehearsal process with his actors. Our process is over, he’s very sure of what he wants.

VP: You can’t over-prepare, but we’re very prepared.

HGP: Except maybe in a rare instance in having to negotiate some small change.

VP: Yeah, like in what the weather’s brought or something new at a location, things like that.

Boyhood and Before Midnight are both classics of their decade now. What were those sets like? VP: I’m so happy for Rick [that they’re highly regarded]. Boyhood just stretched on. I remember there were times where we were like, “is somebody in Eastern Europe doing the same thing and it’s going to come out before us?!” We really didn’t know.

To pick it up each year and shoot it on film when all that kind of change [to digital] was in the midst of us shooting… Any time I’m on a set with Rick I feel very fortunate. To see them received in the way they were, it’s really thrilling.

Emma Nelson and Billy Crudup in ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette?’.

In what ways, if any, did you adapt your style to the talents of Cate Blanchett and the other cast members? HGP: We knew that Cate was interested from the moment that we began. We were always hoping to do justice to her great talent and thinking towards that. To me, there could be no-one better in that role. Cate brings so much to it.

It’s an inspiration to think that no matter what kind of nuanced emotion we write in a scene, she can carry it and do an incredible job. It gives a freedom of inspiration thinking that there’s a possibility that Cate Blanchett can be playing the part.

The book is largely renowned for the way it captures the nuances of Seattle. What types of research did you do for the characters’ occupations and their environments? HGP: Rick did a lot of interesting, in-depth research for Elgie’s technology role and the kind of things he was developing. He talked to a lot of people involved in Microsoft developing those sorts of things, to bring that in the most detailed and up-to-date way.

For architecture, Rick arranged some meetings with some really great architects to go and talk to them about the language they use. As far as Seattle goes, there’s no greater resource for that than the novel itself. Maria really knows that world and has so many funny and interesting outsider opinions about it that I felt it was the perfect way to learn about that.

What did you feel you could bring to the element of marriage when writing as a married couple? HGP: That’s interesting.

VP: That is interesting. Well, we’ve been married for 26 years.

HGP: I do think that all three of us brought in our past relationships and our current relationships to the process. I believe it’s a realistic portrayal of the quest to keep improving your life through self-discovery. It’s a unique story that you don’t really see a lot of.

That whole idea that you can’t ever really know anyone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try—Rick really loved those words, they’re the opening words of the novel. It’s this idea that the other person is always somewhat unknowable, but you keep trying to get to know each other while you change through the years.

VP: The search continues! You find new things.

HGP: Nothing is more rewarding in life than those close relationships that last decades.

Richard Linklater, Emma Nelson, Cate Blanchett and Billy Crudup at a New York screening earlier this month. / Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Do you think it’s difficult to write contemporary films for the social-media age? HGP: It’s fascinating when you see movies and there’s this before-and-after cell phones dividing line, because so many of the great films and their plots would have been so different if everyone was carrying a phone around.

I don’t know if it’s easier, but it is a change in your way of thinking as you realize everyone has a phone in their pocket. I think both [period and contemporary] are fun. Any kind of story or plot that you’re trying to figure out is a really fun and challenging puzzle. I notice in a lot of films they try and get rid of the phone in some way.

What was the film that got you into filmmaking and made you want to be a part of this industry? VP: Oh my gosh, wow. Jeez, that’s a really tough one.

HGP: There’s so many stages to it. There’s the ones you see when you’re a little kid that just blow you over. Those are so bound with light and emotion that you don’t even understand. I remember Apocalypse Now—that was something that blew my mind.

VP: It just kind of builds. I got a degree in journalism and then I ended up working in film so it’s hard to point to just one that really flipped the switch. I don’t know why, but I saw The Sound of Music a bunch of times when I was younger. Maybe it was just easier for my mom to take me and my four siblings out to see it.

‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette?’ is in select US cinemas now.

#richard linklater #austin film society #holly gent #vincent palmo jr #seattle #where'd you go bernadette #maria semple #billy crudup #emma nelson #austin #letterboxd

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purplesurveys · 6 years ago

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459

Ok I’m sorry but these name surveys have turned out to be loadsa fun for me so let me just take another one lmaooooo.

I honestly find it therapeutic since it allows me to reflect and look back on all of the people I’ve crossed paths with before, whether for better or for worse :) Sorry if I’ll repeat names/explanations, I’ll do my best to remember more stuff about them!

aaron: Already mentioned this in the last survey, but he’s a part of my high school friend group. He was one of my first guy friends ever and he was very nice to me from the very beginning; always made sure I felt like I belonged in a crowd. Also studies in UP and I think he is taking up sports science because he wants to go on to med school. abby/abbey: This is my mom’s name. She goes by the first spelling. I know an Abby from high school; she studies in La Salle now. adam: I don’t know him personally but there used to be a dude from WhatCulture Wrestling (a popular YouTube channel) named Adam – he was my favorite to watch until he got caught in a major fuck-up and was booted from the group. adel adrienne ajee

ajla alan: I have an uncle named Allan. He was part of my dad’s friend group in college; they met each other in their org. He was in every birthday party when I was a kid, but I don’t see him anymore now because his family already migrated somewhere else. alex: Broad comm student who plays the guitar and sings well; I haven’t talked to her. I also knew an Alex from 6th grade and she was just...not a very bright student. She had to move because I don’t think her grades reached the standard in my school, and now I think she lives in California. If not there, then somewhere else in the States. Alex is a fairly common name here, though, and I know I’ve missed out on a bunch of other Alexes.

alexa: Again, another girl from high school. Was a cool girl and a party girl from the very start. Like I said in my past survey, she lives in Australia now. alexis alexzandria alicia: My friend Alliyah’s boss, who she has a huge crush on, is named Alicia but she goes by Alice. alisa allie/ally: Gossiping fake loser from our rival journ org who does nothing but spread black propaganda about our org to keep people from joining ours – when she talks to us, though, she’s super nice. I’m so fucking happy she’s graduating because she has such a toxic personality :( allison: Former prof in Comm 100. Wasn’t very good but I had a crush on her from the very first lecture. She had a serious car accident in the middle of the sem and had to wear like a nose brace thing for the rest of the sem. alycea/alycia alyssa: I rode the school bus with a girl named Alyssa but I was much closer to her older sister Alex. There’s also an Alyssa from broad comm and I was classmates with her in my political science, history, and broad comm classes for this semester. She’s the niiiiiiiicest girl and would always help me out if I have missing notes or whatever. amanda: Girl from my org who’s taking up engineering. I was her VP last semester, but she had personal problems and so she wasn’t able to work much under me. Whenever she did, though, she was always reliable. Quiet girl, a little socially awkward. amari amber andrew: I first met him at a rally/protest I attended in 2017. Hit it off well right from the start because I saw that he was wearing a wrestling shirt, so we bonded over WWE that day. He plays the guitar and has released his own EP, is a junior DJ at one of the hip radio stations in Manila, and has done his fair share of hosting gigs. He used to take up engineering but shifted to journalism as he likes it better. Is very adventurous and amiable but tends to get too friendly; some might find it tiring but I honestly think it’s just his personality. He was my groupmate in communication research and I thought he was decent. angela: My best friend’s name is Angela. We first met each other in Grade 1 when we were 7, and we became friends after I stabbed her palm with a newly-sharpened pencil. She still has the pencil mark today. anna: Anna is a popular secondary name in the Philippines, but no one actually uses it as their main name. anne: Same with Anne. annie: My grandma’s best friend who used to come over the house every Sunday. Like I said in the past survey, I’m honestly not sure if she’s still alive lol. She was already pretty old when I was still very young. anthony aasad ashley: I *think* I have a distant cousin named Ashley that I first met at a family reunion last year. But let’s be real, Filipino families are huge and I don’t even know if I remember her name correctly, if she’s even an Ashley. aubri: One of my closest friends in high school was Aubrey. We were very, very close in junior year until she dropped a bomb on me that her family was migrating to California by the time we start senior year. We don’t talk anymore because of the distance and the timezones, but I’ll always be there for her no matter what. Incredibly talented dancer and figure skater. She’s in UCLA right now and as far as I know she is killing it over there. austin autumn: I know an Autumn from my wrestling fandom days. I think she was a redhead, but I don’t remember anything else. barbara becca: A girl from broad comm. She was one of the principal actors in one of the productions we did for BC and she has a really cute laugh. Super elegant; she reminded me a little bit of Audrey Hepburn because she was really graceful. She’s the older sister of my orgmate Rita, who’s from psych. ben beth bethany betty: I have a friend-ish named Bettina. Betty’s kind of like a goofy nickname; she actually doesn’t use it but I think it still counts. I’ve known her since first grade; she peed her skirt in our first day of Grade 1 and I remember her crying a lot. She had a wild TV show phase starting from Grade 5 and she was into Nicole Kidman, Paula Abdul, Kara DioGuardi, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Stana Katic, Kate Walsh, etc etc etc and a bunch of shows like Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, Suits etc etc etc. She was super shy, very awkward in person so I’m glad her love of TV shows and actresses sprung her into life for the most part. She’s in UP Manila and I think too busy to get into fandoms now. bijan bobby bram brandon brandy breanna/brianna: Brianna is my friend Pat’s middle name. I honestly used to be so envious of this name of hers because I thought it sounded really nice, but now I think it kinda sounds like a bratty name hahaha. brendan brian: I have an uncle named Bryan, but we aren’t related. He’s my mom’s cousin’s husband. He’s VERY shy and likes to keep to himself or his kids at family gatherings but turns really cool when he’s had a little to drink. brittany/brittney/brittni brock brooke bruce buck cameron camille: Nice girl from my childhood school bus. There’s an unofficial norm in private schools in that when you’re older, you get to be mean to the younger kids. Not her. She was always nice and include us second graders in her antics in the bus, even though she was several years older. I was bummed when I found out they moved to the States. candy carina: I used to ride the school bus with a Carina but she was much younger. I was already in high school when she was in kindergarten. She’s the younger sister of Carissa, who I always found to be pretty weird. Anyway, these girls were clearly rich and pampered; they had a nanny ride with us in the bus. carly: I had an Internet friend named Carley; she was my first online best friend. We met here on Tumblr in like 2012 and got close because we were both huge fans of Stephanie McMahon at the time haha. We would video-call EVERY afternoon when I would come home from school while she would get ready for school (she’s from Pennsylvania). Eventually she’d disappear off the face of the earth and stopped talking to me but resurfaced a few months later. She’d continue to do this like 10 other times until I got tired of getting my hopes up of having her back. She’s tried reconnecting with me again on DMs but I just ignored it cos I knew there was a good chance she’d just cut off our communication again. We’re still Facebook friends and she’d pop up on my news feed from time to time, but that’s it. carol: I have a great-aunt named Carol. But my grandma has so many sisters that I honestly do not remember which one she is. carrie cassandra: I had a batchmate named Kassandra, who went by Kasey. Really bright, sweet, intelligent girl. She moved to Singapore in 7th grade. She was very, very simple and very kind to everyone and you wouldn’t be able to tell that she’s crazy rich. Her dad’s a top exec for a famous food and drink company and she lives in the same village I do–their house is guarded 24/7. cassidy chantel charlotta chelsie: Chelsea’s part of our high school friend group and is also crazy rich. We always hung out at her place because her house is huge. She’s very maarte, which I cannot really translate to English...the closest term is probably high maintenance hahaha; but she’s very sweet and generous and kind too. cheryl chris: One of Gabie’s best friend is a Kris. Other than liking outdoorsy stuff like going to the beach and hiking which is all I know about her, I think she’s also half-American. christopher: I have an uncle with this name but like I said his nickname is Perry. He works abroad like my dad (his brother-in-law) and my dad’s sister (his sister-in-law). cienna clare: Guidance counselor for several grade school levels. Understandably, she is very maternal. I once had a nasty fight with another girl and we had to be sent to her office. clarissa: Went to school with a Clarisa. We first met in Grade 4 because she rode my school bus, and instantly clicked. She was very nice, very sweet; she was simple to the point that, like Kasey, you’d have no clue how rich she was. She lives in a huge mansion now but she lived in a huge house before that as well, it’s crazy. Really, really sweet and she would give the best hugs. I played table tennis a lot with her in high school too. She studies in Miriam now but I’m not so sure about her course. claudia: Already said a lot about her in the last survey. Popular girl her whole life. She still goes to a bunch of parties but she is so much nicer now than she was when we were younger. cody cole collin corey corinne: One of my former teachers named her daughter Corinne. I think she’s 8 this year. courtney crissy: Chrissy was one of my very best friends in preschool and grade school. She looked Chinese even though she had a Filipino-sounding surname, and I was never sure if she had Chinese blood or not. She was boyish so she was very rowdy, liked to play rough, and punched other girls if she got pissed; but other than that she was very quiet and shy. She was constantly on the basketball team too. Eventually her family moved to Canada. crystal dallas dan danielle danika: An orgmate that worked under my committee two semesters ago. She’s from business ad and was juggling another org so she wasn’t very active at all to begin with. Her performance just plummeted every month and she ended up ghosting my org last semester–never replied to anyone when we tried to check up on her. I was very mad at her until she restarted contact with us recently and explained how tumultuous stuff suddenly got in her personal life and mental health that she had to take care of herself for a while, which we all understood immediately. She’s coming back to the org this year and we’re more than ready to welcome her. She’s very charming, goofy, and kind. She has a very life-of-the-party personality haha. danny: I have a friend-ish named Dani that I met through Angela. We all sat at the same table during the senior ball at Ateneo in 2016 so we got to talk then. She played volleyball in high school and she studies in San Beda now. She wants to take up law school so I think her course is in political science. darious david: Pat’s boyfriend from Serbia and Patrice’s boyfriend from economics HAHAHAHA. Also a sucky groupmate from my comm res class who did absolutely nothing to contribute in the final paper that Hannah and I worked our asses so hard for. dean deanglo derrick destiny devin dillon donna dwayne [Random survey-taker note: these are all very Western names...] emie emily eric: My godfather is an Eric. Like my Tito Allan, he also met my dad through their college org. He’s an exec in a bank now and is suuuuuuper rich. Has a daughter named Arya which he could’ve named after the GoT character but am not really sure about that. everette felicia gabby: Wildly popular name. 1) My girlfriend’s name is Gabie; 2) there was another Gaby in my high school batch. 3) I have a friend from the Tumblr wrestling fandom named Gabbie who was really good in Photoshop – we study in the same school but have never met each other. 4) I have a high school batchmate whose little sister is a Gaby, annnnnddd I also just remembered that 5) there was another Gabbi in the wrestling fandom who also made good edits at the time. gerald gina guliana gloria: Do last names count? Hahaha. Gloria is the surname of my instructor in my class in international relations just this past sem. He’s a new faculty member but is craaaazy good at teaching; clearly knows what he’s talking about. He was passionate about his subject and I always admired that about him. I was really sad when class had to end. grace: I have a great-aunt named Grace; he’s my late grandpa’s sister. She’s really...quite fabulous; she has connections with super prestigious people and has a fancy wardrobe. She’s the only Filipino grandmother I know who goes by ‘Nana’ to her grandkids, which I note because Nana is like a super Western thing afaik. She has drama queen tendencies though and can be sensitive to a lot of things lmao. gracie hannah: One of the close friends I’ve made in college so far! Our first meeting was when she and Macy moved from UP Los Banos to the Diliman campus (where I study) and the three of us enrolled in our classes together. I was closer to Macy first, but eventually me and Hannah got a stronger friendship. Best groupmate, workmate, and David Archuleta fan I know. Sings great and plays the piano great. An absolute angel. hasan hawa hayley: I only know a dog named Hailey lol. heather: Someone from my high school batch is a Heather! We were never in the same cliques but she is one of the friendliest people I know. She knows how to talk to anyone which I appreciated. We bonded over One Direction in high school and she also confided in me a few times about her relationship and how her parents forbade her from seeing her boyfriend because he was trans. She also studies in my school now, taking up business economics. We barely see each other but say hi whenever we do. holly hunter ibro isaac isaiah jack jackie: One of my aunts has a relative named Jackie and I literally only found this out earlier when we met up and caught up with each other. jacob jacquelin jaden: A kid of my mom’s best friend is a Jaden. He was named after Jaden Smith because he was born during the time the Karate Kid remake made big waves. jake: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I had a garbage instructor with this name. This dude was in charge of my weekly crying binges and panic attacks because I was never sure if I was gonna pass his class. He seemed to enjoy giving all of us failing marks too which made me hate his piece of shit ass more. He’s supposed to be really good at what he does but I guess knowledge just does not always translate well in the classroom. Ended up passing his class, but now I’m cursing his ass forever. james: I have a younger cousin named James. I’ve only met him twice; once when he was a newborn, and then when he celebrated Christmas 2018 with us. His family’s lived in New Zealand and Vietnam since 2008, which is why we never get to see him, and why he does not remember me at all. janai janveia jared jason jay: My uncle is a Jay; he’s my mom’s brother. I disowned him as my uncle many years ago. He’s a terrible drunk, a disgusting smoker, and an annoying freeloader. I tried giving him a chance before, but after I found out that he drunkenly punched a cat once, I ignored him forever. Sometimes my mom and grandmother would ask me to acknowledge him at family gatherings, so I’d have to begrudingly do so; but other than that he’s out of my life. jazmine: There was a Jasmin from my old school. She’d always been very artistic and she was into K-Pop very early on. She’s taking up linguistics in my school now. jeana jeanette jen: Girl from the now-ancient Tumblr wrestling fandom. She’s probably the biggest and most passionate wrestling fan I know as she would follow both the mainstream and indie promotions the last time I checked up on her. She was kinda vain and kept on taking selfies while captioning each one as ‘ugly.’ I remember that she has a dog she really loves, and that she lives in Boston. jeralyn jerry jesse jessica: Meh, annoying girl from high school. I’m sure she’s nice(?) but her personality just didn’t click with me. She was too vibrant and too friendly that it almost seemed fake; but what do I know, I never really made the effort to know her better other than bonding over 1D here and there. jim jocelyn jodi: I know a Jodee from my old school. Spoke straight English, is intelligent, but is a huge goofball and very mischievous/rebellious. She was a smartass and liked testing the teachers’ patience whenever she can, but she always did it in a very funny way I think. She was often called to the guidance counselor’s office for having relationships with other students (I went to a Catholic all-girls’ private school, so this was obviously not allowed) but she always stood her ground about it and was never afraid to fight back. She had a phase of unhooking our bras in like 5th grade. joey: My blockmate has a younger sister named Joey. I think she is also studying in UP. john: The cousin I’m closest to is named John, but it’s not his preferred name. jonathan jordan josh: I know two Joshes, but only because they are boyfriends of a couple of acquaintances. jossie julia julie junior justin: I went to school with a girl who initially went by Justinn, but like she all wanted to start calling her by her other name, Ria, as we grew older. I also briefly rode the school bus with a girl named Justine, but we didn’t talk much. kailyn kaitlyn kaleb: Chelsea’s brother is named Caleb. kali karrie karli kasey: Oh, I guess Kasey (under Cassandra) falls under this too lmao. kasahwn katarina: Not exact, but Katrina’s a fairly popular name where I live. My cousin’s boyfriend is named Katrina, my aunt is a Katrina (but she goes by Bianca), and I also went to school with a Katrina even though her nickname is Cheenie. kate: Already talked about this in the last name survey. I met Kate through my org; she’s a huge joker/goofball, is naturally very friendly, and has an awesome wardrobe. When she’s bored and we both aren’t doing anything, she puts makeup on me. Works very well but is also a huge partier HAHAHAHA. katie: This is my nickname for Kate, if that counts. kayla: There’s a Kayla in my college, but her course is in broad(cast) comm(unication). I remember her very well because she is the first person I EVER talked to when we had our freshman orientation in UP. We didn’t become close after that. She’s pretty, has nice clothes and hair, is part of the popular circle, and she’s part of streetdance which is like one of the cooler orgs on campus. kelli kent: I have a younger cousin who’s a Kent. We used to be close when we were both kids, but now we’re shy towards each other. He was obsessed with dinosaurs when he was younger, like 5 or 6. kerna kevin kiana: I have an orgmate named Kiana! SOOOOO pretty and has like the clearest skin. Very simple and down-to-earth. Is nice but can kick your ass because she has a black belt in taekwondo. She’s smart as hell and I’m pretty sure she’s graduating as magna cum laude, besides the fact that she’s going to UP Law right after. kiley kim: I also have an orgmate named Kim :) He’s the sweetest guy ever, and is just so easy to talk to. He has a really cute relationship with one of the org’s alumni. I didn’t get to bond with him much but am sad all the same that he’s graduating this year :( kimberly: Went to my old school with a Kimberly but she went by Kim. Was one of the rougher, lesser-behaved kids. She was a demon in grade school. Not quite sure how she’s doing now. She’s my friend on Facebook but can’t really care less about her life updates. kirsten kristy kyle: Kyelle is a kinda good friend of mine. He’s from the same circle, but we aren’t close in particular. He’s very nice though, very silly and likes to goof around. laila lain: I used to have an orgmate named Laine. She was our VP for External Affairs two years ago. She’s now in law school. leah: Cheenie’s mom is a Lea. She’s probably the best mom friend my mom made from my school hahaha; she’s known me since I was 4. lexi: I have a high school batchmate named Alexa but I think she goes by Lexi, judging from her Twitter name. Is naturally quiet but gets very friendly when you get her to open up. Easy to talk to. liam: Liam is my youngest cousin, I think. He was born in 2014 or 2015. I’ve never seen him, because he and his family lives in New York. I’ve only ever met his big sister. :( lilly: This girl I was classmates with for a journ elective. I found her to be verrrrry pretty and she had the biggest, most piercing eyes; until I found out that she was one of those die-hard Catholics who are vehemently pro-life. She once defended a fraternity whose members were confirmed to be misogynist, sexist, racist, homophobic and transphobic pieces of shit in a leaked groupchat simply because she believes in ‘forgiveness.’ She caused another ruckus two weeks ago when she made known her pro-life views well known. I wanna unfriend her ass so bad but she just keeps making all the wrong opinions that I just wanna stay and watch her get schooled by my less-than-thrilled college mates hahaha. lina liz: If I remember correctly, there was an Elizabeth from my wrestling fandom who went by Liz. She lives somewhere in the UK, had reddish hair, and was in love with John Cena lmao. She would sometimes make edits too. loren: Other than the Lauren I mentioned in the previous survey, I also had a friend named Lauren from the Tumblr wrestling community too. She was one of the first friends I made. She was two years older than me, fancied Andy Samberg earlier than anyone else, had a cool room, was obsessed with cats, and loved tie-dye stuff. lydia lyndsey lynnette macaila mack: JM’s dad goes by Mackey, if that counts hahahaha. He’s a lawyer and a college professor. mckenzi macey: I went to high school with a Macy and now she’s in college with me too. She used to study in UPLB but moved to Diliman after a year, since she always planned to take up journalism (she didn’t pass the cutoff initially, so she had to stay in LB for a year before she moved). I was very close with her throughout high school, but idk, she’s just never been in a good place mentally so our friendship is very up-down-up-down. I tried to reconnect when we were reunited in college, but she’s found her crowd now so I’m happy for her nonetheless.

There’s also a Macy in my org who worked under my committee for a year before she moved to finance. Quiet girl but was always nice to everyone. She’s also graduating this semester :( maddie madison margo: Went to elementary school with a Margo but she preferred to spell it as Margauxe lmao. We became close for a while because we rode the school bus together and she would lend me the other half of her earbuds so we can listen to Ashley Tisdale’s Headstong and Vanessa Hudgens’ V every day (this was when High School Musical was peak popular). She sort of had a tumultuous family life here until she moved to Hawaii a few years ago. I think she may have moved to California now too. maria: Again, this is like the base name for like half of all Filipina girls. It’s so common that it’s just simply shortened to ‘Ma.’ because everyone knows what it stands for. marina marisa: Kayla’s middle name is Marissa. marquis mary: Macy’s first name is Mary. mathew: I know a bunch of Matthews from both high school and college but they all go by Matt. The one I remember the most is Matthew from another high school friend group who was close with my group. Our group was invited to their Christmas party, and they had a gimmick that each member of their group was gonna be paired with someone from ours, and it was gonna be a costume party. I was paired up with Matthew (but they called him Cho), but I never went to the party so I never got to meet him. I’m sure he’s nice, though. matt: See Mathew. maura mechelle: I have an orgmate named Michelle. She’s clumsy, kinda awkward, but she does it in a very cute way and we all love her because she’s so funny haha. She passed the toughest med school program in the COUNTRY but chose journ in the end. Is the most Chinese Chinese-Filipino girl I know. megan: I know someone whose middle name is Megan but she goes by a different name. melissa: Hahahahaha. I knew a Melissa all right. Freeloader. meredith mersadies micah: I was classmates and friends with a Micah in grade school. My parents and hers were close, so we became close too. She was very smart but I remember her to be deathly afraid of walking on beams when we had to do it in PE. She moved schools in the fifth grade, and she studies in UST now. michael: His full name is Michael, but Mike is a guy I almost went out with in high school. Wasn’t really attracted to him, but he’s like super smart so it was a huge plus point for me lol. I also have an orgmate named Michael but we all call him Elis. He’s unreliable. miranda: If surnames count, Gabie’s best friend’s last name is this haha. molly monica: Some girl who went to my old school but transferred schools early on, like in 2nd or 3rd grade. She was Gabie’s childhood friend though so I still hear from her from time to time. She’s in UP now too, but I don’t know what course she’s taking. morgan nashid natasha: I went to high school with a girl named Natasha, but she goes by Tashie. Huge girl and a beast at softball. Can be a big softie but she has weird mood swings too (and when she’s mad, she’s quite violent) so I just tried not to piss her off while we were still in school together lol. nate: Yeah he’s in the same college as me but I know zilch about him other than he’s supposed to be really good in making films. nathan neema nichole: Annoying younger busmate who graduated high school this year. nick: Nick is the codename I gave to one of my first crushes. Obviously not his legit name so I don’t think this counts. nicholas olivia paige preasia preme prisilla: When I was still applying for AIESEC, Priscilla was assigned as one of my groupmates. I was originally iffy because she didn’t get online to work until like 11 PM, but when I did see her start working, she was a GODDAMN BEAST. Amazing. Did everything I assigned to her. When I met her in person the next day, she spoke very well and was very put-together. My respect for her soared even more after that. I dropped my application soon after for unrelated reasons but it was a pleasure working with her. Last I heard, she’s a councilor-elect in her local college’s student council. rachel: My math teacher in Grade 1 was a Rachel. I don’t remember her at all, except for the fact that when she found our class noisy one day, she completely stopped talking and mimed everything for the rest of the 45-minute period. raheim raven: Creepy, weird dude from my org who’s always looking for a dick to suck. I’m not even trying to insult him, he’s just perpetually thirsty and makes sure the whole world knows it for some reason. ray renee: Sweet, intelligent, hilarious girl from my high school. She’s very makwela, which in English means zany/funny. Her dad is a national basketball coach so it’s no surprise she followed in his footsteps. richard riley rita: Sweet, sweet girl from my org. We all just kinda naturally flock to protect her from bad influences or creepy people because she just has such a sweet soul. She’s my successor VP in my committee. robby: I have an Uncle Rob, but he doesn’t go by Robby. He’s the husband of my aunt (my mom’s cousin). He’s from New Zealand and has a Masters or a PhD in film theory, I don’t actually remember which. ryan: I used to see him a lot at a relative’s house until I was like 8. I’ve never seen him since and don’t actually know how he’s related to us or me lmfao. sabrina samantha: I have a younger cousin named Samantha. Sam was born and raised in New York but visited the Philippines last year and I was primarily in charge of taking care of her. She’s just the cutest darling I’ve seen and has the most perfect accent ahuhuhuhuhuhu. She likes My Little Pony. sara sarica sean: Someone from a lower batch in high school has this name. I never knew her but we follow each other on Twitter loooooool. secilia seliena: My older cousin’s first name is Selina but she goes by her second name, Bianca or Bia for short. We were inseperable as kids but we grew shyer as we grew older :( shannon shauna: Gabie’s orgmate. That’s all I know. She liked my tweets in the past but that’s the most contact we’ve made. shayna shelby sherry seirra skylar spencer steven stevey susan: I have an Aunt Susan. She took care of me my whole childhood; fed me, gave me baths, all that stuff when my mom was too busy with work. She got run over by a hit-and-run motorcycle when I was 9 and she was never the same after. She was crankier and had violent outbursts. tamara: I went to school with a Tamara; her nickname was Tammy. She was a gentle giant; like she was a naturally big girl but was very soft-spoken and SUPER shy. We got close for a while in 4th grade but her paths differed not long after. tashryha taylor tayshaun terrell tiffany: I had a batchmate named Tiffany. She was kinda mean in grade school but got nicer as we got older. I never really got the chance to know her well. tori trevor trisha: Another high school batchmate. All I remember was that she would cheat on tests by changing her wrong answers when the teachers would give our results back so they could correct it for her. Also a big Justin Bieber fan lol. trista tylik vanessa: There was a Vanessa in an older HS batch but she went by Via; she just graduated college yesterday but that’s all I know. There’s also a Vanessa in my sister’s HS batch; she’s half-German and that’s also all I know. victoria: Some girl I had a class with was named Victoria but it’s her middle name; we all called her Kristine. wally will wyatt zach: Another guy from the wrestling group I was in. He was one of the older dudes so I was more scared of him than the rest. zachary: Same answer as Zach. I think this was his whole name. zoey

#survey #surveys #ok this'll probably be the last one because THESE ARE LONG

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 6 years ago

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I too am in a TWW rewatch, because well I enjoy torturing myself by watching competent articulate political types. (That and the great tv) I'm really struggling with Will. He seems like such an creep the further it goes on yet all the female characters seem to like him. I feel like I'm missing something. Do you have any views on him?

I have views on everything!! :D Seriously though, nobody’s ever asked me about Will so what a great chance for an essay. (This got REALLY long, fair warning.)

First, a disclaimer. I’ve never been very active on Twitter, but when I started using it, I mostly followed TWW actors. I occasionally tweeted at them, and I never expected responses, because they were amazing actors from this show I revered, and I was a random fangirl on social media. But two of them did, and were SO nice, and it shocked me so much back in the day to realize how kind and down-to-earth TWW cast is, when I had just seen the series and hadn’t yet found tumblr or watched interviews. It really made an impression on me. Richard Schiff called me ‘very sweet’ and won my heart forever, and Joshua Malina was also totally friendly and nice, so much so that I felt bad for never really liking his character much.

That’s right, I too used to think Will was obnoxious. But once I realized the actor was kinda awesome, I reconsidered his character and gave him a chance. So I’m glad you asked me, as I’ve been on both sides with Will and really love him now.

IMO, Will Bailey came in not just as a replacement for Sam, but also as a character with very different values, who was meant to contrast with our heroes at a crucial time.

Mid-S4, when Will is first introduced, we meet him as a skilled, idealistic writer who’s also got strong organizational and leadership skills. That’s different from any of our faves, since both Sam and Toby are talented wordsmiths, and both are idealistic in their own ways, but they’re also both oriented towards behind-the-scenes work. Toby is very team-focused and loyal but he would like it if everyone would leave him alone and let him do what he’s good at–messaging and writing and trying to nudge the people around him onto the path he thinks is best. When CJ is promoted above him to become COS, he cares even less about the professional snub than Josh does, because it’s not something he wanted.

And while Sam has political aspirations, he never really shows leadership qualities. He’s an excellent second to Toby and even for Josh when needed, but he’s also shown to be the least canny and experienced of them all, and you could argue that being in front of the camera as a candidate for office doesn’t always equal being a leader, if your staff is really running the show for you, which is what Sam’s campaign looks like. Everyone around him coordinates the details and runs things to leave him space to just be The Guy. But Will Bailey is both the guy running the show behind the scenes AND the guy who can get on camera and speak about the politics and ideals of his campaign because his family and professional background made him much more well-rounded. Heck, he’s even in the armed forces on top of all that! He’s portrayed as good at all the things he does.

Now, what’s interesting to me is that Will, as he’s first introduced, is much more confident and idealistic than he is later on. Early Will goes through a serious transformation, from Toby’s new second to an independent operator who lacks the loyalty the others have to a man more than to a party. To some extent, Will’s rebellious, ‘you need me more than I need you’ attitude was there from the moment Sam showed up to his winning campaign, but I think that who Aaron Sorkin (who had worked with the actor a lot before) conceived him as changed after Sorkin left. The showrunners for S5-7 saw an opportunity in his character’s feisty campaign background and turned him into someone with even less personal loyalty and more detached pragmatism.

The fact is, that’s not what Sorkin-era TWW is about. One of the reasons the later seasons are so different is their clear-eyed look at campaign chaos and shifting loyalties and all the small on-the-ground work that we didn’t see with President Bartlet. The earlier seasons are very much about our found family of staffers and the First Family and watching them fight the status quo that constrains them because they won. They always want to do better, and be better, and as much as they acknowledge the reality that you have to win in order to change the world, the show still promises us that it’s the change that actually matters, and it isn’t worth winning if you have to sell your soul to do it.

So if there’s a spectrum along which everyone falls, based on how much they’re willing to ‘go along to get along’ versus making trouble for the sake of their beliefs, Will Bailey is on the exact opposite end from say, Amy Gardner, with our core characters in the middle. I’ve rambled about Amy before, about how her values and priorities are so different from our heroes that she’s an antagonist even as she works with them a lot of the time. Will has the same complicated relationship with the people we’ve been rooting for for years, but for drastically different reasons. Amy is at odds with the West Wing because she’ll do whatever it takes to win the argument and get what she wants, pulling the Democrats to the left whenever possible.

Will, though–especially in S5 and beyond–is at odds with the West Wing even when he’s in the West Wing, because for all his ideals, he has no problem with compromise. He sees nothing wrong with moving to the middle if it helps you win, if it gets you more power. He’s willing to look like an idiot for the White House, he’s willing to go in front of the press core and be beaten up for days if it will help the cause, he doesn’t hesitate to jump to a new campaign that he thinks could win, because winning is how you get the things you want. Probably, being a diplomat’s son has something to do with how accommodating he is, and how able Will is to justify any position, any choice. We’re told he’s very good with words, but he was probably also good at Debate in school, because he can clearly turn any situation around as needed.

Which means that while Will’s instinct is to adjust and Amy’s is to dig her heels in, they share the one quality that makes any TWW character harder to like: they answer only to themselves. Above all else, their ‘constituency of one’ is themselves rather than a specific politician or even the party. Will is a Democrat, but he’ll happily buck the party wisdom in favor of what he thinks will win. And that puts him up against Toby, the President, Josh, etc, at different times because he bases his choices on his own ideals and they’re just different from those of the Bartlet Administration, which spends 8 years fighting to stay progressive and deciding it’s better to go down fighting than do or say things they don’t believe in.

Will is also an interesting foil for Donna after she leaves the White House, and not just because they become coworkers and good friends. Along with the fact that she left Josh and struck out on her own, most of her post-Sorkin conflict with Josh is actually based on WHO she went to work for and how differently she and Josh see that decision/what it says about her and her time working under Josh. By going to work for Russell, Donna shows that she’s less concerned with finding the perfect underdog candidate and more interested in a future that keeps up Democratic progress after President Bartlet leaves office. She is never dedicated to Russell as a man, and over time becomes visibly concerned with his flaws as a man and a candidate. But tellingly, Will isn’t any more personally loyal to Russell than Donna is–and he’s the one running the man’s whole campaign!

It says a lot about Will that for all the moments when Russell shows himself to be less than honorable, Will clearly disagrees with his actions…but he stays. Because Russell was never why he left the Bartlet Administration, or why he took on the new campaign. He took it on because he’s good at winning campaigns, and in Russell he saw someone who could win, and he may have even admired the antagonistic streak that came out once Russell became VP. Russell also had no interest in the ‘cult of Bartlet’ and quickly proved that he wouldn’t even have the level of respect that Hoynes had for Josiah Bartlet as a man. Most of the characters on TWW consider that strike one against Russell and a major character flaw, but Will doesn’t. He respects the President and the office but he didn’t know Jed before the MS reveal, he sees him from more of a removed distance, and his White House job is a JOB to him more than a calling.

Again, some of this was less true during the Sorkin era. The Will Bailey who lost the ability to speak when he was officially offered Sam’s position is much more in awe of the gravity of it all, and it’s hard to see that guy jumping ship to support a moderate candidate that nobody in the White House even likes. But the hints of who he ends up as were there from the beginning, the way he tells off Sam and Toby even before he works with them–he’s always an outsider.

So the outsider factor, that makes it harder to like Will or any TWW character that doesn’t automatically get along with the others. Ainsley Hayes may be ‘the enemy’ as a Republican, but she is amiable and smoothly tries to change minds–and when she isn’t able to, she opts to live and let live. Will is harsher, more combative at times, and I don’t know if it’s just me, but that makes me feel defensive and protective towards the staffers he’s arguing with. After all, I adore them and I barely know him, how dare he?

But of course, his actions and his beliefs make perfect sense from HIS perspective. He’s had a successful career, and being a part of the Administration was never a goal of his, so he doesn’t need to go out of his way to defer to their judgement or stay quiet in the face of their superior wisdom. He was raised to know how to work people and get his way, but he was also raised with incredible privilege and confidence and if he was banished from TWW inner circle it wouldn’t be much of a loss for him. Being an outsider isn’t a problem for him, he spent his life that way as a diplomat’s son, so he never feels the need to conform the way he would have to in order to really become a part of the gang.

Honestly, the only reason he ever gels as a part of the group is because Josh leaves and Toby is fired and they need Will to speak for the White House–finally he’s the ultimate insider, he’s the Bartlet mouthpiece, and the only original senior staffer left is CJ, so once Will and Kate bond they’re the center of the staff that’s left, and he has somebody on his side. (And once he’s off the campaign trail, the show goes back to highlighting his neurotic and geeky side, because he can’t be the ‘win at all costs’ guy anymore and needed a new focus.)

So here’s why I think it can be hard to like Will: he often seems like an entitled, immune-to-criticism, antagonistic opportunist. At his worst he seems to think the means justify the ends, despite his progressive beliefs in general, and that means he’s the guy who could get almost anybody elected–which is great when it’s S3 and Bruno Gianelli is on Bartlet’s side, but less so when Russell seems like not much of an improvement on Hoynes in terms of decency and intelligence and Will has the skills to actually make that guy President.

BUT, (and I can’t guarantee this will help you but I think it’s important because Will does exist as a complex, multidimensional character, and that’s a good thing even though it means he has flaws) at his best he is an adorable dork who wants to make the world better, will take jobs because he believes they need doing even if they’re not his own personal dream, is willing to put himself in danger to save and protect others, and is not just talented but also very knowledgeable about the same kind of geeky Constitutional and political history that Jed Bartlet is.

What I’m trying to say is that Will, as much as anyone on TWW, is the product of his good and bad qualities, and both sides of that equation come from his core traits. His ability to ignore others’ criticism because he’s secure in who he is can be annoying when it’s Toby or Josh trying to talk sense into him, but it also means he survives hazing with friendly ease and stands up for the White House’s positions like a pro. He cares more about winning than fighting the narrowest version of the good fight, but he’s not wrong that winning is better for progressive goals than losing for the sake of ideological purity (hi 2016, I have not missed you). He isn’t loyal to the Bartlet Adminstration above all else–but if everyone were, then the President would be a dictator. Intra-party fighting can weaken a party but it also allows for diversity rather than a cult mentality.

So, here’s what it comes down to. Will isn’t Sam, and that means Toby could never really like or trust him, even if he had become more loyal. Will is a political relativist, which means Josh was never going to agree with his choices, as Josh has always put people first and hates having to compromise. Will is a privileged white guy (played by a Jewish actor, but never canonically established as Jewish) so CJ tolerates him but doesn’t genuinely like him for some time, because that’s just how she rolls. Leo leaves Will under Toby’s purview, and Jed has even less direct interaction with him. He spends a lot of his time battling a group of young female interns we never see again (tbh I can’t stand those scenes and if that’s where you get your creep factor, I get it). Given how disconnected he often is from the central cast, is it any wonder he’s mostly underappreciated and ignored by fans as well?

As for why the female characters on the show don’t seem bothered by him, even when you are, I think there’s a couple of possible explanations. First of all, TWW is a show that doesn’t show us that much–we have to assume that all of these characters, who practically live at work, spend a TON of time together offscreen, just by the nature of their jobs. If most of that time is similar to Will’s comedic scenes, where he’s a giant nerd with bikes in his office whose response to stress is the fetal position, then presumably his coworkers see his flawed human side, in an endearing rather than annoying way.

And secondly, we as viewers don’t have that perspective. We don’t even have the benefit of being these characters living in the early ‘00s, when it was a given that the government would be full of overconfident oblivious men and that’s just what women were expected to handle with poise and sweetness. Clearly things haven’t changed much over the years when it comes to White House staff and a backdrop of misogyny at work, but for a lot of us as viewers the world has progressed.

So Donna gets along with Will as her boss who can be kind of dense or morally ambivalent sometimes, but she’s also spent almost a decade dealing with the most powerful men in America. As an assistant, for most of that time. To her, even Will’s worst moments are barely a blip in the grand scheme of things. And CJ is totally unimpressed by Will’s smarts and talent because she works with the smartest and most talented men she’s ever known, but he serves a purpose and doesn’t get in her way, so she has no problem with him. Kate rose to power through the ranks of military men and has definitely seen, and probably injured, worse guys than Will Bailey. All the women of TWW have spent their careers dealing with men of varying character. I mean, even compared to some of Sam’s comments, Will must seem downright harmless.

TL;DR Can Will Bailey be a patronizing know-it-all who puts his own interests before party and found family? Absolutely. Is he a bad guy? Not at all. He’s just a different kind of good guy than those The West Wing conditioned us to admire and root for.

#an unexpected ode to #will bailey #thanks for this ask it really made me think!!#tww #the west wing #meta #rambling #mine #replies #karma1987uk

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alwaysandindent-blog · 6 years ago

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Oceans

Part One.

If we're caught in a wave, I will carry you over It don't matter where you are, I'll run to your front door

Two years. Five months. Twenty nine days. Twelve hours. Eleven minutes. Fifty four seconds.

Looking out at the Tokyo skyline the night has to offer, Masamune could not stop thinking about her no matter how hard he tried. It’s been almost two and a half years since she’s left for Los Angeles to finally put her career first. Standing behind the floor to ceiling windows that surrounded his sleek and polished office, he pondered over his memory of the last four years. Though some people consider that a short term relationship, Masamune knew she was the one the moment he met her.

Misao was the epitome of an angel. She had beautiful black hair that always flowed past her shoulders, light brown eyes carried a wide range of emotions, a soft button nose and soft pink lips she nervously bit down on whenever she was nervous. Her body consisted of curves in the right places and she was as patient as a saint. It was no wonder Masamune was head over heels for her. He especially loved the looks he’d receive from other men whenever they past them holding hands.

Yet now, there was nothing left between the both of them but Masamune couldn’t blame her. She has always stood by his side no matter how many times he’s failed from starting his business. While he was working on becoming one of the world’s famous and well paid CEO many saw on the headlines today, she was going to school and studying while managing their little studio. He could never resent her for finally deciding to go after her dream, even if it meant having to leave him.

The day Misao told Masamune of her plans to move across the ocean to pursue her dreams of acting, he asked her if she needed any help financially. It was the least he could do to repay her back for standing by his side like a loyal wife all these years. Not to his surprise though, she turned down his offer and insisted she needed to do this by herself for herself.

His only regret is him not telling her how much she meant to him.

When my head goes in different directions You know my heart's never on the move

Entering her makeup room, Misao sighed as she took her seat in front of the mirror while the hair and makeup teams started working on her. Per her agent’s orders, her hair and makeup was to be ready by 5:30 PM. As exhausted as she was, she only had happy thoughts. Although Hollywood rarely offered Asian actors and actresses any roles, Misao told herself she was lucky to score even a recurring minor role. She repeatedly told herself if she does well in this role, there will be more fruition to come in the future, her sacrifices were not for nothing.

As Misao stared at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but think about Masamune. How was he doing? Was he eating well? Does he remember to double check whether the car doors are locked? She couldn’t bear knowing negligence would cause him another break in, having to deal with it alone. She could feel her heart immediately beating faster by the millisecond at the thought of their past car break in.

But there was no reason for Misao to worry anymore. He was no longer her’s, she was no longer his. She couldn’t still be controlling every aspect of his life, whether it’s the color of his tie for the day or a potential women to walk side by side with. Afterall, Misao was the one who initiated their fall out. All so she could selfishly focus on her acting career over in Los Angeles, one of the world’s most smug places to live asides from New York City.

A tear threatens to escape from their ducts as she recalls the living in Los Angeles for the past six months alone. Everything and everyone was fake. She learned that the hard way. When she was offered a small role in a sitcom, one of the girls playing the lead supporting role was extra friendly to her when they acted a scene together. Off camera, Misao was on her way to the break room when she heard the very same girl making jokes about her slanty, oriental eyes.

There were many times Misao questioned if she was on the right path of her life, if this was all worth it. She’s lost her family as well as many friends due to her career aspirations, mainly because they told her she couldn’t do it; she could never be the main face of a big movie or TV show. The only real supporter in her life was Masamune but even he was removed from her life as well, of course, at her own hands.

But Misao managed to find the light at the end of the tunnel. There was finally a screenplay and director in Hollywood who saw through her talents and asked her personally to play the role of a leading lady. To her surprise, she wouldn’t need to change who she was for the role. Because the role was for an independent, strong, Asian woman who has to break through the ways of Asian conformity. To no contest, Misao gladly accepted the role. Since the film has been released, it’s topped the box office records on opening night and a week into opening.

Through the long journey, Misao finally has success coming her way. With a touch on the lips, Misao thanked the teams before heading over to wardrobe.

And in the dark times, you don't have to question If I'm a hundred with you

Unsurprising to him, Masamune has been thinking about Misao for the past two hours ever since he stepped into work which was well before his employees started their day. Looking at down at his sheen Omega Seamaster, it is currently 1PM over in Los Angeles right now. What he wouldn’t give to be sleeping in his bed to avoid reality?

But who was he kidding? Misao occupied his thoughtless mind during the day and came to haunt him at night. He was forced to have vivid dreams of what they had and what they could be if she was still laying next to him. At this point, he wasn’t sure if reality or fiction would be the better option. As painful as it was forcing all thoughts of Misao out of his mind, it had to be done if he wanted to acquire Shiho Bank Ltd. as quick as possible.

He didn’t realize the time until he heard a knock on his door. “Come in.” He ordered without raising his eye to meet the owner of the disturbance, knowing well it was his second in command, Ieyasu Tokugawa.

Known for his strong opinions, Ieyasu was full of wisdom and knowledge. Once a chemical engineer with a Ph. D., he felt unfulfilled at his job creating reusable plastics that he switched careers to becoming the vice president of Iketeru Industries right beside Masamune with an MBA in finance. Being composed was in his nature and he chose his words carefully before making them known. Through the last six years of working together, Masamune and Ieyasu formed a meaningful friendship. He was able to confide in his VP off the record about personal issues without judgment being returned.

Masamune also liked that Ieyasu knew his place. Bowing to the CEO before him, Ieyasu then picks up his head. “I have updates on Project Ripple.” His attention was now divided, but he didn’t pick his eye off the desk. “Stardust is about to premiere on the red carpet.”

Hearing those words, Masamune quickly picked up the remote and turned the TV on, the channel never switched. It was an order he had for everyone who had access to his room to never, ever change the channel. Everyone thought he was nuts but he only did things within reason.

And there she was, appearing like the goddess he remembered her to be. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in big waves and the smoky makeup brought out her light brown eyes. The dress she was wearing was beautiful on her. Strapless navy blue bodice with a gathered skirt transitioning from navy blue to white, she owned the dress as the skirt train slowly flowed behind hair while her steps graced the red carpet.

Masamune couldn’t have been more proud of her. He’s watched the movie so many times and even though it pained him, he couldn’t stop falling in love with her over and over again. Misao, a strong and independent woman, was meant to take the lead actress’ role. With each viewing, he only longed to be in her life, and her in his once more.

A smile escapes his lips as he watched many other celebrities acknowledging her from the sidelines, welcoming her with hugs and air kisses. Afterall, she was the ‘it’ actress at the very moment. He couldn’t have been more proud, wishing he could have yelled at Ieyasu that that was his girlfriend on the screen and strutting her stuff across the red carpet. Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms across his chest, enjoying the very sight of the camera following her everywhere she went.

And then, there was him. Masamune’s one eye glared at the TV as he recognized the male actor who co-starred with Misao in the movie. Vinny Mann Jr., another hot celebrity in town. He clenched his jaw seeing Vinny’s arm around her waist, a little too low for comfort. His black button down shirt was open on the chest area and a pair of coral colored fitted slacks was an interesting choice. But Masamune concluded one thing, the dude’s ego was inflated as hell.

Getting up abruptly, Masamune grabbed his long peacoat, swinging it over his broad shoulders and letting them hang like a mannequin on a store display. Just before he was about to exit his office, he looked back at his VP and friend. “I trust you know what to do from here.” Masamune said with a grin only to receive a short nod in return. “Good luck my friend.” Opening the door, he finally leaves the office.

Just as Ieyasu was about to turn and face the windows, Masamune popped in one more time, “get me a ticket to that after party.”

But I've found my way to velvet sands I'll crash right into you

After passing her award for best actress, Misao’s team helped her switch out of her regal gown into a soft pale blue sweetheart dress that stopped on her thighs. Her team also ensured her long, luscious locks were kept in a messy bun, strays of hair flowing elegantly here and there. In no time, she arrived at the exclusive after party the director of her movie invited her to.

Her ride pulled up to another red carpet that led into the venue where dozens of paparazzis were already snapping away. When she finally opened the door, the shutter noises were amplified along with the shouting matches of the paparazzis trying get her to spill any industry secrets possible. Jokes on them, she wasn’t in on any gossip floating around, she thought to herself. Smiling sweetly for the cameras, she waited until her plus one to step out from the other side of the car and walk over to her.

“Misao! Over here!” One paparazzi called out. “Who’s your date tonight?”

Another one joined in, “is she your lover?”

Misao and her best friend looked at each other in the same time before bursting with laughter. “Yes, this is my best friend Riley and I love her to death.” She responded before throwing an arm around Riley for a side hug. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to party it up tonight.” Linking arms, the two best friends walked the very long red carpet together, finally away from the thundering shutter noises.

When the doormen opened the giant entrance doors, Misao and Riley gasped in surprise. The venue itself was actually someone’s home. A large chandelier dangled in the foyer, leaving a significant amount of room between people and the the chandelier itself. Two grand staircases were at either sides of the foyer. Deeper into the mansion, they passed the huge open kitchen where foods and drinks were open for taking. Passed that was a beautiful living room with black Italian leather couches facing a fake fireplace with a flat screen TV so large Misao couldn’t comprehend how big it was.

It wasn’t long before Gerry Nu, the director of their award winning best picture film, came over and started introducing them to all the celebrities in the house. Misao treated this advantageous networking event as if it were any other social event with the press. She could tell Riley was enjoying the time of her life, meeting some of her celebrity crushes in the meantime. She managed to help her best friend get in contact with the Prince of Bellevue.

After making her rounds, Misao guided them to the couches in the living room they saw earlier. Riley took two champagne glasses and handed one to her famous best friend. “So this is what I get to experience as the best friend of Misao.”

“Famous Misao.” She added, laughing at the correction with Riley. “Cheers to our first award show after party!”

“Cheers!” Clinking their glasses, they immediately sip their bubbly. “So how have you been adjusting to all of this? You’re practically an overnight success!” Riley asked.

Misao let out a long sigh, taking a seat on one of the couches where her best friend immediately took the cue. “Honestly, it’s everything I hoped for but at the same time, it’s not. This whole, thing,” she gestured her free arm around herself, “it’s a double edged sword.”

Crossing her legs, Riley placed a hand on Misao’s knee, giving her a soft smile. “Is it because of Masamune?”

The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood at the mention of that name. Misao hated hearing it yet she was always reminded of their most happiest memories. She never dared to mention his name, afraid that even whispering it meant breaking down the shield she’s forged during the past two years away from Masamune.

But acknowledgement wasn’t needed on Misao’s part. Even for someone who literally just won an award for adopting other’s emotions and stories, the distraught on her face was clear as night and day. Riley couldn’t help but feel guilty, being the other party who pushed Misao to chase after her dreams. At that time, after losing her love, she convinced her best friend and herself that Masamune’s business was booming and that she should take the opportunity and work on her own career seriously. Although she wasn’t lying, Riley never imagined seeing her best friend facing so much inner turmoil.

“I’m sorry.” Riley apologized with a soft smile.

Misao returned the gesture before something, or rather someone caught her attention. Although many others were dress in a suit tonight, this person was still standing in the kitchen, looking around frantically for someone. His head snapped back and forth before finding what he was looking for, her. Her eyes widened and her jaws dropped, it couldn’t be.

The room suddenly went blurry and quiet except for his figure storming over with those deafening steps he took. His strides were filled with authority, the black suit fitting his figure so perfectly. His light brown hair was styled effortlessly. His eyes, never once leaving her’s, were filled with lust and determination.

“Ma-” Misao only managed to utter before her plump pink lips were converged with sweet warm ones. Immediately, warmth spread all over her body, breaking the ice around her heart. His hands cupped her cheeks warmly and protectively, assuring her she no longer needs to be afraid. She had longed for warmth and familiarity for so long she didn’t dare to disobey his command. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to enjoy the moment, kissing back more fervently.

He picked up her body language easily, never forgetting his mother tongue. His hands shifted now, one behind the nape of her neck and the other on her lower back, pulling her closer while securing her into the warmth of his arms. He didn’t care how crazy he looked or acted in front of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the moment. All he cared about was how much he’s missed her all this time and how he planned to make it up to her.

There were no words that exists to describe this moment, it was a dream come true. Even Masamune was surprised at himself managing to fly across the ocean within half the duration and crash this exclusive party. Those five hours in the air still felt like a lifetime as he contemplated on what he would say to his love after all this time. He rehearsed it many times to himself in his mind yet his actions spoke louder than those words.

He is still in a daze now that Misao was finally in his arms again and he was actually kissing her. The loneliness and dark clouds that once put him in a stump the past two and a half years were finally lifted and he could feel life once again. He couldn’t imagine how she must have felt moving to a new country and city all alone with Riley being her only true friend. He knew this time he couldn’t let her revoke that pain ever again.

As difficult as it was, Masamune broke the kiss apart, his eyes searching for hers. When he was able to find her soul through those brown windows, he noticed the room grew quiet. “I’m so sorry love, I never meant to hurt you.” He stated, finally finding his voice. “Through all the years you’ve stood by my side and watched my empire grow with me, I never once looked to my side for you. I deserve all the loneliness and heartache during our time apart since I held you back from chasing your dreams. I should’ve stood right by your side through all your failures and successes.” He let out grin, a hand wiping away a tear trailing down her cheek as she beamed a smile at him. “But you had no failures, I did. I let you down. But I never stopped loving you lass and I never will, not even after death do us apart.”

Picking out the red velvet box from his slacks, Masamune got down on one knee while opening the box to reveal a shiny 2 carat diamond ring. The waterworks struck Misao. “Misao, you must know you and only you hold my heart. You have only ever loved me unconditionally and I cannot wait to return the gesture. Then again, it’s so easy when you are the greatest love of my life. This is my vow to you.” He pauses, gesturing the ring to her. “Misao, will you do me the honor of making me the happiest man alive?”

Wiping her tear stained cheeks, Misao was finally aware of all the eyes watching the interaction between the two of them with their phones out. She must’ve looked so ugly crying the entire time. She couldn’t lie, her mind suddenly turned to mush and blanked out. After two and a half years, the love of her life enters the scenes again and confesses he hasn’t stopped loving her. How was any normal person react to that?

“I’ve never stopped loving you either, Mas.” She called him endearingly. “Mas, I never once thought of you as a hindrance or burden on my career. I chose to support you and your career first because let’s be honest, how many Asian actors and actresses ever actually become famous? I’m so touched you’re in front of me right now. And I’d love to make you the happiest man in the world because that would make me the luckiest gal in the world.”

An eruption of cheers fill the silence of the house as Masamune quickly but carefully place the ring on Misao’s fourth finger and picked her up and swung her around. After a few rounds, he places her back down before planting another long and deep kiss. Pulling apart, he says to her breathlessly, “let’s get out of here love.”

Without waiting for an answer, Masamune pulled Misao with him as the path through the house to the front door cleared for them. They rushed past the red carpet where paparazzis were still standing and new flashes emerged quickly. As the paparazzis shouted questions there way, the newly engaged couple gave them no mind before quickly hurrying into his limo.

#fanfiction #ikemen sengoku #fictional characters #lyrics inspired #oneshot #first post #writers #modern ikemen sengoku #ocean #r rated

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