#its only because keegan can spot so well

[r0ttenb0gb0dy]

@simonrriley im tagging you in this bc its pure jeegan energy and i kind of went off in the tags and i know you'll be here for it anyways HDJDKSKSKSKS

collection of posts for a very specific dynamic

[miniwheat77]

Dove. (Keegan x Virgin!Reader.)

!nsfw, smut, unprotected p in v sex, virginity loss, oral sex (f receiving), virgin!reader, violence, blood, injuries, proceed with caution. No minors!

Keegan does not feel like his life is that eventful.

He does the same thing day in and day out it seems, until a group of new recruits happened to join the base he was on. He turned into a big brother pretty much. Guiding them and teaching them everything there was to know about pretty much anything on base. Keegan was pretty smart, he knew his way around a lot of things. Guns, body armor, humvee’s, military training. But one recruit really stuck out to him, because while the others didn’t know too much. She did.

When it came down to it and he was teaching, sometimes she would make comments about it. Clearly knowing her way around a few things and that’s when he took to her.

You.

You might have been new, but you knew a lot. You absorbed a lot of the information you were taught and you liked that Keegan was so able to teach, and more or less willing to. It didn’t take long for you and Keegan to start getting along, the kicker was seeing you out on the field. The way you moved, the way you never missed a shot. Your ability to sense when something didn’t feel right. Your fight to not move forward if something didn’t feel right. It helped create a friendship between you and Keegan. Not only did you get along well on the field, but you had more in common than you originally thought.

This resulted in the two of you getting sent out on missions with each other.

Neither of you had any feelings for each other. It was platonic and you had even opened up to each other about other relationships and problems you’d had. When Keegan found out you were a virgin, he made sure to tell you to keep it to yourself. That guys always had a thing about girls being virgins. He worried about you, worried about you getting taken advantage of especially.

Neither of you had any feelings for each other. Or so you thought.

Keegan has been scared. He’s been terrified before. He’s spent a lot of his adult life in the military, of course he’s had his fair share of scares. But there’s nothing he’s been through that compares to you lunging in front of him and taking a bullet to the stomach for him.

It happens in just a split second and you’re on the ground before he realizes what’s happening, raising his gun to eliminate the threat before zeroing in on you. He’s got tunnel vision.

Everything sounds muffled and he doesn’t know what’s going on around him, he sees blood. A lot of it.

It’s like an explosion went off and all he can hear is ringing and muffled sounds. He doesn’t remember much.

The most he remembers is covering your wound and lifting you up, carrying you to Medivac and praying to god to save you because he can’t live without you. The pilot glances back a couple of times, seeing the way Keegan rocks you back and forth, chanting out pleas and prayers.

On base, he sits outside the infirmary. He’s still covered in your blood but refuses to move from his spot. He’s not going anywhere until he sees you. Until he can touch your skin and still feel its warmth. Until your bright eyes are staring back into his and there’s a smile on your face.

His brain gets the best of him. It travels to dark places unknown to others, unknown to him until now. He thinks about your eyes looking back at him, like marbles. Empty, the life drained out of them. He thinks of your cold, pale skin. Lifeless as you look back at him. Your personality drained from your body until you’re gone, and all that’s left is flesh and skin.

Keegan has never had these thoughts. He’s never talked to god like this before.

“Keegan?” He looks up, hearing his name. “She’s going to be fine. Would you like to see her?” The medic asks. He nods his head, eagerly. Following her inside. He’s scared. If you look like you do in his brain, he’s going to fall apart.

He approaches slow, but can see you. Your skin is paler from your blood loss. But the color is still there. Your chest moves up and down with each breath you take, and that’s when Keegan breaks down. He rushes out of the infirmary, tears streaming down his face. He can’t take this. The medic watches him disappear, wiping his eyes. He’s trying not to make it obvious that he’s crying. But she can tell.

When you wake up later, she’s getting ready to change your bandages.

“Nice to see you awake, Y/N.” She smiles. Your lips raise just slightly. You’re weak and tired. “I’m still here.” You mumble. Your voice is hoarse and cracks when you talk. “Yeah. I think despite YOU being the one shot, you owe Keegan a huge apology.” She chuckles. You look confused. “Poor guy is just torn to pieces over this. I knew you’d be fine from the moment I saw your wound but he just sat outside. I think he’s still out there.” She laughs. You look even more confused than before. Thinking to yourself, must be survivors guilt. He didn’t want you to die since you took the bullet for him?

“You’re pretty much all patched up. There’s not much more we can do for you. You had an exit wound and you’ve been out for a while.” She laughs. “Want me to get Keegan?” She asks. “Uh.. if he’s out there. If not I’ll be alright I think.” You mumble, throwing your legs over the side of the cot. It feels foreign to move, it hurts. She makes her way over to the door, opening it up. He perks up when she comes out. “You mind helping?” She asks. He nods his head. Thinking maybe she just couldn’t get the cap off of something again. But he’s surprised when he steps inside and you’re looking back at him. He feels tears gather at his waterline.

Be tough Keegan.

“Hey.” He smiles. You can’t see it because of his mask, but the moment the medic steps out to give you two some time, he’s tugging it off. And he’s just pure Keegan.

Sharp jawline, pretty eyes. He’s a lot more handsome than you thought he’d be. He sees the way your breath hitches in your throat. Obviously at seeing him without his mask. This is raw Keegan, he can only thank god you can’t read his soul. Or his thoughts. He’s worried. He can’t love you. Not like this anyways.

“Not gonna lie, you scared the hell out of me.” His lips just barely tug up into a smile. Like he wants you to think he’s joking but clearly isn’t. You give him a lazy smile in return and he has to look away. Even with a scary low amount of blood in your body. Your pale skin, your dull eyes. Your hair that hasn’t been brushed or washed for a few days. He still thinks you’re stunning.

He takes a deep breath. “Don’t look at me like that.” He chuckles. “Like what?”

“Like this means nothing to you.” He scoffs, a smile on his face. “This means everything to me.” You give him another smile. The same as the one before. This one more mischievous than the last. “Yeah, why’s that?”

“Cause. It could be you here. But it’s not.”

“I think I’d prefer me there over you, you psychopath.” He rolls his eyes. “I couldn’t just stand there and watch you get shot. You know that.” You look up at him. “I know.. but. You didn’t have to take a bullet for me.”

“I think maybe I did.”

He pauses. Crossing his arms. “What?”

“Cause than you’d know how much you mean to me.”

As those words leave your lips, he feels the tears again.

What the fuck is with the goddamn tears over you? You’re just a girl!

He looks down. His nose starts to flush crimson. Something that has always dammed Keegan is the way his nose turns red when he’s getting upset.

“Don’t be a sap, there’s plenty of other ways you could’ve proven that to me.” He laughs, sitting next to you on the bed. “She told me how scared you were.” You turn to look him in the eyes again. “I figured she would.” He leans back, laying back across the cot. “What does this mean Keegan?”

He sighs. “You know, being with you is what I imagine heaven is like.” He swallows hard. You’re quiet. Letting him talk. “But I think this job is hell and it will be a battle to keep you around when everytime we’re off this base we’re getting shot at and blown up.”

“Keegan.” You sigh. Grasping his hand. “I don’t think they’re going to let me stay after a wound like this.. you know?” You mumble. He nods. “They’re probably going to discharge me, it’s going to take more than a couple days healing for something like this. And.. I know that your contract is about to be up.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that.. if what you say is true. And being with me is Heaven.” You pause, looking down. “Then maybe this is your chance to see what heaven is really supposed to be like.”

You look up at him. Eyes piercing into his. He looks taken off guard. He’s shocked. Is this your admission? To tell him you feel the same as him?

Could Keegan really leave the military to be with you?

“They’re probably going to send me home within the next couple of days.” You mumble. “Think about it.” You smile. He nods his head.

So that’s what he does. He finds out they’re sending you back home within the week and he has no choice but to go on a couple missions. He realizes that without you around, they’re no longer meaningful. They no longer make him feel like the good guy, like the hero he’d always dreamt of being. The entire time, he just misses you.

Keegan a huge choice to make.

—

He’s standing outside your door. It’s been a few days since he last saw you and the longer you go without seeing him, the more it seems to hurt. It seems as if he’s already made up his mind. You know that it’s not fair for you to ask him to give up his career. Something he’d spent so much time working on. He worked so hard to be where he is now. You’d understand why he’d let you go. That doesn’t mean it’d hurt any less.

But he knocks at your door and when you open it, he mumbles a ‘fuck it’ under his breath and before you have time to react, his lips are on yours. He’s pushing you back, kicking your door closed behind him. He doesn’t even bother to lock it. He keeps his lips on yours and he kisses you like you’ll disintegrate in his arms right there. He pushes you back onto your bed and doesn’t say a word. Not a single word as he lowers himself to kneel by the edge of the bed, pulling you closer by your thighs and undressing you.

You don’t make a move to stop him, so he keeps going. When he sees you for the first time. Without any bottoms on and your shirt pushed up over your breasts. He can see the anxiety in your eyes.

He wraps his arms around your thighs and holds tight, pinning your hips to the bed. He needs you still. “You trust me?” He looks up at you. His eyes piercing right through you. You skeptically nod your head, swallowing hard. As he starts to lean in, you tilt your head back and clutch the sheets. Nerves settling into your lower stomach.

When you feel him tongue your clit, you tense up. A gasp leaving your lips. The first time anyone has ever touched you like this.

You take in a sharp breath and he nudges your clit with his nose, gliding his tongue up your opening. You suck in another jagged breath, panting almost. “Keegan-“

“Relax. If you don’t relax you’re going to overwhelm yourself, dove.” He mumbles, adjusting the way he’s sitting, he starts in more intense than before. Flicking his tongue over your clit and circling it, keeping the pressure on you. “Here.” He reaches up his hands, letting go of your thighs. He’ll just have to let you close your thighs around his head. It doesn’t sound so bad to him. He entwines his fingers in yours and gives you something to squeeze as he works you up. “Deep breaths baby. Breathe in and breathe out. Go on.” When your chest rises and falls with jagged breaths, he knows he’s good to keep going.

He lowers his face back into you, nose nudging your clit as he swipes his tongue up your entrance, sucking against your clit and hearing you desperately try to contain your cries. Only when you’re on the verge of tears does he let up just a little bit. You’re squirming hard underneath him, trying to wiggle away from his assault but he’s not letting you. “Taste so fucking good baby.” He sounds completely pussy-drunk. Eyes watery, face flushed red. He’s breathing hard, about to go feral over your body. He devours you, relishing in the taste of you. The sweet bitterness. He laps at your clit and entrance until you’re crying, begging him not to stop, that you’re so close.

You imagine he’ll pull away but instead, he pushes a finger past your folds. A gasp leaves your lips as it penetrates you, the first thing to surpass the expanse of your untouched hole. You shake when you cum, the foreign feeling of his finger inside of you pushes you over the edge. A tinge of pleasure you hadn’t ever felt before. You soak his finger, the squelch of your pussy gets louder the faster he pumps the finger. His own moans of pleasure from the sweet taste of you, he can barely contain. You’re flinching away from his touch, pushing him back and squirming out of his grasp. Looking at him like he’d just reached inside of you and touched your soul. Your doe eyes are wide as you look upon him, still covering yourself as an attempt at modesty. He can’t help but laugh at how pure you are. Despite where he’d just had his tongue. “You alright dove? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He gives a cocky grin, knowing what he’s just done to you. Knowing that there’s more to come.

You swallow hard. Nodding your head. But you’re far from alright. What he’d just given you, the most intense pleasure you’d ever felt. You’re not sure if you’ll ever be able to replicate it. Your innocent mind doesn’t know, not yet.

“Come here sweetheart.” He grasps your ankle again, yanking you down to the middle of the bed. “How do you feel?” He asks. You chew on your lip nervously. “Good.” You breathe. You think this is where you’ll do it. You know not much about sex, but enough to know this is where you’d want it most. With someone like Keegan who has shown you nothing but support and kindness. “Do you want me to stop?” He asks. You shake your head. Whatever that was, you want to feel it again. And again. Until your soul is rubbed raw, until nothing but numbness and pleasure remain. “I think I’m ready now.” You look up at him. “Are you sure?” You nod your head. Moving your hips up to the edge of the bed where he stands. He chews nervously on his lip, his mind races. You can’t take this back, but you know this already. He’s gotten every answer out of you that he’s going to get. Until he’s buried inside of you.

He reaches for his cargo pants. Fingers struggling with the buttons, he doesn’t know what’s gotten into him.

Or maybe he does.

Because Keegan has been with a few women. But none of them had ever been like you.

You’re a different kind of girl. One who carries no judgement when it comes to him. One who despite having a bad day, will always greet him with a smile. The one who will jump in front of him and take a literal bullet for him. Maybe that’s why he struggles. Maybe it’s why he’s so nervous. You’re not a bitter high school girlfriend, or some random girl he met at a bar. You’re Y/N. And you mean so much more to him than he ever thought you would. His heart pounds in his chest as he lowers the waistband of his now unzipped jeans. Revealing himself to you, seeing the way your eyes widen slightly at the size of him. Wondering how your body will take him. He reassures you, kissing along your chest and collarbone. You’re ready for him.

He glides the tip of his cock over your entrance. Still wet with your orgasm and his saliva. You stare up into his eyes as he braces himself, pushing past the barrier between you and him. You cry out again, as he penetrates you once more. This time being more important, more meaningful than before. This isn’t just his hand, this is him. This is pure, raw, unfiltered Keegan. And he’s just taken your virginity.

He clamps a hand over your mouth in an attempt to conceal your cries. Your eyes are shut and you have one small tear gather at your tear duct. He kisses it away, giving you more than enough time to adjust to him. When he notices the bit of blood, he can’t imagine what you’ve just gone through. He knows the first time isn’t always the most pleasant experience for women, but he knows he’ll take his time with you and make it as painless as possible. He kisses you as he starts to draw his hips back, making an attempt at distracting you. He moves slow, back and forth.

Back and forth.

He can feel you start to relax. You’re breathing easier and your legs aren’t as tense. You’re starting to feel the pleasure from him. It’s when you know you’re in trouble. You know this is going to be far more intense than what he’s just done to you. He starts to pick up the pace when he knows you’re ready for it. His thrusts are deep and quick, tip nudging right into your sweet spot. He knows right where to make you fall apart beneath him. You lift your head up for a second, looking down between the both of you. Seeing him enter you, it’s mesmerizing. Your body is taking so much, you’ve pushed yourself so far tonight. You don’t regret it. You don’t think you ever will.

Your glossy eyes look up at him, admiring him. You don’t get to see him without his mask on very often. And you’ve never been this close to him with it off. His hair is messy. Flat in some spots because he’s sweaty. He’s got beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He’s worked himself up. You admire him as he works his hips into yours. His jawline, the stubble that lines his face. His stone gray eyes with tinges of blue in them. You think about earlier, when they’re were stone cold. Darker than you’d ever seen them. It’s how they got when he was angry. You remember what they look like full of fear too. Watery and bright blue like a lagoon. It’s comical that someone so battle hardened could be so beautiful at the same time. Everything about Keegan was stunning and pure.

He lowers his thumb to your clit and that’s what pulls you out of the trance you’re in.

You hiccup from the pleasure, holding back your cries. “You’re so beautiful like this.” He gushes. Shaking his head in disbelief that someone like you could like someone as damaged and broken as him.

Your thighs start to shake. You’re getting close and he can tell. His cock is wet from you, your arousal gathering at the base of his cock. Letting him know how good you’re feeling. It’s what he wants, what he’s dreamt of. “You can cum. Give yourself to me, dove.” Your eyebrows furrow together. The warmth spreads through your abdomen. There’s a knot in your lower stomach, each thrust he takes unravels it further and further. “Keegan?” You mewl.

“Yeah dove?”

“I love you.” You cry. Your orgasm hits you like a freight train. In the midst of your high, you wrap your legs around Keegan’s waist. His eyes widen, because he’s about to cum too. He tries to push them away, but it’s no use.

He trembles when he cums, whining out as he draws his hips away from yours, burying himself into you one last time. He collapses on top of you, head resting on your chest. He’s sweaty and hot. But you wouldn’t trade Keegan for anything.

It takes a few minutes for the both of you to come down from your highs. His mind is racing from what you had said to him. How it had sent him right into the most intense orgasm he’s ever felt. He swallows hard, lifting himself away from you. “Y/N?” He looks at you, you draw your eyes away from wherever they were before to look at him, pulling yourself out of your daydream. When he knows he’s got your full attention, he follows through with it.

“I love you too.” You smile up at him. It’s a lazy smile and he knows you’re exhausted.

“Let’s get some sleep. We can talk in the morning, dove.” He breathes. Pulling the metal line on the lamp and shutting it off.

You know you won’t sleep good. Not after this. But it gives your mind time to settle.

As Keegan lies there in the dark. No longer alone but your warmth next to him. He realizes he’s got his mind made up.

[faust-the-enjoyer]

Drunk dbf!keegan who’s careless with his flirting, passing you a beer even though your father would probably dissaprove, getting all touchy nd everything

Drunk dbf!Keegan!

Warnings: gen!reader, reader is 21+, legal age gap, mentions of alcohol and getting drunk, flirting, pre-established consent, mentions of guilt and disappointment, cursing, slight nsfw implication, reader gets called "kid" a couple of times, pet names.

Word count: 1,080 words.

A/n: made this gender neutral because there no gender specification in your request, hope you like it! Sorry it took a while.

You came over his house to watch some football with him, specifically due to his consistent rants about it, as they intrigued you. It started innocently enough, you two sitting on the couch, a couple of sodas and some popcorn on the table, and you asking him questions about the game. After two hours, the tv is on a different channel, and Keegan started drinking, first it was whisky, now it's beer. He passed you a cup after he finished his own, and you kept looking at it, eyes undeciding, your father would be disappointed in you, even though you're old enough to drink; your family always had negative views on alcohol. "What's wrong, kid?", his says slowly, concern evident in his tone, although drunk, he was well aware of the frown on your face and the sad look in your eyes. "I...you know he wouldn't like me drinking, Keegan..." you tell him, he knew your father well, they've been friends for years now, and he knows how your father despises alcohol and its effects on people. "You don't have to if you don't want to, sweetheart.", you look at him, his face is slightly red, blue eyes kind and half-closed, smile content. "Come 'ere," he slurs, patting his lap, signalling you to come sit on it, it's not the first time you sat in his lap, nor the first time you've been touched by him like that, though it never went further. You look at your beer, pint glass full of that rich yellow drink, you reach out your hand and take the glass cup and drink, drinking until half of the drink is gone from the cup. "That's it!" he cheers excitedly, he knows you've only drunken a couple of times before, only behind your father's back, calling Keegan at eleven in the evening to come pick you up from some bar you went to.

You get up from your spot on the couch to settle on his lap, putting your full wight on him, he doesn’t care, he can handle it, he's a soldier after all. "There we go..." he says, his hand wrapping around your stomach to hold you as you lay your back on his sweaty chest, his other hand resting on your thigh, "Comfortable, baby?", ""Baby"?" you laugh, it was unlike him, really, he never dared to be like this towards you, sure, he'd sit you in his lap, but blatantly flirt with you? Never. He'd compliment you here and there as well, but never went too far. "Yeah, "Baby", or do you want me to call you something else, hm?" he gives you a relaxed, hearty laugh, so contagious that you laugh with him. You take the cup again, drinking all of the beer this time, you can practically feel Keegan's smile on your neck now. "You've always been so good, so fucking beautiful, always doing what you’re told..." "You like that, huh?" you both chuckle, "Hey, it's not every day I get this hammered, ok kid? Just let me have this..." he says, his lips on your neck now, kissing it gently. "Fine, but you're the one giving an explanation to my dad tomorrow if he asks, alright?" you tell him, tone half-serious. "Alright alright, Jesus kid, you act just like your father.", You try to conceal your smile as you slap the hand on your thigh, feeling him squeeze your flesh in return. “Wanna watch something else on tv?” he asks, his words now slurring more than before, “Yeah, sure.”, you grab the remote and flip through the channels, feeling his hand gently rub your thigh, and the thumb of his other hand drawing circles on your stomach.

You decide on turning the tv off, not finding anything interesting at all. As you turn it off, you hear a disappointed grumble come from behind you and you giggle. It was obvious that he was getting a little drowsy, his head is resting on your shoulder, and his hands loosely on your abdomen. “Keegan, want me to take you to your bed?” you asked quietly, “Mhm, do…whatever you think is…right, sweetheart…”. You sigh, getting up from his lap and going to the kitchen, grabbing two cups, and filling both up with water from the sink’s faucet you drink yours first in the kitchen, then put the cup in the sink. Coming back to the living room, you see Keegan asleep on the couch, “Keegan, here.” You tell him as you help him sit up sleepily, handing him his cup of water to drink. He drinks the whole cup, a bit of water running to his chin from the side of his mouth, he’s really fucked now, and he’ll be even more fucked in the morning. “C’mon Keegan, we gotta get ya to bed now, help me out here.”, you throw his arm over your shoulder, slowly helping him get up from the couch as you walk towards his bedroom. You stumble with his drunk body while walking to his room, opening the door quickly and walking towards the bed, helping lay him on his side. His hand reaches out for your face, gently caressing your cheek, “Always…so good to me…”, he says while faintly smiling. You smile back at him as you tuck him into bed, getting up to turn the lights off and getting back to his side on the bed. “He’d be disgusted with him…” you thought to yourself, if your father found out that his best friend had been touching you like that, having you sit on his lap and kissing your neck, getting drunk around you and giving you a drink as well, you’d get an earful, while Keegan will definitely be treated worse. However, you are an adult, a working adult who can manage their own business and relationships, whatever the morning of tomorrow brings you, you won’t be alone to face it. You look at Keegan’s sleeping face, so peaceful, it’s not as if this is the same man that cursed at the tv during the game hours before. You take your shoes off and walk to the other side of the bed, slowly lowering yourself on the soft mattress as you heard Keegan’s soft snores. You turn towards him, “Goodnight.” You whisper to him, kissing his forehead and laying your head on your pillow, closing your eyes, you’d put your head on his chest, but it’d be too hot for that, you’d sweat so much.

-(divider by vase-of-lilies)!

[figure-skating-watch-party]

Worlds, Olympics and Nebelhorn spots

I’ve just thought that based on the results of 2021 Worlds it would be interesting to do a little compilation and comparison of spots earned for 2022 Worlds, 2022 Olympics and the Nebelhorn situation. (I hope all the numbers are right...)

So first, let’s do the 2022 Worlds spots. I have a comparison here of countries that have more than one spot in a given discipline for 2021 Worlds (that was based on 2019 Worlds results) and how it changed for the next year thanks to these Worlds. 

In ladies, the situation is pretty straight-forward I’d say. Thanks to Bradie Tennell and especially Karen Chen USA got the third spot which is so important because Karen, Bradie, Alysa, Mariah, Amber all deserve a chance! Japanese and Russian ladies, as expected, kept the three spots. The same goes to the two South Korean spots. Thanks to great results of Loena Hendrickx and Olga Mikutina, Belgium and Austria can have two participants in ladies next year, though it’s a question if they’ll be able to get the TES minimum to really participate. The biggest loss “on paper” goes to Kazakhstan, Elizabet Tursynbaeva qualified three spots for these Worlds but she was unable to participate and no other Kazakhstan lady got the TES to participate either. Which renders Kazakhstan with the basic quota of 1 skater for next year. But given the fact that they weren’t able to use the spots this year, I’d say it’s not such a loss as it’s for Canada. This year unfortunately the ladies weren’t the strongest and even thought I absolutely adored Madeline’s performances, it wasn’t enough to keep two spots for Canada.

In men, the US and Japan kept 3 spots (poor Vincent though) and Russia got the third one too!! Awesome job by Misha and Evgeni! I was so nervous for them. Keegan Messing, Kevin Aymoz and Jun-hwan Cha also did a great job and got the second spot for their countries. Matteo and Daniel safely kept Italian two spots. And then we have some losses. Only one spot for the Czech Repulic. But given that Czech Republic had two spots this year (thanks to Michal’s eight place in Saitama) and yet neither Jiří Bělohradský, Matyáš Bělohradský and Gregory Reshtenko reached the min TES to qualify, the only one spot available could motivate them. Much more severe in my opinion is this loss for China. Poor Boyang (because it wasn’t his day) and also poor Han Yan (because I think it would be him who’d have to miss next Worlds).

Let’s go to pairs and ice dance. 

I just love the fact that ice dance is true to its image of the most conservative discipline and there are so few changes :D Russia, US and Canada are just power-houses in ice dance. Great Britain got the second spot! We can look forward to Fear sisters’ awesomness next year. 

And France... France lost one spot... I’ll talk about this a bit later. Let’s say that for Worlds it doesn’t matter that much if P/C grace us with their presence next year, they should qualify two or three spots for 2023 without any problems. 

And in pairs there were surprisingly more losses of spots. France lost one, which was a bit expected, I love Hamon/Strekalyn and Keriven/Pierre but it was very unlikely from the beginning that they would keep the two spots. Though it was great nontheless that they both had the opportunity to compete at Worlds!

 Austria and Germany finished outside of top ten, which means only one spot for next year. Austria has had only one elite pair team so they sent only Ziegler/Kiefer also to these Worlds even though they had the right for two teams... Though, I almkst forgot that Austria has another young pair Chloe Choinard/Livio Mayr! Germany however... that’s worse. They had two spots, but Hase/Seegert couldn’t go. So they sent only Hocke/Kunkel... They did great but unfortunately only one team will be allowed to go next year... (and let's not forget Efimova/Blommeart if she gets the release from Russia)

And very surprisingly (at least for me) Japan got two spots thanks to a top ten finish. Though again, it’s a question if Japan even has another pairs team that can qualify. 

Olympic spots

That was a turmoil (please ISU a bit clearer wording next time maybe). But now everything is clear and we know this: 

I wrote “+ 1 chance at Nebelhorn” obviously meaning that the given country can get one more spot at Nebelhorn Trophy. (It gets on my nerves so so incredibly much when people say they have to “re-earn” or “confirm” the spot. Like WT* ?! The spot is not guaranteed they are just guaranteed a chance to fight for the spots as other countries. Let’s say Vincent Zhou will be on the same starting line as Brandan Kerry. So just no “re-earning” and “confirming” please.)

The situation is in many aspects similar to World spots, so I’ll just talk about some of the differences. Well, the main difference is that for Worlds every country whose skater gets the min. TES can send one skater to every category. For the Olympics, the skaters have to fight “even” for the 1 spot. 

Which is a problem notably eg. for France in ladies. Mae-Berenice Meite got injured, France can send one lady to Worlds 2022 no problem here (provided she gets the minimum TES) but right now there’s no Olympic spot for French ladies. Right now there’s also no Olympic spot for French pairs even though Hamon/Strekalyn advanced to the FP, they finished too far back to qualify for Olympics. Uffff 

The Olympic rules being a bit different from Worlds also mean that USA in ladies and men and Russia in men don’t have the 3 spots right away. They have 2 and a right to fight for the third one. Should be interesting, beginning with the selection of the suitable competitor who’ll be sent to Nebelhorn! 

And similarly, while Keegan, Kevin and Jun-hwan; Loena and Olga earned (here really earned) the second spot for their countries at next year’s Worlds, they earned “just” the right for their compatriots to fight for the second spot at the Olympics. 

Very sadly, China will have only one participant in men in Beijing T_T

And yeah, France will have only one ice dance team at the Olympics. Obviously, it’s their decision and it’s only sport but ... the more I think about P/C non-participation at these Worlds the more selfish I find it... Yeah, maybe they wanted to show their stand but nobody followed them... so it was kinda useless. Had they participated, France would almost certainly have 2 spots for Words and Olympics.

(Hey, even if they would have seriously trained only since let’s say January and would have shown up with old RD and FD, they would be strong medal contenders. And I also don’t think it was beneficial for them personally to not participate. S/K have their momentum, some judges may began to prefer them...) 

Maybe they thought they could qualify via Nebelhorn but that’s simply not possible in this case. I have to admit I would like to imagine Galyavieva/Thauron being sent to the Olympics as it was them who fought for the spot but I can’t see this happening (given no lady and pair yet qualified, Kevin with top ten chance but a medal is really not a certainty, so French federation would certainly want a medal chance at least in ice dance...)

And also very surprisingly, in ladies Poland, Switzerland and Italy haven’t managed yet to qualify. But they will, I believe it!

Nebelhorn

Lastly, Nebelhorn! I have to admit I caaaan’t wait. There are 22 spots for grabs!

I just wrote “some other countries” but essentially, all countries that don’t have a spot yet can participate. I just wrote the most probable candidates. Mainly countries that didn’t advance into FP/FD at Worlds.

(Croatia is in brackets because Petranovic/Souza Kordeiru split shortly after Worlds, and North Korea banned all athletes, and well everyone, from travelling abroad so... )

So my guesses who’ll qualify ;)

MEN: US, Russia, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Azerbaijan (I want to see Vladimir Litvinsev at the Olympics, he deserves)

LADIES: US, Switzerland, Italy, Taipei, Poland, France (fingers crossed for literally everyone here)

PAIRS: China, Belarus, France, Georgia

ICE DANCE: Finland, Czech Republic, Italy, UK, Hungary (I was a bit shocked and sad that Turkkila/Versluis didn’t make it into FD at Worlds so I hope they’ll qualify here. And I also hope the Taschlers qualify because it would mean a participation in every category at the Olympics for the Czech Republic!)

[doof-doofblog]

"Let's Have That Playdate Tomorrow!"

Friday 20th November 2020

Hello again everyone! Hope you all are doing well, this current lockdown is nearly at an end! Hopefully things will start to look a bit better when Christmas comes around! I apologise for me being so behind on the episodes lately, unfortunately I am still working during this current lockdown and of course with things happening in my own personal life, there are times I miss out on watching an episode, let alone even getting the time to review one and type up a blog. I want to thank you all for your on-going support, there have been so many spoilers as to what may be happening over the Christmas period on Albert Square, I'm really looking to watching it all unfold!

Meanwhile, let's carry on from where I was last up to, Friday's episode. The episode begins with Kat, she's slumped on the kitchen table as Stacey makes her way in. Poor Kat looks as if she hasn't been able to have a wink of sleep all night. She reveals to Stacey that she's tried calling everyone she knows trying to find the whereabouts of Kush, she's still trying to call him but his phone remains off. Who knows where he must've gone to after the robbery?! He seems to have just done a disappearing act. But Kat isn't one to just hang around and do nothing, as she grabs her coat, she informs Stacey that she's going off to the police station to give her statement and then she's going to try and find Kush. If the police haven't got him then he must be somewhere?!

Meanwhile, Callum looks absolutely lost. He's seems to be in a world of his own as he tends to his busted lip. As Ben walks in, they begin to discuss how the whole situation has turned into such a mess. Callum informs his boyfriend that he really didn't have a choice but to let Kush go, considering he'd threatened to take down Ben with him if he got caught. Ben then speaks his opinion that Kush should remain missing, he seems to be believe that they would've gotten away with the robbery if Kush hadn't set off the silent alarm - however things seems to take an interesting turn here, Callum then reveals to his boyfriend that there actually wasn't a silent alarm, and the other reason the police turned up was because they received an anonymous 999 call. Ben seems to look deeply concerned, but does he have an idea as to who grassed them up?! Wait till he finds out that it was his brother!!

At the laundrette, Max walks in on Linda drawing up some new ideas for her business idea. She shows Max her rough copies of the new superhero's she's made, and of course - Max is really impressed and suggest that she should post them online. Once again I'm sensing more flirtation between the two, they suggest bringing their children together for a playdate and perhaps modelling some outfits that Linda has designed, but it's just so blatantly obvious that Linda is flirting when she suggests having an adult in on the modelling too to be pose with the children. They share a giggle as Sharon enters the building, oooh Sharon knows she has walked in on something! Both Linda and Max act very coy when she asks if she's interrupting something, Linda reveals to her friend that Max is helping with her business idea for the Lucy Beale Award. Sharon knows that Max is up to no good, the last thing she wants is for Max to break up another marriage! What do you think, are Linda and Max just good friends? Or do you fear that something is going to happen between the two and they'll cross the line?!

In the Cafe, Tiffany is informing her husband that both Rainie and Stuart haven't been in touch with her for a while since she agreed to be their surrogate, however once Keegan notices that she's had her phone on "Airplane Mode", loads of messages seem to come through once she's taken it off. I mean, of course Stuart and Rainie are going to be in touch with her as much as they can, it's the excitement of being one step closer to becoming parents. Suddenly they make their way into the Cafe and insist on buying Tiffany breakfast, however in stead of buying a lovely full English Breakfast, Rainie brings up a plate of salad to her - I mean, I get she wants her to be healthy so she'll be able to look after their baby okay, but something tells me it would start being a bit of an insult if she starts telling her what to eat and what not to eat. Tiffany and Keegan can both see this is going to be a really long journey for them.

Out on the Square, Ian appears to be dressed in his finest as he gives an interview for the Walford Gazette newspaper. I'm unsure what that interview is for, possibly for his public image? Or wanting to get the word out that the Vic is now under new management. He's one again gloating to this news crew that if it wasn't for him, the Queen Vic would've hit rock bottom with sales, business, etc. However, unfortunate for Ian, Tina is stood behind him listening to every word he's saying. It's interesting how many people he's really beginning to annoy and how many people are/will have it in for him. As Tina walks away after hearing him insult her family, Suki approaches and acknowledges how happy she is that someone as up-standing as Ian is getting the recognition he deserves, of course she's only saying that because they've come to an agreement of some kind. I do have a feeling that things aren't going to continue going well for Mr. Beale.

Returning to the Mitchell household, Kat pays them a visit an informs Callum that she's been down the statement having to give a false statement. She informs the young police officer that he didn't drop him in it but she knows full well that he let Ben off, she demands to know where Kush is, if anyone would know, he would, right?! Callum informs Kat that he has no idea of the whereabouts of Kush, its then he also drops the bombshell that he did find Kush during the robbery, but Kush ended up punching him and fleeing the scene. Kat can't believe that Kush would punch Callum, but he informs her that it's probably best if Kush stays hidden for the time being, as he not also took part in a robbery, he also assaulted a police officer, so maybe he is just lying low.

At the Atkins household, Phil is questioning Gray whether they'll be any issues in changing the licence plates on the cars. But Shirley reassures her boss that the paper work needs to be absolutely spot on, which is why Gray is doing the paperwork and Phil isn't! Interesting, there seems to be a lot of people who are in-the-know about this robbery. It's amazing how none of them have grassed any of them up, well of course except for Ian. But there's Kat, Stacey, Phil, Shirley, Ben, Callum, Kush, Gray, Sharon ... (Well maybe she doesn't know about the burglary but she's felt comfortable about giving Phil a false alibi?!) As Phil leaves the property, Tina arrives back and it's clear to see that she is seething over Ian's insults to her family and his attitude towards them and the Vic. Tina pleads to her sister that they attempt to get the pub back in their name, but Shirley reminds Tina that Linda is still an alcoholic, that was the reason they sold up in the first place. But Tina seems to believe that Linda is doing a lot better recently, she explains that since they sold the pub, Mick hasn't been the same, he seems to be so unhappy and lost. Could there be a way for the Carter's to win back the pub?! Is the pub really in Ian's name or Sharon's name? As Ian has always said that he bought the pub for Sharon, but who's name is really on the lease of the building?!

Returning to the Vic, Linda is informing her best friend about application for the Lucy Beale Award. It's nice to see Linda looking more positive and happy about her future prospects, but it's clear to see that Sharon is worried for her friend about getting too close to Max. As Linda is glowing with the excitement of a whole new beginning, Sharon voices her concerns about Max, but in a loving, friendly way that everything seems okay now between them, but if things go on it won't be long before Max will have his tongue down her throat. (However little does she know that they have already shared a kiss!) Linda reassures her friend that she wouldn't cheat on Mick and that she literally just sees Max as a mate. But Sharon has a good point, whilst Mick is away staying with Lee, it's understandable she's enjoying the attention but I'd hate to think she'd cheat on her husband whilst he was away, especially considering what he's been dealing with in recent weeks.

Meanwhile at the restaurant, Iqra is sat doing paperwork. Ian is stood behind the bar as Suki walks in, subtly she hands him over an envelope with half of the amount she promised him inside. Ian doesn't seem impressed and pulls Suki into the back for a private word, leaving the money on the bar counter. As he pulls Suki to one side he asks Iqra to watch the bar whilst they're in the back. Iqra is quite reluctant but once both Ian and Suki are out the back, Iqra starts to clean behind the bar, until she eventually comes across the envelope with the money inside it - instantly she's looking a little confused as to where this money has come from, but suddenly she begins to hear voices. Ian and Suki are both discussing their plan, Suki tells Ian that he won't receive the other half of the money until he has held up his end of the bargain and put things into paperwork and he has signed some kind of formal documents she needs, planning approval etc. Iqra is really shocked to have heard what she has, but what will she do with this information? Will she tell Ash what her Mother is really up to?! Or maybe will she help Tina in getting the Vic back in the Carter's name, knowing full well that Ian is up to some dodgy deals with Suki! Who knows?!

Back out on the Square, Whitney is seen leaving the Minute Mart as car sirens can be heard, slowly Ruby approaches from behind and they both watch in amazement as from across the Square, the police pull up the Slater household and barge their way in as they look for Kush. Stacey's voice can be heard objecting to them entering the house. Ruby voices her opinion that it doesn't surprise her that the police have come knocking at their door, however Whitney's response is more sympathetic, she questions that maybe the police have got the wrong house? But Ruby just laughs at Whitney's response and says that it wouldn't surprise her if they found something at the Slater household. Hmm, does Whitney know more than she's letting on?! Why would she be so quick to defend the Slater's?!

At the Carter's household, Max once again is helping Linda with her costumes (Wow! Can I just say how big baby Abi has grown?! I know it sounds silly, but I still picture her as a little baby, not the toddler that she's become. Didn't realise it was that long ago that Abi Branning passed away! Only feels like a year or two ago - which may possibly be how old young Abi it?!) As Linda is eager to get the children in their superhero outfits, Max picks out one for Ollie to year, however Linda recalls that the one he picked was the one Mick made for him when Ollie was first diagnosed with Autism. You can see a slight look of sadness as she mentions how Mick didn't want their son to feel different from everyone, so instead of different they made him feel special. When Max puts the superhero outfit away, Linda admits to him that it was actually Mick's idea to make their son a Superhero outfit. Is there a sense of guilt between them now that Mick hasn't been brought into the idea of superhero clothes for children?! Or the fact that they're feeling guilty for spending a lot of time together and have quite visibly been flirting with one another? Who knows?!

Meanwhile, Iqra has found her way to the Prince Albert, unfortunately she doesn't seem to be listening fully to Tina as her head is replaying what she's overheard from Ian and Suki. Tina is voicing how much she's going to miss living with her and Ash, but she understands that her moving out would help Iqra and Ash spend some time together. However, Iqra feels trapped in a corner as she admits to Tina that she can't stand Ash's family. I have to say I really do like the friendship between Tina and Iqra, I did kind of wish that they were a couple instead of Iqra and Ash. Anyway Iqra finds it in herself to confide in Tina and reveals everything that she witnessed, Suki giving Ian some money in return for some approval on a planning application. Tina tells Iqra that she's got to tell someone, she knows full well how dodgy Ian is being at the moment. Iqra pleads to her not to tell anyone, especially considering the fact the Iqra can't tell her own girlfriend that her Mum is up to something. But what will Tina do with this information? Will she find a way of getting her own back on Ian herself?!

Back at the Carter household, Max and Linda are enjoying taking pictures of their children in Linda's new children's superhero outfits. Only things take a slight U-turn when Max comments that they both make a good team. I think Linda maybe feels a little uncomfortable with his comment, he thanks Max for all his help but expressions her opinion that once they're done he should leave. Only when Linda begins to take photo's of Ollie with the flash on her phone, it frightens the poor boy and he attempts to hide underneath the kitchen table with his hands over his eyes. Linda apologises to her son and tries to coax him out but to no avail, Max then decides to take it upon himself to try and gain the little boy's trust. He gets down to his level and squeezes underneath the table, softly he speaks to the little boy and after suggesting that they build a den after taking their photographs, the little boy removes his hands from his face, much to Linda's surprise. Eventually Max persuades little Ollie to get up and join in with taking photographs, to which Linda is incredibly thankful.

Back on the Square, Tiffany and Keegan are approaching the chippy (Yum! Everyone loves a chippy, right?!) As Keegan orders himself some food, Tiffany feels a bit gutted that she's having to stay healthy. As she's voicing her frustration, Stuart appears from behind and informs her that he's managed to go to the chemist and pick up some vitamins for her. He pulls out about 3 or 4 different tube bottles full of pills and Tiffany is looking pretty overwhelmed with this new information that she's having to take pills as well as eat healthily. However it looks as if enough is enough when Stuart asks her to start taking them that day, she understands that they want the baby to be healthy but she assures Stuart that she wouldn't let anything happen to their child once its in her womb. Stuart seems to understand, he apologises for coming on so heavy, its nice that they have come to acknowledge each other's understanding, Tiffany tells him politely that she's more than happy to carry their child for them, but it does not mean that they can start telling her what she can and can't do, and in all fairness - Stuart completely agrees and announces that they'll do it Tiffany's way, to which she then responds with happily ordering something from the chippy.

Once again, returning to the Carter household, Ollie and Abi are both playing happily together as they wind down after their photoshoot. Linda is sat with Max as they look over the photographs they've taken. This scene did get me a little worried as I sensed something, once again, was going to happen between the two. Max brings up the fact that he's trying to be supportive to Linda considering he was with her the last time she had a drink, he doesn't want her to feel that she's got no one to talk to, but regardless of them spending time together, he admits that he knows that she and Mick are solid. It's then Linda seems to look upset and reveals to Max that things haven't exactly been brilliant between them recently, she explains that each time she tries she feels she's just pushing him further and further away. Perhaps this is why she's been enjoying Max's company so much, it's made her feel something again - I mean when was the last time, Mick and Linda actually had a laugh with each other and showed each other some affection? It's been a long time, hasn't it?! Max seems to understand but he makes the big confession that the only reason he kissed her a while back is because he wanted to, and more interestingly, he stills wants to! Things are looking as if they are going to pounce on each other, however Ollie breaks the silence as he asks for his Mummy. As Linda goes to see her to son, Max suggests that they make another play date for their children, to which Linda coldly responds by saying she'll text him.

Back at the Slater household, Kat answers her mobile which is ringing on the kitchen table, it appears to be Stacey on the other end. She informs her cousin that she's been desperately trying to search for her boyfriend but can't find him anywhere. Suddenly, there's a knock on the backdoor and Kat is surprised to see Whitney stood there. It's then Whitney announces that there's something she needs to show her, pretty urgently and they both leave the house together. Meanwhile in the Vic, Ian is feeling positive about his interview with the newspaper, even though he is looking incredibly happy with himself, the fella from the newspaper seems less than impressed as he downs his bottle of beer. Across the bar, both Callum and Ben are trying to talk about something other than the robbery. Oh but just by coincidence, as soon as Ben questions whether Callum can trace who dialled the 999 call, Ian is stood behind the bar ear-wigging on their conversation. However Callum is unsure whether the call will be able to be traced, but then again the only thing they'll find out is that it was made from a telephone box. Maybe Ian did a clever thing for once and made sure he dialled from a phone box and not a mobile phone, that way it would be harder for them to trace?! Suddenly Tina enters the Vic and makes her way toward the bloke from the newspaper. Ooooh I'm liking the look of this!!! She questions whether he's writing an article  about Ian Beale, but the bloke doesn't seem interested if she's going to comment on how much of a aspect to the community he is, but then his attention in instantly grabbed as Tina admits that that is not what's doing, she mentions that if he really wants a story then she has one for him. Ooooh - I'm loving this! Yes! GO TINA!!! Is she going to spill what Iqra has informed her about and portray Ian in a terrible light?! In all seriousness, it's more than what he deserves! Only the downside is, will it fall back onto Iqra and will she get the blame?!

Eventually Kat makes it to what looks like Whitney's attic, she's questioning why Whitney has brought her up there, only as she turns around, Kush is seen sat in the very far corner, almost looking scared and very sheepish. Kat is absolutely elated to find her boyfriend is safe and sound, she announces how worried she's been about him, but Kush is nothing but deeply apologetic for making such a mess of things. He's tries to explain how he thought he would be able to start the car and how things just turned so messy. Kat is just happy to see that Kush is safe, she promises him that they will sort everything out together.

At Ruby's club, Linda is sat alone with a drink, Ruby enters the room carrying a huge box of wine. It looks as if Linda is feeling sorry for herself, she seems very agitated when Ruby politely asks if she's okay. Whether she's waiting for someone or something else. Linda then voices that everyone around her sees her not as Linda anymore, but Linda The Alcoholic! Ruby tries to persuade her that that isn't the case at all, she tries to explain that she has lots of friends and family around her who are just trying to look out for her. She questions whether she should all Mick, but Linda snaps back that he isn't her carer, he's her husband. She also makes sure to point out to Ruby that the drink she's got in her hand is only orange juice, nothing else! But Ruby is quick to throw in one last dig, she knows that she's drinking a soft drink, as she explains that all her staff have a list of who not to serve alcohol to, and it turns out that Linda's name is right at the very top of that list! Honestly, that's a bit of a big insult, I think that would hurt anyone really wouldn't it?! As Ruby leaves the room, Linda takes it upon herself to approach the box of wine which she's left at the bar and swipes a bottle before leaving. Once she's home, she's sat alone with the bottle and a glass already poured, to me it looks like that she really can't take Mick's behaviour anymore, she's feeling lonely, unwanted and maybe also missing her husband as well as missing their happiness and intimacy. She attempts to call him but to no avail as it the dial tone rings dead, I did fear at this point that she was going to take a big gulp of wine. She brings the glass up to her face and she gently smells the wine, she then plonks the glass back down and dials another number - Max! She agrees to go along with the playdate for the children for the following day, but something else is telling me, is she doing it for the company. If Mick isn't around then why not have Max's attention. I do thing as things go on, something will happen between the two, what do you think? Feeling a little more relieved she gets up and throws the glass of wine and the bottle down the sink!

A very interesting episode I have to say, some very interesting things taking place, I mean I do feel a lot of it will come to some form of explosion within the next few days. I do feel that all this that's happening right now will be the drama that's all going to explode coming towards Christmas! Christmas is only a month away and it's not going to be long now until huge secrets are revelled and big bombshells are going to be dropped. EastEnders is always explosive at Christmas, right?! I, for one, am incredibly excited to see it all unfold! Thank you all for reading, I'll be back again tomorrow with another blog. Enjoy the rest of your evening folks! Love you all xXx

[animatedminds]

Film Review: On Jingle Jangle

Spoilers for the subsequent review: I liked it. And what’s more, there are things about it that make me happy on a conceptual level both as a writer and as an African American writer, and just as a lover of musicals and fun adventures. Read on after the jump!

It’s been a while, and I promised a review on Jingle Jangle - the Netflix exclusive film starring Forrest Whitaker, Madalen Mills and Keegan-Michael Key which came out a few weeks ago - sometime last week and never delivered. Well, here it is. And if you want the abridged version of my opinion, well, look above.

To give a short summary, Jingle Jangle is an clearly intentionally chintzy film written in the vein of classic Christmas fantasy movies. It focuses on a toymaker - a great gadgeteer renowned in his universe as the greatest of all time - who is able to see the world in amazing terms and make toys function like magic. However, on the cusp of his greatest invention, his apprentice - and the invention itself, who turns out to be egotistical and vile - betrays him and steals all his designs, breaking his heart so badly that he cannot bring up the spark to invent ever again. His apprentice grows rich on his work, while the toymaker - one Jeronicus Jangle - grows old, in the process losing his wife, after which his daughter estranges from him. And that’s just in the first ten minutes. Depressing enough for you? Well, the rest of the movie is more than sweet enough to make up for it. As you might expect from a set up like that, the turning point comes when Jeronicus’ granddaughter Journey finally gets the chance to visit him and discovers his one last, unfinished invention. Suddenly Jeronicus, now a bitter old hermit, has the opportunity to find the love he lost within him again and rekindle his spark, his daughter (played by a criminally underused Anika Noni Rose) has the opportunity to reconnect with him, and the toy shop - Jangles and Things - might finally have a future again. But look out, Jangle’s old apprentice is out of blueprints and needs one to keep his fame and fortune - and Jeronicus’ last invention is looking very profitable... As you might expect from a the description above, this movie is very by numbers plotwise. But I’ve never considered that necessarily a bad thing, as long as a film captures the charm that makes those numbers typical in the first place. The movie is very obviously trying to capture a feeling, a kind of story that - perhaps because they’re so well known by our generation - you don’t see much of any more, and so plays all those archetypical traits to the hilt. The last invention runs on “belief” - if you don’t believe it’s real or in yourself, it won’t work - and you can imagine why. The apprentice is a money grubbing showman who never understood the real point of toymaking. The narrator is an old woman who, surprise! (not really), turns out the Journey herself! Are those plot points groan-worthy? Sure, sometimes. But it also delivers those warm fuzzy feelings those groans intend, and that’s... well... magical. It’s not trying to be avant-garde, it’s only trying to make us feel joyous for a few hours. And you know what? I can appreciate that.

Because of that, my primary criticisms instead are about elements in that regard that the film doesn’t fulfill enough. The story is obviously about Jeronicus’ journey from disillusioned miser to the optimistic, loving man of his youth, but this happens too fast: he goes from yelling at Journey for messing with his stuff, to begrudgingly having a snowball fight with her that he turns out to enjoy, to suddenly having to make the crossroads to use his spark again to save her because he loves her so much, with barely anything in between: I wanted more - more stages in-between Jeronicus two poles, so that we can see him develop in a stronger way rather than kind of jump between the points we know he’s going to go through like a connect the dots drawing. His daughter's relationship is a primary plot point, but she doesn’t even show up for more than a cursory line or two until the very end, so we don’t get to see that develop much either. While Journey and her goofball sidekick carry the film, as they should, there is perhaps a bit too little time dedicated to the characters around them - seeing as they’re explicitly the impact characters affecting their family’s change for the positive. Even the villains are responsible for the whole thing are mostly are present in the story for comedy and they don’t get a lot of face time with the people they’ve affected either, all of which adds up to parts that could have had a lot more substance to them but which didn’t. The film overall is great, but the limits it puts on its own pacing and development hold it back from being as great as it could be.

However, as I noted before, there’s more than what I've just talked about going on here. There are conceptual aspects that made this one of my favorite movies this year, rather than necessarily the plot: which is only why this movie is engaging to watch. What the movie is built around is what makes it so special. First of all, a fantasy adventure movie with an entirely black primary cast is rare - entirely too rare - because African Americans simply don’t get those kinds of films in the mainstream. Realistic urban dramas, lurid romances about failing marriages, uplifting stories about rising out of the hood, etc - that’s the genres Hollywood typically allows for African Americans to star in: movies that hinge on archetypes about black existence in America and thus only sell attempt to themselves as “black movies” without widespread appeal, if one wants to go one step beyond. A musical about a magical inventor who creates a robot that lets you fly if you believe in yourself enough? Not especially, unless it’s a preachy DTV film about community. The primary villain is a Spanish matador doll with delusions of grandeur - Gaston as a toy - and its a weird and strange and outright wonderful idea. And interestingly, while this movie is themed and framed like a Christmas movie - I mean, just look at the name - there isn’t anything particularly Christmas about it beyond being about a toymaker. Jangle isn’t a Santa analogue, Christmas itself is never mentioned, nor is much of the imagery (beyond snow and winter) exceptionally Christmas reminiscent, being more of a Victorian Steampunk instead - full of gears and automatons and top hats (whoever did the costuming for this thing ought to get a medal, especially for the costuming in the bright period we see in the initial flashback). Its stuff like that that’s noticeable simply because African Americans in film don’t generally get to interact with those sorts of strange and weird and wonderful ideas. And this extends to the music. As both a fan of musicals, a Disney fan in particular, and a black writer, something I’ve noticed with no small amount of dismay is the way certain genres of music have been skipped over by mainstream. You have to go off the beaten path to find musicals that seriously incorporate hip hop, or R&B, soul, funk, etc into soundtracks and anything other than “party time” numbers that are just about the characters getting down and don’t engage the plot or the characters in a meaningful way - which gives off the impression that on a writing and developmental level, there is a lack of respect for those genres as having serious merit for meaningful usage. Oh, for sure, there’s musicals like “In The Heights” (which was fantastic, and I’m eagerly waiting for the film), but those are rare, and the closest you tend to get is Lin Manuel Miranda’s (much as I enjoy him) long bouts of recitative which are called “rap” by reviewers but aren’t really what I’m talking about when I mean genre. This film makes a point of kicking that trend in the pants, however: starting with a bombastic character establishment hip hop number, going into Motown-style R&B numbers and soul ballads and all sorts of wonderful genres of black music that have been long since lefts out of the mainstream. It’s something that I’m especially happy about and which leads me into tomorrow - when Soul arrives (and you better believe you’re getting a review of that as well) and hopefully delivers the same thing.

As a black writer, and a lover of music, and a lover of bringing new avenues of representation to film and media, Jingle Jangle made me happy in a way no film since Black Panther has, and for that along it immediately landed a spot on my list of classics even if it weren’t also a quite enjoyable movie. So as you might have guessed, thus, from the preceding - I quite recommend it for anyone looking for a wonderful cheesy time this Christmas, and also for someone looking to see how black musicals are growing and evolving.

[tslasvegas]

Episode 10: “I ain't gettin fooled a third time.” - Jeff

Darn it. That vote hurt. I mean it's a game, and there's only one winner, but Steph and I had a great time the last time we played, and we played well here too. But our Final 2 tag hurt us. I mean, yes, we had that agreement, but it hurt us. I had to vote her, as there was no other way forward. Even if I used my Steal a Vote, it would not have been enough. Good thing Kailyn spoke up after the vote, so they know it was her who voted with Steph and not me. Hopefully that lessens me as a target. How does Ben have so many advantages. He will be out to win immunity next for sure.

I am actually really sad that we voted Stephanie out. I think there were better options but I guess it had to happen. It’s interesting that is spread so rapidly to everyone else in the game. I didn’t speak to really anyone and yet everyone knew what was happening. There’s definitely some connections going on that I’m unaware of. But also! One step closer to making it to single digits! I just have to survive two more tribals and I’m officially a flop no more! With the Super Idol, technically I can be “voted out” once before leaving the game, if Liv still decides to play it on me. So I’m feeling pretty good about my chances moving forward. The meninist group is a solid 5 I think. That’s almost half the tribe remaining. At this point, I really don’t think there’s a path for me to actually win the game. Unless I take control and start some big moves right away. But we will see. 

Okay so it's been a while, and there's a lot to unpack. Merging: In regards to the merge itself, I have very mixed feelings about how the people in the merge are, and how things generally shook out in regards to the tribe divisions. Getting sent in with an instant 7-3-3 should, in normal circumstances, be pretty damning in how an early merge goes. People have a tendency to play safe, lay low, and just ride out the game a little bit before really going for anything. As far as the people we merged with that I had not met yet: Jaiden - Really cool guy, I spend all day talking to him, shooting the shit, just having a good time. Easily top 3 people this season for me. I want to go far with him. Xavier - Kinda neutral on him. I speak to him sometimes, but the conversations do not really have much in the way of depth to him. John - Meh. Doesn't speak a ton, just kind of minding his own business. Kailyn - Doesn't speak to me much at all. We've exchanged a couple of messages, but nothing too substantial. Whatever I guess. Ben - Literally refuses to speak to me. Not sure what his deal is or why he acts the way he does, but whatever I guess. So as a basic assessment, pre F13 tribal, the people I feel best about are Jake, Jaiden, Keegan, and Joey. These are the ones that I should be able to trust, that should be able to get me farther into the game. I feel with this that I'm in a better spot than I was in my previous 2 seasons, because I seem to have alleviated the issue of only having real connections to people on "my side". In Svalbard I was very isolated with Nathan/Rachael/John, and got burnt because the rest didn't want to play with me anymore. In Finland, it felt like more of a dice roll really, but I never got going with Tom/Drew/Bodhi/Zoe, so I was the first to get burnt because my connections just weren't good enough. But now, I should have the means to protect myself on both sides, and make it farther based on that. First tribal comes around, Palazzo has numbers, things should be simple. Ben doesn't talk to people, no one has a problem if he were to get sent home. Easy enough. Andrew makes people a bit wary, but its first tribal, he's not causing any particular harm, and we can deal with that issue later. But then Andrew slips up, he tells Jake that Keegan is the one pushing his name. I'm not sure why he did this, but he did. I confirm with Jake that it was actually Andrew that threw his name out first, but Keegan and I shifted it on to Ben. Whatever, mess is made, but no one says anything, vote should still be Ben. Get to tribal.... Andrew, 9-4. Not one, not two, but three people flip on us at the first tribal, sending Andrew home, and blindsiding myself, Pat, and Stephanie. With this, we're clearly on the outs, and Keegan/Liv/Joey blatantly lied to us. We confront them about it. Get some stories of, "weren't sure how people were feeling, didn't want anything to go wrong with the vote. Andrew was causing problems". Like yeah, okay, I know that that happened, but I had already expressed to both Keegan and Joey that I had strong reservations about how Andrew was approaching the game, and didn't want to have him be in long. I didn't think he's go right away, but clearly I was alright with the idea, yet they let me out. Fool me once, shame on you. Next time, okay votes gonna be simple. No one likes Ben, he doesn't talk to anyone, he just ignores me, he's gonna go home. Fine, everyone's happy. Well of course, we get to tribal, and he plays SWOP. I knew something was up, the way he was acting just wasn't right. Andrew said he was a good player, and I knew something was up when he was just giving up and having needless outbursts. Not the type of play that you'd expect from a "good player". So okay, we go back to OG Palazzo chat. Everyone says "lets vote John". Okay fine. Pat and I get to talking, because we're both close with Jaiden and Jake, and entertain the idea of voting Steph. Figure that we can get ahead of the curve because Palazzo is a mess, set ourselves up for the future. Pat can't change his vote cause he already casted, oops. I vote and play an extra vote because I thought a tie could be risked because I can't count. Vote goes 10-2 on Steph. Yet again, Joey, Keegan, and Liv opted to not say a word about anything to Pat and I. They don't care about us. They expect us to just do what they say, go along with whatever story they tell us before bed, but I ain't havin it anymore. Fool me twice, shame on me. I ain't gettin fooled a third time. These fuckers ain't gonna walk all over us and act like we ain't actual players. If they don't want to work with us, tell us anything, then I don't need them. I'll go with Jaiden and Jake, who are much more fun to talk to anyway, and curbstomp all of them. People already took Rachael from me, I ain't lettin them get any more W's on me. 

Stephanie is gone! I can't believe I made it through that cracked ass tribal council, but I used the limited information Ben was providing to me to my advantage. The moment Ben told me what was going on, I swooped to Keegan and John and told them to prepare for the worst - tbh I thought he was going to have an idol or something and we would need to throw votes elsewhere. I think Keegan was the one who said he thought Ben's got a safety without power from his statements and it made so much sense to me. When it came time to scramble, obviously I didn't wanna be the first person to throw a name out there, but once the opportunity presented itself I tossed Stephanie's name out and it basically caught on like wildfire. I told Joey first, then the Meninist alliance chat. There definitely was some push back at first from Keegan, which I'll get to in a bit, as well as I think Livingston a little bit. Then it just caught on FIRE. Suddenly Stephanie's name was going through everything it felt like and every single person was down for Stephanie. For a minute there was a brief insurgence of John names, but I think me throwing Stephanie's name out first was the best thing to happen because once a name was out there, it basically ignited the power keg and there was no way to stop it. I think it could've gone the other way had John's name gone out first tbh... It is just such a relief to have some sort of affirmation that my targets are going home. I feel a lot stronger now than ever before, almost like allowing Andrew to go over Ben last round is giving me an edge like I've never had before. Tbh as much as I dislike Ben as a player, I do kinda hate this circlejerk kind of group hate for the guy because I don't think he's done anything so bad that it makes him a bad person... maybe not the kind of guy I'd associate with in real life... but I'm sure he's chill outside of this. I also don't wanna come across like on this moral high ground where I'm better than anybody because I definitely talk a lot of shit about everyone else, but as somebody who was in the same shoes as him once, I can empathize with how it feels right now. I can empathize because when I played Tumblr Survivor starting out I definitely was really messy for the fun of it and it slowly started to become un-fun when everyone made it their mission to kinda be shitty to me. I don't know what Ben's goal is here and I'm not a specialist trying to diagnose him, but... yeah. I just feel bad that he's being dogpiled by all of us with hateful attitudes is all. ANYWAYS, back to something that matters - me! I finally survived the dreaded second tribal council of the merge. I've already beaten that part from India, now I just need to make it past the next two votes and I've made it to my first goal - single digits!! I know that I'm competing with a lot of people for single digits right now lol but I hope that people wise up and start taking care of the real threats in the game, namely Livingston, John, Kailyn, and Joey. Getting a dark round, I think this is the best thing we could've asked for because like I said before, I think Keegan was holding himself back from really pushing his agenda. I think Keegan is aware how big of a threat John is in these games, so if I can sort of use Keegan's mistrust in John against him, I might be able to swing for a much bigger target this coming round - Livingston. I kinda feel like Livingston is REALLY well-connected on this tribe, he's basically best friends with everyone from Jake to Joey to Keegan to Pat. If I want to free some of those bigger names up, I really need to go for Livingston because his position is SO desirable right now. I think people are cognizant to the danger posed by those four guys, but no one is really looking at Livingston because they love him so much. If I can somehow convince John that getting rid of Livingston benefits both of us, I might take that shot. It's going to come at a huge fucking risk though, but doesn't everything when you're playing in the dark have a big risk associated with it? Then it just kinda takes getting Ben, Kailyn, and Xavier on my side as well and then the shot is literally so close I can taste it. HOWEVER! Before I start hyping myself up right now, I have to focus on what really matters to me - getting to the end. Resume building doesn't need to start at the final eleven. My biggest error in all of my past Tumblr Survivor games is that I start playing the game REALLY hard way too early. I've learned maybe a couple lessons in subtlety along the way, so planting seeds is gonna need to be the way to go. If I start saying things like, "isn't Livingston so cool? He's basically friends with everyone" and "I would like to see Livingston win if I'm not in the end, he's a really cool guy" it'll 1) be super obvious that I want to make a move against him and 2) maybe start giving people the idea that their best friend is their biggest competition in the end. Something doesn't need to happen tomorrow. It's about the long game, too. I just hope for my sake that I'm doing enough to keep my head above water. If tonight was proof of anything, it's that this game is going to get a lot more difficult. 

I can't believe that worked so perfectly. Ben does everything I tell him to do, even down to interrupting me during the challenge. He's public enemy #1, and that's another meat shield for me. Stephanie goes - truthfully I feel horrible because she is so sweet - but that's the last person who I wasn't directly aligned with. Also, the Dark Round couldn't have come at a better time. If Ben or I win immunity, I have a plan to get out another big threat. And this is one of my favorite flash games. But at this point I need to act like Ben and I aren't tight. If I make it to the end everyone is gonna hate me. Oof.

[vince-thrilligan]

'Breaking Bad' Returns: Aaron Paul and Vince Gilligan Take a TV Classic for a Spin in 'El Camino'

The Hollywood Reporter  |    by Rebecca Keegan   |   September 18, 2019

In their first interview about the new movie, star and creator reveal why they risked messing with their defining show ("Is there another story to tell?") and how they shot the hot Netflix project in near-total secrecy.

One day late in 2018, the phone of an Albuquerque, New Mexico, man named Frank Sandoval started ringing off the hook. Sandoval runs a local outfit that operates Breaking Bad-themed tours in an RV identical to the battered Fleetwood Bounder that served as a mobile meth lab for Bryan Cranston's Walter White and Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman on the Emmy-winning AMC show. Five years after Breaking Bad went off the air, the distinctive vehicle had — suddenly and mysteriously — reappeared in town outside a diner on a main road. "People were calling us and saying, 'Is that your RV up there?' " Sandoval says. "We'd heard rumors for years that they were shooting. But nobody we talked to ever knew anything." Sandoval asked around about the mystery RV and eventually came across a printed flyer explaining that a New Mexico tourism commercial was shooting in town. He figured that explained it.

Not quite.

In fact, Jesse and Walter's old RV was in Albuquerque that day, as were Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and his cast and crew, engaged in a secret project. They were shooting El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which will premiere Oct. 11 on Netflix and in theaters in 68 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Albuquerque, before it airs on AMC early next year. Netflix only just announced the project in August, after Gilligan had wrapped postproduction. That's because despite the Virginia-born writer's gentle Southern manner and almost pathological humility, Gilligan, 52, is a showman at heart, and he wants to lift the curtain at the last possible second. "I don't want to open my Christmas presents a week and a half before Christmas," Gilligan says, explaining his insistence on a covert production. Gilligan's producers say they had nothing to do with the tourism flyer, but they did use other means to keep the project hush-hush, including waiting until the last possible minute to share the script with crew, obscuring locations with trucks and screens and relying on a private jet to shuttle a key castmember in and out of Albuquerque without notice.

The two-hour feature film, which Gilligan wrote and directed over the past 18 months, is premiering six years after Breaking Bad ended with Walter dying and Jesse driving an El Camino to freedom from his imprisonment on an Aryan Brotherhood compound. (A trailer set to debut during the Emmys on Sept. 22 will offer a detailed peek.) The Netflix partnership fulfills a long-standing wish of Gilligan's for a Breaking Bad theatrical experience and follows the formative role the streaming company had in the series' success — Breaking Bad was the first cable show to benefit from a so-called Netflix boost.

El Camino centers on what happens to Jesse after he drives out of that compound covered in physical and psychological scars, and it features more than 10 familiar characters from the show. In deference to Gilligan's spoiler aversion, THR will name only two: fan favorites Skinny Pete (Charles Baker) and Badger (Matt L. Jones), the Beavis and Butt-Head of the greater Albuquerque meth community.

Returning to the world of Breaking Bad comes with some risk for Gilligan — during the course of its five-year run, the crime drama about a mild-mannered chemistry teacher who transforms into a ruthless drug kingpin came to exemplify a new, golden era of TV, engrossing critics and audiences with its dense, character-driven storytelling, winning 16 Emmys and delivering one of the most satisfying mic drops in the history of television with a finale that more than 10 million people watched on AMC. In the rarefied club of early Peak TV auteurs, including Mad Men's Matthew Weiner, The Wire's David Simon and The Sopranos' David Chase, Gilligan is the first to take a leap and make a film from his signature show (Chase's Sopranos movie is due next year).

There also is the danger of dwelling indefinitely in the world — however rich — that Gilligan created. Breaking Bad diehards already have the show's spinoff prequel, Better Call Saul, which just finished shooting its fifth season. "I'm hoping when the movie comes out, people won't say, 'Oh, man, this guy should've left well enough alone,' " Gilligan says in his first interview about the film. "Why did George Foreman keep coming out of retirement, you know?"

***

Gilligan works in a nondescript glass office building in Burbank with a view of a dry cleaner and a parking lot. This is the "fancy" office he reluctantly moved to before his team started making Better Call Saul — superstitious, he didn't want to vacate the derelict space deeper in the San Fernando Valley where they had made Breaking Bad, a building they shared with a private investigator, a music charity and an hoc threading business operating out of the women's bathroom. Also, for reasons no one can recall, there was a guy in the building who always wore a kilt. Gilligan, who lives on L.A.'s Westside with his longtime girlfriend, Holly Rice, chose the location because it was convenient not for him, but for his show's editor. When it came time to select offices there, he picked for himself the room that didn't have a window and housed a giant humming server.

His newer, comparatively luxurious space is decorated with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul memorabilia — the special effects bust of Gus Fring's (Giancarlo Esposito) exploded head is next to Gilligan's desk, and bottles of Blue Ice Heisenberg vodka sit on a bookshelf. There also are model helicopters, tokens of Gilligan's other passion, aviation. At 50, he fulfilled a decades-long goal of obtaining his helicopter pilot's license. One of the locations in El Camino is a spot he used to glimpse while choppering with his flight instructor, 500 feet above the ground, en route from L.A. to Albuquerque. "When I'm flying a helicopter, I'm as happy as I ever get, which is not particularly happy, but still, as happy as I ever am," Gilligan says. "I'll never master it. It's one of those … Is that a Zen thing? When you have some sort of avocation that you're continually a beginner at. You're never going to perfect it. But in a weird way, that feels good, because you're never going to get tired of it either."

Gilligan first started ruminating on the story that would ultimately become El Camino before he finished making Breaking Bad. "I didn't really tell anybody about it, because I wasn't sure I would ever do anything with it," he says. "But I started thinking to myself, 'What happened to Jesse?' You see him driving away. And to my mind, he went off to a happy ending. But as the years progressed, I thought, 'What did that ending — let's just call it an ending, neither happy, nor sad — what did it look like?' " It was while planning events in 2018 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the premiere of Breaking Bad that Gilligan first told his inner circle he had an idea to revisit Jesse, perhaps a five-minute short film, he mused to his longtime producer, Melissa Bernstein. "He just started letting his mind run over that," Bernstein says. "And he started to realize, 'I have a lot to say about this.' "

Gilligan, who wrote the feature films Wilder Napalm (1993) and Home Fries (1998) as well as some unproduced feature scripts, found his comfort zone as a writer in the collaborative, deadline-oriented environment of TV while on the staff of The X-Files. "I was the laziest writer in creation," Gilligan says. "I'd piddle around. It took me two years to write a first draft of a movie script in the early '90s, just because I had no one holding a gun to my head. I just didn't have that work ethic. Working in TV changed everything for me." But on El Camino, Gilligan returned to the solitary lifestyle of a feature writer. "I had been working with excellent writers now for well over a decade, and I'd forgotten what it was like to write something by myself, and it was daunting," Gilligan says. "Suddenly I'm trying to write this and thinking, 'God, I really could use a writers room about now.' " Gilligan outlined the story using note cards, his usual method, and then began on his first draft at his time-share in the Bahamas.

As a business philosophy, Gilligan is a believer in the idea that you "dance with the girl that brung ya," and at a time when many other top showrunners are managing multiple productions and seeking nine-figure deals at streamers, he has remained at Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul studio Sony Pictures Television, re-upping with the company last year in a three-year, mid-eight-figure overall pact that includes his work on El Camino. When Gilligan told executives there about his idea for a Breaking Bad movie, "We all just fell silent in the room," says SPT co-president Chris Parnell. "It was one of the moments when you think to yourself, 'Did I just hear that? Is that something he genuinely wants to do?' " Together with his agent, ICM Partners' Chris Silbermann, Gilligan quietly walked the script into just a handful of offices in Hollywood before deciding to partner with Netflix, as well as AMC. Both companies represented a crucial part in Breaking Bad's history, AMC for picking up the show after FX passed on it and Netflix for building it into the binge TV era's first true streaming/cable hybrid hit.

In 2010, Breaking Bad was at a crossroads: With the show averaging about 1.5 million viewers a season despite being a critics' darling, AMC informed Sony and Gilligan that the series could end with season three. When Sony began shopping Breaking Bad to competitors — quickly finding a taker for two more seasons at FX — AMC reversed course. Netflix, meanwhile, was aggressively licensing shows for its nascent streaming service, and content chief Ted Sarandos made a syndication deal with Sony for Breaking Bad. Originally, the arrangement was for the series to start streaming on Netflix after its fourth season finished on AMC, but, with the show's future uncertain, Sony accelerated the plan, and new fans began discovering and bingeing Breaking Bad on Netflix in time to catch some of the fourth season and all of the fifth and final season on AMC. When season five premiered in 2013, the audience had more than doubled from its previous outing. "We felt that it was a virtuous cycle, where we were introducing the show to new fans, who were then going and experiencing new episodes on AMC, and then when we would launch a new season, we would again see another wave of new folks coming," says Netflix vp original content Cindy Holland. Since news of the movie broke in August, Holland says, viewership of Breaking Bad on Netflix is up, some from rewatchers and some from newcomers to the series. "We were a natural home for the movie," Holland says. "It wasn't a really long conversation. It was a simple, 'Yes, please.' "

Netflix also brought the theatrical component, which was crucial to Gilligan. "Every time we'd put out a new season of Breaking Bad, we would have a premiere in a big movie theater," Gilligan says. "We would watch this quote-unquote television show. I mean, I guess quotations aren't needed. It is absolutely a television show. But we would have this wonderful, very limited, one-time opportunity to watch our television show on a big screen with giant stereo speakers thumping, the image filling 40 feet across. I always thought, 'This thing, it looks like a movie. It doesn't look like a show.' I really want to be able to share that with fans." As with its other theatrical releases, Netflix will exhibit the film in independent theaters for a very limited period.

The secrecy on the project extends to the budget, which all interviewed decline to disclose beyond saying that it is significantly higher than what Gilligan had ever worked with on the show, including the $6 million for an episode in the final season. Gilligan's producers Bernstein and Diane Mercer went to great lengths to keep the film under wraps during production, shrouding locations from onlookers' view, covertly ferrying key castmembers to the set and warning crewmembers to be discreet around town. "Don't be sitting on a barstool somewhere and talk about the project you're working on, because God only knows who's sitting next to you" was the mantra, Gilligan says.

The movie, which plays like a coda to the series, is thick with details that will tickle the superfan base, which is its true intended audience, Gilligan says. One that only the most devoted may pick up on is a key address at the corner of Holly and Arroz streets — a wink to Gilligan's girlfriend (arroz is rice in Spanish). "If, after 12 years, you haven't watched Breaking Bad, you're probably not going to start now," Gilligan says. "If you do, I hope that this movie would still be engaging on some level, but there's no doubt in my mind that you won't get as much enjoyment out of it. We don't slow down to explain things to a non-Breaking Bad audience. I thought early on in the writing of the script, 'Maybe there's a way to have my cake and eat it too. Maybe there's a way to explain things to the audience.' If there was a way to do that, it eluded me."

Breaking Bad was particularly cinematic television, with its wide-angle shots of the stark New Mexico landscape, expressive lighting and deliberate pacing. At one point during the series, Gilligan and his cinematographer, Michael Slovis, made an unsuccessful pitch to Sony and AMC to shoot Breaking Bad in the CinemaScope format that Sergio Leone had used to shoot Clint Eastwood's Dollars Trilogy. On El Camino, Gilligan got his wish — Better Caul Saul DP Marshall Adams shot the movie on the ARRI Alexa 65 camera used for The Revenant and in a 2.39 wide-screen format that seems designed to showcase a gunslinger's squint across the desert.

Gilligan is perfectionistic in a way that television schedules rarely have time to indulge. El Camino proceeded at an even more leisurely pace than his shows. Instead of shooting six to eight pages a day as Gilligan had on Breaking Bad, he shot one and a half to three. Most of the 50-day shoot happened in the same Albuquerque locations where Breaking Bad is set, but the larger budget meant he was able to take advantage of some picturesque out-of-state locations, too. "This is my first movie as a director, and I have to say, it made me want some more of that," says Gilligan, who has directed five episodes each of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and two of The X-Files. "You truly have time to get things right. It feels very decadent."

***

Returning to the character of Jesse Pinkman for El Camino was an unexpected career twist. While making Breaking Bad, Paul had grown as an actor under Cranston's tutelage and shed some fatiguing habits. "The first couple years were really torturous for me," Paul says. Often, after shooting had wrapped for the day, "I found myself in dark alleys in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 3 in the morning, just to try to get more information, which was not a good thing. I just didn't want to mess it up, and so I stayed in that guy's skin, but I learned from Bryan it's OK to shake it off and wash up at the end of the night and just have time for yourself." When the finale aired, Paul says, "I really loved Jesse. I knew him better than anyone, but it was a big weight off of my shoulders to hang up the cleats and walk away. I thought it was goodbye, and I was OK with that." 
In early 2018, while Paul was in New York shooting The Path, Gilligan called him and shared that he had written a movie about Jesse. "I'm like everybody else on the planet — I think Vince and the rest of the writers really nailed the landing with the ending of Breaking Bad, and why mess with that?" Paul recalls thinking. "But it's Vince we're talking about. I would follow Vince into a fire. That's how much I trust the man. I would do anything that he asked me to." (Gilligan inspires a fierce loyalty, and most of his colleagues have been with him for years, starting with Mark Johnson, who discovered Gilligan while judging a screenwriting competition in 1988 and has served as a producer on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and El Camino.) Within months of answering Gilligan's call, Paul was back in Albuquerque's dark alleys, bearded and in scar makeup. "It was so easy for me to just jump into where Jesse's at mentally, emotionally, because I lived and breathed everything he went through and then some, and so, honestly, it felt like a part of me had gone through that as well," Paul says. "All I had to do was just memorize these words and then play them out when they yelled 'action.' "

***

Gilligan, too, grew up, in a sense, on Breaking Bad, and he has a wistfulness about how it has shaped his life over the last 11 years. "I'm about 25 to 30 years older than I was when I started," he says. "Yeah, I'm just worn out. I mean, part of what excited me about doing this was it was a movie, a closed-ended story of about two hours. If I was starting now, I'm not sure I'd have the intestinal fortitude to fight all the fights and expend all the energy."

Gilligan is not ready for retirement — not at all — but when he looks ahead to life after Better Call Saul, he sees something outside the universe of characters that have become his trademark creation. He plans to make another show after Better Call Saul ends, but what exactly that will be and where it will air, he doesn't know. "Personally, I'd love to figure out something different, which at this point would be, God, not another antihero," Gilligan says. "Is there something else I can do? Is there another story I can tell? But I've got to tell you, it's harder to write a really engaging good guy than it is a really engaging bad guy."

[gogogogolev]

2019-2020 ISU Junior program requirements and season discussion

This post should really be coming after Junior Worlds but in continuity with last year’s post, it’s appearing on February 1. This is a long post, since it’s got some observations and belated realizations, so it’s going under the cut. This is really just a long blog post, so it also has no tags.

The junior short and free program requirements for singles skaters were laid out in the ISU’s Special Regulations and Technical Rules 2018 pp. 104-111 (the file name says 2016 but that’s an error). Of course, there are many more pages in that document with detailed information but for the purposes of our discussion here we really only need to focus on pages 105, 106, 109.

First up, the SP requirements (pp. 105-106).

I have watched Stephen for some time now but I am still slow to realize things, especially in the hasty posts made after competitions. I had wondered after 2018 Minto Summer Skate about the 3Lo in the FS, and why that had not been replaced by a higher BV 3F. It was likely in anticipation for the 2019-20 season. Stephen has gotten a lot of practice doing his 3Lo at the very end of a free skate this season. That should be quite helpful for the SPs next season.

In the 2016-2017, when Stephen skated as a junior in Canada, the required solo jump was a 3Lo. He also got a lot of practice landing it that season, and I think it helped him with being consistent with it in the following seasons. I went back to check his protocols from that season onwards. He’s had falls on the 3Lo at 2016 Summer Skate (SP) and 2017 Bavarian Open (FS). Apart from that it’s been a good jump for him, and he has even used the 3Lo to do Euler combos when earlier planned combos with 3Lz or 3F jumps in the FS did not work out. Even in the turbulent FS at JGP Canada he managed to land it.

When was the last time Stephen did a flying sit spin (FSSp)? That would be in the FS at 2017 Bavarian Open. He also did one in the FS at 2016 Coupe du Printemps. That event was also the last time Stephen did a change foot camel spin (CCSp), in the SP. In the 2015-16 season, when Stephen skated at the novice level in Canada, his SP featured a CCSp and his FS featured a FSSp. This was also the case in pre-novice, the season before. So he has at least two season’s worth of experience doing these spins.

The rest of the requirements are the same as the 2018-19 season.

It may be though that Stephen changes his SP layout for senior events. He may decide to change the solo 3Lz to a 4T. He skated a clean SP at Nationals but did not score 90+ points. If he puts in a 4T and skates cleanly then it would be harder to deny him a better score.

As for the FS requirements, they are also the same (p 109).

Just reading over last season’s FS discussion I realized everything unfolded as I had thought it would. So what about next season?

One thing I’ve come to realize late this season is that Stephen has been adding one quad per season to his programs with an almost predictable outcome. He has at least one event where he cleanly lands his new quad. The other attempts result in pops or falls. But by the next season he is more consistent with this new quad.

In 2016-17 he debuted his 4S. It was landed cleanly at 2017 Sectionals, and with a UR (and other unknown difficulties) at 2017 Bavarian Open. In the 2017-18 season he had upgraded it to a 4S3T - a combo he is using now as well. He also used it as a solo 4S but had some mixed results.

In 2017-18 he debuted his 4T. It was landed cleanly at 2018 Challenge. He is using it in his FS in the 2018-19 season and it’s been a good jump for him. He’s only popped it to a 3T at 2019 Sectionals. Actually the 4T has been his most reliable quad this season.

This season he debuted his 4Lz, though he had been attempting to debut it at 2018 Nationals. He’s landed it cleanly at 2018 JGP Bratislava. This season is not yet over so we don’t have a final conclusion about its success rate. However you can see the pattern unfolding now for three seasons.

So next season you should expect the three quads in the FS. The two triple Axels, one in combination with a 2T or 3T - depending on how his quad combination went. Expect the same FS jump content with maybe one exception.

That would be his next quad. Stephen hasn’t given an absolute answer about new quad plans, but in his Skate Canada interview after 2018-19 JGPF he did indicate that he may add another quad next season. In light of the fact that the solo jump for next season is the 3Lo I would have to guess that if he is adding a new quad next season it will be the 4F. He’s been practicing it for a while - Pirouette Magazine reported on him working on the 4F in harness back in the summer of 2016. We also have a video of him landing one. In general Stephen does not rush to add quads to his programs, and that is commendable.

Where would this quad go? His jump layout would have to change to accomodate it. The final 3Lo could be switched to a solo 3A, the 3A3T moved down one spot, and the 4F could take its place. So Stephen would start off with four quads, one in combination. When the men did eight jumping passes Stephen’s last jump used to be a 2A so this would be somewhat of a return to that. But this is all hypothetical.

Does Stephen even need all these quads? If you asked him he would definitely say yes. :) In juniors there are not many men doing harder quads beyond 4T or 4S. However, Stephen doesn’t just compete as a junior. He is a senior man within Canada, and the top senior men in Canada mostly all have 4T and/or 4S. Keegan Messing has a 4Lz as well. Some of these men are capable of landing harder quads, but haven’t yet added them into their programs. Stephen will be skating as a senior internationally soon enough. The time spent as a junior is preparation for the senior level, so it’s better for him to try out quads at this level when there aren’t things like Worlds or Olympics spots on the line. He just really needs to take care not to injure himself.

As for music - Stephen is due for a new SP, having held over his SP for a second season. That decision was wise because he was able to better skate his SP in his second season of using it. Though some skaters do use their SPs for three seasons it’s unlikely that Stephen will do that. This is because he will likely use his new SP in the 2020-21 season in which he may be debuting as a senior and will once again need to have clean SPs. It will have to be seen if he keeps his long time SP choreographer (Mary Angela Larmer) or tries a new choreographer.

The FS he will likely keep. Especially if he is adding in a new quad. A familiar FS when trying out new jumps is almost a necessity, and he’s done this before with his Magic Flute FS. Though a new FS would also be very welcome. We’re always down to see new programs from Stephen.

He may also get a new exhibition program. Before seeing it I thought his EX for this season may be a test run for a new SP, but ‘Stole the Show’ is too much of an exhibition program to be turned into an SP. Sam Chouinard quite likes Stephen and created a nice EX for him so I hope they can continue to work together.

The list of JGP events for next season is out: Communication No. 2205

I believe he will be sent to the first JGP, since he won gold at the first one this season. I also believe he will not be sent to either JGP #2 or #4. Latvia, Poland, and Croatia would be more suitable places to compete, though Stephen may wish to compete in Russia in which case he could do JGP #4. The final JGP would be a long wait for Stephen if he did the first and so I don’t believe he will be assigned there. Last season the initial Canadian JGP assignments came out in July so hopefully we will not have to wait long to find out where Stephen will compete.

Next season the 2020 Youth Olympic Games are also taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland. The spots for that event will be decided in part by the results of the 2019 Junior World Figure Skating Championships. It would be an excellent opportunity for Stephen to get some Olympics experience if he were chosen to go. However the 2020 YOG are conflicting with 2020 Nationals. It is currently not known if Skate Canada will opt out of sending athletes (as was the case in 2012). I expect to get clarification on this matter as the year progresses.

There is also one last thing to discuss, though it shouldn't be necessary for me to discuss this, honestly. That is the expected growth spurt. I am not sure why puberty has been made out to be a boogeyman for young skaters. It's a normal part of everyone's life. Yes, it affects athletes in major ways. But it's not like it is something that can be avoided nor is it something destructive. Like jet lag or flight delays it is just a part of life and skaters learn to deal with it. Coaches have discussed the resulting benefits: male skaters gain strength in their skating after they grow. So those quads become bigger and it's easier to do a powerful step sequence across the ice. Stephen should not be afraid to grow. I hope the adults in his life have helped him understand this and will be there to support him as he adjusts. We’ll be here cheering him on as usual. There is no fixed schedule for these things, but since mean spirited people like to hold puberty over young skaters’ heads I thought I should address that nonsense somewhere.

What should you expect from Stephen after 2019 Junior Worlds? Nothing. He may be invited to some ice shows if he’s willing to do them but otherwise don’t even expect him to be part of Cricket Club’s annual ice show. He will have to get new choreography so he will devote part of his time to that. He should begin his 2019-20 season at 2019 Minto Summer Skate. This year’s event is once again at Richcraft Sensplex in Ottawa, running July 25-28, 2019 (x). Though Stephen competes as a senior in Canada, for summer events he has to skate as a junior as part of Skate Canada’s JGP monitoring. The Fan Blog will keep you posted on whatever is happening. Just don’t be alarmed if Stephen falls off the radar for a few months - it happens annually.

Once again this post is just your fan blogger thinking (and speculating) out loud. Links to things have been included to cite sources or give you some reading material. Don’t have any crazy expectations based on this post. And be sure to cheer on Stephen at Junior Worlds. 👍

[newagesispage]

                                                  APRIL                      2019

PAGE   RIB

***** The Rolling Stones have cancelled their North American tour. Mick Jagger apologized for cancelling due to undisclosed medical treatments.  Oh Baby, Get Well Soon!!!!

***** Mick and his squeeze, Melanie Hamrick have put together a ballet set to Stones music called Porte Rouge. After premiering in Russia it will come to NY on April 18 for an opening night charity event to benefit Youth America Grand Prix.  Tickets start at $600.

***** Tina Fey and Carol Burnett  are working on a movie about Carol’s book, Carrie and me: A Mother –Daughter love story.

***** When I hear Bernie Sanders going on, I can’t help but think of Jimmy Carter. He was pushing many of these messages in the seventies. He tried to get us to have more respect for the land and to save energy and the greedy wrote him off as boring and the era of greed took over. Will we listen this time?

***** The Mueller report was finally turned over to Attorney General William Barr. This has started a whole new set of problems. Barr gives us a summary that is like springtime for Trump. He jumps right in to those that done him wrong and FISA warrants. Should congress get a look at the full report? Everyone is talking over each other and don’t seem to hear what the other is saying. Everybody piles on Adam Schiff because they think he isn’t accepting the report like a good Dem should. If they would listen, he makes it very clear that he respects the findings but they need to see the report. How dare they ask HIM to resign as Intel committee chair. It was heartwarming to see his backbone. They must quit backing down. We still don’t have the whole story but he still free to say that he thinks the actions we already know of were wrong. What the hell is wrong with that? Barr is supposed to release the heavily redacted report in mid- April. No collusion? Perhaps, Scary Clown 45 would probably not get his hands dirty. Obstruction? We’ll see. ** Tyler Mcgaughey, William Barrs son in law will now advise Trump and the White House staff. ** I am really sick of listening to the old white man POV.

***** Dow chemical has donated a mil to Trump’s campaign. Strange that Trump has blocked a report  that took years of research and shows proof of Dow toxic pesticides which jeopardizes over 1,200 endangered species.

***** US from Jordan Peele opened to 70.3 mil. Just like his last movie, critics tell us to watch it twice. How great for the bottom line.

***** John McCarty, a dead man is running for village President in Spring Bay, Il.

***** Look out for the new film, The Kid, directed by Vincent D’onofrio. The western stars Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Hawk , D’onofrio , MorningStar Angeline and Leila George.

***** Did you ever see the reunion movie ‘Return to Green Acres? ‘  They tried to warn us of who Trump was a long time ago. How strange that it came full circle with that ridic Emmy Green Acres thing he did.

***** Shaq has become a deputy sheriff and has also been added to the board of directors of Papa John’s where he is an investor.

***** In sexual harassment news, Lucy Flores, a former Nevada assemblywoman has accused Joe Biden of unwanted touching and kissing at a 2014 campaign event.

***** Mark Hamill will voice the Chucky doll in the new Child’s Play.

***** Law and Order will get its 21st season.

***** The daytime Emmy noms have been announced and Days got the most this year. WOO HOO! The soap was nominated for drama, writing, costume, music, casting, art direction and oh, just everything. In the acting category the lead noms are Marci Miller, Tyler Christopher and Billy Flynn.  Kate Mansi was noticed for a guest spot as Abigail so 2 actresses are up for Emmys in the same role. Other guest noms went to Thaao Penghlis and Philip Anthony Rodriguez. Kassie Depaiva, Linsey Godfrey (really?), Martha Madison, Greg Rikaart and Eric Martsolf were all nominated.  Younger actor nods went to Olivia Rose Keegan, Lucas Adams, Victoria Konefal and Kyler Pettis.  C’mon , why nothing for Lauren Koslow, Greg Vaughan, Casey Moss, Susan Seaforth Hayes and Robert Scott Wilson?? I think I would switch a few of these around but it is still great to see Days so blessed.  I was also happy to see Max Gail from GH get noticed. CBS led the networks in noms. Hooray for Wayne Brady for game show host and Mark Hamill, Ruth Negga and Steve Buscemi in animated programs. Watch for the Daytime Emmys on May 5 which will not be on television again.

***** General Robert Neller has told the Pentagon that funds diverted to the wall are keeping Marines from rebuilding hurricane hit bases.

***** Devin Nunes is suing Twitter for the parody accounts, Devin Nunes Mom and Dvin Nunes cow which is pretty funny.

***** The EU is banning straw, cotton swabs and plastic cutlery by 2021.

***** Jenny McCarthy has a book out that slams The View.

***** Roseanne is thinking about suing ABC and has said some rather nasty stuff about Sara Gilbert.

***** Michael Avenatti was arrested for trying to extort $20 mil from Nike in NY. He claims he was just doing some lawyering.  California has him on bank fraud charges.  Why is there so much shadiness in this world? Let’s start rewarding the people doing good in this world and quit talking these headlines everyday.

***** Why did this Jussie Smollett thing go away?

***** Wal Mart is walking back this getting rid of the elderly and handicapped greeter thing.

***** Tracy Morgan and Will Forte are to star in the new animated Scooby Doo movie.

***** Johnny Depp has sued ex Amber Heard over the abuse allegations.

***** Martha Stewart is diving into the Marijuana product industry.

***** New York charges Manafort with 16 crimes. Perhaps he won’t get off as lightly with the state crimes.

***** Season 9 of American Horror Story has no premiere date yet. Emma Roberts is confirmed to return. It looks like it will also include Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and silver medalist Gus Kenworthy.

***** New California Gov. Gavin Newsom has halted executions for now.

***** Dems will hold their convention in Milwaukee. And if I hear again that Hillary didn’t go to these sorts of places, I am gonna puke. She went! She went! Just not so much at the end.

***** Howard Stern will release his first book in 20 years this May.

***** Ok, so glad to see Whoopie Goldberg is starting to get back to work but it is just so unbelievable in this day and age and access to info that she seemed shocked that the insurance companies decide people’s fate. Of course, that is if you are lucky enough to have insurance.

***** Sandy Hook families can take lawsuits against the gun companies to court now.** Three suicides have recently come from survivors and a parent of Parkland and Sandy Hook. The pain goes on.

***** The Senate voted 59-41 to terminate the emergency declaration. VETO

***** Rick Singer, founder if a college prep business had pled guilty to money laundering, obstruction of justice and racketeering. The nationwide college entrance exam scandal involves about 50 people including Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin that dates back to 2011. People paid millions to use ringers to take or fix their children’s exams and sometimes faked photos with coaches to include them in sports they were never involved in. The U.S. attorney does not believe the schools themselves were involved. **Lawsuits have already begun from those claiming they could not get into a good college because those spots were taken by these alleged cheaters.

***** Jennifer Hudson will play Aretha Franklin in the biopic.

***** Experts say a recession is on the horizon.

***** Two Sacramento police officers will face no charges for their overkill of the unarmed Stephon Clark. Oh Big surprise!!

***** White supremacist groups on line are growing faster than ISIS. ** I never get it, if white supremacists are so supreme, so wonderful, wouldn’t they rise to the top naturally? Why do they need to rid the world of others or keep minorities down?? If they think others are so inferior, those they hate or fear should not be a problem .

***** Jeanine Pirro was pulled off Fox news after a racist rant about Muslims. ** And where is Rudy? The lawyer hasn’t been seen on the air since January. ** Is this true? Did Ivanka and Jared really try to resign? Did Scary Clown 45 try to push them into it and then not accept those resignations?

***** This can’t be true. Only 5 states have laws requiring patient consent for medical students to do vaginal exams on women under sedation.

***** I rarely think about Jay Leno but he was right about the late night comics all doing different versions of the same joke.  But, who is he to talk? I mean how many different things did you do on OJ and Clinton?? At least these guys are funny.

***** The talk that people stay in their bubble becomes crystal clear when you see the poll asking if the President is truthful: Fox viewers : 84%, MSNBC viewers : 21% and CNN viewers: 1%. Whoa!

***** Word is that Scary Clown ordered economic advisor Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department to file a lawsuit to block the Att-Time Warner merger to retaliate against CNN.

***** At least 250 power plants across the country are leaking toxic chemicals into nearby water.

***** Jay Inslee is running for president! I think Stacey Abrams and Jay Inslee would be a nice ticket>

***** Beta O’Rourke is running for President! The psychedelic warlord!

***** Kristen Gillibrand is running for President!

***** Conor McGregor was arrested and charged with felony strong armed robbery and criminal mischief in Miami.

***** The process is in the works to get Trumps tax returns.** The house Judiciary committee has requested 81 documents.** This can’t be true. Trump was signing Bibles for volunteers and survivors in Alabama??

***** Just when it can’t get any weirder: Li Yang and her hubby, Zubin Gong run a string of massage parlors with questionable reputations. Until recently they ran the one that Robert Kraft was busted in. They also had a web site that seemed to sell access to their buddy, Donald Trump with Chinese business contacts. As soon as the story broke, the sites for an international consulting firm, text only in Chinese and no prices for the meets came down. Li Yang and her associates are in pictures at the inauguration, the White House, Mar A Lago and Trump’s super bowl party with the Pres, his sons and other Trump family members. We should have seen this coming. The old adage that always holds true with this administration seems true here. They always blame others for what they are really guilty of, this explains the Pizzagate garbage. This could be bigger than we ever dreamed. Even stories that we may have thought a bit out there need to be looked at closer. Can we connect the sex trafficking, the White House, the money? It is time to quit fucking around with the sellers and customers of those exploited in the sex trade. I don’t get it, all these men from Trump to R Kelly have the power over the women they supposedly use and abuse and yet they are always so angry. Perhaps they wouldn’t be losing their power if you treated others with respect and dignity. They always want all the power for themselves. And c’mon media, stop talking your heads off about the Omar story and give this Li Yang story a closer look.

***** The story of the fall of Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes is a sad one. It does show that greed and massive fraud are not just for the men of this world. When I first heard of her plans for the blood testing, I was so impressed with what she was accomplishing at her age. Yes, she was another poor little rich girl whose family fortune was quite diminished by the time it got to her. Even without the Fleischman yeast money, she did seem to have advantages. I can see how some of us were fooled but what about the big investors, the stalwart statesmen?  Do they not remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is? How can all the hype, the press, the marketing snowball before there is any proof that something is what is actually supposed to be?? I always assumed that by the time I am hearing about it, things are about ready to go. Seeing all these stories like Trump and Deutsche bank, light sentences for Manafort and now Holmes and her partner in crime seeming to get off lightly, there is not much hope for the little guy. WHY can’t we hold those involved in big money crimes really responsible??

***** It’s true, rich people cause socialism – Neal Brennan.

***** Even in 1692 the rich were different. –Stacy Schiff- The Witches.

***** FEMA released the personal data of 2.3 million victims.

***** They have dug up old words from Fox’s Tucker Carlson. Big surprise that he seemed to empathize with Warren Jeffs, thought women should just shut up and called a woman “cunty.”  The women who lap up the words of these men must not think much of themselves.

***** Why are we letting the banks finance detention centers and prisoners? It’s more than immigration or punishing criminals. Why is this big business?? I can’t believe this is still going on. Wake up!!! When will the children be free?  C’mon House and Senate, Pass the Shut Down child prison camps bill.

***** Somebody has to pay for this President’s folly: The scary clown new budget cuts:$ 1.5 trillion from Medicaid/ $845 billion from Medicare/ &25 billion from Social Security.

***** About 1 rural hospital a month is shutting down due to lack of support and lack of funds.

***** Globalization seems to be spreading a pathogen killing the olive trees in Italy.

***** A fake Melania?? WTF? UGH!

***** Matthew Whitaker is out! Bill Shine is out!

***** When will we ever be able to buy the boxed set of Late Night with Dave?? Hurry so the next generation can see the genius they may have missed.

***** Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale??

***** Hey Bill Maher, way to go with your PETA message about the terrible treatment of the geese used to make Canada Goose down jackets.  I will stay away!!

***** J Lo and A Rod are engaged.

***** Bette Midler and Judith Light will join the cast of The Politician.

***** Jussie Smollett has been indicted on 16 felony counts.

***** HBO’s Crashing was cancelled. Pete Holmes was great in this but I never really saw much promotion for it. I hate it when good stuff falls thru the cracks.

***** Kathy Griffin has a new film about the ridiculous Trump head, nearly career ending, Government harassment crap in her life. Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a story. Make that lemonade!! A girl has to take care of herself. It premiered at SXSW.** Speaking of SXSW, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez drew great crowds while she was there.

***** R Kelly lives in Trump tower in Chicago. Well, of course he does.  Why is it ok for the rest of us to put up with these arrogant, abusive males in this society? Everyone is giving kudos to Gayle King for her calm demeanor in her interview. Yes, how professional of her but why should she be subject to that disrespect??  She is in her workplace. Would R Kelly have liked his Mother or daughter to be treated that way?

***** So, word is that Isaiah 45 is a Trump thing with the evangelicals. This scripture refers to Cyrus , the anointed one. OY!

***** Days alert: Robin Strasser is coming OH BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** Judith Chapman and her old style soap acting just too much. ** C’mon Chloe and Rex!!** More Nurse Shelly!! ** Is Johnny Dimera on his way to town? ** I was so glad to see Tony, one of the best characters ever anywhere, even if it was part of an out of body experience.

***** Why do we have to keep talking about George and Kelly Ann Conway?? Are they just covering their bases? With one on each side of the Trump argument, they win no matter what happens right?

***** So now we know that about 400 Catholic clergy have been accused of sexual  misconduct in Illinois. It never ends.

***** End the electoral college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***** S

***** Fox has hired Donna Brazile. People seem to finally be taking Bill Maher’s advice and telling their point of view to the other side. How else will sanity prevail if we don’t find common ground? We cannot look to this administration for guidance in this world, we have to figure these things out for ourselves, which we should be able to do anyway.

***** Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds.  We have to find our self- worth.  

R.I.P. Andy Anderson, Katherine Helmond, Nathaniel Taylor, Luke Perry, Alabama tornado victims, Jan Michael Vincent,  the Ethiopian airlines disaster victims, Hal Blaine, victims of the New Zealand Mosque shootings, Sydney Aiello, the Ogossogou village attack victims, Denise DuBarry, Larry Cohen, Jeremy Richman, Ray Sawyer, Tania Mallet and Nipsey Hussle.

[skate-catnada]

Worlds 2019 

IT’S ALMOST HERE! Worlds is this week which means everyone finally gets together again for epic showdowns, and epic anxiety. I’m really anxious and apprehensive going into this worlds. A lot of skaters have been having difficulties this season, from the ones who haven’t been able to compete until now to the ones who have but have encountered obstacles along the way. On top of that, last year’s Worlds was...hard to watch. I’m really hoping this year is different and is more like 2017 Worlds, which was, apparently, epic. 

Here’s what I’m thinking about men’s and ladies singles, with the disclaimer that for both, I could not tell you who I think has a clear shot at the World title. 

Ladies

Podium I want: Kaori, Rika, Alina (in any order.) Podium we will probably get: Rika (gold), Alina (silver), and...this third spot really is up for grabs. I want the Americans to get three spots back. 

Ladies is such a deep field, and there’s so many factors that could make it go any which way. The Japanese ladies and the Russian ladies haven’t had a proper chance to compete against each other since the Grand Prix Final.The Japanese ladies have been pretty consistent - it’s really just a matter of if Kaori doesn’t have any issues, if Rika nails her triple axels and doesn’t give in to the pressure, and if Satoko is also consistent. 

On the Russian ladies side, Alina should be on the podium. She’s had a lot of difficulties this season with her long program and last year’s Worlds was...not great, but she’s still done well in competitions and of the three Russian ladies being sent, she’s the one with the highest chance of winning. Sofia I think will do well because she’s so consistent and the only issue I can see is if the pressure gets to her. Evgenia is a wildcard. She’s been doing better, but she has to be the best she’s been all season for Worlds and there’s a lot more pressure. I really hope she does well!  

Elizabet Tursynbaeva has a quad! She could be the first senior lady to land one in competition, which would be cool! I’m not sure if it’s enough to get her on the podium, but even with a fall she did for Four Continents, so it’s possible. The American ladies: I want them both to do well. I really love Mariah’s content and want to see it performed to its full potential, and I think Bradie could place quite high if she skates clean. 

Men

Podium I want: Shoma (gold), Yuzuru (silver), Nathan (bronze). Podium we will probably get: ???? 

It’s hard to say when Yuzuru has been out for most of the season but has a record of strong come-backs, Shoma has been having a lot of trouble but has managed to do well despite ankle issues, and Nathan has been at college and hasn’t had the chance to train as much as, say, last year. What I really want is for all of them to skate clean or almost-clean, so that it becomes a really tight competition. That would be thrilling to watch. 

I think Yuzuru and Shoma have the edge in the sense that they’re both competing in Japan, so they have the support of the home crowd (although that could be more pressure), and they can motivate each other to do well. Shoma in particular seems to take a lot of inspiration from Yuzuru, which will make him more competitive. And I’m sure they both feel that way about Nathan. All three of them can go any way, which is what makes it so fun to watch. 

Not that the other men don’t have a shot. Boyang has gotten so much better since the beginning of the season and was silver at Four Continents, and if he’s clean he is also in the mix. I have no reason to believe he won’t be. Mikhail is kind of a wildcard because when he’s clean he can, I think, easily be on the podium, but he’s had so many struggles this season that I don’t know. Especially with the long program. Carmen is cursed. 

Other men I am excited to see: Kevin Aymoz has such a unique and fascinating style of skating and I really want to see him again (and I’m glad we do get to see him again.) Matteo Rizzo has done so well this season, especially since he changed his long program to Queen. And he’s hitting his quads! Jason Brown’s programs are wonderful and even if he doesn’t hit his quad, he’s so enjoyable to watch and his presence in general is so positive. Keegan has a similar presence to Jason, and it’s fun to watch him skate. 

Overall there’s a lot of good stuff to see, but I’m apprehensive because of last year. It seems like most people are on an upward trajectory, though, so I hope that holds true and Worlds is where they peak, and then we can see a really thrilling and fun competition!  

[anewbeginningagain]

Sending J/R over W/M is mega stupid because from what we've seen this season from the other teams, the absolute highest J/R or W/M could place (if clean and if everyone's healthy in Beijing) is 10th. Let's say K/F aren't 100% by then and J/R outscore them, that's 9th place at best. Sure, W/M could be 10th-12th. But J/R may be unable to perform the elements physically and end up 18th or WD or some shit, which I don't see happening to W/M. Skate Canada is cutting off its nose to spite its face.

Realistically if we are talking about the individual event even clean J/R are likely to finish behind the three Russians, two Chinese, Japanese, and two US teams. Then it's between them and MT/M. If they are not clean I can see the teams from Spain, Georgia, Italy and maybe even the German and Hungarian teams overtake them if they are clean. W/M wouldn't have placed top 10, somewhere between 11-15 is most realistic. That being said, is a finish of 3 spots higher really that big of a win for skate Canada?

J/R and W/M have about the same floor when it comes to flopping but J/R have a higher ceiling scoring-wise, that being said the likelihood of them hitting that ceiling ain't great at all and that ceiling as I said won't likely translate to much in terms of placement.

The bigger question for me is what will happen with the team event, Ladies won't be split for sure (obviously), men might get split because Keegan is not that likely to survive 4 programs in like 5 days, G/P will do the RD for sure but I wonder if they will do the FD as well or they would rather not risk it against the chosen US team until the individual event and they'd give it to Canadanes. If they will then only one pairs team is in and you have to wonder who will get it, if they'll split both teams (J/R and MT/M are a risk but I will for sure give the FS to MT/M).

Two last observations:

J/R will come in hungry af after everyone has been telling them they didn't earn it so it will be interesting to see if it will make them flop or skate better.

Skate Canada not giving at least Worlds to W/M is criminal.

[angstymarshmallow]

Downpour of Doubt - Seth x MC

[A little note: I’ve been sort of idly working on this on and off because I needed some more Seth in my life. It isn’t much, but thanks for reading if you do!]

[Summary: When Seth starts having doubts of his own capabilities as a comedian, Keegan (MC) makes it her mission to cheer him up].

[Word Count: 2776]

“That’s it!” Keegan declares, barging into Seth’s apartment after finding the front door unlocked.

Seth nearly jumps out his skin; clutching a hand to his chest as he waits for the rate of his heart to return to normal. “Christ Iowa!” He hisses, shooting a glare at the sound of her approach. “Give me a warning next time, will you?” He mutters darkly, “if you keep doing that we’re going to need a bell.”

“You’re the one always leaving your door unlocked.” She reminds him, rolling her eyes. “Never mind that.” Waving a hand dismissively, she gives him a pointed stare. “We’re going out.”

“We’re going out?” He echoes dimly. Moving to pause the movie he’s spent the last half an hour watching, he glances back up at her in time to meet the determined glint in her eyes.

“Yes! You’ve been stuck in here all day, and don’t think I haven’t noticed you barely leaving your apartment lately.”

“I’ve been busy with – ” at the sight of her raising her eyebrows, Seth switches gears. “…it’s just I’d rather bury myself under mountains of blankets right now than go outside for anything that isn’t junk food…or beer.” As though to emphasize his point, he grabs one of his blankets and pulls it over his head.

“Aww, c’mon Seth.”

“No.” There’s no mistaking the sudden amusement he hears inside her tone. “I’m glad one of us can find my circumstances so hilarious.” He grumbles.

There’s suddenly a slight dip in the sofa, and before Seth can protest he feels an abrupt tug of his blanket.

He tugs harder.

Keegan presses on. Curling her fingers around the soft fabric, she tugs enough until she’s able to scoot underneath the other half of the blanket. Her heart drops a little at the sight of him; his back turned towards her seconds before he shifts his weight a little to stare frustratingly at a spot near the bottom of his feet.

“Seth…” Her voice has grown soft, and Seth feels some of the tension in the air fizzle out when her breath tickles the back of his neck. “Don’t you remember how great your last set was?” Wrapping her arms around him, Keegan nuzzles into him despite his rigid posture. “You were so awesome,” she rubs soothing strokes over wiry back muscles. “And everyone loved you.”

Seth closes his eyes for a moment, allowing the cool touch of her fingers to wash over him. They take away some of his frustrations, his anxiety and it isn’t long before he’s leaning into her touch.

He doesn’t want to admit it at first but Iowa’s right. He remembers how nervous he was; the excitement that made nearly every cell in his body tremble with fervor until he started speaking. Until every word he uttered changed and the tension he once had in his shoulders, relaxed the more he spoke. The pub became alight, alive with smiles and the sound of laughter flooding his ears. He remembers the eyes of nearly every person in that room on him, their spark of content as he went over through well-delivered lines – and most importantly, he remembers his eyes colliding with hers and the smile she wore felt better than any form of encouragement he’d ever had.

Although these thoughts are comforting, they don’t make him forget his current predicament. The reason why he’s barely left his home since he started. He can’t push past his uneasiness every time he glances at his newest routine. Something about it isn’t right. Something about it isn’t him. And now that he has the Comedy Depot lined up – everything has to be perfect.

“That was then and this is now.” He mumbles shortly. But he doesn’t push her away, instead he leans enough until she shifts into the couch and splays her arms across his chest. Her legs trap him from moving. “And now no matter how much I run this stupid routine, it doesn’t feel good enough.” I don’t feel good enough. “Even Rocket hasn’t been here in weeks. That’s how I know it’s bad.”

There’s a moment pause where Seth fears she’s going to give up on him. It’s foolish because she never has before but he can’t help feeling this way. They’ve barely started seeing each other more seriously, and the fine line for him has already blurred. He just wants to shower himself one giant pity party - and only invite her so long as she doesn’t make fun of him for it.

He feels her fingers drift to his chin, coaxing him to look up at her. Her eyes stare down at him, and as beautiful as they are in their sympathetic state; what really catches his attention is the sincerity behind them. The burning light that makes him think it’s okay to rely on her.

“I’m going to tell you the same thing you told me months ago.” Keegan mutters, interrupting his thoughts.

Seth blinks at her.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” At his sudden frown, she chuckles lightly. “It’s okay to feel that way sometimes.” She rubs her thumb absently across his smooth chin, distracting him. “I would be kinda worried if you weren’t freaking out even a little bit.”

“I’m so glad we’re having this conversation -”

“And,” Keegan interjects, poking his cheek. “it’s normal to feel that way.” Her breath fans over him as soon as she sighs. “I get like that too on set, sometimes.” She admits. “I mean my co-stars are Victoria Fontaine and Matt Rodriguez?” She makes a helpless gesture in the air, “how can I not feel anything but inadequate sometimes when I’m surrounded by such talent?”

Seth makes a single noise of protest. He hates when she sells herself short. “But you’re you –”

“And you’re you.” She repeats, cupping his face. “And you’re good at that.”

“I don’t really see how that makes any sense – oww!”

She pinches his cheeks. “Stop interrupting me,” she chides. “And stop looking down at yourself too. You’re Seth Levine. Adorable geek. Hilarious comedian. Handsome gentlemen.” Her grin makes his stomach flutter, “I could go on and on but you get the idea.”

He smiles back, suddenly feeling more at ease than he has in weeks. “No, I really don’t. Please go on.”

Playfully, she flicks his ear. “I’m not going to feed your ego.”

“You mean the little one I have?”

She laughs. “There isn’t anything little about you.” She drops a meaningful glance down the length of his pants.

His cheeks grow hot.

She leans forward enough to press her lips to his forehead. “Now can we stop this little pity party and do something fun already?”

“Well, I don’t know about you. But this right here – being here with you, this is pretty much the highlight of my week. Definitely, the most fun I’ve had in awhile.”

Shaking her head, Keegan laughs against him. “Like I said, adorable geek.”

Before she’s able to straighten herself up again, his hands extends to hold her in place. Inclining his head forward, he closes the inches between them and kisses her. He expects the flutter in his stomach, his sudden chest expanding with the desire to switch their positions and pin her underneath him, but what he doesn’t expect is feeling her recede away from him.

“Not quite what I had in mind.” She says breathlessly.

He moves closer, “but something you’re definitely thinking about now.”

“Tempting.” Keegan reprimands him with a scowl, cheeks flushing as she untangles herself from his curious fingers. She ignores his pout as she helps to haul him on his feet. “But we’re going out for some fresh air.”

“Ah.” He pretends to think about it. “And I take it by we - attendance is necessary.”

Shoving him playfully, she laughs. “Yes. Staying inside here for so long isn’t good for you. You gotta have a bunch of screws loose by now. You need human contact. You need fresh air.”

“Outside is dangerous.” He complains, “it’s got traffic, lines ups and strangers that try to make small talk.”

“You love small talk.” She chides him.

“Only for good source material.” Suddenly grinning, Seth makes a show of drawing her attention back to him by pressing himself intimately closer to her. “You can’t tell me you aren’t the least bit interested in staying in with me.” As though for emphasis, he plants a string of kisses down her neck.

Keegan visibly shivers. Her eyes do a little quick once over at him before she takes everal several paces back. Nose wrinkling, she smirks. “Not even a little bit. Right now, it’s a hard pass for me.” She shoves him playfully, “now go shower before I change my mind and leave.”

Laughing, he holds up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. Can I ask where?”

She jerks her chin in the direction of his hall. “Nope, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you now, would it?”

He stops for a moment. Backpedalling back to her and he whirls around. His mouth slides open then just as quickly shuts back.

“What?” She can’t help but ask before he disappeared completely down the hall.

“Nothing. I was just thinking my girlfriend’s sucha smartass.” He calls behind his shoulder.

“Oh, please you love it!” She yells back at him.

The only response is the sound of his door sliding open then closing as Keegan settles inside his couch, waiting for him to get back to her.

-

Seth runs his routine by Keegan with several inches between them. It isn’t nearly enough distance to stop them from reaching each out to one another every so often as though some unforeseeable force keeps pulling them back. Nor is it enough to pause the subtle glances that they exchange when they think the other one isn’t looking.

Although he never asks, he takes her hand; entwining their fingers together with familiar ease. Like little strains of threads that make each other whole – its comforting to keep her hand tucked inside his. He gives it an affectionate squeeze until they turn into another street. They idle in chit-chat and make a point of commenting on anything eye-catching as they reach the busier section of their city.

The street is cluttered with people at this time of the day. Amassed for its famous sightings of culture – with street performers dazzling crowds; they spend some time to join in Saturday afternoon festivities.

An hour later and they’ve nearly lost track of time. Seth’s hand tightens around Keegan as they fumble through downtown traffic. Shoulders brush by, slamming into them so quickly that Keegan swears if it isn’t for how closely they’ve kept together; she would’ve lost him in the crowd a long time ago. After stopping for street meat, they continued down a path blending into another neighbourhood as Seth points out familiar-looking buildings.

“Okay,” Keegan mumbles, interrupting him. “I see what you’re saying about your routine.” She takes a large bite of her gyro. “Now that I’ve got time to think about it.”

“Yeah?” He braces for her answer, sneaking in a glance.

“And it’s good.” She bumps his shoulder, “it’s really good. I got a few solid laughs,” she shakes her head. “Even the stories with me– how do you make them sound so funny?” she scrunches up her nose as he laughs. “I swear I’m not that hilarious.”

“Nah you really aren’t Iowa,” he shakes his head, grinning until she tries to pry her hand away. His tighten around hers, as he pulls her closer to his side. “But you definitely have your moments.”

“Nice save.” She scoffs, rolling her eyes.

Although at the corner of his eyes, he catches her smile before it disappears.

“S,o the Comedy Depot – and then the world?” She asks casually, bringing her free hand to point at him.

“Naturally. I figured I could take the world by storm at the rate I’m going.” He replies without missing a beat. “Shows across the state maybe then finally, world domination?”

Her smile wavers, “I think you’re missing a couple extra steps there.”

“I like to improvise.”

They stop by the front of a bench. Keegan pulls her hand away to stretch, yawning before wiping the sweat from her brow.

“Late night, yesterday? You seem a little tired.” His slight frown distracts her.

“Yeah, I was up running new lines.” She sighs, “I swear sometimes I almost miss Markus. Despite how sporadic he was - ”

“And crazy,” he intercedes, “you forgot to mention crazy.”

“And crazy,” she chuckles, “he made me laugh and he does have a certain…charism about him.”

“I think you’re being a little generous.” Seth leans forward, lips quirking into a smirk as he shakes his head. “Not saying he doesn’t have talent it’s just –”

“He’s hard to work with, yeah that’s what everyone says and they’re right. I guess…I’m mentioning because I do feel a little lost.” She admits, drawing his attention back to her with the flip of her hair. “I keep thinking if things had went down differently before –”

“No use in dwelling on the past right?” Seth interrupts abruptly. He doesn’t like talking about the past; he’s more of a in-the-moment kind of guy. Taking her hand into his, he gives it an affectionate squeeze. Staring into her eyes gets pretty hazardous for his health for awhile. Already, he feels the erratic racing of his heartbeat. “You’re amazing Keegan.” He mumbles seriously, “if anyone can figure this all out -you can.”

A smile lifts her cheeks as she closes the rest of the distance between them. “Thank you,” she murmurs back against his lips. “Thanks for believing in me.” She kisses him then, feeling his warmth spilling from him and into her own system; making her sigh in pleasure underneath her breath.

A soft drop of water hits her cheek, momentarily distracting her until he deepens the kiss. It’s all she can do but moan inside her throat as her arms loop around his neck.  

Another droplet of water, then another. Until Keegan can almost smell the fresh downpour descending from the sky. She doesn’t care and neither does Seth.

Their hands have tangled into each other’s hair – hers’ gripping his tighter than the nonexistence space now between them as Seth presses her against the bench. It isn’t long until the rain soaks them and soon they’ve reluctantly spring apart from each other.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, trapped inside a daze, before wrenching their gazes away to blink above them. The blue skies have rapidly been replaced by gray ones and the sound of thunder finally spurs them on their feet.

Squealing, Keegan helplessly holds up her free hand to cover her face as the rain continues to fall around them. She tugs Seth forward, “we’ve got to find shelter somewhere!” She grumbles. As the more time that passes, the more she thinks this rain isn’t going anywhere.

Together they race across the street; eyes scanning quickly for a sign of a shelter until they’ve found one near the closest transit stop. It doesn’t take long before Keegan starts giggling, as she keeps space with Seth’s long strides.

Seth laughs too, counting the sudden weather change as seriously bad timing. Once they’ve found a shelter high enough for them to huddle into, he rubs the cold out of her hands by placing them between his. “You neglected to mention that fresh air you were talking about came with a warning label.” He pokes his free hand absently above them.

Lips twisting into a smile, Keegan scoots closer until she’s able to do the same. Rubbing his hands with fervor between her fingers, she inhales his familiar musky scent. When she’s satisfied enough, she drops her head to his shoulder as his arm snakes around her waist.

Together, they watch the rain pouring around them in silence.

Usually, whenever the rain catches her at a disadvantage all Keegan thinks about is getting out of there as soon as possible. With her clothes soaked and nearly chilling as she shivers inside his arms, she should be more concerned about it. But she isn’t. This time she wants to spend as much time out here as possible, waiting it out with him. Smiling, she pulls his lips to meet hers. “Still worth it.” 

-  

[whatsinthecanister-blog]

Celsius

(A/N: I apologize if this isn’t what the OR wanted. :/

RELATIONSHIP: Frost X M!OC(?)

TAGS/WARNINGS:

-Friendliness

-Friendly Conversation

-Attraction

-Budding Relationship?

-Fluff

-Lonely Frost)

Frost silently observed the newcomer from her spot on the couch. The rec-room was crowded, most likely since all of the other operators were present in order to welcome their newest addition: Keegan Grady, though almost everybody called him by his nickname "Rocket". Montagne had been the first to call him that, the moment he'd found out the newcomer was equipped with a MK-2000 durasteel jetpack. Doc had latched onto it after that, regardless of Glaz's complaints that it was too 'boring'.

Sighing softly as she swirled her drink around, eyes lazily following the movement of the liquid, Frost tried to keep from staring. Keegan was good looking, with sandy hair and eyes that were nearly a pastel green, he had a nice smile and even better laugh. A bit loud, she assumed he'd be most similar to Bandit in attitude, though he hopefully didn't start pranking people like the German did.

"Hey!"

Frost barely had time to look up when a weight dropped down onto the couch to her left, startling the Canadian. "One to make an entrance, aren't you?" Frost questioned quickly when she realized who it was, feeling a little awkward.

"Always. Needs to be all levels of impressive, or all levels of terrible. No between, either extreme makes me happy," Keegan responded as he took a look around the room. "So... How long have you been on Rainbow? I mean, I've heard of you guys, but I was always most interested in you."

Heart fluttering slightly, Frost cleared her throat. "Oh, about three years now." She answered calmly, deciding to ignore that last bit for now.

"Nice, nice." Keegan nodded, head tilting a little as Frost tipped her head back to drain the rest of her cup's contents. "So, what's your name? Like I know everyone calls you Frost, but what's your actual name?" The older Canadian shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "Sorry If I seem like I'm prying-"

"Tina Lin Tsang," Frost interrupted, immediately kicking herself afterwards. She liked Keegan. Liked him a lot. Sure, he'd only been around a couple days and this was the first time they'd really talked, but she felt some sort of connection to him. A connection she hadn't even felt with Buck.

"Cool."

Silence fell then, Frost shifting on the couch so she could better face the sandy-haired man, offering a small smile. "And you're Keegan Grady, right?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation from getting awkward.

"Heh, yeah," Keegan gave a half-salute and a mischievous smile. "Let me guess what you're thinking," he stated, leaning closer as he squinted at the dark haired woman, Frost frowning in confusion and leaning away with a snort of amusement. "What?"

"It's a girl's name."

"What?" Frost questioned, shaking her head though she couldn't shake her own smile now. "Wasn't thinking that at all."

Keegan shrugged his shoulders. "Worth a shot. Now what were you really thinking?"

Tilting her head a little, Frost regarded the other for a few moments before turning away to take another sip of her drink. "Was just thinking that it's nice to have another Canadian on the team," she answered honestly.

Grinning, Keegan leaned over to slip the glass out of her hand, the sandy-haired man standing now. "I'll just refill this for you," he announced, waving a hand to stop Frost from protesting, "no bother."

Frost shook her head and leaned back in her seat to watch the other wander away, the slim figure soon vanishing behind some of the other soldiers. Alone now, she had a few minutes to wonder why the newest Canadian was being so friendly... Sure, most of Team Rainbow were friendly with one another, but there were the "clicks" and groups made up of specific people, so why had Keegan sought her out? She was usually alone, finding it easier to focus on the current task or assignments, but none of the others had actually went out of their way to attempt to make conversation or persuade her to join in on things. Not that she blamed them... She was a bit standoffish if she did say so herself. Not that she was complaining either! She was thrilled that Keegan was expressing an interest in carrying on a conversation with her! It was just... odd. Maybe because it was something she was enjoying but just inwardly expected it to not matter in the long run. Once Keegan found his way into one of the groups.

"Something wrong?"

Keegan's voice broke through Frost's thoughts, the dark-haired woman looking up to notice him looking down at her with an odd expression, brows knit together in confused concern.

"No! No, just... brooding." Frost quickly answered with a shrug, accepting the offered drink with a quiet thanks, offering an apologetic smile. "It's something I do often." She explained, voice attempting to take on an amused air.

"Haha!" Keegan laughed. "You just had the most intense look on your face, but I couldn't really be sure of which emotion to take it as." The older Canadian answeredw itha  snort, dropping himself down on the couch beside Frost again.

Frost lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug, silently regarding the other for a few moments before speaking up again. "Thought you'd be more interested in conversing with the others. Y'know, the fun guys." She finally admitted, motioning with her head towards where Tachanka was loudly guffawing at whatever joke Jackal had made, Echo's expression making it clear he was on the receiving end of it.

Keegan turned his head to idly watch for a moment before shaking his head and turning back to Frost, head tilted slightly. "What makes you think it's not fun right over here?" He questioned suddenly, the woman finding herself at a loss of how to respond. "Just... Don't want you to feel obliged to talk to me is all."

"From what I recall, I remember coming here of my own accord, no blackmail or anything involved." Keegan answered, his words drawing the tiniest upwards curl of Frost's lips. "But we can make it better."

Frost frowned now, unsure of how to take that one statement. "How so?"

"Well, you could tell me what you're "welcome mats" are made of."

A coy smile found its way onto Frost's lips now, the dark-haired woman pushing herself to her feet. "How about I show you?"

[doof-doofblog]

"He Didn't Do Anything!"

Monday 13th April 2020

Good evening folks! How has your week been? Hope everyone is keeping safe and trying to keep to the rules as much as possible, I know it's been difficult, I myself have been struggling being away from my loved ones. This horrible situation that's happening with the country now, there has to be an end to it, right? Hopefully the end will come soon if we all keep doing what we're doing! I apologise that this post is late, I was up early for work this morning and decided to have an early night last night, I only caught up on last night's episode now ... I'll do another post tomorrow for tonight's episode! I'm sure you've been missing your daily dose of EastEnders? I sure am! We're back with a new week, so lets jump right into it!

There's quite a fair bit to cram into this post ... let's start with Kush and Tommy. We knew there was going to be an upcoming storyline to do with Tommy while his Mum, Kat, is away. Kush is looking after the boys while Kat is aware dealing with some family business, we assume. So it looks as if Tommy isn't doing too well at school, his report isn't the best it could be. Something is obviously affecting the poor boy. When Kush caught him on the staircase and he said "I hate my life!" ... I just felt like saying "Awww poor Tommy!" ... but honestly, no little boy should have to feel that they hate their life. It's true the poor boy has had it hard, both his Mum and Dad are off the scene. Michael Moon was his father and he was murdered. Alfie, who brought him up, is now off the scene and now his Mum has disappeared. The poor boy must feel like he's been left abandoned. Okay, he still has his brother's and step-sister Cherry, but it's not really the same is it? No wonder his school work isn't doing well. But I did have a theory, I have a feeling that that poor kid is being bullied. What else could the story-line be? A young child Tommy's age and being bulled, it can be a huge story-line ... bullying takes place every day, as Tommy said himself, school is the same every day! How will Kush be able to support the young child? Surely he'll have to inform Jean and Mo, if Tommy doesn't want his Mum to know, Kush is going to have to get other members of the family involved so they'll be able to support the young boy. Only thing is, is this story going to continue for when Kat returns? Will this story-line bring back Kat, perhaps along with Stacey? I'm looking forward to seeing what it could be that is upsetting Tommy, plus i'm looking forward to seeing how Kush will cope with the information.

Can we just talk about how cute Jean is? Honestly, she one of my favourite characters, always has been! Gillian Wright is just fantastic at her portrayal as Jean Slater. It's so lovely to see Jean being all smiley and enjoying the fact she has beaten cancer and that her hair is now growing back! It's fantastic she's having the confidence to take it all in and walk proudly in her stride as her hair grows back! The little funeral wig party she had with Shirley and Mo was hilarious! I love the friendship between Shirley and Jean, from the very beginning, it's been a special one! Shirley has always been there for Jean whenever she has needed her, it's a friendship I love seeing on-screen! Does anyone else agree? And yea ... Shirley with long hair! Haha! Not sure what you guys think, but she should stick with the hair style she's got right now?!

Okay does anyone notice a bit if flirtation happening between Chantelle and Kheerat?! Do they have a history, or was it Jags she had a bit of history with?! Did she mention she knew Kheerat at college? But there have a few times there have been hints of flirtation between the two, don't you think? Chantelle is now working for the Panesar's, will things lead to another? Considering how Gray has been treating his wife like a punching bag the past few months, is Kheerat going to be the one that Chantelle finally tells? Is he the one who's going to save her from Gray? I feel there's a lot more still to come from these two, whether it be in a more romantic involvement or whether it's just purely friendship. What do you guys think? Do you agree that there may be something between them? Leave me a comment or message me, I'd love to hear your thoughts!  

I just want to mention the scenes we saw of Phil and Callum, wasn't it just amazing to see Phil accept Callum? How he said that Callum was right for Ben, it's something that really made my heart soar. It's amazing the long road Phil has taken over the years to accept his son's sexuality. But to even praise his son's boyfriend and to give him his blessing and making sure what he said wasn't homophobic, it speaks volumes for Phil's character! He's always been known as the hard man, but he has soft spot and his family means everything to him, regardless of their sexuality. But part of me, is thinking, how is Ben going to react knowing Callum has spoken to his Dad? When Phil realised that Ben's hearing may never come back and that it may be the new norm for Ben, it's something that's going to take its toll for everyone involved, especially Ben! But the scenes between Steve McFadden and Tony Clay were beautiful! I'm looking forward to seeing these two join forces to help Ben in his time of trauma.  

Ooooh, I didn't like the look of that Michaela when she first arrived as was watching Whitney from a distance! I knew she was going to try to manipulate her into telling her what happened to Leo. Thank God for Ruby and Gray, otherwise god knows what might've happened between Whitney and Michaela. Is what Whitney told Michaela going to be brought up against her in court? Might it have been something she shouldn't have done as it may make her trail worse. Could she be sent down for murder, will Michaela twist things and make Whitney be shown as a murder, when really it was all in self defence?! Who else is looking forward to seeing Whitney's story-line progress? Let's hope Gray will be able to help Whitney as the court will find her Not Guilty of murder!

Okay, so is Vinny trying to prove himself as a DJ to get a job at Ruby's? Well it seemed to work! However, we all knew his party was going to cause trouble ... a party never really ends well on EastEnders does it?! Lets be honest?! I found it good in the sense that it gave him a chance to prove himself and do something he enjoys, not having to work for his Mum ... who he really isn't happy with at the moment, which you can understand. Does anyone else think Vinny has a thing for Dotty? I do!! Dotty may be getting on with her own thing with Bobby and Peter, but little to her knowledge, from the sidelines, I believe Vinny will be watching and longing to be with her! That's what i'm guessing anyway! So we have to focus on a few couples who were at Vinny's party, firstly Iqra and Ash. I've heard rumours that apparently Ash is going to start showing a darker side to her character? Could that mean that she starts being controlling over Iqra? Could she start being abusive? Who knows? Ash didn't want to go Vinny's party to begin with, but Iqra kinda begged her to ... Ash kept bad-mouthing her Mum much to Iqra's disappointment, but she didn't seem to care. I feel there could be something dark about to happen within their relationship, whether Ash turns abusive or manipulative towards Iqra, remains to be seen.

The second couple who attended Vinny's party, even though they arrived late, were Keegan and Tiffany. Before we focus on how the episode ended, Tiffany and Keegan were again the main focus of the episode I felt. Keegan feeling down about not being able to get a loan, and Tiffany clearly showing signs of frustration, trying her best to support her husband but not really getting any support back in return. I feel for Tiffany at the moment, she's trying her best to support her husband but every time something happens, Keegan goes all cold with her and says she'll never understand, which is a bit unfair! However, tonight, they had a little bit of good news, even though it was short lived ... Keegan got his loan from Kheerat, much to Tiffany's help after speaking with Chantelle. But that soon rose Keegan's spirits and the young couple were enjoying life and looking towards a brighter future with Keegan's growing business, only for it all to be taken away again after Keegan was arrested for something he didn't do! During Vinny's party, the police were called and the mob that crowded the police cars, someone body threw a brick at their windscreen, which saw Keegan get the blame! Fans will know that Keegan hasn't had much luck when it comes with the police, for some reason, he seems to get confronted and searched and treated poorly by the cops, for which Keegan feels is because of his skin colour. Is this going to be something that pushes Keegan to the edge and will he decide to stand up for what he believes in? Will he be able to fight for his rights? I'm intrigued to what is going to happen with Keegan's story, is it going to be a continues circle of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being confronted by police, or will it eventually lead to him taking action after how he's treated?! What do you guys think of Keegan's story? How do you think it will conclude? I'm really looking forward to hearing all of your theories and thoughts, please feel free to ask me any questions you may like, I'd love to answer them!

Thank you guys for taking your time to read. I apologise once again for it being late, I'm looking forward to writing about tonight's episode, tomorrow! Enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll be back tomorrow! Look after yourself everyone, keep safe and we will get through this together! xXx

[tslasvegas]

Episode 9: “Dear Diary, it’s me, Jaiden” - Jaiden

I feel like I've had a breakthrough. I just survived my first merge vote of the game and I wasn't even having a meltdown. That's already miles and miles ahead of my last Tumblr Survivor season where I made the merge. Although I don't think my position in this game is locked yet, I feel pretty good about where I stand. I hope that the Touchy Subjects answers reveal my hopes that I'm not a threat to anybody and that people don't believe the common idea is that I'm shitty or too perfect or something. If that makes any sense. Basically I just want to know that I'm doing okay here so far. I feel good about my chances at that but we need some work to be done before I can say that for certain. I hate seeing Andrew leave because like I said he's someone that I wanted to work with, but I have to believe what people said about him being an over-player, a mess, etc. and just stick to my guns that I made the right call here. I kind of wanted to see if Joey would play his legacy for Ben but I'm glad I held back on that because I hope the legacy will come back in the future to save me. I don't have a lot of confidence when it comes to the literal minefield of idols and nullifiers out there. As long as I continue convincing people I'm on their side, or that I'm not the enemy at least, those things won't get used on me. Right now that we're on the jury, I NEED to focus on my jury management first and foremost. I am super okay with playing my strategic and social game the way I've been doing it thus far (obv learning from past mistakes.....) but the killer to my game 99% of the time I've made it deep in these things is how I get that jury to feel about me. Protect myself in game, but also set up a jury of folks who feel like they can trust me and only me. And.. hopefully some day I'll blindside Joey and he'll give me his legacy advantage.

...five seconds later

Tbh I hope that Jake reads this after the season and realizes that I never once at this point in the merge find him annoying. Somehow in his own mind he thinks hes like, the worst person ever and I'm trying to tell him he's not, he's great, we have a lot of work ahead of, etc and he's not buying it at all. Idk if this is him trying to emotionally manipulate me or not, but.. like.. thats my gameplan tf! 

So Steph, Pat and Jeff were left out of the vote. But Jaiden said it was supposed to be unanimous. That means that Keegan, Liv and Joey purposely left them out. I don't understand why they would intentionally make enemies. Better for us I suppose. We just got to keep our ragtag group of 6 together: me, John, Jake, Kailyn, Jaiden and Ben.

So the merge vote was quite interesting. With this being a 13 person merge, I tend to believe it is best to play a tad conservatively early on. This made it to where I figure the OG Palazzo would get a good 1-2 rounds of things their way before Keegan, Jake, and I mounted our little rebellion. As it turns out, I woke up to Jake and Keegan wanting me on call because Andrew was being as messy as he was on our swap tribe. Jake said that Andrew confirmed the OG Palazzo chat, something Keegan and I had already did, and that Keegan threw Jake's name out in said chat and Andrew shot it down. In reality, Andrew is actually the person that threw Jake out. He threw Jake's name out first on our swap tribe and he threw it out first here. I am really unsure what game Andrew really wanted to play beyond making sure he had options outside of the OG Palazzo. So from this point, we went around and got a feel for who we could pull. Joey had already expressed to Keegan that he felt nervous about there being a massive numerical OG Palazzo majority. The game is better for all of us if it is a bad more fluid. We ended up kicking Andrew to the curb in a 9-4 vote with Steph, Jeff, Pat, and Andrew voting in the minority. We talked in the OG Palazzo chat and those left out seemed to understand once we explained some of Andrew's missteps in PM's. This is good because I want some form of OG Palazzo to be there if it becomes something that I need down the line. At this current moment, I have heard no one bring up the super idol that is in Keegan and I's possession so I can only assume that we got lucky and no one actually checked the vault after we grabbed it. This could be due to lack of chips at the time or people just forgetting to. So for now, I shall assume everyone thinks that the super idol is vibing on the idol board, which is very good for me. Typically with a super idol, it would be super easy for you to get voted out the round after saving yourself with it. That is why I would like for it to get as deep into this game as possible. At the end of the day, the best part about having it is knowing its whereabouts and not having someone else possess it. So after TC, Jake, Keegan, and I hopped on call to celebrate. Jake revealed that Joey offered a 4 to him and Jake said I am good and should be included. This is how many current alliances are looking: - F2: Keegan and I - Three of Us: Keegan, Jake, and I - Meninism: Keegan, Jake, Joey, Jaiden, and I - OG Palazzo: Keegan, Joey, Jeff, Pat, Steph, and I This makes it so that the only people I do not have some sort of alliance with are Ben, Kailyn, John, and Xavier. I like these people but that is kind of how the game is shaking out currently. Ideally, I want Ben out next as it would allow my 3 to fade into the background and let what should be a consensus boot happen. After TC, multiple people expressed that Ben hadn't been very social. Now the current challenge is Touchy Subjects and I hope I do not get too many positive ones just because they could result in me being targeted. I think I am in a good spot to where I am doing well socially and having one on one's with everyone in some capacity, but I am hoping I am not perceived as any sort of power player at the moment. That fucked me in Trinity: Deception Island and I would not like for that to fuck me over here. I do think I have the connections to make it through for a little while. I see a path to the end but as I get closer I will have to evaluate whether or not that is a winning path to the end. Below is a short synopsis of my one on ones with people: - Steph: like nothing because I have found her super dry premerge - Jaiden: we have been talking about reading and writing and books and it is a good time - Jeff: he is a king and we have been talking about theatre and work and past games and shit - Jake: not as much one on one stuff due to our calls with Keegan - Keegan: not a lot but I have been updating him prior to updating the 3 chat - Kailyn: college and majors and such - Xavier: not a whole lot but he seems really sweet and messaged me "i am glad we voted together :)" after TC and I found that super wholesome - Ben: he has not responded in a bit but he wanted to strategize for the idol hunt with me - Joey: a decent bit of memes back and forth - Pat: lots of small talk but we have had some good convos and he seems to understand the Andrew move - John: we talked a bit about Atomic Nova Scotia Overall, I think I am doing well but not overtly so. This is ideal when we are still at Final 12 I think.

I think Palazzo will vote out Stephanie :) They hate women

Wow. I'm writing this after immunity results. I'm kind of just gonna word vomit. I checked off individual immunity from my checklist. And it's this challenge. The one that eliminated me in 26. The one that crushed 16 year old Jake's self confidence, and made him never want to play again. I got Hero, want to win, funniest, and stop talking which is kind of my favorite. I never ever thought I'd come back after 73 seasons, win THIS challenge, and in an individual setting. I changed history a little bit. And now I'm in the final 11. Ben is the easy vote this round, personally I'd love to see Stephanie go so that I can have Xavier to myself. But I can't push too hard. I controlled last vote, let someone else have a turn in the sun. I get to chill for once.

Now that’s character development!

Move now or lay low?

Final 12 feels pretty good, but final 11 will be so much better. If I make it through this vote, this will be the longest I’ve made it in a merge! And I’ll tie my placement with India :) Obviously I am still focused on my goal of making it thru til single digits, but I’m celebrating the small victories now so I don’t focus too hard on strategy that doesn’t need to take place this early. I feel like everyone is going to be looking at Ben as the dude they need to get rid of, so I won’t be surprised if he ends up going home. I don’t think that is the absolute worst thing for my game right now, but I’d prefer Stephanie or Xavier going before Ben at least for right now. I suppose I don’t have a huge voice on the subject but my pitch to keep Ben tomorrow is that it keeps Kailyn away from trying to work with Stephanie and Xavier who, frankly, need to be part of the next couple boots if we’re thinking big picture.. I don’t know if Joey will listen to me. Another option is maybe see if we can swing votes to Pat. Would anybody be upset to see Pat go home? Who knows. But basically my relationships are so little with Pat, Kailyn, Stephanie, and Xavier and idk what to do about them right now. I really just don’t wanna see those four link up and go super far because that would be kinda boring and really devastating LOL Another big win for me today was that I got put into the Meninist alliance with Jake, Joey, Livingston, and Keegan. While I’m not particularly fond of Livingston yet, we’ll see if he grows on me :) if not he can say adios. Since Joey is looking REALLY dangerous I’m gonna try to distance myself from him more and more right now. I don’t want people to think I’m drinking his kool aid bc I’m not, but I don’t want him to think I’ve turned on him bc I definitely want him to still give me that legacy advantage.. This morning I was thinking about how I can really give myself a better trajectory to the end and I’m a little bit confused still on what my winning conditions are for this game. What moves can I start making today that will set me up for six tribals down the line when surely the game is getting messy as fuck and I need protection from all sides? Maybe discrediting people like Xavier, Stephanie, Kailyn, Pat, and even Livingston aren’t the best things for me to do right now. I want to keep people who are in my corner safe such as Jeff, Keegan, Jake, and hopefully Joey but we’re almost to the halfway point of the game and it’s not going to be easy to keep everybody including myself safe. It’s no longer a question of whether I’ll win this or not. It’s a question of how I win. The merge is what counts I think.. everything before that was just the foundation for success. My foundation is cracked and not the best but I’m picking up the pace, I think. Whatever. If I have to use my social connections to Joey or John or whoever, I’m going to manipulate them to what benefits me. I don’t wanna go down that path of being messy but some day soon these ppl are gonna realize they should’ve never trusted me to begin with... because I’m coming for them.

Me almost forgetting confessionals were a thing. Ben is really popping off here today because he knows he's the boot. And now he has created a "straights alliance". This... is such a weird day. I wanna just go back to bed and not deal with all of this because it's weird.

6 years ago I wanted to pull of a move like this. I can get Ben to explode in main chat and with everyone. Pick fights, freak out, tank people’s games, just be a monster. And without anyone knowing, I’ll give him my safety without power. Idols will be flushed, mass panic, and I have immunity so I’m just chilling. We’re about to gamble baby.

Dear Diary, it’s me, Jaiden. Ben went off the deep end today and proved that he was a wasted spot on this season to begin with. This tribe is only big enough for one messy bitch, and not only that but I'm one big fat messy bitch, so sorry Ben but your time has come. 

I always get a bad feeling before tribal. I just hope Ben goes, and it’s easy and smooth and there’s no issues. 

I thought Kailyn was horny texting me, turns out she's just high........ Kailyn, 5:15 PM so is the vote tonight ben ?? i’m kind of [redacted] rn don’t know what’s going on 😳 Jaiden, 5:15 PM yeah :/ i feel bad bc ive grown to like ben but no one is offering any sort of alternative omg whats redacted Kailyn, 5:16 PM 😳😳😳 legally, it’s a joke 💖 Jaiden, 5:16 PM IM??? Kailyn, 5:16 PM JSDJKSKA Jaiden, 5:16 PM WHAT do u mean uimm i cant find the up emoji but like UP u know?? Kailyn, 5:16 PM SJHDJDKSLA yes 💖 Jaiden, 5:17 PM omg queeeeeeeen i love that for u JOKINGLY of course hehe Kailyn, 5:17 PM for the laugh 💖💖💖💖💖 thank u Jaiden, 5:17 PM god we stan r u gonna be at tribal?? Kailyn, 5:18 PM if i remember yes ofc 😇 me trying to do my french hw rn: 🧍‍♀️🧍🧍‍♂️ Jaiden, 5:19 PM HAHA good...i wanna see u pop awf hopefully HJAHHAHA i love the emojis Jaiden, Kailyn, 5:19 PM NSHDJSJAJ ofc 💖 Jaiden, 5:19 PM god im truely living my best life thru u rn tell me something french Kailyn, 5:22 PM je can’t remember a word of français rn bc i’m so h word 💖🙏🥵 Jaiden, 5:22 PM *HAPPY!!* Kailyn, 5:27 PM so true 😇 Jaiden, 5:27 PM wait i hope we mean the same h word im starting to think its not the one im thinking of....... Kailyn, 5:28 PM DJDJDJKSAKALKAK uhhh not me accidentally calling Xavier 😭😭😭😭 Jaiden, 5:29 PM DID HE ANSWER Kailyn, 5:30 PM YEAHHHSJDJSKLALA Jaiden, 5:31 PM WHAT HAPPENED IM FUIOHWODIH thats so fucking funy Kailyn, 5:31 PM NDDHJDKSS I SAW MY FACE POP UP ON THE SCREEN AND I WAS LIKE FUCK Jaiden, 5:31 PM H9uhiudheiuhfH Kailyn, 5:31 PM AND HE WAS LIKE. DID U CALL Jaiden, 5:31 PM VIDEO CALL????????????? Kailyn, 5:31 PM AND I WAS LIKE UHHH Jaiden, 5:31 PM IM DYING Kailyn, 5:32 PM AND HUNG UP Jaiden, 5:32 PM KAILYN Kailyn, 5:32 PM NSHDHDKSLSLA Jaiden, 5:32 PM IM LAUGHING SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCKIGNM HARD Kailyn, 5:32 PM ate some Good chocolate on this night 😤👼 Jaiden, 5:33 PM oh my GOD you're talking about the H i DIDNT THINK U WERE TAKING ABT Kailyn, 5:33 PM JDDHJDKSKALAP WHAT DID U THINK Jaiden, 5:33 PM maybe calling xavier wasnt on accident i THOUGHT you were talking about being high but UGHFWO)DJH CHOCOLATE IS AN APHRODISIAC Kailyn, 5:34 PM YEAH I AM WTF Jaiden, 5:34 PM WHAT] Kailyn, 5:34 PM DJJDDJKSLSPAPS NOOOOOO Jaiden, 5:34 PM I TOHUGHT Kailyn, 5:34 PM SHJDJDKDOEOEOWOWA Jaiden, 5:34 PM OMFG Kailyn, 5:34 PM BCUCNCNDODNDIEOEKOEW Jaiden, 5:34 PM WHEN U SAID CALLED XAVIER AND THE CHOCOLATE Kailyn, 5:34 PM WHAT THE FUCKODKSKSKS NOOOOOOO Jaiden, 5:34 PM I WAS LIKE WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING Kailyn, 5:34 PM DBHDJSKAKAKS BYE NOOOOOO DJDHDJSKALLAA Jaiden, 5:34 PM IM DETLTING MY FUCKING ACCOUNT IM DLEETING MY FUCKING ACCOT Kailyn, 5:34 PM HSHDHDKSKALA