#john glynn

[lgbtqreads]

October 2024 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction Author of the Lambda Literary finalist MY GOVERNMENT MEANS TO KILL ME Rasheed Newson’s THERE’S ONLY ONE SIN IN HOLLYWOOD, an examination of race, masculinity, and sexual politics within the glamorous world of old Hollywood, following a Korean War veteran turned backlot fixer and a closeted Black actor who dies at the height of his fame under suspicious circumstances, to Nadxieli…

[dreamconsumer]

"The Morning of Clontarf".

[shallowseeker]

Up and down the stairs; away and towards safety

"Run. Take your brother and go! Now, Dean!"

(The story is after us, Dean. It's after Sam.)

We hear the warning again later in the episode, with the overlaid message from John: "I can never go home" & "We're all in danger!"

And the thing is, they are in danger—all of them—from the story itself. The road, then, becomes armor, and motion becomes safety, insisting that they keep moving. Being in one place? That's what kills them. The idea of going off-road functions like a temptation, a lure. The safety of home is just an illusion.

///

Shelter is down

Even in the pilot, Dean is quite literally a marked impala, a prey animal, always on the run. I really love the contrast of Mary and John running "up" towards the fire and little Dean running away, visually "down," away from the fire.

In trying to escape the fire, Dean descends to safety. It is this need for safety (and the safety of his loved ones) that in a very real sense eventually drives him towards Hell.

///

Later in the episode, we see Dean descend the stairs again, when he's leading Sam away from Sam's apartment (an apartment that has been, unbeknownst to them, marked for death by Azazel).

"Going down" will be a mode of movement that follows Dean pretty much his whole life. Dean goes down into the valley, into the shelter, into Hell.

Dean remains on the move for much of his life, but when he does get a true home of his own, it's underground. When he's on the run from Billie/Death in 15x18, he plunges further still, deeper underground, until he loses the love of his life in his safest spot: the bunker's dungeon.

///

Until then, the car is the safest spot they've got.

But the narrative is at work, trying to take control of the car; trying to chisel and shape its targets the way Constance tries to chisel and shape her targets.

When the car charges them on the bridge, Dean is frantic to get out of the way, diving "down" off the bridge, into the safety of another road—into movement, the churning river.

Meanwhile, Sam keeps hanging on. Sam's Taurus-like personality and stubbornness means that he's always trying to cheat a rigged game. Sam tries to stay in the "high place" and not get burned.

Sam monkey-arms and contorts himself to stay on the bridge...

...and Dean comes crawling out of the river like a drowned rat.

///

We see ups and downs for Constance's family, too.

Sam forces her to go home, taking control of the car (narrative) and hurling her into her ruined, dilapidated house.

Inside, she's faced with her guilt: and her guilt is up.

The deceased family members are upstairs. They went up, but they never came down.

These children have obviously been paralleled to the pain that Sam and Dean go through at the hands of John's cruel overpreparedness, but these two are also an off-key echo of John and Mary's innocence.

The narrative killed its "first children." Mary's body was consumed alongside John's faith in the future. They are the ones who went "up" and were murdered (Mary) and damaged (John).

///

In many ways, Constance's story is a study of opposites to the Winchesters.

Her first children were drowned. The narrative burned its first children.

Dean's mother Mary ran towards the danger (and we will see she continues to haunt her house as a supreme protector of children). In contrast, Constance runs away from her house. She killed her children.

Constance's ghost is out to prove that deep down, everyone is flawed, operating in a Luciferian mode of engineered hopelessness. She haunts the road in a Trickster-tempter-style of hunting, not just preying on "unfaithful men," but trying to prove that in fact, all men are scum, i.e. "Even if you're still faithful, I'll make you unfaithful."

Many of SPN's villains are out to bring out the worst in people; the writer's task is to prove that anyone (everyone) will break under the right circumstances:

KEVIN TRAN (APOCALYPSE): Michael doesn't want to kill you. He wants to break you. He said for me to tell you that, 'Even if you win, you still lose.' I'm sorry. 13x20 Unfinished Business

We get this from Chuck too in 15x09 The Trap, as he works to drain Sam of all hope.

CHUCK: Um, short version – Sammy lost hope, and now I'm free. Hey, take it easy on the kid. It took a lot to beat it out of him. [Chuck crushes the sphere, destroying the spell] 15x09 The Trap

We also see this attitude reflected in many of the angel characters, reaching all the way into SPNwin The Winchesters, with the OG mindset of Gabriel/The Trickster wanting to prove how horrible humans are:

GABRIEL (unhinged): When the chips are down, humanity always chooses the selfish way out! Always! 1x08 Hang on to Your Life

//

As we learn more about Mary, we unravel that she did do some running of her own—running from hunting, from her parents, from her own childhood home. But here, at least, despite being dressed in white, Mary is in many ways Constance's opposite.

John are Dean are the ones doing the running, afraid to go home. In some ways, Constance is more like John than she is Mary, as John is victimized by Mary's lies and mistakes. John, like Constance, is driven into madness and despair. And of course, John breaks so hard that he hurts his own children.

After what happened, Constance went out on the road, looking for monsters. Making monsters, too.

//

The off-key parallels continue:

A married couple burns upstairs; a pair of siblings drowns upstairs.

The Winchester family faces tragedy in the comfort of their pajamas, while Constance's family are in their daily school uniforms—the period clothing giving off an eerie feeling that they're in "work clothes." (The suit and tie on the boy, especially!)

When Constance faces them, they embrace her, loving her as they bring her to justice.

Dean and Sam are "below." Safe. Looking on as the family is reunited and can finally rest together.

//

Sam goes home.

When Sam ascends up the stairs to his apartment, he leaves safety. There are horrors waiting for him "above," as Jess too is on the ceiling, a sacrifice to the narrative gods (the audience).

Like how Zachariah had to put extra pressure on Dean in 4x17 It's a Terrible Life to get Dean back on the road, Azazel has to burn down Sam's home to get him to play ball.

Sam had roots in this little apartment; he was even looking for a way to stay nearby with regards to his interview:

LUIS: So there you go. You are a first-round draft pick. You can go to any law school you want! SAM: Actually, I got an interview here. 

So, Azazel burns the garden.

///

Meanwhile, after he notices his watch stop, Dean rushes back and kicks open the door, much like a firefighter coming to the rescue. Dean is running into the fire the same way both of his parents did, acting in his parents' stead to save Sam:

Dean quickly spots Jess, and susses out that Sam's destiny is after him, and he works immediately to get him to safety—down the stairs.

Afterward, with the memory of Mary heavy on his mind, Dean turns, knowing.

He got Sam out, but like John, Sam isn't okay.

Sam is "down and out," the light of his happiness snuffed out. This was foreshadowed by "Sam's light going out" in the headlight scene:

(We will later see Dean lose his light too, in season 7, after Cas dies.)

Sam is safe from the fire, but he's, in a very real sense, no longer the same Sam. Despite that Dean is the one wearing John's jacket, it is Sam who is now set on the path to revenge, to "becoming" Azazel.

Sam's broken.

SAM: Yeah. I kinda mean, well, like ever since my head broke, and we lost Cas. You ever feel like he's going through the same motions but he's not the same Dean, ya know? 7x09 How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters

Sam's season 7 self could be talking about his season 1 self here! Loss does things to people. (But the narrative did it to Sam so early!)

///

DEAN: So what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it? SAM: No. Not normal. Safe. DEAN: And that's why you ran away. 1x01 Pilot

Despite his extreme efforts, John couldn't keep Sam safe from Azazel's designs.

And Dean can't either.

[liaa--qb]

Need Ewan Mitchell, Tom GC n Harry collett to recreate this pose !

If outer bank guys did it for me then my HOTD boys also need to ! btw obx is exactly same as team Greens children vs team black children 😂 if you think clearly

[mydadlistenstothis]

New podcast episode is up! This week, we're going up on the roof whether George likes it or not because we're listening to the Beatles Let it Be...and oh boy do we have thoughts.

[bluemargotrobbie]

CAMARA ROLL | TREND| AEMMA VELARYON 📸

No puedo evitar hacer este trend con lo que sería que fotos tendría Aemma en sus teléfonos.

📚: 𝗔𝗘𝗠𝗠𝗔 (publicado)

🖋: LunaticaBlack (wattpad)

🌎: HOTD

💌: Aemond, Aegon T& Cregan Stark

👤: Aemma Velaryon

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Book names + authors under the cut

Lottie Pumpkin/Ellie Wolf- The Rosewood Chronicles by Connie Glynn

Ben de Backer/Nathan Allen- I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

John Gaius/Augustine the First/Mercymorn the First- The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

Zhu Chongba/Ma Xiuying- She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

[duranduratulsa]

Up next on my Halloween movie 🎬 🎞 🎥 🎦 📽...Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers (1989) on glorious vintage VHS 📼! #movie #movies #horror #Halloween #Halloween5 #halloween5therevengeofmichaelmyers #johncarpenter #michaelmyers #theshape #donaldpleasence #ripdonaldpleasance #danielleharris #elliecornell #donshanks #tamaraglynn #BeauStarr #wendykaplan #jeffreylandman #matthewwalker #bettycarvalho #troyevans #JonathanChapin #gregnicotero #GeorgePWilbur #vintage #VHS #80s

[kylaym]

My TCBS 🧡

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H E D

I've seen my share of John Hughes movies. He was the most successful 80s-90s writer.

National Lampoon's Vacation, European Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Mr. Mom, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller, 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles', The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Home Alone 1 & 2, Only the Lonely, Baby's Day Out, Dennis the Menace, Miracle on 34th Street (1994), Dutch...

I just haven't seen any of the MOLLY RINGWALD ones. Well, time to play catchup.

ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL is really clever young actor, more than I ever noticed previously.

[reppyy]

[pedroam-bang]

The King (2019)

[theoscarsproject]

The Trip to Bountiful (1985). In 1940s Texas, an elderly woman is determined to visit her childhood home one last time.

It's always a pleasure to have Geraldine Page on screen, and she delivers such a compelling, emotionally resonant performance in this solid, albeit slight film about a woman in her twilight years trying to visit her hometown - a town that by all accounts is long dead. Unfortunately, there's not really much else going on, and while her interactions with other characters are neat, they feel solely there to showcase Page, which diminishes the overall texture of the film. 6/10.

[shallowseeker]

It's interesting that Naomi rocketed to the scene chasing Cas, screaming for him to STOP RUNNING (The Great Escapist)

NAOMI: Very well. You say he can't be caught? Then we will simply have to make him stop.

8x21

///

And then, we have Byzantium. When The Empty actually shows, she doesn't ask him to stand and fight, or to protect Heaven. Not in the moment. `Even though he'd been actively disagreeing with her.

NAOMI: What's one Nephilim boy against all that? ... NAOMI: Castiel-- [Naomi stops Cas from walking away, and chokes as black goo envelops her] CAS: Naomi? NAOMI: Castiel, run!

14x08

///

Jack: But how could the Empty get in? And I thought Heaven was supposed to be perfect. Castiel: No. It's not. Nothing's perfect, Jack. But I know Naomi, and she's complicated, but there is nothing that she won't do to protect the souls that are in her charge. Try not to worry, okay? - Okay.

14x09

[adamwatchesmovies]

Sahara (2005)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

On paper, Sahara sounds like a slam dunk. It’s Indiana Jones meets James Bond with big stars like Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz and armed with a budget to make all the stunt-filled adventure come to life. In practice, it’s devoid of any joy or excitement. Director Breck Eisner makes 124 minutes feel so much longer than two hours.

In 1865, the ironclad CSS Texas disappeared with the last of the Confederacy’s treasury gold. In present day, Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) has finally found a clue to its final resting place: Mali. With his longtime bud and fellow treasure-hunter Al Giordino (Steve Zahn), he investigates. Along the way, the meet WHO doctor Eva Rojas (Penelope Cruz) as she investigates a mysterious plague she fears will soon ravage the country.

Based on the novel by Clive Cussler, this film adaptation tries to do too much. Sahara is essentially two movies slammed together. The first is a swashbuckling adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones. Boat chases, car chases, fist fights, impromptu survival techniques in the desert and a long-lost treasure? There’s no mistaking it. The other movie has an inconspicuous, beautiful doctor embroiled in a plot that begins as a threat to Africa but could endanger the whole world and includes a solar-powered laser beam, a mad dictator and businessmen devoid of morals. The problem is that these two plots exist independently and are not well blended. In one scene, Dirk and Al are dodging entire clips’ worth of bullets with big smiles while coming up with crazy ways to take down the villains on their tail by blowing up their own boat. In the next, a single bullet is treated with enough gravitas to give you a headache.

Also problematic are the actors. Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz are talented actors. Here? they’re awful. They’re even worse together. They have no chemistry whatsoever, which makes their plots feel even more akin to a mix of oil and water. You know they’re going to fall in love from the beginning but you’ll believe a metal boat from the American Civil War will make it across the ocean on no rations before you’ll believe that romance.

From the unfunny humor meant to endear you to the characters to the action scenes that prove the actors couldn’t throw a decent punch if their lives depended on it, Sahara suffers from major problems. It also gets the little things wrong. When Commander Rudi Gunn (Rain Wilson) approaches the United States Embassy for help, he's warned it’s unlikely aid will arrive in time because “No one gives a shit about Africa”. They're not wrong. Even this movie doesn't care about Mali or its people because moments later, we learn the thing that’s gruesomely killing en-masse will soon spread to the entire world. So it wasn’t enough that Mali would become the world's biggest graveyard; the entire human race has to be at risk? Yikes.

Then, there’s the climax. This is one of those movies where the villains must have the greatest employee benefits package of all time because the baddie's top bodyguard decides to get into a fistfight on top of a building that’s rigged to explode in a few minutes. How was he going to get out of there once he got the job done?

I can give a movie slack and accept a preposterous story but you’ve got to give me something in return. When your actors have no chemistry between them, the bad guys are completely forgettable, the humour falls flat on its face, the action scenes are badly shot & choreographed and none of what you see is interesting, you want to find some way to entertain yourself, perhaps by having some laughs at the film’s expense. You'd think it'd be easy when the Los Angeles Times listed this film as one of the most expensive flops of all time but you'd be wrong. Sahara is too dull to provide any form of entertainment. (Full-screen version on DVD, January 29, 2021)

[mariocki]

The Saint: The Gadget Lovers (5.23, ITC, 1967)

"Start at the beginning - Mr. Templar."

"Oh. So you recognised me."

"The moment you entered this compartment. I've a photographic memory, and in the Kremlin there are many files."

"Well, it's nice to be known and loved the world over."

"Known, perhaps."