#kevin fischer imagines

[dragonentusiast]

Christmas special pt2🥂

Ivy was puzzled to say the least. How can you buy a present so someone that has literally everything? Spoiler alert: hardly. So she called a gang meeting...in the women's bathroom. Kevin was a little bit uncomfortable and the twins didn't understand a thing. At least Daniel seems to be unfazed.

Colby: Why are we in the women's bathroom?

Ivy: This is the only place where Hero can't find us.

Cassandra: I wouldn't be so sure.

Ivy: Okay well this is the least likely place where he would find us.

Kevin: Are we hiding from Hero now? Did he finally lost it and killed somebody?

Ivy: What? I hope no-... I mean no! He is definitely still sane....or well he is definitely did not kill anyone how could you say that?

Kevin: Oh wow sorry Ivy I was just joking!

Robyn: I will let your cousin know to buy a book of jokes this Christmas.

Kevin: Please no.

Ivy: So as you all know Christmas is near. Like really really near. And I assume no one brought a gift for BB.

Cassandra: My whole existence is a gift. He should be happy.

Daniel: Look Hero is bonkers but even he doesn't deserve this Cassandra. He has enough demons already he doesn't need you too.

Cassandra: Why what will you be buying him? A ticket to Azkaban?

Robyn: A wedding ring?

Kevin: A hair band?

Fischer: A better attitude?

Colby: Brain cells?

Ivy: These are all good suggestions, but we need to be more original.

Daniel: When did this meeting turn into a who could roast Hero more competition?

Cassandra: Let's face it, everything is about roasting him.

Ivy: Okay focus on the presents! Not the present.

Fischer: I lost you there.

Lottie: I know! I will paint a portrait for him!

Daniel: No suprise there.

Kevin: I can ask BB's favourite seeker for an autographed snitch maybe? My mom could make it happen.

Cassandra: I will ask my favourite brand for a custom perfume. So he would smell of smoke and shame all the time.

Ivy: That's it! You guys are good at this! What else?

Colby: Uh....what else does BB like?

Fischer: Getting his ass beat.

Daniel: Dangerous places.

Lottie: Dragons.

Robyn: Jokes.

Colby: What was the first one?

Fischer: Nothing.

Robyn: Oh I know! There is a friend of mine that is into sculpting! I will ask him to make a small dragon statue with a small Hero riding it!

Cassandra: Dangerous places huh? So the Azkaban ticket would still work.

Daniel: When will you get tired of this joke?

Ivy: Hero likes sweets too right? I will ask around if it is possible to make custom sweets.

Daniel: Great now only me an the twins have absolutely no idea what to buy.

Fischer: Maybe a clock would be nice since he is always late to every class.

Colby: Brother I know you meant that as an insult but that's actually a good idea. Customise it a bit and it's a nice present!

Fischer: Oh...yeah that's...okay I will look into it.

Daniel: How about a potion that's-

Everyone: NOOOOO!!!!

Daniel: Strong reaction but I get it.

Lottie: Why don't you buy something shiny? BB likes shiny things!

Kevin: He isn't a raven Lottie.

Colby: A knife!

Kevin and Lottie: Wait what?

Ivy: How did you get a knife from a raven?

Colby: I imagined Hero as a raven but instead of a shiny rock he would carry a knife.

Daniel: That's actually a pretty accurate description of BB.

Cassandra: He is already a danger to society why make him more menacing?

Colby: It won't be sharp.

Everyone: Like that would stop him.

Colby: Okay well...I don't have a better idea! And Daniel doesn't even have an idea!

Daniel: I had but you guys turned it down pretty quickly.

Ivy: Well the meet has come to an end today. Daniel good luck.

Daniel: Good luck? Wait that's it!

Robyn was the first one to wake up on Christmas morning. She couldn't contain her excitement so she ran out of the dorm room to check the tree. The small Christmas tree's bottom was stacked with present! She should wait for the others. She reeeeeeeaaaaally should wait but she was so curious! Before she could even touch any of the presents a rather sleepy Kevin stopped her. After waiting for 20 minutes for the others, which felt like an eternity to Robyn, they finally agreed on who is the one that will start handing out their presents. Lottie was the first one since she gifted everyone a painting.

Daniel: Thanks Lottie! Esme will also love this!

Lottie: Well I figured making a portrait of you two would be a good idea!

Ivy: This kitten is sooooo cute! And the sweets on the painting is mouth watering!

Lottie: I call this piece: The sweetest cat!

Kevin and Robyn got a picture where they were playing quidditch. Hero was quiet, which was unusual for the boy. Lottie was worried that the group picture that she painted wasn't to his liking. It was Ivy's turn next.

Kevin: Thanks for the gloves! They are so nice and soft.

Ivy: I knew you wanted one since yours are always soaked after a snowball fight so you call it quits too quickly!

Robyn: These boots are so nice! How did you know I needed a new pair?

Ivy: I heard you say that your old boots kicked the bucket after a quidditch practice.

Daniel got some new alembices since he broke too many (courtesy of Hero scarring his socks off every now and then) and Lottie got a new sketch pad. Hero stayed quiet. Ivy felt bad that he didn't like the custom made sweets. Next it was Kevin's turn.

Lottie: Thanks for the brushes! They will be put to good use.

Kevin: Knew I couldn't go wrong with that one!

Daniel: Oh a scarf! Did you made this?

Kevin: Yes I knitted it. You are always so cold, I hope it helps.

Ivy got a nice selection of tea biscuits and Robyn got a new broom care kit. As you could probably guess Hero stayed silent. Now everyone was panicking. Next it was Robyn's turn.

Ivy: This necklace is so pretty!

Robyn: My mom helped me pick it out. I could decide which one to get on my own.

Daniel: Thanks for the scale! Colby broke mine a few weeks ago.

Robyn: Yeah! Colby! It was totally Colby and not a bat!

Kevin got a reservation for the restaurant that he so wanted to visit and Lottie got a the next book of her series that she was reading. No change in behaviour in Hero's department. Finally it was the white haired boy's turn. But when he grabbed the gift that he brought for Ivy small tears made their way through his usual usually happy face. Everyone's happiness seemed to die down in an instant and they tried to comfort the boy who started to cry even harder.

Ivy: I'm so sorry Hero I didn't know these gifts were so bad!

Lottie: I will paint something else! Anything you want!

Kevin: Was I mistaken? If Mr. Clayton wasn't your favourite I could ask my mom to get an autograph from the player you love!

Robyn: Is the statue ugly?

Daniel: It's okay Hero! No need to cry! Just tell us what would you like and-

BB: That's not it you fools! I love them! I love all of them!

Lottie: Then...why are you crying?

BB: I- I never got a gift from anyone else other than my dad and mom. This is the first time that...someone brought something to me. And I know why I haven't got any till this point but...I didn't think that it would feel...this nice...to...aghhhh.

Hero shook his head and tried to hide his beetroot red face behind the present he picked up. The room fell silent, only Hero's quiet sniffles were heard. Ivy's laughter broke the silence. After her everyone started laughing. Hero felt stupid for crying. And he will get his revenge against those who dared to laugh at him. But not today. Today was the day where he allowed his friends to torture him.

Lottie: That's it? Oh BB that's sooo cute!

BB: Not. A. Single. Word.

Robyn: That's a relief I thought you hate us now.

BB: Why would I hate you?!? I thought it was the opposite!

Daniel: What? We don't hate you Hero! Yeah you are a handful at times and you can annoy the soul out of anybody. You might be loud and obnoxious gremlin that tries his hardest to screw us every time but...you are kind and under all that complaining you actually care and you are so brave that it scares me sometimes.

Ivy: Yeah! You are wild and fun! You always think of us first and yourself second even if you sometimes hide that fact masterfully. You believed in me when I didn't believe in myself! You never give up and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing in your case, but hey you are you and that's who we all have grown to love!

BB: Stop it!

Robyn: You will cry a river don cha?

BB: NOOOoooo!

Kevin: Don't resist. Just enjoy it.

BB: Distraction! Here are your gifts!

Daniel: You aren't supposed to shout distraction before distracting someone. But thanks.

After the disgusting display of affection everyone got Hero's present. Lottie was overjoyed when she saw the palette that she wanted the most. Ivy was already preparing water to try out her newest tea selection. Daniel was twirling around with his new fluffy coat and Kevin was going through the pages of the cooking book while smiling. Ivy had to stop Robyn from trying out the fireworks inside and everyone was back to their noisy self. After Hero it was Daniel's turn to hand out his gifts. They were small things like an album for Lottie some colour changing ink for Robyn, a bracelet for Ivy a note book for Kevin and for Hero...

BB: Clovers?

Indeed, he was holding a small pot of clovers in his hands. Surprisingly all of them had five leaves. Daniel scratched the back of his neck.

Daniel: Well...you are always in trouble so I figured it would be nice to have some luck on your side.

After saying that Daniel pointed downwards. Hero inspected the pot closer and found a glass of Fenix Felicius twinkling in the light. Hero's smile grew a little sinister but nothing new to the squad.

BB: Oh don't worry boo I will put it to good use I promise!

Daniel's face reddened a little at the new nickname. Now it was time to open the presents that the Slytherins sent them. To be honest Daniel would rather not open Cassandra's present.

Done. If you made it down here congratulations! This became a little too long but I guess it makes up for my terrible posting schedule!

BB: No it doesn't!

Me pinching Hero's lips together: Shut!

[mychemicalimagines]

hello!!! & Help!!(:

It’s been awhile. How are you guys?!

We decided to get out of our funk…and how we’re gonna do that is…We’re going to write a new series of course!

You guys know we’re known for writing stuff that no one else writes for (American Pie/The Hangover/Never Back Down) so what movies do you guys want to read for but no one writes?

We want to start writing for you again!! If you’ll have Us(:

Comment Some Movies with a Love Interest and Maybe I’ll Pick Yours!!

The movies i’ve listed are ones that we know pretty well and would probably be able to crank out a story pretty fast!!

1. High School Musical - Troy Bolton x OC

2. Stay Alive - Hutch x OC

3. Urban Legend (1998) - Paul Gardener x OC

4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning - Eric Hill x OC

5. Final Destination 3 - Kevin Fischer x OC

6. American Pie 2 - Chris Ostriecher x OC (Jackie Levenstein) (Part 1 on my Masterlist)

7. Rampage - OG Agent Harvey Russell x OC

[livelovelaug-h]

Imagine Jim finding out you got in a car crash

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim halpert x reader

Sad / angst ofc it's from the office.

"hello Dunder Mifflin this is Jim how may I help you?"

"yes she's my girlfriend what's going on?" He asked worriedly. He was stunned to say the least. He didn't know what to say or do.

.....

"ohh- oh my God is she going to be okay?"

"okay I'll be there right away thank you."

"okay I have to go guys. Y/n is in the hospital she's been in a car accident."

"OMG that's terrible" everyone gasped and whispered.

"wait our y/n?"

"yes Michael." Oscar said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"well is she going to be alright?" Phyllis asked.

"I don't know they said she was in critical condition."

"oh my God. OH MY GOD. OKAY LET'S GO SEE HER IN THE HOSPITAL. THE OFFICE WILL CLOSE EARLY TODAY. ILL SAVE YOU Y/N IM A DOCTOR." Michael screamed panically running out of the office.

Jim had to drive with Michael in the car, when they got there they both ran in:

"how is y/n l/n doing? I'm here to see her im her boyfriend."

"well she's ... " They both heard a monitor going crazy.

"help I need some help in here."

Jim & Michael walked over to see who it was in the room that needed help both hoping it wasn't you.

.... "No." He whispered.

~~~~~

[premnitions]

@jocksoft​ asked: *smooches kev after the big win* ;)

kevin isnt often 𝙿𝚁𝙰𝙸𝚂𝙴𝙳 by the football team. jason, yes, but the entire team? not so much. but tonight's game was different, tonight he actually did something 𝙸𝙼𝙿𝙾𝚁𝚃𝙰𝙽𝚃. he hadnt thought much of it when it was happening, just managed to be good on defense for a few seconds. but that defense had been 𝙲𝚁𝚄𝙲𝙸𝙰𝙻 to the win and now everyone - 𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽 𝚃𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙾𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙻 - was cheering for him. everyone was on his side, even if only for a moment.

it was a feeling of 𝙴𝙲𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚂𝚈, like he was on top of the world as they partied on the field, rubbing their win in the faces of the other team who were now slowly dragging themselves to the locker rooms in 𝙳𝙴𝙵𝙴𝙰𝚃. so this was what it felt like to be accepted, and actually appreciated, by people supposed to be your 𝙵𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙳𝚂. he had to admit, it was a rush. it felt 𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳.

but 𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶 felt as good as when jason came over. fists bump and hands slap, the boys doing their usual routine of doing 𝙰𝙽𝚈𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶 they can to touch each other and simply making it all squeeze into a smaller time frame. in these moments it 𝙳𝙸𝙳𝙽'𝚃 𝙼𝙰𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁 what the other guys thought, in these moments it didn’t matter if trevor didn’t want him around. in these moments it couldn’t get any better than 𝙹𝚄𝚂𝚃 𝙺𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙽 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙹𝙰𝚂𝙾𝙽.

but then, all at once, it 𝙳𝙾𝙴𝚂 get better. jason kisses him, right there in the field. in front of 𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚈𝙾𝙽𝙴. there’s some gasps, a lot of staring, and kevin even swears he hears trevor powell ask if they're gay ( who's the 𝙳𝚄𝙼𝙱𝙰𝚂𝚂 now, trevor? ). but then, as the pair rest their foreheads together, everyone starts 𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶 again. it even seems to be louder than it was before. and suddenly, with jason 𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙰𝙻𝙻𝚈 kissing him, everything was 𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳. everything was as kevin 𝙰𝙻𝚆𝙰𝚈𝚂 𝙸𝙼𝙰𝙶𝙸𝙽𝙴𝙳 it would be.

a hand on his shoulder brings him out of his own head. he’s on the 𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂, jason putting a hand on his shoulder as some form of comfort. everything was just as he’d always imagined simply because 𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝙳 𝙱𝙴𝙴𝙽 𝙸𝙼𝙰𝙶𝙸𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙸𝚃. they’d lost, because of 𝙷𝙸𝙼, and now everyone else had left. he’s just sat there, thinking of how it could’ve gone better. but now he at least has 𝙹𝙰𝚂𝙾𝙽. 

and after a small moment of silence between the two jasons leaning in and suddenly they’re 𝙷𝚄𝙶𝙶𝙸𝙽𝙶. not the same as a big kiss, but at least it’s something. alone, on the sidelines and 𝚂𝙰𝙳; but something between them all the same. it may not be what kevin always imagined, but it was 𝙺𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙽'𝚂 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙻𝙸𝚃𝚈. and all he can do is hope that one day his reality involves kissing jason.

[edgessunflower]

Masterlist

Fics i have done!

Fandoms i write for!

Young justice

Kaldur'ahm/Aqualad

Megan morse/Miss martian

Connor kent/Superboy

Artemis crock/Tigress

Jaime reyes/Blue beetle

Cassie sandsmark/Wondergirl

Wally west/Kidflash

Barbara gordon/Batgirl

CSI Vegas

Sara sidle

Nick stokes

Mia dickerson

Greg sanders

Catherine willows

Warrick brown

Riley adams

Gil grissom

M*A*S*H*

Benjamin hawkeye pierce

Margaret hot lips houlihan

B.J. hunnicutt

Margie cutler

Radar o'reilly

Kellye yamoto

John mulcahy

Stranger things

Nancy wheeler

Dustin henderson

Max mayfield

Jonathan byers

Robin buckley

Steve harrison

Jane hopper/el

Lucas Sinclair

Joyce byers

Mike wheeler

Barbara holland

Jim hopper

CSI Miami

Walter simmons

Yelena salazar

Ryan wolfe

Natalia boa vista

Eric delko

Calliegh duquesne

Horatio caine

Alexx woods

Jesse cardoza

Marisol delko

Marvel

Kate bishop

Clint barton

Natasha romanoff

T'challa

Cassandra lang

Sam wilson

Kamala khan

Bucky barnes

Shuri

Bruce banner

Mortal kombat

Kung jin

Skarlet

Hanzo hasashi

Sonya blade

Kuai liang

Jaqui briggs

Johnny cage

Kitana

Takeda takashi

Jade

Jax briggs

Cassie cage

Resident evil

Claire redfield

Carlos olivera

Sherry birkins

Leon kennedy

Jill valentine

Jake muller

Helena harper

Chris redfield

Alice

NCIS NOLA

Chris laselle

Loretta wade

Sebastian lund

Hannah khoury

Patton plame

Sonja percy

Dwayne pride

Tammy gregario

Final destination

Clear rivers

Lewis romaro

Wendy christensen

Kevin horton

Carrie dryer

Kevin fischer

Kimberly corman

Thomas burke

Alex browning

The mighty ducks

Fulton reed

Julie gaffney

Adam banks

Charlie conway

Dean portman

Guy germaine

Dwayne robertson

Luiz mendoza

Connie monreau

Criminal minds

Emily prentiss

Spencer reid

Jennifer jareau

Aaron hotchner

Kate callahan

Derek morgan

Penelope garcia

Luke alvez

Tara lewis

Matt simmons

Trauma center

Derek stiles

Angie thompson

Gabriel cunningham

Elena salazar

Erhard miller

Naomi kimishima

Markus vaughn

Valerie blaylock

ER

Susan lewis

Mark greene

Carol hathaway

Doug ross

Kerry weaver

Gregory pratt

Samantha taggart

John carter

Cate banfield

Luka kovac

Harry potter

Cedric diggory

Luna lovegood

Harry potter

Ginny weasley

Remus lupin

Narcissa malfoy

Ron weasley

Nymphodora tonks

Sirius black

Marlene mckinnon

Draco malfoy

Fleur declour

Blaise zabini

Hermione granger

Kingdom hearts

Namine

Riku

Kairi

Sora

Aqua

Terra

Xion

Ventus

Roxas

Xmen

Charles xavier

Ororo munroe

Warren worthington

Kitty pryde

Kurt wagner

Illyana rasputin

Erik leshnerr

Raven darkholme

Logan

Marie d'ancanto

Peter maximoff

Jubliee

Pixie

Pixie o'brien

Harland mckenna

Frank mccullen

Final fantasy

Cloud strife

Oerba dia vanille

Snow villers

Tifa lockhart

Hope esthiem

Oerba yun fang

Vincent valentine

Lighting farron

Zack fair

Aerith gainsborough

Narnia

Lucy pevensie

Peter pevensie

Susan pevensie

Edmund pevensie

Mr tumnus

Prince caspian

NCIS LA

Marty deeks

Shay mosley

Sam hanna

Kensi blye

G callen

Fatima nazami

Eric beale

Harley hidoko

Nell jones

Code lyoko

Aelita schaffer

Odd della robbia

Yumi ishiyama

Ulrich stern

Milly solovieff

William dunbar

Tamiya diop

Jeremy belpois

Triple frontier

Will "ironhead" miller

Frankie "catfish" morales

Benny miller

Santiago "pope" garcia

The night shift

Landry de la cruz

Joey chavez

Gwen gaskin

Kenny fornette

Jordan alexander

Michael ragosa

Drew allister

Shannon rivera

TC callahan

Ewan mcgregor characters

Catcher block

Dan torrance

Perry makepeace

Christopher robin

Rodney copperbottom

Robert lewis

Alex law

Edward bloom

Star wars

Crosshair

Cara dune

Luke skywalker

Aayla secura

Hunter

Din djarin

Padme amidala

Cal kestis

Rey skywalker

Obi wan kenobi

Bo katan kryze

Qui gon jin

Tech

Ahsoka tano

Poe dameron

Leia organa

Echo

Finn

Iden versio

Del meeko

Wrecker

Misc 1

Jack mercer

Mason "mace" brown

Spike spiegel

Toph

Lu fox

Elizabeth martinson

Casi

Laney boggs

Max lewinsky

Mahtilda

Flip zimmerman

Nani pelekai

Murphy macmanus

Korra

Lu fox

Samantha caine

Bill s prescott

Iris

Zack siler

Rachel

David abbott

Marta

Jed eckhart

Tess finnegan

Ryan williams

Barbara novak

Ted logan

Toni

Eugene/vida boheme

Tris prior

Murtagh morzzansson

Skeeter

Christian

Stephanie speck

John wick

Viola eade

Jonathan levy

Evey hammond

Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz

Casey jones

Marni

Elliot alderson

Misc 2

Chris chambers

Andie anderson

Michael perry

Beatrix "the bride" kiddo

Elliott

Quinn fabray

Benjamin barry

Dani rojas

Billy/four

Daphne moon

Javi gutierrez

Allison reynolds

Hector villanueva

April o'neil

Ned tash

Kara

Don billingsley

Asami sato

Beau hutton

Monica long dutton

Joey coalter

Celine naville

Sam munroe

[spooky-mister]

Intervention - Kevin x Ian

Howdy howdy.

H e y - as well as making bad art, I also write the bad writes.

Aka, I wrote a thing.

This is just a personal canon divergence of what I think would have happened if Kevin had intervened with Ian’s death at the end of the movie. 

Apologies if I write them out of character, some of their interactions are based off personal interpretation of the characters and I’ve also just never written any FD3 fan fiction before lmao.

-----   -----   -----   -----   -----

Intervention

Fandom: Final Destination 3

Paring: Kevin Fischer x Ian McKinley

Word Count: 2,582

Plot: Canon divergence. An imagined scenario where Kevin intervenes with Ian’s death and the resulting aftermath.

-----   -----   -----   -----   -----

"It's you, Wendy! You're dead!"

Time seemed to sedate to a sticky halt as Kevin registered what was happening. The fresh, uneasy swaying of the McKinley cherry picker. The sudden yet deliberate silence of the fireworks behind. The same realisation edging onto Ian's face at the mechanic strain creaking behind him. Death had skipped Wendy. Ian was going to die.

Maybe he deserved it. The thought sickened him. Ian was just a kid like the rest of them - barely 18. He shouldn't wish death on a kid. A kid who had just lost his girlfriend. Just like him. Shit, Ian was just as scared as the rest of them. He liked to forget that Ian was, in fact, human.

Well, this was it. He was going to die for Ian fucking McKinley.

He felt clumps of grass and mud kick out from under his shoes as he ran, screams from Wendy and Julie falling deaf on his ears as he propelled himself towards Ian. He grasped forward, hands catching on the arms of Ian's red sweater as he pushed him down with his full body weight. He fell down on top of the smaller teen, head hitting hard against Ian's. The momentary sting felt inconsequential as the arm of the cherry picker embedded itself deep into the soft ground inches from their legs.

Kevin's shocked adrenaline didn't take long to morph into anger.

"What the fuck, McKinley!?" Kevin yelled, propping himself up to stare down at Ian's face. He was barely looking at him, blinded in frustration as he moved to try and get up. His head rang softly at the impact of their fall. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you trying to get us killed? You said you believed us now - are you psychotic or just a moron? You-"

He cut himself off as a noise broke through his rage. In all four of his years at McKinley High School, Kevin had never seen Ian McKinley cry. He didn't think he was capable. But here he was, burying his face into the top of his hoodie and biting back his lips to hold in sobs. Any remnants of anger died on arrival as Kevin felt himself climbing up off of Ian and onto the grass beside him. He reached a hand to Ian but Ian slapped it away, sniffing as he slowly raised to a hunched sitting position.

"Hey," Kevin soothed as soon as he regained his voice. His malice had drained completely, focus switching onto calming Ian. He watched as Ian furiously scrubbed the end of his sleeve at his tears, finding more success in smearing his eyeliner across his skin than he did drying his eyes. "Just... Take a breath. Okay, man? You're good."

Kevin could see Ian choking back what could have been a maelstrom of bitter insults and mockery but Ian couldn't seem to find his voice, resolving to shove Kevin further away instead. Kevin caught his balance, resting one hand in the grass as he turned his attention to their surroundings. He noticed two security personnel and one medic from the first aid tent making their way through the crowd towards them and sighed in quiet relief. Maybe they could talk sense into Ian - calm him down at least. He got to his feet slowly, pain from where the horse had previously kicked him sparking in his torso as he waved them over before glancing back down to Ian curled up on the grass. He looked so small. Almost fragile. Guilt tore and clawed at Kevin from his gut to his throat. He knew the pain he saw reflected in Ian's face. He'd been there too.

Before he could say another word to Ian - any of the words he wished he had heard after losing Carrie - security shouldered their way past him to crouch beside Ian. Kevin watched as they flooded Ian with questions, shining lights into his unresponsive eyes and trying to force him to his feet. He wanted to shout for them to give Ian some space but he couldn't bring himself to say anything, glancing back at the feeling of Wendy's hand tentative on his shoulder. He could talk to Ian later. Right now, his chest and abdomen throbbed and his head was fuzzy with adrenaline. He relented, allowing the girls to lead him towards the first aid tent with one last look back.

-----------------------------------------------

Kevin had been hunched over in the first aid tent for what felt like hours when security finally led Ian in through the pegged-back curtains.

Wendy had gone with Julie in an ambulance en route to the hospital to take her to the accident and emergency clinic - something about an underlying heart condition which had sounded way too intense for Kevin to question. He didn't mind being by himself too much. The medics were nice enough, music played out of a small, beaten stereo and the pack of ice they had given him felt good against his tender bruising. Still, the illusion that things had calmed to normality was torn from Kevin when the tear-stained, pallid face of Ian McKinley was brought in front of him. An official McKinley police officer had joined the Tricentennial security team but they barely glanced in Kevin's direction. Perhaps he would be questioned once security was dealt with.

As soon as a member of security had settled Ian down into one of the fold-out plastic chairs, the officer invited the personnel to talk outside - leaving the boys alone. Kevin trained his eyes on the ground before letting them flicker up to scan Ian's face. The kid looked exhausted. He sighed quietly before deciding to speak.

"How are you feeling?" It was as good of a place to start as any other. The question hung in the dead air between them, Kevin receiving little more than an uncomfortable twitch in response. He decided to try again. "...Look, you can talk to me. Got that? We're all going through this, McKinley. It's no excuse to go crazy on us."

"What, we're all gonna sit around in some kind of group therapy?" Ian mumbled, still avoiding eye contact. His voice was gravelly and hoarse from the strain of his previous yelling and his fresh tears. "Hold hands and talk about our feelings? Sounds fucking peachy."

Kevin narrowed his eyes at Ian's comment, doing his best to keep his cool. Ian had always been difficult to talk to. Perhaps that was why they stopped in the first place. He took a deep breath before speaking again, keeping his voice as non-threatening as possible. "I lost my girlfriend too." He noticed as Ian flinched slightly at the comment. "Carrie, remember? I..." He faltered, trailing off. "...So I know how you feel."

Ian's gaze finally settled on Kevin, his dark eyes set cold and impenetrable. "Carrie died," He acknowledged, keeping his voice low. "And we're all very sorry about that, but I don't need the wise words of Kevin Fischer to make me feel better. The last thing I want right now to to get patronised by some dumb jock."

Kevin bristled at the childish insult but did his best to not let it show. Ian was hurt and he had to sympathise with that if they were going to get anywhere. "I know more than you think," Kevin reasoned, chipping back the rising edge in his voice. "You might be surprised."

"You used to be smart," Ian reasoned, leaning back on his plastic chair and letting his eyes scan over Kevin's face and body with a sniff. "Back when you'd bother to talk to me once in a while, but now? You're a shadow of that. You're just like the rest of them - a high school stereotype."

Kevin held back the urge to roll his eyes at the label, expression hardening the more Ian tested his patience. "I stopped talking to you because of, well, this." He motioned a hand towards Ian, gesturing at his entire body vaguely. He noticed Ian raise an eyebrow and continued, repressing the venom in his voice. "You want a high school stereotype, McKinley? Look in the mirror. All this holier-than-thou bullshit and you wonder why you never made more than one friend?" Kevin let the words hang in the air for a moment before looking down and adding a quiet "I'm sorry."

Ian scrolled through an array of loaded comebacks in his head before sighing and closing his eyes. This wasn't going to make him feel better. "You could have died back there," He muttered, opting to change the subject. "You could have just let it crush me if you hate me so much."

"I don't hate you," Kevin correctly gently, looking back to Ian with sad eyes. "I know you're hurting. We've all lost people and I didn't want to lose anyone else -" He managed a small ghost of a smile as he spoke. "- even if it is you." Kevin's smile grew when Ian released a quiet snort of a laugh, the goth's pale lips twitching slightly. Smiling was a good look for Ian. Not the condescending, malicious smirk he usually wore, but a real and comfortable smile.

Kevin leaned forward as best as he could and patted a hand firmly on Ian's shoulder. Ian tensed, his smile falling again as he looked over Kevin's warm features. A true American boy next door - no wonder the girls all wanted him. He faltered before speaking again, quieter this time. "So what do we do now?"

"Now," Kevin started, pulling his hand back. "Assuming that Death just skipped you, it'll be going after Julie again. So, we're safe for now; I'm after Julie and you're after Wendy." Kevin's words failed him as he held back from saying what his gut urged him to. This was Ian McKinley. As if he was concerned enough to take it this far. Then again, Ian had proclaimed his new found belief in Death's design himself. Perhaps this wouldn't sound so ridiculous. "...Until then, I think it would be a good idea to stay close together. Or at least keep in touch."

Ian hesitated at the offer, turning it over in his mind. It seemed logical enough; keeping together would act as an efficient warning system as well as increasing probability of death prevention. Still, a part of his brain held back from agreeing so easily. This was Kevin he was talking to - the source of so much contempt and confusion set in his brain from years of secret, self-hated admiration. Could he live with that? Did he want to live with that? The idea made him nauseous but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. Before he could figure his feelings out in their entirety, he found himself nodding slowly.

"Yeah. It is a good idea."

Any remaining doubts he had were stripped momentarily when Kevin smiled at his response. He could feel the involuntary swell of his own smile in return. Maybe they would be okay.

-----------------------------------------------

Five months after the McKinley Tricentennial, Ian McKinley and Kevin Fischer were exclusively dating. They had moved out of their family homes together at their first opportunity in favour of a shared apartment on the outskirts of McKinley. Ian had been eager to leave the town altogether but that kind of move would have cost them money they just didn't have yet, so the apartment was a steady compromise. With the pair of them taking independent gap years to work and get their affairs in order, leaving town was not the distant dream it had been at the start of their endeavour. Still, they had to keep money aside to treat themselves once in a while, and that's just what they were doing as they waited hand-in-hand for a subway train to take them to Oswald.

It had been Kevin's turn to decide this month's date night and he'd been adamant that they travelled to check out the game at the other end of the line. While he was far from a mainstream sports fan, Ian had given in to the request. If it really made Kevin that happy, Ian could sit through a couple of hours of yelling, chanting and uncomfortable seating. He'd get the power to choose next month.

Kevin turned to face Ian when the subway pulled up with a sharp screeching against its wheels. His mouth relaxed into an easy smile and he pressed a gentle kiss to Ian's temple as the doors of the train slid open with a soft ding. Ian returned the smile before glancing around and leading Kevin quickly onto the train. Ian's eyes impulsively glued onto the train map above them on entrance, tracking the red line across from McKinley to Oswald.

"It's the last stop," Kevin spoke as he stepped up beside Ian, squeezing his hand gently. He glanced across to his boyfriend and his smile morphed into a teasing smirk. "It's not exactly an easy stop to miss."

Ian rolled his eyes playfully as Kevin held back a breathy laugh at his own hilarious wit, Ian shoving the taller boy gently. "Yeah, okay. Let's find a seat before they're all taken. It's a pretty long ride." He took Kevin's arm around his shoulders as an agreement, leading Kevin towards the corner of the car where they hopefully wouldn't get disturbed by jacked-up, intoxicated sports fans. Kevin settled down first, drawing Ian beside him and slipping an arm around his boyfriend's waist. Ian turned his head toward Kevin to find Kevin already watching him, content. Ian's faint smile split into a more distinct grin as he leaned forward, catching Kevin's lips in his own. The further they got to Oswald, the more dangerous this would get. He'd make the most of this public affection while he could.

It was, in fact, a long ride towards Oswald, and the train packed people like sardines the closer they got. Sitting further apart now but still holding hands, Kevin and Ian didn't talk. They were sharing a pair of white, plastic earphones, the faint stereo sound of Nine Inch Nails combating a busker making his way down the car with an acoustic guitar. Ian didn't mind too much - there were worse situations to be in, even if Turn Around, Look At Me by The Vogues didn't mix seamlessly with The Hand That Feeds. Ian let his attention drift around the train's occupants while Kevin distracted himself by leafing through their game tickets and subway passes. They were only a couple of stops away from Oswald - Booth Street acting as their buffer - and then they could slip back into their normality again.

While pleasant ideas for the rest of their evening floated through Ian's head, his eyes caught sight of something - someone - who pulled his thoughts back to reality in a sickening mental whiplash.

Wendy Christensen.

The logic in him knew that he was being ridiculous. He was acting as if Wendy was nothing more than a bad omen. A superstition. Hell, shouldn't he be happy to see an old classmate no matter the circumstances? He should. But that just made the sickening dread settling into every part of his body all the more disconcerting. He found himself squeezing Kevin's hand even tighter as train 081 pulled up towards Booth Street, the fuzzy noise of the subway intercom cutting through his trepidation.

"This is Booth Street. Next stop is Oswald - end of the line. Next stop is the end of the line."

-----   -----   -----   -----   -----

That’s it-

This was just poorly written, self-indulgent trash but I hope you managed to enjoy it lmao

also yes, when Kevin said “It’s the last stop”, I had to fight with everything I had not to write “It’s the final destination” because I’m a waste of brain cells

[thanatosat9to5]

The Romanticism of Type Four

Blake and Boehme both saw imagination as something profoundly different from fantasy. Contrary to common conception, this imagination is not about make-believe, the creation of the fantastical, nor is it wish-fulfilment. Blake and Boehme regarded it as an essential part of life, a means of breaking out of the ‘dull round’ of the ‘ratio’ of abstract reason, of the already known, and through to that which is other than, and beyond ourselves. It is a means of putting us more in touch with—and more into—the world, acting as a bridge between the experiencing individual and that which is experienced. It helps root us in living experience. As Boehme put it, ‘the outward Essence reacheth not the inward in the soul, but only by the imagination’.Imagination can therefore provide a fuller, truer form of knowledge and understanding. As Evelyn Underhill perceived, ‘True Mysticism is active and practical, not passive and theoretical. It is an organic life-process, a something which the whole self does; not something as to which the intellect holds an opinion. - “Imagination, Experience and the Limitations of Reason” by Kevin Fischer

This quote sums up the raison d'être of the Romantics of 1700s. It's telling that 4s are described as the Romantics in the common enneagram literature and I wholeheartedly agree with this. No, they’re not romantic in the wistfully looking out the window sense of the term but by way of emphasizing their subjectivity, imagination, inspiration, and emotions as gateways to reality. To be in true communion with reality, is to be in union with the Divine: the true heart of reality. According to the Romantics, logical reasoning and preset logical frameworks are not sufficient enough in communing with reality because reality is ever unfolding, and our subjectivity, imagination, and emotions are more in line with that process than static logical axioms. The rationalist framework is almost seen as an archon that’s subordinate to the Demiurge. The Divine, Utopia, Sophia, etc is the thing that constitutes reality (their reality at the very least). The 4’s story is one of fall from this grace, from this ideal state. The 4 creates its own origin story, an expression of how their subjectivity must (must - superego lines to 1 and 2, as well being situated between two proficiency types, 3 and 5), reveal not only their relationship to this Thing (the Divine, Sophia, etc.), but how they themselves embody It. To look out, we must look within, and one of the biggest traps they can fall into is thinking that their own subjectivity can reveal and embody the totality of the Thing Itself. There’s a frustrated desire in their ability to purely express the unfiltered essence of this Thing through their own subjectivity. While it is true that you can reach this Thing in oneself, maybe even the totality of It, the error comes in not recognizing that this Thing can also be accessed by others, and that a certain type of solipsism actually occludes one’s access to It. The Thing makes up the fundamental fabric of reality, we all come from it yet over time we’ve fallen from that state of grace. The 4 thinks itself as separate from everyone else, so can you start to see the possible paradox that emerges. The 4 finds itself fallen from grace, and seeks to perfect the way in which to purely express and embody the Thing through their own subjectivity, yet they forget that this Thing is in all of us, hidden beneath our own fixations (and their own).

To come back to the Romantics, many descriptions say that 4s are dramatic, but that’s only scratching the surface and not getting to the core. At their core, they're manifesting and embodying the chaotic flux of reality, and that this outer metaphysical fact is the most accentuated in their inner reality (too look out one must look in). The concept of the sublime, “is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic. The term especially refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement, or imitation” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_(philosophy)), is a pretty 4ish concept. The sublime is the purest, most straightforward, and for some, the hardest way to access the Thing Itself. It’s an extraordinary feeling and the 4 seeks to replicate it.

[jessicafurseth]

Reading List, Lit, Fragrant edition.

[Image: Pipilotti Rist]

In the morning, before anything bad happens

The sky is open all the way

Workers upright on the line like spokes

I know there is a river somewhere, lit, fragrant, golden mist, all that,

whose irrepressible birds can’t believe their luck this morning and every morning.

I let the riot in my mind a few minutes more before the news comes.

[Molly Brodak]

*

"I once believed that the truth would set us free — specifically, that women’s first-person writing would “create more truth” around itself. … I still do this kind of writing, I am doing it now, but I no longer hope for any outcome other than my own relief.” I read this while walking home, slowing down until I ended up standing still at the corner of my street for five whole minutes to finish it. [Emily Gould, The Cut] 

“Fucking like a housewife” [Jamie Hood, The New Inquiry] 

“The notion of people who are a couple, and supposedly a committed couple, not wanting to live together, that is hard to fit into the kinds of ways we've been socialized to think about togetherness” [Julia Sklar, Curbed] 

"Daum is so brilliant that I’m still shocked she hasn’t considered that congratulating yourself for toughness is much less important than making a world where toughness isn’t necessary. In my experience, admitting that things you’ve mentally glossed over may have been more wounding than you were able to acknowledge can be profoundly destabilizing, but it is also necessary.” An exercise in being critical, yet at the same time so very respectful [Emily Gould, BookForum] 

“It’s weird to think of yourself as privileged to know what you like.” Anne Helen Petersen on the merit of having a good old fashioned hobby as an adult, in a story that’s really about the challenge of finding something that you simply love doing. 

"We are no longer using things to demonstrate status. We are using time. … Thus reading a book—not listening to it—has become its own sort of status symbol.” [Caroline O’Donoghue, Prospect Magazine] 

“Watching Sarah try to socialize when she was little was like watching her try to play jump rope games. She’d watch and watch and watch, but she could never figure out when it was her turn to join in.” On finally being diagnosed with autism [Sarah Kurchak, The Goods by Vox] 

How ultra-processed food took over our shopping baskets [Bee Wilson, The Guardian] 

"Empowerment language is a self-marketing asset as much as anything else: a way of selling our jobs back to ourselves.” [Molly Young, The Cut] 

My ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend is Lady Gaga” [Lindsey Crouse, The New York Times] 

“It is hard to imagine how the millennial aesthetic will age. Its blank, clean surfaces aspire to a world without clutter or scuffs, unmarked by the passage of time. In this aspiration, the millennial aesthetic is somewhat democratic — anything can be new, for a while.“ This is so brutal there’s blood on the floor  [Molly Fischer, The Cut] 

Kevin Kelly on the Longform Podcast, on the fallacy of thinkism (that we can think ourselves out of problems) when often we just need to try some stuff and see what happens. 

"What do we do with feelings now that they don’t matter anymore?”  [Sarah Miller, Longreads]

[darlingnisi]

Celebration Day 4 : VIP Edition

Part 3 here!

FDeluxe Panel

St Paul Peterson Eric Leeds Susannah Melvoin Jellybean Johnson

This was an interesting panel. The vibe was kind of interesting? I know people are adults, lol, but kind of a good bit of cursing here...and it kind of...went to a place toward the end? But we’ll get to it :

Paul Peterson Origin Story

18 years old. Gets phone call from Bobby Z. (They’re related but not by blood through marriage)

Walked in and played once in audition. Jellybean took him under his wing

Called back the next day and Prince was there.

The Wrecka Stow joke was done on him as part of his initiation before it was in Under the Cherry Moon

Susannah Melvoin

Had known P for a while

Lived in West Hollywood with Wendy and Lisa. The doors of the house were saloon doors so nobody had any privacy. 

Prince would come over and spend the night on the couch sometimes

Susannah had first singing gig with Quincy Jones. Sang with Siedah Garrett, Kevin Dorsey, and others. Her audition with Q was singing “Until You Come Back to Me” (Aretha Franklin)

Played demo for Prince. P says “Awww that was adorable”.

Asked to join The Family

She was 18 he was 25. 

She says it took 2 weeks to track The Family album

Eric Leeds

P called him for a name for a song he was writing “Purple Pain? Purple Plane?” Eric, “Maybe Purple Rain?”

Brother of Alan Leeds P’s tour manager

Atlanta Bliss and Eric are from Pittsburgh. They moved to Atlanta and shared a house

Eric was considering a career change at the time after touring with high profile acts, got a call from Alan saying P needed a sax player

Eric had no interest and wasn’t into P, but needed a gig.

Had no illusions or exceptions about the experience or Prince. Got along because he came to work.

On the Making of the Family album

The Family album was made when Purple Rain was coming out

They generally worked on their parts separately. Eric didn’t even meet the rest of the band for several months after he added his parts

Peterson had to really study P’s demos. He thought it would be easy. David Z and Jellybean had to coach him a lot to get the inflections right going line by line

They had rehearsals for a year and exactly one gig.

St Paul dipped after getting a deal with A&M records...left the camp “hence P’s ‘PAUL PUNK OF THE MONTH” chants during Parade tour

Last time he saw P was during a party for LP Music in the NPG music room (LP Music is an Eric Leeds band). P gave him a big hug.

On what happened to The Family 

The Family was never signed to a label. Their deal wasn’t with WB it was a production deal with Prince.

Prince was in France and wasn’t around to manage so things fell through the cracks

Not having a contract made their relationship “adversarial with P” “Prince wanted to pay as little as possible and they want as much as possible as artists”

WB didn’t know how to handle them because they were not WB artists.

Resided in no man’s land and Prince got the proceeds.

On Fdeluxe

Sheila E called to do an alumni concert at the forum it went well. After, they were invited to play a Questlove Grammy party. 

Taped a Fdeluxe album in Susannah’s garage.

Annnd the panel got weird around this time...

Susannah and Eric began riffing on each other. There was cursing? Susannah said the riffing was okay because she used to date Eric? Eric made some suggestive jokes for a while? I honestly wasn’t writing any of this down because I was like...

When they came around again, Susannah mentioned she was the one who connected Clare Fischer to P as he was cool with her father. 

MPLS Early Years

Gayle Chapman Dez Dickerson Dr Fink Bobby Z

Gayle Origin Story

Her friends played her P’s album thinking she’d like it

She was listening to “For You” on her own one day and she heard a voice that said “In order for Prince to tour, he’s going to need a band” it scared her as she was alone in her apartment

She called Chazz and asked if he knew Prince. He said he was his cousin and was looking for band members. Set her up with an audition.

Went to house on France ave and jammed with them

Got the call 3 months later to join

Dez Dickerson Origin Story

His little sister had For You. Was “young and arrogant” and thought he could do better.

Answered call in local paper and auditioned at Del’s Tire mart

Jammed for 15 minutes, didn’t take a solo until asked and didn’t show off, falling back into the groove. P walked him out and asked him what he noted as mature questions. (He didn’t embellish more than this, but he does have a book that details this out well if you want to check it out).

Matt Fink Origin Story

His and Bobby Z’s mom did fundraisers for Mt Sinai when they were kids

Bobby played a demo for Fink one day. Fink “who’s the band?” Bobby “it’s one guy he plays all the instruments” Fink *scooby doo sound*

He bugged Bobby for an audition and got one

On their early look

A lot of jokes, lol

“We were soul searching”

“Looked like an explosion in a soup kitchen”

“A lot of spandex and gold”

“Looked like 6 people who had never met each other”

Other stories

Gayle was taken for a ride by a label person. They told her she should go on a diet and work on her finger nails. She noted that it would be a wasted because her fingers would bleed from playing and polish wouldn’t last long.

Dez retells story of the label telling Prince he should wear underwear under his pants...so he just wore the underwear and no pants

Gayle notes that he sometimes wore underwear that laced up in the front.....

On the Capri Show

Bobby Z drove P there because his Datsun got wrecked with an unfortunate encounter with a snow plow. They left the car they rode over in on for 6 hours because it was 20 under.

It was an “us vs them band against the world’ vibe

Music store loaned the band gear, wireless guitar transmitters

Dez said he ran everywhere in the venue, up and down the aisles...which was nice to do...but they also got trucker interference out of their speakers “a lot of 10-4 good buddies”

They noted that they hadn’t rehearsed much for this show

WB thought they’d signed a Smokey/Steve artist...found P was not that.

Other stories

The Rebels was the first side project by P. If I Love You Tonight was originally recorded by Gayle. P told her to cry to get the emotion out of her while singing. The other guys also mooned her because pranksters.

Gayle got her hair “braided and beaded” before coming out to film shows in LA to promote the Prince album. The label immediately took her to get her hair done after. She got no sleep as they finished with her at 5am and she was due to the venue at 10am. “I looked like a white Donna Summer”

During the Midnight Special taping, the staff was “smashed”

For the Dick Clark show, Prince was on antihistamines and had a hard time talking after dancing and such

Told the story about Prince and Dez having an interview with Jon Bream and Bobby losing it over the lack of condiments “There’s no mayonnaise...” and it escalated including a flipped table and an almost flipped couch with Jon Bream sitting on it. P and Dez calmly continued the interview talking about serious topics with straight faces.

First time at First Avenue was to promote Dirty Mind. It was still Sams at the time. They finally connected to a local white audience with that show.

P drove a Jeep at one point

P had jokes on his answering machine that he would rotate. An example “Get off the phone you punk mother [machine beep]

Recounts wheelchair story of P being wheeled to the middle of busy foot traffic, sitting quietly, then slowly falling out of the chair. Sometimes people would help him back in the chair...he’d never say anything and play it straight.

Note : This panel was probably my favorite one. I’d heard most of the stories before, but so glad they spent time on the pre-revolution band. Just missed Andre being there...

Concert Screening Montreal 2015

Rooocked it!!!! 

Setlist for the curious

F Deluxe Concert

This was very funky...but this was an odd choice to close out Celebration. Most of the crowd sat during most of this show...appreciate Susannah’s body rolls though! They were inspiring!

Set list 

High Fashion Gaslight Sanctified Screams of Passion Nothing Compares 2 U “Come Go with me” lyric River Run Dry Desire Lover Drummers and Healers "Songs going down around the world” lyric  Mutiny

And that was it! There was a thanks from Wally and he shouted out Purple Underground, Rodney Fitzgerald, and Michael Dean (Yay Prince Podcast) in a kind of awkward way that thanked them for the opportunity and we were on our way. (I imagine that what was kind of confusing to people who didn’t know who those people were but...)

And so concluded Celebration 2018!

[motownfiction]

pairs

After lunch, Mr. Fischer and Mrs. Renaud gather all the seniors back into the common room. They have another set of worksheets, which makes Lucy snicker, if only in her imagination. Surely this is the best way to measure a twelfth grader’s spirituality, she thinks. Give them a bunch of worksheets. Forget music, literature, and painting – or anything else people used to do to express faith, hope, and love. Just worksheets. Maybe if they’re really lucky, they’ll get to do a word search filled with books in the Bible. Will is still riding the high of the time in sixth grade when he found Thesselonians backwards and diagonal. Sam just thought it said Thelonius, as in Straight, No Chaser.

Mr. Fischer explains that in order for them to get closer to God, they’d have to learn to see God in other people. So, that’s what they would spend the next few hours doing. Until chapel at 6:00, they would spend time roaming the retreat center grounds with their partner, whose name they were just about to pull out of a hat. Mrs. Renaud told all the girls to stand up and pick. Nervously, they all stand and congregate together. Sadie pulls Lucy aside.

“Why am I so jittery?” she asks.

“Because you want to get Daniel,” Lucy says.

“Do I?”

“Of course. I want to get Will. Think about it. There’s a whole wilderness out there. You could get up to just about anything.”

Sadie’s heart jumps straight into her throat. It’s a good thing she’s an expert at faking. Somehow, she manages a laugh and smacks Lucy lightly in the shoulder.

“That’s very funny,” she says. “But you oughta be careful out there in the wilderness, Mrs. O’Connor.”

Lucy points a finger at Sadie and holds in a laugh.

“That is not my name,” she says.

“Oh, but it is, in spirit,” Sadie says. “Come on. You don’t want to have two kids before you even turn twenty.”

“Mmm, maybe not. Doesn’t mean you can’t find out what the wilderness has to offer.”

Lucy chuckles, and Sadie turns an unholy shade of red. As she snaps to reality, she notices that Kim Campbell just became the first person to draw a name out of the hat. Nick Crosby. He waves flirtatiously at her from across the room, and Vicky St. John (who’s been Crosby’s girlfriend since last year) looks like she might fall straight through the floor. Lucy snorts to herself.

“Thank goodness he’s off the market,” she says. “If I had to listen to him pretend to feel guilty about graduating valedictorian for one more second, I’m pretty sure I’d die.”

“No,” Sadie says. “I’m pretty sure you’d kill him.”

Lucy laughs.

“OK, maybe that’s a little more likely,” she says.

Vicky St. John reaches forward to pull a name out of the hat. Sadie tenses and grabs onto Lucy’s arm without even thinking. Lucy looks up at her, confused.

“You OK?”

Sadie swallows, not realizing how dry her mouth had gotten. She nods awkwardly.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” she says. “I was just … I was kinda worried Vicky was gonna pick Daniel. But it looks like she’s going to pair up with Kevin, and all is right in the world.”

Lucy nods.

“It wouldn’t even matter if she did pick Daniel,” she says. “I mean, we both know they have about three seconds of history, but he’s in love with you. It doesn’t count.”

“It doesn’t count that he’s in love with me?” Sadie asks, panicked.

“No, that’s all that matters. Vicky doesn’t matter. None of these other girls matter.”

“Uh-huh. And would you be saying that if Vicky had pulled Will’s name from the hat?”

Lucy laughs out loud, and people stare. She doesn’t give a damn. People can look at her all they damn well please. Sadie wishes she could be like that.

“Oh, please,” she says, quieter this time. “It wouldn’t matter who drew Will’s name out of that hat. We’re forever.”

Sadie laughs and smooths her shaky hands out on her jeans. They’re forever. Lucy and Will. She believes that. And when she thinks about herself and Daniel, she believes it, too.

Until they get around all the other girls.

And Sadie remembers she’s a prude.

The hat comes around to Lucy, who rifles around before pulling out one slip of paper. When she opens it up to read the name, she really grins.

“A good second best,” she says. “Sam.”

Sam stands up and takes a bow. Will claps him on the back and says, “You take good care of my girl, all right?”

Lucy looks across the room and winks at Will, who winks back. Sadie feels her heart drop from her throat to her gut. She doesn’t know how to make it stop. Lucy hands her the hat, and she exhales nervously as she pulls out a new name.

“Will,” she reads – half relieved, half disappointed.

Lucy turns to her and grabs her hand.

“I know I said I wouldn’t be jealous if someone else had drawn Will’s name from the hat,” she says. “But I have to admit – I’m glad it’s you.”

Sadie smiles politely, but her eyes can’t stop looking toward the boys on the other side of the common room. Daniel’s not clapping Will on the back, asking him to take care of his girl. And it can’t be that he’s too short, either, because that’s never stopped Daniel from hugging and slapping Will and Sam before. She folds her arms across her chest and crosses one leg in front of the other. She makes sure to look at the floor. Just look at the floor.

Steph has to wrestle the hat from Sadie’s hands. She forgot she’d been holding it. She looks up at Steph with embarrassed, apologetic eyes, but Steph doesn’t seem offended. She just pulls the name out of the hat, and Sadie watches as her eyes go wide.

“Daniel.”

Sadie feels like her lungs might collapse. She feels Lucy’s arm on her, holding her up as best a five-foot-three fairy of a girl can do. When Sadie finally looks her in the eye, she’s stunned. Lucy’s eyes look kinder than ever.

“You don’t have to worry about that, either,” Lucy says. “It’s just Steph.”

Sadie nods and tries to smile. Lucy’s right. It’s Steph. Sam’s girlfriend. Just Steph.

But just Steph still means not Sadie.

A few minutes later, the whole group disbands. Sadie feels the touch of Will’s hand on her elbow, so she looks up at him. His eyes are even sweeter than Lucy’s.

“You wanna stay here?” he asks.

Sadie nods, trying not to cry. She knows that Will can tell. He shoots her a sympathetic grin and sits on the floor like a pretzel.

“All right,” he says. “Sounds good to me.”

Sadie grins and sits down with him. She wishes she were with Daniel right now, and she knows it. But she can’t deny – it could be a whole lot worse than Will.

[tkmedia]

Dougie’s Monday Mailbag (Evander Holyfield, Oscar Valdez, ’70s greats vs. future stars)

Dougie’s Monday Mailbag (Evander Holyfield, Oscar Valdez, ’70s greats vs. future stars)

Photo by Amanda Westcott/Triller Fight Club 13 Sep by Doug Fischer THE OLDTIMERS Hello Dougie, hope you are well and healthy. Evander Holyfield’s performance was really upsetting for me to watch. However fit he might appear to be, he was in a life-endangering situation. Why do you think the oldtimers are doing this? Do they think something like “these modern fighters would be nothing in my time, I’ll show them”? Or is their desire to compete so great that it clouds their minds so that they put themselves in harm’s way in order to, unnecessarily, prove something to themselves? All of them have legacies that are being blemished by these I dare say circus acts. Do they view current scene as so low in quality that they are compelled to act? Anyway, this is a trend that won’t stop until someone gets seriously hurt. Maybe there should be the age limit on sanctioned professional fights, I don’t know. What do you think? Best wishes, and greetings from Serbia. – Vulic I think commissions need to do their jobs. All fighters have a drive that compels them to challenge themselves and push their bodies beyond normal human limits. Those egos don’t go away after they retire or when they get old. Great fighters often have the fiercest pride; the fire in their bellies is what made them special competitors as young amateurs, during their peak pro years, and even when they were past their primes. Holyfield is never going to think he can’t do something, especially the sport where he forged his legend. If he’s willing to step into the ring (and he will be for as long as he’s able to stand on two legs – that’s no exaggeration), there will always be a promoter and/or platform willing to try to capitalize on his legendary status. It’s up to the state athletic commissions to say no. Boxing is a crazy business filled with crazy mother f__kers. The state commissions – including tribal and commonwealth – need to come up with unified safety guidelines, so a dangerous matchups can’t simply cross borders and state lines to see action. Evander Holyfield’s performance was really upsetting for me to watch. I can imagine, but I wouldn’t know because I didn’t watch it. The highlights are ugly enough. However fit he might appear to be, he was in a life-endangering situation. Why do you think the oldtimers are doing this? They’re FIGHTERS! They still want to do what gave them purpose as kids, adolescents and young adults; and what brought them fame and fortune in their 20s and 30s. If somebody is going to offer them a big bag of money to come back, they’re gonna go for it. Do they think something like “these modern fighters would be nothing in my time, I’ll show them”? Or is their desire to compete so great that it clouds their minds so that they put themselves in harm’s way in order to, unnecessarily, prove something to themselves? I think it’s more of the latter. Holyfield probably had no idea who Vitor Belfort was. He wasn’t trying to prove anything to him. He was just challenging himself, setting a goal that would lead to another goal (like a Mike Tyson exhibition). All of them have legacies that are being blemished by these I dare say circus acts. It might seem like that now, but if they’ve reached Holyfield’s level of greatness, an embarrassing loss isn’t going to alter their status as icons. Mike Tyson is still Mike Tyson despite getting trashed by Kevin McBride in his final pro bout. How many times did we see Roy Jones Jr. KTFO once he got long in the tooth? He’s still Roy Jones Jr.! Joe Louis was unceremoniously (and brutally) sent back into retirement by Rocky Marciano and then he took part in crappy exhibitions and pro wrestling bouts. He’s still the Brown Bomber, an American hero. People don’t remember Muhammad Ali for the Antonio Inoki exhibition. He’s remembered as The Greatest because he fought every top heavyweight of the 1960s and 1970s (and usually won). I can go on and on, but I trust you get the picture. Do they view current scene as so low in quality that they are compelled to act? Maybe, there is a void, currently, of high-profile matchups between elite boxers in their primes. Anyway, this is a trend that won’t stop until someone gets seriously hurt. That’s a scary and depressing thought, but you’re not wrong. Maybe there should be the age limit on sanctioned professional fights, I don’t know. I’m thinking after 50, it’s gotta be a FRIENDLY exhibition. HOLYFIELD AND THE TRILLER DEBATE Hi Doug, Maybe the consensus for your mailbag readers is to ignore Triller events and pretend debacles like Holyfield vs. Belfort don’t exist (if we pretend, they don’t exist, they can’t hurt us!), but I have to express my disgust and sadness somewhere. What happened last night interfered with some of my most cherished memories, not just of boxing, but of family. I know I’m not the only person who feels this way, but here’s my story. I was raised in Ireland in the nineties. Boxing was my dad’s favourite sport, so it became mine too. While my friends and classmates were learning the names of their favourite soccer players, I was getting familiar with names like Tyson, Bruno, Lewis, and Holyfield. My dad and I would talk about boxing often and he would tell me about how heavyweight fighters of the 90s era compared to the likes of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Those conversations would spark a lifelong curiosity about the lineage of boxing champions and the evolution of the sport.

Holyfield (left) on his way to stopping Mike Tyson in their first fight. Photo from The Ring archive Between the years of 1996 and 1999, my dad and my brothers would stay up until 5am to watch Evander Holyfield face Mike Tyson (twice) and Lennox Lewis (twice). These are some of my favourite memories of spending time with family. Coming in as an underdog in the first fight with Tyson (which a lot of people forget was the fight of the year), most fans expected Holyfield to get finished early. Even back then, many felt that he was past his prime. But Holyfield won and it left an impression on me. It was the first time I ever witnessed an athlete defy the odds and public sentiment so dramatically, and I was a big fan from that point on. A few years later, in 2003, me and dad watched the highlights of Evander Holyfield getting outboxed, outfoxed, and stopped by a resurgent James Toney. We watched these highlights in my dad’s hospital room as doctors and nurses helped to make him comfortable during his final days. It was a very sobering moment for me as a young man, witnessing the deterioration (albeit in different ways) of these two men that I held in such high regard. A few days later, Dad passed away at the age of 58 years old. This weekend, at the age of 58 years old, Evander Holyfield got back into the ring. You can say it was free will. But everybody knows Holyfield’s primary motivation: he needs money, and that need was exploited by some unscrupulous industry newcomers. I know that boxing has always been a colourful business that attracts chancers, crooks, and gangsters. But the people running Triller bring their own special brand of moral bankruptcy to the table. To throw the nearly 60-year-old Holyfield into the ring with a much younger pitbull (who’s had PED controversies in the past) on just a few days’ notice reflects the level of irresponsibility that Triller operates at. And in the end, Holyfield was just an afterthought. It was all to lure Jake Paul back into a mega-money event. I imagine I’m not the only fight fan that was enraged with this insane main event. And while I hope Evander got paid a truckload of cash (an 18-wheeler!), I also hope that nobody reading your mailbag supported that Triller card, Doug. These people clearly don’t care about real boxing fans, so I’m very interested to see what kind of numbers they pulled in this weekend. Do they even know who their target demo is? Regardless, I’m certain that the complete moral bankruptcy on display at Triller will eventually result in its financial bankruptcy. Keep up the great work, Doug! – Kevin, (Based in Vancouver but from Dublin) Thank you, Kevin, I will do my best. And thank you for sharing those very special and painful memories of your father with the Mailbag column. I can understand how it was extra heartbreaking for you to witness The Real Deal get treated like a rag doll (during and after the Triller Fight Club main event). Sometimes boxing is so cruel to its heroes that I just can’t stomach it. I’ve never watched Holmes-Ali or Norris-Leonard or Joppy-Duran for that reason, and I never will. I love the sport too much to allow the dark side of it and the ruthless elements of the business make me hate it. Having said that, I have no problem with anyone who paid $50 to watch Saturday’s s__t show. It’s their money. If they want to ball-up five $10 bills and cram ’em up their asses that’s their prerogative. God Bless ’em! Also, while I understand your outrage, I don’t want to see Triller go out of business. I’m not a fan of the Fight Club “Legends” exhibitions, but it’s good for boxing to have another platform for legitimate matchups to be showcased on. Here in the U.S., just having Showtime, FOX, ESPN/ESPN+ and DAZN isn’t enough accommodate all the fighters who are deserving of network exposure (and those platforms don’t work with enough promoters). It’s great that we’ve also got Ring City USA on NBC Sports Net and UFC Fight Pass, but it’s not enough. The TrillerVerz Tuesday night fights series kicked off with a well-received show headlined by heavyweight contender Michael Hunter at the Hulu Theater inside MSG on Aug. 3 and it continues tomorrow with what looks like a very solid card in Hollywood, Florida. That show has fighters from Miguel Cotto Promotions, Golden Boy, Thompson Boxing and Banner Promotions, and RDR Promotions, among others; and the matchups are legit: Undefeated (15-0) Puerto Rican up-and-comer Danielito Zorrilla vs. heavy handed Mexican veteran Pablo Cesar Cano is the quintessential crossroads bout at 140 pounds. There’s a scheduled lightweight match between once-beaten prospects Michael Dutchover (15-1) and Nahir Albright (13-1). There’s also a Mexican power puncher I’m familiar with from recent Thompson Boxing promotions named Miguel Madueno (24-0, with 22 KOs), who might just be “must-see TV.” I skipped Holyfield-Belfort but I’m more than happy to shell out $2.99 for a one-month pass to watch TrillerVerz on Fite.TV and I hope they’re able to continue the monthly Tuesday night series (if they keep up the quality matchmaking). I’m also curious to see what they do with the Oct. 4 Triller PPV topped with Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos.   THOUGHTS ON OSCAR VALDEZ Hey Doug, Hope everything’s well with you. I decided for the first time ever to boycott a fight because of obvious reasons. I feel that if us boxing fans want change, we need to show it with our money not with words. In the end, Twitter, boxing forums and discussion boards are mostly a bunch of biased fanboys trying to defend their guy no matter what they’ve done, right or wrong. Posting and trying to win an argument there makes absolutely no difference, so I decided to use the only power I have to make my opinion count: my hard-earned cash. I admit that at first, I was outraged by the fact that Valdez tested positive. He was becoming my favorite Mexican fighter and was excited to see him fight, so I felt sad and angry to see him fail a test. After I calmed down and saw exactly what he tested positive for I decided to inform myself a little bit more. I read everything that was reported by The Ring including both Dan Rafael’s article and the VADA response by Dr. Margaret Goodman, also read Tweets by Mr. Coppinger and Victor Conte’s opinion about the subject and came to my own conclusion: there’s a reason VADA prohibits these kinds of stimulants in and out of competition. And as Dr. Goodman said, I won’t get into that, we can all find it on the internet if we want to. Now, since I didn’t watch the fight, I won’t get into all this robbery thing. From what I’m reading it seems fans were looking for reasons for them to score against Valdez just because they wanted him to lose rather than score the fight appropriately. Media I trust like you and Steve Kim (and others) scored the fight for Valdez calling it how you saw it while fans are screaming robbery. The main thing here is that Oscar Valdez’s reputation was hurt a lot more during this whole fight camp than any loss inside the ring would have hurt him. If he did do this on purpose or trusted someone when he took these supplements, he will forever regret that decision. From now on, at least from a group of people, he will forever be looked on as a cheater. That’s a knockdown way more difficult to climb up from than any other. I feel it’s easier to forgive a guy that comes out and admits his wrong doings rather than make up stuff like the herbal tea story. People can apologize and people forgive. If you don’t believe this look at how Mike Tyson is looked at today.  He was a convicted rapist, bit off a guy’s ear, admitted faking his tests in his own book, did all sort of nasty things in the last third of his career, threatened to eat Lennox Lewis children and now he’s everybody’s Teddy Bear. America forgives, there’s a lot of proof out there (Tiger Woods anybody?). We’re humans and make mistakes. I’m sure Valdez is learning from whatever he did, knowingly or not. One of the biggest things I’ve learned in recent years is to take responsibility of my acts and stop blaming results on others; stop making excuses. Guys need to man up and face the problems they created and stop making excuses or blaming others for it. Ever since I did that I managed to improve because I was able to identify mistakes I was making; things I blamed on external things were now clearer to me and I was able to change them and improve. If Oscar wants to turn things around, he really needs to do some soul searching, see where things went wrong and change that. He’s still young and can still change the narrative. As of right now, I’ll continue to put my money where my mouth is. Thanks Doug. – Juan Valverde, Chula Vista That’s the right thing to do, Juan, just don’t forget to use some of that money to support VADA. If it wasn’t for Dr. Goodman’s testing organization, pretty much every active high-profile boxer would be able to claim they’re “clean” because they passed the sub-standard state commission PED tests. Nine out of 10 times when we hear about a positive drug test in boxing, it’s a VADA test. I admit that at first, I was outraged by the fact that Valdez tested positive. He was becoming my favorite Mexican fighter and was excited to see him fight, so I felt sad and angry to see him fail a test. Valdez went from hero to zero with that positive test and the way he and his team handled it. All the fans he earned with his sensational performance and stoppage against Miguel Berchelt has been flushed down the toilet. As of now, and for the foreseeable future, he’s got the “The Mexican They Love to Hate” title that was created for Antonio Margarito and eventually passed on to his superstar stablemate Canelo. After I calmed down and saw exactly what he tested positive for I decided to inform myself a little bit more. I hope other fans – and, more importantly, boxers – did the same thing. It sucks when fighter pop positive, but it’s always an opportunity for those fighters and the boxing world to bone up on whatever “The Banned Substance of the Month” is. I read everything that was reported by The Ring including both Dan Rafael’s article and the VADA response by Dr. Margaret Goodman, also read Tweets by Mr. Coppinger and Victor Conte’s opinion about the subject and came to my own conclusion: there’s a reason VADA prohibits these kinds of stimulants in and out of competition. There shouldn’t be “out-of-competition” lists. If it’s a performance enhancer, it needs to stay out of the bodies of combat athletes. Now, since I didn’t watch the fight, I won’t get into all this robbery thing. It was a close fight.

Valdez vs. Conceição. Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images From what I’m reading it seems fans were looking for reasons for them to score against Valdez just because they wanted him to lose rather than score the fight appropriately. Hey, that’s how it goes when you’re “The Mexican They Love to Hate,” but in fairness to Robson Conceicao, the Brazilian boxed very well for much of the fight, especially the first half. But Valdez came on strong over the second half, landing the more effective punches in most of the rounds. That bogus point deduction didn’t help the challenger (I guess the ref and the official judges didn’t get the memo that Valdez is the TMTLTH). The main thing here is that Oscar Valdez’s reputation was hurt a lot more during this whole fight camp than any loss inside the ring would have hurt him. No doubt about it. His image would have fared much better if he’d admitted he f__ked up, apologized to his fans, his team, his management, promoter, the WBC, the tribal commission in Tucson, and then signed up for extensive VADA testing for the next three-to-six months. And if he got through that period without a positive, return to the ring as humbly as possible. I feel it’s easier to forgive a guy that comes out and admits his wrong doings rather than make up stuff like the herbal tea story. I agree, but what if that really is what he believes? People can apologize and people forgive. They can. They don’t always do so, but hopefully most can. If you don’t believe this look at how Mike Tyson is looked at today. He was a convicted rapist, bit off a guy’s ear, admitted faking his tests in his own book, did all sort of nasty things in the last third of his career, threatened to eat Lennox Lewis children and now he’s everybody’s Teddy Bear. Yeah, but that didn’t happen overnight, Juan. Tyson was “The N__ga They Love to Hate” for 10-15 years. The American public began to mellow on him as he began to mellow out with age (and a LOT of marijuana). But his brutal honesty (especially when he aimed it at himself) has always been a part of his appeal. I don’t think you can compare other boxers with Tyson, who was a bona fide global superstar. The public likes to see celebrities fall, but they also enjoy redemption stories among the famous. Read the full article

[aion-rsa]

The Office: The Frustrating, Moving Story Behind Steve Carell Leaving

https://ift.tt/2SLlIgL

Warning: contains spoilers for The Office: An American Workplace.

On screen, Steve Carell’s departure from The Office was pretty perfect. His farewell episode ‘Goodbye, Michael’ and those running up to it, were emotional and satisfying. They showed branch manager Michael Scott finally getting the love he’d always craved, and crucially, deserving it too. Once a thin-skinned, desperate-for-approval man-child, Michael had been redeemed into somebody who didn’t take himself too seriously and no longer needed the spotlight. After a long, hard (that’s what she said) journey, his future with Amy Ryan’s adorably dorky character Holly Flax was set. Michael Scott had grown up and it was time to go.

However well-played Carell’s farewell was, it didn’t have to be the end of his time on the show. Speaking on the ‘An Oral History of The Office’ podcast presented by Brian Baumgartner (who played Kevin Malone on the show) producer Ben Silverman and editor Claire Scanlon explained that Carell was prepared to stay on for more, but the network frustratingly fluffed it.

When The Office started, its cast signed the customary contracts holding them until the end of a potential seven seasons. (By no means a sure thing early on. The show’s pilot is famed for being one of lowest-rated ever tested at NBC, early viewing figures weren’t strong, and it wasn’t until 2005 movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin made Carell a comedy star that NBC really sat up and took notice.) As the seven-season deadline approached in 2009-10, everybody but Carell renegotiated for a further two seasons. 

For showrunner Greg Daniels, that made it pretty clear Carell was planning to leave, but according to Silverman and Scanlon, it wasn’t so. Editor and director Claire Scanlon told the podcast, “Steve said he would have come back, they didn’t even try!”

Silverman, who spearheaded the US remake of the British mockumentary series and was co-chairman of NBC Entertainment between 2007 – 2009, told Baumgartner, “When I heard the story of how the network went about its process with him after the fact, it made me so depressed how they had kind of blown something that they could have saved.” 

Scanlon describes feeling cross about the way things went, telling the podcast, “I feel like NBC dropped the ball, because I knew the story behind it, which was they just never even bothered, which was just like so dumb. I don’t know what was wrong with them.” 

One thing wrong was that during the 2010 – 2011 season six to seven period, Comcast bought a controlling share in NBCUniversal, and replaced network chairman Jeff Glaspin with Bob Greenblatt. According to Baumgartner’s podcast, the feeling was that the new broom had little affinity or familiarity with The Office and didn’t realise what a boon it was to have Carell (by this point a major movie star) leading the cast. 

The rise in streaming and proliferation of new media during this period also made the sitcom’s relatively strong viewing figures appear to be on the slide. After original showrunner Greg Daniels left at the end of season four to start the spin-off that turned into Parks and Recreation, and The Office’s producer-champion Ben Silverman had left NBC in 2009, there was nobody at the network to fight the show’s corner, or to impress the importance of re-signing Carell. 

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Then in April 2010, when season six of The Office was in its final months of airing and the network should have been laying out the red carpet to get Carell to re-sign, it blanked him. Carell was in the UK promoting Date Night with Tina Fey. Speaking to DJ Greg James at BBC Radio One, Carell was asked about his future on The Office and said publicly that his contract was due to end after the following season. Asked if he’d stay on, Carell told James, “I don’t think so. I think that will probably be my last year.” A lead of Carell’s fame would expect a public statement like that to reach the network and prompt an overture followed by a series of ‘what can we do to convince you?’ meetings. But no overtures came. According to ‘An Oral History of The Office’, NBCUniversal simply let Carell go without a fight, leaving Dunder Mifflin Scranton without its regional manager.

Carell reportedly discussed leaving The Office with original showrunner Greg Daniels on the set of season six finale ‘Whistleblower’. That episode’s director Paul Lieberstein (who also played HR manager Toby Flenderson on the comedy show) told Baumgartner that Steve and Greg went into the plane on which they were filming Carell’s scenes with Kathy Bates as Sabre CEO Jo Bennett and held up filming by not coming out for a while. “I think that’s when Steve told Greg he’s not coming back,” Lieberstein told the podcast. 

Greg Daniels took the news graciously. “You couldn’t be mad,” he told Baumgartner. “[Carell] was so graceful and full of integrity that you could never be mad. Because he became a huge star in season two. The fact that he was still doing 28 episodes of TV some years really put a crimp in the number of movies that he did, and it’s, I think, testament to his integrity that he went ahead and completed the whole series according to his original contract of seven years.”

Carell’s integrity was cited multiple times by his co-stars and the creatives on the podcast. During the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike (prompted in no small way by the first webisodes NBC asked the writers of The Office to produce unpaid, as ‘promotional material’), Carell led from the front and showed solidarity by, amicably, refusing to go on set and film until the writer-producers were back in the job. During that same period, incidentally, Greg Daniels paid crewmembers from his own chequebook, so the integrity clearly ran both ways. 

Carell’s reluctant decision not to extend his contract having gone uncontested by the network at least allowed plenty of time to plan just the right exit for Michael Scott. Cue the return of Amy Ryan. The character of Holly was only intended as a temporary paramour for Scott, designed to see him interact with his first real romantic peer (Dunder Mifflin boss Jan Levinson and real estate agent Carol – played by Carell’s real-life wife Nancy – emphatically did not see Michael as their equal), but it became clear that Holly should be Michael’s endgame.

It was Carell’s idea for Michael to secretly sneak out of the office the day before his big going-away party. Carell told Baumgartner, “That would be the most elegant representation of his growth as a human being, because Michael lives to be celebrated, you think that’s all he wants, he wants to be the centre of attention and he wants pats on the back, he wants people to think he’s funny and charming and all of those things, but the fact that he’d walk away from his big tribute, his big send-off and be able to, in a very personal way, say goodbye to each character, that to me felt like it would resonate.”

Filming ‘Goodbye, Michael’ was “emotional torture,” Carell told the podcast. “Imagine saying goodbye for a week. It was just fraught with emotion and joy and sadness and nostalgia, but it was also really beautiful. I treasure doing that episode, because it did allow me to have a finality with everybody.”

The very last goodbye scene shot was with John Krasinski as Jim, but the most memorable was with Jenna Fischer as Pam, who very nearly misses her chance to say goodbye, and just catches Michael at the airport after he’s taken off his documentary mic. Paul Feig was directing the episode, and he told Fischer to run up to Carell and say goodbye to him not in character as Pam to Michael, but as Jenna to Steve. It didn’t matter what she said because the sound wouldn’t be recorded. “I ran up to Steve and I just told him all the ways I was going to miss him and how grateful I was for his friendship and the privilege of working with him,” she told Baumgartner, “and I’m sobbing, and he’s sobbing, and we’re hugging and I didn’t want to let him go and I didn’t want the scene to end, and then finally Paul Feig says ‘cut’.” And then… they’d taken so long sobbing and hugging that Feig asked her to do it all over again, but faster. And that’s what she said. 

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The Office: An American Workplace is available to stream on Netflix.

The post The Office: The Frustrating, Moving Story Behind Steve Carell Leaving appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3hcE3MU

[livelovelaug-h]

Secrets series part 4 the office

Jim x reader

A/n: I literally tried to post this about four times and it wouldn't let me 😧😖😤😤💀 I hate Tumblr, because of course every time I didn't save the work.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Meanwhile at the office--

The dundies got pretty Hectic. He didn't mean for it to happen. They were both pretty drunk. But that's no excuse is it?? Everyone could sense the tension, they figured it was for a different reason. They didn't get to see what happened the other day.. he was pretty guilty. I mean you were only gone a month.

Jim to the 📷

"......"

"Why the long face Jim?" Michael asked. "not getting laid is that why you're being mr. Oscar the grouch?" He says laughing.

"no that's not it Michel." He shook his head and went into the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen area after Jim. She knew why he was avoiding her. She hope she didn't mess anything up with him he was still a great guy.

"hey I'm sorry about-"

"no it's okay, we both were just having some fun it was harmless." He scratched his neck.

"yeah exactly hah."

"I mean you have your fiance and I have y/n."

"of course it was just a friend kiss."

"for sure."........

"well I should probably get back to the phones."

"yeah you wouldn't want to Miss a complaint call.'' she laughs then walks back to the front desk, Kelly comes in:

"aw you guys would make a cute couple. She's totally into you but aren't you dating y/n?"

"she's not into me besides she's engaged and yeah we're still dating and we're fine."

"well I didn't say something was wrong so that means that there is something wrong, but then that's two negatives but it's still a positive so something IS still wrong."

"nothing is wrong Kelly don't worry." He faked smiled walking away.

You and Jim talked everyday still but you both seemed off. You were just too guilty to notice, and he was too guilty also. so you guys either talked briefly or it was just kinda awkward. You both blamed it on being tired. He didn't know what to do since he was going to be seeing you in 5 days. He doesn't wanna ruin the trip but he needs to tell you.

Little did he know that you had a secret also.

"hey uh how was work?"

"it was pretty good. How about you how's your classes?"

"they're good, I'm learning a lot! Haha"

"that's great to hear."

"thanks...... So.. how were the dundies ??" Jim froze he didn't Want to say it over the video call but it's killing him. And now he can't look suspicious. "It was kind of boring. Michael was crazy about it but it wasn't anything special"

"that sucks I bet it would have been better if I was there. you winked😉😉

"haha yeah I- i would bet on that." Is it getting hot in hear Jim's thinking.

"so how has it been since Ryan left?". Now it's your turn to panic.

"pretty great.... I have more room now. Hehe"

"I know how you feel about your room."

"yeah haha...... how are Pam and Dwight ?"

"their- their great why?"

"just asking I know you pull pranks on him and she helps."

"oh someone's at the door I'll call you later. Love you bye"

"love you b-."

He sighs. That was a close one.

Jim to the 📷

"i messed up"

You didn't answer when he called. He was kinda hoping you wouldn't.

"hey y/n it's me. I just wanted to say sorry for hanging up on you yesterday. I just haven't been feeling my best lately, but I'll tell you about that when I see you in 4 days. Hope you have a good day and know that i do love you. Remember our first date? I mean kind of hard to forget hahaha. We thought it was maybe a sign for us not to date but we both did not want to believe that. And then we just let it happen and we waited and haven't had a problem since. It's great the spaghetti just falling on your lap and me trying to save it from you but spilling my drink on my pants. Good times. So I wanted to tell you .... To tell you that I wanted to take you out when I see you. Alright, love you bye."

Listening to that message broke your heart and made you cry. Jim had a few tears fall too while leaving the message.

You to the 📷

"I think Jim knows or something. I messed up."

[haydennation]

Hayden Christensen for “Life as a House”

By Paul Fischer Friday, November 9th 2001 2:14 pm Until recently, 19-year old Canadian actor Hayden Christensen was hardly a household name. But come next summer, expect the young actor’s image to be pasted on every major magazine cover in the world. He is, after all, the new Anakin Skywalker in Episode II and Episode III of the huge Star Wars franchise, who eventually becomes Darth Vader.

But before Christensen heads off to a galaxy near you, he will appear as the more down-to-earth rebel without a cause in the very human comedy/drama Life as a House. In a very candid discussion with Paul Fischer, it was a very grounded Mr. Christensen who talked abundantly about Star Wars, working in Australia, the prospects of fame and celebrity, and playing an angry young teenager in his first starring role.

When one first sees Hayden Christensen on screen in the new Irwin Winkler-directed dramedy Life as a House, the actor, playing a troubled teen in that movie, has blue-bleached hair and an assortment of jewelry that immediately defines the angst of this character. In person, young Hayden is well kempt, confident and polite, dealing with the new pressures of fame and media attention. The confident young actor is clearly miles apart from this character and his celebrated role of Anakin Skywalker, but the actor has learned to deal with the spotlight and the kind of success he has reluctantly found himself a part of. “I think you can give it the credence it deserves, which isn’t too much,” the actor quietly explains. “I think that if you don’t take it too seriously and just take it as it comes, keep your ambitions where they were before, and then you’ll be alright.” Those ‘ambitions’ Christensen speaks of, he elaborates, “Were merely succeeding as an actor and just wanted to make good films.”

Before he graces our screens next year in Episode II, Christensen will first pop up opposite Oscar-winner Kevin Kline in Life as a House. The film revolves around George Monroe (Kline) is a middle-aged architect who is confronted with life-changing news and seizes the opportunity to begin living on his own terms. In the process of changing himself, those he was previously alienated from, including his ex-wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) and troubled teenage son (Christensen), begin gravitating back to him, only to find their own lives affected in the most unexpected ways. For Christensen, darkening his hair and wearing jewelry, afforded him the chance to play a character so unlike him, including on a physical level, he explains. “One of the things I find about acting is that the less the audience knows about the actor, the more they’re able to believe in him in the role. I think that’s one of the reasons I was selected to play Anakin, was because of that. So if I was going to do a film BEFORE Star Wars, I wanted to be as unrecognizable as possible.” For much of Life as a House, we see a brooding, intensely angry young man, and the actor says that it was easier to play the character than he was expecting. “It’s always easier, I suppose, to play someone who has some grave dysfunction; it’s a crutch that you can work on.” Christensen shot Life as a House having completed most of his work on Episode II.

Contrasting these two very different experiences, Christensen recalls having had such fond memories of his experience on Star Wars “that I was concerned about doing something so different. But it was a challenge to play more of a character”, he explains. Episode II was a very different experience, he explains, given the blue screen he had to work with for much of the shoot. “It’s actually not too dissimilar from theatre in that you have to create your own stimuli which demand a lot more of your imagination.” Unlike Life as a House “where I was working as a real actor and it was something I needed.” In Life as a House, the house in question symbolizes the growth of Christensen’s character’s love for the father he never really knew. Hayden says that the house “is a nice metaphor for the movie. George [Kline] is forced to re-evaluate everything in his life and ENCOURAGE change in his life, and through that, creates this domino effect around everyone around him, including ME. So through my own rehabilitation, we tear down the old shack, mainly our old selves, and build our NEW selves and this new house. So I think cinematically it works.” Asked about his OWN relationship within his family, given his recent ascent to stardom, Christensen says that it remains “a good and healthy one. I’m friends with my parents, so I never really rebelled, or went through any of those feelings. That’s why I loved doing this movie, so that I could rebel vicariously through this character.” He admits, however, that this movie “does make us all appreciate the value of family or those we love.”

Born in Vancouver but raised in Toronto, Canada, Christensen became involved with Canadian television productions at a young age and carried his skills over to American TV movies and series in the late ’90s. Though he would appear briefly in 1999’s The Virgin Suicides for director Sofia Coppola — a family friend of Lucas’ — it was Christensen’s work in the Fox Family Channel’s drama series Higher Ground which convinced Lucas to give the actor a reading. Christensen went from being an unknown TV actor to quite possibly the next big thing.

On hearing that he had been cast in Episode II, the actor admits that he “couldn’t define for myself what I was feeling when I found out that I got the part. It was a week of just sheer bliss and I got to work.” Work included spending several months in Sydney where he shot all of the interiors. Despite being far from home, Christensen loved his Aussie experience. “I really loved it, even though there were times I wished it were a little bit closer,” he says. “I stayed on Bondi Beach in this magnificent apartment building on the south shore.” He didn’t catch up on his surfing while he Sydney, “but I did do some serious boogie boarding”, he adds laughingly.

Christensen is heading back to London “for what they call re-shoots, but I don’t really know”. Asked how tired he is of answering Star Wars questions, Christensen matter-of-factly responds that he “is more accustomed to it than anything else. I mean, everything’s pretty new to me at this point, so I’m just learning as I go along. Talking about Star Wars is why I’m here; if I hadn’t done Star Wars I don’t think I would have been cast in Life as a House, so I’m just happy to share as much as I can.”

As for the coolest thing about being the Anakin? “Wearing the big cape was pretty empowering. The sabre of course, was pretty cool too.” Audiences will get to see just HOW cool, when Episode II blasts into theatres next year.

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They stunned Benfica and have one of Europe’s hottest strikers: Why Frankfurt can surprise Chelsea

Forget Ajax. For all their genius, the most romantic team in European football at the moment is not Erik ten Hag & # 39; s cheerful, refreshing young side. The most romantic team in Eintracht Frankfurt

Frankfurt defeated Benfica 2-0 on Thursday evening, destroying two-goal deficit from the first leg to set up the semi-final draw with Chelsea in two weeks.

They will be underdogs against Maurizio Sarri, but the Blues should not underestimate them. Frankfurt not only eliminated Benfica, they also wasted Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk and won all their matches in a group with Marseille and Lazio. Unlikely, they are now the only representative of German football in European football.

Eintracht Frankfurt is one of the striking teams playing in European football this season

Eintracht Frankfurt is one of the striking teams playing in European football this season

Roared at them passionate supporters, Frankfurt reached the semifinals of the Europa League "

Roared on their passionate supporters, Frankfurt reached the semifinals of the Europa League

Portuguese heavyweights Benfica became the

As with Ajax, the story of Frankfurt this year is one for every self-respecting neutral, a delicious punished by the cold laws of money in modern football.

While Ajax enchanted us as a cerebral legacy from the 70s, Frankfurt is the alternative to rock & roll: a fiery middle finger to the European football goal.

How did they get here, and what can Chelsea expect from their semi-final opponents? Sportsmail judges the side of the Bundesliga …

WHERE WAS FRANKFURT COMING TODAY?

One of the great old teams of German football, Frankfurt was long ago to dine on bygone glory of the past, and when Niko Kovac took over the reins in 2016, they had for many years a jubilation between relegation fights and challenges in the Europa League.

Kovac kept them on their teeth in 2016 and started a new era of success together with sports director Fredi Bobic.

In the next two years I led Frankfurt to successive cup finals. They won the second and beat Bayern Munich just a few weeks before Kovac left for Munich.

The victory over Bayern, and in particular their third goal, strengthened their reputation as the favorite of neutrals. In injury time at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Mijat Gacinovic walked the length of the field for his own fans to slide the ball into the empty net and the whole country celebrated with him.

Frankfurt spent years yoing between relegation fights and challenges to reach Europe. "

Frankfurt spent years joining through relegation battles and challenges to enter Europe.

AND THE SUCCESS IS THIS SEASON CONTINUED?

Kovac was replaced by the Austrian Adi Huetter, a man who is one of the unfortunates who was given the name & # 39; Adolf & # 39; by his parents, even though he was born after the war.

Initially it seemed as if the flash of Frankfurt was over in the pan as they fell to a 5-0 defeat against Bayern in the German Supercup.

Under Kovac, Frankfurt was a relentlessly well-organized team The coach has also been able to make the break: they have remained under Huetter, while they have also become more dynamic

The coach has also made a number of sharp personal adjustments. Another player, while Huetter also saw something that Kovac did not see in Luka Jovic.

Austrian Adi Huetter manager continues to push boundaries since Kovac left

Austrian Adi Huetter manager continued shifting the boundaries to new limits since Kovac left

JOVIC IS THE STAR, RIGHT?

The 21-year-old Serbian striker has been the discovery of the season.

Jovic & # 39; s sizzling form has aroused the interest of the European top clubs, with his eight goals in the Europa League helping to shoot Frankfurt into the semifinals, while his 17 league goals helped them reach the top four to challenge. Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Bayern are said to be preparing all bids.

He is the perfect example of the smart business sense of Frankfurt in recent years. After his loan with Benfica's rejection, Jovic's deal included a buyout of only € 7 million, which Frankfurt activated this week. That means that even if he leaves for Madrid or Munich this summer, the club can expect to make a substantial profit on a player they initially lent on loan.

While Jovic will almost certainly go somewhere else But the chances of Frankfurt to keep him for another year seem high at the moment. He has just signed a contract until 2023, and his father recently told Bild that he wants to stay with Eintracht.

Luka Jovic is currently one of Europe's most popular prospects and can cause Chelsea real problems Europe's best prospects and Chelsea right now can cause real problems "

Luka Jovic is currently one of Europe & # 39; s most popular prospects and can cause Chelsea real problems

Absolutely not. Jovic is the undisputed star, but Frankfurt is a remarkably balanced team that is not dependent on a single player.

At the front, the razor-sharp Balkan duo of Jovic, Kostic and the Croatian Ante Rebic are well supported by French frontman Sebastian Haller and the Portuguese striker Goncalo Paciencia

That explosive front line is well supported by a midfield and back line full of experienced players who know the club well.

The likes of David Abraham and Timothy Chandler have been on Eintracht since mid-table mediocrity, while former stars Kevin Trapp and Sebastian Rode have been seduced into the club under Huetter. ] Add some sharp signing sessions, such as Kostic, Patience and Austrian defender Martin Hinteregger, and you have a team with a neat balance of steady experience and youthful energy that plays football at its best with exciting, controlled aggression.

to be a team solely dependent on the shape of star-striker Jovic "

No one could accuse Frankfurt of a team solely dependent on the shape of star-striker Jovic

WHAT WITH THE FANS?

They took 15,000 fans to Milan for the game against Inter and video & # 39; s of their march through the city spreading like wildfire on social media.We expect a similar show at King & # next month 39; s Road.

Home support is equally impressive.

Although the Commerzbank-Arena is a modern stadium, the atmosphere has been described by the Italian press as & # 39; hels & # 39 for other teams.

Rough left in their political preferences, the fan base is vocal r anti-racism, as well as the usual issues of commercialization and the protection of fan culture. They are often hunted by their rebel president Peter Fischer.

supporters of Frankfurtambehorentotdemest passionateselfby standardsandindebundesligadoornorminindbundesliga

cigarettes

cigarettes]

smoking, heart-on-his-sleeve 68er, Fischer is always good for a few quotes.

Once he claimed to be "ashamed" of the 13 percent of Germans who voted for the far-right AfD party, and in February he sent a message to the opponents of the European League Shakhtar Donetsk.] Regardless of who won on the field, he said: “No Ukrainian can beat me when it comes to drinking vodka. & # 39;

You would imagine the same as the Russians Roman Abramovich, be warned

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Middle Tennessee State University academic officials laid the groundwork for a new mechatronics engineering program in 2012-13. With the state’s blessings, the program went from ground zero in early August 2013 to 20 students that first semester.

Five years and nearly 400 students later, mechatronics is a fast-growing program that’s already graduated 66 students earning $65,000 to $75,000 per year — and received a titanic boost by recently gaining accreditation from the Baltimore, Maryland-based Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc., or ABET, and its Engineering Accreditation Commission.

It is a program retired Bridgestone North Americas Inc. corporate manager Keith Hamilton said is “a step toward moving MTSU into being the premier engineering school in the Southeastern part of the United States.” And it is a program master of ceremonies Tonya Scott referenced as growing “from imagination to accreditation.”

Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field of engineering that includes a combination of systems, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, control and computer engineering. The program is based on a three-level international certification program created by Siemens, a German engineering company and MTSU partner.

The Department of Engineering Technology hailed the accreditation achievement with a celebration Friday (Sept. 21) in the Tom H. Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall.

“It is a pretty big deal,” said Walter Boles, engineering technology chair, who has been a facilitator of the program since the beginning, referencing the accreditation. “We’re celebrating a milestone and what mechatronics means for the community, our students, industry partners and Tennessee’s economy.”

The ABET action is retroactive to 2015 (“to cover all graduates,” Boles said) and the MTSU accreditation status will appear on ABET’s website in October, he added. ABET is an organization that accredits postsecondary education programs in applied and natural science, engineering and engineering technology.

Provost Mark Byrnes, who attended the celebration, said the university is pleased the mechatronics engineering program received national accreditation.

“It confirms the quality of our mechatronics program and should reassure students that they will receive a high-quality education,” Byrnes said.

College of Basic and Applied Sciences Dean Bud Fischer said the “highly successful ABET accreditation of the MTSU mechatronics program is evidence the program has met the high standards needed to produce graduates ready to enter this critical field of engineering.”

“Students graduating from this program receive a solid educational foundation and are certainly sufficiently prepared for entry into the engineering profession,” Fischer added.

Hamilton, who led Bridgestone’s North America Manufacturing Education Center and is a Franklin County resident, said he’s “just elated that it’s (accreditation) happening. It’s a remarkable accomplishment — an accomplishment no one else believed could be done. It has gone beyond everyone’s expectations.”

Mechatronics is seeing an increase of about 100 students per year. Sixty students will graduate in May 2019.

“There’s a very high demand for our graduates,” Boles said.

State Sen. Shane Reeves of Murfreesboro told the crowd he is “excited about the future of mechatronics” and he “will do what we can to get money for an (engineering) building” to house the growing program and department.

As an undergraduate, Elijah Little was undeclared until he “heard about mechatronics. It seemed to fit the bill. Being a part of the Experimental Vehicles Program helped me utilize my skills and knowledge, and I’d like to thank MTSU for all the opportunities it has given me.” He is now earning a master’s in engineering management.

MTSU has articulations agreements with Motlow, Roan State and Cleveland State community colleges and is working on an agreement with Volunteer State Community College, allowing students from the colleges to transfer to MTSU “and receive a significant amount of transfer credit toward the bachelor’s degree,” Boles said.

Motlow, which confers associate degrees to its graduates, offered the first mechatronics program in Tennessee and is considered one of the best in the nation. It joins with MTSU to assist area high school programs at Oakland and others. Industry partners pushed for MTSU to offer the four-year bachelor’s degree.

Hamilton, Jimmy Davis with The Davis Groupe and other industry partners attended the event. Another major partner is Smyrna, Tennessee-based Nissan North America, which was represented by Kevin Smith, now retired and others. Alumna Sarah Jost also shared about her positive mechatronics experience.

“With achievement comes a new set of challenges,” said Davis, who added it is imperative MTSU “get an engineering school, a new building and add a master’s program” in mechatronics.

Including mechatronics, MTSU has more than 300 combined undergraduate and graduate programs. Mechatronics and engineering technology are part of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences.

MTSU celebrates mechatronics engineering accreditation Middle Tennessee State University academic officials laid the groundwork for a new mechatronics engineering program in 2012-13.