#lindsay and michael: commentary

[shipcestuous]

I'm rewatching arrested development rn and I'm baffled at the amount of incest in it that I guess I just forgot ?? There's at least one incest joke per episode and multiple instances of canon cousin incest?? How on earth did they get away with that without pissing people off? And no one rly mentions it either when discussing the show despite the fact that it's like.... the foundation for 90% of the jokes

Anyway, I can't decide who I ship more- Michael/Lindsay or Michael/Gob... 👀

Yes, Arrested Development and not Game of Thrones (/House of the Dragon) is the true incest show. That's one of many reasons why it's my favorite show.

As long as it's a joke, they can do anything. Plus it's thematic, because the family is supposed to be hugely dysfunctional. I posted an interview with the creator many years ago in which he talked about the incest being sort of metaphorical, or a product of the family not being able to relate to each other in a healthy way. But I'd rather just shhh all that and enjoy it for what it is on the surface.

I love all the scattered Michael and Lindsay jokes. Like she apparently did some kind of sexy calendar, and that's what's hanging in the house. Or when she sits on the photocopier and then hands the picture to Michael. Or when she's doing Kegels while they're talking. There's just so much stuff.

[fictionandmusic]

PLEASE can we talk about how in the pilot cast commentary when hal sparks goes “Michael is jealous of Lindsay for getting to have Brian‘s baby”

[youarestellarverse]

You mentioned just now that hbomberguy is an anti - when did he say anti-esque things? I'm familiar with his videos but keep off the accursèd bird app

--

I forget which video, I wasn't familiar with the video game he made it about, but he was disgusted and horrified that people liked a ship with an age difference iirc?

Search @olderthannetfic for the Lindsay Ellis wank and you'll see more in her asks and commentary about how leftist breadtube generally is full of conservatives in gay hats. Unfortunately, it's not just Harris, although I did find his descent into tankie-dom particularly upsetting given his earlier measured responses. I thought he knew better, but I was sadly disappointed.

(Same with Michael Hobbes of Maintenance Phase and If Books Could Kill, who I am presently taking every possible opportunity to remind the internet is an antisemitic asshole who thinks the author of People Love Dead Jews is "deranged" and that concerns of antisemitism on college campuses like Columbia are a "moral panic" because he has a bunch of bogdim following him who will harass anyone who tells him his judenhaas is showing!)

[mcbastardsmausoleum]

Kim Jee-woon’s 'A Bittersweet Life' (2005) gets Limited Edition Dual UHD and Blu-ray Box Set on July 22, 2024 from Second Sight Films

A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005)

Limited Edition Dual UHD and Blu-ray Box Set

‘Looks terrific… has a confident brutal grace that brings to mind Leone, De Palma and Scorsese’

- Philip French, The Observer

‘Byung-hun puts in a star-making performance… hugely enjoyable and beautifully brutal’ ★★★★

- Empire

‘Tarantino-esque mayhem, messy rebirth and ultra-violent destruction serve to dramatise Sun-woo’s conflicting inner desires as he shadow-boxes with himself as much as taking down everyone else’

- Little White Lies

‘Buy this move – it is simply quite fantastic’

- AV Forums

Multi-award-winning director Kim Jee-woon’s (The Good, The Bad, The Weird, I Saw The Devil) ultra-violent Korean neo-noir A Bittersweet Life gets an all-guns-blazing Limited Edition Dual UHD and Blu-ray release this summer courtesy of critically acclaimed label Second Sight Films. The brand-new set promises an extensive array of fascinating special features and is slated for release on 22 July 2024 it will also be available in standard editions.

A loyal gangster Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun – I Saw The Devil, The Magnificent Seven), falls foul of his gang when he’s assigned to keep watch over the young mistress of his crime boss. When he’s unable to carry out an order to kill the girlfriend and her new lover, things take an ultra-violent turn.

His boss wants payback, but has he taken on the wrong adversary? After a brutal beating, Sun-woo is hellbent on vengeance and embarks on a vicious rampage of punishment… there will be blood, blood and more blood. As the body count rises, the action ramps up, until the furiously violent mayhem reaches its thunderous crescendo.

A Bittersweet Life Limited Edition Box Set is presented in a stunning rigid slipcase with new artwork by Michael Bolland, accompanied by an in-depth 120-page book. There’s an arsenal of extensive new and archive material, including new commentaries, a making-of featurette, music videos and much more. Read on for the full list.

Life’s what you make it, so make yours A Bittersweet Life with this must-have kick-ass collector’s edition.

Special Features:

- Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs

- UHD presented in Dolby Vision HDR

- New scene specific audio commentary with director Kim Jee-woon and academic Areum Jeong

- New audio commentary by Pierce Conran and James Marsh

- Audio commentary with director Kim Jee-woon and Actors Kim Young-chul and Lee Byung-hun

- Audio commentary with director Kim Jee-woon, director of photography Kim Ji-Y and set designer Yoo Seong-hee

- Making of A Bittersweet Life with optional commentaries

- Archive featurettes: Art; Music; Sound; Action; Gun Smith; Special Art; Special Effects; CG; Tell Me Why: A Bittersweet Life in Cannes

- Deleted and Alternate Scenes with optional commentary

- Music Videos

- Teaser, Trailer and TV Spot

Limited Edition Contents

- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Michael Bolland

- 120-page book with new essays by Dr Lindsay Hallam, Rich Johnson, Michael Leader, Daniel Martin and Alison Peirse

- Six collectors' art cards

[allelitewrestling1]

AEW DARK - EPISODE 65

Taped: December 2, 2020 Aired: December 8, 2020

Jacksonville, FL - Daily’s Place

Commentary: Excalibur, Taz, Anthony Ogogo

- Sonny Kiss d. Baron Black

-Brian Cage d. Danny Limelight

-Nyla Rose d. Alex Gracia

-10 d. Aaron Solow

-Peter Avalon d. Louie Valle

-Billy, Austin & Colton Gunn d. Shawn Dean, Sean Maluta & Ryzin

-Red Velvet d. Dani Jordyn

-Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus d. Mike Magnum & Falco

-Brandon Cutler d. Fuego Del Sol

-Ivelisse d. Skyler Moore

-Big Swole d. Lindsay Snow

-The Hybrid2 d. VSK & Sotheara Chhun

-Diamante d. Tesha Price

-Shanna d. Freya States

-The Acclaimed d. Michael Nakazawa & Jon Cruz

-The Varsity Blondes d. Alex Reynolds & Colt Cabana

[brokehorrorfan]

Lovers Lane will be released on Blu-ray on April 25 via Arrow Video. Ilan Sheady designed the new cover art for the 1999 slasher; the original artwork is on the reverse side.

Based on The Hook urban legend, Jon Steven Ward directs from a script by Geof Miller (DeepStar Six) and Rory Veal. It stars Erin J. Dean, Riley Smith, Sarah Lancaster, and Anna Faris in her feature debut.

Lovers Lane has been newly restored in 2K from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative with original  lossless stereo audio. Widescreen and full-screen presentations of the film are included. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Widescreen 1.85:1 and full-screen 1.33:1 presentations

Audio commentary with writer Geof Miller and Rory Veal (new)

Screaming Teens: The Legacy of Lovers Lane - Interviews with writers Geof Miller and Rory Veal and actors Matt Riedy and Carter Roy (new)

Original trailers

Image gallery

Double-sided fold-out poster (first pressing only)

Booklet with new writing on the film by Lindsay Hallam (first pressing only)

A steamy secret tryst that was brutally cut short on Valentine’s Day an unlucky thirteen years ago comes back to haunt the teens who linger around the lovers lane where the double slaying took place. The County Sheriff Tom Anderson (Matt Riedy) has just about come to terms with the fact that it was his wife who died in another man’s car on that fateful night. His daughter Mandy (Erin J. Dean), who as a four-year-old saw her mother’s corpse carried away from the scene, has a different take on things. It doesn’t help that her classmate Michael (Riley Smith) lost his father to the same hook-handed homicidal maniac in that night’s incident. To cap it all off, as another Valentine’s Day comes round, reports come through that the man arrested as “The Hook” has just bust out of his asylum.

[wewereborntomakehistory]

Partners: Master List

Jay Halstead x Female OC

Synopsis: The Morales family is Chicago Police Royalty which Katie Morales knows all too well as the youngest and only daughter of the Bureau Chief of Detectives, the younger sister of a decorated detective and the granddaughter of a former CPD Superintendent. A former Afghan Vet, she joins her old family friend, Hank Voight’s unit and meets Jay Halstead, a man she didn’t know would change her life.

Summary: Canon-Divergent, Eventual Hailey Upton x OC, Eventual Kevin Atwater x OC

AN 1: Shout out to @uncpanda​​ and @winterscaptain​ for giving the idea of the formatting for this series. Be sure to check out both of their amazing Criminal Minds series The Ties That Bind (Aaron Hotchner x Reader) and A Joyful Future (Aaron Hotchner x Reader)!

AN 2: As such this fic will be written out of order and the OC already has a name and backstory. I’m also gonna be putting down the characters as you see them—eventually going through all the characters.

AN 3: I will not be doing every episode of the series. Anything currently listed is planned. More will be added later.

AN 4: Because the show crosses over a lot with Chicago Med & Chicago Fire I will be posting chapters from those shows under the appropriate season it falls under with CF (Chicago Fire); CM (Chicago Med); SVU (Law & Order: SVU). During CF episodes, some may be focused on the main OC but some may be focused on her older brother who is a firefighter with Firehouse 51.

Links and Resources

Link to Taglist

Is there something you’d like to see in this series?

Also, later on, I might want to do some commentary on chapters written…if you are into that let my know in my ask box!

8 Letters - Why Don’t We

Be Your Everything — Boys Like Girls

Can’t Fight the Moonlight — LeAnn Rimes

Colourblind — Ed Sheeran

Fallin’ For You — Colbie Caillat

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) — Taylor Swift

I’ll Be — Edwin McCain

In Case You Didn’t Know — Brett Young

Not a Bad Thing — Justin Timberlake

On My Way (Marry Me) — Jennifer Lopez

Rest of Your Life — David J

Sparks Fly (Taylor’s Version) — Taylor Swift

Start of Something Good — Daughtry

Steal the Show — Lauv

Wanted — Hunter Hayes

Morales Family

Aimee Carrero as Detective Katie Morales

Michael Trevino as ASA Rafael Morales

Diego Luna as Detective Mateo Morales

Adam Rodriguez as Firefighter Javier Morales

Lynda Carter as Stephanie Morales

Tony Plana as Bureau Chief of Detectives Alexander Morales

Intelligence Unit

Jason Beghe as Sergeant Hank Voight

Elias Koteas as Detective Alvin Olinsky

Jon Seda as Detective Antonio Dawson

Jesse Lee Soffer as Detective Jay Halstead

Sophia Bush as Detective Erin Lindsay

Patrick John Flueger as Officer Adam Ruzek

LaRoyce Hawkins as Officer Kevin Atwater

Marina Squerciati as Officer Kim Burgess

Amy Morton as Desk Sergeant Trudy Platt

Graduation

CF: Professional Courtesy

CF: One Minute

CF: Hanging On

CF: Rear View Mirror

Meeting the Unit

This We’ll Defend

Stepping Stone

Wrong Side of the Bars

Chin Check

Now is Always Temporary

Conventions

A Material Witness

At Least it’s Justice

8:30 PM

Call it Macaroni

Get My Cigarettes

The Weigh Station

Chicken, Dynamite, Chainsaw

An Honest Woman

SVU: Chicago Crossover / They’ll Have to Go Through Me

Called in Dead / Shouldn’t Have Been Alone

Disco Bob

What Do You Do

What Puts You on That Ledge

Say Her Real Name

CF: We Called Her Jellybean / The Number of Rats / SVU: Daydream Believer

Life is Fluid

Actual Physical Violence

A Dead Kid, a Notebook and a Lot of Maybes

I’ll Be By Your Side Till the World Stops Spinning

CF: The Beating Heart / CM: Malignant / Now I’m God

Knocked The Family Right Out

Hit Me

SVU: Nationwide Manhunt / The Song of Gregory William Yates

The Cases that Need to be Solved

Forty-Caliber Bread Crumb

In a Duffel Bag

Start Digging

Made a Wrong Turn

All Cylinders Firing

A War Zone

300,000 Likes

Don’t Bury This Case

Family Affair

I Remember Her Now

CF: Deathtrap / Emotional Proximity / Fake

Little Bit of Light

Last Minute Resistance

Fagin

Army of One

Fork in the Road

[quinnmorgendorffer]

3, 18, & 30 for the fic questions!

Aww yay thank you!! <3

3. Do you write fics from start or finish, or jump around?

Mostly start to finish, but sometimes I’ll jump around. I find it’s helpful at times to write out what I know will happen and figure out from there the best way to connect the two points. And if I get a clear idea in my head of a certain scene that I know will happen, I’ll write it while I can. I literally wrote out the piano man proposal scene like half a year before that chapter was published haha

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

This is hard because I am full of myself when it comes to certain fics of mine ;alsdfj. And often times my favorite lines are the dumb one liners. But speaking of writing ahead…

One chapter I wrote a great deal of ahead of time was chapter 8 of the first piano fic. Back when I thought this thing was gonna be some little one shot and not the defining moment of my fanfic ~*~career~*~. This is when Gob accidentally outs himself to Michael, after Michael catches him kissing a guy early in the morning. After a day of hiding and considering even running away, Gob goes to their shared house and they have a talk/confrontation.

I'm just really proud of how his whole talk with Michael turned out. Gob’s around 21 and Michael’s 18/19. Gob’s been hiding his sexuality from his family since he was 17/18 and he’s just sure that Michael’s going to hate him. And this is late 1990/early 1991, so there’s plenty of reason for him to fear that. I think I captured his fear well. 

But I’m particularly proud of how I wrote Michael. Due to the year and who Michael is, I couldn’t see him just, like, leading a Pride Parade or something, but I couldn’t see him saying Gob was disgusting or anything. Michael deals with facts first and foremost, so he’s more confused than anything to see what he thought was this objective fact - Gob is straight - isn’t true. And his first questions are all things he can be objective about - how long have you known, have all these dates you’ve told me about been guys, are you safe/clean? 

And, though I didn’t use this wording, it turns out it’s also an objective fact that he loves his brother! And I love that look for them! And I love that they hug it out and Gob cries because this secret has been weighing down on him for years and finally his favorite and closest family member knows and doesn’t hate him and it’s just this huge RELIEF. I just think the scene has a lot of reasonable, IC reactions, including Gob sobbing, Michael asking these questions to try to understand, and even Michael being a bit hurt that Gob kept this a secret from him but trying to remind himself this isn’t about him. I just thought this was a nice way to balance Michael and not make him over-the-top accepting but also not a homophobic asshole.

30. Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.

What fic of mine isn’t long ;alskjfsad but for real, my white whale, my everest: 

BLULANDER.

Okay, so, I am a huge fucking fan of Zoolander. The movie came out when I was 9, though I don’t know if i saw it in theaters, so I might’ve been around 10? I think I have the DVD I grew up with me in my collection. Regardless, this movie has shaped way too much of my personality since I saw it when I was so young and watched it a LOT. I watched the special features - I QUOTE the special features. Despite my love of Blunder/Tony Wonder, Ben Stiller is still Zoolander to me first and foremost.

…But as the dumbest character in the movie, obviously Gob is Zoolander in this AU. 

So, Gob is a world famous model and he gets interviewed by Sally Sitwell (because I have to use her obviously, I can’t just NOT cast her as her counterpart, it’s weird enough not using Tony as Zoolander). She gets the article because she knows his family, since the two of them were born into rival real estate empires. And after years of success, his career is being threatened by newbie, edgy, openly gay (or IS he?) model, Tony Wonder. And when Gob makes a fool of himself on TV, Argyle Austero talks Gob’s manager/mom Lucille into using Gob to help his cement company in an evil plot. Sally starts to uncover this and is dragged into saving Gob. Eventually Tony is dragged into this, too, and Tony and Gob realize they have a lot in common and maybe Gob is realizing why he chose to room with three other guys and hasn’t settled down with a woman and, wow, Tony lieks magic, too…

Other castings include Lindsay as a Katinka equivalent (there might be some enemies to lovers with her and Sally) and Buster as David Duchavny’s character (the hand model). Oh, and obviously the song that hypnotizes him is “The Final Countdown”.

I made an outline for this, came up with some chapter titles, I’ve written part of the first chapter, and I just......I want to write it and have it be the fic that breaks my tie for amount of fics I’ve written for one fandom, but I seriously need people to agree and promise me they’ll read it, I can’t just write this with no response a;lsdkjf

Wow, this is very long but thank you again for asking!! <3

30 QUESTIONS FOR FIC AUTHORS

[dustedmagazine]

Bill Meyer: Lockdown pickers 2020

You don’t need me to tell you that it’s been a hell of a year. The pile-on of environmental disaster, the COVID pandemic, people being blasted with teargas for having the temerity to suggest that living while Black shouldn’t be a shooting offense, 70 million-odd Americans endorsing and abetting buffoonish fascism, and the virtual evaporation of live music — and that’s just off the top of my head.  

Still, 2020 has been a great year for recorded music. Working from home and not going out at night has meant more time to play it, and while the supply and production chains have been undeniably wonky (oh yeah, I forgot to mention our departing president’s efforts to drown the US Postal Service in the bathtub and the Apollo Masters factory fire; really, fuck you, 2020), a lot of good records have made it into my house. The year has also yielded creative musical responses by creative music makers to the loss of live performances. Chicago Experimental Sound Studio provided a platform for The Quarantine Concerts, a series of live-streaming and prepared video performances that took us into performers’ homes, basements, back yards and pottery studios (I’m talking about you, Terrie Ex). No, live-streaming is not the same as attending a concert. The experience of community and shared space can’t reach you through a screen. But hearing Joe McPhee send a shout-out from his basement Batcave to Peter Brötzmann, seeing Arto Lindsay struggle with the orientation lock on his phone and getting drawn into the layered environment that Olivia Block created with film projections, played sounds and no help from an intruding cat delivered some of the same authenticity, disaster and wonder that concerts at their best can provide. And if you have had the chance to attend some concerts since March (I’ve seen three; two appearances by improvising ensembles involving Dave Rempis in a park on Chicago’s north side, and an all-outdoor edition of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on the south side), you probably already know that live music events aren’t the same, either. The feelings of communal trust and safety, the internal shift that says “yup, this is where I’m supposed to be,” is gone. We have a lot to recapture and rebuild once the pandemic passes.  

The sales and streaming platform, Bandcamp, became a hero simply by virtue of simply treating musicians like people who need a hand rather resources to be sucked dry and discarded. The monthly Bandcamp Fridays, when the company refrained from taking its cut and passed that percentage along to the artists and labels, afforded fans a direct way to help out folks whose work was getting them through the day, and allowed people who had lost all their performing opportunities a chance to make a little money. Some players took the opportunity to release music solely through Bandcamp. English soprano/tenor saxophonist John Butcher has issued seven titles collectively dubbed The Memory of Live Music. They are a sequence of previously unreleased, archival concert recordings monthly, all splendid musical statements, but also reminders of what we have been missing. Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis’ Aerophonic Records likewise posted live recordings of short-lived ensembles like the Outskirts that he’d never gotten around to documenting, as well as one-off encounters, such as a marvelously wooly 2012 concert with guitarist Terrie Ex and drummer Tim Daisy at Milwaukee’s Sugar Maple.  

But Bandcamp also gave some musicians an opportunity to create outside the frameworks of physical recordings and performance in physical proximity. Soprano/tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and her husband, drummer Tom Rainey, used her Bandcamp page as a conduit for Stir Crazy, a semi-weekly series of home recordings. Each installment lasts 15 or 20 minutes, and it might be a free improvisation, a run through a friend or inspirational elder’s compositions, or a topical commentary, such as the loving, skeletal performances of tunes from the American Songbook that they offered a few days after the election. And jazz clarinetist Ben Goldberg has kept a Plague Diary of nearly-daily sketches for clarinet and electric keyboard. Some celebrate friends, colleagues, family members, and historical figures; others simply work out an idea. It feels a bit like an invitation to look over the guy’s shoulder and see how his notions come into being.  

Other parties made the circumstances of the time into a premise for new work. Mary Staubitz (Donna Parker) and Russ Waterhouse (Blues Control) reached out to fellow musicians to contribute to Distant Duos. Each candidate’s mission was to improvise for five minutes while thinking of another player, who would likewise improvise for five minutes while thinking of their counterpart. Then Waterhouse and Parker would combine the tracks. The circumscribed duration and prior acquaintance kept collaborations by the likes of Kryssi Battalene / Jayson Gerycz and Jeb Bishop / Joseph Mauro charged and focused.  And the Swiss label Insub instituted Distances, for which it enlisted eight composers (including Michael Pisaro-Liu, Ryoko Akama and Sarah Hennies) to devise pieces to be performed by two physically remote musicians (such as Mike Majkowski & Cyril Bondi, or Cristián Alvear & Violeta Motta). Each contribution consists of two videos, one a sequence of interviews with the composer and the players, the other a split-screen projection of the music being played. And if you want to take the music home, you can always buy it on Bandcamp.  

But the response that compelled me most is AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine, an online festival of new work initiated by Estwhile Records’ Jon Abbey. On March 12, as concert seasons canceled and countries went to lockdown, Abbey and a circle of associates invited sound artists to contribute newly recorded pieces. Over the next six months they posted 240 pieces to Facebook and Bandcamp. Most were solo works, but several were blind duos for which musicians with shared histories and separate addresses submitted solo pieces with the understanding that they’d be mixed together. At the end of the festival, Taku Unami combined sounds from all 240 pieces into a final entry, “All Together Now.” The works encompassed paint-stripping noise, solemn études, field recordings, electronic music, musique concrete, improvisations, compositions, and works that combined several of the aforementioned methods. The contributors included people you probably know (Tom Carter, Toshimaru Nakamura, Sarah Hennies, Vanessa Rossetto), others I certainly didn’t (Fangyi Liu, Asha Sheshadri), and one who also writes for Dusted (Michael Rosenstein). They made diaries of their circumscribed days, laments for lost experiences and memorials for friends who died during the festival’s duration. There are too many good ones to name, so I’ll just single out a couple performers whose work especially touched me. Reinier van Houdt’s first piece, “drift nowhere past (22 march 2020),” marvelously captured the still loneliness of life that had shrunk to what you could perceive through a window or a screen. Five subsequent monthly instalments came to feel like notes of progress from an ongoing search for purpose and grace. And the radio captures that make up Keith Rowe’s “GF SUC,” recorded as Black Lives Matters protests arose around the world, imparted sadness beyond words; I’ve heard no music that was truer to the tragedy of this time. 

Bill Meyer

[shipcestuous]

Idk if you're still into them but ahhh I'm rewatching Arrested Development and Lindsay and Michael are so married lol, also the show has more incest jokes than I remember 👀

I'm logging now on ao3 to see if someone wrote an AU where he does accept the marriage proposal or at least where he have in on this part

Tho I would also rather they stay as twins ngl. Hadn't seen the last two seasons, but I heard she's actually his aunt? Idk

I'm always here for Arrested and Development and especially for Michael and Lindsay!

I also would have preferred that they remained as twins, even if it meant sacrificing that glorious scene from the picture you included. But you're correct that Lindsay is revealed in the final season to be Lucille's half-sister, and therefore still biologically related to Michael. Before that, I probably would have said that I would have rather just had the first three seasons and forgotten the revival seasons. They were good for some laughs, but the family dynamic wasn't the same and I preferred the old stuff, especially re: George Michael and Maeby. But reestablishing Lindsay as a biological member as the family was worth it.

The most unbelievable part of the whole wacky show was Lindsay coming on to Michael and Michael rejecting her. Yeah right. He was so into her. He was in deep denial but straddling is pretty good at breaking down denial.

[aion-rsa]

Psych: The Essential Episode Guide

https://ift.tt/32iOkA8

As a TV series, Psych is like one of those frozen yogurt chains where the wall is ringed with different flavors and you can keep pulling levers for whatever combination you want. There are the Shawn/Gus episodes, the “Shawn’s psychic lie is threatened” episodes, the increasingly genius and lovingly rendered (often ‘80s-tastic) tributes, and the ensemble classics where the whole cast is just a well-oiled machine after years of riffing off one another. You can have whatever flavor you want. And don’t even get me started on toppings (there’s gotta be pineapple, at the very least).

Over its eight-year run, Psych interrogated its own premise, built out its supporting cast, let its characters play their favorite movie characters, and adapted its own internal mythology into trilogies that would make any movie-buff weep with appreciation. Here is a baker’s dozen of the most giggle-worthy, self-referential, surprisingly dramatic episodes of Psych. (And with so many to choose from, your favorite flavor combinations might be different from mine—share your own best episodes in the comments!)

Season 2 Episode 1: “American Duos”

Once the show had had a season under its belt of the fake-psychic shtick, the writers and actors got to really start playing in the sandbox they’d created. The second-season premiere has it all: a pop culture riff on a certain popular reality show competition; Tim Curry and Gina Gershon going above and beyond in their parodies of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul; and Shawn and Gus giving a truly spectacular mashup performance as Curt Smith and Michael Jackson.

Season 2 Episode 3: “Psy vs. Psy”

I’m a sucker for the episodes where Shawn might have to come clean about his big fat lie. Season 2 poked at that possibility early on, with a counterfeit case that brings in government agent Lars Ewing (Lou Diamond Phillips) and female psychic Lindsay Leiken (Bianca Kajlich). Not only does Lars ruffle Lassiter’s feathers and get Jules hot and bothered, but Lindsay seems to be a lot more intuitive than Shawn—to the point where the SBPD may be looking to replace their consultant. Shawn has a knack for making things harder for himself, but the situations in which he has to actually fight his way out are always rewarding.

Season 2 Episode 13: “Lights, Camera… Homicidio”

The second season really cemented the series’ delight in its own ridiculousness—not just in the bizarre cases, but in how Shawn and Gus (and the rest of the SBPD) react to them. This week, it was an accidental murder via botched prop knife on the set of Explosión Gigantesca de Romance, Gus’ (and Henry’s) favorite telenovela, that really highlighted Psych’s embrace of the absurd. While doing his psychic thing, Shawn gets “discovered” enough to play the sexy delivery guy, who becomes a beloved character in his own right… only to learn for himself how badly the show’s fans blur the lines between characters and actors. Though not as outright meta as the tribute episodes, it still was wonderfully self-aware about the pitfalls of emotionally investing in fictional characters.

Season 4 Episode 5: “Shawn Gets the Yips”

This episode is a bit of a bait-and-switch in that Shawn having the yips (about baseball, not being a psychic) doesn’t really impact the plot, which starts with a shooting at a known cop bar and culminates in a commentary on the police force not properly punishing drug lords who sell opioids. The subplot about the drug lord supposedly targeting SBPD members is a bit of a red herring for the more nuanced twist about the cost of the opioid epidemic, but it contains one of my favorite moments, in which Shawn unintentionally gets a great workout because he believes that the message on his water bottle (your heart rate drops below 150, you die) is a threat. Just a solid mid-series episode.

Season 4 Episode 16: “Mr. Yin Presents…”

Just like with Bones, Psych really came into its own when it mixed the laughs with actual life-or-death stakes—and in both cases, that was thanks to a serial killer obsessed with our protagonist. Season 3 ended on “An Evening with Mr. Yang,” which introduced Ally Sheedy (one of many, many famous cameos) as the eponymous serial killer who kidnapped Shawn’s mother to get closer to him. But with her locked away and more artfully arranged kills discovered, the SBPD have to confront that Yang might have a Yin—which of course spawns a trilogy. 

Read more

Movies

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Review

By Natalie Zutter

TV

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Stars on Hitchcock Homages and Special Reunions

By Natalie Zutter

The Empire Strikes Back of the Yin/Yang saga is my personal favorite, though I highly recommend watching all three. The team’s introduction to Yang’s twisted mentor is through his love of Alfred Hitchcock movies: He casts each of them in an iconic role while leading them on a wild goose chase through Santa Barbara, ending at a movie set mashup and presenting Shawn with an impossible choice between saving girlfriend Abigail or Juliet. The latter has one of her most powerful moments, stoically accepting her death while suspended from a clock and later breaking down in Lassiter’s arms. Her PTSD remains through the Yin/Yang saga, another sign of the series’ maturity as it explores the ripple effect of its more dramatic plots.

Season 6 Episode 2: “Last Night Gus”

While Shawn and Gus are the series OTP, part of the show’s beauty has been in building up its other bromances. This spoof of The Hangover has Shawn, Gus, Lassiter, and Woody waking up in the Psych offices with no memory of their antics the night before, but plenty of incriminating clues tying them to a dead body. Their attempt to solve the mystery of how they got so memory-obliteratingly drunk has them encountering a sweet gay bartender couple, a murdered donut mascot, and a hot girl who’s very into Last Night Gus… if only he knew what he did. In addition to riffing superbly on the movie, the episode is a fun commentary on our present selves solving the mysteries of our past personas.

Season 7 Episode 5: “100 Clues”

I managed to watch this without realizing what the Psych crew was going for, so the moment that Shawn and Gus pulled up in the Blueberry to a mansion in a rainy homage to Clue, I was squealing harder than Gus at the notion of a secret chocolate room. For the series’ 100th episode, they lovingly parodied the perfect locked-mansion murder mystery, with killer cameos from Lesley Warren, Christopher Lloyd, and Martin Mull (plus little nods to the Clue alums who couldn’t be there, like Eileen Brennan). From the Singing Telegram Girl to the secret passageways, only true fans could achieve this level of detail—a perfect landmark celebration.

Season 7 Episode 7: “Deez Nups”

The sign of a great ensemble series is that they can make the standard, super-tropey wedding episode feel fresh again. It helps that it’s Lassiter’s nuptials, and everyone wants to see the guy happy, which is what leads to Shawn, Gus, and Woody kidnapping the detective for a bachelor party, while Juliet and the Chief get roped into being Marlowe’s bachelorette buddies. The threat of a mob boss taking revenge on Lassie takes a backseat to such wedding fare as Vick getting weepy-drunk on shots and McNab popping up as a police stripper (I cackled at the payoff of his Chekhov’s tearaway pants). Just like with a real-life wedding, when you know the people involved, it feels special and unique. (There is also a gross, transphobic joke about a stripper, one of the aspects of Psych that did not age well.)

Season 7 Episode 8: “Right Turn or Left for Dead”

Tribute episodes are Psych’s bread and butter, but rarely do they advance the plot as effectively and emotionally as this riff on Sliding Doors. After Juliet finds out that Shawn has been lying about being a psychic, which makes her believe that everything about their relationship has been a lie, Shawn indulges in a fantasy in which he’s 1990s Gwyneth Paltrow (naturally) pondering the diverging paths of whether Jules does or doesn’t discover the truth. 

The story immediately splits into two takes on the same case, but in one she’s a Jane Doe and in the other Shawn actually has a chance to save her… only to discover that her life path was already set in stone after an abusive childhood. Even with subtle moments of humor that highlight the parallel universes’ differences in solving cases, overall the episode is a study in how one choice has ramifications far beyond the initial action—a lesson Shawn needed to learn, in the penultimate season.

Season 7 Episode 11: “Office Space”

If the boys trying to cover their tracks in “Last Night Gus” was worth a few giggles, Gus and Shawn tampering with a murder scene and then trying to clean their hands of it in this episode is the kind of laughter that hurts. When Gus publicly confronts his abusive boss, only for the man to wind up offed and poor Guster very incriminated. The sequence in which they hysterically stumble their way through the crime scene is worth watching alone; but as evidence mounts and it looks like they could actually be caught in the crosshairs, the levels of ingenuity to which they’re pushed shows why this is the show’s best partnership.

Season 8 Episode 1: “Lock, Stock, Some Smoking Barrels and Burton Guster’s Goblet of Fire”

This is the episode that got me back into the show after years of casual viewing: a mashup of Guy Ritchie and Harry Potter that manages to add a whole new layer to one of Psych’s best recurring characters, refined art thief Pierre Desperaux (Cary Elwes) while giving him a proper send-off.

Like the Yin/Yang trilogy, the entire Desperaux quartet is worth watching for the heists, the Indiana Jones lampooning, and especially for his continued double-crossing of his greatest fan Shawn. But this one takes the cake because it adds a new layer to the Desperaux mythology: He’s actually Royston Staley, an Interpol agent who went undercover as a gentleman thief. Or is he?? Plus, add in the runner about poor Gus in his Hogwarts robes just trying to make it to PotterCon, and you have a near-perfect episode.

Season 8 Episode 3: “Remake, A.K.A. Cloudy… WIth a Chance of Murder”

What better way to mark your final season than by remaking one of your season 1 episodes? What’s incredible about Psych is how many different ways it goes meta, but there was something especially entertaining about its remake of season 1, episode 12 “Cloudy… With a Chance of Murder.” With periodic reminders that this episode is set in 2006, it recasts almost all of the characters—a teacher accused of killing a local weatherman, the lawyer for the prosecution (Ralph Macchio)—and makes space for new jokes (about remakes and My Cousin Vinny) and new twists. All long-running series should get a chance to try and redo their early episodes after they’ve gelled their characters and dynamics.

Season 8 Episode 10: “The Break-Up”

After trying to make their long-distance relationship work, Shawn decides to move to San Francisco to be with Juliet, a far easier choice than actually breaking the news to Gus. Of course the Psych series finale would be about these two facing the end of their partnership. Specifically, Shawn’s inability to say goodbye, so instead he and Gus wind up investigating a case involving special guest star Billy Zane, careening around in their high-school drivers ed car, and competing with SBPD’s peppy new detective Betsy Brannigan (Mira Sorvino). When none of this helps Shawn come out with the truth, he does so through DVD—a whole batch of DVDs, tailored to each of his colleagues and dear friends. Because Shawn loves telling a story.

There’s no better end for Shawn and Gus than a bromantic one, complete with driving cross-state (albeit turning back 12 times), dramatic declaration of love (at a crime scene), and pledging their lives together before Shawn actually proposes to Juliet (as a formality). And it’s not just about them: The finale has sweet moments of closure for new junior detective McNab (aww) and especially Lassiter, who finally gets Shawn’s confession—then breaks the DVD. If the Psych movies had never happened, it would have been enough; but instead, it’s the sugary-sweet end of one chapter and the opening of another.

The post Psych: The Essential Episode Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mattmaddensketch]

GTA 6 Release Day, News and Rumours

It could not look like such a large bargain for a seven-year-old video game, but despite its age, Grand Theft Auto 5 is still popular. It stays among the most-viewed games on live streaming platform Twitch and is consistently in the top 5 games used by Vapor. Folks with Xbox Video Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Live Gold will have access to Grand Theft Auto Online, and the online solution that Rockstar Games constantly updates. Grand Theft Auto 5, the 2013 title from Rockstar Games, has been included in Microsoft’s Xbox Video game Pass. Players with a Video game Pass membership can now access the ready free on Xbox One.

Many players reported connection troubles and video game ices up throughout load screens. Rockstar launched a technical spot on 5 October to resolve the issues, yet problems lingered the 2nd week complying with the launch as some gamers reported their character development as having gone away. I launched another technical patch on 10 October combating the concerns, and also Rockstar supplied a GTA$ 500,000 (in-game money) stimulation to the accounts of all gamers attached to Online considering that launch as compensation. Lots of customers complained about their Grand Theft Auto Online experience, yet normally recognized its flexible exploration and vibrant content as strengths because of the widespread technical issues present at the launch. This time out, the player controls three various personalities Michael, Trevor, and also Franklin, who ultimately collaborated to implement a collection of bold break-ins.

291 Rockstar Shut Down GTA Online, Red Dead 2 Servers Today To Honor George Floyd Rockstar Gamings will briefly make both Red Dead Online and GTA Online hard to reach to the slain George Floyd today. GTA V is an enormous game, with an enormous world to discover, a lengthy major story, and also an incredible number of side missions. Each character has specific objectives that introduce them to new NPCs and added money - running a tow vehicle as Franklin, or going on a killing spree as Trevor, for instance. You can even get associated with the stock exchange and generate income from the business you’re duping throughout the video game.

It’s vague if GTA 5 on the Impressive Games Shop sustains cross-play with the Steam variation of the video game, which is worth remembering if you intend on meddling with the still-updated and extremely preferred GTA Online. The tale was rather interesting and also exciting - you can even switch over in between characters in between several objectives, and each character has their distinct character, funny bone, and amusing family/friend dysfunctions. GTA 5 is not a game for teens and also kids alike, because of the constant styles and options of severe physical violence, where you can select to hurt or murder criminals and innocent civilians alike with various sorts of weapons and dynamites. There’s one intense scene where you select various tools to sadistically torture a man. 

Finishing the tale missions alone must take you around 30 hours, and the adventure need not end there.

It could also be special to PlayStation for a time, before dropping down to the Xbox and also COMPUTER.

The following PlayStation and Xbox are coming out at the end of this year, which is just how Rockstar did it last time.

Other rumors have Grand Theft Auto 6 arriving as late as loss 2021 or early 2022.

Sex-related material is visual and solid in this game - even more explicit than the previous grand theft auto video games. It likewise offers strip clubs in this game where the player picks to provide lap dancings with highly intriguing women (one is a transsexual) and also their buttocks and breasts graphically noticeable.

Grand Theft Auto V

The video game became based on an extensive online dispute over its portrayal of women, particularly in the reaction's wake against GameSpot journalist Carolyn Petit when she declared the video game was misogynistic in her testimonial. After Petit’s evaluation web page got over 20,000 mainly unfavorable remarks, lots of journalists protected her right to a viewpoint and also regretted the video gaming area’s defensiveness toward objectifying. Television personality Karen Gravano, and starlet Lindsay Lohan both submitted suits against Rockstar in the allegation that personalities in the video game were based upon their similarities. Australian outlet store, Target drew the video game from their 300 stores, complying with a Change.org request against depictions of physical violence towards females in the game.

They are motifs of rape, incest, hooking, pedophilia, and also sexual sadism in this game. Drugs play a major function and counterparts in this video game, where personalities smoke, consume alcohol, use drugs, and also secure meth labs, where even principal characters own kids have implied drug/ alcohol addiction. Some scenes make a character get in a significant hallucination (high) state where they can’t perceive fact, and kill, make-believe animals like aliens and beasts.

The COMPUTER, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions present an exclusive feature, the first-person setting, where the entire video game can be played via the eyes of the lead character. Cars have detailed interiors, various from each other; capturing resembles that of a committed FPS game. The video game has produced several disputes connected to its physical violence and also the representation of the ladies. A mission that calls for gamers to make use of torture devices in a captivating examination of polarized reviewers, that noted its political commentary but felt that the torture series remained in poor preference. The mission additionally received an objection from political leaders and anti-torture charity groups.

Amazing game with unlimited opportunities, however, for adults for the “free country” theme where you select to perform poor or good options - significant “do anything” discrimination. This article or section describes “enhanced version” content in the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC performances of Grand Theft Auto V and/or Grand Theft Auto Online, which is missing on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 versions. Grand Theft Auto V expands the multiplayer attribute present in Grand Theft Auto IV. The multiplayer is treated as an extra title and also is called Grand Theft Auto Online. In GTA Online, multiplayer crews from Max Payne 3 can be carried over to GTA V. GTA V has multiplayer functions connected to Rockstar’s Social Club. One most distinct feature is that the character swapping function is carried out in a Google Earth-styled manner and was displayed throughout a Game Informer trial, which was revealed to have run efficiently and also without lag.

[britneyfanforever]

The Power Struggle Behind Britney Spears' Conservatorship Saga

There are several parties jockeying for control of Spears' world, and it's hard to tell which one of them she's aligned with. 

 Rag Time is a bi-weekly media investigation of a single celebrity story that's vastly more in-depth than you ever thought you needed. This week: Britney Spears' ongoing conservatorship.

There is perhaps no greater tabloid figure than Britney Spears. From her relationship with Justin Timberlake to her 55-hour Vegas marriage to her mid-aughts partying with Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, just about every aspect of her personal life has been documented and dissected byUs Weekly, Perez Hilton, and TMZ, since she broke out as a mega-star in her teens.

In recent years, however, Britney enjoyed a period of relative quiet: She was engaged in a successful Vegas residency, dated a nice-seeming 25-year-old fitness enthusiast, and posted fun memes on Instagram. She seemed to be doing so well, in fact, that fans and journalists started to question the necessity of her conservatorship, which was put in place by her family in 2008 when she was struggling from an undisclosed mental illness and substance abuse issues. For the last 11 years, Britney’s father Jamie Spears has served as her conservator, tightly controlling all aspects of her personal life and finances. The situation has always been confusing for fans (and the media)—traditionally, conservatorships are used to protect the elderly or extremely ill, and Britney has never fit the category.

Now, Britney and the details of her unique situation are back in the tabloids, as she is legally challenging her conservatorship for the first time. How did she get to this point?

Things seemed to change for Britney at the beginning of this year, when she announced that she was cancelling her new Vegas residency to spend time with her dad, who was struggling with his health after being hospitalized for a colon rupture. Around the same time—according to TMZ—Britney’s cocktail of psychiatric medications started to lose efficacy, which led her to check into a mental health facility for a 30-day stay in April. She has since returned home and started the process to formally end her conservatorship. While she hasn’t spoken publicly about this legal challenge, reports suggest that she is determined to gain more freedom, even as she seems to be struggling with her mental health.

What is going on with her? And who’s controlling the narrative? Let’s try to make sense of what’s happening between the cover lines.

People gets the first scoop

At the beginning of April, Britney announced on Instagram—her preferred way of connecting with fans and the media over the last few years—that she was taking a little “me time” in the wake of her father’s illness. People quickly followed up that post with an exclusive report stating that she had checked into an undisclosed mental health facility for a 30-day stay. (The report did not cite a specific source, but it's likely the story came directly from someone on Britney’s team— People is the preferred tabloid of celebrity publicists, especially when it comes to delivering potentially scandalous or controversial updates on a celeb’s life.) A source told the tabloid that Britney was getting “all-encompassing wellness treatment” and that “there is nothing dramatic going on with her—she just realized she needs to make sure to take time to care for herself.”

Hardcore Britney fans didn’t buy this sanitized statement, however. Shortly afterPeople’s report came out, hosts of the fan-led podcast Britney’s Gram made the startling—and as yet unproven —claim that Britney was being held against her will at the facility. The conspiracy-laden podcast reignited the #FreeBritney movement on social media and prompted a wave of tabloid coverage about Britney’s conservatorship that has yet to die down. (#FreeBritney has been around and vocal, to varying degrees, since Britney’s conservatorship was put in place in 2008. Vulture has a good primer on the movement here).

In the wake of this controversy, People has continued to provide positive updates about Britney’s life. In the last week, the outlet has published four (four!) separate stories online about how Britney has a great relationship with her fitness enthusiast boyfriend, Sam Asghari. “There is no question that Sam is great for Britney,” a “Spears family source” told the tabloid earlier this week. “He is very motivated to stay healthy and fit, and they often work out together.” So … that’s good, at least?

TMZ takes Jamie’s side

TMZ, meanwhile, has presented a more dire view of Britney’s situation. Picking up right where they left off with their coverage of her unfortunately public breakdown in 2007, the site has been posting round-the-clock about her conservatorship battle. Based on the exclusives the site has gotten so far, it looks like TMZ has a direct line to someone in Britney’s camp. (The site was the first to report that the pop star was having issues with her medication leading up to her stay in a mental health facility, intel that’s now been confirmed by People and other tabloids). So who’s TMZ talking to? Someone who seems to be very sympathetic to Jamie Spears.

TMZ has posted dozens of stories about Britney since she checked into the facility last month, and together they form a three-part narrative that goes something like this: 1) Britney is currently making bad decisions about her health, 2) Jamie has been the best thing for Britney since he became her conservator in 2008, and 3) the conservatorship should continue, despite what other people close to Britney (like her mom, Lynne) might think. According to TMZ, Lynne, who divorced Jamie in 2002, has been staying with Britney since she left the mental health facility and advocating for her in court. But this is not a good thing, per TMZ’s sources. Here’s how the gossip site summed up the current state of affairs in a post from last week:

“As we reported, Britney is not doing well after her 30-day stay at a mental health facility. As we told you, her meds stopped working and doctors have been unable to find the right combination of drugs. As one source said, ‘Britney is making bad decisions and it's a problem.’

Jamie has been trying to provide structure and discipline, and we're told the conflict is that he believes Lynne is way too permissive and just wants Britney to like her.”

TMZ’s sources have also tried to undercut Lynne’s connection to Britney, claiming that the two have been somewhat estranged since Britney broke up with Justin Timberlake in 2002. In a post suggesting that Britney is “using” her mom to gain more freedom, the site noted that Lynne “used to be extremely close to Britney, but when Britney and Justin Timberlake broke up back in 2002, the singer cut her mom out of her life. Their relationship has been spotty ever since ... we're told Lynne hadn't seen Britney for around a year.”

But Us Weekly says....

TMZ has dominated the coverage of Britney’s conservatorship battle, but all the other tabloids are covering it as well. Us Weekly, it seems, has a line into Lynne’s camp. Last week, the tabloid reported that Lynne has Britney’s “best interest at heart” and that commentary that she is being too permissive with her is false.

“Reports that Lynne is trying to help Britney loosen the constraints of the conservatorship are false,” a source told the tabloid. “If anything, Lynne wants Britney back in treatment, and that angers Britney.”

Us Weekly has also exclusively reported on Kevin Federline’s view of the situation. Kevin, who has had full custody of his two sons with Britney since Britney’s conservatorship began in 2008, is apparently limiting Britney’s visits with her children while she recovers. “Kevin won’t allow the boys to spend more time with their mother until Britney is once again stable and therapeutic on medication,” a source told the tabloid. “He allows the boys to spend time with Britney, but it’s at his discretion.”

What about Britney?

Looking out over the tabloid landscape, it’s clear that People is getting official updates from Britney’s PR, TMZ is getting Jamie’s view of the situation, and Us Weekly has sources connected to Lynne and Kevin. But none of the tabloids are talking to Britney directly, save for this week, when, in response to conversationabout whether or not she'd ever perform again, she told a paparazzo in a drive-by that "of course" she would. Instead, she has been using Instagram to connect with her fans since she left the mental health facility earlier this month.

On April 23, she posted a video on Instagram where she indirectly responded to the #FreeBritney movement, telling fans “all is well” and that “my family is going through a lot of stress and anxiety lately and I just need time to deal.” In the caption, she added, “You may not know this about me, but I am strong, and stand up for what I want!”

Since she’s been home from the mental health facility, she has posted selfies with her fitness enthusiast boyfriend, Sam Asghari, and videos of herself doing yoga outside and dancing to Michael Jackson in a home gym. At least one of the videos was filmed over a year ago, per The Blast. And it may not even be Britney who is sharing these snippets with the world. Here’s a tidbit from all the TMZ coverage that seems to be getting overlooked: According to a source connected to Jamie, Britney doesn’t even have a smartphone.

In a post about Britney “using” her mom Lynne to gain more freedom in court, TMZ provided previously unknown details about the pop star’s phone usage. “Our sources say Jamie is alarmed Britney is using Lynne to get more freedom, during a period where her judgment is extremely bad,” the site reported last week. “She's not allowed to drive with her phone -- security stopped her after she was caught texting and driving a week ago. Security takes her phone when she takes the wheel. By the way ... Britney doesn't have a smartphone -- only a flip phone -- because of what she might do if she has access to the internet.”

Over the weekend, a source told the tabloid that Britney has been asking for an iPhone, but “Jamie has put the kibosh on that because of concerns over social media and people with ulterior motives contacting her.”

At this point, Britney seems to be talking about her current situation only in the courtroom. Last Friday, she attended a closed hearing about her conservatorship with Jamie and Lynne, who has petitioned the court to see Britney’s medical records. (So far, Lynne has not attempted to join Jamie as a co-conservator, but she has shown an interest in becoming more involved in Britney’s care.) According to multiple tabloids, Britney asked the judge for more personal freedoms under her conservatorship—a request that was denied. But the judge did order an expert evaluation in the case, which would be the first step toward ending the conservatorship all together. People reported that Britney left the LA courtroom “comfortable, happy and glowing.”

[rwbyconversations]

RWBY Sacanime and Fanexpo 2018 Panel Summaries

Panel was hosted by Michael Jones (Sun), Shannon McCormack (Ozpin), Jen Brown (Pyrrha) and Jason Douglas (Jacques). Barbara was also part of the Rooster Teeth Fanexpo panel, and the relevant RWBY Questions are at the end of this summary. Parts of this come from JayTriqz’s summary on Reddit.

Jen, do you think there are areas of Remnant that are Greek-Roman inspired? Jen hopes so. She’s still disappointed that Pyrrha's parents have not been mentioned at all and there wasn't a funeral for Pyrrha. She does say it would be cool if there were, but she thinks the reason Pyrrha was so Greek-Roman inspired is because MMK narrowed down on wanting an "Achilles" character.

Do you think RWBY will eventually have a 2D reboot? Michael, Shannon and Jen pitch an absurd idea involving Sun as the lead following a train accident that kills all of RWBY, then stress that they’re actors, not writers.

What was it like to record the Food Fight? Jen loved it, she was so glad she got to be a part of it. Michael: “At least you got to be in that fight.” Jen: “At least you’re still on the show!” Shannon: “I love that I’m in between these two because I’m both dead and still on the show!” 

Shannon and Jen, what was your reaction to a scene from RVB 16? Shannon felt Wash’s anger in that scene came naturally to him- his direction was “imagine every moment someone lied to you.” He lives for moments where characters make what they think are good decisions that have dire consequences. Jen sympathizes with Carolina’s mindset in that moment, she finds it hard sometimes while record to separate herself from the character. She’s so used to Carolina that it can be hard to remember some specific moments of how she felt.

Michael, do you think it was weird that Sun basically followed Blake to the ends of Remnant? Micheal said no, and that Sun was just looking out for her. He also said he thinks Sun was always kinda an idiot, but he said that in V6 he takes his head out of his ass and kinda comes into his own and Blake is much more open with him. (Michael seemingly confirming that Sun will have focus in Volume 6. RIP the “Why Sun shouldn’t go to Atlas” crowd)

If your characters could be in any musical, what would it be? Sun would be in the Always Sunny in Philadelphia musical bit. Ozpin would be the shopkeeper in West Side Story. Pyrrha and Jaune would be in "The Last Five Years." Jen dovetails into talking about her love for horror here and mentions she’d love to see Grimm Pyrrha return.  Jacques would be a darker Daddy Warbucks from Annie.

Do you get surprised when you read the scripts? Jen knew since she got the role that Pyrrha would die. Pyrrha was supposed to die in V2, but they wanted to give her a bit more time to be around (additionally, production issues led to the Fall of Beacon being pushed back). Jen was surprised by Yang losing her arm though- you can hear her live reaction in the V3 Actor Commentary. Micheal only knows the basis of where RWBY is going, but not much. Camp Camp surprises him more than RWBY with some of the stuff he gets to say.

Whats your favorite line from any show you've done that’s stuck with you? Jen- "Sorry" (but her serious answer is Erid in Camp Camp saying "Pussies for Life" because she’s still amazed that that was something she got paid to say). Micheal- "Fuck you David" Shannon- "That was the worst throw ever. Of all time" Jason has fond memories of an anime he did called Wandaba Style.

If Micheal had to make a RWBY team with the people in AH, who’d he choose? Jack (who would cast buffs), Ryan (he thinks if he didn't take him he'd probably become a agent of death working for Humans, Faunus and the Grimm) and Gavin so he can slap him around.

Are you an indoors or outdoors person? Shannon is very indoorsy, Michael was but likes going out more since he moved to Austin and had Iris, Jen grew up outdoors then became introverted as she grew up and is now raring to get out more, Jason loves getting out for a while.

If you could make a RWBY character that was like yourself, how would they turn out? Micheal- It would just be Max from Camp Camp. Jason- An old and weary soldier with a dark past. Jen- Would like to be a dragon faunus because it sounds cool and would seem standoffish, but is actually super nice. Shannon- was very indecisive. He settles on someone who drive a wagon, be some kind of travelling carnival guy and be an irrelevant character whose stuff would get smashed whenever he wandered into a fight scene.

What would your characters theme song be (not from RWBY)? Sun- “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. Pyrrha- Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name” (because of "shot through the heart"). Ozpin- Heroes by David Bowie. Jacques- Cold as Ice by Foreigner. 

Whats more fun to record, RWBY or Chibi? Jen picks Chibi. She did also say that while she makes jokes about Pyrrha dying, she thinks its a huge honor that she played a character whose death is viewed as a massive impact to the show. Micheal also picks Chibi.

Favorite character that is not your own? Shannon, Jen and Micheal all pick Nora. 

Michael, how’d you get from Youtube to voice acting? “Start yelling in your room while you live with your parents.” Michael can’t really answer, he just accepts anything that happens. He had no real plans and just was very lucky that the right people saw his videos and got him in with Rooster Teeth.

What is your favorite thing about your RWBY characters? Micheal picks Sun’s abs and his sunny nature. Shannon likes that Oz is basically him continually being typecast by Roosterteeth as this "immortal, unkillable being.” Jen picks Pyrrha's humility. That she was sweet and princessy, but not in a standoffish or obnoxious way. Jason admires Jacques for his opportunism and intellect, but he is very amoral. He likes those qualities, but would use them differently if he possessed them.

Most difficult line you’ve ever had to voice? Micheal- Nothing too crazy. He thinks that Max in the recent season of Camp Camp not being a piece of shit for one moment was difficult. Jen picked when someone asked her to be Pyrrha but doing the final monologue from Running Man from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because Pyrrha doesn't get that angry. This was considered a "specific fetish."

Favorite character they've done? Jen- Harley Quinn in DCU Online (her literal dream role). Micheal likes them all. He likes Mogar because he was a character he created, and slowly developed him into this dumber character. He got into arguments with Lindsay about his character. Shannon likes them all for different reasons, but at that moment it is Quartermaster from Camp Camp. Jason goes for Beerus from Dragon Ball Super but mentions Wandaba Style as an honorable mention.

Fanexpo Questions

Will we see Nora before she met Ren? No, Barbara’s not a writer.

Will Yang make any puns in Volume 6? No.

What’s your favorite crackship? (DAMNIT BARBARA ARE YOU JUST A BAD LUCK CHARM FOR THIS FUCKING QUESTION) Yang/Yang, AKA Yangbang. I wish I could say I’m surprised at a selfcest joke but whatever. 

[nightcoremoon]

I’m going back and rewatching the achievement hunter let’s play minecraft series as background noise while I do other things (mainly dark souls, fallout, and other things) and I forgot just how much I love those dorks’ content.

geoff, jack, michael, gavin, ray… and yes… even JRH.

he was funny. he was creative. he had good chemistry with the others, especially as a foil to gavin. one was an intelligent intellectual who knew exactly how to pretend to be the dumbest loudest britishest moron who ever lived and generate hours of extra content over the years, the other was an intelligent intellectual who knew how to pretend to be a cruel agent of chaos and destruction and also secretly sexually coerced a bunch of teenage girls into helping him cheat on his wife on the side. fuck him and fuck the terrible things he did, and he is not a good person, but at least he made things that people love and bring them happiness for a while before he did any of those things (since it started in 2017). there are plenty of ryan moments before he was /actually/ an evil asshole. with that being said I’m glad he’s gone and there are lots of people to fill the void in his absence. I don’t feel that much melancholy. I don’t cry because it’s over, I laugh because it happened. the voiceover, I mean. obviously.

but also even without him there’s a lot to love about the minecraft series. geoff is a phenomenal host. jack is the glue that keeps them together. ray is the one who’s very good at video games (but eventually got sick of playing minecraft so he went to twitch but he still interacts with members of the AH crew from time to time) and is a lot of people’s favorite for good reason because he is very possibly the lowkey funniest out of all of them. gavin is, well… he’s gavin. he is smart enough to be the absolute worst at games in exactly the most entertaining way he can (and he did a great job editing before kdin took over and she also did really well). michael is my favorite (and a lot of other people’s too) because he may be an asshole, but he’s not a dickhead (if that makes sense), and he has no problem filling the dead air with commentary and he is very good at offering commentary, his diction and his volume are both great and I can actually understand the things he says because he arguably is the strongest vocal performer out of all of them. also now that he’s a dad he’s really hot. lindsay is great too, even if they are very very bad at video games (gavin just pretends to be useless, lindsay genuinely is not very good at minecraft BUT THAT’S OKAY BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL REALLY FUNNY and has great chemistry with husband michael aaawww…). jeremy is a very good all-arounder who fills in the gaps of everyone else’s flaws in a really great way and also he’s really hot too. trevor is so much better than caleb in every single way and he may not be my favorite but I still enjoy his presence. matt is really entertaining and super creative and dedicated and likable and has no problem being the butt monkey if it makes a good video. alfredo is also very good at games that aren’t minecraft, and he’s pretty funny too. micah, well, she was fine for a celeb’s kid. for a while. fiona was also very good and had great chemistry with gavin before she left for g4 (good career move, I loved g4). idk who’s been new since she left but I’ll get there eventually (stupid fucking youtube ruining their own algorithm and keeping me from seeing who I want to see, those idiots had a perfect functioning system and then threw it in the garbage for pennies and nickels extra because they’re a bunch of stupid cunts who censor the shit out of videos too, let michael say fuck, dammit!)

when people say MCYT I think of them. or the hermits. or I guess the dream controversies. or speedrun cheaters (not dream- he did kinds cheat technically just a little bit but there’s enough benefit of the doubt that it could’ve been a mistake if he handled it with tact & grace which he didn’t but that’s neither here nor there, I specifically mean the hundreds of “omg I found a netherite pickaxe in this villager chest” cringefests). and the best part is?

minecraft is only one series they have.

rooster teeth may have gone corporate since burnie left, and its animation may have lost some soul since monty died, and its LP channel may rely on gmod a bit more than it should (but hey the same can be said for people like ohm chilled nanners minx gassy dlive entoan etc, I don’t say this to disparage them but they all play quite a lot of gmod), and a lot of great people have left (and a lot of shitty people too), but I still love the central crew. I still love michael gavin jack geoff ray matt jeremy n the rest.

thanks for ten years of laughter guys.