#mandy watches a cinderella story

[oh-my-damn]

Every time I watch A Cinderella Story I get the urge to cut my bangs

PS I would kill for a phone like Sams

[tilly-tilly-2827]

Fallin’ 

“I keep on fallin’ in and out “

Or the modern AU of Sophie Beckett spirling down the whirlpool of her past relationships, Richard Gunningworth, Phillip Cavender, and the person she would never want to admit, but Benedict Bridgerton.

Or the prequel to Light Switch that no one wanted, but the little drabble I can’t get out of my mind, inspired by the song ‘Fallin’ by Alicia Keys.

Read Light Switch from here!

And introducing a sequel written by the talented @hopepaigeturner ‘The Alchemy’ (Read from here!)

A03 post from here,

⚠️ SMUT. NSFW.

Trigger Warning: mentions of sexual harassment/assault/ Domestic Violence/

“Sophie,”

“Yes?” Sophie looked up from her worn-out sneakers, but she still couldn’t help herself from fidgeting her hands. 

“All this, Sophie…” Mandy said with a small sigh, but it wasn’t stained with disappointment or frustration; Mandy’s glasses were placed on the coffee table very gently, very softly, with genuine care. And her eyes were kind and soft, 

“Sophie, this is,” Mandy paused. “Sophie, first, I want to say that I am so grateful you came here today. From your stepsister’s recommendation, you told me. But It must have taken so much courage to come here and share this story with me. And I am so proud that you are here right now, safe and sound.”

“...Thank you.” Sophie stared down at Mandy’s Crocs, a yellow smiley face trinket just on her toe.

“None of it is your fault.”

“None of it is my fault.”

Sophie closed her eyes and repeated her words.

“None of it is my fault.”

“Can I ask you one last question? If it is okay with you?”

“Of course.”

“Why,” Mandy paused, yet again. “Why do you think it took time for you to come to therapy? Has anyone suggested you before? Perhaps during your childhood or at school? During your hospitalization? The court hearings? Or after the restraining order?”

Sophie nervously placed her hand on her throat, making her nails bite into the back of her neck. 

A sharp, trickling pain, but Sophie reminded herself that she was allowed to breathe. Breathe. 

“It didn’t seem important.” She said quietly. “It never seemed important.”

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

The first day of the summer holidays was the only day in a year her father would take her out. It was mostly the same restaurant; Poppie’s Fish and Chips, the one on Hanbury Street, a noisy cramped place where Sophie could hardly hear her father’s voice. They would always line up in the long queues, and her father, who had been a man of very few words, never told her the reason why he took her there. 

When she had first come back from boarding school, Sophie had excitedly rambled on about her new friends and teachers; the exciting classes, and the school library she had always enjoyed. But it was only when she looked up from her cartmel toffee pudding she noticed that her father seemed to be focused on draining the Ale in front of him, rather than her whole speech about Cinderella being the best Disney Princess.

“Um, sir?”

Playing with the topping almonds, Sophie asked hesitantly, peering into her father’s deep forest eyes,

“Yes?”

“What’s your favorite Disney movie?”

“I’ve never seen any of them.”

“Really? Oh, you have to watch every one of them. They are kind of like musicals!” Sophie’s cheeks rosied, excited to introduce her to her favorite movies, “Nana used to sing me the songs at bedtime,”

“Yes, that is all very good, Sophia.”

“And Mama left me a copy of her book,”

“Sophia.”

“Maybe Sleeping Beauty, everyone likes that so maybe,”

“I don’t want them, Sophia.”

“But,”

 Before she could continue, she stopped herself, seeing the man in front of her tapping his fingers impatiently on the table. Exhaustion.Weary. His forehead buried into his right hand. His eyebrows would be knitted, and over the years, Sophie would understand that it was stitched with the words of regrets and utter disappointment,

Sophie clenched her fists on her lap, feeling the hot tears rise to her eyes. Although she had enjoyed the peaceful life in the countryside, she deeply missed her grandmother, her Nana, who had passed away just a year ago; her warm smiles and hugs, and her delicious Breton stew.

Although she was still quite terrified of the man who whisked her away from Norfolk and dropped her at the all-girls dormitory; she had thought; perhaps he would be excited to see her.

He was her father, after all.

Even if she was never allowed to call him that.

But as tears kept dropping on her melted vanilla ice cream, a hand placed on her head, a hesitant touch on her honey-colored curls, the wild ringlets that she didn’t quite know what to do without her Nana, 

“Just like your mother,”

Sophie tried to look up, but his hands were more firm in the place, forcing her to keep her eyes on her lap. His fingers tugged her curls, just a little,

“Your mother had the same curls.”

There was an unfamiliar color in his usual drawing voice; a tint of softness, a drop of melancholy.

“What was she like?”

Sophie asked softly, only knowing her mother through Nana's oddly ambiguous stories and photo albums. 

He touched his fingers to her chin and tipped her face up to the light. 

“You have the same eyes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“What was she like?”

She asked again. 

“An intelligent woman.”

“How so?”

But her innocent inquiry had crossed the line. His forest green eyes would harden into pitch darkness, the detached cold gaze that clutched her throat, preventing her from saying another word, 

“How so?”

And even after 20 years, Sophie continued to make the same mistakes. Asking when she isn’t supposed to ask,

“Baby, because that dress is just asking for trouble,” 

He roughly tugged the short hems of the silver dress: the one she had fallen in love with when she saw it shining and shimmering under the city lights. She normally thrifted her clothes, but the dress; she had to wear for herself,

“Go and change, babes.”

“But, Phillip,”

“Baby, baby, baby.” His hands would roam against her waist, his eyes would darken, “You really don’t see how other men look at you, do you?”

“Phillip, I didn’t mean to,”

“So naive,”

“But,”

“Be a good girl for me and change the dress, will you?”

And in one swift motion, he would zip down the dress, the glittering silver sliding down from her shoulders.

“So beautiful,”

He murmured against her neck, a small moan escaping from her lips with his every breath, every touch. 

Only a few hours had passed since the nameless man led her to the dance floor, but it was almost as if he knew everything about her, every stroke of his hands, his tongue, his lips, it was just sweetness rising to the air, making her fall apart in his arms.

A tiny bit of sanity left inside her was thinking, perhaps Phillip was right when he said the dress was asking for trouble. Because this man was truly trouble indeed, god, she didn’t even know his name, and between the darkness and the blinding lights, she couldn’t even see the color of his eyes.

But it wasn’t the cold eyes that pushed her miles away,

And it wasn’t the dark eyes that left her trembling, 

For Sophie, that was all enough.

“So, so, beautiful,”

His soft, deep voice, which Sophie couldn’t help but adore, whispering into her ear, 

“Just let it go,”

“No more questions about your mother.”

Her father’s tone was always flat and monotonous.

“But,”

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

And the two continued to eat in silence. Her father on his ale, Sophie on her caramel toffee pudding. But Sophie could hardly enjoy the melted vanilla ice cream, it was just too sticky, too salty, mixed with the taste of her tears and her runny nose. The taste of her own fluid was making her feel sick. Her father didn’t even take out his handkerchief. 

“Sophia.”

On the way to his London flat, her father finally broke the silence.

“I…” He paused. He sighed again, tapping his fingers on the car wheel. “Your teachers told me that you excel in your studies,”

Sophie finally felt like she was permitted to look up from her black shoes. 

“I’m expecting a lot from you, Sophia.”

“Yes, sir.”

But did her father actually expect something from her?

No matter how many times she reached the top of her class, how many prizes she got from her literary essays, her father never said anything to her, report cards she found disregarded in the bin at his home study, unopened, ignored, 

“I’m so proud of you,”

Sophie felt overwhelming pride and joy as Phillip shot her one of his dashing smiles from the table, pouring wine into her glass. It was a lovely Italian restaurant he had taken her to celebrate her promotion; the kind of place that had dimmed lights and romantic candles, petite roses placed in the middle of their table. 

“The effort you put into each writing is truly extraordinary. A lady of most exceeding talents,” Sophie blushed as Phillip raised his glass for a small toast, a teasing smile on his lips, “Matching to your equally beautiful looks,”

A light tug in her throat, but she decided to let it go. After all, Phillip Cavender, one of the senior editors, had been so caring and helpful to her from the first day of her internship; always making time to chat with her, leaving coffee and little sweets when he passed by her desk.

“It’s all thanks to you, Phillip” Sophie said shyly, “I wouldn’t have gotten the promotion if it weren’t for your assistance, and your recommendation to Danbury.”

“Anything for my little intern.”

Sophie’s heart leaped as Phillip gently took her hand, his thumb gently drawing small circles against her skin. And she noticed that she couldn’t quite draw her hand back,

“I, I really don’t know how to thank you,”

She stared down at her feet, trying to ignore her beating heart. 

“Well, I could think of some ways,”

Under the table, Sophie felt Phillip’s shoes trailing up to her ankles, and his other hand was reaching for her thighs,

Sophie froze in her seat.

“I’m not really…”

“Come on, Beckett, I’m just messing with you!” He laughed wholeheartedly, his hands returning to the table, “It’s only a joke, Beckett. Loosen up a little! Do I look like a guy who would let a woman sleep one’s way up?”

“No, of course not.” Sophie tried to smile back, fondling with the hems of the tablecloth. “You wouldn’t never do that,”

“But,”

“But?”

“I was wondering if we could make this a date?”

“A date?”

“I said I’ll take you out to celebrate,” Phillip continued, his warm hands placed on hers again, “But I really want this to be our first date. I really like you, ”

“Oh.”

“Come on Beckett,” He grinned teasingly, “You’ve got to give me some credit for giving you this promotion.”

After that, Phillip had walked her home to her flat, and Sophie couldn’t quite believe that Phillip Cavender actually liked her, or how Phillip intertwined his fingers between his, or how his hands slipped to her waist, tugging her close to his arms as they walked down the London streets. Phillip Cavender! Always the first to crack a joke in the room, the dashing smile and his wide circle of acquaintances, always in the center of heated debate,

And he was walking her home. For her.

“So, here we are.”

“Who knew Ms. Beckett lived above some fine little China?”

“….It’s a Vietnamese restaurant.”

“It’s all Asian.” Phillip shrugged. “Basically the same.”

“Every culture’s different.” Sophie shook her head with a weak smile, “The Banh mi is absolutely gorgeous here, you should try it sometime,”

“Can I kiss you?”

“What?”

“Come on, Beckett. you wouldn’t have missed that,”

She was surprised to find his soft brown eyes quite close to her. Philip took a step closer, and her back hit the lamppost, feeling the coolness of the metal pole against her coat. But his warm hands cupped her cheeks, and Sophie noticed that she couldn’t quite move. Or even utter a word.

“I like you, Sophie.”

Right. 

“And I would like to kiss you.”

Right, of course, right. Right. Right. It was a date, after all.

“Can I kiss you?”

She nodded.

And there was a kiss. 

Wet?

“I’ve always wanted to do this since I first met you in Danbury’s office,”

“Really?”

“Mmm,”

His beard scratching her skin, 

“I always wanted you so much,”

“Um,”

“Mm?”

“Would you like to come up to my room?”

“Oh, hell yes.”

When Sophie admitted hastily about her lack of experience in that area, Phillip had broken out in a satisfying smile, grinning from ear to ear. He began to stretch out his fingers as if he were warming up for another round of volleyball.

“So,” Phillip slowly undid the buttons of her lace blouse, his hands gently tracing her soft curves, “Does it mean I’m your first?”

“Um, kind of?” 

Sophie smiled weakly as Phillip unhooked off her bra with composed expertise. Sophie’s breath hitched as he began to nuzzle her neck, his beard tickling her skin, 

“A pretty girl like you?”

“I just,” Sophie gasped as his hands cupped her breasts. “...Didn’t have much time for relationships.”

“Bet you were waiting for me,”

“Sometimes you are far too overconfident,” Sophie giggled but her light tease was taken over a muffled yelp as he pinched her nipples.  

“Shhhhh.” Phillip would whisper to her, “Hey, just leave it all to me. Just relax and listen to your body. It's going to be alright,”

But it was never all right. Just a lot of twisting and grasping, a lot of panting. But it was insanely addictive. The moans and gasps of satisfaction against her shoulder, endearments rasped into her ear as he thrust in faster and faster. The hot striking pain lost in the flood of sweet words, 

Is it supposed to be like this?

She didn’t question the fact that her father never came to school on visiting days, spending the lonesome hours alone in the library, listening to the homely domestic chatter from the window. She didn’t question the reason why she was locked up in the upstairs closet; not knowing how many hours had passed by. Huddled, shivering in the corner with her head on her knees. And her father never questioned the swelling of her cheeks or the burnt marks on her ankles. While Araminta screamed at her from the table, her father never stopped his hands on the knives and the fork. 

“Worthless git,” Araminta’s voice was still engraved in her head, 

Is it supposed to be like this?

The thrusting inside her gradually ceased, and the heavy weight of Phillip over her body suddenly pulled her back to her tiny studio apartment, Sophie trying to keep her focus on the little mold in the ceiling..

Mucky. Sticky . Sweaty Hot. Heavy. Wet.

“I think you’re amazing,” Phillip whispered to her breathlessly as he rolled onto the side, propping himself up on one elbow. “You’re just so perfect,” 

As Phillip wrapped her around his arms and gently cuddled her against her back, Sophie finally felt the tingling warmth inside her belly, just like the warm little tingle she felt on Christmas mornings. All alone in the dormitory, she would pop peppermint candy in her mouth, the one her father sent in his Christmas packages.  

It is supposed to be like this, 

First few months were the definition of bliss. Flowers every morning, little banters on the morning subway, stolen kisses on the elevator. Always the smartest, the funniest, leaving her in giggles as they spent the weekends in bed. He wanted to know everything about her, from her past (which she hardly told the truth) to her hopes and dreams, and ambitions for the future (which she always told the truth). Living in the countryside, owning a little bookstore in a small town, (So modest, he would laugh at her.) And he had believed in her, trusted her as an editor, as a person, in a way no one else had ever had. 

And he was the first person who told her that he loved her. 

Love. Love. Love. 

Like sweet chocolates. Bubbling lemon drops. Shimmering glass crystals.

Always scribbled hastily on a scrap of crumpled paper; 

To Sophia. From Richard. With love, never written. 

Delicate music boxes. Intricate picture books. 

Fairytales and dolls. 

Necklaces and trinkets. 

Ribbons. 

Love.

Love.

Love.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.” 

“Love your chicken soup,”

“I love you.”

“Just turn off the phone and focus on me, babes.”

“I love you.”

“Relax, I’m good at pulling out.”

“I love you.”

“I thought you were going to spend the weekends with me?”

“I love you.”

“So, you’re just going to leave me here while you get yourself drunk with your colleagues?”

“I love you,”

“All you need to do is take these pills,”

“I’m just saying because I love you.”

Love.Love. Love. 

The neverending debt, 

Love.

Love.

Love.

Isn’t it supposed to be like this? 

“Do you even understand what love is, babes?” Phillip muttered irritatingly, tapping his fingers on the silver fridge. “It means having my back at all times. Supporting me. Unconditionally. Never heard of the word ‘unconditional love’? Or do you even love me?” 

“Of course, I love you,” Sophie said quickly, her hands still working on the dishes, cleaning the leftover ravioli Phillip always craved on Saturday evenings. “But this is another matter, Phillip. I just wanted to say that some expressions in your article might provoke discomfort,”

“So are you calling me stupid?”

“I never said that, Phillip.”

“But you did,” He quietly placed the wine glass on the kitchen table. Sophie froze in her place, noticing the shift in the air. 

“How could you ever think you could question my judgment?”

“Phillip, I didn’t.”

“When did I say you could stop washing the dishes?”

“I thought I should listen to you,”

“You can’t do anything right, can you?” Phillip sneered at her, a light jab on her ribs. “You would still have been the fucking intern if it weren’t for me.”

“You can’t do anything right.”

“Sophia, why is it that you always seem to be causing trouble?”

But Rosamund punched me first, Sophie wanted to scream back at him, but seeing the chilling glare in her father’s eyes, she knew it was better to seal her lips shut. Despite the ice pack the school nurse had given to her, there was still a burning pain in her swollen cheeks, still tasting the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

“It’s the third time this semester, Sophia.” He added coolly from the metal stool that was placed next to the bed. “I told you to deal better with Rosamund,”

“I tried,”

“Did you go?”

“I did my best,”

“And, it’s not ENOUGH!”

Sophie froze on the infirmary bed. Unlike Araminta or Rosamund, her father rarely raised his voice. While Sophie sometimes managed to bite back at Rosamund or flee from Araminta’s screeches, her father’s voice always left her petrified. But Sophie also knew that his eyes would go to her ringlet curls, all reminders of a woman who only remained in photo albums, the curls that he always played with as she bit into those fish and chips when she was much younger, 

“Fucking hell.” He cursed under his breath, “I can’t deal with this anymore.”  

Sophie stared down at her shoes, clenching to the hems of her skirts. 

No, Rosumund was not going to make her cry again, 

“Did you know I had to drive four hours to come here?”

“I’m sorry,”

“And I’m missing four meetings, Sophia. Do you understand that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Apologize to Rosamund,”

“But,”

“I don’t want to hear any more from you.”

With an exasperated sigh, her father turned his heels from her, his fingers twitching for a cigarette; but Sophie foolishly grabbed the end of his jacket, stopping him dead on the tracks.

“Don’t go.”

“Sophia”

“Please,”

“Sophia,” Her father flickered his fingers impatiently, but he didn’t have the nerve to smack off her hand, “What did I just say,”

“Won’t you let me change schools?” She hated how weak and desperate her voice sounded, “Araminta doesn’t like me here studying here with Posy and Rosamund. Can’t you send me to another school in London where I can go from your flat? Just please, please. Please. Don’t leave me here,” 

But her father stepped away from her clutch, a click of his tongue was enough to tell her that he wasn’t going to stay. 

“This is for your own good, Sophia.”

His leather shoes were still trimmed with dirt; Sophie would shine them every day when he took her to his flat on holidays, just to see a small smile on his face when he left her alone for work, but miles and miles away from London, she didn’t have the chance to wake up early in the morning to grab a cloth and a leather cleaner, and she rather missed the smell of the white leather cream as she sat on the floor,

“Just do better, Sophia.”

And he left, 

All alone in the room, Sophie broke out in a sob, but she heard her father say in just barely above a whisper,

“I’m doing this all for you,”

“Baby, baby, baby.” After a violent slap, Phillip would always hold her tight in his arms, softly placing an ice pack over her swollen cheeks and gently placing a kiss on her forehead. “I forgive you, Babes. Besides, it’s not your fault that you can’t do anything right. Hey, hey, it’s all right, Baby. I’m always, always here for you,”

Despite the soothing tone, Sophie was beginning to feel dizzy, very, very sick in the stomach. Dashing to the washroom, Sophie vomited everything that was inside her, including the sticky white fluid that went down her throat a few minutes earlier. But a gentle hand kept rubbing her back, soothing her from the nausea. Wiping bits of vomit and cum with a handkerchief. 

“You’re so lucky to have me, aren’t you?” Phillip cooed, wiping off the painful tears that kept running down her cheeks, “I’ve given you so much, haven’t I?”

“So, so, much.”

“So you wouldn’t say no, would you?”

His fingers moved to her neck.

“Because it’s not enough,”

As Phillip sent her a small wink from his desk. Sophie smiled sweetly back at him, softly playing with the rose petals. A little note was placed between the lush blossoms; 

To my sweet dumplings,

“Gross.” Eloise gagged in her tea as she read the note over her shoulder. “Why does Cavender call you that?”

“It’s supposed to be a joke,” Sophie said, quickly hiding the note in her desk drawer. “Sorry about the flowers, I know I’m invading your space.”

“More like Cavender’s invading my space,” Eloise scoffed. “Can’t you tell him to just fuck it off with the goddam flowers every day?”

“I could never tell him that,”

“Never?” Eloise raised her eyebrows, and Sophie felt a slight sense of panic.

“I’ll tell him, El.”

“So you say,” Eloise snared sarcastically. As Eloise returned to her laptop, Sophie couldn’t help noticing that her fingers tapping the keyboards were a little louder than usual. Sophie nervously put away the roses in her paper bag, away from Eloise’s sight, 

“El, I’m sorry,”

“What are you even sorry for?” Eloise muttered.

“For not backing you up,”

Yesterday’s editor meeting was chaotic. Although Danbury had agreed on Eloise having the Sunday feature, Phillip had suddenly insisted on taking it down, saying that her coverage was too dark for the Sunday cover. 

“TOO DARK?”

“Yes, Bridgerton. You do understand that our target audience is,”

“THEN JUST THROW AWAY ALL ARTICLES!”

As Eloise and Cavender broke out in a thunderous fight in the conference room, Phillip suddenly turned his attention to Sophie, who had been trying her best to stay invisible. 

“Babes, you understand what I mean, right?”

“Beckett, if you had the fucking decency, you would agree with me.”

Of course, Eloise, Sophie opened her mouth to say those words, but Phillip raised his eyebrows, tapping his forefinger on the table. 

Tapping. Tapping. Tapping. 

Sophie was suddenly entrapped by the sound of the noise, those fingers that wrapped around her throat just the other night. Clenching them so hard that it left marks on her neck, and even though he was a foot away, Sophie noticed that she couldn’t quite breathe again, 

“I thought I gave you ‘The big break’”

“Do you want this job or not?”

“Don’t you ever think about questioning me ever again,”

“I thought you supported my article.”

“I did, Eloise. But Phillip did have a point,”

With a large bang, Eloise snapped her laptop shut.  

“Do you not know that two women are being murdered each week by their partners? 242 domestic abuse-related deaths were recorded last year. 242, Beckett. And it’s my job to bring awareness to the public. I SPENT BLOODY SIX MONTHS ON THIS ARTICLE DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW I POURED MY HEART AND SOUL INTO THIS?”

“Eloise.”

“You know what I respected about you, Beckett?”

“Eloise,”

“Your goddam integrity, I respected you because you had some fucking integrity,” Eloise pointed her finger angrily, “And you still call yourself a journalist?”

“Eloise, I’m sorry,”

Eloise stormed out of the office, a packet of cigarettes in her hands. The office was oddly silent. 

“Serves her right,” She heard someone mutter and murmur of agreement around them. 

In the corner of her eye, she saw Philip laughing hysterically with the other senior editors; Heasley and Fletcher. Joking something about hormones, periods, and female rage. 

“Bridgerton does have a point,” Theo said quietly from the other side of the desk. “I think you should talk to her.”

Sophie found Eloise on her usual rooftop, puffing away her Benson and Hedges. Although Eloise ignored her as Sophie sat next to her on the bench, she was the first one to break the silence. 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.” 

“You have all the right to yell at me,” Sophie said weakly. “It’s all my fault.”

“Oh, stop it with your self-loathing and self-deprecation. I hate all that crap.” Eloise muttered between huffs, “You just can’t stand up for yourself, can you?”

“Eloise,”

“Why are you letting Cavender take over you?”

“I’m.”

“You never come to drink these days, saying that it’s a date night. Even if you did come, you are constantly on the phone, You’re always backing his pitches in meetings, and you even laugh at his jokes. His sexist jokes, Beckett. You’re unbelievable.”

Eloise dropped the cigarette in the ashtray, 

“I know I shouldn’t tell you this,” Eloise said quietly. “Do you know why no one speaks to you anymore other than me or Sharp, or the Toxic Lord Squad? Because everyone thinks you are sucking his dick to get your article on the table,”

Am I? 

“And you know I hate gossip, Beckett.” Eloise continued,  “But from where I see it, it isn’t far from the truth.” 

“Just break up with him.”

I can’t.

“And just go back to your normal self.”

I can’t.

“Araminta, I can’t pay all this money.”

I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.

“I can’t, Phillip.”

“Go on, Sophie.”

“But,”

“But you can,”

He would zip down his trousers, softly caressing her curls, 

“Don’t I deserve this for buying dinner?”

I can’t.

I can’t.

I can’t.

I can’t.

I can’t.

The perfect daughter.

The perfect sister.

The perfect student. 

The perfect colleague. 

The perfect girlfriend. 

The checkboxes she just couldn’t fill. 

The debts she couldn’t repay.

No matter how hard she strived. 

All the things that she just couldn’t do. 

The list of requirements.

Drowning her. 

And she couldn’t breathe. 

She was almost drowning in her own bathtub as Phillip mounted over her, his leather shoes drilling in her bare skin, and the clear bubbles were becoming cloudy, mixed with mud and dirt,

“No, Phillip, please,” 

Between gasps, she managed to croak out, but the grip on her neck only became tighter.

“You think that you could break up with me?”

“No, Phillip,” The flood of water and bubbles entered her mouth, and she could only cough, gasping for air. “I wasn't, I just maybe, break, a while, ”

“How could you do this to me?”

But in the next moment, she only saw a clenched fist coming up to her eyes,

And she only saw darkness.

So Sophie ran. Through the great hall, through the blooming gardens, through the dark forest, Sophie kept running, running, running until she noticed that she didn’t quite know where she was going. But she had to escape from Araminta, her shilling screams and the broken plates, no, she couldn’t bear them anymore, 

So Sophie ran. Through the streetlamps, through the chaotic carnivals of cars, through the flashing lights, Sophie kept running, running, running. And twenty years later, she still didn’t know where she was going. But she had to escape from Phillip, his banging fists, and the broken plates, no, no, no…This shouldn’t be happening. 

Over and over again. WHY? WHY? WHY?  

“You can’t do anything right.”

“You can’t do anything right.”

“You can’t do anything right,”

Sophie found herself laughing. Laughing hysterically. Alone in the streets of London. One hand leaning on the lamppost, one hand on her stomach. Sophie wheezed and giggled, the absolute irony and the absurdity of the situation was leaving her in stitches. Pure comedy. So, so, hilarious. She couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so bluntly. Fits of laughter.

Until she was crying again on the pavement.

Alone again. 

But Peculiar looks she was getting from the other pedestrians slowly pulled her back into her senses. She suddenly felt her cheeks turning red; afterall, she was barefoot and only wearing her bathrobe, her hair drenched to the skin. God, she must look like a bloody pervert. Taking a deep breath, Sophie tried to list out the places she could go, perhaps for a decent set of clothes and a place to stay for the night. 

Eloise? No, Eloise stopped talking to her after the article incident. Posy? No, Sophie had cut off all her contact with her family when she left home. Araminta? No, after saving every penny to escape from her, she wasn’t going to go back to that hell ever again. 

But then, she noticed that She didn’t even have her phone or even her wallet.

“You can’t do anything right.”

All she could do was go back to her apartment. 

Perhaps Phillip would forgive her if she apologized. 

Apologize. 

But for what exactly? 

“No, no, no, she just fell down the stairs,” Outside the white curtain, Sophie heard Phillip's usual gallant tone, explaining that he was the chief editor of Whistledown and how he knew a surgeon in the hospital who happened to be his long time friend from college. “She’s really clumsy, you know. Always knocking over things,”

“You’ve explained that to me multiple times, Mr. Cavender,” A voice said rather cooly, “I have to ask you to step away, I’ll be taking her pulse, and the doctor would want to check if she needs an MRI,”

Sophie’s fingers were shaking yet again as a figure entered her compartmentalization; but it wasn’t the booming body looming over her, but a petite, bubbly nurse with a friendly smile, 

“Posy?”

“Sophie, oh, Sophie, Sophie,”

Posy hugged with all her might, and although Sophie still felt a sharp pain in her ribs, she noticed that she didn’t mind the pain at all, 

“Are you all right, Sophie? Oh, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie. Oh my god, it’s been ages since I last saw you. Why didn’t you even leave your phone number? I’ll be the last person on earth to snitch on Mum. And Richard misses you. I think. I don’t know. I don’t talk to him as well. But I missed you so much! You know Sophie, I also left home! Oh, and I’m married!! To Hugh! Oh, I’d love for you to meet him, Sophie. I wanted to invite you to the wedding so I tried to search you up on the Internet, but you’re not on anything! Oh, Sophie, it’s so nice to see you again. I saw your name on the board and I just had to drop by, and Sophie these bruises on your neck,”

“I thought you were taking her pulse.” 

As Philip popped his head from the curtains, Sophie’s mind suddenly started spiraling. She was still halfway through her research, but She didn’t have dinner ready at the table, and she knew she left the laundry halfway. On Monday she had to pick up his shirts, and she might have forgotten to brush out the bookshelves, and the pitch meeting on Thursday, she would have to watch Phillip as he tapped his fingers, 

But Phillip gently sat beside her and cupped his hands to her cheeks. 

“Baby, why didn’t you tell me you woke up?”

“I’m sorry, Phillip, I just.”

“Shhhh,” With a soft smile Phillip held out his hand in a stop. “It’s all right, baby. I was just so worried about you.”

Phillip placed a small peck on her cheeks, 

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Posy and Phillip hastily exchanged greetings, but as soon as he realized Posy wasn’t the one specifically in charge of Sophie, Phillip shooed Posy from her bed, rambling on that his girlfriend needed the doctor and not the nurse. But Sophie noticed that Posy had scribbled a tiny note in her hand, her phone number and her address. 

Call me, she wrote, Please, 

But the intimidating banging never stopped. Whether it was early in the morning, or so deep in the night, Phillip would always bang on her door, and Sophie had no other choice but to open up; after all, she didn’t want to be kicked out of her apartment for bothering the neighbors; the only place she had been finally able to afford for herself, away from Araminta. Even when she knew that Phillip was under a strict restraining order, Sophie would flinch as the door banging started again, just when the clock struck midnight. Sophie knew it would be the same all over again, the same bouquet of lilies, the endless begging, the endless pleas followed with another swing of his fist,

“Hi,”

“Hi,”

But this night, it was the sweet kiss of Benedict Bridgerton that welcomed her, the soft scent of Sandalwood and Soap. And cigarettes. And weed. She quickly pulled away, breaking off from his passionate kisses with a tug on his shoulders. Benedict pouted his mouth with puppy pleading eyes and held her waist to follow her lips. Sophie quickly covered his mouth, stopping him from chasing any further.

“But, your girlfriend, isn’t she,”

“Gen?”

His voice was muffled, and Sophie quickly removed her hand,

“Her name is Gen?”

Benedict gave her one of his lopsided smirks, loosening his tie with his right hand, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

Another kiss was pressed on her lips, his tongue slipping from the corner of her mouth, melting her,distracting her from every thought; every emotion, the every confusion that battered her when she heard the London cockney accent on the other side of his phone that morning, 

“Then who is she?”

“Do you need to know?”

With a raise of an eyebrow, Benedict asked her, a slight tilt of a head. But his jacket was again discarded on the floor, his fingers were slowly working on his shirt, revealing an inch of his skin every minute,

“No,”

Because he had a sweet, melodic rhythm, 

and she would hold on tight. 

Leaving her breathless and a little desperate, 

Always wanting a little bit more,

a little bit more of him. 

Hips rocking.

Chasing him.

Is it supposed to be like this?

“I don’t do relationships.”

“Oh,”

Sophie didn’t quite know how to respond to his not-so-guilty confession. After all, Phillip had been all out about her being his girlfriend, and Benedict had been her first casual fling. The checkboxes of “girlfriend” she had tried her best to perfect, but no strings attached? Sophie didn't exactly have the playbook for ‘Casual Relationships’. 

“Seriousness is not really what I want,” He sipped from her mug, the Earl Grey she passed to him minutes ago, “Rather Live my life as a free spirit?” He fluttered his hands jokingly, like a little bird. 

It is supposed to be like this, 

“I understand,” She said, a small smile on her lips “I’ve seen too many broken relationships as well,”

Benedict gently placed the mug on her kitchen table, his fingers weren’t tapping on the fridge, but it softly brushed a strand of hair from her face. 

“I’ll leave if you want, I really don’t mind if you don’t want any of this,”

When his hands softly caressed her cheeks, she noticed it wasn’t the hesitant touch of her father or the violent grip of Phillip, it was the touch that she had never felt, and in three seconds, his fingers left her skin, his feet stepping away to the door, 

Leaving her all alone again,

Sophie had grasped him by the collar, slightly tiptoeing to reach the corner of his mouth.

“Stay,” she murmured against his lips, “Don’t go,”

Sophie felt Benedict's lips twist into a wicked grin, 

“Then make me want to stay, Sophie.”

Sophie felt shivers down her spine as he rasped in her ears, his voice now hoarse and deep, rumbling from the deep part of his lungs.

Unconsciously, Sophie found herself dropping down on her knees, softly fondling with the smooth material of his St.Lauren suit. Sophie heard Benedict’s breath hitch slightly as she traced his manhood with her palm, softly, gently as Phillip had first taught her.

Benedict softly played with her curls as she worked her way through his belt and the silver zipper, and she was actually quite pleased when she noticed that he was already quite hard under his boxers.

“Baby Yoda?”

“You wouldn’t leak that to GQ, would you?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare,”

Benedict groaned as Sophie pressed the heat of his erection against her eyelids. She softly placed her hands on his penis, gently stroking them upwards and downward.

“Upcoming fame Benedict Bridgerton,” She rasped against his hardness, placing a soft kiss on top of his shaft. She tasted him, salty in her mouth, and she felt his body harden, 

“No, Sophie, don’t talk right there,”

“Revealed to be a Lucasist,”

“You’re not going to call me a nerd?”

“I pay my fair respects to George Lucas as well,”

With a toss of her head, Sophie flipped her curls back and eased her lips up and down, a little twirl of her tongue. Licking up his length, Sophie smiled softly, his eyes were closed tightly as if he were relishing into depth of delight, His eyebrows were knitted not in disappointment or embarrassment but sweet relief and pleasure, the deep satisfaction bubbling up to her stomach as she watched his expression change every second. It was quite fascinating, THE Benedict Bridgerton flushed, withering and gasping with just a flick of her tongue, the snap of her wrists, a touch of her fingers, and somehow it was all so thrilling, 

and she slipped her hand between her legs, 

And Sophie continued, 

Because she had a sweet melodic rhythm. 

and he would hold on tight.

Leaving him breathless and a little desperate. 

Always wanting a little bit more, 

a little bit more of her. 

Hips rocking.

Chasing her.

“Christ,”

A desperate, breathless moan escaped from his lips as she took him further deeper, 

“How the fuck are you so good?” Benedict muttered, tilting his head back to savor the gentle pleasure Sophie was giving him,

“So, so, good.”

The grip on her curls would gradually tighten.

“Be a good girl for me.”

“Such a good girl,”

It would always begin with a suggestion,

 slowly changing into demands.

In just the briefest of seconds,

In one touch of the hand,

 everything would slip away from her fingers. 

Again. Again. Again.

Over and over. 

“Be a good girl for me, Sophia.”

His hands firm in place. So she can’t look up. So she can’t even see. 

“Baby, Baby, Baby,”

Crammed deep down her throat, hot tears running down her cheeks.

“Sophie.”

Her sweet tempo lost in his thrusts. 

And Sophie couldn’t breathe again, 

“Such a good girl,”

A hesitant hand stroked her curls as Sophie continued sobbing.

A tall broad man with slicked-back hair was standing next to her before the cathedral, the man who had taken her from sweet Suzie, her grandmother’s nurse from the hospital. The cold detached voice told her that he would be addressed as ‘Richard’. But Sophie had never seen or heard of the man’s name. 

“I was…” Between tears and sobs, Sophie saw his black shoes drizzled with specs of mud, “A friend. Of your mother’s.” 

He went down on his knees, trying to peer into her eyes as she hid behind the stone pillars.

“And I promised her that you will be taken care of.”

“I promise I’ll take good care of you, Sophia.”

“I promise.”

And Sophie had taken his hand. 

“Such a good girl,”

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

“Sophie?”

“Yes?” Sophie looked up from her worn-out sneakers, but she still fidgeted her hands. Thanks to the sleeping pills, Sophie’s sleeping habits had definitely improved, and the quiet, slow life at Wiltshire had given her time to loosen up a bit. To look back and reflect. However, the crisp country air and the lovely armchair she sat in weren’t quite enough to forget everything she had kept in the shadows all her life. 

“Sophie, did you hear my question?”

“Yes.” Sophie nodded, “Sorry, I was just. Thinking.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Sophie.” Mandy smiled sweetly from her clipboard. “Take all the time you need.” 

“It’s just.”

“Everything gets fuzzy sometimes.”

“Like,”

“I get lost.”

“And everything keeps overlapping.”

“You know.”

“A lot of voices”

“Hands.”

“Fingers.”

“And I can’t.”

“Breathe.”

“And I keep drowning.”

“And keeps spiraling.”

“Repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again,”

“Sophie, I can assure you that coming here was not a mistake.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s start from the very beginning shall we?”

“The very beginning?”

“Yes.”

Sophie took a deep breath. 

“Um. Richard. Richard. My father.”

“But he wasn’t Papa, or Dad, or anything.”

“He, he would only ever take me out on the first day of summer holidays…” 

#Writer’s Notes

Again, Shoutout to @hopepaigeturner!!

Thank you so much for saving the Light Switch Benophies,

[cjbolan]

Further thoughts after finishing Emily Windsnap and the Tides of Time...

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD*

This book’s biggest weakness is that it’s the most predictable. It’s the plots of 13 Going on 30, Groundhog Day, Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time,  Everything Everywhere All At Once, MCU’s What If…? all rolled into one. The ending is very reminiscent of Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, with the MCs happily destroying a magic wish-granting item. Funny coincidence I finished at after just watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, another series finale about time travel. Granted some scenes took me by surprise. Especially the third act after Emily’s 2nd wish...

Like all the books after Book 3, this one had some serious retconning, some bad and some good. Some bad retconning with 0 explanation (like Emily attending Brightport after all that drama about which school she’d attend), retconning was my biggest issue with the entire series. But also some good intentional retconning with an explanation (Emily’s mom marrying Mr. Beeston because of her first wish, Neptune acting nicer than usual because he was convinced everyone would save his oceans).

NEPOTISM SAVES THE DAY XD. No seriously Emily’s classmates save the day by just using their parents’ connections. Granted those classmates work hard too. Makes we wonder what if Emily’s parents were involved in the art project and how they could have helped.

This last book is just like the first book in all the best ways. It returns to the same locations, same recurring characters, new memorable and crucial characters to the plot, the focus on female friendship, our heroes saving the day with their wits and teamwork (and nepotism XD ) instead of magic when they could’ve easily used magic. Also Emily’s parents’ romance is the main romance. Furthermore it ends with Emily wanting just one small personal goal (meeting her dad in the 1st book, keeping her friends in the last book), which inadvertently solves much bigger goals at the same time.

Liz Kessler’s ending breaks the British children’s literature trope of evil schools. As an educator I love that! She leaned hard into that trope for most of this story, with Emily’s school being boring in the present then a creepy dystopia in the future. Until the ending where Emily unites Brightport Junior High and Shiprock School to create a living art display that might stop the 2 futures from happening.

Also as an artist I loved the idea of art changing the world and saving the day in the end. This part especially hit home for me who draws tons of Emily Windsnap fanart. That fanart certainly changed my life for the better: by introducing me to many other fans and even inspiring their fanart too. If fanart can change our lives, it could certainly change the world.

This last book was surprisingly grounded in reality. I like how well Liz Kessler writes about real-world adult matters (gentrification, pollution, homelessness, etc,) from the perspective of a child. Emily doesn’t fully know what’s going on, but she knows enough that it’s a bad situation that she has to solve. It’s a nice break from the previous books’ massive infodumps of exposition on fantasy worldbuilding and magic usage.

What happened to Emily’s mom when the spring tide turned? We saw Mandy being human was in big trouble when that happened, the last we see of Emily’s mom was that she’s still on the riverbank with Emily’s dad. Guess we have to hope for the best that Emily’s mom got out on time, or Emily’s dad saved her Little Mermaid-style.

Who else was a little creeped out at adult Emily sniffing her dad? Sniffing people can be cute when you’re a kid, but when you’re an adult...in media that’s typically to depict sexual desire 0_0. Does Emily have an Electra Complex? Because in her adult body she sniffs her dad multiple times...

Also he smells like “salt water and sandy skin”. Gross. I get Emily’s a mermaid probably used to that smell, but what about Emily’s mom? Did living with him make her nose-blind? How do y’all think humans react to Jake’s “salt water and sandy skin” smell XD?)

I wish Mr. Beeston had a bigger role in the story. He was a pretty prominent character until after the 1st future, then he just disappears. A pity because he’s one of my favorite characters. Maybe he’s the one who invited Neptune to the “living art display”.

Love how nonchalant Brightport is about the merfolk next door. Shows how quickly the novelty of merpeople wore off. And more importantly how the Windsnaps’ efforts in Book 4 to unite the two worlds ultimately paid off. I do LOVE how this book ended with the people of Brightport and Shiprock not just getting along, but also actively working together. I really wanted Book 6 to show more of that.

I liked the idea that greed was the core conflict putting Brightport and Shiprock at odds. Not just the obvious corporate greed like Midas Enterprises, but also Neptune squeezing every last penny out of an impoverished Brightport. It’s a clever way of showing that it’s not all humans’ fault, a direction I thought this book was heading towards. For a story about 2 societies at odds, it wouldn’t be fair for only 1 society to have to improve. 

The cycle of merman-meets-human romance continues XD!! From Mary/Jake, to Neptune/Aurora, to Archie/Millie, Mr. Finsplash/Ms. Platt...now Shelly/Drake? During the climax there’s a hint of romance between this Shiprock merboy and Brightport girl (“Shelly smiled shyly at Drake.”) . I sincerely believe Emily Windsnap started the merman/human romance trope i pop culture. Because all other examples I can think of came after this one (Namor/Shuri, Elisa/The Asset, Mabel/Mermando, etc.)

That’s all I got for now. That’s the end, reading this series was a fun ride. But this isn’t the end of my Emily Windsnap posts. I now have a lot more to think and post about regarding this series.

 Live long and prosper, Emily! You’ll always be a big part of my life.

[shesacinemaniac]

The Ultimate Chick Flick Movie Night (not the usual suspects)

I love a chick flick, I have so many great memories of watching them with my girlfriends till 3 in the morning! And as much as I love Mean Girls, Cinderella Story, and What a Girl Wants, I love the Chick Flicks that aren’t usual “go to’s”. Here are some of my favs!

“Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion”

This one is a classic! Two women who were “nobodies” in high school make up new lives when they go to their high school reunion. It’s in my opinion one of the best Chick Flicks because at its core it is a film about female friendships. Also the costuming is FABULOUS!

“Saved!”

Not your usual plot for a chick flick, Saved! is about a teen girl at a Christian School who sleeps with her gay boyfriend to help “make him straight again.” She becomes pregnant and with the help of the school misfits (who she once looked down on) hides it from everyone. A great movie about friendship but also as someone who grew up in the church it’s a refreshing take on “Gods love.” Also hilarious, Mandy Moore plays the Evangelical Villain very well!

“Sugar and Spice”

If you love a campy Chick Flick, look no further than Sugar and Spice. A cheer squad turns grocery store robbers to help financially support their pregnant cheer captain. Now this is not a necessarily a good movie, but it sure as hell is a good time!

“Whip It”

Directed by Drew Barrymore and starring Elliot Page, this film is about Bliss who joins a roller derby team behind her parents back and just really finds herself! Such a good film, and made me think I could do Roller Derby 😬… I can’t.

“Bride and Prejudice”

Ahhhhhhh I love this movie so much! Now 2005 P&P has a had a death grip on me for over 15 years but this is one of my fav Pride and Prejudice adaptations! The music, the dancing, the camp! This Bollywood version of P&P is just filled with so much joy and life, I cannot recommend enough!

“The Joy Luck Club”

This film isn’t probably what first pops into peoples heads when they think of Chick Flicks, but hear me out. Based off of Amy Tam’s novel, this film is about 4 Chinese American women and their mothers who immigrated from China. This movie has so much heart, its focus is on the complications of mother-daughter relationships but also on the experiences of Chinese Immigrants and children of immigrants. If you watch have a box of tissues close by…

“Waiting to Exhale”

I have very distinct memory of wanting to watch this movie so bad as a child but not being able to because it’s rated R. But I’m old enough now and wow! So fantastic! This film is about four women, their struggles and how they overcome them. And hot damn this cast is stacked! Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett to name a few, it’s a must watch!

“Jawbreaker”

Jawbreaker was Mean Girls before Mean Girls! Also if the Mean Girls accidentally killed one of their own and were forced to try and hide it from the police. A little bit of a darker chick flick, I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who is a horror camp fan. It’s fun but also a little fucked up!

Tell me your “unusual” go to chick flick!

[fandom]

2020 Masquerade Costume Competition Winners

This just in from Comic-Con@Home (@comicconathome​): The winners of the 2020 Masquerade Costume Competition, as chosen by the Comic-Con@Home judges! 

Feast your eyes on these cosplayers:

Best in Show

Astra, Queen of the Frostborn

An Original Design crafted by Sarah Kruger (@queenofthefrostborn​) “The Frostborn are a people, beings made of that frost, that fog, that cold and mystery. Their queen is strong as ice, and just as beautiful. Astra. As her story came to me, playing out in my head, I knew that I had to make her real.”

Judges’ Choice

Cinderella With a Twist

An Original Design by Mandy Pursey, with Ryan Pursey (@bethesparkcosplay​) “Growing up as an arm amputee, I dreamed of the day when fairy tales would include characters who looked like me too! I came up with the idea of Cinderella trading out her glass slippers for a glass arm, and set to work making this story come to life.”

Best Re-Creation

Iron Mask 85, Avengers: Endgame

Made by Frank P. (@franklybuilt​) “My late father took me to see the first Iron man in 2008 when I was about 16 years old and ever since then I’ve been hooked on the MCU and specifically Iron Man. I always dreamed of having my own armor. I mean what kid wouldn’t? But it was always this impractical goal and I had no idea how to use EVA foam or Papercraft. Years went by and eventually, I felt it was time to try my hand at a Cosplay after watching Avengers Endgame and being blown away with the MK85 Armor! It was time to make my first Cosplay. Enter 3D Printing.”

Best Original Design

ACK! The Kenku Monk

Designed and made by Breanne Cremean (@thegeekstresscos​) “Ack! is a part of an amnesia Dungeons and Dragons campaign and has no memory of her past. She chose her name because it’s the first sound she can remember anyone making in reference to her.”

Best Workmanship (A tie!)

Mercy (Classic Skin), from the Overwatch game

Made by Birdy Cosplay (@birdy-cosplay​) “Costume is made by me, the only purchased parts are the yellow wing parts (I ordered them already in this shape) and the wig (I styled it myself,  but bought the base from Arda Wigs). It was my biggest project so far and it took around 9 months with some short breaks to complete it.”

Best Workmanship (A tie!)

Arturia Pendragon, from the anime & game Fate/stay night

Crafted by Daniella Lo Presti (@ksfabricartist​) “I created this costume in order to bring to life this character in a realistic way. To replicate the skirt embroidery I deconstructed and pieced back together with different types of lace and I used several layers of cloth so that, when twirling, the gown would open up like a flower. Indeed, in Fate Zero, Arturia is described as being the flower of the battlefields.”

These cosplay costumes were so good, a photo can’t capture them. You need to click through to see the original video in all its glory!

Best Presentation

“Ready to Fight!!”

Consisting of assorted recreations, from Noe Ernesto Cruz Vargas (@lobisonx9​) “In this video, I show most of the cosplay that I have done for several years, in the pure gamer style. It has been a lot of creative work, use of many materials and hours and hours of work. We have an altruistic group in Mexico, we visit children’s hospitals, orphanages, children with cancer, etc.”

Most Humorous

Sally, from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Crafted by Liz Gatouco (@cosbrarian​) “I built the wig and dress from scratch, using second-hand materials to contribute to Sally’s “Ragdoll” persona. I used scraps from tablecloths, pajamas and clothes, upholstery samples, and even the yarn was sourced second hand.”

These cosplay costumes were so good, a photo can’t capture them. You need to click through to see the original video in all its glory!

Best Group

Luke Skywalker, C3P0,  R2D2, from Star Wars

Made by Tim O'Sullivan and JT Stevens (@1flukeskywalker​)

Don’t sleep on these Honorable Mentions…

Adrienne C.  (@waxsealedcostumes​) 1740’s Elizabeth Swan, from Pirates of the Caribbean “My 1740s Elizabeth Swann is almost entirely hand sewn with historical materials and historical construction methods from the outside in, starting from the shift, stays, panniers, under petticoat, matelassé outer petticoat, to the silk pleated-back English gown.”

Jennifer Yi (@kaiweevil​) Keesha's Hungry, from Star Wars “Her eyes are made from dyed round plastic and her mouth, nose, and teeth from painted sculpy. Ears are cut sheets of foam and everything is covered with fur. Cowl is pigskin laced with leather and I used some bones, feathers, and teeth I had lying around for decoration. Hands and feet are modified Yoda hands.”

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Masquerade Costume Contest! Your sewing and sculpting and hemming and hawing paid off brilliantly. If you’re curious about their prizes, you can read all about ‘em over here.

To all the participants: Thank you for making @comicconathome​ such an exceptional experience for every Comic-Con fan out there. We see you and we appreciate you.

[miyamellyn]

happy birthday crossfire!

Today is the birthday of my favorite fanfiction of all time, crossfire by kittebasu!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10693503/chapters/23683296

Here's a playlist of songs that remind of crossfire, either lyrically or musically. It's my small love letter to this story and to kitten's writing. This story made me feel a lot of things I haven't felt that strongly pretty much ever, and I'm really thankful that I found it in the point in my life that I did.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4gRHNv9twmae4HxIKLguG1

I've described my reasons for picking each song here, but please don't look if you don't want spoilers, since plot events will be referenced!

BEGINNING (PINING AND FIRST LOVE)

Mostly sappy love songs with a bit of sadness to them.

I Never Planned on You/Don't Come a-Knocking - Jeremy Jordan (Newsies Original Broadway Cast)

Cynical boy gives in to all of his sappy feelings!! I'm here for this in general, and especially for Miyuki

So Close - Jon McLaughlin

Absolutely one of my favorite songs of all time. Terribly tender and terribly sad.

You Are In Love - Travis Atreo (Taylor Swift cover)

One of my favorite parts of crossfire is watching Miyuki slowly, slowly admit his feelings to himself!

Helpless - Phillipa Soo (Hamilton Original Broadway Cast)

Fallin' in love wheeeeeee

So This Is Love - Ilene Woods and Mike Douglas (Cinderella)

Can't Help Falling in Love  - Ingrid Michaelson

I also like the twentyonepilots version and of course the original :)

MIDDLE (SEPARATION)

Bite the Hand - boygenius

"I can't love you how you want me to"

Not This Day - Stick and Poke

Oh boy this song used to make me cry buckets after my first breakup. It revolves around a breakup that is terribly difficult, but is seen as the right thing to do.

Rivers and Roads - The Head and the Heart

Our Apartment - Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties

Sweater Song - Hedley

I Won't Give Up - Washington University Stereotypes (a cappella cover of Jason Mraz)

Warm warm warm voices!

Your Old Coat - Paperwork

The first song I ever saved to Spotify! In particular, the lines "such big plans we had," "so this is all I that have left, your old clothes and your old desk," and "this house is far too cold to be a home, there's a certain kind of silence that these walls have never known" really lined up with my experience of the period where Miyuki's alone in San Francisco

Dear Jamie…Sincerely Me - Hellogoodbye

Following the trend, one of my oldest and most treasured songs. All about trying to send someone your feelings over a long distance, like the boys do with their plants.

END (LOVE)

I See the Light - Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (from Tangled)

The thing I love most about their relationship is how warm it is, and warm is my favorite word to describe this song. It's also, y'know, about someone/something you never thought you could or would have, and how it changes your life.

Finding Something to Do - Hellogoodbye

"as long as there's something to see, I'll see it with you"

SAWAMURA

Make You Feel My Love - Adele

Crossfire!Sawamura would do, and does do, absolutely anything to make Miyuki feel loved, and it's so lovely.

Hanshin Tigers no Uta - Yuuji Koseki and Meisterbrass Quartet

I couldn't find Rokko Oroshi in cheer-song format on Spotify, but I thought Sawamura might like this version too.

MIYUKI

I Don't Like Love Songs, But I Like You - Stick and Poke

Miyuki's not good at saying "I love you" in a normal way, and that's one of the things I love most about crossfire. You really get to feel his love and care, even through his insults and his poking and his prodding! I often get annoyed with Miyuki's personality when it feels like he's going to far, but crossfire!miyuki is like? Annoying and obnoxious in a really lovely way which I don't know how to describe

I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers

Sawamura is a catalyst for Miyuki to "get better" and make positive changes in so many areas of his life

BONUS

Here are all the songs that don't really fit in musically, but the lyrics relate in some way that I found amusing!

Legally Blonde - Legally Blonde OST

Feeling forced to leave because of a situation out of your control. Also, just Emmett singing "cuz you know that I'm so much in love" .

October - Eric Whitacre

To me, this song has always been about the changing of the seasons, both good and bad. Warm, beautiful, a little overwhelming.

Stronger than You - Estelle (from Steven Universe)

Miyuki! And! Eijun! Are stronger ! Together !

I hope you enjoy this playlist! crossfire means a lot to me, and I think that snuck its way into the fact that a lot of my favorite songs now remind me of crossfire, or vice versa.

[hufflepuff-ravenclaw-reviews]

Ella Enchanted

Backstory: The only thing that differs from a traditional Cinderella story is the fact that Ella was given the “gift” of obedience. And in her formative years, it did play a huge part, and it is central to the plot. But Ella's actual backstory is pretty cut-and-paste from traditional Cinderella stories, beyond this.

8/15

Evilness of Step-Family: Ella's step-mother and two step-sisters are quite evil. But they aren't central towards the actual movement of the plot. Instead, I feel like they're more schoolyard bullies, rather than some big, central evil. They aren't without point in the story, as one of the sisters makes Ella steal shoes, which gets Ella arrested. Later, the older sister is a foil to the budding romance between Prince Char and Ella.

10/15

Magic: This entire movie is set in a world where magic not only exists, but they seem to just accept it in the way that we accept cars and airplanes. Ogres, elves, and trolls are predominately featured throughout the movie, alongside the more traditional fairy. The magic itself was central to the plot of Ella's “gift” of obedience. The magical world that they lived in was also pretty great, but I'll touch more on it under the “Plot” section.

I also enjoyed how the “fairy godmother” wasn't so much as helping Ella, either when she gave Ella the “gift” of obedience, but also in sending Ella to the ball. It was a nice change of pace of the fairy who shows up out of some kindness of her own heart.

15/15

Relationship to the prince: Yes, Ella did have a relationship with Prince Char outside of her just showing up at the ball. I also liked the aspect that she wasn't a big Prince Char fan. (Which was an amusing side-story with the Prince Char fangirls.) But, the timeline of the romance says that they really only knew each other for about two days. He met her for like five minutes. Then, he saved her from the ogres, and they went to Giant-world, where they became friends, and shared their first kiss. When they returned to the castle, Char told his uncle that he was going to ask Ella to marry him. And I feel like that abrupt sort of love does get this knocked a few points off.

However, there's also a weird theme of consent in this movie, and I felt like it somehow made this movie oddly feminist, seemingly without trying. Everybody in Ella's life just ordered her around, even if they were unaware of her “gift”. But Char seemed to be the only one who added “if you want” to the things he asked of Ella, which seemed to heavily weigh on Ella's decision to let herself fall for him.

12/15

Plot: Overall, I liked the story for this. It was trying something different with Cinderella, whereas I feel like a lot of other movies feel the need to go down a check-list of cliches. And while this followed the basic Cinderella set-up, I honestly had no idea where it would go.

That being said, I felt like there were a lot of plot holes that remained unanswered. Mainly being the way that everybody reacted towards Ella's “gift”. She was supposed to be best friends with Areida since they were in grade-school, but Areida hadn't put together any sort of explanation to explain why Ella behaved the way she did. And Char didn't seem to pick up on it, either. However, the step-sister figured it out after only a little bit? And the writing seemed to want to portray both of the step-sisters as moronic ditzes.

Also, something that really bugged me during the interactions between Ella and her step-family was that Mandy stood by and watched, but did nothing to help Ella. Even though Mandy was present with Ella's mom when Ella was given the “gift”. She could have answered the door, but she did nothing. So I was confused over why not.

Overall, this movie subverted expectations well while simultaneously remaining inside the confines of the “Cinderella story cliches”. Everything was cliched, but as I mentioned, I had no idea where the story might actually take me.

25/30

Misc: This movie was cheesy as hell, and it never wanted you to forget it. Unlike a lot of other movies that try to shy away from how campy that it is, this one fully embraced the bad CGI, the overly apparent metaphors, and how this is 100% a fairy-tale.

10/10.

Total Score: 80/100

It was a pretty good Cinderella movie, but glaring plot-holes leave a lot to be desired. An overall fun movie that never lets you forget that this is supposed to be FUN.

[tabloidtoc]

TV Guide, March 16-29

Cover: Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore of This Is Us 

Page 1: Contents, Coming Next Issue -- Pauley Perrette in Broke 

Page 2: Ask Matt -- Sanditon, Star Trek: Picard 

Page 3: The Bachelor: Senior Edition, Hawaii Five-0 sets departure date -- Alex O’Loughlin 

Page 5: For the Record, America’s Most Watched 25 Top Shows, Tribute -- James Lipton 

Page 6: Good Medicine -- checking up on the morning docs -- Dr. Jennifer Ashton, Dr. Natalie Azar, Dr. Tara Narula 

Page 10: The Roush Review -- Little Fires Everywhere 

Page 11: The Plot Against America, Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears 

Page 12: Cover Story -- As another season of This Is Us nears an emotional end, these are the Pearson shockers to come. Plus: How the show keeps them under wraps 

Page 14: When a life-threatening earthquake strikes will The Good Doctor’s Shaun find his footing -- Freddie Highmore 

Page 16: In the Cinderella story Self Made Octavia Spencer plays the first American woman to become a millionaire in her own right 

Page 18: The case for All Rise -- the freshman series about an unorthodox judge overturns expectations for a courtroom drama. Here’s evidence of its appeal 

Page 20: What’s Worth Watching -- Week 1 -- 9-1-1

Page 21: Monday, March 16 -- Prodigal Son scene stealer Bellamy Young, Supernatural, Torn From the Headlines: New York Post Reports, My Brilliant Friend: The Story of a New Name 

Page 22: Tuesday, March 17 -- FBI and FBI: Most Wanted crossover, Supermarket Stakeout, For Life

Page 23: Wednesday, March 18 -- Brockmire, Chicago Med, Motherland: Fort Salem, American Housewife, True Terror With Robert Englund 

Page 24: Thursday, March 19 -- Grey’s Anatomy, Indebted

Page 25: Friday, March 20 -- Joely Richardson on The Blacklist, Mira -- Royal Detective, Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, Crawl 

Page 26: Saturday, March 21 -- Dr. Oakley Yukon Vet, 2020 Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Preview Special, Sunday, March 22 -- Spy Wars With Damian Lewis, God Friended Me, The Walking Dead, Homeland, The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty 

Page 44: Stream It! -- Netflix -- ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band From Texas, The Letter for the King, Ozark -- Janet McTeer, All American 

Page 45: Prime Video -- Luther, Blow the Man Down, Hulu -- Little Fires Everywhere 

Page 46: New Movie Releases 

Page 47: Series, Specials and Documentaries 

Page 48: What’s Worth Watching -- Week 2 -- One Day at a Time -- Justina Machado 

Page 49: Monday, March 23 -- The Hidden Kingdoms of China, The Voice, Better Call Saul, The Good Doctor, Briarpatch, Will & Grace

Page 50: Tuesday, March 24 -- Project Blue Book, East Lake Meadows: A Public Housing Story, Bless This Mess, Wednesday, March 25 -- SEAL Team, Eating History, CMT Crossroads -- Halsey and Kelsea Ballerini 

Page 51: Thursday, March 26 -- A Million Little Things, Tacoma FD, Star Trek: Picard 

Page 52: Friday, March 27 -- Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, A Mankiewicz Family Weekend, Tanked: Sea-lebrity Edition -- Fernando Vargas and Howie Mandel, Vagrant Queen 

Page 53: Saturday, March 28 -- Just My Type, Cold Justice 

Page 54: Sunday, March 29 -- Little Big Shots, Call the Midwife, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

Page 76: Crossword, Sudoku 

Page 78: Horoscope 

Page 80: Cheers & Jeers -- Cheers to Indebted’s Fran Drescher, Devs, Kirsten Vangsness, Miss Virginia, Jeers to RuPaul’s Drag Race, Survivor: Winners at War, Must-Weep TV

[spacejellyfish3]

My Top Ten Movies Of All Time

To elaborate on a previous reblog, I wanted to go a bit more in depth on the movies I chose.

This list will be in order.

10. The Lost Boys (1987)

This movie is pretty amazing. It’s wild and crazy and so completely and utterly 80s in all of its 80sness. It’s about a family who moves to Santa Carla (The Murder Capital Of The World) only for the eldest son to be considered for “recruitment” by a flock of hip and happening bad boy vampires led by a very young Kiefer Sutherland. This movie is great; from the comic book store employees who act with the seriousness of F.B.I agents, the oiled up musclebound saxophone player with way too much or way too little (depending on who you ask) screentime, to what may be the greatest movie dog to ever exist. Watch it, you’ll have fun.

9. Bumblebee (2018)

This movie is pretty recent, but it rules. Despite the boundless cliches, I found myself really enjoying myself while watching Bumblebee (and this is coming from someone who never really got into Transformers). There’s a lot of heart and joy in it, and so much humor AND drama. The movie is CARRIED by Hailey Steinfeld, who gives an incredible and powerful performance as Charlie Watkins. I also really loved the chemistry between her character and literally everyone she meets (most especially Bumblebee). It had some fun villains and a GREAT third act. Love it a lot.

8. Carrie (1976)

Ahhhh...this movie...

This may be the best adaptation of a Stephen King book. Ever. No really.

The eponymous Carrie White is a teenage outcast, bullied and belittled at school and abused emotionally, verbally, and physically by her religiously fanatical mother. Carrie discovers she also has telekinetic powers. Her horrible life seems to soon get better when popular girl Sue, in an attempt to make amends with Carrie, asks her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom. This leads to a wonderful night at prom, with Carrie being crowned Prom Queen. This one truly shining moment of pure happiness is shattered to pieces by a viciously cruel prank, giving the audience one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history. A tragic take on the classic Cinderella story, this movie manages to be heartwarming and tearjerking oftentimes simultaneously.

7. Spider Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

This movie is objective perfection, fight me.

6. Mean Girls (2004)

What can I possibly say about this movie that hasn’t been said before? It’s fetch.

But seriously, this movie rules. Not only is it the most quotable movie of ALL TIME, it’s also a great cautionary tale about the dangers of popularity (thank you Musical Adaptation) that makes sure to remember to treat the “mean girls” as actual human beings who have their own hopes and feelings that drive them. It showcases high school social structures in a way that makes it relevant even now. Like its predecessors Heathers and Clueless, Mean Girls made sure to craft its own identity and how to properly approach the theme of popularity. Ironically, though, its success has led other filmmakers and producers to try and replicate it; make the next “Mean Girls” instead of crafting a movie with love and care. This is why I think we haven’t gotten an intensely quotable movie about popular girls that would define a generation like Heathers, Clueless, and, yes, Mean Girls did. This movie still rules, though.

5. The Little Mermaid (1989)

Yes.

Beautiful animation, great songs, and a terrific villain. What more could you ask for? (I could talk about the opinions some people have with this movie that makes them not like it, but that’s for another day I think)

4. Evil Dead 2 (1987)

This is a great horror movie. Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi are just pure condensed awesomeness. I would’ve put the entire Evil Dead franchise in this spot if I could have but if I had to pick just one for my list, this is the one I would pick.

3. Wonder Woman (2017)

My favorite live action comic book movie. While it took a long time to get here, it definitely made it worth the wait.

Wonder Woman tells the story of the character it’s based on so wonderfully (yeah I know, lame pun), because it takes aspects from almost every writer she’s ever had—from George Perez to Greg Rucka to way way back to William Moulton Marston, her creator—while giving it their own unique spin. It keeps true to the key traits of Diana, and makes sure to keep her in character all throughout. And while I have some issues with the third act, I love the message: no one is solely good or evil, we all have a choice to do either. And it’s not about deserving, it’s about what you believe that makes the difference.

2. Tangled (2010)

My favorite animated Disney film. Tangled is a masterpiece of storytelling (I have talked about this before), wonderful animation, and compelling characters. It adapts the classic fairytale while also making smart and interesting changes that elevate it and perfect it. The characters are all amazingly acted; Zachery Levi breathes life into dashing thief Flynn Rider (a.k.a Eugene Fitzherbert), Donna Murphy is simultaneously hilarious and frighteningly realistic in how terrifying she is, while Mandy Moore is Rapunzel. It’s ironic, actually, that this movie has such a...tangle-free story.

...I’ll show myself out.

1. Stardust (2007)

I feel like Belle put it best.

“It’s my favorite! Far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!”

While it’s honestly amazing and terrifying how well that quote describes this movie and why I love it, there’s a lot of reasons besides that. It has an amazing cast—Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, a young Charlie Cox (which, fun fact: because this movie didn’t propel him into A-List status as intended, he was able to work way more on his craft which probably allowed him to nab his role as Daredevil), and not to mention Henry Cavill in a hi-larious early role. So yes...this movie has Daredevil fighting Catwoman/Wasp, Dr. Sivana, and Superman.

But it also has a lot of cool scenes and action, great set design and lighting, and a timeless feel to it. It’s The Princess Bride of my generation. I remember when I first saw this movie I wanted to see Daddy Day Camp for some odd reason (11-year old me had horrible taste in movies), and I spent the next few years hating this movie because Michelle Pfeiffer traumatized me for such a long time. It’s only now that I’ve matured a lot more since 2007 that I’ve been able to appreciate this movie.

This movie is amazing and I love it!

Since I did NOT tag anyone else on the reblog that I’m expanding on (cause I’m an idiot), I will do it now.

The rules are simple:

10 gifs of your 10 favorite movies without the movie title. Then tag or don’t tag (it’s not mandatory to do it) others to do the same.

I’ll tag @thefingerfuckingfemalefury @lilmeier @night-gem-shit @bethanyleerose edit*@captain-shannon-becker.

[sarahscougall]

Book to Movie Differences: Ella Enchanted

You know when you watch a movie based on a book, and there’s that one person who points out everything that’s different from the book? Everyone loves that person, right? Good, because I’m going to be that person right now.

If you’ve seen and read Ella Enchanted, you know that they are entirely different stories. I usually say that the only thing they share is Ella’s gift of obedience. There are a few more similarities, but not that many. If you’ve only seen the movie and are wondering how different can they actually be, the answer is: extremely. Before I proceed, here is a major SPOILER ALERT for both the book and the movie. Here we go.

The Background

Ella of Frell is gifted (cursed) with obedience by Lucinda the fairy in both the book and the movie. They both have a birthday scene where she can’t stop eating her cake, and eventually her mother tells her she can’t tell anyone about the curse. The curse works slightly differently in the book though. Although Ella has to do what she’s told, the curse doesn’t do the work for her. If she doesn’t do what she’s told, she starts sweating, gets dizzy, all sorts of stuff. So if she’s told to do something she’s not good at, she has to work hard to do it right. Remember that scene in the movie where Ella is told to freeze, so she literally freezes in midair? Yeah, that wouldn’t have happened. Admittedly, it was funny. On a sadder note, Ella’s mother dies in both book and movie. She also gets her mother’s necklace, and loses it to Hattie who finds out she always has to do what she’s told. Both book and movie have Ella gifted with a book from Mandy, one of the servants. However, in the book, this gift is just a book. Sort of. More on that in a second.

Mandy

In the movie, Mandy is a young, beautiful fairy who isn’t that good at magic. Book Mandy is also a fairy, but she’s old, and Ella’s fairy godmother. She’s very good at magic, but she doesn’t use it. The idea is that she won’t use big magic that could affect other things, including changing her appearance. Fairies are more secretive about who they are in the book, in order to avoid people asking for magical favors all the time. Lucinda is the anomaly who makes herself look young and bestows gifts on people at births and weddings. Back to that book, now. Mandy isn’t terrible at magic, so this book she gives Ella isn’t her boyfriend caught in a spell gone wrong. It’s still a magic book, with maps and letters and things, but sadly it doesn’t talk.

School/Areida

Ella gets sent off to finishing school in the book. There’s a scene in the movie of a school, but it’s more of a day to day school than a boarding school far from Frell. Ella isn’t childhood friends with Areida in the book; she meets her at finishing school. Hattie does tell her she has to stop being friends with Areida, because Hattie is a horrid jealous monster. But, Ella never has to say anything to Areida because she runs away from school to do something else that also happens in the movie. Namely, searching for Lucinda at a giant’s wedding.

Ella’s Father

Ella’s family seems to be just nicely getting by in the movie. Their house isn’t that grand, as Dame Olga quickly points out. In the book they live in a manor, her parents are Sir Peter and Lady Eleanor, and they’re kind of filthy rich. It doesn’t last forever because Ella’s father, who is loving in the movie but distinctly not loving in the book, gets caught in some dirty dealings and loses all of their money. He then tries to marry Ella off, but his first choice isn’t rich enough for his liking, so he marries Dame Olga. Dame Olga and Ella’s father do marry in the movie, but Lucinda has a hand in it in the book. She “gifts” the two of them with eternal love, which Ella’s father is none too happy about, and he spends the rest of the books traveling in order to love from afar.

Ella and Char

The relationship between Ella and Prince Charmont (Char, as most people know him) is a classic enemies to lovers, at least as far as Ella is concerned, in the movie. There is no such relationship in the book. They are friends from the start, she makes him laugh all the time, and everything grows from there. There’s much more buildup in the book, too. That’s to be expected, because there’s more time to build on things, but the book takes much more time to build it up. They know each other for over a year, spending time together and writing letters back and forth, before any kissing or declarations of love. It’s understandable why the movie sped up the process, but that slow burn in the book is very much worth it.

Human to Magical Creature Relations

This one’s a biggie. The movie shows Char’s uncle (more on him later) forcing giants and elves into slavery and claiming ogres are bloodthirsty monsters. The book shows an entirely different relationship. There is peace between humans and other magical creatures, except the ogres. While in the movie ogres are said to be evil but turn out to be just kind of disgruntled, in the book they’re actually evil. Ella gets captured by NiSSh and some other ogres like in the movie, except she saves herself, and Char just shows up at the end to lend a hand. Slannen, the elf who joins Ella on her adventure, is in the book too, but he has a much smaller part. He’s the chief trader of elven goods, and he’s perfectly happy with that. No lawyer aspirations whatsoever.

Cinderella

Ella Enchanted is first and foremost a Cinderella retelling, but you might not know that if you’ve only seen the movie. The movie takes the story in an entirely different direction, with much more action and adventure. The book keeps Ella in Frell for most of the time, and has many more Cinderella parallels than the movie. Ella is forced to be a scullery maid in Dame Olga’s house, there are three balls supposedly meant to find Char a wife, Ella finds glass slippers she then wears to these balls, and loses one of the slippers as she runs away. Talking about it like that makes the book sound unoriginal, but I promise that isn’t the case. Don’t forget about the curse and the ogres and all that other good stuff.

Lucinda

Lucinda the fairy is the catalyst for all the problems Ella has. The movie has Ella spend almost the entire time tracking her down, and then when she finally finds her, Lucinda won’t help her and actually makes things worse, again. The book forces Lucinda to learn her lesson. Mandy bets Lucinda that she’s too scared to try out her gifts on herself, and Lucinda takes the bait. After her ordeal with obedience, Lucinda is horrified and renounces big magic like the rest of the fairies in the book. Unfortunately, this means that she won’t do the magic required to take away Ella’s curse, so Ella still has to find a way out of it herself.

Breaking the Curse

Ella is able to break herself out of the curse in both the book and the movie, and it is because Char is in danger. However, it’s Char’s hypothetical danger, that someone could tell Ella to kill him, that keeps her from saying yes to marrying him, which breaks the curse. It makes sense that it was made into actual danger for the movie. It’s much more dramatic for Ella to be pointing a dagger at him and then drop it. The book was plenty dramatic, but in proper book fashion, where everything’s happening in her head. There was no actual danger because there was no one to create such danger. Which brings me to the last and most important of differences.

Char’s Parents/Uncle

So you know Char’s uncle? The guy who killed his dad and is trying to kill him? The main antagonist of the movie? Yeah, he doesn’t exist. He, and Heston the snake, are complete fabrications of whoever made the movie. Char’s parents are alive, he even has a little sister. This lack of evil uncle is the reason there are good relations between humans and magical creatures, it’s why Ella doesn’t hate Char before she even meets him, and it’s how the movie was able to create actual danger for Char rather than hypothetical. One extra character drastically changed the entire plot, making for a completely different story. But you know what? The fact that they’re so different means I can love both of them, without comparing the two, even though I just did exactly that.

[helsaguy]

Is it just me or are the tv series Disney animation makes( like tangled the series, Elena of Avalor, Sofia the first) better than the animated movie sequels they make? Even though the movies use higher production values, more qualified people, and higher profile actors.

There’s this phrase that says: Good things come in small packages. And indeed this might be the case with Disney sequels and animated series. Not counting Pixar though; Pixar has had great sequels THAT KEPT THE ESSENCE OF THE FIRST MOVIE MAKING IT RICHER IN A WAY THAT MADE SENSE.

I watched Sophia The First when it came out because my brother caught the movie/pilot on tv and he said it was good. I still remember he actually said that he didn’t remember when was the last time he watched something that Disney-like. It was heartfelt storytelling. It was a touching story with relatable characters. Of course we also got hooked because of the Cinderella cameo and since then we started watching the series because we were looking forward to more Disney Princesses showing up. Belle’s appearance is still my favorite and her song is the most beautiful thing. But of course time passed and we became busy with other stuff to keep track of it. At least I know that all we got to watch was pretty good.

I never watched Elena of Avalor but I caught some of the songs on tv in the morning and is nice. The music is nice, the animation is nice, etc. Oh, and I love the design of those flying jaguars. I don’t know the story of the series but I imagine is entertaining.

Since I could never really enjoy Tangled when it came out, when I heard of the animated series I was not excited about it. I was still a Frozen fan mad at the directors and writers of Frozen for what they did with Hans that I remember saying I rather have a Frozen animated series than a Tangled one so that they could fix the mess they caused with the absurd twist and redeem Hans. But I’ll admit I feel like not even an animated series would satisfy my need of Hans being redeemed... My brother on the other hand liked Tangled and he adores Mandy Moore, so he watched the movie/pilot and he liked it. I think I watched it too, though most of all I remember Rapunzel’s scenes with her parents (surely because they are two of the very few characters I liked from the movie) and the songs were really good, catchy at least. Mandy does have a beautiful juvenile voice and I can still appreciate that. One of Mandy’s Disney related stuff my brother and I have always enjoyed is her song in the direct to video Tarzan & Jane, Singing to the Song of Life. As for the animated series, I watched a little but dropped it soon after. But after reading people’s reaction to it and what my brother tells me (as he watched more than me) I’ve wanted to watch it from the start some time. I heard is pretty good, I mean, something about it having compelling stories.

And recently I’ve wanted to watch The Lion Guard too. I love The Lion King since I was a kid. I watched that movie like millions of times. We also watched The Lion King II A LOT. I think that what mainly captures my attention and curiosity about The Lion Guard is how they managed to make it canon XD I always thought it was one of those separated things from the movies. But they succeed, not perfectly probably, in tangle The Lion Guard in between the first movie and second movie. I’ve also watched a couple of videos about the series talking about character development that make the animated series sound appealing.

I grew up watching the Timon and Pumba, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin animated series; and I can tell those were high quality entertainment. Even to this day I love most of the songs from The Little Mermaid animated series; they had Jody Benson and Samuel E. Wright, what’s not to love about that? Recent Disney movies have failed on getting my attention. I didn’t watched Ralph Wrecks the Internet, nor Toy Story 4, Moana was nice but I watched it once and that’s it (a real shame since it is from the directors of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, etc. All movies I seriously enjoy) Have people notice how Moana also seems like a rip off of Pocahontas? o_O Now Frozen 2 sounds like a disaster. I feel like part of my childhood and life is being ripped off the more they fail, mainly with Frozen. Specially with Frozen.

I still have hope though. I’ve heard about Raya and The Last Dragon, and Pixar’s Soul and I think those might actually be good :/

[oh-my-damn]

What are your comfort movies? I always think that's interesting. One of mine is catws whopsie

Favorite movie of all time. Unmatched. I can recite the entire movie by heart.

However, also

[tinrpod]

Episode 2: A Year In Review

The Good the Bad and the Garbage of 2018!

Listen: Apple | Soundcloud

Welcome back to This is Not Real! In this episode we talk about the things we watched and read and loved (and hated of course) in 2018. Jess says 2018 was the year of absurdism. Sammi is a little more positive. 

Mentioned in this Episode

Movies/Shows

Sorry To Bother You, Proud Mary, Breaking In, Black Panther, Ready Player One, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Aqua-Man, The Green Book, The Upside, Charmed, Where Hands Touch, Loving, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, 10 Things I Hate About You, A Cinderella Story, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Serial, Westworld, Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, Predator, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Game of Thrones, Us, The Twilight Zone (w/Jordan Peele), The Lion King, Little, Surviving R. Kelly, Birdbox, Joker, Walk the Line, Cold Pursuit, Miss Bala, Brick, Looper, Roma, Deadly Class, Nightflyers, Star Trek Discovery, Misfits, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Travelers, Altered Carbon, Inuyasha, Akira, Ouran High School Host Club, Aggretsuko, Naruto, Attack on Titan, Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, 

Music

Soulja Boy (Tell ‘Em), Beyonce (Beychella), Nao, Paramore (After Laughter Tour), Dirty Computer, 

Books, Papers, and Comics

Eloquent Rage, The Hate U Give, Well Read Black Girl, Tereneh Idia (Pittsburgh City Paper), Deadly Class

Wakanda Con

Beyonce Looks

Jess’s Fave: 1, 2, 3 

Sammi’s Fave: 1, 2, 3

Upcoming

Museum of African Civilizations

Queen and Slim

Deadly Class

New Selena Show

Us

The Umbrella Academy

Running With the Devil/Mandy

Little

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Unsolved Mysteries

Disney “Hakuna Matata” Lawsuit

Fortnite “Carlton Dance” Lawsuit

JoJo re-releasing her albums

Special Shoutout to Brian Tyree Henry!!!

Put Me On

The Gospel According to André

Met Resource

Microfilm of Black Love “Something Good: Negro Kiss”

 “I Was A Cable Guy. I Saw The Worst Of America.”

[mearnsblog]

“Tangled” (2010)

When "Tangled" first came out, I was definitely inclined to give it a pass. As I mentioned in yesterday's "Princess and the Frog" review, I've always loved 2D animation more than the modern computer animation, and I naïvely hoped that I could just skip "Tangled" as Disney returned to the traditional format that I liked in “Princess.” Then, "Tangled" outperformed "Princess," and once "Frozen" obliterated Disney's box office records, that spelled the end of that dream.

By the time "Frozen" came out though, I'd already seen "Tangled." And guess what? I liked it far more than I ever could have expected! Despite the list of updated rankings that I include at the end of each of these posts, I generally try to avoid doing overall head-to-head comparisons (though I'll occasionally recall select parts from past movies), but "Tangled" and "Princess" immediately sparked comparisons in the moment because they came out in back-to-back years and again, were done in a different style. And it must be said: for me, "Tangled" wins almost across the board.

This is not an indictment of "Princess," which I still really like. But to go back to my dumb cheesecake analogy from the last review, "Tangled" had the extra toppings to make everything just a little bit better. Call it the strawberry effect if you want. The cast is done in a different manner with a smaller main crew (Rapunzel, Flynn, and Gothel) and turning the side characters into non-speaking roles. It works here! All three of those leads are terrific characters, and both Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon are legitimately funny. As someone who grew up on a lot of Tom & Jerry and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, I'm a sucker for sound effects-only humor anyway.

I also remember raising my eyebrows about how Disney would make the "Rapunzel" story more interesting. They probably could've gotten away with a mostly-standard version many moons ago, but the more modern movies understandably have to do extra work. They did a great job! I love the simultaneous trick of making small nods to the original story while also striving to walk its own path. I actually didn't remember the specifics of how it ended this time around aside from the obvious "happily ever after" part, but the way that Gothel meets her demise is excellent.

Something else that I didn't expect is that I legitimately like all of the four songs used in the movie. "When Will My Life Begin" is a perfect kick-start to the plot and much like "One Jump Ahead" in Aladdin, it instantly gives you the rundown on Rapunzel. The "I Want" song is a powerful tool, it's true, but not all of them are as catchy or compelling as this one. I think we've all wondered "When will my life begin?" at various points, too; it's an easy sentiment to share. "Mother Knows Best" is a fine villain song, "I've Got a Dream" is just fun, and yes, "I See the Light" is adorable -- classic love song, will goofily dance to it. Kudos to Mandy Moore, Alan Menken, and company.

Even the modern computer animation is nicely done! I'd enjoy seeing an alternate version that was the normal 2D edition, but the animators were very smart with how they told the story. The landscapes are masterful, and both the kingdom and forest look great. Maximus and Pascal's expressions and actions need to be designed perfectly to reach their peak comedic effects, and hell if they don't hit all their marks. A+ work.

"Tangled" is just so well done that it impresses me. I'm giving it a pretty lofty ranking because it simply checks all the boxes with ease and I know that I'd happily watch it again just a day later -- far from an effortless trick to pull off. I have little doubt that any future children will test that resolve, but for now, I'm going to keep loving "Tangled." Hooray!

Best song: "When Will My Life Begin"

Updated ranking

1. “Beauty and the Beast” (review) 2. “The Lion King” (review) 3. “The Little Mermaid” (review) 4. “Cinderella” (review) 5. “Mulan” (review) 6. “Tangled” 7. “Sleeping Beauty” (review) 8. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (review) 9. “Aladdin” (review) 10. “The Emperor’s New Groove” (review) 11. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (review) 12. “The Jungle Book” (review) 13. “Lilo & Stitch” (review) 14. “The Great Mouse Detective” (review) 15. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (review) 16. “Fantasia” (review) 17. “The Rescuers Down Under” (review) 18. “Tarzan” (review) 19. “The Princess and the Frog” (review) 20. “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (review) 21. “Alice in Wonderland” (review) 22. “Lady and the Tramp” (review) 23. “Pinocchio” (review) 24. “Robin Hood” (review) 25. “Oliver & Company” (review) 26. “Hercules” (review) 27. “Pocahontas” (review) 28. “The Rescuers” (review) 29. “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (review) 30. “Bambi” (review) 31. “Peter Pan” (review) 32. “The Aristocats” (review) 33. “Fantasia 2000″ (review) 34. “Dumbo” (review) 35. “Bolt” (review) 36. “Meet the Robinsons” (review) 37. “Treasure Planet” (review) 38. “Chicken Little” (review) 39. “Fun and Fancy Free” (review) 40. “The Fox and the Hound” (review) 41. “The Sword in the Stone” (review) 42. “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (review) 43. “The Three Caballeros” (review) 44. “Make Mine Music” (review) 45. “Brother Bear” (review) 46. “Dinosaur” (review) 47. “The Black Cauldron” (review) 48. “Saludos Amigos” (review) 49. “Melody Time” (review) 50.* “Home on the Range” (review)

*Holy wow, we’ve reached 50 of these! It only took almost two years and a ton of procrastinating. Surprise, surprise. Maybe another baseball work stoppage will bring us to the finish line.

[negibicom]

Who Is Selena Gomez?

Selena Gomez, an American singer, actress, and producer, was born on July 22, 1992. With her full name Selena Marie Gomez was born and raised in Texas. Selena Gomez, who starred with the character of Alexis Margaritta Russo in the disney series Wizards of Waverly Place, has also appeared in different films such as Selena, Another Cinderella Story, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie and Princess Protection Program. She also starred in Demi Lovato’s TV series, Sonny With A Chance, who is the best friend of Selena Gomez.

What is Selena Gomez’s net worth?

Selena Gomez, who has been mentioned in many Disney productions, has also appeared in The Suit Life On Deck and Hannah Montana. Selena Gomez, the daughter of Mandy Teefey and Ricardo Joel Gomez, signed a contract with Hollywood Records in 2008. Wizards of Waverly Place: The movie was Disney’s most watched movie after High School Musical 2. In addition to her successful acting career, Selena Gomez also has a successful music career. After signing a contract with Hollywood Records, he released his first album, Kiss & Tell, in August 2009 with the band Selena Gomez & The Scene, of which he is the founder and soloist.

Who gave Selena a kidney?

In September 2010, the Selena Gomez & The Scene group released their second studio album, A Year Without Rain, and this album was a great success, ranking fourth on the Billboard chart. In addition to her music and acting career, Selenaa Gomez launched her own clothing brand named “Dream Out Loud” in 2010. Selena Gomez started a spoken relationship with Justin Bieber in 2011. On June 28, 2011, he released their third studio album When the Sun Goes Down with the band Selena Gomez.

Are Selena and Demi Lovato still friends?

Voicing the character Mavis in the movie Hotel Transylvania, Selena Gomez continued her acting career by playing in the movie Spring Breakers. Selena Gomez released her Come & Get It single in April 2013 and won the Mtv Video Music Award. In the same year, Selena Gomez left Disney. Selena Gomez released her “Revival” album on October 9, 2015, and achieved success with this album. Selena Gomez, who starred in Neighbors 2, In Dubious Battle and The Fundamentals of Caring, continued her success by signing the works of Bad Liar, Fetish, Wolves, Back to You and Taki Taki.

The post Who Is Selena Gomez? first appeared on LosThink Social Content Sharing Platform.

from LosThink Social Content Sharing Platform https://ift.tt/310HoWV via IFTTT

[musicalmatrix]

These Boots Were Made for Watching

*ahaha I think I’m so funny with my title

Alrighty, so I’m breaking down and posting my bootleg list on here. Please be aware that I’m a v casual bootleg collector (aka only links to videos & not good cast info) and am just here so my friends and I can watch some shows, but I also obsessively collect any bootleg of any show presented to me because I’m like that. I’ll put my wants at the bottom. 

Contact me if you have any questions or want more details on anything. I’ll only gift until I get tired, but I’m always up for a trade.

Updated 1/30/2017

Musicals:

13! the Musical

21 Chump Street

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

1776

Amelie (Sam Barks & Pippa Soo)

Aida (Idina)

Aladdin

Allegiance

American Idiot

Anastasia (Hartford & OBC)

Annie

Anything Goes (Sutton Foster)

Assassins

Avenue Q

Bare: A Pop Opera

Beaches

Beauty and the Beast

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Be More Chill (crappy but still)

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Big Fish

Billy Elliot

The Bridges of Madison County

A Bronx Tale

Bonnie and Clyde

The Book of Mormon (OBC & Ben Platt)

Bright Star

Cabaret (Emma Stone)

Carrie (OBC & Alice Ripley)

Catch Me If You Can

Cats (Revival & Stephanie J Block)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (OBC)

Chicago

Cinderella (Carly Rae Jepsen & Laura Osnes & Keke Palmer)

Come From Away

Dance of the Vampire

Disaster

Dear Evan Hansen

Dracula

Dreamgirls

Dogfight

Elf

Elisabeth das Musical

Evita (Revival)

Falsettos (Revival)

The Fiddler on the Roof (Revival)

Finding Neverland (OBC & Jeremy Jordan)

First Date

Follies (Bernadette Peters)

Frozen

Fun Home

The Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Gigi (Revival)

Grease (Laura Osnes)

Gray Gardens

Groundhog Day

Hamilton (OBC & Javi Muñoz and Lexi Lawson & Chicago)

Hair (Revival)

Hairspray (Aaron Tveit & Andrew Rannells)

Heathers

Hedwig and the Angry Itch (Andrew Rannells)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

If/Then

In the Heights (OBC & Javi Muñoz & Krysta Rodriguez & Tour w/ Lexi Lawson)

Into the Woods

Jekyll and Hyde

Kinky Boots (OBC & Brenden Urie)

The Last Five Years (Betsy Wolfe)

Legally Blonde

Les Miserables (Revival & 25th Anniversary)

The Lightning Thief

The Lion King

The Little Mermaid

Little Shop of Horrors

Little Women

Love Never Dies (Sierra Boggess & Anna O’Bryne)

Mamma Mia!

Matilda

Memphis

Merrily We Roll Along

Miss Saigon (OBC & 25th Anniversary)

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Josh Groban & Scott Stangland)

Newsies (OBC & Corey Cott)

Next to Normal (Aaron Tveit and Kyle Dean Massey)

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Oliver!

Once (OBC & Arthur Darville)

Peter Pan (Tour)

Phantom

The Phantom of the Opera (25th Anniversary & Norm Lewis and Sierra Boggess & Julia Udine & Matt Cammelle)

Pipe Dream (Revival)

Pippin (Revival & Kyle Dean Massey)

The Pirate Queen

The Prom

RENT (OBC & Aaron Tveit)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (OBC & Revival)

School of Rock

Shuffle Along (Revival)

Sister Act

Something Rotten

South Pacific (Kelly O’Hara)

Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark 2.0

Spongebob the Musical

Spring Awakening (OBC & Krysta Rodriguez & DW & Matt Doyle & Christy Altomare) 

Sunday in the Park with George (Revival)

Sweeny Todd

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Tuck Everlasting

Urinetown

Violet

The Visit

Waitress (Jessie Mueller & Sara Barielles)

War Paint

The Wedding Singer

West Side Story (Karen Olivo)

Wicked (OBC & Nicole Parker and Aaron Tveit & Willemijn Verkaik & Eden Espinosa & Donna Vivino & Stephanie J Block & Shoshana Bean & Mandy Gonzalez & Jessica Vosk & Kara Lindsey & Teal Wicks and Adam Lambert & Rachel Tucker and Lee Mead & Marcie Dodd and Ally Mauzey & Jennifer DiNoia & Donna Murphy and Kyle Dean Massey and Alli Mauzey)

Wonderland

Young Frankenstein

Audios:

The Band’s Visit

Dear Evan Hansen (Michael Lee Brown & Colton Ryan)

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Dave Malloy and Pippa Soo & OBC & OBC w/ Dave Malloy & Dave Malloy and Ingrid Michaelson & Oak Onaodowan and Ingrid Michaelson & Scott Stangland and Lauren Zarkin & Last Performance)

Hadestown

Hamilton (San Francisco & LA)

Mean Girls

Spongebob the Musical

Wicked (Jonah Platt and Kara Lindsey)

Plays:

Be More Chill

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Much Ado About Nothing (David Tennant and Catherine Tate)

Peter and the Starcatchers

What I want:

The Last Five Years (Sam Barks)

Any Wicked I don’t have

Eclipsed

Any musical in German

Any POTO I don’t have (esp w/ Sam Hill)

Jane Erye

It Shoulda Been You

The Humans

Hamilton (Mandy Gonzalez)

Addams Family

Cry Baby