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electriccenturies · 4 years ago

Text

About that shirt...

A Note:

So, I’m Jewish, and I’d like to share a few thoughts about something that’s frustrating me. Firstly, I don’t speak for all Jewish people, I speak for my own experiences and opinions. Second, because it’s bothering me that people don’t understand this: hot topic made the shirt, not mcr — nothing to do with Gerard. I don’t think the band personally approves every piece of merch that warner or hot topic put out, because if they did we’d have better merch ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

anyway, I’m putting the rest under a read more because it’s long but I think you should read more

Part One: That Shirt Is Bad But Its Not Quite Antisemitic

The thing about antisemitism, if you want to define it as any prejudice or use of a prejudicial image or phrase towards Jewish people, is that its fucking everywhere. Its incredibly easy to use antisemitic phrases or imagery by accident because literally everything gets co opted by nazis or has been used to hurt Jewish people at some point. Antisemitism has been a thing for over a thousand years, its complicated. Lots of people, probably including yourself, have participated in it without knowing or meaning to. Hell, I’m Jewish and I didn’t learn that things like “lizard people” were dogwhistles for “Jews” until I was in high school!

Jewish people are generally pretty good at distinguishing bad wording/design from malice because well meaning people in our lives commit these offences all the time. A lot of it is intrinsically normal stuff that some people have made offensive, not things that you could logically figure out are offensive or hurtful. You should know that its disrespectful to make jokes about holocaust victims without having to be told, for example, but it’s not fair to expect people to just know that various runes, or the phrase “clown world”, or the seemingly random number 1488 are neo-nazi things — especially nowadays when a lot of that is started on 4chan/8kun and gets added to rapidly. Those things are purposefully chosen or created to NOT sound bad around regular people, of course it will fool some of them!

The yellow star is a lot more recognizable of course, and people really should know about it, but I think the idea that they may not have thought about it that way is still relevant for reasons I will get into later, and also to my larger point.

Other Jewish people are free to disagree with me on this but I think intent absolutely does matter with antisemitism because it’s not always something that’s you can know is bad without also knowing a lot of context, and at the end of the day most people just don’t know a lot of Jewish people. Like seriously, if you're not Jewish or really good friends with lots of Jewish people you probably don’t know much about Judaism and that’s fine, you don’t need to!

But you also don’t need to speak for us.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a poorly designed shirt that definitely should have hit someone’s alarm bells somewhere in the approval process. Intentional or not, it is reminiscent of the holocaust and a bad look for hot topic. It also isn’t something that makes me think “this designer referenced yellow badges”, though. It’s in a normal place for an emblem or logo on a shirt, and the arbitrary resemblance stops at the colour. There’s a clear reason for the shape, even if it’s a terrible choice. Again — it should not have been made and someone at hot topic should have realised the similarity. I would not buy it and I certainly wouldn’t wear it, but it’s pretty clear to me that it wasn’t done as a reference. Its not like they invented the shape, and Jewish people definitely still use the star of david (not like that though...).

Its bad because of history, and while ignorance of history is bad it shouldn’t be the target of anger, in my opinion, — it should be a target of education and boycotting the offending thing. For me, the people who deserve anger are the ones who don’t want to be decent people. Seriously though, if you made this design a different colour it would be fine. It’s an ignorant shirt.

Could you technically define that as antisemitism? Absolutely! I just don’t think it’s productive to so aggressively shout “Nazis!!!” at something like this that is ultimately more distasteful than harmful and was probably an accident. I think the correct response is to tweet or email Hot Topic saying “This is reminiscent of the holocaust and you should pull it from your store”. If they don’t, then you can get angry.

This is not about semantics though — I think calling this shirt antisemitic waters down the harmful antisemitism that Jewish people face. And, maybe more importantly, its upsetting to me that this tiny infraction is literally the only time I’ve ever heard MCR fans talk about antisemitism or Jewish people at all.

Part Two: This Shirt Wasn’t Flagged Before Production Because Antisemitism Isn’t Taken Seriously In General

I believe that the real reason that nobody at Hot Topic said “huh, anyone think that looks a little too much like a yellow badge?” is that it wasn’t on their minds. THAT is a bigger problem, for me, than someone designing this in the first place.

I’m not going to get into Europe (mentioned specifically because its a growing issue) or anywhere else because I’m not educated enough to speak on it, but for example, in Canada (where I live), Jews are generally the most targeted group for hate crimes each year — 19% of all hate crimes in 2018 were against Jewish people, who make up 1.1% of the population of Canada (1). In 2015, over 50% of religious hate crimes in Toronto (Canada’s largest city) were against Jewish people, despite only being ~4% of the population at the time, one of the least represented religions (2). I think these statistics would surprise many people, because you don’t hear about it a lot outside of Jewish communities (in my experience).

Actual antisemites are COMMON. All over the world our synagogues get bomb threats and our cemeteries get desecrated — frequently. A huge number of people legitimately believe we control the world, some believe we have like, magic powers and sacrifice babies and stuff. People come to kosher markets to murder us (recent examples are after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France and in New Jersey in 2019). Go on any popular youtube video that has anything to do with Israel or Judaism and you will see at least one person who’s role playing as hitler, or who’s profile picture is a caricature of a Jewish person with a big nose making a comment about shekels, or how their grandmother was gassed and they use her skin as a lampshade. I’m not joking.

(id: A youtube comment from Zenbun Katatakala that consists of four nose emojis, several demon (?) face emojis, a money face emoji, another nose emoji, and two Israeli flag emojis. It has five likes.)

(id: A youtube comment from “Adolph Hilter” that reads “Oh really? We’ll see about that” It has eight likes.)

(both of these are on a buzzfeed interview with Eva Korr, who passed in 2019 and was a survivor of both the holocaust in general and josef mengele.)

And yet... holocaust denial is a MASSIVE issue, and not just among active antisemites; While only 90% even believe it happened, fucking 63% of millennials and Gen Z in the United States doesn’t know the basic statistics and facts about the holocaust (3). SIXTY THREE PERCENT!!!! Between 11 and 19 percent of millennials and Gen Z in each state think that Jews caused the holocaust. In New York that is 1/5 people surveyed. Please make sure your actual real life fucking friends know that 6 million Jewish people and millions of Romani, Slavic, gay, and disabled people were systemically murdered, along with other groups targeted by the Nazis. Please.

See if your local Jewish community is facing discrimination, call out people who believe actively malicious things about Jewish people, and people who say blatantly offensive things to you about what Jewish people are like. Call out people who mock holocaust victims and glorify nazis, or say ‘well they had some good ideas’. Call out famous people who spread conspiracy theories and bigotry about Jewish people (literally last year a few NBA players made seriously antisemitic comments and... nothing happened). Educate yourself on dogwhistles so you can POLITELY educate others who don’t know yet. I would really appreciate it!

There are people who ACTUALLY want us wearing those badges again, and to say Hot Topic and MCR are supporting or contributing to that is, in my opinion, acting like modern antisemitism is about rude words. Call hot topic out on the similarity by all means and don’t get the shirt, talk about how it’s bad design, but please PLEASE stop calling it antisemitism, and stop acting like MCR have ever done anything to hurt Jewish people specifically. There are plenty of things to focus your energy on that would be much more helpful to Jewish people, and would probably make you feel better instead of worse too.

#if you want to argue with me on this you better fucking be jewish #tw antisemitism #gerard way #mcr #my chemical romance #please dont make me regret putting this in the tags...#i spent a long ass time on this

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yandere-society · 6 years ago

Note

Yandere!CEO!Taehyung who is either obsessed with his assistant who is going to work for another Yandere!Ceo (Like Jungkook) or a coffee store owner where he gets his coffee from but the store is moving to a new town

I got lost in the sauce bc I recently watched The Devil Wears Prada and I saw ‘assistant’ and ‘ceo’ and I went off. Hope you don’t mind :)

Admin/Writer- Chinkbihh

Words- 6.7k

Trigger Warnings- Sadism, verbal abuse, yandere Taehyung

Actually, The Devil Wears Gucci

You had always thought that ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ was an over exaggeration of what a boss/assistant relationship could be.

Until you met Mr. Kim.

Meryl Streep as a boss would’ve been an angel compared to the monster who signed your paychecks now.

You had moved to the city with the assumption that jobs would be readily available for your plucking, however not even Mcdonalds was willing to call back for an interview. After living three weeks in the city without a job, you told yourself that you would apply to anything and everything you came across before resorting to less admirable means of getting money. So when you came across a job position for being an assistant to some company, you had half-heartedly sent an application- no expectations for getting any response.

Apparently, this place was more desperate than you for it took exactly two hours before some nice lady was calling you and begging for an interview. This should have been the first red flag, for what kind of office job was more eager than a fast food chain? However the pay was nice and you weren’t in any position to shrug off potential employers, thus you agreed to come in.

The following day you arrived at the company and sat down with the woman from over the phone, answering her questions with as much integrity as you could muster. You were answering the stream of questions with ease until one odd one came up.

“Are you fast?” She asked not once looking up from her little clipboard. The question threw you off guard.

“I-I’m sorry, what are you referencing?” Your confident mask faltered for a second due to your inability to understand what the fuck she meant.

“You’re going to be asked to make runs to the most random places throughout the city under harsh time crunches, do you think you could do that?” She seemed sympathetic as she said this, as if she really didn’t want to put you through that.

This should have been another red flag, but all that popped into your head was coffee runs.

You just nodded, sure you could do some running around to get some wealthy people a couple cappuccinos for their ‘productive’ meetings.

“Are you sensitive?”

Your eyebrow rose on its’ own accord and before your mouth could open to ask for more context, the interviewer interjected by saying;

“Our CEO is a very…um, blunt man. Some people don’t like that personality type so we rather avoid employing someone who will crumble under that pressure.” This was yet another red flag.

One that you didn’t bother looking at as you just smiled and told her, “I promise to keep my emotions out of the professional scene here.”

–

‘Blunt’ turned out to be a really watered down version for what the CEO actually was; a heartless bastard with no concept of empathy. You later felt backstabbed by the interviewer (Irene was her name) for downplaying such a demon. But you could understand her incentive to not scare you off, how else would they get any employees if everyone knew about the CEO’s true behavior?

After your brief interview, Irene declared you more than adequate enough for the position. She decided to show you around before your first day the following week.

The office was modern and chic with everyone seated at different sections depending on their department. You got the sense that it was an elaborate operation given the high-rise location of the office floor and the expensive furniture. Even the fucking coffee maker at the cafeteria was more costly than your rent. Despite the modern and voguish environment, all the employees Irene introduced you to seemed amicable and kind enough. You did however notice the slight eye widen whenever Irene told them that you were going to be “Mr. Kim’s new assistant.”

There was something that no one was telling you, but everyone knew.

You didn’t discover what it was until Irene walked you over to a door and told you that it was time to meet the man you’d be working for.

“It’s very important that you knock everytime. Walking in without warning will make him furious.” Irene gently told you as she raised her hand to knock on the mahogany door.

However before her small fist could make contact with it, the door was ripped open from the other side and a girl rushed out in such speed you could barely catch her face.

The one thing you did catch though was the blotched mess it was with tear streaks running down it. You heard her sobs sound behind you and get further and further away as she ran out of the office. You thought you heard a muttered; “insensitive jerk” as she passed by.

Irene side-glanced you and gave you an awkward smile. It was obvious that she didn’t even know what to do. “Um…sorry about that. R-Rose has always been a bit of a crybaby.”

She was a bad liar.

Irene leaned forward in the now open doorway and called out,

“Mr. Kim? Is it alright if I come in?” A grunt was heard but this was all the confirmation she needed before taking your hand and leading you inside.

The office was large with the outer wall being all glass, revealing the sky-line of the other tall skyscraper buildings in the city. The walls were white but every piece of furniture was black, from the tiny lounge sofa pushed to the side to the very frames the abstract paintings were held in. In the center of such room was a large grey granite desk that held a golden name plate that clearly read; Kim Taehyung (CEO).

Behind the desk stood your new boss as he ruffled his hair in frustration.

His messy strands were icy blue that contrasted the copper shade of his complexion, the sun having seemingly adored his skin but the top of his head favoring the cold. (Or hair dye, but that’s none of your business.) He was tall with a broad torso, yet he was slender. His olympian body was clad in a suit that you dared not ponder the price of, knowing it could only end with you in tears. His intense and dark brows were pinched forward in annoyance, below them were his egyptian-like eyes that held raven colored orbs ignited with a fire you didn’t want to be on the receiving end of. His face was slender but his features were anything but. His nose being fleshy but straight and his lips being plushy and berry-red. Spotted on his face were tiny beauty marks that were spaced enough to form a miniature constellation.

He looked up at Irene and scowled, “I told her to get Park Jimin for a meeting and the dumbass calls Park Chanyeol on accident. Now I have to deal with this dumbo eared giant in the lobby who can’t take a fucking hint that I’m not selling any of his shitty products on my line.” He grumbled with a surprisingly gravely voice that was so deep it sounded like the devil.

You connected the dots with the poor girl who ran out of the room only seconds prior, assuming he fired her or at least yelled at her very brutally. He huffed once more and sat down in his velvet chair by the desk and finally bothered to give you a glance, just now noticing the person next to Irene.

“Whose this? Don’t tell me it’s another brainless bimbo.”

He spoke of you like you weren’t in the room, which caused your brow to tick in annoyance.

Irene nervously cleared her throat and said, “This is Y/n, she is your new personal assistant.”

His face was unreadable and stony as he gave you a scrutinizing gaze, looking up and down your form to drink you in.

You wanted to shift nervously under his piercing eyes, but you didn’t want to be another ‘Rose’ for him to berate so you kept your calm. Something just told you that he fed off fear.

Then he spoke, “Go to Starbucks and get me a caramel macchiato.”

He didn’t look away from you, clearly addressing you.

Irene bristled beside you, “S-sir, she doesn’t start until-”

You cut her off with a grin as you stared right back Mr. Kim, “I’ll get right on that. Hot or iced and what size?” -

Kim Taehyung was a monster.

His source of nutrition?

The souls, hope and energy of those mere mortals around him.

In a way it was awe inducing how brilliant that man was. As much hatred people may have for him, one could not deny Taehyung his respect. It took a lot of hard work to get to where he had gotten at the young age of 23. But that did not shake the asshole regime his employees had to suffer through.

He wanted what he wanted, when he wanted it and exactly how he wanted it. And if you couldn’t deliver upon such demands? Then off with your head and pray you never cross Kim Taehyung ever again.

Taehyung was not a boss who would pull one aside and quietly break the news that your services aren’t needed anymore. No. He’ll scream it infront of everyone in the middle of a conference meeting and throw in a list of reasons why you should reevaluate your life for good measure.

People bent so easily to him, submitted without question. What was once a quiet and calm scene of friendly employees will swiftly change into a frenzied mess at a drop of a hat whenever Mr. Kim walked by.

Panic would cause people to make copies of copies in fear that they’ll forget the important documents they needed to give him. People would leave elevators once Mr. Kim entered, always granting him his own ride to the top floor no matter how late they were running. People only spoke when spoken to during meetings and when a deadline wasn’t met, they simply didn’t show up to work anymore due to the fear of facing the CEO.

However there was a special infereno for the role of his personal assistant, one that you suffered everyday.

You caught on quick that he enjoyed giving you nearly impossible tasks, and he cared not about how stressful or absurd the demands were.

“Coffee and bagel on my desk in 10 minutes or you’re fired.”

“Go downtown and get me those dumplings I like, be back in fifteen.”

“Go pick up my dry-cleaning and set up an appointment for a message at that one sauna in the west side.”

“Get me the new Gucci robe or don’t bother coming in to work tomorrow.”

“I got an urge to have a dog, go get one for me by 4’oclock.”

“The dog you got me threw up in my living room, here’s the spare key so you can clean it up. Clean the rest of the place while you’re at it too.”

“I want a private jet…figure that out.”

“The tire popped off on my car on the way here. Go pop it back on, it’s two blocks down.”

“Call Jung Hoseok and cancel our dinner plans, tell him he’s an asshole and his mother is a whore.”

The last request was something he asked often of you, he particularly liked you sending over really vulgar messages to people.

One time he caught you trying to sugar coat something over the phone and called you into his office to have a ‘talk.’

“Y/n, I believe I told you to to tell Mr. Lee that he could call back when he’s done with his head being up his ass.”

He menacingly glared at you as you tried your best to keep a straight face. “What did you say instead?”

“I-I told Mr. Lee that you would further communicate with him once you deem him more aware and intelligent.”

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Funny, that sounds a lot different that ‘get your head out of your ass’.”

It was silent for a moment and you really wondered if you were going to lose your job just because you didn’t tell someone to shove it up where the sun don’t shine.

Mr. Kim sat back in his seat and barked out, “When I tell you to curse at someone, you do it. I don’t care who it is. It can be the fucking queen of England and you’ll call her a cunt if I order you to. Now get out of my office and make yourself useful by fetching me a coffee.”

Now you didn’t flinch when you called other wealthy business people with cursing insults in hand.

–

A month had passed and you had slowly become the longest working personal assistant for Kim Taehyung.

Other employees informed you that the longest run before you was three weeks and two days and the girl ended with a mental breakdown in the bathroom.

When they asked you how you managed to tolerate all of Mr. Kim’s demands whilst not getting landed on your ass with him firing you, you tried your best to explain your strategy.

You weren’t getting paid to give your opinions.

So whenever he ordered you to get him something under nearly impossible time limits, you just kept your mouth shut and ran off to compete that insane task.

It was hard given he never gave you establishment names of the places he wanted stuff from, it was always given in terms of “that out place in the east side.” “That one restaurant I like.” “That one gallery I visited last time with Jin.”

And you always only had a short time frame to figure out where he is talking about, go there and get what he wanted, and return back before his timer went off. Sprinting down the busy sidewalks of the city had become a daily thing that was required of you.

You would go out on these runs 3-4 times a day and do ridiculous calls about 5-6 times a day. Sometimes Mr. Kim would have this look on his face as he told you of your newest assignment, as if he anticipated your objection because even he knew how absurd his demands were.

But you never gave him that satisfaction, knowing that he will get the upper hand and possibly fire you if you interjected in any way.

So you would just always smile and tell him that you were right on it.

–

Kim Taehyung rather enjoyed studying you.

When he first caught sight of you, he couldn’t help but think you were very attractive. Yet this didn’t cause his heart to grow fond of you at all. In fact it was almost a negative given all the pretty assistants he had in the past turned out to be dumbest.

Yet in a matter of a few weeks, you managed to prove him wrong and exceed previously set expectations.

He knew he was an ass. And he wanted his assistants to know that when they first met him, never would he want to give a first impression of being a lax or laid back boss. So maybe he went out of his way to make things a tad more…stressful for you.

Taehyung couldn’t deny the slight surprise every time you simply responded with that cute grin of yours and pulled off every task that he even doubted was possible.

After a few weeks of this, Taehyung was forced to acknowledge the fact that you were here to stay as you have proven yourself more than capable.

But that didn’t mean he stopped fucking with you.

No, if anything he did it even more.

He found it so adorable to view that expression of yours when you were faced with yet another idiotic obstacle he set up for you. The slight incoming blush as your face reddened with a frustration that you dared not utter. The pursing of your lips as if you were forcing yourself not to object. The delightful eye widen when he told you to make vulgar calls. That funny little eyebrow twitch you did when he gave you an especially difficult command. And your pathetic little attempt to mask your displeasure by plastering on an innocent smile and chirping, “Sure, I’ll get right on that.”

It was better than any comedy Taehyung could’ve paid to watch.

Taehyung was well aware of his own sadistic tendencies, therefore it made sense that he would have an odd sense of satisfaction from pestering you.

However the endgame most sadists had never came true in this case; you never broke. He witnessed many assistants crumble under him; whether it be by crying, screaming at him or just plain storming out.

He always won in the end, his trophy being their crack in sanity and composure. But you were stubborn.

You refused to let him get to you. Maybe that’s why he found himself slightly dumbfounded by you. You swallowed your pride and did his bidding with a dog-like obedience that you obviously faked. Yet you never cracked and humored him with a spontaneous rebellion to his dictatorship, you followed along but masked yourself just enough to have him thirsty to hear your actual thoughts and feelings.

He didn’t realize just how far his fascination went until he found himself at a club on a Saturday night, sat in the VIP lounge with Kim Namjoon to his left and Kim Seokjin to his right.

They were sat at a U-shaped booth that was dimly lit and above the chaotic dancefloor that sounded below, their elevated position giving them a glamorous view of the most famous club in the city.

“Let me get this straight, your plan is to blackmail your cousin into signing off on this deal?” Namjoon clarified while pouring the trio drinks.

Taehyung shrugged and raised the glass that was handed to him up to his mouth, sniffing the over-priced alcohol before taking a chug of it. “Why not? Business isn’t meant to be all clean and squeaky.”

“Still, you’re out of your mind if you think your uncle isn’t going to get you after this.” Jin retorted from Taehyung’s other side.

“Jin, don’t think that I don’t know how you avoided giving your tax statements to the IRS.” Taehyung bit back, not liking the hypocritical behavior of his comrades.

All the men at that particular booth were wealthy ceos who ran as kings in this particular city. Taehyung wasn’t sure if he liked the term ‘friends’ but at the very least he considered Namjoon and Seokjin as allies in the cruel world of business. He tolerated the two more than he did most.

The discussion went on for another hour of so, drinks fading Taehyung’s mind as the man’s speech became increasingly more and more slurred with every topic they covered. These topics ranging from the current market to interesting endeavors they have faced lately in their line of work. The drinks continued to pour, the bottles were bottomless for such rich men. His inhibitions were lowered as well as his morals (what little there was left for him).

He didn’t quite know how or when she ended up in his lap, but he did nothing to push her off.

All the molasses covered words she purred into his ear seemed all too appealing.

Her hold on him was instantaneous, something about her screamed a comfortable sense of familiarity that he couldn’t deny for the life of him.

The rest of the night was blurry, but a clear conclusion formed when Taehyung woke up the next morning with a stranger in his bed.

–

She looked like you.

Alot.

The resemblance was striking and uncanny.

From her (color) hair, to her docile little features, to the figure shape and even the height.

If you had a twin sister, Taehyung was positive that he just fucked her into oblivion.

Taehyung had awoken the next morning with a feeling of arms around his waist and another body sharing his satin sheets. This was not necessarily a new sensation given he had his own fair share of one night stands. But he was not prepared for what he saw when he rolled around to see which nameless woman it was this time.

For a moment, his groggy mind couldn’t comprehend that it was not you, for his brain simply matched up the looks very easily and deduced it as such.

However after a moment of closer inspection, he noticed that it was a doppelganger but not the real you. The alikeness only took up his mind for a brief moment before he was forced to spot something else while studying the intruder.

She had bruises.

Hand marks around her neck, blotchiness of getting spanked on her ass, love bites that were borderline black littered her body and those ruby stained lips were swollen and cracked from assault of the mouth.

Taehyung was taken aback by the sight of such brutal violence that marked her otherwise smooth and unbothered skin.

If he didn’t know any better, he would have assumed that this girl was the victim of abuse. Yet the fact that she was in his bed had lead to the conclusion that he himself must’ve been responsible for such injuries.

He always knew that he was rough in bed, but he never went as far as he clearly did last night with this woman.

It was jaw dropping and a twinge of guilt even glimmered in his otherwise dead heart.

He must’ve put this girl through hell itself last night just to satisfy his sick primal needs. And later when he made his way to his kitchen (after telling his maid to wake the girl up and kick her out) an alarming thought bestowed upon him that was too spot-on and shameless for it not to be true.

It was no coincidence that the one girl he slept whom held so much resemblance to you lead to the wildest night that unleashed his true sadism like it never had been before.

His intoxicated self had connected the dots for him to face when he sobered up.

He wanted to leave those marks and bruises on you…not her.

–

Your body was failing you.

The moment you woke up that morning, a sense of doom was in the air as you discovered your nose was stuffed, throat sore and stomach uneasy. You were sick.

If God had granted you a nicer boss who understood the human body and the occasional decline in health, perhaps you would’ve called in for a sick day. But asking Kim Taehyung for a sick day was like asking the Devil to read a bible….you might as well have just asked for a gruesome death. Taehyung didn’t believe in sick days and you were not in the mood to begin another fruitless job search, so you decided to take some aspirin and soldier on to the office.

“Coffee, bagel…you know the drill.” Was the first words Mr. Kim greeted you with when you entered his office for the morning rundown. He seemed oddly quiet this morning and he refused to look up at you from his desk. Which was somewhat concerning given he always glared up at you whenever he barked out his demands. You simply nodded and attempted to shrug off this break in character before going off to make your first run of the day.

When you returned with the usual coffee and bagel in hand, you discovered that Taehyung was not in his office at all. You stepped out in search of him and Irene seemed to notice your struggle before telling you; “Oh, he didn’t tell you? He’s in a meeting right now with Mr. Jeon. Check the conference room.”

You quickly thanked her and made your way over to said room.

You swung the door open to see two men (one being Mr. Kim and the other being yet another handsome but youthful man in a suit) talking with hushed tones that held a underlying vibe of anger.

“Taehyung don’t fucking try me I swear to-”

“I’m not trying anything, Jungkook. I think you got a little comfortable with your position without keeping in mind how you got there.”

“Excuse me? Was this your plan all along-”The other man (who must’ve been Mr. Jeon) suddenly stopped talking as he noticed your form standing by the now ajar doorway.

This caused your boss to turn and face what took the other’s attention from the conversation at hand. Taehyung looked at you with a scowl plastered on his aristocratic face, eyes ruthless as they bored right through you.

You froze in place as your blood ran cold.

You realised too late that you had made a mistake.

You were in trouble.

“What the fuck did I say about knocking?! You worthless bitch, does your stupidity know of no bounds?” Taehyung snarled, causing your stomach to drop.

“I-I just wanted to give you the coffee and-”

He cut you off, “Details of your incompetence do not interest me.”

Maybe it was because you were sick that your emotions were a tad more sensitive than usual, but for the first time you felt your eyes sting with the incoming tears that welled up in your vision. Your body already felt beat but now your self-esteem took a plummet as well. Taehyung continued to glare at you but you tried to blink the tears away before they could fall.

“I-I’m sorry.” You stuttered before rushing to plop his food onto the table before him and scurry out of the room.

–

Your brain was pounding as if a hammer was rutting against it with a vengeance. Your stomach was twisted in knots as your throat screamed for some type of soother for the scratchy ache it was suffering. You sniffed once more and attempted to focus on the task at hand, answering calls left for the office, but your lids kept dropping due to your drowsy state. You still were licking your wounds after what had happened earlier that morning, for the first time on this job- you fucked up.

You weren’t baffled at Mr. Kim’s reaction, in fact it was to be expected for him to lash out like that. The only cause of disappointment was in yourself. You messed up when you shouldn’t have and unknowingly let the fucker get to you. You hated the fact that he saw you near tears, you hated letting him see you in a vulnerable state. You hated that you almost cowered in fear and let him smell the fear off of you. You were no better than the girls before you. You were proud to think that he would never get under your skin and that you would continue to pull everything off.

But of course there was such thing as the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’.

You didn’t want to face him, but after the morning progressed into the early afternoon; you were called into Mr. Kim’s office.

“I need a copy of the sales reports on my desk within the next hour. There will be a board meeting at one so I’m going to need you to sit in on that and take notes. I will be going out for lunch via the reservations you made yesterday so if you can call beforehand to double-check that would be great. Also call Kim Namjoon and raincheck drinks at Oliver’s, tell him that I’m free tomorrow night but not tonight. As for now, my brother recently had a baby so I need to send flowers, go out and get some ordered and delivered to the local hospital.” He said all of this without looking up at you once during the dialogue, eyes scanning a paper before him as his deep and cold voice filled the room.

You sniffed out of instinct that can’t be helped when one is ill, to this he looked up at you in neck-breaking speed.

You thought that perhaps he was going to comment on your obvious impaired state now that he was viewing you, but instead he quirked a brow and asked harshly, “Any questions?”

You shook your head no as you ran the mental list once more in your head.

“Then get out of my office.”

–

You waited for the elevator to ‘ding’ with it’s familiar arrival.

You needed to leave the office and get those flowers your boss had asked of you, but also you needed to be back in time for that meeting. So once again, you found yourself in yet another rush. Unfortunately, the fact that Mr. Kim’s office floor was the very top one meant that you had to factor in an elevator ride to and from the top whilst going on these errand runs.

You sighed in impatience as a few more seconds passed, time eating away more than you would have liked it to.

Finally you heard a small sound that signalled an incoming elevator, you entered it when it’s silver doors opened for you.

You leaned against the wall and awaited it’s closure, but right when it was about to shut, a pale and veiny hand stuck out to stop it.

He stepped in, his face being familiar but not enough for you to correctly place your finger on it. He looked at the buttons but he didn’t click any when he saw that you both were heading to the main floor.

The doors closed and you both quietly felt the elevator descend downwards, the two of you facing the doors.

Once again, your sickness caused your nose to sniffle and this brought the attention of the man in the closed space with you.

He turned to face you. His doe eyes studied you for a moment, before a look of realization sparked in his inky orbs.

“Are you Taehyung’s assistant?” You meekly nodded, just now noticing that this was the ‘Mr. Jeon’ that was in the meeting you had interrupted earlier that morning.

You felt his gaze run down your face (which you knew was most likely pale and sick looking with a reddened nose to top it off).

“I’m sorry about what happened earlier…my cousin has always been a jackass.” He told you gently with that high-pitched voice of his that held a light musical tone. You felt your eyes widened in slight surprise at the ‘cousin’ part, but nonetheless you kept your mouth shut. You wanted to ask how the hell this guy was related to the spawn of satan himself, Mr. Jeon having a friendly and amicable tone while Mr. Kim had stick shoved up his ass 24/7. “How long have you been working for him?”

You didn’t know why he seemed so interested in that, but given he was your superior you answered; “A little over a month now, sir.”

He snorted at the ‘sir’ part but looked at you pitifully as even he must’ve known how hellish that month must have been for you. It was silent for a moment and you both felt the elevator slow down, telling you that you were about to arrive at the lobby floor.

“This might be a little unorthodox, but my company has a paid internship program if you’re interested. It only lasts six months but if your work ethic is good, we can hire you as a full-time employee after those months are up.” He dug into his suit and pulled out a business card before handing it to you.

The doors opened and he stepped out, calling out from over his shoulder; “It’s not much, but it’s better than working for that asshole.”

–

Taehyung was…sinisterly pleased.

When you had walked in that morning without knocking, he was thrilled to finally be able to reprimand you. Sure, it was a small and silly mistake. But it was the first slip-up you had in a month, and of course he was going to pounce on that.

The image of your glassy eyes blinking furiously away at stubborn tears was too good for it to not be burned into his memory. The embarrassment that burned your face with a gorgeous crimson glow was a mouth-watering sight to behold. When your lip wobbled and voice broke as you for once showed him a side of you that he never saw before (a broken and weak one) he couldn’t deny the bliss that overtook him in that moment.

He broke you.

He won.

He wanted to see it over and over again, your watery eyes and pained face that was laced in humiliation. The experience triggering a taboo sense of arousal that had Taehyung taking care of himself under his desk minutes after the meeting finished.

How badly he wanted to be the master of any further emotions of degradation, sadness or pity.

How badly he wanted that expression to be saved for his eyes only.

How badly he wanted to push you to your limits….

It took a lot of Taehyung to not tease you when he had given you your chore list of the day. He limited eye contact and pretended to be engrossed in a stupid HR letter to maintain an image of aloofness. But, it was important that you saw him as cold and unforgiving. A sadist needed to be feared.

He awaited your return eagerly for the meeting that was to be held later that day. He wanted to see if he would have a chance to yell at you and potentially embarrass you further in front of a board of directors. But when he finally walked into that meeting with expectations set of you being there; Irene was in your spot with a notepad in hand.

“Where’s Y/n?” Taehyung whispered in the middle of the presentation to one of his most loyal employees.

In response, she nudged over a paper, still frantically jotting down information that Taehyung lost interest in long ago.

Taehyung’s hands shook in fury as he read the lines over and over again.

It was a letter of resignation.

–

(Two Months Later)

You sat in front of this old and serious man as he looked over your resume once more through his thick prescription glasses.

Your internship with Jungkook’s company did not last long. Not due to a falling out or lack of good work ethic on your part, but due to a mysterious tanking of his company as insider trading and supposed tax evasion caused the business to fail.

Although, this was the story that was released to the press. Loyal workers of the Jeon Corporation will tell you that Kim Taehyung had framed him in a effort to get rid of competition. Somehow, this story was more believable to you than the one the news reported on.

Either way, you were out of a job and desperately needed to find a way to make a living. So here you were, interviewing for some shitty saleswoman position in effort to pay your rent.

“I must say…you have a lot of nerve being here today.” The old man grumbled after looking over his notes once more. You spluttered in confusion at this rude comment. The interview had been going well…what happened?

“Excuse me?”

“We called your former employers for a reference but since your most recent employer is facing jail time, we had to call the one prior to that. CEO Kim Taehyung sent us a fax that said as a worker you have ‘problems listening to specific instructions, lazy and incompetent, and the worst mistake my company will make by hiring you for you cannot handle a shred of responsibility.’”

Your mouth went dry as you pictured the boss from hell laughing evilly as he sent this fax, most likely trying to ruin your life as some sort of sick entertainment.

“I-I can explain plea-” you attempted to speak, only to be cut off with just a look.

The old man looked at you with critical beady eyes as he pointed to the door and said, “I think you should leave.”

–

You stormed into the familiar office with a rage you had never felt before.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and your very livelihood was just fucked with. How were you supposed to pay your bills or even afford to sustain your basic needs when you had someone like Kim Taehyung telling all future employers that you were ‘the worst mistake a company could commit’?

He called you lazy and incompetent! Not once did you fail him in any regard bigger than forgetting to knock on a door one time. You waited on that man hand and foot while allowing yourself to be degraded in the process.

“Where is he?!” You growled to Irene from her usual spot at the front desk.

“Y-Y/n, calm down, okay? I know what he did bu-”

“Where!” You exploded, sick and tired of her always defending him despite all the evidence of him being a devil and ruining innocent people’s lives.

She looked in your eyes and knew that she wasn’t going to convince you to leave. Irene sighed in defeat and muttered, “In his office.”

You ran to his office and visously ripped the door open to enter his little lion’s den that so many careers have met their end in.

He was seated in his lounge area, a glass of Scotch in his large golden hand as he looked up at you in a bored yet amused stare.

You approached him and he just grinned, a whimsical delight spreading across the elegant canvas that was his face.

“Y/n, I was expecting you! Can you get me a refill babe? Ever since you’ve left I’ve had to get my own and frankly, I’m kinda tired of it.” He casually called out, shaking the glass in your direction.

Your brow ticked in annoyance and you noted that it only made him smirk even wider.

So your suspicions were true; he did take pleasure in the pain of others.

“What the fuck?! What was with that reference you gave to that company?! You know damn well that I was the best assistant that you’ve ever had, and this is how you repay me?! Why? Why do you hurt me so much?” You hoarsely yelled as your voice gave out in the end, sadness beginning to overrule anger as you realized just how little your life meant to someone as big as him.

Taehyung was quiet for a moment as a somber look shadowed his face.

Then a chuckle.

That chuckle bled into a thunderous and roaring laughter as he clutched at his stomach. After a solid minute of him laughing like a crazed person, he wiped his tears away and seriously stated;

“Because I like hurting you. And you will learn to like it too. Did you think you could leave that easily? Don’t be stupid sweetie, it’s not a good look and I know you’re better than that. You might as well come work for me given that no other employers in a hundred mile radius will hire you.”

He got up and slowly stalked towards you.

“You should know better than to try to leave someone like me. But don’t worry, I’ll clear matters up in that dumb little head of yours. You’re not just an assistant and I’m not just your boss. Your my pet and I’m your master. I don’t care if you like it or not, because you only have two options. Accept it, or never get a job and starve out in the streets. You will only ever work for and serve me. Sorry I didn’t run that past you when you were working here earlier. I wanted to slowly progress our way there but you left before I could have the chance. Now I have no choice but to push this all on you.”

He was only an inch away from your face now, beaming at your shell-shocked state before he plopped his drink into your hands.

“Now….I believe I asked for a refill.”

(oooof this was kinda trash so srry but that. It ran for longer than I wanted it to so im sorry if it’s long winded. Also spacing might be weird bc my computer is on crack cocaine so that’s fun. Anyway, for inspiration I used @mint-yooxgi‘s Baekhyun yandere CEO story but obvi hers is much better so like check that out. Lemme know what you think and this is chinkbihh signing off.)

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littlespoonevan · 5 years ago

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same anon, i’ve watched teen wolf since i was in middle school, which was 8-9 years ago and i’ve always shipped stydia. i never understood the sterek ship so are you able to explain why you ship it (if you do ship it lol)

welp, you’re in luck, anon! because i actually wrote a 7.5k meta on why i ship sterek back in the day when i was trying to explain it to my friend lmao. i wrote it after 3b so nothing from s4 is included but i figure it’s got all the major stuff! now i absolutely don’t expect you to read all of that (but i’ve linked it if you’re curious) so let me try and write you a more concise explanation right now asjkdfha

for context, i also started watching teen wolf 8 years ago but i guess i’m a little older than you because i was going into my final year of school at the time. i found out about teen wolf from tumblr so naturally, i was Very aware of sterek before starting the show. (i didn’t know all that much though bc from the way people were talking i legit thought they were together but also thought scott was derek for a hot minute there lmao). they’re not the reason why i started watching and within 20 minutes of starting the show i realised they were Not in fact together and that lydia was sort of set up as stiles’ love interest.

i’ve never had problem with stydia at all. like i said, i expected them to end up together and bc i knew sterek wouldn’t become canon - no matter how much i wanted it to - i was actually very capable of multishipping back then lol (for instance, i really liked stiles/erica, stiles/cora and derek/paige, derek/braeden). my reasons for not really shipping stydia romantically mainly lay in the fact that jackson and lydia - fucked up, though they were - absolutely owned my heart and that stiles and lydia’s friendship dynamic that was set up in s3 was so Special to me that i really didn’t want it to change????

but anyway! that’s not why you’re here, i just really wanted to make it clear that i fully Respect your preference for stydia (i actually had a rl friend who shipped stydia but read sterek fic bc she thought it was really well written lmao) and that i don’t disregard the importance of lydia in stiles’ life whatsoever. so with that in mind, here’s some of the reasons why i personally was so taken with sterek over any other ship:

i love that it was an accident. like it truly was the circumstance of the show in s1 that if jackson and lydia had scenes together and scott and allison had scenes together then stiles and derek were sort of thrown together by circumstance and convenience as a result. and y’know, it’s a pretty standard dynamic: comedic foils whose comedy comes from the fact that they’re So polar opposite from the outside and that they’d never interact under normal circumstances. and like, there’s no doubt they annoy the shit out of each other in the beginning ok they truly do but idk if it’s hoech and dylan’s friendship bleeding through or what but there was something so Fun about their scenes always???????? like they always made me smile/laugh without fail from the very first time i watched and i personally feel like they bounce off each other so, so well, i just enjoyed watching them, y’know? and i do think it’s that natural chemistry that initially intrigued people to it as a ship (and the fact that that chemistry sort of came out of nowhere too? like no one was doing stiles/derek chemistry reads in the auditions lol)

they’re always saving each other. look, we all love a good enemies to lovers story and if tw were a fic and not a show, sterek had the perfect potential for that. i’m lifting what i’m about to say straight from that meta i wrote years back but i can’t think of a better way to describe this; they’ve got this actions vs words pattern throughout their development. definitely the first two seasons but also a bit in s3 too. so like, with derek getting shot with wolf’s bane, with derek realising peter’s the alpha and stiles is alone with him, with isaac almost attacking stiles on the full moon, with stiles holding derek up in the pool - they argue in or before all of these scenes. and especially early on they’re p much always threatening each other. but when it comes down to the moment of urgency when one of them might seriously get hurt/die, the other person always steps in and saves them???????? and it’s just So interesting bc it hints at the fact they actually might care for each other more than they’re willing to admit (to quote cora hale @ stiles stilinski: “why do you care?”). or if nothing else, it teaches them to trust each other which is so important for highlighting how their dynamic changes as time goes on? because this sort of leads into that final scene of 3b where derek imagines stiles when kate kidnaps him and a lot of people headcannoned after that that stiles was derek’s anchor or at least acted as his anchor in that particular moment :’)

they understand each other. i said earlier they were foils bc they appeared like opposites and, in a lot of ways, they are but ooooh boy in terms of personal trauma and guilt i feel like they identify with each other A Lot. we know derek blames himself for the fire bc of kate and we also know stiles blames himself for his mother’s death from his hallucination in 2x09 (and then later o,n though it’s not discussed much, he obviously carries guilt for what happened w the nogitsune) and i think that feeling of guilt and just the idea of them both losing family members at all puts them on a really interesting footing where they inherently understand this core aspect of one another bc it’s something they both feel (also catch me screaming at stiles knowing what happened with kate and referencing it to derek in 3x10 but scott not finding out til 4x02 rip)

and look, i could go on and on about the other things i love about them, about how beautifully their dynamic could’ve evolved along the enemies to loves trajectory if given the chance, but i think this is long enough already and i think these are probably my main three reasons :) like i said, if you want something more in depth, feel free to look through the meta i wrote previously (or ask me about a specific ep)! i don’t expect this to make you change your mind and suddenly start shipping them but hopefully it shed s a bit of light on why others do :D <3

#sterek #teen wolf related #teen wolf #i swear to gOD i tried to keep this short skdfhasj sorry anon #long post #Anon #asks #i'd put this under a read more but idk if read mores on asks are still messed up so apologies for the length

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saharamae21 · 4 years ago

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3, 4, 20, 23, 25

Warning - spoilers for upcoming works and these answers are long.

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

I’ve lived a life and I’d love to write a collection of stories based on my experiences. It would be things like conversations I’ve had and events that shaped me to be who I am. My worry with that has been that people would be too critical. I’ve gotten a lot of hate for what I write and how I write it and if I based things completely off of me and people hated it, I think it would be detrimental to my mental health.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Okay, so this comes from something that I wrote a couple months ago. It isn’t a fanfic. It’s the first paragraph from a story I love and is near and dear to my heart (the one I referenced in my last post).

The street had cars piled up the entire length of the block. The air was filled with smoke and wails. One voice stood out the most though. It belonged to a middle-aged woman who was being held by a police officer. She was screaming and begging for the man lying dead on the street to live. That isn’t how it works though. I got out of my car and walked closer to the scene. The ambulance hadn’t arrived yet, but it wouldn’t matter. The poor man’s clock had already reached zero and he was dead. I watched as the women pleaded for him to breathe. As I got closer, I got my first proper look at the woman. She was a brunette with shoulder-length hair and she wore a wedding ring. For the first time, I stopped and really listened to her. The man lying dead on the scene was her husband who pushed her out of the way of an oncoming car. The other observers watched her with hope and pity. I was the only one who knew though. He was dead and his wife would live another 38 years, 11 days, 6 hours, and 23 minutes without her husband. The number read loudly upon her arm like a neon sign only I could see. I sighed for her, letting my pity seep out as well. She would find happiness again, otherwise, she wouldn’t live so long after this accident.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

So I’m a huge fan of character development. It’s my pride and joy. I think that I do a decent (eh) job of creating a realistic OC when it comes to my fics. I love to include anxieties and struggles not always displayed in writing. So with Adelaide, I thought giving her a traumatic background, but a super supportive family would an interesting concept. The support of her family has shaped her in many ways. For Aurora (spoiler if you haven’t read Chapter 6) it’s introduced that her mom suffered from Post Partum Depression after having Rory and Skipper. The second wave of it (after Skip was born) never really went away and developed into a sense of manic/bipolar depression that her mom struggles with. I love details that shape characters. I love displaying their flaws and then giving a real example of what caused them to be this way. I’m working on creating an OC who I can relate a little bit more too for a fic in the works. Keep your eyes open.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

An idea that has been in my mind forever. I thought about sharing this idea yesterday but shared my shipwreck idea instead. I want to write a story about a girl adopted into the upper-middle class. I want her to be Korean American just like me and I want her to experience the thoughts that I did growing up. I think this could be an adorable Rafe or Topper fic if I write it as a fanfiction. It would about her growing up with them, but struggling to find her identity. It would be wholesome and beautiful. The drama wouldn’t be over the top. It would be realistic.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Everything? I love the prewriting. I love coming up with ideas and shaping my characters. I’m a huge planner and I need to fully think out something before I start, even if it isn’t the direction I end up going in. I love planning everything.

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freeofmundanethoughts · 6 years ago

Text

HANNIBAL Stunts with Ken Quinn and Tommy Chang Panel Transcript (Fannibalfest 2018)

Last one for today! I also have notes on the Sassy Science panels that I’m planning on typing up, and I did take notes during the episode commentaries too, but there’s already a much better transcript of those online on twitter, so I think I’ll probably leave off on those.

I’ll probably come back and edit these again at some point as well, referencing some twitter posts people made during the event and such to see if I can plug any holes in my notetaking that way.

More: Hair and Makeup, Set and Food Design

DISCLAIMER: THIS WAS TYPED UP OVER 2 WEEKS AFTER THE EVENT FROM VERY SHORTHAND NOTES. NONE OF THIS WILL BE DIRECT QUOTED, NOT EVERYTHING SAID WAS INCLUDED (due to my writing speed) AND THE SENTENCES MAY BE SLIGHTLY SKEWED FROM ORIGINAL INTENTION (I am aware that some of the answers that I was able to write down do not exactly answer the questions, but I can only fill in what my notes covered).

If anyone has their own notes that fill in blanks or contradict anything that I noted, please correct me! I extrapolated a little based on the context of the questions to make my noted less caveman and more full sentences, so some of the answers may have veered off in the wrong direction. I would love to be corrected to make this as full and complete as possible!

PANEL:

Ken Quinn (K)

Tommy Chang (T)

Question from Moderator/Audience (Q)

Q: How did you get into the business?

T: I was offered a job. My role was to get shot and fall down stairs. I didn't realize you needed pads for that and did it without them. It was 1984, so all the stunt work was done really cheaply. I had to pretend I was shot and walk down a live street [with real pedestrians].

K: I wanted to be a motorcycle driver, but went into marketing instead. I coordinated stunts, including myself, and was elevated from a regular stunt man to a stunt coordinator.

Q: How has the industry changed?

K: Color film was big. It's also much safer now. The tech used is different, we have wires and green screen.

T: Fights have evolved. In the 1980s it was a lot of Karate Kid, and in the 90s you got a lot more females fighting. Then there was a period of mixed martial arts, and now what's popular is what feels "real."

Q: How did you become involved in Hannibal?

K: I was called in by the production manager. Hannibal was on a tight budget, and some stunt equipment wouldn't work in the cold. We had to keep bringing it into the tent and warm it up, then do another take. But Mads never complained.

T: I was hired by Ken, so. Why did you hire me?

K: We had worked together before. Tommy was brought in for the kitchen fight. The flip over the back was Tommy's idea. I can do all around stunts, but Tommy's a fight specialist. He's done a lot of work in fight choreography.

T: Ken is one of the most respected stunt coordinators in the world. He takes jobs no one else will.

K: I once did a stunt where I fell 14 stories off a building, on fire. It took 3 takes.

Q: What fight took the most time, and who was the best actor to work with?

K: The kitchen fight took the longest. Mads is one of the most athletic actors from his background in dance.

T: I liked working with both Mads and Lawrence. You really try to bring the script to the real world. I'd brake down the fight, block the moves, show Ken, train the doubles, showed Bryan Fuller and so on. The actors all trained really hard. Bryan Fuller called me back for the other fight because he liked my work on the kitchen scene.

K: It was funny, because Bryan would say things to me like "I want an organic knife fight." So I'd make a knife fight. And then when I showed it to Bryan, he'd say, "this looks too much like a knife fight." And I'd tell him "that's what you said!" And Bryan would just go, "okay, le'ts not do a knife fight."

Q: Jack and Hannibal have very different fight styles. Jack is a boxer. How does the physicality of the actor factor into the fights?

K: Lawrence Fishburne was just back from a hernia surgery, so that factored in. Both actors had their own ideas about the scene. They would change the styles to fit their character. Slamming the fridge door was Lawrence's idea.

T: I'd bring in a template, and the actors would take the choreography and fit it into their characters.

K: Both actors are gifted and trained. We were lucky. They knew the right fighting distance. Lawrence Fishburne is like a bear of a man, very strong.

T: Both are in good shape. Other shows might take 3-5 months of training to deliver 1-2 good fight scenes, but the kitchen fight for Hannibal was done in 5 rehearsals. 3 with stunt doubles, 2 with the actors.

K: Tommy can put a fight together in minutes, but it took a lot to please Bryan Fuller and the network and everyone else.

Q: Does Hannibal have special abilities, or is he fully human?

K: Just his intelligence. Bryan Fuller was very involved in character development.

Q: Did Mads' background [as a dancer] come into play in the Tobias fight? The choreography looks like a dance.

T: I wasn't involved in that scene.

K: The issue with that scene was that there was a lot of distance to cover in the office. Bryan Fuller really wanted the ladder involved, but the ladder didn't originally move, so we had to edit the ladder to move. But Mads knows how to cover space. Demore was not so good at moving.

Q: What qualifies as a stunt?

K: A stunt is any physical action. For insurance purposes, it's required to hire a stunt coordinator to supervise a stunt. This could be for anything from grabbing, tripping, anything physical. Even those little stunts use spine protectors and pads to keep the actors from getting majorly hurt. The police can get involved in stunt accidents. Lots of actors don't want to do stunts. With Mads, it was the opposite. He wanted to do all the stunts. We had to tone down some of the stunts to make sure he wouldn't get hurt.

Q: Demore said he swung the piano wire into his crotch. Were there any stunt accidents or bloopers?

T: Mads wanted to spin kick Mason in the pig barn scene. That took 15 takes, and he'd hit the stunt man at the same place each time. The stunt guy actually really hurt in the stomach, but to tease him, I kept telling Mads to kick him harder to make it look better.

K: Fights take so long, I think car chases are much more fun. Fights require much closer choreography and more safety measures.

Q: For the cliff fall, how did they not hurt each other while falling intertwined like that onto a pad?

K: Luck. Things like that are often messed up. It's easier to keep them in position with wires.

Q: In the Tobias fight, we heard that the piano wire kept breaking. How did that impact the scene?

K: The prop department built that. It was constantly being repaired on set, they had no replacement for it. There was a time restraint, so it wasn't built properly.

Q: Was there an actor you wanted to work with but couldn't?

T: I wish the show wasn't cancelled. The actors were all great to work with. We could have done so much. I had a lot of ideas, because I had to keep topping my own work.

K: Bryan Fuller asked me what I wanted to do, and I said a car chase. I wanted to see more action in Hannibal. We could have had more and different action than on other shows.

Q: As a stunt coordinator, is there any stunt or fight you just wouldn't do because of the danger level?

T: Air ram.

K: An air ram is a piece of equipment that launches people like from a bomb explosion.

T: I did a scene where I was hit with a dragonball z type strike, and landed wrong. That was the worst experience. People didn't know the danger of these things and would just build them in their garages.

K: One scene, Mads was on the bucket? The bucket was built to be stable, but Mads said it wouldn't be realistic, he wanted it to be unstable. Then he wanted to look like he was straining on the rope. He was on that bucket for 12-14 hours that day, and it was really cold in the studio. He got sick. And his neck was raw from the pressure of the cable for days.

Q: Anything you remember from the small, intimate fight scenes?

K: Honestly, I forget a lot. It's been a while since I worked on Hannibal. I remember the window scene, with Abigail and Alana. We were really far behind then, and had to build part of the house. The director wanted sparkles in the shot, but Bryan didn't like that, so we had to remove the sparkles in a reshoot. We had a stunt girl for Alana. The window was scored so it would break. We usually used tempered or breakaway glass for scenes like that. We did 2-3 takes. Also, the hand under the bed scene was a disaster. When they built the bed for that scene, they forgot that someone had to fit under the bed. Because the set wasn't built right, we had to saw the wall out.

#hannibal #fannibalfest #fft2 #panel #stunts

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ruminativerabbi · 3 years ago

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9/11 Twenty Years On

There are days that come to serve as historical pivot-points to the extent that it feels reasonable to refer to divide the history of the nation with respect to them into time-before and time-after. April 15, 1865, the day Abraham Lincoln died, feels that way to me. So does December 7, 1941, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor. And so too does November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated. Others, I’m sure, will have their own dates to add. (What is true on the national level is also true on the personal, of course: which of us would not add in his or her wedding date as one of those pivot-point dates or the date on which any of us became parents for the first time? But I speak here of the nation, not of its individual citizens.) And I think most Americans would agree that September 11, 2001, is in that category as well—and not just because something horrific occurred on that date, but because it has transcended its own news cycle and become part of our national culture. There are no college students (except maybe older, “returning” students) who remember 9/11 personally: the freshman and sophomores were born after that awful day and the juniors and seniors were babies or toddlers in 2001. And yet there is no newspaper or website in the nation that feels obliged to explain what it means when it references 9/11 without mentioning the year or the events of that day. Everybody just knows. That is, I suppose, what it means for a day to serve as a pivot-point in history: everybody, including people born after the fact, know precisely what is being referenced without any further explanation needed.

This Shabbat marks the twentieth anniversary of that horrific day. Like all of you, I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news that an airplane had crashed into the North Tower. (It was a quarter to six in the morning in California, but I’m an early riser and always check a few news websites before I get down to my day’s work.) And I remember too that stomach-turning moment just twenty minutes later when the second airplane crashed into the South Tower and it suddenly became obvious that we were dealing not with a single tragic aviation accident that had just happened, but rather with a fully intentional act of violent barbarism intended to kill as many random Americans as possible at once as a way of making some sort of perverse political statement. By the time most Californians were waking up, the third plane had crashed into the Pentagon and no one knew what might not happen next. In retrospect, it seems odd that we took our kids to school that morning as though it were a normal school day—but we did and then we went right back home to watch CNN and try to understand what was going on.

So much has been written about that day and its aftermath that I won’t attempt to say something new or to share some insight that no one but myself has had over these last two decades. Instead, and with the full understanding that this Saturday is the yahrtzeit of almost three thousand innocents whose lives were cut short by an act of insane savagery, I would like to offer an image from the past that has comforted me over these years…and particularly once we moved from California to New York just a year after 9/11 and settled into our new home not twenty-five miles from the ruins of the World Trade Center buildings in lower Manhattan.

The image derives from one of Walt Whitman’s most famous poems. The poet, originally from Huntington but by 1883 a veteran Brooklynite, is looking out at Lower Manhattan from his perch in Brooklyn Heights. He takes note of the ongoing effort to build the Brooklyn Bridge (which was completed later that same year, the year of my maternal grandmother’s birth), then shifts his gaze and focuses instead on the ferry boats that in his day brought commuters back and forth from Manhattan to Brooklyn all day long for all the years before any bridge linked Long Island to Manhattan. (And there were a lot of them, too: the first grant for a commercial ferry linking Brooklyn and Manhattan was issued by the New Amsterdam authorities to one Cornelis Dircksen in 1642, a cool 241 years before the Brooklyn Bridge was built. For more details, click here.) But this is a nineteenth-century image I’m trying to conjure up, not a seventeenth-century one. And by Whitman’s day the ferry is a real thing, a regular part of New York life, something ordinary and banal. Yet, as the poet looks out at the harbor, he is struck by the timelessness of the scene before his eyes, by the simultaneous in-history and outside-of-history aspects to the scene before his eyes, by the ability of the city to transcend the life of its own citizens. The poem is wistful and sober; for me, it as if the poet had some sort of preternatural ability to see the Towers absent, then present, then absent again as he somehow understood something of what would one day happen to the vista stretched out before his eyes as he gazed across New York Harbor on a sunny day in the 1880s.

The poem is called “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and is about the strange way people live within time and outside it, each of us living a life bounded by the dates of fortunate birth and inexorable death but also living in a world in which life transcends the lives of the living, thus making each living soul part of a grand scheme of history that exists independently of the details of their own lives. And then the poet looks (at least in my mind’s eye) directly at the patch of ground on which the World Trade Center will one day rise and somehow sees growth and loss, tragedy and rebirth, a city that both is its inhabitants but which also exists independently of them:

It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not,

I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,

Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,

Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,

Just as you are refresh’d by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh’d,

Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood yet was hurried,

Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the thick-stemm’d pipes of steamboats, I look’d.

And in that idea—that the city, and by extension the nation, somehow both exist anchored in time but also fully capable of transcending time, and thus capable also of surviving even the most horrific disasters and tragedies because those events are by definition time-bound whereas the nation is specifically not—within that single idea lies, at least for me, some comfort as I think back to that September two decades ago and seek some kind of context for thinking about our terrible losses on that terrible day.

Sitting in the warm sunlight, Whitman saw darkness in Lower Manhattan across the bay and felt a prophetic frisson of looming disaster:

It is not you alone the dark patches fall,

The dark threw its dark patches down upon me also,

The best I had done seem’d to me blank and suspicious.

My great thoughts as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?

Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil.

The man was a poet, not a prophet. He certainly couldn’t have imagined the World Trade Center buildings. (The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, the nation’s first “skyscraper,” opened just three years before Whitman wrote “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” and was all of ten stories tall.) Yet the evil that would befall so many in that spot was somehow palpable to the poet as he sat in the warm light of a Brooklyn afternoon and gazed out at the site on which one day the WTC would stand, developing his sense that cities and nations truly do exist outside of time and can therefore flourish and grow even despite the evil that befalls them. In that thought, lie the seeds of comfort for a stricken city and a stricken nation.

There’s also something deeply Jewish about this line of thinking. The eternal people isn’t eternal, after all, because individual men and women live forever, but because they live their lives as individuals but also as part of a collective whole that transcends the details of their lives: that is what the prophet meant when he used the phrase am olam to describe the Jewish people and it’s what we mean today when we talk about the weird paradox that, despite everything, the most powerful of our enemies (the Romans, the Crusaders, the Inquisitors, the Cossacks, the Nazis, the Soviets) have vanished from the stage of world history and the Jewish people has somehow remained. And the same is true of our American nation, that it exists independent of its citizens and that it endures regardless of what happens to any of us. The thousands who died in Iraq and Afghanistan are certainly in that category, but so are the dead of 9/11: individuals whose lives were cruelly cut short, but who live on in the idea of a nation that transcends the life stories of its citizens and exists in its own right. May their memory be a blessing for us all! And may they all—the dead in the airplanes and on the ground in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania—may they all rest in peace.

#9/11 #Walt Whitman #Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

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maybeaprincess6 · 8 years ago

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*Affectionate finger guns at @margoteve and @iristovevo *

(Several of these are highly inspired by conversations and headcanons from our Discord chat, lol, so shout out XD)

1. Who is the most affectionate?

They both are very open and liberal with their affection (Much to Praxina’s discomfort) but Mephisto is especially clingy and will often come and drape himself over Iris randomly. They are both fond of unexpected little kisses on the forehead or cheek.

2. Big spoon/Little spoon?

It switches several times throughout the night, but Mephisto sleeps curled up on his side more often than not, making him a natural little spoon for Iris to just sorta grab onto. They don’t have a strong preference either way; they’re both equally comfy in either position.

3. Most common argument?

*winks at chat* Food discourse is a biggie. Iris is not a fan of many staple Ephedian foods.

More seriously, they get worried when the other puts themselves in harm’s way. Mephisto is supposed to protect her, but her magic is much stronger than his. This argument arises pretty much every time they go into battle, but they know it’s born of mutual concern, and they trust and believe in each other enough not to let it get in the way of what must be done.

4. Favorite non-sexual activity?

They do stop to eat and sleep sometimes.

Okay but seriously they like training together, riding the Ephedian equivalent of horses, (whatever Amaru is, I guess?) reading quietly in the same room, (I know Mephisto has said he isn’t a reader but that’s obviously not entirely true, he’s definitely studied a lot of magic books at the very least, plus Iris probably helps him warm up to the hobby in general,) cooking/baking together, even just chilling in the same proximity.

5. Who is most likely to carry the other?

Mephisto, 100%. He carries her any and every time she’ll allow it. She weighs almost nothing to him. If he can find an excuse to pick her up he will use it. XD

6. What is their favorite feature of their partner’s?

Physical features? Mephisto loves her hair (both colors he doesn't care) and her smile and her freckles. She loves his hair, too, as well as his jaw and his biceps. They both absolutely adore each other’s eyes.

Non-physically, Iris loves his childlike wonder, his openness, the way he gets excited about everything, even his childish immature side, (though sometimes he can be very irritating XD) He loves her joy, her goodness, her compassion, how she sees the good in everyone and everything, the way she makes him want to be more. Better.

7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

The very first thing is the way they battle. (If battles are still happening at this point in a given universe.) A lot of magic blasts just barely miss, or are shot just a half-second too late to hit before a shield can be raised.

Any hand-to-hand combat causes the breath to catch in their throats and they pause just a moment too long, looking at each other’s eyes and trying to process exactly how close their lips suddenly are.

The banter takes a flirtier undertone than usual, though they try to be subtle.

8. Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate?

*snorts* Pumpkin, started as an inside joke (referencing the love spell incident) but he ends up using it unironically. They also call each other by their titles a lot, i.e. “Princess,” “my King,” “my Queen.” Because they revere and respect one another and this shows that. (Plus throwing a “my” in there makes both of them a little lightheaded and fluttery bc they feel so lucky.)

9. Who worries the most?

As addressed above, they both worry a lot. Mephisto is slightly prone to paranoia, though. He's lost too many loved ones. He doesn't think he could take it if he lost her, too.

For Iris’ part, while she doesn't doubt his skill and knowledge, he doesn't have as much raw power backing him up and that scares her.

10. Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?

Iris has a better memory, in general, but Mephisto can surprise her with exactly how much trivial information he retains.So both I guess.

11. Who tops?

They switch frequently next question

12. Who initiates kisses?

Both, pretty much 50/50. They're both masters of the distraction kiss, too. Mephisto was definitely more shy at the start, though.

13. Who reaches for the other’s hand first?

Iris, I think. It catches him off guard a lot at first. (My poor touch-starved son.) But he always welcomes it.

14. Who kisses the hardest?

Once he's used to it, definitely Mephisto. He tends to take it just a half step too far and she has to calm him down if they're in public. He's just so enthusiastic and she loves it.

15. Who wakes up first?

Iris is a morning person and Mephisto is a little groggier, so she usually wakes up first and watches him breathe for a while before she smooches him awake.

16. Who wants to stay in bed just a little longer?

Mephisto, most mornings. His sleep schedule under Gramorr wasn't exactly regular or sufficient so he has a little trouble adjusting to an actual, proper sleep pattern. Moreover, he considers being able to sleep in a bit as one of the luxuries of being free.

He doesn't mind so much if Iris kisses him awake, though. Seeing her as soon as he opens his eyes is worth it.

17. Who says I love you first?

Mephisto probably lets it slip accidentally (and possibly in pun form) without too much forethought. He was embarrassed and nervous until she said it back, then he was completely elated.

18. Who leaves little notes in the other’s one lunch? (Bonus: what does it usually say?)

They are both constantly leaving each other cute little love notes and even just simple “I love you”s just because they can.

19. Who tells their family/friends about their relationship first?

Well, pre-reform (and probably in general) they're actively trying to keep it a secret. Their success varies. Praxina and the other Princesses may find out without having to be told. Iris obviously tells her parents, probably while she and Mephisto nervously hold hands behind their backs. (They needn't worry so much, her parents probably love him.)

20. What do their family/friends think of their relationship?

Her parents are probably down with it. He's powerful and has obviously changed and they clearly love each other. Talia spends about a year lowkey suspicious and claiming it’s a bad idea but eventually warms up to him. Carissa and Lyna get used to it and end up approving after about a month. Auriana instantly accepts them, lol.

Praxina... has complicated feelings about it. On the one hand, the thought of anybody finding her brother attractive, and specifically the idea of someone being physical with him, is inherently repulsive to her and she often voices her disgust. On the other, she’s scared of losing him. Deep down, though, she’s happy that he’s happy, and is their staunchest supporter when push comes to shove. (Ofc she pulls Iris aside and warns her that she’d better not hurt him.)

21. Who is more likely to start dancing with the other?

Probably Mephisto but Iris certainly isn’t complaining. They’re that one couple that stays on the dancefloor longer than everybody else and tend to forget they aren’t alone bc all they can see is each other.

22. Who cooks more/who is better at cooking?

They like cooking and baking together, though Iris is much better at it. It’s not so much lack of skill; Mephisto can follow instructions well enough and he has good taste, but he’s extremely accident prone. He has enough kitchen horror stories to fill a whole evening if you get him going on the topic.

23. Who comes up with cheesy pick up lines?

They’re both guilty of it, but Mephisto. Good lord, Mephisto. Nobody knows where or how he comes up with them all, or how he rattles them off so fast. It’s been speculated that he stays up nights, inventing and memorizing them, but no, too many are obviously born of context. He’s an enigma.

24. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear during inappropriate times?

Once over his initial reluctance, (he’s very nervous and awkward about intimacy at first, partly from inexperience and partly bc he’s terrified of hurting her, but she’s more than willing to wait as long as he needs and eventually he warms up to the idea,) Mephisto is extremely guilty of it.

His innocent nature makes it even more shocking than his cheesy pick up line talents. Iris would rather forget how many times he’s made her blush in public before darting off as if nothing had happened. Of course, Iris’ skill in this area isn’t exactly lacking, and she’s gotten plenty of revenge.

(There are certain foreign dignitaries that honestly believe both the Ephedian royals suffer chronic hot flashes, they turn red so often.)

25. Who needs more assurance?

Both of them can be vulnerable. They both have bad days, weaknesses, fears. But Mephisto is... definitely the more fragile of the two.

He’s seen things, done things, that haunt him. He spent most of his life being used and abused by Gramorr. He clawed his way back into the light, fighting to get away from the dark magic that had been corrupting him for all those years. He’s been broken and mended himself so many times. He’s got trauma. He has nightmares.

Iris is there for him. She’s his rock. She comforts him and holds him and makes him feel safe. For the first time in so long, he feels safe. He trusts her. He lets his guard down with her, shows her his scars, and she takes them all and soothes them. She helps him heal his long-broken heart. Finally, after so many years of hurting, he’s begun recovering.

26. What would be their theme song?

(I mean I’ve got a whole playlist but) This cover of Ed Sheeran’s Perfect

27. Who would sing their child back to sleep?

Both, definitely, either taking turns or together. Incidentally, they tend to sing each other back to sleep, too. (Praxina and Mephisto used to do it for one another, sometimes, but now their spouses have willingly picked up the habit.)

28. What do they do when they’re away from each other?

It isn't often that a Queen is made to be apart from her King, or vice versa. Nor a Princess from her Knight. But it happens. When it does, they feel very lonely and uncomfortable and oddly frail. Like part of them, the best and strongest part, is suddenly gone.

They do their best on their own, (ideally with frequent conversations over magical communicators, if possible,) until they are able to reunite.

(Every such reunion involves running over to each other and him picking her up and spinning her around and they kiss as if they've been apart for months. Even if it's only been a few days.)

29. one headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart

...There's three upsetting aus I can think of off the top of my head. Idk if they count as headcanons but if not then the answer for 25 certainly does.

Say they were together but “Crowning Glory part II” still happened and Mephisto “died...”

Or Praxina “died” instead and Mephisto gets the mask, and honestly that might be worse, because he would blame Iris and hate her...

Or say everything's fine but his corruption runs too deep and he can't help but turn on her and stay evil.

30. one headcanon about this OTP that mends it

Here's a bunch bc we need a lot of fluff to make up for that lol

Even though the odds are stacked really high against them, they work through it all, together. They support and comfort each other and make it happen.

Mephisto learns light magic and rids himself of any remaining corruption and fights alongside Iris as her partner and protector.

And just like. Imagine the proposal and wedding like ahhhh so cute and pure and good!!!

Also they eventually have twins, themselves, and they do their very best to be the parents they wish they'd had, growing up.

Plus you know they’re the best dang rulers Ephedia’s ever had.

I really love this ship, okay? I have a lot of feels.

#iristo #lr spoilers #iris #mephisto #my post #my kids #I love this ship #my poor son #but I love it

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eyeballsofficialtwitteraccount · 8 years ago

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I’ve spent days deciphering Steve Harwell’s code. I will now delve into a detailed, line by line analysis of what I’ve learned.

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me

The code starts off by referring to an unknown figure known as Somebody. This figure is likely a being with future vision, seeing as how within this first line they foresee an event. This prophecy of an unspecified world rolling an individual, possibly Steve Harwell, is difficult to fully understand, but I think I figured it out. Steve Harwell is either going to create some kind of weaponized planet that he can pilot, or be destroyed in some sort of freakish accident involving enhanced planet rotation speed. Regardless, this will all become more clear as the code continues.

I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed

My research showed that this is a human phrase that essentially means that an individual is intellectually inferior to their peers. However, I think it has a more literal meaning in this context. Steve Harwell is clarifying that he is not the most powerful force there is, but at the same time threatening that he has the potential to become much stronger with time.

She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an ‘L’ on her forehead

This part of the code refers to an unknown female, performing some kind of strange salute. Further research showed that when a human holds their fingers in a right angle on their foreheads, it is meant to be some kind of insult. Seeing how it is directed at someone else and not himself, Steve Harwell is likely trying to say that anybody who tries to oppose him, in this case the female, will have no success, and just end up looking like a fool.

Well, the years start coming and they don’t stop coming

In this line of the code, Steve Harwell references the ever progressing passage of time. He likely means this to reiterate the inevitability of him completing work on his weapon, and how, although it may take some time, he is always getting closer to that goal.

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

I see this as meaning that Steve Harwell has a disregard for the rules that have been set forth by other members of the human race. He seems to express distaste towards abiding by the rules, and chooses instead to run in the opposite direction. Surely, by running away from the rules set by others, he is running towards the rules he will set himself once he takes over.

Didn’t make sense not to live for fun; your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

This was one of the more vexing lines to decipher. My attempts at research were futile, as even most humans seemed confused at the deeper meaning behind this. My theory, however, is that this line is Steve Harwell making fun of other humans. My interpretation of this statement is that Steve Harwell emphasizes, again, that he should not play by the rules, and should instead do what he sees as ideal for himself. The second part of this line is meant to mock those who choose to follow the rules set by humans, claiming that their brains, or intelligence levels, increase, but their heads, or freedom and power, decrease.

So much to do, so much to see, so what’s wrong with taking the back streets?

To humans, the “back streets” are generally seen as unnecessary and out of the way. Here, Steve Harwell teases those who believe such, claiming that there is much more than what most seem to think. This is potentially a hint as to how he is getting access to the materials for his weapon: By staying beneath the radar and only interacting with people who have few social connections.

You’ll never know if you don’t go; you’ll never shine if you don’t glow.

The first half of this line refers back to the previous one, stating, again, that people are unaware of what goes on because they don’t believe that there is anything to be found where they do not look. The second part of this could possibly referring to some kind of energy cannon that the weapon will have, using light to disintegrate his foes. By literally and figuratively radiating energy to demonstrate his power, Steve Harwell would surely shine above all others.

Hey now, you’re an all star, get your game on, go play

Here, along with in the next line, Steve Harwell calls for help from those who know the true meaning behind the code. He refers to them as “all stars”, due to their potential connection to space or light. I considered that maybe it meant the Crystal Gems, but then I read the next line.

Hey now, you’re a rock star, get the show on, get paid

The phrase “rock star” normally refers to performers of a certain genre of human music. However, I find it far too fitting as a code name for the Crystal Gems to believe otherwise. Whether this means that the Crystal Gems are already working for Steve Harwell, or that he intends to recruit them in the future, they must be kept under supervision for any behavior that indicates a connection with Steve Harwell.

All that glitters is gold, only shooting stars break the mold

This is the third consecutive line that references stars in some way, further solidifying the link with the Crystal Gems. This is supported even more by the idea that all that glitters is gold, but, since gems have bodies made of light as opposed to metal, the Crystal Gems glitter without being gold. This also emphasizes Steve Harwell’s desire to have the Crystal Gems working with him, seeing how he compares them to gold, which is a valuable resource to humans.

It’s a cool place, and they say it gets colder. You’re bundled up now, wait until you get older.

This likely refers to the low temperature of the vacuum of space, which is the only place where a planet would be able to be weaponized. The second part of this line indicates that those working for Steve Harwell are going to need to be prepared for the conditions in which they will construct the weapon.

But the meteor men beg to differ, judging by the hole in the satellite picture

Steve Harwell’s usage of the term “meteor men” basically confirms without a doubt that he is working with gems or some other similar beings, perhaps native to the asteroid belt within Earth’s solar system. These beings seem to be helping Steve Harwell stay undercover, by blocking satellites from revealing his secrets.

The ice we skate is getting pretty thin, the waters getting warm so you might as well swim

From what I understand, this line seems to refer to how Steve Harwell’s creation of the weapon is drawing nearer. The ice is representative of the planning phase for the construction of the weapon, and when said ice gives way to the water underneath, him and his workers will begin “swimming”, which is obviously code for building. The combination of the ice getting thinner and the water getting warmer both seem to demonstrate that Steve Harwell’s master plan draws ever closer.

My world’s on fire, how bout yours? That’s the way I like it and I’ll never get bored

Steve Harwell uses the term “my world” in this line. This almost certainly refers to his planet that he intends to turn into a weapon. The idea that said world is on fire is likely a hint to what planet it is. Possibilities are Mercury, which is very close to Earth’s sun, and thus much hotter than Earth, Venus, which has a thick atmosphere which traps in heat, as well as having a surface riddled with volcanoes, Mars, which is a fiery red color when seen from Earth, or perhaps even the sun itself, although this is unlikely, seeing how it would be nigh impossible for human technology to work in close proximity to the sun. However, Steve Harwell notes that he is comfortable with his world, meaning it is likely not a planet with very extreme conditions.

At this point, some of the lines from the code repeat themselves, so I will skip ahead to the new lines that show up later.

Somebody once asked, could I spare some change for gas, I need to get myself away from this place

Here, for the second and final time, the unknown figure from the first line is referenced again. Here, rather than providing Steve Harwell with knowledge and assistance, the figure is pleading for Steve Harwell to return the favor, and help them make their escape before he creates his weapon.

I said, Yup! What a concept, I could use a little fuel myself, and we could all use a little change

This is the final non repeated line in the code. It shows Steve Harwell’s response to the figure from the previous line. He agrees to help it escape before he makes his weapon. However, he also notes that he may still need its assistance in the future, perhaps to escape from something else. The concluding statement of “we could all use a little change” is representative of Steve Harwell’s desire to take over Earth and change life as humans know it.

If any others have any further things they can draw from this, I’d like to hear them myself, so I can put together an action plan.

#long post #i normally dont tag things without being asked beforehand but #I think this warrants it

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rogerk471 · 5 years ago

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HW5 proj

I split this assignment over a couple of days, I kept the first section intact for soucring but upon thinking about writing something involving this topic I found myself questioning things. Not the facts as I understand them, but my presentation of them and how people might interpret them. I’m not afraid of being judged, but I want to reach people and not turn them away. These days people only try to appeal to those like them, or like minded. They alienate those who they disagree with. That is a big problem in our country today, I found that out the hard way recently.

Anyway, HW5 proj is going to be split into two categories, simply labeled 1 and 2. They are part of the same submission, I just wanted to be clear for the reader which came first.

1.)

I am dedicating my time to finding good sources for the stories that I have mentioned. That means finding sources to prove how the media lied or was incompetent in regard to Bret Kavanaugh, and the Covington Kids.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/media/new-york-times-kavanaugh/index.html

I would not usually trust CNN, but upon reading this article I noted that it reflected reality. Though, it seemed to be missing the number 1 ciriticism and even seemed to place the blame on the Editor. Essentially the “journalists” who wrote the NYT article omitted key information, this CNN article attributes that to an accident or misunderstanding, but the truth is the journalists were selling a book about Kavanagh the same day they broke their story. Which means they likely omitted key information all just to create buzz about their book. They retracted the story two days later, but there were people who were still talking about Justice Kavanaugh as if he did it for the next week or so. “Fake news travels around the world before the truth has a chance to put their shoes on.”

Independent Journalist Tim Pool speaks about the NYT story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWy4ovdgEow

In this video Tim talks about the original case with Ford, and how none of the witnesses she named corroborated her story. Despite this, the Washington Post posted an article in 2018 that said Keyser said she believed Ford’s story. (Keyser later said she was pressured behind the scenes to agree or bad rumors would be spread about her.)

This was quietly revealed in the book, “The Education of Bret Kavanaugh: An Investigation” which was authored by Robin Pagebrin and Kate Kelly. Keyser was named as a witness by Christine Blassey Ford, but she claimed she had no knowledge of any sexual assault and said she did not believe Ford’s story.

The important thing to remember are the names Robin Pagebrin and Kate Kelly. Why you ask? Ha ha ha…The pair were the authors that broke the story about the “new allegations” against Bret Kavanaugh on September 14, 2019

Keep in mind, the NYT article was about a “new” allegation against Brett Kavanaugh, but the truth is it is also an old story, and the Washington Post had passed on the story over a year prior. So, what did the NYT have to gain by posting the story? In Tim’s own words: “Money”

Tim Pool’s video about the NYT retraction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdqATTJi20c

2.)

What comes next:

Upon reading this I started to have come concerns about my approach. Really it is two things that are weighing heavy on my mind. First, it is hard to talk about the media spreading lies and not come off like I am being condescending. It has to do partially with the sheer volume of the mistruths being spread in media, but also with the hyper partisan nature of our country these days. For example, it occurred to me that by merely pointing out how the NYT manufactured a old story that Washington Post passed on over a year prior just to sell a book I am going to be upsetting those who went all in believing Christine Blasé Ford. The facts turned against her, but even that part of the story doesn’t have anything to do with the NYT article I am referencing. So to some, by pointing out the circumstances of the second story it may seem like I am trying to defend sexual assault or something. That is harsh, because I absolutely in no way, shape, or form condone such behavior.

Secondly, and in reference again to the volume of mistruths, it would literally take hundreds of hours to address all of the mistruths to shape the larger picture. To truly understand how bad journalism in America is right now, one would have to have knowledge of, and be accepting of the truth, of countless stories.

The newest mistruths being spread today have to do with Trump. People are currently spreading that Trump said the Coronavirus was a hoax, but upon doing research into the matter I found that it started with CNN taking a quote from Trump out of context. It is a coordinated effort too though because while this was going on, Twitter allowed the Biden campaign to publish a video clip that was made to show Trump saying the Coronavirus was a hoax. The truth though, is that he was talking about the Democrats blaming Trump for the coronavirus was the “new hoax.” In fact, the word Coronavirus and Hoax was nearly a minute apart, which for a speech is fairly significant.

But just like with the Covington kids, the media published a narrative and wrote the story they wanted. Facts be damned.

It pains me to have to take a stance like this because I don’t want to defend Trump. I don’t want to defend any individual in particular, I want to defend the truth. Not my truth, or “their truth” but THE truth. In doing so I anger many people and they demean my character. Some are so tightly bound to their beliefs that it causes them to become angry because they can’t reconcile with anything that doesn’t fit their narrative or what they have mindlessly read.

In hindsight this was precisely the direction I originally wanted to go with my paper. I think I got too caught up in trying to cite specific stories rather than addressing the problem at large. But how do I talk about these things without being labeled as the worst names?

People say that diversity is a strength, and I could not agree with that sentiment more. But it seems to focus solely on party lines, or our personal definitions like race, sexuality or gender identity. It seems that America, and even our colleges at large, have forgotten that diversity of thought, and critical thinking are two of the most important qualities for a scholar to have.

Just by having this view, I know that people might hate me because to them I am somehow demeaning them. I want equality, and I don’t want any group to suffer, especially the marginalized ones. I just can’t bring myself to ignore what the truth is. It seems other people are all too willing to sacrifice the truth just to win an argument or get their way. Where does that lead us?

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prosperopedia · 5 years ago

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How to Get Out of Debt

If you have substantial debt, you’re much like the average American, who carries a personal debt load of about $30,000. That number doesn’t even include a mortgage, which is usually considered a good kind of debt. Instead, that $30,000 average debt load (as reported by Northwestern Mutual’s 2019 Planning and Progress Study) on Americans consists of payments being made for credit cards, car loans, student loans, and similar kinds of personal debt.

The study referenced above from Northwestern Mutual also found that 15% of Americans believe they’ll never be out of debt for the rest of their lives. How defeated is that?

But that’s not you! It’s time for you to get out of debt. That’s why you’re reading this article.

I’ve always been somewhat leery of debt ever since I can remember. Owing money to someone else, to a company or to some other entity, often feels like bondage, like there is something hanging over your head thats keeping you from living life to its fullest.

Despite that natural leeriness we all have towards , our modern credit-based materialistic society has a way of influencing a person against his better judgement, and I’ve also found myself at times falling into the trap.

In this article, I’m going to share with you the principles and practices I’ve learned about how to get out of debt, including examples from my own journey going from having debt to having significant wealth. After all, to reach the ultimate financial potential and achieve prosperity, your objective shouldn’t be just to get out of debt, but to build your wealth such that you can enjoy life more fully and have more capability to give back to others who might be trying to follow along a similar path to financial security.

At its essence, getting out of debt essentially consists of bringing in more income than you spend. Viewed in this context, getting out of debt or avoiding ever getting into debt in the first place sounds like a really simple objective. Mathematically, if you make $5,000 in a month (which represents about $30/hour in a forty-hour work week), and you spend $4,500 in a month, you should have $500 per week left over, right?

We all know life is not nearly that simple. Your $5,000 per month income is beholding to taxes and other government withholdings. In a dynamic world, where you might get sick or injured and can’t work, Many people work jobs that are commission based or otherwise fluctuate. Small business owners like me

Despite all of the variableness of life when it comes to income and expenses, two things need to happen in your life: more income and less expenditures. To get out of debt and stay out of debt, you need to be assertive about controlling those two elements of the financial equation as best you can. If you’re really interested in getting out of debt, you know that you can always do better.

I’m going to explain what steps you’ll need to take to get out of debt, which will reduce your stress level, allow you to start building financial wealth, and improve your overall quality of life.

For most people, getting into debt involves a several areas of negligence regarding finances. Excluding those who have simply had unusual misfortune because of unavoidable health and medical issues or some kind of accident, people who are in debt typically have not used a budget. They haven’t paid attention to what’s happening with their money. They are casual about controlling their income versus their expenses. They tend to be impulsive and can’t pass up what might appear to be a good deal. They haven’t been assertive about education and increasing their income.

In order to get out of debt, the biggest obstacle you’ll need to overcome is changing your mind about money and training yourself to be disciplined, to treat money as a servant rather than as a master.

I’m going to approach getting out of debt using a fairly straightforward list that I’ve seen work for me and many other people I know who are debt-free and/or wealthy.

Here are the items on that list that you’ll need to do:

Develop a financially responsible mindset and learn to be disciplined

Reduce and manage your expenses

Increase your income

Set specific financial goals

Believe me, if you can get a grip on this little checklist, you can get yourself out of debt.

Before I get into the details of how you’ll get yourself out of debt, I’m going to share a quick testimonial from Justine, who runs the Debt Free Millenials YouTube channel. Justine paid off $35,000 in 2 1/2 years on just a $37,000 income.

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Let’s walk through the components of your plan to become debt free.

Developing a Financially Responsible Mindset and Learning to be Disciplined

If you take a serious look at the behavior that has gotten you into debt, it should be apparent that you need to change your perception on money and finances. Often, financial irresponsibility is a learned behavior, meaning that it came from being taught the wrong things about finances from parents or simply not being taught the right things about money. Many times, having the wrong attitude towards money comes from being entitled by parents or others who have shielded you from the consequences of not managing your finances enough to reinforce bad habits.

Whatever your background, it’s time to change your perspective on money!

Changing your mindset about finances takes some serious resolve. Often people have a hard time doing it alone without assertively changing lots of thing about their lives, shedding bad habits and weaving new, good habits into their lives.

The best way I can think of to develop a financially responsible mindset is to associate yourself with others who already have that mindset, or who are on a journey similar to yours.

You need to find and become part of a community of people who are determined to get out of debt themselves, and to help others get out of debt. Often, communities like the one you need involve a particular program or methodology that is being followed.

For instance, you may have heard of Dave Ramsey, likely the most popular person in the United States when it come to helping people get out of debt. Well, Mr. Ramsey has a program called Financial Peace University (available for about $130) that is taught at many local churches and community centers. You can search for a class near you by entering your city or zip code on the Financial Peace University sign up page.

There are lots of other local classes that bring together groups of people who are working towards getting out of debt. My own church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has regular self-reliance groups that are designed to help members start on getting out of debt using a 12-week program outline. They don’t cost anything, and they include the concept of having an “accountability partner” to whom you report your progress throughout the week.

If you’re not ready to jump in and join a group yet, the least you can do is begin regularly listening to media streams of these people who are experts at getting out of debt. You can tune in to Dave Ramsey’s radio show each day of the week, and you’ll find your attitude towards money start to change as you listen to people call in and get advice about their specific situations.

To give you an idea of what a debt elimination program looks like, here is a list of the “Baby Steps” used in Dave Ramsey’s debt elimination and wealth building program. You can read more details about these 7 baby steps here. Many of the steps deal directly with debt, and others work on building your wealth.

Baby Step 1 – Emergency Fund: Save and set aside $1,000 that you can use for emergencies.

Baby Step 2 – Begin Paying off Debt: Use the debt snowball approach to pay off debts, beginning at the smallest and working up to the largest.

Baby Step 3 – Expense Fund: Save enough money to cover 3-6 months of expenses.

Baby Step 4 – Begin Investing: Invest 15% of your income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement funds.

Baby Step 5 – College Fund: Set aside money for your children to attend college using 529 college savings plans or Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs).

Baby Step 6 – Pay Off Home: Avoid wasting money on mortgage interest payments by paying as much as possible to get rid of your mortgage.

Baby Step 7 – Build Wealth: Put your money to work and build wealth while also contributing to charitable causes and to your posterity.

Reducing and Managing Your Expenses

No matter how much money you make, if you don’t learn to manage your expenses, you’ll find that you can always spend as much money as you make, and you often look back and wonder where your money went.

Tracking Your Expenses Habit: One of the first steps to effectively managing your expenses, bringing them in line with your life vision, is to simply track every expense you have over the course of a month.

You can start this habit today. Simply create an entry in a spreadsheet, a notes app on your phone, or whatever is the most convenient, whenever you spend any money. Record the amount you spend on your groceries, your cell phone, cable, internet, and other regular bills, your mortgage or rent payment, money spent out on a dinner date, going to the movies, everything!

At the end of the month, tally up how much you spent. You’ll likely be surprised not just at the total, but at some of the amounts you spend on various “categories” of expenditures, even if you haven’t officially formalized your spending categories in an official budget.

Simply starting down the path of discipline by tracking your expenses is a powerful way to put some distance behind you on your way to creating the more thorough and complete budgeting system that will shore up your finances.

After you’ve started tracking your expenses, you start to have a much more informed understanding of how your hard earned income is returned back to the world in the form of expenses. You can now begin to form strategies based upon the data you’re observing. For instance, you might look at your car payment and have the epiphany that you don’t need such an expensive ride. You might decide to sell it and get something that doesn’t require payments, but that works for you functionally and gets you where you need to go. You might realize that you’re spending way too much on soft drinks and snacks, on eating out, on other habits that you’ve known weren’t great, but now you can see more clearly what the financial impact is, you can make up your mind to reduce or eliminate those expenses from your spending habits.

Creating a Budget: The next major step is to create a budget, which acts as a monthly, weekly, and daily way to ensure that you spend with intent, not by accident. Managing expenses using a budget allows you apply a higher-level perspective to what you’re doing on a daily basis. As you prayerfully, thoughtfully plan on a regular basis what you should be spending your money on, then put that plan into action during your daily interactions with spending opportunities, you will have greater control over what’s going out of your account.

Increasing Your Income

The other side of this debt elimination equation is obviously how much income you make. It makes sense that the more money you have available to put towards paying off debts, the quicker those debts will be gone, and you can start using that extra money to invest and build wealth.

The quickest way to increase your income is to pick up more hours at your day job, get another job part time, or take advantage of some of the many ways that exist to make money outside of your full-time job. Many of the financial gurus recommend getting a part-time job delivering pizzas or waiting tables, jobs that don’t require long-term commitments, but that can be used to quickly pay down debts that may be costing you far too much in interest. Quickly adding a few hundred extra dollars per week to pay down the principal will have a compounding effect on that money’s ability to pull you out of debt.

There are many jobs, including doing freelance writing and other one-off contract work, that you can do from home or that you can fit into 30 minute blocks of time. Those opportunities give you even more flexibility with regard to snagging some extra cash to use for exterminating your debt.

If you’re in a situation where your income versus debt scenario means that you’ll be paying off your debt for years, you might consider how to quickly gain the skills and tooling you need to increase your income substantially at your full-time job. For instance, many companies will give a promotion or pay raise for an employee who passes a certification or demonstrates a skill that the company attaches more value to. Some people find it appealing to change their career altogether to something that is simply more lucrative, but that doesn’t take a lot of time (like a 4-year college degree program) to get into. Sales jobs are often opportunities to increase your income substantially without needing to spend significant time and expense getting a drawn out formal education at a university. An entire industry has been launched out of the constant need technology companies have for software developers and other technically skilled employees. Those who have the propensity for it can enter a technology boot camp program and learn a completely new, highly valuable skill set in a matter of a few months, seeing their income go up by as much as double what they earned in their previous career.

Regardless of how you want to approach this income side of the occasion, it’s worthwhile to consider whether you might need to make a few changes to increase your earning power, even spending more time working, at least until you can get caught up on your debt.

Setting Financial Goals

While you’re in the business of getting rid of your debt and relieving yourself of that burden, it’s a good idea to talk about setting financial goals, even ones that go beyond debt. I’ll share my own experience with setting financial goals.

When my wife and I were married more than 16 years ago, we started our marriage with some debt, about $10,000. Although we hadn’t been entirely irresponsible with our money, we also hadn’t been very intentional. We wasted some money. We made some bad decisions. We weren’t on the best path for avoiding debt.

Together, we sat down and made a plan to eliminate our debt and to move beyond that. Our plan included reaching a million dollar net worth within 10 years of being married. To accomplish that goal, we knew we would have to become very careful about managing our expenses as well as increasing our income. We read a book called, “The Millionaire Next Door” together, and we talked about what the concepts explained in that book meant for our family in particular.

We accomplished our goal on time, and we’ve been blessed for focusing our financial attention on a shared goal that gave us a lot of freedom. We now have seven kids who we’re able to provide for, including giving them a complete education in music (which gets expensive), supporting them in participating in competitive sports (which is also expensive), and providing them with travel and other experiences that we simply would not have access to if we hadn’t set financial goals and repeatedly evaluated how we were doing in terms of those goals. We’ve also had the means to help people out through donating to charities at church and in the community, and we’ve been able to help family and friends financially because we exercised discipline early on in our marriage.

Whether you’re married or single, in addition to determining to get yourself out of debt, make a financial plan that takes you through retirement and puts you where you want to be to enjoy your future.

Get started today.

It’ll be worth it.

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