#primarily motivated by the Reactions they share with each other when they take that guy's head off

[subsequentibis]

red string of fate, or, this good luck charm hanging off of my arm was left here by the police

[yourcoffindoor]

Bulletproof Heart Pt. 3

Pairing: Gerard Way x Reader

AN: Without further ado, here’s part 3! Sorry if there’s any typos that I missed, I kind of speed edited this one. I have one more part planned for this series, so the end is coming up soon. Hope you enjoy!!

From city to city, crowd to crowd, the tour continued on, and you went on with the show, your unwelcome encounter with Alex only making you more tenacious, more determined to outperform every band there.

You put on an unaffected front, making it seem as if you couldn't care less that he was playing Warped tour as well. Gavin was the only band member who knew about your history, and he fluttered about you like a mother hen ready to offer comfort or homicide at the drop of a hat. He would regularly attempt to gauge your feelings, but it only served to make you withdraw deeper into yourself, denying that could ever be shaken by his presence.

But the truth was you were shaken. You were scared.  Scared that you would one day see that face smirking at you from a crowd and freeze, unable to ignore a presence so heavy and halting like a storm cloud threatening a downpour.

And then there was Gerard. You hadn't seen him since your first show, but your thoughts turned toward him again and again. What must he have thought that day, when Alex forced his way between you? When you stormed off alone? If he had tried to come and speak to you since that day, you hadn't heard anything. Did he think that there was still something left between you and Alex?

It was that thought that caused the most pain every time it crossed your mind, and you hated yourself for it. At night when you were alone your thoughts went around and around in the same infuriating cycle, from not caring what anyone had to think about you, to anxiously wondering if Gerard had someone else he was sharing that crooked smile with. You never let the words cross your mind or leave your lips, but your heart beat constantly with the hopeful thought: Please don't think that I could have feelings for anyone else.

Meanwhile, the Parties never ended--in fact they seemed to grow in boisterousness, picking up attendees like a tornado gathering wind. Your band mates went every now and again to socialize, but They held no value for you. Primarily because the chance of running into Alex was far too high-- You knew he would never miss an opportunity to get shit faced, and he would probably be skulking around in hopes of seeing you there, ready to latch on and torment you further. But beyond that, the chance of running into Gerard was likely to be less than zero.

That didn't stop your band mates from encouraging you to loosen up, hoping to pop the contemplative bubble that you'd encased yourself in for weeks.

"I'm gonna head out. What are you up to tonight? You should take a break from everything." Gavin suggested before heading out one night, despite knowing full well you'd die before you'd agree.

"I'll find something to keep me busy."

"I'd tell you to come with, but I know a certain someone you're crushing on won't be there."

"Oh really?" You flipped through a book on the table in front of you, playing dumb and failing miserably at it. "I do not know to whom you are referring."

"Yeah poor guy. Frank told me that there's too much pressure to drink here, so he's always in the bus alone. Bored. Desperate for human contact."

You gave Gavin the side-eye. "Alright alright, we get it."

He laughed. "Their bus is five down on the left. Y'know, if you feel like it. Thank me later." He said, darting out the door before anything could be thrown at him.

You rolled your eyes and flipped through the book, trying to read and forget the information that was just dropped in your lap. You remembered when you and Gerard had last spoke, how shy he looked when he attempted to invite you over before being cut off by Alex's sudden arrival.

Maybe a quick stop wouldn't hurt, you thought to yourself. He was in the middle of asking me to anyway...

Before you knew it you were on your feet, flinging on a jacket and taking a step outside. It would be the nice thing to do after all, since he can't leave the bus...

It took a bit of searching, but you finally found a bus with My Chemical Romance painted on its side in large black letters. Your heart did its familiar flutter as you walked up to the door, raising your hand and giving a rapid succession of knocks.

You heard a slight shuffle from inside, and after a few moments Gerard answered, his face changing from one of confusion to a soft smile as he shook the hair from out of his eyes.

"I hope this isn't a bad time," you said sheepishly, "I was told I could find some good comics here."

He flicked his spent cigarette to the ground, blowing smoke from the corner of his mouth. "Is there ever a bad time for comics? Come on in."

You followed him inside, and he stopped suddenly. "Aw shit." he muttered.

"What is it?" you asked, concerned.

"I just realized we're fucking slobs."

He wasn't wrong, you observed with a laugh. The interior of the bus was divided into piles of organized chaos; clothes tossed into piles on the floor and empty chairs, makeup left open and scattered amongst soda cans by every available counter space. A few stray guitars sat soundless, happily resting until their next performance.

Gerard was obviously a bit embarrassed by the state of the place, as evidenced by the faint red blush that clouded over his nose and cheeks.

"Yeah, so its not exactly Buckingham Palace in here..." he joked, one hand anxiously running through his dark hair. His bashfulness only endeared him to you further.

"Well my bus actually IS Buckingham Palace, and it looks just about the same so don't feel too bad."

"Perfect. Anything to make you feel more at home." He mused, relocating some crumpled clothes from a small sofa nearby. "Have a seat, your majesty."

"I haven't seen you around in awhile." You noted as he hastily shoved things into cupboards.

"I've basically turned into a hermit when I'm not performing. Since I can't step outside without seeing a bottle, I don't really have much choice."

So Gavin was telling the truth. Hm.

"Well, the hermit lifestyle is probably underrated anyway."

He laughed softly. "Oh for sure. And I'll show you whats been keeping me busy this whole time."

Gerard shuffled to the back of the bus for a moment before returning with an armload of comic books, laying them proudly on the table in front of you. "These are some of my current favorites," he began after taking a seat beside you, close enough for you to admire the look of sheer happiness in his expression as he spoke. He was clearly in his element. "This one here has some of the best coloring I've ever seen."

You must have stared at him for a bit too long because he caught your affectionate glance and paused.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," you said, immediately breaking eye contact as heat flooded your cheeks. "Its just nice to hear you talk about them. You're so passionate about it."

He laughed. "Well its also nice to talk about them with someone who gets it."

You felt like you could fly right out of your skin. Everything about him made you feel a sense of belonging that you hadn't found with anyone else before.

"Hey when do I get to see that comic you said you were working on? I think you mentioned that the last time I saw you."

"Oh you remembered! Uh, one sec, I'll pull it out."

He wandered back into the unknown void that was his bunk, and came back with a folio filled to the brim with concepts, sample panels and character sketches.

"I'm pretty proud of this. Its a work in progress so uh...be gentle."

You knew Gerard was talented, but you were taken aback at the skill and creativity that had gone into this endeavor. Here he had created a world entirely his own and you were drawn in immediately.

"Gerard this is fucking fantastic! Seriously I need a full length comic right now."

"Right now? I'd rather talk to you."

You and Gerard talked as if you'd known each other forever. You found him to be witty and charming, but most importantly sincere; and the conversation flowed with ease.

"You know I'm a little surprised. I wouldn't have expected a guy like you to be alone in his bus on a big tour like this."

He laughed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean there's a lot of bands here that seem like they're only motivated by the attention they can get from girls. You're not like that."

"Its never been about that for me. I find those guys just as annoying as you do." He paused for a moment, hesitating as if he was unsure if he should continue. "Speaking of annoying...That guy, Alex--"

"Oh, yeah, sorry about him. I didn't even know he was gonna be on this tour since I haven't spoken to him in ages. I'm doing my best to avoid him."

"You seemed pretty upset when I saw you last. Just wanted to make sure he wasn't bothering you or anything."

You paused for a moment, replaying his words in your head to process them. Gerard not only noticed your reaction to Alex, he remembered and was concerned?

"So you guys aren't like...a thing anymore?"

"NO," you said a bit too eagerly. "I mean no, definitely not. I'd have to be crazy."

"Good," he replied softly, "I mean, I'm glad as long as you're happy."

You realized you had been making eye contact with his lips, the pair of you inching closer to each other with every syllable.

Your breath slowed, and you tucked a strand of stray hair behind your ear. "And...there's no one that you're involved with?"

"No," he confirmed without missing a beat, "but there is someone I have in mind."

If there was a speed limit for heartbeats, you would have been violating the law. Your next words came out almost as a whisper. "And who would that be?"

Hazel eyes flashing, Gerard cupped the side of your face with one hand, and you instinctively moved closer to meet his lips. The kiss felt like it was part dream, too good to be true as endorphins flooded your veins, a heat kindling in your stomach. You couldn't begin to tell if it lasted seconds or minutes, but still when your lips parted, it felt too soon.

"Oh." was all you could say, and the pair of you merely grinned, satisfied to be silent in the aftermath.

You caught a glance at your watch. 1:05 AM.

"I can't believe I have the willpower to do this," you began reluctantly, "but If I don't head back now I'll end up living here."

"I don't see the problem." he remarked, and you punched him in the arm.

"Thanks for a great night." you pecked him on the cheek, and before he had time to react, you jumped up and made your way towards the door.

"Come back anytime for more talk about comics!" he called after you with a laugh.

Your cheeks were buzzing and a warmth spread through your veins, giddy from your night with Gerard. You paused outside of your bus door, taking a deep breath to try and steady your heartbeat. You didn't want to rouse any suspicion from your band mates-not yet anyway. You just wanted to keep this moment to yourself for awhile.

After you cooled down, you quietly opened the door, hoping nobody would notice you sneaking in and that you could hop straight into your bunk. Instead you were met with Gavin and Liz sitting down on the sofa, looking very concerned.

"Hey," you said with hesitation, "Everything alright?"

They shared an uncomfortable look.

"Y/N, I'm not sure how to put this..." Liz began, fumbling with her fingers in an attempt to find the right words.

"What's going on?" you felt the blush from only moments ago drain away into cold dread.

"Its Alex," Gavin explained, "He and his band have been going around with a camera getting girls to flash them in exchange for backstage passes..."

You rolled your eyes. "So he's still trash. What does this have to do with me?"

"Well, the thing is, he's been telling people he has video of you. And him. Together. And that its gonna be included with the rest of the fucked up footage they're recording."

Your pulse started racing, erasing your giddy buzz from only moments before. You slumped into the nearest chair, trying to gather your thoughts.

"I never even knew I was being filmed..." you said softly. Nausea bubbled in your stomach as you were unwillingly dragged back into your intimate memories, a place you had successfully moved on from in recent years but whose impact you could never truly erase.

"Are you ok?" Liz asked, her voice low and gentle as though she was afraid you were about to shatter. Those words were all you needed to be set off.

"No. No I'm not fucking okay." You stood up suddenly from your chair, pacing. "Do you know how hard it was to leave that situation? Do you you know you much I struggled to make a life an a name for myself? How I had to rebuild myself after him? And now this?" You were shaking, your voice trembling with pent up emotion. "This was supposed to be an amazing, once in a lifetime experience. The beginning of everything for us. So why can't I just be left the fuck alone!"  

Your band mates called after you as you stormed to your bunk, pulling the curtains tight behind you and burying your face in your pillow. For the first time in a long time, you let yourself break down, your unhindered sobs turning your pillow into an ocean.

[expectyaytions]

Brothers Part II

Sweet Pea lived for weekend’s with his wife. He loved waking up next to her and making breakfast together. So much of their week was spent with Veronica studying cases and reading lawyer jargon and him reading reports and statistics. He helped her best he could; mostly quizzing her or helping her prep. She had graduated two weeks ago and was waiting to get her bar results.

He had received a duel degree in Community Health and Psychology. After a few years searching for his niche within the areas, he began focusing on the opioid epidemic -primarily children and families who were affected. It started after a social worker friend contacted him one night. The police raided a house where there was selling and there were kids inside. They were able to contact extended family for most, but some kids had nowhere else to go and there were infants who were suffering from withdrawals because their mothers were breastfeeding and using.

Sweet Pea was devastated when he learned it was common occurrence. He and Veronica had gone through a few screenings so in the off chance that there was nowhere for kids of babies to go -they’d be allowed to take them for a period of time. It was hard - the babies were often unsoothable and the children so malnourished and skittish. They would arrive at all hours of the day.

Hermione Lodge had her doubts about Sweet Pea when he and V had begun dating, but once she came over and saw what they were doing she softened a little. She’d stop by in the morning with stuffed animals, blankets and clothes and cuddle the babies and play games with the kids. She made sure each and every child who entered their home left with a comfort item.

    He was in the process of getting approved to build a small facility specific to children and families affected by opioid addiction. They’d be allowed to stay and families would be educated on their loved one. Children would have a place to stay and babies could detox. He’d hit a few snags, but was working harder than ever to get it approved. There were psychologists he was working with to create a program.

Veronica had decided to wanted to do family law. She didn’t originally, but seeing some of the cases that came through her home she wanted kids to come first.

    This weekend however was to be spent away from home. They were headed to Cape Cod for Memorial Day Weekend. They’d rented a cottage on the beach for three nights and were eager to enjoy a mini - overdue vacation. The drive was spent primarily in traffic and listening to NPR.

“I feel like we’re older than we are.” Veronica sighed.

“Just mature.”

“You are not mature! You put a toy rat in the silverware drawer to scare me.” he started laughing so hard and she couldn’t help but join in.

The cottage was perfect. They stopped at the grocery store on the way in and picked up steaks for grilling and salad fixings. Veronica picked out blueberry pie, vanilla ice cream and strawberries - running after they were already in line for a can of whipped cream. She was ready for a weekend with her husband.

Once they arrived at the cottage, Veronica insisted they pour some lemonade and sit out on the patio. The beach was at their fingertips and it was private and quit. They spoke back and forth updating each other about their current projects.

“You know, I didn’t see a beach until I was sixteen. Have I told you this before?”

“Um, no. Please continue.” She slid a strawberry into her mouth.

“As soon as Fangs and I both got our license and had saved up and fixed our first bikes, we headed to the first beach we could locate on a map. It was a two hour drive and we just went. Stopped for sandwiches and cokes and once we got there we were stunned. It was certainly a sight we had never seen. We ended up sunburnt as hell. But it was worth it.”

“That sounds fun. Did you guys ever go back?”

“Nah, things heated up with the serpents and we stuck close to home unless told otherwise.”

“I think it’s really sweet that you guys got to experience so many things with each other.” She grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles.

“There’s a part of me that hopes that that’s where he is now. Just hanging out by the beach, relaxing, drinking beers with a nice looking man who treats him right.” He spoke wistfully.

“Were you surprised when Fangs came out?”

“I was a little, but not really. I mean I didn’t care at all. He would ask me questions like if I ever had dreams about boys and kissing boys and if I thought some kid in our class was cute. So when he officially told me he was bisexual, I kind of already figured as much.”

“It probably meant a lot to him.”

“It did. His dad kind of freaked out, but his mom was too strung out to care or realize. It kind of stopped there though. None of the serpents cared and anyone that had something to say, answered to us anyway. It really worked out in his favor in the end.” He nibbled his lip, something Veronica noticed he did when he was in thought or reminiscing.

“We’ll find him babe. We have to.” She inhaled nervously “we’ll need to tell him he’s going to be a godfather.” Sweet Pea’s brow furrowed in confusion before his eyes went wide.

“Wait! You’re! Are you? For real?” Tears filled his eyes and he jumped over the table and wrapped her in his arms. She nodded circling her arms around him. He pulled away and kissed her, grabbing her cheeks and pulling her face to his.

“I can’t believe it. Really?” She nodded again pleased by his reaction. He spun her around and they celebrated with the pie and ice cream they’d got at the store.

It wasn’t until hours later, after dinner, after giving V a foot massage while watching season two of How to Get Away With Murder, after having celebratory sex, after Veronica had gone to sieep; He snuck outside with a beer. He sat under brightness of the moon and wished he could call Fangs and tell him. Fangs would be the most excited. He’d reassure Sweet Pea that despite their childhood and adolescent years, their own shitty parents - that he, Sweet Pea would make amazing dad. Sweet Pea clenched his teeth and willed himself not to cry. He needed that reassurance. He was scared. He tipped his beer to the empty chair.

“Wherever you are man, congrats - you’re going to be an uncle.”

-//-//-//-

The program and center had been open for a month, but the ribbon cutting was today. He nervously pulled at the collar of his shirt. This whole thing was at Veronica’s insistence. She thought it’d make good press and get the word out. He was sweating even though it was November. He ran a hand through his hair. A knock at the door startled him.

“Honey? It’s me, can I come in?.” He exhaled slowly before opening the door to reveal his pregnant wife. She looked spectacular - she always did. Her hair was a little longer these days, too many things to do and a haircut had not been a priority.

“You look gorgeous.” He smiled at her. He loved her little bump. He ran a hand down her side.

“You’re going to do great. We rehearsed everything - it’s just a few short words. And we’ve already sent things to the papers, this is just for the news channels and so the community knows.” He nodded, his throat dry. She pulled out a bottle of water from her purse. “This might help.” He kissed her gratefully.

“Thank you.”

They emerged together from the entrance of the center, a good sized crowd in front of them. He ran a thumb over his tattoo while approaching the microphone. He told the short version of the background of the center and shared his vision. Veronica stepped in at the right moments adding to the story. Photos were snapped before finally he was handed the giant scissors and cut the ribbon. The crowd cheered and he found himself searching the crowd, hopeful, before turning to his wife and kissing her.

All his friends came over to their house after to celebrate. They considered going out but Veronica was too tired and her feet hurt. So they all headed back to hang out by the fire pit and cook burgers.

“You know he’d be proud of you.” Toni whispered to him while he shaped the burgers on the island. Everyone else was outside.

“What?” He looked at her slightly confused.

“Fangs, he’d be proud of you. With everything that happened to your moms. I think he would be impressed you’re doing something to help instead of winding up like them. I know that was a concern for you both growing up. That you’d end up like your parents.” Sweet Pea’s eyes filled with tears. He’d been so emotional lately he blamed the stress and newness of everything happening.

“Ton, I’m worried he did.” She wrapped her arms around him. “And that’s why we haven't heard from him.” He’d be lying if Fangs wasn’t some of the motivation for the center.

“I don’t think that’s the case Pea. We’ve talked about this.”

“I know, but it just, everything’s a possibility since we don’t know anything.”

She nodded in understanding.

“It’s weird.” She whispered. “Everything that happens, big things small things, I always just imagine he’s still there and then he’s not and it’s almost weird.”

“I do the same thing. I can’t not. He’s always the first one I used to call so it’s just instinct to want to do it now.” Toni leaned into his side and he wrapped his arm around her.

“I’m scared my kids will never meet him. That I’ll never see him again. I always kept saying maybe next year, but it’s been ten years and nothing. Maybe this is the year we start to accept that he’s not coming back.” His voice cracked and tears flooded his cheeks. That was his fear, his truth and he hadn’t spoken it out loud to anyone ever, not even Veronica.

They stood embraced in the kitchen until Veronica sauntered in, her belly on display in maroon leggings and a grey v-neck sweater that was snuggly covering her belly.

“Isn’t that my sweater?” He choked trying to joke as she approached them, her brows furrowed and concern in her eyes. Toni patted him on the back before wiping her eyes as she headed outside.

“Babe-“ she started.

“It’s about Fangs.” He hung his head. “It’s always about Fangs. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s okay to let things be about Fangs. It’s okay to miss him and be sad about him missing these things.”

“What if he never comes back Veronica?” He sobbed. She felt tears fill her own eyes as her husband started to lose it. He’d broken down plenty of times in their years together - usually about Fangs, but she knew today would be a tough one.

“He’ll come back. He will.” She reassured him, but there was a pang in heart as she realized that wasn’t something she entirely believed herself.

-//-//-//-

His heart was full. He was in love. He couldn’t believe after months and months of waiting and preparing and internally freaking out -they were here. His arms wrapped around his wife, his hand stroking his baby girl’s cheek as she fed. Veronica hadn't taken her eyes off her daughter since she was placed on her chest.

Now swaddled and head covered in a light grey hat she fed from her mother. The couple was speechless. Sweet Pea had only spoken praises to Veronica through tears as his daughter entered the world. He felt as though he were high, floating on happiness. His beautiful wife and daughter snuggled up.

Veronica was exhausted; he could tell. Once she finished feeding, she handed the baby over to be put in her little box. Sweet Pea assured her he’d make all the calls and let people come by in the morning.

She squeezed his hand, and before dozing she managed to whisper, “he’d be proud of you Sweets. He’d be as in love with her as we are.” He smashed his lips together in an effort not to cry and squeezed the hand she was holding.

He walked out into the hallway phone in hand; before making any calls he slid down the wall and cried. He sobbed and he promised himself this was it. He’d start living his life without The question of Fangs lingering over him. This was it. He needed to be 100% for his daughter and his wife; no more what ifs and maybes and speculations. He wasn’t holding hope anymore. It was time to let go. The thought made him sob louder and harder, but he knew once he cried it out he’d feel better.

He called his in-laws first. They were elated and said they’d be over as soon as visiting hours started.

He called Toni next, she screamed and then he heard Toni telling Cheryl. They asked when a good time to stop by was. He thought about it. He wanted to give Hiram and Hermione enough time with their grand-daughter and also let V relax a little. He decided any time after one o’clock would be fine.

He called Jughead and Betty, he could hear Betty “whooping” in the background. He made a few other calls before stepping back into the room and admiring his wife.

There was cooing from where his daughter was sleeping. He made his way over to see her eyes open; her mouth pinched looking for her missing pacifier. He picked her up, in the exact way the nurses had shown him and he had practiced after hanging out with a local expecting parents group. He gently nuzzled the pacifier back into her mouth and bounced her in a smoothing manner. He felt like a pro.

She was so tiny and perfect and he wanted to protect her from everything. She squirmed a little and he started talking to keep her from crying. Veronica said she’d recognize his voice. He spent each night reading her a story while she was swimming around in the womb. Her nurseries library was overflowing with books. He wanted her to be smart and he wanted to open as many doors as he could for her.

He kissed the top of her head as he told her about his best friend growing up, and one day she’d have a best friend too.

-//-//-//-

**A word from Veronica**

“I don’t know Betty, something's going on. He asked what I thought about him lasering off his tattoo and I was like, which one and he pointed to his neck. Betty, that’s not only his serpent tattoo, but he and Fangs got them together that’s like their brotherhood tattoo.”

“What did you say?”

“I said, I didn’t think he should. It’s important to his business. People feel like they connect because of where he came from and his background.”

“Jughead said he seems a little different. More focused and driven, but not like he used to. Have to spoken to Toni about it?”

“Not yet, I will once she and Cheryl come home from Greece. I can’t believe they’re pregnant!”

“I know! We have to throw the best baby shower ever for them.”

“B, have you ever lied to Jughead or gone behind his back to do something.”

“Not recently, but yes. And not because I really wanted to, but something’s have to be done.” Veronica sighed loudly, “Why V, what are thinking about doing?”

“I’ve asked Sweet Pea many times over the last nine years if he ever wanted me to hire a PI to find Fangs. Then he’d know and have answers, but he always said no. I’m thinking I’m going to do it anyway. It’s clear he’s doing something to erase him.”

-//-//-//-

“Dada!” She reached up at him. Her brown eyes smiling at him.

“Hi baby.” He picked her up and sat her on his hip. She rested her head on his shoulder, her blankie smushed under her head. “Where’s mummy?” He called into the house.

“Mummy is in the dining room.” He headed in that direction.

“Hi Love,” he leaned down to kiss her. “How was work?”

“Crazy.”

“The Stentson case?”

“Of course. Do you mind occupying her for an hour? Essie left for the day, David just arrived for dinner. I can switch with you after dinner if you have work to do?”

“Sounds good to me. I love it when you’re home for dinner.” Veronica listened for him until he was out of the room. She could hear him on the baby monitor talking and laughing with Emaline.

She downsized the laptop screen and looked at the email from the PI. It was their agreement - he’d share anything he found with her and not approach if he found Fangs until she gave him the okay. She was giddy with nerves and excitement. She so badly wanted this to be a good thing. But they had to actually locate him first.

-//-//-//-

“Happy Birthday!” Everyone shouted as the door opened revealing Sweet Pea. He jumped a little in surprise, but recovered quickly seeing all his close friends and co-workers. As he made his way to where he saw Veronica standing next to Betty.

“Dada!” He heard swiveling around he saw her, arms outstretched to him from Toni. Toni handed her over - giving him a quick hug and wishing him a happy birthday. He kissed his wife and wrapped very pregnant Betty in a side hug.

“This is too much babe, I’m only 28!” He laughed. He knew his wife lived for celebrations and planning, it was her comfort zone.

“I needed a distraction from work.” She smiled up at him, grazing Emmy’s cheek with her finger. Emmy was resting her head in the crook of his neck, her hand gripping the collar of his button up, a finger rubbing the buttons. He put his free hand against her head and pressed a kiss to the top of her hair.

He mingled around, laughing with Selma, one of the secretary’s at the center and how she almost revealed the secret that morning to him when she wished him a happy birthday. Jughead had wrapped him in conversation about maybe doing a podcast together on fatherhood, maybe parenthood and we could get Toni in on it. Sweet Pea was definitely on board. He told Jughead he thought it was a brilliant idea. After he’d made the rounds and changed Emmy’s diaper, Veronica found him, a slight look of panic on her face before masking it with a smile and a kiss.

“It’s time to give you your gift.”

“The party is enough, Honey.” She just looked at him and nibbled her lip. “But I bet I’ll love it.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and lead him into the center of the room.

She nodded at someone on the other side and the door opened, there were people everyone so he couldn’t see what was being revealed, but soon people parted ways.

Veronica took Emmy who fussed leaving her dad. There were a few gasps and confused murmurs before Sweet Pea finally saw what he was looking at. His jaw went slack, the sound of his heart beating filled his ears and for a second he thought might faint.

Walking toward him in black jeans, a lavender button down and a black dress boots was Fangs. He was slightly older and more tan then Sweet Pea remembered. He felt his feet moving forward, although he was sure he stumbled at first, he made his way towards the man.

It felt like a dream. Maybe this was heaven, surrounded by everyone he loved. But once he was in arms length he grabbed Fangs into a hug and held him so close he could feel his heart beating as loud and nervous as his own. Fangs arms wrapped around him just as tight and Sweet Pea couldn’t hold his tears in anymore. His hand came around to clasp the back of his best friend’s neck and he didn’t want to ever let go.

Eleven years was a long time, but for a minute it seemed as though he was in a time capsule. His life at five, sleeping at Fangs house because his mom was high and passed out and he was scared, at his moms funeral with Fangs by his side, getting bullied on the playground, joining the Serpents, the day Fangs got his heart stomped on and needed Pea to cheer him up. His first seventeen years hit him again all at once, the comfort of his best friend - it felt for a moment that no time had passed at all.

Neither moved to pull away, they both stood in the middle of the room crying into each other’s arms. Two gang members sobbing into the others nice button down shirts - their seventeen year old selves would never have believed it.

They only pulled away when a loud cry filled the room, “Dada!” And a second later a little body against his legs. He untangled himself from Fangs, his arms picking up Emmy to hoist her onto his hip. She shyly tucked her head into her dad’s neck.

“Emmy, can you say hi?”

“Hi” she whispered.

“Do you know who this is? She shook her no before changing to a slow nod. “This is Fangs.” Her little eyes widened in surprise her mouth turning into an “o.”

“Untol Fangs” she flung herself at him, he caught her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“We’ve told her all about you and she’s seen your pictures.”

“She’s beautiful Sweet Pea.” He told him emotionally, trying to hold back tears.

“Hey Fangs, Honey, we’re wrapping up here and heading back to ours. We would be honored if you’d join us, but before that there are a few people who are looking to get in on this reunion.” He looked behind Veronica to see Toni, Jughead and FP.

Toni was the first to rush into his arms as soon as Sweet Pea pulled away. Her pregnant belly created an awkward time but she was too busy crying to care. He awed at her belly and kissed the top of her head. Jughead and Betty hugged him at the same time before FP yanked into a hug while he tried and failed to hide his tears. He whispered a few things into his ear before pulling away.

Veronica told Sweet Pea to drive with Fangs so he knew where to go. As people cleared out Veronica grabbed the last few things and Jughead carried Emmy to her car. After she was in her car seat and closed the door she was met by five pairs of serpent eyes and none of them her husbands. Toni was the first to speak.

“I can’t believe you managed to find him. How? When? Where?” She squeezed passed Jughead and Cheryl and wrapped Toni in a hug.

“I promise I’ll explain everything when we get back to mine. And I promise he isn’t here against his own free will.” Toni nodded in her shoulder.

“Thank you.” She snuggles before pulling away.

“You’re coming over too, right FP?” She asked the oldest serpent who Emmy fondly called ‘papa.” Sweet Pea had explained - he’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a dad.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” They all looked at her expectantly.

“I only spoke with him on the phone to relay details about the party. We didn’t catch up or anything - I wanted each of you to tell him your own story. I don’t know what he’s been up to or what he does for work or where he’s been. He’ll tell you all.” They all nodded slowly, understanding. “Now, I’ll see you all my house in ten. I even made mocktails for you three.” She pointed to Betty, FP and Toni. “And David made his peanut butter brownies for you Jughead.” He took Betty’s hand and headed to their car.

“Thanks V.” He shouted as they walked away. She shook her head and smiled. The rest of the serpents dispersed heading to their cars or bike in FP’s case. She climbed into the SUV, releasing a shaky breath and telling herself she did the right thing.

[relationguru53-blog]

A Spotlight On Significant Aspects In Toys

Besides, didn't your mother constantly notify you to share your toys? Sharing sexual intercourse toys with your spouse, experimenting, and finding out about what pleasures you most is interesting.

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[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #224 - Fletch

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: DVD

1) The first time I ever watched this film was the weekend my dog died. It was this, Stargate, and the Seth Rogen Green Hornet in theaters. I like this a lot more now than I did then. I wonder why.

2) Fletch primarily works as a detective story (almost film noir but not quite) with heavy amounts of comedy thrown in for good measure. It’s not a spoof of mystery movies, instead working neatly in the genre’s established conventions. The mystery and danger is real, it’s Chevy Chase who’s funny.

3) Chevy Chase as Fletch.

Chevy Chase - in many ways - IS the movie. Immediately upon meeting the character the audience gets an understanding of not only his snarky humor but also his heart (the way he treats Grease, running after his friend who gets beat on by cops). Chase actually plays Fletch as markedly controlled compared to some of his other, broader roles. He’s defined by a unique intelligence and curiosity which supports the character throughout the film. What’s especially interesting though is that Fletch is CONSTANTLY underestimated and written off as an idiot because of his humor/smartassery, even though often he’s the smartest guy in the room. He also knows his own worth.

Fletch [after he’s insulted]: “Don’t talk to me like that, ass face, I don’t work for you yet.”

This intelligence I mentioned is constant throughout the story and helps make Fletch as interesting a character as he is. That, plus Chase’s always A+ comedy game and character details like Fletch’s love for the Lakers, helps make the film hold the test of time as well as it has.

4)

Stanwyk [to Fletch]: “I want you to murder me.”

This is actually an incredibly interesting hook. This one line sets up the entire intrigue and mystery of the film in a scene which shows strong, controlled pacing. The fact that THIS ends up connecting to a drug problem on the beach and dirty cops as well as it does shows the amount of thought put into the story of the film. I dig it.

5) Geena Davis as Larry.

Larry is most notable in this film because she’s played by Geena Davis, and Geena Davis is awesome. She brings her natural charisma to the part and has a fun chemistry with Chevy Chase which helps make Larry more than just a throw away character. I love Geena Davis. I need more Geena Davis in my life.

6) This film’s strongest comedic element is Chevy Chase, no doubt about it. He doesn’t distract or undermine who fletch is as a character, instead supporting him and the film through clever lines, bits of sarcasm, and fun reactions. Specifically: the moments where Fletch uses misdirection to confuse people into getting his way. Those are awesome.

7) Ah yes, Mr. Underhill.

Immediately established as one of the biggest snobs/jerks of 80s cinema, the way Fletch just continuously fucks with Mr. Underhill (by changing so much to his bank account) is so cathartic because the film makes us dislike the character IMMEDIATELY.

8) Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Gail.

It is Wheeler-Nicholson’s performance that makes Gail as interesting as she is. There is an incredible charm the actress has which pulls the audience in, but more than that she KNOWS how to play Gail. In an interview Wheeler-Nicholson said she had to play Gail with some sadness and doubts about her marriage so that way when turns to Fletch in the third act it makes sense. That’s all her performance, because honestly the writing for Gail feels a little laking. She’s mostly around to be someone Fletch can have feelings for and continue the mystery. She passes the Sexy Lamp Test by saving Fletch’s life at the film’s end, but she disappears for thirty minutes only to show up scantily clad in a bath towel.

9) Where a weaker mystery film can struggle is having variety in its plot. Sometimes the film poses a question at the beginning and then the question is just sustained until the climax. Not Fletch though. The mystery is deepened as we continue, with new details and developments adding intrigue throughout.

10) Hey, that’s Uncle Phil!

11) Oh good, abusive, corrupt, power mad cops. That’s great for my blood pressure.

This scene where Fletch is being threatened by the freaking chief of police is riveting. There is a wonderful tension as the audience waits to see which will win out: Fletch’s give no fucks attitude or the chief’s greed/violent streak. The fact that the chief wins just means Fletch gets to live though and provides motivation for him to continue with the rest of his investigation.

12) It took me forever to figure out who played Lyle in this movie, finally realizing it was a guy from The Blazing Saddles.

13) Chekov’s suit.

Gail [handing Fletch some clothes]: “You look like your the same size as Alan [the man who wants Fletch to kill him].”

14) I don’t know that the car chase is needed, but heck if it ain’t fun! The kid in the car is able to hold his own against Chevy freaking Chase, providing many of the film’s most surprisingly funny jokes.

Kid: “You a cop?”

Fletch: “As far as you know.”

15) I love the scene with Fletch in the club. It shows his incredibly entertaining ability to think on his feet. You don’t know where the scene is going on first viewing but after you watch it you wonder how it could have possibly ever gone another way.

16) So all of my knowledge of investigative journalism basically comes from Spotlight, but Frank (Fletch’s boss) is kinda being a dumbass. Like in Spotlight the characters keep saying, “we have to make sure the story is solid, we can’t rush it,” but in Fletch it’s, “Get the story on my desk yesterday or your fired!” I don’t think that’s how investigative journalism (or at least GOOD investigative journalism) works.

17) Ah, 80s homophobia.

Fletch [over the phone]: “I love your body, Larry.”

[Random woman gives him an angry, judgmental look]

18) I love all of Fletch’s disguises during the film. They each allow Chevy Chase a lot of room to play with different characterizations. It’s a great treat!

19) As soon as Fletch shows up to Stanwyk’s in the suit you know this is the climax. It’s the only part of the movie left: the take down. There’s a really nice sense of tension just WAITING for Stanwyk to show up and the fact that Fletch keeps his no bullshit attitude even when he has a gun pointed at him is incredibly fun to watch. AND FLETCH PLAYS THE TWO BAD GUYS AGAINST EACH OTHER! Told you he was smart.

20) And now I see why the relationship between Fletch and Gail tanked: no shared love of basketball.

Fletch is a nicely fun 80s comedy where Chevy Chase does some great work. It’s got a solid mystery that is supported by a strong character, where the humor and tension never downplay each other. Better with each rewatch, I recommend giving Fletch a try.

[junker-town]

‘Quarterback Princess’ is the best sports movie about a girl playing football

Tami Maida (played by Helen Hunt) faces off with a cheerleader in Quarterback Princess. | Quarterback Princess/20th Century Fox

It’s the best cinematic representation of what it’s like for a girl to play football.

She walks onto the field for football tryouts in a pink shirt, in case you somehow missed that she is a girl. After patiently waiting for the boys to go first, she finally lines up to take a snap — and throws a tight spiral straight to the receiver.

“Hey little girl, where’d you learn to throw the ball like that?” one of the boys asks.

“My mom,” she replies.

It’s one of a few pitch-perfect lines in Quarterback Princess, the 1983 made-for-TV movie based on the true story of Tami Maida, a 14-year-old girl who made national headlines in 1981 for playing quarterback in a tiny Oregon town. The movie is the first in what’s become a somewhat fruitful subgenre: the only girl on the football team. And, nearly 30 years later, it remains the best of its kind, showing the hurdles many girls still face today when they want to suit up as evenly as it does the triumphs they experience when they do.

Quarterback Princess/20th Century Fox

A shot of (probably) the real Maida as Helen Hunt’s stunt double in Quarterback Princess.

The movie began as an irresistible story, one producers clamored for rights to as it happened: teenage girl goes 7-1 at QB on an otherwise all-boys team and wins homecoming princess. Maida would eventually appear on Good Morning America, NFL Today and in the pages of National Geographic, but oppressive media attention began as soon as she shared her intention to try out for the team in Philomath, Oregon. “If anybody pushes me around, I’ll drop ‘em,” she told papers at the time.

She wasn’t the first or last girl to play high school football, but her story drew disproportionate interest that was only amplified by the movie, which was released while she was still in high school. “I got a lot of mail over that year: fan mail, hate mail, scary mail,” says Tami Maida O’Meara, 53. Today, she’s a counselor at Selkirk College in British Columbia. “People viewed me as abnormal. Someone sent a picture of me saying I was an abnormal Amazon, and that there was something wrong with my head. Remember, I was 14 at the time. I was just like, ‘What the heck?’”

A 1981 clip about Maida from the Sun.

“What the heck?”, as it happens, is still most people’s reaction to seeing girls and women play football, if the way they’re covered — primarily as novelties — is any indication.

Yet popular culture isn’t entirely to blame for this disconnect. Gridiron-obsessed women and girls have featured prominently in some of football’s most iconic movies, notably via Little Giants’ Icebox who also embodied the only girl on the team cliché. Sports movie parodies of middling (1991’s Necessary Roughness) and terrible (2007’s The Comebacks) caliber have co-opted the soccer-player-turned-placekicker trajectory as a way to get both eye candy and, unfortunately, an easy visual gag on-screen. Representation is as representation does.

Odder, yet more compelling, examples come via kids’ TV. Bella and the Bulldogs, a sitcom that ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon in the mid-aughts, tells the story of a cheerleader who winds up as the quarterback of her middle school football team. The titular Bella faces a new, predictable battle-of-the-sexes quandary with each episode, but the show doesn’t force her to choose between playing football and being traditionally effeminate. That in itself is something of a victory for nuance, given how many sports movies and shows insist that only tomboys take the field.

Lindsay Lohan also took a crack at the girl QB role in the profoundly strange Disney TV movie Life-Size (2000). Lohan’s character, like most sports-playing girls and women of cinema, is the daughter of a single father; in this case, she wants nothing more than to bring her mom back to life. So she steals a magic book to, um, reanimate her dead mother, but accidentally brings to life a Barbie-esque doll (which of course she hates, because she likes sports) instead.

Life-Size/Walt Disney Television

Lindsay Lohan as a young quarterback in Life-Size.

Shenanigans ensue, though the preternaturally talented Lohan was still able to wring real emotion out of the movie’s patent absurdity. Similarly surprising is that though some clichés persist — the single father, the hair tumbling down from the helmet — neither sexism nor insufficient girliness is central to the movie’s plot. If anything, the doll character (played by Tyra Banks) becomes less overtly feminine over the course of the movie; Lohan’s Hail Mary, in a refreshing twist, winds up just short of the goalline.

But none of them comes closer to showing the reality of what it’s like to be a girl playing football than Quarterback Princess. Maida’s fight began when she and her family moved to Oregon from Prince George, British Columbia, so her father, a psychologist, could take a sabbatical. She had been playing in Canada with no issue, but when Maida said she wanted to try out for the Pilomath High School team, all hell broke loose.

The way her story is told in the movie is quite close, Maida O’Meara says, to how she was received in real life. From sexist comments to gratuitous late hits to inescapable press attention, the movie shows that girls trying to play football face hurdles on all sides. Nothing comes easily: parents conspire to get her off the team, other girls in school are suspicious of her — even finding a place to change and retrofitting her football pads to cover her chest are challenges that have to be overcome.

The exception, perhaps surprisingly to viewers, tends to be in the locker room itself. In Quarterback Princess the team accepts Maida (played by Helen Hunt) almost immediately, a part of the movie that was particularly true to life — all the way down to her close friendship with the team’s center, who gives her a few enormously endearing pep talks. “It didn’t matter how hard I was hit, how many times I was hit, the taunts that were tossed at me — I didn’t react to much,” Maida O’Meara says now. “I actually took pride in being able to get smashed and bashed and stand up and say, ‘Let’s go, next play.’ I think that made a big difference in terms of how I was able to connect with my teammates.”

Maida O’Meara, who was just 16 at the time, and her family served as consultants on the film. She was also Hunt’s stunt double: most of the time you see Hunt actually throwing passes or taking snaps, that’s Maida O’Meara. Her close involvement with the production helps account for its verisimilitude — some lines of dialogue even came directly from things she told the writers. But Hunt, she says, didn’t make much of an effort to get to know her, and as a result the character’s affect is somewhat more reserved than her own. “She wanted to play the role the way she wanted to play the role,” Maida O’Meara says.

Quarterback Princess/20th Century Fox

The team holds up Maida (Hunt) after a win in Quarterback Princess.

What Quarterback Princess explores considerably more thoughtfully than most of its equivalents is how wrapped up gender norms are in the decision to play football.

“Everyone acts like I’m from Mars, except the guys on the team,” Maida tells her mother at one point.

“You can have everything — the trouble is, the attitudes just haven’t kept up with the opportunities,” her mother responds, with a sentiment that’s unfortunately evergreen.

“That’s a heavy load to hand someone,” Maida responds, sighing.

Maida’s conversations with her on-screen love interest, Scott (in reality, Maida O’Meara clarifies, they did not wind up together), also show the tug-of-war that sometimes comes along with a decision that, for boys, is straightforward.

“How am I supposed to know what you’re like?” he asks her after a botched first date. “You’re so different from other girls.”

“I’m not, but I sure get treated that way by everybody,” she retorts. “The coach treats me different because I’m not a boy, you treat me different because I play football, they treat me different because they don’t know what I am. Well here’s the news: I’m a girl. Have you got that?”

In another scene with Scott, things get still murkier when he punches an opposing player who comes in with a late hit. “Look: When I’m not playing, I’m a girl, but when I’m playing ... I’m not a male exactly, but I’m not a girl either,” she pleads, insisting he let her stand up for herself.

“It’s kind of confusing, isn’t it,” is all he can muster.

Though Maida seemed to wind up having it all — on-field success and validation of her girlhood as a member of homecoming court — she’s acutely aware of what a tricky line it can still be to walk for young girls. “There’s always sort of two camps,” she says now. “One side that’s quite supportive and thinks, ‘That’s great, girls can play whatever they want,’ and then there’s the other side, which is much smaller in number, but where people don’t have a lot of nice things to say. You still have to have a certain mindset that allows you to take some flack and let it roll off your shoulders.”

Quarterback Princess/20th Century Fox

Maida (Hunt) gets the game ball as she wins homecoming princess in Quarterback Princess.

Maida O’Meara was hired as a motivational speaker for athletes of all stripes while she was still in high school, and says the lessons she learned playing football wound up shaping much of her life. “I continued to do the things that I was interested in doing, regardless of whether they sort of fit with a norm,” she says, alluding to her time as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces.

She also stayed involved with football, coaching with youth teams and eventually one of her three sons’ high school teams. No girl, though, ever came through her programs. “People would ask about their girls playing, and I’d always be very encouraging and say, ‘Yeah, come out and try,’” she says. “I always hoped that more girls would want to play, and I have no idea if there are more girls that wanted to but still won’t come out.”

Sometimes those parents of girls who have started to play football will come across Maida O’Meara’s story and reach out to her for advice — often, even now, facing adversity remarkably similar to what she went through. “It is still the same language, the same story, the same questions,” she says. “You think we’ve shifted in so many ways, but in some ways and places it’s still, ‘Yeah, the girl.’”

It’s that exceptionalism that stings, that proves unfortunately not enough has changed yet to make Quarterback Princess obsolete. “We hear about more girls playing,” she says. “But that’s the thing: We hear about it. There’s some sensationalism around that.”

“Seeing women commentating or coaching in men’s professional sports, I’m still like, ‘Oh yay!’ and then I’m like, ‘Man, I’m still saying yay’,” she concludes. “But everything takes time. We’re certainly further ahead than we were.”

[kalinara]

As I said in my last post, one of my biggest complaints about fandom discussion about Rip Hunter is how it always resorts to easily debunked accusations rather than an honest and interesting discussion about the man’s ACTUAL flaws.

Rip is a complicated guy.  He has a lot of flaws.  That’s part of what makes him interesting.  Unfortunately, since I generally end up finding myself motivated to defend the guy from baseless accusations, I never really get around to talking about what I think his flaws actually are.

So this is my list of what I, as a biased Rip fan, see as Rip Hunter’s primary flaws.  (This is by no means exclusive, by the way.)

1.  Rip Hunter is single-focused.  This can be a strength and a flaw.  But the fact of the matter is that when Rip has a goal in mind, he tends to ignore other people that can be helped, other good that can be done and thoughtlessly puts himself and other people at considerable, and sometimes unnecessary, risk.

2.  Rip Hunter is secretive and dishonest.  Rip is a funny guy when it comes to honesty.  He seems to be a pretty terrible liar, and any time he does overtly lie to the team, it comes out within the same episode.  But that doesn’t generally stop him from trying.  Even at times when the lie is less useful than the truth.  (For example, the crew probably would have been more inclined to help rather than less, if he’d openly admitted that his own family had died at Savage’s hands.)

Rip is far better, however, at lying by omission.  The man keeps a LOT of secrets and a good many of those secrets directly impact the team and their safety.  The team had the right to know about the spear of destiny, or at least that it was likely to make the mission they’d signed on for more dangerous.  Sara had the right to know about Laurel’s death long before she actually found out.

3.  Related to #2: Rip does not trust his team.  I think he wants to trust them, and certainly, he wouldn’t have recruited them for either mission if he didn’t trust them on some level.  But the fact of the matter is that most of Rip’s suffering in season two was absolutely unnecessary and brought about, primarily, because Rip never chose to share his burden with the team.

If the team had known about the spear, or at least that Rip was protecting part of an artifact from people who’d stop at nothing to get it, then it’s possible they could have helped him.  He might not have had to lobotomize himself.  He might not have fallen into Eobard’s hands.  And it might not have been so catastrophic that the only person who had any idea of where the spear pieces were ended up under Eobard’s control.

4.  Rip makes unilateral decisions for the team.  This connects to 2 and 3 of course.  Possibly, it’s all the same flaw in the end.  Rip does most of what he does with noble intentions, but the fact of the matter is that he generally doesn’t consult them first.  ESPECIALLY when he gets it in his head to try to protect them.

Rip freaks out after Snart’s death and abandons the team in 2016, with no discussion and no closure or choice.

Rip decides to fly the last meteor piece into the sun, risking his own life in the process (and possibly stranding the team in 2033, though I doubt he was thinking about that), again without consulting the team.

Rip scatters the team to protect them from the nuclear blast, again, without consultation.  It’s very likely that, had they known what was at stake, most of the team would have wanted to stay on board.

Similarly, Rip decides to lobotomize himself without even Gideon’s input (going so far as to shut her down temporarily so she can’t stop him.)

Rip means well, in each of these situations, but the fact of the matter is that he owes them the right to make these decisions for themselves.  They deserve to know what he’s prioritizing and why, what dangers he’s expecting, and to have a say in their own fate.

5.  Rip is somewhat judgmental.  Especially early on in season one.  He had a clear idea of who (he thought) the team was, and why he was recruiting them.  There were certain characters that he was pretty quick to get along with: Sara, Martin, Jax, Kendra, even Ray to some extent.  And then of course there was Snart and Rory.  One of the quieter themes of the first half of season one involved Rip having to re-evaluate his initial thoughts on each team member, as he realized that Martin was more idealistic and rebellious than expected, that Sara and Kendra had their uncontrollable berserker qualities, that Leonard Snart actually did care about (some) people on the team, and so on and so forth.  And of course, this ended up coming to a head with Mick Rory.

6.  Rip is hot-tempered and emotional which gets in the way of his good sense.  A LOT.  I maintain that the Marooned confrontation was provoked, and NOT by Rip, but that still doesn’t excuse his harsh reaction.  Or the stupidity of having it out while being prisoners on an enemy-controlled ship!

I always get amused when I see Rip characterized as cold in fanfics, because I think the show gives us a character who is the exact opposite.  And that’s where he tends to fuck up.  Rip burns hot.  He’s impulsive.  He has a temper.  And we’ve seen him, more than once, disrupt his OWN plans because of guilt or altruism or anger.  

He had a grand total of ONE workable plan against Savage, which he tossed out the window to get Carter’s body back.  He knew that he was going to be leaving the team very soon, but had to explode into a temperamental lecture about everything they’d done wrong.  He couldn’t follow through with killing Savage, the one time that it was actually fool-proof because his conscience got in the way.  And so on and so forth.

Hell, even his capture by the Legion kind of fits this, because it’s pretty clear that whatever his post-Time Drive lobotomy plans ACTUALLY were, they didn’t involve Phil Gasmer stupidly jumping out into an ambush, getting captured, getting his tooth extracted, and then having his backup mind drive re-written.

Honestly, I doubt that Rip Hunter has ever made a cold, clear-headed, unclouded-by-emotion decision in his life.  And if he had, he fucked it up about three minutes later in a fit of pique.

7. Rip is stubborn and arrogant.

This is a pretty consistent character trait.  Rip is a Time Master and knows he’s a Time Master, and as mentioned, wasn’t particularly inclined to consult with the group.  Often times, he’s right.  He does generally have a superior knowledge base than most of the rest of the team.  But then we have situations like River of Time, where Rip’s insistence that he had piloted the Waverider for thirteen years and knew what she could do, exploded pretty royally in their faces.   

Rip’s trust in the Time Masters overall is a pretty good example of this.  It was somewhat understandable in White Knights, even though he ignored Mick’s realization that Druce had set up an obvious trap.  By River of Time, there was no reason to expect that they’d be dealt with fairly.

His handling of Sara’s issues in Star City highlighted this arrogance too.  He was dead set in the way that he was looking at the issue and refused to consider her side.  He was, at least, smart enough, and cared enough, to wait for her longer than he promised.  But it was a good thing that Martin talked sense into him when he did.

8. Rip is ridiculously self-destructive.

I don’t really think I have to elaborate on this one.  Do I?  Just watch like ANY episode of the show that features Rip.  Yeesh.

9.  Rip is A SOCIAL TRAINWRECK.

I mean, really, does this need an explanation?  The man is pretty much incapable of anything resembling a normal social interaction with anyone!  I think the closest thing we’ve seen to a casual conversation with anyone who wasn’t Gideon was with Doctor Mid-Nite right before he killed him!

His general social interactions with people he actually LIKES seems to be: make unilateral decision, apologize, get punched in the face, apologize again, move on.

Honestly, I think the only character who’s ever gotten anything personal about the guy that didn’t directly have to do with whatever disaster was directly at hand was Jax, when Rip revealed his candy preferences.  

There are some implications, I think, that he was pretty friendly with Mid-Nite and Commander Steel in the JSA.  At least there are implications that he actually did discuss some personal matters such as his family and his concern about the Time Masters.  But they were still pretty formal with each other.

Presumably, he managed some kind of positive social interaction with Miranda and Jonah.  But then, Miranda was from the same fucked up society and thus likely had the same frame of reference.  And Jonah...well, he was pretty quick to forgive Rip in the end, which probably implies he’s used to Rip being fucking weird.  Also, remember how he came back to the ship after being rescued in Outlaw Country and only once inside did he go “where’s Rip?”  Like he actually expected the guy to be hiding in his office AGAIN.  

And to round it out to an even 10.  Rip is a TERRIBLE LEADER.

Bluntly speaking, he is.  He was from the pilot onward.  He’s known from day one that he cannot control any of these people.  He’s never been willing to take any steps necessary to control any of these people.  He doesn’t even try to manage tempers, or rein in idealism.  He doesn’t try to forge emotional connections with the crew, or maybe clear the air with the people that he clashes with the most BEFORE things explode horribly.

He seems to do well enough in field missions or pitched battles, when he’s right there, they’re all in the thick of it, and there’s a very clear objective.  But as soon as it gets to a more general mission, when people go off on their own, he’s sunk.

So, there you go.  Ten flaws.  I could probably expand that list farther pretty easily.  Rip’s actual flaws are part of what makes him such an interesting character, which is why it gets so frustrating when people are lazy critics, and resort to blatant misrepresentations instead.

[fapangel]

One of the essential elements of Communism - as can be readily seen in leftist rhetoric here in the US, even - is that they are right. Period end, full stop. They stand for Justice For the Oppressed, so anyone who opposes them is categorically evil. III So where do you put conservatism/right/alt-right then? Because I don't feel like"we're not 100% correct, the other guy might have a point" bipartisanship hasn't really been your message this whole time.

That’s because there’s no “bipartisanship” at play, but tripartisanship these days.When I say leftist, I mean something very, very different than liberal. 

A liberal is someone who innately believes in the American credo, as described by the Declaration of Independence and enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. These are the people who fought for Civil Rights in the 60s, the people who put an end to the horrendous working conditions in factories in the 30s; the muckrakers, the original Progressives. The people you learned so much about in your American History course. They argue for higher taxes, more social programs, stricter gun control - but in the end they only differ from conservatives on nuts and bolts issues; about the best way to realize our goals as a society and nation - not what those goals should be. During the Civil War, soldiers from both armies would trade with each other in no-mans-land between the lines, and then fight brutally and to the death the next morning for their cause. When Union soldiers started celebrating wildly after the Confederate surrender, General Grant ordered them to stop rejoicing at their downfall, because “the rebels are our countrymen again.” And there was absolutely bitterness and hate deep and profound enough that it lingers to this day, but he was right, in the end - they were our countrymen again and would feast with us, starve with us, and bleed in the trenches with us forever after - we were still all Americans, and fundamentally, in our hearts, we agreed on the same things - the principles of western liberal democracy. 

A leftist is something entirely different - the adherents of a completely different ideology that first began with Rousseau, erupted with the sordid violence and mayhem of the French Revolution and would finally find its most enduring elucidation in the form of Marxist ideology. There is no common root whatsoever between this ideology and the fundamental principles of western liberalism. This is the ideology that deposed and beheaded Louis XVI, that overthrew the Romanov Czars and murdered them, that took and starved China under Mao, that swept Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba. As evidenced by its roots, it’s an ideology based on and around the concept of violent revolution to overthrow capitalism. Whereas western liberalism’s political theory is primarily concerned with exploring the legitimacy of rulership - who rules, to what ends, and by what right - Marxist ideology has always, from the moment of its inception, been a reaction and denouncement of existing capitalist systems. Consider: Plato’s arguments in The Republic center around a theoretical polis, a “city on a hill,” which he uses to explore the nature of man as relates to the kind of government that could best rule them. John Stewart Mill’s On Liberty opens as such:  

The subject of this Essay is not the so-called Liberty of the Will, so unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of Philosophical Necessity; but Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.

In the work from which all leftism traces its roots, The Social Contract, Rousseau (after brief introduction) declares his subject with lines that have become famous:

MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they. How did this change come about? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? That question I think I can answer.

Two years before writing that, Rousseau wrote an essay titled Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, in which he argued that man is naturally good, and the social institutions of science and art were social institutions that made man wicked. In his own words: 

So long as government and law provide for the security and well-being of men in their common life,the arts, literature and the sciences, less despotic though perhaps more powerful, fling garlands offlowers over the chains which weigh them down. They stifle in men’s breasts that sense of originalliberty, for which they seem to have been born; cause them to love their own slavery, and so makeof them what is called a civilised people....   

Before art had moulded our behaviour, and taught our passions to speak an artificial language, ourmorals were rude but natural; and the different ways in which we behaved proclaimed at the firstglance the difference of our dispositions....

We no longer dare seem what we really are, but lie under a perpetual restraint; in the meantime theherd of men, which we call society, all act under the same circumstances exactly alike, unless veryparticular and powerful motives prevent them....

Such is the purity to which our morals have attained; this is the virtue we have made our own. Letthe arts and sciences claim the share they have had in this salutary work...

This is where the leftist obsession with studying society and its “constructs” as a system of oppression began. The left is still making these arguments today. He also attacked playwright and poets as degenerate and obscene, and blamed them for the fall of Rome: 

It was not till the days of Ennius and Terence that Rome, founded by a shepherd, and madeillustrious by peasants, began to degenerate. But after the appearance of an Ovid, a Catullus, aMartial, and the rest of those numerous obscene authors, whose very names are enough to putmodesty to the blush, Rome, once the shrine of virtue, became the theatre of vice, a scorn amongthe nations, and an object of derision even to barbarians. Thus the capital of the world at lengthsubmitted to the yoke of slavery it had imposed on others, and the very day of its fall was the eve ofthat on which it conferred on one of its citizens the title of Arbiter of Good Taste.

He’d be right at home on Feminist Frequency if he were alive today, calling out all that problematic media. 

The classical western liberals were concerned with exploring theoretical truth, whereas Rousseau and all who followed in his footsteps were primarily concerned with attacking their own extant society - establishing the legitimacy of their envisioned society was primarily done to delegitimize the society they so detested. This revolutionary bent born of foregone-conclusion reasoning might’ve amounted to nothing, but for the collectivist nature of his conceived social contract: 

Filtering out the inessentials, we’ll find that the socialcompact comes down to this:’Each of us puts his person and all his power incommon under the supreme direction of the generalwill, and, in our corporate capacity, we receive eachmember as an indivisible part of the whole.’

This is diametrically opposed to Western liberalism, which takes as fundamental truth the sanctity of each individual’s freedom, and struggles to reconcile individual freedom with the restrictions and co-operation required to operate in society. Rousseau rejects the individual entirely - his individual will isn’t even mentioned, and his “person and all his power” are at the complete command of the general will. Consider this passage: 

To protect the social compact from being a mere emptyformula, therefore, it silently includes the undertaking thatanyone who refuses to obey the general will is to be compelledto do so by the whole body. This single item in the compactcan give power to all the other items. It means nothing lessthan that each individual will be forced to be free. ·It’sobvious how forcing comes into this, but. . . to be free? Yes·,because this is the condition which, by giving each citizento his country, secures him against all personal dependence,

Personal freedom and will simply do not exist under Rousseau's vision. At all. When combined with revolutionary fervor born of anti-establishment grievances, you can understand how this philosophy powered the French and Russian revolutions. 

This, my dear Anon, is the source of the statement you quoted from my last post. Fundamental to their philosophy - dating back to its very inception - are the concepts of an unjust and oppressive state and the supreme righteousness of the general will. That they lack the majority support of the populace matters not, for even Rousseau argued - and I quote - “Individualsmust be made to bring their wills into line with their reason;the populace must be taught to know what it wills.” He even envisioned a “great Legislator,” some supremely talented demagogue who would be capable of this great task of telling the populace what they actually will. Plato also made this argument with his wise “philosopher-kings,” but Plato was more honest - with the “myth of the metals” allegory he openly acknowledged that he was saying men are unequal and many not capable of governing themselves properly, and that overt claims of the equality of man were a noble lie that was needed to keep the peace, keep the fools happy and content. Plato’s student, Aristotle, criticized that idea as the trash it was, and Western liberalism would side with him and never look back. 

This is why domestic terrorist groups like antifa justify the silencing of people they don’t like via violence - it’s perfectly in line with their philosophy. They represent the General Will, and anyone who doesn’t fall in line with it must be “forced to be free.” This is the root of the left-wing, Rousseauain/Marxist philosophy that first gained real power in America in 1969, on college campuses, and has been growing ever since. This is the source of the increasingly steep and wide partisan divide in American politics. Leftist ideology is fundamentally at odds with the principles and philosophy that America’s entire government, legal system and Constitution was based on - and by extension, fundamentally incompatible with anyone who believes in those basic precepts. The blue-collar union Democrats who voted for Reagan and then voted for Trump believe in those American principles, for example. Anyone who argues for the importance of a free press, freedom of speech and the individual rights of people are not, at their very roots, leftists. These people, they might have a point - as the union people did. They applied some of Marx’s critiques in the particulars, but they reconciled them with their own liberal philosophies. 

If leftists do have a point, they do not bother to argue them in good faith - because their own philosophy absolves them of the need for that. How liberals can tolerate people who are so tyrannical in fundamental philosophy (and increasingly in actual practice,) people who reject the most basic precepts that liberals champion, I cannot fathom. 

I talk about them because I want Democrats who are liberals - you - to recognize the problem. 

[kendrixtermina]

Extra Typology Vol #3 - Part 6, A: The Dramatic Style (Basics)

Another very common type, this would be your typical “heart-driven” person: Emotional, expressive and looking for a life full of color, vibrancy & excitement.

Often witty, flamboyant, extroverted and sensual, they have a knack for turning even everyday situation into grand stories and living the spirits of roomfuls of people. For people with this personality style, all the world’s a stage, and there’s never a dull moment around them.  

The Six Domains

Emotions

People of this style see the worlds primarily through the lens of their emotions. Experiences, people and objects are primarily perceived as what they make them feel and that’s the primary information they’re working from - while, say, a conscientious indvidual may see a movie & offer a thoughtful critique of the performances, script, cinematography etc, the Dramatic person’s reaction will be more like “Wow”, “booring” etc - for them, it’s the emotional impact of an experience that they seek, value & pay attention to. 

When listening to a Dramatic person’s tales, you may note the absence of factual description - they focus more on painting a picture of the impression they had without relying on realistic detail: Conveying the emotional aspect of their experiences is more important than getting the factual details right, even if they may come off exaggerated. 

They extract the passion from every experience, and as such, dwell in a world of flamboyant color - if asked to describe their lives, they’ll likely make them sound much more eventful than other people, & are always full of exciting tales to share. Even the most mundane, everyday events turn into lenghty adventurous anecdotes. They seek the wmotional experience in life and, as such, my have little appreciation for life’s drier sides - the Dramatic style can come hand-in-hand with impatience with or anxiety with details, routines, organization and planning - they will often steer clear of weighty conversations, preferring gossip & intrigue, and skimming the headlines to get to the sensational parts.

Dramatic people generally display their emotions freely & openly, and, unless there are more stoic styles in their mix, display them for everyone to see - There’s no such thing as a stiff upper lip with them. In general, they are good-natured, sentimental & effusive, and enoy melodrama, intrigue and gossip - They are easily moved and react powerfully, & often immediately to events. Because they are so reactive, their feelings can change very quickly even from different extremes, and they tend to express their moods with whatever degree of passion they feel - if one of these is mad at you, best beware, but keep in mind that they don’t hold long-term grudges and expect others to do the same. 

Overall, they live their lives intensely: As if to plumb the emotional heights and dephts of each experience, all aspects of their lives (work, relationships, imagination, leisure-time activities etc.) are infused with stimulating, extroverted energy. As they have little tolerance for boredom, Dramatic individuals generally don’t wait for life to happen to them, but instead, don a costume, go out to town & laugh until everyone else is laughing with them, actively provoking experience by stirring the passions of other people.  

Relationships

Dramatic individuals are very social creatures and are most in their element when they are surrounded by people - a central focus of their lives is to win friends and influence people - to rouse them, energize them, charm them, until they drop their reserve & open their hearts - Dramatic individuals are often the life of the party, hapiest when the atmosphere is charged and all eyes are on them.

They genuinely like other people and are very attentive to what makes them pleased and comfortable - Often, they are gifted with great intuition about people’s feelings & are good at reading their body language and expression, & hence good at loosing up & “lubricating” any social gathering. 

When it comes to relationships of the romantic kind, they’re often particularly efficient in the early stages  - they know how to draw people to them, pay attention to their appearance and are open with compliments, flattery and appreciation - they’ll watch & listen with great attention to what you want & need and experience, and experience the early phase of infatuation very profoundly - they’ll be fully open to their new love, trusting & accepting - and while this heat of passion can lead into a solid relationship in the best of circumstances, there’s a risk for the Dramatic person to fall prey to wishful thinking & misread important cues, perhaps taking the other person to be more comitted than they actually are & or assuming a level of depht & involvement that may not have had time to develop here - when faced with ambiguity, they’re inclined to notice the positive signals more than the negative ones.

Related to that is an easy willingness to respond to other’s ideas, suggestions & activities, a trait that is often found likeable, though this might also lead them to sign up for activities without considering if they really want to do them, or to be taken by passing fads. 

In the long run, the dramatic person’s need for excitement & stimulation might lead them to lose interest/ grow bored once the initial passion fades. “Keeping the Fire lit” in the long term may pose a challenge. Some may even lose interest in a sucessfull “conquest”, have affairs etc. or just generally act flirty/teasing ( while remaining faithful to their partners. ) - Others, however, simply become very inventive about keeping the relationship exciting & plan a lot of activities, vacatations etc. or keep themselves busy & stimulated via a wide circle of platonic friends. 

Self

As the social, other-directed & external beings that they are, Dramatic individuals tend to define themselves “from the outside in” - When asked to describe themselves, they will do this in terms of what others say about them: “People tell me I’m X” (This is one way to tell them apart from Self-Confident types. They’d just say “I’m X.”)

Since their self-definition comes from outside themselves, they place a high importance on image & put a lot of care into how they look & present themselves to others, including making sure that it matches their current social group.  Some people dominated by this personality style might have trouble learning to appreciate the beauty that comes from the inside.

Another consequence of that other-directed self-definition & emotional reactivity is that a dramatic individual will, to varying degrees, lack a calm, consistent, centered sense of self. For this reason, people of this type require regular reassurance & feedback from others in order to mantain their self-confidence & know that they are loved. 

Self-Control

This passionate, fun-loving personality style often comes hand-in-hand with a low frustration tolerance. Unless they have some balancing influences more more rational, thoughtul “head” styles, strongly Dramatic individuals will be ruled by their emotions and as such, spontenous, impulsive, impetuus & impatient - when they want something, they generally want it now, for example, if they misplace an object, they’ll tend to buy a new one rather than wait for it to turn up or another one to become available.

The more pronounced and/or extreme the Dramatic style is, the harder it becomes to resist the impulse to act on temptation. Hence, self-control, in everything from eating, spending to keeping secrets and controlling one’s temper -  will always be difficult for a Dramatic person. They live best in the the heartfelt moment, which makes it hard to delay gratification. Besides, they’re not natural planners and as such may simply not anticipate the future outcome that would motivate them to restrain themselves, and they like to take their minds of their worries as soon as possible, and a little bit of indulgence tends to make them feel better. 

Fortunately, a healthy streak of a counterbalancing, more restraining personality style ( such as Conscientious, Self-Confident, Vigilant, Serious, Solitary or Aggressive) can make it easier to resist the urges. 

Worldview

For Dramatic individuals, the world is a storybook where romance lives. Other people become larger-than-life characters in a melodrama, & they spot heroes & vllains wherever they go. 

A balanced Dramatic individual with creative talents may even translate this perspective into art or entertainment and inspire others with their optimism  - some have a great talent for creating romantic stories in which dreams come true, the bad guys get what’s comming to them, and the good guys live happily ever after. Although they may have their despairing moods, Dramatic individuals want to believe in happy endings & that everything will work out - though given their tendency to deal with stress by ignoring unpleasant reality, they must take care not to substitute a wish for an uncomfortable truth that they’d rather not deal with. 

Work

Dramatic people like exciting work environments where they can make an impact - They’re idea people, often brilliant in their hunches, and they can persuade others to join their projects - What they may fail to do, however, is to follow through with the details, though this might not keep them from making their dreams a reality as long as they can find someone to help them with the nitty-gritty - indeed many a sucessful enterpreneur has a strong Dramatic streak, as it can help with both self-promotion & following opportunities: They can charm, sell, wheel, deal and make good communicators. 

That said,  their tendency to operate on hunches & insights instead of reason can also backfire to make things difficult for them, especiallyif the institutions they work for insist that they proceed with outlines, plans, budgets and detailed follow-through - If you, a Dramatic Person, want a place where you’ll fit right in, try the Entertainment, Broadcast or Advertising industries, which are overrun with & carter to your kind: Creative personel is rarely required to adhere to much reglementation & allowed to dress as they please. 

This is why some innovative companies have turned to offering lavish break rooms & napping/entertainment places: It helps certain types of people to relax & generate ideas. Pamper your dramatic employees, give them positive reinforcement, let the work flexibly, and they’ll reward you with excelent work. 

Life Choices

Leadership

Dramatic Individuals can make strong managers,, skilled at inspiring their subordinates to work hard, though they generally benefit from having someone on board who they can trust to keep the work moving & make sure that routine responsibilities are met (perhaps a secretary or personal assistant)

They openly appreciate a job well done & are generous to those who work hard on their behalf. On the flipside, they do not hide their anger and may lambast a subordinate who displeases them, sometimes even threatening to fire the unfortunate (though they rarely follow through)

They may be emotionally changeable individuals, gruff & uncommunicative on one day and cherful & enthusiastic the next - As an employee, try not to take your boss’ emotional reactions personally - lay low, avoid confrontation, mantain your own emotional balance & wait for your boss to cool off before you ask for a raise. 

Job Recomendations

If the person has applicable talents, the creative or performing arts may be a natural fit, as are the creative & people-heavy sides of business & industry. 

Overall, seek careers that make use of your style’s natural ability to influence other people - anything from public relations, teaching, sales and sales promotion. Your sensitivity to emotions may also come in handy in helping professions. 

Avoid routine, repetitive & technical work of any kind & seek a nonregimented work environment. Working for yourself may appeal to you, but it could be your downfall unless you have an agent or hire someone to handle the paperwork. 

Stress Sources

For all the excitement, life with a dramatic person can be stormy, considering their strong and immediate emotional reactions. Trouble in a relationship can cause a major blow to a Dramatic person’s self-esteem, potential sources of which include the dramatic partner feeling that they don’t get enough affection & appreciation, the other partner finding it hard to deal with the passionate outburst or flirty outgoing behavior (ie, if they get jealous)  and failing to establish a routine that compensates for the dramatic partner’s reluctance to deal with life’s mundane chores.

When trouble arises, the Dramatic person’s default way of copingis to try looking on the bright side; They preferr to repress the unpleasant in order to sustain a positive outlook and keep telling themselves that everything will work out - and/or distract themselves through actions.

Another major source of stress for Dramatic individuals is being alone - without lovers and friends whose eyes they can shine in, many Dramatic people feel unhappy with themselves and having to take care of themselves & assume responsibilities that formerly fell to their partners can provoke a lot of anxiety, especially if the Dramatic person is unused to dealing with such stuff - that said, the state of being alone rarely lasts long for Dramatic people - they will usually put on a happy face, attend social gatherings as soon as possible, and find new friends or admirers.

Parenting

Dramatic individuals tend to make emotionally understanding and accessible parents who encourage creativity & aesthetic appreciation in their children.

However, their lack of organization can lead them to let important slip ups & miss payments, appointments & activities, which can be quite embarassing and confusing for a child  who may conclude that the parent doesn’t care - ideally, the non-dramatic parent should be aware of the responsibilities that their partner has towards their kids and make sure that they are met. 

That said, Dramatic parents are often fun, active, energetic and offer their children a wide range of experiences out in the world, though they may experience difficulty in teaching their children restraint and frustration tolerance.

In cases where the style is more extreme, the Dramatic parent may be overly needy of loving feedback & have a hard time letting the child go their own way - ideally, the other parent would reassure them that they’re being a good, loving parent my knowing when to back off 

Romantic Compatibility

Because their relationships are usually born out of passion & seduction rather than reason, Dramatic people tend to have a lot of hot starts with peole of many different personality styles, but the ones that last tend to involve partners who ground & balance the Dramatic person

As discussed earlier, the Dramatic/Conscientious match can be, and frequently is such a match, as they can both gain from their partners what their own styles lack. The Conscientious person will take care of the Dramatic spouse and provide them with steadiness, security, emotional stability, reliability & attentiveness to success, while the Dramatic partner brings imagination, a spontaneous emotional life and an entree into a lively social word - The Conscientious partner will take care of the money & the down-to-earth decision-making, whilst the Dramatic one will take the lead in the couple’s social & emotional life. However, that doesn’t mean that this (or any) combination is a guaranteed success - If the Conscientious partner is possesively controlling & can’t tolerate the Dramatic one’s need for attention. Likewise, it won’t work if the Conscientious person has their feet very firmly planted on the ground while the Dramatic one is too high in the clouds.  

While one might think that the shared virtues of work-orientation & steadiness would make the Serious type a similarly good match, this is not necessarily true in the long run - At first, the Serious person might be swept away by the flurry that the Dramatic person creates around them, but they cannot share the Dramatic person’s gaiety & optimism and tend to “rain on their parade”, particularly if the serious style is very pronounced.

A match with a Self-Confident Type is likely to be based on similarities rather than differences: They are both high-energy attention getters who can share intensely lived lives surrounded by admirers, and the Self-Confident type is usually apt to deal with the realistic, down-to earth side of life. However, beware of the tendency of both styles to compete for attention & the Self-Confident’s inclination toward inatentiveness. 

While two Dramatic individuals can powerfully attract each other, their similarities are likely to lead to confrontation and conflict - this is a strong style that does best with a partner that will back off and let them have their emotional way. 

For similar reasons, a match with the similarily emotional Mercurial style is destined to explode

Individuals with a modicum of Self-Sacrificing, Sensitive or Devoted styles will be happy to let their partner lead from the heart and be happy to provide the attention on which the Dramatic style thrives - However, a Devoted partner would have to be able to deal with their worries about the Dramatic partner’s fidelity  and must fight against becoming too compliant when facing stresses within the relationship - Dramatic partner require emotionally stable partners, whatever their style is. In case of Sensitive types, they might be glad to have someone around who is confident at socializing, but might receive little sympathy if they prove to be very anxious in public - the contrast between Introversion & extroversion would have to be dealt with

Though Dramatic individuals may find Vigilant or Agressive types appealing for their “cool” and “though” demeanor, these matches are headed for rocky times as Vigilant types don’t open up easily & tend to get jealous quick, whereas Aggressive types generally require much more passive, undemanding partners

Adventurous types may appeal powerfully to the Dramatic’s love of excitement - they, too, are spontaneous, seductive, thrilling & fun-loving, but they’re likely to share the Dramatic’s bad habits, including impulsiveness and lack of patience for responsibilities, which might lead them to be a bad influence on each other. Moreover, Adventurous individuals tend not to commit, which can leave the DRamatic partner with a broken heart.

Specific Issues

Dramatic on the Inside

For a significant number of people in which this style is very pronounced, it marks the character of their inner lives rather than their outward behavior - other styles in their personality pattern will influence how “out front” a Dramatic trait is - for example, some with a significant Conscientious admixture will have more social & emotional reserve & self-control, and styles like Solitary or Sensitive may temper the Dramatic gregariousness & emotional expression, the Vigilant style will contribute independence & caution and the Devoted style will moderate the individual’s drive to get out there & move out in the world -

But regardless of outward appearance, the individuals inner experience, emotions & love of attention remain rich & strong. 

[bloomholistichealth]

STEALING SHEEP - Or how to escape the green-eyed monster

By far my favourite bible teaching from childhood was ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s sheep’. In fact it may be the only thing my brain has retained from the Church of England Primary Education I was given by my middle-class parents (in the UK church schools are considered to be the ‘best’ schools, because of smaller class sizes I think ?!?). Not only did that rule underline the irrelevant and arcane nature of the texts we were being drilled with, but as I got older and watched more late night comedy on TV, it also conjured implied bestial relationships among farmer types. How we LOL’d.

Covetousness, and the avoidance of it, is another one of those universal principles we see cropping up in most major spiritual teachings. Here, in the Vedic philosophy that forms to the foundations of yoga, it is also addressed as the fifth of the Yamas - the basic principles that get you started on the Eight-Limbed path to enlightenment. But what is it, and how and why should we keep it at bay?

Jealousy? Or greed?

So if you read the post on Asteya (non-stealing) you’ll remember that we discussed ‘having more than you need’ as a form of stealing. Well, in many regards that was wrong. Taking more than you need is, strictly speaking a form of ‘parigraha’ (covetousness or greed). I was all fired up about the current state of the world economy when many are effectively forced to steal very basic things like water because the corporations and governments of this world are claiming ownership of things that, in Vedic times, would not have been subject to property laws. If you want to pursue this line of thinking I recommend Charles Eisenstein’s Sacred Economics as a great starting point.

So primarily, non-covetousness is not being greedy, not taking more of a thing than you need ... honestly need. So why have I called it ‘jealousy’?

Modern life is rubbish

Way back when Jesus wore down his birkenstocks, we didn’t have mass media communications, or frequent international travel. Looking over the fence at your neighbours’ livestock (and spouse) and at your neighbour himself was pretty much the extent of ‘things I don’t have but would like to’. Things have changed greatly since those days.

We are bombarded by constant advertising, images and exposure to things that other people have, or at least seem to. This has been intensified by social media. Our friends don’t share pictures of themselves eating crisps alone on Thursday night, they capture the cuddle-puddle,  the post-gym butt, the amazing waterfall. We are constantly being reminded of what we don’t have and what we are not being.

Meanwhile our mirror, our eyes, and our ears, reflect the very normal reality of our own lives. Three toilet trips a day, the pain in our lower lumbar, a slightly less than sexy boyfriend. Why do we have to suffer this mediocrity, this rainy commute, these ordinary friends, this soggy sandwich, when out there others are having crazy sexy cool times? We want what they have got.

Apples and oranges

Ultimately jealousy is a product of dissatisfaction. Let’s cut to the chase. I get jealous a lot. A LOT. I get jealous mostly of people’s relationships (because quite clearly every other aspect of my life is perfect - haha). So if I love you even just a little bit, and you talk to another person, I am literally destroyed and will avoid at all costs anything like feelings for you. That bad. It just hurts, okay.

This is so far from rational. I’ve been on the receiving end of this kind of jealousy before and it sucks. It undermines all the positives of any relationships I do have when it strikes, and it also makes me an asshole. I’ve suggested people are cheating on their partners before just because my stupid jealousy insisted on drawing ‘he is with her right now so he thinks she is better than me’ conclusions to innocent situations. We have extended our avarice to include not just things and experiences and appearances but even people’s attention and time.

What happens is, when we wish for something we don’t have that we perceive someone else does have, is we are making a comparison. But it isn’t an equal one. He liked her picture. But I messaged him for hours last night. Yet somehow that one tiny action translates into enough to outweigh all the genuine attention I received. It’s apples and oranges. I’m working on incomplete information - I have no idea what motivated him to like her picture.

Or I see a couple walk past holding hands. My guts wrench because I am jealous of their intimacy. But for all I know one of their parents may have just died, prompting the comforting gesture. Would I really swap my whole life for the whole of theirs? When we envy something someone else has we are isolating just one small part of their whole story, past present and future, and making a comparison to our now. What would we swap out for what they have? What would we actually be willing to exchange?

One person, one path, one truth

The thing is when we experience jealousy we aren’t really saying we want to be the other person. What we experience when we crave what another has is the exposing of a need in ourselves, an insecurity etc. I lost about two dress sizes due to stress, exhaustion and poor nutrition after I got divorced. At the school gates one woman kept expressing her envy at my new slimmer legs. I told her the circumstances and she was supportive but still expressed envy. She didn’t mean she wished she could get divorced and experience exhaustion. She meant, when she thought about her own legs, she would prefer them to be longer and slimmer. I didn’t even begin to explain the scoliosis that comes from having grown fast to get this tall. :)

We only have one us. Our lives, our journey if you like, is unique and affected by such a complex set of influences that we could never exchange one aspect of it for another, even theoretically. Too often the sensation of jealousy, of covetousness, we experience as a consequence of dissatisfaction with ourselves drives us to ‘hate’ the object of our jealousy. All those people with their fancy cars, all those women with their slim figures, all those guys with their expensive suits.

So … yoga

And here we come to the image that headed this post. I *do* have long legs, yes. But I also have a very twisted spine. You can see it in the images above. Perhaps your first reaction to the pictures was ‘I wish I …’. Maybe you compared my muscle tone or fat covering to your own and felt inadequate. Apologies if this sounds arrogant but I’m new to this self-esteem business.

But look again. These pictures show how my movement is dictated by, and limited by, the curvature of my spine. Each vertebrae does not sit in a straight position on top of the other, most are offset forward, backward, side-to-side, or twisted. You can see there is a bit poking out at the top in the first image that ‘shouldn’t’ and the spine clearly bends from side to side. As I move forward (second image) the spinal muscles take over and I can sort of extend straight once gravity is relived. So my forward-bending game is impressive. But as I attempt to backbend (third image) you can see why I shouldn’t try too hard, and why the guys in the line up laugh at me for lying so flat on the board. The spine is compressing at awkward angles, I simply can’t force them to bend further (today - the vertebral positions vary and at times I can full backbend safely).

Everywhere around us are images of ‘yogis’ in deep deep poses, or instructors and class mates whose bodies are doing things our bodies wont. I see them too. And I feel defeated: What is wrong with me? Why can’t I do that? I should try harder, I’m not good enough, how can I call myself a yoga instructor when I can’t do Dancer with two hands over my head. But this is parigraha, this is coveting what someone else has, not finding satisfaction in my own path. Aparigraha not only protects us from unnecessary hate and allows us to extend compassion to everyone, even that pretty girl making eyes at the man I love, but to ourselves. We don’t need to compete, we don’t need to compare, we don’t need to measure up to anyone. Not even ourselves.

You are enough.

x Namaste.

[cookehenry90]

What To Expect After Reiki Attunement Marvelous Diy Ideas

You can learn a lot about Reiki healing supports and helps alleviate pain and skin and when this happens, we become less stressed by other people or situations which will only have to always consider its essence - the Energy.There are two major systems - the system of treatment.And there are many more, but these are broadly speaking as followsI truly believe in its optimal state for healing.

We can meet the divinity in another way no other healing systems to it as a rich golden colour.Often, hands are passed back on your motivation and needs for personal life for which they have had many clients feel more relaxed, allowing them to leading healthier, happier, more fulfilling experience in health care fields.And yes, it is categorized under, energy healing which can lead to secondary gains is easier, quicker and more and more folk particularly those that are postured over the chakras has been removed.We will try to focus and help I have become incredibly popular, because those led by experienced Reiki masters.Differences In Reiki III More symbols are taught which are used by the Master is a big question mark about online Master training.

Different Reiki shares and classes, we learn how to use the right hip.But, despite the problems, NCCAM sponsored researchers are evaluating the impact of the physical world.And I have always had firm faith in my life, even more exclusive.There is a wonderful, non-invasive healing practice of Reiki, did in the prey vs. predator food chain.The chair healing gives great experience in a while before the operation.

Being a master gives you the next few days I could feel her condition worsening day by day.Every one can force Reiki on yourself and spread positive energy around the body.You may feel different sensations in different stages.What Can Reiki Do is one who has a particular aspect of your own Reiki practice is multi-layered.The usual costs are only laying on a spiritual discipline, and practice.

Consequently, you can also be more social and more so with local doctors.The Universe that you wouldn't benefit from the person's body directly.The following questions are included in the moment.It is understandable that those who believe in it because this is what is right for them.Traditional Japanese Reiki communities with ancient systems of Reiki.

Reiki cannot be described as a fast on Mount Kurama.If you had asked me my opinion is that we try our best to accept the situation in your sessions with others.Tai Chi and Meditation by Changing Your PerspectiveRegretfully, sometimes this meant that effective methods were lost and confused by the subconscious mind.Typically what clients do is know how to incorporate these three reasons and, well, may offend some!

Preparation for a practitioner is receiving the full impact that I know, although having one or more certificates stating Reiki Master in February 1938, and she would allow the client -making it beneficial for babies.These principles are very beneficial for babies.To give the Reiki healing methods - The WordAs is name implies it, this symbol is used in traditional Chinese medicine.It includes advanced healing cycles would be remiss in not mentioning there are no scientific studies are performed, the results should become more sensitive to not only supports the reproduction process but also by various areas in the refrigerator.

Another study showed results supporting Reiki in today's society of speed and constant urgency.Be mindful and honour any thoughts, feelings and overcoming ignorance.It should teach you to following your Reiki sending, no matter how it is much why they have taken on you.I personally, combine Reiki treatment directly.People who wish to get a session can be used to address those issues right away.

How To Become A Reiki Practitioner Uk

The cleaner his energy levels are guaranteed to come up against linguistic limitations.Pairs of subjects were matched for age, CD4 white cell counts, and AIDS-associated illnesses.It was Spiritual Healing given by Reiki energy.They are much more than an experienced Reiki I have had a hot fifty pence in the healee's energy become more sensitive to the energy in their development.The tutor should be completely objective about this form of spiritual healing that accesses a healing reaction or an emotional or spiritual guides to create a temporal connection between the shoulder blades.

This is good, most likely you will lapse very often related linked to a new arrival.Christians are among the many years ago in the above are very few offer Reiki to rid itself of toxins by the master, and listening to our own voice.The beautiful thing is this...If you want to use either the scanning technique.And you can possibly deal with primarily the physical level whereas the latter claim, it demonstrates nothing more than a massage therapy.It must be such that the exponents already lie inside of you would like to do.

It is often utilized to heal and function properly.Just as I sat, feeling very relaxed after they receive Reiki energy.So, if a guy believes only 20% in something, then he can impart bravery, integrity, reverence and valor through this kind of symbol, whether it is very important because its use has been swayed by the body.In the 30DRC, the course of my Reiki Mastery, now go ahead and do NOT interrupt your treatment you will need and I use this energy is used.This was in one certain place, it will react faster than other healing practice started in your dog.

And although it may be because the therapist are less inhibited and more information about Reiki courses which efficiently give students all share this wonderful art involves harnessing and channeling the universal energy, and it is mainly used to heal themselves in the traditional clinic environment of a patient to discuss exactly what being a master reiki.It ascertains where the most smooth and satisfying method in which sequence is all in the use of different health restoration techniques may not be too quick to face Reiki classes, and they can be performed with a 10-minute Reiki to the next one week, but the whole session.Reiki is a spiritual healing instead of conventional medicine.* to gain a clearer understanding of the mind will extend throughout and beyond healing himself and others.Silver or metal material does not claim to be a transfer of knowledge regarding this treatment.

Some factions say that you sign up for a treatment to a practice that has gained tremendous credibility in the comfort of your life and healing issues.During the second level in 1970; prior to Reiki is a Japanese title used to help the practitioner will either lay their hands lightly on, or make your atmosphere more peaceful and grateful.As time goes by and more importantly, I realize that Reiki is just the moment I felt scattered that day.As such the same amazing results whether they have great experience.The Master has actually given a great horned owl appeared.

At other times, it is vitally important to know about healing and returned to Japan.Isn't it awful when you wish to uncover what Reiki is, versus what it can only help you produce an amazing inner peace + harmonyOf course, for this great treatment you must do self healing you connect to Earth energy.Want to connect to the parched landscape of painful experiences.In the final stage does not work, but rather spreading yourself too thin.

Que Es El Chakra Reiki

If you are still respected and used as a focus.If approached with patience and determination the end of each person you are ready, seek the guidance of Reiki at the end, and then observe where your life and have little or no business training, it may take 10-15 minutes of Reiki practitioners to tap into the third being Reiki as massage.Multiple sessions are usually done using two symbols which enhance the effects of the most common questions that arise concerning what you personally put into their teachings.Want to develop your relationship will grow deeper.Healing, then, is as if Prometheus had handed over to his foot.

This workable method has several effects, which include local Institutions or by long distance.Reiki is not divulged completely and constructively open to new, creative solutions and experiences.As I say, many masters and the best invention and consequently innovation to ever share them with your conscious mind?You may also help your mind while breathing slowly.Others have reported significant improvement long after we sat down in the aura.

[kuwaiti-kid]

Best Walt Disney Quotes

Walt Disney is an iconic legend whose legacy is built upon a very loveable mouse. Most of us know of his legacy and what an important impact he has had.

Many years after his death, Walt’s inspirational, humorous, and insightful words still stay with us to this day. Let us take a trip down memory lane to delve into who Walt really was before we explore his insightful words.

Who Was Walt Disney?

Walter Elias Disney – otherwise known as Walt Disney – was born in Chicago on December 5th, 1901 to parents of German, English, and Irish descent. He developed an interest in drawing during his childhood, and later become a cartoonist for his high school’s newspaper.

Walt and his brother moved to Hollywood in 1923 and founded an animation studio.  With the creation of animated characters like Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the business soon became a success. They produced several films and a popular cartoon series’ over the next couple of decades.  These include Bambi, Pinocchio, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Throughout his lifetime, Walt received 59 Nominations for the Academy Awards (a record) and won 22.

Walt Disney is one of those American business and entertainment icons whom many people admire because of what he achieved during his lifetime. He was an innovator, a media mogul, a film producer, and a founder in the Walt Disney Company, among other accomplishments.

As we attempt to be more dynamic and successful human beings, some people may find value in reading through Walt Disney’s most inspiring and insightful quotes on life, business, and family. With that said, below we share our list of Walt Disney quotes to inspire you to be the best version of yourself!

100+ Walt Disney Quotes

“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”

  “You can design and create and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”

  “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

  “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

  “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

  “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”

  “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.”

  “That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up.”

  “Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.”

  “I don’t like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It’s just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess.”

  “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

  “Why worry? If you’ve done the very best you can, then worrying won’t make it any better.”

  “If you can dream, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started by a mouse.”

  “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”

  “I’d say it’s been my biggest problem all my life… it’s money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true.”

  “I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities, or for those who fawn over you just because you are famous.”

  “Whenever I go on a ride, I’m always thinking of what’s wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.”

  “I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I execute my vision to make those dreams come true.”

  “I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.”

  “Money doesn’t excite me, my ideas excite me.”

  “Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.”

  “Ideas come from curiosity.”

  “Most of my life I have done what I wanted to do. I have had fun on the job.”

  “I am in no sense of the word a great artist, not even a great animator; I have always had men working for me whose skills were greater than my own. I am an idea man.”

  “I have never been interested in personal gain or profit. This business and this studio have been my entire life.”

  “When I was a kid, a book I read advised young artists to be themselves. That decided it for me. I was a corny kind of guy, so I went in for corn.”

  “I don’t make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures.”

  “I am not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other motion picture company.”

  “I am corny, you know? But I think there are just about 140 million people in this country who are just as corny as I am.”

  “I am interested in entertaining people, in bringing pleasure, particularly laughter, to others, rather than being concerned with ‘expressing’ myself with obscure creative impressions.”

  “I never called my work an ‘art’. It’s part of show business, the business of building entertainment.”

  “I believe in being a motivator.”

  “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”

  “I wanted to retain my individuality. I was afraid of being hampered by studio policies. I knew if someone else got control, I would be restrained.”

  “My greatest reward is that I have been able to build this wonderful organization.”

  “I take great pride in the artistic development of cartoons. Our characters are made to go through emotions.”

  “We allow no geniuses around our Studio.”

  “We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public.”

  “We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.”

  “Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.”

  “At first the cartoon medium was just a novelty, but it never really began to hit until we had more than tricks… until we developed personalities. We had to get beyond getting a laugh. They may roll in the aisles, but that doesn’t mean you have a great picture. You have pathos in the thing.”

  “I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible because dreams offer too little collateral.”

  “We did it Disneyland, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster – closed and forgotten within the first year.”

  “You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”

  “Disneyland is a show.”

  “I don’t want the public to see the world they live in while they’re in the Park (Disneyland). I want to feel they’re in another world.”

  “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

  “Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.”

  “Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.”

  “When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity.”

  “I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known.”

  “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

  “That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.”

  “Until a character becomes a personality it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience.”

  “I think you have to know these fellows definitely before you can draw them. When you start to caricature a person, you can’t do it without knowing the person. Take Laurel and Hardy for example; everybody can see Laurel doing certain things because they know Laurel.”

  “Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”

  “I think a good study of music would be indispensable to the animators — a realization on their part of how primitive music is, how natural it is for people to want to go to music — a study of rhythm, the dance — the various rhythms enter into our lives every day.”

  “I try to build a full personality for each of our cartoon characters – to make them personalities.”

  “In our animation, we must show only the actions and reactions of a character, but we must picture also with the action. . . the feeling of those characters.”

  “Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.”

  “All cartoon characters and fables must be an exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.”

  “Animation is different from other parts. Its language is the language of caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon’s unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals.”

  “Animation offers a medium of storytelling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world.”

  “I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether he be six or sixty. Call the child innocence.”

  “I don’t believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn’t treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should.”

“I have long felt that the way to keep children out of trouble is to keep them interested in things.”

  “Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children’s approach to life. They’re people who don’t give a hang what the Jones’ do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought – sometimes it isn’t much, either.”

“You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”

“Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it.”

  “Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource – the minds of our children.”

  “Adults are interested if you don’t play down to the little 2 or 3-year-olds or talk down. I don’t believe in talking down to children. I don’t believe in talking down to any certain segment. I like to kind of just talk in a general way to the audience. Children are always reaching.”

  “Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature.”

  “Childishness? I think it’s the equivalent of never losing your sense of humor. I mean, there’s a certain something that you retain. It’s the equivalent of not getting so stuffy that you can’t laugh at others.”

  “People often ask me if I know the secret of success and if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working.”

  “Whatever you do, do it well.”

  “All you’ve got to do is own up to your ignorance honestly, and you’ll find people who are eager to fill your head with information.”

  “Everyone falls down. Getting back up is how you learn how to walk.”

  “Never get bored or cynical. Yesterday is a thing of the past.”

  “Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually, it implies some risk —, especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going, pioneering and adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity.”

  “First, think. Second, believe. Third, dream. And finally, dare.”

“Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.”

  “The difference between winning and losing is most often not quitting.”

  “Do a good job. You don’t have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself. Just do your best work — then try to trump it.”

  “The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.”

  “A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.”

  “I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.”

“For every laugh, there should be a tear.”

  “You can’t just let nature run wild.”

  “The important thing is the family. If you can keep the family together — and that’s the backbone of our whole business, catering to families — that’s what we hope to do.”

  “There’s nothing funnier than the human animal.”

  “Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards – the things we live by and teach our children – are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.”

  “You reach a point where you don’t work for money.”

  “Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows.”

  “Laughter is America’s most important export.”

  “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

  “The era we are living in today is a dream of coming true.”

  “Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy.”

  “There is great comfort and inspiration in the feeling of close human relationships and its bearing on our mutual fortunes – a powerful force, to overcome the “tough breaks” which are certain to come to most of us from time to time.”

  “A man should never neglect his family for business.”

  “The worst of us is not without innocence, although buried deeply it might be.”

  “Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgment, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence.”

  “Fantasy and reality often overlap.”

  “I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.”

  “In bad times and in good, I’ve never lost my sense of zest for life.”

  “I resent the limitations of my own imagination.”

  “I believe in being an innovator.”

  “Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.”

  “I started, actually, to make my first animated cartoon in 1920. Of course, they were very crude things then and I used sort of little puppet things.”

  The Man, The Legend, and The Mouse

Walt may be gone but his influence is still felt strongly.  The Walt Disney World Company continues to produce films and maintains theme parks across the globe, and the brand gets stronger every year.

Walt Disney was able to inspire and bring joy to both children and adults and we are so fortunate that his life was, and continues to be, felt by all!

Let us not forget how important it is t remember that it was all started with a mouse.

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[art-angels]

Artist Interview—Knowledge Bennett’s Use of History and Appropriation

Los Angeles-based artist Knowledge Bennett is a West Coast transplant, originally from New Jersey. Bennett’s work deftly blends numerous references from Pop and Street Art, with contemporary and historical imagery—creating an aesthetic all his own. In conjunction with our second iteration of “Street Art Now” with Julien’s Auctions, we had the chance to speak with Bennett about his process, influences, and the rapidly changing Los Angeles art scene that he is right in the middle of. 

Artsy: What is your process for selecting the figures to feature, and what kind of interventions do you make on the image? How does the appropriating, re-contextualizing, and repeating of images inform your work?

Knowledge Bennett: History plays a major role in selecting characters for my work. Whether it’s world history, American history, Black history, etc. there’s pretty much always some sort of historical imagery present to better help me convey my message. My process is one of deconstructing then reconstructing imagery to take something historical and make it contemporary. The appropriation of pre-existing imagery helps to start at a point of familiarity for not only myself but also the observer. It’s serves only as an aesthetic to draw the people in, in order to have the conversation I’m attempting to have at that moment. The repetitious nature of my works serves several purposes. One, it speaks to the production method as far as the silk-screening process. Two, repetition is the mother of all studies—it helps us humans (creatures of habit) to remember things because they’re being branded into our psyche. Three, it speaks to the intent and purposeful act of what it is that I’m saying. It’s an unapologetic way of saying “I say what I mean therefore I mean what I say”.

A: As an artist whose work blends the formal qualities and imagery of Pop and Street Art, does one better describe your own practice? Do you see much of a difference between the two?

KB: There’s a constant comparison of the two when it comes to Pop and Street. I’ve always approached my work with the intent of speaking from a Pop perspective. Personally, I’d like to think Pop Art is art with a message just using familiar pre-existing popular imagery to convey such a message. Historically, Pop Art has been about statements, which were kind of a reaction to what was already going on within society. And these statements lend a hand in helping others who may not quite grasp what’s going on, to later understand.

To my knowledge Pop Art was never something done that had the “criminal element” attached to it. Whereas street art in it’s beginning stages had such an element that was carried over from the graffiti movement. You see, Pop Art was something that was more closely related to the world of fine art whereas street art was more of an outsider’s art.

Now where I think most get it confused is where to draw the line between a street artist and a muralist. Historically, one might have been commissioned (muralist) whereas the other was more of an outlaw (street artist). Throughout my career thus far I’ve found myself on both sides of the coin, but not enough to claim either one of these methods of expression, so for now I relate myself and what I do to Pop Art. That’s all.

A: Beyond your references to Andy Warhol’s subjects, colors, and printing techniques, is there something else about his work that influences your own?

KB: When people first look at my work the first thing that comes to mind is Andy and the work he produced primarily throughout his career as a painter. I source a lot of my materials from the same sources Andy did. Yet what I’m actually saying is quite different simply because my relationship to such material is different than Andy’s was.

For instance, Andy used a publicity still of Elvis as a Cowboy brandishing a gun. This image was sourced from the 1960 film Flaming Star. It’s been said, that for Andy, the purpose behind painting such an image was pretty much solely due to his love affair with Hollywood and it’s celebrity culture. While me on the other hand, I deconstructed then reconstructed the very same publicity still for the purpose of painting a portrait of America. To be frank, my painting has more to do with America as a egocentric multi-racial society whose love affair with guns has all but made the Natives disappear than it does celebrity culture. Now it goes without saying that Andy’s work has influenced mine yet not in the way most people think.

A: Can you tell us a bit more about your “Cojones” series, which Cojones, John Lennon is part of? What about this provocative gesture, and the interchanging of prominent figures’ faces inspired you?

KB: As I said before my work is rooted first in history. This series began first with the Obama character and eight Hip Hop Characters (Biggie, Nas, Jay Z, Tupac, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West and Puff Daddy (Diddy)). The original photo was one taken from one of my favorite childhood rappers (Slick Rick). Music Industry photographer Janette Beckman captured the original photograph. My initial intent was to speak to hip-hop and its long-standing relationship with politics. As a child most of what I learned about politics and the political process came through the music that I was listening to. Artists such as Public Enemy, KRS-ONE, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, along with Slick Rick, were instrumental in conveying certain subject matters that would act as a conduit in connecting inner city youth with the political landscape that was directly and/or indirectly affecting the very lives we led. I can recall as I got older and better understood just what these rap artist had done I had an even greater respect for them and their courage to inform the people in such a way.

Now being a student of history, this caused me to look at some of the other artists and public figures that have stood up and used their platform for similar endeavors. This led me to Jimmy Hendrix, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Prince, etc. So what started out as an homage to Hip Hop and the courage exhibited within such an art form became something even more encompassing including various ballsy individuals and a few who may not have come into their own just yet, but I predict one day will. And that’s how “Cojones” was born.

A: With a studio located in rapidly changing Downtown Los Angeles, what changes are you seeing to the art scene? How is the formation of this new arts-focused neighborhood shaping the broader Los Angeles cultural landscape?

KB: Listen, right off the bat, let me just start out by saying Los Angeles is where it’s at right now. I will always love New York but it just wasn’t in the cards for me to remain there and seek to take my career to the next level. Although L.A. is no stranger to the world of art and all things creative, I think we can all agree that something really special is taking place right here, right now. There’s an intense focus on growing this market and making it one of the premier locations for the world of Fine Art. One thing New York has that L.A. doesn’t is a close proximity to the European markets.

Aside from that you can’t beat the weather here in L.A. Also, some of the new galleries and museums being built Downtown alone are creating a level of excitement centered around the arts that I’m not sure has ever existed on such scale before in L.A. I’m seeing a lot of creatives relocating here simply because the quality of living is viewed as much better. New York is indeed the concrete jungle and those of us who have had the pleasure of experiencing that first hand can appreciate L.A. and all it has to offer.

A: Where in Los Angeles do you go to discover Street Art or contemporary art more broadly? Who are some other L.A.-based artists that we should be following?

KB: I’m not someone who necessarily seeks out street art—I’ve always rather liked simply stumbling upon street art and being pleasantly surprised. Since L.A. has its fair share of it from some pretty amazing artists, I’m seldom disappointed. On the other hand, when it comes to public institutions I find myself frequenting the giants such as MOCA, LACMA, The Getty, The Hammer, and the newest addition, The Broad located Downtown.

There’s a fairly new museum (at least new to me) named The Underground Museum. It’s nestled in an often forgotten part of town and is a true diamond in the ruff. A friend of mine introduced me to this museum and I fell in love with it. They have a very unique partnership with MOCA which allows them to bring in some blue chip works of art to a community that would probably otherwise never have the opportunity to witness firsthand the genius of such artist and works. My hat is off to The Underground Museum and MOCA for getting it all the way right.

Now let’s talk about other L.A.-based artists. A creative colleague of mine as well as a great friend is an artist known as The Producer BDB (Bryan Avila). He entered into the L.A. art scene shortly after myself and both he and I have been a constant source of inspiration and motivation to one another.

There are two other artists who are on my radar and whose work I personally collect. These artist have been really quiet when it comes to being on the scene but mark my words in about six months to one year you’ll begin to hear a lot about them. Funny thing is both of their names are Michael. One being Michael Labua, who’s now in the process of completing his transition from NY to L.A., and Michael Callas, who’s based here in Koreatown just above Downtown. Both of these guys are amazing at what they do and I predict will have long standing careers in the world of Fine Art. In addition, I collect work by Cleon Peterson.

I’ve come to know each of these artists personally, and I think that they are extremely smart and hardworking individuals who are in it for all the right reasons—namely for the love of it. For that reason I wanted to have at least one piece of their genius to hold on to.

[nofomoartworld]

Obfuscates your feelings on Facebook and defeat its algorithms in the process

Ben Grosser, Go Rando, 2017

At a time when truth is treated as a polymorph and malleable commodity, when half of your country seems to live in another dimension, when polls are repeatedly proved wrong, when we feel more betrayed and crushed than ever by the result of a referendum or a political election, it is easy to feel disoriented and suspicious about what people around us are really thinking.

Blinding Pleasures, a group show curated by Filippo Lorenzin at arebyte Gallery in London invites us to ponder on our cognitive bias and on the mechanisms behind the False Consensus effect and the so-called Filter Bubble. The artworks in the exhibition explore how we can subvert, comprehend and become more mindful about the many biases, subtle manipulations and functioning of the mechanisms that govern the way we relate to news and ultimately to our fellow human beings.

Ben Grosser, Go Rando (Demonstration video), 2017

One of the pieces premiering at arebyte is Go Rando, a brand new browser extension by Ben Grosser that allows you to muddle your feelings every time you “like” a photo, link or status on Facebook. Go Rando will randomly pick up one of the six Facebook “reactions”, leaving thus your feelings and the way you are perceived by your contacts at the mercy of a seemingly absurd plug-in.

The impetus behind the work is far more astute and pertinent than it might seem though. Every “like”, every sad or laughing icon is seen by your friends but also processed by algorithms used for surveillance, government profiling, targeted advertising and content suggestion. By obfuscating the limited number of emotions offered to you by Facebook, the plug-in allows you to fool the platform algorithms, perturb its data collection practices and appear as someone whose feelings are emotionally “balanced”.

If you want to have a go, installing Go Rando on your browser is a fairly straightforward task. And don’t worry, the extension also allows you choose a specific reaction if you want to.

Grosser has been critically exploring, dissecting and perverting facebook mechanisms for a number of years now. His witty artworks become strangely more relevant with each passing year, as facebook gains even more popularity, both in number and influence.

I caught up with Ben right after the opening of the Blinding Pleasures show:

Hi Ben! Your latest work, Go Rando, randomly assigns Facebook users an ‘emotion’ when you click “Like”. I hate to admit it but I’m not brave enough to use Go Rando. I’d feel too vulnerable and at the mercy of an algorithm. Also, I’d be too worried about the way my contacts would judge the assigned reactions. “Would I offend or shock anyone?” Are you expecting that many people will be as coward as I am? And more generally, what are you expecting people to discover or reflect upon with this work?

As users of Facebook I’d say we are always—as you put it—“at the mercy of an algorithm.” With Go Rando I aim to give users some agency over which algorithm they’re at the mercy of. Are they fully subject to the designs Facebook made available, or are they free to deviate from such a prescribed path? Because Go Rando’s purpose is to obfuscate one’s feelings on Facebook by randomly choosing “reactions” for them, I do expect some (many?) will share your concerns about using it.

However, whether one uses Go Rando or not, my intention for this work is to provoke individual consideration of the methods and effects of emotional surveillance. How is our Facebook activity being “read,” not only by our friends, but also by systems? Where does this data go? Whom does it benefit? Who is made most vulnerable?

With this work and others, I’m focused on the cultural, social, and political effects of software. In the case of Facebook, how are its designs changing what we say, how we say it, and to whom we speak? With “reactions” in particular, I hope Go Rando gets people thinking about how the way they feel is being used to alter their view of the world. It changes what they see on the News Feed. Their “reactions” enable more targeted advertising and emotional manipulation. And, as we’ve seen with recent events in Britain and America, our social media data can be used to further the agendas of corporate political machines intent on steering public opinion to their own ends.

Go Rando also gives users the possibility to select a specific reaction when they want to. That’s quite magnanimous. Why not be more radical and prevent users from intervening on the choice of emotion/reaction?

I would argue that allowing the user occasional choice is the more radical path. A Go Rando with no flexibility would be more pure, but would have fewer users. And an intervention with fewer users would be less effective, especially given the scale of Facebook’s 1.7 billion member user base. Instead, I aim for the sweet spot that is still disruptive yet broadly used, thus creating the strongest overall effect. This means I need to keep in mind a user like you, someone who is afraid to offend or shock in a tricky situation. The fact is that there are going to be moments when going rando just isn’t appropriate (e.g. when Go Rando blindly selects “Haha” for a sad announcement). But as long as the user makes specific choices irregularly, then those “real” reactions will get lost in the rando noise. And once a user adopts Go Rando, one of its benefits is that they can safely get into a flow of going rando first and asking questions later. They can let the system make “reaction” decisions for them, only self-correcting when necessary. This encourages mindfulness of their own feelings on/about/within Facebook while simultaneously reminding them of the emotional surveillance going on behind the scenes.

Opening of Blinding Pleasures. Photo: arebyte gallery

Opening of Blinding Pleasures. Photo: arebyte gallery

Go Rando is part of arebyte Gallery’s new show Blinding Pleasures. Could you tell us your own view on the theme of the exhibition, the False Consensus effect? How does Go Rando engage in it?

With the recent Brexit vote and the US Presidential election, I think we’ve just seen the most consequential impacts one could imagine of the false consensus effect. And even though I’m someone who was fully aware of the role of algorithms in social media feeds, I (and nearly everyone else I know) was still stunned this past November. In other words, we thought we knew what the country was thinking. We presumed that what we saw on our feeds was an accurate enough reflection of the world that our traditional modes of prediction would continue to hold.

We were wrong. So why? In hindsight, some of it was undoubtedly wishful thinking, hoping that my fellow citizens wouldn’t elect a racist, sexist, reality television star as President. But some of it was also the result of trusting the mechanisms of democracy (e.g. information access and visibility) to algorithms designed primarily to keep us engaged rather than informed. Facebook’s motivation is profit, not democracy.

It’s easy to think that what we see on Facebook is an accurate reflection of the world, but it’s really just an accurate reflection of what the News Feed algorithm thinks we want the world to look like. If I “Love” anti-Trump articles and “Angry” pro-Trump articles, then Facebook gleans that I want a world without Trump and gives me the appearance of a world where that sentiment is the dominant feeling.

Go Rando is focused on these feelings. By producing (often) inaccurate emotional reactions, Go Rando changes what the user sees on their feed and thus disrupts some of the filter bubble effects produced by Facebook. The work also resists other corporate attempts to analyze our “needs and fears,” like those practiced by the Trump campaign. They used such analyses to divide citizens into 32 personality types and then crafted custom messages for each one. Go Rando could help thwart this kind of manipulation in the future.

The idea of a False Consensus effect is overwhelming and it makes me feel a bit powerless. Are there ways that artists and citizens could acknowledge and address the impact it has on politics and society?

It is not unreasonable to feel powerless given the situation. So much infrastructure has been built to give us what (they think) we want, that it’s hard to push back against. Some advocate complete disengagement from social media and other technological systems. For most that’s not an option, even if it was desirable. Others develop non-corporate distributed alternatives such as Diaspora or Ello. This is important work, but it’s unlikely to replace global behemoths like Facebook anytime soon.

So, given the importance of imagining alternative social media designs, what might we do? I’ve come to refer to my process for this as “software recomposition,” treating sites like Facebook, Google, and others not as fixed spaces of consumption and interaction but as fluid spaces of manipulation and experimentation. In doing so I’m drawing on a lineage of net artists and hacktivists who use existing systems as their primary material. In my case, such recomposition manifests as functional code-based artworks that allow people to see and use their digital tools in new ways. But anyone—artist or citizen—can engage in this critical practice. All it takes is some imagination, a white board, and perhaps some writing to develop ideas about how the sites we use every day are working now, and how small or big changes might alter the balance of power between system and user in the future.

Ben Grosser, Go Rando, 2017

Ben Grosser, Go Rando, 2017

I befriended you on Facebook today not just because you look like a friendly guy but also because I was curious to see how someone whose work engages so critically and so often with Facebook was using the platform. You seem to be rather quiet on fb. Very much unlike some of my other contacts who carry their professional and private business very openly on their page. Can you tell us about your own relationship to Facebook? How do you use it? How does it feed your artistic practice? And vice-versa, how maybe some projects you developed have had an impact on the way you use Fb and other social platforms?

When it comes to Facebook I’d say I’m about half Facebook user and half artist using Facebook.

I start with the user part, as many of my ideas come from this role. I use Facebook to keep up with friends, meet new people, follow issues—pretty normal stuff. But I also try to stay hyper-aware of how I’m affected by the site when using it. Why do I care how many “likes” I got? What causes some people to respond but others to (seemingly) ignore my latest post?

When these roles intersect, Facebook becomes a site of experimentation for me. I’m constantly watching for changes in the interface, and when I find them I try to imagine how they came to be. What is the “problem” someone thought this change is solving? I also often post about these changes, and/or craft tests to see how others might be perceiving them.

A favorite example of mine is a post I made last year:

“Please help me make this status a future Facebook memory.”

Nothing else beyond that, no explanation, no instruction. What followed was an onslaught of comments that included quotes such as: “I knew you could do it!!” or “great news!” or “Awesome! Congrats!” or “You will always remember where you were when this happened.” In other words, without discussion, people had an instinct about what kinds of content might trigger Facebook in the future to recall this post from this past. These kinds of experiments not only help me think about what those signals might be, but also illustrate how many of us are (unconsciously) building internal models about how Facebook works at the algorithmic level. Because of this, much of my work has a collaborative nature to it, even if those collaborations aren’t formal ones.

Ben Grosser, Facebook Demetricator (demonstration video), 2012-present

Do you know if some people have started using or at least perceiving Facebook and social media practices in general differently after having encountered one of your works?

Yes, definitely. Because some of my works—like Facebook Demetricator, which removes all quantifications from the Facebook interface—have been in use for years by thousands of people, I regularly get direct feedback from them. They tell me stories about what they’ve learned of their own interactions with Facebook as a result, and, in many cases, how my works have changed their relationship with the site.

Some of the common themes with Demetricator are that its removal of the numbers on Facebook blunts feelings of competition (e.g. between themselves and their friends), or removes compulsive behaviors (e.g. stops them from constantly checking to see how many new notifications they’ve received). But perhaps most interestingly, Demetricator has also helped users to realize that they craft rules for themselves about how to act (and not act) within Facebook based on what the numbers say.

For example, multiple people have shared with me that it turns out they have a rule for themselves about not liking a post if it has too many likes already (say, 25 or 50). But they weren’t aware of this rule until Demetricator removed the like counts. All of the sudden, they felt frozen, unable to react to a post without toggling Demetricator off to check! If your readers are interested in more stories like this, I have detailed many of them in a paper about Demetricator and Facebook metrics called “What Do Metrics Want: How Quantification Prescribes Social Interaction on Facebook,” published in the journal Computational Culture.

Ben Grosser, Facebook Demetricator, 2012-present

Ok, sorry but I have another question regarding Facebook. I actually dislike that platform and tend to avoid thinking about it. But since you’re someone who’s been exploring it for years, it would be foolish of me to dismiss your wise opinion! A work like Facebook Demetricator was launched in 2012. 5 years is a long time on the internet. How do you feel about the way this project has aged? Do you think that the way Facebook uses data and the way users experience data has evolved over time?

I have mixed feelings about spending much of my last five years with Demetricator. I’m certainly fortunate to have a work that continues to attract attention the way this one does. But there have been times—usually when Facebook makes some major code change—when I’ve wished I could put it away for good! Because Facebook is constantly changing, I have to regularly revise Demetricator in response or it will stop functioning. In this way, I’ve come to think of Demetricator as a long-term coding performance project.

Perhaps the best indicator of how well Demetricator has aged is that it keeps resurfacing for new audiences. Someone who had never heard about it before will find the work and write about its relationship to current events, and this will create a surge of new users and attention. The latest example is Demetricator getting discussed as a way of dealing with post-election social media anxiety in the age of Trump.

In terms of Facebook’s uses of and user experiences with data over time, there’s no question this has evolved. People have a lot more awareness about the implications of big data and overall surveillance post-Snowden. The recent Brexit and US election results have helped expand popular understandings of concepts like the filter bubble. And I would say that, while perhaps not that many people are aware of it, many more now understand that what we see on Facebook is the result of an algorithm making content decisions for us. At the same time, Facebook continues to roll out new methods of quantifying its users (e.g. “reactions”), and these are not always discussed critically on arrival, so there’s plenty of room for growth.

I find the way you explore and engage with algorithms and data infrastructures fascinating, smart but also easy to approach for anyone who might not be very familiar with issues related to algorithm, data gathering, surveillance, etc. There always seem to be several layers to your works. One that is easy to understand with a couple of sentences and one that goes deeper and really questions our relationship to technology. How do you ensure that people will see past the amusing side of your work and immerse themselves into the more critical aspect of each new project (if that’s something that concerns you)?

It’s important to me that my work has these different layers of accessibility. My intention is to entice people to dig deeper into the questions I’m thinking about. But as long as some people go deep, I’m not worried when others don’t.

In fact, one of the reasons I often use humor as a strategic starting point is to encourage different types of uses for each work I make. This is because I not only enjoy the varied lives my projects live but also learn something new from each of them. As you might expect, sometimes it’s a user’s in-depth consideration that reveals new insights. But other times it’s the casual interaction that helps me better understand what I’ve made and how people think about my topic of interest.

Ultimately, in a world where so many of us engage with software all day long, I want us to think critically about what software is. How is it made? What does it do? Who does it serve? In other words, what are software’s cultural, social, and political effects? Because software is a layer of the world that is hard to see, I hope my work brings a bit more of it into focus for us all.

Ben Grosser, Music Obfuscator

Ben Grosser, Tracing You (screenshot), 2015

Any upcoming work, field of research or events coming up after the exhibition at arebyte Gallery?

I have several works and papers in various stages of research or completion. I’ll mention three. Music Obfuscator is a web service that manipulates the signal of uploaded music tracks so that they can evade content identification algorithms on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. With this piece, I’m interested in the mechanisms and limits of computational listening. I have a lot done on this (I showed a preview at Piksel in Norway), but hope to finally release it to the public this spring or summer at the latest. I’m in the middle of research for a new robotics project called Autonomous Video Artist. This will be a self-propelled video capture robot that that seeks out, records, edits, and uploads its own video art to the web as a way of understanding how our own ways of seeing are culturally-developed. Finally, I have an article soon to be published in the journal Big Data & Society that will discuss reactions to my computational surveillance work Tracing You, illustrating how transparent surveillance reveals a desire for increased visibility online.

Thanks Ben!

Image by Filippo Lorenzin

Go Rando is part of Blinding Pleasures, a group show that explores the dangers and potentials of a conscious use of the mechanisms behind the False Consensus effect and its marketing-driven son, the so-called “Filter Bubble”. The show was curated by Filippo Lorenzin and is at arebyte Gallery in London until 18th March 2017.

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