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semper-legens · 1 year ago

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135. Tempted, by PC and Kristin Cast

Owned: No, library Page count: 319 My summary: Zoey Redbird's life is going from bad to worse. Soul-bonded to the evil Kalona, Warrior-bonded to Stark, and Imprinted to Heath, her love life has imploded in her face. And her best friend is keeping secrets from her. One of the Raven Mockers is alive, and in her base. But Zoey needs to stop Kalona from taking his place as 'Erebus' alongside Neferet as 'Nyx Incarnate'. And she has no idea how... My rating: 0/5 My commentary:

Ah, House of Night. I'm still determined to not let this series break me, but it's trying very, very hard to make that happen. Each book just sinks a little bit lower into the pits of despair in which hope goes to die. Hope for good storytelling and characterisation, that is. This book continues to not really be about vampires - well, Stevie Rae has more vampire traits, but apart from Zoe drinking a bit of Heath's blood every so often you could be excused for not remembering that this is, in fact, a vampire thing. It's pretty terrible, and I am going to waffle about it under the cut.

First of all, for about the first half of this book, nothing happens. Characters bitch at each other. Zoe isn't dead. Boyfriend drama. Nothing of consequence, really, no tension. I know I've said this about the last book, and probably literally every book before, but it bears repeating. Cast has no idea what pacing is. The first half to two thirds of every House of Night book are the characters meandering around not really doing anything, until you hit the climax and suddenly it's all go. There's not a lot of narrative tension, and not really much that's gripping. And things go round in circles a lot. Yes, Stevie Rae, you feel bad for keeping secrets. Yes, Zoe, you're the centre of the universe. Oh, and this is a small thing, but for the first time we're out of Zoe's strict first-person narrative voice. We've got a series of third person limited sections from other characters, like Heath and Stark and Stevie Rae and such. Not bad in and of itself, but the chapter breaks will insist on naming the characters before their section, when it's perfectly clear in the prose who's talking. Not a major thing, it just irked me, especially as Cast actually did an adequate job distinguishing character voices. I mean, they're all annoying-ass teenagers, but that's in character for this lot.

Zoe continues to flirt with the Worst Romantic Fiction Trope Of All Time. Say it with me, kids - "I can save him!" Sure, Kalona's a rapist and murderer who has invaded Zoe's home to fight and slaughter her people. Sure, he's allied with the woman who wants to lead all the vamps into a giant war against everyone. Sure, he's definitely playing Zoe by only speaking in very selective truths about his past and who he is. But there's a heart of gold underneath! I can change him, I swear! Ugh. Yes, despite being a monster, Kalona is worth saving because Zoe wants to bang him - was predestined to want to bang him, even. In the hands of a more skilful author, this could have been an exploration of soulmate tropes, and what happens when your soulmate is terrible. But no. Forbidden love. Because it's soooooo hot.

And then there's the stupid birdman. Stevie Rae rescues a Raven Mocker who turns out to be Kalona's favourite son. His name is Rephaim. Now, if you're like me, you will look at that name and frown. It looks far more like the name of a Biblical angel than anything relating to the Cherokee people. And you would be half right! The Rephaim are from the Bible, and are either ghosts of the dead or a race of giants, depending on where you're reading. Nothing to do with the, I cannot stress this enough, real stories of Raven Mockers in real Cherokee belief. I keep thinking Cast has found the absolute depths of disregard for Cherokee people, and yet she sinks even lower. In addition, there seems to be some sort of 'all myths are true' thing going on with Kalona - turns out he's not actually Cherokee originally, he was Nyx's warrior and got cast down for loving her too much, then wound up becoming a Big Evil Dude among the Cherokee. So, once again, this supposedly Cherokee figure isn't actually that Cherokee. This compounds with the revalation that Zoe is definitely the reincarnation of A-ya, the woman made by the Ghigau Women to trap Kalona. (Not only is she Special and Perfect to Nyx, she's also Significant to the Cherokee.) But again, Zoe's Cherokee heritage is mishandled. Zoe is consistently portrayed as being pretty pale, and doesn't seem to have any meaningful connection to Cherokee culture, largely because Cast seemingly didn't care to do the research. It's both lazy and disrespectful.

And finally, my constant complaint about this series. All of these characters are terrible. The Twins continue to have no personality outside shopping, and at one point refer to Aphrodite as 'Aphrodykey', which isn't called out as being homophobic despite Zoey's whole 'we love and support the gays' thing. Aphrodite still refuses to grow an interest that isn't being a rich bitch and liking sex. Jack is still Emotional and Gay. Damien's personality boils down to acting like vocab words a ten year old knows are obscure. Stark gets the new trait of Likes To Read, and Zoey's immediately acting like he's a huge nerd for it and that it's amazing that he reads, despite the fact that he only reads high school English class books and nothing individual. Zoey herself is back down to one boyfriend, breaking up with Erik, who immediately goes and gets with another girl out of spite, because you are either with or against Zoey. Stevie Rae gets feelings for Rephaim for no real reason despite how dangerous he is and almost dies because of it. I'm just not interested in the lives of any of these characters. They're all too callous or annoying or both for me to feel any investment. Hopefully things go back to being entertainingly bad soon.

Next, the other series I'm rereading - we're back to CHERUB.

#Tempted #PC Cast #Kristin Cast #book blog #book blogger #1

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historyhermann · 1 year ago

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Young Love Spoiler-Filled Review

Young Love is a mature animated comedy spun off from the short film, Hair Love, by Matthew A. Cherry, Everett Downing Jr., and Bruce W. Smith. Cherry, who created this series, began working in the entertainment industry in 2007. Downing created the Afrofuturist series My Dad the Bounty Hunter. Smith created The Proud Family and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. Sony Pictures Animation, Blue Key Entertainment, and Lion Forge Animation produced this series. This article was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of actors currently on strike, Young Love, being reviewed here, wouldn't exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-third article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on October 18, 2023.

This series comes at a time that there are growing number of Black-centered animated series on streaming services, including My Dad the Bounty Hunter, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Craig of the Creek, Supa Team 4, Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Central Park, and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. There are also ongoing indie animations, like Guardian Instance, Diver: The Animated Series, and Silver Lin, by Black animator Brandon Wright. In addition, indie animations such as Defenders of Alodia, LimeLight, and Captain Zero are in development. Iwájú, Dantai, Cookies & Milk, Tiana, and Iyanu: Child of Wonder are five animated series set to premiere on streaming platforms in the future.

Young Love follows a tight-knit Black family trying to pursue their dreams. It goes beyond what is depicted in Hair Love. Only Angela Young (voiced by Issa Rae), spoke in that film. In this series, Rae reprises her role. Kid Cudi and Brooke Monroe Conaway join her. Cudi voices her partner, Stephen Love. Conaway voices her daughter, Zuri Michaela Young-Love. The first episode pulls you into their world, as does the animation style. Stephen is an aspiring music producer. Angela is a hair stylist. She enters her workplace, the salon, Sister Locs, two months after she left the hospital, but is out of practice.

The episode goes on from there, with Stephen and Angela showing support for their daughter at a school auction. Star (voiced by Tamar Braxton) and Angela's parents, Russell Young (voiced by Henry Lennix) and Gigi Young (voiced by Loretta Devine), are introduced. Stephen and Angela rent their apartment from Russell, who is often hounding Stephen to pay the rent. Stephen, Angela, and Zuri often have fun together, despite their challenges. However, there are tensions. Angela wants to complete her bucket list, which she put together before her chemotherapy. Zuri has dug tunnels through the apartment, so she moves through undetected. At other times, Stephen and Angela help Zuri with her school projects.

Through it all, comedy is part and parcel of this series, mixed with occasional coarse language, suggestive dialogue, and violence. Young Love doesn't sugarcoat life in Chicago or tense family dynamics, but shows them realistically instead. At the same time, the series highlights the role of the sharing economy, sexist beliefs from men (claims of women's incapability), and gangs. The latter is manifested in Lil Ankh (voiced by Idrys). He is a rap/hip hop star and Stephen works for him. When it comes to the sharing economy, Angela convinces her fellow co-worker, Cheri, to use a digital app for booking appointments.

The series has a strong slice-of-life vibe, from the fight between Russell and a 1970s washing machine (he finally wins when he puts it at the curb), Zuri and Gigi going to apartments managed by Russell to collect rent (to prove women aren't incapable). At the same time, it provides commentary on social media influencers. In the fourth episode, for instance, Zuri becomes friends with Stacy, after she objects to the book selection by the school librarian, Ms. Green and feels guilt for her homelessness, resulting in her inviting Stacey and her family to stay in the Young's apartment.

This quickly goes wrong when Angela becomes a social media influencer and exploits the new residents, using them to gain followers. They strike back by mooching off her. Angela and Zuri get their new occupants (Stacey and her family) to leave by getting them a hotel room. In the end, they do very well for themselves. Supporters gift them an entire house, while Zuri, Stephen, and Angela don't even have a whole house. In some ways, Angela and Zuri get what they deserve. Overall, the episode is critical of social media influencers and their negative influence. Crowdfunding's positives are hinted. This episode has a similar message to that communicated about such individuals in Karma's World and The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.

The value of art and the creative process is key theme in Young Love. For instance, in the fourth episode, Stephen connects with his nephew, Amir (voiced by Noah Cottrell), who likes to spray paint. He brings him to a modern art exhibit, exciting him. This goes further in the next episode, when Stephen puts aside his contract with Lil Ankh, after the latter rejects his beats, and tries to ink a deal with a White male advertising executive. He hopes that this will help him break free of Ankh.

The firm is steeped in White bro culture. It is racist but hidden behind niceties. The executive he met previously is joined by a few others. They all dress like Black people, claim they "get" them, and are "allies." While he cringes, he goes along with it because of the compensation. This episode criticizes "inclusive" corporate culture. In reality, the culture of this corporation is the "same old race shit." This gets worse when Stephen uncovers that he's making a racially tinged laundry detergent jingle.

What follows is a funny sequence: a Twitter bird chases Stephen and Star. They are confronted by historical Black figures who warn them against making the jingle. They ignore this, and make a subversive jingle, with Black power themes. The White ad execs don't know better. This is squashed when Lil Ankh releases a similar song, and they have to return the money. Even worse, Lil Ankh calls out Stephen as "trash" and a "traitor." It is no accident that in the same episode, Angela bonds with a new client, a Black woman named Jade, one of the only Black women who leads a PR firm. Zuri tries to sell cookies to "get back" at the Girl Scouts.

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This series is more than a mix of slice-of-life and drama. The episodes often come with warnings for strong or coarse language, and occasional violence. Unlike other series, aimed at all ages, Young Love is aimed at mature adults. It doesn't whitewash anything. Take for example, the sixth episode, when Stephen tries to figure out who he is without Lil Ankh, who stole his beats without credit, and ends up in a bad funk. After he brings Zuri to school, his beat-up car breaks down. He gets four flat tires. It is almost a manifestation of 1998 hit by The Coup, "Cars & Shoes."

If that isn't bad enough, Ankh refuses to give him credit. Star continues working with Ankh despite him being a scumbag. With this defeat, he imagines everyone criticizing his work, and even fills out employment applications that Russell gave him. There is then a twist: Russell once was drummer for a funk band! He declares that he sees potential in Stephen, saying he believes in him and says music is Stephen's identity. This is just the inspiration he needs. It is not mistake that everyone learns a lesson by the end of the episode: Angela learns that she should stop meddling in people's lives as a life coach and Zuri stops trying to tell people's fortunes with a demonic cootie-catcher. The episode ends with Stephen teaching Zuri piano chords. Angela welcomes further bonding between Zuri and Stephen.

The next episode of Young Love is one of my favorites since it contains social commentary on pyramid schemes, video game addiction, and comedy (known as throwing shade in this series). For the first of these topics, Angela tries to extract her mom from a pyramid scheme called Ruminate, to sell reported "holy water." This changes when the devious speaker declares that a benefit is an "all-exclusive" trip to Paris. She then accepts it since a vacation to Paris is on her bucket list.

They end up hawking this to more people until they realize the obvious: it is a swindle. They get a ticket, but to Paris, Illinois, not Paris, France, infuriating them. Angela says that Chicago's broken educational system was a cause for her poor choice. She thanks her mom for teaching her to believe in herself again. While Angela and her mom round up "the crew" (those they roped into the scheme) to take down Ruminate, no one believes their tall tale, which appears partially fabricated.

The commentary on video game addiction and comedy is more straightforward. Stephen becomes resolute and determined to beat Hustle Quest, a video game that his nephew Amir made. After several days, he is victorious. However, Zuri easily beats the game in a few minutes, surprising Stephen. The latter makes clear that becoming obsessed with something short-lived is a waste of time. It implies that people have different forms of obsession. Video game addiction is listed in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). However, there isn't a consensus on whether it is separate disorder or manifestation of other disorders.

When it comes to comedy, Zuri learns from Amir how to show "shade" on people. She stands up to Twan (voiced by Debra Wilson), who is calling people names. Both end up in the principal's office. He chastises them for their behavior. The principal says that if they continue, they will become comedians who charge pennies for jokes. Zuri and Twan decide to team up and tell jokes together, and charge people for it.

The principal's line may be a dig at comedians and how some will do anything to be funny, even if it takes others down. On the other hand, it might be more tongue-and-cheek, considering the comedy of Young Love itself. Consider the next episode. Zuri believes that her parents are having sex. Instead, they are trying to coordinate a schedule. Zuri's initiation is somewhat right: after she leaves, they try to have sex. However, Stephen's desire for chicken wins out, annoying Angela.

Of all the episodes, the eighth episode touches on the value of artwork, drug use in the Black community, the value of artwork, and "spicing up" romance. For the first of these topics, Amir bonds with Zuri. Amir honors his father by spray painting on a wall. Zuri unknowingly helps him, as does a young Black man wearing a face mask. This empowering message about art fits with other episodes. In comparison, series such as The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder do not have similar messages.

On the second of the topics, Stephen and Angela try to find a place where they went early on in their relationship. However, the restaurant has disappeared, and they feel out of place in a now-gentrified neighborhood. Focusing on gentrification in Young Love is not unique. Kizazi Moto, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, City of Ghosts, and Birdie Wing did the same. Stephen and Angela are skeptical about going into a shop, sitting where the restaurant they loved was located. They only enter to charge their phones. A White woman runs the store. She welcomes them, bowing, and welcomes them with "namaste." In some ways, she represents spiritualist White people.

This soon changes. Angela and Stephen drink their tea. It's infused with THC, otherwise known as tetrahydrocannabinol. It's the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. They remain high for the rest of the episode. This doesn't stop them from giving zingers to White people. Angela calls gentrification "domestic imperialism" and describes a nearby White shop owner as a "colonizer." They find the food truck run by the chef who once ran their beloved restaurant. They are so high that Angela doesn't discipline Zuri for leaving the house (she was supposed to stay put). Stephen just vibes while this happens.

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Apart from The Freak Brothers, an indie animated series which is absolute dreck, and an allusion in an episode of Steven Universe Future, I can't think of any other series which gives a positive portrayal of getting high. None of the other Black animated series I mentioned earlier even approach the topic of drug use at all. Executives would consider it "too mature" for all-ages series. Perhaps they think it could increase drug use since one study suggested popular music about cannabis could do. More likely, they have certain perceptions of children's wants, which don't always align with reality.

Otherwise, the final plot thread, of spicing up romance, takes place between Russell and Gigi. They give each other presents, but Gigi remains annoyed that each year repeats itself. Rain continues to stop Russell's plans to go out for their romantic anniversary. She demands they change things up and Russell ends up delivering. He returns in the uniform of a letter carrier (his former job). The message this communicates is that love is possible between anyone, no matter their age. It fits with the rest of the series, in which Russell, Gigi, Angela, Stephen, and Zuri live in the same building. In fact, Stephen, Zuri, and Angela live above Gigi and Russell, and have a cat named Rocky, who is a character in some ways, but never speaks.

Later episodes involve Stephen and Angela either helping their daughter, Zuri, or trying to bond with others. The latter is on display when Amir goes with Stephen to buy expensive sneakers, which cost $300.00. Angela begins to come into her own, as she runs the salon, known as Sister Locs, and realizes that she can't be the "cool" boss, but needs firm instead. Stephen tries to compose some beats and realizes he shouldn't be like Lil Ankh, but should chart his own path. When it comes to helping Zuri, her parents get her out of a situation where she caused students to riot over coffee cake, after she thought she was Angela Davis.

These episodes set the stage for the final two episodes of Young Love. In the first of these episodes, Angela's parents (and Zuri's grandparents by extension) demand that Zuri come to church after she complains that God is ignoring her prayers. They are horrified after Stephen calls out religion as corrupt and Angela says spirituality is what is best for Zuri. Going to church is uncomfortable for Stephen and Angela. In the process, Angela lies. She claims she's married to Stephen. At the same time, the episode shows how certain people can be charlatans. Zuri poses as the "chosen one" so she can one-up her friend, Sky. She even tries to take away the Star student idea when Sky begins questioning her.

In this series, God is a Black man. He is remarkably busy and claims to not have time to involve himself in people's affairs. He is similar to the God, with a light bulb as a head, in Disenchantment, voiced by Phil LaMarr, a well-known Black male voice actor. The episode has an interesting twist. It turns out that the financial advisor who helped Angela and Stephen get their finances in order, and deal with their overdue payments, was God himself. In addition, the Principal's worry about lawsuits (when Zuri claims she is the chosen one) and separation of church and state is timely, since some sneer at legal prohibition of religious involvement in public schools, in the U.S., and desire the re-introduction of (Christian) prayer.

This nuanced approach to religion in Young Love, ending with Angela's parents remaining religious, while Angela, Zuri, and Stephen are spiritualists, is unique. It differs from lip service the Simpsons family shows to churchgoing in The Simpsons, or lack of religious worship in The Proud Family, and its reboot. This nuance reflects the fact that only 16% of Americans committed to attending religious services in person. A 2021 survey is even more pertinent. One-in-five Black Americans told survey takers they are religiously unaffiliated. Instead, they identify as agnostic, atheist, or “nothing in particular.” This is especially the case among Gen Z and Millennials. In addition, a recent survey attested that over 10% of Asian Americans are non-religious.

The Young Love series finale builds upon the penultimate episode. It begins with Zuri's declaration that she will marry her classmate, BJ. This goes awry when he swallows a strawberry with a ring inside. Following this, Zuri, and Angela's parents, pressure Stephen and Angela to get married. At first, neither wants this. They laud their freedom from "binding chains of matrimony." Both describe themselves, to the school principal, as loving parents committed to providing Zuri with a stable home. Non-marriage between Angela and Stephen remained in part because of Stephen's repeated failures to propose marriage.

Russell's claim that no weddings or marriages will cause an apocalypse impacts this decision. A recent poll is relevant: Americans expressed worries about declining marriages. Even so, Catholics and historically Black Protestants, especially, had less concern about those with fewer children. That poll also noted that larger groups took a neutral view. They believed that the declining number of marriages is neither positive nor negative for society. At the same time, many women said, in a related poll, of Americans that they took the traditional, and patriarchal route, by taking their husband's surname in opposite-sex marriages.

As such, Russell's view is unhinged. Society has existed, and will continue to exist, without marriage. There is public support among Americans for a nuclear family, even though few see parenthood or marriage as "central to living a fulfilling life." Russell's response is akin to the "No on Infinity" ad in the Futurama "Proposition Infinity" episode. That ad satirizes people against same-sex marriage. Russell's fear combines with Angela's fear that she will become a 1950s-style housewife, a path she thinks Zuri will follow. At the same time, Stephen fears Angela will leave him, causing him to live alone in a house in 1980s-style situation.

The episode ends with both eschewing the idea of marriage, after Angela says they are going too fast, Stephen remains unsure, and Angela's therapist says she should not put everyone else's needs before her own. Gigi stops Zuri's brainless child bride marriage proposal to BJ. Stephen and Angela agree to have a very long romantic engagement instead of marriage, saying that love is holding their little family together. Even so, there is a marriage between Gigi and Russell. It is a re-marriage, a re-stating of commitment between them. The wedding goes on its head, after they play a song Stephen produced and begin throwing cake at each other. Overall, this episode is a clever way to end Young Love. It makes clear that love isn't only possible through marriage.

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In this way, it makes a different point that Spy x Family, with Loid and Yor's marriage of convenience, made without either being in love with one another, at first. The views of Angela and Stephen on marriage align with criticism of the marriage institution, even of same-sex marriage. Critics argue that marriage perpetuates a system which makes married people "more worthy of...health care and economic rights" than others. Such critics include Michael Warner (in his book The Trouble with Normal), Kate Millett, Shulamith Firestone, Simone de Beauvoir, Eleanor Leacock, Clare Chambers, and Dean Spade.

Obviously, Young Love is not some political manifesto extolling how marriage is not the be-all, end-all for love. But it is a breath of fresh air from the many series out there, either directly (Tangled) or indirectly stating that marriage is the only way to ensure that love can be long-lasting. There can still be romantic friendships and romances without any legally binding life-long commitments. Unfortunately, popular culture depictions of those friendships or romances are rare. Instead, shows fit with the societal expectation of marriage and the idea that unmarried/single people are abhorrent, bizarre, or "suspicious." This mentality has seeped into online communities of fans who enjoy yuri or yaoi. Such fans believe that two or more characters in love need to marry.

The fact that Young Love grew from a short film named Hair Love, which is less than seven minutes long, is phenomenal. Hair Love features a young Black girl awoken by a cat, trying out a new hair style, and following a video of her mother, who has an easy-to-use hair tutorial. In Hair Love, neither she, nor her dad, who tries to help her with her hair, which he fights, akin to what Moon Girl/Lunella in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur did, speaks. Her mother has the only speaking role.

Young Love wasn't crowdfunded like Hair Love. However, the same company produced it: Lion Forge Animation, along with other companies. That animation studio, a division of Lion Forge Entertainment, is known for Drawn In, Rhymes Through the Times, The Park Bench; and Rise Up, Sing Out. In addition, the studio announced work on a film (Heiress) and TV series (Iyanu: Child of Wonder and Hero's Journey the Series).

As I mentioned in my last review, Max screwed over this series by posting four episodes a week. This made the series almost impossible to keep up with. It ensured that not even one Wikipedian would create a page for the series. Instead, the series is only a redirect on the Hair Love page. This is unfortunate, since social media chatter on X/Twitter is generally positive, except for a few people using clips out of context to bash the show. Users call it cute, slick, cool, hilarious, hip, perfect, and heartwarming. On other social media platforms, and among critics, the reception appears to be positive.

Issa Rae, Kid Cudi, Brooke Monroe Conaway, Tamar Braxton, Henry Lennix, Loretta Devine, Idrys, Debra Wilson, and Noah Cottrell, voice actors for this series, bring their talent to the table. Mara Junot (as Cynthia Love), Mike Smith (as Dwayne), and many others, join them. Their experience allows the series to tackle topics like bullying, masculinity, gender roles, marketing, racial justice, exploitation of Black culture with ease. Even so, not everything gets equal emotional weight.

Rae is new to voice acting, apart from voicing the mother in Hair Love and Jessica Drew in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Similarly, Cudi voiced Jabari in Entergalactic and Clay in Trolls Band Together. Junot recently voiced Beta in My Dad the Bounty Hunter. Devine has voiced many characters, as have Lennix and Smith. Wilson recently voiced Amanda Waller in My Adventures with Superman, Terra Snapdragon in The Owl House, Quinn's mother in Final Space, and Z'oto in Star Trek: Lower Decks. In contrast, this series is the first voice role for Conaway, Cottrell, and Braxton.

I hope that this series gets a second season. It would give new/newish screenwriters like Brian Ashburn, Breannah Gibson, R. Malcolm Jones, Kelsey Barry, Jackson DeLoach, Juston Gordon-Montgomery, Guillermo Martinez, story writer Jeanine Daniels, executive story editor Keisha Zollar, and seasoned writers such as Willie Hunter, Carl Jones, Randa Sheppard, and Dayna Lynne North, a chance to shine again. Knowing how turbulent the animation industry, in the U.S., is right now, and how the executives are stonewalling SAG-AFTRA (resulting in a continued actor's strike), I am doubting it will happen.

Young Love is currently streaming on Max.

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themovieblogonline · 3 months ago

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Fans of Issa Rae have yet another reason to celebrate as she steps into the moderator’s chair for an exclusive conversation at this year’s Micheaux Film Festival. The discussion, happening on October 25 at The Culver Theater, will be Rae’s first time moderating a panel for One of Them Days, the upcoming comedy-drama set to release in January 2025 from TriStar Pictures. The panel will feature insights from writer Syreeta Singleton and director Lawrence Lamont, giving fans a deeper look into this star-studded project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5xzjw_0d_0 A Look at One of Them Days - An Anticipated Comedy-Drama One of Them Days boasts an impressive cast headlined by KeKe Palmer and Grammy-winning artist SZA. Alongside Palmer and SZA, the film features Lil Rel Howery, Janelle James, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Maude Apatow, Katt Williams, and Amin Joseph, among others. Produced by a powerhouse team including Rae herself, One of Them Days explores humor, resilience, and relationships in a story that's already creating buzz. This high-profile cast and producer lineup make One of Them Days a must-see on the 2025 release calendar. Keke Palmer not only stars but also serves as an executive producer through her production company, Big Boss. Palmer’s influence extends through the project, with Sharon Palmer also joining as an executive producer. Rae, known for her innovative storytelling and keen industry insight, produces alongside Sara Diya Rastogi through her HOORAE production company. ColorCreative’s Deniese Davis and MACRO Film Studios' James Lopez and Poppy Hanks are additional producing forces, making One of Them Days a collaboration of some of Hollywood's most dynamic voices. Micheaux Film Festival – Where Champions of Storytelling Shine Running from October 21 to 27, the Micheaux Film Festival is known for highlighting diverse and groundbreaking work in the film industry. Named after Oscar Micheaux, a pioneering African American filmmaker, the festival continues his legacy by celebrating underrepresented voices in cinema. With this year’s theme, “Champions,” the festival pays tribute to filmmakers who push the boundaries to share their stories. It offers attendees a unique lineup of dramas, documentaries, and comedies, providing a platform for voices that are often overlooked in mainstream media. With Issa Rae (Across The Spider-Verse) at the helm, the One of Them Days panel promises to align perfectly with the festival's mission, giving attendees a closer look at what it takes to bring such a diverse and ambitious project to the screen. Issa Rae’s Growing Influence in Film and Television This panel also highlights Rae’s expanding role as a producer and industry influencer. Known for her quick wit and relatable storytelling in Insecure, Rae continues to carve out her place as a producer through projects that amplify underrepresented voices and showcase unique perspectives. This discussion with Singleton and Lamont is sure to offer plenty of behind-the-scenes revelations that fans won’t want to miss. Rae’s unique approach to storytelling brings an undeniable relatability to the stories she chooses to champion, often mixing humor with serious social commentary—a dynamic that fans and audiences have come to appreciate. Given her involvement in One of Them Days, Rae’s presence as a moderator at the festival feels like a natural extension of her ongoing mission to challenge industry norms and promote fresh, compelling narratives. The Panel – A Must-See Event for Film Enthusiasts If you’re attending the festival, this panel is not one to miss. With Rae moderating and a creative team as vibrant as Singleton and Lamont, attendees can expect a lively conversation packed with insight, humor, and maybe a few surprises. The panel aims to provide a look into the creative process, casting decisions, and perhaps some early hints about what audiences can expect from One of Them Days. As Rae herself has stated, “This isn’t just about entertaining audiences; it’s about creating space for voices that need to be heard.” Fans are sure to come away from the event feeling more connected to the people behind the screen and more excited than ever for the film’s release.

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mcbastardsmausoleum · 4 months ago

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Larry Fessenden's BLACKOUT Coming to Limited Edition Blu-ray from Dark Sky Selects 9/24

Dark Sky Selects is proud to announce the Blu-ray Disc release of BLACKOUT, the Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh film from independent horror master Larry Fessenden. With only 1,000 available as a site exclusive on DarkSkySelects.com, the Blu-ray Disc features commentary with Larry, a 76-minute behind-the-scenes featurette and more. The thriller centers around a fine arts painter convinced that he is a werewolf wreaking havoc on a small American town. BLACKOUT marks the reunion of Dark Sky Films and Glass Eye Pix, two iconic companies that have brought fans some of the greatest genre films of our time.

Dark Sky Selects is proud to present BLACKOUT from horror auteur Larry Fessenden to Blu-ray Disc featuring a Limited Edition O-Card with exclusive artwork and 12-page booklet with introduction by Fangoria's Phil Nobile Jr.

Writer-director Larry Fessenden has created some of the most original and memorable independent horror films of the last 25 years, from Habit and Wendigo to The Last Winter, Skin and Bones, Beneath and Depraved. His latest, BLACKOUT, ranks among his most chilling and thought-provoking works with a cast that includes: Alex Hurt, Addison Timlin, Motell Gyn Foster, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Ella Rae Peck, Rigo Garay, John Speredakos, Michael Buscemi, Jeremy Holm, Joe Swanberg, James Le Gros, Kevin Corrigan, Marshall Bell and Barbara Crampton.

Earning rave reviews on the festival circuit, BLACKOUT marks the long-awaited reunion of Dark Sky Films and Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix, two iconic horror companies that brought us contemporary classics such as Ti West's The House of The Devil and The Innkeepers, Jim Mickle’s Stake Land and Adrian Garcia Bogliano's Late Phases.

The collectible BLACKOUT Blu-ray Disc will also include:

- Commentary with Writer/Director/Editor/Producer Larry Fessenden

- BLACKOUT Behind the Scenes (76 minutes)

- Larry Fessenden's Monsterverse

- Monster Mash Photoshoot Timelapse by Beck Underwood

- BLACKOUT Audio Drama

- Teaser Trailer

BLACKOUT is the second of many iconic Dark Sky titles that will be available this year. Additional limited-edition releases of fan favorite films and merch will be announced throughout the year, which will only be available direct to consumer at DarkSkySelects.com.

ABOUT DARK SKY SELECTS

Dark Sky Selects is committed to delivering a meticulously curated selection of high-quality, limited edition film releases and exclusive merchandise to the collector's market. As an extension of MPI Media Group and Dark Sky Films, Dark Sky Selects hails from nearly five decades of experience in genre films, as a specialty label dedicated to preserving the legacy of iconic titles like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and modern classics like The House of the Devil. Our mission is to provide premium, collector-focused products that honor our cinematic heritage and ensure its preservation for future generations.

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yurimother · 4 years ago

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LGBTQ Light Novel Review — I'm in Love with the Villainess

A stunningly profound, entertaining, and queer title that eclipses other isekai and Yuri series

There are few titles the general public seems to be as excited about as Inori and Hanagata's I'm in Love with the Villainess, as it has been sitting at or near the top of Amazon's LGBT Manga list for months and Twitter is consistently abuzz with the latest news on this isekai Yuri series. I was somewhat more skeptical, as I have had relatively poor experiences with isekai and fantasy Yuri. Still, my excitement went through the room, and I eagerly boarded the "hype train" upon the cover reveal for the third volume. Yuri families, where two women raise children together, are one of my greatest desires and something I rarely see portrayed in the genre. However, I still had mostly low expectations for the series going into the first volume. I looked forward to some light meandering comedy and typical boring trope-filled isekai shenanigans. However, I'm in Love with the Villainess more than exceeded my expectations. No, even this statement is far too moderate to describe how utterly stunned and blown away I was by Inori's creation. I'm in Love with the Villainess is completely shattering and easily one of the greatest light novels I have ever read. Thus, I have no choice to award a perfect 10/10 score, my first ever for a light novel.

After waking up in the world of her favorite otome game, Revolution, protagonist Rae is ecstatic to be faced to face with Claire Francois, the game's villainous rival. However, Rae never played Revolution for the thrill of romancing any of the three attractive young princes. She was always in love with Claire. She attends the academy and studies magic in the fantasy world alongside Claire, the princes, and various other supporting characters. Using her skills from the modern world and her encyclopedic knowledge of Revolution, Rae manipulates the situation to be close to Claire, becoming her maid, and garnering status and money along the way. As an inevitable conflict looms closer, Rea begins to enact plans to protect herself and Claire, many of which are not fully understood or explained until the finale fantastically reveals the reasons for her actions. There is a natural and steady pace to the narrative that awards readers’ predictions and attention to detail.

I'm in Love with the Villainess has some excellent supporting characters, all of whom have unique personalities, histories, and abilities, some of which are revealed by Rae's exposition and others naturally throughout the novel. However, the stars of the show are the central couple, Rae and Claire. Claire is an elite aristocrat and extremely bratty. She often sneers at commoners and makes her disdain of Rae very clear from early on. On paper, she sounds like the perfect villain and someone all readers would despise. However, Rae's utter devotion and infatuation with Claire is so sincere that we cannot help but be pulled in and adore Claire and all her tantrums. Rae is a delight herself, continually flirting and poking fun at Claire, which gets her verbally berated, much to her masochistic pleasure. However, she is also exceptionally cunning and intelligent, and some of the light novel's greatest joys are listening to her analyze a situation or watching one of her plans fall into place.

“Ah, I’m… Well, it doesn’t matter. I mean, it’s irrelevant to cuteness—because, Miss Claire, you are cute.” “Huh?!” She pulled away. It was perfect—such a pure reaction. “Miss Claire, you hate me, right?” “Of course!” “That’s fine. Please keep teasing me. I love it.”

The beginning of the book does not immediately clue one into its brilliance. Sure, Claire and Rea get some great one-liners as they bully each other, and the scenarios are authentic and fun, but it is nothing shattering. I was feeling pretty relaxed and having a lot of fun with the characters, their relationship, and the various slice-of-life style scenarios they encountered until one section, I remember the exact page, 81, as it stopped me dead in my tracks. I was flabbergasted and briefly frozen before shooting up out of bed, shouting expletives as I ran to my office to immediately record what I had just experienced. It all begins with the line, "Hey, Rae. Are you what they call gay?" What followed was one of the most thoughtful, condensed, informative, and nuanced discussions of gay and queer identity (both terms used in this scene) I have ever seen in Yuri. Everything from representation in media, the perceptions of and prejudices against gay people, and the role gender plays in romance for bisexual and gay people are analyzed. Its commentary is succinct yet so respectful and forthright that it could have only come from genuine experience, thus selling the book and its characters so much more.

"Queer people were still overwhelmingly closeted in this world, which was rife with prejudice and nurtured little understanding. As I noted, the queer people depicted in the story were either the sex fiends Claire imagined or the free-loving sort Lene had in mind. Diversity and acceptance were a long way off.”

Thus, Inori's writing's beauty exposed itself, and the book opened itself up to a delightful cycle. The narrative masterfully integrates isekai slice-of-life hijinks, like running a cross-dressing café or battling a giant slime with nuanced and challenging moments that dissect complicated topics. The latter mainly consists of a growing rift between the aristocracy and common people, mirroring real-world wealth gap issues, but the novel also touch on matters such as unequal prison sentencing and segregation. Every scene helped further the complexity of the characters and their relationships or else built onto the world of Revolution. Speaking of which, I'm in Love with the Villainess has some of the best worldbuilding ever seen in a light novel.

Initially, brief exposition establishes much of the world, which is adequate if not exciting. I will mark up to a casualty of the light novel's serialized nature, as it must present readers its setting immediately. However, Inori does not stop here. Through the narrative, new elements are established, such as a magic system and the kingdom's politics. Rea notes and describes how the world, while clearly based on medieval Europe, has many modern Japanese attributes, as Japanese game developers created it. Her pointing out the intersection of the two is fascinating. Furthermore, A great deal of time is spent establishing characters and organizations all have their own wants, agendas, and methods, many of which are not even directly involved with the story. Instead, they act as a background and help further contextualize others. For example, the Church publicly appears to lean towards supporting the commoners in their efforts for equality but has its own agenda of superseding the nobility. While they play little role in Rea and Claire’s adventure, they are one of numerous factors contributing to the unrest of the lower class. All these additions are interesting, and it never feels like the story or characters suffer for their inclusion, quite the opposite.

“The Bauer Kingdom had started a step behind other countries when it came to magical research. They dominated the surrounding countries in military strength, and this had made them complacent, leading them to underestimate the value of new magic technology until the best researchers had all been enticed to other countries. Even after the king came up with his magic-focused meritocratic policy, Bauer lagged behind.”

I can only make complaints by scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Hanagata's beautiful art is too infrequent to add much to the light novel, and many scenes crying for illustrations are left to the readers' imagination. However, Inori so wonderful writes the story that one hardly cares and can easily picture every moment with delight. Besides, the manga adaption will nullify this issue. Where I cannot complain at all is the spectacular translation by Jenn Yamazaki and Nibedita Sen, one of Seven Seas best (which is high praise considering the competition). Sure, I was slightly disappointed at first to see the adaptation left off honorifics, but the more I thought about the setting, the more sense it made. I am sure people much smarter than I gave the issue much more consideration, and I am happy with their decisions.

I'm in Love with the Villainess left me reeling with how pleasurable and powerful it was. The story and characters are such a joy, and I cannot wait to see Rea and Claire bully each other again in the next volume. Astounding worldbuilding and powerful, thought-provoking politics surround their antics and the high stakes plot. Every moment of their journey will enthrall readers as they squeal with glee at its hilarious set pieces or are shocked by its commentary of society's most significant challenges. Inori has created one of the most delightful, heartfelt, complex, profound, and genuinely queer light novel series ever. If you only read one thing I recommend this year, let it be I'm in Love with the Villainess.

Ratings: Story — 9 Characters — 10 Art — 5 LGBTQ — 10 Sexual Content — 2 Final — 10

Review copy provided by Seven Seas Entertainment

Purchase I’m in Love with the Villainess in digitally (9/23) and in print (11/10) today: https://amzn.to/32NEyG1

Supports creators by purchasing official releases.

#yuri #lgbt #lgbtq #reviews #lgbtq+#i favor the villainess #i'm in love with the villainess #girls love #gay #queer #light novel #manga #gl #politics #feminism

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earlgreymon · 4 years ago

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fly me to the moon, in style; a mimato playlist for lovers who dance the night away. (youtube / spotify)

01. emotion - carly rae jepsen in your fantasy, dream about me 02. over the moon - leah nobel so let's drift in the atmosphere and live in this frequency with me 03. if we never met - john k ft kelsea ballerini i love it when the city lights bring out all the blue like when i'm lookin' in your eyes 04. tonight (i wish i was your boy) - the 1975 she told me, "some things just take time; how can you be sure if you won't try?" 05. dancing in the kitchen - lany i don't mind if this whole town goes up in flames as long as i got you with me 06. like someone in love - bruno major lately, I find myself out gazing at stars, hearing guitars like someone in love 07. style - taylor swift you've got that long hair slick back, white t-shirt; and i got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt 08. heart out - the 1975 it's just you and i tonight, why don't you figure my heart out? 09. neutron star collision (love is forever) - muse now i've got nothing left to lose, you take your time to choose bonus tracks: no song without you - honne when i worry about some stupid shit, you always reassure me. you save me

part 2 of lovers in japan series track-by-track commentaries;

i always have a rather simple formula for mimato: i have to consider the song if it contains either music-related theme (such as music instruments), a rather push-and-pull relationship (a.k.a. yamato as push and mimi as pull), or mentioning "moon" or "blue". it will also be nice if the playlist is a mix of dance-pop and rock. that's why i end up with these songs!

got some nice recommendations from @tangledupblue but i cannot add more songs since i'm stuck with 9 songs and 1 bonus track format. maybe you want to do another mimato playlist, sam? :>

01. emotion - carly rae jepsen

i love this song so much, and i thought this is a perfect illustration where mimi makes sure that the image of her will always linger in yamato's mind. (yes, we like our girl getting aggressive :p)

02. over the moon - leah nobel

this song has been constantly on my repeat ever since the ep was released. when i read moon, of course i would automatically consider as i said above. i got more determined after hearing the lyric, "there's a space in the deep blue." this is basically just a simple love song about loving someone that makes you over the moon.

03. if we never met - john k feat kelsea ballerini

adding more of a pop vibe to the playlist. this song gives a good view from both sides about how they will live their life without each other.

this is more of my headcanon, but yamato's part for me is definitely, "if we never met, i'd be lost in a crowded room of fake friends, i wouldn't even know what love is." due to his parents' divorce, i think the concept of love for yamato is a bit strange. in addition, being in a band will make him surrounded by people who want to get close to him just because of his fame.

when ballerini sang, "i love it when the city lights, bring out all the blue like when i'm lookin' in your eyes," i believe this is words that mimi will say to yamato! as its counterpart, yamato will also think of this line sung by john k: "i love it when the only light is me, you, and the moon."

and don't forget this song also emphasise that even though their relationship seems "weird" (from the point of view of third parties) and maybe confusing, they will always come back to each other.

04. tonight (i wish i was your boy) - the 1975

this is just a song to describe yamato's desire to become mimi's lover also a song that may represent our desperation because they are not canon.

05. dancing in the kitchen - lany

the first time i heard this song, i told myself "this is a mimato song, period." dancing is something i can associate closely with mimi, and kitchen is just a place where these two lovely cooks belong ;) in other words, it's another simple romantic song that has a suitable theme for them.

06. like someone in love - bruno major

a slower tune which i thought suitable to describe the time when yamato started to realise about his feeling to mimi.

07. style - taylor swift

if you follow me long enough, of course you know about my digidestined fm. truth be told, when i made that post, i was only thinking about mimato for their songs respectively. i’ve mentioned that mimi is crazy about taylor swift, so it’s only proper to give one of her song in this playlist. i mean, we know mimato will be the most dashing couple ever, so style it is! also, the influence of @askmimiandyamato’s blog title is super strong :p

08. heart out - the 1975

i don’t really like the fact i’m repeating a song from one artist in a mixtape, but i. just. have. to. put. heart out. because, again, look at that digidestined fm! i think this is the best song to describe yamato’s tsundere-ness lol.

09. neutron star collision (love is forever) - muse

i looked at this playlist and realised i didn’t put enough rock songs, so i was determined to search for a rock song as a tribute to yamato. the song should also be a bit slow because it would be a closure for the playlist. i looked at my soundtrack playlist and found this to be a perfect song, although it might be a little cheesy because it’s a twilight song. but hey, the song adheres the rule since there’s an astronomical metaphor inside.

bonus track: no song without you - honne

for mr bassist, there is no song without mimi. that’s it. that’s the post.

#digimon #by me #digiloversinjapan #digimusic #playlist #yamato ishida #mimi tachikawa #mimato

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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The Real History Behind Bridgerton

https://ift.tt/2WPSOdx

This Bridgerton feature contains spoilers for the series.

Although Netflix’s Bridgerton has actively resisted the label of historical accuracy in favor of a fantasy approach to the era, it is still worth uncovering which scenes, events, and references represent a more creative interpretation to history and which are references to real events.

Dr. Hannah Greig, the historical advisor to the series, describes Bridgerton as “a combination of a historical truth – which is to say that the past is more diverse than we tend to see on screen, and we tend to accept in our popular imagination. But it’s also a fictionalising, asking what history might look like under certain different circumstances.” This approach is in keeping with the novel series the show is based on which blends the Regency Era with modern romantic fantasies. Here’s a list of some of the plots where alternate history may or may not be a factor.

How Did Simon and Lady Danbury Acquire Their Wealth?

Viewers throughout the episodes see several flashbacks to Simon’s father (Richard Pepple) wearing opulent clothes and overseeing what was likely a huge business empire. Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) is clearly closely connected to Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuve) and may have obtained additional wealth via marriage. Simon (Regé-Jean Page) in Episodes 5 and 6 is seen managing a large estate with tenant farmers.

The series evades the question of how this wealth came to be and for a good reason. During the Regency era, most of the real-life Ton acquired their wealth through direct or indirect involvement in slavery or colonialism. Although the British officially banned the international slave trade in 1807, this ban did not result in immediate divestment from the economic activity that was powered by slave or colonial labor. British landowners still exported cotton, sugar, coffee, wood, and metals from their overseas properties or were involved in firms manufacturing consumer goods out of those raw materials. Anyone involved in the shipping trade pre-1807 still made money off of transporting slaves from Africa to the Caribbean and America.

For those who believe there is no precedent in pop culture to discussing these issues, the novel Mansfield Park includes some discussion about Regency-era wealth generated from slavery but some of the adaptations cut or heavily downplay it. Ned Despard opposing expanded exploitation by the Honduran mahogany plantation owners is covered extensively in Poldark Season 5.

Based on the lack of discussion, the audience can assume any number of things about where their wealth comes from. Simon and Lady Danbury could own property in Africa and the Caribbean and produce valuable raw materials by salaried laborers. This is not unheard of in the era because American laws designed to keep Black and mixed race people from owning property did not exist in these UK colonies. An argument can be made that Simon’s wealth is purely from collecting rent from his tenants and selling the agricultural products produced. It’s also possible long term investments in various industries are paying per annum. The possibilities are endless in this fantasy world.

Prince Friedrich

So much of the discourse around the series has revolved around Queen Charlotte’s African ancestry, but there hasn’t been as much discussion around Prince Friedrich. Prince Fredrich is introduced in Episode 3 as the Queen’s nephew searching for a princess among the Ton. There was a Prince Frederich Wilhelm Ludwig of Prussia, but in real life, he was the son of her niece Princess Fredericka of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

In a series already skewed towards showing the marriage market for the elite families of Regency society, it makes sense for the especially politically ambitious Dukes and Duchesses to desire to be connected by marriage to the Queen. Daphne (Phoebe Dyvenor) potentially blocking the path of the social climbers makes for good drama and gossip from Lady Whistledown even if it didn’t quite happen that way in history.

Regency Smoking Habits & What is Snuff?

The miniseries featured tobacco use in a way not typically seen in other early 19th Century period dramas. Lady Danbury and other women were seen smoking. Quite a few fans were confused about Queen Charlotte’s penchant for sniffing something up her nose while cuddling her slightly smaller than at the time pomeranian. She was using snuff, dried tobacco, and not cocaine as some folks mistakenly posted on Twitter. During the Regency Era, clay pipes and cigars fell out of fashion for public consumption due to the unpleasant smell. Snuff was extremely popular among the real Ton as there was no traceable odor to other people. Smoking adds a dramatic effect to any situation where a character feels stressed out but pipes and cigars, in reality, maybe likely only to be used where others can’t see.

Simon and Daphne’s Visit to the Gardens

The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens actually existed in Regency London. They were open to everyone who could afford the entrance fee, but quickly became a gathering place for the well to do or anyone interested in social climbing. The location still exists today as a public park in London but the entertainment function ended in 1859. There are references to Vauxhall in the novel and screen adaptations of Vanity Fair and Poldark Season 4 but Bridgerton’s recreation is far more elaborate. The light display show is a fictionalized example of what Regency visitors would have encountered. Singers, musicians, circus acts, and more regularly appeared to entertain guests in the gardens. Traces of those elements remain today in public fairs and amusement parks today.

How Bridgerton’s Lady Whistledown Reveal Changes Everything

By Kayti Burt

From Bridgerton to Hamilton: A History of Color-Conscious Casting in Period Drama

By Amanda-Rae Prescott

Regency-Era Gambling

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Bridgerton has two plotlines involving gambling. Lady Danbury’s married women’s party featured whist which was indeed a popular Regency Era card game and one where the Ton was likely to lose some of their precious financial stability. Lord Featherington’s (Ben Miller) gambling on Will Mondrich’s (Martins Imhangbe) fights was a little bit more based on an alternate reality. There’s little evidence that Bill Richmond, the real-life boxer the character is inspired by was involved in fixing fights as the racism of the time already made him prone to false allegations of cheating. This isn’t to say Regency era boxers didn’t attempt to win or lose unethically as the sport didn’t gain a regulatory body until 1838, but the big match in Episode 8 is more about exposing the bad decisions of Lord Featherington in an epic fashion than any real commentary about the era. History buffs who are recoiling from Bridgerton taking so many historical liberties should take heart. Fans of the books as well as new viewers are actively researching more about the Regency Era as a result. They’re well aware the show is not attempting to be the authority on history.

The post The Real History Behind Bridgerton appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/37VUCZ5

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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thesevenseraphs · 5 years ago

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Bungie Weekly Update - 6/4/2020

This Week At Bungie, Season of the Worthy is ready for departure.

Before we talk about anything else, we’d like to maintain your focus on the events unfolding around the world. You may have seen demonstrations in your town, or like many of us here, down the street from the place you call home.

https://blacklivesmatter.com/

https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/

https://antiracismcenter.com/

https://eji.org/

https://www.colorlines.com/

Support does not end with a single statement or action. We’ll continue to use our games and our shared voice to make the world a better place. We hope you’ll join in supporting these efforts by visiting the following resources noted above, and more, by getting directly involved.

This week also kicks off Pride month. If you hadn’t seen the @BungieStore announcement, our Pride Pins are back in stock. All profits from sales of Bungie's Pride Pin benefit the It Gets Better Project, which inspires people across the globe to share their stories and remind the next generation of LGBTQIA+ youth that hope is out there, and it will get better. We also have some words from the Bungie Diversity Committee, speaking to the design of the pin:

Diversity Comittee: Our Pride pin was specifically designed to include black and brown stripes, in an effort to be inclusive and show support for people of color within the LGBTQIA+ community. In that spirit we want to continue our support for all intersectional communities; including LGTBQIA+ individuals who are also part of the Black community currently fighting against racial oppression, demanding justice and equality. We can support the Black Lives Matter movement and the LGBTQIA+ community at the same time, because without the leadership and heroism of Transgender Black and Brown individuals, like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, today's LGBTQIA+ rights would not exist. And so now is a time to do more to help both, rather than dividing our efforts.

If you snag a pin, you’ll also receive a code for the True Colors Emblem to show your support in-game when playing Destiny 2.

We’ll continue sharing Bungie initiatives to support LGBTQIA+ communities throughout the month of June, so stay tuned. Our commitment to racial justice is just getting started, so you can expect to hear more soon.

Within Destiny 2, you may have been watching the approach of the Almighty. You’re itching to see the conclusion of the Season, but you’re also starting to hear whispers of what’s coming next. Join us on Tuesday, June 9 at 9 AM PDT to learn about the future of Destiny 2.

See you soon.

PREVIEW 2.9.0

Destiny 2 Update 2.9.0 will become available next week, meaning we have a pile of patch notes to get through. Let’s take a quick moment to look through some of the changes.

Eververse

A few TWAB’s back, we talked about the future of Eververse, and how we’re making changes to some reward structures to better balance gameplay rewards with Eververse content. Season of [REDACTED] will contain a few introductory changes, with more shifts coming in Season 12. The following changes will become available next week:

Legendary Armor Ornaments

As noted in a previous TWAB, we have shifted the Season 11 armor offering to be a gameplay reward for aspirational content.

The Season of Opulence “Intrepid” Ornament sets are returning to the storefront.

Season Pass

Added an additional 2300 Bright Dust to the Season Pass.

Bright Dust Purchases

Added a “Flair” section to feature Shaders and Spawn FX.

Highly requested items from previous Seasons will once again be available.

We’re looking at you, Wishes of Sorrow.

We will once again communicate Season 11 Silver-only items at the beginning of the Season.

We’re expecting to have an update later in Season 11 on further changes to Bright Dust acquisition, so keep your eyes peeled.

Sandbox

The Powerful Friends armor mod will no longer stack. If multiple copies of this mod are equipped, the mods will provide no bonus stats.

Developer Commentary:

Only Solar Seasonal mods are intended to stack. No part of Arc mods are intended to have stacking functionality.

Powerful Friends granted +20 to Mobility, which players could leverage to get three stat columns to the max of 100 points. The mod is not priced sufficiently to justify its benefits, and increasing its cost would have adverse effects on its primary benefit usage.

Season 11 introduces a new Arc mod, granting a similar stat bonus to Strength and will not stack.

Enhanced Auto Rifle Loader, Enhance Fusion Rifle Loader, and Enhanced Bow Loader armor mods now have a chance to drop from pinnacle mod sources.

Raid Rewards

The following raid Exotics now have increased drop chances:

One Thousand Voices

Anarchy

Always on Time (Exotic Sparrow from secret chest in Scourge of the Past)

NOTE: Drop chance begins at 10% and increases to a max of 50% over 20 clears.

Trials Rewards

Additional Masterwork material rewards now drop at 3, 5, and 7 Trials wins.

Added a Trials weekly bounty which unlocks Trials Engrams on Saint-14.

The bounty reward will match the Win 3 Milestone reward of the week.

Trials Tokens distribution has been rebalanced to focus on wins 3, 5, and 7 of a Trials Passage.

This includes repeat Passages.

Trials Tokens are no longer awarded from match completions.

Tokens are now granted specifically through wins and bounties.

Passage of Wealth now doubles the bonus Trials Tokens earned at 3, 5 and 7 Trials wins.

Hope you enjoyed this appetizer. Full course (and more) coming on June 9. See you then.

MIXING A GREEN THUMB WITH A BUMPER JUMPER

So, we heard you like patch note previews. They’re short, sweet, and to the point. This topic, though, needs a bit more time to get through. Today, Staff Designer Lisa Brown takes center stage to walk us through the upcoming Controller Remapping feature that the team has been working on.

Lisa: Greetings, Guardians! I’m Lisa, a staff designer on the sandbox team here at Bungie, and I’m going to give an overview of the controller remapping feature for gameplay actions that will be coming to Destiny for all players in the Season of [REDACTED].

Although we have controller presets in Destiny, these aren’t enough to meet basic accessibility guidelines for motor control and mobility. We’ve been working with some amazing accessibility consultants – Cherry Rae Thompson (https://www.cherryrae.com/) and Ian Hamilton (http://ian-hamilton.com/blog/) – to create support for remapping buttons on the controller. Here, I’ll give an overview of how to use the feature, what it can and can’t do, and then share some setups that have been used by various Bungie employees as examples. As a quick note, all of the below examples will be shown using Xbox button layouts.

Overview

Players can create a custom controller layout by going to the Controller section of the Settings screen and choosing Button Layout. A “Custom” option is available in the list.

On this screen you’ll be able to customize mappings for gameplay actions on your character, in vehicles, and in general settings (like emotes and interacting with prompts).

If you’re like me and you typically use a preset other than Default, you can use the “Reset” button to start from one of those presets.

To rebind a button, select the button mapping next to the action you want, and the next screen will allow you to input the button you want to remap to.

Verbs, Verbs, Verbs One of the challenges with controller remapping in Destiny is that we have a LOT of player verbs. Think of verbs as actions – throwing grenades, triggering your Super, jumping, sprinting, sliding, etc. With PC remapping, there’s a whole keyboard at your disposal to map buttons. On the controller, though, there’s only so many buttons, and we have many more verbs than buttons. To solve this, we allow the player to map an action not just to a button, but also a type of input. Our three supported input types are:

Press – a standard button press (for example, crouching on the default layout).

Long Press – requires holding down the button for a brief period of time to initiate the action (for example, casting Barricade or Rift as a Titan or Warlock).

Double Press – pressing a button twice in succession to initiate an action (for example, dodging for Hunters).

As an example, some of our Exotic weapons (Borealis, Symmetry, Hard Light, etc.) have an alternate weapon action, which has typically been activated by holding the reload button. Now this can be mapped separately, to a different button or different input. For example, I like to change it from long press X to double press X. Now when I want to switch Symmetry’s firing mode, I double press the X button.

For the Double Press input type, you can also increase the amount of time between button presses for it to register as a double press. This option is on the main controller page.

Chord Support

In addition to mapping actions to an individual button, we also support mapping to Chords, meaning two buttons pressed simultaneously. In the default layout in Destiny, pressing the Left and Right Bumpers together to execute your Super is an example of a Chord.Here’s a custom layout example where a player has mapped some of the basic character options to just the face button using Chords:

Fire: X

Toggle Zoom: Press Y

Reload: Press A + X

Alternate Weapon Action: Long press A + X

Melee: Press B + Y

Grenade: Double Press B

Super: Press A + B

Jump: Press A

Constraints and Caveats

Although this feature is a step towards greater motor accessibility in Destiny, it is still limited in what it can do. For example:

This controller remapping feature is limited to gameplay actions, not UI input or menu navigation.

One motor accessibility challenge are inputs that require the player to hold down a button. We have options to switch between holds and toggles for some of our actions (zoom, sprint, crouch) but we were not able to address all cases (examples: weapon firing, class jump ability, charging grenades, drawing a bow, etc.)

We opted for flexibility in allowing players to map any action to any button and input combination, but that flexibility means there are some combinations that may give unexpected results for the player.

Example: if you map melee to press X, and some other action to Long Press X, the melee action resolves before the duration to detect a long press, so the player would always melee and never do the other action.

There is no individualized error verification for these cases.

This update was just focused on controller remapping, so there are some mappable options that appear here that are not yet available for keyboard remapping (for example, individual mappings for different class abilities, and some Warlock abilities like Phoenix Dive or Icarus Dash).

Our chord support is for simultaneous press of two buttons only, it does not detect if you press one button, hold it down, and then press another.

Unlike our presets, there’s no dynamic controller preview image for the custom layout.

Bungie Examples

Here are a few examples of custom mappings that some of our Bungie players enjoy.

I’ll start with my own. I’m typically a Jumper player, but I also have a problem with melee on Right Stick Press. Even though it’s a faster input for my hand to reach, I am a stress-clicker, and many a perfect shot line up has been ruined by a wayward melee. I needed to move my melee action to something more intentional, so I put it on A, and moved Super back up to the Double Bumper Chord. I put player highlight back on right stick press, but made my finisher Double Press A. I also made my alternate weapon action Double Press X instead of Long Press, because I prefer that input.

Another example is from a left-handed player who typically uses Mirror, but wanted a true left-handed experience, and so swapped the function of the face buttons with the d-pad buttons. Actions like reload, jump, crouch, etc. were now on the d-pad buttons, while emotes were mapped to the face buttons. A third Bungie employee really wanted to recreate a classic Halo experience in Destiny. He started with the default layout and switched zoom to a Toggle on Right Stick, grenade on Left Trigger, melee on B and crouch on Left Stick Press. He then mapped Super to A, jump on Left Bumper, and class ability on Right Bumper. He also chose to leave heavy attack, light attack, and guard (actions only used in third person modes like roaming Supers) mapped to their original Right Trigger, Right Bumper, and Left Trigger mappings.

We hope that this feature will make Destiny more accessible and flexible, but do note that this is but one step on Destiny’s journey to improve accessibility across the game.

We’re excited to bring another form of accessibility to Destiny 2, and will be watching as this first iteration goes live.

LAST CALL

It’s pretty much closing time. You don’t have to go home, but you should definitely get your Triumphs done before the servers go offline next Tuesday. Player Support has a full roundup.

This is their report.

CLOSING OUT SEASON OF THE WORTHY When Season of the Worthy ends at the weekly reset on June 9, 2020, there will be a number of items, activities, and Triumphs that will no longer be available to players. Some of these items include:

The Season of the Worthy Season Pass and any available bonuses.

The Season of the Worthy Seal and Almighty title.

PLEASE NOTE: Almighty title must be claimed and equipped.

Access to the EDZ, Moon, and Io Seraph Bunkers.

The Warmind Kanjali Seasonal Artifact and the player power increase from said artifact.

The Seraph Tower Public Event.

The Fourth Horseman and Felwinter’s Lie quests.

A full list of items being removed at the Season’s end can be found here. Please note that Season Pass rewards from Season of Dawn will be unavailable to claim when Season of the Worthy ends. Past Season Pass rewards can be claimed here. UPDATE 2.9.0 On Tuesday, June 9, Update 2.9.0 will be available to players. Below is a timeline of Destiny 2 maintenance for Update 2.9.0:

9 AM PDT (1600 UTC): Destiny 2 service maintenance begins.

9:45 AM PDT (1645 UTC): Destiny 2 is taken offline on all platforms.

10 AM PDT (1700 UTC): Destiny 2 Update 2.9.0 begins rolling out across all platforms and regions. Players will be able to log back into Destiny 2 at 10:01 AM PDT.

10:01 AM PDT (1701 UTC): Destiny 2 is back online on all platforms.

2 PM PDT (2100 UTC): Destiny 2 service maintenance concludes.

For future release timelines when they are available, players should visit our Destiny Server and Update Status help article. For live updates as this maintenance occurs, players should follow @BungieHelp on Twitter or monitor our support feed at help.bungie.net.

UPCOMING RESOLVED ISSUES Below is a list of issues that will be resolved with Update 2.9.0 on June 9:

Polaris Lance’s “Perfect Fifth” explosive shot is no longer being cancelled by a subsequent shot.

Dunemarcher’s “Linear Actuators” perk will now work after triggering on yellow bar enemies.

Players on Steam will no longer have their FPS locked to 30 FPS when relaunching the game.

Offline players in Clans will no longer have their names set to ‘Offline.’

Warlock’s “Celestial Fire” melee ability will now trigger the Winter’s Guile “Warlord’s Sigil” perk.

CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:

If the Worms used in the Broodhold strike despawns, players need to kill all remaining Worm Knights and place any remaining Worms for another Worm Knight to spawn.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.

#Destiny #Destiny 2 #Destiny 2: Forsaken #Bungie Weekly Update #long post

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biofunmy · 5 years ago

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The best TV of the decade? It’s a lot to sort out.

Impossible, really — and, at first pass, my picks for best shows of the 2010s wouldn’t look much different from most other critics’ lists: “Breaking Bad,” “The Americans,” “Game of Thrones,” “Twin Peaks: The Return,” “Veep,” “The Good Wife,” “Transparent,” “Atlanta,” “Fargo,” “The Crown” — that’s 10, right? Hit “send” and let’s get on with life.

But perhaps there’s another way to approach this stretch of much-too-much TV, and instead categorize the shared qualities that separated the decade’s very best shows from the heap of mediocre ones. That way, we can talk about this extraordinary period of scripted dramas and comedies without starting one last argument about where they rank.

I know readers only have time anymore to read lists, but bear with me. Here are the best kinds of shows we watched over the last 10 years. Many of them belong to more than one category — a sign of their greatness.

Anxiety-makers

These would be your nail-biters, seen mainly on prestige cable, often on Sunday nights.

Why we gorge on these cliffhanging, often upsetting dramas on the night we most need to rest up for the week ahead, I’ll never know, but we went to bed desperate over characters and story lines we couldn’t control: In AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” probably the decade’s finest work of story engineering and execution (and yes, I’m aware it premiered in 2008), when will Hank Schrader (or Skyler White) finally catch on that Walter White is the meth kingpin of New Mexico? Some of those close calls (the train episode!) and slow-building conflicts were almost too hard to take.

The decade’s other great adrenaline-producer, FX’s “The Americans,” aired on Wednesday nights, where the panic attacks seemed more manageable. How long would it take FBI agent Stan Beeman to figure out that his friendly neighbors, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, were deeply embedded KGB spies? How much does Paige know? Will they outlast the Cold War? Showtime’s “Homeland,” meanwhile, neatly bundled our post-9/11 anxieties with the mental problems of a CIA agent who thought she could save the world.

These are but three shows that gave America’s TV addicts a strong case of the jitters. Others tried and sometimes came close. I started out the decade worrying way too much about Rick and the other doomed survivors of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (until I gave up on them entirely a few years ago), but the show’s success is notable for its stress-inducement, which was so strong that the network started an aftershow, “Talking Dead,” to help audiences cope with the latest gory developments.

Immersive portraits

These were some of my favorite shows, broadly defined by the word “dramedy” (because they were sometimes intensely funny), but better described as character studies, portraiture — of characters I’ll never forget: Amy Jellicoe in HBO’s “Enlightened,” followed by Hannah Horvath in “Girls.”

Many shows in this category can in some ways be regarded as selfies. Louis C.K., who quickly became persona-non-grata, nevertheless triumphed with “Louie,” which made it possible for similar shows to act as a mirror that not only reveals a personal nature, but a universal quality that potentially can be shared by the audience. I’m thinking here of Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” (FX), Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None” (Netflix), Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “Fleabag” (along with “Catastrophe”) and Pamela Adlon’s “Better Things” (FX).

This genre also, at long last, helped television achieve the diversity it had for too long failed to produce. Issa Rae’s “Insecure” (HBO) is a triumph in the way it both inhabits its creator’s viewpoint as millennial black woman, yet welcomes viewers of any sort.

To that list add Hulu’s “Ramy” and “Pen15,” HBO’s “Looking” and Comedy Central’s “Broad City” — any show where a viewer potentially discovers someone unlike themselves: different age, different background, different race. Or, more importantly, a viewer at long last sees themselves in the main character.

Washington certainly saw its uglier self in Armando Iannucci’s gloriously foul-mouthed “Veep” (HBO), the true definition of comic relief and on-point satire at a time when politics grew unfathomably absurd.

Metaphorical profundity

The best dramas in the 2010s reflected a larger message about the society that watched them — sometimes obliquely, sometimes bluntly. Despite its notably weakened final season, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has proper claim, I think, to be deemed the show of the decade, but not just because it grew so popular. It’s because how much of it seemed to eerily echo our surroundings: Climate change (and denial of it); shocking acts of violence; widespread social collapse; galling politics; extreme disparities in class and wealth; weapons of mass destruction . . . I could go on.

Timing is everything. Hulu took a 1985 dystopian novel — Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” — revved it up and released it just as the Trump administration began detaining, locking up and banning immigrants, appointed conservative judges and looked the other way at nationalist fervor. The metaphor there was almost too applicable; fortunately, the show was strong enough to withstand the hype.

Viewers learned how to find meaning in just about any show — the betters ones made it more compelling: AMC’s “Mad Men” was a beguiling search for the soul of the 20th century; CBS’s “The Good Wife” was a wicked running commentary on politics, technology and modern relationships; NBC’s “This Is Us” was (and still is) a fascinating rumination on the essence of what makes a family. (Note to all you Ancestry genealogy nuts: It’s not just DNA.)

Happy-snarky-sweet

Certain comedies just make us feel better (and also sharper, wittier — empowered, even) no matter how many times we re-watch old episodes. It’s in the camaraderie aspect, the life lessons, the archetypal arrangements, the snarkiness glossed over by group cohesion. It’s a continuation of what began in the best multicamera, studio-audience, ersatz-family sitcoms (“Cheers,” “Seinfeld”), rejiggered for a wired generation. Most of them aired on NBC: “Parks and Recreation,” “30 Rock,” “Community,” “The Office,” “The Good Place,” “Superstore” — now joined by “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” A few others aired on other networks, giving viewers a similar satisfaction: “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS; “Modern Family,”“Happy Endings,” “Cougar Town” and “Black-ish” on ABC.

Transformative tellings

In addition to finding new narrative styles and (quite belatedly) focusing on overlooked demographics, TV turned out to be an excellent venue for recasting an old story from a fresh perspective or enlightened distance.

I’m thinking here of FX’s “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson,” a compelling departure from the way we popularly regarded that murder trial. It inspired others to dramatize previous events with a corrective, even courageous new viewpoint — such as Netflix’s “When They See Us,” about the unjustly imprisoned teens who were wrongly coerced into confessing to a 1989 Central Park attack on a female jogger.

Crime wasn’t the only subject in need of a remix. Both “Downton Abbey” (PBS) and “The Crown” (Netflix) succeeded because of the way they re-examine extreme privilege, without preventing us from enjoying the luxurious roll in it.

Some shows were revelatory in more subtle ways: Jill Soloway’s “Transparent” (Amazon Prime) masterfully wove a woman’s journey with the entirety of modern American Judaism, enlightening its audience to more than just the trans experience. And Showtime’s “The Affair” played with the very nature of truth, telling the story of marital infidelity from competing — and crucially different — perspectives.

Impossible puzzles and true art

If the decade in TV will be remembered for anything, it will likely be the complexity of some shows. The weirdness. The unexpected swerves. It turned its viewers into perpetual puzzle-solvers and conspiracy theorists. After beginning the decade with an unsatisfying wrap-up of ABC’s “Lost,” co-creator Damon Lindelof returned on HBO with a confounding take on “The Leftovers,” finally mastering the balance between befuddlement and momentum with “Watchmen.”

There are, finally, two standouts — and they challenged my ceaseless harangue about reboots. One was Noah Hawley’s expanded and wholly reimagined take for FX on “Fargo,” a Midwestern crime saga first seen in Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1996 film classic.

The other was David Lynch’s long-delayed but staggeringly beautiful sequel to his 1990 TV sensation “Twin Peaks.” Critics argued, somewhat pointlessly, whether “Twin Peaks: The Return” (Showtime) was a very long film or a strangely protracted TV series.

I can settle that: It was nothing short of pure art — unexpected, absolutely original and layered with deep, trippy meaning. Of all the TV I slogged through in the 2010s, it’s the show I most look forward to someday watching again.

Sahred From Source link Entertainment

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filmfanatic82 · 6 years ago

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AO3 Link (HERE)

Chapter 6: O (II)

Fuck.

It’s Friday. The third Friday of the month. How could she forget? She’s got it marked down on every single device she owns.

Hell, she even set a reminder on Clarke’s phone just in case…

Fuck.

Octavia lets out a deep breath of air, she didn’t even realize she’s been holding onto as her eyes settle upon the row of gym lockers beyond her. She shifts from foot to foot, adjusting and re-adjusts her beat up backpack as she does.

“Five more minutes, ladies! If you aren’t changed, and in the water by the time I come back out of my office, you can guarantee that you’ll be swimming at least 10 additional laps.” The voice booms across the length of the locker room, causing Octavia to shudder with the added reminder of what’s to come.

She forgot. And now…

And now there’s no way out of it. No note. No excuse as to why she can’t participate.

Octavia hasn’t been in this situation since the that first special Friday of her freshman year. The one where she found herself in the midst of an unexplainable, full blown panic attack after attempting to change into her standard issued school swimsuit and managed to blackout.

That incident had led to Octavia waking up in the school infirmary to the ever so comforting smile of her dad. He had swooped in and rescued her that day, taking her home, but not before making a quick stop for a pint of her favorite ice cream first. Cause, as he put it, rocky road and bad 80’s slasher flicks solves all problems.

And that’s what Octavia loves most about the man that she has come to call her dad. Jake just gets her. With no need for extensive questions or lengthy conversations as her mother Abby is notorious for. He never pushes or prods too much. He just knows how to be there. Like an indestructible safety net. There to always catch her when she stumbles.

Jake had started writing notes for Octavia to get out of swimming ever since that day. They never really talked about it, nor mentioned it to the rest of the family. All Octavia would have to do was mention that “the Friday” was coming up and a day before, a note would be tucked away within her backpack.

But she had forgotten to say something before Jake had left for his business trip and now…

And now, Octavia is stuck.

If she skips and gets caught, then they’ll call her mom. They always do. And that will just lead to another hour-long lecture about how she’s wasting away her potential followed by the standard two weeks without any form of entertainment whatsoever.

But if she stays…

“Fuck it,” Octavia mutters under her breath with a sudden newfound resolution.

Without another moment’s hesitation, Octavia swaps her backpack onto the opposite shoulder and takes off out of the locker room.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ten minutes later and Octavia finds herself crossing the football field, heading straight towards one of the few true hidden sanctuaries that their high school had to offer.

The space under the stadium bleachers had been the first spot Octavia had discovered last year during her hellish first month as a freshman. At first, it had been purely by accident, having stumbled upon it while trying to escape a mandatory all-school pep rally. But soon it became her go-to place whenever she needed a breather from the social gauntlet known as high school.

Octavia gives a quick, precautionary glance around for any possible onlookers and then slips under the bleachers. She drops her bag, closes her eyes, and breathes a deep sigh of relief. The familiar ambient sounds of the surrounding track and field wash over her, bringing a momentary sense of calmness with it.

Octavia knows that this is only a band-aid. A brief respite from the unnamed feeling that loves to wreak havoc just beneath the surface of her skin. This won’t won’t stop it from flaring up again.

Suddenly, the distinct sound of a food wrapper crinkling cuts through the stillness, grabbing Octavia’s attention. Her eyes pop back open and scan the shadowy length of the space.

Nothing… Nothing… Nothing…

“Rae?” Octavia blurts out in confusion as she spots the what looks to be the older latina in the near distance. “What are you doing under here?”

“Just thought I’d take a page from your book today,” Raven responds.

“Funny.” Octavia closes the gap between the two of them, and unceremoniously plops herself down next to Raven, giving her a once over as she does. There’s an odd puffiness to her rich chocolate eyes. Something that Octavia has never seen before. Almost as if it’s the remanence of recently cried tears. But it couldn’t be…

Raven doesn’t cry.

“Oh, I’m fucking hysterical, Blake. Don’t you know that?” Raven gives Octavia a playful nudge with her shoulder and offers her the remaining half of the Twinkie she’s eating. “You want?”

A hint of a smile spreads across Octavia’s face as she snatches up the Twinkie from Raven and a bite. “I don’t get it. Why do you always have these things?”

“Twinkies?”

“Yeah.”

“Simple. Twinkies are the most superior food ever invented.”

Octavia’s eyebrows shoot up into her hairline. “Seriously?”

“Dead serious.”

“They’re not even a food.”

Raven grabs the crumpled up wrapper out of her jean pocket, flips it over to the ingredients and smooths it out for Octavia to see. “Says who? A serving of Twinkies has the perfect ratio of fats, carbs, and sodium needed to sustain the average human body for at least 4.5 hours. And they are virtually indestructible. These bad boys can even survive a nuclear fallout.”

“So can roaches.”

“But are they cream-filled?” Raven responds with her trademark smirk.

“Ewww.”

A comfortable silence falls between the two of them as Raven shifts her position, leaning back a bit to open up a space on her lap. No explanations are needed. Octavia automatically adjusts her own body accordingly, laying her head down within the open space as she has done so many times before. She lets out a deep sigh of content as she feels the all too familiar sensation of Raven’s fingers lightly scratching their way through her hair.

And suddenly…

It’s gone.

Or at least It’s temporarily crawled back into the deep, dark recesses of Octavia’s core until It randomly decides to re-emerge once again and wreak havoc on every inch of her very being.

She can breathe.

How does Raven do it? One simple motion. A feather-light touch of her fingers and presto. Octavia finds herself drenched in a tidal wave of complete and utter comfort.

There’s no other word for it.

Comfort.

That’s always been the single sensation that Raven-- and Raven alone-- evokes in her.

Octavia can’t pinpoint when this became a regular thing between the two of them, but she does remember the first time.

God, does she remember.

It had been the summer before Octavia’s freshman year. Bellamy had just left for college and Clarke, having finally woken up to her blatantly obvious feelings for Lexa, was in Vancouver vacationing with the Woods family at their cottage. This left Octavia genuinely alone for the first time ever. Sure, her mom and dad were around at night and during the weekends, but otherwise… Otherwise, it had just been her.

And that’s when It had begun. Too much time. Time alone. No distractions. Just Octavia and her thoughts. Too many thoughts. Thoughts that made her skin crawl with an unscratchable itch.

Something wasn’t right with her.

But then, one day -- the day that Octavia thought she’s couldn’t take another single second more of It-- Raven showed up. No explanation nor reason. Just waltzed right through the back door, grabbed a slice of leftover pizza from the fridge, and made herself at home.

They had spent that day in the confines of the basement, binging on junk food and old 80s movies. Breakfast Club. Sixteen Candles. And of course, Raven’s all-favorite, Weird Science.

It wasn’t until they reached Just One of the Guys, though, did Octavia notice the shift between the two of them. At first, it was beyond subtle. Somehow Raven had mysteriously moved closer on the couch, closing the gap. Not close enough that they were touching but still...

Still, it was different.

“You could pull that off.” The comment came so seamlessly out of Raven’s mouth that, as first, Octavia almost missed it. Just another throwaway comment of mindless commentary.

But it wasn’t.

Raven’s fingers casually made their around a loose lock of Octavia’s jet black hair, twirling it in a slow, rhythmic pattern. “Ripped jeans, button-down shirt, skinny black tie. Yeah. You could definitely pull that off, Blake.”

“You think?”

“Oh, I know. But you’d have to cut this off.” Raven, then switched to lightly scratching her fingers through Octavia’s hair and like clockwork, Octavia found herself hit with the sudden overwhelming urge to lay down in Raven’s lap. She attempted to fight it for a brief moment, slightly terrified of the unspoken boundary she would be crossing by doing so, but then swallowed down her fears and just let go.

And to Octavia’s surprise, it was met with nothing but warmth. Raven shifted her body, welcoming Octavia’s head in her lap and continued to run her fingers through the younger girl’s hair.

“Eh. I dunno Rae.”

“You should do it. You’d look freakin’ hot.”

A hint of a smile spread across Octavia’s face and for the first time in forever, she felt completely and utterly comfortable. She felt at home.

“I’ll think about it.”

After that day, Raven seemed to always be around the Grifin house. More than she usually was. And Octavia couldn’t help but love it. There was a natural ease between the two of them. A rhythm of sorts. As if…

As if life was merely meant to be this way.

The two of them.

“So you coming to Murphy’s tonight?” Raven’s voice snaps Octavia out of her thoughts and back into the moment.

“Clarke mentioned it, but I--”

“But what? Got somewhere better to be?”

“No,” Octavia quietly replies with a bit of a defensive bite to her voice.

“Come.”

“Rae…”

“Seriously. Come with me. We can be each other’s dates.”

A small laugh slips from Octavia’s lips. “Oh yeah. Finn would love that.”

“I don’t give a fuck about Finn,” Raven responds in no more than a whisper.

Octavia jerks her head upwards in surprise, catching Raven’s chocolate brown eyes and searches for an explanation -- any explanation -- as to the sudden change in mood towards Finn. But there’s nothing there. At least nothing that Raven is willing to offer up at the moment.

“Okay. I’ll go.”

“Of course you will, Blake. Don’t you know I’m the best date ever?”

Octavia gives a slight shake of her head in amused disbelief and then re-shifts her body, curling herself up even more into Raven. “Whatever, Rae.”

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“Check again.”

“Ma’am, I’ve already told you--”

“Check. Again,” Lexa says punctuating each syllable, hammering home her point. She stares at the attending nurse behind the reception desk with a cold, penetrating gaze that signifies one thing and one thing only… She isn’t going to back down.

“As I told you already, she’s not in our system,” the nurse responds with an underlying tone of frustration.

“But she will be, right? Once they bring her here,” Clarke chimes in, moving closer to Lexa as she does.

“Yes. The ambulance radioed in ten minutes ago. They’re bringing everyone here.”

“Everyone?” A look of confusion sweeps across Clarke’s face at these words.

“One DOA. A critical. And one stable.”

“DOA? Who’s the DOA?” Lexa's voice starts to break ever so slightly, causing Clarke to instantly move closer, but not too close. Just enough.

“I’m not at liberty to--”

“It’s my sister!”

“Lex.” Clarke crosses the line and places her hand down gently on Lexa’s forearm. The small but noticeable touch does the trick, momentarily grabbing Lexa’s attention. “Let’s go find my mom, okay? If she’s not here, then we can track down Jackson. One of them will be able to tell us what’s going on.”

Lexa doesn’t respond, but instead, sinks into Clarke’s touch, as her stoic rage quickly dissipates. She willing lets Clarke lead her away from the reception desk and towards a set of doors on the other side of the waiting room.

O watches the entire scene unfold before their eyes, tucked away in an isolated corner of the room, like an all too eerie case of deja vu.

Surreal.

It’s the only word that comes to mind. And even then it doesn’t feel quite adequate enough to describe what’s transpiring right in front of them.

Lexa.

Clarke’s Lexa. The one that all but left their sister a broken mess of a human without even a note saying goodbye.

The one that O has grown to loathe over the years as they were subjected to helplessly watch as their sister transformed into nothing more than a ghost of what she once was.

No. Surreal isn’t the right word. But O can’t seem to think of any others at the moment.

Clarke glances over her shoulder, catching O by the eyes and mouths “be right back,” before disappearing with Lexa through the set of doors.

O takes a moment, letting go of a breath of air they didn’t realize they had been holding in and runs their hands over their topknot. They aren’t exactly sure what do with themselves. O parks their body in a free chair and immediately their legs start bouncing at a frenetic pace, fueled by nothing but nerves and caffeine.

They hate hospitals.

The greenish, sickly hue that all of the lights seem to cast upon every single object and person they touch. The constant chorus of machines beeping in the background. The cafeteria food that makes ramen noodle look like a gourmet meal. And the waiting…

God, the endless amounts of waiting. Unsure of what’s to come next. If--

Suddenly, the all too familiar sounds of the emergency bay doors bursting open cut through the silence of the room, fully grabbing hold of O’s attention. They watch as a chaotic blur of paramedics race a gurney across the room toward the emergency unit while desperately trying to keep the mangled mess of a human being before them alive.

“Move! Carter! Get the cart ready. She crashed two times already on the ride here. Multiple compound fractures collapsed lung on the left side, and possible internal bleeding,” one of the paramedics calls out as they hit the button for the emergency unit doors.

“Where’s the stable?” The nurse from behind the reception desk responds, quickly jumping to her feet to help clear a pathway.

“Right behind us. Broken collarbone and few deep lacerations.”

“Got it.”

Then, O spots it.

The tattered sleeve of a red bomber jacket with a faded Nasa patch. It dangles off the edge of the gurney, having been haphazardly cut from whoever was wearing it, but never entirely removed.

And suddenly…

O’s world comes to a crashing halt. Their lungs claw for air, and their vision starts to blur.

It can’t be.

But it can.

It can because it makes logical sense.

Lexa received a call saying that Anya had been in an accident and Anya is in a relationship with…

“Raven.” The words slip out from O’s mouth as they helplessly watch the gurney disappear behind the emergency unit doors. They can’t seem to move, let alone blink as the realization fully sinks in.

It’s Raven.

Their Raven.

All O can do is stand there and stare.

#clexa #clexa fanfic #octaven #clarke griffin #clarke x lexa #lexa #raven reyes #octavia blake #anya #the 100 #wlw #ao3

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sserpicko · 6 years ago

Text

Announcing Winners WGA Awards 2019: ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?,’ ‘Eighth Grade’

In a pair of upsets, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” has won the Writers Guild of America’s adapted screenplay award for Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty and Bo Burnham has won the original screenplay award for “Eighth Grade.”

The major television trophies went to “The Americans,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Homeland” and “Barry” for the 71st Writers Guild Awards, held at dual ceremonies at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., and the Edison Ballroom in New York City. It was the last major awards show before the Feb. 24 Academy Awards.

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” based on the memoir of the late Lee Israel, topped the screenplays for “Black Panther,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” “A Star Is Born”; and “BlacKkKlansman.” Though the script for the comedy-drama — the story of how Israel discovered her talent for forgery — has received an Oscar nomination, “Beale Street” and “BlacKkKlansman” were regarded as the front-runners. It appears that the tale of the travails and redemption of a professional writer clearly resonated with Hollywood writers.

“I want to thank Lee,” Holofcener said in her acceptance. “She’d probably be sitting in the room judging all of us. She though she was the smartest person in the room and she probably was.”

A stunned Burnham credited star Elsie Fisher for his winning the WGA award. Burnham won over Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma”; Adam McKay’s “Vice”; Bryan Woods, Scott Beck, and John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place”; and Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, and Brian Currie’s “Green Book.” “Roma,” “Vice” and “Green Book” are all nominated for Academy Awards along with “The Favourite” and “First Reformed” while “Eight Grade” did not receive an Oscar nod.

“Eighth Grade,” which stars Fisher as an awkward teen dealing with the final week of eighth grade, also won the first-time Directors Guild of America Award for Burnham on Feb. 2. The film is also up for four Spirit Awards on Feb. 23.

“To the other nominees in the category — Have fun at the Oscars, losers!” Burnham joked in his acceptance. “No, I prepared nothing. This all belongs to Elsie Fisher who performed the script. No one would care about the script if she hadn’t done it.”

“Eighth Grade” is the first film to win the WGA Original Screenplay award without being nominated for an Academy since Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” in 2003.

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won the comedy series award for Kate Fodor, Noah Gardenswartz, Jen Kirkman, Sheila Lawrence, Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman Palladino. Starring Rachel Brosnahan, “Mrs. Maisel” won the Emmy for best comedy series last year.

The final season of “The Americans” took the drama series award for Peter Ackerman, Hilary Bettis, Joshua Brand, Joel Fields, Sarah Nolen, Stephen Schiff, Justin Weinberger, Joe Weisberg and Tracey Scott Wilson.

Bill Hader and Alec Berg won the episodic comedy award for the opening segment of HBO’s “Barry,” “Chapter One: Make Your Mark” (“Barry”). They also won the new series award.

Stephanie Gillis won the animated award for the “Bart’s Not Dead” episode of “The Simpsons” — which was just renewed for its 31st and 32nd seasons by Fox — and showrunner Alex Gansa took the episodic drama award for the “Paean To The People” segment of “Homeland.” “Bathtubs Over Broadway” took the documentary award and “God of War” won the videogame trophy.

Hulu’s “Castle Rock” won the long-form original award and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” took the adapted long-form trophy. “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” won the comedy-variety series cagtegory.

Chelsea Peretti hosted the West Coast ceremonies while Roy Wood Jr. was the emcee in New York. “All the glitz and glamor of the Oscars without the pressure of public interest,” Peretti said in her intro.

Jordan Peele’s horror-comedy “Get Out” won the WGA Award for original screenplay and James Ivory’s coming-of-age drama “Call Me by Your Name” won for adapted screenplay last year. Both went on to win the Oscar.

The WGA awards are mixed indicator of Oscar sentiment. Six of the last 10 WGA winners have gone on to win Academy awards over the past five years. The awards are decided in voting by the 17,000 members of the WGA.

The West Coast ceremonies included plenty of political commentary. Adam McKay, on receiving the WGA’s Paul Selvin Award for “Vice,” asked for a “beat of silence” for the million people who died during the invasion of Iraq.

Jenji Kohan, recipient of the Paddy Chayefsky Award, was unable to attend due to having to shoot the final episode of “Orange Is the New Black.” She said in a taped message: “I’ve been incredibly lucky to work with enormously funny and kind people. I love the people I work with. Life is too short to work with a******s, by the way. That’s my Public Service Announcement.”

Here are the nominees with the winners in boldface:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“Eighth Grade,” Written by Bo Burnham; A24 (WINNER)

“Green Book,” Written by Nick Vallelonga & Brian Currie & Peter Farrelly; Universal Pictures

“A Quiet Place,” Screenplay by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski, Story by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck; Paramount Pictures

“Roma,” Written by Alfonso Cuarón; Netflix

“Vice,” Written by Adam McKay; Annapurna Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“BlacKkKlansman,” Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, Based on the book by Ron Stallworth; Focus Features

“Black Panther,” Written by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole, Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Based on the book by Lee Israel; Fox Searchlight (WINNER)

“If Beale Street Could Talk,” Screenplay by Barry Jenkins, Based on the novel by James Baldwin; Annapurna Pictures

“A Star is Born,” Screenplay by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters, Based on the 1954 screenplay by Moss Hart and the 1976 screenplay by John Gregory Dunne & Joan Didion and Frank Pierson, Based on a story by William Wellman and Robert Carson; Warner Bros.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

“Bathtubs Over Broadway,” Written by Ozzy Inguanzo & Dava Whisenant; Focus Features (WINNER)

“Fahrenheit 11/9,” Written by Michael Moore; Briarcliff Entertainment

“Generation Wealth,” Written by Lauren Greenfield; Amazon Studios

“In Search of Greatness,” Written by Gabe Polsky; Art of Sport

VIDEO GAME WRITING

“Assassin’s Creed Odyssey,” Associate Narrative Directors Matthew Zagurak, Joel Janisse, James Richard Mittag; Narrative Director Melissa MacCoubrey; Story by Jonathan Dumont, Melissa MacCoubrey, Hugo Giard; Scriptwriters Madeleine Hart, Betty Robertson, Jesse Scoble, Diana Sherman, Kelly Bender, Jojo Chia, Ian Fun, Zachary M. Parris, Ken Williamson, Daniel Bingham, Jordan Lemos, Simon Mackenzie, Katelyn MacMullin, Susan Patrick, Alissa Ralph, Stephen Rhodes; Team Lead Writer Sam Gill; AI Writers Jonathan Flieger, Kimberly Ann Sparks; Ubisoft Quebec

“Batman: The Enemy Within,” Episode 5-Same Stitch, Lead Writer James Windeler; Written by Meghan Thornton, Ross Beeley, Lauren Mee; Story by Meghan Thornton, Michael Kirkbride; Telltale Games

“God of War,” Written by Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog; Story and Narrative Design Lead Matt Sophos; Story and Narrative Design Richard Zangrande Gaubert; Narrative Design Orion Walker, Adam Dolin; Sony Interactive Entertainment (WINNER)

“Marvel’s Spider-Man,” Story Lead Jon Paquette; Writers Benjamin Arfmann, Kelsey Beachum; Co-Written by Christos Gage; Additional Story Contributions by Dan Slott; Insomniac Games & Sony Interactive Entertainment

“Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire,” Narrative Designers Alex Scokel, Eric Fenstermaker, Kate Dollarhyde, Megan Starks, Olivia Veras, Paul Kirsch; Additional Writing Tony Evans, John Schmautz, Casey Hollingshead, Nitai Poddar; Narrative Design Leads Carrie Patel, Josh Sawyer; Obsidian Entertainment

DRAMA SERIES “The Americans,” Written by Peter Ackerman, Hilary Bettis, Joshua Brand, Joel Fields, Sarah Nolen, Stephen Schiff, Justin Weinberger, Joe Weisberg, Tracey Scott Wilson; FX Networks (WINNER)

“Better Call Saul,” Written by Ann Cherkis, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, Heather Marion, Bob Odenkirk, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock; AMC

“The Crown,” Written by Tom Edge, Amy Jenkins, Peter Morgan; Netflix

“The Handmaid’s Tale,” Written by Yahlin Chang, Nina Fiore, Dorothy Fortenberry, John Herrera, Lynn Renee Maxcy, Bruce Miller, Kira Snyder, Eric Tuchman; Hulu

“Succession,” Written by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Jon Brown, Jonathan Glatzer, Anna Jordan, Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Tony Roche, Susan Soon He Stanton, Daniel Zelman; HBO

COMEDY SERIES “Atlanta,” Written by Ibra Ake, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Taofik Kolade, Jamal Olori, Stefani Robinson, Paul Simms; FX Networks

“Barry,” Written by Alec Berg, Duffy Boudreau, Bill Hader, Emily Heller, Liz Sarnoff, Ben Smith, Sarah Solemani; HBO

“GLOW,” Written by Liz Flahive, Tara Herrmann, Nick Jones, Jenji Kohan, Carly Mensch, Marquita Robinson, Kim Rosenstock, Sascha Rothchild, Rachel Shukert; Netflix

“The Good Place,” Written by Megan Amram, Christopher Encell, Kate Gersten, Cord Jefferson, Andrew Law, Joe Mande, Kassia Miller, Dylan Morgan, Matt Murray, Rae Sanni, Daniel Schofield, Michael Schur, Josh Siegal, Jen Statsky, Tyler Staessle; NBC

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Written by Kate Fodor, Noah Gardenswartz, Jen Kirkman, Sheila Lawrence, Daniel Palladino, Amy Sherman Palladino; Prime Video (WINNER)

NEW SERIES “Barry,” Written by Alec Berg, Duffy Boudreau, Bill Hader, Emily Heller, Liz Sarnoff, Ben Smith, Sarah Solemani; HBO (WINNER)

“The Haunting of Hill House,” Written by Meredith Averill, Charise Castro Smith, Mike Flanagan, Jeff Howard, Rebecca Leigh Klingel, Scott Kosar, Liz Phang; Netflix

“Homecoming,” Written by Micah Bloomberg, Cami Delavigne, Eli Horowitz, Shannon Houston, Eric Simonson, David Wiener; Prime Video

“Pose,” Written by Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, Todd Kubrak, Janet Mock, Ryan Murphy, Our Lady J; FX Networks

“Succession,” Written by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Jon Brown, Jonathan Glatzer, Anna Jordan, Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Tony Roche, Susan Soon He Stanton, Daniel Zelman; HBO

LONG FORM ORIGINAL “Castle Rock,” Writers: Marc Bernardin, Scott Brown, Lila Byock, Mark Lafferty, Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomason, Gina Welch, Vinnie Wilhelm; Hulu (WINNER)

“My Dinner with Hervé,” Teleplay by Sacha Gervasi, Story by Sacha Gervasi & Sean Macaulay; HBO

“Paterno,” Written by Debora Cahn and John C. Richards; HBO

LONG FORM ADAPTED “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” Writers: Maggie Cohn, Tom Rob Smith, Based on the book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth; FX Networks (WINNER)

“The Looming Tower,” Writers: Bash Doran, Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, Shannon Houston, Adam Rapp, Ali Selim, Lawrence Wright, Based on the book The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright; Hulu

“Maniac,” Writers: Nick Cuse, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Amelia Gray, Danielle Henderson, Mauricio Katz, Patrick Somerville, Caroline Williams, Based on the Norwegian television series Maniac by Espen PA Lervaag, Håakon Bast Mossige, Kjetil Indregard and Ole Marius Araldsen; Netflix

“Sharp Objects,” Writers: Ariella Blejer, Scott Brown, Vince Calandra, Gillian Flynn, Dawn Kamoche, Alex Metcalf, Marti Noxon, Based upon the book written by Gillian Flynn; HBO

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA ORIGINAL “After Forever,” Written by Michael Slade & Kevin Spirtas; Vimeo.com

“Class of Lies,” Written by Tessa Leigh Williams; Snapchat (WINNER)

“Love Daily,” Written by: Lauren Ciaravalli, Andrew Eisen, Aaron Eisenberg, Will Eisenberg, Alexis Jacknow, Nathaniel Katzman, Yulin Kuang, Nathan Larkin-Connolly, Alexis Roblan, Bennet D. Silverman, Ryan Wood; Go90.com

“West 40s,” Written by Mark Sam Rosenthal & Brian Sloan; West40s.com

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA ADAPTED “The Walking Dead: Red Machete,” Written by Nick Bernardone; AMC.com

ANIMATION “Bart’s Not Dead” (The Simpsons), Written by Stephanie Gillis; Fox (WINNER)

“Boywatch” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Rich Rinaldi; Fox

“Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Lizzie Molyneux & Wendy Molyneux; Fox

“Krusty the Clown” (The Simpsons), Written by Ryan Koh; Fox

“Mo Mommy Mo Problems” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Steven Davis; Fox

“Send in Stewie, Please” (Family Guy), Written by Gary Janetti; Fox

EPISODIC DRAMA “Camelot” (“Narcos: Mexico”), Written by Eric Newman & Clayton Trussell; Netflix

“The Car” (“This Is Us”), Written by Isaac Aptaker & Elizabeth Berger; NBC

“Episode 407” (“The Affair”), Teleplay by Lydia Diamond and Sarah Sutherland, Story by Jaquen Tee Castellanos and Sarah Sutherland; Showtime

“First Blood” (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Written by Eric Tuchman; Hulu

“Paean To The People” (“Homeland”), Written by Alex Gansa; Showtime (WINNER)

“The Precious Blood of Jesus” (“Ozark”), Written by David Manson; Netflix

EPISODIC COMEDY “Another Place” (“Forever”), Teleplay by Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard, Story by Aniz Adam Ansari; Prime Video

“Chapter One: Make Your Mark” (“Barry”), Written by Alec Berg & Bill Hader; HBO (WINNER)

“Halibut!” (“Santa Clarita Diet”), Written by Victor Fresco; Netflix

“Kimmy and the Beest!” (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), Written by Robert Carlock; Netflix

“Pilot” (“The Kids Are Alright”), Written by Tim Doyle; ABC

“Who Knows Better Than I” (“Orange Is the New Black”), Written by Jenji Kohan; Netflix

COMEDY/VARIETY TALK SERIES “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” Writers: Kristen Bartlett, Samantha Bee, Ashley Nicole Black, Pat Cassels, Mike Drucker, Eric Drysdale, Mathan Erhardt, Joe Grossman, Miles Kahn, Nicole Silverberg, Melinda Taub; TBS

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver;” Writers: Tim Carvell, Raquel D’Apice, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Jeff Maurer, Daniel O’Brien, John Oliver, Brian Parise, Owen Parsons, Ben Silva, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Seena Vali, Juli Weiner; HBO (WINNER)

“Late Night with Seth Meyers;” Supervising Writers: Sal Gentile, Seth Reiss; Writers: Jermaine Affonso, Alex Baze, Bryan Donaldson, Matt Goldich, Dina Gusovsky, Jenny Hagel, Allison Hord, Mike Karnell, John Lutz, Seth Meyers, Ian Morgan, Amber Ruffin, Mike Shoemaker; NBC Universal

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Head Writers: Jay Katsir, Opus Moreschi; Writers: Emmy Blotnick, Michael Brumm, Aaron Cohen, Stephen T. Colbert, Cullen Crawford, Paul Dinello, Ariel Dumas, Glenn Eichler, Django Gold, Gabe Gronli, Greg Iwinski, Barry Julien, Daniel Kibblesmith, Matt Lappin, Michael Pielocik, Kate Sidley, Jen Spyra, Brian Stack, John Thibodeaux; CBS

COMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” Writers: Cindy Caponera, Paul Dinello, Jodi Lennon, Meredith Scardino, Amy Sedaris; truTV

“I Love You, America,” Head Writer: Dave Ferguson; Writers: Glenn Boozan, Leann Bowen, Raj Desai, Kyle Dunnigan, John Haskell, Tim Kalpakis, Opeyemi Olagbaju, Gavin Purcell, Diona Reasonover, Jocelyn Richard, Christopher J. Romano, Sarah Silverman, Beth Stelling, Dan Sterling, Nick Wiger; Hulu

“Nathan For You,” Writers: Leo Allen, Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Michael Koman, Adam Locke-Norton, Eric Notarnicola; Comedy Central (WINNER)

“Portlandia,” Writers: Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel, Karey Dornetto, Megan Neuringer, Phoebe Robinson, Graham Wagner; IFC

“Saturday Night Live,” Head Writers: Michael Che, Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, Bryan Tucker; Supervising Writers: Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, Streeter Seidell; Writers: James Anderson, Kristen Bartlett, Megan Callahan, Steven Castillo, Andrew Dismukes, Anna Drezen, Claire Friedman, Alison Gates, Steve Higgins, Sam Jay, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, Nick Kocher, Michael Koman, Alan Linic, Eli Coyote Mandel, Erik Marino, Dave McCary, Brian McElhaney, Dennis McNicholas, Lorne Michaels, Nimesh Patel, Josh Patten, Katie Rich, Simon Rich, Gary Richardson, Marika Sawyer, Pete Schultz, Mitch Silpa, Will Stephen, Julio Torres, Bowen Yang; NBC Universal

COMEDY/VARIETY SPECIALS 2018 Rose Parade Hosted by Cord & Tish, Written by Will Ferrell, Jake Fogelnest, Andrew Steele; Prime Video

Drew Michael Stand-Up Special, Written by Drew Michael; HBO

The Fake News with Ted Nelms, Written by John Aboud, Andrew Blitz, Michael Colton, Ed Helms, Elliott Kalan, Joseph Randazzo, Sara Schaefer; Comedy Central (WINNER)

The Oscars 2018, Written by Dave Boone, Carol Leifer, Jon Macks; Special Material Written by Megan Amram, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Gonzalo Cordova, Adam Carolla, Devin Field, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Jesse Joyce, Bess Kalb, Jimmy Kimmel, Molly McNearney, Danny Ricker, Joe Strazzullo; ABC

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION “Hollywood Game Night,” Head Writers: Ann Slichter, Grant Taylor; Writers: Michael Agbabian, Alexandra Kokesh, Dwight D. Smith; NBC

“Jeopardy!,” Written by Matthew Caruso, John Duarte, Harry Friedman, Mark Gaberman, Deborah Griffin, Michele Loud, Robert McClenaghan, Jim Rhine, Steve D. Tamerius, Billy Wisse; ABC

“Paid Off with Michael Torpey,” Head Writer: Ethan Berlin; Writers: John Chaneski, Rosemarie DiSalvo, Leigh Hampton, Katie Hartman, Amanda Melson, Larry Owens, Jennie Sutton, Michael Torpey, Jeremy Weiner; truTV

“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” Head Writer: Stephen A. Melcher, Jr.; Writers: Kyle Beakley, Tom Cohen, Patricia A. Cotter, Ryan Hopak, Gary Lucy, James Rowley, Ann Slichter, Dylan Snowden; Disney/ABC Syndication (WINNER)

DAYTIME DRAMA “Days of Our Lives,” Head Writer: Ron Carlivati; Writers: Sheri Anderson, Lorraine Broderick, David Cherrill, Joanna Cohen, Lisa Connor, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, Cydney Kelley, David Kreizman, David A. Levinson, Rebecca McCarty, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Katherine Schock, Elizabeth Snyder, Tyler Topits; NBC

“General Hospital,” Head Writers: Shelly Altman, Christopher Van Etten; Writers: Barbara Bloom, Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Lucky Gold, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Donny Sheldon, Scott Sickles; ABC (WINNER)

CHILDREN’S EPISODIC AND SPECIALS “Carnivorous Carnival: Part One” (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Teleplay by Joe Tracz; Netflix

“The Ersatz Elevator: Part One” (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Teleplay by Daniel Handler; Netflix (WINNER)

“For The Last Time” (Andi Mack), Written by Jonathan S. Hurwitz; Disney Channel

“Picture Day” (Alexa & Katie), Written by Ray Lancon; Netflix

“Warehouse Towel Fight” fka “Emil Strikes Back” (Prince of Peoria), Written by Marty Donovan; Netflix

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS “Black Hole Apocalypse” (Nova), Written by Rushmore DeNooyer; PBS

“Blackout in Puerto Rico” (Frontline), Written by Rick Young; PBS

“The Gang Crackdown” (Frontline), Written by Marcela Gaviria; PBS

“Trump’s Takeover” (Frontline), Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS (WINNER)

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS “Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia – Part 1” (Frontline), Written by David Fanning & Linda Hirsch & Martin Smith; PBS

“The Circus, Part One” (American Experience), Written by Sharon Grimberg; PBS

“The Eugenics Crusade” (American Experience), Written by Michelle Ferrari; PBS (WINNER)

“Into The Amazon” (American Experience), Written by John Maggio; PBS

NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT “Catastrophe” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, Nicole Young; CBS News

“Las Vegas Massacre” (CBS Evening News with Anthony Mason), Written by Jerry Cipriano and Joe Clines; CBS News

“The Spotted Pig” (60 Minutes), Written by Anderson Cooper and Oriana Zill de Granados; CBS News

NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY “100,000 Women” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley and Oriana Zill de Granados; CBS News

“On Broadway: Rodgers and Hammerstein” (CBS Sunday Morning), Written by Mo Rocca and Kay M. Lim; CBS News

“War Crime” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, Nicole Young; CBS News

“Wounds of War” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, Nicole Young; CBS News

DIGITAL NEWS “D.C.’s Biggest Homeless Shelter Is About to Close. Will Amazon Take Its Place?,” Written by Emma Roller; Splinter

“How To Not Die In America,” Written by Molly Osberg; Splinter

“Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games,” Written by Cecilia D’Anastasio; Kotaku.com (WINNER)

RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY “2017 Year in Review,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio

“RFK: 50 Years After Shots Rang Out at The Ambassador Hotel,” Written by Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio (WINNER)

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT—REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT “5pm CBS News Radio Glor Newscast,” Written by James Hutton; CBS News Radio

“ABC News 6p Hourly 9-27-2018,” Written by Stephanie Pawlowski; ABC News Radio

“Remembering The Good, The Bad and the Brilliant,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio (WINNER)

“World News This Week 9-21-2018,” Written by Joan B. Harris; ABC News Radio

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY “John McCain: A Life of Service,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio (WINNER)

“A Tribute to Le Grand Orange,” Written by Thomas A. Sabella; CBS Radio News

ON-AIR PROMOTION (RADIO OR TELEVISION) “FBI 2018 Promo Reel,” Written by Ralph Buado; CBS

“Tribute to Star Trek for the 2019 Creative Arts Emmys,” Written by Sean Brogan; CBS (WINNER)

“Westworld: Season 2 Promo (Super Bowl spot),” Written by Jonathan Nolan; HBO

Source: variety

By DAVE MCNARY

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themovieblogonline · 3 months ago

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dipulb3 · 4 years ago

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IMPACT Wrestling: Omega segment tapings, contract expirations, status of Madison Rayne

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/impact-wrestling-omega-segment-tapings-contract-expirations-status-of-madison-rayne-2/

IMPACT Wrestling: Omega segment tapings, contract expirations, status of Madison Rayne

This past weekend was full of news relating to IMPACT Wrestling. AEW World Champion Kenny Omega is filming content with the promotion. Some talent contracts may be expiring sooner than planned. IMPACT Knockout Madison Rayne is leaving the business for another job.

Omega filming content with IMPACT

Kenny Omega will already be in action in the promotion’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view on January 16. The match on the card has Omega teaming with The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows). They will face IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley).

Prior to that event, there are plans for Omega in IMPACT prior to that PPV match next month.

According to sources at PW Insider, IMPACT is taping material with Omega this week in Jacksonville, Fla. The footage will be inserted into the episodes that they have to run regarding the angle.

An additional note in the report is that Omega will not be present at the IMPACT television tapings. However, it is hard to tell what Omega and Don Callis have up their sleeves.

There was some consideration that the Good Brothers might appear on AEW Dynamite during this partnership. However, this has yet to come to fruition. In a pre-taped episode airing this week, neither Anderson nor Gallows would appear. We’ll have more on the AEW special Holiday Bash later today.

Some IMPACT talent contracts expiring sooner than expected

With IMPACT getting a lot of attention due to their recent partnership with AEW, they may be losing some key stars from their roster.

A report from Fightful states that there are multiple contracts that “are actually up earlier than expected publicly.” However, it is not certain of the contract status of said talent on the roster.

Additionally, it was reported that the company would have several re-signings months after the original contracts became official. However, some of these contracts have only recently come into effect.

As a result, some of the deals appear to have a few months remaining. However, it’s quite the opposite as some contracts are expiring as of New Year’s Day. Therefore, without a new contract, some talent will likely become free agents or will work on per-appearance fees.

The promotion has television tapings next month, as well as in March. During this time frame, several talent contracts will expire. It will only be a matter of time to see what the company does and who they choose to re-sign.

Madison Rayne leaving the wrestling business

While not exactly a surprise, a major cornerstone in the promotion’s Knockouts division is bowing out of the wrestling business.

Five-time Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne will be leaving her position with the company soon. Rayne is accepting a full-time position outside of the industry, according to Mike Johnson at PW Insider.

Rayne currently does color commentary alongside her husband Josh Matthews.

She would get her start in 2009, signing with IMPACT. At the time, it was known as TNA Wrestling. In addition to her championship runs, she was a faction member of The Beautiful People alongside Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. Other faction members were Cute Kip and Lacey Von Erich.

She would also become a two-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion alongside Gail Kim.

After 15 years in the business, Rayne has been less present for in-ring action. In 2020, she has only been in a handful of matches. She would wrestle her final independent match with Chicago’s Warrior Wrestling against Kylie Rae.

It is not currently known when Rayne officially leaves her position.

For more sports and entertainment news, follow Jake Leonard on Twitter @JakeLeonardWPMD and Heartland Newsfeed @HLNF_Bulletin on Twitter.

Additionally, you can follow Heartland Newsfeed on Facebook and Reddit among other platforms. You can now follow our news updates on Telegram, Flote, and MeWe.

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finn-nelson-for-the-win · 7 years ago

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Before the World Stops Turning: Pt. 10

Hello my lovelies! Alas, after about 2 long months, this story has finally reached its conclusion. I’m beyond excited for you all to see how the events of this chapter unfold, so without further ado…

Everything I’ve written can be found right here!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! (Keep an eye out for my final additional notes/random commentary about this chapter and the story overall at the end beneath the tags!)

***

Finn sat with his back against the wall of the venue distractedly watching the stage crew and members of the different bands performing tonight as they unpacked equipment and instruments from the back of one of the white vans in the parking lot in front of him.

Despite Finn’s apparent confidence when it came to actually performing on stage in front of large crowds of people, the hours leading up to each show left Finn a nervous wreck and when it got bad enough, he had a tendency to chain-smoke to help calm some of his pre-show jitters.

Finn lit up his fourth consecutive cigarette since he managed to break away from the rest of the band after they arrived at the venue in Danny’s van and pulled the small, leather-bound notebook from the pocket of his jacket that was draped over one of his legs.

When Finn was inspired, he always found that song lyrics and writing music came naturally to him; however, this summer he has been suffering from the worst case of writer's block he had ever experienced. As he read over the most recent lyric idea he had come up with after more difficulty that he would care to admit, Finn tried to draw inspiration for a new song or find a way to make that line fit with one of the various other songs he started but would likely never be able to finish.

We may be young and making dumb mistakes,

But we’re still learning the reasons why.

Just living life before the worlds stops turning…

Finn snapped his head upright and looked up from his notebook when he heard the rear door to the venue swing open and he saw Archie and Chop exit and walk along the wall of the building before sinking down to the sidewalk on either side of where Finn was sitting.

“Where are Alex and Danny?” Finn asked as he closed the leather notebook and returned it to the pocket of his leather jacket before flicking his cigarette butt into the small pile forming on the ground in front of him.

“Sound checking the instruments to make sure everything is sounding good. They sent us out to check on you because they said that you’ve been in a mood all day”

“I’m fine, Arch. Just amazed that the whole summer is basically over...it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be.”

“You did write and record a lot of music though! That’s really good, mate!” Chop said with a wide smile and reassuring nod.

“Yeah, I guess so…” Finn trailed off as he began examining his fingernails closely to give him something else to focus on.

Chop leaned over and pat Finn on the back as a comforting gesture before standing up from his seated position and walking back into the venue through the door beside them.

“Have you heard from Rae at all this summer?” Archie asked quietly to help fill the silence that was hanging in the air between him and Finn.

“No...ever since I lost my phone and had to get a new one with a new number, I didn’t have my contacts saved or anything so she didn’t have my new number and I didn’t know her number to reach out to her instead…”

“What about on social media? Did she try to reach out to you at all on there?”

“She might’ve, but it’s not like I would have even been able to see any messages she sent. After I lost my phone, my social media account got locked and I’ve been emailing support back and forth for the last month trying to get access of my account again, but nothing they’ve recommended has worked so far,” Finn explained with a mildly annoyed huff.

“Wow...that’s awful. I’m sorry, Finn.”

“S’alright,” Finn replied with a shrug and a sad smile.

“She might show up tonight, ya know? Both her and her mate seemed to be fans of our music...and from what I’ve seen and heard, Rae certainly seems to be quite the fan of you too”

“Hah! That’s unlikely...even if she did like me before this summer, she probably thinks I’ve been ignoring her texts and messages for the last month, which does not bode well for me at all if I’m trying to get her to like me back”

“You never know…” Archie added with a smirk which caused Finn to roll his eyes and chuckle lightly in response.

Finn looked up when he heard the distinct sounds of Chop’s laughter as he walked back out of the venue followed by Danny and Alex.

“Oi, are you two going to just sit around and chat all day or can you get off your arses and actually help the rest of us get set up for the show tonight?” Alex joked as the three of them walked past Finn and Archie towards where their band van was parked.

Archie quickly stood up and extended a hand to help Finn stand as well and the pair hurried towards the band’s van to help the others carry boxes of CDs and merchandise they were going to be selling at their merch table after the show. Even after unpacking and organizing the contents of their boxes on the table that they would be selling their items at after their performance, the combined effort of all five of them was more than enough to help them finish what they needed to do prior to the show in record time.

Since they had a significant amount of time to waste prior to when the doors for the show opened and they had to get ready to go on stage, the entire band decided to walk to a small shop down the road from the venue they were performing at to buy some drinks and snacks.

As they made their way back to the venue with their chosen sodas, bottles of water, and bags of crisps or candies Finn noticed that in that short time a significant amount of people had gathered in a line that wrapped around the venue leading to the entrance. Alex began walking ahead of the others and sprinted over to someone that was standing towards the middle of the line of concert goers waiting for the doors of the venue to be opened.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite physical therapy student! How is the ankle doing, Izzie?”

Finn overheard what Alex said as he walked nearer and looked over at them just in time to lock eyes with Rae, who looked just as surprised to see Finn as he was to see her. Finn did not break eye contact with Rae for a few long moments until Archie nudged his side with his elbow and Finn broke his stare to lift a hand and wave at Rae tentatively.

Rae returned the wave and gave Finn a quick smile before turning away from him to resume the conversation she had been having with her mate before Alex had interrupted.

Finn remained quiet as he kept walking and he soon noticed that Alex had caught back up with them as they entered the venue through the back entrance.

“Uhm, hey…” Finn began hesitantly as he tried to think of the best way to initiate this conversation, “so what was all that about and how do you know Rae’s mate, Izzie, so well?”

“She’s my first physical therapy student that I’ve had since I took the job full-time this summer!” Alex replied with a scoff as if to imply that the answer should have been obvious.

“Really? Why is she in physical therapy?” Archie asked before Finn had the chance to ask the same question.

“She got pretty badly injured during a dance performance at the end of the semester. It was actually the reason why she and Rae weren’t at our last show!”

“Our show back in May? What do you mean?” Finn asked with a look of confusion obvious on his face.

“Yeah! Izzie told me that Rae refused to leave her alone and she sat by her side in the hospital for hours while they examined her injury. She got injured the same day as our show, so the two of them had to miss it.”

“And you know all of this because..?” Archie asked as he rejoined their conversation.

“Izzie and I talk a lot about during our sessions,” Alex shrugged in reply.

Finn’s initial confusion had passed and as Alex’s words started to sink in, a sudden realization caused a wave of annoyance to wash over Finn.

“Hmmm, I see...And not once in the last two months have you thought to tell me that you have a decently close friendship with the best mate of the girl that I’ve been losing my mind over for the entire summer...Am I understanding this whole situation correctly, Alex?”

“I dunno, mate...I didn’t think about it, I guess.”

Finn nodded silently and walked away to join Chop and Danny where they were currently sitting beside the stage and watching the concert goers shuffle into the venue and fill the crowd in front of the stage.

“Look, Finn...it wasn’t like I didn’t try to figure out what happened. I know that Rae is special to you mate, but Izzie and I both thought it would be best for you two to work it out yourselves. I really am sorry that I didn’t tell you about all this sooner. Are we alright, buddy?”

The joking tone that was almost always present in Alex’s voice was absent for the first time that Finn could recall and as he looked up at his band mate, it was not hard to see the sincerity of his apology.

“Yeah, mate, we’re alright,” Finn reached up and clapped Alex on the shoulder before continuing with a small chuckle, “but you’re paying for the first round of drinks after the show tonight!”

Alex chuckled and groaned jokingly as the rest of the lads cheered in celebration.

“So Finnley...are my eyes deceiving me or is that your girl, Rae, standing in the crowd right now?” Chop asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Er, no...that’s her. I just—well, I just don’t know how to make things right with her or if she even tried to reach me at all in the last two months...I don’t see why she would’ve…”

“Rae texted and messaged you a lot in the beginning of summer, or so Izzie told me. I don’t think she knows that you lost your phone, so I can only imagine what this all seemed like for her...” Alex replied.

“Fuck,” Finn muttered under his breath as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “I fucked up.”

“Well...sure things didn’t go as planned, but it wasn’t exactly your fault, Finn,” Archie replied in an effort to stop his mate from blaming himself too much.

“I really need to unfuck things up between Rae and me, huh?” Finn asked and he received a chorus of mumbles agreeing with him and nods from his band mates.

Finn stood up abruptly from the equipment case he had been sitting on, knowing that he needed to talk to Rae but with no real plan of how he should go about doing that, but he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him.

“Actually, as much as you would like to fix things with Rae right now, we first need to get warmed up. We do have a show to play, after all, and we go on stage in 15 minutes…” Danny said as he glanced down at the watch on his wrist.

Finn’s face fell slightly and he took a step back to lean against the equipment case he had been sitting on.

“Alright, don’t looks so sad Finney boy...This is fine! First we play the most kickass show of the summer, and then you can unfuck everything up and get your girl” Chop replied triumphantly, earning a small smile and a nod from Finn.

***

The music playing through the speakers of the venue between band sets came to a stop and the stage lighting shifted to signify that the next band that was scheduled to play was supposed to take the stage.

Finn trailed behind Danny alongside Alex and Archie as they walked on stage and found their respective positions on the stage. Finn scanned the crowd casually as he pulled the strap of his guitar over his head and adjusted it to sit comfortably on his shoulder.

Oh shit! There she is…

Finn could clearly see Rae and Izzie standing a short distance away from the stage on the side of the crowd closest to where Archie stood. When Chop finally walked on stage, the crowd went crazy and they immediately launched into performing one of their older songs that was always a crowd favorite.

“How’s it going ladies and gentlemen?” Chop called loudly into the microphone after their first song ended, “I see a few familiar faces in the crowd out there, but in case ya don’t know who we are, we’re a band that goes by the name ‘Kings and Queens’ and we’re here to blow your minds with some fucking amazing tunes! How does that sound to you all?”

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause and they transitioned right into the next song in their set. Despite Finn’s mind being focused on their performance enough to not make obvious mistakes, no matter how hard he tried to focus on what he was doing, his attempts were in vain and he found himself unable to stop looking at where he knew Rae was standing in the crowd.

After a few songs, Chop began talking to the audience when Finn grabbed the water bottle that was on the side of the stage beside the speaker closest to where Finn was standing. When Finn opened the water bottle and took a long drink from it, he saw Izzie lean over to Rae and whisper something in her ear out of his peripheral vision. At nearly the same time, Rae and Finn looked over at each other and Rae gave him a tight-lipped smile before turning around and navigating her way out of the crowd with Izzie trailing closely behind.

Fuck! They’re about to leave and I didn’t even get my chance to talk to Rae!

“Okay our next song is actually a song that our handsome guitarist here, Finn, wrote after he met a very special girl that came into his life unexpectedly and from the first time he saw her she rocked his world and turned his whole life upside down…”

Chop gestured to Finn—who had been watching Rae and Izzie leave the crowd until he heard his mate mention his name—which made him smile sheepishly and run a hand through the back of his hair in embarrassment, thus earning loud cheers from nearly every person in the audience.

“She really does make Finn do and say some pretty stupid shit, but what can I say? You’re intoxicating, babe!”

The crowd was still cheering loudly, but when Finn looked out into the crowd to find Rae, there was no indication that she was anywhere in sight.

“I know you’re out there in the crowd somewhere right now, baby girl, so hopefully you’re listening and you can see and hear how much of an effect you’ve had on our Finney boy here...this is our new song called ‘Alcohol or Love’...”

EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD STARTS TO BLUR,

NO ONE LEFT IN THE ROOM NOW BUT HER

JUST TAKE MY HAND BABE, JUST TAKE MY HAND

After playing their final few songs of their set, Finn and the rest of the band began to leave the stage after closing their set much in the same way that they close every show they play.

“I need to find Rae,” Finn said to no one in particular as soon as he was off stage and already putting his guitar away in its case as the others took their time leaving the stage.

Finn walked in the direction that he last saw Rae and Izzie walking away in during their set, but after looking for them for long enough that the next band had already taken the stage and was well into their set, Finn knew that there was no use in keeping up the search.

Well, I guess I missed my chance...if Rae really left, she definitely long gone by now…

Finn walked over to the merch table where Danny and Alex were currently selling CDs to a group of teenage girls that immediately asked for a picture and an autograph as soon as they saw him approaching.

When the small group of fans left and the other two at the table resumed their previous conversation, Finn looked around the venue and saw Chop and Archie near the stage on the opposite side of the venue. Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he saw the pair stop briefly and walk towards an area beside the stage that was out of Finn’s line of sight, but before long he saw Archie walking in the direction of the table where Finn was still sitting.

“Have you had the chance to talk to Rae yet?” Archie asked as he took a seat on the large equipment box behind their merch table where Finn was seated as well.

“No...I saw her walk away during our set and I tried to find her afterward but I think she might have left the show early…”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…”

“What do ya mean, Arch?”

“Oh, nothing...”

Finn looked over at Archie skeptically, but when he knew that Archie was not going to elaborate any further on the subject at this time, he simply shrugged and returned to selling CDs and chatting with the occasional fan of their band that stopped by their table to meet them.

When the show finally ended and the fans in the crowd began to disperse to buy merchandise and talk to the band members that were willing to meet fans, Archie stood from the equipment case and stretched before turning to face the others.

“Hey Alex, Danny...do you think you two can hold down the fort here at the merch table for a little while? Finn and I are needed elsewhere right now. I’ll be back in a little while and I’ll bring Chop with me too…”

“Yeah, of course!”

“We’ll be fine...go do what you gotta do…”

Danny and Alex replied before Alex leaned over and shoved Finn’s shoulder to coax him into standing up. Finn was still confused about what was going on, but he decided to follow where Archie was leading him nonetheless.

“Where are you taking me, Arch?”

“You’ll see…”

“Archie…”

“It’s fine, Finn...don’t worry about it!”

“Archibald!”

“Oh just shut up and follow me! I know you’ll be thanking me for this later…”

Finn begrudgingly followed Archie to the same area beside the stage where he had seen Archie and Chop stop a bit over an hour prior to this. Finn looked around this area off to one side of the concert venue where the stage lights were still shining and there were crews unplugging all the equipment on the stage and looked at Archie expectantly as he waited for Archie to explain why he brought him here.

“Okay, so Finn...now don’t get mad, but we knew that you wanted to make things right with Rae. But we also know how terrible with words you can be, and being in her presence certainly does not do you any favors.”

“What did you do, Arch?”

“Well, Chop and I crossed paths with Rae and her mate after our set and we decided that it was our responsibility as your best mates to help you unfuck up this whole situation...so Chop is over there explaining to Rae that you lost your phone and have been basically dead to the world in terms of you online presence due to a simple drunk night with the lads gone wrong...we couldn’t stand to think that she thought you were ignoring her, so we set the record straight and Chop has probably been talking her ear off for the last hour, so as long as you’re ready now, I think now is your chance to go talk to Rae!”

Archie grabbed Finn by the shoulders and spun him around to so he could see Izzie, Chop, and Rae a short distance away talking and laughing.

Rae looked up and locked eyes with Finn across the short distance separating them for a moment before giving him a wide grin and playfully rolling her eyes in response to something Chop must have said.

Before Finn could even fully register that he was moving on his own volition, he had closed the space between him and the others and he stood mere steps away from Rae, Izzie, and Chop.

“Hey, uhm...how’s it going, Rae?” Finn said hesitantly when he noticed a break in their previous conversation.

“Pretty good! And yourself, Finn?” She replied with a bright smile.

“Good too, I suppose…”

“Well Izzie, as riveting as this conversation is, I think it would be best if we left these two love birds alone, yeah?” Chop joked before gesturing for Izzie to follow him toward where Archie was still standing nearby.

“You got this mate…” Chop muttered as he clapped Finn on the shoulder with one hand before turning towards Rae and leaning in close to speak to her quietly, “Be gentle with my Finney boy, alright love?”

Chop pulled away and give the pair a smirk before walking away to join Izzie and Archie as they walked out of Finn’s line of sight to a different area of the venue.

“So…” Finn began hesitantly as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.

“So...you really lost your phone?” Rae asked with her eyebrow quirked.

“Yup”

“...in the middle of a bar fight?” Finn tried to gauge Rae’s tone when she asked this question, but he was unable to decide if she seemed impressed or disbelieving.

“Uh, yeah...sort of…” Finn mumbled before breaking eye contact with Rae to stare at the floor sheepishly.

“But Chop tells me that you were just standing up to some twats that harassed Archie?”

“Yeah, that part’s true too…”

“Huh…” Rae paused briefly and Finn looked up at Rae through his fringe to see her facial expressions when he saw a smile spread across her face, “That was really sweet of you.”

Finn returned the smile and a comfortable silence settled between them as a few moments passed before Finn gathered his thoughts enough to decide what he wanted to say.

“Rae, I—I swear that I really did want to talk to you and keep in touch this summer, but with losing my phone I basically got cut off from all forms of communication. And I only just found out that Alex has been seeing Izzie regularly for physical therapy sessions. If I had known sooner, I would have…”

“Don’t worry about it, Finn. I’ve know that he was her physical therapist for a couple of weeks now, but I figured if you wanted to talk to me, you would’ve found a way, so I didn’t try to use him as a middleman or anything.”

“Well still, I’m really glad to see that you made it out to the show tonight,”

“I’m glad Izzie and I decided to come out tonight too...I’m also glad that I was here to see you perform the new song you apparently wrote this summer that Chop was talking so much about.” Rae added with a smirk.

“Oh, yeah...that...he was exaggerating a bit, I assure you, but uh...I sort of thought you had left during our set because I saw you and Izzie walking out of the crowd and I was almost afraid that I had missed my only chance to make things right with you”

“Oh! Yeah, we were too close to the stage and it was really crowded and Izzie didn’t want to get stepped on by someone since her foot isn’t completely healed yet, so we found a little area next to the wall to stand by and still watch the performances.”

“That makes sense, I suppose,”

“Yup!” Rae popped the “p” at the end of the word as she reached forward to grab the black permanent marker that was sticking out of Finn’s shirt pocket, which caused Finn to cock his head to the side in confusion.

Rae grabbed Finn’s hand and brought it closer to her before turning his palm to face her as she used the marker to scrawl something across his hand.

“My phone number...I’m writing it on your hand so you can put it into your new phone. That way you won’t be able to use that as an excuse not the text me,” Rae said in response to the quirked eyebrow and look of confusion Finn was giving her.

“I’m putting your number in my phone right now!” Finn said as he hurriedly pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and entered her phone number in as a new contact.

“So…” Finn said again when there is a break in the conversation.

“So...I have a bit of a request, if it’s not too much trouble…”

“What can I do for you, girl?”

“Well at the first concert I saw you perform at I got a picture with everyone except for you...and I wanted to see if I could get a picture with just you this time to make up for it, you know?”

“But of course, m’dear!” Finn replied with a grin before pulling his phone back out of his pocket, “Hey, mate! Can you please take a quick photo for us?”

The stage crew member that was currently packing up all of the equipment and wires that were still in a mess on the stage looked up when he realized that Finn was talking to him and he happily agreed and grabbed the cell phone from Finn while Finn and Rae prepared to take the picture.

“Alright...on the count of three say ‘cheese’!” the crew member said once he had brought up the camera on Finn’s cell phone.

Finn wrapped an arm around Rae and draped that hand gently over her shoulder, intentionally putting as little space between them as he possibly could while still respecting her personal space.

“Three”

Rae moved slightly closer to Finn until there was very little space between them as they waited for the photo to be taken.

“Two”

Finn looked over at Rae out of the corner of his eyes and he could clearly see the genuine smile lighting up her face and he knew that her smile went much deeper than just for the purposes of the picture.

“One”

A sudden burst of confidence came over Finn and as soon as the stage crew member taking the photo said “cheese” aloud to signal that he was taking the picture, Finn leaned over to gently press his lips to Rae’s cheek.

Rae pulled back after the photo was taken to stare at Finn, her jaw dropped in surprise, as a warm pink blush began spreading over her cheeks.

“What the fresh hell was that, Finn?”

“I dunno...you had to wait four months to get a proper photo with me, so I figured I might as well make it worth your while…”

“You cheeky bastard!” Rae added with a chuckle as she shook her head side to side in disbelief.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that without asking you first. I didn’t mean to—”

Before Finn could finish his statement, Rae closed the distance between her and Finn again and crashed her lips against his, effectively shutting him up and ending his rambling.

Though the kiss came as a surprise to him, as soon as Finn registered what was happening, he started to return the tender kiss, but he soon felt Rae smile against his lips as she pulled away and ended the kiss almost as suddenly as she started it.

“I, uh...that was...I mean...wow! Er, do you want to maybe go and get a drink with me right now?” Finn finally managed to stutter out as he continued to struggle to regain his train of thought after the unexpected kiss with Rae.

“I’d like that”

Rae reached for Finn’s hand and interlocked their fingers together before she turned to face him, “Lead the way, Finn!”

Finn and Rae walk hand-in-hand towards the exit of the concert venue—attempting to ignore the cheers and wolf whistles from the other members of Kings and Queens and Izzie who was sitting with them behind the band’s merch table—and Finn could not wipe the blissed out grin off his face even if he tried to.

THE END :)

@arathewallflower @eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @lurkernolonger @milllott @nutinanutshell @i-dream-of-emus @milymargot @vivammfd @bitchesbecrazy89 @mallyallyandra @kneekeyta @tothetardissterek

A/N: Yay! We finally made it to the end of this story. I don't really have too much to say in terms of author's notes for this chapter, but what's one of my posts without a bit of rambling and nonsense at the end, you know? Hahaha I just wanted to start by thanking all of you for reading this story, first and foremost, but also for letting me know what you all think of the story as it progressed and just in general for being so supportive and amazingly sweet whenever I post a new chapter. As 2017 draws to a close, I've started looking back on my year and realizing how much my life has changed over the last year, mostly for the worse. One good thing that did happen was that I rediscovered my love of writing and it's been a great outlet for me when things have been especially tough, so I have each and every one of you guys that follow me and read my writing to thank for that. ^_^ I know I promised 3 new chapters/fics this week, but I've been really busy with all that's going on in my life and the holidays, BUT as of right now I'm thinking all 3 things I wanted to post should be up on or before Christmas...idk, we'll see... Until next time: Stay awesome, my friends! :D

#Before the World Stops Turning #part 10 #mmfd #mmfd fanfic #my mad fat diary #my mad fat diary fanfiction #My writing #Finn-Nelson-for-the-win

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mrjeremydylan · 7 years ago

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My Favorite Album #219 - Neil Innes (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Rutles) on Mothers of Invention 'We're Only In It For the Money' (1968)

A legend of both music and comedy, Neil Innes has weaved dry wit around sweet soulful melody for decades, from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band to the Rutles, his work with Monty Python and on television with Rutland Weekend Television and The Innes Book of Records.

Neil joins me to talk about Frank Zappa's classic commentary on the Summer of Love and response to Sgt Pepper, 'We're Only In It For the Money'. We talk about how the album balances satire and music inventiveness, how Zappa misunderstood one of Neil's songs while reviewing it, when the Bonzo's hung out with the Mothers of Invention in the US and the kinship they felt, plus how so much of the turmoil Zappa was writing about in 1968 has become eerily relevant again almost 50 years on.

Listen in the player above or download the episode by clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts here or in other podcasting apps by searching ‘My Favorite Album’ or copying/pasting our RSS feed -http://myfavoritealbum.libsyn.com/rss

My Favorite Album is a podcast on the impact great music has on our lives. Each episode features a guest on their favorite album of all time - why they love it, their history with the album and how it’s influenced them. Jeremy Dylan is a filmmaker, journalist and photographer from Sydney, Australia who has worked in the music industry since 2007. He directed the the feature music documentary Jim Lauderdale: The King of Broken Hearts (out now!) and the feature film Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins, in addition to many commercials and music videos.

If you’ve got any feedback or suggestions, drop us a line at [email protected].

LINKS

- Neil Innes on Twitter and iTunes. He’d probably also like me to encourage you to track his work down on vinyl in addition to streaming it or grabbing it off iTunes.

- Buy ‘We’re Only In It For The Money’ here.

- Jeremy Dylan’s website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page.

- Like the podcast on Facebook here.

- If you dig the show, please leave a rating or review of the show on iTunes here.

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER EPISODES

218. Gold Class on the Dirty Three ‘Ocean Songs’ (1998) 217. Julian Velard on Billy Joel ‘Turnstiles’ (1976) 216. Courtney Marie Andrews on Bob Dylan ‘Blood on the Tracks’ (1975) 215. Anita Lester on Leonard Cohen ‘Song of Love and Hate’ (1971) 214. Meet Me In The Bathroom author Lizzy Goodman on Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Fever to Tell’ (2003) 213. JAY-Z biographer Zack O'Malley Greenburg on JAY-Z ‘Reasonable Doubt’ (1996) 212. #BeatlesMonth Wall Street Journal’s Allan Kozinn on how ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ broke the Beatles in America and the anatomy of an iconic hit 211. #BeatlesMonth Conan’s Jimmy Vivino on the Sgt Pepper remixes and recreating the intricacies of the Beatles with the Fab Faux 210. #BeatlesMonth Heartbreaker Benmont Tench on playing with Ringo, the Beatles RnB roots and the genius of ‘No Reply’ 209. #BeatlesMonth Ken Levine on ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ (1967) 208. All Our Exes Live In Texas on Rufus Wainwright ‘Want’ (2004) 207. 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Nicholas Allbrook (POND) on OutKast ‘The Love Below’ (2003) 178. 2016 in Review: What the hell? ft Jeff Greenstein, Rob Draper & Cookin on 3 Burners, Melody Pool, Lisa Mitchell, Emma Swift, Brian Koppelman, Mark Hart (Crowded House), Davey Lane and Alex Lahey 177. Harper Simon on The Beatles ‘White Album’ (1968) 176. Andrew P Street on Models ‘Pleasure of Your Company’ (1983) 175. Matt Farley (Motern Media) on why The Beach Boys ‘Love You’ is better than ‘Pet Sounds’ 174. Lisa Mitchell on Regina Spektor ‘Begin to Hope’ (2006) and her favorite albums of 2016 173. Peter Bibby on Sleep ‘Dopesmoker’ (2003) 172. Slate’s Jack Hamilton on Stevie Wonder ‘Innervisions’ (1973) 171. Showrunner Blake Masters on Drive-By Truckers ‘The Dirty South’ (2004) 170. Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) on on their new album ‘We’re All Gonna Die’, loving LA and the albums that inspire him 169. Sadler Vaden on The Rolling Stones ‘Goats Head Soup’ (1973) 168. Guy Clark biographer Tamara Saviano on ‘Dublin Blues’, Guy’s songwriting process and his musical legacy 167. What does Trump mean for music? 166. A Tribute to Sir George Martin, The Fifth Beatle with Davey Lane and Brett Wolfie 165. John Oates on Joni Mitchell ‘Blue’ (1971) 164. Jimmy Vivino on the birth of the Max Weinberg 7, his relationship with Conan O’Brien, country music and the future of rock’n’roll 163. DJ Alix Brown on Transformer (1972) by Lou Reed 162. Taylor Locke on Doolittle (1989) by the Pixies, the album that inspired 90s alt-rock 161. Harts on Around the World in a Day (1985) by Prince and jamming with Prince at Paisley Park 160. Mark McKinnon (The Circus) on Kristofferson and programming the President’s iPod 159. Alan Brough on A Walk Across the Rooftops (1984) by The Blue Nile 158. Peter Cooper on Pretty Close to the Truth (1994) and why we need Americana music 157. Will Colvin (Hedge Fund) on One of the Boys by Katy Perry (2008) 156. Julia Jacklin on Extraordinary Machine by Fiona Apple (2005) 155. Japanese Wallpaper on Currents by Tame Impala (2015) 154. Montaigne on her album Glorious Heights (2016) and its inspirations 153. Alex Lahey on Hot Fuss by the Killers (2004) 152. Jack Moffitt (The Preatures) on Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin (1975) 151. Mike Bloom on Axis Bold As Love by Jimi Hendrix (1968) 150. Hey Geronimo on Drowning in the Fountain of Youth by Dan Kelly (2006) 149. Mickey Raphael on Teatro by Willie Nelson (1998) 148. Jack Ladder on Suicide by Suicide 147. Rusty Anderson on Hot Rats by Frank Zappa 146. Kenny Aronoff on The Beatles 145. Bob Evans on A Grand Don’t Come for Free by The Streets 144. Chris Hewitt (Empire) on New Adventues in Hi-Fi by REM 143. Dr Warren Zanes on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 142. Dr Mark Kermode (Wittertainment) on Sleep No More by the Comsat Angels 141. Van Dyke Parks on Randy Newman by Randy Newman 140. Imogen Clark on Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams 139. Jesse Thorn on Fresh by Sly and the Family Stone 138. Stephen Tobolowsky on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie 137. Ben Blacker on Blood and Chocolate on Elvis Costello & the Attractions 136. Jonny Fritz on West by Lucinda Williams 135. Adam Busch on A River Ain’t Too Much to Love by Smog 134. Kelsea Ballerini on Blue Neighbourhood by Troye Sivan 133. Natalie Prass on Presenting Dionne Warwick 132. Josh Pyke on Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden 131. Kip Moore on Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen 130. Koi Child on Voodoo by D’Angelo 129. The Cadillac Three on Wildflowers by Tom Petty 128. Julian McCullough on Appetite for Destruction by Guns n Roses 127. Danny Clinch on Greetings from Ashbury Park NJ by Bruce Springsteen 126. Sam Palladio (Nashville) on October Road by James Taylor 125. Steve Mandel on Blood and Chocolate by Elvis Costello 124. Brian Koppelman on The History of the Eagles 123. Benmont Tench on Beggars Banquet by the Rolling Stones 122. Jimmy Vivino (Basic Cable Band) on Super Session by Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills 121. Holiday Sidewinder on Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid by Bob Dylan 120. Ben Blacker on Aladdin Sane by David Bowie 119. EZTV on The Toms by The Toms 118. Jess Ribeiro on Transformer by Lou Reed 117. Whitney Rose on Keith Whitley Greatest Hits 116. Best Albums of 2015 with Danny Yau ft. Jason Isbell, Dan Kelly, Shane Nicholson, Tim Rogers, Will Hoge and Julien Barbagallo (Tame Impala) 115. Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift For You with Jaime Lewis 114. Xmas Music ft. Kristian Bush, Lee Brice, Corb Lund and Tim Byron 113. Sam Outlaw on Pieces of the Sky by Emmylou Harris 112. Jason Isbell on Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones 111. Ash Naylor (Even) on Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin 110. Burke Reid (Gerling) on Dirty by Sonic Youth 109. Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos) on Kind of Blue by Miles Davis 108. Lindsay ‘The Doctor’ McDougall (Frenzal Rhomb) on Curses! by Future of the Left 107. Julien Barbagallo (Tame Impala) on Chrominance Decoder by April March 106. Melody Pool on Blue by Joni Mitchell 105. Rusty Hopkinson (You Am I) on ‘Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era’ 104. Jeff Greenstein on A Quick One (Happy Jack) by The Who 103. Dave Cobb on Revolver by the Beatles 102. Justin Melkmann (World War IX) on Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed 101. Kacey Musgraves on John Prine by John Prine 100. Does the album have a future? 99. Corb Lund on Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins 98. Bad Dreems on Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division 97. Davey Lane (You Am I) on Abbey Road by the Beatles 96. Dan Kelly on There’s A Riot Goin’ On by Sly and the Family Stone 95. Ash Grunwald on Mule Variations by Tom Waits 94. Stella Angelico on The Shangrilas 93. Eves the Behavior on Blue by Joni Mitchell 92. Troy Cassar-Daley on Willie Nelson’s Greatest Hits 91. Lydia Loveless on Pleased to Meet Me by the Replacements 90. Gena Rose Bruce on The Boatman’s Call by Nick Cave 89. Kitty Daisy and Lewis on A Swingin’ Safari by Bert Kaempfert 88. Will Hoge on Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music by Ray Charles 87. Shane Nicholson on 52nd St by Billy Joel 86 - Tired Lion on Takk… by Sigur Ros 85 - Whispering Bob Harris on Forever Changes by Love 84 - Jake Stone (Bluejuice) on Ben Folds Five by Ben Folds Five 83 - Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Imposters) on Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience 82 - Dom Alessio on OK Computer by Radiohead 81 - Anthony Albanese MP on The Good Son by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 80 - John Waters on Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience 79 - Jim DeRogatis (Sound Opinions) on Clouds Taste Metallic by The Flaming Lips 78 - Montaigne on The Haunted Man by Bat for Lashes 77 - Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd) on Quadrophenia by The Who 76 - Homer Steinweiss (Dap Kings) on Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis 75 - Best of 2015 (So Far) ft. Danny Yau, Montaigne, Harts, Joelistics, Rose Elinor Dougall and Burke Reid 74 - Matt Farley (Motern Media) on RAM by Paul McCartney BONUS - Neil Finn on The Beatles, Neil Young, David Bowie and Radiohead 73 - Grace Farriss (Burn Antares) on All Things Must Pass by George Harrison 72 - Katie Noonan on Blue by Joni Mitchell 71 - Harts on Band of Gypsys by Jimi Hendrix 70 - Tim Rogers (You Am I) on Bring the Family by John Hiatt 69 - Mark Seymour (Hunters and Collectors) on The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen 68 - Jeremy Neale on Graceland by Paul Simon 67 - Joelistics on Graceland by Paul Simon 66 - Brian Nankervis (RocKwiz) on Astral Weeks by Van Morrison 65 - ILUKA on Pastel Blues by Nina Simone 64 - Rose Elinor Dougall on Tender Buttons by Broadcast 63 - Sarah McLeod (The Superjesus) on Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins 62 - Keyone Starr on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 61 - Chase Bryant on Defying Gravity by Keith Urban 60 - Brian Koppelman on Southeastern by Jason Isbell 59 - Michael Carpenter on The Beatles White Album Side 4 58 - Pete Kilroy (Hey Geronimo) on The Beatles White Album Side 3 57 - Mark Wells on The Beatles White Album Side 2 56 - Jeff Greenstein on Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants 55 - Laura Bell Bundy on Shania Twain, Otis Redding and Bright Eyes 54 - Jake Clemons on Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan 53 - Kristian Bush (Sugarland) on The Joshua Tree by U2 52 - Kevin Bennett (The Flood) on Willis Alan Ramsey by Willis Alan Ramsey 51 - Lee Brice on Unorthodox Jukebox by Bruno Mars 50 - Davey Lane (You Am I) on the White Album (Side 1) by The Beatles 49 - Joe Camilleri on The Rolling Stones by The Rolling Stones 48 - Russell Morris on The Rolling Stones by The Rolling Stones 47 - Mike Rudd (Spectrum) on England’s Newest Hitmakers by The Rolling Stones 46 - Henry Wagons on Harvest by Neil Young 45 - Megan Washington on Poses by Rufus Wainwright 44 - Andrew Hansen (The Chaser) on Armchair Theatre by Jeff Lynne 43 - She Rex on BlakRoc by The Black Keys 42 - Catherine Britt on Living with Ghosts by Patty Griffin 41 - Robyn Hitchcock on Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon 40 - Gideon Bensen (The Preatures) on Transformer by Lou Reed 39 - Harry Hookey on Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan 38 - Rob Draper on Faith by George Michael 37 - Best of 2014 ft. Danny Yau, Andrew Hansen, Gideon Bensen (The Preatures) and Mike Carr 36 - Doug Pettibone on Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris 35 - Ross Ryan on Late for the Sky by Jackson Browne 34 - Michael Carpenter on Hard Promises by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 33 - Davey Lane (You Am I) on Jesus of Cool by Nick Lowe 32 - Zane Carney on Smokin’ at the Half Note by Wes Montgomery 31 - Tony Buchen on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles 30 - Simon Relf (The Tambourine Girls) on On the Beach by Neil Young 29 - Peter Cooper on In Search of a Song by Tom T Hall 28 - Thelma Plum on Stolen Apples by Paul Kelly 27 - James House on Rubber Soul by the Beatles 26 - Ella Hooper on Let England Shake by PJ Harvey 25 - Abbey Road Special 24 - Alyssa Bonagura on Room for Squares by John Mayer 23 - Luke Davison (The Preatures) on Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs 22 - Neil Finn on Hunky Dory by David Bowie and In Rainbows by Radiohead 21 - Neil Finn on Beatles for Sale by the Beatles and After the Goldrush by Neil Young 20 - Morgan Evans on Diorama by Silverchair 19 - Emma Swift on Car Wheels On A Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams 18 - Danny Yau on Hourly Daily by You Am I 17 - J Robert Youngtown and Jon Auer (The Posies) on Hi Fi Way by You Am I 16 - Lester the Fierce on Hounds of Love by Kate Bush 15 - Luke Davison on Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs 14 - Jeff Cripps on Wheels of Fire by Cream 13 - Mark Holden on Blue by Joni Mitchell (Part 2) 12 - Mark Holden on Blue by Joni Mitchell (Part 1) 11 - Gossling on O by Damien Rice 10 - Matt Fell on Temple of Low Men by Crowded House 9 - Pete Thomas on Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix (Part 2) 8 - Pete Thomas on Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix (Part 1) 7 - Sam Hawksley on A Few Small Repairs by Shawn Colvin 6 - Jim Lauderdale on Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons 5 - Mark Moffatt on Blues Breakers by John Mayall and Eric Clapton 4 - Darren Carr on Ten Easy Pieces by Jimmy Webb 3 - Mark Wells on Revolver by The Beatles 2 - Mike Carr on Arrival by ABBA 1 - Rob Draper on Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan

#podcast #neil innes #frank zappa #mothers of invention #rutles #bonzo dog doo-dah band #urban spaceman #monty python #sgt pepper #beatles

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