#rian x april

[wizardhecker]

A long 2024 retrospective

2024 was a year of maintenance and slow growth rather than any dramatic changes. I continued to develop and grow the relationships I formed in 2023 earlier, tried to find a routine and balance to working full time, and continued to work out and explore new art opportunities.

Overall I'd say the biggest goals I reached in 2024 were:

Traveling to Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Dallas

Watched 52+ new movies

Sold my art at local faires and made more physical irl art

Ended one long DnD campaign and started a new one (goodbye Ven and the Greencloaks, hello Pike and the Boys)

Got through a fair number of books (House of Leaves)

Kept up about 3 months of weekly invert art and daily bird art

Got to travel to a few notable work locations like: Blackwater Falls, Elkins, Winchester, State College. And got my certification so I'm more stable at my job.

Made a lot of really good memories

Got a new tattoo

Made some new friends

Some goals unfulfilled:

Didnt travel out of the country

No Inktober

Didnt travel to Utah or Kansas to visit friends

Didn't do as much birding as I would have liked, I don't think I made it to any Audobon meetings.

Grew further away from the TTRPG organizations I'm involved in and the people in them

Goals for next year:

Get more involved in local stuff - go to at least one IRL performance a month (theatre, music, etc).

Get out to visit my long distance friends more (Utah, Wisconsin, Pitt)

Travel out of the country (hopefully Japan!)

Start wrapping up Titsquad

Look into what purchasing a place would involve/if its feasible

Run more indie TTRPG stuff.

Do a pull-up

Record more.

Some Favorite memories from each month:

January: 2AM drunk bingo at Magfest and seeing the Rockafire Explosion at work

February: Sexy Wizard at Katsu, Birding with Chris

March: Wrestling in Pittsburgh, Empire Queen showing

April: Eclipse (I wish I'd traveled though), Blackwater Falls work trip, wizardtime

May: Endangered Turtles, helping a friend move, wetland class, seeing brood X, getting into a car crash

June: Beach cleanup, tabling at SUCZ, going to seattle

July: artfight, cumberland, power going out in Wytheville and going to the carnival, end of Greencloaks, beach

August: Rian, Dinosaurland and first Winchester visit, Twinight, first game of SC

Sept: gma and the conservatory, chantarelles, impromptu charlottesville trip, start of Elkins era (the Hutte, puppytime, and fig drawing)

October: Worlds Stupidest game of Battleship, Zinefest, Aurora, Rennfaire, Elkins float walk, killing that maze, ten candles

November: despite it all, blair witching it in Winchester, that french guy, paint night, and jazz. We do another stupid bit. Dallas, ft charshittery.

December: New coworker, the true treasure was the bits we did along the way, tattwo, friendsgiving ft the evil tiramisu

[seesaipepper]

character irl birth months🎂🥳🎉

so... technically speaking, each season in mta would be comprised of 3 months, with each month being around 9.3 days in-game... with that in mind, here are the approx. birthdays of the sandrock bachelors and bachelorettes, as well as their zodiac signs because why not <:3c

🌷 SPRING: Owen - Early March (Pisces) Haru - Mid March (Pisces or Aries) Qi - Early April (Aries) Elsie - Mid April (Aries or Taurus) Grace - Late April (Taurus) Burgess - Early May (Taurus) Pablo - Early May (Taurus) Ernest - Mid to Late May (Taurus or Gemini)

☀️ SUMMER: Pen - Late June (Cancer) Venti - Early July (Cancer) Jane - Mid July (Cancer) Justice - Late July (Cancer or Leo) Heidi - Late July (Leo) Logan - Mid to Late August (Leo or Virgo)

🍁 AUTUMN: Nia - Early September (Virgo) Unsuur - Mid September (Virgo) Arvio - Mid to Late September (Virgo or Libra) Amirah - Early October (Libra) Catori - Mid to Late October (Libra or Scorpio) Mi-an - Early November (Scorpio)

❄️ WINTER: Miguel - Late December (Capricorn) Fang - Early February (Aquarius)

+full citizen calendar below the cut since i had done it anyway lol

Spring 1-9 (March) Spring 10-19 (April) Spring 20-28 (May)

Pisces - (February 19 - March 20) Aries - (March 21 - April 19) Taurus - (April 20 - May 20) Gemini - (May 21 - June 20)

Owen - Early March (Pisces) Rocky - Early March (Pisces) Haru - Mid March (Pisces or Aries) Vivi - Late March (Aries) Coco - Late March (Aries) Qi - Early April (Aries) Elsie - Mid April (Aries or Taurus) Grace - Late April (Taurus) Burgess - Early May (Taurus) Pablo - Early May (Taurus) Earnest - Mid to Late May (Taurus or Gemini)

Summer 1-9 (June) Summer 10-19 (July) Summer 20-28 (August)

Gemini - (May 21 - June 20) Cancer - (June 21 - July 22) Leo - (July 23 - August 22) Virgo - (August 23 - September 22)

Crystal - Early June (Gemini) Hugo - Early June (Gemini) Mort - Late June (Cancer) Pen - Late June (Cancer) Venti - Early July (Cancer) Banjo - Early July (Cancer) Jane - Mid July (Cancer) Justice - Late July (Cancer or Leo) Heidi - Late July (Leo) Rian - Late July (Leo) Cooper - Early August (Leo) Meerkat - Mid August (Leo) Logan - Mid to Late August (Leo or Virgo)

Autumn 1-9 (September) Autumn 10-19 (October) Autumn 20-28 (November)

Virgo - (August 23 - September 22) Libra - (September 23 - October 22 Scorpio - (October 23 - November 21) Sagittarius - (November 22 - December 21)

Nia - Early September (Virgo) Dan-bi - Early September (Virgo) Captain - Mid September (Virgo) Unsuur - Mid September (Virgo) Andy - Mid to Late September (Virgo or Libra) Arvio - Mid to Late September (Virgo or Libra) Sandy - Late September (Libra) Pebbles - Late September (Libra) Amirah - Early October (Libra) Yan - Mid October (Libra) Catori - Mid to Late October (Libra or Scorpio) Mi-an - Early November (Scorpio) Nemo - Early November (Scorpio) Matilda - Early to Mid November (Scorpio)

Winter 1-9 (December) Winter 10-19 (January) Winter 20-28 (February)

Sagittarius - (November 22 - December 21) Capricorn - (December 22 - January 19) Aquarius - (January 20 - February 18) Pisces - (February 19 - March 20)

Fennec - Early December (Sagittarius) Gecko - Early December (Sagittarius) Mabel - Mid December (Sagittarius) Miguel - Late December (Capricorn) X - Early January (Capricorn) Jenson - Mid January (Capricorn) Jasmine - Late January (Aquarius) Trudy - Early February (Aquarius) Fang - Early February (Aquarius) Macchiato - Mid February (Aquarius or Pisces) Zeke - Late February (Pisces)

[geekcavepodcast]

BOOM! Studios To Celebrate Anniversary with"20 For 20" Collections

Next year BOOM! Studios is celebrating its anniversary with a collection of "20 For 20" - 20 titles celebrating 20 years of stories, each for $19.99. Each selection will collect a series for the first time in new, exclusive editions.

The "20 For 20" titles and release months are:

January 2025:

Deep State Complete Collection - collects Justin Jordan and Ariela Kirstantina's Deep State #1-8.

February 2025:

Ronin Island Complete Collection - collects Greg Pak and Giannis Milonogiannis' Ronin Island #1-12.

Jonesy Complete Collection - collects Sam Humphries and Caitlin Rose Boyles' Jonesy #1-12.

March 2025:

Bone Parish Complete Collection - collects Cullen Bunn and Jonas Scarf's Bone Parish #1-12.

April 2025:

Joyride Compete Collection - collects Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Marcus To's Joyride #1-12.

SLAM! Complete Collection - collects Pamela Ribon, Veronica Fish, and Marina Julia's Slam! #1-4 and Slam! The Next Jam #1-4.

May 2025:

Hit Complete Collection - collects Bryce Carlson and Vanesa Del Rey's Hit: 1955 #1-4 and Hit: 1957 #1-4.

Avant-Guards Compete Collection - collects Carly Usdin and Noah Hayes' The Avant-Guards #1-8 and The Avant-Guards: Down to the Wire.

June 2025:

Black Badge Complete Collection - collects Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, and Hillary Jenkins' Black Badge #1-12.

Heavy Vinyl Complete Collection - collects Carly Usdin, Nina Vakueva, and Irene Flores' Heavy Vinyl #1-8, which was originally published as Hi-Fi Fight Club #1-3 and Heavy Vinyl #4-8.

July 2025:

Zombie Tales Complete Collection - collects the anthology series Zombie Tales, Zombie Tales: Oblivious, Zombie Tales: The Dead, and Zombie Tales: The Series #1-12, featuring works from creators like Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, Steve Niles, Joe R. Lansdale, Karl Kesel, Andy Kuhn, Tom Peyer, Ming Doyle, William Messner-Loebs, Tom Fowler, Ron Lim, J.K. Woodward, Fábio Moon, and more.

August 2025:

Day Men Complete Collection - collects Matt Gagnon, Michael Alan Nelson, and Brian Stelfreeze's Day Men #1-8.

September 2025:

Clive Barker's Next Testament Complete Collection - collects Clive Barker and Haemi Jang's Clive Barker's Next Testament #1-12.

The Backstagers Complete Collection - collects James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh's (as well as Backstagers shorts by Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Brittney Williams, Caitlin Rose Boyle, Katy Farina, and more) The Backstagers #1-8, The Backstagers: 2018 Valentine’s Intermission, The Backstagers: Halloween Intermission, and the The Backstagers story from The BOOM! Box 2016 Mix Tape.

October 2025:

The Red Mother Complete Collection - collects Jeremy Haun and Danny Luckert's The Red Mother #1-12.

Hero Squared Complete Collection - collects Keith Giffin, J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Abraham, Nathan Watson, and more's Hero Squared X-Tra Sized Special one-shot, Hero Squared (2005) #1-3, Hero Squared (2006) #1-6, Hero Squared: Love and Death #1-3, and the Planetary Brigade spinoff series, Planetary Brigade #1-2 and Planetary Brigade: Origins #1-3.

November 2025:

2 Guns Complete Collection - collects Steven Grant, Mateus Santolouco, and Emilio Laiso's 2 Guns #1-5 and 3 Guns #1-6.

Ghosted in L.A. Complete Collection - collects Sina Grace and Siobhan Keenan's Ghosted in L.A. #1-12.

December 2025:

The Traveler Complete Collection - collects Stan Lee, Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, and Chad Hardin's The Traveler #1-12.

Misfit City Complete Collection - collects Kiwi Smith, Kurt Lustgarten, and Naomi Franquiz' Misfit City #1-8.

(Image - BOOM! Studios Logo)

[thaiamulets-co]

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[naufal-portofolio]

Kota Sekuat Baja

APRIL 2011

Sob-X, 27 April adalah HUT Kota Cilegon! Menurutmu, apa sih yang membuat Kota Cilegon terus berkembang dan maju?

a) Kawasan industrinya = 48,28%

b) Pusat perbelanjaan = 27,59%

c) Kebijakan pemerintahnya = 24,13%

Sob-X, ternyata oh ternyata setiap tanggal 27 April diperingati sebagai hari jadinya Kota Cilegon loh. Yup, Cilegon yang punya Pelabuhan Merak itu. Aje gile, udah berapa tahun ya kota yang terkenal dengan julukan kota Baja ini? Hayo, mana nih di antara Sob-X yang ber-KTP Kota Cilegon? Asyik nih kotanya lagi ulang tahun. Makan-makan, hehehe.

Kota Cilegon sendiri tadinya gabung sama Kabupaten Serang loh. Tapi, karena melihat potensi Cilegon yang cukup lumayan kalau wilayahnya dimekarkan, alhasil jadilah Kota Cilegon seperti sekarang. Maju dan berkembang. Untuk ukuran kota baru yang belum lama terbentuk, Cilegon udah jadi daerah di Provinsi Banten yang selangkah lebih maju daripada daerah-daerah lain di provinsi ini. Tambah mantep deh Cilegon.

Well, menurut Sob-X, apa sih yang membuat Kota Cilegon terus berkembang dan maju? Ada 48,28 persen Sob-X yang berpendapat kalau kesuksesan Cilegon karena adanya kawasan industri Baja. Yoi mamen, siapa juga yang nggek tau Krakatau Steel? Tengok deh Ryan Hendrika. Pelajar SMK Al-Ishlah ini mengungkapkan, karena pusat industri Cilegon sedikit demi sedikit sangat membantu. “Kota Cilegon yang maju. Industri saham, emas, dan berlian adalah harta karun Wong Cilegon,” ujar Ryan.

Terus, ada lagi Okta Rian. Menurut cowok yang ngefans sama Manchester United ini, industrilah yang memajukan Cilegon. “Orang lebih mengenal Cilegon sebagai kota industri, bukan kota pusat perbeanjaan,” siswa SMPN 2 Kota Cilegon ini. Sama seperti Okta, Fathul Mu'in Muhammad Azzam juga setuju akan hal ini. “Soalnya PT. KS tuh asset yang paling besar. Sehingga Cilegon bisa melepaskan diri dari Serang,” tambah mahasiswa UPI Serang ini.

Tapi, ada jug ayang berpendapat sebanyak 27,59 persen kalau majunya Cilegon karena sukses menjadi daerah pusat perbelanjaan yang cukup penting di Banten. Aditya Firmanto bilang gitu. “Banyak banget ruko-ruko. Baik yang udah dibangun maupun yang belum dibangun,” kata kelahiran 10 Januari 1993. Nggak cuma Adit, Ina Vrijci menambahkan. “Kebanyakan kan masyarakat kita itu lebih mementingkan kebutuhan sehari-hari,” ungkap cewek berjilbab ini.

Namun, ada juga Fitri Lidya Ningsih berpendapat beda. Menurut mahasiswa Untirta ini, Cilegon dapat berkembang karena kebijakan pemerintahnya yang menata Cilegon dengan baik. “Dan membuat kawasan industri dan pusat perbelanjaan makin banyak di Cilegon. Meskipun tidak dipungkiri banyak limbah industri yang mencemari pantai,” pungkas Fitri. (naufal-xpresi)

[rjhamster]

🚀 May The 4th Be With You Exclusive!

Latest Preorders Weekly Exclusive Comic Collector’s Set | May 2023 Week 1 Amazing Spider-Man #28 Lucas Werneck Exclusive Avengers #1 Rian Gonzales Exclusive Amazing Spider-Man #121 & #122 Facsimile Edition Foil Exclusives Weekly Exclusive Comic Collector’s Set | April 2023 Week 4 Amazing Spider-Man #26 Kaare Andrews Exclusive X-Men #23 Miguel Mercado Exclusive Rogue & Gambit #4 Nathan…

[sir-subpar]

maybe rian's gf would be a softie with a galaxy aesthethic

Here's April! Rian's girlfriend (her design is inspired by the pink moon)

Her hair isn't "fluffy" per se, but I tried to make it in the shape of a crescent moon

[mamahoggs]

the wonderful @bnt0 tagged me in this and as the resident trash man i had to share my trash

three ships:

1. promptis (prompto x noctis) you saw this coming. you expected it. 2. rian/deet from dark crystal. idk what their ship name is but they had me in a chokehold the second that show dropped. 3. nandermo bc they make me insane.

first ship:

oh god. oh dear god. it was probably tidus/yuna in ffx but i also remember as a very young child wanting cindy and jimmy neutron together so bad

last song:

terrible things by april smith and the great picture show

last movie:

THE NEW PUSS IN BOOTS LITERALLY JUST SAW IT. SO GOOD

currently reading:

… fanfiction. specifically this if you really wanna know, and a good all time favorite is this if you really Really wanna know.

currently consuming:

egg sandwich i just made. very good

currently craving:

chai latte which i’m going to try to make in a hot minute here

tagging: IDK HOW FANDOMY YOU GUYS ARE SO FEEL FREE TO IGNORE BUT @simarcana @void-imp @mangosimoothie @m0ckest @lovelyboe @falsogod @pralinesims and YOU 🫵

[bmars-news]

2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show: Nominations List

The 2022 GRAMMYs Awards show, officially known as the 64th GRAMMY Awards, has been rescheduled to Sunday, April 3, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The 2022 GRAMMYs Awards show, officially known as the 64th GRAMMY Awards, is just around the corner. Today, the Recording Academy announced the nominations for each of the 86 categories.

(The 64th GRAMMY Awards recognize recordings released between Sept. 1, 2020 — Sept. 30, 2021.)

The Recording Academy will present the 2022 GRAMMY Awards show on Sunday, April 3, on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on demand on Paramount+ from 8–11:30 p.m. ET / 5–8:30 p.m. PT. Prior to the telecast, the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will be streamed live on GRAMMY.com and the Recording Academy's YouTube channel. Additional details about the dates and locations of other official GRAMMY Week events, including the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony, MusiCares' Person of the Year, and the Pre-GRAMMY Gala, will be announced soon.

GENERAL FIELD

1. Record Of The Year Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s) and mastering engineer(s), if other than the artist.

I Still Have Faith In You ABBA Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, producers; Benny Andersson & Bernard Löhr, engineers/mixers; Björn Engelmann, mastering engineer

Freedom Jon Batiste Jon Batiste, DJ Khalil, Kizzo & Autumn Rowe, producers; Russ Elevado, Kizzo & Manny Marroquin, engineers/mixers; Michelle Mancini, mastering engineer

I Get A Kick Out Of You Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga Dae Bennett, producer; Dae Bennett & Josh Coleman, engineers/mixers; Greg Calbi & Steve Fallone, mastering engineers

Peaches Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon Louis Bell, Josh Gudwin, HARV, Shndo & Andrew Watt, producers; Josh Gudwin & Andrew Watt, engineers/mixers; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

Right On Time Brandi Carlile Dave Cobb & Shooter Jennings, producers; Brandon Bell & Tom Elmhirst, engineers/mixers; Pete Lyman, mastering engineer

Kiss Me More Doja Cat Featuring SZA Rogét Chahayed, tizhimself & Yeti Beats, producers; Rob Bisel, Serban Ghenea, Rian Lewis & Joe Visciano, engineers/mixers; Mike Bozzi, mastering engineer

Happier Than Ever Billie Eilish FINNEAS, producer; Billie Eilish, FINNEAS & Rob Kinelski, engineers/mixers; Dave Kutch, mastering engineer

Montero (Call Me By Your Name) Lil Nas X Omer Fedi, Roy Lenzo & Take A Daytrip, producers; Denzel Baptiste, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes & Roy Lenzo, engineers/mixers; Chris Gehringer, mastering engineer

drivers license Olivia Rodrigo Daniel Nigro, producer; Mitch McCarthy & Daniel Nigro, engineers/mixers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

Leave The Door Open Silk Sonic Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II & Bruno Mars, producers; Serban Ghenea, John Hanes & Charles Moniz, engineers/mixers; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

2. Song Of The Year A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Bad Habits Fred Gibson, Johnny McDaid & Ed Sheeran, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)

A Beautiful Noise Ruby Amanfu, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry & Hailey Whitters, songwriters (Alicia Keys & Brandi Carlile)

drivers license Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Olivia Rodrigo)

Fight For You Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. & Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)

Happier Than Ever Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)

Kiss Me More Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Carter Lang, Gerard A. Powell II, Solána Rowe & David Sprecher, songwriters (Doja Cat Featuring SZA)

Leave The Door Open Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)

Montero (Call Me By Your Name) Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi, Montero Hill & Roy Lenzo, songwriters (Lil Nas X)

Peaches Louis Bell, Justin Bieber, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Bernard Harvey, Felisha "Fury" King, Matthew Sean Leon, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Andrew Wotman & Keavan Yazdani, songwriters (Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon)

Right On Time Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth & Tim Hanseroth, songwriters (Brandi Carlile)

R&B

3. Best R&B Performance For new vocal or instrumental R&B recordings.

Lost You Snoh Aalegra

Peaches Justin Bieber Featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon

Damage H.E.R.

Leave The Door Open Silk Sonic

Pick Up Your Feelings Jazmine Sullivan

4. Best R&B Song A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Damage Anthony Clemons Jr., Jeff Gitelman, H.E.R., Carl McCormick & Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)

Good Days Jacob Collier, Carter Lang, Carlos Munoz, Solána Rowe & Christopher Ruelas, songwriters (SZA)

Heartbreak Anniversary Giveon Evans, Maneesh, Sevn Thomas & Varren Wade, songwriters (Giveon)

Leave The Door Open Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)

Pick Up Your Feelings Denisia “Blue June” Andrews, Audra Mae Butts, Kyle Coleman, Brittany “Chi” Coney, Michael Holmes & Jazmine Sullivan, songwriters (Jazmine Sullivan)

source: grammy.com

[recentanimenews]

Tokyo Mew Mew New Anime Set for 2022, Staff and Cast Revealed

  The official website and Twitter account for the Tokyo Mew Mew New anime—which was first fully revealed last April after a tease in February—have come through with more info on the project thanks to the 1st MEWting online event. Based on the popular magical girl manga written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by Mai Ikumi, Tokyo Mew Mew New is officially set to broadcast in 2022, and a new visual is here along with details on the staff and cast. 

  First up, the new visual featuring Ichigo Momomiya: 

    Here are the staff members revealed thus far:

  Director

Takahiro Natori (Cannon Busters)

  Series Composition

Yuka Yamada (Black Butler)

  Character Designer

Satoshi Ishino (Date A Live)

  Sound Director

Toshiki Kameyama (Non Non Biyori)

  Animation Production

Yumeta Company x Graphinica

  The cast vocal unit is named Smewthie, and includes voice cast members:

  Yuuki Temma (Ichigo Momomiya)

    Ryoko Juni (Lettuce Midorikawa)

    Momoka Ishii (Zakuro Fujiwara)

    Mirai Hinata (Mint Aizawa)

    Rian Toda (Pudding Fong)

    The group's digital startup single, "bitter sweet darling," will be released on March 22, and official goods will go up for pre-order soon. 

    Source: @mew_mew_new

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his brand new comic, MONSTER FLIGHT, at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.

By: Joseph Luster

[sagehaleyofficial]

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (3.11-3.17.20):

NEW MUSIC:

·         5 Seconds of Summer dropped a music video for their most recent single “Old Me” from their upcoming album C A L M. Directed by Hannah Lux Davis, the video displays the members traveling on a train, with snippets of both real and fake “old” footage of them.

·         After Apple Music leaked the artwork for Palaye Royale’s previous singles, the band confirmed the artwork for their upcoming album The Bastards in their own post. They also revealed the album’s preorder date, and a new song and video titled “Lonely.”

·         Machine Gun Kelly released a new track titled “Bullets with Names,” which features the talents of Young Thug, RJMrLA and Lil Duke. The rapper previously teased the track in the background of one of his Instagram posts.

·         New Found Glory dropped a new track, “Nothing to Lose,” on March 16th, along with a lyrics video. At just a minute and 20 seconds long, the song will be featured on their upcoming album, Forever + Ever x Infinity.

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

·         Billie Eilish kicked off the first leg of her world tour on March 9th in Miami, making a powerful statement regarding body positivity. She later went on to postpone the remaining dates of her North American tour.

·         In a statement issued earlier this week, SXSW broke the sad news of their recent company layoffs. The festival’s founder Roland Swenson said there would be plans for a 2021 iteration of the festival.

·         After petitions by the community to cancel and several rumors, Coachella has officially confirmed they will be postponing the event for six months. The annual event will now take place October 9th through 11th and 16th through 18th in Indio, California.

·         Amid coronavirus concerns, My Chemical Romance was forced to postpone their appearance at Japan’s Download Festival and their Australia/New Zealand shows. The band is already working on rescheduling the dates.

·         The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced a planned event will no longer proceed in light of coronavirus concerns. The Class of 2020 includes Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G. and T. Rex.

·         Rage Against the Machine joined the growing list of bands to cancel or postpone their upcoming tours due to coronavirus. Supported by Run the Jewels, the tour would’ve been the band’s first together since 2011.

·         Record Store Day was pushed back to a later date in 2020 as they take similar actions to others in the industry over coronavirus. The event is moving from its original April 18th date to June 20th to avoid gathering large crowds.

·         Despite coronavirus concerns, Post Malone went forward with playing a sold-out arena show in Denver on March 12th. Many fans and others alike expressed their discontent and concerns about the show going on.

·         Among many artists, YUNGBLUD and Code Orange both announced livestreamed concerts for fans in light of coronavirus concerns. Previously, the former artist had to cancel shows in 10 countries and is now looking for a way to give something back to fans.

OTHER NEWS:

·         In a recent Instagram post, My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero is shown rocking out on a new Black 35 guitar, which are made in the band’s home state of New Jersey. The musician filmed himself playing the riff from “Thank You for the Venom.”

·         After some of their early videos went missing on YouTube for several days, Fall Out Boy has re-uploaded all of the music videos from their album From Under the Cork Tree to the platform. Fans are still debating why the videos were removed in the first place.

·         Iconic footwear brand Vans released its Autism Awareness Collection, which features sensory-inclusive elements such as a calm color palette. In addition to shoes, the line includes shirts in sizes ranging from toddler to adult.

·         Rian Dawson of All Time Low was kidnapped by the infamous “Birthday” video panda in a new livestream. The panda went on to appear on screen with a ransom note telling the other members to release a new song titled “Getaway Green,” which they later debuted live.

·         Crown the Empire guitarist Brandon Hoover revealed he tested positive for the coronavirus after months of touring around the world. He will remain self-quarantined over the next few weeks, despite feeling like he has overcome his symptoms.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley,” only at @sagehaleyofficial!

[pacificwanderer]

Question! So I’ve noticed that you and a lot of others have been saying stuff about the months leading up to TLJ. I wasn’t into Star Wars at that time, so I was just wondering, what was it like? Was there a lot of content being released, was there a lot of crazy speculation and such? Was there a lot of reylo content in promos and pictures and such?

Hey Nonnie,

And for anyone who’s reading who remembers, this is going to be long, and I’m going to miss things (I’m certain I missed some gates) because I’m just going from memory and old posts from when I wasn’t as militant about tagging (hah), so feel free to chime in if you have any other memories. Also, this took forever to compile lol.

Unofficially, we had shots from Ireland (2016) and second-hand gossip from locals about Daisy, Mark, and Adam filming in Ireland (and lots of people screeching about how the only reason KR would be with those two would be so they could team up and murder them).

But then the conversation started to shift, and we got info that wasn’t from the reylo fandom regarding their “interesting relationship,” though we were always there, saying the exact same thing.

This podcast and breakdown in the comments from May 2016 really highlights when things started to shift for our space kids (and confirmed a lot about what people had been theorizing/writing meta about, etc). We weren’t pulling things out of our asses and we were not wrong for seeing what we were seeing. It’s also a really great snapshot of what the discussion on Tumblr was like back then. Lots of great minds and fun times, as far as I am concerned.

“But I mean like, right now, Rey’s story is kinda weird too. It’s like I don’t know where my mum lives, I wish my mum and dad would come get me on Jakku, oh, I’ve got the force? Oh Luke Skywalker, he’s here? Wow. And then, so, at some point, Kylo Ren and Rey gotta have something more going down. I don’t know if it’s romance, if it’s complete hatred, if it’s you know, but, erm…I know, we can’t talk about it, there’s certain things we’ve heard – and it’s not romance, it’s not romance, but there’s certain things that we’ve heard recently about what’s going down and what Rey, how Rey feels –“

“Yeah, let’s just leave it at that.”

And then there was a very long wait for 2017, when things started to shift even more.

It was pretty much radio silence concerning Kylo Ren (officially) right up until the second trailer (the first only showed him for a split second). Boxartgate happened earlier in the year. (February) when the marketing started to come out for TLJ and Kylo wasn’t on any of it (nevermind that only his mask was on the TFA packaging, but when you’re grasping at straws for reasons why the “Skywalker of the trilogy” isn’t important... I guess you’ll take what you can get).The Reylo fandom guessed (correctly) that he was basically a walking spoiler (which other sections of the fandom guessed, incorrectly, that he was irrelevant to the story and that’s why he wasn’t showing up much N O P E). 

SW Celebration happened in April 2016, and that trailer, combined with the super, SUPER amazing poster dropped:

Oh and Eric Maell’s super Reylo-tastic, officially licensed SWC poster that was available for sale at SWC (yeah, we all lost it here too). The whole thread is funny and read through to where Eric’s signature pops up on the poster.

And then we collectively lost our damn minds when the trailer dropped in October. If you’d like a trip, head into my archive and look for like October 2017 and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what that looked like lol.

It’s so damn good, I just watched it again and it STILL brings tears to my eyes. Avoid the comment section LOL. 

And then came the: “It’S NOT KYLO’S HAND, IT’S HU//X’S FI//NN’S LU//KE’S ANYONE BUT KYLO REACHING OUT TO HER.” SNOKE ISn’T TALKING ABOUT KYLO. (handgate)

As if we, a collective group of Adam stans, WOULD EVER mistake his hand for another. GET GOOD, Anne.

HE’S NOT LOOKING AT REY. HE’S LOOKING AT.... fill in the blank. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA No. We know what he looks like when he looks at Rey. 

Like, I didn’t spend 2 fucking years staring at screen shots like a maniac to NOT be able to see things for what they really are. I mean, the look he gives her when she pulls that saber from the ground on Starkiller? I WISH I could find a gif because it’s classic, “Holy shit, I think I’m in love, but I’m pretty sure she wants to murder me.” HAH Oh Enemies to Lovers, you’re such a riot.

But up until that point there was NOTHING. I’m pretty sure box gate happened somewhere in there, but then the marketing really started getting going and we got fed so fucking well it was almost too much because we’d had so little to go on up until that point that it was just like, “Is this real life? Am I making too much of this? Or are they really playing up the Kylo Ren/Rey angle in this marketing?”

October 31, 2017, we got this GREAT article from V where Adam interviewed Daisy.

AD Is there an aspect of working on Star Wars—it could be anything from the light saber battles, the travel, the catering, to getting to see me every day and do my hair—that was your favorite part?

DR I don’t know if I’ve ever properly thought about it. I love coming into the makeup trailer—everyone is there, you say good morning, and you get a little cuddle from people...I just really liked being part of something where you’re one of a whole. When filming, you’re always part of a thing. Becoming besties with you was the best thing.

AD That’s a lie, but we will make sure that’s printed.

DR [laughs]

The whole interview is really sweet and a really lovely read. Also, got some really adorable fanart of Rey doing Kylo’s hair around that time, which was super awesome.

There was some drama about Rian saying there’s “no romance in EPIX” which obviously wasn’t the case and he was misquoted anyways. Which is a good reminder not to freak the fuck out over everything, just because it seems like it’s going one way (or someone’s pushing their own thoughts and opinions onto paper in an interview). At any rate, Rian’s a big ole Romantic, so we know how it all goes in TLJ. (Romancegate)

This article talking about “the fallen son” and whether Kylo could be redeemed came out in Nov 2017 (which was LOL considering how much of the general fandom had convinced themselves this movie would be about Rey hunting down and murdering Kylo), which had this super quote from Rian:

“But I don’t think it’s very interesting if the whole story is just ‘Will Kylo get his comeuppance?’ He’s a more complicated character than that and I think he deserves a more complicated story than that. I don’t see the point of trying to get behind his mask and learn more about him if all we’re going to learn is ‘Yeah, he’s just an evil bad guy that needs to be killed.’�� -Rian Johnson  

This amazing character flowchart that was marketed in Korea to show the relationships in Star Wars (it’s official, and if you’re at all familiar with kdrama’s, you’ll probably understand why half of the fandom lost their shit lol).

This post/podcast from the starwarsconnection also has a pretty great breakdown of what was going on at the time and also shows some of the kid’s toys (specifically, the Reylo dolls that were sold as a set, though there are a FEW sets of Reylo figures, this one was specifically marketed to girls as a part of the Forces of Destiny series, which I really miss).

I’m sure there’s more, but basically the movie came out and the rest is history haha. This article talking about how horny TLJ is still makes me laugh.

1. Kylo Ren takes his shirt offLike I wasn’t going to start with this? Adam Driver as Kylo Ren gamely serves up the most Star Wars beefcake since Luke went sleeveless on Dagobah, and even Rey is rattled. She forgot to force-knock before barging in on the dude, and here’s Kylo Ren alone in his room, stripped to the waist, boasting sweaty pecs that look like he sliced Alderaan in half and glued the remainders to his chest. It’s a lot! Finally, even people who don’t subscribe to HBO can wonder, “Shit, am I attracted to Adam Driver?”

2. Kylo and Rey’s whole thingMany weirdos shipped these two characters after The Force Awakens, and now I kinda get it. Kylo and Rey never make out, but they still share The Last Jedi’s sexiest scenes as well as a telepathic connection fostered by sinister voyeur Snoke, the galaxy’s mightiest cuck. And how about that moment where Kylo kills his mentor — it’s always hot when a space goth murders a lazy magician — and then flips sides with Rey to kill off a straggling crew of ruby-red stormtroopers? If watching seven seasons of Buffy has taught me anything, it’s that there is no sex sign more unequivocal than teaming up with your sworn enemy to throw stage punches.

LOL. So yeah, have fun, don’t stress, and it’ll all be fine. Cheers!

[weirdandpissedoff]

Rian Reads: Astonishing X-Men #2

Writer: Scott Lobdell Artist: Joe Madureira Inker: Dan Green & Tim Townsend Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos Colorist: Steve Buccellato & Digital Chameleon

Cover Date: April 1995

Okay, so as of the end of Astonishing X-Men #1, Rogue, Blink, Sunfire, Morph, Sabretooth and Wild Child took off on some sort of very dangerous mission. As it turns out, they have traveled to Chicago to help evacuate the human population still residing there and rescue them from a culling (see: mass genocide) at the hands of Holocaust. In advance of Holocaust’s impending arrival, however, he has sent along an army of killer drones to get his dirty work started for him. In the chaos, Sunfire loses his cool (no pun intended) and has to be “deactivated” by Rogue, who absorbs his powers. In doing so, she also obtains some of his memories, including a particularly brutal one in which Apocalypse and someone named Nemesis (more on him shortly) kill all of his friends and family before trying to drown him in a pool of blood. Yikes.

Meanwhile, Sabretooth convinces Blink to teleport him and Wild Child to wherever Holocaust actually is so that they can attempt to delay his arrival in Chicago long enough for the rest of the team to complete the evacuation. Knowing full well that he’s likely embarking upon a suicide mission, Sabretooth arrives in Indianapolis and confronts Holocaust, goading the location of his personal Infinite processing plant (where his army of goons is mass produced using the bodies of his victims) out of him. Sabretooth unleashes Wild Child to go destroy the processing plant as he distracts Holocaust with a fight.

During his battle with Sabretooth, we learn that Holocaust used to be the aforementioned character Nemesis before he murdered Scarlet Witch. Angered by the death of his daughter, Magneto seemingly destroyed Holocaust’s physical form, confining him to the life support armor that he currently wears. I’m beginning to think that I should have read X-Men Chronicles #1 before diving into the Age Of Apocalypse proper, because this is the second time I’ve seen events from that particular issue referenced in Editor’s Note captions in recent memory.

When all seems lost, Sabretooth makes one last, frantic attack on Holocaust, ripping off the faceplate of his armor and seemingly dispersing the energy within, which I suppose comprises what you might call his physical form (?), into the air. Following this, Sabretooth collapses to the ground either unconscious or dead (right now I’m not sure which) and the issue ends with Holocaust apparently pulling his molecules back together and reentering his suit of armor despite its missing helmet.

That’s the main plotline which makes up the meat of Astonishing X-Men #2, but there are two other scenes I’d like to touch on before I wrap up this review. The first is a brief interaction between Bishop and Magneto as the latter cradles his sleeping son Charles in his arms. Bishop demeans Magneto for sitting around at the ruins of the X-Mansion doing nothing while his team is out risking their lives to fight Apocalypse. Erik’s rebuttal is the point that, should their plan to defeat Apocalypse and set the world back the way it was before Legion Quest succeed, his child will cease to exist, so he wants to spend one last day with him. Not a bad point, if you ask me. It’s moments like this one which really add weight and stakes to the Age Of Apocalypse story. Just knowing that these are all alternate reality versions of the characters we’re used to and any of them could die at any moment adds a surprising amount of tension and suspense to the material.

The other scene I wanted to mention is one which I found a bit problematic. In the middle of the issue we cut to Apocalypse ranting and raving about wanting to find out where Magneto’s hideout is. So, full disclosure: I have both the recent omnibus hardcover collection of the entire Age Of Apocalypse event, as well as digital copies of the 4 trade paperback collections which were released a number of years before the omnibus. Both of these books present the various issues of the 8 AoA mini-series’ in a different order. I read Amazing X-Men #2 before Astonishing X-Men #2 because that’s the way they are ordered in the digital trades I was reading while on vacation. The problem here being that, if you read them in that order, Apocalypse should already know where Magneto is hiding out before he rants about it in this issue. So, the correct reading order should be Astonishing #2 before Amazing #2, right? Well...in Astonishing #2 Apocalypse is also heard complaining that Abyss failed to stop the X-Men from helping the Human High Council evacuate a bunch of humans from Maine using Sentinels, but there is an Editor’s Note during that dialogue sequence which claims that happened in Amazing X-Men #1 when, in fact, Abyss wasn’t even introduced until Amazing #2. Now, I’m not dumb enough that I couldn’t figure out the order of events on my own, but I thought it was worth mentioning that I’m honestly not positive that there is a correct order to read any of these comics in. Maybe if you chopped each issue up into individual scenes and interspersed them throughout one another, but who’s crazy enough to do that?

*reaches for scissors*

All nitpicking aside, Astonishing X-Men #2 was a very strong issue all around. It has plenty of good action drawn by Joe Madureira, a bit of backstory to flesh out the event overall, and a few strong scenes of emotional drama. Kudos to Scott Lobdell for delivering some of the most well-rounded installments of the Age Of Apocalypse.

- R.

[uomo-accattivante]

What would it look like if, in 2018, the most talented actor in all of Hollywood actually lived in New York City to be near the theater, avoided social media, and had zero interest in growing his personal brand? Well, he’d be poised to have one hell of an interesting career. Here, Zach Baron talks it out with the man himself: Oscar Isaac.

Oscar Isaac slips unnoticed through his neighborhood of the past several years, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a gray January afternoon. He's been in New York long enough to know how to avoid drawing strangers' attention; he's also just naturally gifted at hiding when he needs to hide, whether on-screen or off. When he takes a part, he tends to disappear in it. Already, his catalog of doomed, slightly abrasive idealists—whether in the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis; the tech sociopath he played in Alex Garland's Ex Machina; or as a quixotic, ill-fated mayor in the Paul Haggis–directed HBO series Show Me a Hero—is one of the most surprising and vivid early bodies of work we have going in movies today. He's the rare actor who seems totally indifferent to whether or not he is loved. So of course people love him.

He's found success as a leading man only recently, but in a way that seems impossible to replicate; he's done it, improbably, as an actor, rather than as a brand, or as a fun talk-show presence, or just as a handsome face that cameras happen to have an easy time with. (Up close, he is in fact handsome, but in what I'll describe as an entirely non-Hollywood way—a fortuitous assemblage of the right imperfections.)

In the past year, Isaac had a small part in George Clooney's Suburbicon and a large part in Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which he's just finished promoting. In March, he'll star in Annihilation, Garland's second film. Isaac plays a military man and husband to Natalie Portman, and spends most of the movie shirtless and in fatigues, exploring the limits of his own sanity. It's a Technicolor nightmare of a film, and Isaac, characteristically, feels right at home in it.

There's a degree of difficulty to nearly every part he takes on, dating back to his breakthrough with Inside Llewyn Davis, where he made a wastrel folk singer who's hard to love into someone who holds your eye in every scene. At a Hollywood moment when audiences are learning to suspect what goes into success—think of Harvey Weinstein and of all the careers he seemingly elevated or destroyed—Isaac's work makes it plain what went into his: a prodigious amount of old-fashioned talent.

In conversation, he's self-deprecating about the work but honest about his own abilities—like, for instance, his skill with the guitar. “I think the fact that I can play really well kind of sealed the deal on that one,” he says about being cast in Llewyn Davis.

GQ Style: Is that natural talent, being able to play well, or is that training? Oscar Isaac: I've been doing it for a very long time—I should be way better for as long as I've been doing it. But singing and playing guitar by myself is something that I've done for a while.

But it's more than just singing and playing in that film. Llewyn Davis is an unsympathetic character who also needs to hold an audience's attention throughout the film. How do you go about making that happen? I found him very likable. He just doesn't do stuff like smile. But it never crossed my mind that he was not going to be likable. I just assumed like, “Yeah, I understand this person. And if I understand him, I'm sure other people are going to want to understand him, too.”

Inside Llewyn Davis was when I think most people really noticed you for the first time. Did that film change things for you? Yes, without a doubt. I mean, the day that I got the part, I got like 15 offers or something. Immediately everyone was like: “Oh, oh, the Coen brothers think he's good? Oh, okay, well, then he's probably good.” And then they sent the offers. It's silly, to a certain extent. I mean, they didn't know if I was going to totally beef it. But it ended up being good, and it changed everything.

Sometimes I can't tell if your performances are the result of natural ability or of a ton of preparation—for instance, in the now famous scene in Ex Machina where you dance, I've always wondered how much of that is “Oscar can dance” and how much of that is “Oscar is technically adept at doing what the script asks him to do.” That's what it is. It's like, okay: I need to make it look like I'm really good at doing this thing. What is everything that I have to do to make it seem that this is something that I can do or that this person does believably? It is a bit technical in that way.

Is that the same kind of technical challenge presented by something like X-Men: Apocalypse, when you're playing a giant blue villain? In X-Men, not so much. I think I was just marveling that I was able to stand and not fall over. I was wearing a crazy suit, encased in prosthetics and plastic. I was just sweating into my face and had no way of reaching my face. I couldn't turn or look. That was very hard. That was just surviving. You see me surviving in that movie.

I assume acting in the Star Wars movies, where there is so much other stuff going on around you, is a little bit like that. The truth is, in all movies, you're just a piece of it. In everything you do, there are so many people that are making something. Obviously this is exponentially bigger, but you're still serving somebody, you're servicing some thing, and when you're making it, it just goes back to trying to make a good character, or trying to make it honest, trying to make it believable, and knowing that sometimes you're just there for scale: “Just stand closer to the spaceship so they see that we really built it.”

How do you tune out the spaceships and do believable work, then? It's challenging—you get very self-conscious because the things that you're being asked to do are so strange and difficult to relate to. For instance—and this also speaks to Rian's great eye for detail—I'm in a little cockpit that they've built, and they've got the close-up, and they say: “Okay, so you're driving. Now I want you to look to your right and you see one of your resistance pilots blow up, and then you look to your left and you see another resistance pilot blow up, and then you look forward, and then I want you to make a calculation that we're losing too many people, and then I want you to say, ‘Pull out,’ right? But don't do it from fear. Do it from a place of assertiveness, but also I want to see how dramatic it is, right? And so…go.” With no words, right? And so it's very difficult not to feel like, “Wait, what am I doing here?” And to synthesize it all to make it work. But it's a fun challenge as well. And Rian was right there. It's like: “Okay, that one felt like it was a little too afraid.” “Okay, well, that one felt too casual now, so…” And sometimes it gets even weirder when you're in space. Space makes things weirder. [laughs]

So you're committed to one more Star Wars film. This is my understanding. I don't really read what I sign. [laughs] But from what I've been told…

Have you ever been part of one thing for as long as you've been part of this? No, not at all. Or done something where you do one and then go back to it later or don't know what you've signed up for. I don't know what the next story's going to be. I have no idea. So you just have to go with it.

You've been able to do other stuff in the meantime, though, like Annihilation,right? I was shooting that at the exact same time as Star Wars, so that just felt like playground time. It was very condensed. I think I was only on it for nine or ten days in a row.

Alex Garland shoots seem really intense. It was definitely intense and full-on. But I would kind of come in, sometimes still dressed in my Star Wars stuff, and change out of it and put the fatigues on, and just have fun with my friend, you know? Alex and I became very, very close, and I find him to be an incredibly authentic person, and super talented. I didn't think it was going to work, but the fact that they were shooting at Pinewood [Studios, near London], on the same lot as Star Wars, that made it possible. I could literally walk from my set on Star Wars over to the Annihilation set. That was pretty cool—that felt like old-school Hollywood, like in the ’30s. Or it made me think of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, when they go on the studio lot for the first time and you see all the different productions.

What about Garland's work makes you come back to do it again, do you think? The very allegorical nature of sci-fi, and particularly with Annihilation, the idea that we self-destruct, we are doomed, and we do it to ourselves. That it's actually in our genes to self-destruct. That's the reason he did the whole movie. And I think, for me, I get very drawn to these characters.

Why? Because we're all doomed. You and me and everybody.

We end up in a restaurant not far from Isaac's apartment. In our booth, he looks at my wedding ring and asks: “How long have you been with your wife?” He just got back from his honeymoon, he says, down in the Caribbean—in the New York afternoon light his skin still retains an improbable amount of sun. He asks what my wife does, and I tell him. “That's cool,” he says, “an editor and a writer, two journalists together.” He and his wife, the documentary filmmaker Elvira Lind, got married last March. Their son, Eugene, was born last April. I'm wondering why this is a conversation we're having. We've just met, and Isaac has always seemed reluctant to talk much about himself; part of what draws you to him is that you don't know much about him. But I don't end up wondering for long.

He's had the kind of year, it turns out, that you think about for the rest of your life—one of those 12-month periods so full of life and death and all the attendant highs and lows that you can't really even comprehend it. Your own recent history ends up feeling like a foreign object in the palm of your hand: You look at it and have no idea what exactly it is you're looking at.

GQ Style: Why did you decide to get married now? Isaac: Tons of reasons. She's Danish—she's not a citizen, and she was very pregnant, and there was an element of figuring out “Well, where are we going to be?” And us wanting to be a family unit a bit more. Also, the Danes, they don't really believe in marriage. I think it has a lot to do with the equality of the sexes over there. Marriage doesn't mean anything financially, because the state takes care of people. So the marriage itself becomes less important. But, you know, at the time, right before it happened, my mom was ill, and so I saw her carrying my child, bathing my sick mom—seeing her do that, I just thought: I want to be with this person forever and ever. And I just wanted to take that extra step as well. And so my mom passed in February and we got married in March and our son was born in April.

Have you processed all that yet? It was a wild year. I think I'll be processing it for the rest of my life. There's a little bit of an untethered feeling since then. A lot of stuff that I felt I knew and had direction about now just feels a little bit disconnected and floating around.

Immediately after that, you starred in Hamlet at the Public Theater in New York. Were you able to compartmentalize all those feelings while doing that show six times a week? It didn't really afford me the luxury, because Hamlet is about everything. In fact, it gave me space to deal with stuff that's unimaginable and impossible to comprehend and to give voice to it, give word to it. This fucking guy William Shakespeare wrote this thing that's like a religious text—it helped give a context and an understanding in words to some of the deepest feelings that I think a human can experience.

Was it overwhelming at any point, processing those emotions onstage every night? It was very physically overwhelming. The thought was “I'll do the play at night and be home during the day.” But when I was home during the day, I was a vegetable. I was constantly connected to a steaming machine to steam my vocal cords. I was on vocal rest—I couldn't speak. But I felt like it gave me a psychological space to deal with a lot of stuff. And in fact I was afraid when it was over that I wasn't going to know where to put a lot of the pain—but also the joy—of those two things happening right on top of one another. But you figure it out. It feels like it was a dream now. It was just a few months of performing, and then it was gone. It's as if it didn't happen.

I was going to ask if you felt like you got any closure when the show ended. But it sounds like— No. No, not really. But it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and my wife, God bless her, was with a newborn at home while I'm doing Hamlet, and that was a lot to deal with. She's an incredible woman. But doing something like that, because it's something personally so profound to do, it loosens things up a little bit. So at the moment it doesn't feel so much like I have to hunt for that thing that's going to be so fulfilling that I have to do it, because that already happened. You climb the mountain and then you get there and you just see a bunch of other mountains. And eventually I'll get to the other mountains, and they'll be slightly different. But I think, those feelings of—that drive of youth, like, I need to say something—I'm sure that'll come back at some point. But after doing Hamlet, it feels less burning in me.

Isaac has been in New York since 2001, when he came up from Miami to do a play and eventually enrolled in Juilliard. He's 38. Audiences may have only noticed him around 2013, but Isaac has been doing this for more than 15 years. Part of the maturity and ease of his on-screen presence surely dates back to his first years in New York, when he made the same mistakes most of us do—and gradually, through failure and disappointment, learned how to be an authentic person, in his life and in his work.

Soon, he says as we order another round of drinks, he'll move out of this neighborhood to a new one in Brooklyn. His place around here is 650 square feet, and right now everybody's on top of one another. He loves the apartment—“great windows, man.” But it's time to let it go. He's only just now, he says, catching up to the present, and what it demands.

GQ Style: What was it like working as an actor in Miami? Isaac: I was constantly auditioning for stuff like Spanish commercials. A couple movies. I remember my mom driving me around to all these auditions, and getting the phone call with my mom that I didn't get a commercial, a film commercial in Spanish. I was crushed. But I think it got more difficult the more little things happened—like after I got out of school, and I got a job that I liked a lot, on a film by Scott Z. Burns [2007's Pu-239]. Early on I did feel that if they just gave me the one shot, I'd show the world, I could show everyone. And then, right out of school, I get the shot, which was a great role. It went well. And then…that was it. And so then I was like, “One more shot.”

Did you find Juilliard illuminating? They break you down and build you up into an actor. And there were elements of that that I really enjoyed. Even when they tried to put me on probation because they didn't think I was trying hard enough.

Were they right? No, I was trying really hard! Maybe I just had like a bad couple months where I just… I was trying, I was trying too hard really.

Is there a Juilliard technique that you still consciously employ? I think the basic thing is just the time doing it. The amount of time getting to do scene work and putting plays up and having an audience.

Is there stuff you learned and thought, That's fascinating, and I'll never use that? There were a lot of things that you just kind of let roll off your back. Especially the stuff that tried to get very much into, you know, “Why did you make that choice? What does that say about you as a person?” And that stuff, I just kind of heard it and then just let it go, knowing that that's not my bag. What it says about me as a person is not my concern.

Certain directors, like Ridley Scott, seemed to notice you relatively early on. And in 2010 Scott cast you as one of the main villains, King John, in Robin Hood—did you feel like you'd made it then? Not “I made it”—but like, “Fuck yeah!” Also, being a Latino kid from Miami, where the best you could hope for is going out for Spanish commercials and, like, Gangster Number Three, which is crazy. And then to have Ridley Scott be like, “Yeah, you can be king of the whites.” It was amazing.

After lunch we wander outside and walk back to his place at a nostalgic pace. He points to the new condo buildings on one block: “This used to be, like, a cool lighting store.” At a coffee shop, he orders a cortado, then feels for his wallet, only to realize he doesn't have it. He shrugs and gives his best movie-star smile: “You got me?”

Part of what he's doing now, he says, is trying to disengage himself from the machine he's finally found so much success in. “It's difficult, because you've been waiting so long for people to say yes,” he says. “And then, when you get a lot of yeses, it's very difficult to say no. But there are so many more logistical things that come into play for me now, especially with my family. And I do think it's important to take the time and go back to the well and refill and not just be so concerned with output. I think a lot of it's just not making plans and doing stuff around the house and normalcy—just quiet. Those kind of things I find refill me. You can hear things better when things get a little quieter.”

GQ Style: How much of the time are you actually in New York? Isaac: It changes all the time. I'm here now for a couple months, and then I think I'll probably just be here for really three months out of the whole year.

Is it a conscious decision to live here, rather than in Los Angeles, where your industry is based? Well, theater was always super important. I always knew I wanted to do theater in New York. So L.A. wouldn't have been an option because of that. I like L.A. But I don't like myself in L.A.

What do you mean by that? I just feel anxious when I'm there. And I just get annoyed with myself more. It's not L.A., it's me. There are definitely a lot of tempting things about it. It's like the ring in Lord of the Rings—you put it on and you're like, “Whaooo, no!”

Do you feel like Hollywood is doing enough that you're interested in? So much of the industry's money and time go into stuff like Star Wars, rather than stuff like Annihilation. I think there's a lot out there. Especially now that TV has opened up a whole new way of telling stories.

What was your experience doing a six-part series on HBO, with Show Me a Hero? It's just crazy, because you're doing a six-hour movie in two and a half months or three months. That was insane. Sometimes the ones that are the most difficult end up being the ones that you remember the most or feel most accomplished by doing.

The director of Show Me a Hero, Paul Haggis, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, although he has denied all the allegations. You've worked with him—how do you make sense of that story? It's wild. I mean, who knows? It's impossible to know. It's what's so strange about this moment—like, how do you make an informed enough of an opinion about things?

I wonder if in the future you and other people working in Hollywood are going to have to find more thorough ways of vetting the people you work with. Yeah…I need to know way more about people. You want to have faith that there's a system, a very fair and just system that will make sure this shit doesn't happen, but that's failed, clearly that's broken down totally. So then what happens? It's got to go to the streets, right? And that's when there's collateral damage. But that's part of it, too. If you don't have a system in place that people can have faith in, then you have to demand it, by any means necessary. That's the only way to move forward.

Do the Weinstein revelations make you rethink your relationship to the industry overall? No, because I wasn't affected the way some people were—horribly affected by those fucking predators. I wasn't a victim of that stuff. So as far as the way I interact with it, obviously I think there's a reckoning that was going to happen and needed to happen. The chickens have come home to roost. And I don't think it's just something that's going to die out. I think it's a real thing that's going to bring about change. I feel hopeful. It feels like sometimes the stuff that goes on in this particular industry would be illegal in any other one. It's that weird art-commerce water—there's something about that really murky place where you go to dinners and you have drinks. You know, even this, what we're doing right now. It goes on in this weird grayish place, you know? And so people that have that predatory thing, they can just take advantage of every single aspect of it. There's an intimacy about it that's really nice, but the fact that that can be leveraged in such an awful way…

You were talking about pulling back a bit from work, anyway—seems like you've really chosen stuff with a high degree of difficulty in the past. It's just the best stuff that I've been able to get, you know? Especially the early stuff—it was just auditions. You audition for a lot of shit, and then you hope they give you some of the stuff, and luckily I was able to get some of those roles. I guess after Llewyn Davis it became more about, like, All right, I gotta choose.

Is there a type of part you get offered a lot now that you regularly turn down? Haha, no. No. Keep on offering, please.

This story appears in the Spring 2018 issue of GQ Style with the title “The Long Play.”

Zach Baron is GQ's staff writer.

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Hey these are my FAVORITE MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2018! Because you deserve it. These are in rough chronological order by release date. A restriction I apply to this list is one video per artist; several of these artists released a string of good videos this year.

January Stimming x Lambert - Edelweiss

February Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel

Daniel Avery - Slow Fade

March Fakear - Lost In Time

Rival Consoles - Untravel

Rone - Origami

April CHVRCHES - Miracle

May Jenny Hval - Spells

August Aphex Twin - T69 Collapse

Claude VonStroke - Maharaja

Digitalism - Glow

September Beck - Colors  co-starring Alison Brie

LCD Soundsystem - oh baby  starring Sissy Spacek & David Strathairn directed by Rian Johnson

Jon Hopkins - Singularity

Max Cooper - Platonic

Yultron - Imma Be A Raver

October Brecon - Half Light

Little Dragon - Lover Chanting

December Chelou - Out Of Sight

And of course, please enjoy the following YouTube playlists at your convenience:

Favorite Videos of 2018 Favorite Videos of 2017 Favorite Videos of 2016 Favorite Videos of 2015 Favorite Videos of 2014 Favorite Videos of 2006-2013

(No “favorite videos of 2005″ or earlier exists because, of course, music videos had not been invented yet.)

See also:

Much Preferred Customers on YouTube

Much Preferred Customers on Soundcloud

Much Preferred Customers on Mixcloud