#season 2? we meet zoe. who is kind and sweet (I love her most out of all of Harvey’s relationships with women tbh)

[katierosefun]

deranged thought of the day is that each of harvey specter’s exes reflect mike ross somehow. anyways

[olivetreehugger]

SnK Scouts/Veterans as Health Care Workers

Note: features Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Levi, Erwin and Hange. A part two to my “SnK Warriors as HCWs” post found here. warning: mentions of blood, trauma, gore (it’s healthcare). Also, I know Hange is nb, I headcanon them as female, so I will be using she/her pronouns. 

Eren: this boy is definitely too involved in everything and has too many people depending on him at once to not be a nurse. The kid barely passed the NCLEX but that didn’t stop him from applying to every trauma center within a 25 mile radius of him. He got hired as a night shift trauma ICU nurse  and he frequently picks up shifts in the ER. He wears the cheapest scrubs he can find, often stained with ink in the pockets area. He isn’t a shitty nurse per se but there are tasks that still need to be done at the end of his shift and he gives a crappy report that’s missing too many details. Nurses hate picking up his patients, it’s always a mess. His charting is really spotty and he gets called into the manager’s office all the time to fix it. 

Still, he tries really hard to improve his time management and skills. He wants to be like his friends Mikasa and Reiner, who are the best nurses he knows. He wants to be involved in the traumatic cases and emergencies because he wants to learn as much as he possibly can. He’s really good at wound care, for some reason (hint hint). He’s kinda cocky sometimes too, which can be troublesome when Dr. Galliard is working. People know to steer clear of those two when they’re both  in the ER. Also, Eren always has a black cloud around him; whenever he works it’s gonna be a hella busy day in the hospital. Lots of emergency surgeries, intubations, codes and deaths. He’ll always jump in to help you if your patient is crashing, though, no matter how busy he is. 

Mikasa: she’s a prodigy. She was a straight ‘A’ student in nursing school, got a perfect 75 on the NCLEX and was immediately hired to the trauma ICU after doing a short internship there. She worked night shift for a year but her sleep schedule was so so fucked she started having night terrors, so she switched to day shift. Eren still calls her a traitor for it :/. She keeps trying to get him to switch over but he just hisses at her and threatens to chug a case of Monster energy drinks. She hasn’t given upon him yet, though.

This girl’s work ethic is beyond measure. She comes in exactly at 6:30 am, looks up her patients, takes report, gives a great update to the doctors when they round, and provides impeccable care to her patients. She knows exactly which treatments the doctors will order before they even speak. She’s incredible at inserting IVs--everyone in the hospital knows Mikasa Ackerman can put an 18g in a 90  yr old lady’s arm AND get blood return (just trust me, it’s flipping impossible). She has great skill when it comes to emergency situations and is a big believer in team work. If she notices your patient’s crashing and you don’t know what to do, she’ll calmly coach you and save your patient, too. All before lunch time. 

It doesn’t take Mikasa long to be promoted to charge nurse. When she’s in charge all the reports, paperwork and audits are completed before shift change. She divides the patient assignments really well and is very fair to the new grads. All around she’s an incredible nurse and leader on her unit, but don’t be fooled. If it’s been a rough day, Mikasa will get in her car and sob so loud her throat goes raw. A lot of people depend on her and working in a trauma ICU is really, really demanding. A lot of patients are demanding, rude and busy. She has a lot of trouble with stress management and is thinking of cutting her hours down so she can catch a break. Someone please hug her <3

Armin: for some reason my brain is just SCREAMING respiratory therapist. Like, I imagine this beautiful blond boy in gray scrubs (the color for RT’s in my hospital) going around helping intubate patients, giving nebulizer treatments and doing blood gases. I can just see him huffing and puffing when the attending doctor is overzealous about weaning vent support. -“Why are we changing the patient to pressure support? do you see how tachypneic he is on volume control?”

-“are you gonna put in the order? if not, your patient’s gonna be on PRVC all day, I’m not changing it without an order”

-“Doc, the patient looks like crap and their blood gas looks like death...oh, you still wanna extubate? ok, well I’m gonna leave the ventilator in here just in case. better yet, let me call a pastor in here, too.”

This kid is sassy af and he knows it. He’s smart af too, knows everything there is to know about the lungs and respiratory care. Knows every ventilator mode better than most doctors. Will certainly tell a resident off for ordering the wrong type of inhaler for a patient. He’s so damn intelligent that he even made the ice queen Annie melt like a popsicle. 

 He has no chill when it comes to his patients and even less chill (like -4078875874670) when a doctor gets in his way. For this reason, Armin has recently been toying with the idea of going to PA school so he can have a little more autonomy. He works al over the hospital, usually frequenting the trauma, CV, and medical ICU. The nurses there love him. 

Jean: Jeannie boy. Baby. Sweetie. He’s also a nurse. He is strictly dayshift and trauma. When he first started, he thought he’d do a year in the ICU and then go to CRNA school. He didn’t want to be around sickly patients with hopes and dreams and fears--it was too icky for him. But, over time, he learned that he LOVED trauma. Jean loves the controlled chaos that comes with the ugly, bloody messes that roll in through the ICU’s doors. He always gears up for trauma season (summer time) by bringing Dunkin Donuts iced coffee for everyone on the unit (day and night shift because he’s a supportive king). He gets really good at dealing with arrogant trauma residents and ortho docs who think they’re hot shit. When Jean sees a resident yelling at a nurse, he jumps in and threatens to have their license revoked. He will dig under their skin and page them incessantly throughout the day, too, just to get back at them. Jean is not a fan of lateral violence in the workplace, no sir. 

He always, always makes sure every room is stocked and new bags are hanging for the next shift. He has a thing where if things aren’t properly organized on the unit his brain just spazzes. He’s on the unit council and education committee because he also loves to teach the new grads. He also doubles as charge nurse, when management can’t be there (there can be one or more charge nurses amongst the staff, they usually work different days, though) He and Mikasa work so well together, teaming up to get tasks done, coding patients, running them down to get scanned, etc. People joke they’re the mom and dad of the unit. It makes them both blush <3 (Eren doesn’t like it, lol)

Jean loves to see patients healing from horrendous injuries, he’s constantly cracking jokes with the awake patients to try to make them feel better, and he’s really good at calming anxious family members down. Our boy just makes such good connections with people. He’s the guy you call when your confused patient is one second away from ripping his breathing tube out. He can convince the most restless, agitated patient to chill out. He’s got the voice for it. Also people love his mullet. It looks great. 

Connie: I really didn’t know at first but I feel like Connie would make a great physical therapist. He’s got great energy, he’s funny and I could see him dancing to Earth, Wind & Fire in front of his patients to hype them up for therapy. He’d be very sweet with them 

Sasha: I’m sick and tired of the food jokes, quite honestly. She’s more than that. In my mind, she’s an occupational therapist, helping disabled patients learn to feed, dress and clean themselves again. She works directly with Connie as they round on all their patients in the hospital, they make a great team!  She’s extremely patient and would make a very good nurse, but is unsure of where life is taking her. That is until she meets Niccolo the dietician in the cafeteria, and she falls hard. He encourages her to follow her heart and she does!  

Levi: Hm. This one stumped me. Levi is a bit...cold. It’s not like he has incredible social skills. He’s meticulous and focused and kinda mean? He reminds me of an anesthesiologist, tbh. Like he’ll sedate the shit outta you for surgery, makes sure you don’t die on the table, and then drops you off to the unit as fast as he can. He never takes off his mask while in the hospital and he scrubs maybe four times before surgery. He is very good at medication calculations and knows everything about nerve blocks, intubation, pain medication and sedation. He can look at a person and just KNOW what kind of sedative to give and how much. Your blood pressure will never bottom out while he’s there, he’ll warn the surgeon and immediately get that norepinephrine started.

 If Zeke is the one operating, Levi is on his ass to finish up the surgery ASAP and to not linger, because Zeke takes his time and ignores the tele monitor alarming in the background. After surgery, this 5′2 demon will scream at the 6′ resident about the importance of blood pressure management and sedation in neurosurgical patients. Levi plays no games and he also just really hates Zeke lol

He seems like a jerk but genuinely cares about getting his peeps through surgery. His favorite surgeon to work with is Hange Zoe, because she’s brilliant and fast, but also cognizant of her patient’s hemodynamics. Levi likes taking trauma cases as long as it’s with her. When he drops a patient off to the trauma ICU or goes there to intubate, he makes sure Jean or Mikasa are there because he knows everything is gonna go smoothly. He trusts them a lot. He likes Armin, too and even let him intubate a few times. On his breaks, he’s drinking tea and reading a Williams & Sonoma catalog or scrolling through cleaning Tik Tok lol.

Erwin: This man. This beautiful and hunky beefcake. Omg. I HC him as someone who went to nursing school, became a charge nurse on the trauma unit back in the early 2000′s and fell in love with it. Erwin would eventually fall in love with leadership and educating, too. He went back to school and earned his Doctorate of Nursing Practice (a practice doctorate). He managed the trauma unit for ten years before his brilliant leadership skills and wicked smart brain got him elected as the Director of Trauma Surgery recently. He is the first person with a nursing degree and DNP to ever accomplish this, so it’s very controversial. A lot of toxic doctors threaten to leave the hospital for this (because they’re assholes), but Erwin threatens to fire them in response and it usually shuts them up. 

He often holds lectures in the hospital auditorium. With a mind and voice like his, people are so drawn in by him. He advocates for nursing staff, for reimbursement when continuing their education, better staffing, parking, etc. He makes nice with doctors and gets them to sign petitions for the nurses to get these things. He’s a bit manipulative He’s also a fantastic manager and director, he’s really good at negotiating things. The nurses and residents all love him because he rounds on every ICU frequently, brings food, and asks them how he can help. He can be a bit daunting because of his height and deep voice but once he starts talking to you, you just get sucked in. All around an absolute king. 

Hange: This character reminds me of a trauma surgeon and intensivist (ICU doctor) we have, Dr. Omi. A great surgeon, really really smart, but takes absolutely NO bullshit. She will yell at you if you freeze during intubating. She wants you to recite every step before you take it, otherwise she’ll take the tube from you and do it herself. In surgery, she’s the same way. She wants you to learn, but by her standards. If she asks a question, you better know the answer or fess up right away, she doesn’t like the “uhms” of uncertainty as you try to search for a shitty response. Either you know it or you don’t. And if you don’t, she’ll teach you. Yeah she can be rough around the edges, but she’s got a big heart. She loves her trauma team. She buys them breakfast and gives them funny personalized gifts. One time, she bought an apply tree for Mikasa and brought it to her car at the end of a shift. Mikasa forgot to plant it and it died in her backseat. Hange will sometimes ask, “Mikasa, how’s your apple tree growing?” and Mikasa will lie through her teeth. “It’s growing!” Fess up, Mikasa. Those google search apple trees are starting to look familiar.

All around Hange loves to work and teach. She is a wonderful trauma surgeon and has saved tons of lives.  

[nancydrew65]

SKAM NL Season 2 Episode 8 Thoughts

So, I just realized that SKAM Dutch, the tumblr page that posts translated clips and text messages from the show, also labels how each clip is related to the episode, including which episode it belongs in! I am an idiot for not noticing this sooner. Now, I can post reactions sooner. Hurrah!

I Miss You

Liv wakes up hungover in Noah’s room lying in bed beside Morris and the blonde girl from the party.

Oh my god, I just realized this because I watched all the clips that just came out, but when Liv puts on her clothes, she doesn’t put on her bra. Rewatching this scene to write this reaction was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

As Liv leaves the house, she gets a bunch of messages from an unknown number. It is Noah and he lost his phone. He doesn’t want any more space and he texts her that he loves her. What a punch to the gut for Liv.

She has to throw up/retch by a tree. I have to say that lead-up was very realistic. I saw it in her before she did it that she was going to throw up.

And here starts the spiral into doom

What Happened Last Night?

Liv takes a shower at home, very similar to what Grace did in SKAM Austin. She buries herself into her covers and tries to fall asleep.

Ralph barges in and soon sees that something is wrong. He is worried about her not going to school and offers to make her juice! Sweetest Eskild ever. He is so attune to Liv’s feelings. I love him so much. I hope Liv confides in him soon.

Under the sheets Liv looks at all her messages and decides to send one to Morris asking what happened the night before. I think this is one of the hardest things that the Noora character is put through. Not only was she possibly raped or sexually assaulted, but she has to message her possible assaulter just to find out what really happened.

Flashbacks

This clip was… I almost felt physically sick watching it.

Liv is scrolling through instagram - there was an easter egg to SKAM with fan art of Noora - and looks through Morris’ profile. She finds a photo with Morris and the blonde girl who was in bed with them. Her name is Marie Van Aspen. So, this girl appears to be the Mari character. I really hope she and Liv have a scene together because she was so funny at the party.

Liv then searches for signs of whether or not you have had sex. My dear, poor girl.

Liv watches a youtube video of a girl who went through a similar experience as her, where she was drugged and taken advantage of in Las Vegas. I think it is really important for Liv to watch that video so that she realizes that whatever happened, it was not her fault.

There’s a knock at the door. Noah is outside, looking for Liv. She ignores him and he finally goes away when she texts him that she has the flu.

And then Morris texts Liv back and oh my god… SKAM NL just did that. So, I think SKAM NL set certain things up to make Liv’s situation seem better than other Noora’s, like how Ralph was so supportive and sweet and how Liv watched that really helpful, inspiring video of the girl who had been sexually assaulted. I think they did all that to shock us with this new reveal. For one, Morris responds much quicker than any other version of Niko and there is no fake-out text where he tells her nothing happened, she reunites with William, and then he texts her again and shows her the naked photo he took of her. Instead, we get this wholly awful scene where Morris texts Liv a video he took at the party where Liv is in bed wearing only her bra. In the video, Morris pulls back the covers of the bed and proceeds to slip Liv’s bra off, leaving her breasts exposed.

This is… shocking and horrible to say the least. I really wish there had been a trigger warning. Morris is easily the worst of the Nikos. And I feel kind of uncomfortable ranking the relative awfulness of each version of this character because each version is a terrible person. However, there is a large difference between Noora stripping and Niko taking a photo of her naked (still absolutely disgusting) and Morris approaching an almost unconscious Liv and stripping her bra off while she is protesting. That is sexual assault. And we don’t know if anything else happened… But that is so, so terrible regardless. I made an earlier post where I said I thought it would be interesting watching a version of Season 2 where Noora actually got assaulted because I thought it would be an incredibly complex and important storyline to tackle…. And I guess, be careful what you wish for. I am already so upset and horrified after one clip.

I Had to Do It

Liv is doing the wash and there is a very beautiful contrast between the white of the clothes and the dark hoodie Liv is wearing and the dark colors of her room.

Noah shows up with groceries. How domestic. No, I’m kidding. That was really sweet of him, probably one of the nicest things a person can do in a relationship tbh.

Liv explains that she isn’t angry anymore about him fighting, but she is sick and needs time to think. They share a kiss, so there’s hope. (Who am I kidding? I just watched the latest SKAM NL clip where a version once again leaves a version of Noora collapsed on the ground crying. I am very pissed off, but I will get more into that next episode.)

There was a great visual moment when Liv closes the door and leans back on it. She turns to the left where the glass part of the door is and through the frosted glass we see Noah’s silhouette. Very poignant. Once he leaves, she opens the door and grabs the groceries.

I Don’t Remember Anything

There was a trigger warning at the beginning of the clip, so at least SKAM NL took its fans thoughts into consideration.

Liv bakes cookies for Ralph and Jayden, but doesn’t have any herself. Is this a hint of her eating disorder? I know they kind of brushed that off in SKAM Austin and I can’t tell if they are doing that here.

Jayden comments on how put together Liv is… and that broke my heart because Liv is falling apart inside and she feels like she has to put up this strong front. Let people in!!!!! Tell the girls!!!!

Liv gets a call from her mother who sounds quite busy. Like the only time you can call your daughter is when you are in the car? Really? She does sound more concerned and invested in Liv’s life than her father who is really only interested in Liv’s music. And we got confirmation that Liv’s dad is experienced in the music industry.

This also made me notice that the record company meeting is probably equivalent to the article Noora had to write. That kind of makes it more sad, in my opinion. In Noora’s case, yeah, the article was a great opportunity to invest in her job goals, but for Liv it seems more serious. Music is something she loves and hopes to make a career in. This meeting could have potentially life-changing consequences for her and it is all ruined because of Noah’s asshole of a brother.

Liv’s mom suggests getting a plant (an offer Liv takes eventually) and tells her daughter that she is always there to talk. So, I feel like Liv’s mom actually does care about her daughter, but is a bit distant and is not really great in initiating contact.

Liv goes back to her room. Ralph asks to use Liv’s computer to look up a recipe to cook for Benny, his sweetheart. He finds what I assume is a website looking for symptoms of if you’ve been raped. We don’t know for sure.

He immediately confronts Liv about it. She yells that it’s not her fault. 1. It is incredibly sad that she has to assume that is what Ralph thinks, but 2. At least she doesn’t think it’s her fault.

Liv has a breakdown/panic attack and Ralph goes and hugs her, telling her she doesn’t have to go through this alone.

Now, I really enjoyed this scene, don’t get me wrong. I think SKAM NL has developed Ralph and Liv’s friendship very well this season. However, they do get rid of what is, in my opinion, Noah’s best scene in the season. And honestly, I would have cared more had I not just seen the scene where Noah confronts Liv. Now I’m glad they gave this scene to Ralph because Noah does not deserve it.

You Don’t Have to be Ashamed of Anything

While I am so so so so so glad that Liv has a support system much sooner than in other remakes… I am kind of uncomfortable about how SKAM NL handled it. I really wish Liv could have told the girls on her own, not have it something that was discovered. Despite how terrible it was watching Noora suffer alone, it was such a relief when she finally confided in the girls. I wish Liv could have been allowed to have that same initiative. She seems very reluctant when she is telling the story to the girls.

The girls (and Esra!) all arrive at the apartment (i’m pretty sure Ralph called them) to talk with Liv. I am glad that she explained the whole story to them and that Ralph didn’t just tell the girls all the details.

Speaking of the details, can we acknowledge how courageous Liv was to have showed them the video?

I loved the juxtaposition of everyone on one side of the bed, watching the video with Liv by herself on the other end. And as soon as the video ends, Isa and Engel climb right back to Liv’s side. It is kind of a metaphor for saying, we are here for you, it’s not your fault.

Esra says to go to the police… and yeah. Liv should most definitely go to the police. I am not very happy with SKAM NL executed the whole confrontation scene between Liv and Morris, but I will get more into that next episode. Long story, short: I wish they had adapted it better to the unique situation Liv is in, a situation vastly different from OG.

Liv doesn’t want to go to the police, but Engel convinces Liv to at least confront Morris. Janna says she will fight Morris bare-breasted. That is something I would like to see. Fight him, Janna!

Liv seems to get a renewed sense of confidence and messages Morris to meet with her.

General Thoughts

This has been probably my favorite episode in the whole season so far. I thought SKAM NL did a great job depicting Liv’s anguish and struggle (Zoe Love Smith is a fantastic actress, she is killing these extremely intense scenes) and despite how hard it is to watch, I am really glad they gave us a version where the Noora character is assaulted. For dramatic storyline purposes, I wish we had gotten the next clip (where Liv confronts Morris) as the last clip for this episode, but I understand that they have to distribute clips accordingly to each episode. That is really all I have to say.

[erniesbrainfreeze]

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ZOE ROBINS, NINJA STEEL WHITE RANGER: by pearl, co-moderator of @erniesbrainfreeze 

The lovely & talented Zoe Robins, who plays Hayley Foster in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, was kind enough to agree to an exclusive interview for erniesbrainfreeze with me and we spent almost four hours talking about Hayley’s backstory, the romance between Calvin & Hayley, her favorite moments with the cast, and how she got started with acting!

Below the cut is our conversations, my questions/comments and her answers. And thank you to those in the fandom who gave me amazing questions to ask her!

We hope you enjoy the incredible behind-the-scenes information Zoe has shared with us and don’t forget to watch Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel every Saturday on Nickelodeon at 12/11 central!

PEARL: So the first question is about Hayley, she seems like a really fun character to play even if she doesn’t always get a lot of focus. What’s something about Hayley’s character that you have in your head or in your personal notes that we might not know from the show itself?

ZOE: Ooo great question! I decided early on that Hayley’s love for animals stems from her experiences of always being surrounded by them from a young age. She was raised on a small ranch with her mom and younger brother after her parent’s divorce. They were almost self-sustainable. Her caring nature comes from her mother who dedicated her life to sustainable living and caring for the planet.

Her empathy and compassion for all things come from the unconditional love and bond she has with her younger brother, who recently came out as gay.

PEARL: Oh, I love that so much! I always thought of Hayley as being a flower child raised by environmentalists so her being raised on a ranch is so cool! And so much love for the idea of her little brother, I wish Power Rangers would explore that some day for real.

Question by Jaz @elizabethdelgados: If there was an episode that you could have solely about Hayley, what would you make it about? How would you incorporate her backstory into a Power Rangers-esque plot?

ZOE: I would love an episode to be just a solely Hayley focus. She hasn’t had that yet - and there’s obviously so much more to her than just being Calvin’s girlfriend and a part of the ranger team.

If anything it would be about her and Kody, or maybe a situation where she goes above and beyond with helping someone and actually makes things worse. I think one of her weaknesses is that she gives too much of herself so learning to put herself first and valuing the process of self love would be fun to explore, and a great lesson for children! And adults as well!

PEARL: That’s so true and it would work great since a lot of the other rangers have had their flaws highlighted in various focus episodes. And we all love Kody so more of him is always good.

In fact, a question by Chipster @kimberlyannharts: Since having an animal as a side character is pretty uncommon for Power Rangers, how did you prepare for working alongside Kody? Did you have to take time to do classes or exercises with him before the show and how did you approach that as an actor?

ZOE: I’ve never owned a dog in my life so initially I was really nervous! We had a few chances to meet and play before we started and really it was just about us being comfortable around each other. The trainers were amazing and were always nearby!

I would have treats in my pocket or in my hand if he (Jax was his real name) needed to come to me in the scene or do something wild like wake me up by licking my face in the forest. We actually had peanut butter and bits of raw meat under my fringe so he would lick my face in that scene. It was nasty and I smelled so bad hahah

PEARL: Wow, that sounds gross but also your dedication is inspiring! I’ve also never owned a dog so I don’t think I could do that. But it came out great in show, I love watching Hayley and Kody together.

Speaking of your fringe, a lot of us were wondering, since Hayley’s hair is a lot more relaxed than your hairstyle at your Power Morphicon reveal 2 years ago, how did you or the stylists come up with that style? I know they made Chrysti [Ane] dye her hair blonde (I guess for hair color diversity?) so did they also ask you to relax your curls? (question by @hunterbradley)

ZOE: It was production’s idea, I would’ve loved to have kept the curls but I guess maintaining the look like the one they chose is much easier! And yes when we were all initially cast, we all looked very similar. Tan/brown skin tones with dark hair, so I think they were worried that kids might not be able to tell us apart lol. I would love to see a ranger with dreads or braids one day.

PEARL: Well, that’s fair, but there’s just so little natural hair representation in kids shows. I think there’s only been one ranger with dreads and one with an afro, both before the current era.*

ZOE: Absolutely! I would’ve been more than happy to rock my natural hair for representation.

PEARL: A question by Tabitha @operationoverdrive: It’s a sad fact that only five black actresses have played power rangers in the past 25 years (and you’re the fifth), however that is the perfect amount for a teamup! Have you had a chance to meet any of these actresses and how has it been to meet previous rangers in general? Did they give you any advice on being a ranger?

ZOE: Yes, I have, and they were beyond lovely. Camille [Hyde] was the first I met and she was so sweet! I met Karan [Ashley] at Comic Con and then Morphicon and Nakia [Burrise] as well. Everyone is just so great and for the most part the advice has been to make the most of every moment. They’ve all welcomed us to the “family” from the moment we were announced which has been so special.

PEARL: That’s so sweet! I love Karan and Nakia so much, they’re always so genuine and wonderful to their fans.

Going a little back to Hayley, she mostly sticks to Calvin and Preston for the majority of the series. Was there any cast member or guest star you wished you would’ve gotten a chance to work with more? (question also by Tabitha)

ZOE: I would’ve loved more scenes directly with Kelson [Henderson]. I couldn’t speak more highly of him. He’s the most professional, talented and down-to-earth person I’ve ever worked with and he’s a wonderful man too. He is so patient and had a great way of calming us most days when we were in the 11th hour of shooting and slowly losing the plot. Haha! I probably learned the most from him - his tenacity and gratefulness for the work grounded me so much.

Chrysti and I had a lot of fun with the Hayley and Sarah episode with their parents! It would’ve been nice to have more female driven episodes!

PEARL: That’s so sweet! Everyone has only high praise for Kelson, he’s such a legend on this show, I’m so glad he ended up being on Ninja Steel.  And we loved that Hayley/Sarah episode! Their cute little handshake/hair flip thing was adorable and their dynamic was so fun and unique.

ZOE: Hahaha we put that in there ourselves! There’s a lot of stuff we added in the hopes that they’d make the edit and surprisingly a good amount of it did!

PEARL: That makes it even cuter! I love all the little things you guys add in the show it helps make the rangers so much brighter as characters.

Speaking of, Nico [Greetham] and Chrysti both recently took to Twitter to talk about how there was originally a love triangle/breakup storyline planned for Calvin/Hayley and Sarah, but that you and Chrysti spoke to Chip [Lynn] and they decided not to do it - a great choice, as we all love Calvin/Hayley. But we were wondering, did that plot ever get to script and what do you think Hayley’s feelings would’ve been on a potential Calvin/Sarah relationship? Would she have eventually moved on as well? Maybe even with one of the other boys on the team, although that would definitely be awkward, but Hayley has had focus eps with Preston and Levi both and those dynamics are really fun and interesting.

ZOE: We were told very early on with the story lines and both Chrysti and I were really confused about where they were going with it and concerned about the message being put out. We arranged a meeting with Chip where he really listened to us and I’m assuming saw how much we cared about the relationships within the whole cast. Women are constantly being pitted against each other in society and we were just not having it in our show.

Ultimately, Hayley would be fine, lol. Of course Calvin is her best friend and she loves him but she has joy and love for many other things in her life too! It would take some time for them to get over a breakup and remain in the same team and deal with the enormous responsibility of saving the world (lol) but those two have a lot of respect for each other so I think they would be able to stay friends.

Also LOL! I’ve seen some comments about the chemistry between Hayley and Levi. There are a lot of eps with Preston and Hayley together too. Honestly I think it’s because I just have so much fun with them both and love them very much as people so that probably translated on screen. I don’t think any of the rangers in our season would switch up partners haha

PEARL: I’m so glad Chip listened because yeah, two girls fighting over a guy is almost never a good storyline and it’s so predictable in media nowadays. Although I personally love romance & drama so I really enjoyed the ep with Calvin getting jealous over Hayley and Preston even though there was nothing between them haha. And that’s so cute how much Calvin and Hayley love each other, I think it really comes across on screen! You have great chemistry with the whole cast of course but you and Nico play off each other so well.

Have you and Nico ever discussed how Calvin and Hayley met and ended up in a relationship? They’ve been dating for two years by season 2 but was it a childhood friends to lovers thing or did they meet in high school, what do you think the start of their romance was like?

ZOE: For drama, yeah, I can see why they thought that could work but it’s just so contrasting to the tone of our show it just didn’t make sense. I’m glad production listened too! Because it was in something called “The Power Rangers Bible” which had storylines that we were told were set in stone and could not be changed!

And yes we have! Though I have absolutely no idea where my journal is for Hayley so I won’t be able to say what we agreed on and discussed 100%. I think we decided that they had been friends for a few years before dating and Calvin secretly crushed on Hayley for a while. I think we went out for a drive in his truck to a beach one night to watch the sunset and he asked Hayley out. Nico can correct me if I’m wrong but I’m sure I’m not pulling it out of nowhere! Haha

PEARL: That’s the cutest thing ever! You know, usually in Power Rangers they would just show the crush part (see: Tyler and Shelby, or Jake and Gia) without bothering to show the relationship part so it’s really cool that we started with Calvin and Hayley already established. But I would’ve loved to have seen that sunset scene. We all love Calvin and Hayley so much, their focus episodes are some of the best and most charming eps of the show.

ZOE: We really wanted to have flashbacks and conversations that alluded to the start of their romance but I guess it’s fun that the audience can fill it in for themselves :)

Thank you! Nico and I worked really really hard on the relationship and spent a lot of time getting to know each other off set before we started filming - and then obviously during the duration of filming. As a result we became really close, so our job was easy! The chemistry was already there!

PEARL: That’s so cute! The effort you guys put in really shows, even in the background scenes, how Calvin softens whenever Hayley is near him and how she’s always touching him... a lot of us are romantics at heart in this fandom so we love seeing that.

ZOE: Haha I love it! There’s so much opportunity to sneak those things in as the Rangers stand around as a group a lot! So we wanted to make it as believable as possible

PEARL: We’ve talked a lot about Hayley and I love all the new stuff we’ve learned about her but we also wanted to know more about you! Zali @2014federalbudget wanted to know: Being a kiwi, do you prefer to work at home in New Zealand or abroad in America/Canada? And are there are any classic New Zealand shows that you would be interested in being a part of?

ZOE: Working at home would be a lot easier as I’m pretty familiar with the way things work over here and ideally I want to be near family. Unfortunately our industry is so small and diversity is still an issue, so I’m finding I’m auditioning for a lot more projects overseas, mainly in America. I would’ve loved to be on Outrageous Fortune for a bit. It looked like a lot of fun and many talented actors that I look up to (Antonia Prebble, Claire Chitham, Sophie Henderson, Nicole Whippy, just to name a few) were on there and do amazing work.

PEARL: That makes sense, and that would be so cool! Did you know Antonia Prebble was on Power Rangers too?

ZOE: Yes I did! She was also on a show called The Tribe! I was in a remake of the show when I was twelve so I’ve been a fan of her work for a while!

PEARL: That’s amazing! I love the connections between Kiwi ranger actors, there are so many of you guys!

Kels (@rltarepulsas on twitter) asked a related question: Was there a role you saw growing up that made you want to act?

ZOE: It was Dakota Fanning in a role.. it may have been in I am Sam or Charlotte’s Webb - I can’t actually remember the specifics. But I do remember watching her and thinking “Oh that’s it. That’s the thing I want to do.”

PEARL: Dakota Fanning is super talented, that’s so cool! We also loved you on the Shannara Chronicles - how was that experience like and how was filming a more teen-oriented show different from a kids show like Power Rangers?

ZOE: Oh thank you! That was my first big international project and I was super anxious going into it but I had such a great time. The people involved were awesome. Very talented NZ actors and from overseas - Austin [Butler] is one of the sweetest people you could meet. I love doing fantasy too, and my character Zora is so much cooler than I am! Haha! I had to have archery training for that which was a lot of fun.

PEARL: Archery training sounds hardcore but then you also went through PR’s stunt training so I guess you can do anything!

We are all super excited to see you in more projects after PR! Ivory @lunarskye wanted to know if there are any projects you’ve been working on currently and if you can tell us anything about how they’re going?

ZOE: Thank you! At the moment I’m just enjoying being home after being in LA for over a month. With the down time I’m hoping to finally start writing, I have a few stories that I want to tell. But I’m auditioning for projects a lot of the time :)

PEARL: Oh, you’re a writer too? That’s so cool, what kind of stories do you write? Is it like scripts or do you prefer novel form?

ZOE: I’m not actually! Haha I just have some experiences and stories that I want to share. And they would be scripts. I definitely want to work behind the scenes as well as act :)

PEARL: Either way, that’s awesome! Did you get to do anything behind the scenes on Power Rangers? I know Peter [Sudarso] said he would pitch scripts to Chip occasionally and he even got to write an episode once.

ZOE: It’s something I’ve never thought that I could do but I’ve been so inspired lately to say something that it’s only a matter of time until I give in lol

Chip and the production team were great about that actually, in that they fully invited us to basically intern - be it shadowing directors if we wanted or submit scripts etc. Honestly I can’t speak for the whole cast but I do know we were super tired after working 6 days a week and there wasn’t much more we could give of ourselves when the week was over. It really was like an endurance test and I think for the most part we chose to focus on the task at hand and look after ourselves the best we could. Which meant on our day off we would relax and do whatever we needed to refresh ourselves. And yes, Peter’s episode was actually amazing, I hope he continues with that as well.

PEARL: Ah, that makes sense but it’s really cool that they let you do that! Speaking of the cast and your downtime, Kat @powerprincesses wanted to know, with you and Jordi [Webber] being the kiwis of the cast, was there any sort of culture clash with you guys? Did you take them out to tour New Zealand at any point and show them the sights?

ZOE: We had a few bonding trips before we started, one was heading out to a beautiful west coast beach called Piha together. We just spent time together and practised our morph on the sand lol it was cute!

Chip had an evil idea of picking us up super early in the morning a week or so before filming, to drive a few hours out of Auckland to do the Waitomo caves. Look them up, they’re extraordinary! You end up abseiling into this cave, and trudging through mud and water to see waterfalls and the amazing cave formations - and the glow worms! I’m pretty sure it was on our day off so none of us wanted to go as we were tired from training and all we wanted to do was sleep and prep. But Chip was right, it was one of the best times we had together.

Jordi took a few of the boys to his home in Rotorua, where they met his family and were introduced to some parts of the Maori culture. I know that was really special for them too.

PEARL: That all sounds so amazing! Those caves must have been seriously magical to witness. And that’s so cool about Jordi and the boys, I wish we got more of his Maori culture in the show, it would be really neat to teach more people about that. I think he’s only our second or third Maori actor on Power Rangers.

ZOE: It would’ve been super cool! But for some reason they didn’t have any New Zealand characters in our season!

PEARL: I noticed, that was so weird, especially since they let Chase not only be kiwi on the show in Dino Charge but he got whole episodes devoted to his New Zealand culture, including one where his little sister was part of a Maori dance group. But I guess since Ninja Steel is an anniversary season they wanted to take it back to the show’s American high school theme roots?

ZOE: I’m not sure! I think it has something to do with the tax incentives here where international productions have had to somehow showcase New Zealand for tourism benefits and have a certain amount of New Zealanders as cast. I think that’s changed cause we didn’t do that at all lol

PEARL: I definitely remember reading about a New Zealand grant starting with Dino Charge, yeah. I think it’s mentioned in the credits of each episode too. I think Peter also once told me that just having two kiwi actors in the cast was enough so maybe that’s what changed?

ZOE: I’m not sure. I remember Chip telling me that Jordi and I weren’t cast because of that as it didn’t apply anymore :) Makes sense as the new rangers are all American!

PEARL: Well that’s interesting... I’m glad you guys were cast anyway! It’s really so much fun watching you all each Saturday, I can’t express how much I love Ninja Steel.

I should wrap this up as I think I’ve asked a lot of questions already, so just one last one: Is there anything you can tell us about this last batch of upcoming Ninja Steel episodes, things to look forward to in general? Anything exciting for Hayley coming up?

ZOE: Us too :) Thanks so much! It means the world to me to have amazing fans like you. Thank you! And yes, I don’t want to give away too much but I think the best stuff with Hayley is yet to come xxxx

[rustandruin]

Hiii my cutie 💕 top five wlw stories please? In any genre and medium

Three for three so far! Because this is another stellar ask — as well as a nice reminder of how far media has come, because not only are most of these recent, but I didn’t have to try too hard to find happy, more positive ones. And even better, I really could find stuff in most of my favouite genres. Viva more inclusive media!

P.S. It was actually hard to limit these to only five! 

Let’s hope that trend continues:

OBLIGATORY MENTION: It’s a low-level crime, that Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Rosa and Alicia (Gina Rodriguez’s character) can’t be on this list. But seeing as that they haven’t had more than an adorable meet-cute at this point, I couldn’t justify it to myself. But I feel the need to note that if we are fortunate enough to have her reprise this role in at least a minor recurring capacity next season, you’ll have to come and resuscitate me, because I’ll probably be dead. Like. Look at this!!! (I’m all three of them in this scene.) 

5. Amy and Lucy (D. E. B. S.)

What happens when you’re your spy agency’s top agent, but you just happen to be set up on a blind date with and then fall for the criminal mastermind who’s the basis of your thesis project? This movie. Directed by Angela Robinson (who herself is queer and also responsible for the polyamorous Wonder Woman creators backstory film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women last year), this film is a tongue-in-cheek parody of Charlie’s Angels. This means lots of wacky spy hijinks and some cheesy dialogue, but it truly feels like the queer spy AU I’ve always wanted. I also appreciate that there’s a B-story about female friendship and what it means when your friend embarks on a new relationship. (Side Note: This movie pairs perfectly with Spice World and SClub: Seeing Double, you’re welcome.) 

4. Goldie and Diane (Goldie Vance)

Goldie is pretty much living my dream ages 7 to.. well, pretty much now, seeing as she works at a local holiday resort where she also solves mysteries with the help of her best friend Cheryl (who wants to be an astronaut) and her girlfriend Diane (seen in all her chic glory, below). This comic is relatively new but it’s one of my all-time favourites because the art style is gorgeous and retro, the mysteries are fun and modern, and Goldie herself is fully-fledged and already iconic. And on top of all that, we get to see her initial crush on Diane, followed by them beginning a relationship all with very little drama. It’s cute and sweet, just what this book and our hero deserve. Also, I know it sounds weird, but I kind of have a crush on Diane. She’s just so ridiculously cool. (And she’s not even wearing her leather jacket.) 

3. Lena and Stef (The Fosters)

I haven’t caught up on the last two seasons of this series, but I did catch a bit of the season finale (which really focused on their relationship and Stef coming to terms with her dad’s death and his not having accepted their relationship) and it just drove home how special it was to be able to watch five seasons of a loving, committed lesbian relationship play out on TV. These ladies have been through so much together — and that’s excluding the insanity their five kids put them through. And I know they’ve gone through some rough patches, but it made me only love them more because relationships can be hard and require work and it was nice to see both these women doing their best to put in the effort. But more than that, the show allowed us to see them be funny and sexy and cute and domestic, amidst all the drama, which only makes this relationship so special. I hope we’re all lucky to find that kind of partnership some day. 

2. Carmilla and Laura Hollis (Carmilla)

Freshman journalist investigates and then falls for dark and mysterious vampire roommate, and then proceeds to get into all sorts of vampiric and demonic shenanigans with their inclusive group of friends. It sounds like some kind of wild fanfic idea, only it’s a real web series that ran for three seasons and then blessed us with a movie. And honestly, there is so much to love about Carmilla and Laura’s relationship. They’re both the tough and strong one and the soft and sensitive one, and better yet, they take turns being that for each other. Their chemistry crackles, the emotions (both positive and negative) come through, and even more importantly, they’re endlessly watchable together. Because they have that push and pull and give and take that is at the heart of all great pairings — and I could not be more grateful to everyone involved.

1. Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught (Wynonna Earp) 

Just as her sister Wynonna is off learning how to become Wyatt Earp’s latest heir, the ever-delightful Waverly goes on the fun journey that is discovering that your sexuality isn’t as defined as you thought it was — especially when she falls for the cute new female police officer in town. (Of course, while all this is happening we’re graced with all kinds of revenant-hunting and demon fighting goodness where both women show off their admirable skillsets.) But the best part of Waverly exploring her bisexuality and feelings for Nicole is that in many ways we get to see the “real” Waverly come out when with someone who appreciates how smart and insightful she can be and treats her with all the respect and adoration she deserves. And the same is true for Nicole, who while also being softer and more vulnerable around Waverly, also lets her see her more ambitious and determined side. It’s a sign that both women are at their fullest with each other, trusting one another with the best and worst parts of themselves, which is what good relationship allow you to do — even if one of you is constantly in mortal danger. Bring on Season 3 already. 

HONOURARY MENTIONS: Valencia and Beth (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), Petra and JR (Jane the Virgin), Bingo Love by Tee Franklin (I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard good things), Black Lightning (I have yet to watch it because I was waiting to marathon it), Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst, Ash by Malinda Lo, Rasha and Zoe (Degrassi: Next Class)

[thisisusfan388]

This Is Us - season 2 finale

Ok, so I’ve watched the This Is Us season 2 finale last night.

 Wow- it was such an amazing finale!!! It was perfect, just perfect, everything that I’ve hoped for in a This Is Us season finale. It was a brilliant combination of flashback, present time and flashforward.

Do not read ahead if you haven't watched the episode, you've been warned...

 The Past

 The scene of young Kate asking Jack if she could marry him, and Jack telling her that she’ll one day find someone who’ll be even better than him, then bringing us back to the present where Kate walked don the aisle, wow, I really loved that! So heartwarming. <3

 The Present

 First off, Kate’s dream sequence in which the old Jack made an appearance and Jack and Rebecca celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary was just soooo beautiful!!! <3 <3 <3 I loved each and every scene of the anniversary. It’s such a joy to see Jack and Rebecca still so much in love with each other and everyone being happy for them. It was wonderful especially to see the looks of joy on the Big Three’s faces. Like Mandy pointed out in an interview, this is the first time that Milo got to shoot a scene together with everyone else besides her and the kids ( yes, he shot a scene or two with adult Randall and adult Kevin before, but this is the first time that everyone was there) so shooting this scene was a big deal for the cast members :)  She also mentioned in the same interview that the photos of the old Jack and Rebecca weren’t supposed to leak out and they were bummed that it did. This entire scene was supposed to be a pleasant surprise and a lovely tribute to all the fans! Also, loved Mandy singing Moonshadow <3

 All the scenes leading up to the wedding itself were great too!! :)

I love that they used the cabin as a place to spend the night to prepare for the wedding- it’s so nostalgic for them indeed. Also, Kate having the pre-wedding jitters and freaking out about not being able to find Jack’s old T-shirt, loved that! It is understandable that she wanted badly for her dad to be present in some form at her wedding, which Is why she was frantically trying to find something belonging to her dad to wear or bring to the wedding. She even went all the way to the ice cream shop they often visited only to be disappointed. Finally though, she found the only solution, and it was to let go of her father a little. It doesn’t mean that she’ll forget her beloved dad completely, she’ll still cherish her moments and memories with him which will last forever, but she needed to stop clinging onto memories of him which prevent her from enjoying her future and moving forward to the present. Jack was her past, Toby is her present and future. Which is why I really loved the scene of her siitting next to Jack’s urn and telling him that she needed to let go of him a little. This was what she actually needed.

 I loved Kevin and Randall’s scene in the car too, playing the ‘worst case scenario ‘ game and then talking about how they’ve ‘failed ‘Kate.

 Back at the cabin came the scene which made me cry. Rebecca, trying her best to pick her words to Kate carefully as she didn’t want to set her off, was about to leave the room as she didn’t want to ruin Kate’s moment. This is so sad, that Rebecca feels that she can’t be near Kate because every single thing she does or says would set Kate off ( which is true). But what Kate said next was what brought tears to my eyes. She said that actually, Rebecca was her way, and she wanted to be just like her- beautiful, a singer, and having a loving husband. Rebecca started crying and so did I. This scene was so profound and personal for me. This scene itself explains Kate’s behaviour towards Rebecca all this while. And it also mirrors my relationship with my mom, which is why this scene really got to me.

 Toby- I’m so proud that he told his parents off when they expressed their reservations about Kate. While it was understandable that they would have reservations about her after what happened to Toby’s prrevious marriage and his bout of depression after that, what Toby said was right. Kate is not his ex-wife and they should give her a chance. I’m so glad and proud of Toby for standing up for Kate :)

 We also are introduced to Zoe- Beth’s cousin, who was brought up by Beth’s parents, and so is like a sister to her. Off the bat, I already like her, she seems like a sweet and cheerful person. What I like the most about her is how she managed to talk to Deja and convince her to wear a nice dress. ;) I’ll talk more about Deja later.

 As for the wedding itself, it was soo beautiful1!! Kate really looked stunning in her wedding dress. :) And Toby looked handsome too. I loved seeing Tess and Annie be the flower girls and I really loved Kevin and Randall walking Kate down the aisle. If her dad couldn’t walk her down the aisle, at least her brothers could. In Grey’s when Amelia walked down the aisle alone in the season 12 finale, I really wished that Derek was still alive to walk her down the aisle. :(

Anyways, back to This Is Us- it was such a beautiful moment when Kate and Toby looked at each other and kissed, full of love for each other. <3

 The wedding night was beautiful too, with Kate dancing with Miguel and Toby dancing with his mom. Of course, it has to be ruined by something right? When Kate went Toby’s mother inadvertently set Deja off by saying that she ‘looks like her dad’, Deja goes to smash Randall’s car. This, I’ve to admit, has gone way out of line. I mean, I sympathized with Deja in the previous episodes , and can totally understand why she would be mad at her mom for giving up her parental rights towards her, but this is way too much. This is not how you repay a family who was kind enough to take you in again and again and give you a safe and warm environment to stay in and care for you. That time when they immediately went to check on her after returning from Vegas, and let her return back home to them, it showed that they really cared for her. Her behaviour has gone overboard. Enough is enough. It’s clear that Randall loves his car so much, so he would be devastated when he finds out.

 Back to the wedding night, Kevin’s and Randall’s toasts were beautiful. <3 <3 Kevin was right, the 4 of them needed to let go of Jack. They were clinging onto memories of him, and will of course still miss him and he’ll still be in their hearts. But it was time for them to move on and look ahead to their future. I think them taking deep breaths after his speech was a liberating moment for them.

 Randall’s toast was just beautiful. He gave a beautiful tribute to Kate and Toby. The best part of Randall’s toast? It was the fact that it was interspersed with glimpses into the future!! I really really loved that as I have always loved flashforwards <3 <3

 Future

 Speaking of flashforwards, we are now given a glimpse into the future of the characters.

 1 year later- Toby is back in depression and Kate suggests that he visit a doctor to adjust his meds. While it’s so sad that he’s back in depression, Kate is still there with him and I’m sure she’ll support him through this and they’ll get through this together. * fingers crossed*

 Also 1 year later- Kevin is on a flight to Vietnam, with a photo of Jack in his hand. But…hang on a second, he’s not alone. Who is that lady beside him, leaning on his shoulders? It’s Zoe, Beth’s cousin! And it’s obvious that they are an item now. This leaves a lot of questions- how did they end up together? ( We get to see how they meet though at the wedding). And if Kevin is now with Zoe, how about Sophie? I mean, is Alexandra still on the show? Also, will this mean that Justin will take a break from the show or something?

 20 years later- we see a scene of an adult Tess and an older Randall again. Randall suggests that they go to see ‘her.’ But we don’t know who is the ‘her’ he’s referring to. Lots of people would think that it’s Deja, because it immediately cuts to the scene of Deja smashing Randall’s car. Maybe she gets admitted into a mental institution or something. But, I actually don’t think the ‘she ‘he is referring to is Deja. I’m actually more concerned for Beth and Annie, both of whom are absent from the flashforwards we saw so far. Maybe Beth died and Randall is talking about visiting her grave. This would make sense for Tess to not be ready, as she is still grieving over her mom’s death. Or it might be Annie who is debilitated in some way and is lying in a hospital bed in a coma. I really hope not. It also might be another person,, someone we haven’t even met yet.

 Either way, this was a brilliant episode, which warmed our hearts and made us cry again, and leaves us with so many unanswered questions.

 Until then, we’ll have to endure the long hiatus before the next season returns. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to make the hiatus bearable by writing some This Is Us fics :)  Do not hesitate to send me a prompt if you have one. :)

 Please do let me know what you think of this episode ok- you can reply to this post, reblog with your own comments or send me a message- anon or not, it doesn’t matter. I would just love to hear from you!! <3 <3 <3

[glenngaylord]

DISCOURAGE U. - My Review of I USED TO GO HERE (3 1/2 Stars)

The late and legendary New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael once famously stated, “Hollywood is the only place where you can die of encouragement”.  I thought of this as I watched the opening scene to filmmaker Kris Rey’s charmingly sly I Used To Go Here.  Gillian Jacobs stars as Kate Conklin, a first time author of a book called Seasons Passed, who hears from her publishers, in the sunniest way possible, that her upcoming book tour has been cancelled.  Noting that they’re in complete disagreement with the decision and using “it’s the market” and “I think we can point the finger at e-books here” as lame excuses, I felt every smiley stab of Kate’s figurative murder.  “The most important thing is that you wrote an amazing book,” they blabber, ending the call with a collective, “Byeeeeee!”

The only ray of light comes from the invitation of a former professor and crush, David Kirkpatrick (Jemaine Clement), to do a reading at her small town Illinois alma mater.  So begins Kate searching to find out who she really is as she connects with David and a gaggle of his students.  Think of the film as a funny, sweet low stakes hangout movie with an unexpected turn in our hero’s journey.  With well-observed, acute detail, Rey clearly knows the landscape, basing this story on her own experiences visiting college campuses with her prior feature, Unexpected.

Upon arrival, Kate meets Elliot, a teacher’s assistant who will hilariously and eagerly serve as her driver over the next couple of days, determined to do anything and everything for his idol.  First stop, a Bed & Breakfast directly across the street from her old house.  Presided over by dead inside Mrs. Beeter (a scene stealing Cindy Gold), I particularly loved the running gag of her forcing Kate to wear her room key around her neck because it’s the only one she’ll get.  Of course, Kate will lose said key at every opportunity.  

At the book reading, I loved that Elliot notices that Kate has on the same blazer as the one in her publicity still.  Stars.  They’re just like us!  If only he knew that not all writers are millionaires.  Once she takes the stage, Jacobs perfectly captures the awkwardness of jokes not landing or her novel’s plot points not fully explained.  The cringe factor gets amped up a few notches at dinner afterwards when David’s wife Alexis (Kristina Valada-Viars) tells Kate she didn’t like the book.  Rey seems to be playing her audience, setting up Kate as a protagonist who may not hold the keys to the kingdom.  In fact, we learn she can barely handle the one key she was given. With a pregnant friend back home who needs her (the always dryly funny Zoe Chao) and an ex-boyfriend she obsesses over who clearly doesn’t, Kate finds herself at that trope known as the proverbial crossroads.  Luckily Rey knows how to turn a tired storyline into something specific and believable.  

With the big book event out of the way, the next day, Kate discovers a group of male college students who occupy her former home.  We meet the sturdy Animal (Forrest Goodluck), the too-young love interest Hugo (Josh  Wiggins) and the truly odd Tall Brandon (Brandon Daley) who may come across as disconnected and most often wearing a towel, but supports the film’s themes that people can surprise us.  Her ensuing adventures with them, her old professor, and some old acquaintances form the spine of this story, finding Kate way too old to be climbing fences, dancing at house parties and smoking weed with young Gen Z kids. It’s trouble which could get her “grounded!”  It turns out you can go home again, but you’re gonna regress if you’re not careful. With comedy so unforced and with such a low key style of filmmaking, Rey establishes herself as an unfussy, humanistic storyteller.  Jacobs beautifully glides through the film, never overdoing it, putting just the right Midwestern touch on everything.  I believe this small town and the guileless people who inhabit it.  

Rey makes smart choices, such as bringing Kate face to face with  April (a strong Hannah Marks), a talented writing student who seeks out Kate’s advice but may have more talent than her mentor.  In a typical film, April’s cocky attitude would get punished, but Rey forces us to confront what talent looks like and how we view it in traditional storytelling versus what she’s after here.  Sometimes the hero doesn’t have all the answers.  Sometimes the hero can just be someone not entirely special.  Add a fun selection of pop songs and you have a kind film about people you wouldn’t mind knowing, right up to its lovely and honest final line.  Isn’t that rare and, frankly, special?

[austencello]

HVFF Portland - a recap

Last weekend, I attended HVFF in Portland for the first time (HVFF and Portland) and had a blast. I know a lot of people on Twitter have seen pictures and videos but I wanted to share a little of my account.  Half of the fun is sharing the experience with other friends and fans. I met up with friends, people I follow on Twitter, and met new people creating new friendships. Overall, eight of us arrived a day early and hung out after getting our tickets. This really helped getting to know each other in person before the con started. (I had only met Academy of shipping in person before) Then we could break up into different groups at the con and rejoice over mini-Felicity and Alejandra's amazing ability to connect with the actors as we came back together. Stephen Amell's panel was first on Saturday. We were much closer than I expected which was so much fun. He was engaging and funny and most of the questions felt new.  Highlights: - He is looking forward to scenes with Jack (William) and they have cool scenes in 6x01 - most embarrassing moment is dropping Katie Cassidy in their make out scene in S1. A kid asked the question, so his avoidance and explanations for why he was carrying her (she was tired) was hilarious. - Stephen is tired of the beard (for Code 8). Also, he is much better than night shoots then his cousin, Robbie. - Jesi's daughter dressed as Felicity (mini-Felicity) was going to ask a question but then Jesi had to ask instead (when will Oliver marry Felicity - answer: maybe in Season 6. Maybe not) However, she charmed Stephen (giving her name as Felicity) which led to two days of glorious moments and pictures with Stephen and the entire cast for that family. - asked if he would break his promise of no dancing for a slow dance at Olicity wedding, he responded yes since he didn't count slow dancing as dancing (and he would be better than Grant) - invited to the Navy Ball and accepted if his schedule allows  - another Navy officer (after joking that he also was going to ask him to the Navy Ball) gave him a challenge coin from his crew since Arrow is one of the shows they watch away from home. Stephen got off the stage and gave him a hug. - favorite villain: most iconic, Deathstroke. Favorite, Prometheus. At this point, we started to break up and visit different actors booths for autographs or selfies. I had written out all the music themes for each person there to sign which meant I did not do any photo-ops. Cons are expensive! I started with Katrina Law mostly so I could follow Janis and her daughter and see Ava meet Nyssa. If any of you follow Janis, you will know that Nyssa is Ava's favorite character and it was fun to see Katrina pick her up and swing her back and forth. I showed her my music sheet and Katrina was very excited to learn that Nyssa had her own theme and thought that was really cool. My next stop was David Ramsey's table. David Ramsey is a wonderful human being and made sure to take time with each fan. He was the last one to stay both evenings because there were so many people and because it took so much longer (but everyone would agree it was worth it!) He asked me my name, at which point he mentioned it was one of his favorite names and then proceeded to name four other favorite names, one being my sister's name which we both found very cool. Then I showed him the music and his eyes grew big as he asked where I got the music. I told him I transcribed it which greatly impressed him. Then he asked me to sing or hum Diggle's theme for him! I did my best but told him that it sounded much cooler with electric bass and then babbled about how it was in the last episode with Deathstroke, Diggle and Wild Dog's themes as they fought (I told Rick the same thing the next day) which was really cool. David them told me that I was amazing for listening to all those details and signed my paper. He asked if I was a musician and told him that I was a cellist. Since I was dressed as Felicity the first day, he guessed that at the end and gave me a high five. I returned to Sarah and Bre red-faced, a huge grin on my face, and slightly shaking! The three of us went over to Juliana's table next. There were a lot less people at her table which meant we could spend more time. First of all, she is gorgeous and has the most lovely smile. I certainly hope we can see more of it on Arrow. We all shared how much we loved her as the Black Canary and thought she did a fantastic job. This meant the world to her and she told us she hoped to do us proud in Season 6. When I showed her the music, I shared how her theme stemmed from the previous Canary themes but is her own. She found that really cool and was a little blown away, I think. I'm not sure she even knew there were soundtracks for Arrow. She asked if she could take a picture of it so she could play it home. She signed Dinah Drake first starting in a D on the staff paper which was a cool little moment. My last signature was with Stephen Amell. I had this whole spiel I was going to say on thanking him for his work this year but I was a little overwhelmed being so close to him (he is quite handsome) that most of it left my brain. He was very nice and asked where I wanted him to sign. I pointed out his three themes and then he signed next to each one. It took a little while for me to recover. Since I didn't get a photo-op, a group of us hung out nearby waiting for those who were getting photos (a bit of a revolving door between 8 of us!) Rick Gonzales was walking by which Bre and I pointed out to Alejandra, who called out "Rick!" She had already had met him so he turned around, smiled, and then came back and gave her a hug, remembering their conversation beforehand. Before he left, he gave myself and Bre hugs even though we had never met him! We also got to witness her joy/freaking out when Rick included her picture on Instragam and responded to her on Twitter and then Stephen Amell's response to her Mini-Felicity picture "I like hugs". Needless to say, both days we all were on our phones enjoying the amazing responses of the fandom and cast. The next day, we attended the Arrow cast panel and deduced that Juliana and Rick were added since two chairs appeared as we sat there (before seeing the announcement via Twitter) It was nice to see the interactions but everyone was a little tired so the questions and answers were not as engaging as Stephen's. Highlights: - favorite and funniest moment in set. Willa mentioned it was hard to choose with John Barrowman on set. Rick and Julianna took the more serious route with Rene and Zoe moments from 5x13 and Dinah's first Canary cry. David and Willa joked that it was hard to follow that with fart jokes and Barrowman.  - most surprising moment to read in the scripts. Katrina was shocked that Oliver and Nyssa were getting married ("we all were" said the moderator) and Willa mentioned the many times she died. - they all did joke about the possibility of dying on the island and whether they were coming back. "We are all dead." "It's a dream" Rick joked about needing to find another job. David said that Stephen had read 6x01 and just kept teasing him the night before "Dude, ...., you didn't buy a house, did you?" - they were asked about relationships on the show they would like to see. Katrina said "Nyssa and Felicity" (after mentioning wanting a flashback of Sara and Nyssa earlier), Rick mentioned Rene showing interest in Thea, Willa mentioned that relationships don't last well in the show (although she did mention later that she would love for Thea and Roy again) which David disagreed about. - Willa was asked if Malcolm was a good father. She hemmed and hawed since Malcolm did sacrifice himself for Thea. She did acknowledge that her love for John clouded that statement and gave a yes - what their doppelgängers would be like on Earth 2. Rene would be a cook or baker and very friendly. Dinah would be docile and wear pink dresses. Diggle would have a green power ring which would be ironic working with Aliens since Diggle is freaked out by aliens. I visited Willa's table first and got her signature in Green and then a selfie. She thought it was really sweet that her theme was called "Purest Heart." I mentioned that I almost put down the Theroy theme as well because I love it and them. She said she missed them too. Very cool. Next was Rick who was also blown away that I had written down all the themes and that Wild Dog has his own. He asked if he could take a picture of it as well and really appreciated it. I again babbled that it appeared in 5x02 and the fight scene in 5x23 and he was kind of impressed that I noticed those details. I told him that I loved the piano theme for Rene and Zoe and am hoping it will be on the soundtrack. He mentioned that they will address Zoe and Rene in Season 6 and gave us (Sarah was with me) hugs. He also has a beautiful smile which we need to see more on the show! We then went to Brandon Routh's booth. Brandon looks exactly like he does on screen: tall, handsome, and smiling. Turns out that Brandon plays trumpet and piano and so actually read the music in front of him. He said the range was a little low for trumpet but I had written the French Horn range (the Atom theme is both in horns and trumpets) so we proceeded to talk about trumpet ranges. He also asked to take a picture of it. I mentioned that I enjoyed Legends and was excited to see where it goes next. He smiled and said that it was going to be pretty crazy.  We proceeded over to Milo Ventimiglia's booth because I am a big fan of "Gilmore Girls" and "This is us." He is like David in that he wanted to know each person's name and have a conversation. Plus, they both make serious and funny faces in selfies. I thanked him for the role of Jack: a good husband and father, which is rare to see on TV these days. To have both Jack and Randall on the same show as good men is a blessing and a rarity and he said he would pass that on to Sterling! We both agreed that Jack was the true Superhero because he was a real man in a world without superpowers.  We then attended his panel and we sat two rows away from him, thanks to Sarah. He was engaging and thoughtful in his responses on the stage as he is in person. He always asked for each person's name. He was asked about Gilmore Girls: "no, the baby is not Jess's baby" and that he loved working with Scott Patterson - a very special pairing and relationship. He also said the newest segment was like an encore in a concert. He was asked about "This is Us" and what a good man Jack is yet still flawed and his deep love for Rebecca. He spoke of the importance of knowing everyone on the crew which he learned thanks to his first line on "Prince of Bel Air" with Will Smith who knew everyone and took a few moments to speak to him. The panel went from his favorite books to what he likes to do on his down time to how he approaches acting. All responses were beautiful, engaging and fun. We returned to the booth areas to find out about the mini-Felicity pictures/hug video (she was dancing with Rick at that point) As the day closed, we all traveled over to Juliana's booth (thanks to Alejandra) and we talked about the new costume which had been revealed over the Internet and how it looks awesome. We did mention something about the weather (the bare arms for a few inches) and she appeared a little surprised and admitted that didn't occur to her! She said if she is shivering, we will know why! She thanked us and gave us all hugs. We then went once more to Rick's who gave Alejandra and Heidi hugs and then as he left, saw me (remembering me from earlier) and shook my hand thanking me. Very sweet man. We finished the day by watching Wonder Woman in an incredible theater that was more like a lounge or living room (couches, bookshelves, food). A wonderful end for an amazing weekend.  (My computer's wifi does not work well since I moved a month ago. I did have pictures interspersed in this but Tumblr is acting weird. I did post most of them earlier however. I apologize for any weird formats from my iPad!) @academyofshipping @so-caffeinated @dust2dust34 @latinasmoak

[canaryatlaw]

So today was okay. Better than yesterday I suppose. The morning was just kind of.....weird. I was out of it for like, a while, but we'll get there. Got up at 7 to my alarm, ate breakfast (still no milk, so oatmeal, eggos, and probably a cookie again). Got on the bus, got to work and didn't set off the metal detector for like, the third time ever haha though it might have something to do with the bitchy sheriff not working it at that time. So I get to my office and look for my supervisor or any of the calendar attorneys but I can't find them, so I just go to my office and resume working on my timeline for TPR. Sometime around then I realized I left my lunchbox on my kitchen table. Whoops. So I worked for a little and then people show up and I was informed there was a team meeting that morning that I accidentally didn't get notified about haha but I can obviously come to them from now on. The paralegal on our calendar is this super nice guy and he brought me a tamale because he brought them for the meeting and I wasn't really able to eat it but I still very much appreciated it. Sometime around here is where things get trippy. I start with the getting cold and not being able to focus so I put my coat on and set my alarm for some amount of time I can't recall to try and get my powernap in. I think I woke up before the alarm but still felt out of it. I tried to work on my stuff but it was like, incredibly difficult to actually do because I was constantly typing stuff wrong and having to redo it. I remember it turning 12 pm and thinking I need to go get food if I want to have a lunch, but then I just didn't....and I don't really know what happened for the next hour because my next memory is my phone ringing at 1 pm and having my supervisor tell me we'd leave for the client interview at 1:30. So I was pretty alert at that point, and worked for a bit before heading out. This was actually my first child interview, and there's like a form with questions and shit you're supposed to ask but like, obviously a lot of placements are different so not everyone is gonna apply. This was kind of an odd one because she's only been in the placement a little over a week, so there's only so much she can say about it. So we get there and she's this adorable smiling 5 year old girl that you would never knew was removed from her mother's custody two weeks ago. It was immediately obvious that she was very strongly bonded to the foster parent, saying she was her "Titi", and that her "grandma" (FP's mom) lived upstairs and her sister and sisters son (FP's daughter and grandson) live downstairs. She's been in this house since May 2nd but it became quite clear she had decided she wanted to stay here. So we do the interviewing, and she's a 5 year old so she can't stay in one place, and she answers questions with things like "there are no rules here!!" when asked about discipline haha but I didn't think it was that bad, we got the important info. When we brought up her mom, who hasn't visited since she was placed there, and she said she would like to see her mom, but made it very clear that she still wanted to stay in the foster home forever. According to the foster parent, she hadn't mentioned her mother or anyone from her life "before" since coming to live there. After we had our answers we did a little tour of the house, and then I kind of ended up entertaining her while my supervisor spoke with the foster parent. So she showed me her toys, then went on the iPad and showed me what she was watching- scenes from Supergirl. She had on the one from 2x01 where Kara and Clark both save the space shuttle from crashing together and like this scene made me cry when I watched it on tv so I'm like dammit Rachel keep it together this is not the place lol but I managed to contain myself. And she was saying how much she liked Supergirl, so I asked her if she knew who Wonder Woman was, and she said no so I showed her the most recent trailer and she was awe-struck. She loved it so much and kept saying she can't wait that long for the movie to come out (I figured the trailer isn't all that graphically violent, and I mean, not for nothing but this kid has probably seen a lot worse). She really liked seeing Diana as a little girl and at one point where little Diana was walking with her mother she said "oh, she's going somewhere with her mom, that's so sweet" and she like, wiped her eye. I don't think she actually like, teared up, but it definitely stuck out to me that she would make that kind of comment- that that would be something she would envy after her own experience with her mother (if you missed last night's post, the cliff notes version of this case was mom is a heroin addict who was living with a convicted sex offender, they were living in what was essentially an abandoned building with no hear and holes in the floor, and there were claims of physical abuse and the mom constantly referring to her daughter as "that little bitch" and other such things, so yeah). I'm glad I got to interact with her in a more relaxed environment though, she was always very sweet and happy, insisting she doesn't get scared or sad, or anything negative. She hasn't been to any school but when I said to type in Wonder Woman her finger hovered over the W and she asked if that was the letter it started with, which I thought was fairly bright for someone who hasn't been to school at all and apparently doesn't even like, know her numbers. But yeah, that was about it for the visit. Hopefully this won't be the last I see of the case and I'll get to see her again further down the line. So on the car ride back we talked about what we thought, my boss said she thought how much she clung to the foster parent so quickly was definitely an abandonment issue, and lord knows that will only get worse if this placement doesn't work out long term (because tbh in all likelihood she's not going home). The foster parent said she was open to adopting though, so I really hope she gets one of the rare happy endings that come out of our court building. Got back and it was like 3:45, so I typed up the interview with all the information and started doing some other stuff before heading out around 5. Bus was slower than usual because it was rainy and traffic wasn't great, and I didn't end up getting off it until 6:35 which wasn't great because I had PT at 7. Thankfully it's only 2 blocks over so I just ran in and changed, ate like two cookies (I mean, I had to eat something, it might as well be cookies) and ran back out again. It hadn't really been raining when I got off the bus but when I went to walk over at 6:50 it had started enough to use an umbrella. PT was fine, I was working with a different person partially because my schedule changed and partially because my normal guy is in Europe right now lol. He was nice though and we had some good conversations, and I definitely feel like I'm getting better with the exercises. I'm gonna end up going tomorrow again because it was the only place I could fit it into my schedule, and the appointment is at 6 so I'll have to uber home to make it but oh well. By the time I left PT, the rain had increased to torrential downpour levels. Like I can't remember the last time I was stuck in rain this bad. I wanted to pick up milk for my damn Cocoa krispies, so I stopped in the little produce store that was right on my route home and grabbed some of that. It was cute, seemed to have some Mexican products and candy and such. So I take my half gallon of milk (no bag, because bags now cost 7 cents in Chicago), my purse, and my umbrella and head out into the rain. And I'm just getting soaked. I'm wearing sneakers and leggings because I was in PT of course, so my sneakers end up getting totally soaked through, and my leggings did as well up to my knees. All I could think was all the people passing me were probably thinking "who's the schmuck that decided they needed to run out and get milk in the middle of a torrential downpour???? 😂😂 me, apparently. I was very thankful when I made it home and immediately ditched my shoes, socks, and leggings for dry clothing. Glad that was over. I watched Arrow, since I'm still hanging in there for the season finale with Katrina and Katie, and the episode was pretty meh. I wasn't terribly into the whole Oliver and Thea dealing with the fact that their dad did bad things storyline cuz like, wasn't the entire basis of the list making up for the sins he's committed? Like to me that only adds to the reasons Oliver became the green arrow. And I'm sorry but I have to bitch about the Rene child custody plotline because it was SO ridiculously inaccurate I actually wanted to scream at my tv screen. Their entire premise was total bullshit. He doesn't want to go because it's a hearing and he'll have to testify? Well no shit Sherlock, did you think they were just gonna hand her over to you because you showed up? And then he wouldn't do it because it would traumatize Zoe- ummmmmmm, here's the thing- the kids aren't in the damn courtroom for any of that. Like, ever, especially not at that age. I know judges that will do pretty much whatever is humanly possible to stop a kid from having to take the stand or watch a parent testify. Like that entire thing was 100% bullshit and I was so done with it. Meh. I already sent Guggenheim a somewhat passive more aggressive ask about it but I doubt he'll answer whether they actually did any research because their entire thing was bs, lol. Anyway. I finished watching that around 9:20, at which point I switched over to designated survivor which was on currently. I can't say I was into this week's episode as much as I have been with the others lately. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't like totally amazing. And I mean, every show is gonna have episodes like that. I thought the UN plot was interesting if a bit odd, and then of course the whole al-sakar thing when it was a question of lying to the people and a potential national security issue, like that is a super interesting question to be asking so I applaud them for that. After that I just turned the news on and then watched a little bit for friends before getting in the shower. I got new shampoo and conditioner in the mail today because I saw this brand in a Facebook ad (I'm a total sucker, I know) that like makes custom formula shampoos based on the type of your hair and the things you're looking for in a shampoo and conditioner, and they mix it up and send it to you. So I used that for the first time and I guess we'll see how it works out. I have color protection as one of my goals obviously, and it doesn't have any sulfate a so that's a good sign, but the instructions were also like "use daily" and I was like lol I've literally been washing my hair once a week for months now, washing it daily is not gonna help my color. I'll have to test that though after I dye my hair, which I need to do soon. OKAY, I think that's all I had to say so I will now retire to bed. Goodnight my lovely friends. Be blessed.

[gregwhite]

GRATITUDE IN WRITING

Please pardon me for being the millionth person to bring up gratitude in LA this year. Gratitude is having something of a moment you might say. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but by the 10th time you see it used to sell green juice in Venice you start to get a little white person wary. But it makes me think about something crucial to sustaining a career in this or any industry.

Last night I was delighted to do a talk with a class of BU students* who are here doing a semester in various entertainment industry jobs while learning about how this town works and etc etc and I brought something up to them that I’d like to share here.

I finished college in 2006 and decided, being from Jersey, that I would get my start in New York before riding triumphant to LA. I had always been told, “if you want to work in TV, move to LA,” but that was too frightening to contemplate and so HA I thought. HA IN YOUR FACE. So NYC it was**. I got a job as a page at Letterman, and when that ended I was a temp at HBO, and when that ended (after a day) I got a job as a prep cook/PA on a PBS cooking show (which was pretty outstanding) and when that ended I got a job in my friend’s wine store in Tappan, NY, the Grape d’Vine (currently relocated to Sparkill, NY). Also I was unemployed a lot. 

And when you’re ambitious and also uncertain about the path forward, the only boot in the ass you need is the one that comes with being unemployed a year out of college, living in your childhood bedroom (it’s a great bedroom actually), while your little sister finishes college up in Boston and your other friends move into the city. (It also compels you to write a lot.) So it was with that in mind that I moved here in January of 2008. 

So back to gratitude. I won’t go into the whole thing now, but basically, during the year and change I was living at home in NJ before I moved here, my rule was (I like rules) that I had to email 10 BU alumni every day asking them if I could buy them a coffee (if they were in NY) to talk to them about how they got their start and if they were in LA, if I could just give them a call and talk to them. So people are generally really nice and open and happy to share their experiences (aka talk about themselves) and by the time I made the very scary move to LA, I had actually amassed a nice little group of contacts who said that if I ever moved to LA, they would be happy to meet with me. 

And in this way, I ended up meeting with fancy writers, and network execs, and studio heads and all kinds of people. And one of them was a BU alum named Debbie Liebling, and she was very encouraging and sweet (and even let me pitch a feature to her, which was a DISASTER because I figured I could just wing it in the room...it still makes me nauseous to think of that) and at the end of our meeting, she mentioned another friend of hers from her time at Comedy Central named Zoe Friedman. I met up with Zoe at her office at Comedy Central and we had a memorably enjoyable conversation about what I hoped to do, and our time on the east coast (she was a New Yorker), and before long a friendship developed, one that I was and still am very grateful for in its openness and kindness. 

At the same time I was doing a bunch of random jobs as one does in their early days of LA. I was a PA on a Comedy Central show called Lil Bush, run by a very nice man (and BU alum) named Donick Cary, and I was, most depressingly, a temp at Sony filing legal affairs paperwork, which meant that I would spend by mornings writing scripts I wasn’t sure anyone would ever read, go to work filing PILOT DEAL PAPERWORK FROM FANCY WRITERS, and then go home and continue writing. It was frustrating in one sense, but also highly motivating, and I think in that first year in LA, I must have written 10 pilots.

Anyway, this is getting long, which was not my intention. 

Long story short, I end up working for Zoe’s dad Budd, legendary founder of the Improv, and thank god for that job because I needed one (again, thank you Zoe). The job was basically helping Budd book acts for the Improv’s casino sites, and while booking comics wasn’t my goal in moving to LA, it was fun, put me in touch with some very lively characters, and also allowed me time to write during quiet spells throughout the day. It was during my time working for Budd that I received an email from someone at Comedy Central informing me that a showrunner for a new show had read something of mine and wanted to meet and would I like to set up a time?

I had to read the email a few times, because (a) the words seemed Nigerian Prince levels of too good to be true, and (b) because these kinds of emails often have a weird subject format which looks like MTG TO SET: GREG WHITE WITH _____ and I assumed it was a spambot trying to get me to sign up for a credit card. I emailed back informing them that yes I would love to meet with the showrunner but um, let me just check my sched--okay, checked it, yeah anytime is fine. But I also asked how this guy had even gotten a script of mine, and the response was that Zoe had submitted a script on my behalf. One of those scripts I was writing at home in NJ after college.

So very long story short, I met with the showrunner, a fellow named David M Stern, and within a week I was writing on my first show as a real life TV writer. (Thanks, David.)

But the point of this is gratitude. Nobody anywhere is self-made. Sure, you work hard and you hope to get a shot, but like Obama said during the debates in 2012, “you didn’t build that.” If you have a trucking company, guess what, you benefit from the public works programs that built the highways that allow you to run your company. And if you’re a writer, there are a million gatekeepers and the walls are way too high to jump over on your own. You need help. That isn’t to say this isn’t a meritocratic town, because to an extent it is, and so if you keep working and writing and trying to get your stuff in front of people, eventually something will fall your way because you refuse to stop until that something does, but...you’re not self-made. And realizing this is the key to sustaining a happy and healthy and productive career (and life) in the arts. You are a product of everyone who has ever said something encouraging, or given you an idea, or played you a song, or made a phone call on your behalf. Your career is a balance sheet on the amount of kindness you’ve received, whether it was deserved or not. And the way you can try and deserve that kindness, is by not being a dick about it. Acknowledge that, and you’ll be very glad you did.  

Let’s just consider this for a second. David had gotten a show to series, itself a small miracle. And he had read probably hundreds of scripts and certainly wasn’t asking for Zoe to send him one from some random guy from New Jersey. And it’s not like Zoe needed to submit me. And it wasn’t like David needed to even bother reading me. And that he liked it? And wanted to meet with me? And hire me? Consider all of the things that had to happen for me to get my first job, a foot in the door. Such tiny odds. Now, if you’re an insane person you go, YES THE ODDS WERE SMALL AND I VANQUISHED THEM! But if you’re a normal functioning human, you go, Jesus God, that almost didn’t happen, and hug the things you’re grateful for a little tighter and whisper THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU (just don’t do this on a bus or in public). Seriously, consider that. The good things in your life almost didn’t happen, and it is basically just weird luck that it did. Be grateful for the random accounting error that is your life. In fact, consider anything you love in life...and now consider that thing removed from your life. Kinda sucks, right? Exactly. You fall into a routine and you complain about something dumb and you forget about the fact that your entire life is pretty much full of glorious things that, taken on their own in a vacuum, appear to be miracles. But taken collectively they become the things most people don’t even look at. (Not to get all Pete Holmes-meets-Eliza here, but seriously. Don’t forget how lucky you are to be alive right now.)

I called Zoe to thank her the day I got that email, and I called her to thank her when I met with David, and I called her to thank her when I got the job, and I called her to thank her when I got my second job, and to this day, I still email her when something goes my way. Sold a pilot? Thank Zoe. Wrapped season 2 on a show? Thank Zoe. And not only Zoe, but my high school film teacher for showing me this was a thing I could do and was good at. And my mom and dad. And the friend who invited me to join the writers workshop when I first moved out here. And so on. And more than just this being the right way to live, it also feels really good. Your gratitude connects you to these people and reminds you that you’re never alone, that you carry in your body all the good things that ever happened to you and the more you acknowledge those good things, the more they stay alive. And of course, if ever you see yourself ten years ago in a newly-arrived LA human, you do what you can do show them kindness because in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins.

So I guess my point is, whether you’re just starting out or many years into a career, you’ve got someone to be grateful for, and I hope you let them know it. It’ll make you a better person, and that will make you a better writer. 

*I also went to BU, class of 06, but did not do this LA program as (a) it seemed insane to pay a semester of college tuition to come intern and (b) I REALLY love Boston and (b) I REALLY liked being in college and taking classes. They told me I couldn’t take more than 5 per semester, so I just started showing up to classes I wasn’t enrolled in and waited for someone to kick me out. They never did. Goddamn, I loved being a full-time student. I always say that if I ever become grossly wealthy I’m going to grad school to get a masters degree in something useless. Basically for me college was going to lectures and talks and film screenings and making our late night talk show with my friends. Actually, it’s not very different from my life now, only I own more kettlebells. 

**It was not glamorous per se. I would take the bus from Harrington Park NJ to the Port Authority daily and then back. Gross. But NYC is lovely in the fall and spring and a nightmare in the winter and summer and I loved working there, even if it was as a page for $270 a week. 

[kidsviral-blog]

23 Fictional Couples Who Will Restore Your Faith In Marriage

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/23-fictional-couples-who-will-restore-your-faith-in-marriage/

23 Fictional Couples Who Will Restore Your Faith In Marriage

Happily married couples in movies and on TV are hard to come by…but they do exist!

1. Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin from How I Met Your Mother.

CBS

CBS

  While How I Met Your Mother was technically about Ted’s long (and ridiculously winding) road to finding a wife, most fans of the show would admit that Marshall and Lily were the actual key couple of the series. They showed that “happy couple” doesn’t automatically mean “boring couple” — in fact, quite the opposite.

Ted can wave around the blue French horn all he wants, Marshmallow and Lilypad have true intimacy…with nary an eye roll or nagging comment in sight (so rare when it comes to married couples on TV).

2. Morticia and Gomez Addams from The Addams Family.

View this image ›

Paramount Pictures

They’re creepy, they’re kooky…and they’re perfect for each other.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more passionate couple than Gomez and Morticia Addams. In the words of Gomez, “I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.”

3. Rob and Laura Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show.

CBS

CBS / always-fair-weather.tumblr.com

  One of the first married couples on TV who truly seemed to delight in each other’s company, Rob and Laura Petrie just had fun together. They didn’t shriek and bicker constantly (like Lucy and Ricky), nor did they get along eerily well (like the Cleavers); they were quite the dream team.

4. Jane Kerkovich-Williams and Brad Williams from Happy Endings.

ABC

ABC

  RIP Happy Endings and RIP one of best married couples to appear on a sitcom in recent years: Jane and Brad. Always having fun together (and always all over each other), they were a couple to emulate.

5. Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence-Matthews from Boy Meets World.

Touchstone Television

Touchstone Television

  Oh, Cory and Topanga: giving kids somewhat unrealistic expectations about their middle school romances since 1993. But some couples do make it! It does happen! Plus, Cory and Topanga’s relationship wasn’t turbulence-free: It had its ups and downs, and when they did end up getting married, that marriage stood the test of time. (Proof = the Disney Channel spin-off, Girl Meets World.)

6. Ellie and Carl Fredricksen from Up.

Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios

Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios

  Ellie and Carl’s marriage takes up less than 10 minutes of the movie Up, but man oh man are those 10 gut-wrenching, tear-inducing, GIVE ME A KLEENEX PLEASE minutes.

They’re currently winning the “Which Disney Movie Has The Most Romantic Love Story?” poll, and good golly they surely deserve to. Their relationship shows that even if you never make it to Paradise Falls, marriage itself is an amazing adventure.

7. Bob and Phyllis Vance from The Office.

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NBC

Pam and Jim weren’t the only happily married couple on The Office — you can’t forget Bob and Phyllis! These two are so attracted to each other that they end up deserting Jim and Pam in the midst of a double date to go get frisky in the bathroom.

His business may be refrigeration, but he definitely keeps it hot with his wife (ba-dum dum).

8. Chandler Bing and Monica Geller-Bing from Friends.

NBC

NBC

  Could they BE any more awesome? Doubtful. Ross and Rachel, Schmoss and Schmachel: This is the couple to care about. Thank god for the drunken London hookup that brought these two lobsters together.

9. David Fisher and Keith Charles from Six Feet Under.

HBO

HBO

  If you’ve watched Six Feet Under, you know what happens during the finale; you know that you will have permanent water damage in your apartment from all the tears that will flow from your wee eye sockets — a torrential downpour of grief.

It’s almost impossible to pick which flash-forward scenario inspires the most sobbing… just kidding, it’s Keith and David’s. First you see them finally getting married, and then before you know it — Keith passes away, and then David follows suit (dying after he thinks he sees a young Keith playing football in the distance). Tears. Oh the tears.

10. Glenn Rhee and Maggie Greene from The Walking Dead.

AMC

AMC

  The couple that fights zombies together, stays together.

Glenn and Maggie may not legally be married, but they’ve been engaged since Season 3 and — let’s be real — wedding planning isn’t at the top of anyone’s priorities during the zombie apocalypse. They’re the best part of the show (a flare of hope amongst the carnage), and when they were separated during Season 5 it was as painful for us as it was for them.

11. Niles and Daphne Crane from Frasier.

NBC

NBC

  Has there ever been a “will they or won’t they” couple that you’ve more desperately wanted a “will” for? Doubtful. Hearing Daphne call Dr. Crane “Niles” for the first time sends chills down a Frasier-lover’s spine. And when they finally get married? Well, it’s better than tossed salad and scrambled eggs.

12. Ben and George in Love Is Strange.

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Sony Pictures Classics

Everyone in Ben and George’s lives know how deeply committed they are to each other; in fact, their nephew actually introduces his girlfriend to them as a sort of preamble to his own marriage proposal: He uses them as an example of what he hopes his own marriage will be.

13. Jin-Soo and Sun-Hwa Kwon from Lost.

ABC

ABC

  You’ll probably start to sob just thinking of the submarine scene.

14. Stef and Lena Foster from The Fosters.

ABC Family

ABC Family

  This is a show that doesn’t get nearly enough viewers: People get scared away by the fact that it’s on ABC Family…but they shouldn’t! The show has many virtues, but obviously the one most relevant to this post is Lena and Stef’s relationship. Their lives are full of drama, but — at least so far — all the dramatic occurrences on the show only serve to bring them closer together.

15. Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint from Doctor Who.

BBC One

BBC One

  An odd pair (Madame Vastra is a Silurian warrior, after all), but a great one.

16. Susan and Gordon Robinson from Sesame Street.

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PBS

Susan and Gordon were probably the first happily married couple you ever saw on TV.

17. Zoe and “Wash” Washburne from Firefly.

Fox

Fox

  Zoe and Wash were great at couple-y banter and equally great at their jobs. The “great at their jobs” part of that sentence is important, because it made them into two incredibly interesting characters: They weren’t just some token “married couple” on the space ship.

18. Overton “Obie” Wakefield Jones and Synclaire James-Jones from Living Single.

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Fox

While there was plenty of heat between Max and Kyle, Synclaire and Overton’s relationship (and eventual marriage) was sweet — a happy union between a laid-back guy and his lovably kooky lady. They were the cutest of cute couples.

19. Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man series.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

  Drinking martinis, solving crimes, and just being a generally amazing duo (with an adorable dog to boot).

20. Dre and Rainbow Johnson from Black-ish.

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ABC

One of the great things about Black-ish is the cast’s amazing chemistry — they actually seem like a real family. That goes for how the children interact with the parents, but also how Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross interact with each other; you believe in their marriage (and it’s a good one).

21. Mac and Bren MacGuff from Juno.

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Fox Searchlight Pictures

Mac and Bren aren’t the main attraction of the movie Juno (obviously), but they’re an exemplary depiction of a married couple that works as a team: as parents, and in their romantic relationship.

Plus, Mac’s advice to Juno in regards to Paulie Bleeker is top-notch: “Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with” — he found that in Bren.

22. Kristina and Adam Braverman from Parenthood.

NBC

NBC

  Adam and Kristina had to deal with a lot over the course of five seasons, but as the series came to a close they were still going strong. “Small victories” are important, and they knew that you need to celebrate them.

23. Tami and Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights.

NBC / Universal

NBC / Universal

  And finally, here we have the king and queen of happy TV marriages: Eric and Tami Taylor.

This is the sort of partnership you dream of having — not because it’s some storybook, fairy tale version of married life, but because it’s a realistic and flawed (yet still passionate and strong) portrayal of marriage.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mallorymcinnis/eric-and-tami-taylor-forever