#since the last half episode. cards are released on around the same schedule. like i know eg cherry picnic are specifically set in june | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hoseoksactualass · 5 years

Text

illicit episodes

pairing: jungkook x reader

genre: smut

word count: wtf it’s ltrly almost a 10k pwp im sick

warning/s: sex during office hours (and a phone call kinda) // oral (male and female receiving) // blindfold use // just very nsfw

summary: dream boy, chief executive officer Jeon Jungkook is someone you go way back with until every fibre of your being becomes his entire fetish.

author’s note: ceo jjk for @taespired

after reading this bitch’s recs I’ve gathered inspiration to write this per her request

have the cliche that nobody asked for but everybody wants: ceo!jk and sec!oc and some other filthy endeavours (also,, jk talks a lot and is cocky here)

It’s a crisp night. Evidently and especially in Jeon Corp. where Chief Executive Officer Jeon Jungkook’s office is astood. Full glass walls that point into a corner so the Big Boss himself can choose what side of the city to overlook. After all, whatever he sees fit is what he gets, and that includes an eagle-eye’s peer over where the sun rises and sets when he feels like turning his back on stacked paperwork on his desk—something the majority doesn’t see someone with such a youthful, handsome face as Jungkook’s tending to, but he does, and aces it, too.

What he doesn’t get, unfortunately, is why he ponders an unusual amount of time about the length of your pencil skirt. Certainly enough, earlier in the day, he swore they were longer than they are tonight. Somewhere above your knees, so like paperwork, he almost demands an explanation why he can see your mid-thighs now and the mesh he wished were some panty hose.

It’s hard to be hard in dress pants, too, and Jungkook has that noted to think about again when he sees you bend over for the umth time in front of him to… tend to the coffee table? For longer than an average amount of time?

That night, you say something in admiration to the hard, sturdy, thick wood of the coffee table, and it’s the same night Jungkook fingers you on it until his fingers are wrinkled wet. The first night of many.

“I’ll have my secretary send you an email.”

In his office, well, his quarter of the floor, Jungkook liked to let you take his blazer and let it grace the coat hanger for the whole day. It was 8:28 in the evening, and city lights, any light, is good to his veneer. Rolled shirt sleeves, expensive belt, and whatnot. Tonight was one of the rather torpid nights, twiddling a pen in his fingers, mind tranced into his phone call with the Chairman of the Board, and you’d hate for the tight of your suspender belts to go unnoticed. You’re three buttons away from an undone blouse.

“Estimates for the next month?,” this is where he looks at you from the listless loll of his head on his office chair. You nod, not missing the way he eyes at the open crevice of your blouse. He doesn’t bat an eye anyway, instantly averts and gets back into the call. “_____ has a summary of that.”

You roll your eyes, knowing full well he wouldn’t see it anyway. You walk closer.

“The marketing manager in—,” he looks up at you, looks back down only to bring his eyes up at you again, at your proximity. “—Japan has a what? Sorry, a problem?,” he has grace in his voice, but his eyes remain stern as if his attention hadn’t been solely caught by the way you dragged your fingers on the surface of his desk, making your way around towards him. “What does she need?,” he speaks to the phone in the same way he tugs at the sleeve of your blouse, pulling you steps closer so he can ogle at you in the comfort of leaning on his office chair. You flash him a smile, but you know it would come artlessly, what with the handsome part in his hair and the softening of his face when he finally gets that front seater view of the lace on the underboob of what Jungkook could make out as an… open front bra. “Uh—huh, should I—,” he nods as if Mr. Park could see him from his end. He tugs more at your blouse, shuffling you to his lap. “—call this a phone call and handle that then?,” he speaks with a tighter breath, and you send him a glare, aware that his impatience was evident and that he’d make you make the phone call in fluent Japanese after whatever he was growing impatient for. You shake your head, threatening to scoot off his lap before you feel his free hand cup at the small of your back. “Ah, that,” he nods again, pushing his lower lip into a small pout, and you roll your eyes again, but this time he sees it, and it’s with a smile. “_____ had that finalised since last week. She’s my—She’s a really sharp secretary,” he bites white at his lip, teeth sliding swiftly at his lip balm, and you watch every second blood rushes back into it. He palms at your chest, feeling for the opening until he can play his fingers onto your skin. “She’s emailing you on those March sales as we speak,” he boasts, pride in his lie and the way he cranes his neck where you offer to kiss. “I’d love to, I’d love to,” he sounds chipper. You assume it’s about drinks, dragging the tip of your nose across his jugular. His hand leaves the warmth of the inside of your blouse, and you feel it move to the mound of your ass. Just soft petting like it’s on his schedule. You don’t rut your hips; work clothes make way too much sound to be this close to a phone call.

The way you’re sat on his lap makes your skirt hike up your thighs, enough that Jungkook sees the straps of the suspender belt latched onto your stockings. You look at him, eyes still buzzed in an attempt to focus on the call while his fingers played with the mesh, gradually going up to the strips of the garter belt.

“I’m assuming it’s just Japan who has an issue,” his head perks up at you, amused by the way you followed his every gesture. He gives your thigh a squeeze before mouthing the word off. “Great, no attempt to contact was made yet?,” he watched as you slipped off your skirt.

You knew this would get him. To see you undone, undressed this way, a garter belt, just a garter belt that matched the revelation of your bra.

“I—I understand,” you see his chest rise high and fall. Lethargic. You make your way towards him again. He fishes for something on his desk, and then you figure out it’s the remote for the blinds when you hear a significant beep, and the room starts to grow dimmer. “You can—,” he gestures for you to turn around. “—leave that to me,” you comply only to turn to face him again. He bites down on his lip. “Ah—no, sir, it’s a late night for me.”

He gestures for your blouse’s buttons. You undo them slowly.

“For _____?,” you both perk up, meeting eyes, his dark, possessive. “Why do you ask? I believe she’s finalising that email at this second,” there’s a grit to his teeth, but he manages to smug it down. You smirk at him, and he takes it like a challenge to his competence. You’re a button away. “Mm, very well,” then he cuts his attention span, paying full to the phone call more because he was in a hurry to end it. “See you tomorrow.”

He ponders for a bit, recollecting everything Mr. Park had rambled through those lines before he looks back up at you. “You get better at lying by the day, sir,” you grin. “Part of the job?”

“What I know is that you—,” and he eyes you up and down for the effect. “—should keep my secrets,” he leans back on his chair, fingers hooking to the knot of his tie, then he pulls.

He’s lit by the filter of his blinds, bleeding with the blur of city lights; there’s a good reason behind the stigma that rings around the youngest CEO-Secretary duo and how good they look (and perform). “And I do,” you reach for your heels in an attempt to slip off the pain in your feet.

“Keep them on,” he cuts you off, the tip of his index finger running slowly over his lips. “What? I like them.”

“They hurt.”

“Fine. Off, then,” he sighs as you giddily kick your heels off then finally make your way to him again, bending down to brush the surface of your lips against his. The feeling’s addictive, scandalous but it only makes you more avid for it. You feel him take your blouse off before you wave it away, leaving you in lingerie an easy bite off his own credit card. Rich, and you could sniff it off him.

You kiss down his neck, his chest and abdomen through his dress shirt, and then undo his belt like it’s practice.

“You dress like this under everyday?,” he coos, watching as you get on your knees.

“Not everyday, but I will if you make it dress code.”

“Feel like I should,” he raises an eyebrow, confident but you still see the blazing excitement in his eyes. You tease a hot kiss on his lower abdomen, unzipping his pants. “Who are you looking this good for?”

“Myself,” you respond, palming his crotch, and he takes it with a smile.

“Gonna suck my dick for yourself, too?,” he smirks, moving his foot between your thighs and nudging them open wider from where you kneel. “Don’t think so.”

You make sure you do it languidly when you take his length out, half hard in anticipation for the heat of your mouth. You tease your tongue on the head of his cock, wetting it before you wrap your lips around it just to release with a pop. “What makes you think I’m doing this for anyone other than myself?,” you stroke him dry.

“You’re doing it for everyone you—fuck—want would get hard or wet for you,” he speaks with a voice coming more from the tightening of his chest.

You like feeling him like this, gradually becoming solid at the mercy of your mouth, hearing every hitch of his breath, and looking at him not as someone of power but as someone you can take the power out of. You let up after a particularly deep suck. “Tell me more,” you place a tight fist around his cock. “You mean yourself?”

“Yeah,” he breathes out, moans coming out in forms of consecutive heavy exhales you could feel in your spine. “And others.”

You gather a decent amount of saliva in your mouth, straighten up on your knees, and make sure he sees clearly when you let your spit drip on his dick. It’s easier to stroke him. “Others?”

“Fuck, ugh—you’re making a mess,” he leans his head back like the rest of the chair was a magnet, just to bring his line of sight back to you.

“Who is others, sir? Who else do you think would get hard or wet for me?,” you mock.

He hisses at the play of honorific but more because you knew exactly what you were doing with your hand. He smirks, though, scoffs almost. “Mr. Park. If I put that call on loud speaker, you would have heard how many times he’d mentioned you.”

“Jealous?”

“No—fuck, keep going—,” he pets at your hair, gently caressing his fingers over the neat of your low updo. “Was just thinking if—he’d seen you in those already.”

You chuckle, up to play his game though fucking Jungkook was admittedly becoming pretty exclusive. Even for him. “You’re my first audience. Always,” you chaff, finally taking him in your mouth to avoid saying anything else. He takes it like it’s the same thing that puts him to sleep and keeps him up at night, head digging into the backrest, back arching at the feeling. You’ve done this too many times to not know exactly what makes his body twitch; it’s easy enough to tighten your cheeks around his cock.

“Mr. Park hasn’t one idea what you do to me,” he as if boasts, tucking stray hair behind your ear lest he wanted it caging the view of your lingerie clad body. “What you’re doing to me—now,” his breath gets cut into a tight moan, a kick of his hip hitting the back of your throat. He moans again at the sound you make. You listen to him like it’s plugged to your ears. “That—filthy rich son of a bitch thinks he has it all,” he huffs, eyes closed when he blissfully loafs his head back before looking at you again. You look at him, only feeling the moulding of your insides more. “What he doesn’t have—,” he thumbs at your cheek, dragging it across the skin of your face to the corner of your lips where he can see his cock plunge in. He bites his lip before speaking again. “—is this mouth, right?”

“Mm,” you hum. Something about how competitive he felt around his own chairman of the board made your body churn harder than it was supposed to. You were supposed to be zipping rich off traffic on your way home by now, but now, your boss’s dick is part of your schedule. You won’t question it.

“Get up,” he forces, watching the way you let up leave a glisten on his dick, and he finds it pretty. He tugs you to his lap, manspreads when you’re sat on him, so he can touch you where he sees fit. “And what he doesn’t have—,” he continues, eyes lingering over the swell of your lips. You feel his finger feel down, all the way straight to your core. “—is this,” he smirks when he sees your face shudder. He smears his finger across the lips, rubbing too sensitive against your clit, you make a soft ah at each caress. He easily dips a finger inside, watching his hand’s work.

You like looking at him like this, his hair curtained over his eyes when he’s tranced by how you can make parts of him disappear inside you, i.e. his finger in your cunt, his breaths shallow, cock hard and red against his abdomen. You can pretend it feels good for now, his finger prodding at the wrong place, but his visual turns you on enough that pretending doesn’t feel like a chore. Until you don’t have to. It’s one curl of his finger and the right pressure that makes your hips roll like reflex.

“That’s it,” he leans before continuously pressing his finger against the spot. “Fuck yourself on my finger,” he would’ve asked you if you were up for it first, but he knows you’ll give in. What he doesn’t know is how hot it gets him. He watches you, in the congratulation of nature for the broad of your hips that rock on his finger, the water from your cunt that’s starting to soil your inner thighs, and the glisten reflecting colours of the city outside. You’re filthy art.

Another thing you like is making a mess on him and seeing him welcome it. He lets you pull on his tie rough enough, his head jerks before your lips crash. It’s almost an unkempt kiss, too—mouthing at each other like you’re trying to drink each other up, but his tongue is always so soft against your bottom lip. He kisses you like it’s ecstasy—what he feels on his finger. Then it’s near endgame when you whimper on his lips.

“Look at me,” he mutters, swiping his tongue over his lips. But you’re in too deep that his voice is nothing but radio noise. All you do is rock your hips harder in request for more and make sure he sees when your body shudders. “Please open your eyes, and look at me,” it’s like he begs for it, too, and it’s always him to plead for something he’s greatly smitten by. Until you don’t comply. He nearly rips his tie off when he undoes it, leaving you empty and snapped out of your reverie. “If you’re not gonna look at me, you’re not gonna look at anything,” he almost growls, foaming at the mouth when he ties his necktie around your eyes, forcing nothing but a dark shade of blue until all you can do is hear, feel, smell, and taste. You wince when you feel the tip of his dick against your entrance, two firm hands on your waist. You hear it when he yanks at a drawer, shuffling through envelopes and whatnot before the ripping of plastic and just the enticing, perfect roll of rubber over his dick.

There’s a burn under your body, but you sit on the fire as if you like the way you simmer on it. With your eyes covered, your other senses are sharper, but you doll yourself into submission, not having to see to know full well how hard that made Jungkook not twitch in his dress pants. You feel his lips against your ear.

“What were you thinking of when you bought these?,” when he asks, you hear how young he is. The little postgrad boy with stars in his eyes and a gift for numbers, slack-jawed for girls in expensive lingerie he’d only ever seen in... well, much higher levels of living such as that of your lives now. You feel him pull at your garters before snapping back on your skin.

You bite your lip. Jeon Jungkook, the Computer Science major you had been pining for in your younger years, was now your boss, fingers digging into your hips like the scandal of it all blows his pupils into nothing but black. You have him right where you want him. And although you roll your hips like you’re begging, and he’s grimacing into your skin with authority, you know you’re the one in control. “You. I was thinking of showing it to you,” you whisper, voice more velvety than intended.

“Just showing?”

You crane your neck, give him more skin to nip on while he speaks through his teeth. “More than that.”

“Say it,” he presses a kiss to the juncture where your head meets your neck. “Please.”

“Thinking of making you fuck me in them,” you finger through his hair, messing the do in it, but it’s always nice to feel the silk of his roots. You have him somewhere between making and fuck. It’s only fitting you hear the noise he makes clearer. “I thought of you bending me over your desk and fucking me silly.” After that, all that rung in Jungkook’s mind was a string of I want to fuck her I want my cock inside her I want to hear her cry for it.

“You had this whole nasty act planned then, huh?,” he’s lost, the colour in his eyes a thin ring around his pupils. “Bending over every time I’m on the phone, you do this to Mr. Park, too?”

You hold back a smirk. “I had this act planned just for you.”

You could be smoldered into his skin at this rate, keening where he touches and throbbing where he doesn’t. In his pulse you hear him feeling just the same way, chest tight, sweat on his hairline. He goes a little quiet until you feel him grip at your hips, lifting you slightly, and then the glory of his cock teasing at your entrance. “Shit.”

You make a tiny whimper, and his head would have shot up if it wasn’t for the rather wet visual you had prepped for him.

“You should stop making me want to fuck you every time I’m trying to work—fuck,” he twinges when you sit on him, sinking down, and a long, raspy breath leaves his chest. “Like it just the same when you’re on top of me like this?”

You like how he mumbles this way, as if whispering small mercies and sweet nothings to his own ear, just a breathier, whinier, filthier way of him uttering things to himself when work has the best of him.

You don’t analyze it over; you just want his cock hitting the right place, so you take charge and start with a slow bounce. Enough that you can say the pressure inside you feels good. You know he’s sat back despite being deprived of his visual, with the way you feel him holding his chair in place and the tense of his thighs every time you make him bottom out, and the sounds of his breaths, leaving in ropes of heavy pants and tight groans. You feel a thumb to your clit.

“Oh, fuck,” you almost throw your head to the side. The feeling sends the pair of you into a fucking frenzy—you picking up your pace as you bounce and him trying to match with his finger on your clit. “Ugh—nngh, oh my god—Sir,” the honorific is something you don’t intend. You know, you’re used to it rolling off the tongue just right. With the kick of his hips, you know he’d reveled in that more than you knew.

“Fuck—fucking say that again.”

You shiver, gripping on the arm rests for leverage, head tilted up as if in praise. When you speak, your throat’s a little dry, but it comes off in a husky, light “Sir.”

Why do I find that so fucking hot is all Jungkook thinks of, but he’s biting his lip before he makes a sound more choked than yours.

He doesn’t ask again, but by now, you have a mental note of it. And if there’s something you’re known for as a secretary besides being astonishingly younger than most and unusually giddy around her boss, you were quick at picking up on everything, so you say “Sir, it feels so fucking good” like you were programmed to.

You feel his cock do a thing inside you, and you almost laugh. Quickly replaced by a strangled moan, though, feeling him press down harder as he rubs you. He’s all noise and no words, breathy and tickly in all the good ways until he’s formed a considerable sentence. “Yeah? Fill me in,” one thing that shocks you is his spontaneity in knowing just exactly how to play. Fill me in is the exact same thing he says when asking for minutes, and you tremble as you ride him without intending to. “You like this better than getting your back blown from behind?,” you hear the grimace on his lips. His voice drops, not lower, just softer, more silky, dangerous almost when he says “You like being blindfolded?”

It’s not only the way he says it; it’s all the context behind it. Something about him scribbling down in his head what made your pussy clench around him and what put you off; it was almost... intimate. All you could muster is a faltering “Y-Yeah.”

“Tell me what you like about it,” he prods.

There’s another thing about responding to this that might ignite your skin where it meets him. As if giving in to him, making him feed off the fetish inside you that is him and every hot thing he does that makes you putty, and you don’t want to splay the evidence before him, but when he asks with a soft plead, “Tell me how this makes you feel”, you find your lips parting. “I—,” you choke when he draws circles on your clit faster as if intending to make you sputter. “I want to see you, but—I like—fuck, I like—how filthy this is.”

He groans, doesn’t mean to. Your thighs are feeling sore.

He doesn’t ask you to continue, but you do. “S-Somehow, I can—I like that all I can do now is—is hear and feel you,” you’re getting lost in it, stars in your eyes though he doesn’t see. Everything’s starting to fall into the right place, and you don’t know whether the object of his dick in and of itself feels good, or whether that was because he was doing wonders for your clit, or maybe because Jungkook was just hot. You play into it like you’re trained to and ask, voice in a choked whimper, “I just need to—taste you now.”

His thighs flex to a tense. “M-Motherfuck—,” he brings the office chair low, awkward when you slowly descend, but your feet’s weight finds home on the ground, so at least you can bounce on him without rolling on a chair around the office. He doesn’t need to hold onto the desk now, too, so he brings two fingers to your lips and faintly prods. “Ah,” he groans, a low hum when he asks you to open your mouth. “B-Be a good girl,” he almost hisses. “—and taste me like this, hm?”

It’s like your blood ascends to a boil and is stunned right under your skin when you feel him stroking at your mouth. You obey, keeping your tongue a plump bed when you take his fingers inside your mouth.

When you lightly moan, Jungkook rubs a harsh circle on your nerves before collecting his pace again. “This what you wanted?,” he asks, chest heaving harder, and you almost whine that you don’t get to see him in his glory. “Can you taste me like—like this f-for now?”

You twitch at his tone, hum to it, inner thighs burning at the sore, but you don’t give a single fuck. You bathe in it, feel the way your pupils dilate to try and collect light, but all you’re getting is a more refined version of everything but. He’s moaning for it, eyes switching between the way your lips were wrapped sloppily around his twiddling fingers and down where he was stroking you fast. He tastes of sweat and fading lotion, and every inch and twinge in your body is a second closer to ripping yourself to shreds.

It’s not like you haven’t thought about it. Establishing an unintentionally exclusive sexual connection with your boss was downright absurd, but it can’t be helped when every sensation was a fucking astral projection. You felt like you were evolving, above everyone else, and it was all because of this man’s energy. His eyes are in a haze. You tongue around his fingers, zoned out yourself, until he moans again. “If—If you’re gonna keep this up, I’m gonna—,” you feel him shudder under you. “Oh, fuck—I’m gonna—”

You’d have a mouth to your face in shock if you were looking at yourselves from a third perspective, or maybe the build up was coming too fast; you’d almost want to push him away and veer off the feeling. It’s still something he pressed harder on you, until your cunt makes squelching noises, and that’s where his head snaps. “Shit—oh, god—keep talking, please—”

“Yeah? Keep going,” he says through his tongue’s sputter. “Keep yourself on—on that cock, you fucking—ugh—,” You don’t long to plague yourself on the thought that he’d like to use your body to overwhelm himself this way, let you milk him until none of you can take it, but it plagues you anyway. He takes his fingers out of your mouth, drags the wet of his down your moving torso, makes sure he’s smearing it just right. You mewl. “Fuck—keep going.”

“Shit, fuck, I’m so close,” you squeak, the lower portion of your body quivering slightly. This is what fucking Jungkook was like—bedevilling yourself into nothing but sex and filth. “God, fuck, I wanna cum so bad—”

“Fucking—take it, please,” his hand goes down your waist, planted there like he’s hesitating whether to control your motions or not. “Keep going until you can’t take it, slut—fuck—”

“Oh my god,” you shrivel. But now, your thighs are jelly and knees are trembling; it becomes a supercut—the way he latches on to your hips, lifts you like you weigh nothing and props you on his desk atop messily swiped away papers, and it doesn’t take a minute before your toes curl, and your body itself withers into a weak hold around his dampening body, blinded from everything but the feeling of him taking it away and your own tight shrieks. Then you’re palming at his chest, his shoulders; the feeling’s making your hips buck. “Sir—fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuck—”

“Fuck, fuck, you’re so good,” he growls, loses control, leans over your body and pulls off the tie from your eyes only to groan yet again at the sight of your dilated pupils, the twitch of your face and body with every thrust closer to deathly overstimulation. Then his mind-to-mouth filter is nothing but barren territory. “Holy shit, you’re getting—fucking tighter,” he bites, and he’s not done. “That’s a good slut, that’s my good slut,” not done. “So you’ll take it, okay? Take this in your tight cunt until I’m done with you?,” not done. “You’re gonna make me finish, o-okay?”

You almost beg for it, still exactly aware of what strings of his to play with even if a second longer was one step closer to insanity. For now, it’s a whimpery mantra of “Sir, Sir, Sir—”.

“Oh my fuck,” then he loses it, holding back with a tight strain in his chest and all the pull in his abdomen, silent but taut pants until he lets loose with a string of airless groans, slowing down after. He curses a silent “Shit” to himself before pulling out and releasing himself of the soiled rubber.

Jeon Jungkook is a gentleman, taking your hand and pulling the wear and use of your body to his lap, this time with your back pressed to his front. It’s a story for another time, but when you’d just started out these particular endeavours with Jungkook, you had to acclimate to him treating you like you were married after sex, now the situation being him stroking your tummy as he embraced you and taking up your scent with his nose to your back. “You like being called sir.”

You can’t see him, but you know his eyes are closed. The skin where he sniffs gets cold. “I guess so,” he mumbles. His arms tighten around you, and that’s when you declare you haven’t adjusted to him holding you this way at all, especially with his dick done being inside you.

“I’ll put that to good use.”

“You already did, miss,” he laughs up your skin, sending two small taps to your hip to tell you it’s time to get off, and you hate it when you feel upset it didn’t last. “Anyway, I have to work from home tomorrow. Need you with me by...,” he brings his wrist up after you get off him, already in the process of pulling your skirt back up.

At the same time, you glance at the wall clock. Just struck 9.

“By seven.”

“In the evening?,” you toe your heels on.

He smiles. “Better if you’re early.”

You don’t know why, but you feel awkward when you smile back and respond with a soft “Right.”

At most at this second, you were a coffee girl, and you’d love to get out of this tight blouse that’s digging where you sweat. “Anything else?,” you stand next to Jungkook, graced but unfazed by the glory of him working on opening a new sales firm in Japan while wearing pyjamas.

It’s only now he gains sight of the restless on your face. “I didn’t really need you here, you know.”

You felt that make a section in your brain twitch, but you’ve mastered the art of sucking it up years ago. “I’m your secretary after all. We never know,” cue your signature simper, but he knows you too well by now.

“Oh, I know,” he smiles, flatting out papers on his desk and his fingers swipe dangerously close enough to knock his new cup of coffee over. “Called you here to gift you something, actually. I knew you’d be… exhausted.”

You feel the unshakeable use in your loins yet again; it’s like home was phoning you. Turns out you could get enough of your hot boss’s antics. “Oh?”

“I’d let you plan an opening shower for this firm and get that gift for you myself, but I’d figured you’ve had enough of work today,” he leans on the desk, resting his chin on the back of his palms adorably, blinking at you with the still audacity to flirt. “It’s on the bed. In my room.”

It can’t be helped. You smile at him, still in the middle of trying to oil the gears in your head to come up with a thank you or an apology for looking so fucked out.

“And can you turn on my Nintendo Switch while you’re at it? It’s on the bedside. And you can take a shower if you want.”

You laugh, nodding, to turn on your heel and make your way, the implication of him joining you to thumb at a Nintendo device heavy on your mind.

Your heels are still obnoxiously loud by the time you’re at the hall to the left despite trying. You kick them off politely before entering, and when you do, a cityscape view meets you. Someone forgot to turn down the blinds, but it’s perfect like this. A privilege to feel on top of the world by being on top of the world. The ache in your feet’s wearing off already, and the second thing you see is the beige paper bag that sits on the foot of his bed. You don’t bother switching any light on, seeing it sits bright in the contrast of the dimlit room and his dark bed sheets.

Your soles feel like they have balls under them when you walk, but you swerve and flick on his Switch first, its supposedly vivid colours toned in the night’s lighting. On the bedside table was also his watch, ticking an uncertain 8:29 and signifying you had been working on the clock for more than twelve hours. Your work hours tended to always get this rowdy when international boards like that of Japan’s had problems, so you worked like a flint striking stone, though Jungkook… was rather tranquil this evening. As if he had something planned altogether. You won’t question it.

It takes just a peek for you to decide how predictable of a gift this was, an elegant bundle of black silk and lace at the bottom of the bag. You take the bag by your fingers and walk your way to the bathroom, an inevitable smirk on your lips.

Walking in on the luxury of his bathroom will never be customary, already looking warm before you even switch on a light. When you do, you feel like you’ve stepped into a magazine altogether, the golden glow of the vanity giving the perfect accent to the dark, granite finish of the counters and big-tiled walls. For some reason, you don’t lock the door.

“Huh?” is something you don’t say to yourself out loud while facing yourself in the mirror, but the way the black chemise drapes over the parts you’d use to provoke Jungkook has you raising your brows.

The pair of you are for window undies and garters and lace and mesh upon lace and mesh, but an opaque, painfully lustrous slip was prettily uncalled for. Your hair’s still wet, but it’s something you ignore when you twist your body for a bit for the mirror as if not used to how concealed all your curves, slopes, and lines were. At least when around Jungkook.

You hear the doorknob jiggle, and you’re not supposed to, but you feel jittery, on your toes.

He greets you with a tapping foot, a flustered blush, and a bit lip.

“You’re taught to knock,” you smile, hands smoothing the silk down your hips. You feel like a wife on her anniversary night, and he’s in careless pyjamas, too, barely allowing you to make out the more intricate lines of muscle.

“You’re taught to lock,” he mumbles through a bitten lip, and you’d expect him to eye you all the way down by now, but he’s fixated on your eyes. “Kidding.”

It’s not entirely carnal, but you feel obligated to act a certain way at this moment, what with how the pair of you are dressed for rewiring your brain into being on your toes like a wedded couple’s honeymoon. “Should I address the elephant in the room?,” you break eye contact.

“Huh?,” but he’s already turning on his heel, feet leaden and ready to throw his weight where his bed waits for him. He catches on what you mean swift though, and responds with a huffy “You mean my present? Different, right?” as he crashes down.

You turn off the bathroom light and close the door behind you after grabbing the beige bag now containing your work clothes. “...Sort of,” you wiggle your toes. “I was just trying it on,” you say that rather louder than intended, and it makes him chuckle.

“Nah, tell me what you really think about them,” he pushes himself up, propped on his elbows. You give a good eye at the fabric smoothing over his chest. “I think you look hot, honestly.”

“I feel like I’m about to do nothing but literally sleep with you.”

It makes him guffaw, a bit too hard you would say if you were in his shoes; you almost speculate the slack in his jaw and the wrinkle in his eyes too much and wonder if just sleeping with you had ever crossed his mind. “It’s not like you never have.”

“I have, but it’s always after we fuck,” you raise your brows slightly.

Then it’s now you discern he gives you a sly, once-over and licks his lips. It’s almost like it gives you a spritz of energy in your bones. “Well, do you want to?,” he pulls on his collar before flicking one button of his top open, then toned, honey skin is all you think of. “Just sleep with me, I mean?”

You pull a distasted face, apples of your cheeks twitching into a scrunch when you scoff “‘Course not.”

“Good. Come here,” he pats the space next to him. A smirk on your face can’t be helped when you comply. If you were alone, the instant feel of sheets would have you in an abrupt power nap, but Jungkook handles you like he couldn’t care any less. He throws a leg over you, in a kneeled crouch above you just close enough for you to feel his breath. “Just sit back for me, hm?”

You’re not used to it. The lax in your body, how unmoving you are, clad in bold silk and lace, and Jungkook can see nothing of you but the processing in your eyes and how you wait as if calculating—Why is he

touching me like I’m about to break?

“Do me a favor,” he stills before biting white on his lip. “Tonight, I—,” then you catch his eyes follow down your body, how the silk leaves nothing and yet everything to his imagination. You’re waiting, pulse in sync with the watch on his desk. “I’m not your boss, okay?,” he as if proposes like he’s unsure you’ll confide in him. All you do is search his eyes. “I’m not a CEO, I’m just—,” his shoulders go slump, and for a minute, he zones out. “Just Jungkook.”

You blink. “I—,” honestly don’t know what to say, not when you have outstanding employee plaques on your walls telling you to treat Jungkook exactly how he says not to at this moment. “—but, Sir—“

He groans, leaning down and keeping you caged between his knees, pressing an open-mouthed kiss below your ear. “Have to stop calling me that now, or I’ll snap,” he mutters. You feel his eyelashes on your skin, every edge of his close to you boosted by the touch. For some reason, the whole idea of the pair of you in bed just like teens, with no hectic schedule or firms to attend to, has your breath hitching and even more so when he sucks your skin.

Your hands find his hair, letting the strands sprout through the spaces between your fingers when you faintly tug, and he groans in response. You’ve rarely called him this ever since college, but somehow, your tongue finds it rolls off just as right at this second—he nibbles, and you sigh, “Jungkook.” His name tastes sweet.

Then his pupils blow up, and a soft growl accumulates from his throat, his body reacting at the use of his name before his mind can even grasp it. The use of his name from your lips. “I just—,” he shivers, one hand palming at your chest. Another kiss on your collarbone. “—want to be good to you.”

His voice comes from all kinds of alluring and almost desperate. His lips rose around the bone of your collar and suck, granting himself a soft hiss he realises he’s looking for his name in. Your eyes long to flitter shut, but how Jungkook stops to eye at the marks he’s left can’t be any more admirable. You hear him sniff down your chest, his nose gliding against the fabric before another near chaste kiss on your womb.

“You’re not wearing anything else,” he utters, keeping himself level with your crotch when he slides slow hands from the back of your knees and higher.

“’Course I’m not.”

“Good,” he exhales, languid when he pushes your knees into a bend, feet flat on the bed, enough that the chemise curtains over your arousal. You grab a pillow, stuff it under your head lest you want a strain over gaping at him too much. He knows what he does to you. Keeps his eyes on you when he bites on the hem of your slip and leisurely pulls it up where he can see more skin, breathing, turning red in a glow, panting, waiting. Lost in some new inhibition and more when he whispers “Smell so good,” he kisses the mound of your crotch. “So sweet.”

You’re throbbing for it—a prelude for Jungkook wrapping wet lips around your nerves only to stay immobile. All he does is take a deep inhale against your heat; his eyes flutter shut involuntarily, and as if that hazed him, he opens his eyes into dark, lust-ridden hoods. You’re rendered speechless, the way he touches you almost convincing you you’ll break. He kisses against you, tongue licking right under the hood and lips tightening with every stroke. You make a sound he groans to, feeling a jump in the pit of your stomach before it starts to sear in your toes. “Oh, god,” you whisper, grabbing soft hold on the back of your thighs.

It’s not scarce he hears you like this, laboured breathing and whatnot, pressure on your fingertips wherever you hold on to, but your endeavors preceding that of now’s clearly showed you had the upper hand. Whether it be getting your hair tugged on, your ass squeezed to a bruise, or getting thrown against a wall, he’a always a glare away from being at your total mercy. Not now. And you don’t figure that out just yet.

He mouths at your pussy before pulling free with the shudder in your chest. He takes one arm from where he holds you and brings it to a fold near him, so his fingers play along your wetness. Your lip finds comfort bitten.

What’s so fun about this is the role Jungkook’s getting too good by the second at playing. Your eyes show puzzlement at his feigned love-struck ones, and he has you exactly where he wants. Vulnerable, anticipating something strangely erotic and intimate. The upper hand is his, and he uses its fingers to spread the lips of your cunt apart. “You okay?”, he keeps his eyes on your core. He’s not going to make any snarky comments on how your pussy looks like fresh fruit, but you feel how wet it is anyway, down your ass and all. He pushes a bit with his fingers, watching when the slick drips. He doesn’t spare your eyes a glance, bites his lip to the visual.

“Yeah, I’m—,” he pushes a finger in. It’s limp, and you feel nothing off it, so you know it’s just for feelers. “—fine,” you squeak.

“Want you to feel good, though,” he still doesn’t look at you when he twists his hand so his palm faces the ceiling, curling the plunged finger inch by inch and waiting for that one twitch. He finds it, warm and frilly against his prod. “Do you feel good?”

“There—I—feel good,” you lick your lips and swallow before realising how parched your throat was. He pecks a kiss on your clit before repeatedly pressing his finger against your spot, earning himself almost a shrill whimper from you. “Oh, god.”

“Yeah?,” he pushes a second digit in, the stretch sudden but easy. “Want to make you feel good, want you to cum on my tongue and fingers,” he as if confesses, stiffening his fingers when he slowly pulls in and out to push at your sweet spot again. He feels your hips buck, eyes breaking contact with your pussy just to see your abdomen clench. “You make me so hard, though, I can’t let you just cum now.”

You moan at his words, stupified by whatever persona he’s acquired, youthful and dirty and whipped. “F-Fuck,” is all you can muster.

He speeds up. “What I mean is—,” he stripes his tongue up where you throb for it, and you flinch. “—I want you to cum on my cock. I want to feel this tight, wet pussy cum around my cock, hm?,” his breath proves shallow, fucking you harder with his fingers. A little harder, and you’ll unravel. “I want you—,” his cock’s too much of a strain in his pyjamas by now, and his face feels too muggy. Then he admits, “—to fall apart,” pulling his fingers free and leaving you into a bloodshot, panting grime on his sheets before he proceeds towering over you. His fingers almost slip with your slick when he pulls his shirt off. He’s cruel enough to watch himself when he pulls the waistbands of his pj’s and boxers off, his cock springing up and twitching to a stand against his abdomen. You pulsate in anticipation.

He lazily strokes himself, propping himself in a kneel above you again. He stares at you, the curve of your body and how you wait wet for him. A breath leaves him in a shiver. You attempt getting up and taking his cock in your own hand, but he groans, pushes you down with his other hand and uses it to pull the hem of your chemise all the way above your breasts. Looks for the red undertone of your arousal, your breath and its evident heaving; he squeezes himself before picking up his pace. “Jungkook, let me touch you,” you mutter, on your elbows.

He can’t resist. He lets go and shrivels under the feel of your own hand, pumping him just as he had been. He hums, tilts his head to catch the spread of your cunt, still wet, swollen almost. You make sure your thumb glides over the curtain of the head of his cock, and he bucks. Subsequent to his almost falling apart, he breaks free of your touch and finally props himself down, eyes level with yours, length rubbing on the lips of your heat. You make a whimper of some sort. “Hm?,” he rocks his hips like this. His ears are red.

You can wait. Enamored by how much of a fetish you had become for him. Everything you do or say turns a switch on, and then he’ll want his dick inside you. And now that you had made this revelation, he has you at a blind spot, just waiting, even if one mention of his name will have him by his knees. You whisper, “Jungkook.”

“God,” he ruts, wetting himself with you. “I wanna fuck you so bad,” he makes a choked exhale, a scrunch on his nose leaving none of his struggle to your imagination. It’s excruciating already. Almost a wine sommelier made to watch before she gets a taste, and every second feels like she’s not getting it so soon. His hair’s falling over his eyes, but you won’t have his head for it. He makes it look painfully sexy, in his crazed element. “It’s—fuck,” he laughs, shaking hair from his vision, licking his lips into a bite when his hips stutter. “Fucking everything about you,” he fakes pressure on your hole, enough to give you a pre-launch on how he’s gonna feel getting in you, but he slides his cock yet again, a shrill groan leaving his throat like he’s annoying himself. “—makes me wanna fuck you so bad.”

Accordingly, you think it’ll drive him crazier if you slowly snake your arms from his back to his neck, and it does. He jerks forward and bites his lip a bit too hard, it’s blood red by the time his teeth give.

“Do you want me to fuck you?”

“Yes, si—Jungkook.”

With that, he caves, sparing you silent, awkward seconds to yank at the bedside drawer, and the familiar plastic ripping and rubber rolling plays like a montage again. With what vigor he had to tease you into a puzzle, he uses when he pounds you. You pull at his hair a bit too hard but this time with the awareness anything you do conjures some type of scourged reaction from him. This time, it’s a “Yeah—fucking make me feel it,” he growls, breath light already, and you feel the sheets tighten by your nape where he fists. Your nails almost spade through his scalp, and he only asks for more. Your skin sounds like cheap porn, like a fake audio overlay to appeal to those who craze over slapping skin. “Harder,” there’s a grit to his teeth. Biting down on whatever filth he has before he lets loose.

He’s fucking you hard enough. CEO Jeon Jungkook will look at who he is at this second and frown at his stripped dignity but fawn over how he knows exactly how to move. He knows your body. He’ll know exactly what skin to pinch to make a limb twitch. And he’ll learn fast when the waters haven’t been tested. In this context that he wants to fucking hear you. Are you gonna speak in tongues over dick like this? Are you gonna beg? Scream? Bleat?

“Tell me how you feel.”

Your hands go for his biceps. “I—ohhhfuck so good— fuken’—so hard, Jungkook.” Speak in tongues.

He leans down, totally snogs your ear while he’s at it, biting at skin you’ll put a pain patch over to hide. “Come on, make me hear you,” he pleads, proving lust for more. You never miss how his voice gets tight. He slows for a second, props his knees again; the sheets are starting to sting and stick to his sweat. Then he thrusts back in, fuller, deeper where his fingers have been, and your back archs the way he knows. Somehow, it’s still new. “Right—fucking there, huh?,” then cue—he goes faster. And your hips buck awkwardly, feet leaden, ankles stabbing the foam, abs flexing, and—

“J-Jungkook—more, more—.” Beg. “—More—fuck!” Scream.

And he prides himself with it. Smiles, even. “Yeah, baby?,” is in character with it. You won’t have his head now for anything even if he calls you his fucking sweetheart. Crisis talks. He’ll fuck you and won’t stop until you’ll think about him at night like he’d broken your heart.

If you clench hard enough, you feel the sensation burn but your muscles give out. Something just quite the bargain should be something that’ll fuel you. Make your eye sockets smolder. You ask for it. “Sp-Spit on me. In my mouth.”

“Shit—you fucking harlot,” there’s a glow to his chest. You almost see where his voice leaves, mouth slack when he’s not speaking; he might as well fucking moan. “Open up, baby.”

You lick your lips before you do, make sure you push on the muscle so it’s more plump, red, enough for him to make a bull’s eye when he spits. Your eyes almost roll back into your head. You can taste him. Warm, hint of mouth wash, but mostly warm, foamy, fucking hot. Your gut twists, and you swear you’ll indulge in the feeling before an orgasm starts at your door. “Nnnggh—Jung—kook,” Bleat.

“Yeah, she likes that, you like that,” he mutters before huffing hard, abdomen contracting even more before he goes silent, save for the tiny pants he gives out. Pays attention, wraps his head around your sounds, more pornographic because the both of you are nearing, and your filter has gone to hell. Your lower extremities have thrown a twitching fit, caught between shutting close and keeping them broad open for him. Your right hand lets free from his assaulted skin, traveling down your front to press down on the pit of your stomach, almost so you can feel his dick moving from outside. He makes a cursed growl when he sees you do so. “Look at you,” he hisses through his teeth’s rattling mettle. If he bites down on them, they’ll break. “You know I love your pussy,” he laughs only for it to get choked into a groan. “Getting it even tighter for me.”

Your attempt at a growl turns into almost a cough, dragging out from the blooming of your chest. You’re hot, convulsing, cells expanding and breaking at the heat. Each twinge is like a snap of thunder. You scrunch your face, choosing to show struggle to hold back over sticking your tongue out with rolled back eyes like a cadaver. “Fucking me so good, it feels so good—,” you choke, body curled at his mercy, trusting and praying to his stamina to throw you over the edge, and he’ll prove success with no fail. You have your eyes closed, but his breaths are hot and hard enough that you can pretend to see it in colour. You can write something entirely about the sounds he makes. There’s a pinch in it, each take for air like a sip of helium. “Jungkook, I’m close,” you pant.

“Yeah? Fuckyeah, give it to me.” Skin slaps. His thighs are aching, but he uses its last against your core, fucking the pair of you over it. He’ll hold it back or come to a release with a strangled groan, so he’ll beg for it like you’re gonna forget. “C-Cum, babe, I’m gonna—cum with you,” he groans, pays heed to every bounce and twinge and buck in your body to get off to.

“Fuuuck—there, there, there—“

“Gonnacum—jesus fuck,” he spasms, digs his hips into yours when he unravels and watches when your body twitches into tune. Almost like an instrument played back on track when your body softens with his and your breaths are evidently loud in the air, mouths parched. “Shit,” he exhales, crashing on you, scorching his face with your body warmth where he buries his head.

It takes seconds for you to remember you hadn’t even pulled off your chemise.

It’s a crisp night. Evidently and especially in a Jeon Corp service limo. Full tinted, glass windows that meet by the sides so the Secretary herself can choose what side of the city to overlook. After all, whatever she sees fit is what Jeon Jungkook gets for her, and that includes an eagle-eye’s peer over the roots of the city on the way home when he feels like he’s fucked her hard enough to tick something off his fetish bucket list—something the majority doesn’t see someone with such a youthful, handsome face as Jungkook’s tending to, but he does, and aces it, too.

You go home with Jeon Jungkook’s blazer over your crumpled chemise, a calculated step off the vehicle like in the films. What you don’t expect is Sang-hyuk, designated driver, handing you another beige bag, similar to where your slip had come from just about an hour ago. You peek in, enough to make out a gaping card with a Wear this next before you even find out what it is.

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hoopdiddies · 5 years

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I'm Not Over You // Ben Hardy x Reader (Part 8)

A/N: Ayoooo. Hey guys, here's part 8 and I'm so sorry if the previous chapters kind of frustrated you. I didn't really mean for it to but I hope you enjoy this one. I'll be posting 9 tomorrow or the day atfter. Thanks again for your feedbacks, y'all motivate me a lot ^^ ♥ (My Wi-Fi has prejudice against tumblr rn)

Summary: You had always loved Ben ever since you two met in university and became the best of friends. That feeling went out like a candle flame when the two of you parted ways until he re-entered your life...but this time with someone who has already occupied his heart.

Warnings: Angst, bois. ANGST (I cried like a sucker during one part I wrote 😔) mention of blood, yet again drinking, some speckles of fluff, and unnecessary dialogue if you look closely enough :^ I feel like a terrible writer today

WC: 4k I think?

Tags: As always my taglist is always open uwu

@haendel-me-with-care

@mrsdoradominguez-barnes

@mickmoon

@lakef

@mrsmazzello

@valeriecarolinaw

@queen-turtle-boiii

@hardzzellos

"You look...beautiful." Ben's comment is indeed one thing to start the night. It's not like he's never told you that before–it's just the tone in which he has said it in is...different. A foreign tone never been released from his lips until you. You look up at him through your lashes, giving him a slanted smile accompanied by a bubbly chuckle. "Thanks. You smell nice too."

The corner of his eyes crinkle as his curving lips push them up. As expected, Rosy chimes in between you and Ben almost too quickly, the blurry speed in which she has arrived in making you gasp. "Excuse me, babe. You got interviewers on your tail and I- oh," her brows shoot up upon seeing you, seemingly haughty eyes flicking up and down your outfit in mild contempt.

"Surprised to see you here as well." The smile plastered on her face couldn't be any more forced than it is.

Girl, chill. Anti-aging soaps are not easy to manufacture these days. You begin holding your breath to prevent yourself from bursting into a fit from hearing that thought ring in your head. You shrug, garnering the guts to shift on your heightened stance and lean in an inch close.

"You're not the only one with a celebrity date."

You turn around too early to gauge her reaction, finally exhaling from holding your breath too long. You can finally conclude that she's had an effortless transition from being benign to far from being benign. The smoothest one-eighty you've ever witnessed. You remember her clearly being downright considerate of you the first time you met her yet now is a whole different story. You wonder if she was actually ever considerate.

As the boys and Lucy indulge in brief interviews, you stand behind the scenes and get the first-class chance of conversing with Brian. He's readily the coolest person in the house right now, bantering with you every once in three, fascinating topics. How fortunate are you to be in the spot a million Queen fans would die for but of course, you don't want to leave out Roger who - by a landslide - makes you wish you could wheeze and snort all you want if you weren't in a luxury event such as the Oscars. He seemed intimidating for you at first but as he joined in your talk with Brian, things escalated real quickly.

With the pre-ceremony interviews and the clinking of champagne glasses dampening, you begin hunting for your seats in the theatre.

Before you know it, you are informed that only a specific line of people are given exclusivity for the seats. And it shocks you that Joe, Allen, Ben and Gwilym are not given that card when in fact they were part of the very film that brought forth a new generation of fans.You shake your head disappointingly albeit contented that Rami, Lucy, Brian and Roger and their wives are part of the exclusivity.

Utterly determined to know the results - by Joe's 'sovereign' vote - the rest of you hang around in the waiting area, focusing on the ceremony rights shown on TV. Quietly sitting through the results, you all whoop and applaud at the mention of Bohemian Rhapsody obtaining three awards straight– your cheers amping up a notch as Rami brings home the 'Best Actor' award. Joe begins filming your reactions for Instagram, zooming into Gwilym, Ben and Allen's faces for most of the video. You throw your head back in laughter at how goofy the boys look; a bunch of men in their 30's bouncing up and down with one of them documenting the entire episode. At one point, Gwilym yanks as you in for a group hug, mercilessly crushing you in between their muscles– the disorienting experience now being something you wish you would never undergo again.

As Rami's thank you speech unfolds, you pay attention closely. The sentimentality of him lovingly thanking Lucy for being his anchor after dedicating his award to Freddie Mercury is just overwhelming and you wish you could tear up but your mascara would be waste. You're certain that made Brian and Roger emotional as well.

An hour after the ceremony, you all head down to the Vanity Fair after party in the same limo you had arrived in with every single person in the group eager to get the night progressing. Regardless of saying that these type of parties are not up to your speed, you try to get along with the evening and revel in what you know would be your last night with them. Sadly enough, Roger and Brian had to skip out on this with rough schedules on their hands. The moment they walked out of the place, they spent nearly half an hour congratulating the boys and having other celebrities congratulate them.

As you are seated across Ben and Rosy, you can't help but notice him acting a little distant from her. She's all nuzzled up against his arm and he is nowhere close to returning the favor. He's just...lost in thought, staring out the tinted window. It's still early to assume that in all the hours you were within a close range to them, Ben only ever acted aloof, giving her attention when the situation required it.

Perhaps a lover's tiff took place?

"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing too." Mimicking your position, Joe calling you back to Earth makes you gasp a little. You close your eyes and look at your fingers blankly after recovering, sighing. "I think we should end all this pretending. It was simply a cop-out in the first place."

"I know," he whispers audibly enough for only you to hear, running his fingers through his fiery, red hair, "you should probably come clean soon enough before you leave."

And that you will. At least, you'll try.

In your defense, you thought the after party would host a fancy banquet but seated around with celebratory drinks -considerable with something classy - and attendees breaking down on the dance floor is a rather okay scene as well. As long as you don't end up like the night you were invited out for a drink with your colleagues, you should be fine for the most part.

The boys and Lucy have fully immersed themselves in the beat of the music while you've decided to remain stationary with one glass of wine, the only glass you'll be having for the rest of the party.

The entire time you gawk at them amusingly as they break out their dance moves, your eyes always find their way to Ben, who makes you snort painfully from all his antics as he moves along with Joe. They're a mess with their ties and buttons undone from all the movement and the sight inspires you to stay put.

But oh dear lord, can Ben dance like an uncle.

Keeping your attention on them, a descending weight sinks down next to you. You pay no mind to whoever it is but do as her voice interrupts your thoughts. "I hope your eye is on the right person, honey." You click your tongue in exasperation, turning your body towards Rosy and her developing, bitchy tendencies, scoffing as you place your drink down to set things straight with her. "First of all, what did I ever do to you to deserve this kind of talk?"

She smacks her lips together at you, simpering. "You didn't think I'd notice?"

"What are you talking about?"

Her almond eyes narrow as if she's trying pin you down with a warning. "Please, don't act like I never noticed. You're overstepping that boundary between you and your best friend- my fiance." Okay, so she's noticed. But your neutralized expression is not going to be giving away anything.

You incline your head to one side in hopes that the facade you're pulling would decompress her suspicion. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Ben is like my brother. "

Grabbing her drink from the table, she sighs and stands up, hands firm on her hips and face silhouetted under the beaming light nevertheless giving you a transpiercing glower in the manner of seeing through the makeshift barrier you've pulled up. "He better be. Try backing off every once in a while when I'm around."

To your dismay, you snap inside, whipping your head up at her and replying sharply to make the message crystal clear. "Rosy, you have no idea." Unable to withstand the atmosphere you're in, you put great emphasis on your words and snatch your drink, walking out to the mini garden to finish what's left of your wine without having to bear being around her.

The question is unadulterated and obvious– bold and italicized if you wish to give it a stretch and clarify it.

Why is Ben still with her?

Is he that clueless not to realize it?

You don't want to pry the answer out yourself but ruminating on it, Rosy pulling off a full one-eighty only when Ben's at an appropriate distance for her to squeeze you between her fingers is just about good as a reason as anything. Your unwavering feelings for Ben are clearly perceived by her– from the way you had reacted the day he introduced you both to each other to not so long ago.

You wonder if Ben ever took heed of her growing attitude towards you.

Finishing your wine in one, immediate, swig, you place it down on the marble surface before you with your fingers cradling the stem of the glass– relishing the spicy liquid flushing down your throat.

At the extent of overexerting themselves, Joe and Gwilym flop down back on their seats like jelly, tuckered out from the unconventional combination of alcohol and unsteady movement. Panting like a dog who had just participated in a marathon, Joe shrugs out of his blazer and tosses it over his shoulder, silently wishing the ice in the bucket that held the bottle of wine would save him from the grinding heat of the wine he had just about five minutes ago.

"Mate, you're deep in the heat." Gwilym comments as it is followed by a gentle laugh on how Joe's glistening in sweat under the dimming lights. He hands him a partially bland look before wiping his forehead with his handkerchief. Lucy and Rami are situated at other end of the place enjoying a chat with another party of people meanwhile Ben and Rosy are nowhere near any of them. Until, of course, they reappear from God knows where and Ben suddenly asks Joe where you've gone.

"I-I don't know." He says after a hefty sigh. Somewhat eager to find you, Ben begins excusing himself from Rosy whom which he has spiked a bitter reaction from for sharing his supposed time for her with you. Fed up and jealous in the slightest, Rosy snaps at him.

"Okay Ben, why do you always have to skip in between minutes to hang out with her even when we're together?"

He pauses from turning around completely and sighs. "She's my friend, babe."

Unwilling to accept his statement, she claims. "Well your friend is getting in the way of what was supposed to be our time together! Can't you set aside a limited time for her?! " This has alarmed Joe and Gwilym but it isn't their business to butt in and stop a quarrel from breaking out. Unless it turns physical, which is doubtful to happen. Ben, a little frustrated but still tolerant of her ongoing skittish behavior, tries to reassure her. "I know that, alright? But something's been bothering her for days and I just want to make sure she's doing alright."

"Can't you leave the worrying to Joe? He's her bloody boyfriend anyway!"

Wagging his forefinger at Rosy, Joe grumbles as he is not having any of her talk, scrunching his brows at her.

Grabbing her shoulders gently, Ben tries to relieve her of tension and assures her once more, but with a well-known fact she obviously still doesn't accept. "Joe's a little drunk. She's like...a sister to me," it really took him an abrupt pause to say 'sister', "besides, you're my fiancee. There's nothing to be jealous about."

"Why does she still have to be a part of your life? Our life?" Now that's a question that has just shifted Ben to a farther side. His brows knit together in momentary disbelief, unable to take her words in a good light. "God, Rosy! She's been around for so long! At least make an effort to accept her!" Like a slap to her conceitedness, Ben turns on his heels and walks out to find you. Leaving Rosy a steaming mess of insecurity.

However slightly drunk, Joe mutters to himself as he makes sure neither Gwilym or especially Rosy hears his words stumble out in a whisper. "You've grown a pair, Ben. You've grown a pair."

You've been outside for nearly half an hour; wine glass empty and your hair, along with the skirt of your dress, drifting along the harmless breeze and the waning moon spilling some light from behind the shaded clouds. Though there were a couple of people that found their way here to get some respite not too long ago, you're just glad to have this space to breathe in from the draining background of the party.

As you lose yourself in thought, a certain voice brings you back to reality.

"Nice night out, huh?"

Turning around slowly, you are met with the cool, forest green irises that you've grown to never tire of seeing. "I'm surprised you're still well-kept in that suit despite the scene back in there. " You give in to a chuckle, your smile pulling Ben to approach your side leisurely. "It's my Oscars suit. Something worthy of protecting."

"Hah!"

As he rests his elbows on the surface next to you, the distance between your skins makes you a tad bit anxious. Comfortable silence falls upon you both– for Ben at least, it's tolerable however you're not taking it well, not even in the slightest. You rub your hands together and sigh, prompting Ben to finally ask you.

"You alright? You've been tensing up lately."

You nod, closing your eyes and opening them afterwards. "This dress is just depleting me of bodily warmth." Half a lie told by you. Acting on his thoughts, Ben begins taking his blazer off but you stop him mid-shrug. "Keep it on. You look better with it on."

"This would look better on you, you're obviously freezing." He's really keen on keeping you warm but you're just as so in letting him keep it on. "I'm serious. Keep it on. I'm fine."

What can he do but just give in? When you're serious, you're serious. He lifts his shoulder in half a shrug, ducking his head as an idea flickers in his head like a bulb. He wants to relive something that has been lost through the years and it's only right that he does...now that you have less than a day to disappear from his life completely.

"Y/N..." He muses gently. You raise your brows at him in question, taken by surprise that he has his hand held out to you. Bewildered, you raise your finger to ask what on Earth he's doing. "What- what are you doing?"

He licks his bottom lip and the smile on his face becomes bashful but certain. "What else does it look like I'm doing, silly girl? Asking you to dance."

You're sorry that you couldn't keep a snort at bay. "Pfft. Ben, I think you're asking the wrong girl."

"Just let me dance with my best friend."

"Wow! That's noble of you," your chuckles can not be contained, even so much as restraining yourself from letting the blush spread throughout your face. But he has the fragments of what was once your heart, so why wouldn't you? You slip your hand in his and the grin on his face widens. "There we go. Easy does it." He breathes out, his voice getting gravelly. You hit him softly on his chest for cooing, at the same time realizing that his voice becomes that way only and only when he's nervous– something uncommon between you both. As his hands find home on your waist, you throw your arms around his neck, laughing at how awkward yet funny it feels. What a huge nod to how you danced with him on Homecoming.

"You're so weird sometimes. You got your fiancee, why don't you dance with her?" Getting used to the sting of referring to Rosy, you question anyway. He initiates with a sway before responding. "I already have. But, " he diverts his heavy-lidded eyes from staring off the distance to yours and suddenly, it feels like you're home, "I want to finish that Homecoming dance."

You find yourself speechless as you shift your unflinching gaze at him and he at you, your bodies swaying along the concrete and in perfect sync, coincidentally to the sudden change in music from inside, compared to the bittersweet night you had before the day that parted you both. Thin silence hangs in the atmosphere but only because you are looking at each other in a way you never have in your entire lives.

Instinctively, you break your gaze from his and rest your head on his chest, your hair falling into your face as your eyes screw shut. You hear his heart skip a beat, unusually in the same manner yours always has. Feeling your head follow the rise and fall of his chest tickles you inside– temporarily making you forget about the pain of soon letting him go and producing a sense of safety.

Maybe it's because of exhaustion? You wonder. He doesn't hesitate to stroke your hair and revel in the moment as well, easing you in closer to his body without breaking the sway. "You'll be there on my wedding day, right?" He asks nervously, his question pulling you back to the harshest reality.

You open your eyes slowly, your lips trembling as you let out the saddest sigh, feeling your chest tighten from the anxiety of soon telling him the truth.

"Y/N?" Your tensed-up body alarms him and so he breaks away and lifts your chin up lightly, being met with glossy and regretful eyes. His messy brows drawing together in slight worry. "What's wrong?"

Everything.

However uneager to push him away, you do, escaping his warm embrace. "Ben, I..."

He's dreading for your answer, painfully anticipating for the best or the worst to the point where his hands are lubricating with sweat.

You swallow the lump that has hardened in the back of your throat, pressing your lips together to prevent a sob from escaping and shunning his prying stare. "I can't..."

Joe's half-assed predicted, worst case scenario is slowly unfolding.

"What are you saying? You're not- you're not going...to be there?"

You bite down on your lip hard enough to make it swell, shaking your head and casting a sideways glance.

"Why?"

Tell the truth. Just tell him and you're either getting a support or another jab to the heart.

"Y/N, please! Tell me why!"

"I'm leaving, Ben!" The words didn't seem to stumble or carelessly flop from your lips, in fact it speared through him clean thereby catching him off guard. His eyes have fallen gravely, lips parted due to shock.

"I got into a medical school I had previously applied for. And I'm leaving," you snap your eyes shut and open them in tears once you've looked up at him, "on your wedding day."

"Why didn't- why didn't you ever tell me?" He's pleading for your explanation, barely clinging on to the belief that you would always tell him things.

You don't answer as you are battling to muster up the courage to say it.

"Y/N, please! You never tell me anything these days! And this- this news, it's important! You're leaving on the day I need you the most, and you never bothered to squeak a word about it! Not a single, bloody word! Why?!" He's racked up with disbelief and apparently, anger. Eyes rimmed, clouded with mixed emotions and face full-blown red from the pressure.

He grabs you by the shoulders and pleads heartbreakingly, his lively voice reduced to but a whisper. "Why..."

"I-" You're still holding back.

"Say it! "

"You'd soon forget about me, Ben!" You inhale sharply as you add, croaks present in your voice while you take two steps further away from him as you lament. "I'm hopelessly in love with you, you idiot! I've always been. I try- I try to brush off every single prick that stems out every minute I realize that you already belong to someone else..."

"Y/N-"

"I figured not telling you would help me let go. And it's the only way I can...because screw you for being a clueless, irreplaceable bloke! I can't imagine my bloody life without you in it! I don't think I can ever love anybody else...but you, "

"Y/N..."

You don't let him finish and achingly throw your hands to your chest as a gesture, pounding your chest thrice as you're finally wearing your heart on your sleeve. "I can't blame you for being oblivious to my feelings. You're committed to Rosy...and as much as I want to see you happy, I don't want to stand idly by and- and feel this way when you've pledged your heart to her...I want to forget and for you to forget me," As the warm tears you've held back for so long roll down your cheeks, you hug yourself through the pain, "I want you to be happy without worrying how I'd feel. And disappearing from your life, is the only way I know how..."

"Y/N, please, don't say that- don't do this...you can't do this...you c-can't..." With hands shaking, he strides towards you to haul you in back into his arms but you take an agonizing step away, stopping him in his tracks. "I have to. I...I want to. It hurts so much, Ben. It always has but promise me," even if you have taken a step away, you take it upon yourself to take those steps close to him and cup his cheek with a cold hand, "promise me you'll revel in that happiness. It's going to hurt being away from you. But it's going to hurt even more if I stay. And watch...my best friend grow old with someone else." Finally rendering him wordless, you shake your head and whisk past him back into the party which has died down a bit, leaving him a pondering mess out under the bleak sky.

"How could I be happy without you..."

You'd gladly do anything to go back home right now. The weight of what just took place is crushing you and the need to escape is fuming. But the thing is, Ben was never one to let you go easy.

He never did and possibly never will.

He sniffles and inhales sharply, jogging in after you and calling out your name amidst the constant noise and chatters. "Y/N, wait!"

You reach your table just in time to see everyone still gathered around with drinks raised and laughs released but you have to excuse yourself deliberately. "Y/N? Where have you been? What's the rush?" Lucy notices your hastened movement and places her hand on your tense shoulder. You snap your head at her with your purse in your grasp, shaking your head and apologizing that you have to leave, forgetting to rid your eyes of tears; the sight of you amping up Lucy's concern therefore leading you into her embrace. "Oh my god, are you okay? What happened?"

"Y/N!"

Ben's distant but audible voice echoing through the place just sends you panicking inside. "I'm so sorry, Luce. I have to go."

"Y/N, wait! What's wrong?"

Just as the rest could react to Lucy calling out for you and Ben dashing past them to catch up, you've already disappeared into the crowd, headed out the theatre to take a cab ride back to the hotel. Relentless to let you go, Ben follows your trail, spurring a quick frenzy from the rest and having them pursue Ben in return. Once you reach the outskirts of the pavements, you don't think twice before crossing the highway with your focus hardened before you.

Gasping for air upon exiting the theatre, Ben glances around in haste and finally spots you marching down the street oblivious to your surroundings despite treading along the pedestrian lane. His eyes widen in dread and acting on a fight or flight reaction, he yells for your attention as he speeds down the street to pull you in or rather save you from a possibility of getting hurt with all the rushing vehicles and careless drivers. "Y/N! Y/N!"

The boys, Lucy and Rosy arrive outside just in time to witness Ben race towards your direction and in a moment of feeling time slow down, you feel your heart in your throat at the late flash of nearing headlights, to add a heavy force propelling you off your feet and onto the other side of the road. What gets you up from the ground are the mixed screams of a familiar bunch and the sight of a bloodied man in white laying unconscious on the cold surface of the road.

White noise suddenly fills your ears instead of your own voice as you scream out his name.

#borhap #queen #ben hardy #ben hardy imagine #ben hardy x reader #borhap cast #borhap cast x reader #borhap imagine #ben hardy fanfic #imagine #fanfic

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RWBY - Volume 6, Chapter 11 Production Analysis

Previous Volume 6 Production Analysis Posts:

Chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine & ten

A lot of anticipation for this episode was built up by various members of the CRWBY and for a few big reasons. Since the episode first premiered, a lot of buzz (pun not intended), debates and speculations have gone around across every corner of the internet within the fan base. So let’s try to make as much sense about everything that went down behind-the-scenes.

What is considered very surprising in hindsight is that despite its run time at only 15 minutes, it is the most action-packed episode since the volume premiere. That means that there is a lot to break down regarding who did what and while there has been some confirmation, it’s not all specified from sequence-to-sequence. No doubt such details will be reserved for audio commentaries in the eventual volume 6 blu-ray release, but for this analysis, much of what will be discussed is mostly educated guesswork.

That being said, one thing made clear is the list of storyboard artists and to a lesser extent, which one them were involved with the boards for which scenes. I made an observation last week how the last chapter had six artists assigned to handle the boards which is the most this volume has had since chapter 2 (though not the most in the series, that honor goes to chapters 1 & 2 of volume 5). In this episode, only Rachel Doda, Kevin Harger, and Cassidy Stone were credited. It is still unclear as to what the rhyme and reason is behind the amount of storyboard artists varying from episode to episode the way they do, though scheduling is a possibility. As for who was responsible for which scenes, it’s not totally certain which segments were done by Cassidy Stone, but thanks to the 11th episode of Crwby - Behind the Episode, it is confirmed that Rachel Doda was greatly involved with the first half while Kevin Harger largely did the latter half. There was one major thing that was the focus of how the visual direction flowed in the first fight, that being how Ruby and the others would each face Cordovin’s giant mech.

Scale was the main idea between eight characters and one giant machine. The camera needed to get the feel of how characters would dodge and defend themselves against every close-range and projectile attack and get closer towards whatever part of the mech they could get to. That represents the bulk of what needed to be considered between the director Kerry Shawcross and Rachel Doda. There was also a conscious attempt to keep things consistent in regards to which character was where on the part of the lead camera & layout artist, Kate Warner. For those unaware, camera layout artists are the ones that take the storyboards and animatics that establish the shot composition and timing of a scene and translate that into how the 3-D character and environment models will be placed through the “camera”, that being the way the viewer will see the scene. As mentioned before in one of the posts about RWBY’s cinematography, this team was established during volume 3′s production and due to sharing a few of the same members as in the storyboard department, communication between the two teams and the director would naturally be constant. For dialogue scenes, what matters between storyboards and camera layout is capturing the right mood and expression while focusing the shot on a character based on what a character is speaking about or interpreting as they listen. In action scenes, it’s about capturing the scenario of the conflict between who is fighting who, the size of the characters, the amount of characters fighting at once, etc..

In the production analysis for chapters 2 and 5 of this volume, I broke down observations of what could be the techniques Rachel Doda applies based on previous scenes she did storyboards for. Techniques such as camera rotation, having an object be placed in front the camera for blocking, having a character from the background be revealed to be in focus and long shots of characters in opposing positions are possibly Rachel Doda’s calling cards and while not a lot of them are seen in this fight due to it being different from most other ones, there is one other possible trick she applies in her boards. In instances such as the Weiss character short and Yang vs the bandits, both of which she did the boards for, they both applied a shot or two of characters that are about to perform an action in brief slow motion. This observation, like many unconfirmed things about these analyses, are of course speculative. But if this were the case, then it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the same technique was a applied in a much bigger way during the Cordovin mech fight, namely when the party split in three ways and when Ruby dodged and rode along each of missiles. It’s not quite like the flair in a missile circus as seen from Japanese animators such as the creator of the technique, animator Ichiro Itano and those inspired by the creator such as Shingo Fujii, Nozomu Abe, Seijoon Kim, and Yasushi Muraki, but I will certainly take what RWBY had to offer. Now if only we knew who animated that sequence.

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Though to backtrack, there is some confirmation who at least took part in animating the fight. Among the confirmed animators were Collin McAtee, Nicole LaCroix, and Vince Cappelluti. Vince seems to have specifically animated the sequence with Weiss helping provide split-second cover, not including effects while Nicole and Collin contributed to helping animated Cordovin’s mech such as in the opening cuts, among other things. Timing the mech to even move and function as convincingly slow as they did while also having other characters move in a nimble manner must have been an interesting challenge on their part. Some other noteworthy bits of animation were the way Qrow and Ruby each descended to cut down the mech. Similar to the sequence when Qrow and Ruby took down the Sphinx Grimm, there’s a lot of character between how each of them lunge down with their scythe weapons. One displays more technique due to experience and comes off more acrobatic while the other is more wild and eccentric which aligns a bit with the behind Ruby’s character design as Monty Oum stated working on with concept artist, Ein Lee. Another instance of good character animation in the midst of all the action was the small moment when Qrow and Ren destroyed the shield generator. Qrow would naturally spin his weapon before firing whereas Ren is more comfortable following his lead and time when he fires his weapon at the same time.

One glaring misstep though would be towards the end of the first half of the episode where Cordovin catches the missile Maria fired. Putting aside whether the idea of a missile not exploding on contact the way it did would be able to suspend the viewer’s disbelief, the issue is that it’s timed too abruptly. Up until that point, the mech’s movements have been animated in a consistently sluggish manner. So to have the hand catch the missile instantaneously felt very off though a possible solution in hindsight may not have required changing the animation. What could have helped alleviate the confusion was adjusting the camera in a more three-quarter view behind the missile and having it slowly zoom out as it gets closer to the mech so that when it’s caught, it would be a bit easier to see how it got caught in the viewers mind.

Speaking of camera movement, a much more positive sequence was Jaune dashing over to soften the impact of being swatted by the mech. As stated by Rachel Doda in CRWBY - Behind the Episode, this was a deliberate choice on Kerry’s part to get the sense of power behind the swing. The sequence also helped provide an example of how much camera positioning can make a difference in an action sequence. One complaint some fans expressed about the Battle of Haven episodes in volume 5 was the usage of reaction shots as if they utterly disrupted the flow of fights. However, as certain action scenes in volume 6 show, reaction shots are not inherently a bad thing and the effectiveness of them can depend on the right angle being used. In the shot where Jaune runs covers for Nora, the latter stays in the same position and doesn’t move. If the camera say, remained at a static eye level as we see Jaune run towards Nora, a given viewer might complain that Nora isn’t running away. However, since the camera only tracks to Nora briefly, then back to the mech and then proceeds to follow Jaune til he and Nora get hit, one’s belief is more suspended.

One aspect that definitely served a big part of what makes the first half of the episode what it is are the effects. We got a taste of this in the previous episode with Cordovin firing lightning dust, but now we get an array of various element-oriented dust effects, both in 3-D and 2-D. between the dust chargers, they each were given nuanced approaches in terms of how they built-up energy and how they were released. The ice dust blast emits energy in a more subdued manner before it interestingly releases cold, poofy-looking air and then unleashes a brief beam that recoils the cannon. When Weiss blocks the attack, the earth wall is in of itself pretty simplistic by just having the effect stretch. But the real charm is the 2-D effects of the smoke around the wall and most especially, the impact of the ice dust itself and how it forms from our direct point-of-view. By the following shot, we see the same impact from behind the characters which creates a combination of white flashes and dimmed lighting that nearly creates silhouettes. Moving on to when the earth dust is fired, small rocks appear and form and since they swirl in mass numbers, the cannon shakes around a bit. Once the dust is launched, rocks and boulders in larger chunks burst out. What helps sell the burst itself is how the light that was behind the rocks shoots out along with them to make the blast seem more fast and powerful. The smoke emitted upon impact and the white flashes from each cannon fire also help make the stalagmites being immediately formed seem more dangerous. Finally, there’s the wind dust blast which has the air swirl around before firing a burst with a couple of flashes and in the next shot, the blast resembles that of a beam accompanied with rings spreading out then dissolving.

Of course, there were more visual effects going on besides the varied dust cannon fire, one of which being the hard-light dust shield. This is apparently the official name of the type of dust seen in the form of shields and barriers as seen in Amnity Colosseum and the shape of Velvet’s weapons through her camera. This was not even the first time this type of dust was used since the CRWBY migrated to using Maya and 3DS Max as their main animation and modeling softwares, as it was technically used to power the train engine in chapter 10 of volume 4. Right now there’s not much to add other than that it dissipates in a manner similar to how each of the weapons appear. Also, since this was part of the scene, it’s pleasing to see how since this volume, the smoke from Nora’s grenades are not only officially given a cel-shaded pink color but that as they fired with enough distance, the trails start to wobble for lack of a better way of putting it. Other visual effects that have been seen and utilized before such as the waves on the bottom of the cliff side and the ice from Weiss’s dust usage have also been a part of the presentation, but probably the best moment outside of the dust cannon was the giant splash from Cordovin’s missiles. Being 2-D animated likely by Myke Chapman, this must have been tedious to animated frame-by-frame and yet the size and timing was effective at making the impact feel as powerful as it did. The most immediate comparison was to a sequence in episode 23 of One Piece animated by Hideaki Maniwa, whose tendency to liberally have effects be on 1s the way he did made his work a treat to watch in the first couple-hundred episodes of the series.

That was a lot to cover regarding the main party fighting against Cordovin and yet that was only the first-half of the episode. There is still the latter half that focuses on Blake and Yang each having their go against Adam Taurus and indeed is their a lot to unpack. As stated earlier, three storyboard artists were tasked with this episode, one of which being Rachel Doda who handled the former fight. Here, Kevin Harger takes over a great portion and this was actually somewhat confirmed since over a week the episode premiered. Back in episode 9 of season 2 CRWBY - Behind the Episode, insight was given about the motion capture process and in it, footage was accidentally shown of the storyboards for this episode that ended up being leaked on certain corners of the internet. This was of course a blunder and currently the boards have been blurred out ever since. But since the episode proper has become publicly available, now is a apt time to talk about them. The drawings within boards match that of previous storyboards confirmed to have been done by Kevin such as in the Yang character short, the Gods of Light and Darkness confronting each other, Oscar vs Leo and Ozpin vs Hazel, as well as some of his drawings outside of RWBY in general.

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With all of that confirmation in mind, this is a good opportunity to briefly study on Kevin’s techniques with doing storyboards. Of course, this is all observation and storyboard artists tend to work closely with Kerry to go over what is the best way to depict action sequences, so take what will be said with a grain of salt. Although it’s not much, there are two traits to assess from Kevin Harger’s storyboards. First is that scenes he’s involved in tend to display a shot where two characters briefly stare at one another or at least one stares at the other in a brief standoff before the fight proceeds. This can be seen in some of the previously mentioned examples. Second, any character that is seen as having the advantage will be framed in a shot or two as being above the other in height. This will naturally apply to taller characters like Hazel and the Ursa Grimm but is not limited to them as Ozpin when he took possession of Oscar’s body is framed similarly in one shot. The third and final observation is that in a given sequence, one character may be seen dodging and maneuvering either around or somewhat away from his/her opponent as seen with Yang and Ozpin.

The reason any of this matters is because for fight scenes, the storyboards help determine the choreography and shot composition just as much as the animation. In fact, depending on how much the animators want to stick closely with them, the boards can determine the choreography even more so. This is something that fan-favorite animator of RWBY, Kim Newman. expressed when talking about animating the Yang character short at the Just the Fights Panel at RTX Austin 2018. stating how important storyboards are and they have helped saved her time and stress. Going back to the Blake vs Adam fight, the observations made earlier about Kevin’s previous storyboards can be seen here such as Adam being framed as bigger than Blake and the two characters in a brief standoff. Also, every action and reaction the characters communicate through their movements and the emotions in Kevin’s boards can serve as great fuel for the team of animators assigned to the fight once they see the animatic. Another possible way of getting the animators psyched up for the fight in this episode and perhaps even Kevin when having done the storyboards would be knowing that Blake intends to dual-wield. As unusual of a source this is, on March 15th, 2018, Kerry Shawcross confirmed to a fan named Casualdoom12 via the live chat of of a stream of RWBY volume 5 in regards to whether or not Blake would dual wield in the future by simply saying, “yeah.” Many fans have accused Kerry and Miles of forgetting how certain characters fight until they suddenly remember to. But sources have strongly argued otherwise, such as with Qrow and the scythe mode of his weapon, Harbinger according to the volume 3 blu-ray directors audio commentary track with his fight against Winter:

Miles: “It was your idea by the way to have the transformation start and stop as the ultimate cock tease.”

Miles: “To this day, I’m still seeing comments, “WHEN ARE WE GONNA SEE THE SCYTHE?!” It was, I loved it. It was great.”

Kerry: “We just kinda wanted to mess with people.”

Miles: “Y-you and me?”

Kerry: “Nooo, naaaah.”

And in the volume 4 blu-ray directors commentary track with his fight against Tyrian:

Kerry: “So uh, a lot of people wondered why he never went into scythe mode during the fight. We actually talked about that for a really, really good amount. And really what it comes down to is it’s just not, it doesn’t seem like it would be fast enough.”

Miles: “Yeah, it’s not gonna do stuff to fight against somebody like Tyrian.”

Kerry: “No, because Tyrian has essentially got like 3-5 points of contact depending on if he’s using his feet or not. And to just try and block them with that giant scythe just didn’t seem like a good idea. So that was why because I know people really want to see him in scythe mode, but we just felt it would feel forced and not make a lot of sense for him.”

Then there was the matter of Velvet deciding to use a hard-light dust version of Penny’s weapon, again in the volume 3 director’s audio commentary:

Miles: “What was the um... what was it like-oh, I think you were the one that had the idea to end with Penny’s swords too.”

Kerry: “Yeah, so we knew like, “okay, we’re gonna have her cycle through a bunch of characters’ weapons. Ya know, we named off the main four, we talked about some other ones and then it came down to the last one and for me, immediately it was like, “it has to be Penny.” Like, there’s no other way to do this.”

Gray: “There was the briefest debate about whether or not Penny herself should be able to show up because technically the weapons are a part of her and vice-versa.”

Kerry: “Yeah.”

Gray: “And it would’ve been a different moment.”

And then in episode 13 of season 1 of RWBY Rewind, Kerry and Miles answered the matter of how aura breaking or flickering works and cited the Ghira vs the Albain twins fight, stating that he did not forget to depict Ghira having his aura already depleted so much as he was more okay with the idea of that instance happening off-screens than viewers would’ve been. Kerry is not absent-minded. He spends a lot of time with Miles contemplating in the writing process over whether a character should a particular thing in a fight, depending on the fight itself and communicates that with the storyboard artists, animators, VFX team and whoever else. Having Blake dual wield when fighting against Adam was no exception as this was meant to be defining point in her character story.

So with the matter of the storyboard artist’s and Kerry’s input into this fight established, who animated it? The team responsible for this latter half are the assistant lead animator, Melanie Stern, Matt Drury, John Yang, Megan Pellino and Joe Vick. These same names have popped up before in the fights for chapters 5 and 7. John had also done much of the fight in chapter 10 and he also handled the first segment with Blake and Adam in the forest as I mentioned previously. Seeing the full version, his portion likely extends right up until Blake and Adam enter the ravine. After that though is where identifying who did what gets a bit tricky. My best assumption would be that what follows up at least up until Blake’s Gambol Shroud is broken is all Melanie Stern. A bit of her camera work and timing feels familiar based on previous fights she worked on. Though if she really did this segment, then this is probably one of the most fast-paced sequences she’s ever animated in a fight scene. Instances such as Blake twirling a bit so that she faces Adam’s gun before using her semblance or parrying Adam’s sword in such a way that it slides across her katana and into the sheath portion of her cleaver are so quick and seamless that one would easily miss those moments if he/she blinked.

Once Blake is down and the katana portion of her Gambol Shroud is broken, things die down briefly as we get some facial expressions and character acting. In the shot with Blake, her expressions easily read that she is aware of and understood how and why Adam got his scar and that a part of her felt sorry for him. In contrast from Blake’s more nuanced expressions though, Adam’s are more explicit and seeing him unmasked definitely brings great synergy between what he emotes and Garret Hunter’s vocal performance. Given that Blake’s expression is subtly different between the end of this cut and the start of the next one, most of this segment and Yang’s dynamic entry with having her bike crash into Adam was all animated by Megan Pellino, the latter of which was definitely confirmed by Melanie. This is actually the first time we learn which part of a fight Megan has done and although it’s not much, the moment itself was bound to satisfy viewers.

Now comes the Yang vs Adam portion and there’s a couple of big things to break down from a production standpoint first. Referring back to episode 9 of CRWBY - Behind the Episode season 2, there was more being implied about what goes on in this fight than just the storyboards. The motion capture actually previewed the standoff portion of the fight before Adam lunges at Yang. It seems that in the session, Melanie Stern was doing mo-cap for Blake, either Nicole LaCroix or Nicole “Nyx” Morciniec did mo-cap for Yang and Matt Drury did mo-cap for Adam. The last one is particularly noteworthy and yet unsurprising since Matt has gone on record to liking Adam’s character and having done mo-cap for him before. On top of that, Matt has been absent in the staff credits since after chapter 7 which is not the first time an animator has been uncredited for whole episodes in a row due to going from being involved in one big scene to being involved in another one later in the volume. This same thing happened with Dillon Gu during volume 3 who went from animating the double rounds fight in chapter 4 to the students vs the Nevermore and Ironwood vs the Alpha Beowulf in chapter 10.

One could argue that he had to dedicate time working on Gen:Lock but given the timing, Matt probably anticipated this moment too much to not want to dedicate as much time for this sequence. Having said that, here’s where where the other piece of behind-the-scenes information comes in. Back in 2016, former co-lead animator Shane Newville publicly posted an open letter about various things regarding RWBY’s production, including during volume 3. I’ll spare the details and the source since his perspective and frustration on things regarding Monty Oum’s vision, while understandable given how dear Monty was to him, is also distasteful when taking insight about volume 3′s production from Kerry, Miles, Gray Haddock, then lead producer, Koen Wooten, and every other staff member’s perspective into account. Rather, I’ll refer to a small quote from his letter about a fight Monty Oum was working on prior to his passing:

“Next up was another scene that I had been looking forward to for a very long time. Blake was meant to fight Adam, and then Yang was suppose to come in and take over the fight, protecting Blake from death. Once I was done with Yang vs Mercury, I asked about this long-anticipated, ultra-badass scene.

But guess what-- they didn’t even write it in the script because they didn’t look at what Monty created for the scene before they began! It was all available to them before Monty passed away and after he was gone I made sure all of those scenes were available to them-- that they had them in their hands. It was even more of a surprise to me since I had rendered out Monty’s timelines for them, at the producer’s request, before production even started. they didn’t even look at what Monty, the creator of the show, made for this show.

Let me add that the Yang vs Adam fight was looking beyond badass. Monty was using a Linkin Park song as the soundtrack to animate it to. I was told that they would just find some other place for it down the road. But I know that when they eventually make the switch to Maya, everything Monty and I worked so hard to build up will become unusable and therefore thrown into the garbage.”

Tonal choice aside, much of what Shane stated is very likely the case when examining the unfinished footage that suddenly surfaced around the same time as RTX Austin back in August 2018 according to reddit user JauneBlackSmudge. Even the temp music for the sequence is from the Linkin Park song, “Session”. It is unclear whether Shane himself uploaded the footage or someone else anonymously did and it’s currently unconfirmed whether Kerry Shawcross himself had possession of the footage and wanted to reserve it. Regardless, it’s clear that snippets of it were directly referenced and adapted into the Yang vs Adam fight seen in volume 6. Even Shane’s claim about Kerry finding another place for this fight somewhere down the road would support past cases where Kerry has talked about usually pushing ideas out of the script or production of one volume and reserving them for another one. Rarely ever does an idea get scrapped altogether and never use it with a couple of exceptions such as dust-powered cars according to art director, Patrick Rodriguez and the double-rounds fight between Pyrrha, Nora, Sun and Neptune which had to be cut or else there would be too much of a strain on volume 3′s production scheduling.

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But enough of the behind-the-scenes and on to analyzing the fight itself which is nothing short of exhilarating. As stated, the fight matches snippets of the unfinished clip but has been adapted with more nuance depending on the camera angles and gestures. Case in point, Adam in the unfinished clip throws a slicing boomerang-like wave while the official scene has Adam using his sword like a buzz-saw. It’s also worth noting that when Adam is in the air, his form is very similar to that of when he kicked his sword at the Atlessian Knight in the Adam Character short which was a sequence Matt Drury animated. I previously compared that moment to Ken’Ichi Fujisawa’s sequence on episode 385 of Naruto Shippuden in the Adam Character Short Analysis, it was more likely a direct homage to a sequence done by animator Spencer Wan in the Netflix animated series, Castlevania. Once Yang is done blocking, she briefly dashes in with an upper-body boxer stance and starts a series of counterattacks. Like the Cordovin mech fight, the visual effects greatly compliment the motion by having certain strikes and blows be in the form of arcs. One of my favorite moments in this sequence is how the rapid-fire punches against Adam’s sword have duplicates of Yang’s arms to implement a blinding speed to them. This may possibly be due to having a copy of the same model blend in to give off that multi-arm illusion. Animator Harley Dwortz was actually the first in the animation team to use this technique way back in chapters 4 and 7 of volume 2 when Neptune was on Yang’s bike and Ruby was given pulled in by Yang. Next is another moment adapted from the unused Yang vs Adam footage where Adam runs around with afterimages and then sends a wave of energy at her. Though like previously, certain nuances are added like Yang’s close-up reaction shot to Adam’s direction and the same effects used in the last chapter against Blake where black and red accented lighting is utilized around him. Also, it seems like the wave itself was drawn in 2-D by Myke Chapman.

After a quick pause in-between, we get to the next sequence where Yang lunges right back and then dodges Adam’s strike to the side in mid-air and then spins herself to get a stronger kick at him. The mid-air dodge actually resembles a sequence from My Hero Academia and it wouldn’t be a stretch if what Yang did was inspired by that either since Kevin Harger mentioned using Bakugo as inspiration for having Yang maneuver mid-air in his storyboards for the Yang Character Short. At any rate, what happens next is that when Adam swings his sword again, Yang shoots to propel herself back but because of how instantaneous it is, it’s easy for the viewer eyes and brain to not register that in normal speed. Then comes another one of my favorite parts about this fight where Yang runs forward but she’s still sliding back a bit due to not immediately having the momentum. Then comes a few punches and some kicks interestingly similar to when Mercury attacked Pyrrha in their sparring match in volume 2. Finally, Adam knocks Yang back with his sword and I love how there are a couple of bounces on her fall before lying on the ground. I suspect that Joe Vick did this sequence who has not been explicit about which cuts he did in any of the sequences he has been involved in this volume. The reason it might him though is due to comparing the timing of the animation here to that of one of Joe’s demo reels where a martial artist character strikes at a sandbag in various ways. The animation in both the reel and this portion of the fight share the similar timing, especially compared to the previous sequence which feels a tad harsher and faster though the overall kinetic energy is not lost in what is presumed to be Joe’s portion.

Then comes the moment that caps off the action segment of the latter-half of the episode. Again, having Adam unmasked does wonders for his more explicit expressions as his pupils are shrunken and expresses ferocity. This is followed by Blake’s cat ears reacting to the sound of Adam’s weapon and his growl, which have been a key component in the action as shown earlier. Then we get the best effects in the fight where Adam is once again shrouded completely in black along with the entire screen this time, minus the red accents on him glowing. I just love how the more powerful his attacks seem to be the darker the screen gets, whether or not that was intentional on the compositing team’s part. Complimented with more black and red sparks, what follows is the icing of the cake with the blast shaped in such an extremely monstrous form. These are the kind of effects that anime fans within the Sakuga community become very fond over between individual animators and although this case is more likely from the visual effects, that does not make the spectacle any less pleasing to see. Then comes a few shots of Yang withstanding the attack and I would be remiss to not mention the fact that yes, the shot composition matches that of the climax in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Given that Blake and Adam and somewhat Yang are inspired by the fairy tale of the same name, it would not be absurd to presume that either Kevin Harger or Kerry Shawcross used such shots as a purposeful homage. In the last several shots, we get more of Adam’s expressions that sell his manipulative nature as well as some nice shot composition in the midst of the standoff. Since Adam is focused on Yang, they are both framed in front of the cliffs while Blake is in front of the waterfall. But when Blake’s reaches to hold Yang’s hand, the latter is framed having crossed from the waterfall to the cliffs behind her, thus marking the end of the episode.

Ooh boy, what an episode to break down! A lot happened in both halves of this episode that required more dissecting than the average analysis, especially the latter part. Hopefully, this proved to be an insightful read. Since neither fight concluded this episode, there is obviously more to anticipate and this time things are being teased by Neath Oum, Monty’s brother and the voice of Ren of all people. Once these bigger things come in supposedly more ways than one int he next episode, there will of course be more to analyze about the production.

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mangamavericks · 5 years

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I wanted to make sure that the next time I made one of these posts that we’d have all our plans for the near future down-pat first, and I’m pretty confident about our November schedule!

MANGA MAVERICKS

As you can see, the first two of four podcasts we plan to release this month are already out on on our Patreon as early access for all Patrons! First up is our New York Comic Con report, in which VLordGTZ and I go over all the exciting events and announcements made at this year’s show, and give our overall thoughts on the con experience itself! Next up is our long-awaited Saint Seiya retrospective with special guests Shaenon Garrity and Dr. Mari Morimoto, who edited and translated the series for Viz Media! They are huge Seiya fans and share a ton of awesome insights into the series, including fascinating anecdotes on some of the challenges and choices made in the adaptation! This podcast will be released to the public on Sunday, November 10th, but you Patrons get to listen to it over a week ahead in advance! Rad-tastic!!

After that, we’ll be releasing another news catch-up pod to discuss all the post-NYCC October and early November news, plus reviews of a bunch of new series! We’ll be discussing two new Manga Plus additions - ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess and East, Into the Night! We may discuss even more series than those if more simulpubs keep showing up out of nowhere!

Finally, we’ll be releasing our highly anticipated BEASTARS podcast this month, which features the folks from Manga Machinations on as our special guests! We’re joined by dakazu, Darfox8, & returning guest Morgana Santili to dissect the world-building, characters, and themes in Paru Itagaki’s metaphorical commentary on race, class, gender, and more! The folks at Manga Machinations have been Beastars’ biggest fans ever since they first started talking about the series on their show over two years ago, and it was a pleasure to have a comprehensive, spoiler-free conversation about the series with them!

MANGA MAVERICKS @ MOVIES

But that’s not the end of all the new podcasts coming out this month! Manga Mavericks @ Movies is also returning for the fall movie season, with reviews planned of upcoming theatrical anime releases like Konosuba - The Legend of Crimson and another deep dive into the twisted GHIBLI CONSPIRACY as evidenced in Princess Mononoke! We’ll also be releasing our overdue review of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, Studio VOLN’s anime adaptation of the novel of the same name, which we saw in theaters back in February! We discuss how the animated film differs from its live-action counterpart, whether it’s perspective on life is sophisticated or sophomoric, and whether the film stacks up to the likes of recent anime movie masterpieces like Your Name and A Silent Voice! Then the week after we’ll be releasing our review of One Piece: Stampede, the franchise’s latest theatrical feature celebrating the anime’s 20th anniversary! Like our Film: Gold review from way back when, Colton will be joining VLord and I to discuss the film. If you want a preview of Colton’s thoughts on the film, then you can also subscribe to the SSAA network Patreon to hear him talk about it with Doctor!

#LUM SQUAD

This month should also hopefully see the long-awaited return of #LumSquad, with episode 2 finally coming out and episode 3 hopefully maybe recorded! Nothing definite, but I really want the show to continue, and now that my podcast editing slate is clear a bit I can hopefully resume working on it! Depending on how things go this month, I may even venture into doing podcasts for Rumiko Takahashi series outside of Urusei Yatsura…

MANGA MAVERICKS BOOK CLUB

Oh, and of course, this month’s Patron Bonus Pod will be the last installment of Colton and Grant’s coverage of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood as part of the Manga Mavericks Book Club! As someone not apart of these episodes, I’ve really been enjoying listening to their analysis of the manga, and looking forward to seeing their final impressions of the arc at the conclusion of volume 3. The next few Bonus Pods will see a short break from the Book Club format, but rest assured there are plans for even more volume-by-volume deep-dives on classic manga coming to our network in the future!

UPCOMING RECORDINGS

We’ll have to keep mum about some of the podcasts we’re planning to record this month until the dates have been finalized.However, we CAN reveal that on this upcoming Sunday we’ll be recording with special guests Jason Thompson and Brandon Bovia to discuss a series filled with ancient artifacts, absurd hairstyles, and children’s card games taken deadly seriously! That’s right, it’s finally time for us to DU-DU-DU-DU DU-DU-DU-DUEL and discuss Kazuki Takahashi’s original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. What began as a story about a games-loving kid with a sadistic and vindictive dark side soon evolved into the multi-media merchandising phenomenon with half-a-dozen spinoffs that we now know today. The series has lived on in our hearts through memories and memes, but is there more depth to the original story than ridiculous holographic monsters and broken game mechanics? We’re going to revisit the series with two of its biggest fans (and in Jason’s case - the editor of the manga for Viz Media!), and see if Yu-Gi-Oh! is a puzzle we can figure out, or if we’re a millennium years too early to truly appreciate the depths of Takahashi’s genius!

That should just about get everyone up to speed on our November plans! With so much of the prep work done in advance, I imagine this will be smooth sailing for us this month, which is good because it’s gonna be hella busy! VLord and I will be at Anime NYC again this year as Press, and if you see us around definitely say hi to us! We definitely hope to meet and hang out with a lot of awesome people while we’re there, and since last year’s ANYC was one of our favorite con experiences ever we’re similarly excited for this year’s!

So, to sum up, here’s our PODCAST SCHEDULE FOR NOVEMBER 2019!:

Sunday, 11/03/19: Manga Mavericks EP. 101: “New York Comic Con 2019 Retrospective”

Monday, 11/04/19: Manga Mavericks @ Movies #39: “I Want to Eat Your Pancreas”

Sunday, 11/10/19: Manga Mavericks EP. 102: “Saint Seiya” (w/@shaenongarrity & Dr. Mari Morimoto)

Monday, 11/11/19: Manga Mavericks @ Movies #40: “One Piece Stampede”

Sunday, 11/17/19: Manga Mavericks EP. 103: “‘Tis Time For Torture & East, Into the Night”

Monday, 11/18/19: Manga Mavericks @ Movies #41: “Konosuba - Legend of Crimson”

Tuesday, 11/19/19: #Lum Squad #02

Sunday, 11/24/19: Manga Mavericks EP. 104: “Beastars” (w/@MangaMacPodcast)

Monday, 11/25/19: Manga Mavericks @ Movies #42: “Princess Mononoke”

Saturday, 11/30/19: November Patron Bonus Pod: MM Book Club: JoJo’s Part 1: Phantom Blood Vol. 3 (w/@grantthethief)

It’s a Thanksgiving Feast’s worth of podcasts this month! Lots to look forward to, and I hope you all have your fill!

- LumRanmaYasha

#manga mavericks #beastars #saint seiya #tis time for torture #new york comic con 2019 #i want to eat your pancreas #one piece stampede #konosuba - legend of crimson #princess mononoke #jojo's bizarre adventure #phantom blood

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lia-nikiforov · 8 years

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Fall 2016 Anime: Last impressions

What, me? Posting something that’s not Yuri on Ice? Did I wander to the wrong blog? Oh right, this isn’t supposed to be a Yuri on Ice blog to begin with, oops.

After a very shitty semester and my Mom’s and sister’s vacations messing up with my anime watching schedule (plus a shitty vicious cycle of not watching anime to work on thesis-not working on thesis because stressed from not watching anime), I finally finished catching up with Fall anime, barely on time before Winter begins (I know some winter shows have premiered already, but none that interest me. Rakugo’s on today though!!!!). So here’s a rundown of the best and worst of this most fruitful Fall season. If there’s a gif it means I forgot to take a screenshot of the last episode whoops. (worst to best my dears, you know how this goes)

Dropped:

Shuumatsu no Izetta: I really tried. Even after the stupidity of episode 4 put me to sleep, I tried to give it a second shot, but episode 6 was literally everything that is wrong with modern anime and ugh, please release me from this hell. Of course having a strong female character was too progressive for a yuribait show, you just had to make her have insecurities about her normal-sized boobs (vs everyone’s ginormous) and dedicate 25 entire minutes to show that she’s actually a real girly girl that likes pie. Ugh. And I didn’t even mention how stupid the “Izetta’s secret might be revealed” plot element was. That was some garbage writing if I ever saw one. Most of what I’ve read after dropping it seems to indicate it was the best choice

3gatsu no Lion: I’m confused with this show. The production values make it very attractive to watch. There is a harsh and interesting story and character drama happening. Episode 5 was particularly great, and some of the storytelling devices are implemented brilliantly. But for some reason I can’t bring myself to care? I don’t know. The more I see the three sisters, the more the scenes with them bore me to death. I found the idea of watching episode 6 terribly not-compelling so I decided to put it in the back burner and wait out. Maybe I��m just incompatible with this mangaka (I really hate HachiKuro). People seem to be loving it, so maybe I’ll give it another shot at a later date.

Touken Ranbu Hanamaru: This was my biggest disappointment of the season because episode 2 was so good. It tickled all my rekijo bones in the best way. But then it just… nothing ever happened? Also the way all the sword boys gush about how much they love the (invisible but obviously audience-proxy) “Master” is way too transparent and took me out of whatever little interesting character dynamics might be going on. What could be an interesting theme –the swordboys having regrets about not protecting their past owners and being tempted to fix it- is wasted in a “it’s okay, I have a new master now!”. Even with my fujoshi goggles there was little of interest because the boys were so infatuated with the Master I couldn’t even enjoy any of it. Held out until episode 9 and just couldn’t be arsed for more. Maybe the more serious ufotable show will be better?

Nanbaka: I don’t know what went wrong with this mangaka that suddenly decided to turn a perfectly fine comedy into a Very Serious battle shonen thing? Especially mid-arc? The New Year tournament had revitalized the show, I was having a load of fun with it, but then it suddenly turned all dark and serious and nonsensical? The only thing tempting me to go back for the last three episodes is Hajime, he’s a champ. But yeah, the shift in tone was too drastic and kind of spoiled the show for me because I was loving it exactly as it was. It didn’t need the drama. Some people seem to be liking the new direction but ehhhh… idk. If I have time.

The worst:

17. DAYS: It was hard to choose which of these two was gonna be the poop prize winner, but in the end, given how much I struggled to even sit through the last couple of episodes, I guess DAYS takes it. Honestly seldom have I seen a show so infuriatingly ruined by “protagonist no jutsu” i.e. things just happen because a dude is the main character. Kimishita scored three completely bananas goals in that game (bless his heart I love him), but Tsukushi gets all the credit for earning the free kicks and second balls and shit and he’s the one credited as the “hero” of the game. It’s amazing that such an insufferable protagonist is part of a show with an otherwise endearing supporting cast. Now will my love for Mizuki and Kimishita be enough to pull me into watching season 2? Tune in some time next year to find out! (spoiler: most likely no unless it comes out on a boring season)

16.Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku: I called this show the winner of the “Showed its cards too early Award” since episode one, but boy I didn’t expect it to continue doing the exact same thing over and over through its entire run. At some point it became a very unsurprising formula of showing a character’s tragic backstory at the start of the episode to fabricate last minute sympathy to make up for lack of proper characterization, only to have the character in question murdered in increasingly distasteful ways. I always knew best girl Top Speed wasn’t long for this world, but the way they handled it was gratuitously vicious. Couple that with a barrage of villains, none of which were remotely compelling or had any interesting motivations, a poor man’s Kyubey, a protagonist that is even more infuriatingly passive than Madoka herself (at least in this aspect, MahoIku surpassed its intellectual mother), and a resolution that basically says this whole thing served no purpose whatsoever and you’re left with just a feeling that you could’ve done something better with your life. I never expected grandeur from this show, and in fact I guess it turned out to be about as bad as I could’ve expected it to be, but that doesn’t really erase how terribly dissatisfying the ending was. I guess that’s one weakness that Dark Magical Girl shows have yet to overcome.

Normally a “the meh” section would be here, but I dropped all those shows for lack of entertainment and time, so we’re skipping straight to

The okay

(I liked these shows but none of them changed my life and I was severely tempted to drop them at least once)

15.Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: I have rather complicated feelings about this show. The writing has improved immensely since the second half of S1 and they’re doing a fascinating job at working the different shades of moral grey. Mika’s sick relationship with Orga continues to keep me on my toes. But with only 12 episodes left I’m still not entirely sure of where this is going, and most importantly, it stinks of tragedy and there seems to be a general lack of joy in both characters and story, so I always go to watch it with little enthusiasm and maybe a bit of anxiety.

14.Girlish Number: This one turned out way better than I expected it to be, although perhaps for different reasons than most. Usually when I hatewatch something, it’s for the pleasant schadenfreude I get out of seeing something continue to fail miserably week after week (see Sailor Moon Crystal or Mayoiga). In that sense, I wasn’t hatewatching Girlish Number but boy was I getting schadenfreude about seeing the exploitative producer go on a downwards spiral and the shitty LN anime adaptation turning up a complete failure. But because this was the source of my enjoyment, the finale was, to say the least, dissatisfying. If the show had ended with Chitose getting a proper comeuppance and landing different jobs (in non-shitty-LN-anime) that forced her to climb her way back up instead of trying to have sudden fabricated popularity, while Kuzu got his ass fired that would’ve been cool. But the “Oh I ended loving this production” ending was ehhhh. It felt the show ended going milquetoast on its criticism of the industry. Criticized the seiyuu idol units but still had the seiyuu sing the OP and ED criticized the cheap swimsuit fanservice but still had a swimsuit episode etc. I mean they went really damn hard on the industry, so it was weird and a little frustrating that they didn’t go the whole way, given how they’d already guaranteed to lose the buying audience anyway.

13.Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari: It’s hard to explain what went wrong with this one because, if you asked me, I’d say I really liked it overall. But the key problem is perhaps that I adored the first two episodes so deeply and then somewhere in the middle it kind of floundered and went in a different direction than what I expected –which isn’t inherently bad, mind you- but it’s weird that there’s so little actual udon in the show when they’re in the title. The finale was good in idea, but I feel it failed to make the emotional landing, and that they capped it off to be a sort of commercial for Kagawa prefecture was just… weird. So uh, it was a good show but definitely didn’t live up to the promise of the first few episodes.

12.Uta no Prince-sama Legend Star: For me, this and Magikyun are basically tied, because, although I have more love for Utapri due to how long it’s been around and how I’ve grown so endeared to the characters, I can’t say Magikyun did anything worse or better. But anyway Utapri! Revolutions had me losing a little of my love for the franchise, but Legend Star was really great! The music improved drastically and we got some truly neat character arcs. The Otoya arc was surprisingly good. It’s sad to see they’ve fully committed to shitty CG dancing though ): But oh well, the Quartet Night song was great and there’s even more anime coming because Broccoli does like printing money after all. Almost forgot to mention it, but Haruka is hardly relevant this season and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but I’ll also say I didn’t particularly miss her.

11.Magic-Kyun Renaissance: I’ll say this about Magikyun, it was less dumb than I expected given the title. I mean it was super dumb, but it could’ve been dumber. It was also a lot of fun, had neat visuals and surprisingly good songs? I feel it could’ve ended in episode 9 because it doesn’t feel like the new resolution in ep 13 actually added anything of note to the story or the characters, but it was okay. It’s harmless dumb entertainment and that’s what I wanted it to be.

The good

10.Flip Flappers: It’s always great to see passion projects like this, even if they don’t always stick the landing. In the gayest anime season, FliFla gave us a lesbian visual spectacle that was among the best animated experiences of the year. While narratively it blooped a little in the last third and became a weird Eva-ish nightmare, it sorta kinda worked out at the end, although definitely didn’t live up to its initial dreamy potential. And it was very lesbian, although I feel it was lowkey creepy lesbian since Papika is somehow an adult??? I think they explained some things too much and left others glaringly unexplained. Some weird things happened in that production that hindered its potential, but it’s still a fascinating series to look at, even if you don’t dig the character dynamics (which are adorable but in the end didn’t do much for me). Could’ve done with 100% less creepy robot though

9.Classicaloid: I’d call Classicaloid the Bungo Stray Dogs (season 1) of the Fall because while it wasn’t what I wanted or expected, it managed to grow on me. I was on the edge of dropping it because the wacky one-note humor wasn’t working for me at all, but with the introduction of Schubert and the slow drip of answers to our questions of what is even happening in this show, it became notoriously more fun. Definitely the strongest moments of the show are when we get to see the Classicaloids having flash backs to their past lives (the episode about Beethoven and his loss of hearing was particularly brilliant) and while I still mostly have no idea of where this is going at all, they’ve definitely got me hooked wanting to know what Bach is even planning.

8.Drifters: This might have gone even higher up the ranks if not for all the homophobic and sexist jokes ugh. But I guess it’s a testament to how entertaining it is that I watched it all through and would still watch the upcoming second season (or maybe it’s a testament to what a good job it did in tickling my very specific rekijo bone). The characterization of Nobunaga in particular is absolutely brilliant, and the little nuances in the interactions between characters of different time periods are fantastic. Cool action sequences and interesting strategizing and politicking. But I reckon this isn’t something that’s gonna sway the non-history buffs. Also ew the sexist and homophobic jokes. The show has great comedy without that, please don’t be so gross Hirano.

7.ALL OUT!!: It had a bit of a slow start, but once it started picking up with the practice matches and developing the team, it’s just gotten exponentially better! Especially since the addition of the coach. DAYS could learn a thing or two about how it isn’t necessary to make the inexperienced main character the sudden “hero” of the team to make for a compelling sports story. That said I still do not understand about 75% of how rugby works at all, but the endearing cast and the passionate games make up for it. Also the horrible hair. Definitely looking forward to where these kids will go in the second half.

The excellent

6.Fune wo Amu: This is a case of me one-sidedly having expectations that a show can’t live up to and thus I don’t enjoy it as much as I could. Which is no fault of the show itself and it is in fact one of the best anime of the season (arguably the year). It does fail on the entertainment department, but compensates with beautiful craftsmanship and a wonderful portrayal of human feelings and relationships. While it wounded up being Very Heterosexual (and the main couple develops in a rather cold and questionable manner, but hey, the wife wasn’t forced to give up her dreams to become a housewife. A+ for progress! ) the portrayal of Majime’s camaraderie with Nishioka (and Nishioka’s very great relationship with his gf!) was really the heart of the show, and just for that it’s absolutely worth the watch.

5.Natsume Yuujinchou Go: I think it’s rather telling to the quality of the season overall that Natsume Yuujinchou somehow fell just slightly above the middle of the pack. I do feel this season of Natsume was weaker than the previous ones, but to be honest I can’t quite pinpoint why. Maybe it didn’t feel like we reached a new milestone in Natsume’s development or in learning about Reiko –in fact, it feels we learned conspicuously little about Reiko this season-, although the final episode and the Touko episode were notable highlights. With a sixth season already in the works, I have little else to say other than, even when it’s not in top form, this is still among the best one could ever hope to get from anime

4.Bungo Stray Dogs 2: Remember how season 1 was good but not what I wanted it to be? Well, season 2 wasn’t exactly what I’d originally hope BSD would be about but it sure as fuck was fantastic! Starting with the flashback episodes to Dazai’s time in the Port Mafia and the story of Oda Sakunosuke, to the introduction of the American writers and the follow-up with Kyouka and Atsushi’s arcs as well as Akutagawa (!!!!) it was a genuinely amazing season that completely justifies watching the first one even if you weren’t entirely convinced about it at first. My only gripe is the lack of Kunikida, but this season showed that Dazai is the lynchpin of this series and he fulfills that role to perfection. I loved loved loved this season and I hope we get more of this series.

3.Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable: While it floundered a little in the second cour (seriously I was happy Shigechi died, he was an awful character), it picked itself right back up in the third and the battle against Kira –who is an astonishingly amazing villain- was just week after week of blood-pumping excitement and fun. Not every episode was perfect, but the package as a whole is fantastic. At moments it felt more like Kishibe Rohan’s Bizarre Adventure, but even that was okay because every member of the cast was so great. You can see the passion David Production has for this franchise, and I’m hoping they’ll continue adapting it. While Joseph is still Best JoJo, I think part 4, with its incredibly strong cast and creative set up might be my favorite arc so far.

2.Haikyuu 3: vicky’s probably gonna hate me for this but If I’m honest, the Shiratorizawa match wasn’t my favorite in the manga. I love the development Tsukki got through it and I commend Furudate for how brilliantly he’s been working in making these characters grow in such satisfying ways. But Shiratorizawa, and Ushijima specially, is the epitome of OP rival and that’s something that’s never really worked for me. It felt like the Rakuzan game in Kurobas, there were moments in which it felt that it just never ended. And I was worried about how they were going to work it into ten episodes. I think it’s a testament to the anime team that they managed to make it not actually feel like 10 episodes, and that they’ve made this one of the most exciting matches to watch in all of Haikyuu. It was truly spectacular and I can’t wait for S4

THE BEST

1.Yuri!!! on ICE: Joke’s on you, this was a Yuri on Ice post all along!! Even if my conflicted feelings about the ending had been sourer and heavier, I would have no doubt that this is the best show of the season (and the year). It’s taken me a while, but after having chewed on my feelings for a couple of days (while fighting the denialists with all my might) I’m even more confident about it. I don’t even know what more praise I can rain on this beautiful, beautiful show that has literally saved me so many times during this really difficult trimester and I am ever so grateful to its creators for giving us such a beautiful gift in such dark times. Now please end our suffering and confirm a season 2, because just like Victor and Yuuri can’t live without each other (canon!) I can’t live without them anymore ;---;

What a strong season this was! A high note to end an otherwise shitty year! Thanks everyone for following this nonsense blog and I hope this new year brings us all more beautiful anime (and less menstrual cramps for me). Winter shows I’m watching premiere literally today so I’ll skip the “anticipation” rundown and go straight to my watchlist in a couple of weeks. As always, I’ll be happy to hear which were your favorite and least favorite shows of the season, but I know y’all never answer to my questions ;----;

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everettwilkinson · 7 years

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U.K. GOV’T pleads with Prince Harry: Don’t invite Obama to your wedding, because Trump will be upset — TRUMP’s hidden Cabinet — IMPEACHMENT debate divides Dems — DAVID BROOKS’ Sidney Awards

TOP TALKER — HEADLINE IN U.K.’S THE SUN: “TRUMP SNUB FEAR:Government pleads with Prince Harry not to invite Barack Obama to his wedding,” by Tom Newton Dunn: “GOVERNMENT mandarins are urging Prince Harry not to invite the Obamas to his wedding for fear of infuriating Donald Trump. Harry and fiancée Meghan Markle have told aides they want the former U.S. president and wife Michelle at their big day on May 19.

“The 33-year-old prince has become good friends with the Obamas since bonding with them during the Invictus Games. But Britain’s relations with Trump’s White House have sunk to their lowest ebb since his election last year. The property billionaire does not hide his loathing of Mr. Obama and is expected to be enraged if his predecessor gets the coveted call up when he won’t. The young Royal couple’s dislike of the new president is well known. …

Story Continued Below

“There are deep fears among senior Foreign Office and No10 officials that another perceived national snub will make it impossible for Theresa May to meaningfully engage with Trump. A senior government source said: ‘Harry has made it clear he wants the Obamas at the wedding, so it’s causing a lot of nervousness. Trump could react very badly if the Obamas get to a Royal wedding before he has had a chance to meet the Queen.’” http://bit.ly/2zvCC38

Happy Tuesday. PLAYBOOK YEAR IN REVIEW: Today’s audio briefing features a bonus episode of Anna, Jake and Zach talking about the recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations against prominent D.C. figures and how the political world is reacting to them http://bit.ly/2pwfQIG … ICYMI: On Monday, we talked about how the investigation of Russia’s influence in the 2016 election has unfolded and how the White House has responded http://bit.ly/2pE337k

WHAT TRUMP LIKES TO READ …

— “Retailers Feel Shoppers’ Christmas Cheer,” by WSJ’s Suzanne Kapner: “Fueled by high consumer confidence and a robust job market, U.S. retail sales in the holiday period rose at their best pace since 2011, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending. Sales, excluding automobiles, rose 4.9% from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, compared with a 3.7% gain in the same period last year, according to the Mastercard Inc. unit, which tracks all forms of payment. E-commerce continued to drive the gains, rising 18.1%.” http://on.wsj.com/2zw6fkZ

— AP: “U.S. says it negotiated $285M cut in United Nations budget”: “The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said on Sunday that the U.N.’s 2018-2019 budget would be slashed by over $285 million. The mission said reductions would also be made to the U.N.’s management and support functions.” http://bit.ly/2DS4FgN

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LIVE FROM MAR-A-LAGO … @realDonaldTrump at 6:58 a.m.: “Based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over time) ObamaCare, the Democrats & Republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new HealthCare plan!” … at 6:33 p.m.: “I hope everyone is having a great Christmas, then tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again (which is happening faster than anyone anticipated)!”

THE PRESIDENT has nothing on his public schedule today.

TIP OF THE SPEAR — NYT’S DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM RASHBAUM: “New York’s Attorney General in Battle With Trump”: “By moving to sue the Federal Communications Commission over net neutrality this month, [New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s] office took its 100th legal or administrative action against the Trump administration and congressional Republicans. His lawyers have challenged Mr. Trump’s first, second and third travel bans and sued over such diverse matters as a rollback in birth control coverage and a weakening of pollution standards. They have also unleashed a flurry of amicus briefs and formal letters, often with other Democratic attorneys general, assailing legislation they see as gutting consumer finance protections or civil rights.

“In Mr. Schneiderman’s seventh year as attorney general, the office has been transformed into a bulwark of resistance amid an unusually expansive level of confrontation with the federal government. Other Democratic state attorneys general are undertaking similar efforts, often in concert, like Xavier Becerra in California, where extra money was set aside in the budget for the attorney general to battle the Trump administration.

“How far Mr. Schneiderman is willing to go in taking on Mr. Trump could define his political career, particularly in a blue state where disapproval of the president is high. The attorney general’s office potential for troublemaking and generating national headlines was redefined in the early 2000s by Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Schneiderman is a less combative man who was often the target of Mr. Trump’s Twitter wrath amid a three-year civil investigation into Trump University. In the end, Mr. Schneiderman’s office extracted a $25 million settlement in the case.” http://nyti.ms/2l02yPR

THE YEAR-END REPORT CARDS …

— “President Trump Spent Nearly One-Third of First Year in Office at Trump-Owned Properties,” by WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus: “President Donald Trump, who is currently spending a 10-day Christmas vacation at the Florida luxury resort he owns, has visited one of his company’s properties on nearly one-third of the days he has been in office, according to a Wall Street Journal review of the president’s travel.

“Of the more than 100 days Mr. Trump has visited one of his properties, he spent nearly 40 at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., which he visited for much of his two-week August vacation. And he spent 40 days at Mar-a-Lago, his luxury resort in Palm Beach, Fla., where he arrived Friday. … ‘George W. Bush went to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, a lot, but it’s not like you could rent the bedroom next to his,’ said Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the transparency advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.” http://on.wsj.com/2kYD3yE

— “Republicans knock holes in Affordable Care Act but don’t demolish the law,” by WaPo’s Amy Goldstein: “Before Congress left Washington for the year, Republicans finally made good on their determination to knock big holes in the Affordable Care Act, crippling its requirement that most Americans carry health insurance and leaving insurers without billions of dollars in promised federal payments. At the same time, public support for the perennially controversial law has inched up to around its highest point in a half-dozen years.

“Nearly 9 million people so far have signed up for ACA health plans for 2018 during a foreshortened enrollment season, far surpassing expectations. This dual reality puts the sprawling ACA — prized domestic legacy of the Obama era, whipping post of the Trump administration — at a new precipice, with its long-term fate hinging on the November midterm elections certain to consume Washington once the new year begins. If Democrats win a majority in either chamber of Congress, the law would be protected; a GOP sweep could further embolden repeal attempts.” http://wapo.st/2DUeN8r

— “Where’s the party? No state dinner in Trump’s first year,” by AP’s Darlene Superville: “Trump … [is] the first president in almost a century to close his first year in office without welcoming a visiting counterpart to the U.S. with similar trappings. … Not since Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s has a president ended his first year in office without hosting a foreign leader for a state visit, according to the White House Historical Association. … Lyndon Johnson held 12 in 1964, his first full year in office after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.” http://bit.ly/2C5A3rl

— BOSTON GLOBE INTERACTIVE: “11 months, 1 president, 2,417 tweets” http://bit.ly/2pBy8Za

****** A message from Google Year in Search 2017: In 2017, the world asked “how…?” From “how to move forward” to “how to make a difference,” the questions we asked showed our shared desire to understand our experiences. Watch the film and see top trending lists from around the world at g.co/2017. ******

THE HIDDEN CABINET — “Where is Trump’s Cabinet? It’s anybody’s guess,” by Emily Holden with contributions from 23 POLITICO colleagues: “The Cabinet members carrying out President Donald Trump’s orders to shake up the federal government are doing so under an unusual layer of secrecy — often shielding their schedules from public view, keeping their travels under wraps and refusing to identify the people and groups they’re meeting.

“A POLITICO review of the practices of 17 Cabinet heads found that at least seven routinely decline to release information on their planned schedules or travels — information that was more widely available during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. Three other departments — Agriculture, Labor, Homeland Security and Education — provide the secretaries’ schedules only sporadically or with few details. The Treasury Department began releasing weekly schedules for Secretary Steven Mnuchin only in November.

“In addition, at least seven Cabinet departments don’t release appointment calendars that would show, after the fact, who their leaders had met with, what they discussed and where they traveled — a potential violation of the Freedom of Information Act, which says agencies must make their records ‘promptly available to any person.’ At least two departments — Education and the Environmental Protection Agency — have released some of those details after activist groups sued them.” http://politi.co/2pBzCCH

INSIDE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY — THE DEBATE ON THE HORIZON — “Impeachment debate divides Democrats as 2018 wave builds,” by Kyle Cheney and Heather Caygle: “A tidal wave of liberal disdain for President Donald Trump may help deliver the House to Democrats in 2018. And if it does, the new majority will face an immediate, fateful choice: to pursue Trump’s impeachment as the base demands, or to coax their allies away from the doomsday button.

“[L]awmakers who recall the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton are wary of sparking a political backlash for appearing too eager to remove a president without buy-in from independents and even some Republicans. Their tallest task may be persuading fellow Democrats to cool their jets. How the party handles the explosive question of impeachment could determine whether its new majority is still standing two years later. ‘Impeachment, it’s not something you ought to welcome. It’s not something you ought to be ready to — it’s not something you want,’ said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who was elected by his colleagues last week to be the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, the panel that handles impeachment matters. …

“‘I think a lot of the base would push strongly for impeachment. I think many of us feel like the lines have been crossed,’ said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who supports impeaching Trump.” http://politi.co/2DdSFou

2018 WATCH — L.A. TIMES — “White college grads’ distaste for Trump hurt GOP in 2017. Will it flip control of Congress to Democrats in 2018?” by Michael Finnegan in Summerlin, Nevada: “White college graduates in America’s suburbs have turned hard against Republicans in elections around the country and threaten to upend the party’s control of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. Put off by Donald Trump’s presidency, they have been shunning Republicans in congressional and state legislative contests. Their support was crucial in electing Democrats as governor in Virginia and U.S. senator in conservative Alabama.

“Republican hopes for keeping control of the U.S. Senate next year will hinge on affluent, mainly white suburbs like Summerlin, Nev., where Trump’s unpopularity is weighing on GOP Sen. Dean Heller in his run for reelection. It’s an open question whether the Republican Party — encumbered by Trump’s often racially charged cultural appeals to blue-collar voters — has repelled well-educated whites for the long term.” http://lat.ms/2DeSObe

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD TO HATCH: CALL IT QUITS — “[P]erhaps the most significant move of Hatch’s career is the one that should, if there is any justice, end it.

“The last time the senator was up for re-election, in 2012, he promised that it would be his last campaign. That was enough for many likely successors, of both parties, to stand down, to let the elder statesman have his victory tour and to prepare to run for an open seat in 2018. Clearly, it was a lie. Over the years, Hatch stared down a generation or two of highly qualified political leaders who were fully qualified to take his place, Hatch is now moving to run for another term — it would be his eighth — in the Senate.

“Once again, Hatch has moved to freeze the field to make it nigh unto impossible for any number of would-be senators to so much as mount a credible challenge. That’s not only not fair to all of those who were passed over. It is basically a theft from the Utah electorate. …

“Common is the repetition of the catchphrase that Hatch successfully used to push aside three-term Sen. Frank Moss in this first election in, egad, 1976. ‘What do you call a senator who’s served in office for 18 years? You call him home.’ Less well known is a bit of advice Hatch gave to Capitol Hill interns in 1983. ‘You should not fall in love with D.C.’ he admonished them. ‘Elected politicians shouldn’t stay here too long.’ If only he had listened to his own advice.” http://bit.ly/2BDzKTQ

DEPT. OF NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT — NEW ISAAC DOVERE “OFF MESSAGE”: “Dovere speaks to Bill de Blasio in Des Moines for the latest ‘Off Message’ on the paradox of just being reelected easily as the mayor of the biggest city in America, but still not being taken seriously by progressives and Democrats as he tries for a national role. Is he running for president? ‘No.’ ‘There’s a lot of people in the political media and the political class who can only think through the prism of elections and only the very next elections, rather than understanding that social change is made in a variety of fashions. It’s the electoral process. It’s what happens at the local level as well as the national level. It is through issue-organizing,’ de Blasio argued.

“On people who dismiss his latest effort because he’s flopped before: ‘banal and simplistic’: ‘I want to talk to anyone who thinks that and tell them they need to start thinking more. I mean, give me a break. So every time someone tries something and it doesn’t work, it invalidates anything else they might do going forward? Tell Thomas Edison that, and Henry Ford, tell Mahatma Gandhi. How many people fell on their faces along the way trying things, experimenting with things, had setbacks? There’s no leader who hasn’t had setbacks.’ On saying Hillary Clinton had a problem with her base: ‘But I was right!’ Plus, his assessment on whether Andrew Cuomo and Kirsten Gillibrand have progressive credentials to satisfy him.”http://politi.co/2lcS0wh

HAPPENING ONLINE — “Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options,” by WaPo’s Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Jaffe: “[H.R.] McMaster and Tom Bossert, Trump’s homeland security adviser, both laid claim to controlling the cyber-portfolio and would sometimes issue conflicting instructions that left policymakers and intelligence officials confused about whose direction to follow.

“Obama’s 11th-hour actions had cleared the way for spy agencies to conduct cyber-operations to counter the Russian threat. But the CIA still had to finalize the plans, and the Trump White House wanted to review them. Bossert was more cautious than McMaster about using cyber-tools offensively. His message to the National Security Council staff, a senior White House official said, was: ‘We have to do our homework. Everybody needs to slow down.’” http://wapo.st/2kYNPEZ

PHOTO DU JOUR: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (center), who submitted endorsement papers necessary for his registration as a presidential candidate, heads to a meeting in Russia’s Central Election commission in Moscow on Dec. 25. Russian election officials have formally barred Navalny from running for president. | Evgeny Feldman/Navalny Campaign via AP

CLICKER – “POLITICO’s Best Photos of 2017: POLITICO photographers M. Scott Mahaskey and John Shinkle pick their best of the year, from California to Capitol Hill.” 20 keepers http://politi.co/2lb2pIW

WHAT SHKRELI IS READING — “Cancer Drug Price Rises 1,400% With No Generic to Challenge It,” by WSJ’s Peter Loftus: “Since 2013, the price of a 40-year-old, off-patent cancer drug in the U.S. has risen 1,400%, putting the life-extending medicine out of reach for some patients.

“Introduced in 1976 to treat brain tumors and Hodgkin lymphoma, lomustine has no generic competition, giving seller NextSource Biotechnology LLC significant pricing power. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking to encourage more competition for drugs like lomustine, one of at least 319 drugs for which U.S. patents have expired but which have no generic copies, according to a list the agency published earlier this month. The FDA says it will speed up review of any applications to market generic copies of the drugs on its list.” http://on.wsj.com/2DRQ1Wz

THE NEXT FRONTIER — “Universities fear a violent 2018,” by Kimberly Hefling: “After a year marked by campus confrontations between white nationalists and anti-fascist extremists, university administrators are preparing for a combative and potentially violent 2018 by beefing up security and examining the boundaries of their own commitment to free speech. Administrators at many campuses told POLITICO that they are struggling to balance their commitment to free speech — which has been challenged by alt-right supporters of President Donald Trump — with campus safety, as both white nationalists and left-wing provocateurs vowed to continue the types of confrontations that led to violence in Berkeley, California, and Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Meanwhile, Richard Spencer, the white-nationalist leader who organized free-speech rallies on many other campuses, told POLITICO that he plans to take his movement to more universities in 2018. He said he knows of efforts underway on at least seven campuses to get him to speak, and that he will use the full extent of the law to fight back against any universities that try to block him.” http://politi.co/2pBV6PJ … Photo essay by M. Scott Mahaskey http://politi.co/2DRz2nk

SEVEN YEARS LATER … “Regulators Propose Rollbacks to Offshore Drilling Safety Measures,” by WSJ’s Ted Mann: “Regulators in the Trump administration are proposing to roll back safety measures put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a revision that would reduce the role of government in offshore oil production and return more responsibility to private companies. … While industry would get much of what it has sought, BSEE is proposing leaving in place a standard for how much pressure drillers must be maintain atop a well to prevent a blowout. At the same time, the word ‘safe’ would be deleted from that section of the rule, on the basis that regulators could exceed their authority in interpreting the term in a way to withhold certain drilling permits.” http://on.wsj.com/2kZsz1J

BUSINESS BURST — “Goodbye, George Bailey: Decline of Rural Lending Crimps Small-Town Business: Banks are closing branches and paring credit in rural America, focusing instead on booming urban markets; it’s ‘like a death sentence,’” by WSJ’s Ruth Simon and Coulter Jones in Roxobel, N.C.: “In-person banking, crucial to many small businesses, is disappearing as banks consolidate and close rural branches. Bigger banks have been swallowing community banks and gravitating toward the business of making larger loans. … Of America’s 1,980 rural counties, 625 don’t have a locally owned community bank — double the number in 1994, federal data show. At least 35 counties have no bank, while about 115 are now served by just one branch.” http://on.wsj.com/2C7hjIa

PLAYBOOK TRAVEL SECTION — “Airlines’ Rising Costs Threaten to Drag on Their Profit Margins,” by WSJ’s Susan Carey: “Airlines are paying more for fuel, labor and maintenance, drawing scrutiny from investors who fear the industry’s rising costs threaten margins during a record stretch of profitability. Expenses at the nine largest airlines rose 8.1% in the first nine months of 2017 compared with the prior-year period, according to the Airlines for America trade group, while revenue rose 3.8%. The run-up in expenses is well above the overall U.S. inflation rate of 2.2%. The imbalance caused the pretax margins of the nine carriers to slide to 12% in the nine-month period from 15.5% the year before.” http://on.wsj.com/2BRwjNA

****** A message from Google Year in Search 2017: As this year draws to a close, Google analyzed Search Trends data to see what the world was searching for. The data showed that 2017 was the year we asked “how…?” How do wildfires start? How to calm a dog during a storm? How to make a protest sign? These questions show our shared desire to understand our experiences and come to each other’s aid. Watch the Year in Search 2017 and see top trending lists from around the world at g.co/2017. ******

MEDIAWATCH – PAGE SIX: “NBC tightens sexual harassment rules following Matt Lauer mess”: “NBC has issued strict new anti-sexual harassment rules to employees — including that staffers must snitch on any misbehaving colleagues — in the wake of the firing of disgraced ‘Today’ show ex-host Matt Lauer. A source tells Page Six that NBC employees have been ordered to report any inappropriate relationships in the workplace — and if they fail to do so, they could be fired for covering up for colleagues. Detailed rules also have been issued about conduct in the office, including how to socialize and even how to hug colleagues.

“A source says, ‘… Staffers have been told that if they find out about any affairs, romances, inappropriate relationships or behavior in the office, they have to report it to human resources, their superior or the company anti-harassment phone line. Staffers are shocked that they are now expected to snitch on their friends. Plus, there’s been a series of ridiculous rules issued on other office conduct. One rule relates to hugging. If you wish to hug a colleague, you have to do a quick hug, then an immediate release, and step away to avoid body contact. Also there’s strict rules about socializing, including [not] sharing taxis home and [not] taking vegans to steakhouses.’” http://pge.sx/2C618e2

DAVID BROOKS, “The 2017 Sidney Awards, Part I”: “[T]he first Sidney goes to Thomas Golianopoulos’s essay ‘[Expletive] That Gator’ from BuzzFeed … is really an engaging description of a slice of American life that, when it is described at all, is usually done so in a patronizing anthropological manner. … Christopher Caldwell’s essay ‘American Carnage’ in First Things [is] … one of the most comprehensive depictions of the opioid crisis. … Alex Tizon’s ‘My Family’s Slave’ in The Atlantic occupied readers’ time more than any other piece of English-language journalism on the internet this year. …

“The other monster essay is Ronan Farrow’s portrait of Harvey Weinstein’s victims in The New Yorker that, together with Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s work for The Times, sparked this national re-norming. … I can’t stop telling people about the factoids I learned from Amia Srinivasan’s book review essay ‘The Sucker, the Sucker!’ in The London Review of Books about the personality of octopuses. … Lastly, Gary Saul Morson’s essay ‘Solzhenitsyn’s Cathedrals’ in The New Criterion takes us back to one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.” http://nyti.ms/2CbJrMA

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Amanda Munger (DeGroff), senior account executive at Melwood Global and an Obama DHS and Interior alum

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and a Biden alum. A trend he thinks deserves more attention: “I think neither U.S. nor European economies are even close to ready to offset the next recession, especially if it’s of any significant depth. To be clear, neither I nor anyone else knows when it’s coming, but I fear that advanced economies will have too little fiscal and monetary space for fight it when it arrives. Relatedly, here in the U.S. we’re quietly over-deregulating financial markets, which always leads to nasty asset bubbles.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2BCUpYf

BIRTHDAYS: Candy Crowley … Jonathan Rath Hoffman, DHS assistant secretary of public affairs and the pride of Greenville, South Carolina (hat tips: Lauren Claffey, filing from Breckenridge and Ed Cash, filing from Winthrop, Massachusetts) … Mary Blanche Hankey, chief of staff for DOJ’s office of legislative affairs (h/t Stephen Boyd) … Katie Fallon, Hilton’s global head of corporate affairs … Mike Hammer, career diplomat currently serving as acting SVP of the National Defense University, former Ambassador to Chile, former Special Assistant to the President at the NSC, and Hoya for life (hat tip: Ben Chang) … Noelle Clemente, VP at S-3 Public Affairs (h/t Amos Snead) … Eloy Martinez, senior director of gov’t relations at the American Gaming Association … Andrew Weber … Noa Meyer … former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) is 62 … David Sedaris is 61 … Kristin Davison … Scott Shepard … former California Gov. Gray Davis is 75 (h/t Dan Harrison) … Ed Greelegs … Alex Zuckerman, associate producer at CBSN …

… Joe Maloney, partner at Locust Street Group, is 38 (h/ts Ben Jenkins and Allison Schneider) … Alison Moore … Emily Cyr, producer for “The Five” on Fox News, celebrating in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (h/t Eileen Dombrowski) … Edelman’s Peter Segall, Synim Rivers and William Gordon … Amelia Colton … Sally Fox, press secretary for Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), is 23 (h/ts Kyle Egan and Laura Wiley) … Jeff Quinton … Matt Neufeld is 56 … Jeremy Broggi … Cole Henry is 31 … Charlie Summers is 58 … Politico Europe’s Clémence Vatier … Rob Pyron …Georgiana Cavendish, who works for the Deputy Secretary of State and got married in the Roman Forum in Italy this September — pic http://bit.ly/2BDgohA (hubby tip: Jason Meininger) … Joe Mosby … Jane Song … Ellen Field … Natasha Walsh … Will Heyniger is 55 … Dave Nieuwstraten … Jennifer Duck, Democratic staff director for Senate Judiciary … Sarada Peri … Matthew Verghese … Scott Lear … Joe Deoudes … Jill Cooper Udall … Holly Shannon … Jon Henke … Bishop Garrison of Sentinel Strategy & Policy Consulting … Dillan Siegler … Ian Duncan … Ashley Dominguez … Kate Hunter … Courtney Carrow … Caroll Spinney … Ron Parker (h/t Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from Google Year in Search 2017: As this year draws to a close, Google analyzed Search Trends data to see what the world was searching for. The data showed that 2017 was the year we asked “how…?” How do wildfires start? How to calm a dog during a storm? How to make a protest sign? All of the “how” searches featured in the Year in Search film were searched at least 10 times more this year than ever before. These questions show our shared desire to understand our experiences and come to each other’s aid.

From “how to watch the eclipse” and “how to shoot like Curry,” to “how to move forward” and “how to make a difference,” here’s to this Year in Search. Watch the film and see top trending lists from around the world at g.co/2017. ******

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thespearnews-blog · 7 years

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The long walk to freedom; Why Nelson Mandela never forgave ex-wife, Winnie

New Post has been published on https://thespearnews.com/2017/11/01/long-walk-freedom-nelson-mandela-never-forgave-ex-wife-winnie/

The long walk to freedom; Why Nelson Mandela never forgave ex-wife, Winnie

Nelson Mandela was laid to rest on 15th Dec 2013. John Carlin in his new book ‘Knowing Mandela,’ reveals why he never forgave the former wife who has featured through out the 10 day mourning period and even in the official programme.

TWO weeks before Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in February 1990 I went to see his wife, Winnie, at her home in Diepkloof Extension, the posh neighbourhood of Soweto where the handful of black people who had contrived to make a little money resided. It was known as Baverly Hills to Soweto’s other presidents.

Winnie’s home, funded by foreign benefactors, was a two-floor, three-bedroom house with a garden and a small swimming pool. The height of extravagance by black standards, it would have more or less met the aspirations of the average white, middle-class South African

Zindzi, Winnie’s slim and attractive second daughter, was 29 but looked younger in a yellow T-shirt and denim dungarees. It was 9.30 a.m. and she was in the kitchen frying eggs. She invited me in and started chatting as if we were old friends. The truth was that I had not scheduled an interview with Winnie. I had just dropped in to try my luck. But Zindzi saw nothing wrong in me giving it a shot.

Mum, she said, was still upstairs and would probably be a while. As I hovered about waiting (and, as it turned out, waiting, and waiting friends of Zindzi wandered in for coffee and a chat. Completing the South African middle-class picture, a small, wizened maid in blue overalls padded inscrutably around.

Finally, Winnie made her entrance, Taller than I had expected, very much the grande dame, she displayed neither surprise nor irritation at my presence in her home. When I said I would like to interview her, she responded with a sigh, a knowing smile and a glance at her watch. I said all I would need was half an hour. She thought a moment, shrugged her shoulders and said: “OK. But you will have to give me a little time.” She still had to put the finishing touches to her morning toilette.

The picture presented to me by mother, daughter, friends and cleaning lady was of a domesticity so stable and relaxed that, had I not been better informed, I would never have imagined the depths of trauma that lucked beneath.

Winnie had been continually persecuted by agents of the apartheid state during the 1970s and 1980s; she had borne the anguish of hearing her two small daughters screaming as the police broke into her home and carted her off to jail; she had spent more than a year in solitary confinement. Trusting that her confused and stricken children would be cared for by friends; she had been banished and placed under house arrest far away. But she was back, her circumstances altered dramatically for the better now that Mandela’s release was imminent.

One hour after her first entrance, she majestically reappeared, Cleopatra still needed her morning coffee, and motioned me to wait in her study while she withdrew into the kitchen. I had five minutes to take in the surroundings.

On a bookshelf there was a row of framed family portraits, a Christmas card and a birthday card. Only a month had passed since Christmas, but nearly four since Winnie had turned 53. I could not resist taking a closer look.

I opened the Christmas card, which was enormous, and immediately recognised Nelson Mandela’s large, spidery handwriting. “Darling, I love you. Madiba,” It said. Madiba was the tribal name by which he liked to be known to those close to him. On the birthday card he had written the same words.

If I had not known better I might have imagined the cards had been sent by an infatuated teenager. Once we began our interview. Winnie took on just such a role, playing the tremulous bride-to-be, convincing me she was in a state of nervous excitement at the prospect of rekindling her life’s great love.

Close up she had, like her husband, the charisma of the vastly self-confident, and there was a coquettish, eye-fluttering sensuality about her. It was not hard to imagine how the young woman who met Mandela one rainy evening in 1957 had struck him, as he would later confess, like a thunderbolt.

The Mandela the world saw wore a mask that disguised his private feelings, presenting himself as a fearless hero, immune to ordinary human weakness. His effectiveness as a leader hung, he believed, on keeping that public mask from cracking. Winnie offered the greatest test to his resolve. During the following years the mask cracked only twice. She was the cause both times.

The first was in May 1991. She had just been convicted at Johannesburg’s Rand Supreme Court of assault and accessory to kidnapping a 14-year-old black boy called Stomple Moeketsi, whom her driver had subsequently murdered. Winnie had been led to believe, falsely as it turned out, that the boy had been working as a spy for the apartheid state.

Winnie and Mandela walked together down the steps of the grand court building. Once again the actress, she swaggered to the street, right fist raised in triumph. It was not clear what she could possibly have been celebrating, except perhaps the perplexing straight off to jail and would remain free pending an appeal.

Mandela had a different grasp of the situation. His face was grey, his eyes were downcast.

The second and last time was nearly a year later. The setting was an evening press conference hastily summoned at the drab headquarters of the ANC. He shuffled into the room, sat down at a table and read from a piece of paper, beginning by paying tribute to his wife.

“During the two decades I spent on Robben Island she was an indispensable pillar of support and comfort… My love for her remains undiminished.” There was a general intake of breath. Then he continued: “We have mutually agreed that a separation would be the best for each of us… I part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace her with all the love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside prison from the moment I first met her.”

He rose to his feet. “Ladies and gentlemen. I hope you ‘ll appreciate the pain I have gone through and I now end this interview.”

He exited the room, head-bowed, amid total silence.

Mandela’s love for Winnie had been, like many great loves, a kind of madness, all the more so in his case as it was founded more on a fantasy that he had kept alive for 27 years in prison than on the brief time they had actually spent together. The demands of his political life before he was imprisoned were such that they had next to no experience of married life, as Winnie herself would confess to me that morning.

“I have never lived with Mandela,” she said. “I have never known what it was to have a close family where you sat around the table with husband and children. I have no such dear memories. When I gave birth to my children he was never there, even though he was not in jail at the time.”

It seemed that Winnie, who was 22 to his 38 when they met, had cast a spell on him. Or maybe he cast a spell on himself, needing to reconstruct those fleeting memories of her into a fantasy of tranquility where he sought refuge from the loneliness of prison life.

His letters to her from Robben Island revealed romantic, sensual side to his nature that no one but Winnie then knew. He recalled “the electric current” that “flushed” through his blood as he looked at her photograph and imagined their caresses.

The truth was that Winnie had had several lovers during Mandela’s long absence. In the months before his release, she had been having an affair with Dali Mpofu, a lawyer 30 years her junior and a member of her defence team. She carried on with the affair after Mandela left prison. ANC members close to Mandela knew that was going on, as they did about her frequent bouts of drunkenness. I tried asking them why they did not talk to Mandela about her waywardness, but I was always met by frosty stares. Winnie became a taboo subject within the ANC during the two years after Mandela left prison. Confronting him with the truth was a step too far for the freedom fighters of the ANC.

His impeccably courteous public persona acted as a coat of armour protecting the sorrowing man within. But there came a point when Mandela could deceive himself, or the public, no longer. Details of the affair with Mpofu were made luridly public in a newspaper report two weeks before the separation announcement.

The article was a devastating, irrefutable expose of Winnie’s affair. It was based on a letter she had written to Mpofu that revealed he had recently had a child with a woman whom she referred to as “a white hag.” Winnie accused Mpofu of “running around f***** at the slightest emotional excuse … Before I am through with you, you are going to learn a bit of honesty and sincerity and know what betrayal of one’s love means to a woman … Remember always how much you have hurt and humiliated me … I keep telling you the situation is deteriorating at home, you are not bothered because you are satisfying yourself every night with a woman. I won’t be your bloody fool, Dali.”

In private, Mandela had already endured quite enough conjugal torture. I learnt of one especially hurtful episode from a friend of Mandela some years later. Not long after the end of her trial, Winnie was due to fly to America on ANC-related business. She wanted to take Mpofu with her, and Mandela said she should not, Winnie agreed not to, but went with him anyway. Mandela phoned her at her hotel room in New York, and Mpofu answered the phone.

Extracted from Knowing Mandela by John Carlin

NB: In Mandela’s will, Winnie is NOT listed as beneficiary, she got NOTHING!

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/selena-gomez-long-weeknd-ends-wendy-williams-faints-kim-k-offends/

Selena Gomez long Weeknd ends, Wendy Williams faints and Kim K offends

It’s officially over…the whirlwind romance between young Hollywood stars Selena Gomez and The Weeknd (legally named Abel Tesfaye) has come to a close. On Monday, numerous sources reported that the two artists called it quits after several months of dating. While the break-up was shocking in and of itself, Selena’s recent reconnection with her ex-Justin Bieber is making the situation seem even more messy. As we reported earlier, Selena was spotted hanging out with Justin Bieber a few days ago. In addition, the two stars also attended church and had breakfast together on Sunday. According to sources, Selena hopes to make amends with Justin, as her perspective on things has changed ever since she went through serious health troubles this year (note: Selena underwent a kidney transplant at the beginning of the summer). While it is unclear whether there is going to be a romantic reconciliation between the “Bad Liar” songstress and Justin, there are several clues on social media that hint at a not-so-amicable break-up between Selena and The Weeknd. In fact, on Monday, soon after reports of the break-up made waves on the internet, fans noticed that The Weeknd unfollowed all of Selena’s family and friends on Instagram, as well as Selena herself. Now rumors are circulating about Justin and Selena. Media outlets are reporting that Justin is trying to prove to Selena that he is a changed person, worthy of a second chance. In a new People magazine article, a source close to the Biebs explained that the singer is trying to win over Selena’s family. They told the publication, “Justin is aware Selena’s family is not thrilled they are hanging out. They think he caused Selena a lot of grief. Justin hopes he can prove to them that he has changed.” “House of Cards” has suspended production on season six, in light of recent sexual assault allegations leveled against star Kevin Spacey, media outlets have confirmed. “MRC and Netflix have decided to suspend production on ‘House of Cards’ season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew,” said the companies in a statement. Yesterday the companies announced that the sixth season would be the last for the series, which was currently in production in Baltimore. “Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” they said in a statement. Netflix and MRC also said that they had sent executives to Baltimore Monday to meet with cast and crew after actor Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”) told Buzzfeed in an interview that Spacey had sexually assaulted him when Rapp was 14 years old. Spacey is not currently on set for “House of Cards.” He issued an apology for his “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” that was widely criticized given that he also used it to come out as a gay man. Media outlets broke the news yesterday that producers have been exploring spinoff possibilities, all of them set in the same universe as “House of Cards.” “House of Cards” is widely credited as the show that put Netflix on the original programming map when it premiered in 2013. The series has been nominated for 53 Primetime Emmy Awards — including five nominations for outstanding drama series. Spacey has been nommed five times for his work. News of the shutdown was first reported by Deadline. Of course, Kim Kardashian has stumbled into yet another controversy. This year, the reality star announced that she was going with a music icon theme for her various Halloween costumes. Leading up to October 31st, Kim has sported a number of flashy ensembles, including a Cher and a Madonna get-up. Unfortunately, one of her outfits was not received well by fans and followers of the star – specifically her tribute to the late singer Aaliyah. After showing off her Aaliyah-esque look, Kim’s social media feeds were flooded with criticism, as people felt that Kim should not have been dressed up the black artist. One Twitter follower replied to Kim’s costume saying, “Legend or not, Aaliyah is a black woman, and you’re not. It’s offensive, and you shouldn’t push the limit, but okay…” Kim K follower, Twitter post: https://twitter.com/LAGrlCrookdSmle/status/924484787699453953 Fortunately, in addition to the thousands of trolls and haters, Kim also received notable support from other social media users. Furthermore, Kim has not taken down the posts of her dressed up as Aayliah and has yet to comment on the controversy. Wendy Williams gave viewers a scare Tuesday morning when she passed out on-the-air during a broadcast of her syndicated chat show. Williams was introducing a segment while wearing a Statue of Liberty Halloween costume when her speech suddenly became slurred. She began shaking and seconds later collapsed on the stage. Stagehands rushed in to help her while the crowd screamed. Williams was back on camera after a break and told the audience the moment “was not a stunt” and she passed out because she was overheated in her costume. Williams’ publicist Alexandra Sinclair tells media outlets the host is “feeling much better” and was able to finish the show OK. Sinclair says Williams will “address the incident on tomorrow’s show.” Netflix is exploring a “House of Cards” spinoff as the show’s final season nears amid controversy surrounding star Kevin Spacey. The streaming channel, which reportedly is weighing different concepts for the spinoff, said Monday that the upcoming sixth season will be the last for “House of Cards.” The announcement of the Emmy-winning political satire’s end came amid fallout from Spacey’s alleged sexual advances toward a 14-year-old actor in the 1980s. But Netflix had already decided to end the show and was pursuing a spinoff. Spacey has apologized for the incident which he said he doesn’t recall but would have stemmed from “drunken behavior.” He also spoke publicly for the first time about being gay. The final “House of Cards” episodes are in production, with a release date yet to be announced. Follow-up heart surgery for Jimmy Kimmel’s infant son was postponed because of family colds. In a statement Monday, Kimmel’s publicist said that Billy Kimmel’s scheduled operation was delayed as a precaution. His publicist said Kimmel had planned to take the week off from ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for his son’s surgery, but he instead is sharing sneezes with his wife and children. Guest hosts filling in for Kimmel include Shaquille O’Neal, Dave Grohl, Channing Tatum and Jennifer Lawrence. Billy was born last April with heart defects that required surgery immediately after his birth and another operation at about six months. The experience prompted Kimmel to use his show as a platform to advocate for every family’s access to equal medical care, including those unable to afford it. Tessa Thompson hated having to wear a cape in 'Thor: Ragnarok'. The 34-year-old actress stars as the cape-wearing Valkyrie in the new Marvel movie, and Tessa - who trained diligently for the high-energy role - admitted her on-screen attire made filming awkward for her. She explained: "I know that sounds like - not a champagne problem, but like a weird superhero problem that we don't think about. "You just trip on them and then the wind machine gets going and it smacks you in the face. So, it felt like a quick boot camp in superhero-ness." The American star also revealed that she and the rest of the cast - which includes Chris Hemsworth, Idris Elba and Cate Blanchett - would stand around on set joking about the challenges of playing superheroes. She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "We all stand around with half of our costume off and weird suspenders ... We have conversations about navigating the demands of superheroes. "[And] the sometimes adventurous positions you have to get yourself in to be able to, you know, pee in between takes." Meanwhile, Tessa recently revealed that her character Valkyrie was pitched to her as the "Han Solo of the movie" by director Taika Waititi.

MTV is reviving its “Jersey Shore” franchise, this time down South.

The network said Monday it will debut “MTV Floribama Shore” later this month, following a cast of eight young adults who spent a summer together in Florida’s Panama City Beach with the expected personal dramas. It’s being made by the same production company as “Jersey Shore,” which aired from 2009 to 2012.

“Jersey Shore” was the network’s highest-rated original series, making stars of characters like Snooki and The Situation, and spawning worldwide spinoffs like “Warsaw Shore” in Poland.

MTV is becoming the reboot channel, recently reviving “Total Request Live” and “Unplugged.” Its new “Siesta Key” is inspired by “Laguna Beach.”

“Floribama Shore” debuts Nov. 27, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Although she is only 25 years old, singer and actress Miley Cyrus has already had a long career in the entertainment industry. For several years, Miley was one of the biggest stars on the Disney Channel, as she portrayed Miley Stewart on the hit TV series Hannah Montana. On Sunday, Miley did an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, in which she reflected back on her days as a Disney starlet. The “Younger Now” songstress admitted that she was under an immense amount of pressure while acting on Hannah Montana. Miley noted, “I liked being in the Disney universe ’cause I didn’t know anything else. I knew I was getting to live what I wanted to do. I think now that I’m older now, I realize that’s a lot to put on a kid, It’s a lot to put on a kid to have them have to get their makeup done and then also balance school and then also have me dress up in a wig. It’s a little like Toddlers and Tiaras.” When asked if she views her Disney days in a positive light, Miley responded, “I definitely look back on it as a good time. I think what was hard for me was balancing everything. I think it got harder when I started touring as both – toured as Hannah Montana and as myself.” She went on to add, “I loved being that character. And honestly, music is everything and all people wanna have is great music and for that audience, for what that was, that was great music for kids to listen to. There’s a song called ‘Life’s What You Make it, so Let’s Make it Rock.’ Never forget that— wise words. That’s a good thing to tell kids,” Nowadays, Miley is keeping herself busy with both her music career and her role as a judge on the TV singing competition The Voice. One of Bachelor Nation’s fan favourites may be off the market… After weeks of exchanging flirtatious comments on each other’s social media posts, it appears that Bachelorette alum Wells Adams is seeing Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland. According to sources, the duo is still in the very early stages of their relationship and they are keeping things casual. One source told People magazine, “They’ve been friends for a while and now they’ve been hanging out and spending more time together. They’re flirty.” Back in the summer, Sarah Hyland split from her long time boyfriend, actor Dominic Sherwood. On October 11th, Sarah tweeted out a post about the struggles of being single, indicating that she was ready to find a new beau. She posted, “The problem with being single isn’t the fact that you’re alone. It’s that you can’t puppy dog eye a guy into getting you Starbucks in bed.” Sarah Hyland, Twitter post: https://twitter.com/Sarah_Hyland/status/918165564580753408 Over the past weekend, Sarah and Wells were spotted hanging out in Nashville. While Sarah lives in California, she made the trip out to visit the radio host and join in on some Halloween festivities. On Saturday, Sarah posted a photo of her and Wells dressed up for a Halloween party. The actress went as Dustin from Stranger Things, while Wells dressed up as Eleven from the Netflix hit show. When Alex Rodriguez first met Jennifer Lopez, the former baseball player wasn’t sure if their dinner was a meeting or a date. “He was sitting there in his white shirt, very confident and manly, but then he was just so talkative!” the “Shades of Blue” stunner recalled to Vanity Fair. “I think he thought I was going to be this loud person, but I’m not,” she continued. “I just listen. So he’s talking, talking about his plans, about how he had just retired from baseball, about how he saw himself getting married again, all these things you wouldn’t normally talk about on a first date. I don’t know if he thought it was a date. I thought it was a date. Then I knew he was nervous because he asked me if I wanted a drink. I said, ‘No, I don’t drink,’ and he asked if I minded if he had one.” Rodriguez, 42, admitted feeling “uneasy” going into the night, “not knowing her situation” ahead of time. “It would be incredibly productive for me to sit with one of the smartest, greatest women in the world, especially for a guy like me who is coming through tough times, rehabbing himself, re-establishing himself to folks out there. I thought it would be a win-win no matter what,” he explained. After Lopez, 48, confirmed her single status “around the third or fourth inning,” Rodriguez then let his fingers do the talking. “I had to get up and go readjust my thoughts,” he said. “I went to the bathroom and got enough courage to send her a text.” Lopez received the text from the father of two, which read, “You look sexy AF.” “And then it took a turn,” she said. “The fire alarm went off, and we had to evacuate.” The red-hot pair, who confirmed their romance earlier this year, have been attached at the hip since their Bahamian getaway in March. Lopez, who shares 9-year-old twins Emme and Max with ex-husband Marc Anthony, revealed in September this is the first time she’s been in a “good relationship.” “We complement each other, and there’s really pure, true love. Just wanting to support the other person and make them happy. So there’s a different selflessness in the love that’s beautiful and different. And healthy!” Lopez told Hola! USA in September.

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#Featured #House of Cards #Jennifer Lopez #Jimmy Kimmell #Kevin Spacey #Miley Cyrus #Selena Gomez #The Weeknd #Wendy Williams

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