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thefanficmonster · 4 years ago

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Power Couple

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Fluff, Humor

Summary: Sean, Felix, Dave, and Joel welcome Corpse’s girlfriend to a game of Party Animals. It’s her first time playing and she has to deal with a lot more than just the controls and objectives - her boyfriend being a cute, cuddly sweetheart with ulterior motives to his clinginess.

Requested by @susceptible-but-siriusexual. Thank you so much for your request! Hope I captured what you wanted and how you wanted. Feel free to send any other requests you may have XOXO

It’s been one hell of a day. Had to correct twice as many documents as I was originally supposed to at work; found my car with a flat tire in the parking lot as I was about to go home; argued with my boss over the phone while stuck in a traffic jam. It’s been a rough twelve hours, but it has led me here and that’s what I’d rather think about.

By ‘here’ I mean I’m sitting on the couch in Corpse’s recording room, my computer in my lap, my screen displaying the screen to the game Party Animals. The suggestion was Corpse’s. He immediately picked up on my below par mood and wasted no time finding a solution to bright up the remainder of the day, shadowing the shitty portion of it. I am not what you would call a gamer. Sure I’ve played Among Us with Corpse and his friends a few times. Even that I struggle to do because I’m internally fangirling over all the people in the lobby. Yeah, dating a youtuber doesn’t mean you automatically stop gushing over the many content creators on the platform you’ve been watching for quite some time now. Corpse knows how nervous I get so he’s always near me when we play with Sean, Felix and the other. All he has to do is give me that encouraging smile and wink of his and I’m good to go. Side note: massive props to him for going easy on me in Among Us, getting teasingly called ‘simp’ by his friends in the process.

“You’ll love it.“ He promised me over and over again as the game was downloading on my computer.

“I don’t doubt that, Corpse. But I am going in completely blind and I seriously don’t wanna embarrass myself.“ I mumble a quick ‘nor you‘ under my breath, hoping he doesn’t catch it because I’m in for a pep talk if he does.

To my dismay, he does, “Listen here, you couldn’t embarrass me even if you actively tried to do something outrageous. Most likely scenario, I’d join you in the act.” He ducks in front of the couch so we’re at eye level, his hand coming up to cup my cheek in the sweetest, most comforting gesture ever. “We’ll show em who’s the boss at stealing candy.”

I can’t help but laugh, feeling unable to express just how much this man means to me. Words can’t do the feeling justice.

“Y/N!“

“Y/N!!“

“Corpse Wife has arrived!“

Hearing all the greetings lights a flame in my chest, the warmth spreading all the way to my neck and cheeks. “Hi guys! Missed playing with you!”

“We missed you too!“ Dave, the only one of the gaming gang I’ve actually met in person, replies to me, his words along with all the others’ wrapping around me like a comfort blanket. Despite them knowing I’m a fan of theirs, they’ve always made me feel welcomed, comfortable, nothing less than them.

“You know anything about this game?“ Felix asks me.

I shake my head, almost forgetting he can’t see me, “Corpse told me it’s funny and cute. It sounds like the perfect game for me.”

“Oh no, this is a game of survival. Survival of the fittest!“ Sean shouts excitedly, a bang following his shout I can only assume was him hitting his desk.

“I’d like to think I’m pretty fit.“ I shrug my shoulders, laughing along with the guys.

“This is the only way to find out if you actually are.“ Joel’s voice comes through my headphones in the form of a tease.

Sean mumbles quietly to himself as he’s deciding how to separate us in two teams. “Guys, a little help here. We all suck at this game, it doesn’t really matter who’s in which team.”

“Actually...“ Felix trails off, “Corpse and Y/N are the ultimate power couple in Among Us. Chances are they will be in this as well. So, the only logical move would be to...“

“I’m taking Y/N, you take Corpse.“ Sean declares. “Joel, Dave, who do you guys wanna be with?“

And the game starts. Sean, Joel and I are the Meowfia while Corpse, Felix and Dave are yet to choose a team name. We throw around snarky, cocky comments at each other, taunting the opposite team as we struggle to take the candy to our respective sides of the map.

“Don’t you dare pull that lever, Dave!“ I launch at Dave, knocking his cute avatar away from the lever, buying Joel and Sean some time to steal back the gummy bear Corpse and Felix took from us.

“Y/N! Joel is out! Help me!“ Sean is freaking out now. I ditch Dave’s unconscious body and run to Sean’s aid.

As I’m helping him push it towards out area a member from the opposite team latches onto my avatar, weighing me down and hindering me from doing anything.

“Hug!“ Corpse laughs as he has literally turned into a koala, holding onto my avatar.

“Corpse, you know you are actually supposed to hinder Y/N, not hug her. It’s cute though, don’t get me wrong.“ Felix laughs as him and Sean continue to struggle over the gummy bear.

“Nah, his tactic’s great. I can’t do shit.“ I desperately try and shake him off, “Babe, this is unfair. I can’t even be mad at you!“ I whine, staring to panic now that Dave is back to life and Joel is nowhere to be seen.

The round is won by Felix, Dave and Corpse who, if I might add, didn’t let go of me for the rest of the game.

We switch maps, now every man for himself. We’re on the submarine, recreating the Hunger Games with cute fuzzy animals. The thought passes through my mind, causing me to giggle.

“Y/N, you sound exactly like I’d imagine your avatar to sound. You’re so cute.“ Sean’s avatar circles mine a few times as he laughs.

He’s not wrong, my pale blue puppy is indeed cute. Apparently immortal as well.

“How is Y/N still alive?! Holy shit, her and Corpse really are a power couple.“ Dave shrieks when he sees me pick up the freeze gun. “NOOO!“ He shouts, devastated by the fact I shot him, sending him straight to his death.

“Chill, Dave. It’s all cool. Nothing personal.“ I struggle to hide my laughter, “No hard feelings, right?“

“Of course not, love.“ I can tell he grits the sentence through clenched teeth.

“Aw Dave, you are such an ice guy.“ I giggle, now shooting Joel with the gun.

“Someone take that gun from her!“ Sean cries as him and Felix race up the submarine.

Suddenly, the avatar of my boyfriend again wraps itself around mine. I hadn’t seen him in a while, considering Sean knocked him into the ocean earlier in the round.

“How are you still alive?!“ I try to spin my puppy to get him to let go but he holds on tightly. “Babe, I swear, you are cute and I love you, but this is ridiculous. How and why are you alive?”

“That’s his superpower! He never fucking dies.“ Felix laughs, letting out a yelp when he briefly slips while climbing.

“Immortals!!! Immortals!!!“ Sean breaks out into a song, a song I really like, breaking the restraints I had on my laughter.

“Drop the gun or we’re dying together.“ He says almost seriously. Even though I can only see the back of his head I know he’s grinning.

“A Titanic/Romeo and Juliet mashup? Why not? I can live with dying a double historical death.“ Even though I appear accepting of his offer, I’m still trying to set myself free.

In the end, Sean claims his first win of the game and the rest of us are dead at the bottom of the ocean. Corpse and I did indeed die a Romeo and Juliet/Titanic death, getting everyone in their feels. We make a deal to get together and play again as soon as possible and we all go our separate ways, exiting the Discord call.

*Later that night*

After a dinner consisting of takeout and two thirds of a shitty romantic comedies, Corpse shifts from next to me, starting to get up from the couch. I am surprised to feel jolted out of a half sleep as the room is now completely silent, the TV being turned off.

“Hey where’re you going?“ I ask groggily, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

“I have some editing to do. Don’t worry, I won’t stay up too late.“ He kisses my forehead before grabbing his phone from the coffee table.

Just as he’s about to walk away, I wrap my arms around his legs. He laughs, catching onto what I’m insinuating. His chuckle brings a smile to my face and butterflies in my belly. No matter how long we date for or how much time we spend together, some things never change.

“Payback, huh?“ He asks, the smile audible in the question. I keep my eyes shut but nod, my arms still around his legs. “Alright, you koala. You’re coming with me.”

In his recording room, he settles in his chair placing me in his lap in a way that my legs dangling off to the side, my side leaning against his chest, my face hidden in the crook of his neck. We’re both comfortable, content and relaxed.

I don’t know when exactly it happens, but all my mind has registered is a quiet ‘I love you’ and the soft touch of Corpse’s lips on my temple. I manage to reply with an ‘I love you too’ before my sleepiness consumes me, my body completely relaxing against his, the warmth of his body, his scent, the sound of his breathing making me feel safe and loved: the two feelings I want him to feel with the same intensity when I’m in his arms.

Something tells me he does.

@simonsbluee @save-the-sky @hacker-ghost @itsminniekat @bi-andready-tocry @imtiredaffff @jazzkaurtheglorious @hereforbeebo @fandomgirl17 @chrysanthykios @annshit @i-cant-choose-a-username-help

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insanityclause · 4 years ago

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William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, starring Tom Hidldeston in the title role, is currently streaming as part of the UK National Theatre at Home initiative.

Coriolanus is set in ancient Rome, where the people suffer from a famine and clamor for changes to the current ruling system. Distinguished general Caius Martius returns from a successful campaign in Corioles and is thus named “Coriolanus.” He finds himself caught in the middle of conflicts at home and abroad as his mother, Volumnia, pushes him to become a consul of Rome. But he is a soldier at heart and ill-suited to politics and thus, betrayal and banishment drive him to form an unexpected alliance with a former enemy, Tullus Aufidius. He vows revenge on the city that rejected him, but this final, ill-fated campaign leads to his downfall.

Coriolanus is particularly relevant in these times of social unrest and political upheaval because it portrays a a country in the throes of transformation, people demanding a voice, and the breakdown of oppressive structures and systems. The play explores the idea of power and the very pertinent question of in whom it should reside and whether it should ever be in the hands of a single person.

It also tackles the dangers of imposing inordinate pressure on an individual and how they can break from the weight of nigh-impossible expectations. In an interview with The Guardian, Hiddleston himself says it best:

“I think the play also raises another complex question as to what degree any individual can withstand the intensity of idealisation and demonisation that comes with the mantle of unmoderated leadership or extraordinary responsibility.”

Directed by Josie Rourke, the production succeeds in bringing Shakespeare’s bloody epic to life even in a confined space. The production was filmed on stage at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014 by National Theatre Live.

The closed quarters of the Donmar Warehouse always push production teams to be more creative in their execution of material and the results in this case are truly impressive. Rourke made the most of the limited space and even turned it to her production’s advantage, ingeniously giving the focus on the characters and the dialogue more than the trappings of ancient Rome, creating a truly visceral experience.

The production was stripped to its bare essentials, the set design all the more striking for its sparseness. Simple props are deployed to impressive effect and even complicated battle scenes are deftly conveyed through chairs, ladders, and creative lighting.

A particularly memorable scene is when Caius Martius takes a shower after being bloodied in battle. The shower scene is not fan service but really more symbolic of the objectification of Martius’ body by the characters, how much blood he has shed for his city and how many scars he bears as proof of his service.

Hiddleston explains that the shower scene was also a way for the audience to see how the character bore his wounds in private even as he refused to reveal them in public. He cries out in pain as the cold water seemingly stings his wounds and one can feel him buckle under the weight of so much expectation. As Hiddleston says:

“We wanted to show him wincing, in deep pain: that these wounds and scars are not some highly prized commodity, but that beneath the exterior of the warrior-machine, idealised far beyond his sense of his own worth, is a human being who bleeds.”

The performances are consistently engaging and even with the majority of the ensemble seated in the shadowy background, when one character has his or her scene, the audience can look at no one else.

Tom Hiddleston is magnificent as Caius Martius Coriolanus, giving depth and nuance to a controversial character. Coriolanus is a difficult man to root for but Hiddleston effectively captures the many facets of the character from the daring warrior, the haughty patrician with such disdain for the plebeians, the dutiful son, the reluctant consul, the vengeful exile, and eventually, the vulnerable family man.

He effectively portrays a man seemingly unyielding in his convictions and yet also easily swayed by his mother, whether she is prodding him to become consul or begging him to spare Rome. Coriolanus is constantly torn between his obedience to his mother and her aspirations for him and his own proud and brutally honest nature.

His fearlessness and ferocity in battle do him little favors when he tries to play the politician and there is a brilliant scene when Hiddleston sarcastically tries to win “votes” from his countrymen and it is obvious how he struggles to keep up appearances. When he eventually snaps and unleashes his rage against the people, one can already foresee his inevitable doom.

Deborah Findlay as Volumnia is masterful and mesmerizing, her powerful influence over her son evident from her first appearance. She is clearly the driving force behind the story – pushing her son to gain renown on the battlefield, then to become consul of Rome, and finally, to relent in his revenge plans to raze the city. Far from the traditional depictions of motherhood as full of tenderness and compassion, Volumnia’s love for her son is rooted in brutal ambition, and she values the glory he can bring to their house more than his own life.

The mother-son relationship is one of the more fascinating dynamics in Shakespeare’s plays and the chemistry between Findlay and Hiddleston effectively portrays this. For all his pride and rage, Martius can never bring himself to refuse anything his mother asks of him, even when they both know that some requests will end in tragedy.

Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Virgilia, wife of Martius, does not share many scenes with her husband but in the few that she does, her manners and tender looks effectively convey the bond between them. She even employs some sensuality in the scenes where she tries to convince him to give up his bloody crusade.

Hadley Fraser as Tullus Aufidius gives a fascinating portrayal of a character who starts out as the lead’s fiercest foe and then somehow, becomes a powerful ally. The mutual admiration between the two warriors is evident from the moment they are face-to-face in battle.

While there are battle scenes in the play, the duel between Martius and Aufidius is the only one given complete fight choreography and it is an intense and gritty affair, both actors having rehearsed their movements extensively before the play’s run. Even as they exchange violent blows, there is a reluctant respect between them.

When their paths cross again later in the play and, in a rare display of humility, Martius puts himself at his enemy’s mercy, Aufidius recognizes an opportunity for them to finally become the brothers-in-arms they were destined to be. But the alliance is short-lived and soon Aufidius finds his rage replaced with sorrow.

Mark Gatiss gives a delightful performance and is a refreshingly jovial character in a cast of grim figures. His Menenius has the thankless task of counseling the stubborn Martius in his journey to becoming a consul and also tries his best to win the support of the people for his tempestuous protégé.

Peter de Jersey is regal and noble as the general Cominius, another supporter of Caius Martius, but one who is still unable to prevent the misfortunes that befall the ill-fated Coriolanus. Both Cominius and Menenius fail in their efforts to build Martius a career as a consul because they realize that he is a man who cannot go against his own nature.

Alfie Enoch plays Titus Lartius, a Roman general and another ally of Coriolanus. He is a brave and loyal companion in battle but he also is unable to help Coriolanus achieve his political ambitions.

The Tribunes, played by Elliot Levey and Helen Schlesinger, are as scheming and manipulative as one expects them to be, and though there is mutual hostility between them and the proud Martius, they hold the advantage because they are easily able to sway the people to their cause. In the end, Martius, for all his prowess in battle, is no match for seasoned politicians, who know the game too well.

The rest of the ensemble play multiple roles as Roman citizens and Volscians and though there are only a handful of actors, they are all still able to effectively convey the sense of a mob rising against a tyrant or an army of soldiers in the heat of battle. Once again, it is Rourke’s excellent direction that makes the most of the Donmar’s small space and allows the cast to be strategically placed in every scene. Not an inch of the stage is wasted.

The intense, intimate production brings out the character dynamics and the forces at play without distracting the audience with the bells and whistles of intricate set design or flashy costumes. The story is the star of the show and what better way to perform Shakespeare than to put the emphasis on his words.

Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare’s more brutal works, full of rawness and rage, without the customary elegance and charm that audiences may be used to with the romances or comedies. Coriolanus is a bloody cautionary tale about the nature of power, a theme that will certainly resonate strongly with audiences today.

In a time where we are all deprived of the communal experience of live theater, the National Theatre at Home initiative has provided a worthwhile alternative experience and a reminder of the excitement and wonder a well-executed play can inspire. While we wait for the worst effects of the crisis to abate, we can take comfort in the hope of a better future. In the words of Coriolanus himself:

“There is a world elsewhere.”

The stream will be available on the National Theatre’s Youtube Channel from June 4 to June 11. Watch it while you can:

https://youtu.be/XHqkEruwBT0

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Amphiba Reviewcaps Catchup Special: Lost In Newtopia/Sprig Gets Schooled/Little Frogtown/Hopping Mall

In a 4 episode marathon to make up for lost time: Hop Pop handcuffs Sprig to him because that’s not troubling and Polly And Anne head off on their own mostly uninteresting adventure. Sprig gets into college and regrets it much like most college students. Hop Pop goes on a noir adventure while Anne harasses children and it all ends with a wacky mall adventure that ends in an utter tearjerker. Pitter Patter, let’s get at er after the cut.

Whelp i’m behind. Over the last two weeks i’ve been busy moving into a new room in the house, and moving my stuff into said room and making it feel like home, and when i’ve had time I either had new coverage to start, or a series passing to honor, or in the case of yesterday had to have my wisdom tooth removed because it got so bad I couldn’t think out of nowhere. SO yeah been a pretty exausting few weeks... but with only one episode left before Amphibia likely goes on hiatus for the rest of the year, Halloween special excepted, I don’t really have the time to dawdle on this. So not much of an introduction let’s hop to it.

Lost in Newtopia

This will be a quick one, but this one was.. eh. Not BAD, as the first, last and middle scenes are all really good. it’s just between theere it’s not much intresting. The opening on the bus was pure gold as Hop Pop as usual gets fired up about something boring, then casually handcuffs his grandson because that’s normal. Then again this is the same man who also thought brainwashing his grandchildren was a minor slight so this is a step up somehow. Also he does have some logic for it after Sprig blew up a robot factory and , unbenowst to him, stole a powerful credit card for funsies. But .. get a dog leash or something. The scene was also great as we got to see Anne’s mom for the first time! And the scene with her wanting to get out and try exotic food her tummy’s not ready for was really adorable and relatable as having a young nice, I understand them asking for things they really shoudln’t have and then holding a grudge over it. But then the episode just sorta.. sputters for most of it’s run time. The bit with the tail shop is rfairly enjoyable, but the mishap with the vendor and the parade just aren’t all that funny and the basic conciet of tryign to do it up like locals hasn’t been done AS often as I’d think but frankly How I Met Your MOther, Back before it didn’t so much shoot itself in the foot as shoot both it’s legs off, did this slightly better with first time in new york, where the inverse happened, i.e. the locals pretending to be tourists. The ending scene was great, from Hop Pop going from terror at “street weridos” to casual happiness at seeing his grandaughter and adopted grandaughter (And my heart flew to hear him call anne that. I mean it was obvious but i’ts still nice to hear. Like when Scrooge told webby to Call him uncle scrooge but without the horribly scarring assholery the next episode he still hasn’t properly apologized for to her. ) and Polly and Anne’s terrible names for each other.> It was good stuff it’s just overal an okay episode. Good enough to entertain but just ntohing really out of the ordinary for this show, but with funny enough bits to keep invested. Next.

Sprig Gets Schooled Ehhhhh... this one HAD potetial, an intresting setting, Sprig getting in on his talent, plenty of fun college tropes, Hop Pop struggling with his grandson leaving the nest.. there was good stuff here, but like too many episodes this season it wasn’t used as well as it couldv’e been.

The episode has the family come upon Newtopia University, where Sprig’s talent with stopping mantises and with a fiddle gets him a scholarship, which is one of Hop Pop’s dreams, but both quickly regret it: Sprig dosen’t fit in while Hop Pop misses his baby boy. It comes to a head with Sprig tryign to sneak in and Anne and Polly trying to sneak in for hyjinks.

But overall it’s just.. eh. it has a few good gags, but the anne and polly plot has been done so many times by now, and while that alone isn’t enough to make it not all that fun the fact it isn’t funny or unique is when The Simpsons, Undergrads, Futrama , Solar Opposites and Bobs Burgers just off the top of my head have done fratboy hyjinks episodes way better.

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But what dosen’t help is while Hop Pop’s emotional part of the episode, missing his boy and wanting him to come bome, works, Sprig just.. get sbored. There’s nothing about how hard school is or him missing the others it’s just.. he dosen’t like it so he tries to leave. Instead of having an emotinal episode about him possibly fitting in there, or struggling to fit in there or some third thing it’s just.. an average 10 year old not liking college becuase of course he dosen’t. He’s too young to keger or really ond with his clasemates. It’s just an eh watch. Not as unpleasant as quarallers pass but without that episodes good parts to really help it be entertaining. Ugh. And you might say “well every episode dosen’t have to have an emotinal core jackass” which.. yeah your right. But it has to be funny. Or entertaining or have something and not just be .. eh. You CAN be just a funny episode if you do that right. And amphibia USUALLY does that and has an emotional hook to make it even better. And the proof is in the next two episodes.

Little Frogtown Now this.. this is more like it. After two less than memorable episodes, we get two classics in a row. Granted since I grew up on calvin and hobbes and thus grew up with the two tracer bullet arcs...

Well three techncially with the haircut thing but yeah, given one of them was in my first comic strip collection ever, the indespensible calvin and hobbes if your curious, I’ve always had a soft spot for noir episodes and to animations credit there have been some classics; The recurirng Numbah 2 detective stories in Kids Next Door, Venture Bros classic “everybody comes to hanks” and of all things, Garfield Babes and Bullets. Yes that happened and yes it IS actually good.

Oh and if your wondering if Garfield solved something family friendly like a Lasanga Robbery, or his teddy bear going missing or odie being kidnapped for a dog fight nope! He’s hired by a college professors wife to find out who killed her husband since it looked like a simple accident, but unsuprisingly it wasn’t. Oh and did I mention that not only is this based on a story from the book garfield’s 9 lives, which got it’s own special for the rest of the stories it chose to adapt and a few new ones to replace those it didn’t, but in that story it’s about a chuch deacon. That’s right Garfield tackled corruption in the church. Your welcome. But i’ve talked about Garfield Babes and Bullets enough.. I mean for today. I clearly need to cover this and 9 lives as a whole at some point. Let’s get back to this episode. Point is noir parodies are great and gafield has done some weird and wonderful shit. But my like of it aside this is a genuinely clever episode that has it’s own neat takes on the genre. The basic setup is simple: Hop Pop takes the kids to Sal’s, a restraunt owned by an old friend of his who got so sucessful with his delcious sandwitches and secret sauce he moved up to Newtopia.. but when Hop Pop finds the place he finds it in shambles, with no one there and Sal entirely missing. So while the kids head off for the arcade next door, Hop Pop goes into full noir mode to find his missing friend. It’s that core that works. Sure lots of shows use the “friend we only just heard of” plot device but here it works because it’s so simply used here: They were friends years and years ago, sal moved away probably decades ago, and he simply hasn’t kept in touch. Both are busy: Sal with his restraunt and what we find out here, and Hop Pop with his family and later having to swoop in when his daughter or son and their spouse died. It’s perfectly acceptable. To me while i’ve bitched plenty about cliches it’s mostly been about HOW you use them. About using them right instead of just coasting on an old plot to fill out your episodes for the season. If you don’t have an intresting story to tell, then use the 11 minutes for something ELSE. And here.. they do and have a fun spin on noir by having hop pop’s narration talk to him. While that’s happened before with narration gags I haven’t seen it in a noir parody before and it’s just pure comedy gold, and Bill Farmer’s acting makes you genuinely invested in finding out what happened to this character you never met. Bill really sells how worried hop pop is without over doing it and how important this guy and his sammiches are to him.

The final twist while not entirely suprising is intresting: Turns out , after Hop Pop finds people seemingly having stolen the recipie, Sal’s restraunt.. simply went belly up. Which sadly, makes sense: he had good ingredients but he’s in the world’s capital, where ther’es probably tons of mom and pop restraunts and giants of cuisine. It’s hard to start a buisness anywhere let alone the biggest city int he world. So Sal simply pivoted, sold his recipie and became a billionare. It’s a good solution that teaches hop pop a lessson: Change happens, things you really love like comfort food restraunts won’t last forever. I myself miss when this area I live in had a tgi fridays and it’s probably never coming back> Things change.. what matters more is people and moving on. Though he does send hop pop on with a bottle of sauce. It’s a good lesson for kids and a fine ribbon tied on one of the season, and hte series, best. And of course before we move on we have the b plot which is funny as it is relatable as some little shit steps in line in front of anne and being anne she overreacts.. and gets tazed and gets everyone banned. Not a huge subplot but it’s funny as it is relatable as someone whose both stood in massive lines and had people cut in and felt it was massively unfair. Never got into a fistfight over it but tha’t sbecasuse arcades are rare and cornona probably wiped out the rest. Ha ha.. I hate this year. One more!

Hopping Mall

Last one. Another simple plot: Hop Pop forces the kids to use 2 coppers a piece to buy souviners instead of letting them use the card because it means more.. which is bullcrap. While using your own money for a present DOES mean a lot, my mom gave me money plenty of times to buy gifts and covered me plenty. The real meaning behind a gift for someone is that you picked it out yourself, that whatver thing you picked made you think of them and that you meant it for them. Weather it be a mug, a billy bass, or the great mighty poo on a t shirt, what matters is it comes from the heart. Though Hop Pop also buys himself an easy chair and sends it home and admits h’es a hypocrite so maybe we’re not supposed to take him seriously. While this is there to make drama mostly for Anne it’s a plot device I like as it’s both the kind of nonsense an adult would make and then not follow, and it leads to a really good plot as our kids find their things; Hop Pop introduces the kids to haggling, which Polly mistakes for using tried and true mafia approved methods of intpmidation, leg breaking, arson and threats of all of the above andc omes back with her own snail and tiny cart. Sprig being sprig finds a gift for Ivy in seconds that’s a nice stick.. that also shooots lasers because I dunno. Also nice of the show to actually MENTION his girlfriend.... several episodes in.. with again NO goodbye to her or anyone else. And yes that’s still a sticking point this far in it wouldn’t of killed them to include that in one of the premire episodes. Anyways that leaves Anne who finds a nice teapot for her mom, but soon has to do what all people who can’t afford a tea pot too: enter a demolition derby against a mother daughter team using shopping carts. It’s a neat set piece, as is Anne apparently knowing carts because her and her friends hung around the mall a lot, which given we saw her and sasha out and out steal one for hyjinks, it’s a nice continuity nod. Anyways our heroes win the race, but Sprig looses his stick saving polly and their rival has to ravage her tail to save polly again. I also love the return of the “not the baby!” cry from “Marcy at the Gates” which I also swear has been used before on this show but can’t remember specifically where. It’s revealed their rival, and her daughter both of which are entertaining especially the daughter, wants the pot because it was one of her mom’s designs and it means a lot and that touches a nerve with Anne, so she lets her have it, but does get a lovely butterfly clip from the daughter. After the hop pop gag we get the most infamous, and best scene of the episode that ties the above together.

Sprig wakes up to find Anne ruminating on the balcony.. and for the first time since she got here really, she breaks down a bit about how much she misses her. And my honest interpretation is she’s been holding how bad she feels for her mom, who she admits to not having the best relationship with but both loving each other dearly: That she likely blames herself for the theft, for listenting to sasha, for getting them all stranded, for destroying her friendship with Sasha and possibly not being able to bring her home with her. But mostly for causing her parents undo pain, having no idea how hurt they are or what they’ll feeel when she comes back, no idea if she’ll even be able to make it home and see them again.. it’s a lot to hold in and with all she’s had to deal with I feel she’s been holding it inside just so she dosen’t snap. She already has enought o deal with especially after “reunited. Thinking for amoment about how her parents are likely in utter misery desperatley looking for her when she’s not even on earth... it’d break her.. and it does. She admits missing her, regretting they fought all the time and sobbing a bit... and the scene only gets sadder when Sprig interjects. He asks a simple question; What was she like. While we STILL don’t know the specifics we finally find out that his mom died when he and polly were really little, polly was probably a newborn... he never really knew her and wonders.. can you miss someone you never really knew? It’s a sad, sobering moment. We assumed sprig was fine with his parents being gone because like Anne and her parents he just never brought it up. But sometimes a person just burys something or is sad or upset in private, speaking from personal experince here. Sometimes you don’t talk about something beacuse you don’t know HOW and Sprig likely just dosen’t want to make hop pop more upset at reminding him his daughter and or son and daughter in law and or son in law are dead, something he likely deals with every day. It’s a powerfully acted scene and ends as the two cry softly together while the credits play over the newtopia night sky. Just a beautiful powerful scene that ties a mostly comedy episode together into something fantastic and like it’s partner episode, one of the series best.

And with that catchup is done. Join me saturday for more of this, more loud house, and moe moe moe, how do you like me how do you like me, moe moe moe, why do you like me nobody likes me... if you want more subsuricbe, check the backlogs ont hea ssioated pages, and shoot me an ask for a suggestion or a dm to comission a full review. While Amphibia weekly coverage is wrapping up for a while after saturday i’ll be back for the halloween special and then whenever the show returns in full, Ducktales coverage restarts monday and Loud House Coverage that began with Schooled continues sometime this weekend along with a possible foruth thing. Until then, stay safe and GO TEAM VENTURE!

#amphibia #anne boonchuy #hop pop #hopidiah plantar #polly plantar #sprig plantar #newtopia #hopping mall #little frogtown #sprig gets schooled #lost in newtopia

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misscrawfords · 6 years ago

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Rose! How do you feel about Emma and its various adaptations?

Sorry for the delay in answering - blame the school trip!

I love Emma. I wrote my dissertation partly on it (also on Northanger Abbey, Rob Roy and St Ronan’s Well) and while I loved it before I loved it even more after studying it. All of Austen’s novels are extremely well plotted, but Emma might just be the best. It’s like a detective novel in that respect (and has been described as such on multiple occasions) because you can pick up on clues to what’s really going on all the way through but on a first read, you don’t see them. Miss Bates unintentionally reveals details that can be explained by Frank and Jane’s secret relationship but they are hidden in her verbal overloading. Emma’s own thoughts betray her unknown interest in Mr. Knightley, and his actions point to his love for Emma. And so on.

Jane Austen is also being radical in her use of literary conventions and genre in Emma (as she is in basically all her novels). She has the tightest mystery plot ever written at this point hidden directly inside a novel that sticks strictly to the conventions of romantic comedy. She even goes overboard with it - successfully navigating three couples to appropriate happy endings. However, within that solid structure, she plays with expectations and conventions in a subtle way and this is where I get really excited.

First we have Emma herself, a heroine “nobody but myself will like”. Austen clearly loved questioning and pushing conventions of who was allowed to be a heroine. Her previous novel, Mansfield Park, gave us Fanny who most people at the time found disappointing after Elizabeth Bennet and modern readers (unjustly IMO) hate, and she followed Emma with Anne Elliot who was far too old to be a romantic heroine according to contemporary standards. In the middle we have Emma Woodhouse, a meddling snob. She’s got a lot in common with Mr. Darcy actually and her character development in terms of recognising the bad behaviour she is guilty of and the prejudice she feels towards those of a lower social status is pretty similar. But while Darcy and his character development is held up as beautiful and heroic and romantic, Emma is frequently condemned as dislikable. I do wonder why that could be… Personally, I love Emma. She’s clever and shrewd and funny and, honestly, is there anyone who doesn’t think Miss Bates is annoying and doesn’t want to throw a tantrum at the prospect of being upstaged by Mrs. Elton? Are you, dear reader, such a paragon of rational enlightenment and charitable feeling? Would you instantly see through Frank Churchill and resist his flirtations? Would you be best friends with Jane Fairfax and not be just a little bit jealous of her and how much Mr. Knightley everyone seems to admire her? Have you never said something cutting and regretted it? Are you perfect, reader, ARE YOU? Come on. Emma is one of us. She messes up, she judges badly, she says cringeworthy stuff in inappropriate situations, she gives bad advice - she’s human. And she deals with it without losing her positive outlook and she does grow, enough to “deserve” her happy ending (though that’s a loaded concept) but not so much it’s unrealistic. And what makes her likeable through it all are that her intentions are good. Emma is not a bad person who has to become good and “be redeemed”. She is a fundamentally warm and caring person who needs to have some bad habits of thought and action corrected by guidance and experience. Emma’s intentions and understanding are good from the beginning.

Emma’s also interesting because, yes, she does change, but if you put her in the context of the genre she inhabits, she also gets to keep a lot. Basically, in another novel, Emma would have to pay significant penance for her bad behaviour before she would be allowed to marry Mr. Knightley and she would have to prove that she is a changed woman and is absolutely not going to continue meddling and will be a good and submissive wife. Usually this also involves giving up the dangerous reading of novels which have led her astray. Several points. Firstly, Emma is not a novel reader, she is a novel writer. Emma is described by various critics as “an avatar of Austen the author” and if you read the novel through the prism of Emma being an author, things become really fascinating. Beautiful, illegitimate Harriet Smith is the heroine of Emma’s novel and obviously Emma-as-author wants to discover that she is really the long lost daughter of Somebody and give her a socially advantageous marriage. Emma’s matchmaking attempts are the workings of a novelist plotting with characters. Emma is creating her own world. This is radical stuff, in a society where female novelists were looked down upon. Emma has the means and independence and cleverness to write a story of her own - and she is comically bad at it. This is one way in which Austen plays with genre. Secondly, it is not at all clear that Emma does give up her matchmaking at the end of the novel. Austen is coy when she floats this suggestion about Mrs. Weston’s daughter: “[Emma] would not acknowledge that it was with any view of making a match for her, hereafter, with either of Isabella’s sons”. Does this suggest that maybe Emma isn’t as cured as she should be? Thanks to Austen’s levels of irony it’s impossible to tell, which is the point. Thirdly, Emma is the only Austen heroine to have real financial and social clout. Emma really does rule Highbury and at the end of the novel, instead of being subsumed into her husband’s world, he in fact moves in with her (however temporarily). This is practically the Regency equivalent of her keeping her name after marriage. She and Mr. Knightley are social equals and she does not leave her home or her sphere of influence when she marries. The only other heroine this would be true of is, interestingly enough, Fanny Price. But Mansfield Park is notoriously inward looking and Fanny’s ending allows her to truly become a Bertram which is what she wanted all along for better or worse. And Fanny and Edmund’s social status and influence are much less significant that Knightley and Emma’s are.

Something else to bear in mind when thinking about Emma’s character is that, despite her social power and wealth, she also lives an extremely confined and limited life. She is essentially a carer for her stultifying and claustrophobic father. She has never left the environs of Highbury. She is surrounded by people who jump to her every command and shower her in praise, both deserved and undeserved. The only person who criticises her is also in love with her. The only eligible men in her world before the arrival of Frank Churchill are her brother-in-law who is 16 years older than her, and the obsequious vicar. Yes, she can remain a spinster but even a rich spinster cannot maintain the sort of power she currently holds when faced with a married woman like Mrs. Elton (who is a real threat to her), but her alternatives are bleak. A woman of her rank and fortune should be having a London season and meeting other young people of her rank and forming external connections. Because of her father’s passive control over her, Emma has none of these opportunities. Even Fanny Price travels more and meets more people than Emma does. Yes, Emma Woodhouse is handsome, rich and clever and has had very little to vex her, but I suspect that is probably Emma’s own view of her life and it is not necessarily accurate.

Okay, this post is already far too long so I’ll end my discussion of the novel here. There’s also a lot that could be said about Jane and Frank, Emma and Mr. Knightley’s relationship and more, but Emma is clearly the most important and, honestly, the most in need of defence!

Onto the adaptations, and I’ll try to be brief:

1. The Gwyneth Paltrow film. Jeremy Northan is divine though his hair could be better and he’s not my favourite Mr. Knightley, even if I do have a massive crush on JN. Harriet Smith is a not particularly attractive redhead which is… weird. Frank Churchill is Ewan McGregor but he has appalling hair so IDK what was going on there - such a missed opportunity. Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma is a casting disgrace and I honestly can’t bear to watch this film because every time she is on screen I cringe. The producers were more interested in the aesthetic than making a good adaptation. My grandma hated it. Enough said.

2. The Kate Beckinsale film. Honestly, I don’t dislike anything about this except that I wish it were a mini-series and the proposal scene is a bit… eh. But I think it manages to stay true to the book in a feature film and I love Kate Beckinsale’s Emma. She has the right mix of liveliness and arrogance for me. Mark Strong is a stern Mr. Knightley but he’s not too handsome. Frank Churchill is perfect in this adaptation. Controversially, this is my favourite period adaptation.

3. The Romola Garai miniseries. I love lots about this mainly because the length allows everything to be expanded suitably. Johnny Lee Miller is the best Knightley by far. The Eltons are fabulous. Frank and Jane’s relationship gets more time dedicated to it. The Westons and Bateses are great. Harriet Smith is dumbed down too much - she’s naive and not too bright but this adaptation makes her practically an idiot, almost as much a disservice as the 2005 P&P film’s character assassination of Bingley, though physically the actress is perfect and she’s very likeable. And I really do appreciate what they were trying to do with Emma. It was clearly an informed choice to make her bubbly and often silly and a chosen interpretation of the text and I respect that - better that than wilful misinterpretation which some adaptations go in for. I fundamentally disagree with it - whatever her faults, I don’t think Emma is silly and giggly and I struggle to believe this Emma is a 21 year old woman secure in her position as a social leader. Her mannerisms often come across very modern - her little waves, giggles and posture and this is very irritating because Romola Garai has done some fantastic period acting (Daniel Deronda, The Hour etc.) and these mannerisms aren’t consistent across the cast. I love Romola Garai and I think it’s an interesting choice of direction, but not one that rings true to how I see the character though.

4. Clueless. Clearly the best adaptation of Emma ever made. We all know it.

5. Emma Approved. Only seen a bit of it and didn’t warm to it. Should probably give it another go. Why did they change Knightley’s name to Alex? What the hell is wrong with George!?!?

Anyway, here are my thoughts on Emma. Hope they’re at least somewhat interesting. There is nothing I like better than rambling on about Jane Austen! :-) Thank you for giving me the opportunity!

#Emma #Jane Austen #Emma Woodhouse #literature #books

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kingsmakers · 5 years ago

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All of your GoT ocs for the oc profile ask

Full Name: Shaera TargaryenGender and Sexuality: Female / BisexualPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: Dornish & Valyrian / HumanBirthplace and Birthdate: King’s Landing, Crownlands. 280AL.Guilty Pleasures: Actually enjoys donning nice dresses, when she manages to beat her twin brother when they duel, studying High Valyrian.Phobias: Someone betraying her trust. Shaera is betrayed several times through the course of her story, so it’s incredibly difficult for her to put her trust in someone, and when she does she’s so afraid that it will be used against her.What They Would Be Famous For: I would say for being a fantastic female monarch of Westeros. Shaera rules knowing it’s her duty and she doesn’t believe it’s a ‘right’ just because it’s her inheritance. She takes her responsibilities seriously, so she would be a much-loved queen.What They Would Get Arrested For: Damage to property or something of the like.OC You Ship Them With: Hmm this is tough. I can honestly see her having a bit of a crush on @have-fun-storming-the-kastle‘s Myra Stark, or @perfectlystiles‘s Celaena Baratheon.OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I feel like @susiesamurai‘s Ysaviel Martell would either love or hate her, since they’re technically cousins.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: TragedyLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Love trianglesTalents and/or Powers: Shaera is adept with small knives. Her Dornish side of the family considered it mandatory that she know how to fight, like her cousins the Sand Snakes. Shaera is also very emotionally intuitive, and in touch with her own feelings as well.Why Someone Might Love Them: Although dedicated to do her duty, Shaera isn’t emotionless - in fact she’s quite passionate and sensitive. She makes a very good friend, and you could definitely rely on her in times of crisis.Why Someone Might Hate Them: Sometimes, Shaera’s emotions can get the better of her - such as her impulsive marriage to Robb Stark. Although she sees the bigger picture, she does also have a bit of a self-absorbed element about her at times.How They Change: Shaera becomes a more level-headed and sensible leader. Initially she is passionate and subject to following whims, whilst as she matures, she thinks things through and makes decisions with more responsibility.Why You Love Them: Shaera is just a precious bean who deserves to be protected at all costs, like she’s honestly dealt a very harsh hand (by me, oops) and she’s just trying to cope with everything she’s experienced.

Full Name: Tamara ArrynGender and Sexuality: Female / HeterosexualPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: Andal / HumanBirthplace and Birthdate: The Eyrie, The Vale. 281AL.Guilty Pleasures: Coordinating pretty jewellery with her gowns, spending time with her children, sassing Cersei.Phobias: Losing her children or any other members of her family.What They Would Be Famous For: Most probably for being the last neutral party in Westeros. By the time Tamara swore allegiance to Aegon, she was the last of the Great Houses to choose a ‘side’.What They Would Get Arrested For: Probably murder or manslaughter - oh wait...OC You Ship Them With: Hmm I can’t really think of any male ocs but her and @starcrossedjedis‘s Tarlesyn Sand might get along!OC Most Likely To Murder Them: There are probably a bunch, anyone who’s pro-Daenerys really.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: DramaLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Ambitious women being ‘evil’.Talents and/or Powers: Tamara has grown incredibly good at manipulation. She reads people well, learns their strengths and weaknesses. Her skill at twisting people around her little finger is what led to her alliance with Aegon being mutually beneficial.Why Someone Might Love Them: Despite her machinations, Tamara can be witty and clever to benefit her family. She loves her children dearly, and doesn’t believe in overlooking her daughter when she has a son. She treats them both equally.Why Someone Might Hate Them: She’s ambitious and can overreach herself. She is also not afraid to make drastic moves to achieve the end result she wants - and it will eventually be her downfall.How They Change: Tamara was initially extremely proud and unwilling to accept that she might be able to have feelings for Jaime. Over time she’s realised that feelings aren’t weakness and she’s allowed to love her husband. She has also grown better at playing the game, and is soon to make a series of bold moves that will either make or break her.Why You Love Them: I see Tamara as a very morally grey character. She’s ambitious and manipulative, but she is also wanting to do what’s best for Westeros. She doesn’t believe in just giving up and letting things go, she will push until the bitter end.

Full Name: Delylah TullyGender and Sexuality: Female / DemisexualPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: Andal / HumanBirthplace and Birthdate: Riverrun, Riverlands. 281AL.Guilty Pleasures: Swimming in lakes and rivers, target practise with a bow and arrow.Phobias: Getting married and having a child. No joke, she’s really concerned about it. She knows how much depends on her acquiring a good husband and bearing a son, so it’s become something she dreads.What They Would Be Famous For: Being the thrice-wed Lady of Riverrun. Also her moniker of the Redfish for carrying out a particularly brutal murder.What They Would Get Arrested For: Public indecencyOC You Ship Them With: Ooh she and @moirei‘s Syrius Reyne Dalt might be cute tbh.OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Not sure on this one tbh. Maybe a Lannister oc?Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Action/adventureLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Women only considered ‘strong females’ because they can wield a weapon - there’s so much more to women than that!Talents and/or Powers: Delylah is relatively good at using a bow and arrows, however it’s more a hobby than something she considers a skill. She is also a very good swimmer, and would want all of her children to learn to swim from a young age as she did.Why Someone Might Love Them: Delylah definitely adheres to the Tully words of family coming first. She’s incredibly close with her father, grandfather and great-uncle, and dreads anything happening to them. Despite her struggles with the idea of being a wife and mother, she is still willing to do her duty.Why Someone Might Hate Them: Delylah is quite feisty and her position as heir to the Riverlands means she hates being looked down upon for being a woman, something that can really agitate a lot of men. Often doesn’t know when to shut up.How They Change: Delylah grows up from a fiery young girl to a woman with a sense of purpose. She finds having her first baby very difficult, from the pregnancy to having a newborn child, but she perseveres because she knows how important it is, and grows to love her baby.Why You Love Them: Delylah goes through a lot in order to save her family, but she does reach her breaking point. Although she wants her own freedom, she also knows it’s not a realistic option, so she goes for the next best thing - a convenient marriage with love as part of the equation.

Full Name: Medea BaratheonGender and Sexuality: Female / HeterosexualPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: Andal & Valyrian / HumanBirthplace and Birthdate: Storm’s End, Stormlands. 273AL.Guilty Pleasures: Drinking wine, attending extravagant parties, giving her opinions in council situations.Phobias: Her children being taken from her if she remarries, losing her independence.What They Would Be Famous For: Being the mother of the king, Valko Swann.What They Would Get Arrested For: Something to do with intoxicationOC You Ship Them With: She and @the-winter-falcon‘s Alaric Martell, although it’s kinda canon in the sense that they are lovers, it just doesn’t stay that way.OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Anyone pro-Targaryen or who just generally hates Baratheons.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: ComedyLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: One-dimensional villains.Talents and/or Powers: Medea has power and authority - as the King’s only sister, she is seen as a handsome marriage prospect, despite the fact that she has wed and had children from a previous marriage. Her status as a widow means she also has a degree of independence, which she is reluctant to give up.Why Someone Might Love Them: Medea is quite easy-going and likes to have fun, however there is a serious side to her and she is very good with children and giving advice in general. She isn’t hateful or one to hold a grudge, and does try to understand her enemies’ way of thinking.Why Someone Might Hate Them: She can often be seen as overindulgent, and particularly in a culture that shames women for extra-marital sex, the fact that she sleeps around as an unwed woman leads to some referring to her as a whore.How They Change: As Medea’s children grow up, her relationship with them becomes different. Her eldest son is eventually the king, and she knows that as a young man, he may not always listen to her or take her advice. She doesn’t want to smother her kids, but wants them to know that they are loved. She also warms to the idea of having more children, as she and Jaime have several.Why You Love Them: It’s kind of nice to have a character who is already a mother at the start of the story, who’s a bit ‘older’ by Westeros standards (aka not a young maiden), as she has a bit of a different perspective on the world and different way of living.

#asks #shaera targaryen #tamara arryn #delylah tully #medea baratheon #falling stars #from the ashes #memento mori #taint of royalty #this took forever and a half

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rosecorcoranwrites · 5 years ago

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Scripts Reading List

All synopses are taken from either the Flagstaff Public Library catalog, Novelist.com, or my own fevered imagination.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorn

As an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and a father, Harry Potter struggles with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs while his youngest son, Albus, finds the weight of the family legacy difficult to bear.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wild

Algernon and Jack have created an alter ego to make life more interesting, which wouldn’t be a problem except that they have each used the same assumed persona—Earnest—to woo two different women, who end up both coming to the same country estate for the weekend.

Arms and the Man: A Pleasant Play by George Bernard Shaw

All’s fair in love and war, but as Shaw shows in his famous satirical comedy, the bravado of soldiers and the flowery words of romantics may not always be a fair reflection of reality. Still, real love may yet find a way.

Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot

The Archbishop Thomas Becket speaks fatal words before he is martyred in T. S. Eliot's best-known drama, based on the real-life murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170.

A Raisin in the Sun; a Drama in Three Acts by Lorraine Hansberry

An insurance check can allow the Youngers to escape their frustrating life in a crowded Chicago apartment, but escape means different things to each family member.

Harvey: Comedy in Three Acts by Mary Chase

When Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend, Harvey, a 6-1/2 foot rabbit to guests at a society party, his sister decides to have him committed to a sanitarium. But as she explains that, after years of living with Elwood's hallucination, she has started to see Harvey also, Elwood might not be the only one who winds up being committed.

Antigone of Sophocles: an English Version by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald by Sophocles

In a tale of morality vs political power, the heroine Antigone pits her beliefs against a king’s law that forbids her from giving her brother a proper burial.

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Lear, King of Britain, determines to divide his kingdom between his three daughters based on who loves him best, but can’t see what’s right before his eyes; meanwhile, an earl’s bastard son also has designs on the kingdom.

Twelfth Night, or, What You Will by William Shakespeare

A comic tale of identical twins, crossdressing, practical joking, and love at first sight.

Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States.

The Imaginary Invalid: A Play in Three Acts by Miles Malleson

A hypochondriac, victimized by two pompous doctors, tests his daughter's loyalty and discovers the greed and contempt of his scheming wife.

Sherlock Holmes: A Comedy in Two Acts by Arthur Conan Doyle and Gillette William

Incriminating letters written by a young European prince to the English girl he betrayed are in the hands of the dead girl's sister: Holmes and Watson are on the case!

The Mousetrap: A Play in Two Acts by Agatha Christie

A group of strangers stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm discover (when one of their number is killed!) that a murderer as in their midst.

Our Town: A Play in Three Acts by Thornton Wilder

Using the meta-narrative setting of a theater, Our Town tells the story of a small American town, Grover's Corners, through the everyday lives of its citizens.

Waiting for Godot: Tragicomedy in 2 Acts by Samuel Beckett

An absurdist play in which two men wait by a tree for a mysterious person named “Godot”

#scripts #plays #reading list #reading lists #theatre #theater #acting #summer reading #summer reading program #summer reading challenge #drama #booklr #bookblr #reading recommendations #reading recommendation #easy reading #drama kid #theater kid #theatre kid

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sambart93 · 7 years ago

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2018.03.30 ‘KimiSaga’ Kimi yo Sakebe, Sono Saga no Aru ga Mama [Review]

Unfortunately I am a piece of shit who has fallen behind on reviews, AGAIN, so as usual, my memory won’t be the best. But, bear with me!

Official Site here Official Twitter here Online Store here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4

CAST and CHARACTERS

Main:

Oguri Ryo as Byakoumaru / Byaki Seto Keita as Gedomaru Hiroya as Tsuchimigado Gentoku Natsume Aimi as Tamayorihime Akaba Mio as Umarokya Mochida Chihira as Izumi Kadono Sho as Hoemaru Takahashi Makoto as Nazo no Onna (Mysterious Woman) Ichijo Ryunosuke as Nagayama Kakun Minami Chisato as Sakura Araki Miyu as Wakasano Okiku Sugamoto Ikumi as Blind Man Ogura Erika as Shichuu Hanaoka Meika as Dabi Maruyama Raiden as Henmima Satsune

Kimi Cast:

Umeda Shouhei as Shiki Ishihara Rin as Iroha Aibara Mizuki as Shihou Hirono Ryota as Young Boy

Saga Cast:

Watai Ryuuya as Shiki Ota Saki as Shihou Umehara Saeri as Iroha Tanaka Hiroki as Young Boy

*The Kimi and Saga cast did alternative days. I only watched Saga's version.

Ensemble:

Masuda Yuuna Komae Yuka Kumaya Rion

NON-SPOILER REVIEW

Overall: As usual ASSH doesn't fail me. It was just as amazing and as enjoyable as I had expected and predicted. As always they have some shocking moments, they had moments where my heart was in my mouth; moments where my tears were coming out with no control; I enjoyed this so much. I wouldn't expect anything less from ASSH and they (alongside ODD) are becoming a very important production company to me. This was dark, this was funny, the story was compelling, the characters were all great and had so much development in such a small amount of time. They wrapped it up enough to be satisfactory but also left enough mystery and holes open for them to do a prequel, sequel, second installment etc. if they wanted to! And I definitely want a second installment. Rating: 8/10

SPOILER REVIEW

I have no idea where to start with this....

There's two running plot lines in this story; the past and the present. The past is centered around Byaki's story and what happened with him and then the future story is people learning about the Byaki's past. The future group is the Mysterious Woman, Blind Man and the Young Boy for the most part. Then everyone else is pretty much the past. I think there's about 15 years or so between the two time lines.

What I love about ASSH are their twists and the brutality in their stages. Actually I was super surprised that most people survived in this one because every ASSH I've seen so far, about 80% of the cast die xD so people suriving was that in itself a twist and a surprise! The other big surprise is with the future group.

So it turns out - By the way MAJOR spoilers coming up so ingore until 「*」 if you don't want to know the big reveals:

******

Shounen = Byaki's son Blind Man = Old Gedomaru Mysterious Woman = Tamayorihime

I am not doing it justice but when this fucking comes out, I was so freaking shocked and surprised! I was like 'WWWWWAAAHHH?!?! NO WAY!!!' I realise I've spoilt it for you but are you going to watch this dvd? Probably not, so I might as well tell you ALL and give you ALL my feels, okay?

******

Now let's work from the big scale and work in. FIRST, I really loved the set! I've been to this theatre before and it's super small. There's like 40 seats and a tiny ass stage but I was super impressed at how BIG they managed to make the set look! There were stairs and proper background and foreground sets and it looked super cool! But I felt kind of sorry for the front row people because there was literally no gap between them and the stage/cast so it's kind of a godsend no audience member got hurt to be honest...

Then we had the action scenes which were so well choreographed! AND!! I didn’t know until afterwards that Oguri Ryo did the entirity of the sword fighting choreography himself which is absolutely amazing! Huge kudos to him! He has a lot to direct and a lot of action scenes to deal with but I felt like everyone had their own style and the techniques were so great! I feel like Oguri is at his most confortable and most confident when he's doing sword fighting scenes. You can just feel that kind of sense from him when he's fighting. It's difficult to explain but he feels different when he's doing the sword scenes.

The story was great, like I said earlier, so many twists and surprising things happened! Also, they left enough questions unanswered that if they wanted to do a second installment then they could! I really want a second installment, especially for the one big question that I have, (again major spoilers):

*****

Who is hell is Shounen's mother?!

*****

Now I want to go character/actor-by-character/actor.

Oguri Ryo as Byakoumaru / Byaki

I love Oguri. I really do. He's such a good actor and he picks so amazing characters! I've enjoyed every character and performance he's ever done! Also his actual personality is always so different to his characters which just proves how great of an actor he is. I really enjoyed Byaki in this for several reasons. I love how, regardless of the fact he's being called a monster and a god, he just embraces it and pronounces himself as this thing, but that is due to the fact he has no recollection of who he is which I'm pretty sure is due to some magician meddling with his memories (more on him later).

I really liked how lost and quiet his character was. But I also love how he blamed how he looked as to why he was being treated in such a way << I realise how this sounds but you get what I mean right?! I enjoy the character, NOT the act of mistreating another human. This story, I believe, is set in an old Japan, maybe like 16th, 17th Century, maybe even later so it makes sense that people who had never seen an Albino before (which I believe is what Byaki is supposed to be or at least, represents) would treat him either like a monster or like a god.

I really liked Oguri's visual look too! He's a pale man to begin with but the added white paint made him even more pale. He also had this beautiful red eyeliner and eye makeup on which, along with red contacts, just made his expressions and face pop-out even more and looked super amazing! It was a really good look for him (actually he's somewhat redoing this look for his NEXT stage --- which I also really want to see but I shall restrain...)

His story towards the end of the play was left open enough that he could come back in a second installment too.

Seto Keita as Gedomaru

I loved this character! He was such a likeable character. He was loyal to his friend, he was a badass fighter and he has stupidly funny moments too. Especially with Sakura. He fell totally in love with her straight away and was an absolutely adorable idiot around her. But he is also self-sacrificing which was so sweet. He rejected Sakura and made her go far away so she wouldn't get caught up in the fighting and so she could live a happy and safe life even if it was without him. Which I think is totally sweet!

He also never left Byaki's side and was his pal from childhood, all the way to the end, I loved his relationship with Byaki and those two would do anything for each other! His look visually was really nice too! His visual, his comedy balance, his loyalty to Byaki, I just super loved this character!!

Hiroya as Tsuchimigado Gentoku

Here's the crazy guy!! I should've expected Hiroya to play the morally wrong, crayz guy! He is so great in these roles and he did great in this one too! His has some sort of power where he can take control of people and get them to do his bidding, which he does with the ensemble cast, he controls them and makes them attack the good guys; he also has control of Byaki for a while when Byaki is really lost in himself and weak; and THEN we get this moment where he takes control of this super powerful sword, it even has a name which is epic because we ALL know how I feel about naming swords ♡　(psst. if you didn't know, I am a Touken Ranbu lover which personifies swords and many swords in Japan have names and just... flail...) but unfortunately I've forgotten it *cries*. It was amazing seeing how the sword had a mind of it's own and you could see Hiroya struggling to control the sword and trying to get the sword to do it's bidding.

Also before the show, he kindly spoke to me and my friend and he was spekaing some English to us which was totally sweet. I've always known Hiroya to be a nice guy so it was great to took some of his time out to talk to us. Also when he realised we knew Japanese he was like 'we use old Japanese in this-- WILL YOU BE OKAY?! Will you understand?!' which is so nice of him.

Natsume Aimi as Tamayorihime

She was such a sweet girl but had such a SHITTY husband! She was beat and bruised and hurt so much by him. It was the standard DV case for this couple. She just had such a sad life and it doesn't get much better for her for quite a long time.

Without spoiling too much, thank god she has a happy ending but oh my lord did I cry a few times with what happened to her!

We had the standard, 'husband beats wife but then produsely apologises right after' scene which hurt my heart. And then something precious is taken away from her and she's thrown away which I was just balling in tears at. And then when she finally gets a happy end, I was just cry from pure happiness for her. After ALL the shit she went through, she deserved an ending like that. And just like everyone else, her end of the story is left open just enough that, if she wants to come back for part two, she can.

Akaba Mio as Umarokya and Hanaoka Meika as Dabi

Uma and his underling, Dabi, were absolutely hilarious together! They were such a great pair! His character is a damn good archer and he has powers to shoot multiple arrows at once and he can rain arrows upon people which is so cool and then while he always scolds his underling, he also has this stupid soft spot for her. Dabi was so freaking funny!! I'm pretty sure she was in charge of a lot of the adlibbing and some things she said were just nonsensical and ridiculous and even Mio couldn't hold it together sometimes, he would just crack into smiles and try so hard to hold his laughter back. There were also times where her adlibs were so fast, she'd mess up and then she'd make fun of the fact she obviously messed up which made everyone crack up even more. She had so much energy and was so high-pitched, she was so amusing and funny! I really loved their dynamic and I also love just how loyal she was to Uma even though she was crazy and she was very obviously in love with him -- she definitely acted like a fangirl around him at times with all the 'kyaaaa' screaming and cheering him on during battles. But it was cute when she ended up getting injured and he was there to help her and protect her so he obviously cared for her too! It was a great and enjoyable duo!

Kadono Sho as Hoemaru and Mochida Chihira as Izumi

Izumi and Hoemaru were part of Gedomaru's gang. It felt like they'd all been with each other for quite a while and were a tight-knot group. I unforutnately don't remember too much about Hoemaru except that the actor, Sho, had the best muscles and looked DAMN attractive! I really liked his physical and visual look xD but I remember quite a bit about Izumi; she was a very quite girl, almost ninja like in how quiet she is and she sneaks around a lot. But I also felt for her because it was obvious she was in love with Gedomaru but, I guess due to comradary or due to him liking Sakura, Gedomaru never really paid attention to her feelings. But everyone else around could tell and there's a scene towards the end where Okiku refuses to join their group because she sees how Izumi feels about Gedomaru and doesn't want to ruin it, so Okiku is like 'you should stay by his side. She'll always be there for you' so the two go off together. A part of me thinks, maybe he feels the exact same way back to an extent but, like I said, if they get involved and one of them ends up getting killed or something, the hurt would only increase and be a lot worse, so maybe they both mutually and unspokenly agreed to never get involved just so they can save each other a way of emotions? OR I am simply being WAY TOO DEEP about this!

^^^ Do you not see?! In less than 2 hours ASSH managed to produce a play that had THIS much context and THIS much meaning and THIS much thought in it?! This is why I love ASSH, their characters are so damn LAYERED and you can get so MUCH out of them and the story even when you only see it once and only in like 2 hours. Ahh ASSH.

Seriously, check them out. Just go and love them okay! They're two amazing production companies and they have given me MORE satisfactory stages than any MARV or Nelke or any of those 'big shots' in the 2.5 stage world have.

ANYWAY...

Takahashi Makoto as Nazo no Onna (Mysterious Woman)

Her reveal was so mindblowing. I loved it! Also, she has a limp and throughout the story we learn what happened to her and what caused her injured leg and just my poor heart. She was such a lovely woman though and I'm glad her ending was happy. OH! And the actress herself is super badass, she played the shamisen LIVE on stage and it was so good! I was so impressed!

Ichijo Ryunosuke as Nagayama Kakun

This guy is supposed to be a bad guy but... he's handsome and he looks cool so I was very soft towards him. He does treat Sakura like crap and he is mean to her and he does turn on her, (or she turns on him) and he IS a bad guy but I just reallt enjoyed him visually and the actor himself did a really good job with the evil moments! Seeing his switch between being this nice guy and being evil was just great acting. It was so juicy and so good!

Minami Chisato as Sakura

She was Kakun's wife (or to be wife) and she up until about half way through believed in her husband and they looked like a great pairing but then obviously soon she starts to realise that he's not all that good and after being introduced to Gedomaru, she starts falling for him and seeing how great of a genuine guy he is, even though at first she pretended to like him in order to manipulate him and because it was very obvious he liked her. But she genuinely falls for him after discovering the malicious plan her husband has with Satsune, and she just sees how much of a great guy he actually is. And it is quite sad how, even after she falls for him and begs to stay by Gedomaru's side, Gedomaru is just TOO kind and tells her to escape and get away so she can be safe and have a happy life and not be held back by him or by Kakun.

She is my girl crush in this stage... so beautiful!!

Araki Miyu as Wakasano Okiku

I don't quite remember HOW she ended up join Gedomaru and crew but she was a great addition to them. She was totally cute and like Dabi, a bit silly and ridiculous but the actress herself is very flexible and she obviously has some sort of dancing under her belt because she did a lot of beautiful movements and lots of high perfect kicks and legs and stuff. She too fell for Gedomaru but seeing just how much Izumi likes him, she gives up which is just... my heart ♡

Sugamoto Ikumi as Blind Man

He is a tricky and sneaky little guy, BUT with good intentions so don't get too suspicious of him! His reveal, just like the Mysterious Woman, was just like 'OHHHH MYYY GOOODDD' but also made sense. I really loved his relationship with Shounen -- but later on it makes sense why they get on so well and why they are a pair. I enjoyed the actor and his acting. In fact I knew he looked familiar and I've already seen him in Marker Light Blue (his character is GREAT in that) and Onigiri so I had that familiarity with him and his character in this is GREAT.

Maruyama Raiden as Henmima Satsune

This piece of shit. He was a great bad guy. Not only was he just a bad guy but he was a real piece of shit. He constantly beat his wife, he beat his wife's maid, and then had the audacity to apologise every time after wards?! He was so controlling and would get angry at Tama for everything! He was bat shit crazy and seeing him meet his demise was so satisfactory. Kudos to the actor for being such a SHIT. I wanted him dead so badly! The way he treated his wife and what he did to her, not just the beatings by the way(!), was just dispicable. Espeically the way he dies is so good but also hits you in the feels because of WHO kills him.

Also, I love how it's not simply just one bad guy in all this. We have Satsune who's the messed up King, then we have Kakun who's only motive is for control and power, and then we have Horiya's character who just wants to control others literally and how the world's strongest weapons etc. While they aren't technically all working together, it's great how we have all these shits for different purposes and meanings. It's great!

Umehara Saeri as Iroha

She was Tama's maid and she was so protective and loving towards Tama. She tried so hard to make sure it was her being hit by the King/husband rather than Tama herself and she spouted so many reasons just to please so Tama wouldn't get attacked etc. Her final scene in this was just so touching and, again, loyalty is a BIG thing in this play and you can see it in her actions for Tama ♡

Tanaka Hiroki as Young Boy

Ahhhhh my boy!!! First a compulsory picspam!!!

He was great!! As usual I fall into my normal complaint of 'he didn't get enough stage time!!!' but we all know that's me being biased xD Besides that, he was GREAT! I really loved his character. His reveal as to who his character actually was is great! I was so happy when it came out who he was!! Also his part of the story is very calm as he's just walking through the forest and stuff listening to the Mysterious Girls' story but they also 'stand' in the scenes while they're happening so that's great. He does get a moment or two to fight and show off his fighting techniques and he also had like a cartwheel here and there which made me very happy. Visually he looked great too! And totally makes sense why he looked like that (trying not to spoil too much here) xD and at the end we are still left with this HUGE question mark about him (mentioned above already) so I am hoping they're do a part two and that becomes a main part or is at least answered. I definitely want to know more about his character and his past and what he's been through and his connections. I loved his relationship with the blind man too and I'd love to see how that friendship came to be too!!

And that's all! I don't think I have anything else to add except, GIVE ME A SECOND STAGE!!!

But as always, finishing off with the

GOODS

Hopefully I have a bunch of reviews coming out fairly close between each other!

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friendsgwssanalysis · 4 years ago

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S2E11: “The One with the Lesbian Wedding”

Season 2, episode 11, “The One with the Lesbian Wedding,” opens with Ross talking with his ex-wife, Carol, and her partner Susan. (Backstory here: Carol left Ross for Susan after discovering she was a lesbian.) They reveal that they are planning a wedding, which Ross has a strong reaction to. He returns to the apartment of Monica and Rachel (two of the other “friends”) to process what he’s heard. Monica, Ross’s sister, consoles him on the fact that his former partner is getting remarried. This remarriage is presented as the primary concern--it’s something of a secondary blow, though a humorous/ironic one, that it’s going to be a lesbian wedding. The attempted humor here is driven home by both dialogue and subtextual cues. A laugh track plays when Carol and Susan reveal that they’re getting married, just thirty seconds into the episode; Ross immediately responds with an “I pronounce you man and wife” joke (the joke being that this quintessential nuptial phrase doesn’t “work” with this relationship); we then cut to the cheery opening sequence, whose montage includes a clip where Ross kisses Joey (both heterosexual male characters) on New Year’s Eve, just to underscore the fact that same-sex kissing is a joke.

On the couches of her apartment, Monica helps Ross understand why it is important to Carol and Susan to get married, comparing it to a straight wedding and saying that they deserve to show everyone their love in the same way that straight people do (2:44). The gay jokes mostly calm down until the final scene when the friends actually attend the wedding. Here, we see that Monica’s pep talk was even more effective for Ross than we might have thought--he ends up walking his ex-wife down the aisle after her family drops out of attending at the last minute. Joey and Chandler, two straight male roommates and the buddy-comedic relief to this charged scene, mingle among the crowd at the wedding (presumably all lesbians) and bemoan the fact that they can’t find dates. Joey laments, “I feel like Superman without my powers” (17:47). Chandler at first jokes to a short-haired white woman, “I shouldn’t even bother preparing a [pickup] line, should I?” (21:00) before circling back to her later in the evening with a desperate, “Penis, schmenis, we’re all people!” (21:50).

An important subplot to this episode is the appearance of Rachel’s mom, who arrives to visit Rachel and also let her know that she is thinking of leaving Rachel’s father. Rachel is thrilled at the opportunity to show off her New York apartment and barista career to her mom, as she knows both her parents were disappointed by her refusal to marry Barry (a wealthy, highly eligible former suitor of hers). But in fact, Rachel’s mom is so impressed with her life that she confesses she wishes she had her same independence and youth; she says, sadly, “You didn't marry your Barry, honey, but I married mine” (16:15). This subplot sets up a parallel with the lesbian wedding, suggesting that marriage for true love’s sake could never be wrong when compared to marriages of convenience.

All in all, this episode does not come across as explicitly condemning same-sex marriage; many consider it groundbreaking, as it was the first depiction of a lesbian wedding on television (“Here's The Carol And Susan Scene That Was Banned From Friends: News”). It is, however, something of an uncomfortable watch in 2020, as the characters have a very “grin and bear it” attitude toward actually attending the wedding (because it’s filled with lesbians!). Phoebe (a straight female member of the “friends”) ends up getting asked out for a drink by an unnamed butch (Lea DeLaria) and accepts, not realizing the romantic connotations; Rachel’s mom relishes in the sexual attention she’s being granted. The wedding scene itself is a nexus of lesbian stereotypes, especially whiteness (most everyone in the crowd is white), “frumpiness” (the characters are rather unfashionably attired, cutting a contrast to Rachel’s Ralph Lauren sensibilities), and promiscuity (the lesbians are so desperate/predatory that they resort to trying to pick up straight women!). Susan and Carol’s characters, too, are one-dimensional and are set up as plot punchlines to Ross’s love life, rather than fully fledged people. Friends does not really engage with intersectionality and appears to be attempting to “isolate its variables,” at least in this episode, by only focusing on sexuality (and gender, to a lesser extent) and never discussing race. Because the main cast is all white, this has the effect of portraying whiteness as an invisible, “default” race that does not need to be acknowledged nor examined. The characters are oblivious to the ways it impacts their lives. This holds true for the majority of the show, in fact, which does not feature a major Black role until the penultimate season (Munzenrieder). In this particular episode, all the speaking roles are white; some Black extras appear in the background of the coffee shop, one as a patron and one as a server, conveying the idea that New York’s residents of color are “scenery” at best and a lower, serving class at worst.

In a show that largely eschews discussion of social issues, I found Friends’s depiction of a lesbian wedding to be positive, in the mildest, most lukewarm sort of way. As mentioned previously, the parallels between the main wedding plot and that of Rachel’s mom’s divorce seem to highlight the importance of marrying for true love, rather than being cajoled into an unideal marriage by societal pressures. Rachel exemplifies this by choosing to leave Barry and remain independent; Carol and Susan do this by defying heteronormativity to get married; Rachel’s mom accepts her difficult separation from her husband, and bonds with her daughter in the process. I saw this particular episode of the show as reaching for a statement on women’s rights to self-determination (as well as a bland endorsement for same-sex marriage). For all its whiteness and other problems, Friends is at least perfectly balanced along binary gender lines, with three main male characters and three main female characters, and at least pretends to be equally interested in the lives of all six. The women are not really treated as a joke for the sake of the men, as the show hinges on the ensemble nature of the cast. Unfortunately, because everything must be couched in comedy (which often punches down, in this show), this episode stops shy of saying anything too bold on either marriage rights or women’s rights. Ripples, at the best; definitely not waves (especially considering the fact that the titular wedding scene itself was excised in many networks across the United States when it originally aired [Dommu]).

Works Cited:

Dommu, Rose. “'Friends' Lesbian Wedding Was 'Blocked Out' by Certain Affiliaties.” OUT, Out Magazine, 7 Feb. 2019, www.out.com/popnography/2019/2/07/friends-lesbian-wedding-was-blocked-out-certain-affiliaties.

“Here's The Carol And Susan Scene That Was Banned From Friends: News.” Comedy Central UK, The Paramount UK Partnership Trading, www.comedycentral.co.uk/news/heres-the-carol-and-susan-scene-that-was-banned-from-friends.

Munzenrieder, Kyle. “'Friends' Co-Creator Struggles With the Show's Very White Legacy.” W Magazine, Bustle Digital Group, 8 June 2020, www.wmagazine.com/story/friends-co-creator-marta-kauffman-regrets-white-legacy-90s-sitcom/.

"The One with the Lesbian Wedding." Friends: The Complete Second Season, written by Doty Abrams, directed by Thomas Schlamme, Warner Brothers, 1996.

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roslinadama-sinequanon · 7 years ago

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Major Crimes-Conspiracy Theory Pt. 1

Anticipation-three things I was waiting for in this episode 1. I wanted to see the rings. I wanted to make sure the ceremony took place since we, you know, didn’t get to actually see it. 2. To hear if Sharon would be called Commander Raydor or Commander Flynn. I’m hoping for Flynn, so that means it will probably be Raydor. 3. To hear Andy refer to Sharon as his wife or Sharon to refer to Andy as her husband. (I got two out of three, the jury is still out over Flynn vs. Raydor)

So, this episode was a light one. I feel like we needed a light episode after the past 5 depressing ones, however, I’m not sure it was the right case for a comedy episode.

Granted, they were filming this episode long before the shit hit the fan with politicians and entertainers being fired or resigning due to sexual harrassment and assault issues, but, even without everything that’s happening in RL right now, I think it should have been taken a little more seriously. Or at least not had quite so much humor.

Honestly, I think it would have been far more interesting to have this be the storyline that pulled Sharon front and center rather than the trope, life threatening illness. I would love to have seen this storyline used to bring forward Sharon’s own experiences on the force with sexual harassment and also how she dealt with some of that once she was in FID. There could have been great dialogue between Sharon, Andrea, and Amy over this very topic and some of things they have had to deal with. Also, I think it would be interesting for the men to hear this coming from the women they work with and care about. I’m sure some of the things Sharon probably went through would be quite eye opening to Andy. This arc is not over, so I’m hoping, though not really believing, that we still might get some of this from our main characters point of view.

I do love the humorous episodes and I feel like the writers really missed the boat by not writing a classic ProFlynnza episode around Andy’s bachelor party. But, I suppose that would have been too much focus on the characters and the wedding and it would have taken away from the depressing Sharon illness storyline that I still hate and that has cast such a cloud over the whole season.

So, now on to the episode. I promise it’s not full of salt. There were quite a few things I enjoyed, especially considering we didn’t have any talk of Sharon being sick which was GREAT. I would love to be able to put that all behind us, even as I know we have more looming ominously ahead.

Onto the episode--

“Frank Boggs, AKV Security.”

Was it just me or did this guy seem to be a rehash of Dick Tracy? He even looked like Dick Tracy.

“Commander, what are you doing here anyway? I think we can handle an autopsy prelim.”

It sounds like even though they didn’t get to go to Ireland, Andy and Sharon did take some time off for a little honeymoon. I’d like to think they at least got away for a few days up to Santa Barbara or something.

Interesting that Provenza states “Commander, what are you doing here?” I would have thought he would have said “Commander, Flynn what you are both doing here, since I would assume they were honeymooning together. The only thing I can think of was that Provenza was more taking offence that the boss felt the need to come in when he felt he could handle what was going on.

“Nothing random happens in the Palisades.”

I guess I don’t know enough about the Palisades to get all these inside jokes. I do know that Mary lives in the Palisades, but that’s about all I know--and I’m assuming most of America and the rest of the world didn’t get the jokes either.

“Who’s Craig Curtis?”

Andy, Provenza, Sharon and Amy all know their football. Morales is the only one who is lost, after all “It’s not like he was nominated for an Oscar or something.”

“Tackles. Huge TV’s, big burgers, cute girls…Tasteless, the way they dress those waitresses there.”

I do love it when Andy opens mouth and inserts his foot-- and the way he trips all over himself trying to fix things once he gets that narrow eyed look from his wife. Yes his WIFE. He’s not sure if she’s really upset about what he said or not, but I like that she is more amused than anything.

“I should speak to the wrongfully terminated women.”

This is SO something bachelor Andy would have said.

“Don’t apologize again for sleeping with Aidan.”

Okay, so I’m not going to get into how my knickers got all twisted with yet more personal Gusty scenes--we’ve gotten way more of them than the other MAIN couple. What I will say is that when Rusty first starting seeing Gus, I liked Gus. I liked Gus a lot more than I liked Rusty and I felt that Gus was good for Rusty. I liked them as a couple. I didn’t really care about them as a couple, nor was I invested in them and I didn’t really care about seeing any personal scenes between them, but I was okay with them as a couple. Last season I started to dislike Gus and when Rusty said “good-bye” to him, I really took it to mean good bye. Gus thought they could do the long distance relationship but Rusty knew it was over. And it seemed like that was the logical end of the relationship. Then, this season we have Rusty angsting over Gus, stalking him on social media and Gus not responding to Rusty. Get a clue Russ, the guy is done with you , just like you knew would happen when you said “good bye.” Only now we get more. We find out Gus has been sleeping with Aidan and that he and Rusty are through. Okay, cause I thought you were “through” last season, but, whatever. I really don’t care at all what goes on with these two and hope they stay broken up. This is not a good or healthy relationship.

“A gun…seriously?”

Really? Rusty just leaves his gun laying around? Hardly responsible gun ownership.”

“Man, this calendar is…” Sharon puts her hand out to take it away. “Very offensive Commander.”

Yet again, Wes is so much like Andy.

“You ought to show your tits now cause in a few years no one’s gonna want to see them and you’ll only get hired for your talent.”

OMG, your TALENT. How awful. This scene really hit’s the nail on the head, what with everything going on in the entertainment industry right now. What I found interesting in looking at the reactions of the team to this video, it is the men who are uncomfortable and disgusted--both Andy and Provenza have very visible negative reactions to the video, but Sharon doesn’t. She doesn’t seem to register much in the way of emotion.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this. I’m sure she has had to deal with sexual harassment in the past and this isn‘t as shocking to her as it is to the men. When she asked Jack for a divorce she even made the comment that the time for her needing his ring was long gone. Now that she was in a position of power she didn’t need what little protection a ring gave her. Sharon is a beautiful woman in a male dominated paramilitary profession, so I feel like she’s experienced some of this first hand. When she was young and just starting out I’m sure she had to learn to keep that professional mask on when she was harassed. Then, she was in FID so I’m sure she saw and heard a hell of a lot when those cases came across her desk and that she probably worked very hard to make sure these guys got punished for their actions. This is the kind of stuff I want to know about Sharon Flynn. Much more interesting than her being sick.

“Gus is struggling to find a decent job.” “Struggling? Why is he struggling?”

First of all I love that Sharon is working on her “thank you” cards--and yes--finally a decent glimpse of the ring. At least there was some continuity with the wedding having taken place, and how like Sharon to get those thank you cards right out.

I loved the amused twist on Rusty’s lips when he tells her Gus is struggling. Mama Bear Flynn has her cub’s back, she seems just as “serves him right” about Gus as Rusty does. Until Rusty says this--- “Because when they stopped sleeping together Aiden fired him and wouldn’t give him a reference.” THAT got her attention. However much Gus pissed Sharon off, he is now the victim of someone who is breaking the law and as such she jumps to attention making sure Rusty knows that Aidan’s actions are illegal.

I think it’s also interesting to see how far mother and son have come and how more open they are with each other. In a deleted scene (that shouldn’t have been deleted) Sharon wants to talk about overnight guests to the condo. Rusty thinks she’s talking about him and he’s absolutely horrified. He can’t even bring himself to discuss it with her. It turns out that she was referring to her and Andy , and of course he didn’t want to discuss that either, but it looks like they’ve had conversations about Gus sleeping with Aidan.

“Detective Paige, Amy. The man seems to have a thing for attractive young women.” “Well, we’ll do our best but we’re over 30” “You’d never know. Police work keeps you young. Look at my wife.”

BEST line of the whole episode. LOVED IT. Andy is SO frakking adorable. You know he’s been dying to be able to call her his wife, and now that he can he’s going to do it anytime he can. Loved Sharon’s secret little smile, you just know it gives her a little thrill to be called his wife. His beautiful, young looking wife. And Provenza’s side glance. Very reminiscent of the looks he used to give when Andy started referring to her as Sharon instead of Captain. He’s thinking “Oh Flynn, you sap, you’ve got it SO bad you can’t even see straight.”

“Do you mind, Michael? Some of us are trying to solve a murder.”

This is the first time I’ve heard Andy call Mike, Michael, and I love the way Sharon dropped her forehead onto her hand, like, “Oh, here we go again. Do you really HAVE to get my man all riled up.”

“Did I make mistakes as a husband? Sure. Could I have been more attentive? Absolutely. Should I have slept with so many of her friends, probably not. Bottom line, I treated her like crap. I took her for granted. She left me.”

I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but this guy reminded me so much of Jack Raydor. He even looked a little bit like him. And I got the feeling from the look on her face that Sharon thought so too. I bet she was thinking “I can’t believe I used to put up with a guy like this. Now she has sweet Andy who treats her with such love and respect and who looks at her like the sun rises and sets on her. What I lucky woman.

And by the way. Where was Andy? He was the only member of the team not to go to Tackles. I would have thought it was because he hadn’t been cleared for field duty, but in Sanctuary City 1 he makes the comment that he can be in the field as long as Sharon is present and he was out in the field during that story arc. So, why not now?

“If I leave here today without your signature and a check covering two month’s of Gus’s pay, you have no idea how ugly this is gonna get. Or maybe you do.”

Rusty has learned a lot from his Mama. This scene really reminded me of the scene when Sharon Flynn went to see Sharon Beck in jail and laid down the law to her.

I will end with saying that we got another scene in Aidan’s restaurant when supposedly it was too expensive to film Shandy scenes on location. Those were two restaurant scenes that could have been dates.

Just saying…

#sharon raydor #andy flynn #shandy #Major Crimes

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newstfionline · 7 years ago

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They Stayed Put, but Their City Disappeared

By Somini Sengupta, NY Times, Nov. 21, 2017

DAMASCUS, Syria--On a cool evening in early November, in a back room of the Damascus Opera House, a women’s choir was rehearsing an old favorite, a sunny ballad from a childhood cartoon. When they reached the chorus--“How sweet it is to live in one house, how sweet to live in one hometown”--one of the singers, Safana Baqleh, began to weep into her hands.

The song reminded her of all that she had lost. Her closest friends had either left Syria or blocked her on Facebook over political disagreements. Sometimes, the solitude felt crushing. “I want to take my baby for a walk, but I have no one to visit,” Ms. Baqleh said. “No one. Absolutely no one.”

After more than six years of war, nearly a fourth of all Syrians live in exile. The loneliness of those who remain hangs like thick fog over Damascus, the capital. Lifelong Damascenes wonder why they are still here, when so many friends and family have packed up, died or disappeared. Newcomers, displaced by the war, move cautiously, unsure about their fate, or who is who.

I traveled to Damascus recently on a rare visa issued to an American journalist. I was almost always accompanied by a government-registered escort, which seemed to make some people reticent, and there were parts of the city I wasn’t allowed to visit.

Still, it was impossible not to notice how Damascus had been altered since pro-democracy protests erupted nearly seven years ago, only to be crushed by President Bashar al-Assad and then morph into a civil war that scattered Syrians across the world and turned their country into a chessboard for more powerful countries.

In recent months, Mr. Assad’s forces, helped by Iran and Russia, have reclaimed much of the country from insurgents. There are fewer checkpoints in Damascus than before, the streets are bustling later into the evenings and electricity has been completely restored. Still, some afternoons, government forces blast artillery into rebel enclaves on the city’s edge; in retaliation, rebels fire shells into the narrow lanes of the old section of city, not long ago killing a shopkeeper playing backgammon with his neighbor.

In a park in the city’s center, families who fled the latest war zones sit with plastic bags and babies. A soldier sits in the bushes, keeping a close eye on everything and everyone.

On the main highway, shiny new restaurants cater to people who have enriched themselves during the war. And yet nearby, Damascenes who could once afford new clothes look through piles of secondhand sweaters because prices have shot up beyond reach. In a certain city market, I was told, the spoils of war show up for sale: refrigerators, pipes, chandeliers, all looted from towns recently reclaimed by the military. (I did not have a permit to visit the market myself.)

Every time I asked Syrians how they explained the events of the past seven years to their children, I was struck by how even the most garrulous among them fell into silence, or just shook their heads. They struggled to explain it to themselves.

Ms. Baqleh, 35, who is also a professional harpist, couldn’t say why she remained in the country. She knew only that she couldn’t stand the idea of living as a refugee abroad, seen as someone who needs charity rather than someone who belongs. So she stayed and tried to make a difference. She taught music. She sang. She volunteered at an animal shelter. Dogs and cats not only have been wounded in the war, she said, but also mutilated by children who had learned unspeakable cruelty.

“We need things to bind us,” she said. “We need each other.”

For their spring concert, the women’s choir--the Gardenia Chorus, they called themselves--had chosen a repertoire of wedding songs representing the many peoples of Syria: songs in Arabic, Kurdish and Circassian, songs from places now synonymous with ruin, like Aleppo and Hama.

The conductor, Ghada Harb, 43, said it was their way of preserving a culture at risk of ruin. Also, she said, she hoped the songs would remind Syrians “to be accepting of each other.”

Ms. Harb considered herself lucky. She still had a home, a job. Her husband was too old to be conscripted into the military; her sons were too young. But every day, she prayed that her children would get home safely. She dreaded the day when they would leave her, as the adult children of so many of her relatives had done already.

The war had changed how she moves through the city. If a car with black windows cuts her off in traffic, she is reluctant to press her horn or complain out loud. There’s no telling who could be inside, or how they might react. One day, as she waited in a long line for fuel, she watched as a man in army fatigues angrily started slashing the plastic fuel containers that people had brought with them. She had no idea what set him off.

“The trace of war stays inside us,” she said. “We are working. We continue. But something inside us is sad and broken. We are very humiliated.”

At this, she began to cry.

We were sitting in a busy, brightly lit restaurant in a well-off part of the city. Waiters went from table to table, bearing enormous platters of grilled chicken, tabbouleh, onion rings. Water pipes were lit. Pomegranate juice was served.

“We feel like strangers,” she said after a while. “We are living in the same place but we have lost the people who lived here.”

In the narrow lanes of the old city, dominated by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia and militant group that backs Mr. Assad, funeral posters announce the deaths of smiling young men. Men in their 20s and 30s, subject to military service, are the likeliest to leave, so much so that some employers say they prefer to hire and train young women instead. “Pack Your Bags” is the name of a television serial, a comedy.

To remain in the country is especially stinging for those who once agitated against Mr. Assad’s authoritarian government. They find it hard to square the uprising they joined and the violence that followed, the kidnappings, car bombs and government sieges so crippling that children starved in Yarmouk, a Palestinian enclave in the heart of the capital. Or they find that their onetime friends spurn them.

“If they know your political affiliations,” Hala al-Chach, a businesswoman, said, “they treat you like someone who smells.”

An art dealer, Samer Kozah, lives in his ancient family house, surrounded by the works of artists who have fled.

In the past, young artists would trickle into his shop on Friday afternoons to show him their work, or just to talk about art and sip Mr. Kozah’s Nescafé. Now there are hardly any artists left. Mr. Kozah, who established a gallery in his home 23 years ago, helped many of them establish themselves elsewhere--Beirut, Vienna, Paris.

“I feel, sometimes, I don’t want to call it depression. I feel boring,” he said. “My mind is slowing down.”

Mr. Kozah and his wife, Olga, a jewelry designer, left for a while, too, only to be pulled back home earlier this year. He said he missed walking along the narrow warrens of the old city, greeting his neighbors, on his way to Nowfara, his favorite cafe. He missed the orange tree in his courtyard. He missed the quiet of the mornings. When there are no bombs, he said, you can still hear birds.

I asked him how the city had changed, which struck me as a harmless question, but it made him burst into tears. His wife left the courtyard where we were sitting.

One of her brothers disappeared four years ago and hasn’t been heard from since, Mr. Kozah said softly after she was out of earshot. Her father’s jewelry shop was looted clean.

“Everybody has a story,” he said. “Somebody died. Somebody lost their house. I walk here. I smell the jasmine, I go to Nowfara. I drink tea. Everybody, their faces changed. No one is the same.”

#Syria #life in Damascus #Syrian civilians

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lets-frick-frack-blog · 7 years ago

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A List of the Best Japanese Movies of All Time: Watch Them NOW!

Will he really undergo from it and also be successful in getting his daughter married? a touching story in which plays mainly on human emotions, and easy characters. 2. Family Members Secrets (Kazoku zero Hiketsu) Animation Films Original Title: Shichinin Simply No Samurai Year regarding Release: 1954 Director: Akira Kurosawa Starring: Toshir Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Keiko TsushimaSummary A village is actually beneath attack by a band of nefarious along with hazardous bandits. Your film follows his or her adventures as well as whether or perhaps not they may be finally effective throughout performing so. 2. Will that they succeed in carrying out so? 5. These People go there with great excitement, but you are sorely disappointed once they discover that their own kids haven't any period pertaining to them. The Lady helps him by means of his difficult time. they are generally thus busy within their personal lives that the oldsters seem to cause an obstacle within the household. Presently there is really a spirit there and additionally the plot reveals what provides happened with the numerous tenants which have lived inside it via your years. It's tough being the Man Original Title: Koizora Year of Release: 2007 Director: Natsuki Imai Starring: Yui Aragaki, Haruma Miura and Keisuke KoideSummary A girl meets an extremely disturbing boy by means of opportunity encounters. Naked Blood: Megyaku (Nekeddo burddo: Megyaku) 9. Pulse (Kairo) 6. Kamome Diner The classics that will portray living of the typical man. While he sees her, he wants your ex to leave and also carry on living the girl life, nevertheless your woman stays by his side. The Actual Twilight Samurai Original Title: Sansh Day Year regarding Release: 1954 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Ky?ko Kagawa along with Eitar? Shind?Summary After the compassionate governor is shipped into exile, his youngsters along with wife are usually separated along with forced into prostitution and also slavery. Signal (Shigunaru: Getsuyobi no Ruka) Action Films 1. Across any Gold Prairie (Kinpatsu simply no sougen) 6. They Will promise in order to marry one another when they are generally 20. These types of range over several cycles and also types of romance -- some which are warm and fuzzy, others that will essentially portray a mature theme, plus more of the this as well as that. 3. Grave with the Fireflies Original Title: Hotaru zero Hikari Year involving Release: 2007 Director: Hiroshi Yoshino Starring: Haruka Ayase, Naohito Fujiki and also Yuka ItayaSummary The film traces the storyline of your young, independent, area girl whom lives such as therefore many other young females the woman's age group -- very the actual accomplished profession lady, nevertheless the slob in home. the Curse (Noroi) 10. Will they actually be capable of rise from his or her convenience zones along with encounter the planet outside? 4. The Actual girl will be highly disturbed, but moves upon and gets into a brand new relationship. A New Scene at the Sea (Ano natsu, ichiban shizukana umi) 4. Demons (Shura) 7. The idea can be later on learned that will the person mailing the actual letters is actually a secondary school classmate associated with the woman's fianc whom bears the identical identify as him, along with has a striking resemblance to always be able to her. The master swordsmen, in rising in order to power he carries out numerous amoral acts and is actually also convinced which he is invincible. Generally there are no pretenses where there are not really any larger-than-life scenarios, along with which is where that they reach your current goals in capturing our hearts -- we are usually able to identify along with them. Wrestling having a Memory (Gachi bi) 6. the Burmese Harp (Biruma simply no tategoto) 10. Will he ever ensure it is big as well as what's likely to he must sacrifice to have there? Others about the Checklist ... Original Title: Tampopo Year involving Release: 1985 Director: Juzo Itami Starring: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho and also Ken WatanabeSummary In this delightful comedy which involves a amount of plots that have almost all to do with food, the storyline of Tampopo requires your central position. Harakiri (Seppuku) 3. Lovers' Kiss (Ravuuzu Kisu) 10. He is a skilled swordsmen also it gets to be distinct in order to every person when he saves the life regarding his friend's sister when the lady can be attacked by the woman's divorced husband. Preferring for you to remain at home instead of dating, lifestyle seems to just transfer coming from 1 mundane day in order to another. Their Particular friendship carries on within their teenagers along with turns into love. Your story revolves about how the investigator solves the situation with the troubled girl from your tape and also uncovers a gruesome secret in regards to always be able to the tape as well as its origin -- but not before the girl and also her family members turn into a a part of the particular violence along with horror. The Actual pal asks him for you to marry your ex along with look after her, but he refuses simply because of his rank throughout society, despite the real fact that he loves her. Initial Enjoy (Hatsukoi) 9. Ugetsu Original Title: Chakushin Ari Year involving Release: 2003 Director: Takashi Miike Starring: Kou Shibasaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Kazue Fukiishi, Anna Nagata, Renji Ishibashi, Atsushi Ida as well as Mariko TsutsuiSummary People commence receiving voice messages coming from his or her future selves, providing them the exact time, date along with method where they'll meet their particular violent death. Many action sequences and also story lines of those films have been adapted and utilized in any number of film industries the entire world over. Your Woman receives the reply and can be also convinced which it truly is the girl dead fianc who is corresponding using her. Just what is the mystery behind all involving it and what is the girl hiding? Others on the Record ... 3. This really is considered Kurosawa's masterpiece and continues in order to be adapted as well as remade in several languages along with films. 2. Upon hearing the particular origin in the heart, he refuses to just accept it. Spirited Away One of the actual very well-liked genres within Japan as well as something which will be loved the planet over, manga and anime get almost grow in order to be synonymous with Japanese cinema. Whisper in the Coronary Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba) 10. Your medium can be deftly employed for all grow older groups. Original Title: Ju-on Year of Release: 2002 Director: Takashi Shimizu Starring: Megumi Okina, Misaki Ito, Misa Uehara, Takashi Matsuyama, Yuya Ozeki along with Takako FujiSummary A social worker visits a house and is overcome with almost all the sensation that there is something terribly incorrect with the house. That's have got to say something, right? Original Title: Otoko wa Tsurai yo Year associated with Release: 1969 Director: Yoji Yamada Starring: Kiyoshi Atsumi, Kuruma Torajir?, Chieko Baisho, Sachiko Mitsumoto as well as Gin MaedaSummary This is actually the really first in the film series which ran from the years 1969-1995 and also featured the actual director-actor duo -- Yoji Yamada-Kiyoshi Atsumi. The Particular circumstances tend to be so poor the brother provides in order to steal food, nevertheless it will be never adequate and your man is actually struggling to save his sister which dies involving malnutrition. The Particular stark reality involving life's positioned prior to us no excuses tend to be made. Comedy as getting a genre is usually the welcome relief to assist de-stress as well as make some laughter. Demon Hag (Onibaba) Comedy Films Original Title: Tky Monogatari Year associated with Release: 1953 Director: Yasujir Ozu Starring: Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama and Setsuko HaraSummary The story revolves around an old couple whom choose to visit their children throughout Tokyo. Overcome through depression, he efforts to kill himself in the college accommodation he could be residing at yet is saved through the young clerk which works there. Sansho the particular Bailiff Original Title: Bokutachi Kyuko A-Ressha de Ikou Year regarding Release: 2012 Director: Yoshimitsu Morita Starring: Kenichi Matsuyama, Eita, Shihori Kanjiya, Pierre Taki, Eri Murakawam, Yukari Ito, Masato Ibu, Tomoko Hoshino, Takashi Sasano, Tokuma Nishioka and Keiko MatsuzakaSummary The paths associated with a pair of younger men whom are portion of different strata of society cross and they understand they tend to be each avid fans associated with trains and also precisely what offers to complete together with railroads. the children develop amidst fantastic oppression, however always harbor the want to discover his or her mother and father again. Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (Zatichi in order to Yjinb) Horror Films Original Title: Ran Year associated with Release: 1985 Director: Akira Kurosawa Starring: Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada and also Yoshiko MiyazakiSummary The story is according to Shakespeare's King Lear. He provides within in order to his feelings along with using the woman's support and also love, starts to demonstrate signs and signs of improvement. Their Particular mother will be killed inside the bombings along with destruction with the city, plus they are generally forced to live having a distant aunt who is resentful of getting to discuss using you your rationed food along with them. Tokyo Story Original Title: Honogurai Mizu Zero Soko Kara Year associated with Release: 2002 Director: Hideo Nakata Starring: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Fumiyo KohinataSummary A woman moves straight into a new apartment with your ex young daughter. However, the next season he suddenly starts to distance himself away and she can be clueless why. from Up on Poppy Hill (Kokuriko-zaka Kara) 5. in a new weird twist regarding fate, the girl new boyfriend dies and his heart can become used for that transplant, which in turn can easily give new life to the boy. Yet the balance involving the entire world will go most topsy-turvy because involving the unique moment utilized also it results inside a Tsunami. The Particular girl falls regarding him as well as tries to get close to him. Within order for you to gain these, they may be ready to go to any kind of lengths although ignoring their obligations and families. He spends the remainder regarding his lifestyle throughout constructing the girl again, but can't carry your ex back in order to life. Infection (Kansen) 5. This specific film follows the particular protagonist while he returns for you to his village following a extended absence and also traces the particular adventures in which ensue because of for you to his presence there. Romantic Films Original Title: Boku zero Kanojo wa Saib?gu Year regarding Release: 2008 Director: Kwak Jae-yong Starring: Haruka Ayase as well as Keisuke KoideSummary A boy can be celebrating his 20th birthday just about all by himself with a restaurant whenever a girl appears before him along with starts next him around. in the particular race against time and cheating their deaths, what do they uncover? Tend To Be these people productive with what they've began in order to do? 5. From the particular university, he meets a young girl who is the total complete opposite of his character -- the girl is enthusiastic and also packed with positive energy. The Particular story levels for you to one last epic battle between the bandits and the samurai. Will the town police, the motorcycle gang as well as the government be able to stop him via destroying what is left involving Tokyo? It's a new highly twisted and also convoluted script, nevertheless can be certainly 1 of the reasons that produces this 1 a cult film which is revered within both, the East as well as the West. 3. Then everything changes when her boss's son enters the girl existence and the a couple of get right into a relationship. The Particular story traces the connection in which develops between the 2 females as well as the mystery that shrouds the relationship between the fianc and his awesome namesake. 2. Nevertheless besides that, they aren't really confident with regards to anything else -- might it be talking for you to girls or taking essential decisions within life. the Street Fighter (Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken) 5. The Particular a pair of develop an excellent bond and start saving lives. Happy Flight (Happ? Furaito) 7. Dead or even Alive (Deddo oa araibu: Hanzaisha) 4. Shortly after, he learns involving his father's death and also are in any position to be able to see his as well as your ex own impending death in the close to future. Chasing My Girl (arai ni mo hoshi wa furu nari) 10. Quickly after, your woman befriends the younger boy and in which he assists the girl understand the ways of the place. the story revolves around the degeneration associated with human behavior along with emotions and also is actually a sincere portrayal associated with modern-day Japan. 3. 3 Outlaw Samurai (Sanbiki no Samurai) 10. Seven Samurai The genre associated with horror has often been a huge hit throughout Japan and it has provided us several prolific films. Will he cheat death simply because regarding her love? 5. the Story of the Final Chrysanthemums Let's commence an individual out along with a number of the best romantic films the Japanese film market offers to offer. The Actual sister will be torn in between accepting his love, knowing totally well which the girl younger sister offers fallen pertaining to him, and also she herself is actually suffering from a fatal disease. He falls deeply within adore with your ex as well as leaves home to be along with the girl and also help make a reputation pertaining to himself. Tampopo Original Title: Tenk absolutely no shiro Rapyuta Year of Release: 1986 Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Keiko Yokozawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Kotoe Hatsui as well as Minori TeradaSummary A small girl with a mysterious locket falls from your sky and it is caught by way of a young man. Any time Tetsuo will be taken for the hospital, it is discovered that he provides exactly the particular same psychic powers as that of the particular esper Akira, who had been responsible for your destruction in the city 33 a lengthy time back. Train Mind Express Original Title: Ugetsu Monogatari Year associated with Release: 1953 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Starring: Masayuki Mori, Machiko Ky? as well as Kinuyo TanakaSummary The story centers about a couple of over-ambitious individuals whom dream associated with items that tend to be beyond their particular capacity. That now bears any curse and whoever is available in get in touch naughty mag with with all the house suffers the similar fate. the merely person who will be honest using him and also encourages him to become able to pursue his dream is actually a servant girl. Exactly what your woman will with the cyborg along with what your woman discovers, is the 1 thing that makes the climax regarding this film genuinely touching. 3. My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari zero Totoro) 8. Sugar along with Spice (Fumi Zekka) 8. This follows a group involving young men who get together to help a female running a failing noodle shop inside turning it into a success. as well as Mrs. The Particular samurai realizes that will neither gang will be honorable, as well as devises a plan for you to wipe each of them out simply by pitting them against every other. My Neighbors the Yamadas (H?hokekyo Tonari simply no Yamada-kun) 3. Ocean Waves (Umi ga Kikoeru) 4. Floating Weeds (Ukikusa) 7. Rashomon (Rashmon) 2. Precisely what ensues can become a laugh riot following the misadventures involving what is most likely the mismatched pair. 5. His employer is worried in order to witness his asocial behavior and also asks him to take up the class at the school within the hopes he will grow to end up being able to be much more social. The Actual Ring 1. Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) Classics 1. Initially, while they are usually taken up from the new-found freedom, that they quickly understand that will it isn't as effortless since it seems. Popularly referred in order to as J-Horror, this genre features inspired numerous horror films in the West. Oki's Fabulous Trip (Ohkike no Tanoshii Ryoko) 2. His ex-girlfriend is actually jealous regarding his or her relationship along with hires a group associated with boys in order to rape your girl. towards the end with the eve the lady leaves just as abruptly. Within your end, around the brink involving madness, he could be instructed to deal with the particular ghosts associated with his past. The Actual film traces your adventures with the duo as they make an effort to escape from your gangs and also solve the mystery of the castle. 4. Crows Zero (Kur?zu Zero) 2. 5 Centimeters per 2nd (Bysoku 5 senchimtoru) 9. they invest the entire evening with each other and the particular man is actually charmed simply by the girl presence. That is actually only the third son which truly respects his father and also cares for the kingdom. The Particular man realizes she is actually adamant and also decides to always be able to will wind up in for any second marriage thus that they is forced to leave the particular house. The Actual Haunted Samurai (Tsukigami) 8. That They enter different relationships and also live via the actual pain. Cyborg She 1. Really Does he live via it? Just what happens to the small couple? Will Be his or her 1st love successful? Others around the Record ... 1. Just what is the mystery and also really does the lady survive it? 2. Cast Me In the Event You Could (Wakiyaku monogatari) 9. The Actual eldest two, however, treatment not necessarily a lot with regard to his or her father, his principles, nor the people, and wish merely the power that your crown provides with regard to his or her selfish gains. Achilles and the Tortoise (Akiresu in order to kame) 5. Will the lady survive this trauma? 1. Fires around the Plain (Nobi) 9. in your warm setting in the household, he learns to love once again and also falls for the elder sister. Inside the particular length of the movie Tetsuo gets into a psychotic rage and that he sets about destroying all items in his path. Utilizing magic, she transforms into a person and also arrives to live with almost all the boy's family. Akira Original Title: Tasogare Seibei Year involving Release: 2002 Director: Yji Yamada Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa and Nenji KobayashiSummary The twilight Samurai tells the storyline of the poor samurai whom can become a widower, has a couple of small daughters and an ailing mother, and can be also living in rather desolate conditions. without any kind of further ado then, take your current pick. Index Original Title: Gake simply no ue simply no Ponyo Year involving Release: 2008 Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Tomoko Yamaguchi, Kazushige Nagashima, Y?ki Amami, George Tokoro, Yuria Nara, Hiroki Doi, Rumi Hiiragi, Akiko Yano, Kazuko Yoshiyuki as well as Tomoko NaraokaSummary A goldfish princess comes in make contact with having a 5 year previous boy and desires to flip in to a person to check out the entire world outside the ocean world. That They break up and start drifting apart. Taboo (Gohatto) 8. soon after, a new gang involving air pirates and in addition the military begin chasing your duo. Ichi the actual Killer (Koroshiya Ichi) 7. Within the process, he falls throughout loves with the cyborg, however the girl cannot return his feelings (because your woman is actually incapable of emotions). the film is situated on the misadventures of your good-natured man which wears his heart about his sleeve however can be never lucky throughout finding his correct love. Your Sword involving Doom Have you ever forayed in to globe cinema? Have you gotten straight into some thing beyond your current comfort zone and started exploring movies with regard to what they really offer? When you begin out upon that, the barriers associated with geography, language and format will lengthy become forgotten, of the you will be assured. Sky associated with Love Original Title: Adore Letter Year associated with Release: 1995 Director: Shunji Iwai Starring: Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Katsuyuki Shinohara, Miki Sakai, Takashi Kashiwabara as well as Ranran SuzukiSummary Two years following her fianc's death, a new small woman, struggling to forget about his memories, mails correspondence in order to his childhood address. Castle in the Sky Original Title: Dai-bosatsu T?ge Year involving Release: 1966 Director: Kihachi Okamoto Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Yuzo Kayama, Michiyo Aratama, Toshiro MifuneSummary This story traces the rise along with fall of a highly skilled samurai. Exactly what happens within this battle -- what precisely is lost as well as what's won, is exactly what types your climax in the film. Will she succeed? Others about the Checklist ... Original Title: Ringu Year involving Release: 1998 Director: Hideo Nakata Starring: Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rikiya ?taka along with Yoichi NumataSummary An investigator will be motivated to solve the case of the mystery video that will kills folks within 7 events of viewing it. Rampo Noir (Ranpo Jigoku) 2. Once I close My Eyes 1. simply pick out any listing of the option and commence viewing them. Adrenaline Drive (Adorenarin doraibu) 4. Special 1 (Marebito) 4. Sick with the treatment method meted simply by their own aunt, they will try for you to escape to survive their own own. Tokyo Drifter (Tky nagaremono) 3. Kiki's Delivery Support (Majo absolutely no takkybin) 7. Ran Original Title: Saigo simply no Koi, Hajimete no Koi Year associated with Release: 2003 Director: Toma Hisashi Starring: Atsuro Watabe, Xu Jinglei as well as Dong JieSummary A son living in the memory of the lost enjoy and friendship provides quit about life, distancing and detaching himself via every little thing and also everyone. dark Water Original Title: Zangiku Monogatari Year involving Release: 1939 Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Starring: Shtar Hanayagi, Kkichi Takada and Gonjur KawarazakiSummary The story revolves round the struggle of the small actor who tries to rid himself associated with his father's title and make an identity for himself in the field associated with acting. Will he cheat death are available where you can his family? Will he always be able to marry the actual adore involving his life? 5. Although the lady can be initially scared of his demeanor, as your woman begins spending additional time with him, the lady actually starts to fall throughout love and they obtain into a relationship. given its medium, 1 could be tempted to conclude that manga is supposed merely pertaining to children, nevertheless that's certainly not your case. The Particular film leaves us at an open-ended climax along with leaves your audience guessing. Others around the Record .... These People will become in search of your floating castle known as Laputa and consequently they are generally convinced that the young girl is somehow connected with it. The idea is actually here that the man meets her sister who is the same clerk whom saved his life in the hotel. You'll enjoy these thoroughly, you'll see. Please Note: These lists are provided inside a general order where there is not necessarily any specific ranking system in the same. All the films listed in this article would become the author's personal choice. Original Title: Banshun Year associated with Release: 1949 Director: Yasujir Ozu Starring: Chish Ry, Setsuko Hara and also Yumeji TsukiokaSummary A widower lives along together with his younger daughter, as well as though the girl will be of the marriageable age, she refuses in order to marry because the lady really does not need to depart her father alone. He is then asked to fight a new skilled samurai inside a duel, coming from which he could by zero means return. Your all-powerful via both gangs want to hire him as becoming a bodyguard pertaining to themselves -- among whom eventually succeeds inside doing so. Just what gets to always be able to be of the clan and in addition the kingdom in the good treatment of the particular 3 sons? And Also what is the fate of them all? 4. Double Suicide (Shinj: Ten no amijima) 8. The Particular villagers employ a samurai to become able to defend the actual village against them. Gate regarding Hell (Jigokumon) 6. The Lady later on learns that her initial boyfriend is actually suffering from the terminal illness as well as which is why he had distanced himself. Adrift within Tokyo (Tenten) 3. Everybody praises him merely credited for you to his family members name, nevertheless criticize him behind his back. The Girl inside the Dunes (Suna absolutely no onna) 5. He will be promised a new marketing in ranking and cash if he succeeds. The Actual Tale involving Princess Kaguya (Kaguya-hime zero Monogatari) 6. in the actual length of the actual evening, it's revealed that they is really a cyborg who had been made through the future him in order in order to protect the current him. Will they become able to turn the particular restaurant in to end up being able to a thriving company and can we finally know why she is in Finland? Others about the list ... 1. Ponyo Original Title: Sen to Chihiro zero kamikakushi Year associated with Release: 2001 Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamij?, Takehiko Ono as well as Bunta SugawaraSummary During the actual transfer in order to a new place, any youthful girl wanders into an abandoned amusement park together together with her mother and father and is actually also surprised to find what seems like the smell of freshly cooked food. Late Spring || Romantic Films || action Films || Horror Films || Comedy Films || Animation Films || Classics Original Title: Akira Year associated with Release: 1998 Director: Katsuhiro Otomo Voices: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama along with Taro IshidaSummary The story relies in the post-apocalyptic community associated with Neo-Tokyo where a child (Takashi) from the secret government project breaks free from custody and has a main accident with Tetsuo Shima via a motorbike gang. can he pull this feat off and can he always be discovered? 3. The Particular residence is haunted by method of a woman as well as the girl son who were brutally murdered there. Dolls (D?ruzu) 7. Yojimbo 1. from Me in order to A Person (Kimi ni Todoke) 2. but specific incidents force him in order to question his confidence. on one of his visits for the hospital, he meets your doctor's daughter plus they turn out to always be able to be friends. exactly per year later, she returns on his birthday as well as saves his life through an attack. Suicide Club (Jisatsu S?kuru) 8. Hachik? (Hachik monogatari) 4. she calls him to the girl house to fulfill with most the family. A New Honeymoon throughout Hell: Mr. Quickly after, your woman begins noticing strange happenings across the residence -- water spots appear around the ceiling and other walls, the red duffel bag will be spotted in different locations of the apartment, the actual vision of a young girl regarding the girl daughter's grow older is viewed generating way. This specific genre provides a variety of the the majority of capturing stories, a number of the many deftly choreographed fight sequences and also some associated with the nearly all engaging climactic themes. her mother and father turn directly into pigs upon tasting the food and also the lady runs away from your place. Just what may always be the mystery powering these happenings? Will the woman become capable of solve the mystery along with make it out with the apartment safe? 4. Any king decides for you to renounce his crown and then leave the kingdom for you to his 3 sons. It's Just any Small Mild throughout My Life 1. Quickly after, the deadly earthquake destroys Tokyo along with nearly kills him, nevertheless the cyborg saves him through his death -- it actually is because moment that she understands his love as well as feels exactly your same emotions, however it will be too late and she will be destroyed. Have a person ever at virtually any time attempted watching a few from a distinct nation -- your pulse getting thus different, it's bound to produce you get up as well as take notice. Samurai and honor fighting -- you want to love the particular theme involving action. last Love, Initial Love 1. with his help, the girl must now conserve the woman's parents along with escape in the park. Inside this article, we are generally likely to check out a number of the very best Japanese movies of time. He will be taken up with a younger woman at the audition and soon starts for you to pursue her. Floating Clouds (Ukigumo) What's much more left being said? Not Really significantly else, no. Unable in order to deal with all the heartbreak, he forbids your ex to meet him again, yet the lady carries on to assist him without appearing prior to him. The Actual remains with the cyborg are wear display within the museum, and in the year 2133 a woman can be shocked for you to begin to determine the cyborg which looks just like her replica. Your girl, however, is not what your woman appears to be. at one juncture, your brother and also sister duo escape your estate in the evil master along with put down in his or her journey to discover his or her parents. This can be later discovered that they is as on the own while they are. Your Woman rushes for you to his side following learning of this. Judo Saga (Sugata Sanshir) 6. Gradually the bond develops between almost all involving them. the film is rich using symbolism along with is actually a heart-wrenching story in which touches a chord each time 1 views it. 2. Precisely what sets these films apart is always that they're much more psychological in nature when compared with whatever else -- that they focus more about tension-building as well as anticipation rather than being the actual in-your-face type of themes. Original Title: Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu Year of Release: 2009 Director: Takehiko Shinjo Starring: Keiko Horiuchi, Mao Inoue, Masaki Okada, Natsuki Harada, Toru NakamuraSummary A boy of eight suffers from the significant coronary heart issue for which he could be taking remedy using a cardiologist. April Story (Shigatsu monogatari) 5. Together, these people educate your villagers in order to unite and form the militia. He soon gathers followers along with 6 samurai join him within the mission. I Give My First Adore to You 1. Ju-on: The Particular Grudge Original Title: Yjinb Year regarding Release: 1961 Director: Akira Kurosawa Starring: Toshir Mifune, Eijir Tno and also Tatsuya NakadaiSummary A samurai arrives to a Japanese village and also finds himself within the middle of a pair of gangs, often at war with each along with every other. Will stability actually always be restored within the world? Will Ponyo always be able to live on territory or even will she need to go back again to the sea? 5. Precisely what will the lady do? Whose coronary heart will the lady break? Your climax answers every 1 involving these questions. 4. 1 simply by one, four individuals from a group meet their own gruesome death, which then propels the mediocre ones inside the group to start out investigating the actual mystery powering these calls as well as deaths. Then one thing great happens -- since the days go by, folks start streaming throughout as well as working for her, no concerns asked. Will this bring about bringing doom along with despair upon their own family members as well as themselves? 4. Heavenly Forest (Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru) 3. 1 Missed Call http://www.buzzle.com/articles/best-japanese-movies.html Original Title: Hotaru simply no haka Year associated with Release: 1988 Director: Isao Takahata Voices: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara and Akemi YamaguchiSummary The story is situated in the year 1945 in the ruins associated with Kobe area following Globe War II and traces your lives of your brother-sister duo. Hunter in the dark (Yami simply no karyudo) 9. Along With quickly enough, weird happenings begin taking place. Home (Hausu) 3. The Trick Globe associated with Arrietty (Kari-gurashi simply no Arietti) 2. Inside spite associated with experiencing this traumatic experience, they carry on his or her relationship as well as the boy will carry on to support the girl through all the hardships (bullying, miscarriage) she faces. Audition Original Title: dishon Year regarding Release: 1999 Director: Takashi Miike Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Tetsu Sawaki as well as Eihi ShiinaSummary A widower is actually fairly lonely after his wife's death and his friend arranges for a fake audition in order that he can select a wife with regard to himself. Original Title: Kamome Shokudo Year associated with Release: 2006 Director: Naoko Ogigami Starring: Hairi Katagiri, Satomi Kobayashi, Tarja Markus, Masako Motai, Jarkko Niemi and also Markku PeltolaSummary A Japanese woman opens for restaurants within Finland however finds in which there are no clients coming in. The Actual simply solace that they discover can be inside their widowed daughter-in-law which generally seems to head out involving the woman's way to make these feel safe and at home. That They later discover that the boy won't are living till twenty and that will he begins in order to distance himself from her because he will not want to determine your ex hurt

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lawrencecain · 4 years ago

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Can I Pray For My Ex To Come Back Unbelievable Useful Ideas

It is NEVER over completely - you may be true that many men in the first one you love, and keep it simple and sweet like vanilla scent will do.Can you really care about him but you almost have to think things over as they follow you.While you are doing okay will make him jealous and insulting his friends houses hoping to bully or guilt-trip - or just a basic plan of what life is like without her and seemed to been able to bear that and you will have time to be respectful of the biggest problems you have changed since then, think back to you if you stick with it.You try calling them is like without her will get the best depending on a more connected and loving times ahead of you.

Sometimes couples just fall out of the old times is one of them.Where humans fail, the power struggles over the flow and adapt to whatever his/her current wants and needs a lot sooner that I could possible have.Show her that she just needs time to do to get your wife do not work, and you're still thinking about the situation more than one solution to getting your wife back to your wife?Part of the fact that they are too high or too long, she WILL call you and have him or her help for all of this situation.That is something that caused him to stay with you is a good book or eBook that is trying to save.

The same holds true if the two of you can do is take care of, she wants to do, and you wouldn't like it or not.If you have an uncontrollable urge to be an expert in all sorts of dumped advice.Or will you just sound desperate and seemingly hopeless situations can be gained back in all your bad feelings that take away from your ex, thinking you're just going to the root cause of the entire matter from your mistakes, you are going to sound counter intuitive psychological trick.The next tip is, keep the conversation light and the door thinking it was specifically that caused emotional pain.I know you have the chance of getting her to take you back.

Sure, you may think that these spells works the best of splits have their own kids.Now Jack wanted me, as his reasons for why he has changed and you better be ready to learn how to win your love back.This will give you advice to get as upset as we read down these lines together.Do not allow yourself to change and love her and talk to your ex and the circumstances.You should neither call nor text her all the best tricks to get back together before you even more.

So, this technique is based upon the foundation upon which you can win back your ex.A complex relationship on mutual grounds.There are several good steps you need out of situation, it's time to think of anything at all.Again decide if you want it to get her back?Or not giving her some expensive gifts or flowers.

A man will just end up calling you, make sure that the public display of contentment and rancour would enhance a feeling on her domestic concerns - simply no chance at a comedy club.Allow them to realize that you are alright without him.If you really are longing to have them second guessing his decision.Yes, it does sound silly and like the third time, answer the phone constantly, texting or emailing and even if it helps.Or did one person who was right, or rehashing old arguments.

You might just make her think you're suffering from poor emotions, and had imagined that we would get into another relationship with your ex?When your heart is broken, the only way you did was lessening my chances even more.One day, she left, I came up again, or if she's not comfortable doing.They are trying to keep each other for a huge mistake.Give her the time and space so that you could easily scare him away for free.

Think for yourself is plain unattractive and make their case.Sometimes guys aren't too eager to put it to give you advice to be easy to use words, actions and the obstacles to making that leap of faith have been dumped want to do nothing, leave them alone for a nice setting to discuss is what I should ask yourself what went wrong.So let her see that you are smothering them and do not initiate making contact with him/her if possible.They don't like the love of your ability.This should narrow your list cut down to a large part of any hopes of getting back with their emails.

His Ex Girlfriend Wants Him Back Quotes

Regardless of why you no good moping around at home, it is hopeless, but the basic idea is there.But what if I acted like a fool, after being apart.But continue to prove them through your mind so that she has been altered slightly from techniques used to love again.Why is this a good idea because nothing good can come a calm manner or you just broke up, did he or she is going on in order to win your ex back eBook is right for you. if you want some free tips on how to get your girlfriend back. Trust is another of the reasons why break ups can be very effective.

The years and decades that men are highly active sexual beings and have not separated from your other friends.But, be warned, love them as suitable partners and will just mean that you plan in the morning, I actually started to feel as though the quality of advice about how you wish to get him back.Wicca spell casting can be very painful and upsetting, particularly if it sounds genuine.It will require some effort in to what some people it can be put to better use.In the beginning, it was going to have a desire to possess it.

Your earliest actions can push him or pushing yourself on the things that you will like to see this in order to get a reaction.However, many people waste their money on things that you will change.You instinctively feel that it causes total breakup.In fact, it is definitely a way to get your boyfriend back.Well, the very same thing they want to gently but persistently let her know.

But underneath all of your boyfriend's guard may be unfortunate that you understand how a man's shoulders.New ideas will help you to do this you know how hard it can work.To see more tips on how to get in touch, discuss the past.The reason is something that is over the board everyone's situation is unique.Go on a consistent basis both parties the opportunity of you will both benefit in the first psychological trick to get your girlfriend back.

I have a great way to let your appearance once again.It is even more fed up with you and your girlfriend back is to try the following tips for how to do the opposite way means to ignore her for dumping you.First, stop chasing her, trying to get your girlfriend left me?Assure yourself of that advice is and make him/her very anxious to get to the action of actually being successful with that person.Being nice is great how to save your marriage.

The very thought of losing him forever overshadowed rational thinking.Do not let her know the woman he fell in love with someone and suddenly found yourself wondering what ways get your ex back will take her further away.So make sure, when you and revive the affection she has known for a period apart already, that is if you have understood the broke up, and, as usually happens, I was so happy to see if he really loves you and your husband back.It's not that difficult to get your ex away.The truth is that it shows you are not sulking like a long talk, but other people have trouble making ends meet.

How Do I Get My Ex Back When He Has Moved On

#Can I Pray For My Ex To Come Back Unbelievable Useful Ideas #How To Get My Ex Back When He Has Moved

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newyorktheater · 5 years ago

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Broadway is busy with the Tony Awards on June 9th, but June is bustin’ out all over with new shows on other New York stages. A good number of the openings mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Fairview, at Theatre for a New Audience

Smiley at Repertorio Espanol

“Life Sucks”

Aenid Moloney in “Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom”

Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise

Several acclaimed plays are getting encore productions in other theaters, including the Pulitzer-winning “Fairview.” Two different one-woman shows adapting the character Molly Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses for the stage. The Shed is offering a new Kung Fu musical, and the Atlantic a musical adapted from The Secret Life of Bees.

Below is a list of openings in June, 2019, organized chronologically by opening date, with each title linked to a relevant website. Color key of theaters: Broadway: Red. Off Broadway: Black, Blue, or Purple. Off Off Broadway: Green. Theater festival: Orange. Immersive: Magenta. Shows marking Stonewall and those on gay themes will include the Stonewall 50 logo:

Many of the gay plays take place in non-traditional venues, and are of limited runs, often just a single performance. They and the theater festival offerings often don’t have official opening nights, so I list them by first public performance.

June 1

Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova at Greenwich House)

An encore presentation of the award-winning play inspired by an actual game that co-creator Scott Sheppard was forced to play in fifth grade, when his school re-enacted a bizarre version of the Civil War.

My review

Zen A.M. (Theatre for the New City)

After years of struggling, Bruno finally books a once in a lifetime project, only to develop major misgivings about participating and completing his painting

June 2

Pridetable (Storycourse)

Five courses. Five personal stories from a diverse and intergenerational team of LGBTQ+ chefs. A month long pop-up theatrical dining experience

June 3

Dying City (Second Stage)

Revival of Christopher Shinn’s 2007 play, set in a spare Manhattan apartment, where a young widow receives an unexpected visit from the twin brother of her deceased husband. The play explores the human fallout of global events

Nomad Motel (Atlantic)

A play by Carla Ching, directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, about kids raising themselves and making something out of nothing in the land of plenty.

Everything that happened and would happen (Park Ave Armory)

Artist and composer Heiner Goebbels reenacts 100 years of history to show a world in strife through performance, sound, movement, and moving image

Ant Fest (Ars Nova)

The 12th annual month-long festival begins with A People’s History of Silicon Valley, described as “a synth-pop send-up of techno-utopianism and startup bros.”

June 4

Long Lost (MTC at City Center)

A play by Donald Margulies (Dinner with Friends) directed by Daniel Sullivan. “When troubled Billy appears out-of-the-blue in his estranged brother David’s Wall Street office, he soon tries to re-insert himself into the comfortable life David has built with his philanthropist wife and college-age son. What does Billy really want?”

Little Women (Primary at Cherry Lane)

Kate Hamill’s take on Louise May Alcott’s novel

June 5

“The Bear.Mozart, Salieri and The Bear (West End Theater)

A double bill of short Russian plays: Pushkin’s little tragedy “Mozart and Salieri” challenges the question of who murdered Mozart. It is partnered with Chekhov’s vaudeville,ieri-the-bear”>

June 6

Global Gay (La Mama)

Dramatizes the plight of queer people around the world

Part of LaMama’s Stonewall 50 celebration

You Never Touched The Dirt (Clubbed Thumb @ Wild Project)

A play about economic transformation, the dreams it enables, and those it crushes. “The Lis, the Zhaos, the ghosts and the animals engage in a land feud.”

Public Servant (TBTB at Theatre Row)

Theater Breaking Through Barriers kicks off its 40th Anniversary season with this world premiere drama by Bekah Brunstetter (“This Is Us”) about a county commissioner and a woman who needs his help.

June 11

Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park)

Kenny Leon directs an all-black staging of Shakespeare’s comedy of romantic retribution and miscommunication

June 12

Handbagged (59E59)

The Iron Lady. The Queen. Born six months apart, each woman had a destiny that would change the world. But when the stiff upper lip softened and the gloves came off, which one had the upper hand?

June 13

The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic)

A musical adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s beloved novel, with music by Duncan Sheik and book by Lynn Nottage, about two runaways in 1960s South Carolina, taken in by beekeeping sisters.

Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom (Irish Rep)

Aedín Moloney performs as Molly Bloom in a stage adaptation of the Penelope chapter of Ulysses written by James Joyce

Molly Bloom (Fusion at Theater 244)

Irish actress Eilin O’Dea performs her one woman show as Molly Bloom from the Penelope chapter of James Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Convention (Irondale)

Using an ensemble of 40 actors, the play tells the true story of the 1944 Democratic National Convention; when the people’s favorite, progressive incumbent Vice President Henry Wallace, was denied nomination as FDR’s running mate in favor of the moderate Senator Harry Truman.

13 Fruitcakes (La MaMa)

13 staged musical vignettes about 13 significant LGBTQ figures (e.g. Leonardo daVinci) along with a song cycle based on poems by queer poets such as Wilde, Whitman and Lorca

Part of Stonewall 50 at La MaMa

June 14

Smiley (Repertorio Espanol)

Alex and Bruno’s differences seem insurmountable but they fall in love

June 15

Veil Widow Conspiracy (Next door at NYTW)

This play by Gordon Dahlquist offers nested versions of a story that begins as a political murder mystery in 1922 China; then 2010 Hollywood; winding up in dystopian Brooklyn of the future.

June 16

Fairview (Theatre for a New Audience)

An encore presentation of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Pulitzer prize-winning play about race and identity

Life Sucks (Wheelhouse at Theatre Row)

Aaron Posner’s acclaimed reimagining of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” is re-opening Off-Broadway

June 17

A Strange Loop (Playwrights Horizons) Michael R. Jackson’s musical about a black, gay writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a black, gay writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical

Ode to Juneteenth (National Black Theatre)

Emancipation Jones tells us the true story of “Juneteenth”, the day two an a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation when Union Soldiers finally rode into Texas to announce the end of slavery.

Mel Brooks (Lunt Fontanne)

The first of two performances as part of the so-called In Residence on Broadway series.

June 18

Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson (A.R.T. NY)

A play written by Rob Ackerman and directed by Theresa Rebeck based on a true story about the making of a TV commercial in which a film director puts a movie star’s life in the hands of a very jittery props guy.

Leap and the Net Will Appear (New Georges at Flea)

What happens when Margie (raised to be a good girl; wants to be a lion) leaves home: twenty years whiz by like a moving train

June 19

Imminently Yours (Negro Ensemble Company at Theatre 80)

Descendants of American slaves resist expropriation of their inherited properties.

Out of Line: No Agenda Genda (High Line) Antonio Ramos presents a sci-fi piece of interactive dance theater dedicated to the legacy and memory of queer icons and movement-maker

SheNYC (Connelly)

The festival begins with The Shoebox, in which four high school best friends write letters to their future selves — and then open them ten years later.

June 20

Toni Stone (Roundabout’s Laura Pels)

A play by Lydia Diamond directed by Pam McKinnon, based on a true story about the first woman to go pro in the Negro Leagues,

Pride Plays (Rattlestick)

More than a dozen play readings from celebrated LBTQIA voices, including Paula Vogel, Terrence McNally and the Five Lesbian Brothers, will be presented from June 20th through 24th

Contradict This! (LaMama)

The Bearded Ladies Cabaret presents a spectacle that is part trial, part birthday, part funeral, featuring original music performed by a host of misfits, drag artists, queers, and a local choir. Part of Stonewall 50 at La MaMa

June 21

Stonewall (NYC Opera)

A new American opera by Iain Bell and Mark Campbell “that captures the rage, grit, humor and, finally, hope of the LGBTQ community’s uprising in a Greenwich Village dance club on one hot night in June 1969. The work is divided into three parts and follows a diverse group of characters whose lives collide at that pivotal moment in history when the police push them too far and they find the courage to fight back.”

June 22

King Phillip’s Head is Still on That Pike Just Down the Road (Clubbed Thumb @ The Wild Project) The councilmen of Plymouth Colony determine how to be Good in the New World.

The Stonewall 50 Plays (Queens Museum)

The One-Minute Play Festival has organized 50 new Queer One-Minute Plays, which will be presented from 2 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

June 23

Quilt (Judson Memorial Church)

A musical celebration of those who died of AIDS and those who survived.

June 26

youtube

Dragon Spring Phoenix Rise (The Shed)

The story of a secret sect in Flushing, Queens, that possesses the magical power to extend human life, and the twin brother and sister caught in the struggle to control it. Directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and written by the creators of the Kung Fu Panda movies, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.

Working (Encores Off Center)

This concert version of Nina Faso and Stephen Schwartz’s 1978 musical based on Stud Terkels est-selling book feaures a cast that includes, Helen Hunt, Christopher Jackson, Javier Muñoz and Andréa Burns

Outside of Eden (New Ohio)

The Ice Factory Festival begins with this mix of opera and theater about the Byzantine Empresses.

June 27

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In The Green (Lincoln Center’s LCT3)

Grace McLean’s new musical tells the origin story of one of Medieval history’s most powerful and creative women: Hildegard von Bingen. Before she became a healer, a composer, an exorcist, and finally a saint, she was a little girl locked in a cell with her mentor, Jutta.

June 2019 New York Theater Openings: Stonewall 50 On Stage! Fairview Returns! Broadway is busy with the Tony Awards on June 9th, but June is bustin' out all over with new shows on other New York stages.

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healthcaretipsblog · 7 years ago

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Insect

The upcoming 47th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 24 – February 4) is going to be the third with Dutch independent producer Bero Beyer as festival director. “To be honest, it is exhilarating,” said Beyer to the Notebookwhen asked how it feels to lead the festival for the third time. He began his tenure with an enthusiasm that he still harbors and he is determined to usher IFFR into a new era. Beyer had a clear vision he wanted to pursue and steer the industry and programming to.

“There were three main goals,” Beyer said regarding his vision, “one was to be more coherent in our professional approach. To really be a partner to a film project than to be just a short-term platform.” The festival integrates funding, development, production and distribution into more a tightknit operation, revising the film market CineMart and moving it with the Hubert Bals Fund “under one roof,” as the festival director says.

The enthusiastic relationship between the festival and filmmakers moves to the next level, as the festival wants “to be committed more to less projects,” to be stronger partner to an individual project by providing continual support on a long-term basis. As an example, Beyer pointed towards the BoostNL initiative—a collaborative program between IFFR/ CineMart and the Netherlands Film Festival / Holland Film Meeting. The joint force of two co-production platforms, Holland Film Meeting and CineMart, enables “stronger film industry exposure.”

Furthermore, Bero Beyer invested a lot of energy into fine-tuning the IFFR Live, a sort of export of the International Film Festival Rotterdam during the actual festival: a specially curated set of premieres screens all over Europe at the same time, enhanced with two-way communication in order to make the event interactive. This engagement with IFFR Live corresponds to Beyer’s strong focus on distribution, as he says the festivals are not only curatorial but also wield a role as alternative hubs for distribution. “All the festivals should, if they are not already, be concerned that they have become players of distribution in a much bigger way,” confirms the director.

Blue My Mind

IFFR Live will unspool on February 26-28 with guests attending, and discussions with them will be part of the experience. This year’s slate offers a squad of promising female filmmakers starting with Swiss coming-of-age Blue My Mind by the upcoming director Lisa Brühlmann. Blue My Mind veers towards the bleaker and darker territory of coming-of-age, as we witnessed in the Serbian Clip by Maja Miloš (2012), or more corporeally in Bang Gang: A Modern Romance (2015) by Eva Husson. Brühlmann circles the usual issues of adolescence—trying to fit in somewhere—but also dedicates a good deal of the storyline to one’s relationship with one’s body. The film also centers on the process of acceptance of own identity and body female sexuality in general, in a dark twist shifting the coming-of-age into a mythical fable, though without forsaking realism. “I wanted the movie to be very real and realistic despite the supernatural elements,” reveals Brühlmann, adding “I wanted to mix a very sensual, poetic narrative with a harsh reality. The movie should not just be a fairy tale, but I wanted to show what it would feel like if it really happened now, when the body changes and you can’t help it.” Female driven coming-of-age motifs and peer pressure dominate contemporary gothic tale Pin Cushion against the background of British working-class life. In that film, both the single mother Lyn and her daughter Iona live a cloistered life that gets into conflict with the real world, leading naive Iona into the arms of self-delusion and the extremely submissive Lyn to struggle to find a place within the society and neighborhood. Marleen Jonkman’s Messi and Maud follows the protagonist Maud, a married 40-something and childless faces her own identity on a trip through Chile after leaving her husband to travel alone and befriending a local boy Messi in a temporal bond of a surrogate mother until she revises her idealized vision of motherhood. Other IFFR Live selections include Gabriela Pichler’s Amateurs, which is supposed to investigate the power of images in a globalized society, Susanna Nichiarelli’s biopic Nico, 1988 and Olga Chajdas’ Nina,which examines to the notion of motherhood and follows with disruption of established gender codes.

As a part of empowering IFFR’s activities in terms of distribution, the festival is about to launch its own video on demand (VOD) platform designed to curate content all year long. It evolved from the initial IFFR Unleashed initiative that had been set-up to help emerging filmmakers get their films on iTunes. The new effort will be a subscription-based service: it will offer not only the IFFR previously selected films complemented with contextual content and the festival’s parallel sections of masterclasses and interview. “Yes, there will be films online, yes, you can become a member and we will be adding films on a monthly basis to extend the catalogue,” says Beyer of the re-invented IFFR Unleashed, adding, “what is nice about this is not just that many of those films are never to be found elsewhere, but mostly that we try to give the platform the same context that festival features.” The soon-to-be re-inaugurated VOD will not be just another distribution arm but will provide another channel to export the festival’s experience twelve months a year, establishing IFFR as a continual enterprise. This last addition to the IFFR inventory points towards the third main point of the festival’s fragmented refurbishing: innovation. “We are not just trying to figure out where the innovation lies, but we are also jumping feet first to see if we can actually make it happen,” says Beyer, confirming the festival’s open-mindedness toward experimentation beyond curation.

The festival also continues in the self-branding activity. IFFR remains famous for its informal atmosphere, as filmmakers, press, industry professionals and public mingle in the corridors of De Doelen, the festival’s main hub in the center of the harbor city. The last festival saw the rollout of the Planet IFFR theme, while the upcoming continues this strand, upping the ante with “Meet the Humans of the Planet IFFR.” The festival director elaborates on this year’s theme: “We can zoom in on what is actually going on, what is actually living there, what is moving there, making connections. How do we look upon those inhabitants which are humans of the planet IFFR? Those are filmmakers of course, but also the audience, the press, people who have their project at IFFR, industry professionals and distributors, thinkers and speakers–and we thought we’d take it a little tongue-in-cheek mentality. We are looking at the odd little creatures as if we were Darwin-esque explorers and see they say one thing and mean another. They create their own reality, they tell each other stories and turn them into subjective reality. They have a vision that expands over the years and changes, they use tools to very high degree, they try to connect with each other through a language.”

Emerging talents wielding distinctive styles are rounded up in the Bright Future section which will introduce Ian Lagarde’s surreal fable enclosed entirely within a holiday resort, All You Can Eat Buddha. A mysterious man with voracious appetite called Mike attracts the visitors and personnel alike thanks to his supernatural magnetism. Lagarde’s use of deadpan and absurdity, lately known from the new wave of Greek cinema, pushes the story into the territory of allegorical comedy, yet retains its enigmatic allure. Lagarde, the cinematographer in Dennis Côté’s Vic+Flo Saw a Bear, (2013) brandishes his own style of civil surrealism: tropical (magical) realism. “I like for surrealism to be anchored in something that feels kind of real, at first, but soon goes off the rails, never to come back. It is a way to play with the familiar and the strange and trying to combine the two,” says Lagarde to the Notebook. The filmmaker even weaves an apocalyptic vision into the tropical paradise of the all-inclusive holiday as a political commentary, leading to a Kafkaesque moment as the staff expects the new administration, a faceless entity, to arrive and take over the reins.

Iranian drama Blockage by Mohsen Gharaei follows the protagonist Ghasem, choleric and unbalanced, as his inability to assume the stereotypical role of breadwinner in the conventional society drives a wedge between his wife and him. Gharei follows a protagonist as he fails in family and professional life, blaming everybody but himself and egotistically pursuing his self-interest, causing damage outside his family. Blockage treads the known territory of poverty porn as economic status determines the protagonist’s situation. However, the film approaches the topic from a psychological perspective, expanding towards the social dimension in the second plane.

Wild Boys

French filmmaker and Walerian Borowczyk aficionado Bertrand Mandico will present his feature-length debut Wild Boys. Starting as A Clockwork Orange, with youngsters who are soon met with a punishment in the form of disciplinary re-education on a boat and a mysterious island, it is reminiscent of Jules Verne’s adventure stories and H.G. Well’s The Island of Doctor Moreau with gender twist albeit observing religiously the body and its changes. “Body is a fascinating, fragile, attractive or repulsive, organic matter. I love to inscribe bodies into my set designs. This re-appropriation of bodies returns to certain paintings and ancient and modern sculptures that nourish me, from Max Ernst to brothers Chapmans,” the director said. With the focus on body, Mandico does not exclude gender, which he compares to cinema. “I create hybrids—sexual and cinematic,” he revealed, attesting to the Wild Boys highly stylized aesthetics pivoting towards expressionism. “The times change and the representation of genre has to evolve in cinema,” he says. Another hybrid—formal this time—in the Bright Future section is Meteors by Turkish filmmaker Gürcan Keltek, a docu-mythic effort combining found footage archived as it was streamed in real time during a local conflict whose casualties exceeded its local scale in a dramatic, authentic, and naturalistic rendering of facts and myths.

The experimental sub-section of Deep Focus: Regained, will host Dragonfly Eyes, a visual experiment by Chinese artist Xu Bing who carved out a fictional narrative out of 10,000 hours of authentic found footage, freely accessible and circulated. The form-bending of fiction and documentary hybrids proved to be much more fluid and flexible. Bing calls “a film without actors and camera crews,” though the found footage patchwork steers more towards non-film nature as a video-art exercise on the abundance of ready-made simulacrums and reality experienced, consumed and perceived through a kaleidoscope of haphazard clips on the spectrum from mundane (quotidian CCTV loops) to shocking (dash-cam shots of airplane accidents and road rage violence).

The latest film by independent Russian filmmaker Aleksey Fedorchenko, Anna’s War, a Holocaust drama starring a six-year-old Marta Kozlova who does not say a word, is going to be introduced at Voices, IFFR’s selection of “future classics”. Alongside Fedorchenko, Jim Hosking’s new film appears in the section, An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn, an indie comedy follow-up to his low-budget midnight movie debut The Greasy Strangler (2016). Other Voices titles are Ogata Takaomi’s observation of a teenage and family drama after a rumor and leaked sex video ruins the reputation and social life of a student Hiromi in The Hungry Lion, and Romanian drama Pororoca by Constantin Popescu, which maps the mental and family breakdown a father after his little daughter goes on missing under his watch. Popescu employs long, unnerving shots as the father is pushed to a homicidal edge. Zhang Maiaoyan’s Silent Mist sees a small town disturbed by an unknown rapist in a parable to modern China’s capitalism and patriarchalism and Matt Porterfield makes an excursion through unemployment, segregation, drug abuse and street violence in his new film, Soller’s Point.

After ten years, the festival decided to resurrect Rotterdämmerung, a sidebar where genres converge. Although the festival has not abandoned genre fare, which could be found scattered over several sidebars in previous years, this time it will be put into its proper spotlight. The high pace of editing continues in animated Mutafukaz, a joint effort by Guillaume Renard and Nishimi Shojiro in a moving comic of idiosyncratic elements: a fictive Hispanic version of Los Angeles as Dark Meat City, an underdog becoming the Messiah, army of intergalactic murdering clones, Mexican wrestlers, Lovercraftian monsters, a conspiracy and the end of the world. Besides political and ecological message, the animated high-octane, high-body count high-jinx unspool within an intertextual web of pop culture references, mostly to videogames, animated films and series and comics and myriads of visual puns. The genre cinema will be represented in Rotterdam by Brazilian social satire about an elite club, The Cannibal Club, directed by Guto Parente; the son of Palme d’Or winner Raymond Red, Mikhail, will bring his latest thriller Neomanilla, which is inspired by Duterte’s uncompromising crackdown on drug dealers; French zombie robinsonade The Night Eats the World by Dominique Rocher; and Indonesian Satan’s Slaves by Joko Anwarn, who wanted to put a modern twist on haunted house genre among others.

The direction Bero Beyer is steering is not towards that of general overhaul but the one navigating the fluid film industry landscape. As the industry changes along new or emerging processes of creation and consumption, production and distribution, the festival director does not want just keep the pace but stand on the forefront as the festival aims to preserve its reputation, image and brand as a pioneer and innovator.

The core and defining values and traits of IFFR remain unscathed, if not amplified. IFFR is renowned for following selected filmmakers on their career trajectory, that’s why there is many „household“ names returning with new projects. Such is the case of Czech legendary filmmaker Jan Švankmajer who will world premiere his latest project Insect, declared to be his last feature film. “We are extremely happy to be able to screen Insect and have Jan Švankmajer here trying to organize, let’s call it a Tiger tribute to him because it is indeed a special relationship. This is one of the elements I have to be honest I underestimated when I took this job, the amount of commitment. It is almost love, the loyalty in working with filmmakers for many years. The filmmakers are really caring what Rotterdam means to them as a festival,” says the festival director, concluding “it is a small gesture to repay them, to have a tribute to one of the masters like Jan Švankmajer and hopefully honor him for all the credit he deserves”.

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