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letterboxd · 6 years ago

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Emma Tammi Q&A.

“To be able to really see her for who she really is when she’s by herself is such a powerful thing since it turns out that she’s a real badass.”

Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy Macklin in Emma Tammi’s ‘The Wind’.

Of the many possible source materials for a feature film, never overlook the short. Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road, Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child, Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, Andrés Muschietti’s Mama, and Sean Ellis’s Cashback all began life as short films. And more: the Saw films. District 9. Dee Rees’ Pariah. Jennifer Kent’s Monster (which she expanded into The Babadook).

After a start in documentaries, director Emma Tammi makes her feature debut with The Wind, a lengthened version of a short film called The Winter, adapted by its writer Teresa Sutherland. The supernatural Western horror revolves around Lizzy Macklin (Caitlin Gerard, Insidious: The Last Key, The Social Network), a woman left alone in a lob cabin on the plains, who is fighting to not lose her mind.

Letterboxd contributor Jack Moulton chatted with Tammi about her narrative debut, the cultural references infused in this haunting feminist chiller, and Westerns in the #MeToo era.

Letterboxd: Let’s start with your take on the origins of this project and how you were brought on board to direct The Wind? Emma Tammi: The screenwriter Teresa Sutherland was a film student at Florida State University and she made a short film called The Winter, which was loosely based on the same themes as The Wind. Our producer Christopher Alender, who is also alumni of FSU, saw the short and encouraged her to expand it into a feature. So Teresa had written this script prior to me coming on board.

Chris and I worked together on another documentary project and he thought I might be a good fit to direct, so I read the script and I loved it. I then met Teresa and I think we shared the same visions for what the film could ultimately be. We did a couple of polished passes together and then we were shooting later that year. It all came together organically based on prior relationships and all of us believing in the story.

What did you connect to the most about the script? I loved that it was a Western and that it was focusing on a female character, which was not something that I felt like we’d seen much before. I also loved that Teresa was inspired by these actual accounts of women who were homesteading at that time, since I was fascinated with the American West as a teenager and had actually picked up some of the books that she used as original research.

I thought it was fun how Teresa was starting with something rooted in reality and taking it to a horror and supernatural place. But the thing that really I think hooked me after I read it was that I thought the protagonist Lizzy was so well developed, and I thought all the character arcs were really strong. I felt that the horror was coming from the dramatic strengths of the characters’ relationships and their own personal struggles. It felt like really strong ground.

‘The Wind’ director Emma Tammi.

You had more of a background in documentary filmmaking before this—what compelled you to make a start in fictional narratives? Do you feel being an ‘outsider’ to the genre aided your vision of the film? That’s an interesting question. I had been working in documentary films for many years and I feel that was great preparation for making a narrative film despite the differences. Both my parents were actors so I had grown up around theater and fiction filmmakers my whole life. So I think that it felt like something I had always wanted to eventually get to.

I’m so fascinated with our world that I think documentary is such an interesting lens to explore things that are happening. But to then be able to step into a fictional realm I think you can explore the human experience to an even greater extreme. Once we started shooting, the process of working with the actors was even more enriching and incredible than I ever could have anticipated.

What were your film influences for The Wind—especially the specific horrors and Westerns that inspired the look and the feel? I think that one of the things that [director of photography] Lyn Moncrief and I really wanted to do was pay homage to some of the frames from Westerns that have become such big cultural references in our lives. But we wanted to find ways that we could have a fresh take with that [and] subvert it to give a new perspective to the landscape, since we were telling this from a female unreliable narrator and I think that both of those things in Westerns are pretty hard to come by. So, in that sense, I liked how we basically turned the camera 90 degrees and held on the women as the men rode off to town. I was really inspired by The Searchers (1956), for example.

In terms of the horror I feel that there is a comparison to The Shining (1980) in the sense of how it’s a slow burn where the environment is coming in on our lead character. Pacing-wise, in building up the tension, I was really inspired by that. I thought Carrie (1976) was also a really interesting reference in terms of the horror. The first horror scene is simply Sissy Spacek getting her period in a girls locker room and it’s completely terrifying.

I thought so many of the things that women experience in this time were horrific and yet they were just coming out of the mundane day-to-day life events of trying to live and sustain in such an inhospitable land at that time. I love that The Wind was taking the horror cues from the everyday things that we all experience.

Caitlin Gerard’s performance is truly terrific. She anchors the film brilliantly as it jumps from its time periods. What drew you to her in the casting process and did she bring anything new to what had already been set in the script? During auditions I kept asking for more people because I really didn’t feel like we found our Lizzy yet. Caitlin was one of the last ones and was so balls-to-walls, showing such range in three different scenes. We just wouldn’t be able to fully enter this world without hanging our hat on a lead actress who didn’t have that level of grit. So that was incredible.

One of the most important things that she brought to the table was the fact that she had a German background, which we didn’t consider before in terms of Lizzy. I had initially been talking to Teresa about Lizzy’s background, thinking that it would make sense for her to be an immigrant, which was very common of that period. To implement that in the script would really add to the isolation that she might be feeling on the land, in this country, and also between her and Isaac [her husband, played by Ashley Zukerman].

We wrote that into the script days before shooting and then were continuing to work on it throughout the shoot. I thought that was such a nice brush stroke and dimension that Caitlin was able to add because she speaks German and it was fabulous.

What motivated the nonlinear structure of the film? Did you have to adjust anything in the edit to make a particular section work better from how it was laid out in the script? Teresa had already tapped into establishing the nonlinear structure of the film beforehand in a way that would reflect the mental fractured-ness of Lizzy’s headspace. I think it really helps us feel the unreliable narrator so strongly. But we did have to juggle some of the order in post so the edit is different from the order of the script, but I think we were able to find the essence of the script at the end of the day. Those were decisions based on logistics like the performances and the coverage, or the sound and special effects. You just need to recalibrate to keep the pacing in the edit.

Were there any notable challenges on set, such as dealing with the period setting or shooting in such a remote location? We really lucked out in the sense that we got a really strong and dedicated team. I think that everyone was so committed and so talented that we were pretty flexible when challenges would come up. The remoteness really added to the production because we were all able to immerse ourselves in that time period and in that world and not be as connected to the outside and technology.

I’m sure our producers would have a different story to tell because not being able to access your email onset is a nightmare. Basically none of our cellphones worked in these locations. Despite the problems, there were great benefits in shooting in the middle of nowhere.

Through the film, you use the realities of settler life for horror and tension, such as the wild animals, the lack of medical care and, obviously, the weather. How did you negotiate the balance between the realities and the supernatural, especially since you often leave questions unanswered with the latter? We really wanted to start in a way that let you experience the environment as it was, and then start to get in a place where you experience the environment through Lizzy’s point of view, letting it really rev up into something that was ultimately quite terrorizing. I think we were trying to push the natural elements into a more hyper-realized place so it was close to a supernatural place. It’s like playing a piece of music where it flows from the peaks and the valleys.

Can you describe the decision-making process around how you kept the ‘monster’ hidden as much as possible? It’s very effective, but also lends itself to questions on the specifics. How the haunting element would be both seen and heard was something we were talking about even in the script rewriting stages, and I think we wanted to really lean into all of this being an extension of the torment that Lizzy was feeling internally. So questioning whether or not there was actually a “boogeyman” out there was more interesting and more true to the character than actually seeing the “boogeyman”.

But the other element of it was that since this was set in the late 1800s I think we really wanted to show and hear hints of it that were coming from the natural world, so “the wind” and how that transformed was really the scary element of the sound design. In terms of the visuals, we were leaning into shadows and elements of fire and dust and things that were of that environment. I wanted to do something that felt practical even when it wasn’t.

I’d like to ask you how you feel the film operates as a period piece to reflect current times. I felt that the way Lizzy is constantly wielding her shotgun is an empowering and feminist subversion of the masculine individualist gunslinger from classic Westerns. Were you consciously revising frontier myth in that cinematic sense? I think we were consciously doing that but I don’t think it was the overt intention of the script, which is what I really liked about it. I felt that all of those things were coming out so naturally and they weren’t forced. What’s so interesting with Lizzy is that we spend so much time with her while she’s by herself, but she’s constantly trying to put on a brave face for her husband, or for her neighbors, and for the outside world, which I think we can all relate to.

And then to be able to see her for who she really is when she’s by herself is such a powerful thing since it turns out that she’s a real badass. She’s wielding the gun, she’s doing all that stuff that she needs to do out of necessity, but it’s also without any pretense and without having to be a certain thing to any certain person because she’s ultimately there being herself and trying to survive.

I feel it resonates in the #MeToo era in the way she’s threatened by powerful forces and then the man in her life doesn’t believe her. Yeah, I think it does and I love that about it. If we’d made it five years ago it still would have resonated. It’s also a very human experience that she’s going through and our current times are shedding light on it in different ways and that’s so cool. I think the horror genre is able to put a mirror up to ourselves in such a powerful way.

‘The Wind’ opens in US cinemas on limited release 5 April 2019.

#emma tammi #the wind #Female directors #directed by women #metoo #interview #letterboxd #director

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stories-in-the-stars · 6 years ago

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The Fallen and the Wandering

As before, please check the reblogs for a link to Ao3 if you so desire. Enjoy!

~*~

Chapter 2

Keith had quite lost track of the time, milling about in his thoughts as he sat at the edge of the bed clad in nothing but a blanket, when he heard the click of the lock of his front door. Shiro had long since foregone the need to knock (although even after Keith had given him a spare key to his apartment, Shiro had still insisted on the nicety--it was Keith that told him time and again that it simply wasn’t necessary), but he at least called out to Keith when he walked in. Keith called back, saying he’d be out of his room in a moment as he scrambled to throw on some sweats and a t-shirt. He found Shiro in the kitchen already putting what looked to be a tupperware of hearty stew in the microwave.

Shiro raised an eyebrow at the state of Keith’s hair, bed-messed and sticking up at every angle. “You didn’t dry your hair before lying down?”

Keith looked away and shrugged.

“Keith…” Shiro crossed his arms, looking gentle but stern.

“I know, I know, I’ll be fine,” Keith insisted, patting at his hair, trying to get it to lie down in such a way that it didn’t look like a bird’s nest.

Shiro raised his eyebrows pointedly, but said nothing. He took the stew from the microwave and handed it to Keith, who devoured it promptly. It wasn’t until he scraped the bottom of the plasticware that he remembered he had something very important to discuss with Shiro.

“Oh yeah,” he said past the last mouthful of vegetables. “Why him, of all people?”

“Who?”

Keith scowled. “Lance.”

“Ah…” Shiro cracked a wry smile. “I thought you wanted someone that could keep up with you.”

“Yes, I want that, not someone who dumps me into the ocean the first chance he gets!” Keith exclaimed.

Shiro put a hand over his mouth, but it was all too clear he was laughing.

“Shiro, seriously, I can’t work with him,” he said over Shiro’s laughter.

“Come on Keith, I can’t rotate you through a different person every day until you can reapply for replacer trainer,” Shiro told him once he’d overcome his giggles, but he was still grinning.

“I’m not asking you to--how about this, forget finding someone that can keep up with me, just pair me up with someone that is at least tolerable,” Keith pleaded. “This guy, Lance, he talks too much, he treats everything like a game, he’s full of himself… What?!”

Shiro had started laughing again, not even bothering to try to hide it this time. “Sorry, I’ve just never seen you so riled up before. I’m sure he’s not as bad as you think.”

“Have you even met this guy?” Keith asked.

“Keith, I’m his supervisor,” Shiro pointed out with a snort.

“Well--supervise him better!”

Shiro laughed again, much to Keith’s ire.

“Alright, how about this: you stick with him for a week, just one week, and if by the end of the week you still can’t stand him, I’ll look for someone else. Sound good?” Shiro offered.

It was more than good, the rational part of Keith’s mind said, but the part of him that could still hear Lance’s childish teasing was feeling petulant and wanted nothing more than to demand that another partner be found immediately. Keith took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in an effort to not throw what would essentially be a tantrum. Shiro waited patiently all the while.

“Okay,” Keith finally said. “I will try not to strangle him for a whole week.”

“Thank you. Now, tell me honestly, how did you both ending up falling into the water?”

Keith, somehow, started before they’d officially become partners, telling Shiro about his unfortunate fall on the ice that Lance had laughed at, and then the incident just outside the broom closet. He told him in vivid detail about Lance’s lackadaisical attitude towards just about everything, how he treated star collecting like a game to be won, and admitted that perhaps he’d risen to Lance’s bait too easily, but still, Lance could’ve just backed off for at least a little bit instead of trying to get back at Keith for simply being a better flier--

Keith stopped abruptly when he realized he had been rambling. He sighed, and flopped backwards onto the couch, insisting that he wouldn’t talk anymore about Lance. He glanced at Shiro, who seemed quite at ease and very amused by something.

“What?” he demanded.

Shiro shrugged. “It’s just been a while since I’ve seen you so… enthusiastic?”

“Enthusiastic? Really? I’m enthusiastic about some puffed-up--arrogant--?” Keith gestured wildly with his hands when his words failed. The point was, enthusiastic was not what he felt right now.

“Right, alright, we can drop it,” Shiro said, sitting on the opposite end of the couch and dropping a foot in Keith’s lap.

They engaged in a brief tussle where Keith tried to get Shiro’s feet off of him, while Shiro did everything in his power to make sure that at least one foot was touching Keith. After a few moments, Keith slumped back on the couch, defeated and being used as a very nice foot rest, according to Shiro. They flipped through some TV, chatting idly about everything and nothing. Shiro talked about an interesting article he’d read during his shift about a breed of bioluminescent plants that didn’t require sunlight to flourish. Keith argued that such measures could become obsolete when the sun was found, but Shiro pointed out that there was no guarantee as to when that might be. Keith agreed, and clarified that he meant there was no telling what would happen to those sorts of plants once the sun did return. How dependent would the earth become on them in the meantime? Their conversation went on like that for some time, the TV forgotten and left on some old nature documentary that had been recorded some time before the fall. The hours slipped away easily, and soon enough Shiro had to leave, but not before making Keith promise to call in if he felt too sick to work (to which Keith insisted he would be fine, although his head was already pounding and eyes aching--he brushed it off as fatigue).

The mention of work reminded Keith of the deal he’d made with Shiro: one week with Lance as his partner, that was all he had to make it through. He wondered, almost hopefully, if it would count if he was sick for most of that time. Knowing Shiro, probably not, but if Keith did catch a cold from that unplanned swim, he might as well make the most of it and give it a shot anyways. Not that he wanted to get sick--for some reason even the barest of sniffles would catch him in a vice grip and refuse to leave for far longer than normal. As far as any doctors had been able to tell Keith, he was completely healthy and average, so why Keith was so severely affected when he got sick was a mystery. Even with this disposition, Keith turned down the heat (which had been turned up just a little during Shiro’s visit) and bedded down under a single blanket. As he drifted off to sleep, his only hope was that the next day would be at least a little more tolerable than this one.

As fate would have it, the day started decidedly worse than the one before it. Keith had woken up several times throughout the course of the night, feeling markedly worse each time. The last time he woke up, a few hours before his alarm was set to go off, he reluctantly pulled himself out of bed to take some medicine. While it seemed to do the trick, granting him a few blissful hours of solid sleep, it did it a little too well, and Keith awoke in a panic when he realized he’d slept past his alarm. He wasn’t late for work yet, but he would be no matter how he rushed. He texted Shiro to let him know as much as he threw on his many layers, throwing on an extra layer even though he knew it would have him sweating by the end of the day. Better to try and keep out the chill, if he was already sick.

He practically ran to the Bureau, nearly slipping on ice again but thankfully saving himself from another bruising. When he burst into the searcher’s department, huffing and puffing and sniffling, Lance was already there, waiting with his arms crossed and tapping his foot as though Keith were an hour late rather than ten minutes.

“Well, well, well,” Lance said when he spotted Keith. “Look who finally decided to--”

“You were late yesterday, so I don’t want to hear it,” Keith snapped, his voice sounding a little more hoarse than he would’ve liked. He blamed it on only having just woken up, though the prickly feeling in the back of his throat belied that.

Shiro looked at him pointedly when Keith shuffled up to his desk trying not to sniffle too much, as though to remind Keith that taking a sick day was an option, but Keith was stubborn. He got sick too easily and for too long to take sick days for any but the worst of times. He knew himself. He probably had a few days before it got horrible, if it got to that point at all. If he was lucky he’d just be stuck with a runny nose, a sore throat, and a general feeling of crap for the next few weeks. If he was lucky.

Meanwhile, Lance seemed as chipper and vivacious as he had the day before, practically hopping in his spot and ready to go. Apparently their impromptu polar bear dip had been nothing but a mild inconvenience to him. Keith silently cursed Lance’s luck as Shiro assigned them the same area as the day before. Not wholly unusual for larger areas, and especially considering that their shift had been cut short the day before, it wasn’t at all surprising for Keith. He decided, however, that if Lance decided to play games today, he wasn’t going to play along, no matter what the bait.

Shiro, it seemed, shared Keith’s concerns and then some.

“Try to not go for a swim today,” he told them, a little stern. “Boring as it can be sometimes, this is serious work. Most importantly, try to work together. You’re partners now, so make the most of it.”

Part of it was directed at Lance, the rest at Keith. They both nodded obediently, but Keith wondered just how seriously Lance would take Shiro’s words. If yesterday was any indication, then there was a fat chance of it. Not that Keith was any better. He planned on doing whatever it took to work independently of Lance, even if it meant flying to the very fringes of their assigned area. It was the only way he was going to make it through this week, he was certain, especially as they accidentally crashed into each other (again) trying to beat the other out the door.

They flew to their area in complete silence, which genuinely surprised Keith. He thought for sure that Lance would have something to say. Perhaps, Keith thought with a bit of shame, he’d judged Lance too quickly. After all, they’d only known each other for a day--maybe Lance was just bad at first impressions? And everyone else seemed to think he was an alright guy, even Pidge, who had agreed that Lance was full of himself. Still, Keith couldn’t quite let go of the fact that he was now literally sick because of the guy (by the time they took to the air, there was no denying the veritable waterfall coming out of Keith’s nose), and ultimately decided to reserve his judgement, though it was definitely not leaning in Lance’s favor.

When they reached their area, Lance paused to double check their map, as well as the time. Keith, certain that this was the right area, set to work immediately, intent on getting as far ahead of Lance as possible. Lance, however, quickly realized his intentions, and worked hard to catch up while still picking up any stars he saw along the way. In a way, this was actually a good dynamic for them. Keith swept through and picked out the most obvious stars, while Lance trailed behind and collected the ones that Keith had missed. But as Lance drew closer to Keith, Keith left behind stars in favor of putting more distance between them. He quite liked the silence and peace, and wanted to keep things like that thank you very much.

Unfortunately, Lance took Shiro’s instructions more seriously than Keith had expected him to. When Keith bypassed stars in favor of a more far out place over the ocean, Lance did the same, keeping the distance between them small. Keith sniffed hard, partly out of irritation, partly because his nose was still running. He flew a bit faster, trying to lose Lance, but Lance sped up just as much. Scowling, Keith hunkered down low over his broom and took off like a bullet through the dark. At this point he didn’t even care if he went a bit out of their area, he just wanted Lance to stay away! Still Lance kept pace with him, if a little ways behind. Just over the wind rushing past his ears, Keith could barely hear Lance shouting something, but he couldn’t make it out, whatever it was.

So intent was Keith on losing Lance that he didn’t notice the shadowy figures up ahead until he nearly crashed into them. Three in total, dressed completely in black to blend in with the darkness, and all with less than friendly expressions. They eyed Keith’s lantern full of stars greedily, and Keith knew immediately what he was up against: snatchers. No doubt that was what Lance had been shouting about. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the snatchers to see how near or far behind him Lance was. They could be tricky and unpredictable, snatchers, but Keith had dealt with them before, and alone at that. He hadn’t needed Lance’s help before, and he certainly didn’t need it now.

There was a brief standstill as Keith and the snatchers regarded each other, and then one of the snatchers darted forward, making a grab at Keith’s lantern. Keith moved quickly, dropping a few meters down through the air and then darting quickly underneath the snatchers, buying himself some time as they turned around to give chase. They caught up with him quicker than most snatchers would, and Keith found himself practically lying flat against the handle of his broom in order to get the most speed. Even then they proved difficult to shake. They positioned themselves strategically, one on either side and the third behind him. No doubt he wouldn’t be able to duck under them again (not to mention he didn’t want to get too close to the surface of the water--he wouldn’t put it past them to dunk him under, given the opportunity), but he might be able to flip over them and throw them for a loop again, and at this speed it might prove more effective.

Gripping his broom tight, Keith jerked sharply upwards, his stomach still trying to follow the forward momentum and making him feel a bit queasy. Now upside down, he watched the snatcher that had been behind him swipe up at him, but catching only empty air as Keith sailed seamlessly over him. Keith grinned in spite of the situation. He righted himself and flew forward, flying low to the water to hurriedly grab some stars so that the snatchers couldn’t, in such a speedy way that he was certain he looked like a stone skipping across the surface of the water. With the snatchers hot on his tail again, Keith stuffed the handful of stars in his coat pocket and sped up again. Why they didn’t just collect stars out of sight of searchers like Keith was beyond him, but here they were. Perhaps they just saw it as more efficient to have someone else do the searching and collecting for them, especially if he wasn’t their only target for the day. Regardless, he wasn’t going to make this easy for them.

Apparently, they had no intention of making this easy for Keith either, as they closely surrounded him once more. For the first time he found himself wondering where in the world Lance was--had he finally succeeded in losing him at the most inopportune time? Keith flipped again, this time over one of the snatchers at his sides, and turned sharply in a new direction, the sudden swivel making him feel irritatingly nauseated again. The snatchers caught up even quicker than before, closing in even closer this time, very nearly within arm’s reach of Keith and the stars he’d collected. Or at least, the ones at his sides were. A sudden jolt that nearly knocked him out of the air told him the snatcher behind him was much closer than he ought to be. The one on his right reached out just as he stabilized himself, and on instinct he leaned out of their way--right into the waiting hand of the one on his left.

Keith cursed himself for having fallen for such an obvious trick, and now found himself grappling with one snatcher and trying to fend off the other two with one leg. The snatcher that grabbed him had an iron grip, and it was all Keith could do to keep them from grabbing his lantern. Fatigue was overtaking him more swiftly than he would’ve liked, his struggling arms already turning to jelly. Keith was starting to worry that these snatchers might overpower him when, with a loud whoop, Lance dive bombed the one that had a hold of Keith, pushing his entire weight on the front of the broom and flipping the snatcher neatly into the air. Unfortunately, the snatcher didn’t let go of Keith until he was already well and falling, which meant that Keith was jerked sharply forward off of his broom. As soon as he was free of the snatcher, he twisted around in the air, catching his broom and catching himself just before he hit the water. The snatcher wasn’t so lucky. Had they been farther up, Keith might’ve been worried for the poor sap.

Meanwhile, Lance’s flamboyant flying style had the remaining two snatchers in a tizzy, twisting and spiraling through the air just as well as Lance but still finding that he slipped right through their fingers. Keith watched as Lance then made a sharp dive, the agitated snatchers hot on his tail, and tried not to laugh the instant he realized what was about to happen. He held his breath as Lance successfully pulled up out of the dive a split second before hitting the surface of the water, while the snatchers, likely disoriented by the lack of light on their target, hit the water with a resounding smack. Keith winced, but also laughed a little at their sorry state.

Lance flew up to him, laughing animatedly. “Phew, nothing like a few snatchers to keep you on your toes, huh?”

“No kidding,” Keith agreed, feeling a little out of breath. “We should probably--”

“I already paged the Bureau,” Lance interrupted. “As soon as they started chasing you, I paged them, and then I tried to catch up to help… Took a while though, both you and them can really move.”

“Well, you caught up just in time… thanks,” Keith said, a little quietly.

Lance beamed, clearly pleased with himself. “No problemo, after all, we’re partners, right? That’s what partners do.”

“Yeah,” Keith breathed, mild guilt washing over him. “Uh, sorry for trying to ditch you, earlier.”

Lance waved a hand at him. “Don’t worry about it. I’d try to ditch me too, if I did to me what I did to you yesterday.”

“That… hardly makes sense,” Keith said, squinting at Lance.

“Yeah, I know,” Lance giggled just before sneezing so hard he nearly flipped in the air. Keith rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but smile a little. What a dork.

A squad of keepers (officers who dealt with the official capture and arrests of snatchers, particularly those that attacked searchers) arrived within a few minutes, just as the defeated snatchers had stumbled onto the beach half-frozen. Keith almost felt bad for them. The flight to the Bureau while completely soaked with icy ocean water was not a fun one. Still, once they were out of his sight, he returned his attention back to searching. There had been times when he’d thought to be a keeper, given how exciting it could be to dance through the air while trying to outsmart snatchers, but the majority of keeper work involved a lot of paper shuffling. The last thing Keith wanted was to end up chained to a desk for days at a time.

They finished their shift without further incident, and Lance in particular was eager to share the excitement with Shiro, telling the story with over-exaggerated gestures and infectious enthusiasm. Shiro was glad to see the both of them safe and dry, and was particularly pleased that they didn’t seem to be at each other’s throats today. When Lance left, eager to clock out, Shiro stopped Keith to ask him how he was feeling. Surprisingly, Keith found that it wasn’t a lie when he said he felt perfectly fine. His nose was still running a little, but the threat of a sore throat was gone, and he didn’t feel nearly as exhausted as he ought to. He went home feeling almost chipper, so much so that it was all too easy to be brought back down when he forgot, in his good mood, about that patch of ice in the middle of his path home. Thus he was brought back down to his usual state of casual cynicism.

The next day saw his sniffles completely gone, the risk of a weeks long battle with a cold safely passed much quicker than Keith had ever seen it go. As such he started his day in a pretty good mood, though not so good that he was distracted from that menacing ice that seemed determined to take him down. Lance, on the other hand, was more miserable than Keith had seen him in the past two days. It was a little jarring, honestly, to see Lance with his shoulders slouched and a scowl on his face. He looked as though he’d hardly slept. Keith was still acutely aware of how little he knew about Lance, but he couldn’t help but feel like something was off.

“Are you… alright?” Keith asked tentatively.

Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith, his expression accusing. “You got me sick.”

Keith blinked at the accusation. “I did not!”

“You did so! You were sniffling yesterday, and you gave it to me! Now I’m sick and you’re not, and I never get sick! Never!” Lance’s voice was hoarse and the effort from raising his voice sent him into a coughing fit.

And thus they were back to bickering, Lance no less argumentative in spite of his constant sniffling and sore throat. Keith was starting to think that the previous day had been a fluke, the friendliness born from necessity rather than any inherent goodwill. Lance’s over-emphasized sniffing quickly wore on Keith’s nerves, to the point where he practically threw a box of tissues at Lance’s face (not that he’d been aiming for his face, his face had just been in the way of where he had been throwing…), which only gave Lance further reason to complain. It wasn’t until they took took the air for the day that Keith got a few moments of reprieve, the only sound being the rush of wind past his ears. Unfortunately, as soon as they reached their assigned area for the day (a heavily forested area, forcing them to search on foot rather than in the air), Lance immediately began anew, much to Keith’s dismay.

It was only a few minutes after they’d begun searching that Keith couldn’t take it anymore. “If you’re feeling so miserable, why didn’t you just take the day off?”

Lance scrunched up his nose, either trying to stifle his runny nose or simply annoyed. Probably both. “Can’t a guy complain a little?”

“No,” Keith said sternly. Perhaps if it really were just a little bit of complaining it’d be fine, but clearly he and Lance had very different ideas of what was considered “a little”.

“Fine,” Lance sighed, with another dramatic sniff. “But can we at least talk about something? It gets so boring searching and collecting in silence.”

Keith deliberated as he picked up a few stars tucked away in a bird’s nest under a bush. He vastly preferred to search in silence, but if it meant that Lance wouldn’t be aimlessly complaining about how Keith had gotten him sick, maybe it would be worth it.

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” Keith asked.

Lance faltered. “I, uh, don’t--actually know? Never thought I’d get this far.”

Keith closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying very hard to remain calm. Thankfully Lance very wisely chose not to say anything as Keith took several deep breaths. Never before had Keith encountered someone who seemed to be specifically designed, in every single aspect, to test his patience (of which there was very little in the first place).

“Oh, oh, I’ve got something!” Lance exclaimed suddenly. “Why did you decide to become a searcher?”

“It’s a job,” Keith said, not entirely honestly.

“Really, that’s it?” Lance asked. “You’re so boring.”

“Whatever,” Keith sighed. “What’s your reason then? You want to save the world or something?”

“Exactly,” Lance answered.

“What? Really?” Keith hadn’t expected that to actually be the case.

Lance nodded eagerly, climbing up a tree to grab some stars nestled among the leaves. “I want to find the sun, moon, and all the other planets.”

“You realize those are all different task forces, right?” Keith asked. There were searchers specifically dedicated to the sun, moon, and planets, but each different celestial body had a different task force dedicated to it. Searchers on those task forces didn’t stop for stars, so as to stay focused on their main goal.

“Yep, but I’m still going to find them all,” Lance said enthusiastically. “You don’t necessarily need to be on the task forces to be the one to find them.”

“Yeah, but you’d have more time and resources to better search,” Keith reasoned.

“And even then they still haven’t found a single one of them. So much for all those time and resources,” Lance said.

Keith hummed. “Solid math. So you’re just going to keep searching for stars until you happen to find the sun or moon?”

“Yep!” Lance said with a pop.

A beat of silence passed between them, during which Keith considered telling Lance about his true desire to be a replacer, but that would necessitate telling Lance that he’d failed the most basic screenings, hadn’t even made it to the training. He knew Lance probably had an inkling--after all, unless you chose to have a partner, you didn’t get assigned one for no reason. Still, Keith wasn’t sure he wanted to explain that Lance was stuck here with Keith because Keith was inexplicably drawn to searching for stars, to flying through the dark. It felt right in a way that nothing else in his life had. It felt personal, not something he wanted to talk about with someone he’d hardly known for three days yet.

“Okay, okay, I’ve got a better question: would you rather find the sun or the moon?” Lance asked.

“That’s stupid, the sun,” Keith answered.

“Really? If I had to choose, I’d choose the moon,” Lance said.

Keith sputtered at such backwards logic. “What? That’s crazy, we need the sun!”

Lance smiled mischievously. “Yeah, but how does the moon shine?”

“It reflects sunlight--hey, that’s cheating!”

Lance laughed loudly. “How is that cheating?!”

“The moon could be in the sky without shining, we just wouldn’t see it without the sun, which means we need the sun!” Keith argued.

“Sure, sure, but the implication--”

“There doesn’t need to be an implication--”

“The sun and moon go together--”

“Then why’d you ask it like it was a choice?!”

They bantered in a similar manner for the rest of their shift, Lance asking off the wall questions that he answered with insensible logic. By the time they were set to fly away, Keith felt more exhausted than he’d ever felt at the end of any shift before (save for perhaps the past two days). They had just risen above the treetops when they heard something highly unusual--a distant rumble of thunder. At first, Keith thought it was a distant explosion, which was worrying enough. But then Lance pointed towards the horizon, where a lone bolt of lightning had just struck, followed by another low rumble. That was perhaps even more concerning. Since the fall, all weather patterns had essentially ceased; storms were a rare, but devastating happening. With that in mind, Keith and Lance hurried back to the Bureau without another word.

“Quiet day?” Shiro asked when they returned.

“Mostly, until the end,” Lance said. “There was some lightning, even though there’s no storm in the forecast, but I mean who can tell what the weather is going to be like anymore.”

“Yeah…” Shiro said, with a touch of melancholy. He blinked just before his eyes misted over, and continued, “Some searchers actually had a close call with that lightning. We’re told it was just electrical discharge from the upper atmosphere that managed to reach the ground--thankfully no one was hurt, and there’s no storm either, so all in all, not as bad as it could be.”

Lance had immediately tuned out as soon as Shiro started talking about science stuff, but Keith caught on to the implication.

“‘Not as bad as it could be’?” Keith repeated. “What does that mean?”

Shiro sighed deeply. “This isn’t the first time there’s been a spontaneous discharge of lightning without any storms. Granted, lightning can strike quite a ways from storms, but these have been happening without any storms for hundreds of miles. Scientists are worried that it means the atmosphere is, essentially, breaking apart.”

That got Lance’s attention again. “Breaking apart…?”

Shiro nodded gravely. “We’ve gone without the sun for too long. We’ve survived for this long through sheer willpower and wishmaking, but this may not be something we can avoid with wishes and ingenuity. The Bureau is starting to take on more searchers into the solar task force, so if either of you want to apply, they’ll gladly take you.”

Keith looked back and forth between Shiro and Lance. Normally application for task forces was nearly as tedious a process as applying for replacer training, as for some reason everyone on the specialized task forces was required to have special clearance, which necessitated all manner of background checks, interviews, and of course mental screenings. With the sting of rejection from replacer training still fresh, Keith was certain that, even with the solar task force trying to double their numbers (and efforts), he would still be rejected. Lance, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. Keith liked to think he was certain that Lance wouldn’t apply; after he’d only just told Keith a few hours ago that it didn’t really matter whether he was on some specialized task force or not. But his expression cast a shadow of doubt in Keith. He shoved it aside--if Lance decided to apply for the solar task force after all, then good for him. It would just leave Keith in need of another partner, was all.

“I think I’m good,” Keith told Shiro with a pointed look.

“Yeah, me too. At this point what we really need to find the sun is some good luck, and a lot of it,” Lance said casually.

“No kidding,” Shiro agreed. “Well, if you guys change your mind, let me know, they’d prefer experienced searchers over new recruits, so you’d both probably get in no problem.”

Keith wasn’t quite convinced that it would be so easy, but assured Shiro he would keep it in mind. Lance was oddly silent on their way to drop off their stars at the analysts’ department, save for a sniffle or a cough here and there. Keith almost asked if something was wrong, but then, they’d just been told that the last thing that made their planet livable was breaking apart. Such news would be sobering to all but the most apathetic. As it was, Lance perked right back up in the analysts’ department, insisting that they count their stars to see who had managed to collect more (Keith did, but Lance was certain that he’d miscounted and would’ve counted for himself had Pidge and Hunk not shouted at them to step away from the stars so they could actually do their jobs).

As Keith waited to see if Pidge found anything of note, she mentioned, “The solar task force is looking for more people.”

Keith nodded. “Shiro just told me. I’m just going to stay a general searcher for now.”

“I think,” Pidge started slowly, not looking up from her work. “I’m going to apply.”

“What? Why?” Chatting with Pidge at the end of his shift was one of his favorite parts of the day! Who would he vent to on days where Lance decided to be insufferable (although he only had to hold out for a little less than a week now, Keith reminded himself)?

Pidge shrugged. “They need more people, what with the potential collapse of the atmosphere happening… not to mention it’d be nice, to feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself, I think. And my dad and brother are on one of the planetary task forces as well, and I’d like to follow them, in a way.”

She looked up at Keith. “Aren’t you going to apply?”

“No,” Keith said shortly. Pidge didn’t press the issue.

When he awoke the next day, he hoped that it wouldn’t come with any more unwelcome surprises. The last three days had left him unusually exhausted, and while he was certain he could handle it if he needed to, he wasn’t all that sure he wanted to. Thankfully, the majority of the day was relatively quiet, save for Lance’s griping about his cold, which had become worse than it had been the day before. Again Keith reminded him that if it was really that bad he could just take a day off, to which Lance replied he wouldn’t have anyone to complain to if he stayed home, so what was the point? It wasn’t until they were flying back to the Bureau that something unexpected, though not entirely unwelcome, happened.

They had just been flying along when Lance began shouting, which made Keith think there were more snatchers nearby. But when he looked at Lance, he was waving enthusiastically at something--scratch that, someone. Keith looked where Lance was starting to fly towards, and saw a silver streak gliding down from the sky. His first thought was that a comet was passing through (comets had been dragged down during the fall as well, but had a curious behavior compared to other celestial objects--they roamed free over the surface of the earth, bringing snow and ice with them, almost a substitute for the absent weather patterns), but a closer look revealed that it was a person with long, silver-white hair.

“Allura! Hey!” he heard Lance call out, loud enough that it made him start coughing again. That didn’t stop him from flying forward to meet the woman, who was removing a high-altitude mask--she was a replacer.

Lance reached out as though to hug her mid-air, but she neatly ducked under him with a laugh.

“You’re sick, I don’t want you getting me sick!” she giggled as Lance clumsily sailed right over her.

He turned to scowl at Keith. “This is your fault!”

“For the last time, I did not get you sick, you fell in too!” Keith snapped.

It looked as though they were going to fall into their usual back and forth when Allura coolly cut in, “Lance, is this the new partner you were telling me about?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, Allura, this is Keith. Keith, Allura,” Lance quickly introduced.

“Nice to meet you,” Allura said, holding out a gloved hand. “I hope Lance hasn’t been giving you too much trouble.”

“More than I know what to do with,” Keith replied with a firm shake of her hand.

Lance loudly protested this statement, but it seemed that Allura was all too familiar with his antics. In fact, Keith discovered, they were childhood friends (though, from Lance’s expression, Keith thought there might be something else there too, but he didn’t want to ask outright). Keith joked that he was already tired after four days with Lance, and how did Allura manage an entire lifetime? Allura was in the midst of making a snarky reply when Lance quite literally cut in between them and decided that they were not allowed to become friends. The rest of the flight back to the Bureau was mostly idle chatter between Allura and Lance, which freed Keith from having to hold a conversation with Lance. It was actually kind of cute, seeing the dynamic between two people who were so close, and Keith was far from being a sappy person. Where Lance was tactless and almost clumsy, Allura was refined and graceful, at least as far as Keith could tell. They complemented each other quite nicely, Keith thought.

When they reached the Bureau, Lance was the first to hurry to the analysts’ department to count how many stars he got. Keith was about to follow close behind, turning to bid good bye to Allura when she stopped him short.

“I really do hope that Lance isn’t too much trouble. I know he can seem--overbearing at times, but he really is a good person,” Allura said.

“So I’ve been told,” Keith replied.

“Hopefully in time you’ll come to see it as well,” Allura said. “That said, I can’t help but feel you’re bad luck for him.”

It had been framed as a joke, but after hearing something along the same lines from Lance almost non-stop for the past several days, Keith couldn’t help but snap, “I told you, it wasn’t my fault that we fell in--”

“I know, I know,” Allura hurriedly interrupted. “I just meant, he never gets sick, and I’ve known him since we were young. He literally never gets sick, and now, only a few days after meeting you, he gets a cold. I know it was probably just from falling in the ocean.”

Keith sighed. “Sorry, I know you were just joking--wait, he really never gets sick? I thought he was exaggerating.”

“Nope, Lance has always been exceptionally healthy, more so than most people,” Allura confirmed. “I’m surprised he’s even bothered to come to work, but I suppose that’s once again your doing.”

“Me?”

She nodded. “Lance has never quite been able to settle on one thing to strive for--I don’t know if he told you he wants to find the sun, moon, and all the planets?”

Keith nodded.

“He’s always been like that,” she continued, smiling fondly. “He wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a searcher, he only applied to the Bureau because I did. But he does have a competitive streak, though he’d never admit it. He seems to think he needs to do better than you, and so if you’re still coming to work, he thinks he needs to come as well.”

“He has been counting our stars to see who collects more,” Keith noted.

“Well, some way or other, you’ve inspired him to do better. Only, don’t tell him I’ve told you any of this, okay?” Allura asked.

Keith was about to assure her that his lips were sealed on the matter when Lance rounded the corner, reminding them that they were, under no circumstances, allowed to become friends and insisted that Keith hurry up so they could count his stars. After this declaration he sneezed several times. Allura giggled and bid them both goodbye as she made her way to the replacer’s department. It was only later, as Keith mulled over that conversation in his head, did he realize that Allura had quite contradicted herself. Granted, she’d been joking when she said Keith might be bad luck for Lance, but she didn’t know that it was normally Keith getting sick easily and not recovering for weeks at a time. Had Keith’s luck with health somehow switched to Lance? He shook his head of the thought--that was simply ridiculous. That was just life. He’d said it himself, everyone got sick sooner or later. It was more of a stroke of good luck in Keith’s case than any bad luck in Lance’s. That aside, Keith, good for Lance? A little weird to think about when Lance seemed intent on picking a fight with Keith at every opportunity. How could that possibly be good for anyone? Regardless, Keith was certain it was no good for him, and had no intention of continuing this partnership past the week that Shiro had given him.

The next day was even quieter, very nearly the kind of day that Keith enjoyed having--if only because Lance’s throat had become so sore that his voice came out as nothing more than a strained hiss. His movements were more sluggish and hardly improved throughout the day. Keith found himself slowing down to let Lance catch up, which only seemed to aggravate Lance. Unfortunately, without his voice, and the fact that he’d doubled the layers piled onto him (making him look like some sort of puffball with legs), it was a little difficult to take him seriously. Still, Keith felt a little bad. He knew all too well what it was like to be stubbornly sick, and from what it looked like, Lance needed at least a little downtime to recover. But if what Allura had said was true…

Keith took the next day off, much to Shiro’s surprise. He didn’t explain too much, only asked that Shiro tell Lance. Shiro told him what he’d suspected all along: missing a day wouldn’t exempt him from having Lance as his partner for an entire week. Shiro sounded suspicion when Keith didn’t put up a fight at this, but didn’t inquire. He assured Keith he would let Lance know. Keith was then subjected to an incredibly boring day. Sick days normally were, but in this case he wasn’t actually sick. Time passed even more slowly than normal, no matter what he tried--drawing, reading, watching TV, playing video games--nothing seemed to grab his attention for more than an hour.

It was almost a relief to return to work the next day, even with Lance being even more over the top than usual, in celebration of the return of his good health. That day and the next, while still exhausting for Keith, were exhausting in a pleasant way, if new to Keith. Lance still insisted on talking about something, anything to while away the hours while they collected stars, one day over a river, the next in a field. It was almost like pulling teeth to get Keith to make responses that were more than a few words, but with enough prompting Lance eventually found decent conversations in Keith. And Keith--well, he couldn’t remember the last time a shift had passed so easily.

As such, when Shiro asked him at the end of the sixth day with Lance as his partner what he was thinking, Keith told him he was still thinking. In reality, he didn’t want to admit that perhaps Lance wasn’t as bad as he’d first made him out to be. Certainly Lance was full of himself, but not necessarily to the point of arrogance. And, believe it or not, Keith was beginning to think that Lance’s chattiness was something he could get used to. But if he admitted any of that, Shiro would give him a smug, knowing look, and Keith would have to live with that. Better to put it off for as long as possible, inevitable as it was.

The seventh day began as peacefully as the past two. Today, Lance was talking about his family.

“We used to live on the beach, but I don’t remember much of it. My mom talked about it a lot though, about how the waves were so soothing and the ocean was like this incredible force of nature that made you feel really humbled, and then my dad would always interrupt to talk about sunsets and sunrises over the ocean,” he rambled. “But we moved away maybe a year or so before I started school. Still, I was born after the fall, so it’s not like there was much to remember. Where did you grow up?”

Keith had been so content with just listening that it took him a moment to realize that Lance had actually asked him a question. “Oh, I--I grew up in the desert, mostly.”

“Really? Like with cactuses and everything?” Lance asked eagerly.

“It’s cacti, and no, not really. The desert used to be a really sunny place, apparently, and they didn’t last very long without the sun,” Keith explained.

“I’m pretty sure it’s cactuses,” Lance insisted. “So what was it like growing up in the desert then?”

“Cacti, and very cold,” Keith answered absently.

Lance was just about to argue that it was cactuses when a sharp, yet distant crack echoed throughout the air, drawing their attention to some place a few miles off. Another spontaneous bolt of lightning. They watched with bated breath as another lightning strike lit up the distant skies. Neither Keith nor Lance had much to say to that, a stark reminder of the limited time they and everyone else on this planet had. They were just about to fly away, continue their work, when Keith remembered something.

“Hey, didn’t Shiro say that the lightning was caused by some breakdown of the upper atmosphere?” he asked.

Lance shrugged. “Yeah, but maybe we can only see what’s happening in the lower atmosphere? I don’t know how that stuff works.”

Keith didn’t know how that stuff worked either, but he watched a third bolt of lightning split through the darkness, fizzling out well within the lower limits of the atmosphere. Not to mention, all three bolt now had been within the same area. Something didn’t seem right to Keith. He started to fly towards where they’d seen the lightning, when Lance flew in front of him to stop him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Lance demanded.

“I’m going to go see what’s going on,” Keith said, flying around him to continue on his way.

But Lance again blocked his path. “Some junk going down in the upper atmosphere, like Shiro said. You’re going to get yourself zapped if you go over there.”

“Okay, but why is it only happening over there? Isn’t the entire atmosphere collapsing?” Keith pointed out.

Lance didn’t budge from his spot, but he looked thoughtful. Keith didn’t have time to explain his vague suspicions to Lance. He didn’t even know what he expected to find, only that something didn’t seem right about this spontaneous lighting. He flew around Lance again, and was pleased that Lance didn’t try to stop him this time. Then, only a second later, he noticed Lance flying by his side.

“I honestly think you’re being paranoid,” Lance told him. “But Shiro would probably kill me if I let you do anything stupid by yourself.”

Keith grinned. “Race you there?”

Lance’s eyes lit up, his smile cocky. “Oh, you’re so on.”

It was hard to say who reached the area first, given that there was no concrete finish line--and also the fact that a fourth bolt of lightning nearly struck them out of the air. Keith only barely managed to hold on to his broom as the sharp maneuver he’d used to avoid the lightning sent him rolling through the air. Everything was ringing, and he saw spots in his vision. He could only barely see Lance, but decided that at this rate, it would be safer for them to be on the ground and grabbed him by the arm as he descended. Even if they got struck by lightning, it would be better if they didn’t fall out of the air. Lance, still trying to rub the spots out of his eyes, resisted at first, but then followed easily.

They landed on a charred patch of ground, still smoking from the intense heat of the lightning. Lance waved a hand in front of his face to clear some of the air around him. Nothing seemed very out of the ordinary--except for the fact that there had now been four bolts of lightning in nearly the same place. Not to mention, something just felt… off to Keith. Maybe it was just the air, unusually warm and dry, that made him feel like something was wrong.

“See, Keith?” Lance said, gesturing to the area. “Nothing sinister going on here.”

“Really? Nothing feels at all weird to you?” Keith insisted, knowing it wasn’t just paranoia he was feeling. He wasn’t superstitious by any means, but the best way to describe it was that there was some presence, looming and dangerous. He suddenly thought it was not a very good idea to be here.

Lance hesitated with his answer. “I mean, yeah, it feels weird, but there’s nothing actually weird here!”

“But you agree there’s something weird here?”

“I just said--!”

“No take-backs, you agree that something weird is going on here, and we’re going to find what it is!” Keith said with certainty.

Lance mumbled something about how he should’ve kept his mouth shut, but Keith ignored him as he surveyed the area. Even with his eyes adjusted back to the darkness, Keith couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. He detached his lantern of stars from his broom, and held it aloft, hoping the soft light would help him spot something, anything that would justify this nagging feeling at the back of his mind. Still there was nothing.

He was just about to turn to Lance and admit that, perhaps, just this once, he’d been wrong (much as he loathed to even think it), when Lance grabbed him by the arm and roughly shoved him down. Keith was, at first, adverse to such treatment, but when something solid and fast swept the empty air over his head, Keith was grateful for Lance’s quick reaction--how had he missed someone so close to him?!

They stumbled upright to face their assailant--a snatcher, if the way he eyed Keith’s lantern was anything to go by. He used his own broom as a weapon, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous. Senses sharpened by adrenaline, Keith noticed several more in the nearby woodline. He would’ve missed them if he hadn’t been looking for them. Keith gripped his own broom in his free hand. They were definitely and easily outnumbered, and already on the ground. Fancy flying wouldn’t get them out of this one. But, Keith thought, if they could get in the air, they might be able to get away. That would be their best bet, but how did Keith let Lance know that. They stood back to back as the snatchers slowly advanced on them, like predators closing in on their prey. Keith was determined to not be easy prey.

He lunged at the first one, the one that would’ve gotten the drop on him had it not been for Lance. There was only so much he could do with a broom one handed, but that didn’t mean he didn’t give the guy a run for his money. A quick, sharp jab to the gut had the snatcher doubled over, allowing Keith to smack the back of his head, and for good measure, kick him just hard enough to put him on the ground. Lance, meanwhile, had the use of both hands and wielded his broom much like a staff. He was quicker by far than the snatchers, and managed to keep them at bay while Keith created an opening from them to escape behind him.

“Lance, let’s go!” he shouted as soon as there was an opportunity.

Lance didn’t need telling twice. With a huge sweep of his broom, he pushed the snatchers back (if only a little), and followed Keith away from them. They only needed a few seconds to get in the air far enough that the snatchers couldn’t drag them back to the ground. After that, it would be a simple matter of outflying them all the way back to the Bureau.

Keith had just mounted his broom when he heard Lance scream a ways behind him. Another searcher, one neither of them had seen before, had Lance sprawled out on the ground. The other snatchers had backed away, practically back into the woodline. Lance had a pained expression, though Keith couldn’t see any evidence of injury. The snatcher’s expression, on the other hand, was a bit more difficult to decipher. It was neutral, but almost self satisfied, like she had the upper hand on them. Which, granted, may be the case, but Keith wasn’t about to let her know that.

She said nothing as she raised her hand, curling her fingers into a finger gun pointing straight at Keith. He faltered--what did she hope to accomplish by doing that? The other snatchers had retreated even farther back, and Keith realized a second too late what was about to happen. He saw the snatcher’s mouth form a single word (“Bang!”) just before all his senses whited out, and then faded to black.

When woke up next, Keith found himself in a blindingly white hospital bed with a throbbing headache, with the distinct feeling he’d had a dream, a dream filled with too much light and too much heat and too much everything that was the exact opposite of his dreams. He blinked, and the sensation was gone, but the headache remained. Beside his bed, Shiro sat patiently, looking a little apprehensive.

“What happened?” Keith croaked.

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Shiro replied.

Keith shook his head, and pressed his hands to his eyes in a weak attempt to dispel the pain. It didn’t work, and the pain made everything blurry. There had been snatchers, that much he could remember. He and Lance had been surrounded…

“Where’s Lance?” he asked.

“In the room next door,” Shiro answered. “He’s fine, save for a badly sprained ankle. You, on the other hand, have a concussion. You’ve been in and out of consciousness for the past couple hours now.”

Keith groaned at that. Injuries, like sickness, took forever for Keith to recover from. He didn’t count on getting lucky like he had with the cold, for all that he hoped he would. A concussion would have him grounded, which, as a general searcher, either meant paper shuffling or star analysis. Neither of which Keith was keen on. Shiro got up to go check on Lance, and let a nurse know that Keith was awake and aware now, but Keith stopped him just before he walked out the door.

“Hey, Shiro,” he said in a quiet voice, trying to choose his words carefully. “If--I mean, I know he won’t like being grounded because of me… but if Lance were to stay on as my partner… I don’t think I’d mind.”

Shiro spared him an “I told you so,” and even smiled without seeming smug. He simply nodded, and then left Keith to the silence of his hospital room. And for the first time, the silence was not as calm and peaceful as he once thought it to be.

#klance #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #the fallen and the wandering #chapter 2 #fanfic #fan fiction #creesh.txt #yeehaw

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thefilmsimps · 2 years ago

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Moonage Daydream (dir. Brett Morgan)

-Jere Pilapil- 6.5/10 There is simply no pleasing me sometimes. I’m sorry. For years I would complain to anyone who’d listen that music biopics are boring. Their formula has been done to death, a zombie limping along after being skewered so thoroughly by Walk Hard. Their dramatic arcs were hoary and predictable a couple seasons into VH1’s Behind the Music. The number that rise above “competent” for me in the last 10 years probably can be counted on one hand. Cinema has wrestled with the question of how to define a person’s life since at least Citizen Kane, and that has been a question in art and literature for even longer. And yet, we’ve basically flattened the answer to “5 very good songs and one very bad vice.” And so here comes Brett Morgan with Moonage Daydream, a kaleidoscopic imagining of David Bowie, the man, in his own words. It seeks to tell us about Bowie, through songs, performances and interviews. The ideas are illustrated not by having an actor dress as Bowie and act out the highs and lows, but with clips of Bowie from film, video and TV appearances. And this is very much about Bowie’s ideas: the early parts of the movie cover a bit of, I guess, his philosophy of life, or his ideals or whatever. He’s a searcher, hence why he had taken so many guises in his career. From there we get into career highlights, such as his vaunted Berlin trilogy with Brian Eno and the career highs of the “Let’s Dance” era. There are a lot of virtues to this approach: Morgan’s eye for visuals is fantastic. Sometimes the movie resembles less a documentary and more an arty collage: Bowie speaks and his words are matched with images of himself, of course, but also films and events that influenced him. The idea is that the past, present and future inform each other. The rough trajectory of the film is chronological, but the songs used bounce around from era to era. There are some interesting juxtapositions here, such as Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona placed in a collage with Nosferatu and Un Chien Andalou.

This approach to an artist’s biography is fascinating and for sure more exciting than, but the problem is trusting the artist’s own words to explain himself. Bowie himself seems extremely thoughtful, intelligent and reflective, but the clips used here an the way they’re edited assume a kind of genius that brushes off the more human and harsh aspects of his biography. “Ah, yes,” Morgan seems to want us to think, “he just moved to Los Angeles at the exact right time to inspire one shift in his sound and then moved to Berlin to instigate another artistic triumph”.

A biography of David Bowie that ignores his drug addiction issues and late 70s flirtation with fascism (for which he apologized repeatedly for the rest of his life) is inherently dishonest, to put it bluntly. I don’t think it does anyone (not even the memory of David Bowie) any favors to ignore the artist’s vices. As much as I tire of generic music biopics, they at least have an arc beyond simple fawning. The most interesting wrinkle presented by Moonage Daydream is the way Bowie’s own interviews about, essentially, nakedly looking for a hit in “Let’s Dance” sit beside his feelings of wanting to do art with a bit more depth to it afterwards. It’s an admirable idea, but it’s not like Bowie disappeared into the 80s and 90s doing alienating, impossible music. He just… wasn’t successful, commercially or critically (for what it’s worth, I think his 1990s albums have aged extremely well and are due for a reclamation).

As a music listener and a film watcher, I’m fascinated by the arc of the artist. That’s why those with decades of eclectic work to look back on are my favorites - Bowie, sure, but Prince, Dylan, Joni, P-Funk, Elvis Costello etc. etc. etc. But it’s the highs and lows that make those arcs so interesting, and I don’t know if film can ever fully capture that. More specifically, I’m not sure a film with the approval of the artist or their estate could be brave enough to present an artist’s highs and lows. No, they gotta sell the accompanying soundtrack and sell the songs to commercials. So no, there’s no pleasing me about these things because these movies barely come close to scratching the surface of what makes these artists indelible.

#movie review #6.5/10 #music #documentary #Bowie #1970s music

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noelmu · 7 years ago

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WEEK(S) IN REVIEW 3/31/18 - 4/21/18

Last Sunday morning (after taking a redeye flight), I got back from a whirlwind trip to San Francisco, where I served as a juror at a film festival in the afternoons and evenings, and spent my mornings seeing as much of the city as I could walk to in just a few hours of exploring. The weather was lovely, and the festival put me up in a hotel that was close to city hall, AT&T Park, Telegraph Hill, the City Lights bookstore, the Transamerica building... a lot of the major SF sights, in other words.

Anyway, almost as soon as I returned I had a frenetic 24 hours of watching The Walking Dead finale and writing both a recap and a season postmortem for Rolling Stone (the reason I flew back so early); and in the week that followed I’ve been run a little ragged by my kids, who’ve had after-school and evening events every day. Today’s really the first chance I’ve had to catch a breath in a while... and I didn’t even write that much this week.

I do have a lot in the pipeline though, now that I’m going to be home for a while. And I wrote some big pieces before my trip, linked to below. I’m especially proud of the Vox article about using my teens’ interest in reality TV as a teaching opportunity; and three of my TV reviews in this bunch (for Jesus Christ Superstar, Elvis Presley: The Searcher, and Andre The Giant) went over pretty well with readers.

I’ve also had an especially good run at the LA Times lately, with the movies Ghost Stories, Edge Of Isolation, Wildling, 10x10, and The Endless. It’s been a good year so far for low-budget genre pictures.

Click away!

The A.V. Club TV Review: HBO’s Andre The Giant documentary is as powerful as its subject TV Review: Elvis Presley: The Searcher is the definitive movie about The King

The Los Angeles Times Movie Review: Classy British Ghost Stories to be savored Movie Review: Indie horror Edge Of Isolation brings verve to genre Movie Review: Farce Let's Kill Grandpa This Christmas is no holiday Movie Review: Wildling offers a darker, artier take on a classic Hollywood premise: the misunderstood teen Movie Review: Effective thriller 10x10 features smart acting and twists Movie Review: Indie horror film The Endless brilliantly questions uncertainty of memory Movie Review: Retro comedy Baja offers a vacation for the mind Movie Review: Lowlife puts some fresh touches on a Tarantino-esque story Movie Review: Do You Trust This Computer? lays out a scary case for artificial intelligence threats Movie Review: Seven Years Of Night is a strained specimen of Korean noir New In Home Entertainment: Phantom Thread is a beautifully made art piece

The New York Times TV Review: In Jesus Christ Superstar, an Old Story for (Yet Another) New Millennium

Rolling Stone Lost In Space: Sixties Sci-Fi Reboot Gets Netflix Blockbuster-TV Treatment TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 14: #FreeMorgan TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 15: Simon Says TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 16: Boss Battle The Walking Dead: What the Hell Happened to This Show?

Vox Reality TV offers valuable lessons for children. Really.

#Week In Review

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kevrocksicehouse · 4 years ago

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An avowed liberal earlier in his career, Jon Voight is currently a leading conservative actor. A few performances by other right-wingers.

John Wayne in The Searchers. D: John Ford (1956). Wayne was a conservative supporter of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon. There is an unfortunate 1971 Playboy interview where he said “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.” So it’s easy to discount this parable of racism about a man who spends many years searching for his kidnapped-by-Comanches niece (possibly to kill her if she has become a “squaw” to a “buck”) that shows the corrosive effect of bigotry, as well as the possibility of redemption.

Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. D: Franklin J. Schaffner (1968). “Damn you! Damn you all to hell!,” Heston screamed at a ruined Statue of Liberty on a destroyed planet in the shocking ending of this sci-fi classic. His own ending, the last time he appeared onscreen, was being interviewed as the public face of the NRA (“From my cold, dead hands!”) and walking away from Michael Moore, in the documentary Bowling for Columbine.

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. D: Clint Eastwood (1992). In his last western and his best film, Eastwood consciously repudiated the casual violence of his earlier films and showed the emotional cost of that violence. Twenty years later he appeared at the Republican National Convention “debating” and empty chair that was supposed to represent Barack Obama. Truly, the man contains multitudes.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator. D: James Cameron (1984). When Schwarzenegger started calling himself “The Governator” while running for the California governorship in 2003 it may have been the first time a candidate presented himself as a remorseless killing machine. By the end of his second term the job had turned him into enough of a moderate to make people think he had been reprogrammed as a good robot.

James Woods in Salvador. D: Oliver Stone (1986). These days Woods is best known for his love-hate relationship with Twitter, which has repeatedly blocked him for extremist right-wing views and for spreading falsehoods and conspiracy theories. But he carried left-wing provocateur Stone’s best film, a scathing depiction of the anarchistic hellhole Central America had become, and the United States role in its chaos. As a self-destructive journalist thriving in El Salvador’s carnage, Woods was a hipster action-junkie, which connected him with not only his director, but with the online bomb-thrower he would later become.

#jon voight #conservative actor #right #kevrock

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staczak91 · 2 years ago

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LOVING YOU Film Review

Oh my god I loved this one!!! Maybe because it was a thinly veiled Elvis biography. Maybe because the songs were all fantastic. Maybe because the plot was a lot of fun to watch. Or maybe because Elvis (and his hair) looked so damn good in this one. Whatever the reason, Loving You has become one of my favorite Elvis films.

The zingers were great! At first, Glenda was annoying, but then she ended up becoming a really great antagonist to Elvis’ Deke Rivers. Elvis was definitely at the top of his game here. And the movie wasn’t bubblegum pop like his others, but has some depth to it, and is still a lot of fun as well.

Deke was such a sweetie too! I was rooting for him the entire time, although the way his character spoke about loneliness and the pitfalls of fame made me a little uncomfortable because of Elvis’ own hurtles with those.

I’d say the only scene that didn’t really belong was the graveyard scene. I get why it was in the movie, but it was too dark for this mostly positive movie and really stood out to me (kind of in a bad way.) All in all, it was very jarring, although the rest of the movie went smoothly.

Glenda and Deke’s relationship was also fun to watch progress, and their see-sawing of trust and love was really interesting as well.

The outfits were also on point, and Elvis looked good in all of them! I have a feeling this film is a favorite among fans for the eye candy alone. But it’s definitely got a fun plot and great songs as well going for it.

“Mean Woman Blues” and “Gotta Lotta Living to Do” have definitely become some favorites of Elvis songs from his movies now. This one I can’t wait to watch again. :DDDDD

Up next: Love Me Tender, which I heard is going to make me cry. :((((( But I’m ready for it.

For those not in the know, I’m watching and reviewing all 31 Elvis movies that he starred in. You can check out my blog for past reviews if you want. As well as the 2022 biopic, and I may have to watch The Searcher again to give it a good review. I’ll also be watching some documentaries of his to review when I finish his studio films, as I have 3 more of them as well.

Elvis has entered the building, and his movies have finally entered my life. <3

#elvis presley #Elvis #elvis movies #elvis films #loving you #film review #movie review #classic movies #mean woman blues #gotta lotta living to do #love me tender #the searcher

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usashirtstoday · 4 years ago

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wineanddinosaur · 4 years ago

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17 Whiskey Experts You Should Be Following on Social Media

American whiskey is a tricky business. Staying in the know about bourbon, blends, and the wild West of American single malt is a challenge in normal times, and more so while we’re largely left to explore and share experiences inside. In these times, the best way to stay up to date with the latest whiskey releases and cultural tips is online.

Of course, following the right whiskey experts is key. That’s why VinePair consulted our whiskey-loving friends and experts throughout the spirits community to tell us who they’re following on Instagram and Twitter right now. From whiskey writers to bartenders, the individuals below each offer a unique perspective into the world of whiskey.

@thewhiskeyauthority

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Have you heard? Whiskey School is in session!!! New class up this week. Learn about the power you have to move worlds with your dollars, guess how much the North American Alcohol market is worth, and for how long we’ve been socializing around CH-3-CH2-OH. #whiskeysdistilled #theshiskeyauthority #milamandgreene #bourbon #bourbonwomen #rye #olfaction #expert … … … #whiskey #whisky #womeninbusiness #ceolife #money #power #knowledgeispower #texashillcountry #texas

A post shared by Heather Greene (@thewhiskeyauthority) on Apr 14, 2020 at 5:54pm PDT

Heather Greene is serious about whiskey. Not only is she the CEO of Provision Spirits, she’s also the author of “Whiskey Distilled,” and a judge for the American Craft Spirits Association and the International Wine & Spirit Competition. She takes to her Instagram account to post educational videos and gorgeous shots of the spirit.

@bourbonpursuit

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Just a boy and his barrels. We posted a huge update on @pursuitspirits to our Patreon community. Lots of great whiskey to share with you all. And we want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased a bottle. Your support is helping us build the next great whiskey company. . . #bourbon #whiskey #podcast #bourbonpursuit #pursuitseries #pursuitspirits

A post shared by Bourbon Pursuit (@bourbonpursuit) on Aug 11, 2020 at 12:17pm PDT

The self-proclaimed “official podcast of bourbon,” Bourbon Pursuit is the podcast that industry experts can’t get enough of. The podcast, run by Louisville, Ky.-based Kenny Coleman — as well as its affiliated Instagram account — have loyal followings. And it’s clear why: From “quickie” whiskey reviews, to interviews with whiskey pros such as Peggy Noe Stevens, the first-ever woman Master Taster, this podcast has something for every whiskey lover. Come for the whiskey reviews, stay for the entertaining Tik Toks.

@whiskyyagogirl

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Happy International Women’s Day! May all of you incredible women out there relish in your power today and every damn day! Special thanks to @tasteselectrepeat for sending my this spicy treat in honor of Women’s History Month. And thank you to all of those who keep inspiring me to keep growing into my own womanhood and share my own powers. 💜#whoruntheworldgirls #internationalwomensday #womeninwhiskey #womeninwhisky #internationalwomensday2020 #whiskey #tasteselectrepeat

A post shared by Jenna – Whisky A Go Girl (@whiskyagogirl) on Mar 8, 2020 at 11:45am PDT

Los Angeles-based Jenna Elie is a whiskey educator for The Scotch Malt Whiskey Society. She takes to Instagram to share her knowledge about the spirit, as well as recommendations of whiskies approved by the expert and her dog.

@blackbourbonsociety

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Congratulations to our founder, @sammybeedavis for achieving @wineenthusiast 40 under 40! #blackbourbonsociety #bbs #we40u40 #40under40 #leadership #industryleaders #cheers

A post shared by Black Bourbon Society (@blackbourbonsociety) on Aug 20, 2020 at 6:02am PDT

Founded by Los Angeles- and Atlanta-based Samara Rivers (@sammybeedavis), Black Bourbon Society “bridges the gap between the spirits industry and African American bourbon enthusiasts,” engaging with members through virtual happy hours, tastings, and more. On its Instagram page, the society educates about the spirit, as well as providing recipe ideas and reviews.

@aarongoldfarb

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“You want me to write…what?!” Back at Bookstock today at @copperandkings signing books, starting at noon. I will not be wearing a blazer.

A post shared by Aaron Goldfarb (@aarongoldfarb) on Dec 7, 2019 at 4:42am PST

Aaron Goldfarb knows his whiskey. The two-time Brooklyn-based author and journalist has written about it in countless articles for VinePair, along with authoring a book called “Hacking Whiskey,” in which he shares tips, recipes, and insider secrets about the spirit. His newest book, “Gather Around Cocktails,” is full of holiday drink recipes. Follow his Instagram account for fun whiskey cocktails, sneak peaks of his latest articles, and more.

@overpricedbourbon

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Pricing all over 🧐

A post shared by Overpriced Bourbon (@overpricedbourbon) on Aug 25, 2020 at 6:50am PDT

With a little snark and a lot of humor, Overpriced Bourbon is here to make sure you never get ripped off when buying bourbon. Calling out liquor stores for overcharging for beloved bottles, the account has gained a large following of imbibers looking for fair prices on their favorite bottles.

@lougirl502

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I do love a good rickhouse selfie 😁

A post shared by LouGirl502 (@lougirl502) on Sep 25, 2019 at 2:45pm PDT

Maggie Kimberl is a Louisville, Ky.-based journalist, blogger and content editor for American Whiskey Magazine. Living in the epicenter of the bourbon world, this journalist considers herself “geographically blessed” (and who could blame her?). On her blog, she shares cocktail recipes, reading suggestions, and more. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram for bourbon reviews and shots of rare whiskies.

@rarebird101

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Rainy afternoon classic. 🥃🦃 #rarebird101

A post shared by Rare Bird 101 🦃 (@rarebird101) on Aug 23, 2020 at 2:00pm PDT

David Jennings is a South Carolina-based blogger and self-professed Wild Turkey superfan. His blog and Instagram account cover all whiskey, all the time. His dedication to the spirit is clear, between the detailed reviews and the impressive photos he shares on his feed.

@straightup.615

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Please #WearADamnMask. 😷 I miss y’all. #StraightUp #MaskOn #maskselfie #WhiskeyMask #BourbonMask

A post shared by 🥃Straight Up 615🥃 (@straightup.615) on Jul 14, 2020 at 1:35pm PDT

Cary Ann E. Fuller is an executive bourbon steward, blogger, and educator. She is a self-proclaimed “enthusiast of all things brown water,” sharing her love of the spirit as a co-host of the Sips, Suds, & Smokes podcast, co-producer of a documentary, “Straight Up: Kentucky Bourbon,” and on her Instagram feed. With photos of new releases, furry drinking buddies, whiskey masks, and more, Fuller’s feed brings out the fun in whiskey.

@bourbonr

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Finally getting to crack our new Pinhook Barrel pick. So good!!

A post shared by Bourbonr.com (@bourbonr) on Jul 10, 2020 at 4:54pm PDT

Blake Riber is here to make sure his followers are always up to date on all things bourbon. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based influencer posts everything from cocktail-making videos, to pairing recommendations.

@majorinwhiskey

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She’s whiskey in a teacup… well, maybe in a mason jar!! Happy Monday folks! Amazing photo by @twjohns #bulleit #bourbon #whiskeyblender

A post shared by Eboni Major (@majorinwhiskey) on Jul 30, 2018 at 7:26am PDT

Eboni Major is a whiskey blender at Bulleit DIstilling Co., as well as a food scientist. Beyond smelling, tasting, and creating new whiskies, Major spends time on Instagram, sharing everything from selfies to whiskey-blending photos and videos. She was recently interviewed by VinePair CEO and co-founder Adam Teeter, discussing the duties of a whiskey blender, as well as how the pandemic has impacted the job.

@whiskeygrab

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My homie @kaylaborton nominated me to add a tip jar at my home bar, used to contribute 🤑 to my favorite bar, bartender, restaurant, and/or server.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Once nominated, you have to nominate at least 3 friends to pass on the initiative. I nominate those tagged in the photo, but everyone please feel free to contribute and keep it going!⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Here are the rules:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 1) Make a tip jar and donate tips when you have a drink at home (I plan to tip it all to my two fave spots when they reopen, but some of your favorite bars, bartenders, etc. might have set up GoFundMe pages);⁣⁣ 2) Nominate at least 3 friends to do the same; and⁣⁣ 3) DON’T nominate friends for whom the funds are intended.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ The idea is to bring friends together while helping out our favorite local hospitality crews during these crap times. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ #tipyourbartender #whiskey #covid #covid19 #coronavirus #virtualdrinkforhospitality #rona #igottherona #bourbon #rum #notvodka

A post shared by whiskeygrab (@whiskeygrab) on Mar 29, 2020 at 10:30am PDT

St. Louis-based “Dusty Mike” (he prefers not to disclose his real last name) has recently used his platform to call out the whiskey industry for its silence regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. On the day to day, this St. Louis-based “dusty-hunter” — or searcher of vintage whiskies at off-the-beaten-path stores and markets — likes to flaunt his latest finds on the ‘gram.

@thewhiskywalker

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Spending a few days here at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes. On the way over I managed to pick up this new Old Charter that I’ve been super curious about. Tried the Mongolian, French, and Canadian wood, now we have the CHINKAPIN. Anyone know what Chinkapin oak is??

A post shared by Whisky & Travel (@thewhiskywalker) on Aug 6, 2020 at 9:28am PDT

For whiskey-filled travel photos from Japan to Napa, and an equally covetable collection, check out this Los Angeles-based whiskey connoisseur. Though this collector likes to stay anonymous — never disclosing their name or showing their face on the feed — they aren’t afraid to show off their enviable collection and travel buys.

@peggynoestevens

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Can you hear it? 😂 Just a little humor when we drink with too many rules instead of enjoying the product 🥃😂👍🏻

A post shared by Peggy Noe Stevens & Associates (@peggynoestevens) on Jul 17, 2020 at 11:59am PDT

When it comes to bourbon, Peggy Noe Stevens does it all. As the founder and president of Peggy Noe Stevens and Associates, Stevens helps grow bourbon and hospitality brands. She’s also the author of “Which Fork Do I Use With My Bourbon,” a guide to hosting bourbon tastings, as well as the founder of Bourbon Women, which self-identifies as “THE organization for women who are passionate about exploring #Bourbon and the culture that surrounds it.” Follow Stevens for tasting tips, pairing suggestions, and so much more.

@cocktail_contessa

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HAPPY NATIONAL WINE DAY – HERE'S A WHISKEY DRINK: It was already sour week for me, and I wanted to make sure to cover the New York Sour with it's beautiful red wine float atop a pillow of whiskey sour lusciousness. 🍷 It's pretty much the only way I drink wine these days. 🍷 The full article which includes the history of the New York Sour is on my website – link in bio – but I'll tell you that I didn't find a clear consensus on wines to use to float on a whiskey sour. 🍷 When experimenting and taste testing (creating cocktails is hard work) it seemed that choosing a wine that went with the ingredients was much like choosing any other cocktail element. In the end I chose a cab/shiraz blend that a friend gave to me. It was fruity, but not overly sour, and definitely dry. It played very well with the oaky notes from the rye I used. 🍷 Remember that the kind of red wine you choose will need to play well with the other ingredients. You may want to focus on fruity wines to pair with the sweet in the whiskey sour, but you might decide to go dry and let the tannins/oaky qualities pair up with the aged whiskey. It’s your choice. 🍷 Full recipe is in the link in bio. New York Sour: -rye (Old Overholt 100) -lemon -simple -bitters (@oldforester hummingbird bitters) -optional (egg white or aquafaba) -red wine . . . . #rye #cocktailcontessa #feedfeed #bourbonwomen #whiskeygirl #whiskeylove #whiskeylife #whiskeycocktail #whiskeysour #newyorksour #fryeday #bestcocktails #nationalwineday #cocktailsforyou #cocktailsathome #imbibegram #mixeddrinks #cocktailculture #cocktailsofinstagram #homebartender

A post shared by Heather Wibbels (@cocktail_contessa) on Aug 28, 2020 at 2:15pm PDT

Heather Wibbels, Cocktail Contessa and Kentucky-based bourbon aficionado, designs the cocktails of your dreams. As an Executive Bourbon Steward and member of Bourbon Women, Wibbels brings her knowledge of the spirit to her feed, creating a mesmerizing selection of beverages made mostly with whiskey.

@TheDailyDram

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| #SundayFunday Simply can’t get enough of this high rye @RedemptionWhiskey 10 year. It’s the perfect #whiskey to enjoy on this beautiful day in #SanDiego. Recharging from a bit of #beach and all the fun summer things! What did you all get into this #weekend? Hope you all had a fantastic couple of days and a pour of some proper #whisky! Many #cheers and happy Sunday! 🙏🏼🥃☀️🌴 . . #scotch #bourbon #cocktails #community #friends #luxury #lifestyle #summer #Thedailydram

A post shared by The Daily Dram (@thedailydram) on Aug 30, 2020 at 4:04pm PDT

Looking for some straight-up whiskey reviews? Follow The Daily Dram. Never forgetting to celebrate #WhiskeyWednesday, San Diego-based Brandon Smith shares news, recommendations of distilleries and bars, and shares honest opinions on whiskies — creating a sense of community among his whiskey-obsessed followers.

@whisky_nate

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Always hike with the essentials. @smoothambler . . . . . . . #whisky #whiskey #bourbon #tetons #hikes #hiker #hikelife #hikingadventures #hiking #hikersofinstagram #hikemoreworryless #hikemore #getoutside #getoutdoors #wanderlust #nomad #nomadlife #hikertrash #dirtbag #vanlifediaries #grandtetons #vanlifemovement #vanlife #scotch #grandtetonnationalpark

A post shared by Nate Woodruff (@whisky_nate) on Aug 17, 2020 at 11:31am PDT

Nature- and whiskey-loving Nate Woodruff likes to sip whiskey in high places — mostly mountains (as he says in his bio). As a result, his Instagram feed is filled with stunning scenery, top-notch bottle selections sourced from around the world, and a generous amount of his adorable travel companion Syke.

The article 17 Whiskey Experts You Should Be Following on Social Media appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/17-whiskey-influencers-social-media/

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