#this only got the jury prize??? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

loosingmoreletters · 1 year ago

Note

Oh, I follow that enchanted tulle author on AO3 and so far she/he only writes very few stories, but boy, does she/he love politics so much.

I always find authors who write heavy stuff are awesome because it's a difficult topic to write. I mostly read fluff stories because I think my boys Wangxian need some fluffy moments after the whole chaos in their lives.

Do you like fluffy stories even though LWJ isn't mean there? I can recommend some, but well, they are very fluffy, all happy, no angst 😁

I do read fluff! Also I'm a sucker for happy endings. Very rarely do I enjoy a fic with a bad end - I need that catharsis of everything being resolved. I don't actually read much dark fic in this fandom because my flavor of dark fic isn't particularly catered to.

Not ranked in any way, and absolutely not all my favorites, just those I tagged good enough in my 10k bookmarks to find, but some of my favorite fics are there! (Most are finished, those that aren't can be safely said to have been among my favorites from the first paragraph on.)

愈; to heal by ravenditefairylights

Wei Wuxian has missed the sword. He has missed the steady weight of Suibian in his vicinity, has missed being sure of himself without needing to defend his ability in front of a world that stands opposite of him as jury, judge and executioner. Wei Wuxian has risen and fallen and then gotten up every time, fallen deeper still until there was no way for him to get back up. Wei Wuxian has died and he has come back thirteen years too late and the world has moved on without him. Back to the start—it’s a good place for the beginning. or the one where Wei Wuxian heals, realizes there are people who love him and people he loves and goes back home

I'll buy you the moon (I'll buy you two) by Thesaurus_with_no_words

It's been three days since Wei Wuxian last ate. "Hungry," A-Yuan whines, pulling at his hand. Wei Wuxian tries to focus on the vegetable display in front of him. He's got 10 credits left on the last safe account he's got access to. Half a kilo of wilted vegetables, the cheapest thing in the store, costs 15. The potatoes are sprouted. Half of Wei Wuxian's sluggish mind wonders if that means he can bargain down the prize, while the other half is screaming that something is very wrong. They have been planet-side for around 36 hours and so far nothing adds up. Blinking slowly, Wei Wuxian stares at the potatoes. The green sprouts seem to taunt him. Suddenly he remembers that Shanxu, the planet they are supposed to be on, has a current ban on potatoes, due to some aggressive and rapidly mutating form of crop blight. "Fuck," Wei Wuxian hisses. Where the are they? What planet is this!?

Welcome to the Great Gusu Bake Off! by BlackWiresOnHerHead

Several months ago, college student Wei Wuxian secretly competed in the most popular reality show in the country. The show starts airing in the fall. The freshmen in his dorm collectively lose their minds.

A Thousand Things by tickertape

Wei Ying can’t find his words. “What would I do in Gusu?” The man’s mouth quirks in what Wei Ying cannot interpret as anything but a tiny, smug smirk. “Learn.” Wei Ying has made a fine life for himself. He’s got his jiejies and his talismans; he doesn’t need anyone’s charity. But spending a whole year in Gusu? That’s hard to turn down.

The Best I Can by Zephyr (ZephyrAndTheSilverfish)

‘Have you heard? Hanguang-jun cut ties with the Lan Sect. Stole a child and ran off into the night.’ In which Wei Wuxian is horribly confused by the world he comes back to and can’t help but be drawn to Lan Wangji once more. Lan Jingyi, for his part, is deeply disappointed by the world he grew up in and just wants to see his best friend again.

Hear a song this deeply by so_shhy

Lan Zhan’s new liaison at the Caiyi Municipal Cultivation Department is an enigma – ridiculously talented, yet somehow content with mopping up spiritual pests for barely above minimum wage. Wei Ying is slapdash and irresponsible, and Lan Zhan doesn’t like him at all… but then he meets A-Yuan, who loves music and longs for a piano his father can’t afford. Forced into cautious friendship by a four-year-old's music lessons, Lan Zhan soon realises Wei Ying is more than he seems. The single father is a man of many secrets – including, perhaps, the key to Lan Zhan's life's work. And in the meantime, the background resentment in Caiyi Town is rising to dangerous levels…

The One-Body Problem by metisket

The good news is that Lan Jingyi has found a mentor, friend, and constant companion through the difficulties in life. The bad news is that that’s because he’s been accidentally possessed by the Yiling Patriarch.

Howling by MimiSpearmint

“Sizhui, go to the kitchen,” the Yiling Patriarch orders. His charge – Sizhui, Lan Wangji presumes – hesitates but obeys, looking back over his shoulder as he disappears. Apprentice out of the blast zone, the Patriarch storms up to Lan Wangji, eyes flashing red. “Three words: I. Am. Retired.” Lan Wangji is sent by the Institute to do two things: become the Yiling Patriarch's familiar, and report back his every movement. It does not go how any of them planned.

kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight by AlfAlfAlfAlfAlf, tardigradeschool

The young man blinks at him. Wei Yuan doesn’t spend much time staring at his own face in the mirror, but he knows his reflection well enough; the dark eyes, the straight nose, the round face that comes to a pointed chin. This boy could be his exact double. “Who are you?” the Lan boy facing him asks, tilting his head. He’s got a hand on his sword, but he hasn’t drawn it yet. There’s a faint frown on his face. “Some kind of face-stealing spirit? A demon?” “Pretty rude to go around calling people demons,” Wei Yuan protests. -- Or, Wei Wuxian, presumed dead by the cultivation world, raises one Wen twin. Lan Wangji, presumed dead by Wei Wuxian, raises the other. A Parent Trap AU.

By Any Other Name by ShanaStoryteller

Wei Wuxian wakes up in Mo Xuanyu's body and heads straight for Lotus Pier. Wu Yingtai is the newest member of the Jiang Clan and rumored to be the future wife of Jiang Wanyin. Lan Wangji is not in love with her.

Everyanything by deliciousblizzardshark, lingeringdust

“I was going to do it! I had Wei Wuxian’s soul and his ritual and I was going to cast it, but I found my poor sister sobbing in the hallway, driven half-mad by our gege and I knew she needed the curse more than I did.” He grinned, slyly, underneath his thick layers of paint. “I knew she wanted to kill the same person I did. So I gave it to her; the soul, the ritual. As long as she promised to get revenge for me as well!” or Wei Wuxian is brought back from death into the body of Qin Su.

The Housewife's Guide to Causing Chaos by dvasva

“Of all the rotten luck I could have!” Outside, in between the gentle embrace of an imposing misty mountain and the caress of soft wind, stood the Cloud Recesses. It wasn’t a section that Wei Wuxian had recognized from his time in the sect, but the motifs of clouds and cranes in the buildings, the impeccable feng shui and carefully manicured paths, and the utter silence as the sect members slept peacefully, all burned themselves into Wei Wuxian’s eyes. No wonder the curtains were so firmly nailed to the walls! Any bit of demonic energy escaping the room could call down a veritable army of righteous cultivators! What sort of person in their right mind would dare to summon a spirit into their own body using resentful energy in the Cloud Recesses of all places? What kind of person would scoff so rudely at the Lan Clans most important rule, ‘Do not fraternize with evil?’ After being dead for four years, Wei Wuxian wakes up in a body he doesn't really feel comfortable with, in a place that he's sure wants him dead, and married to a man who surely hates him.

Words are Gonna Bleed from Me by GravityWinsAgain

"Yiling Laozu, GusuLan Triad requests your services." At this, Wei Wuxian laughs and a thousand ghosts laugh with him. ~Or: Wei Wuxian died and Yiling Laozu rose in his place. He has avoided the Triad societies he grew up around, maintaining his anonymity and forging a new cultivation path. Now, thirteen years later, Hanguang-jun walks into Demon-Subdue Hall and requests Yiling Laozu's services for GusuLan Triad. Something is stirring in the world. Something that necessitates his return to a life and to people he’s long since mourned as lost to him.

Going on charmingly by scribbet

He pulled the door open smoothly, leaving the noisemaker with their fist still raised mid-knock. He could glimpse white robes underneath a thick and practical-looking travel cloak, but surely no member of his sect would think to barge in upon him in such a way. “Hello!” the interloper exclaimed, a bright smile coming into view as he lifted the sopping veils away to one side. “Would you happen to know how to reach the Cloud Recesses?” Or, a teenage Wei Wuxian arrives at the Lan sect as a (mostly) respected disciple of the Immortal Baoshan Sanren instead of the well-known troublemaker of Yunmeng Jiang. Lan Wangji learns to come to terms with this (eventually).

the problem with authority by isabilightwood

When Qin Su learns the truth about Jin Guangyao after the death of her son, she sacrifice summons Jiang Yanli. It goes slightly sideways. Jiang Yanli isn’t exactly one for revenge. But she does want her brother back, and the cultivation world could do with a bit of fixing. A resurrected Wei Wuxian is all too happy to help. But taking down Jin Guangyao would be easier if Lan Wangji stopped accidentally getting in the way.

Everything That Could Have Been by QueenXIV

Thirteen years of nothing were a long time, but for Wei Wuxian it had been literally nothing. One day he was filled with resentful energy, completely under the influence of the Yin Tiger Seal, and the next one he was waking up in a stranger’s body, confused, weak and being asked for revenge. Wei Wuxian then finds himself back in Cloud Recesses after encountering Lan Xichen and ends up becoming a caregiver for Lan Wangji, who is paying the price of everything Wei Wuxian did in his past life.

梅花/plum blossoms by bunnxianluvsu (MooseFeels), MooseFeels

Lan Wangji has been chief cultivator for many years when he is given a gift.

Fentao-laoshi's Guide to Cut-Sleeve Pleasures by occultings (microcomets)

Lan Wangji says, “I am also looking to . . . gain practical experience. It seemed mutually advantageous.” “Mutually advantageous,” Wei Wuxian echoes. “Wait. Do you mean I’d get to . . . ?” Lan Wangji stares at him. “Practice — on you?” Wei Wuxian finishes, his eyes round with disbelief. — During a shared summer studying in the Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian diligently pursue an informed sexual education. What could possibly be the harm in some mutual learning?

In Imitation of Life by travelingneuritis

Lan Zhan stops in front of one of the bespoke duplicates— a male figure, small, creamy-skinned and lithe. The name on the plinth reads Mo Xuanyu. Lan Zhan tested it on his first pass through the room. The doll was empty. No signals bouncing around its artificial brain, no operating programs queued to autostart. Not even a blinking dormancy light. "Hey big guy," says Mo Xuanyu, chrome eyes sparkling with fun. "Who do I gotta fuck around here to get unplugged?" Wei Ying is a rogue AI come to life. Lan Zhan is… handling it.

The Blacksmith of Yiling by Aki_no_hikari

Wei Ying escapes his first winter in the streets by following the light and warmth of a forge. There he finds refuge, for himself, and others as well.

i’ll take a secondhand monster by Stratisphyre

“You must not stray to the lower levels, A-Yu,” Yao-ge told him with his scary, empty smile. “Or else I shall tell the beast down there to eat you.” There is a monster in Koi Tower.

The True Story of How Concubine Mo Seduced the Crown Prince by Enigmatree

(Spoiler: not a speck of seduction was involved. The Crown Prince to the Empire came fully seduced long before Concubine Mo was even called Mo Xuanyu, not that anybody else needs to know that.)

Give You What You Like by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle)

Wen Chao's dungeons are warm and comfy. Especially when there's two of you. (Or: what if Wen Chao had been a slightly more competent - or perhaps slightly luckier - villain?)

Teach Me The Ways by likeafox

Rogue Cultivator Wei Wuxian is the stuff of local legends. Some of those legends are even true! The ones about his tremendous experience in bed, on the other hand, are not so true. Which becomes a problem when Lan Wangji, on the verge of an arranged marriage and worried he won’t know how to please his future spouse, enlists Wei Ying's help to teach him the art of love-making. Wei Ying's great at improvisation, though, and is pretty sure he's got this sex mentor thing under control. What could possibly go wrong?

Crossed Wires by stardust_and_sunlight

“My laptop is cursed,” Lan Wangji said, stepping forward to place his bag on the counter and pull his laptop out. “My brother said you deal with that.” “Wei Ying!” the man called. “A curse for you!” [Lan Wangji's laptop is cursed, and he meets Wei Wuxian, expert in cursed technology.]

River-to-the-Sea Sure by Deastar

Wen guards escort Lan Wangji to his quarters at the end of the day’s indoctrination; this evening, Wei Wuxian follows, branching off at the last moment from the path to the building in which the Jiang disciples are lodged. “We’re all prisoners here either way,” he argues to the guards, with a disarming smile. “What does it matter which building I’m imprisoned in, eh?” After the guards slam the doors in Wei Wuxian’s face, the two of them are alone. Wei Wuxian folds down to sit, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. “Lan Zhan,” he says lightly. “What do you think Wen Chao and his henchmen would do, if I went into heat here?”

#mdzs #wangxian #fanfic recs #ask #anon

15 notes · View notes

worldismyne · 2 years ago

Text

Crest of the Dragon: Kimiko's Epilogue

S5 Kimiko with her temple guardian Hotaru.

Season 5...

S5 arc for Kimiko would deal with finding balance. Kimiko's outfits would be softer/looser more fairy kei. Think like a box of candy hearts. She tries her hardest this season to be the best, still feeling a little nervous that the other boys will cry out favoritism now that her and Raimundo are being openly sweet on each other.

They'd go to the fire temple second and Kimiko would confront Master Monk Guan and Chucky Choo; only for Kimiko to be denigned. Following rules of threes, Kimiko tries after each temple to challenge Master Monk Guan. She eventually would get a solo episode with Dojo that would go more into the origin of dragons, with Kimiko asking Dojo if the other forms of dragons are also real, or if it's only Chinese dragons.

This leads them to finding Hotaru, (design is based on lion dogs and other paintings). Hotaru isn't a guardian at the time, but agrees to help Kimiko take over the fire temple to prove her worth.

With Hotaru's help, she finally beats Master Monk Guan and rather than accepting the blessing of the current temple guardian, appoints Hotaru instead. Finally overcoming her imposter syndrome and realizing she gets to decide what her legacy will be.

Kimiko's new fire is smaller and a bright white, the accent color ranging from blue to yellow depending on her mood. It's actually easier for her to use, but means she must show more restraint in battle. It's easiest for her to channel through weapons.

In the future...

Kimiko's temple is the most modern of the four, taking a blended influence from Xiaolin and the culture she grew up in. She takes a lot after Master Fung in that respect. However, her lingering insecurities have bled down onto her students.

Everything's very combat oriented, who's the strongest, etc. Her teaching style is very pass/fail and it only got worse after Rai's health declined. Her main goal is to make the next Dragon of Fire undefeatable.

Her prize student Ayden is a relative of Raimundo's, and she's staunchly in denial that it's caused her to favor him over other potential candidates. That is, until he openly tells other applicants that it doesn't matter what they do, he will be the future Dragon of Fire. She sends him to Omi hoping that the combination of being kicked out and training with someone who went through something similar will humble him. Jury's out on whether this works out in the end.

#Xiaolin showdown #Cotd

16 notes · View notes

hosannan · 2 years ago

Note

Occhiolism!!!!

(obscure feelings) meme— drabbles. Occhiolism: The awareness of the smallness of your perspective.

"Princess." He starts.

"Nanna, if you're so inclined."

"Kid." He finishes.

Nobles. The lot of 'em weaving a cursory set of rules only to have 'em strewn on the floor—he doesn't really get the way they mount themselves on titles and the low beat of a distant drum. Mighty fuckin' convenient if you asked him. (But he's a sellsword— a mercenary. He'll march to this bedlam if there's a long enough pocket-string attached.) But, sure. Yeah. Fine. If she's Nanna, she's Nanna. Linus thinks the lass needs a second stool; she's so petite, he wonders if girls like her were made in the same place Nino was.

(You know.)

"Mister Reed." She makes him swallow on his finish with the way her smile reaches her eyes.

(Where they crushed common sage and lemon balm and made girls of the same ilk as the sun.)

"Ah, that ain't even how my ol' man would want to go by! Come on, kid, you're killin' me here!" His mug meets the unpolished table with a banal thud, the weight of his words notwithstanding that gaze of olive and emerald. She has no business with him, no, but sticks around thinking he's got enough bedrock to be shaken. "I'm usually the one hitting rounds 'round here. Talky sort, and th' like. And sure, right. We may have been strung int'a the typical pickpocket bullshit that comes with the turf, but I hardly think that's conversation worthy."

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. When a fiddlin' thief tried to slip his hands into Linus' coat, it was a test to see which finger got the firecracker treatment first. Except. That time mercy came with a swift twist of a wrist, and a cinnamon girl lifting the stranger's whole arm skyward in the middle of a busy street.

"Hey! Is someone missing a hand? I found it in another man's pocket." She ends the fiend before he begins, enacting a will that felt so radically different from Linus' own. Piece of shit went flying by the seat of his pants, away from prying eyes and the saltiest condemnation à la judge, jury, and fanged execution.

While Linus had had the best laugh of the day back when, now was different. Now was not some extraordinary day, just a card from the same ol' mundane. What could a princess make of the mundane?

"I don't see why you're so opposed, but if it displeases you, I'm off then."

Was she even old enough to drink? He doesn't mean to, but halts her by the heels with a question that's been boggling him to hell and back.

"Listen, kid. What's there to talk about? What are you going to get from it?"

"Do I need to get something from it to get to know you?"

"You're never gonna get me, even if you tried."

"You make yourself out to be a myth." She bats.

"And you, a sage." He bats back.

She releases an airy scoff from her nose. "Hardly. I would love that worldliness, but all I have is what I know."

"And what do you know?"

"That it's men like you living from day to day that make our world wider. You cannot bear witness to the horizon if you cannot listen to the pulse of the people."

A snort. "Ah, so that's it, is it? I'm a pulse? You're the hand from above, trying to feel for me?"

"I was born of flesh and grew up by the coast—with not much to come by besides my makeshift family. Reformed bandits, struggling off the lands because of the tariffs of my forefathers." There's a fondness, a regret, a nostalgia tinging her voice like a spritz of sea salt. It's that look in her eyes that makes even a distant memory feel so close he could share it. He sifts through the same sort of memory, as Bern's common folk made even a mad dog honorable. "There's no reaching from above when I was already at sea level to begin with."

"Huh."

"Huh." She smiles, matching his beat.

In the back of his mind, he hears the low beat of a distant drum. And wonders if, of all people, it's actually his.

He raises a hand to the barkeep, with a toothy grin gradually growing in peculiar amusement. Fangs and all.

"Can we get this girl a drink? I wanna hear what she's got t'say."

—End.

#{ drabbles #justicefanged #{ so i don't know blazing blade at all forgive me LOL #{ me reading through pages of your blog and then going into the game scripts: i'm going to commit to the bit #{ this was hella fun to write though thank you for sending it in!#{ btw i have no idea what the legal age to drink is in thracia don't look finn

10 notes · View notes

denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

Text

'At the outset, it felt like the cinemas of Pakistan were just as excited for Barbenheimer as the local movie-goer community. Local theaters were offering two-for-one deals – cheaper tickets for one of the biggest movie events in recent memory. The fact that they were even acknowledging the existence of the dual release of Oppenheimer and Barbie felt promising: if you could buy tickets, that had to mean you would get to see the films, right?

Cinemagoers weren’t so sure, since the local censor board can be volatile. It’s usually safe to strike anything that isn’t a four-quadrant blockbuster off the calendar, and even local films aren’t safe: last year, Saim Sadiq’s Joyland, a film that won the Jury Prize at Cannes, was banned from screening in the Punjab province. That movie, which touches lightly upon queer issues, has nothing on the full-frontal nudity and controversial maps of Oppenheimer and Barbie, and the prospect of both films being banned felt depressingly conceivable.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, that tickets for Oppenheimer and Barbie went up for sale a full three days ahead of July 21. What’s more, Oppenheimer wasn’t marked with a red 18. That implied they were screening a censored version cleared for exhibition – a guarantee of sorts. As we got closer to release, however, my friends in Punjab got antsy: they’d been told that the tickets they’d purchased for Barbie were at risk of being refunded, since the censor board hadn’t cleared the movie. The anvil dropped on Friday with the announcement that the Punjab Censor Board had banned Greta Gerwig’s latest for featuring “objectionable content.” Early screenings were cut short and audiences were told to leave after sitting through half the film.

The ban, temporary only in name, is limited to the province of Punjab, and it hasn’t stopped people from buying tickets in droves throughout the rest of the country. In Islamabad (where I live), showings for the weekend were completely booked, and we barely got tickets for Sunday. When our group arrived at the theater, it was swamped with people in pink (there was even a group of boys wearing suits with pink ties, Gentleminions-style), and we found that most of our crowd was there for the double feature. The atmosphere was electric.

Our screening began at 4:30 with Barbie, and we tried to catch the objectionable content Gerwig had snuck into the Mattel movie. The film was fun, and completely uncensored – by its end, we were perplexed as to why the censor board had taken issue with a film whose closest aesthetic reference point is Lazy Town.

Oppenheimer was another story. Usually, when the censors need to prune a film, they make brutish cuts that make the omission obvious. The censorship in this case is different. It’s an international hatchet job, and the censors appear to have appreciated the painstaking care Christopher Nolan and editor Jennifer Lame put into the edit. That’s why, instead of upsetting the rhythm, they decided to try their hand at post-production.

This distracts most during the two sex scenes. The censors have zoomed into the background of certain closeup shots, while wide shots have their nudity concealed behind fuzzy black columns. A friend of mine thought the first such column was a wall in the foreground, mistaking it for a strange aesthetic decision on Nolan’s part. To me, the columns look more like the monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey (which Barbie does such a great job of spoofing).

The most technically innovative censorship occurs in the scene where Murphy and Pugh are seated opposite one another in the nude. The censored version drapes Pugh in a pitch-black shift dress that looks like it was applied by a gifted artist working in MS Paint. The inclusions obviously rob the scenes of their intimacy, but they at least allow them to remain legible. I was partially grateful for the cuts – obtrusive as they were, they had allowed me to see the film on the big screen (albeit while seated next to a 10-year-old who asked his parents if the bomb had gone off during the silent part of the Trinity Test sequence).

Barbie’s banning feels more disturbing, since our censor board doesn’t usually ban films with messaging as innocuous as Gerwig’s. It sets a dangerous precedent, even though it’s become clear that the censors aren’t nearly as influential as they think they are. Banning a film these days is the same as giving it free publicity for the home video release, and even now hardcore Barbie-heads have been embarking on cross-province road trips for the movie. I’m sure a few of them must’ve been present during the screening I attended on Sunday.

I’m glad for them, since the phenomenon has been a joy, and not just because the films are excellent. Cinema culture in Pakistan has been in the death throes for ages, and it’s been amazing to see people come together in their appreciation of the medium. Case in point: my audience broke into applause as the credits for Barbie rolled. I saw the boys in suits get up, and thought they were going to give the film a standing ovation. But no; they were changing their pink ties to black ones. And nobody batted an eyelid.'

#Oppenheimer #Barbie #Cillian Murphy #Florence Pugh

6 notes · View notes

tilbageidanmark · 2 years ago

Photo

Movies I watched this Week #118 (Year 3/Week 14):

My 3rd re-watch of Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean’s magnificent, all-male epic and the movie that Steven Spielberg had seen more than any other film. It’s so grand that the nearly 4 hours spectacle opens with 4+ minutes of orchestral music prelude on a dark screen and includes an ‘intermission’.

It got me to realize that most all movies (maybe because of the economics of movie-financing) always show deference to authority; The influences they represent, whether government, military, religion, civil powers, or simply ‘the big man’, the rulers are always accepted as masters.

🍿

The Garden of Words, my second anime ever, and coincidentally also my second by Makoto Shinkai (After ‘Your name’). A melancholy and poetic story about a 15-year-old aspiring shoe-maker student who keeps meeting a woman skipping work on a park bench at the beautiful Shinjuku Gyo-en gardens during the raining season. Gorgeous visuals of nature and rain.

The Wikipedia page for this film is nearly as long as the one for Obama!

🍿

3 more terrific debut films by young female directors:

🍿 For some unclear reasons, I’ve seen a large number of Parisian high school dramas recently. Spring blossom is one of the best. A gentle drama of a shy 16 year old girl who falls in love with a 35 man she sees outside a local theater.

And like Quinn Shephard’s ‘Blame’, it’s twice as impressive, because it was written by the talented Suzanne Lindon when she was only 15, and she directed it and starred in it before she was 20. Je l'adore! 8/10.

🍿 The Hive, my first film from Kosovo. Another on my growing list of “Debut films directed by female filmmakers”. The “first film in Sundance Festival history to win all three main awards – the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award – in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition”. Based on a true story, it tells simply but touchingly about a war widow who started a small business, making homemade Ajvar and empowering the women in her village. Highly recommended. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. And of course, reminiscent of the Macedonian documentary ‘Honeyland’. 8/10.

🍿 Rye Lane, a cute new rom-com about two young black South London strangers who meet at random and spend the day getting to know each other. Fresh and original.

🍿

My 7th by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki. Every time I watch another of his movies, I get elated. There is nobody who make movies like him, he’s one of a kind. The man without a past, the second of his “Losers” trilogy, opens with a cinematic gut pinch and doesn’t let go until the end. My favorite of all his films so far?...

The trailer. 9/10.

🍿

The Hollywood Reporter Critics put out a new list of their ‘50 best films of the first 21 years of the 21st century’, and I decided to go through the ones I haven’t seen yet.

First was Far from Heaven, my 4th tragedy by Todd Haynes. A precursor to his masterful ‘Carol’, this is another Douglas Sirk-inspired melodrama of oppression and unrequited desire in middle class America of the mid 50′s. Drenched in luminous colors over all (except of the scenes of illicit dangers, in the gay bar and black cafe), and accompanied by another expansive score, it’s a devastating tale of the price of conformity. The husband who can’t control his homosexual urges, and the wife who falls for a black gardener are doomed, and their lives will be shattered. The poor players had simply nowhere to go. 8/10.

🍿

‘Today I learned’ about ‘Elite Panic’ describing the “behavior of members of the elite during disaster events, typically characterized by a fear of civil disorder” and the shifting of focus away from disaster relief towards implementing measures of "command and control".

New order, my third memorable film by Mexican auteur Michel Franco (after the terrific ‘Sundown’ and the disturbing ‘April’s daughter’) describes a society collapsing, the exact moment when the shit finally hits the fan, when the riots on the TV screen cross over and knock on your door. It’s a brutal and unforgiving story, ugly, violent and without any sentimental sympathy. Shocking anarchy escalates quickly when the pressure gets too much.

When the revolution comes down, it will bring some serious bloodshed. No wonder the greatest boogieman the ruling class warns us all about is “Class Warfare”. The most distressing film of the week - 9/10!

🍿

To catch a thief, Hitchock’s romantic thriller. The Good: Grace Kelly on the French Riviera, the ultimate glamour of the lifestyles of the rich and famous at Cannes and Nice, Hitchcock’s first (?) use of helicopter shots and modern car chases. The Bad: The genre roles & sexual politics of the husband-seeking unmarried young woman would not fly today.

I watched it solely because of this clip.

🍿

2 with Brigitte Fossey (of ‘Jeux interdits’):

🍿 “...The square is mine!...”

I forgot that she played the grown-up Elena in Cinema Paradiso, one of Ennio Morricone’s most popular movies. And yes, without his magnificent score, the 3-hour long nostalgic trip to the heart of cinema, would not be half as enjoyable.

The question that was not well-answered was: Why did he not bother to visit his mother for 30 year? (Re-watch).

🍿 The happy road, a mediocre 1957 children comedy about 10 year old American boy and French girl, who escape from a Swiss boarding school, and hitchhike to Paris. Directed by and starring Gene Kelly, falling for the girl’s mother. 3/10.

🍿

Inside, the new Willem Defoe survival thriller. He’s an art thief who breaks into a hi-end NYC penthouse of a wealthy art collector, intending to steal 3 paintings by Egon Schiele. But the security system traps him inside, and he’s unable to escape for many months. Captivating hi-concept and one-trick film, but a bit too long. 6/10.

🍿

...”Never forget how much he loved you, Kubo”...

After being seriously obsessed with everything ‘Coraline’ all of last year, Adora moved on to Laika Studio’s next stop-motion animated story Kubo and the two strings. A Japanese-inspired action story about a one-eyed Samurai son who creates magical origami figures from his 3-stringed shamisen. But it was as if all the pretty parts were combined by an AI-engine. 4/10.

I will introduce her next to ‘The Iron Giant’, and ‘Isle of dogs’.

🍿

First watch: The green room, one of the last few François Truffaut films I haven’t seen yet. In it, he plays a somber 1920′s journalist obsessed with death who builds a shrine to everybody he had lost. I love his human directing style, but this was a confusing mess. 2/10

🍿

RIP, Ryuichi Sakamoto X 2:

🍿 In remembrance of his passing I started re-watching Bertolucci’s ‘The Last Emperor’, but to be honest, I got bored after 30 minutes; I blame the less than HD version of my pirated copy. So maybe I’ll try it another time.

Instead, I went back to my of favorite ‘Black Mirror' episodes, and the only one he composed the score for, Smithereens. It was directed by the same man who did my other cherished story ‘Hated in the nation’, and was also about online media frenzy that spirals out of control. This ‘Tyranny of the Screens’ parable received mixed reviews, because it wasn’t futuristic enough, but for my money it is a tense thriller on par with the best of them. 10/10.

Sakamoto’s dark score is subtle and minimal. You have to strain to notice it. Perfect!

...”This is my last day!”...

🍿 Psychedelic Afternoon, a 2013 animated short, featuring David Byrne, and released to raise money for children who survived the 2011 tsunami.

🍿

‘Mad men’ is one of the few TV-shows I've seen, and I’ve seen it 3 or 4 times (including once last year). “Hazel” of YouTube ‘Dream Dimension Productions’ analyzes one “Perfect Scene” from Season 3 finale “Shut the door, have a seat”.

A terrific breakdown, which got me to watch it again, together with a few more.

Extra: Her ‘Netflix has a content problem’, which I also agree with, as I was attempting to avoid 90% of all their content.

🍿 Talk to her, my 3rd unsatisfying film by Pedro Almodóvar (after ‘All about my mother’ and ‘The human voice’). A twisted story about two unappealing men who befriend each other at a clinic where they both care for comatose women. His editing choices and scattered direction, constantly focusing on unrelated detail in every scene turned me off. Some artistic perversions (like a silent film clip of a tiny man entering a giant vagina) notwithstanding. I guess I’m not a fan. 4/10.

🍿 2 more by Noah Baumbach (both with Adam Driver):

🍿 The last film I saw this week was also the best one:

I started watching the new Adam Driver dinosaur fantasy ‘65′. but it felt so stupid the moment Adam Driver opened his mouth, that I had to switch it off within 5 minutes. Instead, I turn to Marriage Story again. An absolute masterpiece, so painful and so true, for all divorced couples and parents of children of divorce. (That 10 minutes long scene at the apartment was raw! - Screenshot Above). 10/10 deservedly and without any reservations.

(And now I must see ‘Two for the road’!)

🍿 (Actually, I ended up with his uneven While we’re young, which didn’t measure up to that. The milieu of hipster millennial poseurs and Brooklyn wannabe documentary filmmakers was uninteresting, and I also can’t stand Ben Stiller.)

Still I will look for the rest of his movies I had missed.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

3 notes · View notes

totaldramafan-lauri · 2 years ago

Text

I-I was gonna make this post tomorrow, but.....w-well, for good reason, I just can’t stop thinking about it, and I’ve been thinking about it all day, so.....I-I’m gonna get it out right now....

I’m super happy that I got out of the semifinals in better shape than I expected! I only lost two of my top seven, meaning that I now have a solid top five for the final without pushing any borderlines in there!

So, cuz I love all five of these songs, I’m gonna go over my hopes for each of them in the final, and how I think they’ll all do with the juries now in the picture! Cuz why not? I’m excited! I-I dunno how long this’ll be, so read only if you really wanna! XD

Australia: Top ten finish

Obviously, I flipping love this song with every fiber of my being, but I’m not predicting any more than this. I don’t think it’s a front-runner....and I don’t WANT it to be, cuz I’ve always been against Australia winning Eurovision. But this amazing song deserves to be in the top ten, and I think it’s a safe bet for such a result. I think it’ll be in the top ten in the televote EASILY, after they blew the roof off the arena yesterday. Multiple video reactions and tweets I’ve seen have even said that Australia might’ve won the second semi, and....I don’t agree with that (the Austrian entry was easily the most popular song there), but they definitely went down REALLY WELL live, which is why they got such a big response. I don’t have to worry about their televote score.

But....I have NO IDEA how it’ll go down with the juries. Metal is a very.....love-it-or-hate-it genre, and it comes down to how many jurors are on the “love it” side. Obviously, the live performance is great, so I’m not worried about that part! Instead, everything is riding on the song itself. I know the juries do also pay attention to stage presence tho, so I hope that means they won’t outright overlook Australia even if they don’t dig the genre. We’ll see.

I don’t think they’ll trouble the top five, either way. Instead, later on, if we find out they DID win their semi once the results are revealed, then that’ll be their consolation prize. XD

Finland: Top five finish

I REALLY want them to win. I REALLY REALLY REEEEAAAALLYYYYY want them to win. But, I also don’t like making hard predictions on winners, so I won’t do that here. I think top five is a safe bet at this point - it’s a massive fan-favorite and will likely have an enormous televote score. Even if they don’t win, a top five finish will still be HUGE for Finland, and something to be proud of when you look back at their history. Finland have been consistently one of the most unlucky, underrated countries in Eurovision, year after year, either failing to qualify or qualifying and then placing towards the bottom of the scoreboard, with only THREE exceptions in their entire run - Lordi’s win, Softengine’s 11th place, and Blind Channel’s 6th place. AKA, they haven’t been in the top five since Lordi. That’s TRAGIC if you ask me, considering how many good entries they’ve had that deserved so much better.....About TIME they turned their fortune around!

So, yeah, I’ll be ecstatic if they win, but even being in the top five will be great too.

When if comes to Finland vs. Sweden....I love both songs, I really do. Sweden are actually my number six now, so just BARELY outside this top five. Both songs will be great winners to me. Not to mention that both would be landmarks for different reasons (If Sweden win, this’ll be their seventh win, FINALLY tying Ireland’s record, which they deserve. AND this’ll be their second win with the same artist. If Finland win, it’ll be their second win EVER, AND they’ll have beaten Sweden to get it.) But I am firmly on Team Finland.

However, Finland are....a-at a disadvantage. I have no flipping idea what the juries will think of them at ALL, and that scares me, cuz SO MUCH is riding on their jury score. That will literally determine if they’ll be able to beat Sweden!

If Sweden win the jury vote, and Finland aren’t that far behind, then Finland’ll manage to win with the boost from the televote (unless Sweden’s televote score is higher than theirs, which I don’t think will happen). If Sweden win the jury vote, and Finland are, like....a fair ways down the scoreboard, especially on the right side, then the televote might not be enough, and Sweden will win. EVERYTHING depends on Finland’s jury score.

D-don’t get me wrong, I’ll be happy with Sweden winning and Finland in the top five, but still, thinking of this still stresses me out a lot......

(Also, there’s the matter of the elephant in the room: There will still be people dogpiling televotes on Ukraine. It won’t be nearly as much as last year - we don’t have to worry about Ukraine doing the double - but they’ll still be stealing some points from other countries.....Finland included.....) (And finally, people are saying France might be the darkhorse with the power to contest Finland vs. Sweden, but I’m not really buying it right now, cuz who knows? Even if people love France’s song, and even if it’s performed super well, it’s still possible that everyone could have a collective brain fart and forget to vote for them. Hey, I was there last year.....But if this DOES happen somehow, Finland will still finish in the top five)

Norway: Top ten finish

This is an easy prediction to make. Once again, I don’t think I have to worry about their televote score. People LOVE this song. BUT, unlike my top two, I....I actually think I’m confident the juries will love this too! I think all-rounder Norway will score highly in both votes, but won’t be a front-runner. MAYBE top five is possible, but I won’t get my hopes up with how strong the competition is....like, I’ll make a top five off the top of my head right now, and it won’t include Norway: *ahem* Sweden, Finland, France, Ukraine, UK. See? Or even Sweden, Finland, France, Ukraine, Israel. Point is, there’s a lotta fan-favorites in this final that could end up in any order after the top two, and Norway’s one of them. Thus, top ten.

If I had to guess which one will place higher between Norway and Australia, I’d say Norway.

Poland: DON’T FLOP (right side of the scoreboard)

Oh dear god the juries are gonna eat this poor song alive.....And by eat it alive, I mean ignore it, which is just as bad. I’m still floored that this even made it to the final at ALL, to be honest.....I’m still convinced that it was by a slim margin of, like, five to ten points or something. This song has gotten SO much hate, and now it’s here, and I......I-I still love it. But it’s just a super catchy pop song, and that’s it! No amazing vocals or anything! It’s just there to make you smile, not impress you musically! At least the staging is good, and the dance break they added is super fun, but PFFFFFFFFF no way the JURIES are gonna vote for this thing. I’m not expecting them to place any higher than 20th, to be honest. I don’t want them to FLOP, and I do think their televote score will be juuuuuuust high enough to prevent that? Like, maybe it’ll be in the double digits? But that’ll all I can say for sure. I don’t think it’ll be RIGHT at the bottom once the televotes come in, but if this places dead last in the jury vote, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Keep in mind: I LIKE THIS SONG A LOT. But how the heck is it still here? XD

Moldova: Mid (11th-15th?)

I think Moldova could do well enough in both votes to place just outside the top ten somewhere. It’s not a fan-favorite or anything, but it’s a beautiful and unique song with unique staging, and I think the juries will pay enough attention to it for that. I don’t rememeber how good the live vocals were, unfortunately.....off the top of my head, I remember him sounding....fine? Not bad? So it won’t flop. Even tho I was surprised they qualified, on second thought, there’ll be nothing else in the final that sounds like this. I don’t think they’ll be overlooked that easily (unless they get unlucky in the running order and come right after a fan-favorite, or between fan-favorites, which....ouch, please don’t do that to them)

Both of Moldova’s scores will be pretty good, but far from the best they’ve ever done. I think this’ll, coincidentally, do about as well as Mr. Parfeni’s last entry did (which came 11th). More likely worse than better.

And.....that’s it! I-I’m so excited.......I-I’m usually this way the day before the final anyway, but....h-having two songs I love being the potential winners just makes that excitement worse! Th-this voting sequence is gonna be insane.......I mean, like usual, pfffff........

#eurovision #keep in mind that this is me being optimistic #these are all just what *i* want personally #these arent objective predictions

3 notes · View notes

babvblue · 2 years ago

Text

💌 INCOMING ASK MEME 💌

send me prompt : delve deeper into the connection between two characters , through photos in their camera roll. adding captions are optional .

@oretscvs sent ⤿ for frankie & nicky … 🦄💜🪁☮️

send 🦄 ⸻ a picture taken of your character showing their dorky/silly side.

this might not seem all THAT silly or dorky . but when you remember he’s a 6′4 slutty man that has a Terrible reputation & can look absolutely terrifying , it is actually very dorky . especially when you think about said man playing arcade fair games to win a gd massive frog pillow . but jokes on him bc he didn’t actually win . frankie did . did she cheat ? possibly ! jury is out . but she stands by her argument that it’s not her fault he gets distracted by her , he should learn to focus better . she did , however , end up giving him said prize bc she did actually want to win it for him .

send 💜 ⸻ my character’s favourite picture of your character

if anyone was to ask what her fave photo(s) of him was , she’d more than likely show them a photo of him on stage . aka when he’s in his element & he is looking particularly 🤌 . but her ACTUAL favourite photo of him is this one . why ? bc he’s neither Nicky Haven ; rockstar , or Nicky Haven ; coston bay’s ultimate menace . he’s just nick - a lil bit charming , a lil bit arrogant , a lil bit annoying , a lil bit soft & a whole lotta loving - & he looks it & she loves it v much .

send 🪁 ⸻ a throwback picture of my character

nicholas haven ( ft . tai rakena ) circa 2020 just a few months before he left & only 7 hours after they got the call that they’d just booked what was meant to be their biggest gig down in la to date bc naturally ... they spent the night celebrating . just the 4 of them . just in that last work bay . bc that’s all it’s ever been . definitley were all half delirious, & 3/4 had had a little too much, when this was taken . but they were all Very Happy . so much so that it wasn’t long after this photo was taken that both frankie & izzy piled on top of the 2 boys .

send ☮️ ⸻ a picture of my character from a good day

the manager had been found . the record deal had been signed . their first ever single was a Hit . & they have just finished overseeing the last little bits of mixing on the final song needed for their debut album & it is ... a little bit unbelievable . none of them can quite believe it . none of it has sunk in . & they all need a bit of time out to process . tai & izzy have gone to their respective partners / homes to chill . but frankie & nicky end up finding a lil spot in some park nearby bc it feels like they haven’t seen or felt the sun in years & proceed to spend the next few hours just existing . slowly & surely though they both get to the point where it’s holy shit , we just finished an album .

#ask memes : frankie & nicky .#frankie & nicky .

2 notes · View notes

anthonybialy · 7 days ago

Text

Staking Claims

Good wishes are the consolation prize in lieu of money that can buy things. Legalistic claims about Democrats not fulfilling guarantees are too technical. Sure, they’re not making streets safer or groceries cheaper. But they are allowing poor loyal partiers to have a chance at avoiding useful employment. Heed what a dim jury or snotty bureaucrat proclaimed instead of trusting your own contrarian judgment.

The Party of Kamala created the impossible by making Donald Trump sympathetic. Irony is the only item they manufacture. All Democrats want is to be able to claim what they believe regardless of whether or not they’re fair. A label that bears precisely zero connection to reality flaunts commitment to their ideology.

Workers are blessed by all the jobs they’ll create by saying it’s going to happen. They’re taking money from greedy business owners to buy infrastructure, which automatically creates employment. You’re going to win the lottery, so get a Vegas suite now.

Democrats get to call Trump a convicted felon. Sure, they can’t name the crime he committed. But a governmental entity proclaimed such, which means it’s incontrovertible truth. They think the late O.J. Simpson spent three decades being unfairly called a murderer because there was no official label.

You’re awesome as long as you think I am. Those with a rather flexible interpretation of what’s constitutional oscillate between whether the Supreme Court is an undemocratic cabal bought by cruel billionaires out to create a lawless oligarchy or a teacher breaking up a pummeling and blaming the bully’s prey for fighting back. It all depends on if at least five members want to do grant power that’s not its to abuse. Now, that’s principled.

A frenzied dedication to thinking the government claiming something means it occurred is the next-best thing to productivity. Nobody connected to an ideology based around announcing what is going to happen is going to verify. Kindly commie Germans knocked down the Berlin Wall because too many Westerners sick of the lack of protections against life’s vagaries.

Getting statistics to do what they want in a way reality doesn’t is the next-best thing to helping. The labor force participation rate gets worked. Manipulating the percentage is Democrats’ only toil. Getting potential workers so frustrated that they give up looking drops the unemployment rate, which is a terrific sacrifice for one party’s presidents. Selflessly helping Democrats like upstanding American heroes shows a commitment to fighting selfish individual desires.

The very clever technique of not reporting crime isn’t protecting potential victims. Frustration is key to success. Those relied of pocket telephones either don’t bother to claim offenses to cops instructed to take pity upon oppressed robbers. Decreasing felonies by not reporting them is a testament to the power of positive thinking.

Gloating’s nadir comes when they ruin something with success at enacting demented dreams. Calling Obamacare the law meant they got what they wanted, which was bad for your health. Force leading to coercion means effectiveness in the sickest sense. Everyone’s ill, but at least they’re all covered.

Settled science is anything but. A partisan hack wearing a lab coat can’t be wrong, according to those who think treating it as a faith is how to respect laboratory churches. Proclamations from their prophets are as credible as claiming printing more money will finally defeat inflation. Adherents cling to their psalms like how they pretend to think religious people act. Pretending they’re not in a cult constitutes the chief difference. It must be true if they announce it.

Worshiping humans like true science aficionados is common amongst the cults that treats their nasty dinosaurs as adorable elders. Anthony Fauci and Andrew Cuomo should be sharing a panel in the Phantom Zone.

The party remains the home of despicable tyrants who pretended breathing through cloth and forcing bars to serve food with drinks when they were extended the privilege of being allowed to open would save humanity. It turns out autocracy made life even more perilous. Mocking “Muh rights” as they confiscated them while sickening others in every sense is just a slightly more intense variety of their usual platform.

The side that says what they want happened by proclamation is deeply invested in slogans. Liberals think messaging is why policies are successful, which conforms with their belief that they’re obligated to convince rubes to submit to awesome plans for society. The pushy faction could try ideas that work. But that would involve icky autonomy such as letting subjects keep what they earn and defend themselves from attack.

Liberals despise businesses because they think manipulation is the default setting. How else could greedy profiteers get rich: making items people want? That’s impossible, according to people who had to enter politics. It’s cruel advertising making us desire cheeseburgers and vehicles. Imagine walking around with unprecedented projection on the scale of thinking everyone else is a greedy bastard who’d never give voluntarily to charity, either.

It’s all about phrasing, at least if you can’t achieve anything. Bravely announcing they’re for controversial goals like equality and human rights is why Democrats think anyone who opposes them is out to torch orphanages. Heartless enemies opposing love explains why they’re so dedicated to their policies even though they keep screwing up the world. You are against the poor because you think they could get promotions and at least join the middle class. Democrats think it’s impossible because their policies make it so. I really don’t see any way to fix it but saying it happened.

#Donald Trump #rights #shutdowns #economy #business #health care #health insurance

0 notes

teravarna0 · 13 days ago

Text

What are the Merits of Joining Juried Landscape Art Competitions?

Artists and painters always have a fascination for landscape portrayals and compositions. The love for landscape has its prehistoric roots in the ancient caves and stone walls, with the cave dwellers painting wild bison and calves on the rugged terrains in Spain or ancient Africa, mesmerizing us even today. Landscape painting originally can be traced back to the Greek frescos of Santorini, till the word ‘Landscape’ got much popularity in the nineteenth century. If you are an artist or painter who wishes to have your landscape paintings featured on some of the prestigious juried art shows and landscape painting competition, here are some significant things to consider. Read this blog thoroughly till the end to know how the juried shows on landscape art can give you the much-needed focus and attention, in the new-found ways of landscape portrayal & representation. Here you go -

Contemporary online art platforms like TERAVARNA enhance the networking skills and community building opportunities for the artists and influencers. Not only recognition, artists would also enjoy grants and cash prizes for the showcase of their artworks, if they got selected by the jurors.

Recognition for Landscape Painting and Showcase on the Walls

Once your artwork, be it a large landscape painting or an abstract landscape art gets selected amidst all the other works of art, it feels good to be recognized for all the efforts. In case of themed art competitions like landscape, abstract, or other theme-based shows, there are specialist curators, critics and experts who judge the artworks according to relevance, creativity, and niche skills of an artist. Working with prestigious and esteemed art galleries like TERAVARNA adds more miles, acknowledgement, and credibility to a landscape artist’s portfolio. They can use this experience for future shows and exhibitions.

Motivation and Encouragement of Excellence for Landscape Artworks

The competitive nature of the art shows inspires the artists to put their best skills, innovate techniques, play with forms like non-representational forms, abstract landscape art, black and white landscape painting, etc. It is like pushing the limits of your creativity to end up with something awe-inspiring and remarkable to boost art portfolios.

Unconventional Twist to Landscape Paintings and Compositions

An artist can try improvising techniques like impasto techniques used by Vincent Van Gogh to represent a dense forest or can use the color-field techniques by Mark Rothko to depict an urban landscape. They can always build on the impressionist or abstract expressionism ideas for landscape arts, blending their own perspectives and philosophies. It breathes diversity to the genre and helps other artists to build their canvases with confidence and creative twists.

Feedbacks from Juried Panels Help the Landscape Artists to Grow

Participation in juried art programs and shows prepares an artist in various ways other than just showcasing their artworks on the panel. They learn to prepare artist’s statements, to frame artworks artistically and professionally for a neat presentation. Proper feedback from juried panels and critics can even guide the landscape artist and make room for further improvements, honing their skills.

Having Knowledge of Modern Landscape Painting and Mixing Medias through Art Shows

Participating artists get to know about the contemporary trends, market dynamics for landscape portrayals, work on modern landscape painting techniques, and research on a handful of relevant aspects to make their urban landscape art or a conventional nature portrayal, look appealing. There are various art workshops, panel discussions, art talks organized by reputed art galleries like TERAVARNA so that the artists can know the latest innovations in the genre, like learning how to integrate other media with landscape art. Like, mixing landscape watercolor painting with a piece of sculpture.

Networking and Community Building for the Landscape Artists

One can never ignore the need for networking and community building for an artist to survive in a competitive art marketplace. These juried art shows bring artists, collaborators, influencers, and buyers in the same platform and help them interact to make the whole artistic endeavor a valuable one. They can share ideas within a group of landscape artists, and can reach out to a greater viewership through this conscious effort of art promotion.

Grabbing the Focus and Expanding Reach for Landscape Art Showcase

Established art galleries often look out for fresh talents, so these art shows can be one of the viable sources for a talent hunt, and make great collaborations with influencers and buyers. If someone likes maritime themes or themes of the jungle, a marine landscape or a forest portrayal would be great for thematic collections. Curators also make out the best artworks and promise them future shows or further networking with the art fraternity.

Grants and Cash Rewards for the Chosen Landscape Artworks

Without an incentive, no one can run faster. It is also true for artists eyeing for sales. Juried shows and competitions often confer cash rewards and grants for the emerging landscape artists in landscape painting competitions like the ones organized by TERAVARNA, the renowned contemporary online art gallery.

Conclusion:

Through the visibility of art exhibitions, artists can rope in more sales, as landscape painting is the most popular genre of art with mass universal appeal. Collectors and curators have always loved the vivid portrayal of languid riverside, sunsets, boats on lonesome rivers, silhouettes of trees, etc. to resonate with the masses. For landscape artists, the art not only survives on the gallery walls but also makes room in the million hearts of the viewers.

#abstract landscape art #landscape art #landscape painting #black and white landscape painting

0 notes

dr-drckken · 23 days ago

Text

Day 23: The Final Labor - Survivor AU

Tropes Used: 1. Blindside at Tribal Council 2. Remaining loyal to your tribe members even when you've merged 3. That One Guy who's just really good at fishing 4. Challenge Beast 5. The one person who's really good at the puzzles 6. Shelter make-over 7. Giving away your reward to someone but not because you want them to have it, for other, more nefarious purposes 8. Someone flirts with Jeff (for the purposes of this, this is set beFORE he got married <3) 9. One of the finalists kills their chances by revealing something stupid to the jury who would have otherwise voted for them 10. Power couple: a duo from the beginning of the show makes it a long time through the run by working together and staying loyal, even if it's not in their best interests, and become friends even after filming.

also for reference: 📽️ = a confessional and the italics are Jeff's voice over at the beginning of the episode. okay, thank you for coming.

Fiji. This will be their home for the next 39 days. They must learn to adapt, or they’ll be voted out of the tribe. In the end, only one will be able to claim the million dollar prize. Who will have what it takes to outwit, outplay, and outlast all the rest? 39 days, 18 people, 1 survivor!

Previously on Survivor.

After voting out Skip, Su is having a tough time trusting the people of her former tribe.

“I just don’t get how the voting worked out. It doesn’t make sense. Someone had to have flipped.”

At the reward challenge, Eda had best aim.

“Eda wins reward!”

“Say that again, Jeff, but slower and with your second button undone.”

She decided to take Hatter with her to enjoy a breakfast feast where Eda hatched a plan to get rid of Drakken.

“We’ve gotta get that guy out of here. He’s driving me up a wall. We need to make friends with the one with glasses.”

“...Toby?”

“Wow, you know his name? I’ve just been calling him The Little Guy in my head.”

At the immunity challenge Toby guaranteed himself by defeating all the others in our trivia based game.

“And with that answer, Toby has immunity.”

Back at camp Cruz was feeling vulnerable and tried some last minute strategizing.

“Su, if you can get James, then we can get Drakken this week and probably Toby the week after that.”

But at Tribal Council it wasn’t Cruz who needed to be worried. After playing an immunity idol, Drakken, who had gotten four votes, it was someone else who had to pay the price.

“Gabriella. Your tribe has spoken.”

She became the first member of the jury.

8 are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

The beach was particularly quiet that morning. Where people were usually handing out chores or discussing the events of the previous night, there was only the gentle hot breeze and lapping of the waves.

Hatter sat by the fire, stoking it and building it back up from where it had burned down in the night so that he could get started on breakfast. Su came to sit next to him, resting her chin on her hand.

“Morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” she sighed.

“Sleep alright?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I feel so stupid.”

“Don’t,” he said. “He got all of us.”

“But we’re supposed to be part of his alliance,” she said. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“How could he not have said anything?”

Hatter glanced sideways at her, then up to where the camera was zooming in, giving it a confused a look. Or rather, the camera operator the confused look since he was the one currently listening to this conversation. They offered no response, but Hatter couldn’t really believe the young woman was saying that. About the man who had been playing their team like puppets on strings.

“It’s a game,” he said. “Despite what people may say, we’re all playing to win.”

Su frowned, turning her head to look at him. “You’ve never lied. Even when it probably would have been in your best interest.”

He huffed, “I’m old. Keeping up with all the lies gets too tiring.”

“You’re not that old,” she said. “You’re here! Top 8.”

“Woo!” whooped another voice. James Jones the II slid to the edge of the shelter, reaching into the crate he had been using to keep his prosthetic in to keep it away from the elements as best he could. He began to start putting everything on, “Top 8! Only gets worse from here, lads!”

📽️

CruzSwynlake, UKAthlete

“I’m getting really sick and tired of James’ brand of humor. It’s just so juvenile and annoying. He’s the youngest one here, but only by like a few weeks! You don’t hear my hooping and hollering in the morning after we just sent someone who didn’t deserve to go home. It’s insensitive. Like, sure, we’re all still happy to be here, but have some grace.”

She sighed, looking away from the producers and camera to shake her head with her disappointment.

“I feel so stupid after last night. I’m the reason Gabriella is gone. I had a complete misunderstanding of what we were doing. If I had known what was going on I would never have written her name down and maybe she would still be here...Because if I had written Drakken, like everyone else, then Ken and her would have tied and we could have probably voted James or Su out. I need to talk to Su again. It might be easier to convince her to flip after Toby and Drakken’s stunt last night. I know her biggest ally is James so they’re a package deal but– ugh. I’ll just have to grit my teeth until we can get him out after the other two.”

📽️

When Su asked for help in getting water from the well, Cruz popped up to join her. Everyone eyed them but said nothing.

She noticed James shoot Su a glance, his brows furrowing. Su just smiled and nodded before turning that bright expression to Cruz and nodding to the path to the well.

Cruz waited until they were a ways away from the camp before turning the conversation over into strategy. “Soooo, that Tribal was pretty crazy huh? You guys pulled that blindside off, like, perfectly.”

Su frowned, “I…I didn’t know that’s how they were voting.”

“Really?” Cruz feigned bemusement. She blinked, turning as if to think it over. “But– but there were three votes on Gabriella’s name.”

“I know,” she said. “I don’t get it either.”

“So James didn’t write it?”

“No, we thought we were all voting for Ken,” she admitted. “He’s great around camp and super nice but…the challenges moving forward are probably going to be pretty physical and he’s just so good at them. Only way we have a shot is if there’s puzzles, too.” A beat passed before Su’s eyes widened. “Oh that was so mean! I’m sorry! I think he’s great but–”

Cruz giggled, shaking her head. “No, no. I get it. And you’re right! But that still doesn’t explain where the third vote came from. Are you sure James voted with you?”

“Positive,” she nodded. “Who else would have voted for Ken?”

“Me,” Cruz said.

“You voted for Ken?”

It was a risky move, Cruz knew. But she needed to be risky at this point in the game. “Like you said, he’s a threat. And I thought I was going home last night, so I just wrote him down thinking it would be funny if there was just a random Ken in the pool.”

Su smiled at this then frowned as the implications set in. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t have told me, though…wouldn’t it have been better to have four votes to three? Just in case?”

Cruz made a face, reaching out to touch Su’s arm. “I’m telling you, Su, they don’t trust you. It’s a boy’s club. I saw you this morning, Hatter already likes you and Eda doesn’t care, so long as Drakken is the next one out. And you know Ken.”

“Just happy to be here,” Su nodded. “But what about James?”

“What about James?” Cruz shook her head. “If he’s working with them and didn’t tell you, you can’t trust him anymore.”

Su’s lips pressed together, squishing to one side of her mouth as she approached the well to start collecting the water. They remained silent on the trip back to camp, plenty to think about.

📽️

James Jones the IISwynlake UK Musician

“Hatter and I are the providers of the group, which I enjoy, you know. Everyone lets me take the fishing equipment down to the beach and it’s the only time I have away from the crazy lot. I love them to death, don’t get me wrong, but when you’re stuck with these people for weeks on end and everyone’s all paranoid and biting each other’s heads off all the time– it can get pretty annoying. Sometimes you’ve gotta just get the [BLEEP] away from everyone.”

📽️

Drakken was hard at work improving the camp grounds.

His original design had served his original tribe well, but since he had the time and energy, he decided it was time for an upgrade. They still had weeks left on the beach and he intended to spend it in as much comfort as he could muster.

He had adapted pretty well to using the tools he had created from the wood of the trees and the rocks he’d found lying around. It made it easier to collect more supplies, and of course Toby had no problems helping when Drakken asked. Even Eda pitched in.

“But only if you can make me a hammock,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“That can be arranged.”

He enjoyed these days in between Tribal and the challenges. It meant they could try to recuperate, though it was hard in these conditions. Still, they water and James and Hatter always brought in enough food for everyone, Hatter preparing it and Su learning the ropes with his guidance. They didn’t have to worry about the basics, just about the constant bugs and heat.

It quickly became a team effort, with Ken offering his help as soon as he saw Toby struggling with the wood he had collected.

The only person who wasn’t helping was Cruz.

He didn’t know where she had disappeared to but it was clear that the rest of the camp was wondering where her extra pair of hands had decided they would be better used for, too. Which was fine by him.

He knew that the former Kaven tribe was his biggest fan and that they had been targeting him since their merge. It was why he had been over the moon that Toby, his greatest ally, had taken the former immunity challenge, ensuring their safety after he played the idol he had been lugging around with him since the beginning of their time here. He hadn’t needed to use it, as his tribe had been filled with people better suited to leave before himself.

It had just been good fortune that they had won about the same amount of challenges as the Kaven tribe, trading Tribal Councils back and forth until they’d each been whittled down to nine people in total. Drakken had needed to form a strategy to get one of them to flip so that his tribe wouldn’t be picked off one by one, keeping them from the final five.

And, as it turned out, they hadn’t needed to do much.

He had known within five minutes of speaking with Toby that he was in the presence of someone who would be able to manipulate the social game of this experience as if it were a mere blade of grass between his fingers. The best part was that everyone underestimated him because, well– Drakken had to be honest, he didn’t exactly have the presence of someone to be fearful of. It was why Drakken had approached him in the first place, thinking he would be easy to get on his side if only he showed him some extension of friendship.

They had been a perfect pairing, if Drakken did say so himself. Drakken would point the finger and Toby would lay the groundwork in getting the person to fold in on themself and get everyone else to send them home.

After Toby had own immunity and Su and James had said they should vote Ken, Drakken had agreed with them. But saw another opportunity after Su had informed everyone that Cruz had said she thought she was who was next on the chop and block. Clearly there was a misunderstanding between her and the other former Kaven’s and with a simple push, they had gotten her to send Gabriella home instead.

The only problem moving forward from there would be getting Su and James to trust them again after betraying them and not getting Ken out. Drakken agreed that the furniture maker needed to go, a threat to everyone aside from perhaps Eda as far as physical challenges went, but it had been a much more elegant way of getting Gabriella out. And, at the end of the day, this was a game! Drakken wanted to play at a higher level than just getting the easy target out.

When James had returned with his catches of the day, they had made a good dent in the refurbishments to the camp. The shelter was getting built out, allowing them more room, and had a better constructed roof that would protect them against any rain that decided to roll in. They had made another fire pit so that food could be made faster for everyone, instead of having to go one at a time. Drakken had even been able to start assembling the bases for raised beds for everyone.

And, of course, he had made Eda her hammock, which she laid in while Hatter and Su began cooking the fish, as well as the coconuts Hatter had acquired

📽️

EdaThe Boiling Isles, Ingary

“I hate admitting this but I guess I will since he won’t see this until it airs– but Drakken isn’t kidding around when he says he knows his way around a tool box. He was over there drawing his ideas in the sand, explaining it to everyone. I didn’t really understand but, hey, if he was going to make the rest of the stay here that much more comfortable, I wasn’t going to stop him. And if this is what he can do with a bunch of sticks, a hatchet, and a rock for a hammer, then what can he do with an actual tool box?

“Don’t get me wrong, I still want him gone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get something out of his time left here, right?”

📽️

Before anyone knew it, they were traveling to meet with Jeff for their reward challenge.

Eda, who had been keeping up the bit of flirting with the host ever since they had met, blew the man a kiss. To which Jeff cracked a smile and reached up to catch it, stuffing it in one of his shirt’s breast pockets and patting it.

“Come on in everyone,” Jeff said, putting his hands back on his hips as everyone fell into line across from him. “Let’s get to it. For today’s reward challenge, you’ll take part in an obstacle course. You’ll be running in teams of four, which you will draw for. Throughout the course will be bags of puzzle pieces you will be racing for. On my go, both members will race for their bags, come back up to this platform to place their bags at your team’s table and tag in your next team member who will jump down into an awaiting net to begin their part of the course. Once you have all the pieces, you will use them to solve a puzzle. The puzzle will help you solve a combination lock. The first person to finish and raise their flag will wins reward. Do you guys want to know what you’re playing for?”

Everyone nodded.

“The team who wins will get to hop aboard our luxury yacht where there will be a buffet style meal waiting for them. Now, let’s draw for teams,” Jeff said, picking up and shaking the bag full of black and white rocks.

One by one the contestants stuck their hand inside and pulled out a rock, resulting in two teams of four.

Toby, Hatter, Su and Cruz on one team. Eda, Ken, James, and Drakken on the other.

“Here we go!” Jeff yelled from his spot on the platform beside the puzzle tables. “Looks like we have James and Su going up against one another to start us off.”

“Good luck!” Su smiled, waving at James.

“You, too, Su-Su,” James grinned back before the both of them turned and set their sights on the ledge they were jumping off of

“Survivors ready! Go,” Jeff said, lifting a hand above his head.

“Su and James, neck and neck. Both of them struggling to get out of the net, but it seems like Su’s got her footing a little before James has rolled out of the net. Didn’t look too graceful but whatever works. Su with her edge is pulling herself across the way to get to her bag, and it looks like James is going to be able to catch up with her here. Su working to untie her bag. Oh, it looks like James has already got his and is getting back across the line. Su has hers now, too, close behind.

“James makes it to the staircase first, but Su is right behind him. Both of them bounding up these steps, able to tag in their teammates as soon as those bags are on the table. And there goes Eda, down into the net. Toby goes right after. Also doesn’t have the most graceful of landings, where Eda is already making her way across the ropes. Balance always impeccable–”

“Thank you, Jeff!”

“Toby is up and finally over to the ropes, but Eda is getting her bag loose. Seems to be struggling with that knot, though, as Toby stumbled his way under that tunnel. Eda has her bag and is back under, trying to get across those ropes once again. Toby has his bag and– oh, putting it in his mouth. Okay, I guess that’s one way to do it. Eda is through the ropes and making her way to the stairs. Toby is still struggling. Here comes Eda, a few more steps and she has her bag down tagging in Ken who– whoa! Ken dives head first into the net. Dangerous play but it seemed to work out as he is already up and out of it

“Toby finally making his way to the stairs but Ken is already out of the net and hopping with seemingly no problems across the obstacle. Cruz finally able to tag in and makes quick work of the net.. Ken with his bag is starting to make his way back but Cruz , who has her foot on the gas pedal, is working on getting her bag already. Here comes Ken up the stairs. Cruz, who has single handedly made up for a lot of lost time for her team, is right there!

“Now Hatter is tagged in, and Drakken. The last of the bags need to be collecting before the teams can get started on this puzzle that will give them a clue on how to solve the number lock. Both Drakken and Hatter having a little trouble getting up and out of the net, but manage. Hatter looks like he has a slight edge up on Drakken as they make their way across the bridge. Here we go, who is going to get their bag first? Looks like it’s going to be Hatter, who is starting to come back across his bridge. Drakken now, too. They still have a long stretch of stairs to climb up, which should not be underestimated. After all this time spent out in the elements, testing the body physically and mentally, a stretch of stairs is brutal. But they both have made it up and have their final bag for their team!

“You must first solve the puzzle, then follow the instructions. Here’s where the mental game starts, after all that running, you gotta keep your head and not panic so you can fit these pieces together before the other team. Drakken is quickly getting on it, as usual. Toby, Cruz, Su, and Hatter working through the puzzle. Everyone on Drakken’s team seems to be letting him do the work while all four on the other team are trying to work together. Drakken seems to be making a lot of progress though. It’s going to come down to who can finish this the fastest. Right now it looks like Drakken has the leg up. This puzzle contains clue, these clues will help you solve the combination lock. That lock will release your flag, and that team will be rewarded with an afternoon on a luxury boat with a full buffet. It’s that simple, and it’s that complicated.

“Drakken continues to make progress on his team’s puzzle, but the other teams looks close, too but they need to pick it up. Looks like Drakken has…solved the puzzle! Now his team is trying to solve the clues. Everything you need is right there, if they read them, they will be given the answers to solve the combination lock. Eda jumps back off into the net to go seek out information, Ken going with her.

“Looks like the other team has their puzzle together and are trying to read the clues. Ken is back from wherever he went to tell Drakken something. Now Drakken already has four of the six numbers they need and here comes Eda back up the steps. Does she have the right information? Drakken is putting in the last two numbers, given to him by Eda, giving it a try. Will it work? It does! Eda, Drakken, James, and Cruz win reward!” Jeff yelled, tossing up his hands with the double peace signs far above his head.

Once everyone had gathered back down at the bottom for production, the winning team standing next to Jeff while the other four sat down on a log, Jeff spoke again. “Alright, to review, you four have won an evening aboard a yacht where you will have access to a full buffet meal. You can keep it for yourself, but if you want to give it up to someone else, you can do that as well.”

“I’m keeping it,” Eda is quick to say.

James and Ken nod their agreement.

Drakken, though, raises his hand. “I’ll give mine to Cruz.”

This startled everyone. Even Jeff’s eyes widened.

“Cruz?”

“Yes,” Drakken confirmed. “She worked really hard to give her team a fair shot, and hasn’t been on a reward at all this whole game. I think she needs it more than I do.”

“Okay,” Jeff said. “Drakken is giving his reward up to Cruz, everyone else is keeping theirs. The yacht will pick you four up. Everyone else, good effort. Head on back to camp.”

📽️

DrakkenSan Antonio, Texas

“Everyone might be thinking, why would I give my reward up to the girl who didn’t lift a finger to help us spruce up the camp? Well, to be honest, I think it will be good to send her with those three. James will stay loyal to Su. That much has been clear to me since the beginning. They’re two peas in a pod. Which is great, but Toby and I need to get her back on our side. If we have her, then we have James, too. And Su is close to Hatter. She might be able to get him to flip. Meanwhile, I know Cruz is going to be on that boat as the only person who didn’t earn her place there. That will create resentment. At least, I believe it will. Ken probably doesn’t have the brain width to care, but Eda and James will. Especially if she’s talking to them, trying to be positive like she always is. That’s not their personalities. It will just grate on them. It’s perfect! Sure, I miss out on food, but what else is new?

“And I didn’t want to go if Toby couldn’t come. This way I can continue working on the beds I’ve designed. Hopefully get them together before the next Immunity challenge.”

📽️

Almost comically, Drakken’s predictions go exactly as he had thought they would.

While Ken was busy putting away plate after plate of food, Cruz attempted to cozy back up to Eda, who didn’t want to hear it. Her attempts to talk to James are futile as well, as he kept his mouth full or gave her monosyllabic answers to any questions or offers she threw out.

Back on the beach, the remaining four carry on with chores around camp. As soon as Hatter disappeared into the forest, no doubt to go collect his usual run of fruits and other plants, Drakken and Toby sit down to help Su start cutting up coconuts.

Drakken cut right to the chase. “We’re sorry we didn’t tell you or James about the vote.”

“Why didn’t you?” Su accused.

“Because we knew you were close with Gabriella,” Toby admitted.

“And you didn’t think I would vote with her? Even if it was with you guys?”

“No,” Drakken said. “We didn’t want you to have to vote for her.”

Su frowned. “But it would have guaranteed you sent her home if you had my vote as a fourth.”

“Three was enough.”

She sighed and then nodded. “So now what? You guys are back to talking to me again? Just like that? Because you need me?”

“Yes,” Drakken said, uncaring that it may have seemed weak. This was the game. “And you need us. You have James, sure, but you know everyone will be wanting to vote me off. The last Tribal showed that. And if I go, then they’ll pick you three off one by one.”

“You think they’re still loyal to one another?”

“Seems to be that way,” Drakken shrugged. “We are.”

“Are we?”

“Only if you want to be,” Toby said.

“And,” Drakken added, glancing over his shoulder in the direction Hatter had gone. “If you can get Mr. Hatter to flip, we can save ourselves another round here.”

“But…then who are we voting out? Ken?”

Toby and Drakken glanced sideways at one another.

“Assuming he doesn’t win immunity, sure. If not, we’ll have to think about someone else,” Drakken said. “But do you think you can convince Mr. Hatter?”

“I don’t think I need to convince him,” Su said. “He’s smart. He knows Ken will go on an Immunity run if we let him. If I let him know that’s what you guys are doing, he’ll probably agree to take the opportunity to get him out while we can. And–! Him and Eda are friends, he would probably tell her, too.”

“Perfect,” Drakken smiled and then stood. “Alright! Well, I’m going to get back to work. Let me know if you need anything.”

Su nodded, and her and Toby continued cracking coconuts, discussing movies together until Hatter returned to start cooking their dinner, which wasn’t a buffet, but it was

📽️

KenDallas, Texas

“Where do you guys get your food! That stuff was great! I think I are at least– I don’t know ten steaks? I mean, I felt like puking by the time I was done, but James had challenged me to that watermelon off and I couldn’t say no.”

📽️

“Come on in guys!” Jeff said, watching the contestants make their way across the beach toward him. As everyone lined up, he made his way over to Toby. “First things first, I’ll take back the idol.”

Toby presented the necklace of feathers, beads, and plates of metal back to Jeff, who walked it back over to rest on a post where it would remain until the winner of that day’s challenge would get to claim it. “Once again, Immunity, back up for grabs. Okay! Let’s get to today’s challenge. You are going to be attached to a rope that it attached to a precariously balanced bucket of water above your heads. If you drop your arm, the bucket of water will fall, and you will be out. The last person to let their water rain down will win Immunity and be guaranteed a spot in the final seven. Losers, Tribal Council, where someone will become the second member of our jury.”

Once everyone was fastened into the bracelets, their arms stretched up above their heads, Jeff raised his hand.

“And begin.”

Silence stretched over the contestants aside from the occasional sniff.

After the first twenty minutes passed, Jeff started to walk around.

“Feeling anything James? Back starting to get to you a little?”

“Yeah,” the boy nodded, reaching up to push his buff back out of his eyes. He’d been wearing it there like a sweat band to keep his curls from sticking to his forehead and out of his eyes. “But it’s mainly my ass that’s hurting.”

“What?” Jeff laughed a little. “Why’s that?”

On either side of James, Ken and Eda laughed, too.

“They know. They were there,” James smiled. “You see, Jeff, yesterday when I was on that big fancy boat, I slipped on deck and smacked my butt against the floor.”

“Oooh,” Jeff winced.

“Exactly,” James nodded.

“Well hang in there,” he said and moved along to where Eda was waiting for him. “How are you today, Eda?”

“I’m wonderful now that you’re here, Jeffery, how are you?”

“I’m doing good,” he smiled.

“Ugh, careful, you show me those dimples any longer and I’m going to have to dump this bucket of cold water all over me.”

Jeff ducked his head, quick to move along to where Drakken was standing, who was quick to point out, “Eda, you made him blush!”

Toby was the first one out, his bucket coming down at the half hour mark. But as soon as his tipped, so did Su’s. The pair of them went to go sit on the shaded wood benches off to the side, smiling and shaking their heads at one another as they wiped their water logged faces off.

Drakken’s came next at around 45 minutes, and then Hatter’s just before the hour.

After an hour and a half, James started singing.

“What is that?” Drakken asked, looking to Su who was rolling her eyes.

“Baby Shark,” she groaned and then cupped her hands around her mouth. “Shut up! You’re going to get that stuck in my head.

James only got louder.

At two hours, Jeff was back and he had a plate with a cheeseburger on it. “Wouldn’t be Survivor without a little temptation.”

“Come on, Jeff!” James said. “That’s just cruel, man.”

“What are you talking about? You just had a full buffet not too long ago,” Jeff shot back.

“I was talking about the other ones over there.”

“You could give it to them, if you got out,” the host goaded. “It might not win you Immunity, but it could get you a vote in your favor.”

“Sneaky, sneaky, Probst,” James shook his head, but did cast a glance over to where the other four were all sitting out.

“Don’t do it, James!” Su called out. “Hang in there!”

James looked back to Jeff, smiling, “You heard her.”

Jeff moved along, holding the plate underneath Ken and Cruz’s noses. But when everyone passed it up he wandered over to Hatter, Drakken, Toby, and Su to hand off the plate. They each took turns taking a bite until it was all gone.

Cruz’s bucket came down about half an hour later.

Unfortunately, when Jeff brought out a plate of chocolate chip cookies, James was quick to take the plate. He brought it over to the bench to share the spread and watch as Eda and Ken continued to hang in there.

“Come on, Ken,” Eda started to haggle at four hours in. “You know you want to.”

“I do,” he nodded but offered nothing else after this, going back to staring at nothing.

Eda huffed. As simple minded as he was, sometimes it sure didn’t work in anyone’s favor but his own since he wasn’t even picking up that she was trying to talk smack to him.

Finally, after the six hour mark, Eda’s bucked wavered and fell over her head.

“Ken wins Immunity!” Jeff called from his spot on the ground under some trees, he pushed himself to his feet. “Eda put up a good fight, but in the end, Ken takes it.”

Ken smiled wide, undoing his wrist band to meet Jeff and bend down a little for the host to put the idol around his neck.

“Safe from tonight’s vote, three more days out here. Immunity is valuable, as you know, and you can assign it to someone else if you want. You’ll have this afternoon to think about it. Everyone, you can head back to camp, but I will be seeing you again tonight for Tribal Council.”

📽️

TobyGlen Waverley, Australia

“Since Ken has Immunity, we had to rethink what we’re going to do for tonight. It was actually a lot more simple than I thought it was going to be. Su and James agreed with Drakken and I, and then Su said that she would talk to Hatter and see where his head was at. I didn’t necessarily have the best feeling she’d be able to convince him to vote with us, but that’s probably because the man’s only ever said a few words to me. He’s quite scary when he wants to be, have you noticed?

“Anyway– I about had a heart attack when both he and Eda came over to me while I was on the beach. I thought I was going to be the first person murdered on this show. But they were just coming to see what the deal was that Su was trying to talk them about. I explained it better and I think we’ve all agreed on what to do. I asked if they wanted to include Ken in on it but they said they’d talk to him. So. We’ll see. If not, I’m confident we’ll have four votes. But if they’ve got four votes…we’ll see.”

📽️

CruzSwynlake, UK

“So I saw Su talking to Hatter while they were making dinner and thought, Hmm, because soon after he got up and went to poke Eda, who also got up and walked with him down to the beach. Now, they had told me that we were going to vote for Toby because I didn’t want to vote for Drakken after he gave me his reward. But if Su was still loyal to him and Drakken, I wanted to know if she was trying to get Hatter to flip because the only other option would have been for me or Eda since Ken has Immunity!

“I go over to Su and get the scoop. Turns out Su and James are the ones who are flipping on Drakken and wanted to let them know that if they vote Drakken, they were with them. And I was like–” Cruz put a hand to her chest, breathing out and then smiling wide. “Woo! I mean, yeah, I feel bad but it’s a good move. If we blind side him then it’s a great move, and we get him out. Then we just have to get Toby out, which will be easy, and their votes will go to whoever makes it to the end. And I plan on one of those someone’s being me.”

📽️

Everyone took their seats on the benches at Tribal Council after placing their torches in their designated holds. Jeff watched them from the other side of the fire, the flames higher than usual.

“We’ll now bring in the first member of the jury.”

Gabriella walked out, looking clean and lovely in a sundress. Her hair was down around her shoulders, bangs no longer in the disarray everyone had gotten to know as she spent time out in the water with James fishing, the salt water and sun drying it oddly. An interpreter joined her. She smiled and waved, beaming at Su and Cruz as she took her seat.

“Gabriella is here merely to observe, gathering information to help him make a very important vote at the final Tribal Council,” Jeff went on before taking his own seat on the cushioned stool. “Okay. You all have been out here for a long time now. Toby, is there anyone in this tribe you couldn’t survive without?”

Instantly, the man’s finger pointed to James, “This one. His ability to catch fish and do it every day might be the only reason I haven’t died. I think we’d be in much worse conditions without him. Or Hatter.”

“Eda, how important are James’ fishing abilities, would you say?”

“Very important,” she agreed, turning to wink at the kid who smiled back at her. “Yeah, I mean, he and Hatter are the hunter gatherers. Hatter and Su do the cooking. I’m not complaining at all.”

“Would you say there’s anyone here who’s getting a free ride?” Jeff asked. “Are you?”

“I pull my weight, everyone here does, honestly. Drakken over here has been renovating the camp in his free time and we’ve all been pitching in to help,” Eda said. “Well. Almost everyone.”

“What’s that mean?”

Eda shrugged, grinning. “It means what it means, Jeffery.”

“You’re not going to name names?”

“They know who they are. Everyone does.”

“I don’t!” Jeff grinned, making everyone laugh. “But okay, I get it. Ken, you have Immunity. It’s yours to keep, or give away to someone else. If you want to.”

“I’ll keep it,” Ken said.

“Wise decision,” Jeff said. “Alright, that being said, Ken cannot be voted for tonight. Everyone else is fair game. It is time to vote. Cruz, you’re up.”

One by one, everyone rose from their seats to go write down a name and put it into the vase with the other votes. When they had all done it, Jeff went to grab the vase and bring it over to the little table in the place his stool had once sat.

“Once the votes are read, the decision is final. The person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I’ll read the votes,” he said and took the lid off. Jeff took a paper out, turning it around to face them. “First vote. Toby.”

Drakken reached over to put a hand on his shoulder and Toby smiled at him before they both looked back to Jeff who pulled out the next paper. “Drakken. One vote Toby, one vote Drakken.”

Cruz turned her had, glancing over at the pair, feeling a little smug.

But neither of them looked worried. She blinked and turned her eyes to the other players there. The only person who did look a little confused was Ken but– when didn’t he look confused at Tribal Council?

“Cruz,” said Jeff, making her head snap in his direction, eyebrows raising. “One vote Toby, one vote Drakken, one vote Cruz.”

He pulled out the next paper.

“Cruz.”

And the next.

“Cruz.”

And the next two, which all read Cruz.

“The ninth person voted out of their tribe,” Jeff said and turned the paper over to reveal another one that read Cruz. “Cruz. You need to bring me your torch.”

Numbly she stood up, pulled her torch from its spot, and carried it over to Jeff. She looked over the other players, and saw Eda smiling at her. Cruz couldn’t believe it. She had been the blind side all along? Cruz blinked, her stomach sinking, as she faced Jeff.

“Cruz, your tribe has spoken,” he told her and put out the fire of her torch. Smoke replaced the flames as Cruz walked down the path away from Tribal Council, still trying to work out where exactly she had gone wrong. The host addressed those that remained, “You guys can head back to camp. Good night.”

----

36 days ago, 16 contestants began the adventure of a lifetime. Wearing only their street clothes they journeyed to Fiji where they were thrown into their first challenge. Literally.

“You will jump off this boat and swim to gather the supplies you and your tribe will need to survive your time on the beach.”

Right from the beginning the Kaven Tribe were antagonistic and refused to work together, while the Jaber Tribe seemed to click instantly. Once at camp, the Jabers continued to do well, using their strengths to come together to help one another. The Kaven Tribe were finally able to find their footing after Eda emerged as a leader and got everyone to work together to build a shelter that would keep them dry those first nights.

The tribes traded the Immunity Idol back and forth throughout the first days, but each would see half of their tribes eliminated as the days wore on. On day 21 the game changed and the two tribes were merged. They became the Anabars.

Old alliances broke down when Cruz made a few dangerous mistakes. First, in being the one to help vote out Gabriella and making her the first member of the jury. Then, when trying to convince Su that she was the one that voted with her, accidentally exposed herself as being a liar.

“She said what?” James yelped, only to get Su’s hand pressed to his mouth.

“Shh!” Su hushed. “Obviously I know she’s lying. Your handwriting is too distinct.”

In the end, Cruz was the next to go as the former Jabers convinced two of the former Kavens to vote with them to get her out of the game.

Hatter and Eda made a pact to stay together. And Drakken, Toby, Su, and James continued their bond in having once been in a tribe together. Uneasy with the bond they seemed to have, Eda used Hatter to try to break Su away from Drakken and Eda, and bringing her alliance with James along with her.

Meanwhile, Ken continued to dominate and won three consecutive Immunity challenges.

“Ken wins Immunity!”

“Once again, Ken wins Immunity, guaranteeing himself a spot in the final four!”

Three tight duos continued to battle it out, trying to break one another up. Eda and Hatter versus James and Su versus Toby and Drakken. Loyalties ran deep as everyone tried to convince Ken to be their third vote. But in the end, Drakken was able to convince Su and James to vote with him and Toby to get Eda out, breaking up her and Hatter.

Only then, with James and Su thinking they would take Hatter out next, Drakken got Hatter on his and Toby’s side, along with bringing in Ken, to vote out James.

The last of the duos standing, it was Toby who went home next, as Su, Ken, and Hatter came together to break them up.

After that Hatter went next as Drakken was able to convince Ken to vote with him after giving Ken the reward challenge of seeing his loved one.

The final Immunity challenge resulted in an upset, as Drakken took the Immunity Idol, leaving Su and Ken to start preparing for the Fire Building Challenge to see who would get to join Drakken as the final two survivors to plead their case to the jury. It seemed that everyone, even Ken, knew Su, who had been starting fires throughout their stay here alongside Hatter to prepare meals, would be taking the victory.

In another surprise, Drakken gave his Immunity to Ken.

“I’ll be making fire against Su tonight, Jeff.”

“Wow.”

And in a memorable Fire Making Challenge, it was Drakken who took the lead, leaving Su to become apart of the final jury who will vote tonight to see who will be the sole survivor.

“Drakken. Ken. We will now bring in our final jury,” Jeff said, listing out the names of the former players as they filed in to fill the benches. “Gabriella, Cruz, Eda, Hatter, Toby, James, and Su.”

Jeff also took a seat, smiling at the pair. “Welcome to your final Tribal Council. The game changes tonight as you are no longer in control. That power belongs to your former Tribe members, seven people that you had a hand in voting out of this game now control your fate entirely. Your task tonight will be to convince this jury that you are the most worthy of the title of Sole Survivor and the million-dollar prize. Here’s how it will work, I’ll give you the chance to make an opening statement. That will be your time to convince your jury that you’re worthy. The jury will then get an opportunity to ask you a question. You’ll then get to make a final rebuttal. After hearing your responses the jury will vote. The biggest vote in 39 days is going to happen tonight. Ready to get started?”

Ken smiled, nodding, “Let’s go!”

“Okay, with that enthusiasm, Ken, why don’t you go first?”

“Hi, everyone,” Ken said as he turned to face them. “I’m really happy to get to see you all again. Pondaosa looks like it’s been treating you all very well. So, I feel like I deserve to win because I’ve shown that I am a survivor! I’ve won the most Immunity challenges, and I think everyone can agree that I was able to get Kraven a lot of those wins. I may not have been as good at catching fish as James, or could cook like Su or Hatter could, but I helped where I could. And I was always a team player! Any time anyone came to me with a plan, I would back them 100%. I never doubled back on my word, even when the people I thought I could trust left me out of their decisions. But my strategy was to make sure I could be the go-to guy and for those last few Tribal Councils, I was that guy. I was the one you all came to me, hoping to get my vote.”

Jeff nodded, then gestured, “Drakken.”

“I know many of you here don’t like me. Either I was too assertive for your taste or you didn’t like the way I spoke to you. That’s fine. I accept that. But I want to ask you all to think about this game and all that I have done. I found two Hidden Idols, using one to save a fellow teammate of mine at the beginning and then myself while me and Toby were able to get Cruz to willy nilly write a name she didn’t even think would mean anything, until she wound up voting with us and getting Gabriella voted off. Then I was able to blindside Cruz herself and get her own tribe alliance to flip on her. And, it was thanks to me that we all had beds to sleep on instead of the ground for those last fatiguing days at the camp. I think I deserve to win because I played a smart game. When given the opportunity, I didn’t just walk in here because I couldn’t be voted out. I chose to earn it and show why I deserve to win. I can make shelter, I can build a fire, I can designate the work where it needs to go, and I can survive all 39 days without going on a single reward challenge.”

“Jury,” Jeff said, “in a moment you’re going to have a chance to ask Drakken and Ken a question that will help you decide who you think should be the Sole Survivor. We’ll give you a second to think about what you want to say.”

Time passed and when those fifteen minutes were up, Jeff spoke again.

“Alright, jury, the goal here is to gain information to help you make an important vote. So do not waste this opportunity.”

“Why are you looking at me?” James asked.

Jeff shrugged, “I was just making sure you were paying attention. Gabriella, you’re up first.”

The girl stood, her interpreter standing beside her, translating aloud as she signed, “Congratulations, you guys.”

“Thank you,” Ken smiled while Drakken nodded in reply.

“Ken,” Gabriella signed, “you were given the Immunity Idol at the end and a free pass to sit here. Why should I give you the million dollars when Drakken decided to earn his way here?”

“Well, I don’t think I got a free pass. I think I earned my way here, too. I won the Immunity challenges to get here which, you all know, are no easy task. Especially when going up against people like Eda, who is an absolute power house, or Su, who is deceptively fast! There were some close calls in there, but I managed and I think that should count for something.”

Gabriella nodded, “Thank you. Drakken, my question for you, do you think you would have made it this far without Toby?”

“Honestly? No, I don’t think so,” he shook his head, glancing over at the man in question. He smiled as he spoke, “Toby served as my filter for a lot of the game. I think without him, my first Tribe would have voted me out a long long time ago. But he was able to help me and advocate for me. I appreciate him a lot, but I will say that it was because I didn’t underestimate him like everyone else that I was able to bring him to the forefront of this game as well. We worked together. Without him, I wouldn’t be here, but without me, he wouldn’t have gotten this far either, and I think he would agree.”

Toby nodded earnestly when Gabriella turned to check. “Okay, thank you.”

“Thank you,” Drakken signed back, making Gabriella smile as she returned to her seat.

“Cruz,” Jeff beckoned. She bounced up and over, waving.

“Hi!” she grinned. “So, I’m actually super impressed with the both of you! But my question is super basic and it’s for both of you. What would you do with the million dollars?”

Drakken cleared his throat, indicating he was going to answer first, “I’m a science teacher, and in my time in that profession I recognize that education is vital. But it’s so underfunded it’s ridiculous. So, while I would use a portion of that money on myself and mom, who deserves to be papered a little, I would also try to find politicians and organizations to help that would start the fire burning on education again. We are in dire need of it. Kids should be given the resources they need to, forgive the pun, survive in this world. We’ve failed them, but I want to try to make up for it. Or at least start to.”

“Wow, that was…that’s a really good answer,” Ken nodded before blowing out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “I think I would donate it all.”

“All of it?” Cruz questioned. “You wouldn’t take any of it for yourself?”

“Nah,” Ken shrugged.

“Wow,” Jeff said.

“It’s not like I need it.”

There was a round of silence that passed over the scene and Ken frowned, looking around at the shocked faces, mouths agape.

“What do you mean?”’

“Well, I’m pretty well off,” Ken said like this was obvious. “My family’s business is big! Carson’s furniture.”

“Carson’s Furniture company? That’s what you meant by you’re a carpenter?” Eda said from the benches.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Jeff cut in. “If you want to ask a question, Eda, you’ll have to wait your turn.”

“Sorry, Jeffery,” she said, holding up her hands.

“Cruz, if you’ll return to your seat. Eda.”

The older woman replaced Cruz’s spot, “So, Ken, you’re rich? Why are you even here?”

“I’ve always loved the show! I thought it would be fun. I liked getting to meet everyone and make friends, it was a really nice time.”

Eda blinked her eyes in disbelief, laughing in a way that sounded more like a scoff. “Right…great. Okay, well, Drakken, why did you decide you wanted to build fire against Su when you already had Immunity?”

“I wanted to show everyone that I earned my place here. We were all aware that apart from Hatter that Su was the best fire maker out of us. If I won, it would be another thing to add to my resume. It was risky, but I spent the whole game making risky plays. I was able to get out James and Hatter with these strategies. High risk means high reward and since I’m over here, and you all are over there, it worked out.”

Eda shook her head, “Do you always have to be such an ass?”

Drakken smiled, “I think Jeff told you that you only had one question to spare.”

Eda stuck out her tongue to him.

“Satisfied?” Jeff prompted.

Eda turned, giving him a once over, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Jeff blinked then quickly recovered, waving her on. “Sit down. James, you’re up.”

“Alright, how about you guys tell me why the other one doesn’t deserve to win the million dollars? Ken, you can go first,” James said.

Ken made a face, looking at Drakken, who laughed at him. “Come on, you were asked, you have to answer.”

“I don’t know!” Ken shrugged helplessly. “I– I mean he was kinda mean and disrespectful a lot of the time but everyone would say stuff!”

“Not you, Ken,” Su piped up.

“That can’t be true,” he shook his head.

“No, I think it is,” Drakken agreed. “You’re pretty much the only one here who didn’t make enemies.”

“Yeah,” James nodded. “We all hate you because you’re so fit and still manage to look like that after nearly 40 days on a beach with only fish and coconuts to eat.”

Ken laughed, rubbing at his bearded face.

“My answer to this question,” Drakken said, “would be to cite what Ken just said. He doesn’t need the money. He’s already rich, he came here for the experience, which he already got.”

James nodded, lower lip jutting out, and returned to his place.

“Toby,” Jeff nodded. Toby rose from his spot, stumbling a little as he stepped down from the second row, but recovering as he made his way to the designated spot for the camera.

“How you going?” he greeted, smiling at them. “Ken, I have really admired your optimism throughout this whole experience. Honestly, some days I would get up and not want to be sitting in the sand or doing those hard challenges every few days, or getting in my head, paranoid about who was thinking what, but through it all you were always so positive. Always just– so happy to be there! How did you do that?”

“Thank you, man. That– that means a lot to me,” Ken said, having to swallow to clear his throat, which had become tight with emotion. “Um, I don’t know! That’s just kind of who I am. Like I said, I wanted to be on this show because I’ve always liked watching it and thought it was such an honor to be chosen. And the people I got to be on it with! I know this sounds corny, or whatever, but I love you guys. You were the reasons I wanted to get up in the mornings. James and Eda’s jokes, Drakken making some really funky contraptions with nothing but leaves and sticks. Hatter and Su able to make fish not feel like the same dish over and over again. And you, Toby, you would always come talk to me about some really deep stuff– yeah. That’s my answer. You guys.”

“Thank you,” Toby said and then turned his attention to Drakken. They smiled at one another, obvious warmth between them. “Hi.”

“Hello, Tobias,” Drakken said getting a round of chuckles from the group.

“I don’t really have a question for you because I think we all know we were close and I know a lot about you by now. I just wanted to say that I’m so grateful for this experience and that you decided to come talk to me that day you did, because– well I’ve never had a best friend. I’ve never had a friend, so I didn’t know what that was like growing up. But I finally do and even though I didn’t win, I still feel like I did, since I know you. You made me a better person, showed me I was capable of things I didn’t think I was. And I really appreciate that.”

Drakken, who had gone glassy eyed, merely nodded his head and turned away, rubbing at his eyes with his sleeve.

“Thank you, Toby. That was– very emotional,” Jeff commented. “Hatter, you’re next.”

Hatter stayed where he was seated, “I don’t have any questions.”

“Really?” Jeff asked. “You’ve already made up your mind?”

Hatter nodded.

“Okay then,” Jeff said. “Su, that leaves you.”

She stood up, smiling at them. “First, I just wanted to say congratulations to the both of you! It was really great getting to be there at the end with you both, so…um, but yeah! So for me, this is coming down between Ken having the survivability and physicality of the game, but Drakken, you having the strategic and mental game. I want to know why you think those strengths should win out over the other?”

“The game is called Survivor,” Ken said. “Right? In order to survive, you need to know certain things. How to build shelter, get water, start a fire, and get food. As well as being able to survive the elements. I think through these challenges and our time at camp, I’ve shown I’m capable of that. And I didn’t really have the strategies that other people did. I wasn’t even aware of that stuff going on! But I’m here, and that’s because of my abilities, physically.”

“Ken’s right, there are a lot of advantages someone of his physic are afforded,” Drakken said. “But, he played an easier game than me. I don’t think the challenges are easy, obviously, they’re designed by the team here to drive us out of our minds and to each other’s throats! That’s only a small portion of the game though. The thing that makes this show, this whole concept, continue on is the fact that there are different people here each time. No one person is the same, no one season of this show is the same because of the different cast. That’s what makes it interesting, seeing how we play against all these different people. And that’s where I think I thrived. It’s a greater strength to have than any amount of the physicality because while I could have lost all the challenges, so long as I tugged the right chords with people, I was able to make it here. And at the end of the day, it’s the social aspect that is going to decide, because you all are going to be biased one way or another, and it’s the people who will vote. Not any challenge between us. Otherwise they’d have us facing off right now instead of doing this, right?”

“Okay,” Su nodded, one corner of her mouth curling up. “Thank you!”

“Thanks, Su,” Jeff said, letting her return to her seat before speaking again. “Ken, Drakken, you’ve endured the questions and comments from the jury. In just a moment I’ll give you a chance to make a final rebuttal. I suggest you take this time to think about what you want your last words before the vote to be. Ken, we’ll start with you.”

“Right. I know I said earlier that I didn’t need the million dollars, and while that is true, I do still want to win! I made it this far and think I did all that I could in order to show people that I was capable of it. I did not just walk in here with a free pass, I won challenge after challenge, and stayed loyal to people when they asked that of me. I played this game the only way I knew how. I was never deceptive or tried to be anyone I wasn’t. I’ve always just been Ken. And I have no regrets about that. Thank you all for your time! Like I said, I loved this experience because I got to do it with all of you.”

“Drakken,” Jeff said. “Last chance to convince the jury to give you a million dollars.”

“No pressure,” he said, getting a soft chuckle from both Jeff and the jury. “I deserve that million dollars because I want it. I have wanted it from the time I signed up for this show all the way up to this point. It wasn’t my only motivating factor, but it’s been there in the back of my mind, like it has all of ours. I was willing to do whatever it took to get here. I played the game and I played it well. You all were witness to that. I was always thinking ahead, I had plans set up in case anything happened and then some! I had help, but we’re human. We all need help. That’s why they don’t send us to this island alone. I showed you all what I was capable of, and I continued to do that until the very end where I had the opportunity to just sit back and watch as Su and Ken duked it out but instead decided to show everyone, and even myself, that I could make fire and beat someone else at doing it with the pressure of that million dollars resting on my shoulders. It would mean a lot to me to have that money, and it would mean a lot to my mother, and the education system that I plan on revitalizing with it. Thank you.”

“Okay,” Jeff said. “Drakken, Ken, thank you for your comments. Jury, thank you for your questions. It is now time, finally, to get to the vote. Voting is a little different tonight as you are not voting someone out of the game. You will be voting for who you think deserves to win. You are voting for the person that you think is most deserving of the title Sole Survivor and the million dollars. So you want to see your name on the parchment tonight. It is time to vote. Gabriella, you’re up.”

And in the familiar way they had all grown accustomed to in their time on the island, one by one the members of the jury rose to go write a name down and cast their vote. They held up their paper for the camera to give their last comments.

Gabriella signed, “Drakken, I may not have liked you, but you played a good game. I was completely surprised every Tribal Council when something would happen and you would have this knowing look in your eyes, like you had been planning for it. You deserve to win.”

“Drakken,” Cruz said, “I’m only voting for you after finding out Ken’s actually been rich this whole time. He’s nice and beat all our asses in the challenges, which I admired a lot! But since you’re right, if he was just here for a good time, then he got that. You should have the money and the title.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve gotta give it to Drakken,” Eda rolled her eyes as she held up his name on her piece of parchment. “Ken’s a nice guy and all, but Drakken really played the game. I hate saying he’s smart, but he was. And…ah, [BEEP] it, if he and Toby don’t wind up being best friends after this, then I’ll track him down and throw him into the ocean myself.”

“Drakken, I’m giving it to you so you can get those kids their beakers or whatever the hell you were on about,” James said as he cast his vote. “And, yeah, you’re a smart bloke. I hope you can turn that million dollars into something good. You’re not as beautiful and lovely as Ken, but that’s not the game and I won’t let myself vote with my heart knowing he’s just some rich bloke who wanted to have a beach get away. Even if he is really nice and probably didn’t know he’d get a million dollars at the end of this. Anyway, congratulations. You’re still a bitch, though.”

Toby smiled at the camera as he held up Drakken’s name, “I know this isn’t a surprise or anything but I really think you deserve this. You played an outstanding game! I couldn’t have asked for a better partner and friend throughout my time here. I think you’ve proven to all of us why you deserve to win.”

Hatter made no comment, simply showed that he had written Dr. Drakken on his parchment and went back.

“I really wanted to vote for Ken,” Su said, showing she had written Drakken’s name with a smiley face next to it. “But he shot himself in the foot. Drakken, you do deserve this, even if you were kinda mean.”

When she returned, Jeff said, “For the last time, I’ll go tally the votes.”

He returned with the vase, “I know you guys would want me to read these votes out now but it’s going to have to wait. I’ll see you all on the other side.”

Jeff tucked the vase under his arm and walked out of Tribal Council, making his way across the beach in the light of the moon.

–

Everyone returned for the reunion, where that final episode was being shown to the live audience. Up on stage, Jeff walked out with the vase, as if this was a seamless transition from the end of the film to the show being recorded now. Cheers erupted, the band picked up where the music from the show had dropped off, and the whole cast of that season sat waiting on the stage, looking far better than they had during their time on the island.

Drakken and Ken, in particular, looked vastly different. As they had been the last two seen in their island garb and worn features. Both of their facial hair had been trimmed, their hair trimmed and styled. Ken wore an expensive looking outfit while Drakken merely looked put together in comparison.

Jeff placed the vase with the votes on the little table, smiling out at the crowd.

Eda, who had yet to let up on her bit, and that the cast and general crew of the show was thinking was very much not a bit anymore, stood up from her place to whistle loudly, using her fingers between her teeth to get it to sound above all the general noise. Jeff looked toward her and she grinned at him, sitting back down.

Finally, when the audience settled, Jeff spoke. “All right. Let’s get to it. Ken and Drakken, our final two, have been waiting a long time to hear this. Congratulations. Jury, thank you for a very good final Tribal Council. Like I said earlier, this is the time when you want to see your name on the parchment tonight. The person with the most votes will be declared our winner of the million dollars and given the title of Sole Survivor. There are seven votes inside here and it will take four to win. I’ll read the votes.”

One by one, they were read out. Seven votes for Drakken. Zero for Ken. Everyone had already started cheering by the time the fourth vote was read out, but Jeff quickly got through the next three to let the true celebration begin.

“In a unanimous vote, that makes Benjamin Drakken the winner of this season of Survivor!”

Toby had jumped up from his seat, meeting Drakken on the other side of the stage in a hug. Other followed, giving Ken his dues and getting their congratulations in for Drakken as well. The crowd applauded, and Jeff approached to give both finalists a hug.

Eda, of course, was waiting for him to be finished to gather the host in a hug, too. Which he accepted.

But it wasn’t like he had much of a choice.

“Drakken!” Jeff called over Eda’s shoulder, getting his attention. “Go on down stage, you mom’s here! Go give her a hug.”

Drakken started that way, but grabbed Toby’s sleeve to pull him along with him to go greet Ms. Lipsky where she had walked onto the stage. She was crying, and wrapped Drakken up into a hug while Toby stood, waiting. Drakken introduced them and Ms. Lipsky grabbed Toby by the face, pressing large kisses to his cheeks.

Jeff, who still had Eda’s arms around his middle, looked at the camera, “Join us for our reunion! Coming up next! This has been Survivor!”

#swynwrimo #i know i punked out here by only doing two episodes #no one is more disappointed than myself #but it was long already and i just couldnt look at it anymore lmfao

0 notes

eurovision-revisited · 1 month ago

Text

Eurovision 2006 - Number 11 - Enes Ukić - "Osvoji me"

youtube

Going into a rich national final like Beovizija for your debut entry with a song called Osvoji me (Win Me Over) appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the national final concept. What's Enes Ukić going to do to win over Serbia?

As this is his one and only national final entry, you can probably guess how successful he was in doing that. Enes is a someone who's been singing, and winning prizes for singing, from childhood. He progressed through former Yugoslavia's many, many song competitions and festivals for children. It was only when he got into his teens that his life took a sharp change of direction and location.

His family moved to the USA and he ended up graduating from a New Jersey high school. By 2006 though he's returned to Serbia and was pursuing not only a career in music, but also studying Economics and Finance in both Sarajevo and Belgrade. That's a serious amount of effort. It's not clear to me whether he was serious about the music.

Nevertheless he co-wrote Osvoji me with Dina Drpljanin and Radivoje Radivojević. Of those songwriter, Radivoje is the most well known having one Eurovision entry to his name. In fact he wrote Yugoslavia's last ever Eurovsion entry - Ljubim Te Pesmama (I'm Kissing You with My Songs) by Extra Nena in 1992.

The song is a dramatic, string-driven pop ballad sung by an overly keen man in the process of being rejected, but who nevertheless wants the object of his affection to do all of the heavy lifting. If anything, like Evan, Enes comes across a touch too desperate to ever be successful in the seduction game, though he does have winning cheekbones.

As well as the looks, Enes has also got the voice for such a dramatic entreaty. Soft and strong in places when he's trying to seduce, plaintive yet controlled when he's pleading. He seems to have got it all. It's a commanding, knee-wobbling performance that I know will have won over many fans in his quest for a Eurovision place.

On the night it wasn't enough to convince the Serbian judges. The televote quite liked him, placing him fifth overall - but the televote had a small fraction of the power of the Beovizija jury. They gave him meagre scraps. He ended up fourteenth. Only the top twelve got through to Serbia-Montenegro final. At least Enes avoided that.

His album containing Osvoji me came out later. Two years later - you can't accuse him of trying to cash in here. He's had a few other singles out on and off over the years. Quietly he seems to have a fair few fans out there in Serbia, though his performances and recording seem sparse. It's almost as if singing is only one hobby among many other activities he engages in. He's branded his output 'Friendly Music' and generally seems to be enjoying life, enjoying singing and happily dodging the merry-go-round of celebrity and industry obligations.

The most recent release of his that I've found is Vjencani dar (Wedding Gift? Last Supper?) available here on YouTube

youtube

#esc 2006 #esc #eurovision #eurovision song contest #Athens #Athens 2006 #Youtube #national finals #Beovizija 2006 #Serbia #Enes Ukić

0 notes

back-and-totheleft · 1 year ago

Text

"We didn't set out to make this a tract"

The Hollywood Reporter: When was the last time you were at Cannes?

Oliver Stone: There was a “Platoon” commemoration in 2006. The movie came out in 1986. Right before the movie, I showed a 26-minute clip of “World Trade Center,” which wasn’t quite finished, but was coming out that August.

THR: What was that experience like for you?

Stone: Charlie Sheen was there with me, and Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe, so it was quite a nice reunion for all of us. The film was shown afterward. It really worked very nicely. Obviously, more people had come at the beginning to see the clip, but most of the house was full. But I got in and got out. This is my first film at Cannes.

THR: But you’ve been there many times, right?

Stone: We did get some passes in the past. I remember, going back to “Salvador.” It was shown in some form at Cannes, I don’t know if it was a finished film. “The Doors” came out approximately that same time period, in March. I can’t remember if “Doors” was officially submitted or not. Sometimes you don’t submit, you just feel out. Sometimes a distributor is showing it. The official heartbreaker was “Natural Born Killers.” Because that came out in August and we could sure have used that.

THR: Was that submitted?

Stone: Yes. But there was an objection to the violence. And then we went to Venice and actually we got a jury prize there, in August (1994), right before we came out. And then we had “U Turn” turned down in ’97. It would have helped to have “U Turn” there. Listen, those are the breaks of the game. And this is certainly a nice feeling. Because I’m 63 years old, that’s why. The festival is 63 years old, and I was born in 1946, the first year of it. It will be fun, I hope. It’s a bit of a zoo with all the people requesting tickets. It’s like everyone wants to go to your Super Bowl.

THR: You produced “Blue Steel,” which was in the Directors’ Fortnight. Did you go with that?

Stone: Perhaps. I remember being with (Ed) Pressman at some point, and Kathryn (Bigelow) was there. I also went to sell “Alexander,” actually. That made a big difference. It was an independent movie. We started it in Cannes, we lined up the buyers and we ended up making the key deals that made the film possible.

THR: So you have somewhat of a history with it, but not the official experience. Are you going to live it up this time?

Stone: No, not at all official. I’ve generally been in and out quickly. For jet lag reasons I’m going to go a little bit earlier. I’m going to bring my family. I’m going to arrive and hang out for a couple days and try to dry out, and then I’ll go into the workload on Thursday. And it goes very fast — Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then I’ll probably be out by Sunday.

THR: With “Wall Street,” were you reluctant at all to revisit that world and these characters after so much time?

Stone: No, not at all. On the contrary, after 2008 it made sense. You realize, the first movie was a bookend to this. We thought it was over, the history of that greed. We thought it would balance out, there would be a correction. There was no correction! (laughs) The pendulum kept going one way, and it got bigger and bigger. I only wish I had stayed in Wall Street. It got insane. And when I went back in 2008, the millions had become billions. It’s an amazing story of multiplicity and greed. It’s unbelievable what happened.

THR: And to think that it could go beyond that…

Stone: It went way beyond it. Honestly, have you ever thought about what a billion dollars is? It’s like a thousand million! They used to make deals where 250 million bucks seemed like a lot of money. And now, boy, a billion dollars is an entry to a fuckin’ club for a hedge fund. It’s just amazing to me. And the losses as a result are so huge. When the numbers become artificial it doesn’t seem like real damage is being done, but it is.

THR: Right, there’s something about numbers so big you can’t wrap your head around them, so you don’t really pay attention.

Stone: But that’s the problem. You see, we get to this place where insane speculation sets in and it destroys economies, it cannibalizes economies.

THR: So you felt that there was definitely more for you to say on this.

Stone: Yeah, that’s the point. I wouldn’t have entered into it as a sequel primarily. First of all, the first one would have been forgotten by much of the younger generation. We didn’t want to make a sequel. We wanted to make an exploration of Wall Street at this time period, which is actually 22 years later. And I think we came up with an interesting angle, because the Gekko character is not quite what he seems. He’s now been away, he’s been humbled and he’s a small piker in this deal. He’s no longer a significant figure. So he’s a man on the edges who’s trying to get back in the game.

THR: Did Michael Douglas take any persuading to step back into that role?

Stone: On the contrary, it was him and Ed Pressman who were leading the charge with Fox. If anything, I had some doubts because it was 2006. I turned down the previous script.

THR: And then Allen Loeb’s script changed your mind?

Stone: Allen Loeb wrote a script in March 2009 that I saw. That was the one that hooked me. Then Allen and I did a significant amount of work to update it. But no, I had passed in 2006 because there didn’t seem any point. These guys were making so much money it was insane.

THR: Was there any worry that things were moving so fast — and there was a new Wall Street scandal every week — that this movie would seem dated by the time it came out?

Stone: Yes, absolutely. I did a lot of research, met with a lot of people, got some very good insights from people like Eliot Spitzer — who is back in the news — but he was one of the earliest investigators of these cases. You remember, he was the guy who originally got the biggest settlement out of AIG back in 2006. Spitzer, among other people, told us exactly what had happened — back in 2009. He was saying Goldman was shorting, and “Look into this AIG-Goldman thing.” Which we ended up doing. Allen’s script in March was about hedge funders. And I said, “Look, this is much bigger, we’ve got to go to a bigger level here, we’ve gotta go to the banks.”

THR: And when you were doing that research and filming on location did you field much static from people who knew what you were doing?

Stone: Again, it was like the first film. It was really a tremendously wearying process of getting new information, meeting with people at all times, getting new takes. And obviously, sometimes financial people disagree with each other. The conservative banks would not deal with us, no. They would not let us in. Goldman sealed their floors to us. We did get pictures of the inside of it for production design reasons. They were very arrogant. But the people who talked to us were the independent guys like George Soros, Jimmy Chanos — there was a long list of 50 people who consulted with us. Also, we met with a lot of young people who had worked through this whole period — because we had young people for Shia. There are guys and girls who are 25, 26, and they had come right out of business school, gotten their jobs around 2003, 2004, and then — boom — two, three years in they hit this thing. And it was unbelievable. The old guys who normally would be the captains of the ship, most of them were freakin’ out. And the young people said, “What’s going on?” And the old guys would say, “We don’t know. This could be it. The ship could be going down ….” So these young people got what they called in Vietnam “on-the-job training” — you learn it as you go. We had dinner with about 14 of them one night, including some Google women who were telling us incredible stories about that mad week in September.

THR: Did you talk to any of the bankers who were involved?

Stone: We got the perspectives of some of the people who bet against the shorts, some of the bankers who had worked there, we met with people who had worked with the old system and the new system, we met with a few people who worked at Lehman Brothers. Bear Stearns — we met with someone there. We got an overview. But the banks closed their doors, including locations. They did not want us anywhere close. But we had decided, unlike the original, not to build the set. We set everything on location — 43 locations in 57 days. In Manhattan, that’s quite a lot. We moved constantly. And we had the permission of newer trading places like Knight, which is in New Jersey, to shoot on their huge trading floor on weekends. We got permission from Creditex to shoot on their floor on weekends. Our biggest break came when the Royal Bank of Canada called back, and they were extremely gracious, they said, “By all means, we’d love you to shoot here.” The Royal Bank of Canada was one of the few banks that behaved impeccably in this period and made a profit and continued on. And everyone applauded Canada’s behavior because they had different rules. Europe was going down, the whole world was affected. But here was the Royal Bank of Canada — unlike the Royal Bank of Scotland, which was a disaster — the Royal Bank of Canada was impeccable. (laughs) That was a wonderful break for us, because it was a classy looking bank and gave us the right feeling that we needed for Goldman — I don’t want to say Goldman, I want to say “from The Bank” in the film. Don’t pinpoint me.

THR: Do you have plans to screen this for Geithner or Paulson or Obama or Greenspan or those guys?

Stone: Eventually, yeah. But I want to make this work as a movie. I think it’s exciting. I want it to play for an audience.

THR: Do you expect much grief? This seems like another meatball for op-ed pages.

Stone: We didn’t set out to make this a tract.

THR: No, but you and the material combined are a bit of a lightning rod. You’ve gotta expect some flare-up.

Stone: Yeah. Yeah. But I’m not trying to … you know, Michael Moore made a very strong documentary. But it’s not that at all. We’re really here to tell a story that would last through time like the original. I think we got our hands around a story: relationships between father and daughter and the new man in her life — there’s a triangle there. There’s an interesting story with Frank Langella and Josh Brolin. An interesting sidebar with Susan Sarandon. So, like the original, we based this on solid relationships, and in fact I think we developed some of these relationships to a more mature and deeper place than they were in 1987.

THR: Do you expect a different response in Europe than in America?

Stone: Man, that’s always been a tough call. When I did “World Trade Center,” in Europe they were really tough on me because they thought it was patriotic. And I was trying to say, “This is a true story! These two guys really went through this, it’s an amazing story of survival.” They wanted me to make a film that was condemning the American response. But that wasn’t the point. With “W.,” which was about George Bush, I couldn’t condemn him enough. So you never know where Europe is going to be on America. Look, to me this is a movie that’s beyond this moment in time. And that’s always an issue for me when films open. Because if you make films about social issues you run into the Big Now. The Big Now sometimes can put things in a screwball way.

THR: Have you moved your own money or investments around because of the behavior of the last few years?

Stone: Oh, yeah, like everyone else I took a hit in 2008, yeah. I couldn’t escape it because it was almost a comprehensive hit. I mean, the system is out of control. The solution has got to be regulation but there are other issues at stake. The nature of banking has changed. Banking when I did the film in 1987 was not this business it has become. It was boring. At least there were decent rates of return. Now there’s no interest rate, they’re just raking it in. This is a crazy system.

THR: Do you think there’s any hope for financial reform?

Stone: Oh, yeah, I do hope so. There’s a self-correcting factor in the market, but there has to be some kind of strong regulation. I really believe in that. And I don’t believe these free-market buccaneers are doing us any good. The banks have become buccaneers. Essentially, they’ve lost their job. They’ve become something else. I remind you, though, you used to be able to have a savings account and make an interest rate. You cannot do that anymore. That’s what is fundamentally wrong for the consumer. It makes you gamble. It makes you part of this casino crap. There are too many casinos in this country, we don’t need more.

THR: Do you think you’ll be revisiting Wall Street in another 22 years?

Stone: Why not? We left it open at the end in a way on which we can hang a “Wall Street 3.” We’ll have Gekko back and maybe Josh Brolin, too.

-Oliver Stone Q&A with The Hollywood Reporter, May 12 2010

#oliver stone #the hollywood reporter #wall street: money never sleeps #cannes film festival

0 notes