#to the point of where I'm seeing moderate people that I thought were decent saying the same shit

[ocean-sailor]

x

[cherry-cola-on-ice]

They're idiots, your honor

In cosmic sort of way, Lester and you were meant for each other.

@brandnewhuman

Out of all three of the Sinclair brothers, it was shocking how much Lester and you didn't get along.

Bo attempted to be courteous. After all, you've seen the dark side of Ambrose and still choose to stay. You could tell that he didn't quite trust you. But despite that, he treated you moderately decently.

Vincent and you had a symbiotic relationship. You thrived on his quiet nature and he used your loud and boisterous attitude. You'd help him clean up after his... sculpting?

( You honestly tried not to think about what was under the wax)

And in return, Vincent helped you with your chores. Together, Vincent and you were more like siblings than Bo and you.

Definitely, more that Lester and you.

You tried to be civil with him and when that didn't work, you tried to ignore his snarky quips. But one person could only take so much, and soon you were throwing insults back.

But you never really meant them.

If you were totally honest, you kind of had a crush on him.

Maybe a little bit more than a crush.

You weren't in love with him, but everytime you saw him there was a unmistakable pang of something in your heart. Something that you guess a normal person would consider love.

But how could you possibly love someone who treated you like that?

Sitting down on the couch, Jonesy jumping up and settling down next to you, a sigh left your lips.

There was always a limit to the malice. A line both of you refused to cross. You thought you'd be the first to break, the struggle of not letting Lester know how much you loved cared for him finally getting to you.

But he fucked up.

He brought up a "no-no" subject as you do childishly called it.

(Maybe he was right?)

Your 'friends' abandonment. The fact that they judge left you there to die, only for you to be the last one standing.

"Ever think there's a reason they left ya?"

"Maybe they couldn't stand your naggin' anymore? "

"Or maybe they didn't want to be 'round a little crybaby? "

You whimpered, placing your hands over your ears. Like that was going to keep his voice away. No, you refused to cry. He wasn't going to be right.

But the tears came anyway. He was right. You were a childish crybaby, giving everyone else around you a headache with your tears and whining .

Jonsey huffed next to you, but your eyes where too screwed shut to see that man walking in. Lester felt horrible. He knew that he had messed up.

He was being the child here. Pulling the hypothetical pigtails of the girl on the playground. Calling them names and hiding their books. All because he had a crush.

He was a dick. A toxic asshole that treated someone who he cared about like garbage.

His heart broke hearing the whimper escape from your mouth. Slowly, Lester walked up to you, kneeling down "Y/n? Aww, shit. I'm sorry. I shouldn-"

"You were right. I'm nothing but a big, blubbering-"

"No! You ain't like that!"

"No, you were right. There's a reason why my friends tried to leave me to die."

"They didn't deserve you. "

You looked up at him through teary eyes. Lester gave you a smile "I had never been so happy to see someone die."

You rolled your eyes, scooting away from him "P-Please, people don't say things they don't mean. "

Lester grabbed your hands, pulling them off your ears 'No, no. Baby. I was wrong."

Your tears stopped, eyebrows knitting together "Did you just call me...baby?"

Lester eyes widened, his voice stuttering "I...uh- Maybe? "

You giggled, pulling your hands away from his. You wiped away the tear tracks off your cheek "You called me baby~"

It was Lester's turn to blush, nervously scratching the back of his head "Don't make a big deal outta it. Just slipped out. "

"Do you... have feelings for me? "

If he had been taking a drink, Lester was sure he would have spit it out. Maybe ever choked a little. At this point, that seemed less embarrassing. He nervously picked invisible threads of his thread bare flannel "Ya make it sound so... just like whatever. "

"Whatever? "

"Whatever..."

A moment of quietness passed between, the only sound was Jonsey snores. You finally broke the silence "Hey Lester, I think we've been idiots."

"Idiots? "

You smiled at the man "Yeah, absolutely fucking idiots. I think everyone knew but us."

Lester smiled back, his fingers brushing against your cheek "Oh, yeah. Everyone knew, baby. "

Lester leaned foreword, placing his lips on your forehead. You smiled at him, pushing yourself up. You gently placed your lips against his, just the lightest of touch. Lester knew this was heaven.

The giggle you let out out after the kiss was finished made his heart skip a beat. He knew for sure at that moment what he always suspected.

You were his soulmate.

[hechiima]

What I love about Miles' outburst on Adrian, is that Phoenix afterwards points out that it's not like him at all, like it's not his usual rudeness at court. And Miles using the exact same phrasing with her, abt choosing death, which is also uhh, points out to their similarities

Thank you for answering!

I also wanted to ask you what you think about Phoenix's life before the events of the game? I mean even before Dahlia, how lonely he should've been to always care abt and then chase after this one guy who stood up for him in 4th grade? Where his first motivation (to save Miles) coming from, I think this question is a bit unexplored in the fandom, besides the idea that Phoenix is just that altruistic and kind person. I mean he is kind, but there's gotta be roots in his childhood maybe

Oooh good point; I hadn't thought about that! Lmao Miles "I faked my death and came back After Winning Mental Health Because I Attended A Single Therapy Session" just saying the most unhinged things sir please. Also, you're right that it does feel a lot more personal than most of his other outbursts b/c of the language mirroring his own note...ough man is not okay during that whole trial huh...

Haha I think Phoenix's life before the games was completely unremarkable? I'm p sure the creators at some point said something to that effect and tbh I think it's the best interpretation for him. Because it would make more sense if he had some sort of trauma/big event but nope he's just Like That. Man is just Deranged and it's so funny honestly love that for him.

Also I love the idea of him being A Normal Guy through childhood - law school. He had a decent social circle and keeps moderately in touch with his friends after graduation through text/group chats. His law school/college group chats aren't really active but the people in it will text each other once every few months or whenever something big happens to someone. It's low-key and normal and all his friends are like yeah Phoenix. He's just a Nice Guy.

Then ofc one day he's all over the news for fucking CX'ing a bird in court and publicly exposing one of the top prosecutors in the district. All his friends are stunned. They start following his legal career and they're all slowly coming to the same conclusion that Phoenix was Actually That Crazy the entire time. And the worst part about all of this is, looking back, they're also realizing that there were definitely hints. For example, in law school he was a p mediocre student except when he Aggressively Wasn't and would just seemingly wander off and book a class. Or in college there was that time he got REALLY into that girl and then disappeared for a weekish and never mentioned her again. (His college friends thought it was a rocky break up. They are now realizing it was b/c he was on trial for murder what the fuck Phoenix.) Or in high school he got weirdly into Legally Blonde but everyone just thought he was being a theater kid and was excited that the musical had come out. But Phoenix always seemed like such a normal guy that none of his friends thought that deeply about it and now they are and well fuck.

So they DM him in their group chats and his response is completely normal too. Phoenix sees nothing weird about what he's been doing oh and how are the children Susie? He's perfectly friendly, just like they remember, and seems to think nothing of how off the rails his legal career's gone. That's when everyone finally acknowledges he is really the craziest person they know (and maybe make a separate GC to discuss What The Fuck Is Phoenix Doing Now).

Hope that made sense! I do like thinking about how "normal" Phoenix was for years - it makes the unhinged shit he does later so much funnier and I think really fits with his character? And thanks for all the asks (also sorry it takes me so long to get to these; I've just been kinda busy)!! Lmao love any opportunity to talk about how Unwell Phoenix actually is. <3

[xiaq]

Hi, I have a question re:sex and Christianity. Small background: I still go to church, and I still live with my parents even though I'm not much younger than you, because housing is very very expensive where I live (pretty common here, I would say about 2/3 of my friends live with their parents and we are decently privileged kids)

Anyway. How does one get over purity culture? To be clear, I've never been told in church not to have sex, I've never gotten the gendered lessons that you got. But I am terrified of having sex. My first real, multi-year relationship just ended and while there was hand stuff etc, there was never any p in v sex (lol I feel 12). But I still had insane anxiety about being pregnant despite being on bc. And I think its because I know my parents would be so disappointed if I had sex. And if I was pregnant I could imagine all the gossip. And honestly I think im from a pretty open church, b/c one of our previous ministers kids recently got married at 8 months pregnant and lots of church people were at the wedding and supportive and her parents were there and everything.

I dont even think I particularly like sex, i might be on the ace spectrum, but how do I remove it from all the anxiety that's tied to it so I can even give myself the chance to find out???

(Asking because it seems like you've been pretty open about purity culture/removing yourself from it)

CW for sex talk (again)

How does one get over purity culture?

Oh man. That really is the million-dollar question, huh? Obviously, I can only answer re my personal experiences, and this is something you should talk to a therapist about, but I can tell you how I’ve tackled it with my therapist at least.

Purity culture is, at its core, an ideology that is perpetuated by shame. If you’re indoctrinated into purity culture when you’re a kid, the concepts become baked into the way you construct your identity, your perception of self, and your perception of your sexuality. It’s practically intrinsic, by the time you’re an adult, to feel shame any time you’re reminded you have a body, much less a sexuality.

According to the chapels I sat through every week as a kid, a girl's body could be 3 things: an intentional stumbling block for men, an accidental stumbling block for men, or unnoticeable. Women were to strive for the third option so as to keep their (and their male friends/authority figures) purity intact. After all, if a boy, or even your male teacher, had impure thoughts about you, it was your fault for tempting them (which, holy shit. I still can’t believe that was a thing I bought into for so long. If my 45 yr old grown-ass teacher had impure thoughts because he could see my 12 yr old collarbone, that sure as hell wasn’t my fault. But I digress.) The Only time a woman’s body can be something else, is when she gives it to her husband, at which point she must suddenly flip the switch in her brain that she is now allowed to be a Sexual Being and she must perform Sexual Duties despite living in outright fear of her own body and sexuality for years (decades?) up until this point. Jesus take the wheel.

Purity culture isn’t a thing you can just decide to walk away from if you’ve grown up in it. Because its ideology is insidious and internalized. So first you need to submit to the fact that you’re going to be fucked up about sex. It sounds like you’re there. Second, you need to interrogate what you believe. If you’re leaving religion behind entirely, you’ll approach removing yourself from purity culture differently than if you still identify as a Christian. It sounds like you might be the latter, which meant, for me, separating what’s actually biblical and what’s shitty, contrived, doctrine that I was told is biblical but is actually more political than spiritual. This helps you address the shame issue.

You need to throw away I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Lady in Waiting and all those ridiculous books you read and reread in the hopes of somehow obtaining impossible marriage perfection and look into actual scripture interpreted within its historical context. I could write a book on this, but the TL;DR is that the text of the Bible was written, translated, curated, and changed multiple times over thousands of years by human beings with human biases and, often, personal and/or political agendas. It contradicts itself! Reading it as it is—a flawed historical document—rather than some sort of God-breathed perfect document—is incredibly freeing. When you do, you’ll probably realize that purity culture is bullshit on a spiritual level. Which is a good start, if that matters to you. Because any time you start to feel shame or guilt you can ask yourself: does God actually care if I wear a bikini or touch a dick I’m not married to? Probably not. Wear the bikini. Touch the dick.

The most important therapy session for me was when my therapist asked what I would do if I got to heaven and God was actually the God I’d been raised to fear. What would I do if he condemned me for being bisexual and having premarital sex and becoming educated, for arguing with men, and failing to isolate while menstruating, and wearing mixed fabrics? If Montero had come out at the point, I probably would have said I’d pole dance down to hell. Instead, I said I would spit on heaven’s gates. If a god that cruel and that pointlessly demeaning really exists—a god who would create in me condemned desire—I won't worship him. The good news is, I’m 99% sure he doesn’t exist. At the very least, he isn’t supported by scripture.

Okay. The final thing you need to do is figure out what you actually want, sexually speaking. This bit is probably the hardest. I’m still in the early stages of this myself. You say: “I dont even think I particularly like sex, i might be on the ace spectrum, but how do I remove it from all the anxiety that's tied to it so I can even give myself the chance to find out???” Bro, I wish I had an easy answer for you. For me, whenever I’m feeling anxious about Sex Things, I tell myself: 1. My God does not equate my worth to my sexual habits. 2. My partner does not equate my worth to my sexual habits. 3. I do not equate my worth to my sexual habits. It seems silly, but reminding myself of those three things is massively helpful. If, after I’ve sorted through those, I’m still anxious or uncomfortable, I stop doing the thing. I evaluate. Am I overwhelmed and I need to try again some other time? Do I just not like the thing? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Sometimes you change your mind. Sometimes you just don’t know. That’s why having a partner who you trust and who’s willing to patiently explore your interests (and respect your disinterests) is so important. Half the battle, for me, was having a partner who told me they’d be ok with no sex at all. Because that took the pressure off me. If the bare minimum they need is nothing, then anything more than that is a bonus! Hooray! This is maybe TMI, but let me tell you. I thought I was asexual* right up until I was able to have moderately non-anxious sex. Never in my life did I think I would initiate a sexual situation but… I do now. It’s a fun thing to do with a person I love and, holy shit. I am furious that I nearly missed out on it.

Finally, re birth control: I don’t know how you can approach that fear in a way that works for you. If you don’t want to ever have penetrative sex, that’s fine! If that’s a point of anxiety you can’t get rid of, then don't push yourself to do it. If you find out you like other sex things, do the other sex things! If you don't like doing any sex things, don't do any sex things! Also, have you considered sleeping with people who can’t get you pregnant? Always an option if it’s an option you want to consider. ;)

Okay. I hope this was even a little bit helpful. Sorry if it’s a little convoluted, I typed it up in bursts during my work breaks.

*This is not at all to say that asexuality can be “fixed." Rather, it’s to say that things like purity culture can drastically confuse your sexuality in general. If you’re asexual, then this process is still important to discover what you like/dislike. Then you can be explicit about those necesities and find a partner who’s a good fit (if you want a partner at all, that is).

[their-name-is-morgan]

Ok b so like, I'm gonna try to make this sort of specific, I live for some angst and I live for Abba so like.... Imagine Abba being in one of those days where he just feels like garbage , but then his nice softie s/o visits him and cheers him up and gives him luv bc uwuwuwu. im so awkward at writing this, anyways, it's a scenario if thats ok with u b, and the s/o is a female.

AAAAH B I tried my best to make this turn out decent!! I feel like Leo is extremely OOC and there might be some mistakes here and there, but it’s late and I’m tired...so I’ll fix this in the morning! ;;

I hope you enjoy it anyway, ilysm❤

Il loro segreto

Leone Abbacchio x Fem!Reader❤

Everyone has bad days, and everyone faces them in a different way. There are people like Bruno: he would try his best to help other people overcome their struggles, and seeing their smiling face would make him feel better in an instant. There are people like Fugo: he would allow himself to have a day off, and he’d spend that day doing his favourite things, talking to his favourite people, or even staying alone. And then there are people like Abbacchio.

Leone was a man of few words, he would talk when necessary, and he wasn’t the nicest member of the gang. His face appeared to be in an eternal scowl, with his dark, thin eyebrows furrowed and his lips rarely lifting upwards. One would think that he was a strong, confident man whose only emotions were anger and disgust, but there’s always more to a person than what they let the others see.

Abbacchio was like any other person: some of his days were happy, other ones boring, and other ones bad, upsetting days. On the latter he would isolate himself and even refuse to get out of his bed, too mentally exhausted to interact with other people. He would push them away, and then he’d feel guilty about it. His lips would quiver and his eyes would water, but he’d hold it in.

And that day was one of those days.

(Name) exhaled, her eyes fixed on the last message he had sent: “See you at 9” with a black heart at the end. ‘Edgy’ she thought with a chuckle, but the small smile on her face disappeared as soon as it came. They had agreed on meeting quite early in the morning and, when she noticed that it was pouring outside but his last access remained the same as the previous night’s, she had guessed that the rain wouldn’t have been a problem for him either.

But after an hour of waiting for his arrival in front of the smallest, saddest bookstore in town, she came to a sudden realization: what if something was wrong?

Was he okay? Was the rest of the gang okay? Was her phone being dumb and not showing her his true last messages? She needed to know. She was about to stand up and open her umbrella when she noticed a notification from a different chat: Bruno had just texted her.

‘Would you mind coming over? I know this is sudden, but there’s somebody here who needs you.’ The text read, and her expression twisted into one of concern. It wasn’t the first time that she received a text like that, from either the Capo –whom she considered one of her closest friends- or another one of the guys, and it was not a pleasant thing to read.

She didn’t even bother to reply, instead she started walking towards the Passione residence, which was not that far away from that spot. The rain didn’t stop, making her almost trip at least twice along the way, but she was determined to see her lover’s face and hold him as close as possible.

It didn’t take that long before three knocks on the door snapped Bruno out of his trance; he stood up and made his way to the front door, abandoning the crossword puzzled he had been trying to complete for the past forty minutes on the wooden table.

He slowly opened the door to reveal his friend, umbrella in her right hand and phone in the other, her eyebrows slightly furrowed but a polite smile still present on her face. He motioned to come in and guided her to the couch, where they both sat down;

“So, what happened?” she asked, fidgeting with her hands. He let out a sigh,

“I...will keep it short. You know how Leone can get and now I know he needs extra support that I can’t give him. But please remember, cara; if this is too much for you, if he somehow hurts you with his words or actions...” he paused, cautiously choosing what to say next, “It’s not worth it. He is my friend, but you are too and I wouldn’t want you to think that I agree with everything he says or does.”

She carefully listened, her expression concentrated. She warmly smiled as he finished talking and took his larger hands in hers, grateful for having such a caring and honest friend.

“Bruno, I will follow your advice if anything happens. But I’m pretty sure it won’t,” she reassured him, and he nodded and returned the smile, “Now, he hasn’t left his room has he?”

“He’s been in there since yesterday night. He’d making all of us very worried, (Name).” He confessed, his tone of voice sincere. The girl could only nod and direct her gaze on the flight of stairs leading up to the second floor, where the bedrooms were located.

 Unmade bed, window shut, blankets and dirty clothes lazily piled up in a corner of the barely lit room. The smell not bad enough to be unbearable, but enough to make one’s nose wrinkle. The pitter patter of the rain soothed him, but unnerved him at the same time. Was it even possible to feel in such a way?

He sat there, intently staring at the blank, boring wall as if it was the most interesting thing. What else could he have done in his state after all? With his headphones too far away to reach and the overwhelming fatigue that didn’t seem willing to leave him anytime soon, he could only lose heart and sit there, with his back against the bed’s headboard.

His almost lifeless gaze fell upon his phone, which had been resting on his nightstand since the previous night. A feeling of guilt struck him at the thought that he hadn’t shown up for his and (Name)’s date, his chest tightening and a lump forming in his throat. No, he couldn’t cry. What was the point of crying anyway? His eyes alarmingly watered, salty tears threatening to roll down his pale cheeks; he tried to focus on breathing, when a soft, almost inaudible knock made his grip on the thin blanket covering his legs tighten and his eyebrows furrow.

No. He thought, his heart beating faster. Fuck, leave.

Silence. But then, another knock, this time a little bit louder. Who was it, and what did they want? He had harshly declined Bruno’s help earlier that morning, and made it clear that he didn’t want any of the other guys around. Watching Bruno retrieve his hand at his commanding voice made him regret his actions, but then again. What was he expecting from himself?

With his gaze fixed on the door, he flinched when he heard the voice of the person behind it.

“Leo?”

I don’t deserve you. He thought once again, his eyes burning. He suddenly became aware of the state he was in, with his normally silky hair now messy and tangled, tied in a low ponytail, no sign of makeup on his ghost white face, and his embarrassing attire composed by an old, short sleeved shirt –obviously too large for him- and a pair of grey night shorts, his legs exposed and, much to his regret, hairy.

“Leone, I just want to know if you’re okay-“

“I am, now leave.” Please, he wanted to add, before I say something I’ll regret.

He could feel her sighing, trying to come up with something to tell him that could’ve comforted him. But what exactly could’ve possibly made him happier? He had tried to think of something, to do something, but it only ended up hurting him more, making him lay back down, exhausted and ashamed of himself. Just the thought of it made him stomach turn, the thought of his beloved waiting for him under the pouring rain whilst he was laying in bed, frustrated... melancholic.

“Please tell me if there’s something I can do to make you feel better. I know you’re lying, but it’s okay,” a pause. Then shuffling, and the doorknob moved a little, “Can I come in, Tesoro?” she asked. Little did she know that the man was trying his hardest not to break down there, in that exact moment. Or did she? She’d never seen him or talked to him while he was in such a state, usually he would be angry and frustrated, drinking his pain away in the kitchen in the middle of the night, or even in a bar.

Silence means consent, she thought –as much as that sentence could’ve been wrong-, and she dared to open the door, moderately illuminating the chaotic room. He froze, not really sure what to do, if to yell at them or to gather all his strength to stand up and lock the door completely. But he simply stayed still, his chest rising and falling with every shaky breath he took.

“What are you doing here,” he asked, his words ended up sounding more like a statement, though. She slowly stepped inside, her gaze falling upon her handsome boyfriend’s body, partially covered by a thin, cream coloured blanket.

“I’m here to listen to you, what’s going on Leone?” she asked, slowly stepping closer to his bed. He eyed her for a moment, his eyes softening. He wanted to be mad and make her leave, he really did, she wasn’t supposed to see him like this and he deserved to suffer alone. He deserved to listen to all the horrible thoughts that his mind was full of, obsess over them.

He gasped at the light touch of her hand, which was now softly holding his, his long, bony fingers subconsciously intertwining with hers. That simple touch sent a wave of butterflies through his veins, making him shake and choke back a sob.

(Name) promptly took notice of this and sat down beside him, her eyes kind and a warm, welcoming smile on her face.

“You can cry, it’s okay to. Please look at me,” and he did, with tears finally spilling down his face, his cheeks flushed and the muscles of his chin trembling, making his lips quiver. His right hand clutched at hers as if his life depended on it, while his left was clenched in a fist, the knuckles slowly going white. (Name) worriedly moved closer to him, letting her free hand wander behind his head to untie his hair and run her fingers through it.

Tell me everything.

“I am... I don’t know. Fuck, I don’t deserve you-“ a stifled sob, and then he sharply inhaled, “You were waiting for me, but I was here. Being a useless dick even if they wanted to help. I just...” he suddenly stopped, allowing smaller sobs to escape from his parted, soft lips. The girl moved her hand from his hair to his back, pulling him closer so that his head could rest on her shoulder.

Slightly embarrassed by this position as she was the one usually laying her head on his shoulder, he tried to pull away, but her soothing touch and whispers sent a shiver up his spine and made him hold onto her for dear life, weeping and babbling about how he didn’t deserve her, about how he would miss her though if she left, and she thought she heard him say I’m sorry once or twice –and he’d rarely apologize-.

(Name) held him tight, noticing how quiet he was even while shaking and sobbing almost uncontrollably, wetting her cute, slightly elegant shirt. Not that she cared anyway, he was much more important than a stupid shirt.  

“Leo,” she whispered at some point, making him blink, more tears rolling down his reddened cheeks, “You deserve so much and you don’t even realize it. I know you blame yourself for a lot of things...” he raised his head, his hair gracefully cascading down his back; their eyes met and (Name) gave him a small smile, which he returned, “But not everything’s your fault.”

He averted his gaze, his breath slowly calming and his shoulders relaxing.

“Hm. Just promise... this whole thing will stay between us,”

She chuckled, and shifted in a more comfortable position so that they could be even closer.

“Of course; now will you eat breakfast with me?”

[snowbarrywatercooler]

While I love Grant Gustin to pieces, I'm not looking forward to watching an hour long comic con involving him and Kevin praising WestAllen. Though I can't help but be curious about his forced answered and body language. If it's not too much trouble, could you pinpoint some of those moments in the video? I know it's on YouTube so I'd have no problem finding it. I'd just rather not watch the whole thing. Thank you in advance!

Here’s what I can sum up from the video.

VIP is $311. x Grant looks and acts tired from shooting Season 4 overall. David Rappaport knew him from 90210 and casthim in the role. David is also responsible for casting Candice too.Andrea was there. Right behind him at his signing booth.

Kevin moderated the interview, he compares Grant’s work ethic to Matt Damon’s. Grantkeeps smiling and waving at his fans, he’s genuine even though he looks tired.Fame and wealth make Grant nervous, that’s why he doesn’t do many cons.Kevin keeps praising Season 4 over and over but he doesn’t mean it in histone. Grant is just nodding along. Praising the show along with him. Especially because they know what it’s leading up to. These questions are pre-screened, nothing is said on the air that Grant is not prepared to answer.On how he was cast: he tested the same time as Carlos. He claims theonly person he did a chemistry read was with Candice. I notice how he spokethere, he was lying because we would have seen it by now in some way, leaked or on a DVD. He neglected to bring up his screen test with EBR,which was on Season 1 DVD, his “chemistry test” with Candice was not, “so much chemistry.” Why can’t we see it then?12:46 is where the WA talk begins. The “drama for the sake of drama comment.” Even with the small cheering Grant’s face saysit all…his body scrunches up, his shoulders are held back and tight,his face is holding something that looks like a forced smile but he isn’t smiling,he’s acting, trying to sell WA. Kevin in spite of having the question already memorized looks down.

Kevin ignores the that fact of WA are step-siblings and insteadcalls them “childhood besties” no mention of incest at all going right into “nowyou guys are married.” Grant during all of this was holding a fist and fidgeting a lot,why he is so uncomfortable? If he has chemistry with CP, why does he giveoff so much discomfort whenever WA is brought up? Grant also says “if we canstay on the air long enough” and “I hope everyone saw the finale” which indicates he isn’tconfident in the show anymore. He doesn’t know what will happen. He triesto sell us WA but he can’t help being honest in the same answer, he can’tlie but he can’t piss off his bosses. When Grant mentions “I guess we’llsee…a kid? In the future.” A small crowd cheers but when the camera pansto the crowd nobody is smiling. 

I’ve counted, maybe 4-5 WAs in a sea of 8,000, andeveryone is just as serious as Grant. These are not WA stans, they are superGG fans. Nobody cares about WA.

14:16 is where it ends. Grant is relievedthe discussion is over. His curt laugh at the end points that out.6-23 was the date of the panel, Grant hasn’t gotten the script yet, but will receive it on that weekend. When this is posted Grant will have already gotten the script.On Monday the 25th was the meeting with HELLbing.Season 1 Grant was reading The New 52 to learn about BA and TF. Season 2he stopped doing that so he can focus more on the acting. He also said “as someone growingup with superheroes you don’t want to get sick of it.” Grant’s energy really picked up when Kevin started talking about the firstepisode he directed. You can tell Grant loves working with him. Kevin feelsthe same way. When they are just talking Flash, it looks natural, less forced,less promo salesman, it looks like two friends talking as opposed to Viris or WA awkwardness. 

22.56 is where Kevin brings up “in every episode there is always a WA peptalk scene” it seemed they just glazed over it and Grant just nods “yup” in a repeated manner agreeing that it’s monotonous to do. 

Grant praises Jesse L Martin, being a fan of his because he bonded with himfirst and he was in Rent. Tom Canavagh is brought up and Grant says he ishis favorite actor to work with. Grant talked about Tom and Grant, the moviewas based on their real on set unfunny gags, Tom wrote and directed the shortmovie. After wrapping up Season 3 Grant had plans to do a movie and Tom filmedthe short movie in 2 days. The movie Grant was supposed be a part of “fell through”it could be referring to a recast because he wasn’t available at the time.Grant says he likes Time Travel and fans will ask him questions but he alwayssays he is confused. If the writers knew what they were writing about, I’msure Grant would have a clearer answer for the fans. He clearly likes it whenBarry time travels but when it’s used the right way.He loves Captain Cold and Wentworth as a “frienemy.” Big cheers for thatone and pan to the crowd to see smiles. Weather Wizard was brought up ashis favorite rogue. Mark Hamill as The Trickster.Kevin said his favorite season is the first one and that his favorite episodewas 1x15 where Barry time travels for the first time, Danielle was mentioned. He quotes the show as “Dawson’s Creek with capes.” Greg Berlanti wasa head writer on Dawson’s Creek. 28:17 is where Grant demonstrates how he does “the run” on the show. They don’tshoot his legs in frame. At the beginning they did with a treadmill.Grant is aware of what people are saying about his physic, body frame andKevin states “you have a runner’s body.” Grant agrees, “I have more of a runner’sbody than any other type.” Grant’s favorite episode is the Season 1 finale. Grant is very proud of theepisode and Kevin agrees as he brings up his infamous crying video he postedon youtube that gave him the opportunity to direct the show.Fan Q&A was around 30min mark. First question was: What is going to happenwith Nora Allen? Grant’s response is “she’s trapped in our time. We’re probablygoing to see Barry help her get back to her time.” Second question was about Grant’s education. He never graduated from ElonUniversity but was made an Alumni. He left after hisSophomore year to go on the road for “West Side Story.” Grant didn’t believehe would end up on TV, he thought he would be on the Broadway stage.Third question was about how they shoot each episode. Grant says they prepfor a week prior with table reads of the script, then shoot an episode for8-9 days. The network and studio watch it and make notes and cuts, during that time the SFX are added in. Every time an episode is finished it is 2 months agoso the show has a lot of time to omit, re shoot, polish what they want interms of what will make the cut. I don’t believe at all the show runnersare avoiding the feedback. They could easily incorporate so many things for future episodes it’sthat they choose not to. Do not tell me this is hard for them to do. Thisis how TV is run, especially a show like this. Grant says his favorite crossovers to shoot was possibly the last one inEarth X, but it was the hardest one, the Supergirl crossover was highlightedbecause of the location in LA. Grant lives in Venice Beach, Ca. Brandon Routhis his favorite actor to work with aside from Melissa and Stephen.Grant says working with Tom is a blessing and a challenge. He lovesbeing directed by Tom almost as good as being directed by Kevin. Flash has made him want to be a director but he doesn’t see it happeningwith the show. He calls it “impossible” but he mentions being interested indirecting an episode for their last season if “they let him.” The amountof control these show runners have is disgusting. Grant is a decent person and the star.He shouldn’t feel apprehensive if he wanted to direct, it’d be an honor if he did.He understands the character better than anyone. Kevin snuck in “before itall ends, who knows it might go on forever” Grant responds with “notforever.” At 38:10 the question is: how many more seasons do you think the show isgoing to do? He said at least 3 more, that takes it up to Season 7 but he saysanything could happen. Kevin adds “it’s strong in the ratings forThe CW.” Meaning if it was on a real network, it would be already cancelled.2 million viewers is not high. Right now with the adjusted they are at 3.0,with a demo of .6 thanks to the horrible Season 4 disaster Viris WA obsession. Kevin also added which surprisedme “the show will go on as long as Grant wants it to go.” Grant said he knew Kevin was gonna say that. Kevin says back it could go on for 26 seasons. Grant says sarcastically “imagine that?” Grant’s favorite musical is “Singin in the Rain” which got him interested in performing. The best part of being Flash is they give him his own superhero suit. Hementions wanting an authentic version of Christopher Reeves Superman suit.He likes wearing Star Labs and CCPD sweatshirts. The guy who asked the questionstarted asking Kevin a question and Grant was all “wtf wasn’t this supposedto be about me”? Everyone in the crowd laughed.His most difficult scene to film which was also his favorite was the scenewith Barry and his mom at the end of Season 1. His other most difficultscene was in Tom Canvanagh’s directed episode 3x19 where EmoBarry was. Kevincalled Grant with the wig “My Chemical Barry.” Grant said it was hard to shootbecause of the two conflicting emotions of playing Present Barry and FutureBarry wearing “a stupid wig.” Kevin compared EmoBarry to a “Hot Topic Employee.”Grant’s favorite Season is the first one, mainly because of how well the finale was constructed “so perfectly.”46:18 is where the question about which he prefers: his fictional WArelationship or his real relationship with Andrea. His exact words are: “Ienjoy my real relationship much more. Nothing against Candice, love to d-greatly.Yeah, it’s obviously very different. One is scripted for me and fictional.One plays itself out and I love her very much in real life. So, I think thoseare probably the biggest differences.” He doesn’t know what to say, the questionitself was lame, obviously there are huge separations from fiction and fact something the delusional doesn’t comprehend.Grant feels uncomfortable answering but he was polite and humored the guywho was obviously a huge Gr*ndice and WA stan. One of the 5 stans in there.When Grant does cons he doesn’t know how much it means to people and he’sgrateful for everything the fans give. He loves what he does. Grant loved filming the musical episode. No WA mentions. Especially singing “Superfriend”because he got to tap dance again. The crowd wants him to sing the song andGrant says he won’t. He thinks the heroes in real life are the troops, his mom because she was a single mother and supported his dreams.A fan asked “will we get a Run Nora, Run from Barry?” Grant credits Tom formaking that line iconic. Kevin agrees. Kevin says he did versions of theline in “The Runaway Dinosaur” because he loved it so much. Kevin said it is the show’s version of “May the force be with you.” No mention of “we are the flash” I wonder why….Grant answered what he has learned being The Flash and Grant credits Season1 again. He learned a lot from Barry’s empathy, his humility. He is a betterman than Grant is. 

Grant got another fan request shout out but in the videohe said “Are we ready? You’re not here but 8,000 other people are.” Crowdwent nuts. The same fan asked him if he wanted to play a Marvel superhero,which would he play. He said Spider-Man. Grant comments on what it’s like to be the star of a TV show. Even thoughhe knows he is the star in truth, he is very humble in saying it’s an ensembleshow. No mentions of CP or IW or WA. Hear that stans who stalk this blog? Grant is too much of a gentlemen to bait you demons.Grant’s most embarrassing scene was when he slide across the floor in 4x02“Mixed Signals” paying homage to Risky Business. He says because he has “chickenlegs.” He also says in the finale when Wally comes back he dropped 6 champagne glasses in 2 takes. It’s included in the bloopers. He says if he goes to the Vancouver Con he will bringhis dogs. Grant says he watches when people on set run and walk and compare it to howhe does it unintentionally. He’s met people in life that want to race him.He feels like he is a fast runner in real life, but he admits out loud hedoesn’t like running. When they are using science jargon, Grant doesn’t know what they are talking about unless he googles it. Grant loves playing the villain more than the hero. Savitar was a lot of fun for him to play. It could be because he loved working with Danielle more closely but the show will not allow any Snowbarry mentions, he’s there to plug WA, it would destroy WA as a whole and he knows it.The last couple of minutes they were talking about Grant’s famous slide into scenes, he does it at the last minute of the interview. Do with the information as you will. Grant has highs and lows here. Whenthe lows are pretty low it’s jarring when they are high it’s obvious wherehis heart is. He is a good guy that doesn’t deserve the bad treatment he’sbeen getting. Whether it’s about his character, CP’s repeated abuse of him and body shamming. Grant is nothing but friendly and takes the punches with thepraise. I hope he does more cons in the future, maybe when he is more rested and less fatigued.

[topicprinter]

It's been just over a year since I sold my company and I'm trying to shake the rust off. It's scary how fast the world changes, especially when building software. But a fresh start is an advantage in a weird way because it lets you pull back and look at trends and where you want to focus your energy. So here are some things I've noticed in the past month just looking around the internet. I'll probably start a business in one of these categories.​Curating the curatorsThis is less of a new trend and more one of those exponential curves that is hitting the hockey stick part. There's so much information online that the traditional curators of the past decade are struggling to keep up. For example, Youtube likely has 50-100 videos per category on most popular how-to subjects, so the burden is back on the user to scroll through and make the mental calculations. "Okay this one has more views, but the guy in the thumbnail looks super annoying and is probably going to give a 2-minute intro."There's an opportunity to curate the curators to once again ease the burden on the user. I used to search Product Hunt for new software tools, and now when I search for something simple like "image optimizer" there are 6-7 results I have to consider, which is basically Google. I'd love for someone to tell me the one that they chose after doing the same comparison search I'm about to do. Save me opening another 7 tabs, please.The ProductHunt example is interesting because it seems they've realized they need to evolve their upvote curation method, and recently released a new product called YourStack. This site lets you look at what tools other people are using, which is partially helpful for discovery but still doesn't solve the search problem I looked at above.Whether its Google, Youtube, Product Hunt, or even the people I should be following on Twitter, there's a need for someone to aggregate the best resources from most content platforms.​Machine learning as a utilityIt's hard to escape the hype, and I've seen way too many founders start "AI" companies by hiding a very basic algorithm under a bunch of marketing language and a cool .ai domain name.Skepticism aside, my view on the subject shifted when I heard Kevin Kelly talk about AI as a utility. I can't remember the exact quote, but he said that rather than needing everyone to become AI programmers in the years to come, there would be a few algorithms that would be sold like electricity, and every business would integrate them without needing to be experts. He made that prediction about 5 years ago, and we are just now starting to see this take shape in a few limited applications.At its core, a machine learning algorithm helps you do something more accurately by using a large amount of training data. A lot of the early wins in machine learning were low-level tasks that humans did, but could now feed their decisions as training data and build an algorithm around. Examples: moderating content, filtering out graphic material, etc.As for the utility aspect, while you can't get access to the algorithm Facebook uses to auto-moderate posts, there are machine learning APIs available that have the potential to launch many different businesses.In one category, document/image parsing using an API like Google OCR Vision or Docparserrepresents a huge opportunity to replace manual labor in a lot of industries. Let's say I know that bar owners have a stack of liquor vendor invoices that they pay someone to manually type into Excel for accounting. I don't need to be a machine learning expert to build an app that uses a phone camera plus a parsing API to make that much easier.For another example, I have no idea how a tool like Gigapixel AI can turn old photos into high resolution just with their upscaling algorithm, but if they offered an API (and similar tools may already) then I could use it to create a service that helps people update and print their old wedding photos.The opportunity is there, and I'd say you can build on most of these APIs by learning some React/Node.js skills.​Goal-based educationI'm a bit biased because my last company was in education, but I also have been closely watching how online education has evolved in the past decade.While the world is full of free courseware and Youtube videos on almost any subject, there's still a huge opportunity emerging to create educational content for a wide variety of purposes and learning styles.One area I'm surprised isn't getting more attention is goal-based training. Related to the signal-to-noise problem with all online content, it's very difficult to piece together the right courses to achieve a specific goal. This was the main principle my last company used to succeed. I taught a course called "How to build a marketplace app like Airbnb" and since many startup founders had marketplace ideas, it connected a path to the goal.To break down another example, let's say I need a place to store my extra books, and I'm feeling adventurous enough to break out the power tools and build a bookshelf myself. Currently, my path looks something like this:Google "how to build a bookshelf"Read a few top articles, try to resolve conflicting informationGo to Youtube and watch a 6-minute bookshelf tutorialWatch another video because the first cut out a lot of stepsTry to resolve conflicting info between those videos and the articles I readGoogle "basics of woodworking"And while it's amazing that we live in an age where all this information is freely available, I'd happily pay for someone to do that work for me and record a "zero to bookshelf" course. I find it odd that when I search Skillshare and Udemy, there's nothing like this out there. Do I take "Woodworking essentials" and then try it on my own? Who knows.​Platform ExtensionsIt's a bit terrifying to build on a platform. In the last decade, countless businesses were killed off overnight as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram restricted their once-open APIs. As a founder, there's nothing scarier than the prospect of waking up and seeing your software is broken and can't be fixed.The industry trend of a less-open internet and more limited API offerings has stopped many from building on top of other business platforms. But the upside is high enough that it's worth asking whether there is a less risky way forward.I'd argue that you don't want to build a business on a massive platform. Any of the social networks mentioned above have enough money and power to make platform decisions with very little regard to the businesses built off them. Instead, I'll be looking at smaller platforms with very engaged audiences.A good model of a platform extension business is Baremetrics. The business was founded on Stripe's platform in 2013. Stripe had emerged as a super simple way to integrate a payments API into an application, but their reporting features were lacking. Baremetrics took their reporting data, built it into a dashboard tailored for subscription-revenue, and grew into a respectable platform company. 7 years later, it's far from dead, even though Stripe's reporting capabilities have grown significantly.To replicate this, start off by finding a piece of software you are using/passionate about that has a decently large community (bonus points if they already have an API). It's easy to figure out what the community is asking for as far as features/extensions, and if you build it you know where to find users. Another benefit of a smaller platform is that you can reach out directly to the team. "Hey, love using X, was thinking about building something to help users do Y better. Thoughts?" That way you can get a heads up if that feature/extension is on their roadmap, or if they have no plans to build in that direction. Or, worst case, just say "please don't do that."​Those four areas are where I'll be focusing my efforts building software this year, and now comes the hard part: actually doing it. Would love to hear where you're focusing and if you're building in one of the areas highlighted above, how's it going?