#very excited for ranch arc

[elderwisp]

The Onacona's

[the-froschamethyst4]

The Cowboy Hat Rule

𖤐Pairing: Cowboy! Price x City girl! Reader

𖤐Pronouns: She/Her

𖤐Warnings: smut, cowboy hate rule, strangers to lovers, slight fingering, p in v, slight eating out, handjob, drinking, smoking, making new friends, small town love, some humiliation

𖤐Summary: Y/n came to a small town just outside the city she grew up in and found herself in a small local bar and had some fun with some strangers

——————

——————

9:00AM

Y/n was packing her stuff to get ready to move out west to a small town just outside her hometown. Y/n was a city girl no doubt.

She use to get spray tans before vacations or before she goes out anywhere with her friends. Only shop at high end store like Gucci, Louis, Fendi and Prada, her groceries costed around someone’s rent, she paid so much.

She decided to move so she could have her freedom and wanted to start a small farm with Chickens to sell their eggs, cows to sell their milk and cheese, and sheep for their wool.

She found an abandoned ranch house with almost 4 arces of land, just enough for a barn and enough grass for the animals to graze and eat.

Y/n took some notes on how to take care of them and is honestly excited to have a farm. She likes a challenge and she also is ready to give up her lavage lifestyle for the barnyard.

She had looked did some digging around the small town and saw a small bar, a local grocery store, a strip mall with probably 7-8 different stores, she’s never really heard of.

A mechanic, a salon, a sandwich shop, and she also saw a couple of other farms and every Saturday there is a local Flee Market.

She can’t wait to move and live there.

——————

11:30AM

Y/n saw her new home just up ahead. The movers were confused on if this was the right house but pulled into the driveway and helped unload the truck.

One of the movers looked at Y/n trying to see if they were at the right house.

“Miss? Are we here?”

“Yes! We are here. Awww~ this place is amazing,” she said as she opened the door and took in the sight, it needs to be done up some but she can fix it or see if anyone around knows how to fix certain things.

She let the movers inside and place her couch, love seat, tables, nightstand, dresser and bed down in their certain spots.

Y/n was excited and grabbed her box’s from her car and placed her bathroom stuff in her master bathroom, bedroom stuff in her master bedroom and so on.

She paid the movers and started to set up her bed. And started to unpack the kitchen supplies and bathroom supplies. She unpacked her TV for her bedroom and started to set up her Netflix, HULU, Disney+ and YouTube and did the same with her TV in the living room.

She took in all her stuff in her own house and not in a apartment. Y/n went outside and started to take pictures on where she wanted her barn for her animals.

She didn���t know if she wanted to put it next to the large oak tree to act as shade for her animals or next to the pond to act as a natural water source for them.

She doesn’t know, but she will come up with something.

Now…small town love. She hasn’t really thought about love or finding love in a small town like this place, after her last relationship she’s kind of put off from dating for about a year.

She liked the single life even though it can be very lonely at times hints why she wanted a farm. Give her something to do so she won’t be bored out of her mind, and she can keep herself occupied.

She got in her car and drove to a local store that carried a lot of farm products from equipment, feed, even animals. She parked her car and got out, she definitely looked out of place.

A white t-shirt, black leggings, tennis shoes and a high ponytail. She looked like she just got done doing a hard workout. Everyone else looked like typical country people dressed like they’re ready for the local rodeo.

She rubbed the back of her neck before walking inside and grabbed a cart and started to look around for feed and took a look at the ducks, geese, bunnies and other birds they well selling, unfortunately not the ones she’s looking for.

She just smiled at the cute baby animals and headed to the back where there was flowers and some small sheds. She looked at one that looked like a mini version of a red barn it was cute, something she could use as a chicken coop.

“Hello, you finding everything okay?” A man walked up to her, she jumped a little bit before turning to him.

“Oh yeah…ummm~ I’m actually new to town and I bought that abandoned ranch house on the hill.”

“Oh that house, I’ve never seen anyone live there. It’s like they just made a random house for no reason.”

“Yeah that’s what my seller told me. Like they gave up half way through.”

“Well welcome to Mountain County, oh I’m Alex,” he put his hand out and Y/n shook it.

“Nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Y/n,” she said with a smile on her face.

“But anyways, what are you gonna do with the 4 acres?”

“A small farm, just a couple of animals sell their products and make money I guess,” she awkwardly laughed.

“Ahh~ I own a farm as well, I do this part time and I work on my farm full time. I sell crops at the flee market, I sell corn, potatoes, dried sunflower seeds, carrots, bell peppers, you name I probably sell it.” He laughs.

Y/n could tell he was trying to be friendly and not sound like he’s being cocky.

“Do you have animals?”

“Yeah, cows, sheep, horses, pigs, goats, llamas and chickens, I gonna get geese and ducks soon.”

“That’s cool, do you have any tips for me?”

“Yeah.”

Alex and Y/n could probably talk for hours and hours but unfortunately that’s not the case. Y/n and Alex exchanged numbers to keep in touch and so if Y/n had any questions she could text Alex and ask.

----------

1:30PM

Y/n headed home unpacked some more of her boxes and started to set everything she just bought outside her home. She will be getting a small shed she could keep the feed and whatever inside of it.

She headed back into her house. She changed out of her sweaty clothes and changed into some shorts and a tank top leaving her hair in the ponytail.

She laid on her couch grabbing her phone and looked at some picture of her 'friends' back at the city seeming to be having a blast without her. She didn't even get a 'goodbye party' from them.

She rolled her eyes and continued to scroll through the social media. Y/n saw her considered 'best friend' hanging out with her ex-boyfriend, they were all huggy on each other which made her feel gross.

The guy she told her friend about that was such a jerk to her, and she's over here hanging out with her. Thinking it's okay and that Y/n may never see it.

"So annoying," she rolled her eyes at the post and tossed her phone to the side ready to turn on the TV, but her phone pinged making her look at her phone and saw Alex's name pop up.

Alex: *Hey at The Mountain Top Bar, they're doing all you can get shots and drinks and they're doing line dancing, come join us*

Y/n: *Us? Who am I meeting, Alex?*

Alex: *Some friends of mine, come on, come join us*

Y/n: *Give me a minute*

Alex: *Yeah, take your time, sweet thing*

-----------

2:40PM

Y/n went to her car and drove to The Mountain Top Bar, she was in a dark green, emerald dress, she looked stunning. She exited her car and opened the door to the bar.

She read a sign with pretty handwriting font saying what Alex told her.

All you can eat, free shots and drinks on the house and Line Dancing of the century

She smiled at the sign. She opened the door and saw people dancing, laughing, getting drinks at the bar and playing darts and pool. She looked around for Alex and couldn't find him till she looked at the bar seeing him look like a cowboy like every guy in this place.

She walked up to him and gently tapped his shoulder getting his attention.

"HEY! You made it," he said as he got up and hugged her waist.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me about this, I would have never guessed," she said.

"Anytime, come, meet the guys," Alex said.

They walked to the bar counter and Alex got his friends attention to look at Y/n.

"Y/n, this is. Ghost, Soap, Gaz, Alejandro, König and Price is somewhere around here..." Alex said as he looked around the bar. "Oh, there he is," Alex pointed to a tall, buff man on the dancefloor dancing to Fake ID line dance.

(Okay, no but IMAGINE Price doing the Fake ID line dance from Footloose...jaw dropped, or line dancing in general, periodt)

Y/n watched in amazement as she watched this man dance with perfect synchronization with the rest of the people dancing around him.

"Wow," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, he's being a showoff, come have a drink with us," Alex said.

-----------

3:10PM

Y/n talked with the guys and enjoyed her drink given to her by Alex. Alex promised to give her the first drink of the night.

"HEY! Price, this is Y/n," Alex said, and Y/n placed her drink down and turned to Price.

Price gave Y/n a smirk and titled his cowboy hat towards her.

"Howdy," he said, Y/n felt her cheeks heat up.

"Hi," she said with a smile.

Alex could see Y/n's cheeks all heat up, he smirked and gently nudged his shoulder at Y/n.

"Hey," she whispered at him.

"Why don't we go play pool, Price, Y/n you guys stay here and guard our spots," Alex said.

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing," Price said.

Alex and the rest of the guys left the bar and Y/n and Price just awkwardly looked away from each other feeling embarrassed from being left alone with each other.

"Sorry about Alex," Price said.

"It's okay."

"Are you new in town? I've never seen you here before?"

"Yep, I just moved in this afternoon, Alex is the first person I met while I've been here and now, I guess his friends are my friends, maybe...that Ghost guy doesn't seem to like me."

"Ghost, doesn't like anyone...he just sticks with us because we're the only people who will talk to him," Price chuckled.

"Ahh~ that makes sense," Y/n said.

Price leaned on the bar counter looking at Y/n as she talked about her life about being in the city. Price has never really talked to a city girl before; he was thought that the 'city folk' were a bunch of weirdos and think only about themselves but surely enough he's wrong about Y/n.

"And I left because I wanted to change up my lifestyle, I've always wanted to be a farmer but thought I've never had the time for it, but I realized lately how much free time I have nowadays and so, I thought that I should come live out here and start my own small farm."

"How small? And what will you sell?"

"Just sheep, cows and chickens, sell wool, milk, cheese and eggs."

"Mmm~ yeah, that'll be great."

Price was listening to her talk, and he heard a certain song come on Take it off by Kesha came out, he turned and grabbed her hand.

"Hey come dance," he said.

"But I don't know how to line dance."

"That's okay, follow my lead."

They went to the dancefloor, Price stood in his position with Y/n to his left. She looked nervous but stood in her stance and watched as some people bounced to the song before the lyrics started.

Soon they started everyone started as Y/n felt lost, she didn't know what to do even when looking at Price for help. He was too big of a natural and Y/n could barely stay on her feet. When she would try and move backwards like everyone else, she tripped a bit but caught herself before she could fall.

Price saw and just chuckled at her being clumsy. Y/n could hear him chuckle at her, she felt a bit embarrassed, she stopped what she was doing and headed back to the bar.

Price looked to his right and didn't see Y/n, he looked around and saw her at the bar. He was trying to swiftly make it off the dancefloor was soon trapped on the floor by people crowding around.

Y/n sat at the bar, running her finger over the rim of her glass and looked bored out of her mind.

Alex came up next to her.

"Hey, where's Price?"

"On the dancefloor...I can't keep up," she said, taking a sip from her drink.

"It's okay, line dancing can be hard for people who don't know what to do, trust me, it was hard for me, but I got it down, later." Alex looked at Y/n looked at Price on the dancefloor and turned back to her glass.

"I think, I should go..."

"No, no, stay a bit longer," Alex tried to convince her to stay. "Do you smoke?" He asked. "Come on, you may need some fresh air, come on," Alex said as Y/n followed him outside the bar.

Price saw Y/n and Alex leave the bar to go outside. He again tried to get off the dancefloor and followed them outside.

"Hey, what happened?" He asked with his hands out looking at Alex who was leaning against the brick building and Y/n stood in front of him picking at her nails.

"Sorry...I...I just couldn't keep up and to save myself from embarrassment, I decided to stop."

"Aww, honey, it's okay-"

"Should I leave you two alone?" Alex asked, ready to put out his cigar.

"Umm~"

"If you don't mind," Price told him.

Alex left Price and Y/n alone again. She looked down at her feet as Price took Alex's spot against the brick wall.

"Honey, tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, I just didn't want to embarrass myself or you, so I just left and went to the bar and came out here with Alex."

"Honey, I've been embarrassed before by others and let's just say some had it worse, it's your first time, who cares, everyone had their first time, line dancing. Did Alex tell you he fell probably 7 different times during Fake ID, boy could barely stand after tripping so much, he basically made camp on the ground," Price laughed trying to make Y/n feel better.

Y/n still feel awkward that she didn't know what she was doing. She tried to smile at Price telling a story about Alex falling but it didn't make her feel any better.

"Come on, honey, there has to be more to it then you thinking you can embarrass me or yourself," he said, putting his pointer finger under her chin making her look up at him.

"I just...I just need to go home, I'm tired from moving and making new friends, that I'm just worn out," she gave a lazy smile to him and was about to walk to her car, but Price stopped her.

He took his black cowboy hat off his head and stuck it on Y/n's head, some people outside saw it happen and their eyes widened at Price's sudden gesture. They've never seen Price do that.

"Price?" He leaned forward and his lips touched hers, he was gentle about it and smirked when he pulled away from her lips.

"I have a question for you, little lady."

"O-Okay," Y/n was too stunned to even think straight.

"Do you know the hat rule?"

"Hat rule?"

"I know you, city folk probably don't do that, but here...in the country, when someone puts their hat on your head...it means they're taking you home...and you little lady, get to come home with me," he said with a cheesy grin on his face.

Y/n was shocked that he did this, she JUST met him tonight, at least take her on a date before making her 'yours' first Price, come on now.

"D-Do I have to go with you tonight?"

"Nah. but it just shows that...you're mine and whoever fucks with you, I'll know," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Price."

"Hm?"

"Take me home, please."

----------

8:26PM

Price had picked up Y/n out of his red and white Ranger. He kicked his door open and was kissing Y/n’s lips getting a soft moan from her.

He smirked and took her to his bedroom. He placed back on the ground as his hands found her butt and started to gently squeeze them and unzip her dark green dress letting it fall to her ankles.

She kicked it away just leaving her in her underwear. She could hear Price struggling to unbuckle his pants, so, she decided to help him. Her hands were a natural, she pulled his unzipped pants to the side where she can feel his hardened dick in her palm.

She smirked into the kiss as she could feel his hot breath on the side of her neck. Her hands moved up and down, they were soft and felt like someone was barely touching him.

"Oh g-god," he mumbled, he kissed her neck some more but could barely stay on his feet from how gentle she was being with him.

"Am I hurting you?" She asked.

"N-No...I'm...f-fuck," he mumbles again.

Y/n fell on her back on the bed behind her teasing Price once she stopped, she looked down at him, he was taking off his shirt and pants, he removed his cowboy hat and put it on Y/n's head.

"Holy fuck, you look amazing in it, little lady," he said, licking his bottom lip.

"Thank you, kind sir," she tipped the hat at him with a cheeky smile on her face.

He trapped her on the bed and kissed her lips, his hands ran all over her body, holding her waist and he moved his hands down to her thighs and pulled her the edge of the bed.

Price looked down at her and kissed her lips again, his hands cupped her face. She started to remove her underwear and Price smirked before sticking his fingers into his mouth getting them wet and feeling her folds, they were already wet.

He stuck them inside of her lower half and earned a loud and high-pitched squeal from her. Her hand gripped his wrist trying to push his fingers out, but she didn't want them to leave her.

He moved his fingers in and out of her quickly and earned a moan from her. She looked down at his fingers inside of her and watched him pull them out seeing a thick white substance thickened on his middle and ring finger.

He brought his fingers to his mouth and cleaned them off, she felt her folds drench in the white liquid. He bent down to her clit and licked the white liquid clean off her, she grabbed a handful of his hair wanting him to keep going and not stop.

"P-Please don't s-stop, P-Price," she moans. His tongue went inside of her and licked her folds again.

"Hmmm~" he hums and sat up, his left hand grabbed her wrists holding them above her head and his right hand on his dick hitting his tip just above her clit. She moans at the wet sounds clapping against each other.

"Ah!" She moans.

He pushed himself inside of her. She looked helpless underneath him; his right hand held her waist, gripping her tightly that he could very well leave a hand mark on her side.

He moved slowly at first but soon picked up the pace when he could feel her tighten around his dick. He bit his bottom lip possibly making it bleed.

He leaned down to her lips kissing them, once he pulled away, he could see the blood on her lip, he wiped his lip with his thumb and saw the blood and licked his thumb removing the blood from her lip.

Y/n didn't care she was feeling good by Price. He didn't stop moving fast, he wanted her to moan his name, moan so loud that her voice breaks. He cups her face and kisses her lips again.

"H-Holy fuck," he cussed under his breath as he looked at Y/n's face, it was red, and he could see tears threatening to fall from her eyes. He wipes her tears away getting a soft smile from her.

"Are y-you sure I'm n-not hurting you?" He asks.

"I-I'm sure," she stutters as her head went back and moaned again feeling her stomach tighten and she could feel that same liquid run down her clit and possibly onto the bedsheets, Price was huffing and puffing due to the feeling of coming as well.

He pulled out and he watched the cum quickly squirt out of her, he licked his lips and grabbed a rag to help clean her up.

----------

Price had started a bath for Y/n. She was currently in it washing herself as Price stripped the bed and put clean sheets on it and had sweatpants hanging low on his waist showing off his Calvin Klein boxers.

He fixed the pillows and went to the bathroom with some clean clothes for Y/n. She looked up at him with tired eyes and saw him drop an oversized t-shirt and a clean pair of boxers on the sinks counter.

He sat on the edge of the bathtub and looked down at her.

"How's the bath?"

"Good, I love this feeling," she said, bring her hand out of the water and watching the water droplets fall back into the tub.

"I'm glad..." he said, cupping her face. "Tomorrow...would you like me to show you around, my property?"

"That'll be great, thank you," she said with a soft smile on her face.

-----------

Y/n came into the bedroom and fell on one side of the bed and cuddled up to Price's chest, she grabbed her phone and wanted to play dirty like her 'best friend' did with her.

She got on Price's stomach, he was confused and placed his hands on the side of her thighs.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"Just...a little payback for what my 'friend' did to me, by getting together with my ex. I'm going to show I'm not bothered by it and show you off...I'm not gonna show your face, I'm just going to make them feel jealous that I moved on and they can't hurt me," she said with a smirk on her face.

She took a photo of her sitting on her stomach showing off his toned body, his hands on her thighs and her left hand placed on his stomach.

She took several others, one where she leaned against his chest and showed a bit of his face, but she put a blue heart emoji over his face.

She posted them to her social media and within an instant people were liking it and some people, she did still keep in touch with where wandering who this guy was with Y/n.

"She's mad," Y/n evilly giggled at her 'friend' commenting.

Best_friend132: *Girl, you've only been there for a day and you're already screwing someone*

Y/n rolled her eyes and tossed her phone to the nightstand and looked at Price with a smile on her face. She cuddled to his side and Price placed his hand on her waist as he read his book and Y/n could look at the pages with him.

"What even is this?"

"It's called 'Ace' it's about this Mafia couple who hate each other but in the long run fall in love with each other," she sat up stunned that Price, would read romance books, he doesn't even look like he would even read books. If he did it would be a hunter magazine.

"You read romance novels?"

"Yeah, some are interesting, but I usually read adventures, thrillers and humor, really. But some romance books are good."

"Never expected you to read romance novels," she giggles at him.

"Yeah, I know. I try and keep this away from the guys, they'll never let it down." He said, shaking his head and putting his book down and hugged Y/n's waist before they both drifted off to sleep.

---------

5:00AM

Y/n woke up to the sound of a rooster doing his usual morning call, Price woke up as well with his face berried into the crook of her neck and gave her a slight kiss.

She moaned into him kissing her neck, she cupped the side of his head and she felt him rub his hardened dick against her.

"Price."

"Sorry, can't help it..." he said as Y/n placed her hand in his pants and started to help him out.

She moved her hand up and down, her thumb touched the tip of his dick, he gave out a very breathy groan.

"Fuck," he moans before leaking cum on her thumb. It was very quick, and he knows that, he wasn't embarrassed he finished fast, he just wanted to cum in Y/n's hand. It was just...amusing to him to cum inside her hand.

-----------

7:46AM

Price had gotten ready for his farm work, Y/n sat on the porch waiting for Price, she looked up when she heard the screen door to the house slam shut.

"Come on, let me show you around."

"Okay," she stood up excitedly and followed Price around his farm like she was a lost puppy, which she was, she didn't know where everything was.

[morurui]

You know how in Camp Cretaceous Darius was our protagonist, Kenji was our deuteragonist, and Brooklynn was our tritagonist while the other 3 were tetartagonists. I definitely think Chaos theory is going to switch up which characters are going to be in the spotlight (and not only because of the Brooklynn situation obviously requiring a new tritagonist 🥲) this is how I predict the dynamic switching.

-Darius is obviously going to remain our protagonist I don’t see that ever changing and the plot is tied very heavily to him so I don’t have many thoughts on that .(I’m very excited to see more exploration of his psyche)

-Ben is shifting to our deuteragonist this time around seeing as not only is he taking charge of collecting everyone and researching the behind the scenes stuff (as well as having involvement with mantah corp through his work on the island), but his character is also heavily tied to Darius. Due to Brooklynn no longer being in the picture (☹️) and hints that Darius and Kenji are distant at the moment, he’s clearly the closest person Darius has right now and from their time on the island it’s shown that they understand each other in a way that others don’t (I mean he literally knew that Darius would be blaming himself for Brooklynn’s death and set out to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault).

-Next up is our Tritagonist, and upon further reflection of the trailer and especially the new poster that came out recently I think it’s going to be Sammy. I’m not a hundred percent sure about this but when watching the trailer there was a lot of focus on her much more than Yaz and Kenji. I think her ties to mantah corp are definitely going to come back and we can see through some hints in the trailer (and especially the new caution sign promo photos that were posted today) that bumpy is most likely living on her family’s ranch reaffirming her ties to mantah corp island. Do I know exactly what role she’s going to play? Nope no idea, but do I know I’m going to love seeing her more often? Yes, yes I do.

-This leaves Yaz and Kenji as our Tetartagonists. I want to note this does not diminish their importance to the plot. I feel like it implies that they won’t be as important, but that’s simply not true. Kenji is obviously going to have an arc centering himself, Darius and Brooklynn as well as his ties to mantahcorp through his dad. And from the small snippets of Yaz that are in the trailer we’re probably going to explore her ptsd further. They’re obviously going to be involved in the plot, but just not as centered as the others that were previously mentioned.

At the end of the day this is just fun speculation and there’s no way to know for sure what the dynamics are going to be like until the show comes out! I just wanted to put my thoughts out there on the topic because I had a lot to say about it.

[beatdisc]

Happy Faye Day!

We're very excited to crack open the new LP from Faye Webster today, hot off the back of her wonderful St Jerome's Laneway Festival performances last month. "Underdressed At The Symphony" is her frst full-length since 2021's "I Know I'm Funny Haha" - a shop favourite here at Beatdisc!

"Faye Webster's songs are direct lines to the human subconscious, and Underdressed at the Symphony documents what happens once you begin to build a new self from the ashes of your old routines. This rebirth isn't flashy or definitive, but is instead a series of seemingly mundane moments that, scattered across weeks and months, sneak their way toward something like healing. Yes, there's a breakup in play, but Webster is not documenting the heartbreak of a breakup so much as she's navigating the contours of heartbreak itself.

Recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas with her longtime band, Webster is accompanied on Underdressed at the Symphony by Matt Stoessel's arcs of shimmering pedal steel, the plaintive, unhurried drums of Charles Garner, and, occasionally, additional guitarwork from Wilco's Nels Cline, among many other crucial players."

Out today and in-stock on limited edition "Faye Blue" colour vinyl - $55 a pop.

#fayewebster#underdressedatthesymphony

[kinkcommissions]

"A Man's Man"- Superstore Sickfic

Written by: Pine

This fic is based on the short arc where Jonah drinks the ranch dressing to impress the warehouse guys. ‘nough said ;)

There is a very slight reference to my previous Superstore fic “Spillage”. It’s unimportant to the plot of the fic, but if you enjoy this kinda thing, check out “Spillage” first because this one technically follows that one (though the reference is only small)

Hope you enjoy :)

---

Jonah swaggered toward the breakroom. He practically bounced with excitement. Not only did he get the warehouse guys to join the union without having to partake in endless questionable activities with Marcus, but he did it by connecting to them as men. Jonah had always been insecure about how manly he was. He knew he wasn’t the kind of guy to lift weights and pull girls; he was more the kind of guy to make a cup of coco and tune in to a new podcast, arguing out loud with the speakers with no one else to hear. He had never been “a man’s man”, until today. To chug a gallon of ranch dressing perhaps wasn’t the most intellectual solution to the problem, but it had worked. He was only grateful that he had skipped lunch today, though with nothing else in him, that ranch was sitting heavy…

Even acid reflux couldn’t get him down. A gallon of dressing was definitely not brilliant for his rather sensitive stomach, given that it was mostly used to all organic, locally sourced foods. Though that didn’t matter, he could just swig some pepto when his shift was over and he got home. And though he was stuck on shift for another hour or two with an increasing pain in his middle, he was still high off his success with the guys.

“You look more peppy than usual” came Garret’s voice. Jonah turned to see him also heading to the breakroom. “Let me guess, you served Greta Thunberg at the checkout?”

“No, cool stuff like that never seems to happen to me” Jonah replied. Garret smirked, further amused that Jonah had missed that he was making fun of him.

“No, I chugged a gallon of ranch to impress the warehouse guys into joining the union!” Jonah didn’t wait to see Garret’s reaction before continuing, meaning he missed a flash of concern across his friend’s face.

“Maybe I should chug things more often” Jonah said, half talking to himself, walking through the employee door towards the breakroom. He raised his voice again bringing Garret back into the conversation.

“That’s what us guys do isn’t it? Chug drinks?” Jonah paused for a moment, trying to think of a more macho term for drinks.

“Booze? Hooch? Liquid Courage?” at the last, Jonah nodded, satisfied and Garret stifled a laugh, imagining Jonah calling ‘beer’ ‘liquid courage’ in front of the warehouse guys.

“Can you even chug a gallon of ranch?” Garret asked as they walked together down the hallway.

“Apparently so” Jonah replied, placing a hand for a moment on his stomach, reminded of the heavy feeling settling there.

“I mean, without hurling it all back up again later”

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue” Jonah said “I like to drink probiotics so my digestion…” he patted his stomach twice “It’s got to be fairly well boosted by now”

“Ok buddy, don’t come crying to me when you’re chucking up a gallon of ranch in the employee toilet”.

“Won’t need to man, guys chug all sorts all the time right? And ranch is meant to be eaten anyway!”

They made it to the breakroom and took a well-deserved rest, Garret grateful to take a break from serving customers; Jonah grateful to be off his feet and give his stomach a chance to start working on that ranch. A sore stomach for one evening seemed like a small price to pay for respect and admiration from the guys.

---

“Oh god”

It was too late for pepto. Jonah gripped his stomach firmly as he hastily made his way from aisle six, where he was stocking the shelves, and towards the employee toilet. Turns out Garret had been right, and its not like he could ask him for help now after what he had said, but more because he had already helped him a while ago when Jonah had eaten that bad yoghurt and subsequently thrown it back up when confronted with a particularly bad spillage. Garret had been so kind to him then and Jonah didn’t want Garret to think of him as this shrinking violet that vomited every time something disgusting happened. Plus, he wanted Garret to believe him about his probiotics and the benefit they had on his digestion. He’d come so far trying to teach Garret about organic, probiotic food and this would make him lose all his earned credibility on that topic. A quick trip to the men’s room was all he needed this time, and he was more than happy to do it by himself.

“Jonah?”

“Dina!” Jonah was flustered, he quickly removed his hand from his stomach and tried to wipe away the sheen of sweat across his brow.

“You’re already finished in aisle 6? That was quick. Ok, I need you to run a message to Amy, she’s in her office. A shipment came in today, apparently we’re short one item. Those bastards think they can short us one item per shipment like I’m not going to notice? Do you even know how many gallons of ranch they would owe us by the end of the year?”

“Oh god” said Jonah, though they weren’t really words, more spoken through an involuntary and powerful retch that keeled him at the waist. He put a hand instinctively to his mouth.

“Woah, you okay Jonah? You’ve gone a little green there. It’s very noticeable on account of your pale complexion. Was it something I said? Don’t like me talking about ranch shipments?”

Bleruuugh. The retch was short and strong, his body so full of ranch, it didn’t need to come far to escape. The hurling was vicious, a wet noise followed his gagging which was muted by a mouthful of partially digested, warm and stomach-tinged ranch dressing. The vomit was almost pure ranch. It looked white. It smelt tangy. Jonah tasted nothing but ranch and this only served to quicken the process.

Dina took a couple of quick steps back, managing to avoid most of the fluid, getting herself hastily out of the firing line.

“Damn Jonah, youstole the ranch from the shipment?”

Jonah took his opportunity to speak while he had the chance, though his voice was thick.

“No! Well yes, I guess technically? But only to chug it so that the warehouse guys would join the union! I-“ he cut himself off as speaking for so long was bringing on another wave of nausea.

“Ah, a classic dick-swinging contest huh?” Dina nodded understanding “I’ve been where you’ve been, I’ve chugged enough ranch to open a sandwich shop of my own”

Jonah paused for a moment, distracted from his sickness

“What would you sell, ranch sandwiches?” though at the thought of his own comment, Jonah promptly spewed liquid onto the floor again.

“Okay buddy” Dina said, placing a hand on his back to lead him away. She pulled out her walkie talkie.

“Glenn, can you send Sandra over to aisle six, tell her to bring a mop”

“Can do Dina!” came Glenn’s nasally voice from the other side of the walkie talkie.

“How does that man not get laughed out of every room he walks in?” Dina questioned out loud as she strode purposefully, leading Jonah to the employee toilet. She managed to get him there without further mess made out on the floor. Dina threw the door open, and seeing one of the stall doors closed, she started hammering on it with her fist.

“Clear the room now!” she called, her voice booming through the toilet.

Marcus replied from inside “Dina I’ve just started and if I stop now I’ll have to start all over again in another bathroom”

“Save it Marcus. Out. Now.”

Marcus fled from the stall, naked, and bundling his clothes in his arms,

“Jesus Marcus why are you naked?”

“Oh so you guys would rather try and get pee stains out of your clothes?”

“Just don’t pee on yourself?!”

“Yeah” Marcus scoffed “If it were that easy! Good one Dina” and then he left.

“He is a strange guy” Jonah said but started retching again.

“In!” Dina demanded pointing  into the stall and kicking it open.

“Was that really- oh-“ Jonah cut himself off again and made his way to the toilet kneeling down and centring himself just in time for yet another torrent, hailed down into the toilet bowl. The discontented cries of Jonah’s struggle to evacuate the ranch were echoed back into the room. Amidst the sounds of vomit pooling in the toilet came the desperate groans and agonised moans that could only be coming from someone ridding themselves of a gallon of ranch.

Dina reached out but hesitated before touching him. Hearing his struggle, her decision was made. She laid her hand across his back and made comforting circular motions. He instinctively leaned slightly back into her hand, almost forgetting she was there; he only focused on the feeling of comfort. Some distant part of him was embarrassed at her presence, but a very real and immediate threat of another exodus brought any straggling thoughts back to his here and now as he fully emptied himself into the toilet; his hands grasped desperately at the seat. Jonah’s posture was small, his knees together, head bowed and back slightly arched as he retched. Dina stood behind him in contact with his back. She had begun making staccato hushing sounds and realised it was the same noise she used to quiet her birds, but it seemed to helping Jonah so she didn’t stop.

After his vomiting had stopped, Jonah let out a more than exasperated breath and sat back onto his knees. He wiped his brow once more and Dina was already offering toilet paper, which he took gratefully, and used to clear his nose and clean his mouth. He stood.

“You missed a bit” she said softly and with the toilet paper she still held, she dabbed the corner of his mouth. Jonah was very flustered.

“Thank you. And, erm- thank you for- you know”

“Hey” she stopped him “I’ve been there. It’s okay.”

She turned to leave and stopped, turning back to face him.

“I’m gonna have to take the cost of the ranch out of your pay. It’s nothing personal but you did consume stock while on shift.”

Jonah smiled, glad to return to their usual dynamic and quickly leave the vulnerability behind.

“I won’t write you up though, I think you’ve probably suffered enough”.

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2023

MOVIES I HATE

I watched Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

As far as Rambo movies go, I like the first one and that's it, so I'm not overly excited to sit through this.

John Rambo seeks revenge against a Mexican human trafficking ring.

The original First Blood film, which is the first John Rambo movie, is an action film about a broken veteran being pushed beyond his limit and waging a war against the cops who pushed him. It's a good movie and it gave us a character with depth and purpose. Every Rambo film from there on out was about nothing but a well trained guy murdering a bunch of people with lots of bullets and big knives. Low brow stuff.

This time around it seems some producer had the grand idea, "What if Instead of Liam Nelson in Taken, it was Rambo?!" And off we go to the land of mediocre old man action movies.

Director Adrian Grunberg seems to view Mexico as a corrupt trash heap, full of dirty evil men. Another film I've seen by him, Get The Gringo, starring Mel Gibson imagines Mexico as a place full of gang members and evil general-esque crime lords. This movie is really no different. The only "good" people in mexico are some of the women of course. Especially the pretty ones. Lucky for those women, there is a badass white guy with a heart of gold to save them from all the evil of their home country. It'd be possibly even forgivable had this been a part of one of Grunberg's films, but the fact that the evils and dangers of Mexico are the full plots of two of his films is incredibly suspect. Especially in an era where people who come from Latin America are demonized on the political stage.

Mexico and many foreign countries are easy to sell as lawless wastelands in films like this, because their audience of Fox News Americans buys into this shit. But, I'll get off my soapbox and talk about the film itself.

I was surprised when this film opened up and I saw some very pretty shots of wide open country and a nice ranch. I thought for a second this movie was going to look good throughout. I got the sense that maybe this movie would examine Rambo in his later years, dealing with a life of hardship and facing new limitations when danger comes to meet him. Sadly, those shots and that imagined story arc were me lying to myself. The camera work and style quickly turns to the typical mid-budget action look. There's a driving scene with such bad green screen that I was actually shocked by it. The writing cares nothing for the character. If you told me this was an already written script that they just plugged Rambo into to sell more tickets, I'd believe you without hesitation. It's very by the numbers and it can be so generic that it can become rather tedious. The dullness of this script is so miserable to sit through. The attempts at emotional connection are as dead as Rambo's niece. Yes, she dies. Do we care? No. Are you upset that I told you? I don't give a shit.

Let's just move on to what I suppose this movie was made for, the violence and action.

The action in this film is fine, I guess. It's definitely violent, but we don't really feel the glory of revenge these movies usually pay off with. By the time the real war broke out, I didn't care enough, I just wanted it to be over.

We find ourselves in these winding underground tunnels that Rambo has built over the years. Guys get caught in traps, Rambo is always in the right place at the right time to finish them off.

This has the feeling of the diminishing returns of other cheap sequels. Like watching the worst of the Death Wish series.

Solidly a movie I hate because of its mediocrity, awful use of a character, cheap use of Mexico as a land of bad guys and just the sheer waste of time and resources that went into making it.

[drabbles-mc]

Send a character ask game: Taza & Nestor

Ooo let's do this!

Taza Romero-

First impression: When I first started watching Mayans, I didn't really have any strong feelings about Taza one way or the other. I liked the chill energy and vibe that he gave off, but he wasn't a character that I initially felt very drawn towards.

Impression now: I wanna shake the man by his shoulders in the hopes it will knock some sense loose in his head. 😂 So much could've been avoided or at least handled differently if he just talked about what was going on! However that being said, I do really enjoy his character and I'm curious to see what they're going to do with his storyline next.

Favorite moment: Early seasons quips with Bish will always have a special place in my heart. And the little exchange with him and Creeper will always be a top-ranking moment for me 😂

Idea for a story: I have a request for him sitting in my inbox right now that I'm hoping to get started on today that I'm very excited about! Being able to build his character out a little more and give him a current (and less-heartbreaking) love story is something I'm super thrilled about getting into.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think it's necessarily unpopular but I think the fact that Taza didn't rock Bishop's entire shit at some point during s4 was a crime. I wanna see the man throw hands at the ex-president idc 😂

Favorite relationship: Early seasons I can easily say that he and Bish were my favorite. But I did also love the complicated relationship between him and Laura as well.

Favorite headcanon: It's come to my attention that never in the show is it ever actually stated that Taza lives on a ranch. But the actor who plays him does and that's just bled over into the characterization of the character for a lot of people in the fandom (myself included) and I really love that for us.

Nestor Oceteva-

First impression: Believe it or not, I was pretty indifferent about Nestor at first. I wasn't overly drawn to his character because he was so entwined with Galindo and I've disliked Miguel from the jump lmao. When I first got into the show, I definitely thought he was very attractive, and that scene where he and Bishop fight and smile afterwards definitely made me 👀 But he wasn't really on my radar at first.

Impression now: I love him, your honor. He's my character now, sorry Elgin. But real talk, the arc that he's had so far for someone who is such a minor character is really interesting to me.

Favorite moment: What isn't my favorite moment? 😂 I do really love the exchange with him and Marcus (I think it's in s2?) after they save Marcus from Hobart. A very close runner-up is the scene in s3 where Nestor has the gun to Marcus's head in the car because Gino's acting in that scene is just soooo chef's kiss. But the sweet moment between the two of them wins out for me

Idea for a story: I wish I could let y'all lose inside my head so you could take the plot ideas you like and write them because I never know if I'm going to get around to them all 😂 I have a few different AU's bouncing around in my head where Nestor has a younger sister and godddd I love the potential in the dynamic so much

Unpopular opinion: If Nestor never sees Miguel again it will still be too soon. That man never gave a fuck about Nestor and I'm glad Nestor dumped his ass 😂 (Miguel really is my enemy #1 in the show I love to hate him so I'm biased lmao)

Favorite relationship: Nestor and Marcus. I love the growth of that dynamic and I think that Marcus could be the mentor that Nestor has always needed.

Favorite headcanon: Bruh anything family-based for Nestor is an absolute fave of mine. I love thinking about what his relationship with his brother was like (and by extension Miguel as well). I love the idea of him with a younger sister. I love thinking about how complicated his relationship with his parents might be. UGh the family drama thoughts I'm obsessed

Send me a character and let's discuss!

[universitypenguin]

Hiya!

BIG BIG FAN OF THE LATEST CHAPTER!!! Honestly? Superb. Just the balance of genre is 🥰🥰🥰 (I’m the anon who sent a message about just loving how you turned the fic into a crime thriller btw)

No pressure to answer with anything long, but I was curious if Lloyd and Princess ever took on any cases that hit him a little too close to home, childhood wise? Is he soft with the kids? Does something go a little mushy inside the ex-spy when he sees a child go through what he did? Does the Princess get to see this softer side if he does? Like I said, no pressure to answer! I was just curious about a what if scenario.

I really, really enjoy your writing and I genuinely am engaged by all aspects of it. Not one part bores me and I’m as excited for the thriller parts as the romance. To navigate the two genres in one text is really an admirable skill and you ought to be very chuffed with yourself.

Lotsa love!!

🥰🥰🥰

Thank you so much for your response!

I love getting these questions. Also, I do know I have the tendency to over write and turn everything into a whole story with a character arc and backstory. It’s an ongoing issue. 😆

1. Have Lloyd and Princess ever took on any cases that hit him a little too close to home, childhood wise?

No, not like this one. Lloyd has been to therapy and it opened the door to a lot of things he has locked down for decades. That’s why this incident got under his skin. Usually, he’s very compartmentalized and has something of a mental block around his childhood trauma. It’s not something that comes up every single day but it’s a huge factor in why he turned out the way he did.

For Princess, kids are easy. She practically raised her younger siblings and because of it, she has a good sense of where they are developmentally. She can establish report quickly with most kids, since she knows what toys, games, and books they enjoy. Having a niece and nephew helps with this a lot. She’s great at letting them come to her and finding out what captures they’re attention.

2. Is he soft with the kids?

Yes, but… Lloyd doesn’t know how to act around kids (at this point.) He’s clueless about their needs and abilities. There’s a vast difference between a three year old and a five year old, for example. Lloyd gets that, but he doesn’t know the specifics or how that should affect his approach to them. He looks at kids as if they’re tiny adults, which is usually not true.

He would be soft with a kid, but it would require him to spend enough time with one to make a connection. I think he’d be very protective and would really appreciate their trust. I actually have a few ideas about how to work this into the plot. The concept I have in mind is based on how my uncle is with his grandchildren.

A sidebar, with background on my inspiration for how Lloyd would be with children. My uncle is a rough mannered old cowboy who’s spent far more time with livestock than other humans in his life. He was a tough love kind of person as a father, which was sometimes hard on my cousins. Of course he always loved his children but he struggled to express it, probably because of how he was treated by his father. Age has really softened him up. Nowadays, he’s amazing with his grandkids. He’s patient and really listens to them. The other day he took his grandson for a ride to check cattle and they ended up sitting on the hill, the grandson with his High-C and my uncle with his Budlight, talking about where they should build a corral. When he got home he pulled out his sketch pad and spent hours trying to design an appropriate corral. Then he decided to sketch out how he wants his ranch to be laid out someday- where will the garden go? Where will he keep his horses? How big should the barn be? What about a chicken coop?

My cousin and his wife were so confused by their son’s drawings. He kept doing multiple drafts and insisting the sketches had to be “just right.” After about twenty sketches, my cousin finally figured it out. He was designing corrals and a barn yard. When he told me this story my cousin said, “You never know what those two will get up to when Dad gets into the Budlight and Joey gets into the High-C.” 😂

3. Does something go a little mushy inside the ex-spy when he sees a child go through what he did?

I think Lloyd would fly into a murderous rage if he saw a kid going through what he did, or even if he just suspected it was happening. The memory I showed in Part 8 was the tip of the iceberg and there’s a lot more that will come out toward the middle of the plot.

Like I mentioned above, he has the potential for softness, but he’s never had the chance to show it before. I want to pull some of that out as the plot continues and prove that Lloyd can be loving outside of a romantic relationship. Kindness is an important element of being a good partner and seeing how much of it Lloyd really has will be interesting.

4. Does the Princess get to see this softer side if he does?

I’m not sure how I’m going to play out the third act, but there’s a chance she won’t see all of these events. Lloyd will definitely be challenged to use his hard-won emotional intelligence and show himself capable of being a real partner to Princess.

However, I plan to have her become aware of, or maybe figure out how soft Lloyd actually can be. His past abuse will alway make him feel like he has to hide that soft underbelly of emotion, but that only serves to emphasize how deep his feelings run. Princess already has an idea of this, but I’m aiming for a scene that will drive it home so there’s no room for doubt.

You have no idea how helpful this ask was at clarifying my intentions for act three. My inner muse really loves this concept… I’m dying to find out what I’m going to do with it! 🤩

[lgbtqmanga]

New Releases Nov. 23, 2021

Cardcaptor Sakura Collector's Edition vol. 9 by CLAMP

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the all-time classics of the magical girl genre, and the Collector's Edition will be the definitive version of the story, for both long-time fans and readers new to the story. The adventures of the plucky Sakura Kinomoto are as adorably thrilling as ever, as she tracks down the magical...

Clow Cards and plunges headlong into a world of sorcery beyond anything she could've imagined.

Harem Marriage vol. 11 by NON (digital only)

"You see, Miku... Your mommy's a powerful witch." 

Kita-Tsubame, the only city in Japan where polygamy (a.k.a. Harem Marriage) is legalized, is hosting a Harem Marrython! Ryu has his eye on a new bride by the name of Misuzu, a single mother who wins over Koharu with her genuine smile and love for her daughter... But behind that smile lies a dangerous past. Now, the Date family must race to determine whether their bride-to-be is a sinner or a saint!"

His Extra-Large, Ever-So-Lovely... vol. 1 by Omoimi (digital only)

Aoi Yamamoto is 20 years old. Determined to get his first girlfriend, he joined a Nihonshu Club...only to find it chock-full of men. Disappointed, Aoi overindulges, and is taken home by a fellow club member to recover. This club member is also a virgin, even though he's had many girlfriends, and when he shows Aoi why, well...Aoi finds he wants to try it out for himself.

Hitorijime Boyfriend by Memeco Arii

"EITHER YOU LET ME MAKE LOVE TO YOU, OR WE END OUR FRIENDSHIP AGAIN. WHAT'S IT GONNA BE?"

Before Masahiro and Kousuke's whirlwind romance in Hitorijime My Hero, there was Hitorijime Boyfriend—and now, the origin of one of manga's biggest franchises is finally revealed! Back in sixth grade, Kensuke had a falling out with his best friend Hasekura that still hurts three years later. Then, one day, Hasekura's suddenly back in Kensuke's life like nothing happened. What, exactly, is going on? And what will Kensuke do when Hasekura wants to take things to a whole other level...?

Hitorijime My Hero vol. 11 by Memeco Arii (early digital)

“You Can Do Whatever You Want to Me”

As they take the dive into “marriage mode,” Masahiro and Kousuke waste no time getting comfy as cohabitants. Just as their issues finally seem to be behind them, Kousuke’s mother disrupts their peace with a single remark: “There’s something we need to talk about.” Is the cat out of the bag…?!

I Think Our Son Is Gay vol. 2 by Okura

With her husband working abroad, mama Tomoko is in charge of raising their two precious sons back on the Aoyama ranch. Keeping her kids fed, clothed, and on schedule is all in a day's work, but Tomoko also watches over them with great love and care...and in the case of her eldest son Hiroki, who's doing a very bad job of keeping his sexuality a secret from his family, a big dose of bemusement. And now Hiroki might have another secret to keep! Lately he's been coming home from school talking enthusiastically about a certain boy, his classmate Daigo! With practically every other word out of her son's mouth being about Daigo, Tomoko can't help thinking Hiroki's crushing pretty hard on his friend!

Magical Girl Site vol. 16 by Kentaro Sato (final volume)

ON THE BRINK OF DESTRUCTION

Humanity has been turned into sperm and taken off planet, earth teeters on the edge of annihilation—and still, the Magical Girls fight on. Do they stand a chance against the tides of darkness or has the battle already been lost? The harrowing final volume of Magical Girl SITE!

My Androgynous Boyfriend vol. 3 by Tamekou

(ANDROGYNOUS) BOYS’ NIGHT!

It’s time for a sleepover! And not just any sleepover—it’s a sleepover at Kira’s gorgeous house. With super fancy food on the menu, luxurious skin care, and late night chats about love, a good time is guaranteed to be had by all. However, the real excitement begins the next morning, when Sasame trips and falls into the burly arms of a mysterious delivery person. Just who is this newcomer?

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc vol. 1 by Magica Quartet, Hanokage

All the witches in the universe, past and future, may have disappeared, but in their place emotion-eating “wraiths” prey on humanity. The magical girls fight to protect Mitakihara City once more…

Restart After Coming Back Home by cocomi

The touching romance that inspired a hit live-action film!

Hotheaded Kozuka Mitsuomi left his home in the country for a sophisticated life in Tokyo. Unfortunately, at age 25, he’s fired from his job and returns home in disgrace. As he tries to rediscover himself, he meets Kumai Yamato, a man about his age who was adopted into his community while Mitsuomi was away. The sweet and even-tempered Yamato is hiding his own pain, and as the two men connect, they start a journey together.

School Zone Girls vol. 3 by Ningiyau

BAD GIRLS IN LOVE

Hiragi has finally escaped the attentions of her bubbly and boisterous classmate Utsugi…so why is the resulting peace and quiet so dang depressing? And why is Utsugi ignoring her in the first place? Meanwhile, thanks to Yatsude’s “help,” Rei is having bra troubles–and not long after, Kei’s bra suffers from the same mysterious ailment. Is anyone capable of behaving in this series?

Sugar Dog Life by Yoriko (digital only)

Sakuraba is a college student, though you'd never know it, with his short height and baby face. Certainly police officer Amazawa thought Sakuraba was a minor, and nearly booked him for being out too late after he was returning from a drinking party. But there's something oddly familiar about him, and the two strike up an odd relationship...

What Did You Eat Yesterday? vol. 17 by Fumi Yoshinaga

This slice-of-life series follows the ordinary lives of a middle-aged, gay couple and the ever-changing, delicious variety of homecooked meals they share.

Shiro and Kenji are now well past their youthful years, and with a stable relationship and a stable career for them both, what could possibly go wrong? But Kenji finds himself in a bind one evening after a few drinks with one of his hair salon regulars. Meanwhile, a mysterious and beautiful woman greets Shiro with a friendly smile on the street during their grocery shopping, and Shiro insists that he doesn’t know her.

[clonewarsarchives]

SEND IN THE CLONES (#104, OCT 2008)

Insider catches up with Supervising Director for the latest on the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated TV series. Additional interview: Amy Bernstein

How does the forthcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series tie in with the new movie?

The movie sets up major characters, like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and, of course, the new character, Ahsoka. It was made to stand alone and introduce everybody to the universe we’re showing in The Clone Wars on television. The series has small arcs that show you the war across a broad spectrum and in many episodes.

We know what eventually happens to Anakin Skywalker. We know what happens to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Well, some episodes don’t even have them, and that’s one thing that’s really exciting about the series. We get to explore the galaxy in a bigger way.

When and how did you first discover Star Wars?

After Star Wars came out, there was a summer re-release because the movie did so well. Back then it was more common to do that, I guess. I remember not so much seeing the movie, because I was very young at the time, but I remember driving home from the theater. [I was] sitting in the back of my parents’ car pretending my brother and I were Han and Luke, shooting the other cars as if they were TIE fighters. I remember that quite vividly, and then ever since then....

How young were you when you started drawing, and when did you realize that you had such a gift for it?

I started drawing really young. It was just something in my household that always happened. I was always interested in the arts, and I got really lucky. In first grade, I had a teacher who had an easel in the back of the classroom. When I finished my work, she’d let me go draw. I think that was a really key thing, that I was encouraged, so I just kept at it. Then, when it came time to figure out what I wanted to do, drawing seemed to be the thing—and animation. I loved music and I loved images, so putting the two together seemed like a great opportunity. Of course, I always loved Star Wars, but once I was in college, I thought, “Visual effects are really where I should be, because they don’t do animation in Star Wars.” Who knew?

What was the interview for the job of supervising director like?

I interviewed with producer Catherine Winder first, then Gail Currey, the general manager of Lucasfilm Animation. I just had to explain who I was and some of my interests and what I thought about Star Wars. Then I had to fly up to the ranch and interview [with] George [Lucas]. That was like a whirlwind. He went through my portfolio really quickly. I thought, he’s worked with some of the greatest artists in the entertainment industry, so my portfolio must not be that exciting. Revenge of the Sith was coming out in a month and a half, so I thought “I’ll have a great story while I’m standing in line: I actually met George Lucas!” I had about a 20-minute conversation with him, and then that was it. About five minutes later, Gail and Catherine came out and told me he liked me and I had the job. Then I had to tell my wife that we were moving to San Francisco!

How long does it take to do an episode?

From start to finish, there’s about a two-week period where we rough out the story with visuals and storyboards. Then we have a six-week period where we shoot it digitally with cameras. Every little set exists in a small 3-D world, and George has really taught me how to shoot it more like a live-action film than an animated movie. So it’s a period of about two months before we get an episode from its roughest stage to preparing it to be animated. Then it takes about another two months to do the full animation itself.

Would it have been possible to make this series a few years ago?

Computer animation is constantly expanding and constantly changing, and you can really push the limits of what you want to do it with it. I come from a traditional 2-D animation background. For eight years in television animation I worked with just a pencil. Frankly, I never touched a computer. Working with George, we try to look at computers as yet another—although incredibly advanced—pencil. The number of soldiers you see in the episodes of The Clone Wars, and the types of battles that we can do—even since we started developing the series and doing these episodes—has definitely grown in scale. The technical side is something we are always working on because it helps the creative, artistic side.

How big is the team working on each episode?

When you get into all the modeling and rigging of each character, we have around 75 people working on it. On any one episode, I also have about four story artists and an episodic director to tell the story, and a fantastic editor who can handle it all.

Who's doing Yoda's voice?

Frank Oz has such an iconic voice, that’s tough to measure up to. I agree completely. We have Tom Kane, another huge Star Wars fan, and I think he captures that kind of magic. There are several challenges for Tom. In one episode, Yoda does have a lot of dialogue. Speaking like that, with that much dialogue, is a real strain on poor Tom’s voice, so it was a very interesting session!

And who's voicing Count Dooku?

We have Corey Burton doing Count Dooku in the series. He does a brilliant job of capturing that character.

What's the story potential in The Clone Wars?

Does the conflict extend as long as the series runs? That’s the good thing about not just telling Anakin Skywalker’s story. If we were doing that, we would be stuck on one single arc. I look at the episodes where we have him and Ahsoka, his student, and I know that there is an arc there, because something has to happen to her. We don’t see her in Revenge of the Sith. We show the progression of the war. Because we can go left or right of that plot and deal with characters that we have never seen, there is a lot of material, so I can continue with the story. In fact, that’s one of the things I have been amazed by. In Star Wars history, the Clone Wars take up a three-year period, but there are so many stories to tell. I’ve been amazed by what we didn’t get to, just in the first season. [There are storylines] I would still like to get to, and characters we would still like to explore. So for me, the longer it goes, the more chance we all get to tell fascinating stories in that galaxy.

Do you feel in any way constrained by the events from the films that you have to work around?

Not at all, actually. One of the [great] things is really exploring those events. We know Yoda is powerful, but how does that power develop? How does he use it? In one episode, I really wanted him to be evasive about the ways that the troops are destroyed. So he’s not the one outright attacking most of the time. We get to go into more detail that you just couldn’t do in the live-action films, because they’re mainly focused on Anakin.

I am acutely aware of what happens in Attack of the Clones and what happens in Revenge of the Sith, and I know that any time I go near one of the principal characters, like Obi-Wan or Anakin or Padmé, that we have to pay very careful attention that the story is going to hook up. For the most part, it’s just having a lot of fun and talking to George [Lucas] about what the Jedi were really like.

Can the show run indefinitely, or is it 22 episodes and out?

Well, it won’t be 22 episodes and out for me; we’re already working on the second season. I’m very happy working at Lucasfilm. As long as George lets us keep making more, I’ll do it. I definitely have an arc and a timeline for what I’d like to see happen, and it’s really just a question of, how do I make that work as we get to do more?

Are the episodes all action-packed?

We have many different kinds of episodes. I love the action, but you can’t have clones blasting battle droids in every single episode, so we have to explore other kinds of things and tell different kinds of stories that are different for the Star Wars universe. I think that’s one of the strengths of it. There are all kinds of episodes for all kinds of fans, and [stories for] everyday [non-fan] people who tune in to watch Star Wars.

So what other kinds of episodes are there?

There are some that are more philosophical, and some where Padmé is in the Senate and we deal with a little bit of the politics. We can get a little more into personal stories about some of the characters that don’t just involve shoot-’em-ups. I think that’s what’s got a lot of people so engaged. Everyone knows that in The Empire Strikes Back when Leia says, “I love you,” Han Solo says, “I know.” That’s one of my favorite parts. Forget all the snow-walkers and snow-speeders and all that stuff. They’re great, but fans really love the emotion.

How much pressure is there to grab the fan base?

The tremendous pressure is in getting this out there. I have tremendous respect for the material, and for the fans. I’m a fan and I try to make the things I like and I think other fans would like, but you always have to know that you can’t please everybody all the time. We try to tell stories and tales that we think are interesting. I take it seriously, but I have fun with it, too. Ultimately, George is the audience and he likes it, so when you please the guy who created that universe, I think that’s a pretty good measure.

Is that sense of humor, like the droids complaining about their programing, going to continue in the series?

The droids in particular are really fun for me, because they’re immortal, let’s face it. I use it as a motif that they’re from a time in the galaxy when it wasn’t so violent and the Jedi really had more control. You see two different types of droids in the episodes: the regular battle droids, and then super battle droids, which are tougher. As the war progresses, the droids get more menacing, as technology gets more evil in war. When the clones come around and shoot the Jedi in Episode III, you almost think that maybe those goofy little battle droids weren’t so bad after all.

So humor is very important?

In Star Wars, especially. “Get this walking carpet out of my way,” Princess Leia says. You can’t forget the humor. Han Solo shooting at stormtroopers and running after them, and them turning around and running after him. To me, that’s what makes it work. George really drove that home to me. You can’t forget to have fun with this, make it funny and make it engaging. It’s not just about blowing things up and shooting [things]. You can’t take it so seriously that you forget to have fun.

Are you concerned that audiences might not want to root for the clone troopers after Revenge of the Sith?

I’m not really concerned about that because we’ve tried to give the clones more individual personalities. I think that’s important to get across to the audience and to kids. That really begs the question, later on, about their betrayal of the Jedi and how that all goes down. So while we see it from one aspect in one movie, we might in the end, get to look at that event in a different way, from a different point of view, as Obi-Wan would say.

Tell us about Asajj Ventress.

Ventress is a disciple of Count Dooku. She is, of course, a villain. She fits into the structure of the Sith. Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine is the main bad guy and he has his apprentice, Count Dooku. The one thing George talks about with evil being consumed by power is that when you are the apprentice, you always want to usurp the guy that’s over you. So Ventress is Dooku’s way of trying to attempt that at first. He’s training her in the dark side and she’s getting more powerful. One of the things I wanted to do with Ventress in the series was make her more intelligent, more deceptive, but also kind of sensuous. She’s forbidden fruit and is around the Jedi, who are supposed to be very hands-off and not get involved with the more lustful aspects of life. That’s why she’s a bit sensuous, like a serpent. Again, [that’s] another fun dynamic in this series.

Count Dooku is Palpatine's apprentice and there are only supposed to be two Sith at any one time. So how can Dooku have an apprentice in Ventress?

I don’t want to reveal all to you, but one of the things that’s important with Ventress is how capable she is. But how much is she being used by Sidious? How much does he know about her? Remember, Vader tried to seduce his own son into overthrowing the Emperor. It actually is a matter of what that “rule of two” is all about. Ventress does play into that.

Is Ben Burtt involved at all, or are you working from the Skywalker Sound library?

Ben Burtt’s not involved directly, but I think his greatest contribution, besides designing the whole world of Star Wars sound, is Matt Wood. Matt worked with Ben on all of the Star Wars prequels. Matt was very much his understudy, so I have that legacy continuing with Matt. Matt has a great team at Skywalker Sound, and they’ve actually made hundreds of new sounds for this series. We have all the classic sounds, but we also see people and ships doing things we’ve never seen them do before, so we had to invent all those new sounds.

How did you realize the human characters in CG?

That was a huge challenge. Some of the 3-D model makers and “riggers” who worked on the prequels usually deal in photorealism. For the movies, they had to create digital characters that were going to walk around with Ewan McGregor and be convincing. I knew going in that we weren’t going to be able to do that for this series, and we wanted the series to be different from a live-action feature.

When I draw a simple smiley face, it’s a circle with an arc and two dots. Every child and adult knows that that’s “happy.” You can feel that kind of genuine happiness come out of that simple drawing, and yet we’ve all seen examples in the digital world where something is so photo-real down to skin cells and hair and yet there’s something [off] about it. We don’t believe it’s happy.

So, in this series, I wanted to try and attack human characters like I used to in drawing, and stylize the face a little bit more. If you look at Anakin he has certain edges and lines in his face. They might be unnaturally straight or unnaturally curved, but then that plays into the lighting of it. We actually light far more dramatically to get edges or shadows. I’m really happy with the results our crew has come up with.

Can you describe the difference between the previous Clone Wars animated micro-series and this one, in terms of look and story?

In the previous Clone Wars, the design of those characters was so extreme. The staging of it was very pushed, [with] the exaggerated use of the Force. It all fits into that drawn, 2-D world. It’s magnificent, in that respect. That was something we were also attacking here, like the hard lines on Ahsoka that you see. I wanted to bring in a little aspect of that because the fans have a love of that cartoon, even though they were short and mainly action-based. We looked at that and at the live-action [movies] and shot for [something in] the middle. Look at Count Dooku’s face in that show, it’s almost a triangle. Anakin’s is almost a box, and yet you never question the reality of that. You just believe in the characters. It was good inspiration for what we were going to do.

What are the challenges of doing this show in high definition?

I wanted it to look like a painting, that’s why I got involved with it. There’s a textured, hand-painted style on every character. I have texture artists that literally paint every single character right down to their eyeball because I wanted that human touch on everything, [even] the backgrounds. I’m interested in that hand-painted, human touch.

What are the animation offices like at Lucasfilm? Is it chaotic or very orderly? Does George drop by?

Well, it’s a very creative atmosphere. We work at Big Rock Ranch, which is a couple of miles away from Skywalker Ranch. We’re in the hills of Marin County. If you know the planet Naboo, where Padmé was from, it looks like we’re living there. Our place is on a lake and it’s absolutely beautiful. We have a fantastic crew. Trying to make this show for television is [an] immense [challenge], but everybody has a great attitude about it. They all love Star Wars. A lot of people I work with grew up with Star Wars. They have a love of that mythology. It’s great to work with a team of people like that, and we have a great time. It is very hard work. It gets very intense, but when you’re trying to push something artistically and make it the most it can be, I think you have to do that. George is there, and he’s really engaged in what we are doing. We have the guy who created the Star Wars universe excited and interested about what we are doing in that universe. So we couldn’t be happier about that, either.

Is George Lucas involved on a day-to-day basis, or does he look at the episodes and then comment on them?

Well, he comes up with story ideas and presents them, and then we form the script, and it’s really like a series of check-ins that we have with him, sometimes pretty often. He’s a really busy guy, so I’m very happy when we get his time. He’s always available to me in Ethel editorial [stage]. I come up with ideas and George comes to me with ideas and says, “I’d like to tell this kind of story.” We’ll collaborate on it. He’s very involved in that part of the process. I’ve been a student of his—not just filmmaking, but of Star Wars—for years. It’s been really important to get inside his mind and see how he thinks this universe should work, so that a lot of the judgments, and decisions I make are based on what I think he would say is best for his characters and for the universe. But I always have his ear. I think he’s having a lot of fun working with us on this.

Why is Star Wars still so popular?

I think in some cases it’s the fact that everyone can identify with the characters. My grandmother would know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is, and Luke Skywalker, and that is really unique. Han Solo always felt like a guy who lived down the street. I think it’s that “relatability,” even though it’s this incredibly imagined universe, it’s that relatability that’s behind the success of Star Wars. It just keeps on going!

[slothspaghettiwrites]

Hi! Long time reader, first time asker haha! Three Moons Ranch was honestly one of my first fic series that I ever really got into and kind of made me really start to love fan fiction and more specifically, tumblr. I hadn’t been on your page in a while and I just came back and saw your posts about it being taken down when I couldn’t find it on your masterlist. 😅 So I was wondering if I’m seeing this right… you’re publishing the story as a book… as in a real, physical, live, piece of your beautiful and meaningful work that I can actually hold in my hands and keep on my shelf and read whenever I want??? I’m sorry this ask is so long, but I think about this fic all the time, it really is one of my favorites and if this is the case, this is so exciting. Please tell me I’m understanding this correctly. Also, I just want you to know, your work honestly means so much to me and I’ll always love it with my whole heart. 💜 thank you ☺️ I hope you’re having a good day

NONNIE 😭😭😭😭😭😭💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

Yes I am! I've taken it down so I can turn it into a novel. We are deep in the during process right now. It took me a year of growing to write Three Moons, so there are a lot of inconsistencies that I'm trying to fix and lord the ending. 🤦 That rush job is getting fixed as well. It's getting fully fleshed out as well. All those random things I decided half through are getting better explained. Lots more is being added/adjusted. I didn't honestly think it would take me so long but it is.

Hopefully sometime this spring it will be available on Amazon (kindle (KU) and paperback). It's not got a set release date because wow... There is a lot to do before you publish a book. 😂 I have a lot of admin to do (set up my website, set up my newsletter, set up arc readers, market my book, do a pre-order? Idk,) that doesn't even involve making my book look nice. Which is crazy lol.

But I do have the cover mostly designed... Though @wakingbeauty isn't keen on it. 😂😂😂 Bestie and I have very strong opinions on covers.

[knotbattery]

Things I’d love to see in BOTW2:

We need an instrument back! I miss how much of an integral part music playing and instruments played in Zelda games. I’d love to see either Link or Zelda play one in the sequel

We need dungeons back! I know this is an obvious one but I had to include it. I think Twilight Princess had some of the best dungeon themeing that blended seamlessly in the world, so Id love to see that in the sequel.

I’d love to have a new companion in this game. I know it didnt make sense to have one in BOTW because it would ruin the immersion of being alone, but they could work it in the sequel. The companion needs to be their own character, have a character arc, and a strong chemistry with the protaginst. Basically, I want another Midna

I would love to see the ruins of former towns rebuilt or get rebuilt throughout the game the further you progress. How cool would it be to have Lon Lon ranch rebuilt and for it be a hub for people from all regions to hold festivities. In the same way we helped build Tarrey Town, we could help the ruins with bringing materials and people to watch it grow.

I would practically cry if we get a version of the milk bar in botw. I know we had the alcohol place in Gerudo town, but its not the same. I’d love it if there were musicians in the bar who could play music for you like in a Link Between Worlds or if we had a sidequest like in Majoras Mask where we could bring a band together for a lovely performance. Either way, the ambience and mood of the Majoras Mask Milk bar cant be topped but I would still love to see it implemented in BOTW2.

ITEMS!! As much as I loved the runes, I miss using these wacky items to get through puzzles. A Link Between Worlds solved the linear problem of dungeon transversing with Ravio’s shop system and Id be happy if they revisited the concept for the sequel!

We need to have underwater exploration or cave exploration like in the older games. So many opportunities to place hidden caves within the many mountains of BOTW. Finding the Leviathan bones in Hebra was so mesmerizing, I wish they implemented more caverns to explore.

I would be excited to see if Ganondorf has a new subordinate in this game ala Zant or Giraham. Unfortunately, I was very dissapointed with how AOC handled Astor’s character. He wasnt nearly as captivating or fanatical as Ghiraham and we knew next to nothing about him. If we do get a new subordinate, I would hope for some proper characterization and a sickass theme like Ghiraham’s. No seriously, his theme is amazing.

Finally, Id love to see Zelda playable and a game that tells her story fully, after all this is her legend. Age of Calamity sort gave that to us and now I NEED to see it in a Zelda game be it the BOTW sequel or a new game on its own. You can tell that the developers put a lot of love and care into this incarnation of Zelda so fingers crossed!

Well, thats it for my list, for now at least. I’d love to know what you guys would like to see in the sequel!

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Hints of Beth on Kirkman’s Reddit Thread 👀👀👀

Okay, thank for suggesting this Nonny. And thanks to everyone else who has sent in pictures and posts about this thread. I’m not going to post them all here, but just know that I’ve seen them and I did go through this entire thread. It became a MAJOR rabbit hole for me.

Actually, I kind of went down two major rabbit holes yesterday, which are somewhat intertwined, but I’m not going to get into the second one until after ep 22 airs. (Sorry for the tease.)

So I basically saw two different patterns here that made me happy.

Pattern #1 That’s Making Me 👀👀👀

How often he mentions here.

So, let’s unpack this. In this thread, as Nonny says, Kirkman randomly mentions Beth somewhere between 5 and 10 times. As with the one posted yesterday, he just randomly brings her up in comments that aren’t even asking about her.

I mean, this definitely means something to TD, because we realize that symbolically, Leah = Beth. But most of the GA has no clue about that symbolism. This person isn’t asking about Beth. So why does Kirkman feel the need to bring her up? At the very least, this is a hint about some sort of link between Leah and Beth. (At the most, he’s hinting about Beth’s return.)

On the other hand, some of them ARE questions about Beth. But I mean, what the hell is this supposed to mean?

Just enough for what?

And, I don’t seem to have taken a screenshot of it, but there was one where someone said they wanted Beth to come back, and he responded, “Sorry, she’s dead.”

But then in another one, he answered the exact same question this way, as Nonny points out above:

So he’s definitely all over the place and clearly misdirecting. And then there are some Beth queries he didn’t bother to answer:

So, even taken by itself, I would lump this in with the Beth mentions in 10x17, and the insane number of social media hints we’ve gotten lately. THERE’S. JUST. SO. MANY.

Has Robert Kirkman mentioned Beth before, both positively and negatively?

Yes.

Has he done what most people consider trolling?

Yes.

But never to the extent I’m seeing on this thread.

Pattern #2 That’s Making Me 👀👀👀

So, while I was reading through the thread, I started to pick up a second pattern.

Not every time, but at least two or three of the times he mentions Beth, it’s either in a question about Clementine, or he also mentions Clementine in connection with Beth.

Who is Clementine? Don’t feel bad if you don’t know. I didn’t either. This is why I called this a rabbit hole. I started looking up information about her and got totally obsessed in a matter of minutes.

Clementine is a popular female character from one of the TWD games. You can read more about her HERE.

Now, here’s the funny thing. I’m almost positive that some years ago, someone sent me something about Clementine and possible parallels to Beth. I have to say that I wasn’t terribly receptive to the idea.

Don’t get me wrong, I could see the parallels they pointed out, but they seemed too generic to me at the time. I mean, being a badass young woman in the apocalypse is going to have some parallels to all the strong female protagonists in TWD universe. And I didn’t know nearly as much back then about where Beth’s arc was going, so I just didn’t see a strong enough connection to justify it.

Yeah, I’ve officially changed my mind on that. Not only are there parallels in the way Clementine’s character was built--I think she grew up on a ranch, bonded with someone a lot like Daryl, etc--but a lot of what happens in her arc is stuff we’ve been predicting for Beth for a long time.

For example, the child and baby symbolism around Beth. Because of this symbolism, and also the episode Scars (I think that was an anti-parallel to Beth) that she’ll come back leading a band of kids, just like Jocelyn did; except they’ll be good instead of evil. They’ll all be miniature Beths and Daryls. Well, guess what, Clementine leads a band of lost children and looks out for them.

I won’t go into all of it in detail, but there is a piracy storyline for Clementine, there is a whole boat thing. The first “episode” she was in was called A New Day (kind of like A New Dawn, which we first saw in 4x01 with the Bethyl hug). AND, best of all, she had a death fake out. So I guess at the end of the final episode she was in, she was bitten, and asked her friend to put her down so she wouldn’t turn. Apparently, viewers (or players?) saw an ax descend and everyone assumed she was gone. And she was a very beloved, badass character, so there was a huge fan reaction to her game. (Sound familiar?)

Anyway, in this same thread, Kirkman hints that Clementine might not be dead and there are plans for her. The fans who see that hint kind of freak out. Notice their reactions here:

See what I mean? These reactions could practically be Bethylers talking about Beth.

And Kirkman keeps randomly mentioning Beth in conjunction with Clementine.

Now, I know I’ll get at least one person asking if this means they’re going to bring Clementine onto the show and maybe Daryl will fall in love with her instead.

No, that’s not what it means. I’m sure lots of people, when Beth returns, will frame this as the writers giving Beth Clementine’s arc from the game. And that’s fine to see it that way, but I actually think the opposite is true.

We know (and this is something Kirkman has confirmed) that he patterned Dwight’s character after Daryl. Dwight wasn’t a character in the comics until after the show took off and Daryl’s popularity skyrocketed. Obviously comic Dwight was never nearly as cool as TV show Daryl, but Kirkman did pattern the character after him.

I think he did the same thing with Clementine and Beth. I checked, and Clementine showed up as a character in 2012, between seasons 2 and 3, which means Beth was already a thing and Gimple had already done her suicide arc. I don’t know if they had all the details nailed down back then, but I do think that at the very least Gimple knew he’d be taking her from the relatively weak character she was in S2 and turning her into a strong, Daryl-like badass.

And yes, I think Kirkman has always known everything Gimple does about Beth’s arc, and that’s why he can speak about it so flippantly.

So, if you’ve been following the symbolism long at all, go check out Clementine’s arc. You’ll see exactly what I mean and why I’m so excited about it.

But this was probably my favorite answer he gave:

Again, I know he’s hoping this comes across as flippant, but look at what he’s saying if you take it literally. He’s saying that by the time Invincible season 2 is out, Beth will have returned. And then he even adds the “Clementine Lives!” bit.

Yeah, I think he’s dropping hints right and left here. So this made me EXTREMELY happy yesterday.

Switching gears just a bit, I also screen-shoted a couple of other things he said. They aren’t directly Beth related, but I found them interesting and thought you would, too.

How many times have I said they will be back, but in the spinoff, not the flagship series?

He’s says it’s far away, but I’m still happy to hear this. Can’t wait to see all the shows merge. I think it’s gonna be great!

I have more to say on the piracy angle of Clementine’s arc, but that’s the second rabbit hole I probably won’t post about for at least another week (maybe two). Stay tuned.

Thoughts?

[cowboy-anon]

What’s this? My Bad Things Happen Bingo card?? Heck yes it is! This absolutely hasn’t been sitting in my inbox for a week. What are you talking about?

So the plan is for the majority of these to be used for Weston’s Casey Ranch arc. That’s his life pre-Graham, and it’s going to shine some light on Weston and why he’s the way he is!

Of course, there is one very important ✨reveal✨ that needs to happen before this card can be put into play, but it’s coming soon! By soon, I mean by Chapter 6 at the latest. That sounds pretty far off, I know, but Chapter 3 is finally in the works, and once I’m less busy, updates will be coming more consistently again!

Are you guys excited? I sure as heck am! So look over the card if you want, and get the ones you want to request lined up because I will be taking requests for this! I’ll let y’all know when to start sending them in.

Anyway, I hope you guys have an amazing day! <3 :D

[twtd11]

For the fandom Friday asks: tms 11, 14 and/or for hacks 5, 20

TMS:

11. What do I wish happened in canon?

a. somewhat realistically, I'd like to see Bradley go to Laura's ranch with her and just escape from the craziness for awhile. I feel like Bradley just really, really needs some time to breathe. Also, I wanna know what Laura's Montana ranch looks like.

b. anything's possible, aliens. I'm not even kidding. It would be as huge as covid, but probably have a more positive spin and I want to know who gets paranoid that there are aliens among us and who thinks this new development is exciting and amazing and how Alex manages to make it All About Her.

14. Best dressed: Beyond Stella, my new favorite character, I couldn't really tell you what any of them are wearing. They all read as very middle of the road, news person looks. Even Cory. And I wouldn't call Stella's look "best dressed," though I love what the costume designers are doing with her clothes.

Hacks:

5. Best plot line/arc: I mean, it's all the best. All of it. How do I pick one thing? I guess it's the part where Ava grows a work ethic while also realizing she cares for Deborah. Like, I love how the two things are intertwined.

20. Biggest surprise: That it turned into such a big fandom for me. I watched the first episode and went "meh," only to have someone convince me to watch more of it. I'm so glad I listened to them and watched the whole show. Of course, I ended up loving it.

[aion-rsa]

Val Kilmer Documentary Punctures the Actor’s Bad Boy Myth

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Leo Scott and Ting Poo’s new documentary feature, Val, is not a mortality play. It is a rehearsal for an upcoming act. During a tour of his one-man stage show, Citizen Twain, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. The actor underwent two tracheostomies, and now can only speak while covering a tube. The narration of the new film is thus done by his son Jack Kilmer, allowing the pair to share a non-verbal connection throughout the journey, and through time and expression itself. While there are flourishes of humor, the documentary is a serious study of an artist who has always struggled to be understood, told through the selective memory of Kilmer’s POV.

“I’ve wanted to tell a story about acting for a very long time,” Kilmer says toward the beginning of the documentary. “And now that it’s difficult to speak, I want to tell my story more than ever.” Kilmer is an artist, one who takes his vocation very seriously and introspectively. An actor’s voice is more than a tool, it is their primary source of communication. Non-verbal exchanges are important, but dialogue is the primary idea delivery system in staged and filmed works. Surgical procedures have split his throat, shredding the scope of his instrument. In the film, Kilmer is forced to project his story on the empty space between the notes.

Among Kilmer’s many defining roles, the one which appears to ring truest is his encapsulation of Jim Morrison, the poet and lead vocalist of the Doors in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic, The Doors. The young Kilmer is shown onstage in a small club, lost in the music, awaiting his cue to become one with the mic. Moments in Kilmer’s personal history, like how the actor was tagged with a “difficult” label, are consigned to rests. The most overt reference to Kilmer’s “bad boy” reputation comes from Robert Downey Jr., who smashes the notoriety to bits in a moment of impromptu dismissal.

There is no gossip here. There is no discussion of A-list-bad behavior. Kilmer sees it all as artistic license.  He was searching for honesty, he remembers. Choices like lying on top of a mattress filled with ice in order to feel a real pain during his last scene with Kurt Russell in Tombstone come across as perfectly valid. Kilmer is still bitter over spending four months learning to play guitar for Top Secret!, and his first note informs him the director thinks he looks funnier faking it. There is little evidence of unprofessionalism, only growing pains.

The bulk of Val comes from clips of 8mm home video footage Kilmer has been shooting most of his life. “I’ve kept everything, and it’s been sitting in boxes for years,” Kilmer informs us. The archive was intended to tell a story about “where you end and the acting begins.” We are gifted with moon shots of both Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn, which have nothing to do with the films Apollo 13 or The First.

Early self-directed screen tests provoke a series of what-ifs. A tortuous encapsulation of a Juilliard acting class is a lesson in what-nots. Val’s hand-held approach to The Island of Dr. Moreau is a highlight. The actor respectfully rocks his co-star and idol, Marlon Brando, on a hammock they both wish was strung to John Frankenheimer. Please turn off the camera, the film’s replacement director demands. But Kilmer only hits pause when it’s time to rehearse.

The behind-the-scenes camcorder footage from sets of Top Gun, Tombstone, and The Doors are treasure troves in themselves, and possibly underused. Most of the audience will be very interested in the candid youth and truth recorded over his career. Val uses the archival clips and unearthed b-roll to establish a chronology.

Many videos were made at home in Los Angeles with Kilmer’s younger brother Wesley, who had an epileptic seizure and drowned at age 15. His death casts a mournful pall following the news that Val was the youngest applicant ever accepted as a drama student at Juilliard. Kilmer calls his brother “an artistic genius,” and one of the most revealing things to come out of the documentary is how often Kilmer used this brother’s art to augment the backgrounds of the sets he is living through on film.

Seeing how Stone speaks about Kilmer now makes me wonder if Val would have been able to put in the same performances in his movies if he knew it at the time. In his audition tapes for Full Metal Jacket and Goodfellas, we see an actor who needs to be taken seriously. He flies 6,000 miles to hand deliver his tape to Stanley Kubrick in London.

While he makes no comment, footage reveals Kilmer’s favorite Batman was played by Adam West. “Every boy wants to be Batman,” we hear, and see the Caped Crusader in every era of Kilmer’s life. A short, animated film he and his brother made with what looks like crayon is a Batman spoof. He still glories in the moment he got deposited behind the classic TV series’ iconic wheels as a youngster visiting the lot. It appears Kilmer still can’t pass a grocery store Batmobile without feeding it quarters. He wears the classic blue Halloween ensemble expecting tricks and treats as a kid, and as a daddy with his kids.

Don’t expect to see Kilmer wearing his cinematic puffed rubber suit at home, and it’s not because he left it at the dry cleaners. Footage old and new, homemade or professionally recorded, presents the Batsuit as an albatross. Heavy rests the cowl. He has to be lifted from chairs, deposited on marks, and his only identifying feature on the set of Batman Forever is a chin and bottom lip. Anyone could have been behind the mask, and the human superhero envied the subhuman villains. Kilmer comes across as quite happy Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones are able to create fully formed performance art in their portrayals. But he wanted to play with those toys.

“Batman Forever,” Kilmer laments, “whatever boyish excitement I had going in was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit. I realized it was just my job to show up and stand where they told me.” As the captured past footage is juxtaposed with modern sequences, we get an unfiltered glimpse of how little this has changed. The sequence of Kilmer at the Comic-Con autograph booth is wrenching. He initially didn’t want to take the part of Iceman in Top Gun because he felt it glorified the military. So many fans ask him to sign “You can be my wingman” on their souvenirs. It turns his stomach. He throws up in a garbage can and wheeled through hallways with a blanket over his head. Trouper that he is, he returns to the booth to finish out the signatures.

Kilmer blurred himself into the role of Mark Twain. There is a beautiful sequence where the actor walks through town to the beach, in full stage makeup, dressed in the signature white suit and long mustache of his character. It is extremely telling when Kilmer tells the camera it’s hard enough writing a good screenplay, much less a great one, which itself doesn’t even match what he feels he needs to bring to a script of a film version of Citizen Twain. Kilmer sold his ranch in New Mexico to finance the project. The documentary only captures some of the frustrations.

Most of the anecdotes are guarded, and all the admissions are part of a subjective narrative. Kilmer’s arc has rough edges, these tales are too smooth, and leave little room for impressionistic interpretation. Kilmer met his former wife, Joanne Whalley, when she was starring in a West End play directed by Danny Boyle, but he didn’t approach her.

“She was brilliant, and I was in town making fluff,” Kilmer concedes. It’s all about the art, even appearances. The documentary hints that Kilmer’s dedication to character did the most damage to their relationship. Wearing the same pair of leather pants for nine months could almost be on the books as probable cause for divorce in Hollywood.

Similarly, Kilmer’s Christian Science upbringing is brought up, and dropped. There is a loving but ambiguous undertone to Kilmer’s relationship with his once-rich-and-powerful father, who put his son in debt after trying to become a southern California land tycoon. But a sequence on his Swedish mother which juxtaposes a car ride he took with her when he was a child with one of being driven to her funeral speaks volumes without words.

Val is about the next step. “What’s past is prologue” William Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest. Kilmer pondered the “too, too solid flesh” while rehearsing Hamlet, and the documentary opens after the actor faced his own mortality. Kilmer swears he feels better than he sounds and, while he finds little to regret in his memories, he expects less in the ones he has yet to create.

Val can be seen on Amazon Prime Video.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Val Kilmer Documentary Punctures the Actor’s Bad Boy Myth appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2VvZ2lA