#we're both midwestern also so it's great

[copperbadge]

Hi Mr Starbuck! Some friends and I are moving in a few months and we're eyeing various places all over the US. Chicago came up as a relatively affordable big city (compared to LA and NYC) and I have to ask the resident Tumblr Chicagoan his opinion. As a resident who lives and works in the windy city, what's your big pros and cons of residing there (especially things you might not encounter as a tourist)? (also, how accurate is your "guide to chicago" still, since its been a few years!)

Well, I definitely have opinions!

The guide to Chicago is no longer accurate -- too many places have closed or moved, and the pandemic altered a lot (for example the Money Museum still exists but I'm not sure if it has regular hours even now). I should do a new one but like, I really don't get out much anymore so I can't talk about restaurants outside of a VERY local area, and I never could talk much about hotels, which just leaves points of interest mostly already covered by Atlas Obscura. :D At this point it'd just be kind of moot, others are doing it better than I am.

Chicago is inexpensive compared to New York or Los Angeles, but like, that's everywhere in America. Chicago is still a quite pricey city to live in, mainly because the taxes are so high -- 10.25% sales tax, for example, and my property taxes are also pretty steep. People joke about Taxachusetts, but I'm pretty sure Chicago at least has it beat (and 2/3 of the state's population lives in Chicago or the outlying suburbs). Housing is not at a premium in the way it is in NY and LA but depending on where you want to live and how far you want to commute it can still be very expensive. My housing was never less than half of my monthly income until I bought this place, and then ONLY because the job I'm in now came with a $10K/yr raise from my last one.

Chicago does have great culture, great museums, great food, and it's a liberal island in a pretty conservative region. It is however quite segregated, so if you are any race other than white, living here can get a little more complicated than I've portrayed it as a white dude. There is significant crime and particularly gun crime, but it's generally confined to specific regions of the city. That said, even if you discount crime, the Chicago PD are corrupt as fuck and uninterested in being helpful, so if you are from a demographic the cops enjoy harassing, it will not be different here.

I do love the city, warts and all. I like the water, I like the people, I like the midwestern vibe. I'd find it very hard to leave, especially because I have a network of friends here, but also because I just plain like it and I know it really well. There is a very short list of cities I'd consider leaving Chicago for, and most of those would have to have a well-paying job waiting for me. But it did take me time to fall in love with it -- it took a few years before it felt like home.

It's a little difficult to get more specific without knowing more about your situation -- what you do for work, what your budget is like, what your goals are in leaving where you are. Do you prefer to drive most places? (Parking and traffic can both get dicey.) Can you tolerate taking public transit if driving is inconvenient? Is the industry in which you work something that has a lot of openings here? Do you want to live in an urban environment, and if so are you prepared to live in a likely somewhat shitty apartment to do so? If you prefer to live in a house, are you prepared for a long commute? What do you like to do for fun and is there a thriving culture for that here? What is it important to have access to -- museums, concerts, theater, sport? Where do you need to travel to regularly (ie, I go to Austin several times a year) and how do you prefer to travel there?

Anyway, yeah -- like, I love it but I have few illusions about it. If you want to chat further feel free to hit me up by email, happy to answer more specific questions!

[fatehbaz]

Recent Chicago peice reminded me of the way Chicago north suburbs use military bases to divide and segregate in a manner that similarly matches connects to colonial actions. You always compile interesting stuff thank you.

Thank you for the kindness and support. I'm gonna riff on this a little bit. I'm sorry, I don't mean to distract from what you specifically brought up here.

Yea, we can add federal military base sites to the list of significant "innovations" Chicago has made in race-based labor segregation in service of wealth extraction. (For anyone following along, the article/essay we're discussing explores racism and white anxiety in Chicago, the fear and "anticipation" of Black migration from the South during Reconstruction and the Great Migration, and how between 1880-ish and 1910-ish Chicago then became a center of surveillance and policing beliefs and practices in response to this racial anxiety, refined to such an extent that Chicago's police/surveillance practices were then "exported" and employed across the US and also in the colonial plantations of the Philippines under US military occupation. By Jolen Martinez, in 2024, "Plantation Anticipation: Apprehension in Chicago from Reconstruction America to the Plantocratic Philippines".)

So Chicago is a wealth funnel, right? The node. The center of transportation networks. Extracted wealth channeled by the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River waterway, channeled by the Mississippi River corridor, channeled by the railroads acting as tendrils reaching out into westward into "the frontier". For the United States, Chicago was the gateway to "the West". Over the course of the past two centuries: Furs from trapped mammals in Canadian boreal forest shipped through the lakes to French benefactors, mined metals from the Iron Ranges shipped through the ports, timber from Minnesota shipped through the waterway, cattle from Texas rangeland shipped to massive Chicago meat processing facilities, corn products from the tallgrass prairie ecoregion shipped to Chicago. And people, too. People diminished. People seen as mere resources. People as labor. People shipped to Chicago to work the processing centers, the docks, the restauraunt dish-pits. And so Chicago becomes a hub of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. And because Chicago was a hub of labor unions and Black migration, it also becomes a hub of policing.

Chicago achieves the pinnacle of its spectacular reputation with its image as a glistening modernist metropolis after the construction of the railroad networks. But even before the city itself was formally established, the wetlands where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan were kinda located in this general region that acts as a sort of bridge for French wealth, being both near the inland terminus of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence route while simultaneously also sitting near a sort of terminus of the Mississippi River route (uniting French Canadian fur trade and Ontario/Quebec settlement with French "Caribbean" plantations and settlement via New Orleans).

I think about how suburbanization, and its attendant racial segregation, is especially blatant in something I kinda think of as "the southern Great Lakes industrial corridor and its economically, ecologically, culturally similar satellites" (Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Omaha, etc.). Some writing that I enjoy about this, which you might enjoy checking out if you haven't yet, is Phil Neel's work, particularly the book Hinterland (2018). Neel's book is largely about suburbs/suburbanization; the environmental construction of Midwestern cities as hubs of industrial extraction and racial segregation; and how these Chicago-esque traditions of designing physical space (whether it's residential, "rural", "urban", whatever) to best isolate/subdue people for extraction are now widespread and typical of US space in general. As another example, Neel discusses how the "revitalized urban core" of Seattle's utopian "infotech metropolis" of tech companies is actually dependent on the corridor extending southward towards and past Tacoma, "this logistics empire" of "warehouses, food processing facilities, container trucks, rail yards, and industrial parks" while "the poor have been priced out" and "can also be found staffing the airport and the rail yards [...], loading boxes in warehouses [...]." So that the power of such a major city does not end at the technical city limit boundary, but extends beyond into the "rural" hinterland. (You can see this when looking up an "urban megaregion map".) This is of course pretty obvious with the Great Lakes cities, if you consider all of the corn fields, the farms, the Rust Belt manufacturing sites, many of which use railroad and/or highway corridors to funnel that wealth ultimately to a place like Chicago. And Chicago, in many ways, was a sort of "pioneer" of these techniques of organizing space with racially-segregated labor compartmentalization.

So perhaps unsurprisingly, urban/neighborhood segregation is very ingrained/formalized in the Great Lakes cities. Chicago's Lake Michigan-based sibling Milwaukee is especially notorious (2018 research found Milwaukee had the most extreme Black-white segregation of any US city with a million or more people). Including banking, home-loan denial, insurance practices engineered specifically and efficiently to isolate/segregate/prey upon Black people (all kinds of academic research on on these practices). Redlining ("other side of the tracks"), especially 1930s-1940s, made use of the region's many railroad tracks as physical barriers and hostile environments.

And part of why I liked Martinez's take on it was that we can see more evidence that Chicago's techniques of organizing space/life did not just establish ways of being in the Midwest, but also established ways of being across the United States. And we can kinda see that this power is not just physical/material.

I think Chicago is interesting, especially in the time period of the research we're talking about (1880-1910), because this Gilded Age, Edwardian era, turn-of-the-century-opulence kinda moment is sort of singularly important for (European) empire-building. British imperial power being exercised in Southeast and South Asia. The Scramble for Africa. French Algeria. European power reaching outwards. But it also corresponds to United States empire-building both domestically and globally. 1889/1890: Wounded Knee and "the closing of the frontier", the West has been won, from sea to shining sea, now the US thinks it owns the continent or whatever. And the US didn't waste any time. Immediately, the US moves on to Cuba, to the Philippines, etc. And it's like, at first, to target Indigenous people and the Wild West, there are obvious physical/material reasons why Chicago (geographically, as a railroad and telegraph hub, as shipping hub, as the destination of Great Migration) is like a homebase or an epicenter for westward expansion and domestic empire-building. And with Martinez's writing, we can see Chicago is not geographically a convenient hub of colonization abroad in Central America or the Philippines (it's not close to those locations, the railroads of Chicago don't reach Manila, etc.). And yet in a very scary way Chicago still actually did function as a hub of empire-building across the globe due to Chicago's ideas, imaginaries, beliefs. Chicago's imagination itself. Chicago's racism, channeling the earlier racial hierarchy of the antebellum South, reached out across the planet. Chicago authority figures trained police and administrators from elsewhere. Chicago-style police data-collection and record-keeping inspired surveillance approaches across the United States. The ideologies, the "personality types", the filing cabinets, the "intelligence cards", were adopted elsewhere. What white Southerners believed and practiced in antebellum Louisiana, would carry over into Gilded Age Chicago, would influence twentieth century US domestic surveillance, and would then affect the rest of the planet. The beliefs, practices, the very emotions of white US residents could transform plantations in the Philippines. Disturbing.

[not-poignant]

Omg please drop some of your fave 00s Midwestern emo

Absolutely!

So first thing I should say is that I love a lot of emo, not just 00s Midwest. And most of the musicians I loved then, I still follow to some capacity now (it's also how I found musicians like Manchester Orchestra long before they went viral.

For specifically Midwest era, it'd have to be:

The Get Up Kids (I would die for Matt Pryor, his prolificness and songwriting is incredible. He's also The New Amsterdams, and writes as Matt Pryor, he also did children's albums as The Terrible Twos and now has a punk band I always forget the name of). For people new to TGUK, would highly recommend Red Letter Day, and I'll Catch You

There's also Jets To Brazil, mewithoutYou, Sunny Day Real Estate, Spanish Love Songs (folks who listen to my playlists might recognise the song Brave Faces Everyone, which I'm also using as an upcoming chapter title). I've seen The Shins listed as Midwest emo and I enjoy them but I don't think they fit the genre, lol. There's also Mineral, Rainer Maria, Modest Mouse etc.

In terms of more broadly, the emo artists I've love/d are like Brand New (controversial these days, I know), Taking Back Sunday, Acceptance, The Academy Is..., Panic! at the Disco (they've strayed from their roots but I still like em), Say Anything, Matchbook Romance, Dashboard Confessional, The Early November, All Time Low (do an amazing cover of Umbrella), Fall Out Boy, The Format (not really emo but they were in this crowd), Jimmy Eat World, JamisonParker, Death Cab for Cutie, Alexisonfire! (Screamo), Anberlin, Hellogoodbye, and probably a bunch of others I'm missing!

I've been to see Dashboard Confessional and Brand New live (the latter was the first band I ever flew to another state to see, because they weren't going to come to Perth), and I've intended to see Taking Back Sunday twice but both times was too sick to go.

I live with a music journalist, and we're both very interested in all kinds of music, usually with different projects going on at the same time. Currently he's trying to get through all the top albums by year since albums existed (he's now in the early 90s), curating a playlist of '100 top songs per year' series of playlists. I'm doing my Colourways project this year, which is creating playlists of 30 unique songs each that match some of the top selected colours of the year. (I'm currently listening to Kenepuru Sound in that collection).

Last year were both actively tried to listen outside of our music spaces, so Glen targeted a lot of foreign countries, and I specifically lasered in on Indonesia, because that suited some worldbuilding I was doing. Consequently made a giant Indonesian-songs playlist, and fell in love with Padi. Everyone should. (Go listen to Semua Tak Sama, especially if you love Radiohead). I also focused on listening to a lot of Indigenous Australian music, which led me to Alf the Great, who made the song Running that I added to a few playlists. He's Kalkadungu/Bidjara.

The year before that I was followed on playlist curation, etc. We're both a bit neurodivergent about our music habits, except that Glen can't listen to the same song over and over again, and I can to his dismay, so I have to be careful how I do it (and normally not when he's home).

[theghostpinesmusic]

Ha! I was going to write about my Thoughts and Feelings whilst on the road and instead I just did Midwestern self-abnegation stuff and didn't talk about my emotions with anyone! And now here I am over a month later just writing about Phish again! I sure fooled you! I "win"!

Passive-aggressive, multidirectional cries for help aside, this jam is a weird one to cover, but it's the only one available on the official channel from the 8/2/23 show, so I'm going for it.

8/2 was a bit of a weird show in the broader context of this seven-show MSG run I've been covering in the sense that it was the first (and ended up being the only) show of the run that didn't completely blow me away. Four incredible New Year's run shows and four mind-boggling summer MSG shows drug me back to listening to Phish regularly (and convinced me to buy tickets for Denver this September without really having a plan to get there) and then there is this show, which is a show I would have been thrilled to see in person, but that lacks a certain...something that the previous eight shows all had. More flow and less jam in this one, methinks. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it's certainly not a bad show, but I'd put it on a slightly lower tier than the previous four if I was someone who "objectively" rated shows.

But I'm not, right? RIGHT?!

Anyway, I would have gone with "Blaze On" or "Carini" as the highlight of this show, but instead we've got a "Jam" -> "Meatstick" -> "It's Ice" sequence, where the "Jam" is technically out of a cover of the Apples In Stereo song "Energy," and "Meatstick" and "It's Ice" are neither of them jam vehicles, per se.

It's worth mentioning (and not to undersell this jam) that while they may have cut the "Energy" cover proper from this video to keep from having to worry about copyright and such, it was also a pretty roughly rendition of the tune, and the following jam was a fairly aimless for a bit before picking up speed en route to the segue to "Meatstick." So, with that all said, the video starts somewhere mid-jam...

...with Fishman playing a backbeat and Page leading the way over it on piano. Almost immediately, Trey and Page start playing off of each other, leading to a more cooperative jam that sounds pretty straightforward unless you listen to Mike, who is just going absolutely insane by himself over in the corner. He eventually steals the spotlight to the point where Trey and Page are both borrowing riffs from him, which is great.

Around 1:55, Trey switches to a more robotic tone and the jam coalesces around this descending riff that he, Page, and Mike each take turns playing and improvising around at various points. This bit of the jam is definitely less about any particular band member blasting off and more about interplay. At 3:20, Mike introduces a bit of tension into the proceedings, but we come out pretty quickly on the other side still in more or less the same sonic space.

Trey pushes out in front a bit at 4:05, which moves the jam into a more standard rock-and-roll direction, though Fish and Mike keep things interesting and a little dissonant. Then there's this great mind-melded drop into a bluesy breakdown that happens around 5:05...like, how do these guys all know how to do this at the same time?! Phish magic, I guess.

I'm not sure if it's the mix through my headphones or what, but Mike continues to DOMINATE this section. The lights kick in in an especially trippy way next, as Trey continues a sort of bluesy build/jam that reminds me a bit of "46 Days."

At 6:54, Fishman finally switches over to a more unambiguously driving beat, and we're off for a bit on a straight (and great) blues vamp. This is making me reconsider my first take on this jam as being "fairly aimless." I mean, it's certainly not the weirdest or the most experimental jam in Phish history, but it's definitely got a swing to it.

The band smoothly switches tacks at 8:45 again here, to something funkier and spacier sounding, though Fish keeps driving with the drums in the background. Trey falls back to some chording, which allows Mike and Page (on the clav) to shine a bit more. Page, in particular, starts coaxing weirder and weirder tones out of his rig, and as much as I'd love for the jam that's happening at 9:35 to just keep going forever, he starts up the (knowledgeable fans insert the name of the correct synth here) that is irrevocably linked to one and only one song in the Phish canon: "Meatstick." And so, instead of more jam we get an excellent, clever segue into one of the weirdest songs Phish plays.

Meatstick starts at 10:05 or so, and continues until 14:25. Yes, the band is singing in Japanese during the second half of the song. And there's a choreographed dance. Obviously. Try to keep up!

At 14:25, Trey plays a little reprise of the song's melody for a minute, but the band pretty quickly and smoothly moves into another improvisatory space by 15:05. There's a darker, funkier tinge to this jam, and it almost feels like a continuation of where they were headed right before the segue into "Meatstick." Trey's lower-octave effects/playing here is something, if you like Evil Robot Funk (which I very much do, as you likely know by now). I love the build in crowd noise that happens about 16:15. It might well have been something specific happening off-camera that set the crowd off, but also sometimes thousands of people will all start cheering at once at a Phish show because we all experience the same wave of collective effervescence at the same time. So maybe it was that.

Trey keeps leading this new jam with variations on a particular riff until 17:45, when eagle-eared listeners will hear him start to play a variation on the opening riff from "It's Ice." That's where we're going, but the band is going to take an extremely smooth and well-executed segue to get there. How they end up at the beginning of the song proper at 18:32 is beyond me, but it's one of my favorite transitions I've heard in a long time.

"It's Ice" doesn't feature Japanese lyrics or dancing, but it's one of my favorite Phish songs from a composition standpoint. For any uninitiated who still read these screeds (thank you!), everything from 18:32 until XX is the composed portion of the song. There's a break, then, that the band will sometimes improvise at length within and sometime will...not.

In this case, they jam briefly, starting at 24:00. It's a return to the Robo-Funk of earlier, with Trey and Page riffing off of each other while Mike and Fish lay down a jazzy foundation. This section reminds me of a jauntier Pink Floyd, and features a few "Frankenstein" teases from Trey. It's short but sweet, dropping back into the song proper at 25:45.

From here, "It's Ice" wraps up, and that's it! Like I said at the top, sort of a weird one compared to most of the jams I've written about lately, but there are a few noteworthy bits of improvisation in there, and nobody does transitions like these but Phish. So, a memorable segment from 8/2 even if there's no "monster jam" in there.

[bettsfic]

saw it again yesterday and am slightly more coherent now.

future betts here! i am not coherent at all actually and this got way longer than i intended.

i do have one criticism, and it's not even really a criticism because i think the movie can be read the way i'm reading it even if it wasn't intentional:

so the vandals get broken up between the "new guys," who are returning from vietnam, and the "old guys" who aren't affiliated with a specific war but for all of them you could argue wwii or korea. the draft was implemented for both and it's unlikely cal is the only one of them who enlisted.

the thing is, every time the "new guys" are mentioned, the vietnam vets, they look like the movie stereotype that's been established of them. haggard, depressed men in their 30s and 40s doing the thousand-yard stare and smoking weed. but that stereotype was established in the 80s and 90s, when vietnam vets were reaching middle age and gaining the kind of career authority that enabled them to start telling their stories to a much wider audience. the stereotype came not from those storytellers, but the storytellers adopting that perceived identity into their own work. a good example is platoon (by oliver stone, who was in the war) versus forrest gump (by robert zemeckis, who wasn't).

in 1970, though, vietnam vets still look like the renegades, the wannabe biker gang that johnny denies. he calls them kids; their leader (on imdb he's just "the kid") says he's 20 years old. the timeline of the movie is handwavy, but it's totally reasonable this kid got drafted at 18, put in his year, and came back.

moreover, zipco (michael shannon) tells that story about going to the draft center, which implies that he was drafted, he didn't enlist, and i'm not sure how old he's supposed to be in the film, but during that scene the vietnam war is still happening, and he seems, uh, maybe too old to have been drafted (the vietnam draft was for men ages 18 to 35). the story begins in 1965 and zipco is talking about it like it was forever ago, but he would've gotten drafted at some point in the present timeline of the film. (and he's from latvia. why doesn't he have an accent? why does the french canadian guy sound more midwestern than all the other characters? suspension of disbelief, whatever, my point is--)

i'm left to wonder why. it is simple historical inaccuracy? is it the unwillingness to see vietnam vets as the kids they actually were? is it a casting issue*? or to take a more watsonian approach, is it kathy's narrative bias?

*very possible! a lot of extras were from my city (so many in fact that my local theater hosted a special early showing for them! also they all had a great time shooting and all became friends) and were all actual bikers

and then there's the matter of benny. just like the wild ones is johnny's movie, and i think we're meant to see him as a brando-type character, benny's movie is rebel without a cause, and we're meant to see him as james dean. for those who haven't seen rebel without a cause, the title is very literal. jim stark (james dean) is a loner, a rebel, and he has a lot of daddy issues because his dad is...kind to him. really. at one point he sees his dad wearing an apron and loses his shit. that's it, that's the premise. he has a good dad and he's mad about it.

so benny represents this kind of mythical rebellion of nontoxic masculinity. johnny represents the age-old story of the middle-aged family man who rebels out of sheer boredom and entitlement. johnny reveres benny as the kind of disaffected cool he'll never himself possess. meanwhile, benny looks up to johnny as the embodiment of the masculinity that was denied to jim stark. both of them are seeing the illusion of the other. and thankfully kathy is there to narrate the whole thing for us so the story can't weather the misinterpretations of breaking bad and fight club, which both comment on toxic masculinity in the same way.

so in an analytical way, the whole thing is a really lovely story of the relationship between manhood and the way the definition of honor distorts across midcentury america. to expand upon that, here's a syllogism: men are always honorable. honor means upholding chivalrous values, which are not necessarily good, but work within an agreed-upon social framework with no external enforcement. men, therefore, hold chivalrous values.

but when the social framework changes, in this case the introduction of the atomic bomb, the meaning of honor changes in response to the newfound fear of leadership wielding a weapon literally no one can defend themselves from, and honor no longer involves adherence to a greater authority but defiance of it.

at one point cockroach gets the shit beat out of him for admitting to wanting to be a cop. that's a declaration of obedience to an audience of men who are truly anti-establishment, and have reason to be, because their government, press, and society betrayed them. in other words, the vietnam war introduced the idea that Real Men are ones who distrust the government and refuse to conform to expectations.

i feel like all of this is pretty overt in the story, because kathy more or less flat-out explains it, just with less historical context. and although i admire the tightly wrought themes presented, i'm left, as a fangirl and history nerd, to wonder:

where the fuck did benny actually come from?

if the ending were different, i would be fine to consider him a dread pirate roberts sort of character. wanders in, wanders out. represents an ideal rather than being an actual person. but the ending is what it is, and so i'm wondering, how'd he get out of military service? if he's actually working class, he'd have either been pressured to enlist or drafted (maybe korea, probably vietnam).

which leads me to conclude that, like jim stark before him, he actually comes from a well-off family, and used money or student deferment to skirt military service. there are other tells that he came from a place of security: his nihilist attitude, which could be interpreted as learned helplessness or, idk, just what comes of never having to fight for anything; his teeth, which are in much, much better condition than the rest of the vandals; the ring he wears, which is the focus of many close-ups; his willingness (and continual threat) to leave everyone and everything behind, which may imply he always has the security of somewhere to return to, or at least was raised with a firm idea of "home"; his recklessness on his bike, which screams the entitlement of someone who always knows somebody will pay his bail; and, of course, the aforementioned causeless rebellion and hero worship of johnny.

none of that is to say that bad things haven't happened to him. the death of his father is mentioned, for example, and the fact that kathy knew that implies he's opened up to her at least a little. he has a dismissive attachment style which says somebody in his life loved him conditionally and he's afraid to get close to anyone, but he also has the confidence of someone who isn't approval-seeking, which means someone paid attention to him and his needs were met (by a grandmother? a nanny?). also, on a lesser note, austin butler is using his elvis accent which means, to me, he's from tennessee.

in conclusion, i think benny has a loving family and a college degree and a lot of mommy AND daddy issues.

okay i'm done now, i swear. i have 3k words of a fic so far that'll be from all 3 POVs and weave in some of the historical stuff that i think the movie missed. and there will be cuckolding. obviously.

okay so i saw The Bikeriders today and i knew i wouldn't be normal about this movie and even though my expectations were impossibly high it exceeded them. i was happy for it to just be a cool movie for the sake of being a cool movie, toxic masculinity ultraviolence whatever, and it was but with Jodie Comer's character narrating about what fucking idiots all these macho biker dudes are. it's like if a woman narrated Fight Club while constantly pointing out how stupid Fight Club is

also, most of it was filmed near where i live and it was so exciting seeing places i recognized! it's been all over the news for weeks

things i loved about it:

protective older woman/loose cannon younger man

lowkey romantic stalking

a relationship suspiciously close to a throuple, by which i mean protective older woman goes to war against possessive older man, re: their mutual intense love for loose cannon younger man. and that's not even subtext that's just text

hot sadboy who doesn’t talk much and is so cool he doesn’t know how cool he is

british people doing midwestern accents

NO PLOT, god bless. just stuff happening and a lot of gay tension building

accurate portrayals of the aftermath of the vietnam war

accurate portrayals of mid-century small-town life

accurate portrayals of men being fucking pathetic

things i did not love about it:

for the love of god please wear a helmet

idk man it's just a whole-ass movie about how vietnam changed the very definition of masculinity, and that awkward era between wwii and vietnam when guys were rebellious for the aesthetic, rebel without a cause shit, twinks in leather jackets manhood. the movie even points that out, like they're so against rules but then they make all these rules for their silly little biker gang because they're bored. and then allll these vets come home from a war nobody wanted and they're actually rebelling, full anti-establishment, and there's just no more honor anymore because everybody's broken. which is all to say, somebody please come into my ask and be insane about this movie with me.

anyway i'm seeing it again tomorrow and i have already started an ot3 fic goodbye

[the-firebird69]

Here's a point if you get him out the others go after him and we take over both there are people resisting it and it's a loser thing to do but just keep going after him yeah I'm fighting over it anyways it's a reverse mechanism and it is working that way now he steps out and stuff it goes the other way. I bet he's insisting on being here and the price for him is very high and just went up cuz of what he's saying we're going to his office companies I'm going to take them over in our areas I'm going to do it today he's going to sit around and do nothing no he's going to take the car so we didn't have a template made me mad and he can't tell he's angry I want to know I don't want him to know he's also doing things like he's saying tracing down those minis that Meghan Markle makes hardly anyone can own one send up owning used cars and there's too many for them to trace. Tons of people are smuggling parts around is this wise ass and bja and they're not extorting they're just a bunch of losers who think nobody else will have anything this is coming to a head they're all going to die and her son is fighting for a better standard of living and they keep laughing tell them because he's having them killed and they are dying. There women are pissed off they can barely bear the weight you know son says if you want to survive you're going to make vehicles so you can drive around and hit these pieces of s*** go driving the cars that shut off on them and stuff at the intersection and they can easily disable with intermitter and Megan Merkel is smiling because that's the way it is and she says someone is going to pick up the job do we know who it is and it's not Sarah she's an idiot it's Becca and you thought she was an idiot and she's going to go ahead and do it and she knows which one it's the Pontiac no it's the international harvester the Pontiac is the big one okay. And he's saying try not to ram that through her. Gosh darn it he's got food on his mouth now this is a band of Brothers he says so what we're a band of mothers. And they keep destroying our kids and they're using them wrong and we're going to lose this whole thing cuz they're stupid as hell now I want compensation for what they've lost of mine it says we need to make a team this bigger so Becca is ready and she wants to do it and he says thank you very much I appreciate that and we're going to try and help do things

Meghan Markle

Welcome to the club and I do say that in Earnest we're going to have our own industry meetings small automobile company association something like that and would like you to join up and she says I will there's a couple more someone has the Day tripper and they're trying to make it and it's a friend of Becca and it's Lily and she can't seem to get it going and what he says is there are areas that you can do it in LA is pretty tough I'll tell you it went through because of the model car but these cars were probably not do well here but out there they're still Midwestern people and it's kind of cool off and it'll heat it up but they want to do something to these guys and get information so we're going to go ahead and do it

Kate Middleton

I'm really happy about this I do have an area out there where I'm sort of from I know where this vehicle is from the Pontiac plant where they're making it and I'm going to assemble people I have several of the cars we need big teams in there to defend and BGA if you want information it's going to be coming right there and he knows where it is and today

Becka this is a great way to start off the new year

I have a place too but this is kind of like a rebel car and we're not supposed to be making it and it's Brad's design and it's one of us and he's not making the car because he's a schmuck and it's true he's going to take over Trump's job of doing nothing and it's really stupid what they're doing they're going to get beat to hell and they don't make them and they can sit there and use used ones and get stopped like everyone else. I have a few ideas but he says in this case the Midwest is a good one because Brad was using their name in vain quite a bit said he was one of them and then he was mad at my people who drove them around they drove his around senselessly didn't do anything except get them killed and he wants to a missiles at them and my car would be a good excuse and now I see it would be a double-edged sword and I'm going to do it it's not the every man car with everyday car it's a Day tripper and I am not The negotiator or the violator it's kind of funny but I'm going to get out there and do it now

Lily

And I hear him laughing and he's saying some fun stuff but really we have to get going on this he's got one more big company did someone hasn't stepped up to do and is wondering if one of the Charlie's Angels wants to but really he thinks they're trumpsters so it's a useless organization and we don't know if we need that kind of attention but still we're looking for someone who wants to build the international harvester and that would be most likely Jenna and she said she might do the Pontiac but that's a humongous one and that is a gigantic one that the max one and Sarah is kind of a sleaze ball and he was saying that in a scum and they do the job of the max even if they're in the crosshairs. I hear it too who the hell is this and yeah okay it's not a big trick it's five of us girls and then we can tell who the hell it is. She wants to say something she has two companies left

Kate Middleton

So he introduces her name as an American sounding thing I get that so I'm going to go for the international harvester. And not the Jeep that's true he wants to build a Jeep replica but they look the same as the Jeep it's kind of a tough one. And he might think of something but really I don't know how you can do that it's a tough one any mentioned one way is to make it angular but it looks like a military vehicle cuz we tried that so it's going to have to do the way it is. This thing is a utility vehicle it's going to be used for military application and they'll probably be using it out there and we're going ahead with it and I'm going to do it it's going to cause a lot of fights with these assholes won't shut up and they won't do the job this is the job but it's a parallel we need to make it bigger or it won't be a parallel for us and he's accepting and they're going to try and get us out there going

Jenna

Well John remillard's stuff kind of covers all that up so

Zues Hera

We have another vehicle company that's Pontiac and we're waiting to see and we are hearing from them they're telling us we'll probably do it and they're kind of really shaky on it but the a****** needs to do something else with his time just sit here and mess with that song and get messed up and he'll be out there and we're out there somewhere with his company so he's thinking about it

Frank Castle hardcastle

We happen to hear how it is he'll probably get this going I'll get kicked out of the apartment and start doing stupid s*** I have a lot of plants I can open up and the clothes don't want us to the right now they need it and it's really the max and everybody will be getting up on them even though they're the ones who would be having us do it it's so clever and he says that last part I think I'm going to do it and I was excited about the car but it doesn't want to be living next door because I'm an a****** that wakes people up whether I like it or not and I do sit there waking people up and it's stupid I don't get any sleep at all and I'm a mess usually but here it is we're fighting these people and we need to do something people need transportation in our suck there's a huge Network for used cars there's a huge Network for used cars parts and it's growing and people are making them all over the place it's not going to stop and it's going to go to the perimeter and it's going to be gigantic and a thankful to our friend here because he started it with his garage idea and it's risky and boy was it a hashed mess I do agree I don't really want to live there either this is dumb analogy that I'm his actual son and all that and I can't stand it and he can't stand it it's so dumbest weirdest thing anyone's ever heard of and it should be adhered to but the max are doing it so I don't know what to do he's a young man he's a boy his body is out of a three year old I don't understand that he says I'm like 18 foot tall takes three of you to make one of me and I'm starting to see something else this is terrible and he's got issues with chemicals testosterone and he smells because he's like a baby he's constantly joking because he's very resilient I suppose being near him so the weirdest thing I've ever done he says I'm too close and I look like a child molester and people probably f****** up the ass yeah see that's very nice but it probably happened I could be the guy squealing like a pig and people think it is me instead of dan. But these things are happening so he wants to meet us at the hard Rock casino so you can get him up there cuz he needs money but really he set me up in so many companies I tried to repay him and I did a little and he probably said that's the most I could do for a million years anyways it's kind of thankful for it but he can't say it cuz I start backstabbing him he doesn't want this rinky-dink conch show but we're going to insist on it and they're probably going to do me in because they plan to cuz the Year of the dragon so something happens I want people to know what it's like and he he agrees and it's really deteriorated and he can't stop me and he's experienced in himself but he's not injured and he says there by the grace of God go I if he's on the medicine he gets really weak and it's not similar but it's almost impossible so I do get that and a lot of people get it so hopefully they moved me to a nice place a rehab center that's not one and stuff like that I've ever heard of and it goes along with our plan which is yes to take their plan over

Trump

We don't want to see him in office we probably won't he's a massive spaz where war with him and it's terrible that we do need this to happen and we do understand what it is and we do see what it is the max wanted to clear the area and the clones and other people and people need cars this is ridiculous we can't drive anywhere and I want to see what it looks like and he says they're going to help with the design and his contrary will it's a big one and she's going to probably be the president and chairman because he's kind of into it and wants to fool around with things and their friend says that he could probably beat everybody in drag racing because of the oil trick in the four-cylinder and he says no way and it's true you're allowed to do it in stock so you have to have the stock carburetor and stock intake and stock motor and stock parts in the whole car and he says it's made to be sturdy and like a truck and it really is and nobody's going to beat it he thinks it'll be all sorts of 396 and so he's amazed and he's going to try it he just can't be real fat he says so the secrets so we're going to try and change things but really we can't stand what they're doing and they can't stop themselves it says it might be nice and White satin and we're going to try and get that going and it happens with The malt company which is very strange it's a weird name for The malt company it's like Schneider or Budweiser or Molson had something to do with it and it's true McAllister something like that somebody says we're getting close so we're going to go ahead and do that but boy this is an interesting idea these cars are not bad they can be a pickup truck they can be a sedan a station wagon and a coup and really fast and usually they sit at least four people and you can move people with it and you can have a family car with a big trunk big trunk and a bunch of people make fun of it like bja this is going to be intense it looks like a four-door version in the repo Man but weird so we're going to get going on this and try and help out we need cars

Daniel

I kind of don't know if they're really into it right now they're taking stuff over we think they're going to try and stop it but it's hard to say what what you say is they might go around taking our cars and grabbing us and I get that

Trump

Us too we're into it

Macs

We don't have enough used cars so we have to save them I'm going to go ahead and start doing that

Thor Freya

Olympus

[icicledream-archive]

after i watched @purrluto play portal 2 we Discussed a lot of stuff and among the things we discussed, we came to the conclusion that, yeah sure wheatley is british haha whatever, but he absolutely has the mannerisms of a midwestern american.

like, he'd absolutely say shit like "ope, let me just squeeze right past ya"

[entropyblog]

Big Rock Candy Mountains, The Worst Heaven 

Overall I consider myself a pessimist, I believe that it's always preferable to expect the worst outcome so that you aren't disappointed constantly. Granted, I'm also an unemployed ugly troglodyte so life advice from me is very damn worthless. One of my favorite things about pessimism is that it allows me to look at things that seem good and call it bullshit, that's how I survived living in rural America without joining a MLM. Recently I've been listening to music from the Great Depression, I believe that in trying times like the 2020's it's good to consult the past to gauge what behaviors are common. One song that many people find endearing comes form our hobo friends, "Big Rock Candy Mountains" is the song people sung to envision heaven as they rode box cars to their next seasonal job. I decided to annotate the song for Tumblr.

The last stanza is a controversial one, it's a stanza that's often left out both for copyright reasons and because it doesn't fit in with the song. It's also conditional and a later ad, as a folk song we don't know how original any of the lyrics are. As such I'll ignore it.

"One evening, as the sun went down And the jungle fire was burning Down the track came a hobo hiking And he said, "Boys, I'm not turning I'm headed for a land that's far away Beside's the crystal fountains So come with me, we'll go and see The Big Rock Candy Mountains"

In this verse we're introduced to a hiking hobo with a set path, the titular Big Rock Candy Mountains. The jungle fire probably refers to a big city fire, which were common in the late 19th century. If not that, jungle fires also refer to large uncontrolled fires in general, perhaps a fire the listeners are resting besides. I've read an interpretation that "rock candy" refers to meth, but this is almost certainly false as the song dates to 1895 and meth was mostly contained in Germany and Japan at this time.

"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains There's a land that's fair and bright Where the handouts grow on bushes And you sleep out every night Where the boxcars all are empty And the sun shines every day

On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees The lemonade springs, where the bluebird sings

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains"

In this verse we start getting descriptions of the Big Rock Candy Mountains. The weather is always sunny, which suggests to me that they are located in the southwestern United States, which mostly house desert climates. The climate is so dry and warm that their homelessness isn't even an impediment as they can just sleep outside every night. I write this from Arizona, so I can attest that the weather isn't that good, it does get cold here and the wind chill makes winters almost chilly enough to be hazardous. So this seems like places like California and Nevada as envisioned by midwesterners and southerners who deal with more hazardous weather on a more regular basis. The boxcars are empty because you're still a hobo in hobo heaven and you must still leave for seasonal work. The handouts grow on bushes, meaning that people's generosity isn't needed anymore, and this place is so friendly that the trees grow ready and rolled cigarettes and lemonade comes from the ground like water.

"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains All the cops have wooden legs And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs The farmers' trees are full of fruit And the barns are full of hay

Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow Where the rain don't fall, the wind don't blow

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains"

This is where this heaven really starts to get sad more than anything. Despite this being the perfect place for hobos to live, there are still cops and the cops still sick dogs on you for vagrancy. In fact, you're still so homeless that you have to sneak into barns to sleep (common at the time). It's just that hobo heaven just has cops that can't chase you, dogs that can't hurt you, you still have to steal food to survive, and the barns you sneak into are relatively comfy compared to the ground. The hens laying pre-made soft boiled eggs sounds actually heavenly to me though. As I said, the southwest has tough weather sometimes, the wind not blowing in particular makes this place seem entirely unreasonable to imagine as existing. As such it's only safe to say that the hobo at the start of the song is lying to get people to follow him for some reason, reasons that last verse I'm skipping suggest are very troublesome.

"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains You never change your socks And the little streams of alcohol Come a-trickling down the rocks The brakemen have to tip their hats And the railway bulls are blind

There's a lake of stew, and of whiskey too You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains"

The weather is so perfect that you don't even change your socks, it's a place where you never worry about trench foot or parasites. Maybe BO but they're hobos so a bad smell stopped phasing them. What's really sad to me is the fact that they've reached heaven, a place perfectly suited to meet their every demand, but they still need alcohol. To the point that it has to trickle out the rocks and form a small lake. Brakemen were crew on the train, they were in charge of hitting the brakes and slowing the train down to get the train into the station, as such they didn't like hobos because they often stole from the train and attacked the crew. One way train companies tried to hamper hobos was employing train bulls, or big guys with weapons to scare and/or escort hobos off the train. In the mountains the brakemen are less hostile, letting the hobos hop on board, and the bulls are blind and thus won't bother you if you're silent. Again, the fact that it's heaven and there are still guys whose job it is to beat you up is just depressing in a way. The lake of stew was just more free food, it's important to know that these guys ate one meal a day if that so any source of free food was highly anticipated.

"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains The jails are made of tin And you can walk right out again As soon as you are in There ain't no short-handled shovels No axes, saws nor picks

I'm a-goin' to stay where you sleep all day Where they hung the jerk that invented work

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

I'll see you all this comin' fall In the Big Rock Candy Mountains"

Another depressing thing about this being people's heavens is that jails are still a thing. Even where hobos get their spiritual and physical needs met in abundance they're still at rick of getting arrested, getting dogs on them, and having to run from railway bulls just makes me feel that they've practically given up hope. Even their wildest dreams are where these things still exist and are still hostile to them, just in less painful ways. Granted I imagine if this song was about a more thought out hobo heaven where they aren't hobos but rather get all their needs met without any struggle the song would be less fun, but still. The other lines are also about the absence of pain without much else, there are no weapons for which to hurt or kill them. Finally, the hung that they hung the jerk that invented work also suggests that their violent tendencies aren't at all medicated by the other pleasant factors. It's only natural, after all, to internalize your suffering to the point that you can only imagine less painful versions of it.

-TJ

[dtrhwithalex]

TV | Leverage (Season 2, Rewatch)

Rewatch of the second season of TNT's LEVERAGE (2008-2012), created by John Rogers and Chris Downey together with Dean Devlin and his production company Electric Entertainment.

In anticipation of the show's reboot / revival / sequel LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION coming to IMDbTV on 09 July this year, I am rewatching the original 77 episodes and writing about my favourite moments and things from each episode, season by season.

201: THE BEANTOWN BAILOUT JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 15 July 2009.

We here at the Rabbit Hole adore the Beantown Bailout Job very much (and by we I mean me). It is such a great season-opener and everything about it sets up the season so nicely. Also let me just say, I love the cheesy intro. I like to imagine that this plays on whatever website the clients usually end up finding the team. It would be so confusing. And wonderful.

This episode, of course, also introduces another of my favourite characters: Lt. Patrick Bonanno, State Police. And I am very sad that there is zero chance we'll ever get to see him in the reboot, since the wonderful Robert Blanche has unfortunately passed away last year. Bonanno was such a fantastic addition to this show and I love him very much. He is just brilliant in every episode he is in.

Aside from the introduction of Bonanno, Beantown is a brilliant episode for various reasons, but I wanna talk about this one most of all. John Rogers talked about this on his blog, I think -- not one member of the team can come straight out and admit that they need the others. It is the impromptu meeting at Sophie's performance that brings them together again (very much against Nate's best attempts). Only once they're at McRory's and Parker suggests stealing something to cheer up Sophie is when they all fess up and tell Nate that they want this team back together again. And then, of course, we have one of my favourite sequences in this entire show: Nate forcefully being bullied back into this family. They do exactly what he did to them in The Second David Job -- they get him to contribute knowledge to the case that they, allegedly, lack. And he knows what they're doing, of course, he's not an idiot. Well played, indeed.

I would also like to personally thank one Nadine Haders, this show's most brilliant costume designer, for every single piece of clothing she put on Christian Kane for this episode. That green sweater with the brown jeans jacket? All my love to you, Nadine. All of it. Also, uncharacteristically, Nate has some very good looks in this episode (the man looks healthy for once!) and I am unreasonably mad about it (actually, he has some very good looks this entire season).

One last thing: I would like to have a word with whoever decided to play the Andy Lange song here that Sophie's departure in The Two Live Crew Job is set to. It makes this first half of the season a circle. Who do I need to have words with? Who?

202: THE TAP-OUT JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: ALBERT KIM. Original Air Date: 22 July 2009.

An absolutely amazing episode for Eliot but also very much for Sophie. They are the Conference Of Mom Friends, and I adore them very much, thank you. It is a fantastic episode for them individually, but especially also for the specific relationship these two people have. There is an amazing post floating around on this website (this one here) talking exactly about this episode and Eliot and Sophie in the role of protectors in their team, their family.

There are a few scenes here that I really like and really, most of them are about or with Eliot. I love in the briefing at the hotel that Eliot does not just dismiss Sophie's misunderstanding of wrestling, but takes the time to explain to her what the sport is about -- and she listens. We also here get a nice glimpse at the fact that Eliot teaches them certain fighting skills and self-defence techniques, which I just love so much. Just as Sophie coaches them all in their grifts, he makes sure that they all have a certain know-how in fighting and protecting themselves. It's so good.

I am also very fond of both the moment where Eliot brings Sophie to the restaurant to meet with Rucker, but also Sophie showing up at the gym at night to talk to Eliot while he's preparing for the fight against Tank. Eliot gives away so much of himself in this episode, and it is very interesting to me that the person he does this with is, continually, Sophie. The others may be on comms, and might be, for all we know, listening in, but it is Sophie he tells these things to. It's like Hardison says later in The Two Live Crew Job: "We trust Nate to make sure the plan works, we trust you (Sophie) to make sure we're all okay." While I would not necessarily call Sophie the heart of the group (that's Hardison), she is very much the emotional centre of it.

This episode is also just very lovely to see how they all take to an environment that is, for once, not big city life. Eliot takes to it immediately, which makes sense, because he probably is from a town not much different from this one. Parker, somehow, fits in immediately as well (I love her I <3 Nebraska shirt). I feel like Nate never has any issues fitting in anywhere, he just takes things as they come. It is Hardison and Sophie who have difficulties -- Sophie because she is, after all, a bit posh and needs certain standards met, and Hardison because his world of technology does not mix well with a small, rural Midwestern town ("Can't hack a hick" anyone?).

203: THE ORDER 23 JOB

D: ROD HARDY. W: CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 29 July 2009.

I occasionally see some posts on here that call what the team does to Charles Dodgson in 512: The White Rabbit Job the worst thing the team does to a mark. I have to say, objectively, I think what they do to Eddie Maranjian in this episode is much worse. Of course, Dodgson is a good person, and Eddie is a crook, but still. Objectively? This episode is more evil.

Anyway, this episode has some fantastic moments that I adore a whole lot. I love Eliot and Hardison as cops, Sophie's act is absolutely amazing, and I have a super soft spot for both Nate teaching Parker what he is doing, and also Eliot and his side quest of helping Randy.

I am so incredibly fond of all these little moments where Parker's eventual role of Mastermind is already being planted. She always asks Nate questions, if she doesn't have a part to play in the con, she is with Nate, learning. She says it in the pilot episode already: "I'm really good at one thing, only one thing, that's it. But you, you know other things, and I can't stop doing my one thing, can't retire." And then she does her best to learn the other things Nate knows. This episode particularly, how Nate explains to her how NLP works, that what he is selling is fear. Nate is so patient with her, too. I love them both so very much.

Eliot's side quest with Randy and his abusive dad is an absolutely excellent addition to this episode. Especially after the previous Eliot-centric episode, this small thing just goes to show that, at their core, these are good people. Yes, they are criminals, the lot of them. But they are not bad people. Things like this just make me think that, it had to have been this exact combination of people Dubenich put together. Any other thief, any other hacker, and Nate would have walked away from this alone. It had to be Parker, Hardison and Eliot for this to work exactly as it did. And Eliot looking out for Randy even though they are in the middle of a con, taking his time to make sure Bob, the U.S. Marshall goes to see Randy, is exactly something that brings this point home.

Lastly, I adore that everyone shows up at the court house when Eddie goes to find his money. He knows they all conned him, but they know no one is ever going to believe him. It's a fantastic gloat scene. And I also really love that Nate explains why this works to the others: "So, here's everything you need to know about criminal law. Every crime has two elements, Actus reus, the act itself, and mens rea, Literally "The Guilty Mind." ... Now, for escape, the prisoner has to both break out of custody and show the intent to escape. ... Which brings us back to our friend Eddie and how the brain reacts to fear. In the heat of the moment Eddie didn't ask himself a simple question, who would doubt his guilty mind?"

204: THE FAIRY GODPARENTS JOB

D: JONATHAN FRAKES. W: AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 05 August 2009.

This one was Bernie Madoff inspired, if I recall correctly, who was arrested in 2008, around the time Berg, Downey and Rogers were already bouncing ideas back and forth for this season.

There is so much to love in this episode! Where to even begin. Maybe with Parker replacing Sophie at the client meeting? Or Sophie immediately heading for both popcorn and the cookie tin after the breakup? How about Parker perching on Eliot's arm rest with her food? Nate's headmaster act? Eliot as Coach Brewer (red is a fantastic colour on him, thank you Nadine)? Hipster rich newlyweds Parker and Hardison? The return of my beloved FBI fools McSweetheart and Taggert? Taggert being McSweetheart's biggest supporter in his affection for Parker? Sophie and Widmark? The actual science-sical with all these adorable kids singing about science?

So much to love. Chock-full of greatness, this episode. Also Frakes, once again, directed the hell outta this. I love this episode so very much.

One moment that does, however, absolutely win out over everything else, is the scene at Nate's apartment after Hardison and Parker meet McSweeten and Taggert again:

Eliot: One of you two can identify the gunman, right? Hardison: Oh, yeah, sure. He stopped and let me take a picture of him as I was chasing him. Eliot: Hey, you know what, man? I've been around little kids all day. I don't need to come home and do all this crap.

That line, Mr Spencer? "I don't need to come home and do all this crap"? Home? Sir, we are four episodes into the second season, and you are already calling Nate's apartment home. Honestly, that boy has been invested into this group as a family from the moment Hardison hands him a check in the pilot episode, if not earlier. And I am very much here for all of it.

205: THE THREE DAYS OF THE HUNTER JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: MELISSA GLENN & JESSICA RIEDER (GRASL). Original Air Date: 12 August 2009.

This is another one of those episodes which, when I think about it, I am not entirely into, but then when I watch it, I always love it. It's a brilliant episode, but the mark rubs me in all the wrong ways and I think that's why my general reaction to this episode in theory is mostly "ew". Which I think is kind of the point, as well.

There is much to love in this episode, though. Sophie being Nate in this one, Nate being very wary of this concept and also having difficulties letting someone else take control ("If you don't mind, I would still do the 'Hardison, run it' thing" Nathan you precious little man, I love you so much). I think it's so nicely done. I mean Sophie has run cons before -- she was the Mastermind behind the First David Job, and she runs their con in the Second David Job as well -- but then she was confident, now she is going through things, on the brink of rediscovering herself for who she is. And of course, it bites her in the ass a little bit.

I absolutely adore Conspiracy Nut Hardison and his fantastic apartment. Set Design did a magnificent job here. I am so fond of Parker asking Eliot about the different things -- the council, the moon landing, Loch Ness monster -- and also very much the bit at the end where he and Hardison answer Parker's questions while he prepares food. That ending bit overall is just absolutely excellent and I love it with my whole heart. Eliot cooking for all of them in Nate's kitchen, giving Parker stuff to try, while Hardison sits there and sips his orange soda out of a wine glass. Meanwhile Nate pouring wine for Sophie, and then going over to her to make sure she is alright. For his slightly more sadistic streak in this season, Nate is so good with Sophie here. And honestly I think this conversation here is one of the reasons why Sophie feels able to leave them for a while. It is Nate's reassurance of "Whatever you need, I'm here for you" that lets her take this leave of absence.

206: THE TOP HAT JOB

D: PETER O'FALLON. W: M. SCOTT VEACH & CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 19 August 2009.

I adore this episode! The fantastic Veach and Boylan on the keyboard for this one (who, I've had to find out, are both tangentially involved with my latest hyperfixation, SHADOW AND BONE -- Veach having written my favourite episode, and Boylan being married to the showrunner), which is just lovely, because they are both excellent.

First off, I would like to, once again, give all my love to Nadine Haders for that Pizza Guy outfit she put Kane in for the recon sequence. A+ costuming, thank you Nadine.

This episode has so many excellent comedic beats and a wonderful many Hardison/Eliot moments. Sophie trying to set up Nate with their client is absolutely hysterical -- especially considering that she had just been broken up with and had been urging Nate to figure out what it is that is between them since day one. I especially love her attempt at finding things Nate has in common with Jameson: "She's a scientist. And well, you're a bit nerdy, aren't you? ... And food, she works with food. Well, you eat, don't you?" Like, girl, what are you trying to do here, really?

I absolutely adore Hardison and Eliot trying to get into the server room so Hardison can access the data they are trying to get before anyone can get rid of it. Eliot hooking Parker's rope to Hardison's belt, Eliot's complete awe at Hardison's ability to remote access their mark's phone ("You can do that?" Eliot, honey, he can do so much more), the two of them wedged underneath the desk, and then, of course, Eliot's huge smile when Hardison hacks the scanner at the door with the help of his gummy frogs. I love these boys together so much, and this episode has given me so many great moments.

I am also incredibly fond of Nate's magician act. That is a brilliant role and it suits him so well. And I love how genuinely enthusiastic he is about magic.

207: THE TWO LIVE CREW JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS & AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 26 August 2009.

This is an absolutely brilliant episode for so many different reasons. Let me get two things out of the way straight off the bat: 1) Where do I address my "Chaos For Leverage: Redemption" campaign to? and 2) Where do I address my "Apollo Robbins For Leverage: Redemption" campaign to? I want both of them back desperately!

Of course, this episode is important as a major stepping stone in Sophie's character arc. Because of Chaos and his bomb, she has to kill off one of her aliases which is the last thing that then leads to her taking a leave of absence to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. That scene in her apartment with the bomb is also just an excellent moment for the team as a family. The care with which everyone interacts with Sophie, Parker's instant pudding hack, Eliot's instructions on how defuse this situation, Sophie's immediate shift into protector mode once it becomes clear that the only real solution is to run and telling everyone to leave immediately, Nate staying behind and even when Sophie tells him to leave, waiting for her by the apartment door -- they care for each other so much.

I also really love the con-off with Starke's crew. It is so nice to see how similar yet different he and Nate are, and the same goes for the other crew members. I adore their individual confrontations a lot. Eliot's non-fight fight with Mikel Dayan, Parker's thief-off with Apollo, Hardison and Chaos' baby monitor fight. It just really highlights who our beloved characters are and what makes them them, now that we see them, metaphorically, in front of their mirror.

And then, of course, the actual heist is also just amazing. I adore that Starke chooses Nate as his alias to gain access, it is such a great move. Parker and Apollo talking in the ventilation shaft about birds is also just so lovely. And as an admirer of Eliot's arms, I am also very fond of his fight with Mikel. Good choices have been made, I appreciate all of them. The reveal at the end is also absolutely amazing. To beat them they had to save them? Brilliant.

Lastly, of course, Sophie's goodbye at the graveyard with Nate. What a spectacular moment. Also just, the visuals are so beautiful. I love the lighting here. And of course the return of Andy Lange's song, which is just perfect. I am so happy that this is the journey they decided to give Sophie when it became clear that Gina would not be able to be in the full seasons due to her pregnancy. They accommodated her so beautifully and gave Sophie such an amazing moment of character growth. This is why I love this show and the people who made it so much. All my love, to all of them.

208: THE ICE MAN JOB

D: JEREMIAH CHECHIK. W: CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 02 September 2009.

We love The Ice Man Job! Another fantastic episode by one Christine Boylan who we love in this house. Our very first episode without Sophie being there, and it's a great one. I absolutely adore how they worked in moments with our favourite grifter in a way that so wonderfully accommodates Gina's pregnancy.

I absolutely adore the moments where all of them eventually end up calling Sophie. Parker, hiding underneath the bar after Nate tells her she'll be the grifter in this one, calling her mom Sophie in a panic without wanting the others to know, but still needing her advice and missing her so much. Then Eliot, calling to complain to his mom Sophie about Hardison going overboard again with the grift, needing the knowledge that his concerns are being heard and aren't unfounded, needs to hear the other protector of the family acknowledge his rightful fear that things will go sideways. And of course also Hardison, calling mom Sophie so she can pick him up from the party help him out of the mess he's made, hoping against all hope that she'll be able to help without having to involve Nate. The others both had the luxury to ask Sophie not to tell Nate -- Hardison had no other choice but to let her call it in. Lastly, Nate too, at the end, calling his wife Sophie. And honestly, I love that Sophie drops her phone into her drink after the call, because Nate is the only one not giving her what she wants to hear. The kids, all of them, called with an "I need you" and that is the one thing Nate doesn't give her.

There are many other things in this episode that I love very much. The opening briefing, Parker feeling alone on the big empty couch, trying to sit next to Eliot, but he makes her move. Nate's big DadTM moment of "Eliot, can you please sit next to Parker" and Eliot's very long-suffering oldest child answer "No! I'm sitting here now."

Then of course Eliot and Hardison's two moments -- Eliot telling Hardison "I ain't bailing your ass out" and then when he eventually does anyway, Hardison's smug joy, forcing Eliot to sort-of-hug him back at McRory's. Eliot's unsuccessful attempt to make him helping Hardison a decision forced onto him by Parker, and Parker refusing to accept the "blame" immediately. Their whole dynamic this episode is just so good. Neither Eliot nor Parker being happy with Hardison in this role (Parker's refusal to ride with him in the Ferrari), Eliot proudly watching Parker do her thing over the security camera ("Stuck it!").

Lots of love also to Pasha Lychnikoff as our main Russian goon, who is just fantastic here, our much beloved Lt. Patrick Bonanno, and also Nadine Haders for so many amazing looks, especially on Eliot.

209: THE LOST HEIR JOB

D: PETER WINTHER. W: CHRIS DOWNEY. Original Air Date: 09 September 2009.

Court-room episode, which means we have our friend Chris Downey on the keys here, and he gave us an absolutely excellent introduction for Tara Cole played by the lovely Jeri Ryan. Honestly, the more often I watch this episode, the better it gets. Tara is just so good.

Highlights of this episode include: Sophie's immediate "who died?!" when Nate shows up at her apartment in London, Hardison playing "Where is Waldo Ford," Hardison and Eliot in prison, the first appearance of Nate's lawyer alias Jimmy Papadokalis who wears brilliantly loud and obnoxious suits in outrageous colour-combinations, Hardison stalling Blanchard at court security with his keys, Nate's reveal of Ruth as Kimball's daughter (I am fascinated that he completely drops the character here -- he is just Nate now), and of course, the reveal of Tara at the end.

Honestly, this is such a magnificent episode to introduce Tara's character. We have just watched the team scramble and fuck up without Sophie, and then their next job gets more complicated because of this random lawyer who shows up. And she's so righteous and law-abiding and absolutely not someone they should be taking with them on their job. And Tara plays it perfectly. Her honest try at getting Orson to talk to them, her confusion about her "dogs", her excited smile when she gets to con Blanchard and be a bit dishonest -- it is so good. And then we get that complete 180° when the team finds her in Nate's apartment. Not just visually, but the personality. Her voice drops a bit too. Jeri fucking rocked this introduction. The reveal is so damn good.

210: THE RUNWAY JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: ALBERT KIM. Original Air Date: 13 January 2010.

I have zero interest in fashion but I honest to God love every single one of these characters at fashion week. Fashion!Eliot is absolutely fantastical and I love him. Julien, my beloved. Fashion!Parker is very cute with her braid and even before she gets the model makeover she outshines every single other person at the event. Fashion!Hardison is surprisingly understated but I dig it. Tara as Caprina is also just excellent. And I absolutely, un-ironically adore Fashion!Nate. Jacques is such a character. Nate exchanged the usual "obnoxious and greasy" with "gay," slapped some would-be-French that sounds like German on top of it, and called it a character. And I love it.

I also very much love the three video calls with Sophie in this episode. The kids calling in the beginning, complaining about Tara. I absolutely adore both the "she's hot" moment and Eliot's "...and all the way to Europe?" when Sophie says Nate lets what is good for him walk out the door. Parker's little "I just miss you" before they hang up has me all the way up in my emotions every damn time. Tara calling Sophie to complain about Nate is also just excellent. The whole bit with Nate's "I'm sexy because I'm broken" thing is just *chef's kiss*. And of course Nate's call at the end. I love that Sophie hangs up on him, it is so fair, it is absolutely justified. And I think he knows that too.

So many great other moments too -- Hardison's Steven Seagal comment about Eliot's clothes, Nate's "Julien, sweetheart" and Eliot's little clap before taking the money, Nate and Parker at the mark's house, Eliot and Tara vs the Triads, Eliot and Parker at fashion week together ("It's a fashion show, not Thieves'R'Us"), and of course Tara's "For what it's worth, Sophie was right. You guys are the best I've ever seen ... But no one in the world, is as good as you think you are."

211: THE BOTTLE JOB

D: JONATHAN FRAKES. W: CHRISTINE BOYLAN. Original Air Date: 20 January 2010.

This episode has got to be one of my favourites, if I were forced to chose some. I love a bottle episode, and this one is just magnificent. Excellent client, great mark, fantastic additional characters, wonderful episode for the team. All around just, so good. Not surprising if Frakes and Boylan are at the wheel together, of course.

The addition of Cora is so lovely. I would have loved to see more of her, to be honest. She is such a great character. I love what her presence does to who we see Nate as. I adore when characters get to show new sides of themselves, it's so nice. Also, Nate's comment to Eliot about him not wanting Eliot to like Cora because she's like his niece? Most excellent.

I adore our three police officers too. Mickey, Danny and Johnny are such great additions. I really liked them. How they just went with whatever Nate was planning and in the end decided to just pretend none of this ever happened, it's just so good.

Doyle and the Liams as our villains of the week are also just fantastic. Also I just love Irish accents, it sounds so good. I love to hear it.

Other highlights of this episode include: Tara's "I'm Trish and I'm lonely", the kids going for their individual emergency funds stashed in Nate's place (they are all so fantastically in character, I love it), Nate using his dad's name as his alias, everyone stopping to see if Nate is going to succumb to the booze again, Hardison's excitement about pulling off the wire in under 2h, Hardison faking the weather, Eliot and Parker on safe duty. Also, rewatching this episode, I am absolutely 100% convinced that what Eliot is doing to distract the Liams from Tara conning Doyle, absolutely categorises as flirting. The way he throws that dart at the board and then buys them beer? Mr Spencer, sir, you are flirting with these guys.

212: THE ZANZIBAR MARKETPLACE JOB

D: JEREMIAH CHECHIK. W: MELISSA GLENN & JESSICA RIEDER (GRASL). Original Air Date: 27 January 2010.

The wonder twins with yet another magnificent episode. No surprises here. We have not just the return of Maggie but also of Sterling! We love this!!! (Seriously, I want both of them back in the reboot. I don't care that they're most closely tied to Nate. Bring them back.)

This episode has so many absolutely excellent moments as well. I love the opening sequence in the bar, with them going over possible next clients together, Nate kicking Eliot for flirting with the bartender, and then of course also Sterling walking in. The interaction Nate and Eliot have here is just fantastic.

Sterling: *walks in* Nate: Eliot, I'm gonna ask you not do do anything violent. Eliot: Wha-what are you talking about? I only use violence as an appropriate response. Sterling: Hello, Nate. Eliot: *responds appropriately*

And to think that Sterling only gets beat up here because Mark Sheppard's son was visiting the set that day and wanted to see his dad get beat up by Eliot. We stan one Sheppard Jr.

I very much love the scene where Nate and Sterling go over what they have on Lundy, and then Parker interrupting them out of nowhere, just sitting there on the counter, like she's been there forever (which she probably has). Also just, fantastic clothes on Parker, thank you Nadine. Maggie showing up here is of course also brilliant and I am very fond of Parker making Maggie a fugitive bag. It is so completely adorable. I love my girl so much.

Another favourite moment is, of course, Tara and Eliot getting Chernov to tell them where the sale of the Fabergé egg will take place. Tara not saying a damn thing, Eliot grumpily doing what Tara tells him to ("Do that thing with your eyes that scares people" / "What -- I don't know what you're talking about"), Chernov's complete unease about this whole entire situation, and then of course Tara and Eliot's other interaction:

Tara: What we imagine is always so much better than reality. Eliot, with the tiniest voice possible: Like love? Tara: *just stares at him, confused*

Just, *chef's kiss* this scene.

The scenes in the embassy are also just excellent. Tara and Nate pretending to be a couple, Nate's inability to deal with the idea of Maggie and Alexander, Maggie and Tara hysterically giggling while talking about Nate, Sterling pretending to be drunk (and incredibly gay) to get Parker access to the egg room -- brilliance, all the way through.

I adore Eliot taking charge of the situation once it becomes clear that Maggie and Nate have been taken hostage. Parker doing her magic and switching the bomb with the empty briefcase in the elevators is beautiful. Maggie kissing Nate instead of Lundy in what could have been their final moment and regretting it instantly the moment Parker shows up is excellent.

And the final scene back at McRory's is also just wonderful. The kids watching the news about Sterling with Tara ("I hate this guy" / "Now, you're part of the team"), and Nate talking with Maggie. I adore Maggie in this scene so much. Her and Nate's relationship is so lovely. We know Sophie understands how Nate ticks, but Maggie knows him so well too, still.

213: THE FUTURE JOB

D: MARC ROSKIN. W: CHRIS DOWNEY & AMY BERG. Original Air Date: 03 February 2010.

This episode is so good for so many reasons. First off, I adore Luke Perry (I'm still sad about him) even if he plays creeps like Rand in most everything I've seen him in. He was just so good. Second, Medium Tara is probably my favourite role of hers. It's a lot softer than many of the other characters she's done, and I love it. Also the costuming is just excellent.

But I want to talk about Parker most of all. The scene where Rand cold reads her is so well done. Riesgraf knocked it out of the park here. Also, I love how Nate, as soon as Rand starts approaching and doing his act, barely ever takes his eyes off her. He occasionally glances at Rand, but his attention is on Parker at all times. And it just makes me feel things.

The team coming back to Nate's to find Parker sitting on the floor in front of the couch, crying also makes me super emo. They are all so very careful with her here. Even Tara, who hasn't been with them for that long. I quite like how Eliot and Hardison choose to sit a bit away, giving her space, and Nate carefully approaches and sits closest to her. They are all so good with her here, I love them all so much. And I absolutely adore this part of the conversation:

Tara: So what do we do now? Parker: Cut off his arms. And his head. Yeah. I wanna kill him. Can we make that happen? Eliot: Yeah, I can...I mean, I could...

Also earlier, after Tara acknowledges that Rand is good at what he does, Hardison says "He should be shot." I adore how both our boys would not hesitate to end this man for hurting Parker like this. That's their girl and he went too damn far. And even though Nate suggests a way of retaliation that is less final, he isn't above hurting the man either. Because that's his girl, too:

Hardison: Nate had me rig the table with a mild electrical current. Eliot: You electrocuted him? Nate, smugly: Yes, I did. It helped sell the bit. Parker: I approve. Nate: Thanks, Parker. Eliot: No, her agreeing with you is not a good thing. Nate, whispering to Parker: Thanks.

And add to that the absolute joy each and every one of them have when fucking with Rand to fulfil Tara's predictions? *Chef's kiss.* Absolutely beautiful.

There is so much more absolutely fantastic content in this episode, but I just wanna point out the ending where they meet with the client again. Nate is so good with them here. The way he talks to Jodie about her baby and how she will see her late husband in the child, makes me cry every damn time. Just like Tara says, "Yeah, now I see why you do it," this is why this show is so damn good. It's because of this exactly. Because for one shining moment within so much suck and tragedy, there is goodness and a wrong that has been made right. They help people and it isn't just fleeting momentary relief. They change people's lives for the better. I love this fucking show so much.

214: THE THREE STRIKES JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 10 February 2010.

First half of the second finale! Patrick Bonanno my beloved! I get so sad every time he gets shot here. My man deserves better than this. I love Bonanno so damn much, man. I absolutely adore that Nate goes to see his family at the hospital. Like, this is a cop. The very opposite side of the law Nate and his people operate on. But he goes to see him anyway, because this is their cop. And I love that Bonanno's wife recognises Nate's name. "He wanted to buy you a drink. And then arrest you." That's just so good.

I also absolutely love Richard Kind as Brad Culpepper, the corrupt mayor. I would love to see him back in the reboot, but I doubt there'd be any reasonable explanation why on earth they'd have to see this particular mayor again. I just think Richard Kind is an absolutely fantastic actor.

Anyway, favourite moments. Hardison and Eliot at Bonanno's house is beautiful. I am so fond of how Hardison deals with law enforcement while impersonating law enforcement. He tears them down and builds them back up again, every single time. And I adore how Eliot just smiles at his antics. He crawls around on that carpet with the young cop and Eliot just stands there and smiles. I love them, guys. I really do. Parker pretending to be Brad's pregnant lover with Tara's help is also just most excellent.

And of course: Roy Chappell. Baseball Eliot, my most beloved. There is so much to love about this whole concept. Eliot's reluctance at first because he doesn't like baseball. The discovery that baseball is actually something cool and something he is good at. His absolute childlike joy at the energy drink commercial Hardison made him. His damn hair during the actual game. The sandwich! The enthusiasm about the sandwich. Hardison admitting that the sandwich thing is cool.

I also absolutely love Hardison and Parker as Beavers Fans. The badly photoshopped picture of Dean Devlin and John Rogers as the radio hosts makes me smile so much. So does hearing their voices on the show. Both Hardison and Parker's phone calls to them are also brilliant. Parker speaking Spanish? Marvelous. The two of them demonstrating the Beavers leaving? *Chef's kiss.*

The final showdown with Brad and then the FBI is also just most excellent. Nate going ballistic on Brad because of Bonanno. Hardison and Lucille. Parker giving Lucille a little kiss before they send her to explode as a distraction. Hardison quoting Spock to say goodbye to Lucille. Hardison being pissed at Nate about Lucille. And of course: Jim Sterling, Interpol. The bastard. I love him.

215: THE MALTESE FALCON JOB

D: DEAN DEVLIN. W: JOHN ROGERS. Original Air Date: 17 February 2010.

Second half of second finale! And it's a good one, too. This show has absolutely brilliant finales, lemme tell you.

What do we love about this episode? MUCH. Tara's naked bit is excellent. Eliot and Parker sharing a look after watching Tara's naked bit is even better. Parker turning on the porn channels on the hotel tv is hilarious. Eliot talking to the receptionist about the gym is hysterical ("Ah, the fitness spa. Isn't the Zen Steam Garden divine?" / "Yeah....delicious").

Nate on stairs vs Sterling in elevator is probably the pettiest thing I have ever watched on television and it is absolutely amazing. I don't think anything can ever top this as pettiest moment. It is just so good.

Sterling, of course, is always great fun. I love that he has his own little villain theme that announces him before he even enters the screen. Love a good villain theme. And I adore his moment with FBI Bob outside Brad's hotel room.

Sterling: Name's Bob, right? Bob: Yes, sir. Sterling: You've been here the whole time, Bob? Bob: Yes, sir. Sterling: And nobody's gone in or out, Bob? Bob: No, sir. Sterling: Then would you mind explaining, where the HELL THE MAYOR IS?!

Absolutely perfect.

Nate going back to his place always has me all up in my emotions. Also, I think Sterling here absolutely believes that what he is offering Nate, is good for him. That he can save him from himself or something. They were something like friends at some point, after all. And of course, Nate calling Sophie. She is, of course, unbeknownst to him, already on the way to save his ass. But he calls her and finally tells her exactly what she wanted to hear at the end of The Ice Man Job: "I need you. Not the team, me." Sir. I am emo about you.

And then of course the final con and the reveal of Sophie's return. I absolutely love that Parker's first reaction to Tara possibly betraying them was to try and throw her off the roof. That's my girl (I love Tara, but that was fair). Also just, if you pay attention on the boat scenes, you can see Sophie from as early as Kadjic hearing Nate's offer and then leading Nate and Eliot below deck. If you can pick out her hair and know the colour of her coat from the scene in the helicopter, you know that she is there. And then, below deck, you can see her so many times -- at one point essentially back to back with Nate -- before any of the characters know she's there. And can I just say, I absolutely love Nate's completely shocked face when he hears her voice. Those comedically big eyes are just excellent.

Everyone seeing Sophie again is done so well. Hardison and Eliot's confused "Sophie?" when she walks past. Eliot winking at Sophie after they free Nate. Parker hugging her immediately once her and Tara arrive on the ship. Hardison putting his hand on the small of her back as he passes by her to go down the stairs. I just love them all so much.

And lastly of course, the reveal of the plan, Nate cuffing himself to the railing and making Sterling leave his family alone. What Nate says to them always makes me so emo too: "You guys are the most honourable people I have ever met in my life. You have become my family, my only family. And I will never forget that." John Rogers, sir, we need to have some words once I get this lake out of my eyes. And I obviously can't not mention the kiss. Finally, finally Nate gets his shit together. And she slaps him and it is perfect. And then they leave and he sits down and bleeds and Sterling, for a moment, is genuinely concerned about Nate as a person and not merely about Nate as his only way to nail Kadjic.

Bob: Who the hell is this guy? Sterling: I have no idea. Nate: My name is Nate Ford. And I'm a thief.

Yes. Yes you are, you magnificent bastard.

[image taken from the electricnow website]