#we're watching ozark

[bringbacktim]

Fearless -O.P⁸¹

Not edited or proofread

This took forever and I apologise

Warnings: overuse of words cause I cba to find synonyms , I took lyrics out so its choppy at some parts

I want to thank @rinna0017 for telling me Oscar is fearless by Taylor swift coded because yes he is

Wc:1.5k

There's something about the way

The street looks when it's just rained

Oscar and Y/n were enjoying day three of seven in Portugal , the weather had been great the whole time they'd been there . Well that was until they planned to actually go somewhere and then it rained cats and dogs , but when you're a young couple in love nothing can put you in a bad mood

The pair couldn't stop giggling as they tried to either find some tree to hide under or a hideaway to duck under until the rain stopped

There's a glow off the pavement

Any oil that had leaked onto the pavements before the northern downpour were displaying all the colours of the rainbow as it mixed with the rain water , which made for a pretty sight

You walk me to the car

Oscar was in more of a rush to get to the rental car , probably due to his expensive clothing, practically dragging her

"C'mon baby we're gonna get soaked if you don't hurry up" he basically pleaded as he turned to look back at her

"It's only rain oscar, it's not going to kill you" she said with a laugh

As they approached the quaint Mini Cooper they had rented opting for a car that wouldn't stand out unlike the McLaren's he was used to

And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there

In the middle of the parking lot, yeah

Oscar was confused at first when he opened the passenger door for his girlfriend to get in , but she just put her stuff on the seat and closed the door . As he caught her eyes to question her he saw her stood like the confused emoji(🤷🏻‍♀️) hands up and a head tilt, of course he knew what this meant as he'd been in this situation before

"We're not dancing in the rain again"

"It was fun last time don't lie , you just want to go back to the hotel and watch Ozark" she accused

"Okay maybe I do , but don't act like Jason Bateman isn't your celebrity crush" he retorted as she laughed knowing it was true

We're drivin' down the road, I wonder if you know

I'm trying so hard not to get caught up now

Y/n will admit that she was one hundred percent ogling/admiring her boyfriend from the passenger seat , but who wouldn't that white shirt was doing wonders for him

"It's a good thing I don't ever let you drive , you'd crash 'cause you're too busy looking at me" he laughed feeling her eyes bore a hole in the side of his head

"Some people take it as a compliment y'know having their girlfriend think they're hot" she tried to sound serious/annoyed, but couldn't help but crack a smile

"You think I'm hot?" He questioned turning to her with a classic "I hate you" with a shake of the head and a grin

But you're just so cool, run your hands through your hair

Absentmindedly makin' me want you

Everyone knows that one of the hottest things a guy can do is run his hand through his hair subconsciously, so when he did it before putting his hand on the back of her headrest her heart nearly stopped due to how hot those two actions were together

Truth be told if she was in that drivers seat they would be parked far enough away from anyone walking by and if anyone from the authorities questioned them they'd claim they didn't know the laws in Portugal

And I don't know how it gets better than this

How could life possibly get any better than driving down some country road wind in her hair , sun shining , her boyfriend beside her , and some Taylor Swift love song playing on the radio as they sang along

"Are you sure we can't just stay here forever?" She asked looking over at him

"I wish, but we both know you'd get bored in a week" he said with a smile and a playful shove in her direction

"Depends if you talk to me about cricket or not "

That statement earned her a scoff and a " don't lie you love it " from the man next to her as she laughed along . She didn't mean it in a mean way , everyone has one subject that they can and will talk about with someone even if they don't care or like it

You take my hand and drag me

headfirst, fearless

The car came to an abrupt stop and

Y/n was confused as to why he'd stopped and where they were , well that was until she looked around and out of the window as he was getting out that she realised they were at a beach that they'd seen what they assumed were other tourists on the first day who looked like they were having the times of their lives dancing a long to music and chatting or sunbathing and taking it all in

"When you said we were going to come back to this beach, I'd assumed it was going to be when the weather was nice"

"Don't act like you don't want to have a fearless moment right now" he beamed at her as he lead her out of the car and down the boardwalk

"You know me so well" she said basically running behind as he dragged her

And I don't know why but with you I'd dance

In a storm in my best dress, fearless

As they swayed in the heavy rain and powerful wind Y/n realised that she wouldn't want to dance in her best most favourite dress with anyone else , he is also the only person she'd run through an airport for but that's a different conversation

It was a stupid thing to do and both parties knew it would probably lead to a cold in the following days , but they couldn't have cared less in the moment , cause when life starts to feel like a Taylor Swift song suddenly nothing else matters , and even if they did get sick Oscar had been meaning to catch up on some Netflix show anyway so it was a win win situation

After about 2 and a half minutes when the giggles and adrenaline had wore off and the cold and wind were starting to affect them , they made a run for the rental as they tried not to slip and tumble over curbs on the way

So baby drive slow 'til we run out of road

In this one-horse town, I wanna stay right here

Back roads had quickly became on of their favourite places and today was no different , they had to drive slower than usual due to the rain (top tips) but they didn't have anywhere to be so they could easily spend all day driving in circles round and round just basking in each others company

"Are you sure they can't just let you race exclusively in Portugal forever?" Y/n said looking out the window at the beautiful scenery

"You say this to every place we visit" he chuckled " we can always come back for summer break" he tried to bargain

"I will be holding you to that Piastri"

She said pointing an accusing finger at him

In this passenger seat, you put your eyes on me

In this moment, now capture it, remember it

The sight of him looking at her with the utmost adoration, as they made their way back to the hotel because it was getting late , she knew she had to capture it and probably post it on her Instagram account later or just keep it to herself until his birthday or he did something worth celebrating either way she knew she needed to have a photograph of it

"No paparazzi" he said covering the lenses with his palm with the biggest grin on his face knowing it was such a bad joke but he said it everytime his girlfriend would try to take a video or photo of him

Well, you stood there with me in the doorway

My hands shake, I'm not usually this way

After a long day of being fools in love they arrived back at the hotel they had called home for the last few days . Y/n couldn't help but stare at the button up he was wearing and how he had the sleeves rolled up and the top couple buttons undone (an almost deathly combination to any woman)

"You know you don't have to stare at me until I make the first move ? You can just kiss me whenever" he half joked

But you pull me in and I'm a little more brave

Despite him saying that he was the first to make a move , but she was definitely the more eager of the two and desperately wanted out of those wet clothes one way or another

It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really somethin'

It wasn't the first kiss they shared or even the first of the day, probably the first in half an hour , but that didn't make it any less special and exciting as they stepped into the elevator and headed to their room

[shefanispeculator]

Gwen and I have done so much traveling and touring and work the first half of our lives that now we're like, 'Hey, I'm good to put my sweatpants on at 6 p.m. and watch Ozark eight times,'" the singer told PEOPLE in his December 2022 cover story. "That's our life now, and we love it."

"If I walked away from my career at this time, the only thing that I run the risk of is having regrets that I'm missing out on some more important things in life. For now, that's our kids. This isn't about me anymore and never will be again," Shelton explained about his departure from the popular singing competition.

“You don’t know what your regrets are going to be until you look back one day," he told the outlet. "I feel like my regrets would be, if I stayed on this path, that I am missing out on some more important things in life — and for now, that’s our kids."

[on-leatheredwings]

Aegon is definitely not OOC. He shows off Jaehaerys like a pet but has no idea what time he should be at lessons. It's been three weeks since his coronation, three weeks since he raped Dyana. He hasn't grown as a person at all. We're just seeing different facets of him but people need to be spoonfed every trait of a character constantly to keep from spilling out of their brain. He appreciates the smallfolk because he's spent so much time drinking and whoring with them, but he has no respect for someone who obviously has more experience than him (Otto) and thinks he has more of an advantage being nice to people who were themselves forced to be nice to him when he was among them because he's a royal. He doesn't treat his mother's counsel with any respect either despite watching her rule the kingdom for years on her own. His weak moment of do you love me was just that, a weak moment. As soon as he gets drunk, he turns into a monster. He's stupid, clever, arrogant, predatory and a host of other things. People just don't think critically enough anymore in fandom.

thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. you put it perfectly into words. aegon is just acting like a child who's enjoying the novelty of newfound purpose in life. and like most addicts/abusers, he'll have his high days... then he'll have his LOW days. it's been one episode - we'll see him hit his low, probably even as soon as next episode.

this fandom makes me feel like i'm losing my mind like is it not clear that he's kind of doing a bad job at ruling/parenting? or at least, a very superficial job? is it "ooc" or are you not allowing the writers to portray him in anyway aside from the one dimensional image you already have of him in his head ??

We're just seeing different facets of him but people need to be spoonfed every trait of a character constantly to keep from spilling out of their brain.

genuinely i don't know why people just aren't using context clues anymore. just not thinking. or, holy fuck, just WONDERING? 😭whenever a character does something "ooc".... why not WONDER why they're doing it, rather than reacting so shallowly ??? some good writing advice i once saw was "don't ask 'is this action out of character for x', and rather ask, 'what would drive x to do this action'?" people are complex plsss 😭😭😭

also you make an excellent point about aegon aligning himself with smallfolk b/c he was more at home amongst them than with his noble family.

and tbh this is feeling like specifically a hotd issue? every tv show has bad takes but hotd has been genuinely unbearable. i watch other prestige tv or 'layered' shows and people seem to generally have the idea of the characters? succession, interview with the vampire, breaking bad, ozark, etc.

wondering if GOT S6-8 PTSD genuinely has made this fandom lose faith in the writing and they're choosing to take everything so face value now.

[mossistyping]

Tagged by the great @albonoooo (thank you!! <3)

last song: Total control - Djo (I was listening to Reverse Fic playlist)

favourite colour: PURPLE

currently watching: ahhh not much lately? I've been playing Diablo IV which is taking all my time other than fic. But I've just showed my husband Ozark when he wasn't sure what to watch so I guess that's the latest show I put on? :')

last movie: Top Gun Maverick (watched both over Labor Weekend....... My americanization process) (jk I'm the one that asked to re-watch them)

sweet/spicy/savoury: SAVOURY ALWAYS!! (I dearly miss cheese and saucisson)

relationship status: Married!

current obsession: It wouldn't count if I said F1 huh. We're all here. But truly it is! Other than that, I've just finished reading the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik and now I'm perusing the fics out there...

last thing you googled: Both in french and english I asked when did the live water crab/lobster tank disappeared from supermarkets? (I'd assume around 2010, because french search showed lots of article from 2009 - 2014 about it?)

Tagging, if you want! @mercurial-vroom @dwarvenchords @on-sinkingships @ghostellie @saviour-of-lord

[jadelotusflower]

Obscure Christmas Movie Rewatch: Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

This was my absolute favourite Christmas movie when I was a kid (behind Muppet's Christmas Carol), and it is so veiled in nostalgia I'm not sure I can be objective (or snark too much), but here we go.

Purporting to tell the story behind the 1897 Editorial Is There a Santa Claus? by Francis Pharcellus Chruch, the events and characters have been heavily fictionalised (as the text and v/o at the end helpfully reminds us). I'm therefore going to do some fact checking as to historical accuracy, but only out of interest, and certainly not intended as a criticism. I genuinely love this movie!

We open with Francis P Church (the late great Charles Bronson) in a cemetery, brushing the snow off the grave of his wife Elizabeth and baby Eleanor who died a year earlier. He opens up a gold watch with her picture inside, and it plays a gentle tune. He then takes out a bottle of whiskey, but turns away from the grave before he takes a swig.

In real life Church was indeed married to Elizabeth Wickham, but they had no children and I can't find any information about when she died (Francis passed in 1906). However in terms of framing a character, this is pretty effective.

We see The Sun newspaper being delivered, giving us the date of 17 December 1897.

Then we're at the docks, where James O'Hanlan (Richard Thomas) and Dominic Donelli (Massimo Bonetti) are fired after getting into a fight with another worker who levies several ethnic slurs and anti-immigrant rhetoric at them. Thomas was apparently one of the Walton kids (which I've never seen), and is one of those working actors who has seemingly been in every procedural known to man - he was also in The Americans and Ozark (but I haven't seen those either).

Their eight year old daughters Virginia (Katherine Isabelle) and Maria (Virginia Bagnata) meanwhile, are being mocked by her classmates for believing in Santa Claus. Look, the child performances in this movie are...what you would expect. But I'm not here to criticise kids, they do their best.

James can't find another job, reduced to reading The Sun a day late once it's put out in the trash, and the family is struggling. His wife Evie (Tasmin Kelsey, who I remember as Gairwyn from Stargate SG-1) is an optimist and tells him to keep up his spirits. James: "The trouble is there's too much damn spirit and not enough damn jobs."

In actuality, Philip O'Hanlan was a surgeon and coroner and they were a middle class family who lived on the Upper West Side. Virginia went on to achieve a doctorate in childhood education and was a teacher for over 40 years - her childhood home is now a school.

Frank stumbles into the offices of The Sun to pick up another bottle of whiskey from his desk, and then to the local bar to brood. Local pompous aristocratic jerk Cornelius Barrington (John Novak - who has apparently been in every Canadian-filmed production ever, including Smallville and Stargate) arrives to goad Frank about his affinity for those filthy poors. In doing so, he makes Frank sound legitimately badass: "The great egalitarian editorializer, friend and champion of the common man, would-be slayer of the capitalist dragons!"

The newsroom is populated by editor Edward Page Mitchell (the late great Ed Asner), copyboy Teddy (Shawn Macdonald), and sole female reporter Andrea Borland (Colleen Winton - apparently she was also in two episodes of Stargate but I can't place her). She's ambitious and frustrated that Mitchell will only let her report on society matters. Not gonna lie, there's a whiff of Perry White, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen about them (or maybe it's just that I rewatched the 1978 Superman recently). There's a bit of snappy dialogue:

Andrea: Did you like my society piece on the Vanderbilt ball?

Mitchell: I printed it, didn't I?

Andrea: Well...half of it

Mitchell: That was the half I liked.

Andrea heads to the bar and hesitates only for a moment at the "men only" sign before going in to find Frank and try and retrieve the article Mitchell was looking for - "The Shame of Greatness".

Frank hands her a page of a few ideas and a lot of gibberish, while Corenlius watches literally eating popcorn. There's just a big bowl of popcorn sitting out in this men's bar and grill!

If gifs were a thing in the 90's this would have been a meme.

Andrea rewrites the article and gives it to Mitchell in Frank's name. It's a great success, with Teddy walking around reciting lines and calling it "a real humdinger!" Frank confronts Andrea, and she confides in him that it was his lecture at her university that inspired her to keep going when she was only one of three women in the class (and the other two ended up getting married).

We get the dramatic irony in Frank's refusal to be impressed: "Tomorrow it will be yesterday's newspaper, and you can wrap a fish in it. Nothing that you, or I, or anybody else writes for a newspaper has a lifespan of more than 24 hours."

Cornelius approaches Andrea and offers her a job to work at his uncle's paper The Chronicle in order to expose Frank as a fraud (in real life Church actually once worked at The Chronicle, which was published by his father). But as a woman of principle she coldly rejects him, and honestly, I love her. Frank has been nothing but dismissive and patronising towards her, so it's clear it's not solely about protecting him (and perhaps the ideal she had of him) but more about who she is and what she believes. Underrated character in an underrated movie.

James foils a robbery, and the police arrive with accents of the diddly dee potatoes variety. When he arrives home he's greeted by his Jewish neighbor Mrs Goldstein. It's interesting that this is a very similar setting to Mrs Santa Claus - New York at the turn of the century and has some thematic similarities - the immigrant experience and the importance of community in particular.

James reads aloud The Shame of Greatness article to the family:

"We have become a great nation, but at what cost? Ask the red man, the black man, the immigrant, the elderly, the ill. We have built a railroad across the 45 states and bridges across rivers but there is no bridge of brotherhood. Why? Because there is no profit in that bridge. Ask the captains of industry, ask the robber barons, ask the politicians about that bridge."

Unfortunate racial wording aside, it's a sentiment that wouldn't be out of place now, 31 years after this film was made, and 125 years after the film is set. I like a little activism in my Christmas movies.

It's also worth noting that most of the above passage were parts written by Frank, so Andrea's suggestion that they were his ideas is given credence - we don't know what the rest of the article went on to say but it's implied Andrea is a great writer able to match Frank's voice.

James speaks to the frustration of America not being the promised land: "It's hard to believe that fifty years ago our people came to this country because they were starving in Ireland. Potato famine indeed! High rents ha! It's no different over here."

As a child watching this movie was the first time I'd heard of the potato famine, and it's only this rewatch I noticed that Virginia is reading a book about Oliver Cromwell! Yikes. I don't know if that was deliberate, but certainly an interesting touch.

Evie however, takes the other side of the argument, telling James to stop feeling sorry for himself, and to be grateful for what they have - family, a place to live, and food (and God - this is certainly the most religious movie of this rewatch). Evie: "You can be poor if you want to James O'Hanlon, but I'm rich. And I grow richer every day of my life."

Virginia asks her father if Santa Claus is real, and he is the envy of every parent in quickly thinking to deflect and encourage her to write to The Sun for an answer instead.

Frank is back at the bar, where Cornelius goads him about Andrea, implying there are other things she is taking care of for him. Finally Frank is moved to respond, and when Cornelius warns him that he was "Captain of the Yale boxing team" Frank punches him square in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"I've done some fighting myself, Captain," Frank says, "around Hell's Kitchen." When I was a kid I didn't realise this referred to a gritty part of New York and thought it was a metaphor and an allusion to his roving reporter life - I think it works either way.

At the postbox, Virginia is gifted a stamp by the kindly German postman Hans Schuller, in another example of this community of immigrants helping each other through the hard times.

At The Sun, Frank looks at his wife's picture in the watch, and Teddy remarks that one day he'll have a watch like that ("a real himdinger!" - an annoying catchphrase, but it's meant to be annoying). Frank takes the picture out and puts the watch in an envelope with Teddy's name on it, then goes home where he turns off the fire but leaves the gas on, in the grand tradition of family Christmas movies including attempted suicide!

I admit this went right over my head when I first watched this as a kid, I think subtle enough not to be too dark for younger viewers. There's also a nice bit of production design comparing Frank's warm and furnished apartment with the O'Hanlan's grey and bare abode.

Mitchell arrives to give Frank the assignment of answering Virginia's letter, and we get to the core of Frank's depression - that he was a man who lived for his work, never even spending one Christmas dinner with his wife because he was away on assignment, and the irony that he was in Panama writing about yellow fever while she was dying of pneumonia - guilt and longing and regret. It's pretty complex stuff for a family film, and something I never really appreciated until I was older.

Now, it's certainly wholesale fiction - Francis Church married Elizabeth in 1871, so not merely married for "more than three years" as in the film. In fact, her birthdate on the grave is 1860, which puts a bit of a different spin on things with Frank significantly older rather than being her contemporary as in real life. This is alluded to in their conversation as Frank says he took many more years than most men to find a wife, adding to his guilt for not being there for her and appreciating what he had.

There's also nothing I could find that indicated he was an alcoholic - allegedly he was an atheist and hated writing the famous editorial.

But Ed Asner and Charles Bronson are both great actors, and play so well off each other. I do give credit for this scene not being too overwritten - if you actually pay attention to the grave at the beginning you see that Elizabeth and Eleanor died on 24 December the previous year - which is on the nose, but it remains subtext rather than Frank giving exposition of the "They died on Christmas and that's why I hate it!" variety.

The next day at the paper we get a cameo from screenwriter Andrew J Fenady as the reporter who tells Mitchell things are "heating up" in Cuba, referring to the Cuban War of Independence and a precursor to the Spanish-America War. I do enjoy these small historical touches.

Meanwhile, James and Dominic find jobs for the day but have another run in with the dock workers and get to thoroughly beat them up in a nice bit of karma. There's really no point to this scene other than to see the bigots get punched, but hey, I'm here for that, and it also keeps James' story parallel to Frank's.

Frank wanders around the city and is inspired by what he sees - the poor being fed by a soup kitchen, a policeman helping an elderly homeless man, people donating to toy drives, and a scene in a park complete with brass band, sleigh rides, ice skating, and general seasonal joy. He finds a baby's rattle that inspires part of the editorial, and sees a young couple with their child, sending him back to visit his wife's grave. He buys flowers but decides to throw them away rather than placing them on the grave - along with his bottle of whiskey.

I actually think this is a great example of show-not-tell writing - a lesser piece would have had Frank talk to his wife at her grave, saying how sorry he was he never appreciated her enough when she was alive, asking how he was going to answer Virginia's question when he himself doesn't believe in anything anymore, and then make a breakthrough. But not a word is uttered - we have Bronson's performance, we see him start to experience life again and decide to stop wallowing in his grief and return to his passion for writing. It's actually very deftly done.

Mrs Goldstein appears again to give the O'Hanlan's some brisket because she "made too much." It's very sweet but James gets in his feelings about it because he's not the one providing for his family.

The police arrive to take James down to the station for questioning about the robbery, and while he's gone Virginia uses a penny she found on the street earlier to buy a paper - wanting to give her father the gift of The Sun on the day it's printed rather than the next.

Back at the paper, Frank puts his wife's picture back in his gold watch, and instead gives Teddy another: "it's not gold, and it doesn't play a tune, but it was my first watch and it helped me start the day for many years." He also tells Mitchell he will come to Christmas dinner after all, and Andrea asks him to follow her somewhere, repeating his earlier words back to him: "there has to be a finish to every story."

James arrives back at home with a tree and laden with gifts, including a pet kitten (that he befriended earlier on). Turns out he was given a reward for his part in the robbery, and that both he and Dominic were offered jobs on the police force. Something could be said about James and Dominic becoming cops on the basis of punching people really well, but perhaps this isn’t the place for it.

Virginia gives her father the paper, and of course sees the editorial and reads it aloud, as all our friends arrive, including Andrea and Frank. It's actually a rather moving scene, the community that has supported each other, and who all played a part in the letter being written, delivered, and finally answered.

I honestly think this movie holds up despite the nostalgia goggles - there is some cringe, but through fictionalising the story behind the editorial, it becomes it's own metaphor - the weaving together of these disparate lives and their various struggles, united by hope and faith. Bronson gives a great performance that really grounds the film (and the part must have been particularly resonant for him, as his wife Jill Ireland had died the year before the film was made). I really recommend this movie, and think it's a shame that it isn't as enduring or well known as the original editorial.

"Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. 

Not believe In Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. 

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. 

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."

[shefaniwords]

Gwen and I have done so much traveling and touring and work the first half of our lives that now we're like, 'Hey, I'm good to put my sweatpants on at 6 p.m. and watch Ozark eight times,'" the singer told PEOPLE in his December 2022 cover story. "That's our life now, and we love it."

"If I walked away from my career at this time, the only thing that I run the risk of is having regrets that I'm missing out on some more important things in life. For now, that's our kids. This isn't about me anymore and never will be again," Shelton explained about his departure from the popular singing competition.

“You don’t know what your regrets are going to be until you look back one day," he told the outlet. "I feel like my regrets would be, if I stayed on this path, that I am missing out on some more important things in life — and for now, that’s our kids."

[the-firebird69]

There's a huge number of people who are watching and listening and they're finding out the Legends are being born and legends are at work well Mrs O'Leary might get an experience is that kind of wants out and if you want out now so you're milking us and you're making this cheese and selling it and they found out what it means and it says the second job so that's a low level person it's a job and I'm a low level person and they sort of get it and they figured out something they don't want to eat me and stuff or abuse me but they're different people but these ones trees okay cuz we're doing that so they're trying to stay healthy and get it and they're moving on walking exercising eating and resting and there's a lot of people who think it's sad but it is so the cow is a famous cow and a famous store is going to happen. So the girl wants attention and stuff she's on a movie and looks a little like Hera and they're going to have a problem cuz he looks a little bit like a clone but she is Lily and boy she looks different and no way can she do that but there are some problems here and some problems going on but our son is mentioned the Ozarks and the ship there and people are going there and the Midwest is not emptied yet but they are going there and with gusto

Thor Freya

And the Indian motorcycle invention they can't seem to understand it no they understand it and they are buying the idea now they want to buy the motorcycle and they want to they want to use the concept but really the demand is a lot less than you thought my son is trying to say what what it really represents and so am I you like missing the concept or something so it's an Indian that would be us native peoples you would be riding again in the 1900 cc's and the fact that it's an automatic. You don't understand we thought you were all fanatics especially Trump and he doesn't really understand it now he gets it and his zero motorcycles are disappearing and they're not fast enough they suck and because the latest designs the robots can hardly ride them and it says yeah it's a joke the answer eventually get up there but they have to learn like every time how to write it as a pain so he's not really going home for it anymore. With the electric you can recharge if you put in a special system that collects ambient electricity and you can have the bike drive to a transfer station in in about 20 minutes if you refuse instead of 15 and some picked up on it too but people are not after that

Never said it above the robots can't drive a shift gear bike very well but they can drive regular automatics w ease. It looks kind of like a Harley from anywhere but right on it and they could use it as fear other people would use it as fear and cover and also they grab people riding around on them and turn them into terminators so not sure why they're not doing this for us

Thor Freya again

Only had a few minutes to think about it we like the idea and the motif and so on we don't do much of it and it would be good for us and it would attract people who do a lot of it

Tommy a

You like the idea and we want to do it a lot the problem is that these bikes will be watched and we don't like that idea but other people should and we probably try and grab them all the time

Tommy f

It would and it's a perfectly good idea and people just not into it or something. I hear in the streets and not really pushing for it so and we need the transmission they can put it on different bike I mean I don't understand what the hell these people are up to they don't find some weird people

Mac

Yeah I'm thinking about it but yeah you're right everybody's has run out of gas

Trump

[aeaeaexxzd]

Is it just more digestible for some people ? I've had people tell me they couldn't keep going with breaking bad because it's so depressing. But Ozark has really really gruesome, really EAuHhG things going on as well. Maybe it's the fact that you don't get too attached to the characters that makes it easier to watch. From the very start we're made to sort-of despise the main characters. They all come off as shitty people. The only family member I've grown to like is Jonah just because he's lowkey based asf. Is it really that hard to make characters more palpable ? More real ?

So I am watching Ozark. Passively, mostly as background noise. I don't like it all that much but it's good enough. It had me wondering, as a crime drama centered around a family, what isn't it delivering compared to it's more acclaimed counter parts like breaking bad or... better call saul...? The obvious answer to me is compelling characters. But what throws me off about Ozark is that I feel like it's not the kind of show that even wants to have compelling characters ? There was nothing in those first couple of episodes that told me "these people are interesting and worth your time". And you have to wait until you're 3 seasons in to actually feel close to the characters and like you're getting to know them. I guess it's a show that focuses more on the "chess board" like the mechanics of organized crime and all the moving parts and stuff. It has that boiled down. So much so that it's almost boring. And some of it doesn't really make sense. There's a lot of inconsistencies, plot holes... it feels really lazy. But whatever I guess. I don't know where I was going with this. I wanted to compare it to breaking bad. Walter white is a compelling character because [x] as opposed to Marty Byrde who has too many Y's in his name like...... Y is he so mid🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 anyways

[fairycosmos]

good evening from miss georgie. x

[ssahotstuff]

Lie To Me

An Aaron Hotchner x Reader Fic

Aaron Hotchner x Ozark crossover

Part 3

Parts 1&2 along with the characters and a brief description of the story can be found here

Warnings: drinking, cursing, violence, crime, smut, unprotected sex, oral, (f&m receiving) fingering, minors DNI

Word count: 4.1k

As promised, you checked in at The Blue Cat the next day and decided you'd have lunch. You were going to Aaron's for dinner, but he had some stuff to take care of. You'd spent the night with him and left before breakfast, because he had an early start to his day.

"You're doing fine, Charlotte," you reassured her as she stood behind the bar, nodding towards the door. Marty was coming in, taking a seat next to you.

"How'd it go last night?"

You gave him a brief recounting of your night minus the spicy details, and he nodded, his expression unreadable.

"Wendy said he really seems to like you."

You told him that you thought the same thing, and he smiled softly at you.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, kid. Just be careful."

He left right after that, leaving you and Charlotte fumbling with his warning. You weren't sure why he was so worried about you and Aaron, but he really didn't like the idea of you two together. He was playing nice because you were happy but if things went sour, you knew Marty would step in and say something.

"Dad's just really protective. You're like my sister," Charlotte said, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, the older, funnier sister," you teased, but she didn't disagree. You went back home, spending some of your much needed free time cleaning your house. You hadn't really been around lately, and it showed. You did laundry, almost losing track of time until Aaron called you.

"I'll be home in thirty minutes. We're making pizza," he told you, excitement clear in his voice. When you told him you had the weekend off, he was quickly asking to spend more time with you--it was cute.

"I need to shower. I've been cleaning all day," you told him, and he told you to just walk over when you were ready, that he'd be waiting for you.

You showered and shaved, putting on layers of lotion and a spritz of perfume in all of the right places, deciding you'd wear something cozy so you'd be prepared for later. When you knocked, he'd already changed too, and he'd gotten the memo on the dress code, because he was comfy too. He greeted you with a hug first and then dipped down to kiss you, pulling you inside by the waist.

"I didn't start without you," he told you, letting you wash your hands and get to it, rolling up your sleeves so the two of you could make dough. You made two separate pizzas, one for him and one for you. You sat on the couch watching a movie while they cooked, his hand in yours.

"I don't have to work tomorrow. I was thinking maybe you could stay the night and spend the day with me tomorrow."

You kissed him, nodding your head.

"I'd like that."

You ate dinner and moved to his bed, where he stripped down to his boxers immediately before he came to cuddle, wrapping his arms around you as you laid in his lap. You decided to initiate something a little different, rolling over onto your stomach, peering up at him through your lashes.

"What are you doing, pretty girl?" You could see him getting hard through his boxers, so you reached out to palm him through the fabric, watching his whole body visibly tighten at your touch. You put your fingers in the waistband of his boxers and pulled them down, taking his cock in your hands. You found a rhythm with your wrist, pumping him up and down until you took him in your mouth, flattening your tongue against him so you could take all of him. He hissed, his hand on the back of your head as he guided you on his member, watching with his mouth slightly agape as saliva coated his cock and he entered your mouth with ease.

"Oh sweetheart. So fucking good," he said through clenched teeth, tears brimming your eyes as you gagged on his cock. You used your hand on the rest of his length, taking most of him in your mouth, occasionally stealing a glance at him from your spot below. He looked properly fucked--his pupils wide and dilated, his hair a wreck on his head. You hadn't even gotten started yet--not if you had anything to say about it anyway.

You didn't stop until you felt his salty release in the back of your throat, swallowing every last drop that he'd give you. He released his grip on your hair, bringing you forward so he could kiss you hard on the mouth. You draped your body over his as his tongue made its way into your mouth, and his hands came to rest at your sides, lifting your t-shirt slightly to expose your skin.

"Your mouth feels so fucking good," he said against your lips, pulling your bottom lip between his teeth. He laid you down, his fingers falling to the waistband of your pants, lightly touching you over the fabric. You squirmed against the mattress, making him crawl between your legs hastily, pulling your pants and panties down in one swipe.

"You seem desperate," he told you, his voice still endearing as he said it. He loved it, loved how badly you wanted him, and that you weren't afraid to show it.

"Because I am," you panted, a cocky grin spreading out over his face as he buried his face between your thighs, making your eyes roll back as his tongue expertly flicked at your clit. You were lost in euphoria, your head sinking into the pillow and your brain turning to mush.

"I wish you could see how pretty you look right now, so relaxed," he cooed as you reached the first of many highs, your eyes squeezed shut as your body trembled. He kissed your thighs, your hips, every inch of you below the waist was under his tongue at some point. He finally focused his energy back on your clit, sucking furiously, his arms keeping you pinned to the bed.

"Fuck, Aaron--" the sweet rush of your orgasm on his tongue was like fuel to a fire; he only yearned for more. He slowly teased your entrance with his fingers before adding them to the mix, the fluid combination heavenly, flooding all of your senses with nothing but pleasure. It didn't take much to have you a whimpering mess on his bed, your sweet little sounds like music to his ears.

"I just can't get enough of you," he said as he sat up, lining up with you so he could sink into you, your walls stretching to accommodate him as you lifted your legs. He put them over his shoulders before he began to slip in and out of you, his hips smacking yours in perfect timing. You knew it was only a matter of time until you were hurdling over the edge again, because your nails were already digging into the bed, your legs shaking as you came.

"I'm obsessed," you choked, addicted to the way he felt as he was pounding into you, completely opposite of how he'd been the day before. This time was greedy, possessive. It took your breath as you struggled to hold your eyes open, blinded by such immense pleasure.

You were super sensitive, coming from the smallest, slightest movements, and he was in heaven watching. Each time you came, he would whisper the sweetest words, telling you how much he enjoyed having you for himself. It was easy to get caught up in the way he made you feel-- ten feet tall and bullet proof.

"You're divine, sweetheart. I could watch you for hours on end," you felt it, the sticky, warm substance fill you up as he tried to stay upright, pulling out of you so he could sit down. His breathing was ragged, his chest heaving as he leaned against your legs, propped up so you wouldn't make a mess. He grabbed a towel and cleaned you off, climbing in the bed, letting you hold him, his head on your chest.

"Get some sleep," you urged him, sliding down on the pillow next to him. He fell asleep letting you hold him close, and he didn't move an inch all night.

✨✨✨

Things had been going well with Aaron. You usually saw him after you came home from work for the night. He'd come over and walk you to his place, although you warned him with summer approaching that your nights would get a lot later. He didn't seem to mind, as long as he got to see you.

You were just finishing up closing the place, your music playing softly through the speakers as you cleaned. Marty had delivered on the sound system, and it worked like a dream. You could hear your music everywhere in the restaurant, and you were grateful for it for summer. You'd be able to pack the place full and learn what the crowd favorite songs were, so you could keep the place energetic.

Ruth had just showed up for her nightly beer, followed promptly by Marty, who looked distraught.

"What's going on?"

He looked between you and Ruth, who seemed to already know what was happening, but she chose to say silent.

"Just some shit with Wendy. Nothing you need to worry about. How's the new sound system working out?"

You told him all about how Jonah helped you set it up and he showed you how to work it. You wanted to make the Blue Cat the summer spot that everyone came to hang out at, and now you were one step closer to packing the place full.

"Sounds like you have the place ready for the busy season," he popped the top on his beer, sitting between you and Ruth at the bar. He'd been acting a little more normal lately, despite how stressed he seemed. He wasn't warning you about Aaron every time you saw him, so that was a plus.

"Almost. I'm buying some lights to put up behind the bar, make this place a little brighter."

He grinned, something that didn't happen often, obviously happy that you were working things out to your liking and that more importantly, he didn't have to deal with it.

"Charlotte wants to come stay with you soon. I told her as soon as school was out, she could," he told you, but they both knew she was welcome at your house any time.

"I miss her, we'll do a bonfire to celebrate school being out as soon as she has her last day," you decided, making Marty pat you on the back.

"You know, my kids really enjoy spending time with you. You've become something of a role model for Charlotte and I really appreciate that. She and Wendy...Wendy has her own things going on right now, and the kids feel like she's forgotten about them."

You knew Wendy was a busy woman but she loved her kids; obviously there was much more going on than you knew about. Charlotte hadn't told you anything, but you could tell there was tension.

"I love your kids, Marty. They can come spend time with me whenever they want," you promised him, and then it was Ruth's turn to speak up.

"When you first moved here, I thought, 'no way is that girl really as sweet as she claims to be' but I was wrong. You're a regular ray of fuckin' sunshine," she cackled, making you blush like crazy. You had always tried to be good, see the good in other people before you judged them for the bad. It's part of why you had grown so attached to the Byrdes. They were good people, and you could see that in the way they ran things. Family came first to them, and that was a moral you'd always wanted for yourself, despite having no family of your own. Marty knew you were alone in the world and made you a seat at his table with no questions asked.

"I grew up around a lot of people that were cold and mean for no reason. I always told myself I never wanted to end up like that." It was the most you'd ever opened up to them about home, but they appreciated your honesty and they understood why you could never go back. It was too much for any one person to handle, and although you felt like you still had obligations back home, returning wasn't an option, not now that you were finally free.

"You've done more in three months than anyone in your hometown has ever dreamed of doing," Marty told you, trying to make you feel a little bit better. He knew you didn't like talking about home, so he'd always try to lighten the mood when you did.

"It's a dead end town. If I didn't leave, I would've been stuck too."

Ruth polished off her beer before grabbing another, and the bell signaling someone's arrival went off, and no one was expecting to see Charlotte standing there, soaked from the rain.

"Charlotte, what are you doing out this late? You have school tomorrow," Marty grabbed a bar towel so she could dry off some, but you noticed the tears before he did, rushing forward to check on her.

"Are you okay?" Marty looked back at you confused for a moment until she shook her head, water droplets pooling in the floor at her feet.

"Mom kicked me out! She's lost her mind, Dad! This new deal she's worked out has corrupted her mind," it was your turn to be confused--Wendy had thrown her daughter out in the rain.

"What do you mean she kicked you out?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes because sometimes Marty was naïve--he couldn't see past his love for Wendy sometimes, and it made him blind to some of the more shitty things Wendy put him through, like for instance, when she cheated on him. Ruth had told you about it, and it was before they ever moved to the Ozarks, but it still gave you a bad taste in your mouth when you spoke to Wendy sometimes. You loved her, but quite often she did things you couldn't exactly agree with, and this was one of them.

"She told me if I didn't like what she was doing for our family, then I could leave. She shoved me out the door! She didn't let me get anything, she just sent me on my way," she sniffled, and you opened your arms for her, holding her tight when she collapsed against you, filled with emotion, hurting deeply at the fact that her mother could be so cold. You knew if you ever had kids, you'd never kick them out--not when the world was a dangerous place and they were safer with you.

"Your mom is a little power hungry right now. She thinks we're in competition. She did this because of me, Charlotte. I'm sorry." Marty hugged her, Ruth standing by idly while the exchange took place. She didn't care for Wendy either, but you were both shocked by the fact that she'd tossed her daughter out.

"Let her stay with me until Wendy quits whatever this is. I'll make sure she goes to school and keeps her homework done," you offered, and it only took half a second for Marty to agree. Charlotte seemed content too, much happier than she'd been moments prior.

"Do you think you could do me a huge favor?" He asked, arms crossed over his chest. You nodded, handing Charlotte your keys so she could go start up the car and turn the heat on; she needed to dry up. She'd been walking in the rain for easily an hour, maybe longer.

"I need to talk to Wendy and it's not going to be pretty. Can I bring Jonah to you? Tomorrow is testing day for seniors so Jonah doesn't have to go," you told him to just bring him over tonight, and he could stay in one of the spare bedrooms. Jonah and Charlotte were the only people to ever use them.

You all split ways and you tried to get Charlotte to talk to you on the ride home.

"She's just trying to be more successful than Dad. She feels threatened, like she has to accomplish more to be something she's not. She's always ever just been our mom. Now she's something else," she said sadly as you pulled in to your driveway. Aaron was already walking across the street, stopping at your door when he saw Charlotte was with you.

"Is everything okay?"

You didn't want to tell Marty's business so you just told him the kids were staying the night with you until Marty had a chance to talk to Wendy. He nodded in understanding, but Charlotte was quick to invite him over for you.

"Don't let us ruin your plans. I'm basically grown, we can all have a coffee and wait on Jonah," she loved using your fancy espresso coffee maker, so Aaron agreed to come in--he'd never been to your place before, so he looked around a bit while you got Charlotte some dry clothes and changed out of your jeans into something more comfortable. When you found him, he was pouring three cups of coffee in the kitchen, turning around briefly to kiss your forehead.

"I won't stay long, I know it's late. I just wanted to see you," he said, handing you a mug while the two of you sat at the table to wait on Charlotte.

"I'll always be thankful that you let me keep clothes here," she said as she joined you at the table after grabbing her coffee.

"You can keep whatever you want here. You know that," you wanted her and Jonah to feel at home with you, somewhere safe they could turn to if they needed you.

"Do you need me to work tomorrow? I can come after school," she told you, and you told her that was fine, it would give you a little bit of time off to get things in order for her and Jonah in case they ended up staying longer than a couple of days.

"I'm going to head out, but I'll be up later if you want to call me," he kissed you quickly before he told you and Charlotte bye, and shortly after Marty showed up with Jonah in tow.

"Wendy isn't even at home," Marty told you, explaining that there was something going on that involved a baby and Darlene Snell--which didn't sound like a good combination to you.

"When did she get a baby?"

"When Mason Young went missing, she got Zeke."

Zeke was the local pastors son--he'd been missing for a couple of weeks now. You didn't know Marty and Wendy were involved with Mason, but you weren't surprised. They knew everyone.

"So Wendy's trying to get the baby?"

He nodded, telling you that there was a lot he didn't know about the situation, like when Mason would be coming back, and who would keep the baby permanently if Darlene didn't.

"Wait, Marty, you don't need a baby in your house," you rationalized, and she shrugged knowingly before telling you there was nothing he could do to stop Wendy once she got started.

"Zeke's going to live with us?" Charlotte asked, Marty told her that he wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen, but that they'd be home soon.

"I'll call you tomorrow and let you know what's going on," he promised before he left, so you let the kids get comfortable in their rooms and went to call Aaron, who answered the phone like he'd been waiting on you.

"I'm glad you called," he yawned, making you smile to yourself. You loved his sleepy voice, how soft and sweet he could get, but his voice would drop an octave and send shivers down your spine.

"I didn't know I was going to have the kids, I was about to leave for the night when Charlotte showed up."

He made a soft hum while he thought about what to say, afraid of disrespecting your friendship with Marty.

"You're a good friend. Not many people would keep someone else's kids at the drop of a hat."

You explained your love for his kids and why they meant so much to you but then again, he already understood. You hadn't talked about your family and it was that very reason that he knew why you and the Byrdes were so close.

"Can I see you tomorrow, assuming your life returns to normal?" You told him even if it didn't, that you'd make time for him, and he was glad to hear it. He was tired so he got off the phone, leaving you to dream about him.

The next day, Jonah came to work with you. He tweaked the sound system a bit, clearing up any audio issues you might run into, but otherwise he sat at his computer the vast majority of the day.

"If things don't work out at home, can we live with you?"

You weren't sure how to answer him so you were honest with him.

"You're always welcome at my house, but your Dad is going to sort this all out and you'll be home soon."

Your afternoon went by quickly after that, and then Charlotte showed up to help lighten the load. Your day was full of visitors, from your regulars to Aaron, who showed up right before you were about to close for the night. You didn't know whether or not to wait around for Marty or Ruth because you hadn't heard from either of them all day.

"Will you be up later?" You put in the order for his food and sat at the bar with him, but only for a minute so you could help Charlotte clean.

"For you, I'll wait up all night."

You made plans to sneak off to his place after the kids were in bed, because it was officially the weekend and they didn't have school tomorrow, so you could be a little more lenient on what they could do as far as staying up later. You knew they were probably exhausted though from such a long day. Jonah had came into work with you early, and Charlotte had testing all day and worked afterwards.

By the time you made it home, you took a shower and the house was quiet when you came out. You checked on everyone; Jonah was sleeping and Charlotte was about to lay down, she'd showered too. You told her you were going across the street, to text you if she needed you and she told you they'd be fine, that they were old enough to hang out across the street for a while so you could see Aaron.

You were off to his place and he greeted you at the door with a kiss, tugging you inside hastily, his mouth still attached to yours.

"I've missed you," he mumbled against your lips, his hands on your waist. He led you to the couch, letting you straddle his lap as you kissed him, your arms looped around his neck.

"I've missed you. Was glad you stopped by to see me earlier," seeing him always made your day; it was always a pleasant surprise when he showed up to your job, even if he only stayed for a little while.

"I have to see you when I can. I hope you don't mind me visiting you at work," he was tugging your shirt off, working on shedding your bra too.

"I love it when you come see me," you admitted, standing up so he could undress you, his eyes trailing over every inch of you.

"I hope you'll be able to come spend the night soon. I miss having you in my bed," he peppered kisses all over your chest, teeth grazing your nipples lightly as you mounted his lap and worked to free him of his pajamas and boxers. Once you had him naked, you lined him up with your entrance and wasted no time sinking down on him, making you groan in unison as he found himself buried inside of you.

"So lucky to have you," you whispered as you rode him, his hands helping you out so you didn't get tired. You tossed your head back as you came, and he cupped your face lovingly so he could watch you come undone.

"Gets better every time," he said under his breath, pounding into you from below as he held you upright. It was new, intense. Each guided stroke had you trembling, your orgasm right around the corner. You finished with him, shaking as he filled you, holding you in place on his lap.

"God, I've missed this with you. Not seeing you last night had you on my mind heavily today," he breathed, kissing you softly as you laid against his chest.

"I'll come back over tomorrow. Hopefully Marty gets his shit together soon."

Master tags: @wheelsupkels @periodtcevans @hausofwhores @criminallyobsessedcm @tojithesourcerkiller @fireworksinthesky

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

Didn’t know if it was on your radar, but Robin Wright directed two episodes for Ozark!

I didn't! Good for her!

I don't know if facts bear this out but I feel like more and more TV shows are now making it a priority to hire women to direct their eps. We're still a long way from parity, but it's not the rarity it used to be to see a familiar name in the credits before an ep roles. Or maybe this is just the TV shows I'm watching...

[the-moss-project]

What are some TV shows or movies that you think have a similar vibe to The Moss? First one that comes to mind for me is Ozark, but I'd love to see what you think.

Hello!

Sorry this took a little while to respond to--I'm not really a TV show watcher, but I can give some examples of things that inspired the moss as well as things that I usually watch that have a similar vein of humor lol

The first two big ones are Murder Mountain and Team Foxcatcher.

Murder Mountain focuses on a murder that's happened in the emerald triangle area and the subsequent police case/vigilante justice that comes after.

Team Foxcatcher is actually a sports documentary, but it's about a sports coach/sponsor that has severe schizophrenia and it follows his story and how he ended up murdering someone due to the symptoms of his illness. I'm not a huge sports person, but this one was FASCINATING.

As far as sense of humor, Trailer Park Boys, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Gravity Falls (woodsy vibes from GF, also!).

We're always watching different documentaries about anything from murder to sports to heists and organized crime. We don't watch a ton of tv shows, but these are a couple of things we get our inspo from! I'd say a little bit of everything I watch or read ends up in my writing, whether it's themes or humor or even just general research, ends up in there.

Thank you for your ask!!

[sybilius]

12, 14, 22?

12. what kind of day is it?

H A W T outside. I'm a little sleepier than I'd like to be but that said my wife and I watched Ozark so that's nice. Holy shit also I realized that the trees that grow on my neighbor's yard are APRICOTS and they're fucking going off (yes I ate one (1) and wowwwwww someday I'm gonna plant an apricot tree).

14. do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes a thousand times yes.

22. what type of person are you?

A lover, not a fighter. A gardener. A physicist. An atheist, but a funny kind of atheist I suppose. Apparently I had some thoughts on that:

I've been thinking about that one a lot lately because a good friend has hit a New Thing with her spirituality that I'm happy for her on but I'm having a difficult time connecting with. It's interesting because when we met she herself was a fairly militant atheist, and I was I suppose distantly culturally Christian. Now she's come back to a kind of new age flavored belief in god, and it's tough. It's tough because even then, she was the kind of atheist I wouldn't be able to talk about my atheism with. And now that she's... a new age deist, I guess? I also find it hard. People who get into Capital T Truth in a way that seems to want to make the answer easy, you know?

I guess it's like. The religious thing, for me, does rest firmly on a relational question rather than one of Absolute Truth-- which is to say, the important question is not "does god Exist?", I actually don't care as much about that as I do about how people think about their belief in god. How does believing in their god(s) help them survive, and treat people well, and relate to other people better?

Atheists don't really have a satisfying answer for "why not god (truth value)" either to me -- it's usually "oh it's simpler without a god, so why would I believe in one"-- like Occam's Razor fallback. That doesn't compel me. Many things in life are not simple.

But admittedly, when I think about believing in a god of any kind, it feels like to fold that into my worldview would betray all the people for whom Shite Circumstances has ever smacked down. I don't think that everything happens for a reason. I think we're good storytellers, though, at picking ourselves up and living again in spite of that, and there's something very spiritual in that. It's not just that life is simpler without a god, it's that I feel more love for humanity without that narrative. I find my worldview very comfortable and helpful for me to cope with being alive -- and I think that any god that demands belief allegiance really has some weird shit going on and would get on my personal shit list. So people who fall back on Pascal's Wager -- I mean, for me, a god that petty wouldn't be worth worshipping anyways.

Anyone who can talk about their god(s) humbly and coherently about they see things like karma, good/evil happening -- I like to talk about those things. I don't only want to talk to atheists, I love hearing good ways to think about the Problem of Evil. After all-- it is true that humans are the ones causing the problems, a lot of the time too. So good discussions on god(s) or philosophy within that are great. But it's not very fun to talk to people trying to convert you. I don't also want to convert anyone.

It's tough right now, because it's not a neutral kind of sharing for me to hear about, and she's very sweet to me about the things I'm interested in and curious about them. The way my friend talks about her relationship to god, I have to fight the instinct to feel that thinking that way about the way things happen seems very cruel.

It's giving her peace, and that's what's important. I hope someday we can speak about these things without me having to fight that feeling, and that I learn something interesting from her about yknow, coping with being alive and human in this world.

[chazz-anova]

tagged by my loves @johnnycranes and @scungilliwoman to fill out a lil 'about me'! thank you guys these are always so fun!

Name: Paige/Jaden (don't look at me ygogx was my fave)

Age: 22

Height: 5'2" short queens unite

Zodiac Sign: Gemini Sun/Sag Moon/Sag Rising ♊♐

Where do you call home: 'The navel of this great country' (gone girl quote my beloved) lol, but fr the central midwest!

Any tattoos or piercings: My ears are pierced, and I haveeeee (pausing to count) 19 tattoos! In quick succession they are- a black widow on my neck, lilacs on my shoulder, the maze from westworld on my inner right arm, some eyeballs in a jar from ozark on my wrist, the frog from otgw on my other shoulder, a lightening bolt on my lower arm, 'let me not be derided by fools' along my arm, sam from trick r treat with the pumpkin from halloween on my wrist, the evil eye on my inner arm, a quote below that saying 'bosses beware when we're screwed we multiply', the triple goddess, a bony fish on my thumb, the symbol for Venus on my index finger, devil horns on my middle finger, an evergreen tree on my ring finger, a gemini symbol on my ankle, a heart with the words 'fuck you' in it on my knee, some crossbones from the game dishonored on my other knee, anddddd a little ghost on my thigh! i think that's it! (didn't realize this would turn into a paragraph when i started listing them but i couldn't stop when i started lmao)

Last song you listened to: STFU - Pink Guy

Last movie you watched: I watched Treasure Planet to fall asleep last night!

Last book or fanfic you read: Last book I read was the first in the True Blood (Sookie Stackhouse) Series, last fanfic was uhhhhh my own probably- I'm so bad at reading fics unless people send them to me lol

Do you collect anything: Yes! I collect crystals for mystical reasons, candles, perfumes, and I have a decent collection of cups from the restaurant The Other Place that my mother so kindly donated to me from her collection lmfao

Morning person or night owl: Not to be that person but- both? I love an early morning where I can get my coffee and get some writing done as the birds begin to wake up, but I also bask in the hush of night and watching the lights twinkling in the city

Are you an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist: Optimist!

A quote you live by: There's a couple I can think of! "Progress isn't linear", "Every cloud has a silver lining", and one of my faves from Buffy The Vampire Slayer- "The hardest thing to do in this world is live in it. So be brave- live."

Are you an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert: Ambivert no question!!! I love being social and big, elaborate gatherings, but afterwards I will need like a week to recharge lol

Do you believe in an afterlife or not: Absolutely! I believe there's limbo, there's something after, and of course something before as well. I don't have anything necessarily fully formed- but I believe you reincarnate until you're learned all the lessons your soul must learn, and then you get to retire and function as a guide for others going through their lessons or possibly just get to rest for eternity! Probably depends on what you want or are destined for (not to sound hokey lol)

A weird or fun fact about yourself: Copying off of Mika's fun fact bc I'm unoriginal lmao, I was once an extra in a zombie movie with my mom and stepmom and her kids! After filming me and my family went to Dennys with all our makeup still on it was great lol

If you could have coffee with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be: Oooooh wonderful question... HARD question!!!! I would have to choose someone interesting like Robert Patterson (he seems nice and unhinged), or Julie d'Aubigny, that bisexual 17th century pirate/opera singer

tagging @fadedjacket @envyisms @chyrstis @depyotee @lovely-english-rose @adelaidedrubman and anyone else who would like to do it!!

[johnschneiderblog]

Still unattached

Three-months ago when we ended our long and rocky relationship with Dish Network, I assumed that we'd soon slide into a new commitment.

But as of now, we remain largely unattached. The trauma of that breakup left us gun-shy.

For Christmas, our daughter bought us three months of HBO, mainly so we could catch up on the deliciously dirty dealings of the Roy family in the series "Succession," which we did immediately. Plus, we're sponging off somebody else's Netflix account to watch the new season of "Ozark."

Having detoxed myself from CNN and ESPN, It's hard to imagine needing anything more than we now have. We're already somewhat paralyzed by the over-abundance of choices.

"What do you want to watch tonight ... ?"

"I don't know. How about you ...?"

"I don't know ..."

Often we end up watching nothing at all. We pour cocktails, sit by the fire and have a regular conversation. Imagine that.

[highflyerwings]

Reveal Your Watch and Rewatch Drama List:

Tagged by @bobafvcks!💖

(Is this just for Kdramas? Idk. I'll throw some other stuff in there too for funsies.)

Currently Watching:

Arthdal Chronicles - Listen, I love fantasy, and I love kdramas, and I put off watching this for so long because I knew it would be an undertaking, and you know what? I was fucking right. Right now I don't love it (it's a little too cheesy, and I'm not interested in the story), but I'm gonna keep going until I finish it because I just have to. I'm doing it for the dilfs.

Our Blues - This weekly episode shit's gotta stop. I need to be able to binge. I think we're only halfway through this one so far, so it's gonna be a slow watch, but I really do love it. Some of the storylines are a little meh, but overall I love the characters and their bonkers small town drama.

Ozark - Catching up on season 4 now. I felt obligated to even start the series because I'm, you know...from the Ozarks. And I love Jason Bateman. It's a fun show. Would recommend, but I wouldn't watch it again.

Killing Eve - I'm caught up on s3 and am hoping to start s4 soon. Whenever it's available on Hulu. I'm well aware the ending was disappointing but hey, par for the course I guess. I love love love this show so much.

Rewatching:

Not actually rewatching anything at the moment, but The Devil Judge and Hannibal are pretty much the biggest repeat offenders in this house, so it's likely I've got an episode of one of those on at all times.

Things I've been in the mood to rewatch lately, but haven't: Band of Brothers/The Pacific, MASH, Dr. Brain

Watchlist:

My Liberation Notes - Y'all are watching it. I will soon. But unlike Our Blues, I'm going to wait until it wraps up so I can binge.

The Northman - ASkars. A24. Enough said.

Everything Everywhere All at Once - Michelle Yeoh. A24. Enough said.

Any Wong Kar Wai movie. Been on my watchlist for too long.

Pachinko - I've seen the first ep, and just need to get into the right headspace to get back into it. I love what I've seen so far and will definitely continue watching!

(I'm not tagging anyone specifically. If you feel like doing it, consider yourself tagged!!!)