#what do you MEAN dylan minnette is her son????

[elizabeth-mitchells]

JUST FINISHED WATCHING THE JULIET BURKE SCENES COMPILATION!!!! CRIED!!!!!!!

[wrxn-blxkely]

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟏: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒

What is your full name?:  Wren Kirk Blakely

Where and when were you born?: February 10th,1997

Who are/were your parents?:

Amelia Blakely, 53, retired museum curator who now runs her own art studio. She freelances here and there, but mainly lives a retired lifestyle with flexible hours. It was important for Amelia to spend as much time as she could with Wren, trying to be the PTA-attending-hockey-type of mom.

personality: head strong, earnest, gregarious, demanding, & hot-headed

Mia Blakely, 49, social worker in Quebec and helped raise Wren. Both sisters lived together shortly after Wren’s sixth birthday. Since then they just accepted their situation and continued with it. When it came to Mia she was known as the fun aunt---not to same Amelia was strict by any means, but where her sister had to put on her motherly face...Mia was allowed to indulge in being a bit mischievous with Wren.

personality: Wily, energetic, humorous, thoughtful, & judgmental.

Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?: Wren doesn’t have any siblings, neither a very large family. His mother’s siblings, which would add his uncle Patrick, didn’t bother becoming parents so he doesn’t share any nephews or nieces.

Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the person/people: Wren now lives at camp, within the mageia house along with several other mages.

As for Wren’s bedroom it pretty much a breathing VSCO aesthetic mess of neon, album wall art, & art-hoe aesthetics. The room feels wider than other rooms, with his bed built into the wall with a ladder to climb to it; a reversed looking bunk bed with out the lower bunk. His walls are littered with music lyrics, star chart clippings, and magazine collages he threw together during one of his manic stoned episodes

What is your occupation?: Was a  lead singer/guitarist for a college band but now a mage, son of Asteria, a warrior for Camp Godspeed

Write a full physical description of yourself: Wren is a fairly slender, mildly toned male who is as meek as he is pale. Naturally brunnette, but you’d most likely find him with colored or treated, often finding the need to change up his style depending on his mood. Style and fashion for Wren is more of a mirror to him than what is in or truly stylish. If he’s sad you can tell just by his wardrobe, the expression is important for him. Now that being said he isn’t strutting the cat walk all the time, he dresses fairly regularly unless the occasion calls for something else.  At first glance you either catch Wren in a good moment where he looks bright eyed and aware of his surroundings; playful and social or who looks lost in thought, only innocence behind those wide eyes.

To which social class do you belong?: Middle-upper. Wren lived comfortably and knew very little of his financial status into he was older. College was expensive but not back breaking, which made Wren learn that he was privileged but no where near being rich.

Do you have any allergies, diseases, or other physical weaknesses?: Wren is allergic to pears & no real weaknesses.

Are you right- or left-handed?: Right dominant but can play guitar both left and right.

What does your voice sound like?: Voice claim Dylan Minnette Singing calim: Leader singer of Dayglow. I think of Wren’s voice as soft, mild manner and mostly friendly. It takes a lot for him to raise his voice, at least angrily, which often makes his voice crack as he hates screaming at others.

What words and/or phrases do you use very frequently?: Fuck, well actually, and often runs on tangents if he can’t exactly pinpoint what he’s trying to say.

What do you have in your pockets?: Some kind of hard candy, sharpie marker/pen for when he’s bored, & in his back pocket a small moleskin journal for notes.  

Do you have any quirks, strange mannerisms, annoying habits, or other defining characteristics?: Wren gets easily stimulated, he’s very emotive, so he often needs clarity and will be direct when needed. So he disbelieves a lot, a bit dismissive of himself but over encouraging of others.

[darringauthier]

Open House (2018)

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Who’s In It: Dylan Minnette, Piercey Dalton, Patricia Bethune, Sharif Atkins

Who Directed it: Matt Angel+Suzanne Coote

Plot:  A teenager (Dylan Minnette) and his mother (Piercey Dalton) find themselves besieged by threatening forces when they move into a new house.

Running Time: 94 Minutes

IMDB Score: 3.4

Why I Watched it: The trailer looked decent enough and yes I blame Netflix.

Random Thoughts: First off let’s get to the trailer cause he’s another case of pretty much outright lying in marketing, they make it look like a ghost story and I don’t want to spoil too many things but it’s not a ghost story and in the film they never try to make you think it is.

What I liked: Honestly there’s not much to like, I really disliked this movie but I’ll try to be a little positive in this section.

Dylan Minnette is fine and he’s a pretty good actor can see him going into a leading man.  I liked the dynamic of the mother and son trying to deal with the death of the father.  I liked the location, it’s out in the woods and it feels like you’re isolated.

What I didn’t Like: Really Open House, go to IMDB and see how many other films have that title, way to stand out.  This is the type of movie that gets me mad at the small budget genre films, this is not even a complete film you pretty much have 94 minutes of build up and the film has no ending.

The film lays ground work at the beginning, the father dies, the family is in debt and you’re thinking alright this will lead to something and it doesn’t all that build up is nothing, it’s red herrings, almost the whole film is red herrings.  The best way to describe this film is to call it all jump and no scares.  The script is terrible, they build suspense with the pilot light going out every time the mother has the shower, now if this was ghosts I might buy it, a little silly but it’s better than someone tormenting them.  Also mid way through the film Minnette’s character says open house as a concept is dumb because people can just come into your house and walk around and who knows what they can do.  Yup he summed up the film.

The film makes no sense and it doesn’t hold up to any logic whatsoever none, the film is beyond lazy, honestly for 3/4 of the film it’s boring, cell phones get moved, doors close, a bowl of cereal moves from one room to the next. Now the final act is truly terrible, once we find out whats going on the film goes right into the toilet,  one of my pet peeves if when they make the bad guy or the force unstoppable, this person is huge and now he’s a ninja, there is actually a scene where the bad guy attacks Minnette and actually takes out the kids contacts, I mean he reaches down and just takes out both lenses, it’s not that easy to do and why?  The film gets nasty at the end for no reason none of this is earned and the tone gets completely  screwed up.  To put the cherry on top of the sundae we get no answers, none.  The film leaves you pissed off at the end, there was no point to this film.  Too many times you see filmmakers leave plot points unanswered and we get the argument well the audience can figure it out, we want to leave it the audience but when something makes no sense and you are too lazy to have it make senses and then you leave an audience confused and angry then you didn’t do your job as storytellers.

Final Thoughts: I don’t want to say I hated the film, cause for the most part it’s just boring but the ending yes I hated that, it’s whats wrong with genre films right now not enough effort is being put in to tell a good story.

Rating: 2/10

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

[Review] THE OPEN HOUSE Is Just A Vacant Spot In The Neighborhood

Have you ever, like, noticed how weird open houses are? Apparently, I didn’t think they were, until The Open House hit Netflix on January 19th and I was able to see for myself what the horrid consequences of hosting one would be.

The Open House centers on Netflix original 13 Reasons Why and Don’t Breathe star Dylan Minnette and his mother, played by Piercey Dalton (The Orchard). The two find themselves in a hopeless situation following a family tragedy that leads them to move into a relative’s empty vacation house where they are “besieged by threatening forces”.

Being acquired by one of the top streaming services out there (that turns out horror gems like a mining valley), starring a currently very popular teen star, and entailing a simple ‘haunted house’ premise means The Open House would surely be good, right?

Wrong. Oh, so wrong.

Before I rip through this, because there is A LOT of ripping to do, my overall point here is that The Open House ultimately fails because it tries to be everything its not. What viewers need to know first and foremost about The Open House is that we, the horror community, have seen this before. Every part of this movie from the ‘stylish’ camera angles to the final ‘twist’ is taken from another, better film and artist.

It’s obvious in the film industry, that writers and directors draw influence from somewhere. That somewhere is almost always previously existing films ranging from actual plot to directing techniques. At this point almost all horror tropes have been covered or touched in some way, but it takes a special filmmaker to take a practical plot line, like a haunted house, and turn it on its head. Writer and director, Matt Angel (Ha/lf), is not that filmmaker. What he has done with his first opportunity to write and direct an official feature length horror film wind’s up mocking the talent and creative storytelling techniques used by those that have come before him.

The only positive and redeeming qualities The Open House has, that I would like to get out of the way, is the decent acting and the pretty intense score. Both, however, are quickly undermined by the forced ‘style’ Angel tries to cop from films ranging from Get Out to Funny Games. I admit I don’t know much about cinematography, but I know enough to sense a director’s certain style and I know when enough is enough. Each important shot in this film is different from the another, borrowing from well-recognized angles like James Wan’s panoramic scene movements to M. Night Shyamalan’s trademark perspective angles. Angel overuses distinct techniques almost as if to cover the spread of what’s popular in horror right now. False style and a narrative lacking any meaning and depth is not exactly what viewers want.

Basically, it feels as though he watched the most popular horror and genre films of the last ten years, put together some shallow and pretentious formula, thought ‘Easy, I could do that!’, and made this passionless, pointless Frankenstein of a movie to get himself out onto the scene.

I imagine him working on this was a lot like that scene in Scream 3 where Scott Foley’s director character rants about wanting to make a love story, but he has to make a horror movie first because the studio is making him to do it. You know what I’m talking about, right?

Okay, now that I’ve got that out of my system, I feel it’s necessary to go through the narrative, step-by-step in order to really justify why I feel this way toward a harmless, but wasteful, Netflix addition. No one likes negative reviews and, hopefully, no one likes to write them. I can find the good in most films from wide releases to the most obscure C-rated horror movie, but if I’m deeply disappointed I like to detail exactly why.

SPOILERS (which are only necessary to review a movie that is this bad)

Minnette’s character, Logan, and his mother, Naomi, are quickly hit with grief following the sudden traumatic and accidental death of Logan’s father (it’s incredibly similar to the opening sequence of Disturbia). We learn through many passive-aggressive comments made by Naomi throughout the movie that this has left her and her son in financial stress which we later learn was because of her husband ‘not caring’ enough to leave her and Logan well-off in the event of his untimely death. No insurance? Don’t middle-aged women typically murder their husbands to cash-out on their life insurance policies? Anyways…

Her nameless sister offers up a vacant vacation home that she and Logan can live in because she can’t afford the bills alone which Naomi takes her up on. The catch? They have to be out of the house whenever an open house is scheduled, which sounds to me like a much bigger hassle than finding a job on my own. We never hear from the sister character again, not because she gets caught up in some sinister situation or anything, but because of true carelessness on Angel’s part.

Logan and Naomi make their way up to the mountain mansion, nearly hitting a phantom figure out on the road in the dark (here I would cite all of the movies this scene is a ripoff of, but we don’t have that time). I won’t even do a review the disservice of ranting about jump scares. I feel, typically, it’s a staple tactic for a scary movie (how else can a general audience truly get scared without them?), so I am not drawing attention to the fact that it was a cheap thrill because The Open House has plenty of those, but that it was both important to the twist at the end and so unimportant at the same time.

  Deciding to stop at a gas station in town, we are introduced to two of the most useless character written for effect and for the sake of being red herrings: the old, loony, invasive neighbor who knows entirely too much about everyone, Martha, played by Patricia Bethune (Longmire, True Blood) and the odd, all too forward and friendly store clerk Chris, played by Sharif Atkins (White Collar). The entire scene, and really any other scene including Martha or Chris, is heavy with the feeling that something is off about them.

Martha mentions the death of her own husband and recognizes Naomi and Logan from pictures her neighbor, Naomi’s sister, showed her in one scene. In later scenes where she is randomly walking their lawn in the dead of night she does not recognize Logan, and later after that she drops in unannounced with banana bread and confusingly mentions that her husband is alive to Naomi. In one of her final scenes, Martha appears on the road Logan is running on (oh yeah, he’s a runner) and creepily insists on driving him home after he gets sick.

One minute Chris is just a sweet, possible love interest for Naomi much to Logan’s dismay, and the next he is awkwardly showing up at the house and requesting to see the inside. Just for the reader’s information, this house has no significance whatsoever other than the fact that it is big. There is no back story, no ghostly history, no one murdered Old Man Anderson with an axe in the basement, or anything like that, so I was very puzzled as to why this man would want to look around and why Naomi would let him. How this happens I don’t know, but Naomi loses track of Chris going in and out of the rooms and just assumes he’s left.

I only summarize these scenes because they have absolutely nothing to do with the plot whatsoever. They mimic the oddities of the characters seen in Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Shyamalan’s The Visit, but serve no purpose other than to lead viewers into thinking there is something there that there really, truly isn’t. I don’t think Matt Angel fully understands the way a red herrings is meant to be used in a film.

Halfway through this mess Logan begins to notice strange things happening around the house. Supernatural-type strange things. His cell phone, glasses, and cereal bowl appear and reappear. Doors open slowly within the frame (very similar to Paranormal Activity and that iconic scene in The Strangers). Naomi is plagued, and I mean plagued, with every woman’s worst nightmare while taking a shower: cold water.

The pilot light is blown out more times than I could even stand to keep track of. Each time this happens, towel-clad Naomi, goes down to the pitch black basement to relight it (each time a gimmick of Lily Taylor’s match-lighting scene in The Conjuring). Logan is, of course, equally plagued with memories of his father’s death and with vivid hallucinations of him in the basement.

On top of all of this they are shooed out of their house by a bossy real estate agent and her eager assistant twice for open house showings. Twice. Each time providing us with less than pivotal scenes involving Logan and his mother included just to move things along. Always looking for the twist before it comes, I was getting the feeling that possibly Logan and his mother were not really there themselves, maybe they were dead the way The Others perfectly tricks you? Maybe that has something to do with them having to be out of the house? Unfortunately, not even that was the case. The narrative of this story has all the makings, turns, and questions that eventually transpire into a huge twist at the end, but it is far from sophisticated enough to execute one.

Eventually the disappearance and reappearance of things in the house takes a toll on the relationship between mother and son. There is a pretty harsh explosion over the crumpling of a family photo where Naomi and Logan lash out at one another kind of out of nowhere. There is no development to either of these characters nor growth or lack thereof in their relationship so it’s more of a scene to roll your eyes over.

While watching this I found myself thinking that something has to be going on. There is going to be some revelation in the end to tie all of this weirdness together, that’s usually what happens with a divisive genre film, and it will all make sense. What the audience gets is the ‘twist’ mirroring that of Housebound and The Boy. Logan and his mother are finally met with the malevolent force in the third act. I’ve cut out a lot of details, again for the sake of time, because they have absolutely nothing to do with the development or ending whatsoever.

The cause of all the seemingly supernatural happenings? A faceless, nameless stranger has been living among them in the house slowly stalking and playing with the mother and son before deciding to end both of their lives. The entire finale of this movie is an absolute disaster resulting in huge flaws from the stranger knocking Logan out cold and dosing him in water causing him to freeze to the ground unable to move (and run!) to Naomi stumbling into the sharp end of Logan’s frigid, shaking knife-holding hand. With icicles literally brandishing his eyebrows, Logan escapes into the forest, but the stranger eventually catches up and strangles the life out of him. The stranger departs and the audience, if they haven’t stabbed themselves with their own knives yet, watch as he trucks off into the unknown past another open house sign.

Angel’s message throughout this wreck of a story is just simple: you never know who will come in and stay if you have public open house showings. This stranger is apparently an open house killer and the story we were fed just so happened to center on this mother and son going through a grievous (yet unimportant to the plot) time in their lives? I’m sorry, but the whole “Because you were home” reasoning behind The Strangers does not work here. The story tries so hard to match the incredibly powerful and dreadful ending of Funny Games, but it falls extremely flat and frozen. You’ll need to watch The Open House to get the full effect of that last joke.

Angel tried to incorporate too many parts into his Franken-movie and, unfortunately, all of the parts did not fit well together. It wound up being a mixture destructive only to itself. The dead father motif combined with the odd, very weird neighbor characters, mixed with the supernatural-happenings-actually-being-a-person-in-the-walls ending made for a very sloppy, depth-less, empty story. I find myself encouraging others to watch it just so that we can discuss all of the horrible things wrong with it.

The disappointed audience is left with questions, but not in a good way. As much as it wants to, this film is not the equivalent to that of modern ground-breaking genre films that leave their audiences with conversation bits and thoughts after they end, but instead it left us with the question we all hate asking ourselves once the credits roll: What the hell did I just watch?

The real irony here is that The Open House is indeed like a real open house: it’s vacant, and empty on the inside, the details are staged to make it look like something it’s not, it’s represented by a company name you recognize and trust, you feel optimistic going in, but wind up running out screaming because there is a deal-breaker looming beneath the surface. It’s not usually a psychotic, murderous squatter, but it happens. Huge dealbreaker.

    The post [Review] THE OPEN HOUSE Is Just A Vacant Spot In The Neighborhood appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street.

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[imnoexpertblog]

Lonely Netflix Movie Binge

6/21/18

In my boredom with Baby being gone on his business trip and needing something to watch/listen to while I pack up our apartment, I have been watching random Netflix movies that were suggested to me based on my interest and past viewings. I never watch new movies alone. I can re-watch anything I want by myself but I like seeing new stuff with someone else. Over some intense self-reflection the past few years I think this is because I have always had company in some form throughout my life. I was rarely alone. I never had to do anything myself. My mom was very social when I was growing up and she always had friends over. My siblings were also always with me. Then as I got older, I was usually in a relationship. When I was single, I had a roommate I was very close to. I’ve become used to doing things with someone else. Going out to eat, watching new movies, going to events, even just hanging out. It’s not to say I can’t do these things by myself, I have grown to appreciate my alone-time. But. I prefer to have company when doing certain things. I like sharing experiences with people; talking about what we are doing, making memories, having someone else to enjoy time with. But with Baby being away, I forced myself to watch six whole new movies by myself! These are the ones and what I thought about them. (I tried to pick unique and understated ones but that were still specifically recommended to me by Netflix and that went… Not so great).

Adore

“Two lifelong best friends each begin a steamy affair with the other's son, but trouble begins to brew when one of the two young men desires a lover his own age.” I have seen the cover art for this movie for a long time now, maybe a year. I don’t know why I have skipped over it every time until this week; maybe because I never read what it was about. The synopsis intrigued me enough to start watching it though. Seems pretty risky and taboo, doesn’t it? That always makes something enticing. I will say, though, it is odd. It has a soap-opera type of feel to it. Instead of being really cliché, it turned out to feel a little deeper than that. I am not sure how believable the whole plot is, but who watches a movie to see a boring realistic story? I was pleased with the cast and the acting. I think it was scored well, too. There is tension and drama, but it’s a calm flick. I wasn’t sure what to make of this movie until I found out it’s actually a French production. That changed my perspective a bit, considering the difference in culture. The setting made it easy to watch; the beach is absolutely gorgeous. I was genuinely interested to see how in the world this unique situation would turn out. The reviews aren’t very good, but I didn’t hate it, my any means. I thought it was interesting to see how everything played out for them all.

Open House

“A teenager and his mother find themselves besieged by threatening forces when they move into a new house.” This one I was excited for initially when it was new. I like thrillers and I like the main actor, Dylan Minnette from 13 Reasons Why. But man oh man. This movie is so slow. Not until half-way through the film did I actually feel some excitement or anticipate what comes next. The whole beginning half I was just kind of waiting. The “build-up” didn’t build me up at all. I was bored watching this. The real excitement did start until there was 22 minutes left in the movie. A lot of wasted time, if you ask me. The same “scary” weird things happen through the entire first 3/4 of the movie and it was just redundant and anticlimactic. But once it got going, HOLY COW. I will say I was so confused because there didn’t seem to be anything in the movie that would point me in any direction of guessing what was happening once the action was going down. So, that also frustrated me. It was a pretty intense last 20 minutes or so, but that is not to say it was good. Thumbs down for sure.

Below Her Mouth

“Jasmine is a successful fashion editor living with her fiancé. On a night out in the city with her best friend, she meets Dallas, a roofer recently out of a relationship. Surprised by the confidence with which Dallas pursues her, Jasmine turns Dallas down but can't get her out of her head. When Jasmine finally succumbs, the two women embark on a steamy affair that forces them both to re-evaluate their lives.” Okay. I didn’t expect this movie to have so much sex in it. Again, I watched it out of intrigue for the taboo nature of it. And taboo it was, oh my goodness. There was no limit to nudity or openness of sexual scenes. I have no issue with intimate scenes, but I was surprised to see just how much there was involved in the film. It seemed to be overkill at some points. I was fascinated by how these two women acted with and towards each other so early on in knowing each other. I guess I can’t judge. Baby and I felt like we were together forever by the time we were a week into seeing each other. We acted like it, too. Anyway, this movie just seemed like a lot of erotic moments with little substance. I did need to know how this affair would unravel, though. Not sure how I feel about the ending. All of that being said, I wasn’t sure how to rate this.  It is rated pretty poorly overall. A lot of people attacked the main focus being on sex. Which it was. It got in the way of getting to know the characters. There was nothing to invest myself in. The acting was also dull until the erotic scenes. The more I type, the more I realize that I was unimpressed, as was everyone else. I’ve read that this is a crappy version of another movie on Netflix, “Blue is the Warmest Color.” Maybe I will watch that next.

Friend Request

“Laura is a popular college student who graciously accepts an online friend request from Marina, a young social outcast. To everyone's shock, Marina takes her own life after Laura decides to unfriend her. Soon, a disturbing and mysterious video appears on Laura's profile and her contacts slowly dwindle. When her friends suddenly begin to die one by one, the frightened young woman must figure out a way to stop the carnage before it's too late.” I remember seeing the trailer for this in theaters back when it came out 2 years ago. I did NOT want to watch this movie. I thought it looked ridiculous, to be honest. I have never been interested in the social . I know I shouldn’t watch anything remotely scary if I have to sleep alone (I have issues with a type of nightmare/sleep disorder but we will get into that another time) but beyond my better judgement, I watched it anyway. I was actually very interested the whole time I was watching. I did think the kills were different. The reviews are horrible. People have ripped this movie apart. Maybe I’m a broken human being (LOL) but I didn’t mind it. I also actually really enjoyed the ending. I wasn’t sure how this could end up, but I like the way they did it. Again, I’m on the fence about rating it. I wouldn’t say it was great, but I wasn’t struggling to watch it either.

Inconceivable

“Angela develops a friendship with a mysterious woman named Katie and offers her a job as a live-in nanny. The natural bond soon turns into a dangerous obsession as Katie becomes overly attached to the family's young daughter. Enduring lies and manipulations, Angela and her husband realize that sweet Katie is actually trying to destroy their family from within.” This started off with a bang. It also revealed the twist within the first half of the movie. I was pretty interested in it the whole time because I liked the story-line. You get enough information at the right pace. It didn’t drag and it didn’t bore me at any time. I was a little apprehensive with how all these movies have been underwhelming this week, but I liked this. I didn’t find it predictable. The reviews, you guessed it, are bad. I actually rarely agree with reviews on movies that aren’t huge. I didn’t this movie to have crappy reviews though, to be honest. I recommend this movie.

Dismissed

“An optimistic, straight-edged teacher finds trouble when a star student is willing to do anything to get an A.” Alright. First of all. Dylan Sprouse acted the hell out of this role. I was thoroughly impressed with him in this film. He was so believable! A great film about psychopathy. I was hooked right away, even with the vague synopsis/summary. There was so much potential for this to be so cheesy but it wasn’t at all. They didn’t hold back in this film; the incidents that occurred. Some reviews said it was predictable but I highly disagree. Reviews also said it was low budget (is also said that they did well with such a low budget) but I didn’t see it that way. I don't want to give too much away because really liked it and I recommend it.

I wish I had better suggestions for you guys, I really only recommend Inconceivable and Dismissed out of these six movies. I guess I’d say watch Adore if you are bored and wanna throw something on for background noise; something to catch every now and then while cleaning maybe. Friend Request might have been something I liked just because I like scary movies, but watching those can be fun. Below Her Mouth, honestly is just super erotic. Take that as you may. And lastly… Please, I beg of you, never waste your time on Open House.

In other news, I have decided to take this day to myself. If you are not my fiancé, I can't promise I will be talking to you today. I have packed a lot (which I wouldn't have gotten done without the help of my sister Vanny, my best friend from work, Ryan, and his best friend named Cal), slept less than I've wanted to, been to the bank too many times, and have seen my mortgage lender too often lately. It is time to shower, sleep, watch better movies for sure, and lay around without having to answer ANYONE. If you feel like you've been stretched too thin or you're stressed, you should consider doing the same. I've been non-stop going at it for about six weeks now and I deserve this. I love you all, but I need today. Comment away, just expect a response tomorrow. Xoxo.

[iknownothingihearnothing]

UGH (update and rundown)

UGH

I’m sorry. SORRY SORRY SORRY. I know it’s been an absurdly long time-like, years. My health has, unfortunately, been SHIT. And while it has improved recently with the medications I’m on and the physical therapy I’m currently in, it is not exactly up to par yet.

I IMPLORE you guys, if you have health, don’t take advantage of it. Please? Because this shiz is BANANAS.

As it is, I’ve only recently been able to leave the frigging HOUSE, if you can imagine THAT crap. And I was on all these meds before that caused my hair to start shedding; I’ve been taking biotin like mad because it’ my HAIR and HELL NO. 

ANYWAY. That unpleasant business ‘splained, let’s get down to brass tracks. By which I mean pop culture because what else is important in life?

First off, Droughtlander--the show won’t be back until SEPTEMBER this year and, much like Jack Dawson before he froze to death and Rose did, indeed, let go, many fans tend to write a s-s-strongly w-worded letter to the W-white S-starz Line. September?!

See? Even Bernie agrees. 

Once Upon A Time has jumped aboard the Random Musical Episode train. I believe it’s this week’s episode. Emma’s getting married to Captain Hook. Yay! One of my ‘ships finally worked out (at least on camera). Buffy did the Random Musical Episode fantastically with “Once More With Feeling” but the trope has withered since then. It has become a trope instead of a cool new thing. And, granted, I am not the best judge of character for musicals anymore. When “OMWF” premiered, I could still hear, but now that I’m deaf, I’m just going to have to guess. Y’all are going to have to help a girl out. Lemme know how the episode goes. If it’s awesome or an epic fail. 

Speaking of Buffy (like my segue?), HOLY SHIT THE Entertainment Weekly reunion!!

When I saw this, I...may have emitted not quite human-sounding fan-like squeals of excitement. Buffy was THE show, man. It got me through high school. “Two more hours of this crap and I can go home and watch BtVS.” I had wicked serious emotional reactions to what the characters did or didn’t do. I puked once. Cried WAY more than once. And that is mainly due to how amazingly the actors embodied their parts. 

As well as the chemistry between the core couples. 

I watched both Buffy and Angel. Both shows garnered such reactions. They’ve been off the air for years now and my insane obsession had waned. No more searching endlessly through the internetz for spoilers, no more bitching on message boards (this was in the Time Before Social Media *gasp*), no more love-hate watching. I could breathe again.

AND NOW THIS! EW, you have officially reignited my Buffysession. I recently bought two shirts, an “I was born on a hellmouth” mug, a stake necklace, and a cheap replica of Anya’s pendant. 

I haven’t tried to turn my exes into trolls yet. It’s on my to-do list.

What’s that? Angel or Spike?

Duh.

<3<3<3 

Good lord. That last kiss from the “I Will Remember You” episode (voted the best in Angel’s run in the magazine that went with the show) makes my toes curl. All girls wanna be kissed like that. Particularly by a guy that looks like David Boreanaz. 

Oh, David. You hunka hunka burning something or other. 

Seriously. Is any other guy in Hollywood aging better?

Or at least drinking the blood of innocents. But even Angel didn’t do that. 

Angelus on the other hand...

Yeah, even in game face he’s hot. 

BT-Dubbs, Hollywood people? Hire the Buffy makeup crew. All that ridiculous CGI looks stupid. It’s like we’re all watching a video game. 

So yeah, Buffy and Angel are my OTP. They were my original OTP back before OTP meant anything. I just love those star-crossed, Romeo and Juliet-type romances where the pairing in question are obvs totes meant to be but THERE BE OBSTACLES. And being a vampire and a vampire Slayer, there were gonna be MAD obstacles, son. Like, whoa. 

Look, I will admit Spuffy had chemistry. But it was unhealthy from the beginning (James Marsters himself has said this). I was young during the original airings of the earlier seasons so I didn’t really get into the show until season 5ish. I was intrigued by Spuffy after OMWF aired, but then FX aired a marathon of the earlier seasons and I fell in love with B/A. I preferred them. 

Then, of course, “Seeing Red” premiered, and made me a diehard. I don’t care what anyone says, yo. Soul or no soul. I could NOT look at the character of Spike the same way after that. It made me want to throw up...and did. That was just horrendous. And no one’s gonna change my mind about that. People have tried; you’re wasting your breath and/or your keyboard strokes. 

So, yeah, that’s my main ‘ship.

Never has there been a more accurate gif. 

I also like Cordelia and Xander. I thought they brought out the good in each other. Plus they were hilarious.

Willow and Tara or Willow and Oz. Either one. Though Willow and Tara was groundbreaking. It really was the first lesbian relationship to be shown on television in a true, respectful way. Not as a joke.

Of course, this just made her death at Warren’s hands all the more horrifying and heartbreaking.

And, personally, I think Giles and Joyce shoulda hooked up *snerk*. I loved them in “Band Candy”.

Oh man. Imagine the future awks if this had occurred. Hysterical. 

Moving on--painfully, sigh--from the Buffyverse, 13 Reasons Why on Netflix was fabulous. I read the book ten years ago when it came out and I remember liking it a lot, but the series was even better, and I do NOT say that lightly about a book adaptation. It was fantastic. All the parts were perfectly cast. Dylan Minnette and Katherine Langford, especially, were exquisite as Clay and Hannah.

It’s been kind of a phenomenon--remarkable, considering most of the actors were unknowns or close to it before the show premiered. And now some stalker is leaving notes on Dylan Minnette’s car.

Yikes!

People are wondering if there will--or even should be--a season two. If season one was about Hannah’s story, a potential season two would likely follow those loose ends dangled in the finale. Cray Peeping Tom Tyler and his guns, Alex’s suicide attempt, Victim Blame-y Guidance Counselor Mr. Porter’s tape, and Awful Bryce. The PTB at 13 Reasons Why certainly have enough to work with to warrant a second season and fuck me if I ain’t curious. Hell, Jay Asher himself is curious. So I say...sure! Go ahead with yo’ bad selves, 13 Reasons Why peeps! 

There’s been no official announcement yet but the show made oodles of Bennies for Netflix. Methinks one is forthcoming. 

No new shows have really jumped out at me, otherwise. I like Riverdale, Making History, and This is Us, though I do not cry during every episode like every media outlet repeatedly tells me I should be doing. 

Timeless and The Good Place were good too. For me, a noted history nerd, Timeless is exactly my cup of tea. I could see recappin’ it next season. I am also looking forward to Still Star-crossed and The Handmaid’s Tale. Oh and I’m liking Girlboss. Sophia is my kinda awful.  I may recap that sum’bitch. 

Okay, to wit--my health sucks, I am a diehard Buffy/Angel shipper, the reunion was awesome, 13 Reasons Why was fantastic, the new class crop was kinda meh with a few exceptions. And I’m back to posting and not taking a year and a half break in between. 

So, ‘til then!

-Deaf Chick

[cityhqsarchive-blog]

Name: Thomas Nighy Age: Eighteen Room: Bedroom 12 Year of Study: First Year Course:  History/Philosophy Faceclaim: Dylan Minnette 

THEIR LIFE STORY

Thomas Nighy was the second son of Susan and Nathaniel Nighy, three years younger than their first born, Adam. Thomas’s childhood was pretty normal. Both his parents had well-paying jobs, so they lived in a nice house in a nice part of town. It was clear from an early age that Thomas was a little awkward, but never shy. He talked too much to be considered shy. Thomas liked talking, he liked learning things and sharing them with people. Growing up, his bookshelves were full of ‘Horrible Histories’ and ‘Horrible Science’ books. He’d stay up late reading most nights, reading his books by torchlight. It wouldn’t be surprising if the next day he ran around the  house, telling anybody who would listen about the cool things he’d learnt about the Celts or Tudors or the discovery of chocolate.

Thomas never hid away his thirst for knowledge, or the way he liked to talk. He didn’t draw in heaps of friends at school, but he made friends with a couple of other boys who were just as awkward as he was. Despite his love of learning, Thomas wasn’t naturally smart. He had to work hard to do well in school, but what made him different from everybody else was the fact that he enjoyed learning. As soon as he started secondary school, it was clear, Thomas wasn’t going to fit in. He didn’t, and was completely shunned to the sidelines, which in his school’s case was the library. Thomas kept most of his friends from primary school, while others went off and made new friends. In their small group of awkward boys, Thomas was the joker. He’s genuinely funny, and can easily make people laugh. Not in the laughing at him way either. Although most of the time, his more popular brother was definitely laughing at him. Some people called him a show-off, or a not-it-all, and they weren’t wrong. Thomas knew a lot of stuff, and he wasn’t afraid to let people know he knew a lot more random facts than they did.

Not long after Thomas finished his GCSEs (which he got mostly As and Bs in) and was about to start college, his a whole world was turned upside down. His mother was diagnosed with leukaemia. It was shock that hit the family quick and fast. There was no time to process the news, their mother started receiving treatment instantly. Thomas couldn’t imagine a world without his mother. So, he tried his best not to think about it. He tried to put his mother’s disease out of his head and focus on school. It was harder to enjoy school knowing that his mother was back at home, dying. Thomas tried his best. As soon as he finished school he’d run home and spend the rest of the night by his mother’s side, looking after her, doing anything she needed him to do. His brother should have been starting University the year their mother fell ill, he decided that he wouldn’t go. Meaning all of Thomas’s family were around to look after his mother in her last two years.

Thomas had done amazing in his first year at college, studying history, sociology, philosophy and classical civilisation. He’d done well in his first year of exams, despite everything that was going on. They thought they’d have a little bit longer with her. Thomas’s mother died halfway through his second year exams. The effect of her death on Thomas was heartbreaking. He cried every day for two weeks. He couldn’t stand to take anymore exams, they weren’t even on his mind. He was offered additional credit for the exams he missed. Thomas could have gotten into a top university, but now he didn’t want to go at all. He spent the whole summer at home, trying to come to terms with a world without his mother. In the end it was his brother that told him he had to go University. It took a while to convince him, but eventually he agreed to to apply. He wasn’t going to get into a university he wanted, but he’d enjoyed the experience wherever he ended up. And City University wasn’t that far from home.

THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA

LATEST TWEET ➙ @tomnighy: there’s only so much daytime tv

LAST TEXT THEY SENT ➙ to adam: thanks for convincing me that this was a good idea. don’t make this weird, but love you. 

YOUR DAILY MIX ➙ made for tom: the beatles, scouting for girls, bob dylan, ed sheeran, the who

THOMAS NIGHY is played by KAYLA.

[citypromos]

NAME: Thomas Nighy AGE: Eighteen ROOM: Bedroom 12 YEAR OF STUDY: First Year COURSE:  History/Philosophy FACECLAIM: Dylan Minnette

THEIR LIFE STORY

Thomas Nighy was the second son of Susan and Nathaniel Nighy, three years younger than their first born, Adam. Thomas’s childhood was pretty normal. Both his parents had well-paying jobs, so they lived in a nice house in a nice part of town. It was clear from an early age that Thomas was a little awkward, but never shy. He talked too much to be considered shy. Thomas liked talking, he liked learning things and sharing them with people. Growing up, his bookshelves were full of ‘Horrible Histories’ and ‘Horrible Science’ books. He’d stay up late reading most nights, reading his books by torchlight. It wouldn’t be surprising if the next day he ran around the  house, telling anybody who would listen about the cool things he’d learnt about the Celts or Tudors or the discovery of chocolate.

Thomas never hid away his thirst for knowledge, or the way he liked to talk. He didn’t draw in heaps of friends at school, but he made friends with a couple of other boys who were just as awkward as he was. Despite his love of learning, Thomas wasn’t naturally smart. He had to work hard to do well in school, but what made him different from everybody else was the fact that he enjoyed learning. As soon as he started secondary school, it was clear, Thomas wasn’t going to fit in. He didn’t, and was completely shunned to the sidelines, which in his school’s case was the library. Thomas kept most of his friends from primary school, while others went off and made new friends. In their small group of awkward boys, Thomas was the joker. He’s genuinely funny, and can easily make people laugh. Not in the laughing at him way either. Although most of the time, his more popular brother was definitely laughing at him. Some people called him a show-off, or a not-it-all, and they weren’t wrong. Thomas knew a lot of stuff, and he wasn’t afraid to let people know he knew a lot more random facts than they did.

Not long after Thomas finished his GCSEs (which he got mostly As and Bs in) and was about to start college, his a whole world was turned upside down. His mother was diagnosed with leukaemia. It was shock that hit the family quick and fast. There was no time to process the news, their mother started receiving treatment instantly. Thomas couldn’t imagine a world without his mother. So, he tried his best not to think about it. He tried to put his mother’s disease out of his head and focus on school. It was harder to enjoy school knowing that his mother was back at home, dying. Thomas tried his best. As soon as he finished school he’d run home and spend the rest of the night by his mother’s side, looking after her, doing anything she needed him to do. His brother should have been starting University the year their mother fell ill, he decided that he wouldn’t go. Meaning all of Thomas’s family were around to look after his mother in her last two years.

Thomas had done amazing in his first year at college, studying history, sociology, philosophy and classical civilisation. He’d done well in his first year of exams, despite everything that was going on. They thought they’d have a little bit longer with her. Thomas’s mother died halfway through his second year exams. The effect of her death on Thomas was heartbreaking. He cried every day for two weeks. He couldn’t stand to take anymore exams, they weren’t even on his mind. He was offered additional credit for the exams he missed. Thomas could have gotten into a top university, but now he didn’t want to go at all. He spent the whole summer at home, trying to come to terms with a world without his mother. In the end it was his brother that told him he had to go University. It took a while to convince him, but eventually he agreed to to apply. He wasn’t going to get into a university he wanted, but he’d enjoyed the experience wherever he ended up. And City University wasn’t that far from home.

THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA

LATEST TWEET ➙ @TOMNIGHY: there’s only so much daytime tv

LAST TEXT THEY SENT ➙ TO ADAM: thanks for convincing me that this was a good idea. don’t make this weird, but love you.

YOUR DAILY MIX ➙ MADE FOR TOM: the beatles, scouting for girls, bob dylan, ed sheeran, the who

THOMAS NIGHY is currently OPEN.

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