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mccumbersalecsander93 · 4 years ago

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flightyrock · 7 years ago

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Ectober Day 6: Ghost Hunger

I owe everyone a bit of an explanation before we dive into this fever dream. Yes, I know exactly what ghost hunger refers to, but it just isn’t my thing. It’s a neat concept, but I don’t really find it fun to write for, or even read, except in the rarest of cases. I can stand it if it advances an innovative plotline, but just for its own sake…meh.

So I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do for day 6. I considered skipping it, but that felt like admitting defeat. With this in the back of my mind, I was scrolling through tumblr, as one does, and found this lovely piece by @schnivel.

One of my favorite things about schnivel’s style is the dynamic quality all of his characters have. I don’t know how to explain it, but it draws the viewer in, and sells that these characters are real. Complex emotions are portrayed and conveyed with such ease, I get that creative itch every time. I love everything in your art tag, it makes me so happy. Thank you for sharing!

But anyway. In this particular piece, I love the angle of the external light and the ambient light radiating from the suspiciously viscous fluid clinging to his hands. I think it was the combination of the fluid consistency, color choice, and blood connection that did it.

So as my mind tends to do when I’m tired and see something emotionally charged, it took a running nosedive off the deep end into absurdist territory.

So here is a fic inspired by color choice, texture, and my traumatic experiences with product promotion as a child of the 90s and early 2000s. I am so sorry but also kind of not. Please forgive me, schnivel. Thank you so much for letting me ruin the mood. And seriously, check out schnivel’s blog!

(Sorry for all the notes. Commentary at the end.)

Summary: When a popular variety of novelty ketchup is discontinued, the ghost population of Amity Park clashes over who will claim the last box.

Warnings: Customer service feels, light innuendo

Word Count: ~1700

“You do realize that’s disgusting,” Sam deadpanned, looking on with a mixture of mild horror and disgust as Danny smothered his hotdog in a quantity of green slime that could only be defined as excessive. Somehow it was impossible to turn away. Tucker didn’t seem to share the sentiment, busying himself with his PDA.

Spurred on by the attention, Danny looked Sam dead in the eyes, staring unflinchingly into their icy, amethyst depths while cramming as much of the sandwich into his mouth as possible.

Only to aim a tad low, bumping into his lower lip. Time seemed to slow down as blue eyes widened comically in surprise, hand contracting around the bun reflexively, coaxing gobs of the novelty ketchup to ooze out the back and coat the front of his favorite t-shirt, soaking into white fabric with karmatic vengeance.

Sam and Tucker witnessed the following shift from shock to sudden horror at the state of his shirt became clear. They glanced at each other, unprompted, then lost it completely, howling with laughter as Danny dropped his ‘dog to scrub frantically at his chest with a wad of the worse-than-useless paper napkins the school provided that screamed government subsidy. His response time was impressive, but the damage was done: a prominent, verdant dribble trail clearly illustrated the tragedy that unfolded at lunch that day.

“Are you kidding me? I still have half the day to go,” Danny moaned, hands running anxiously through already messy hair.

“Just phase it off!” Tucker pointed out helpfully, returning to his PDA as chuckles died down into amused sympathy.

“Tuck, intangibility doesn’t remove stains. It’s set too far in the fabric. Otherwise laundry would be so much easier. Hmm.” Danny took a moment to consider the potential, wondering if that was how Vlad managed to keep his ghostwear so pristine. Maybe if he could concentrate his focus…

“You had it coming. I don’t understand why you insist on consuming that promotional garbage.” Sam rolled her eyes derisively.

“Because it’s the best!” Danny insisted. Sam and Tucker shared a look, resigned to their friend’s strange obsession.

Danny didn’t know what it was, but ever since that popular condiment brand out of Pittsburgh developed a line of novelty ketchup, he was hooked. It came in all sorts of unappetizing colors, like green and purple, and the cringe-worthy ad campaign made Danny wonder if the whole thing was an elaborate prank. But it eventually showed up at the discount food distributer his family frequented, and he bought it himself, despite Jazz’s teasing. Funny. He swears he’s caught her using it more than once when she thought he wasn’t around.

While Jazz was exasperated by the blatant exploitation of the mindset of the lower middle working class, Sam objected to the artificial dyes and preservatives, and Tucker insisted it was nothing less than an insult to the integrity of meat, whatever that was supposed to mean. Maybe the dye makes it taste a bit different. Maybe he just gets a kick out of eating food in weird colors and watching his friends squirm. Heck, maybe he’s just been desensitized by enough mutant, home-cooked meals that something so harmless but strange fills him with nostalgia. Whatever the case, Danny couldn’t seem to get enough of the stuff. He even started taking it to school with him as a fun way to avoid looking too closely at what was on his tray.

“Uh oh, dude,” Tucker chuckled, bringing up a specific news article on his PDA. “Looks like your days of ruining hot dogs are numbered.”

“You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding,” Danny begged.

“Afraid not,” Tucker grinned, sliding his tech across the table to deliver the news firsthand.

Blue eyes widened in horror, before the teenager collapsed onto the table dramatically with a moan. “Why is it that as soon as I discover something awesome, it’s gone?”

“Honestly, that’s probably why it appeared on the shelves at Hubert’s in the first place,” Sam remarked flippantly, preferring to pick at chipping nail polish than acknowledge the lump of pouting teenager currently occupying half the table.

“Yeah, brand names are always too good to be true in places like that,” Tucker nodded sagely, patting Danny on the shoulder in mock sympathy.

Danny hauled himself upright with a sigh. “Nothing else for it. I’ll just have to go after school and stockpile all the bottles I can. They can’t be out yet.”

“How are you out?! It was just here less than a week ago!”

But the dramatics of a ketchup-crazed teenager were no match for the practiced apathy projected by the young but seasoned customer service guru manning the register, six hours into a ten hour shift.

“Look, man, I just work here. There’s plenty of purple,” she sighed, glazed eyes carelessly roaming to glace at the condiments section, poking at her monitor screen.

“It doesn’t taste the same,” Danny moaned, prompting a significant look to pass between the duo accompanying him. They had no idea why they thought it would be a good to tag along on this juvenile side quest. This was just embarrassing.

“Huh,” the cashier remarked offhandedly. “Looks like we might have one more box in the back. I’ll go check, if you want…” she trailed off unenthusiastically, distracted by the hopefully bobbing shock of black hair that wouldn’t leave her alone unless she made a show of effort. With a long-suffering sigh, the underpaid civil servant shuffled off to the back, teenagers at her heels until she ducked behind a wildly swinging door, a scuffed sheet of plastic shoved haphazardly into the gateway in a pathetic effort to separate customer-friendly space from the chaos of the warehouse.

The friends waited attentively, then with growing annoyance, Sam scuffing the chipping tile with heavy boots as the minutes ticked by. Around fifteen minutes in, Tucker decided to call it.

“I think she just blew you off, dude.”

“No way,” Danny insisted. “She’s just being thorough.”

At that moment, a familiar figure slouched out from behind the off-white mockery of a barrier. Danny drooped visibly at the lack of bottles in her arms.

“Welp, I found it.” Danny perked up. “Where is it?”

“In the back.” She continued to amble through the aisles, not even bothering to glance at the irritating customer as she returned to the front. Danny followed her, confused.

“And?” he ventured.

“What?” she asked, uncapping a company pen to doodle on a scrap of receipt paper, pointedly ignoring the nuisance in the vain hope it would leave her in peace.

Danny barely restrained himself in time to prevent throwing his arms up in exasperation. “Can I have some?” he dared to ask. The girl acted like she didn’t hear him, outlining a cartoonish face with care, allowing him to stew for a while.

She finally raised hazel orbs full of resignation to meet his. “You somehow manage to get it down, you can just have it.” The just leave me alone was implied. Heavily.

Danny lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved him away, returning to her receipt sketch.

“Thanks!” Danny called over his shoulder, already on his way to claim his prize.

“That was kind of weird,” Sam observed.

“Oh, come on Sam, why do you have to be so pessimistic all the time? She probably couldn’t reach it. All Danny has to do is float up to the shelf, and we’re out of here,” Tucker said, confidently leading the way into the dark space, the main light coming from a desk equipped with a dated microwave and littered with the remains of hurried lunches.

It was kind of weird being behind the scenes. The air felt heavy, stale. It was difficult to shake the uneasy feeling that they dismissed, at first, with being in a restricted area, but that quickly faded into the background.

A puff of cold air suddenly expanded, forcing its way up a certain ghostly throat and expelling in a bluish cloud as it forced vapor in the surrounding air to condense.

“Nice going, Tuck,” Sam punched him lightly in the shoulder.

Danny ignored the exchange, quickly “going ghost” and floating up to investigate. And was not at all surprised to find the Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost playing a less-than-friendly game of tug-of-war with the box of sauce. Okay, maybe he was surprised; he didn’t know either of them had a subtle bone in their bodies…if they had bones. Or bodies. Gah.

He was honestly kind of impressed that they had avoided detection for so long, and wondered if the cashier’s composure spoke to her merit, or to the horrors of customer service. Danny resolved to be nicer to customer service associates.

From there, it was “doom” this and “beware” that. Danny threw some ectoblasts, repelled some processed meat products, brushed off some boxes. It was amazing how much more annoying the two of them were working together. But, still, not even really a challenge, so the half ghost made short work of the duo, while trying not to think too hard about the implications of this team up. A certain young ghost from an alternate future came to mind…

Danny chased the pair off, trying not to think about the two of them sharing a thermos. He was all too glad to claim his prize and head home. It had been an interesting afternoon.

Despite the strange start, the pair of friends thought that the day was pretty successful. As a result, neither Tucker nor Sam were expecting the caricature of despair that greeted them on the front steps of Fenton Works come morning.

“Dare we ask?” Sam muttered.

Tucker sighed, shaking his head. “He’ll let us know soon enough.”

Somewhere in Wisconsin, a certain blue-skinned half ghost emerged from his portal, shiftily checking the entrance before ducking through with his prize.

What am I doing? I live alone.

Still, one could never be too careful. It wouldn’t do to have Daniel catch wind of this. He certainly would never admit it, but he couldn’t help the strange nostalgia it inspired; the off-putting color instilled him with a strange longing for cheap meals of questionable quality cooked with a certain pair of paranormal science students. He still had his dignity after all.

A/N: Anyone who’s ever worked retail knows the best way to get rid of a persistent customer and score an extra break in the process is to “check” the back. Seriously, most places know what they have in the back due to the magic of inventory, but for some reason, that middle-aged woman with too much makeup will not leave us alone, insisting we check the back because she thinks we’re idiots (you know the type). And how dare we come back without checking thoroughly. The cashier probably found the ketchup in less than a minute, determined retrieval was impossible, then spent the rest of the time on her phone. Of course, like 10% of the time, there really is extra in the back so I can’t exactly fault them, but we could do without the condescension.

So…yeah. I think my mind kind of mashed together the fact that the show took place in the 2000s with the fact that ketchup looks vaguely like blood, and the drawing used the two major colors of Heinz’s horrendous EZ Squirt line. As a child who begged for this ketchup, then refused to eat it, I can understand the initial appeal, but it got gross fast, and I didn’t finish the bottle. What can I say, it tasted off to me. I feel like I read about some human instinct regarding food safety contributing to that at some point. But I still remember this product, especially the commercials, with horror.

Thank you so much to @schnivel for the inspiration! Hope everyone enjoyed it!

#danny phantom fanfiction #flightyfiction #schnivel #danny phantom #danny fenton #ooc #maybe

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temporary-ss · 5 years ago

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@birkastan2018 Hi! First of all, I’m not really here on tumblr anymore, I’ve deactivated a long time ago. I wanted to chip in on this because it’s spreading like wild fire, it’s the mere reason I’ve made this account.

I admire and understand what you have been doing, I really do. There’s nothing wrong with wanting reviews and recognition from your readers. Writers deserve it through and through! It’s okay to enjoy what you do at the same time ask for feedbacks, IT’S OKAY! No to shaming writers.

Now, let’s go to a more delicate subject which is the main reason I am here now. We want to encourage readers to interact with authors, that’s it that’s the advoacy here. Now, I came to see for myself what the fuss was all about, with some intensive backreading. So what I have noticed there was a “shift,” the one thing you were trying to build destroyed itself. I don’t know if you are aware of this. Instead of encouraging silent readers, name calling happened. Words like “shame,” “selfish,” “sociopath,” “parasites,” etc., all of which lead into this = WORTHLESS. I was shocked! I thought you want readers’ involvement so why? Those were not exactly confidence booster which I think one of the things silent readers lack. I thought you were the adult one. I’ll treat you the way you treat me, yeah do that but on a different account because you are destroying the purpose of this blog by applying this principle. Again, remember your advocacy: encouraging feedback. We are bridging gaps not widening it. Do not pit them against each other. No to reader shaming.

Mental issues is a very sensitive topic which you have adressed also. This has left a bitter taste in my mouth honestly. We don’t know what is happening behind everyone, be it authors or readers. You cannot compare how one handles his/her issues to others. We were always told this during my pre-med: Every person is unique. Everyone have different experiences, coping mechanism, signs and symptoms, etc. You cannot compare how a writer handles it from a reader and vice versa. I think you’ve said something along the lines: If an author with mental issue can manage to write something, readers have no excuse. This is exactly the problem of our society and how they approach mental health. It does not work like that. Patient A and Patient B both have the same diagnosis but present different sets of signs and symptoms - this happens, I’m not gonna go technical and bore you with medical stuffs. Both are important and valid, that’s the bottomline. Yes, it could be an excuse. Don’t undermine mental health. #MentalHealthAdvocacy

I’m not here for a debate. I’ve read some of your responses, all of which have same points. (they were all long fyi you could easily condense it to one short paragraph. As someone who read thick medical books everyday, just a sight of long posts in the internet makes me puke. But here I am making one, oh the irony...ANYWAY). I am aware of the sacrifices our writers make. Yes, they deserve reaction from readers. It’s okay to feel sad if reviews are vast, its okay to seek it out. But you birk cannot simply force readers or guilt-trip them into leaving one (I haven’t seen writers guilt trip their readers, so this is on you birk, it is not good for the author community so please refrain from doing this). Isn’t it more satisfying to receive a heartfelt genuine review? I’ll choose that over thousands of guilt-tripped/pity/forced/don’t-leave/i-owe-you comments anytime of the day, it’s so fake don’t insult our writers like that. Let’s forget about statistics: Quality>Quantity.(Edit: Literally, the most reviewed naruto fic on ffnet right now is full of spam (70k), let that sink in) I am in no way encouraging silent readers to be silent readers forever. One by one they’ll come around, it may take days, weeks, months, or even years, but they will. Little by little, it may first start with a kudos, a like, a favorite, a follow, a reblog and by the time they left a review they are ready and they mean every word of it and it’s gonna be worth it. It’s very disheartening to hear, your kudos is just a slap in my face, do you think if you said those words it’s gonna make them magically leave a review? No. Instead, you’ve instilled fear and intimidation upon them, making any possible interaction from a genuine reader in the future impossible. Again, the goal is encourage readers not eat them. I know that is what you want, but your sudden deviation on a different yet same path (idk if you were influenced by someone im kinda observant that way...maybe choose your friends wisely) became a trigger for this to spun out of control. You can go back!

Lastly, the “fandom.” Everyone has their own definition of it. But what I can confidently say is that the backbone of the fandom is not you, not me, not the content creators, not the readers. It’s kishi, naruto, the anime, the manga, the characters, the ships. It’s those little canon moments. Isn’t that the reason why we create and built this fandom in the first place? We love them. I’m gonna give you a leeway for this because you’re still pretty new in the fandom. I can see how a person who had been here longer than you get mad at your sentiments. We make contents based of the canon. Many are still here because we cling on those canon moments. We take something and give it a different universe, giving rise to beautiful fan arts and fics, cosplays, conventions, dojinshi, etc. At the end of the day, we go back to those canon moments that we love. It had been so long since naruto ended, but you still see gifs, manga caps of the anime and manga, respectively, you still see analysis of moments, you still see people fighting how the story should have ended (let’s not forget the time when someone made a petition to change the ending like 🙄) or who is better. That is our backbone, our roots.

Additionally, the anon that said something like I will go down with this fandom even if I’m the only one left. I think it wasn’t at all meant to shame anyone. That’s a popular slang(?) in fandom culture: I will go down with this ship, I will go down with [insert anyone here]. That’s passion. That person love naruto and nothing will make it go away, he/she will enjoy naruto despite everything that’s a fan mentality. What do you expect some of us here have been fans since we were children, it had been a part of our lives for more than a decade.

And seriously? “Consumers”? Do it in another place, it is so inappropriate to use this in fandom culture. People are here to enjoy you make it sound so corporate, it is such a kill joy word. Maybe it’s an age thing? We’re not consumers, we are “fans.” Makes me think you see fandom superficially not capturing it’s entire essence.

Birk - do not reduce yourself to name calling, you are bigger than that. learn to see things with an open and clear mind. if you’re not gonna leave your bubble where silent readers are worthless & [insert the words you used to call them], you are not gonna get through with them. remember your goal always. Readers - your opinions and excuses matter and your self-worth can’t and shouldn’t be dictated by anyone. Writers - your’s also matter. its okay to want feedback. its okay to create patreons/kofi, ignore those who said otherwise. keep doing what you love, if passion gets too overwhelming take a breath and relax. if you want to quit doing it, it’s also okay you don’t have to keep doing if you’re unhappy anymore. self care first.

This had been said already but I wanna reiterate. Let’s not forget the real devils here: REPOSTERS, TRACERS, PLAGIARIZERS, ENTITLED PERSONS.

I hope you finish reading this and take it with an open-mind. You gonna meet me half-way here. Otherwise, this will not end. Thank you! P.S. I said I am not here for debate bec I understand your point. It’s okay not to answer me (if you will, don’t make it long, straight to the point but you do you) but let me know if you’ve already read this.

#one thing I learned as a future doctor = Patience is a virtue #you can get your point across without calling people useless #it will come a long way #gonna get back on my reading materials #one step forward two steps backward #oh my ive read some another response from you #i hope you don’t do that to your children in the future #saying “shame on you” if they dont abide to your ideals #Dont relay on google for your “medical research”#please please please don’t do that im speaking on behalf of every doctor you’ll encounter through out your life

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onestowatch · 5 years ago

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Arlo Parks Wants to Be for Others What She Did Not Have for Herself [Q&A]

Photo: Chris Almeida

At just 19, Arlo Parks has already awed audiences and music industry professionals alike with her silky vocals and jazz-infused lo-fi bedroom pop that is simultaneously melancholic and uplifting. Her music is where real-life struggles intertwine with poetry. It’s the soundtrack for a “Super Sad Generation.”

After releasing her first single, “Cola,” to massive success in November last year, she released her debut EP, Super Sad Generation, in January, played her very first gig at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton in May, and has since gone on to play Glastonbury and Latitude.

2019 has already been a massive year for the London native but there are no signs of slowing down. She is currently set to support Loyle Carner on his sold-out UK tour and released “Second Guessing” earlier this fall–a gorgeous tune about existential misery, strength, and the possibility of self-fulfillment. The new single doubled as the announcement for her much-anticipated EP, Sophie, which will be out November 29 via Transgressive.

We sat down with the rising star on a sunny September Saturday in Hamburg, Germany, a few hours before her first of three shows at Reeperbahn Festival, for a chat about role models, expectations, influences, and not overthinking things.

youtube

OTW: If you were to describe your music to someone who has never heard it, what would you say?

Arlo Parks: I guess I would say it’s a fusion of a lot of different genres: R&B, soul, pop, rock. But mainly it’s emotional, confessional music. Have a listen, see what you think. It’s quite difficult to put it in a box, I find. I want them to make up their own mind.

OTW: Your dad played a lot of jazz around the house when you were growing up and that’s what inspired you to make your own music, right? But from that to actually making music what happened?

Parks: The jazz around the house laid the foundations. That was my first contact with music and where I started to fall in love with it. I guess it was that paired with my love of writing. I’d been writing a lot of stories and stuff when I was younger and that evolved into poetry and then that evolved into music. But jazz was my roots; it was the first thing I was in touch with.

OTW: When you released “Cola” in November last year you had quite a lot of success and it seems like you hadn’t really expected that. And since then you’ve released an EP and you’ve played festivals like Great Escape and Glastonbury. Is the success easier to handle now?

Parks: It’s all still overwhelming. I’m at the beginning of my journey, so it’s still a recent thing and everything that happens is just “wow,” so I’m still processing it as I go along. It’s still crazy.

OTW: You’ve talked about how you were struggling with your identity when you were younger and you are very open about your sexuality as well. Do you feel like there was a lack of role models for you when you were growing up?

Parks: Yes, I guess I would say so. When I was growing up, the music I would listen to was made by people who didn’t resemble me at all. But, in a way, the fact that I didn’t have that many creative role models made me feel like it was okay for me to… if I can’t find anyone that’s like me, then I’m just going to have to keep being me and I guess it inspired me in a way to try to be that for other people, I guess.

OTW: Yeah, that was my next question. Do you see yourself as a role model?

Parks: I don’t think I am yet, but I am working towards it. It’s a work in progress. I’m still quite young, but I hope that in the future people can look at me and be inspired.

OTW: So that motivates you as well?

Parks: Definitely. That someone can connect to it and feel represented and safe when they come to my shows. That’s really important to me.

Photo: Charlie Cummings

OTW: Along the same line, we’re at the Reeperbahn Festival. The festival is part of an initiative called Keychange, which empowers women to transform the future of music whilst encouraging festivals to achieve a 50:50 gender balance by 2022. I’m just curious to hear your thoughts on that?

Parks: If you have a set quota… I don’t know. There are so many super talented women, and men, out there but right now the ratio is totally skewed. But you also don’t want to feel like you’ve gotten somewhere just because you had to fill a quota. It’s a complicated one but at least gender equality is starting to be a bigger conversation. I feel like that’s progressing and that’s very positive.

OTW: It is a tough one. And there are so many amazing female musicians out there. How do you feel as a fairly young woman going into this industry?

Parks: To be honest, I don’t really think about it. I feel like I try not to overthink those things too much. I’m just working on my art and trying to achieve a vision and so far it’s been really positive, I haven’t had any bad experiences. But at the same time, I know that, especially in music, there are loads of problems and people get taken advantage of, but personally, I haven’t experienced that.

OTW: So you’re optimistic. You’ve already touched upon this a little but you’ve listed lots of different musical references–Earl Sweatshirt, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, King Princess, and even emo rock bands. Then there are also literary icons, such as Sylvia Plath. How does that all find its way into your music?

Parks: When I write songs, I like to use a lot of imagery and that definitely comes from the literary element. When I read a book, it conjures up a lot of mental imagery for me and I’m immersed in that world and that’s something I try to apply to my songs. Sonically, all my influences are… I don’t really know, I just listen to them all and use tiny little bits of each thing, even if they sound nothing like the music I make. It assimilates somehow.

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OTW: So when you’re writing songs, what comes first?

Parks: The lyrics are usually first. I write a lot of poetry so usually the lyrics dictate the mood of the song. But it depends, sometimes I have a chord progression and then it comes from there. I’ve got quite a fluid process.

OTW: Do you write alone?

Parks: Sometimes I write with producers and obviously when you’re working with someone else you have to match their vibe and energy. When I’m by myself, I have my specific way of doing things, but when you’re with someone else you have to let go of control a little bit. It’s quite freeing actually, because it’s nice to see how other people work, and even if it doesn’t work out, then at least you know what you don’t like. I am quite specific though.

OTW: You’re not going to let anyone boss you around.

Parks: (laughter) No.

OTW: That’s probably a good thing.

Parks: And all the lyrics are my own.

OTW: Have you even had time to process this past year?

Parks: No! I’m constantly moving. Maybe it will sink in at some point and then I’ll just have a little cry. (laughing)

OTW: And you’re working on an album?

Parks: It’ll be an EP. And then late next year maybe there’ll be an album. Nothing’s set in stone though, I want to take my time with that. I love the album format so much, so I really want it to be good.

OTW: I love that you say that. So many artists seem to be just thinking in singles and EPs, and the fact that you need to feed your fans content all the time to stay relevant.

Parks: I definitely feel like that you need to keep in touch with your fans and give them things. But at the same time, it’s definitely quality over quantity. You want to be putting out your best work, not just five million songs for the sake of it. It’s a balance between keeping that mystery or intrigue and keeping people engaged.

OTW: I totally agree, and I also don’t believe that the album is a dying format.

Parks: The album is immortal and that’s my favorite way of consuming music. it’s a complete body.

OTW: Who are your Ones To Watch?

Parks: I would say Biig Piig. She’s from a collective called Nine8, which is based in West London. It’s a bunch of creatives–graphic designers, musicians, producers–making really cool stuff together. Hers is low-fi hip-hop, really gentle and lovely. And I’d definitely also say Celeste who’s playing here [Reeperbahn] as well.

OTW: I saw her the other night and I almost cried.

Parks: She is amazing, her voice is unparalleled. There’s also an American artist I recently discovered called Choker. He’s self-produced and mixes and masters everything himself. It gives me sort of Frank Ocean vibes but it’s also experimental. It’s really lovely.

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#arlo parks #interview #R&B #soul

0 notes

cjihve · 7 years ago

Photo

❝ maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.

GENERAL INFO

full name: choi jihye.

nickname(s): jinnie. jiji.

gender & pronouns: cisfemale - she/her/hers

sexual & romantic orientation: pansexual, panromantic.

age & dob: 22. september 9th

birthplace/hometown: seoul

parents/siblings: choi jaehwan ( father | living ) , kim hyejin ( mother | deceased )

astrological sign: virgo.

dominant hand: left.

handwriting style: everything is very neatly spaced, petite and clean cut. ( HERE is a visual aid )

language(s) known/spoken: korean, french, spanish, english, portuguese, japanese ( fluent ), and she’s currently trying to learn cantonese.

religion: she believes in a higher power, but she’s more spiritual than religious because she doesn’t like the labels that come with religion.

current living arrangements: she lives in a small officetel. ( HERE is a visual aid )

occupation/major: she’s a kindergarten teacher !! also, a freelance photographer & painter when she needs a little extra money on the side.

APPEARANCES

picture reference: JIHYE with light hair. JIHYE with dark hair ( current )

blood type: B

nationality: korean.

skin tone/color: she’s a little on the tanner side currently, but not quite golden. she says she’s more like a fish fry sort of tan. during the winter, tho, she gets more on the milky side.

birthmarks & scars: she has a patch of skin on her left shoulder that’s a little darker than her skintone in the shape of a diamond, about the size of a quarter. she has a lot of small scars from growing up because she was quite the explorer, but nothing major.

height: ~168cm ( 5′ 6″ )

build: lean, slim.

hair color: she’s got black hair currently, with some hint of silver. she goes back and forth between light and dark shades, though.

hair length: it’s long, a little more than halfway down her back. she doesn’t want to cut any off, beside trim, until it gets to her butt.

eye color: honey brown ( those are because of her contacts, tho ... think like a lion, but just a shade or two deeper ), but they’re a darker brown naturally.

eye shape: HERE.

diet: what she want, when she want ??

exercise & level of fitness: her only exercise is running around with her kids ( and some bedroom stuff ). she’s actually pretty weak, but she does a fairly good job and opening jars by herself at home. and when she can’t, she’ll run over to taehyun like “please open this jar of pickles for me thank u ilysm~”

how’s their posture ( or lack thereof )?: she preaches about good posture at school, so it’s only right that she practice it. at home, however, her posture is pretty non-existent.

typical style of dress: her teacher style: x | x | x | x | x her street style: x | x | x | x | x

body modifications: she has (1) piercing per lobe and an industrial in her left ear, which she hides with her hair for school, even if it’s just baby strands when she wears it up.

BODY LANGUAGE AND MANNERISMS

how does your muse walk?: normally, very carefree and airy, almost like a gentle summer’s breeze. she doesn’t have much confidence, but her head is held high just so she can smile at everyone who passes by.

how does your muse talk?: she’s very clear and concise with her words and pronunciation, especially when speaking with her students. she’s also very animated ( makes a great story-teller ).

what accent/dialect does your muse talk with?: she speaks with a “seoul” accent, aka she doesn’t have one. thanks to all the places she’s live, tho, she’s learned/picked up a lot of different ones, so she can speak with a few if she wants to.

how high (or low) is the tone of their voice? are they loud or quiet?: her vocal levels range, going high and low thanks to her need to be animated, but when she’s speaking normally, she’s a little on the higher side.

what is their laugh like?: she laughs with her whole body and constantly covers her face. her laugh is more like a giggle, but when she laughs uber hard, there’s no sound except her occasional wheezing.

how does your muse typically smell?: vanilla and cherry blossoms. she alternates between the two fragrances, sometimes mixing the two when she’s feeling a little … bold.

what kind of air do they carry? are they intimidating?: she’s very warm and polite. most find her welcoming and veRY far from intimidating.

PSYCHOLOGY

what makes your muse happiest?: cherry blossoms. photography. art. taehyun !!!! walking around museums with tristan. also, tristan’s voice. food. spending time with minkyo. hanging with laon; watching him interact with her students. rainy days. warm showers. seyeon. sleeping late. long train rides & walks. coffee with sehyun. her job !! scolding taemin after listening to his radio show. reading. learning. growing. smiles. surprises. sunflowers. banana milk. ice cream. ace. basically everything, tbh ??

what upsets them the most?: herself. impatient people / lack of manners. being forgetful. nightmares.

does your muse have any quirks?: licking her lips/chewing her lips and cheek. shaking her left leg. cracking her neck. clicking her tongue and sometimes sticking it out when she’s focused or thinking about something.

what are their hobbies? how frequent do/can they do them?: photography and painting. she does them every chance she gets, which is usually fairly often.

do they have any guilty pleasures?: when she’s not having the best day or she’s kind of stressed out, she’ll scream out a pokemon name and their “battle cry” before she goes back to doing what she’s doing. ( … don’t ask; just know her neighbors really don’t like her for it )

is your muse an extrovert? an introvert? neither?: she’s a mix of the two, tbh. she’s more open with kids, tho.

do they have high or low self-esteem? what about confidence?: she falls on the lower side of the scale for self-esteem and she doesn’t have much confidence. at all.

are they easily stressed? how do they respond to stress?: she gets overwhelmed sort of easily, but she normally tries to plow straight through the issues until she gets to a solution, but that doesn’t always work. and when she finds that it’s not working, she’ll do that habit she has of screaming and then get back to it.

what is your muses worst fear?: losing people. never finding a love that lasts.

what is your muses biggest dream?: finding a love that’ll last.

is your muse an early riser? a night owl?: she’s both.

how intelligent is your muse? do they acknowledge it?: her intelligence level is above average, but she doesn’t speak on it too much. she thinks she’s dumb.

what is their sense of humour like?: she finds almost everything funny and very rarely will you find her not giggling. and the more she’s NOT supposed to laugh, the harder she actually laughs. it’s terrible.

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES

what’s their sexual orientation? what about romantic?: pan errthang !! pls let her lov u ://

are they currently in any sexual or romantic relationships?: she’s in one ongoing/regular sexual relationship with minkyo. she’ll gladly get into a sexual relationship with almost everyone. she’s not in any romantic relationships yet, tho.

what is their experience with relationships?: she has some, but none of them have worked out that great ( mainly bc she’s a sack of jealous :// so :// )

how does your muse view the idea of friends with benefits? have they ever had one, or would they ever?: she doesn’t mind the idea. so long as the people you’re hooking up with don’t have significant others. she’s very much against cheating. she’s currently in a fwb relationship

sex, is it important to your muse?: of course, but it’s not everything.

what are their biggest turn on and turn offs?: in her own words ?? turn ons : everything but the nasty stuff :/// turn offs: the nasty stuff :///

does your muse find it easy to make friends?: she personally doesn’t find it very easy; not making actual friends, anyway.

how important is friendship to them?: very,very, very important.

quantity or quality of friends?: quality always beats quantity, obviously !!

how important is family?: to her, the most important.

are they close to their family? why or why not ?: she’s not the closest with her dad, not the way she used to be as a child, anyway. and she feels like she’s close with her mother … well, as close as she can be.

HEADCANONS

001. her relationship with her dad started to go downhill as jihye grew older and she noticed the difference the day after her father had told her that she was beginning to look, and act, more like her mother.

002. continuing on the same topic as the above headcanon, she doesn’t dislike her father, nor is she angry with him. she understands his issue isn’t with her, it’s just that he’s still having a hard time over the loss … that doesn’t stop her from blaming herself for his broken heart and the death of her mother.

003. she suffers from insomnia, she thinks, because she’s forced herself to stay awake for so many years. she’s suffered from a reoccurring nightmare, specifically of her mother, so to stop it from happening … she’s done what she could to stop herself from sleeping. now, it’s just a habit. she seems to get tired when she’s not meant to sleep.

004. flowers & nature are her favorite things to photograph, and paint. she also gets enjoyment out of painting portraits of her friends, with flowers ( which she associates with that specific friend ) as the backdrop.

005. she makes a lot of the clothes she wears for school. her students even help her out sometimes by creating the stencils or giving her patterns.

006. she also has a habit of bringing it a white maxi dress at the end of the school year and has her students put their handprints / draw small pictures and write their name underneath said handprint and/or picture. then she stores them so nothing happens to them.

007. she makes it a POINT to stay in contact with the parents of her past students, along with the students themselves. she’s very invested in them and their education, and she likes to watch as they grow.

008. there are only two things in this world that jihye would literally throw fists for … that is taehyun and her students. ( in case you couldn’t tell … she rly lovs her kids :/// & her pooh bear )

009. she’s a nickname person. she adores them and if you scroll through her contacts list, it’s literally made up of ALL nicknames. and if you want her to love you even more than she already does ?? give her a nickname.

010. touching on the accent thing ... she’s got a very good ear for them. if you speak to her in ( or she listens to ) an accent for a total of, at least, three minutes, she’s able to mimic it. which is partly why, when she goes on any sort of trip, she likes to speak in a different accent the whole time. you know, pretend to be someone she’s not.

011. she’s uber light handed when it comes to her handwriting, so she’s always writing with a pen !! and she prefers ballpoint ( whereas she’ll only sketch with a mechanical pencil ) she’s also an avid collector of stationary. and all of her cards for birthdays and/or holidays are all handmade because she’s disgustingly sentimental :///

#seoultask #did i do the second one before i even completed the first one for her ........... nO WYM #dont @ me pls ://///#also this is rly gross & i got lazy hence the disgusting graphic n 2938575 possible spelling errors

7 notes · View notes

adapted-batteries · 7 years ago

Note

Hey friend! For the shipathon, I was wondering if you would be willing to write some Flynn/Ezekiel/Jake? Maybe something where they are all on a mission and Ezekiel gets taken and Flynn and Jake are so worried about him they start fighting, but Ezekiel's already escaped?

I kind of went more straight up feels sharing then fighting, but there’s some snappy moments there. Hope you like it!

There are some events Stone mentions but doesn’t go into much detail on. If you would like to know more about them, I conveniently wrote “Whatever You Need” because my brain decided I needed to flush those out. It’s not necessary to read that fic before you read this one, but it will probably add a nice depth to it.

—

“Don’t have too much fun without us,” Eve said as she and Cassandra headed for their girls’ day out. Flynn decided to escort them to the door; they were staying local in Portland today.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes lightheartedly of course, then settled at an open desk to brush up on his hacking. Stone, who had been somewhere in the Library, walked into the Annex with a load of books in hand. “Is that what you’re gonna do with your day off? Even Jenkins went off on an errand,” Ezekiel said, glancing up from his phone.

“Yeah man, I do this all the time,” Stone replied with a grunt as he heaved his books onto the desk he’d claimed over the years. “Just because I gave up my pen name doesn’t mean I quit putting work out there. And speak for yourself, you’re still here.”

Flynn returned, eyeing Stone’s desk. “Working on Aztec art I see, on your day off. A man after my own heart,” he said, giving a passing glance to Ezekiel.

“What? I’m working too. Gotta stay sharp to keep on top of game,” Ezekiel said, waving his phone which had a lot of code on it.

“Don’t hack into anythin’ important,” Stone cautioned, narrowing his eyes at Ezekiel.

“Heh, that’s how you keep them on their toes, keep toying with the big boys,” Ezekiel chuckled, going back to typing away on his phone. Flynn and Stone glanced at each other, both mildly annoyed, concerned, and a bit in awe of what Ezekiel could do with just his phone.

“Uh, well after we ended up findin’ all that pottery and carvings last week, I couldn’t just let that sit unknown, ya know?” Stone replied, sifting through the books, looking for a specific title.

“I don’t know if they’ll find ‘pot that magically provides any liquid you desire’ very credible,” Flynn said, picking up a book and thumbing through it absentmindedly.

“This ain’t my first paper I’ve written since I came here. I know to leave out stuff like that,” Stone chided, plucking the book out of Flynn’s hands. “I’d like to spend my off day writin’ in peace…”

“Alright, fine. I’ll be doing my own study on…um…farming techniques…in 15th century Japan,” Flynn quipped, looking mildly confused at the words he just said.

Stone gave him a confused look as well. “If that suits your fancy, go right ahead.”

“Well, you have to know more than just art…and history…” Flynn started, heading for the stairs.

“Farming techniques that happened in the 15th century is history,” Stone called after him. Flynn just made an exasperated noise in his defeat at the top of the stairs.

—

Flynn was halfway into a very detailed book on terrace farming and irrigation methods, Stone was a third of the way into his analysis reworking what was a previously unknown style of clay making in Aztec history, and Ezekiel was almost finished digitally breaking into the NSA servers again when the clippings book fluttered on its stand.

Ezekiel was the first to notice, his desk being the closest, and you probably could’ve drove a train through the Annex before Stone would focus on anything outside his little research bubble.

“Uh guys?” Ezekiel said, voice echoing. No one responded. “Guys, I think the clippings book has something for us…STONE!”

Stone jumped in his seat, glaring at Ezekiel. “What?! I’m work-” His eyes caught the clippings book’s movement. “Flynn, we got somethin’ comin’ in,” he called up to the balcony. He waited a moment, listening to just paper shifting, realizing that Flynn was probably just as entranced by his reading. “FLYNN!” Stone shouted, much louder than Ezekiel had been anticipating, making the thief jump a little.

A soft thud, not unlike that of someone accidentally smacking their head on a bookshelf, first answered. “What?!” Flynn shouted back, followed promptly by a solid thud of a hefty book falling on something before hitting the floor. “Ow, what?” Flynn scrambled up to his feet, shoes squeaking under the sudden stress as he practically launched himself at the balcony to see what was happening.

“Clippings book,” Stone said plainly, gesturing to the book.

“Oh, um, alright,” Flynn replied, attempting to look not so flustered by fiddling with his jacket. He spun on his heels, not quite sprinting down the stairs. “What’s it say?”

“Looks like break ins at several museums in Argentina…Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Juan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of Art, Tigre Municipal Museum of Fine Art, Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, and Mueso de Arqueologia de Alta Montana de Salta, all hit within two weeks,” Stone said.

“But they weren’t taking any good stuff,” Ezekiel added, looking at the clippings book over Stone’s shoulder. “I’ve been to the ones in Buenos Aires…there’s loads better stuff to get, worth a lot more than the minor works they grabbed.” Stone eyed him, long past arguing about the other values of art besides monetary.

“Sounds like someone’s acquiring inventory to sell on the black market,” Flynn decided.

Ezekiel was unconvinced. “Apparently they don’t intend to break the bank.”

“For one of those, maybe, but all of them together? They’re playin’ the quantity game, not quality. And who knows how much they have already,” Stone explained.

“We need to investigate the break ins. Which was most recently hit?” Flynn asked.

“Looks like Tigre, hit yesterday evening,” Ezekiel said. “What would stealing art have to do with us though?”

“Who knows…maybe the stole something with magical properties, or they already acquired something and this was the Library’s way to get us on their tail…thus why we should investigate in person,” Flynn said, already fiddling with the back door controls.

“Don’t we wanna get Eve and Cassandra?” Stone asked.

Flynn looked up at him, thought about it for a moment, then went back to fiddling with the back door. “We’ll be fine. They deserve a day off…a full day off.”

Ezekiel and Stone glanced at each other; Ezekiel shrugged, not sure if they should or not, so Stone found a clean piece of paper and wrote a note.

Eve, Cassandra, and Jenkins,

Something is going on in Argentina. In case the clippings book changes, someone has been stealing art from several museums, various minor works. We’re going to investigate the most recent burglary at the Tigre Museum. Flynn said you two deserved your day off, and I don’t think anything will happen while we collect information. We’ll probably be back before any of you return.

-Stone

“Come on, door’s ready,” Ezekiel said just as Stone signed his name.

“Alright alright, I’m not gonna leave them completely in the dark of where we went,” Stone quipped, placing the letter in a clear spot on the table. He gave a look to Flynn as he walked to the door; the Librarian knew exactly what the look meant and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Okay, off to Argentina we go,” Flynn said, opening the door and stepping through. The others followed after him.

In Portland, it had been shaping up to be a sunny day, but as they stepped out of the front door of a house next to the museum, they were greeted by a chilly rain. Despite the weather, Stone was like a kid at a candy shop when he saw the ornate architecture on the waterfront. The cold, and their lack of rain gear, didn’t let them linger and admire the columns at the front of the building for long.

Ezekiel started typing on his phone once they stepped inside. He let the two nerd out while he searched the digital inventory of the museum. Once he found useful information, he placed himself in front of the painting the two historians had been geeking out on to get their attention. “Lucky for the thieves, the small sculpture apparently had been taken down to the archive so a grad student could do research,” Ezekiel said, secretly amused by the annoyed looks from Stone and Flynn (Stone was actively trying to look around him without being too obvious).

“Alright, find a staff entrance, and we’ll head down,” Flynn said, mildly distracted again by the painting.

Ezekiel started walking to the door he remembered seeing in the previous room they’d been in, but neither Stone nor Flynn budged. Ezekiel shook his head and sighed, deciding he needed to physically drag them away from the art. “Guys, we need to do this before I turn thirty,” he patronized, feeling like a parent with two obnoxious kids. Flynn and Stone both mumbled something about wanting just a bit more time, not even looking at Ezekiel, so he hooked his arms around each of theirs and forcefully trudged to the hallway.

“Wh-I can walk on my own,” Flynn yelped, his focus finally shattered. He quickly pulled his arm out from Ezekiel’s and strode quickly in the direction he assumed Ezekiel had been going…which was opposite from where Ezekiel was taking them.

Stone took longer to simply extricate his arm, pointedly not looking at Ezekiel. “He does know that the main door was the other way, right?”

“Give him a second,” Ezekiel said, casually leaning against the entryway.

Flynn’s footsteps stopped, turned around with a small squeak on the tile floor, and started back up towards them. “Stairwell is near the entrance.” He walked past them without waiting on them to catch up. Ezekiel gave Stone an amused and knowing glance before following after Flynn.

The simple keypad lock was no match for Ezekiel Jones of course. The three descended the stairs to a lower ceiling-ed hallway with a few doors on each side before it turned right, but they didn’t get much farther than the bottom of the stairs when a lady in a navy pantsuit rounded the corner. Her relaxed posture went managerial when she saw them.

“Who are you and how did you get down here?” she asked in Spanish. Remembering the plane from Venezuela, Stone was going to respond, but Flynn beat him to it.

“We are librarians,” Flynn said, or thought he said with the right inflection to be an incantation. In reality he said something close to “we are the esteemed keepers of books.” The lady looked at him in confusion.

Stone knew he said way too many words for the simple phrase, so he stepped in front of Flynn a bit and said, “Apologies, we are the Librarians.” He’d been practicing saying that phrase in a variety of languages ever since Flynn told him he was using magic; that little skill was a priceless tool they needed when he wasn’t around.

The lady nodded in understanding, relaxing from intimidating to professional. “You must be the visiting librarians from the University of Texas. Come, the archive is this way.” She motioned with her hand for them to walk into the hallway. “Your friend speaks my language like the classics I used to study,” she said to Stone, who mostly understood what she said. Thankfully she went on before he could fumble a response. “You’re early, but that isn’t a problem. You may familiarize yourself with the facilities you will use while here. Dr. Ramos will return in a couple hours.”

She led them around the corner. The hallway didn’t go farther than twenty feet before ending in another door with a keypad. She stopped in front of the first door on their left, opening the unlocked door to reveal a standard looking research room for the items that came to the museum. “The interns must be on their lunch break, but they will be back soon. If you need anything, just ask the front desk upstairs. You can dial 0 on the phone and ask for Ms. Ruiz,” the lady explained, putting a hand to her chest when she said her name.

Stone gave her a warm smile. “Gracias,” he said, trying to sound as genuine as possible. Apparently it was enough to prompt Ms. Ruiz to go back to whatever she’d been doing a moment before; she left the trio in the room with a little wave. “Ok you really need to learn modern Spanish Flynn.”

Flynn held his hands up in defense. “What? Just because my Spanish is more poetic-”

“It’s five hundred years old. You’re talkin’ to them with the Spanish equivalent of Shakespearean English,” Stone quipped. “She may have understood you and thought it was odd, but most people are going to be clueless.”

“Duly noted. Next time I have a few months to my disposal I’ll do an online learning course,” Flynn spat, particularly annoyed.

“Guys. No time to argue about language skills,” Ezekiel said, sighing. Stone looked like he was about to go at it, but visibly restrained himself. “The sculpture was taken from this room, with one exit unless you count the vents. There’s the door at the end of the hall that could go somewhere.”

Flynn switched his focus to the problem at hand. “Considering it happened during hours, they couldn’t just walk out with it.”

“Maybe they disguised themselves as museum employees,” Stone offered as he looked around the room.

“For a large museum, plausible, but for anything with less than fifty or so-” Ezekiel felt something prick the back of his neck. Immediately his hand went to source of the stabbing pain, finding something that felt a whole lot like a dart. It was his fault for having his back to the door. He spun around to find the attacker, but that spin emphasized the fact that they were sedative darts; he careened into a workbench as the world decided to be slanted.

A man in dark clothing filled the doorway, mini crossbow in hand and aimed at the now uncovered Flynn. “Ezekiel? Hey, who are you?” Flynn said, eyes glancing from the wobbly Ezekiel to the intruder.

Stone turned around to see who Flynn was talking to just in time to see Ezekiel collapse and Flynn get a dart square in the forehead. “Not this again…you’re dead meat!” Stone yelled, charging at the man. He had ten foot worth of floor to cover, and he did his best to do it quickly, ducking down to make it harder to hit skin. He took the intruder in a solid tackle, tumbling out into the corridor.

Stone didn’t take into account that darts work just as good in melee range as stabbing weapons. Pain shot up Stone’s arm as the body underneath him stuck a dart into his forearm. “Heh, you gotta do better then that,” Stone growled, socking the man in the jaw.

The man didn’t seem that deterred by the punch. He hooked his leg around Stone’s and flipped them, throwing Stone not very gently into the concrete floor with a thud. “Playin’ dirty now are we?” Stone rumbled, starting to feel a little fuzzy. He fought it off as best as he could to get out of the pinned position he was in, pulling a trick he learned at Shangri-la. Admittedly, a prehensile tail would’ve made it easier, but Stone got his legs bent and twisted his torso as quick as he could, knocking the man’s knees out from underneath him so Stone could give him a taste of his own medicine.

Now free of the extra weight, Stone scrambled to his feet, leaning on the wall for support while he squared up again. Despite knowing how it felt to be sedated via dart, Stone’s vision started blurring as he tried to fight it. “Come and get it,” Stone taunted, except it sounded more like “Cmmmm n ge’ ‘t.”

The man chuckled at Stone, simply lifting the crossbow at him once more and firing a dart straight at his forehead. Stone looked up at the metal cylinder sticking out of his forehead, pulled it out with a grunt, and let it clatter to the floor. “Yynnn…hgnn…” Stone attempted to communicate, but the ground suddenly came up at him in disconcerting speed. Stone made a mental note to ask Jenkins if there was a way to deal with sedatives better before everything went black.

—

Flynn woke up first. The floor was hard, but he was leaned up against something that smelled like musty wood. At the moment his eyes were useless. Wherever they were, it was pitch black, but small, based off the reverb of him clearing his throat. Flynn knew where he was at least; this wasn’t his first time locked in a closet.

Duct tape bound his hands and legs, but they didn’t put him in a position to keep him from undoing his bonds. Having his arms in front of him made it loads easier to stand up using the wall and the crate he’d been leaned against. Finding the door, and subsequently the lightswitch, was the next step.

Said step was hindered when Flynn’s shuffling found something that felt a lot like a body. He kept shuffling around, judging whoever it was to be laying on the concrete floor. A noise, a grunt, that sounded a lot like Stone came from the ground.

“Stone?” he called out to the dark as he continued to feel the wall.

“Hnngh,” Stone replied. Seeing…well hearing that Stone wasn’t quite able to help yet, Flynn focused on his task, finally shuffling enough to feel the rough cinder block change to a wooden doorframe. He ran his bound hands up and down, then went to the other side of the door, finally whacking a little metal box with a switch.

Harsh, bright light from the fluorescent light in the ceiling made them both groan. “Stone? You alright?” Flynn asked, shaking his head while his eyes adjusted.

“I’ll make it,” Stone said, voice croaky. He sat up slowly, using the wall for support. “What is it with closets?” Flynn looked at him; he had to repress the urge to ruffle Stone’s messed up hair while he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Heh, maybe I can bake my way out of this one too,” Flynn chuckled. He kneeled down in front of Stone and started peeling away the tape, making quick work of Stone’s wrist binds.

Stone was not so cheery about their predicament. “Where do ya think they put Ezekiel?” he asked as he undid Flynn’s wrists.

“Well we’re still at the museum, I think, so either they took him someplace else or he’s also locked up somewhere,” Flynn said. They both went about undoing the tape around their legs. “He’ll be fine, he’s Ezekiel Jones.”

Stone freed his legs first and gave Flynn a wary look, but Flynn didn’t seem to pick it up. Once he got the tape off his legs he immediately went to searching the room for anything useful. The small room didn’t have a whole lot to work with: there was the crate Flynn had been against, some collapsed cardboard boxes and crates against the back wall, cobwebs, and dust. Flynn hadn’t been too concerned about getting out until now.

He didn’t even notice he was pacing the small space until Stone called him out. “Would ya quit? You’re kickin’ up dust and wastin’ energy. It’s not gonna keep Ezekiel any safer.”

“I can’t. I need to keep moving,” Flynn explained, pacing for a few moments before he registered the words. He stopped, giving Stone a curious look.

“Well…I mean, it’s not. What? I can have concern about his well-being,” Stone said, defensive under Flynn’s relentless gaze.

“You haven’t voiced it before…” Flynn started, watching him.

“‘Cuz he’s not been alone, like this, since…” Stone trailed off.

“Why can’t he be alone? He’s capable of handling himself,” Flynn countered, confused by Stone’s sudden wariness.

“You didn’t think he was actin’ weird at the super collider facility?” Stone asked.

“I thought he finally decided to show that he cares about us,” Flynn said, not sure why it was significant.

Stone rubbed his face with a hand. “He was terrified of losing us. He thought he was being a hero.”

“He was a hero…” Flynn said.

“He thought he had to be otherwise he’d be reliving his nightmares,” Stone added.

Flynn was further confused. “Nightmares?”

“From the loop when we were at the DARPA facility. He didn’t remember anything until after we returned from Prospero’s dream world he put us in, for whatever reason, and it’s not been easy for him,” Stone explained.

“So he’s got ptsd…and I threw him in danger’s way on a theory,” Flynn sunk down against the wall next across from Stone, color draining from his face.

“That’s not on you, you didn’t know,” Stone attempted to console, knowing it wasn’t going to do much to help.

“How do you know all this? Ezekiel doesn’t talk about stuff like that,” Flynn said, pointedly staring at the concrete floor.

“He…um…told me…” Stone stammered. Flynn looked up at that, waiting for him to continue. “I, after the whole love potion thing with Cindy, I assumed he wasn’t affected because he’d been in love with her, and told him that. He didn’t say anything, but I realized I totally read his body language wrong, and went to apologize, except we got into an argument, and he let something slip.”

“He must trust you, to tell you what he’s experiencing,” Flynn said, not really meaning to insinuate anything, but also trying to test the waters.

“We’re just friends, he doesn’t…he isn’t…well I dunno what he is anyway,” Stone said, trying to say anything revealing but failing. “It’s not like we need to have a thing to be trusting. You’d know that if you didn’t keep running off all the time. You gotta be with people to build trust with them.”

“I was doing important work that had to be done while you all did yours,” Flynn spat back, suddenly defensive again.

“It was sure hard to see you cared when you’d just boss us around or ignore us while you were here,” Stone said, narrowing his eyes at Flynn.

“I’ve changed…I’m working on it, okay? I know now that I was being an ass, and I had my reasons, but it was no excuse,” Flynn exclaimed throwing his hands up. “I’ve always cared, especially for Ezekiel, I just suck at actually conveying it. He trusted me with his life, and I really hadn’t done anything for him to warrant it.”

Stone looked at Flynn, surprised. “He does trust you…he just sucks at showing it too,” Stone said, biting his lip as he thought about what he was going to say. “The nightmares were only of us, at first, but after you about died defeating Apep, he started having them of you too. Really shook him up.”

“He’s actually telling you all this?” Flynn asked, mildly taken aback.

“I…well I kind of made him tell me when he showed up at my door in the middle of the night in a paranoid, half awake state. That’s when I first found out how bad it was,” Stone explained with a shrug. “I had him over, just in case, the night we defeated Apep, which was a good call, ‘cuz that’s when the nightmares involving you started.”

Stone was trying to not show much, but Flynn could easily see how much he cared for Ezekiel. “I’m glad you can be there for him.”

“You can too…I mean it’d mean a lot for him to know that from you,” Stone said.

“I can’t be there for him, not like I’d like,” Flynn said, slumping more against the wall.

Stone looked at him, confused for a moment before realization dawned on his face. “What’d ya mean….oh.” Stone gave Flynn a sympathetic look. “Didn’t know you…”

“That I’m bi? Well there’s a lot we don’t know about each other, that we probably would’ve learned if I hadn’t been running on my own. Besides, it wouldn’t work anyway. I’m too old, too independent and such. There was a whole intervention and all,” Flynn said, waving a hand in front of him while he talked.

“To be fair, I don’t think he cares about age too much,” Stone added with a smirk before he realized what he said. “Uh, I mean, well he’s done some things that make me think, but he’s never explicitly said anythin’ about it-”

“So you are…a thing?” Flynn asked, trying to get Stone to be clear about it.

“No…well…maybe. He’s never said exactly, but it’s more than just being there for him when he needs it,” Stone said. Flynn gave him a look, eyebrows raised. “No…not like that, God Flynn I’m not taking advantage of him.”

Flynn put his hands up in defense. “I wasn’t, I didn’t mean, I was just trying to figure out what you meant,” Flynn stammered. “I mean the age remark made me think you were attempting to hint at me to go for it and I wasn’t sure because that’d be a horrible thing to screw up over miscommunication and I wouldn’t want to ruin whatever you two have going on-”

“Flynn, it’s alright, I just overreacted a bit,” Stone interjected, looking at Flynn with a mix of pity and affection. “I guess, I kinda was? I dunno, I’m not the one to be suggestin’ anythin’ like that for him, it didn’t come out right.”

“Okay, makes sense. Though for you to imply that I should, uh, see what’s there, while you at least are definitely doing something anyway…not that there’s anything wrong with relationships like that, but it’d make more sense if it was mutual all around, and I can only speak for myself,” Flynn sort of explained, attempting to stick his toe in the water.

Stone bit his lip again, this time not a look of contemplation. “Well…”

The door suddenly swung open, startling the two out of their conversation. Ezekiel stood in the doorway, looking a little worse for wear with some cuts and bruises, but was keeping it together. “You didn’t even try to escape? What were you doing, having a heart to heart before you died?” Ezekiel joked, completely oblivious.

“Um, n…no,” Stone sputtered, scrambling to his feet. “We didn’t have anythin’ to get us out with. ‘S Not like we could break out with crate pieces.” Ezekiel gave him a look, mainly curious, before stepping out of the way to let the two leave.

Flynn looked mildly guilty for a moment, though why Ezekiel had no clue. “When it comes to escaping, you take the hat,” Flynn said to Ezekiel, patting him on the shoulder. “Let’s get out of here, before they realize we’re gone.”

The three sprinted down the hallway and back up the stairs, no dangerous looking people around. The main museum floor had groups and individuals here and there, staff members giving tours, and thankfully a lack of anyone in all black with considerable muscle mass armed with mini crossbows or other unfriendly weapons.

Outside had more people than before; the rain had stopped, the cloud blanket broken into chunks floating lazily through the sky. Flynn bent down and felt the concrete. “How long were we in there?”

Ezekiel patted his pockets uselessly. “They knew enough to clean me out…only had my phone and wallet on me, not that any of it would do them good,” he said, mildly annoyed.

Stone searched the sky for the sun, waiting until it peaked through a break in the clouds. “I’m no Cassandra, but I think it’s a little past noon, give or take an hour, which means we were out for at least an hour down there.”

“Okay, not too much time lost. We need to find wherever they’re keeping the items they’ve stolen,” Flynn decided, looking around for inspiration of where to go next. “The street behind the museum, perfect place to keep a car.”

“Are you suggesting we tail them on foot?” Ezekiel said, looking at Flynn like he thought he was insane.

“Well…no…but we need to follow them,” Flynn said, walking to the street anyway.

Stone and Ezekiel followed after him. “I can’t exactly call a car, so what do you intend to do?” Ezekiel asked.

“I don’t know yet-” Flynn started, cutting himself off as they rounded the corner of the building.

A commercial van was parked down the road, complete with not so nice looking muscle, including the one who had attacked them earlier. Apparently they were not happy with the attacker’s poor job of containing the Librarians; a more imposing man was berating him, based on body language, but they were too far away to hear what was being said. Someone in the van must have said something to draw the larger man’s attention to inside the vehicle for a moment. He then looked back at the attacker, said some final comment, then got into the passenger seat while the attacker fumbled with the back door of the van and climbed in.

Flynn looked behind himself at Ezekiel. “You can hotwire a car, right?”

“Uh, duh, of course I can,” Ezekiel said in a mocking tone, as the van started to drive off. Ezekiel immediately went for the closest car, trying the handle.

“I don’t think we should…” Stone started, but Ezekiel was already behind the wheel of the conveniently unlocked car, fiddling with wires.

“No time Stone, this is our only shot,” Flynn explained, getting in the passenger seat. “Plus, we’ll return it, we’re not horrible people. Come on, get in!” With a huff, Stone got in the back seat, and the trio sped off after the van.

Turns out Ezekiel driving is a terrifying experience. Oh sure, they caught up to the van alright, following it straight to an industrial park in a not so safe part of Buenos Aires. They just happened to do it at horribly unsafe speeds in congested traffic, and somehow came out of it completely unscathed.

The worn down wearhouse wasn’t heavily guarded. Besides the van that just arrived, only two other people in the facility. Being the sneaky thief he was, Ezekiel got them in a locked back door. Being a good distraction, Flynn spooked the muscle, did some running, while Stone and Ezekiel found their stash and searched for anything magical. On a hunch, Stone picked the likely objects and had Ezekiel get them all out while he assisted Flynn in distracting (it involved getting revenge for being sedated with a lot of painful moves he picked up in Shangri-La, and some good old punching). With another stomach churning drive a la Ezekiel, the trio returned the car to its spot on the street outside the museum. Transporting the items proved mildly difficult, making Stone the packhorse so they didn’t have to make multiple trips.

Once they returned to the Annex, thankfully still empty, Stone carefully placed the various sculptures, old tools, and earthenware down on the ever-cluttered main table. Flynn and Ezekiel placed their items down as well.

“So…which one is it?” Ezekiel said, looking at the table with eyebrows raised.

“I’m not sure, but it won’t take me long to find out,” Flynn said, already starting to look over the nearest item, a little painted pot.

Stone was completely ignoring the mass of artifacts on the table, his eyes solely on Ezekiel. The thief had been a bit on edge after Stone and Flynn jumped in the car. Though he’d been hiding it well, Stone learned how to pick it up. He walked over to Ezekiel, tapping him on the elbow to get his attention, then nodded towards the doors that led off into the other parts of the Library.

“I’m gonna clean up,” Stone announced, heading out the doors. “You probably should too, Ezekiel, just to be safe.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Ezekiel said, attempting to not be too fussed about the somewhat battered state of his body, but he dropped it once he saw that Flynn was solely focused on the items in front of him.

Stone waited until they got to the bathroom before he said anything. “How ya holdin’ up?”

Ezekiel glanced at him in the mirror as he washed the cuts on his face. “Oh, could be worse. No breakdown or anything. They, uh, knew me, or my old reputation anyway. Got cocky when they ‘captured’ me, being overly forceful, but that also meant I lifted the cuff keys off them easy.”

“How rough?” Stone asked, putting antibiotic cream on the scrapes he got from the first fight.

Ezekiel shrugged, a tell he was trying to keep it together. “They had their fun. It worked out in the end, that’s what matters.” Stone eyed him, waiting for him to open up. Ezekiel caught Stone’s eyes, and after a few moments he half sighed in defeat, hissing a bit when pain flared up. “They might have kicked me a few times in the side, or slammed me against something, while I was out. That’s what hurts most.”

“Okay. Shirt off then,” Stone said. Ezekiel gawked at him a bit. “I’m not gonna let ya have a broken rib heal wrong because you didn’t think it was important to tell me.”

“Fine. Don’t go getting any ideas, cowboy,” Ezekiel teased, trying to joke. He pulled his shirt over his head fairly gingerly, turning to see the side that hurt in the mirror. A bruise was forming at his bottom rib, about the size of his hand. “Oh…”

“Yeah, that’s not a thing to hide,” Stone said, lightly touching the skin above the bruise. Ezekiel hissed in pain, but didn’t say anything while Stone surveyed the injury.

“I wasn’t trying to hide it. I just didn’t feel it for awhile,” Ezekiel explained. He gave a little bitter chuckle that almost turned into a sob. “Perks of going into combat mode I guess.”

“Well I don’t think it’s broken, just bruised. Definitely should ice it though, and take some painkillers if it’s botherin’ you,” Stone decided, still keeping a watchful eye on Ezekiel. “Anythin’ ya need to talk about?”

Ezekiel inhaled slowly, biting his lip. Stone waited patiently, for him to speak. “When I first woke up, and you and Flynn weren’t there…for a second I thought they killed you-” Ezekiel’s voice faltered.

Stone’s hand went to the side of Ezekiel’s face on impulse. “Hey, it’s alright, I’m here, alive,” Stone soothed.

Ezekiel’s eyes widened a bit, his breath catching in his throat. Without warning he flung himself at Stone, hissing at the contact but hugging him tightly. Stone made sure to avoid his tender side, using that arm to stroke the back of Ezekiel’s head. Stone felt his neck grow wet, but Ezekiel made no noise, and was probably trying not to breathe too erratically.

“I know…it’s just the ptsd, but it…really sucks,” Ezekiel said into the crook of Stone’s neck.

“You made it through, that’s what matters. And we got the artifact, probably,” Stone said.

Ezekiel savored the hug a bit more then pulled away, not quite releasing his grip on Stone. “Why’d you two look so startled when I found you?”

Stone looked away, face flushing of its own accord. “We were, uh, talking, about a lot of things,” he mumbled.

“Did you tell him…that’s why he looked guilty,” Ezekiel said rather calmly, realization on his face.

Stone had been expecting him to be mad about talking about it; he met Ezekiel’s gaze with mild surprise. “It kinda slipped, after I woke up and you weren’t there I was worried.”

Ezekiel smiled at him endearingly. “You did tell him that I didn’t blame him for the werewolf thing, that I did it on my own.”

“Yeah, doesn’t mean he can’t feel bad though,” Stone replied. “You’re not mad I told him?”

The thief glanced away for a moment, thinking, before looking back to Stone. “I thought I would be, but I dunno, he didn’t treat me any different, which was what I was afraid of in the first place.”

“He cares a lot, ya know, they all do,” Stone said. It wasn’t the first time he’d said that to Ezekiel, but now it felt a little different, more like “here’s proof they’ll love you just the same.”

Ezekiel touched his forehead to Stone’s…not something he’d done before. “One person at a time, but hey, I’m getting there apparently.”

Stone chuckled at him, but stayed fairly still, letting Ezekiel be in control of the situation. For awhile they just stayed there, looking into each other’s eyes, the strong scent of the antibiotic ointment on Ezekiel’s cuts pungent, the soft sound of their forcefully steadied breathing, the background hum of the Library from whatever did that filling everything else. Then, after what felt like years debating if he should or not in his head, Ezekiel closed the distance between them.

Five minutes earlier…

Flynn barely registered them walking off. There were a lot of items to check on the table in front of him…and he had no clue what exactly he was looking for. Since it would take hours to search the Library’s information to find anything useful, he decided to just do it by feel.

“Old-fashioned way’s gonna have to work,” he said aloud, grabbing the next item, a small sculpture of a warrior. “Any object imbued with magic has a special feel, the magic that it gives off naturally like an odor.” He put the statue back down, unsatisfied, and reached for a pot. “If you know to look for it, you can pick it out, even if you don’t know what type of magic exactly. Of course over the past decade I’ve handled loads of magical objects, so I should be able to pick up on it easily.”

The pot didn’t do anything for him either, so he sat it back down and reached for the stone hilt of a dagger that someone had stuck in a pot to carry. Only then did he look up to see that he was not informing anyone. “I guess Stone was talking about going somewhere then. Oh well-” Flynn sucked in a breath when he pulled the dagger out of the pot. The hilt was a smooth, grey stone, but the blade was sharpened obsidian. “Well hello there, magical dagger with probably not great to think about properties. You need to come with me.” He looked to the pile of artifacts on the table, most untouched. “As for the rest of you, you’re free to go today. I’ll be right back.”

Flynn took the dagger to the first magical artifacts wing to find a spot for it. Sure, there was the whole new modern artifacts wing, but this wasn’t modern at all; though Stone could date it better by looking at it, Flynn guessed it had to be several hundred years old easily. Eventually he found a little nook just wide enough for the dagger to lay diagonally.

By now Flynn remembered the dirt and grime on his face and decided to go clean it off. Going to the artifacts wing actually put him closer to the bathroom than he was from the Annex. Something in the back of his mind told him that Stone and Ezekiel had gone there earlier, so he figured they were probably on their way back to the Annex now.

Flynn found out quite quickly that they had not left yet. His voice didn’t work at first, but after a second he managed an “Oh…”

Ezekiel pulled away much more violently than Stone did. “Uh, didn’t mean to hog the bathroom,” Stone said, voice a bit rougher than it had been just a moment ago.

“No it’s fine,” Flynn responded automatically, awkwardly blocking the doorway. A glance to the mirror explained why Ezekiel wasn’t wearing a shirt. Ezekiel swiped at his eyes, attempting to get his back against the wall it seemed. The sight twinged something in Flynn’s chest. “I’m…I’m really sorry.”

Ezekiel looked at him, his body language more defensive than he actually felt, not that Flynn knew how to read that. “You didn’t know, it’s fine,” Ezekiel mumbled.

“I know, but it wasn’t… I could’ve been a lot better, more understanding, more here. Um, I just wanted to say…I, well, you don’t have to be alone. I mean I know you have Stone, but I…I’m here for you too,” Flynn stammered, not really sure where he was going.

Relaxing slightly, Ezekiel forced himself off the wall. He was a little bit in shock, not that he hadn’t believed Stone earlier, but actually hearing Flynn say it was a whole different thing.

Flynn was apparently not done rambling. “I had an epiphany of sorts, realizing just how much I’d closed everyone off, though I didn’t get much of a chance to do anything about it till after you guys took down Apep. It wasn’t fair to any of you, but you all stuck around anyway, and I can’t thank you enough for that.” He started getting more animated, walking into the bathroom not really suited for three grown men, which put him quite close to Ezekiel. “And you, you went through a lot for all of us, and we didn’t even know how much you hurt, both before you joined the Library and after you saved them. I know you’re good at hiding it, but I’ll still kick myself for a long time because I wasn’t around long enough to learn how you express how you feel, and completely missed it at the super collider…”

Ezekiel had started crying again, not really of his own accord, mostly it was just a lot to process the words coming out of Flynn’s mouth. “Flynn…”

“…And knowing that me putting myself in harm’s way gave you nightmares, not that I had much of a choice, it…I’m so sorry…” Flynn paused, holding the side of Ezekiel’s face like Stone had earlier. Ezekiel’s eyes went wide, first at Flynn then at Stone. Flynn followed Ezekiel’s look, giving his own “should I?” look to Stone.

“It’s your call, you tell him,” Stone said with a shrug.

Flynn looked back to Ezekiel. “I care a lot, for you…though it might not have seemed like it. I didn’t want to say anything, I didn’t know how you…felt…which again was my fault for not being around enough to actually, really get to know you…or the others. Um, heh, I guess what I’m trying to say is…I don’t want you to be alone, not when I…we’re around-”

Ezekiel cut off Flynn’s rambling with a kiss. Stone had to restrain himself from laughing at Flynn’s shocked face. After listening to flynn ramble twice, it was a pretty satisfying sight to see. Once they pulled apart, Ezekiel looked pretty pleased with himself as he took in Flynn’s dazed face.

“So, you guys actually were having a heart to heart in the closet,” Ezekiel said with a satisfied laugh. Stone shrugged. “I mean it’s not like you were doing anything else in there…you weren’t, right?”

Flynn glanced over at Stone, finally out of his daze. “Should we tell him about all the wild, passionate lovemaking we did?” he suggested, somehow completely with a straight face.

Stone wasn’t so good at keeping a straight face, partially for the images that popped up in his head. “Oh yeah…uh, definitely wild for sure,” he tried to say normally, but his voice didn’t cooperate.

Before he could respond, Ezekiel’s stomach growled loudly. Stone and Flynn looked at him, mildly surprised by the volume. “What, it’s been awhile since breakfast,” Ezekiel said. “While watching you two do…whatever it is you’re doing is hilarious, I’m starving.”

“Food sounds good…though I think most restaurants have a required shirt and shoe policy,” Flynn said, not really being subtle about where his eyes were wandering. Ezekiel caught it, cheeks getting a little red.

“Yeah…well I’d rather eat with someone who didn’t look like he used his face to clean the floor,” Ezekiel quipped back, at little weaker than he intended. Flynn raised his eyebrows at him before he glanced at himself in the mirror.

“Oh, yeah, that’s what I was coming here for, to fix that,” Flynn said, moving to the sink. “Okay so once we get cleaned up, then we go eat.”

“Works for me,” Stone replied, hooking his arm around Ezekiel’s. “Come on, let’s go get you a shirt that’s easier to put on.”

“Don’t have too much fun without me,” Flynn shouted from the bathroom as they left.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Ezekiel replied, smirking at Stone as they walked into the Library. It wasn’t a day any of them had anticipated, but none of them would have traded it for the world.

—–

Post notes: Basically expect any fic involving Ezekiel in the canon universe to involve his ptsd from now on if it works in the story. Apparently I can’t get the theory out of my head or my writing.

As far as Evlynn, well we’ll just pretend it’s not there for now so my brain can quit worrying about making ships work perfectly. Maybe it’s Ceve instead, though Castrella tends to win out on that.

#ezekiel jones #flynn carsen #flynn writes #flynn/ezekiel/jake #jacob stone #librariansshipathon #ptsd #shipathon17 #the librarians #the librarians fic #the librarians shipathon #flytsweek

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filmista · 8 years ago

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Pleasantville

Pleasantville is considered one of the most powerful and beautiful films of all time, I just happened to come across it recently as I was looking at some of Reese Witherspoon’s films.

After I had seen it, I could definitely see how it became one of the alleged most powerful films of all time, It’s message still resonates and speaks volumes about contemporary society. As it explores intolerance in different matters.

And while it certainly isn’t without It’s few flaws, I didn’t particularly care about them, as the film’s acting and It’ s gorgeous aesthetic more than make up for it, it truly treats us to beautiful visuals.

Pleasantville focuses on a brother and a sister, we initially start out in your average suburban American house in the 90’s. The sister who has recently gained in popularity has a date with a jock.

Meanwhile, the brother is preparing for a Pleasantville marathon, good old clean fun and 50’s family values, apparently, nice for an afternoon every now and again but certainly not forever which is exactly what happens here.

Brother and sister coincide in the living room, a fight over the remote control breaks lose, finally the remote falls on the ground and is irreparably broken.

Soon after, a mysterious mechanic offers his services. As they are watching tv, they accidentally push a button they shouldn’t have pushed and end up getting sucked in the programme, prepare for a sickeningly sweet, partly black and white 50’s suburban nightmare.

Perfect at first sight, you get a very hearty breakfast in the morning, that you are not allowed to not finish, bacon, pancakes with maple syrup, as in quantities that would under any normal circumstances guarantee a trip to the nearest hospital.

A crazy diner where the local teens meet up after school, to have their milkshakes and make plans to go to Lover’s Lane, where they subsequently only hold hands and do some very indecent kissing.

The siblings are in a television programme, the people in it, only know said the world and don’t have much of a free will, all their actions have been previously scripted and they never stop to consider doing something differently, this is the sibling turn up.

As it turns out, they can’t leave the town, as it simply ends and starts again after Main Street and Elm Street, they can never read a book for fun, as the pages are without written words, the houses don’t have king size or queen size beds, they don’t need them, as no one knows what sex is.

Until Mary Sue goes out with a local boy and has sex with him, who’s surprised when he gets an erection, and thinks he’s sick, she tells him It’s supposed to happen, funny but also quite tragic.

As the guy drives home, he spots a single red rose amongst the black and white, he has felt emotions and feelings that weren’t scripted, that were completely his own.

It’s the first indication that change is on its way. Later on, Mary Sue explains to her fictional mother what sex is, the mother says “your father would never do that”, Mary Sue tells her that she can have fun without him.

And here is when one of the most visually impressive sequences in the film takes place. The mother takes a bath and touches herself, soon the whole bathroom erupts in colour, and at the exact moment that she has an orgasm, the nearest tree catches fire.

Symbolising that change, a revolution is on its way. Soon all the housewives are asking their husbands for double beds, and don’t always have dinner ready on time anymore, they now leave instructions by the oven.

The people start to have free will, the owner of the local hamburger restaurant, doesn’t see the point in making hamburgers day after day anymore, he starts to paint, other starts to read, and very soon as the people mentally shift and become more liberal and free spirited, they begin to appear in colour.

But there comes a turning point when the coloured people clash with the noncolored people, signs with no coloureds allowed begin to appear.

It all starts when the owner of the hamburger restaurant, paints Betty Parker (the fictional mother of the siblings) naked, a woman he’s clearly in love with, and she seems to be in love with him also.

As he’s much more loving, kinder and respectful of her than her husband, where her husband shames her for now being coloured, he tells her she’s beautiful and to not hide it.

The next day some of the townspeople see the painting of naked Betty, on the diner’s window, and while It’s beautiful and very clearly art. The people are shocked and outraged, apparently bare breasts are corrupting and make people lose it.

Pretty soon their prudishness leads them to destroy the whole diner, the more conservative, proud black and whites turn against the coloureds, they burn books and make a whole set of rules (you could see it as metaphors for racism and fascism).

Everyone has to return to being dull, unwilled, passionless, prudish robots that lack any sense of individualism, the town begins to resemble a fascist regime closely, though eventually it does all end well.

But in the meantime, the film does explore many interesting subjects, such as the dangers of excessive prudishness, of punishing people for creativity and individuality, of the dangers of excessive want for order and control.

Some stuff has to be regulated, I think most people would agree with that, but if people become unhappy, intolerant, hateful and mindlessly and blindly obeying to authority It’s dangerous, as it can lead to everything for the law mentality, in which the law is even above human rights and human life. The film tells us about and instills all this in is along with beautiful cinematography.

But as beautiful as the film, It’s truly pleasant to watch, It’s a film that takes you on a visual and emotional journey. If the acting had been lesser, the film would have dropped to a lesser level.

Luckily this is not the case and we're treated to a cast with great chemistry that delivers powerful and passionate performances, performances that allow you to invest in the characters and their story.

Reese Witherspoon who I love and (she’s been my favourite actress since I consciously remember watching films) affectionately call “chameleon Witherspoon” due to her ability to brilliantly transform into different characters.

She once again shined. Here she was still quite young, but even in her younger years, she never really managed to show inexperience or not convincingly portray a character assigned to her.

She’s natural, charismatic, looks like she’s having while she acts and turns in a strong and consummate performance, she manages to make us care about her character and convincingly shows us the transformation she experiences.

But as much as I like Witherspoon’s performance, so far I’ve never really disliked any of her roles, even if the film in question was on the lousy side, she always remains utterly, unflinchingly, elegant and convincing.

Her performance here is not one of my favourites, simply because I know that she’s capable of more, but it can’t be denied that she shined in what she was allowed to do here.

The film is filled with good performances, some a little more cliche and less developed, they’re roles that don’t really allow the actors room for showing off their acting range, as they’re stereotypes, but nonetheless the actors put their best foot forward and make the best out of their roles.

My favourite performances are Joan Allen and Jeff Daniels as Betty Parker and the diner owner. They’re both some of the only, genuinely kind warm and romantic people in the town.

They’re people with a distinct personality, that appears when the siblings arrive, they adapt so wonderfully and thrive in their happiness in such a delightful way that you can’t help but think that they may have become different on their own, even if the siblings hadn’t arrived.

They’re two characters that are so sympathetic and sweet natured that you can’t help but fall in love with them, and they have such realistic feeling chemistry together, that you can’t help but support them through and through.

The scene where the diner owner wipes off Betty’s B&W makeup is in my view one of the most beautiful scenes between any couple, It’s such a heartfelt, you’re almost forced to feel something.

You genuinely care about these people, and want them together, when I discovered that Betty posed for him I I thought hell yeah these people are more alive than anyone in the town!

Also, he painted her because he finally embraces his love of art, he’s fallen in love with her and wants to show her that she’s loved and that she has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

And he does it through art, and as he does it, they both make each other come alive, It’s not a cold, you sit still over there and I’ll paint you or snap a picture of you, for purely commercial reasons.

It’s a genuine romantic moment between two people, also there’s no “paint me like one of your French girls” ( sorry, I simply couldn’t resist) of any sort to be seen anywhere.

The direction allowed in part for the good acting, it shows that the director worked well with the cast and that they had clear ideas of what to do.

I don’t know if they were allowed much or any improvisation at all, but all the actors deliver performances that feel natural and unforced, not tense or scripted.

As I said earlier some performances are less developed than others, it would have been nice to discover some of these characters more in depth, but It’s not something that detracts.

As those performances are also good, but I do believe that would have elevated it to the next level, you would have been even more emotionally invested.

Next, there’s a few flaws and inconsistencies, things that aren’t explained or that seem a bit out of place, but It’s in very few scenes and the film has such a powerful overall message, that you can easily overlook it.

One thing in the direction that I couldn’t possibly critique is the pacing and timing. The director’s dramatic timing is excellent, everything happens at precisely the right instant, this one of the things that make the film feel so alive, along with its great sense of spontaneity and lastly it never drags.

The cinematography is just utterly stunning, the contrast between black and white and colours makes for gorgeous shots, of course, a large part of it also lies in the camera work.

The shift between colours and black appears in tactfully measured moments, and are filmed in such a way that they surprise and overwhelm in the bests sense of the world.

These scenes feel like little cinematographic pearls, that you collect throughout the film until in the end you’re left with the grand beautiful painting, that it is on a whole.

I see Pleasantville as a painting or a puzzle, that constructs itself before your eyes, as both the scenery and the people change, the camera transmits this in way that never feels all over the place, it feels intimate,It’s more like watching the visual equivalent of what I can only call a sociological fairytale, or a newspaper article being told.

The wonderful soundtrack with music by Randy Newman and Fiona Apple also adds plenty of charm and helps in creating the pleasant atmosphere.

If you want to watch a unique, little film that moves, that touches different subjects originally, that’s beautiful to look at and that It’s heart in the right place I suggest giving Pleasantville a chance.

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

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solivar · 8 years ago

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WIP: Ghost Stories On Route 66

aka the one in which Hanzo is an expatriate art student, Jesse is a NPS ranger with a number of unusual skills, weird stuff is going down in the New Mexico desert, and their lives collide in the middle of it.

Now featuring 100% more Genji Shimada, World’s Most Wildly Overprotective Little Brother.

Hanzo turned his face to the cloudy, light-pollution washed sky and closed his eyes as the evening breeze washed over him. It was perceptibly warmer in the city than it was out on the high desert, but still cleaner than the air of nearly any other city he’d ever breathed, and he drew it deep into his lungs, once, twice, thrice. On the third, he expelled it with a silent prayer for the intercession of his ancestors, preferably all of them, hopefully at least Grandmother Hanako, who until the hour of her passage from the world possessed the ability to defuse any form of about-to-explode much younger Genji right up the point of detonation. It was that sweet and gentle nature he needed right now, the precise words necessary to calm and soothe, the iron-spined powers of almost courtly decorum necessary to avoid having a screaming argument with his little brother on the doorstep in front of who knew how many neighbors and/or housemates. Because that would, of course, be the absolute perfect way to end a day that was already sprawled out insouciantly on its side giving reality an assortment of rude gestures.

He turned to face Genji and found him standing in a physically contorted state trapped almost precisely between flailing limbs-akimbo outrage and fists planted on his hips primarily to avoid strangling anyone outrage. The result was more than vaguely disturbing to the human eye and seemed to involve far more joints that he actually possessed. His hair, recently re-dyed the nature-insulting shades of acidic green he favored, looked as though he had spent a considerable quantity of time alternately tugging at it in a transport of some strong emotion or smoothing it back down in an effort to avoid broadcasting said transport to any observers without any particular success. His face was a mask of mutually contradictory emotions, his eyes were bloodshot in a manner that strongly suggested a lack of sleep instead of chemical mood enhancement, and his eyelashes were stuck together in the sort of spiky clumps they developed only when he’d been crying and he was still crying, there were tears in his eyes, and Hanzo dropped his bag and threw his arms around his wonderful, terrible little brother and embraced him tightly. “Shhh. It’s all right.”

Genji’s return embrace seriously compressed his ribcage and nearly lifted him off the ground with the force of it, his brother’s voice ragged in his ears. “You’re alive you’re alive where have you been I’ve been so worried I filed a missing persons report --”

“Genji,” Hanzo wheezed perhaps a bit more dramatically than was strictly necessary even given the circumstances, “I need air. And a missing persons report? You called the police?”

His brother let go only enough to relocate the force of his grip from ribcage to shoulders and Hanzo was absolutely certain he was going to have a couple Genji-hand-shaped-bruises in the morning. Some of the half-crazed intensity of emotion had bled from his face but his eyes remained bright -- irridescently glittering lit-from-within green as well as tears, an altogether dangerous sign. “Four days, Hanzo. You have been gone for four days. I was expecting you home Saturday at the latest. So I ask again: where have you been? And also: who was that and how badly am I going to have to maim him?”

My car broke down in the desert, something nearly ate my soul, he’s an NPS ranger too beautiful for this world please do not kill him. It was on the tip of his tongue to say it, driven by the force of his brother’s fear, and the only thing that kept the words behind his teeth was the knowledge that there were all exactly the wrong thing to say, particularly the soul-eating bit, which he was completely certain Genji would not accept with anything resembling serenity no matter how many mind-altering substances he might be consuming at any given time. Neither was he going to let it go, the grip on his shoulders tightening, eyes narrowing a dangerous fraction, and Hanzo reached for the first semi-reasonable explanation to come to mind and blurted out, “I -- I -- was enjoying what I was doing and lost track of time!”

The look that took up residence on Genji’s face was equal parts I cannot believe you just said that, aniki and WHAT mixed liberally with oh fucking no you didn’t. “Hanzo. Discovering you have a great deal in common with one of your classmates on the first day of the semester and spending two hours aimlessly wandering the quad talking is enjoying what you were doing and losing track of time. Spending an hour contemplating the menu at Starbucks while trying to work up the nerve to make a pass at the hot new barista is enjoying what you were doing and losing track of time. Driving out into the desert and disappearing for four fucking days? That is something else entirely and I’m vaguely insulted you even tried to pull that on me and for fuck’s sake I was about to call home and tell mother to start watching for ransom demands.”

“Genji, I was in no danger.” Except for the point where YOUR SOUL was almost eaten, the rational voice of rationality remarked, dryly, apparently in league with the self-destructive desire to tell his brother everything. “My car broke down -- I walked to one of the ranger stations. I stayed with him a few days until the arrangements to retrieve my disabled vehicle could be made, and then he brought me home.”

“And you enjoyed that.” And there was the world’s most sarcastic human making himself known.

Hanzo shrugged slightly, Genji’s grip on his shoulders loosening enough that the gesture mostly dislodged it. “Not the breaking down and walking through the freezing desert in the middle of the night, no. Everything else? I managed to get quite a bit of work done and the ranger was excellently helpful and completely professional the entire time we were together.” He bent, picked up his bag, and schooled his face into what he hoped was a serenely competent mask sufficient to cover a gigantic sack of barely believable lies. “I’m sorry I frightened you -- I lost cellular service and -- “

“She couldn’t find you, Hanzo.” Genji whispered, fiercely. “I asked her to find you and she said you were gone, you were nowhere, I thought the police would find you lying dead somewhere -- “

“I would not do that to you.” Hanzo snapped a glare at him, equally fierce.

“I know that.” Genji did not quite reach for him again, though it was a near thing. “And the world continues to be graciously oversupplied with other ways for everyone to leave it.”

“I do not know why she couldn’t find me.” Hanzo could not meet his brother’s eyes and speak that lie at the same time, instead opting to step past him toward the door, head down as though watching his step. “As I said: I was perfectly safe. It has, however, been a very long few days and I want nothing more than my own bed. You cannot imagine how uncomfortable ranger station cots are until you’ve had to sleep on one involuntarily.”

“Yes I can.” He could feel the weight of Genji’s stare laying between his shoulderblades like the tip of a knife. “I let Zen drag me up to that commune outside Angel Fire. I’m pretty sure their beds are Works Progress Administration surplus from the ‘40s. The nineteen-forties.”

Hanzo chuckled, politely, thumbed open the front door and was promptly bowled back onto the steps by the force of the charge that greeted him.

“You’re home!” Hana Song was, like his brother, a student in the tech end of video game design. Unlike him, she had absolutely no hesitation when it came to hitting him and so she did, and with a startling amount of force for someone that weighed perhaps a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve all been, you jerk, you lousy inconsiderate jackass, you -- “ She stopped, glared up at him, and yanked him inside. “Let’s not do this on the front stoop. Genji, are you coming?”

“Hana, let it go. He’s not dead and he apparently hasn’t been shacked up with persons unknown, either.” Genji stepped in and closed the door, casually deflecting the killing glare that Hanzo flung in his direction.

“Oh, so Person Unknown is free and clear then, hmm? Good, because from what I could see he was a stone fox. Where’d you find him?” Hana gave him a quick hug in apology, gears shifting as quickly as that, and snatched the object Ranger McCree had pressed into his hand on their parting. “Oh -- oh holy crap. He’s a park ranger? Are you serious?”

Hanzo snatched the object -- a card -- back and physically resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Car broke down, he rescued me, drove me home, perfect gentleman, I would like to go to bed now.”

“Oh, it’s perfect gentleman and not completely professional when you talk to her about it?” Genji asked and now Hanzo found himself resisting the urge to spin hard enough to smack his wonderful, terrible asshole brother firmly in the gut with his bag. “There’s a not inconsiderable difference between those two things, brother.”

“No there isn’t.” Hanzo replied and, fuck it, introduced his bag to Genji’s midsection in a fashion not entirely unlike a hip-check. “In any case, yes, he is a real park ranger, he was extremely kind to me, I had not noticed his appearance, I am entirely sorry I worried you all, and now I am going to go upstairs, take a shower, send a number of groveling emails to my professors, and then go to bed. If that is acceptable to you two?”

“I think we should get Lu and Zen down here and make a family vote of it,” Hana crossed her arms over her chest but nonetheless stepped aside at his growl. “You haven’t heard the last of this, Hanzo Shimada. You, of all people, don’t get to go galavanting off for whole days at a time and then stroll back home without a reasonable explanation -- “

Hanzo leaned over the second story balustrade. “Genji does that literally all the time.”

“That’s Genji!” Hana shouted back. “You are the grounded and responsible Shimada sibling, and if you two are going to switch personalities you can’t do it at random, there needs to be at least two weeks written notice!”

“I’ll keep that in mind for the future.” Hanzo shouted down from the third floor landing.

“Be sure you do!” Hana shouted back. “Seriously, are you going to call him back? Because if you don’t call him, I totally will. I want a look at that in broad daylight.”

“Good night, Hana.” Hanzo stepped into his room, closed the door, dropped his bag, took the pillow from his bed and screamed into it for five minutes because, sometimes, there was literally nothing else to do if he wished to retain even a modicum of sanity.

Then, because he was indeed the grounded and responsible Shimada sibling, he turned on his holo-terminal and wrote the requisite groveling email of woe and dismay that went into exquisitely embroidered detail about POS rental cars, wandering through the desert at night pursued by coyotes, and the almost total lack of cellular service out in the hinterlands beyond the city limits, which he then forwarded to the four professors whose classes he had involuntarily cut, checked the queue to make certain that the art history paper he had finished last week was still set to go out first thing in the morning and sat, staring, at the little white rectangle of plastic laminate Ranger McCree had pressed into his hand. Plain white bordered in vivid green (National Park Service/US Department of the Interior), the inverted arrowhead seal, his name and contact information (Jesse McCree, Education Liaison, Special Incident Command at Cerrillos National Monument, address, cellular code, email). The laminate coating caught the dim light of even his holoscreen and refracted it in a now-familiar geometric pattern, the card feeling warmer in his hand than could be accounted for even by a transfer of body heat and, without meaning to do so, he pressed it to his lips and slipped it into his underwear drawer, where he was reasonably certain Hana would be completely unwilling to go fishing should she come looking for it. He almost started a second email but acknowledged, if only to himself, that it was considerably beyond pathetic to write a man who had merely been doing his duty, even the outstandingly weird parts, particularly when he didn’t actually have anything to say. At least for the moment. He had a week-long course of medicine to take and he realized that he was, even more pathetically, hoping that whatever it was wouldn’t work so he’d have the excuse.

“You are an outstanding coward of the highest possible caliber,” He informed his reflection in the upstairs bathroom mirror as he stripped out of the borrowed sweats even as he acknowledged them as another good reason to contact the ranger again -- they were only borrowed, after all, he couldn’t keep the man’s clothes. “Hello, Ranger McCree, this is Hanzo Shimada, you know, the one whose soul you saved from being eaten? I would just like to meet in order to return your tee-shirt and sweatpants and would you possibly also like to have dinner? Perhaps coffee? I promise I will keep my housemates and brother as far from you as humanly possible and once this exchange is done we will never have to see one another again and could you be any worse at this, for the love of the gods, stop.”

“Hanzo?” The voice on the other side of the bathroom door belonged to Tekhartha Zenyatta, his brother’s constant companion in dubious sobriety and bendy activities that could probably get them arrested in at least thirty states and seventeen foreign countries. “Are you well?”

“I’m fine, Zen. Just talking to myself.” Hanzo replied, and turned on the water in the shower. “My apologies if I disturbed you.”

“Not at all, my friend.” A warmly melodious chuckle from the hallway. “If you wish to speak, know that I am here for you.”

“Thank you, Zen.”

He should, he supposed, have a slightly more antagonistic relationship with the man who was arguably corrupting the quite thoroughly and voluntarily corruptible morals of his younger brother, but somehow he couldn’t find it in himself to work up any serious quantity of animus for the Tekhartha. For one thing, he couldn’t look at the man without perceiving him as some sort of elegant, kindhearted, slightly baked at all times praying mantis, who looked out at the world with enormous jewelled eyes and saw a bunch of people in dire need of enormously gentle talk therapy, palliative massage, and huge quantities of psychoactive recreational chemicals designed lubricate the interaction of minds and bodies with other minds and bodies. Sometimes literally. And therein lay the problem: Zen was an actual trained clinical psychologist underneath the doofy exterior and if there was anyone in the house to whom he would, through accident or design, give up the whole something freakishly weird happened in the desert and my soul was almost eaten and somehow the ranger saved me and I have no idea how to feel or what to think about any of this thing it was most definitely him. Possibly over tea. No, check that: definitely over tea. Hanzo made a mental note to take his medicinal beverage alone in his room if at all possible.

That night, at least, it was possible: by the time he finished cleaning up and went downstairs to the kitchen, the common areas were devoid of life. A faint trace of haunting melody drifted down from above, testament to the presence of Lucio Correia dos Santos, their fourth housemate, who was likely as deep in the process of musical composition as he ought to be in the process of visual composition. The absence of Genji and Zen from the sitting room, where the holotank and all the entertainment systems were located meant they were likely upstairs, entertaining one another somewhat more athletic ways. The absence of Hana from the same meant she was cramming for a midterm, having laid in a supply of snacks and energy beverages some time before.

He extracted the package from its anonymous plastic bag wrapping, feeling entirely too much like an operative in an action movie just before the villains came crashing in through the windows to steal is laboriously acquired intelligence or, possibly, like a teenager about to open his first stroke mag purchased under plain brown wrappers -- entirely too nervous by half and for no good reason. It was medicine. It was medicine. He absolutely was not about to drink something prescribed to him by some unknown person living in the middle of a nowhere who was close personal friends with a smoke monster and the world’s most desireable park ranger.

“It’s medicine, not a drug,” He told himself, as he examined the tiny, elegant, single-serving tea bell and the tiny, elegant tin, outside etched in a delicate swirling mandala in a dozen shades of blue, the lid covered in a freshly printed sticker written in a language he couldn’t read but which was, he knew from a couple hundred credit hours worth of art history classes, probably some form of Arabic. He firmly ignored the voice of rationality that insisted on pointing out drugs and medicines were exactly the same damned thing.

He snapped a picture of it and asked his phone for a translation, which it provided after a moment of taxing its little computer brain. For the restoration of weakened bonds between spirit and flesh, it said. Take one cup daily for seven days, preferably before sleep. Instructions: steep one teaspoon of the loose mixture in a cup of hot but not boiling water for no more than three minutes. Jesse tells me that you are a gentle, wounded soul who came by your injuries through no fault of your own, and for this reason I will tell you that the addition of a little honey and lemon will not harm the therapeutic qualities of this blend at all. May the Merciful and the Just stand between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk. Brewed, it smelled wonderfully rich and herbacious, a deep green-golden color even before he added a dollop of honey. He admitted to himself, after the first sip, that it probably didn’t need the honey: he couldn’t place any individual flavor but the way they blent together on his tongue was delicious beyond any other herbal infusion that he could recall, the perfume of it filling his head with every breath.

He put the tin in his section of the kitchen cabinets and set the cup and the tea bell in the sink for the morning, feeling the tug of sleep on his limbs and head and eyes already, knowing he might just fall asleep on a landing if he didn’t seek his bed at once. He was out before his head touched the pillow and that night, when he dreamt for the thousandth time of coiling sky blue scales and air that tasted of the oncoming storm and lightning-stroke eyes that weighed him and measured him and turned away, he felt the contemptuous weight of that silent judgment slightly less.

#WIP Ghost Stories On Route 66 #I promise I'll fix the italics in the morning

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networkingdefinition · 5 years ago

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Rosemary Quotes

Official Website: Rosemary Quotes

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• All I’m saying is we got plenty of Texans, and people from Montana, and New Jersey, and Wyoming, or Kansas City. We got plenty of actors. So we don’t need some cat from Cardiff-upon-Rosemary-upon-Thyme, or whatever the hell it is, playing people from Montana. And in the reverse, they got plenty of people from Cardiff-upon-Rosemary-upon-Thyme that they don’t need our asses coming over there trying to do British accents. – Billy Bob Thornton • And we have a little herb garden, which survived the winter thanks to global warming. It makes me feel like a cool, old Italian housewife, that I kept my rosemary alive outside all winter. – Elizabeth Gilbert • As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language. – Thomas More

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Rosemary', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_rosemary').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_rosemary img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Blade Runner’s just a noir at the end of the day. Rosemary’s Baby is about the fear of having a child and how that gets in the way of a romantic relationship. Or whatever it is, and you add that extra element that blows your mind apart. – James Ponsoldt • Carmelia Montiel, a twenty-year-old virgin, had just bathed in orange-blossom water and was strewing rosemary leaves on Pilar Ternera’s bed when the shot rang out. Aureliano José had been destined to find with her the happiness that Amaranta had denied him, to have seven children, and to die in her arms of old age, but the bullet that entered his back and shattered his chest had been directed by a wrong interpretation of the cards. – Gabriel Garcia Marquez • He asked <…> Rosemary, why do you love books so much? And I said, Well, I don’t know <…> I suppose I love them because they’re quiet, and I can take them to the park. – Robin Sloan • He will spit you and roast you with rosemary, and we will all sample your flesh tonight. Tomorrow you will be shat out into the snow. Your diplomacy is bold and edgy, sir. – Kevin Hearne • I do love old horror, everytime I watch Rosemary’s Baby the performances just get richer and richer and more multi-layered, and I see images that are just so politically outrageous. I love it all. – Robert Englund • I felt trapped and fabricated in the fifties living up to other people’s expectations. – Rosemary Clooney • I like the Polanski stuff more than anything else. Rosemary’s Baby is still one of my favorite movies of all time. The idea of her being impregnated with the devil is just so frightening. – Dylan McDermott • I like to take mustard baths. I combine 4 lbs Epsom salts, 3 oz mustard powder, 12 oz powdered milk, and 1/2 cup baking soda, add in 12 drops each of rosemary and eucalyptus essential oils, then whisk it and pour 1/4 cup of the mix into the tub while warm water is running. – Natalie Coughlin • I plant rosemary all over the garden, so pleasant is it to know that at every few steps one may draw the kindly branchlets through one’s hand, and have the enjoyment of their incomparable incense; and I grow it against walls, so that the sun may draw out its inexhaustible sweetness to greet me as I pass. – Gertrude Jekyll • I put on the Hank Williams and the Patsy Cline and the Rosemary Clooney on vinyl – I’m not trying to be some cool indie-rock person, I just love the way it sounds – and throw on a T-shirt and jeans. In Texas, we practically come out of the womb in jeans. – Kelly Clarkson • I try to do nothing. I drink rosemary when I have a lot of work to do. People take coffee, they take speed, whatever. I take rosemary. – Agnes Varda • If President Nixon’s secretary, Rosemary Woods, had been Moses’ secretary, there would only be eight commandments. – Art Buchwald • I’ll keep working as long as I live because singing has taken on the feeling of joy that I had when I started, when my only responsibility was to sing well. – Rosemary Clooney • I’m hooked on Polanski’s films, his psychological thrillers. I love ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ I love ‘Repulsion.’ – Vera Farmiga • In our everyday garden grow the rosemary, juniper, ferns and plane trees, perfectly tangible and visible. For these plants that have an illusory relationship with us, which in no way alters their existentiality, we are merely an event, an accident, and our presence, which seems so solid, laden with gravity, is to them no more than a momentary void in motion through the air. Reality is a quality that belongs to them, and we can exercise no rights over it. – Leo Lionni • It had been three weeks, four days and twelve hours since I’d seen her. Since she’d torn my heart out. If I had been drinking, I’d blame it on the alcohol. It had to be an illusion, a desperate one. But I hadn’t been drinking. Not a drop. There was no mistaking Blaire. It was her. She was actually here. Blaire was back in Rosemary. She was at my house. – Abbi Glines • I’ve always been a huge fan of ‘The Shining,’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ is one of my favorite films of all time. – Mary Elizabeth Winstead • My all-time favorite skin cream is from Poland. Its called Eva Natura with Polish herbs, including rosemary. It smells wonderful and is soothing and comforting. – Dagmara Dominczyk • My company is called Ciné-Tamaris, which is rosemary. That’s my speed. Hot water and herb. – Agnes Varda • My wife and I use a lot of garlic and rosemary with roast lamb. It has to be New Zealand lamb. The domestic variety is too gamy, in my experience. – Alfred Molina • Now you can leave home at any time you like.Your mother comes down and finds a picture of the Eiffel Tower on her plate. And she says, ‘Oh! Rosemary’s gone to Paris. No wonder the bathroom was so tidy.’ And nobody minds. But in my day, to go abroad with all those wicked Frenchmen, what would become of them? So no-one ever went anywhere. – Quentin Crisp • Personally I like the slow burn; I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. When I think about the movies that were most effective on me as a viewer I think of the original Haunting and the Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, the Sixth Sense, the Others. These movies are not over the top at all, they are movies that rely on good story telling, good acting, good premise, good exposition and I want to stay true to that in future projects. – Oren Peli • Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse had signed a lease on a five-room apartment in a geometric white house on First Avenue when they received word, from a woman named Mrs. Cortez, that a four-room apartment in the Bramford had become available. – Ira Levin • Rosemary bubbled with delight at the trunks. Her naivete responded whole-heartedly to the expensive simplicity of the Divers, unaware of its complexity and its lack of innocence, unaware that it was all a selection of quality rather than quantity from the run of the world’s bazaar; and that the simplicity of behavior also, the nursery-like peace and good will, the emphasis on the simpler virtues, was part of a desperate bargain with the gods and had been attained through struggles she could not have guessed at. – F. Scott Fitzgerald • Rosemary felt that this swim would become the typical one of her life, the one that would always pop up in her memory at the mention of swimming. – F. Scott Fitzgerald • Rosemary Rodriguez directed on Rescue Me for us, and I love her. She’s fantastic with actresses and she’s got a great sense of humor. That was a huge thing for me. – Denis Leary • She felt a little betrayed and sad, but presently a moving object came into sight. It was a huge horse-chestnut tree in full bloom bound for the Champs Elysees, strapped now into a long truck and simply shaking with laughter – like a lovely person in an undignified position yet confident none the less of being lovely. Looking at it with fascination, Rosemary identified herself with it, and laughed cheerfully with it, and everything all at once seemed gorgeous. – F. Scott Fitzgerald • She wished she had a little yellow house of her own, with a flower box full of real flowers and herbs – pansies and rosemary – and a sweet lover who would swing dance with her in the evenings and cook pasta and read poetry aloud. – Francesca Lia Block • So it’s Rosemary Clooney – Rosemary? Rosemary Clooney, right? The singer? Yes. Clooney, doing, singing, “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face,” which is, you know, really a love song, but what we see on stage is we see one puppet that’s got a ridiculous blonde wig on and she looks ridiculous, and next to her is a head that’s just a piece of fabric with a pretty face on it. – Brian Henson • The best advice I got from my aunt, the great singer Rosemary Clooney, and from my dad, who was a game show host and news anchor, was: don’t wake up at seventy years old sighing over what you should have tried. Just do it, be willing to fail, and at least you gave it a shot. That’s echoed for me all through the last few years. – George Clooney • The scent organ was playing a delightfully refreshing Herbal Capriccio – rippling arpeggios of thyme and lavender, of rosemary, basil, myrtle, tarragon; a series of daring modulations through the spice keys into ambergris; and a slow return through sandalwood, camphor, cedar and newmown hay (with occasional subtle touches of discord – a whiff of kidney pudding, the faintest suspicion of pig’s dung) back to the simple aromatics with which the piece began. The final blast of thyme died away; there was a round of applause; the lights went up. – Aldous Huxley • There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can. – Alice Hoffman • There’s rosemary and rue. These keep Seeming and savor all the winter long. Grace and remembrance be to you. – William Shakespeare • There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. – William Shakespeare • There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love, remember: and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts. There’s fennel for you, and columbines: — there ‘s rue for you; and here’s some for me: — we may call it, herb of grace o’Sundays: — you may wear your rue with a difference. — There’s a daisy: — I would give you some violets; but they withered all, when my father died: — They say, he made a good end. – William Shakespeare • With Rodham, for instance, it has to work on an emotional level. It has to work on a character level. If it’s only “Look, it has famous people,” then it’s a wax museum come to life and that’s really boring. It’s sort of like what they say about science fiction and horror where the really good ones, if you remove that element of it, it still has to work. That’s the reason The Shining works or Rosemary’s Baby or Blade Runner. – James Ponsoldt

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equitiesstocks · 5 years ago

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Rosemary Quotes

Official Website: Rosemary Quotes

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dominavontana · 6 years ago

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Wed Aug 15 #sexed @sugartheshop Sensual Bondage with Pervertibles

Perveritble: any common often domestic item that can be used for a different purpose other than that originally intended by the manufacturer in a style that is part of a BDSM or kinky play scene

Below are three separate blog posts because ain't no body got time for that...separate posting bullshit.

I just want to go play in the woods.

1. Sugar classes, when sex workers lose clients to death, and the amazing Domme I met

2. The post I promised you yesterday

3. Summary of the successful summer tour (and whatever shit I decide to write about along the way)

First up...SUGAR

Below is the post I promised you yesterday.

But before we get to that...please check out this bondageworkshop I’m teaching on August 15 in Baltimore at www.sugartheshop.com. Tickets are $25 and the classis 90 minutes, from 630 to 8. I always hang around til close because it’s fun and the teaching space is super gorgeous. The stores great too :) and they share the same space…

On a more personal/professional note, I’ve read about the grieving process particular to sex workers who loose long term clients. And now I am both proud and saddened to say I find myself for the first time at this place in my peculiar career. Both clients are regulars and souls that I genuinely enjoy, cleints who respect me and men I believe are a blessing to those who know and work with them, and especially those that may love them or call them family. Good people. I’m not sure what this chapter of my journey is going to have in store but I’m prepared to face it without fear or reservation, because as I see it? My job is to make every moment feel like life its self until the last moment the slave can retire to the great Master of us all, that quaking moment between here and forever.

Last Wednesday after my class at Sugar I attended the wake for the untimely end of the Baltimore Eagle and bumped into an amazing Domme with the verbal gymnastics of the best stand up can offer and she was dressed like a pin up doll, veil and all. And I wondered, why can’t we all be like that? When I discussed my style with her, professionally speaking, her replay was,

“Oh honey, you work so hard, that’s why they have to pay you for it.”

Such a siren with the sweet tongue was she that still I do not know if I am flattered, or being scolded.

I liked her. It’s a lonely sport, topping the top 1%.

One. More, Eclipse. This week. Then you can all breath but my ruler is gonna play hopscotch across my sky for the NEXT two months so I’m just gonna keep riding this ride and asking for patience because GD if I couldn’t slap a bitch on a day like today #PMSRealness B r e e e a t h e

See you on the 15th.

2. Yesterday's blog post is about domestic violence, the kind I have lived with most of my life until now, so I'm finally ready. Let's all take a deep breath.

DV stands for a lot for a lot of things. Not just my initials, Domina (D) Vontana (V), but also...domestic violence. This post is a coming out story. This is my emotional psychological and mental #metoo moment. I’ll never be capable of sharing the stories of my multiple sexual assaults. I’m too much of a scorpio for that shit. Last week I picked up a new pickup truck and it’s been glorious. I’ve started rapidly checking things off my to do list at the farm that have lingered for months, years even. And then finally today the clouds part, the sky clears and FOR FUCKING ONCE there is sun in the sky on a Saturday. If you live in the Mid Atlantic you appreciate what I know. For those of you who don’t let me say this - I arrived back from Asia the last week of April. I arrived at the farm the first week of May. It has rained. Every. God. Damn. Day. Since minus maaaybe...a total of 2 weeks. Today is one of those days that makes up those two weeks and so I took a nice long drive through the country in my new truck. And that’s when I realized...I haven't been yelled at by a man in a year and a half. That is a record in my recent history. And by recent I mean the past decade, at least. Because strong women get abused too. Honestly, I’ve often wondered if my abusers didn’t take more pleasure in hurting me BECAUSE I was a dominatrix. My father was a Pisces and a preacher. My mother was a Sagittarius and a musician. If you know your astrology your cringing right now, and probably laughing. Both my parents were trauma survivors. Especially my father. He was as queer as his daughter here and just as charismatic and beautiful. My mother was the codependent to his addict and as the eldest child and a daughter I was expected to perform the role of caretaker to both. And it sucked. It sucked every single day. There wasn’t a god damn day that went by that there wasn’t some potentially humiliating and or completely unjust situation to deal with while the world outside the window carried on like inside everything in my life wasn’t completely absurd, completely violent and completely religious, all at the same time. Mind fuck is not even the word. Oh and the cherry on this shit cake is that the context for all of this is rural, white America where everyone knows your name and your business. The only place to hide is literally, the corn fields. My parents did their best. I know this now. And it was not that great. I accept this now. And that is why for most of my adult life I have loved men who returned my love with vicious emotional and often violent attacks. Some of these men I am still friends with and they may read this and be upset at me and that’s a price I’m willing to pay because the very reason I haven't been screamed at in the past year and a half is because finally, finally...I am putting myself first everywhere in my life, not just in the dungeon. It is a choice who’s time had come and a choice that has made me more available to the people in my life, not less. If I hadn’t had the figurative and literal space of the dungeon to practice speaking up for myself and EXPECTING to be heard I would most certainly be less fulfilled than I am today. And today I am filled with all the things that make life worth living - love, friendship, passion, creativity, community and family. And I’m almost positive that the only reasons I’m coming up with this blog post now, at this moment, rather than any other I’ve contemplated revealing the truth of my struggle is probably the intense PMS I’ve experienced during the full lunar eclipse on my moon. So bare with me, babes. And what the actual fuck is my part in all of this? I stayed. I believed the lie that obligated me to fix these men. I honestly thought I could heal someone, all I lacked was resources. Then I found myself in a situation with limitless resources and it didn’t make a damn bit of difference - the addict stayed sick for a very long time. Long enough for me to finally skip country and fulfill my expat fantasies and also to finally quit my codependent habit. Now I am in control of my life in and out of the dungeon and no longer suffer fools in any area of my life. And for that every broken bone, every stint in the ER, every bruise and every scar is worth it because I am free at last. Psst. Come closer. I have another secret to tell you. The final reveal. Remember when they said it was scary out there in the real world and so maybe we closed our heart chakras to feel safe? Turns out that is a red flag for predators that sends them knocking at our doors. It was only after I took the chance and did the work that I found myself starting to attract the kind of people and experiences I had always longed for that’s why recently when I felt my heart trying to close again I reminded myself that THAT was NOT the path to security. My brother (biological): “Once a woman realizes she doesn’t need you? It’s over.” 3. Summer Tour Summary

This note is to tell you Mistress had a wonderful summer tour and will be taking the next week off to do even more fun stuff, the old fashion way - without social media.

Three a.m. and the gypsy finally rests, alone, on her bed. It’s been ten days and four states. At least 1,000 miles.

I.am. so. Blessed.

Several years ago I was up for a full ride to UNC so I moved to Chapel Hill. Thus began a period of restoration. My work is very demanding and there are few opportunities for training or mentorship. I left my vanilla life behind when I went pro out of necessity, not choice. This past week I visited the very people who gave me back my vanilla life.

It wasn’t until this week when I stepped back into the wooded paradise I called home for two years that I felt like I was finally back from Asia. That yard is where the Japanese Ume plum blossom first appeared in January and I didn’t even know what I was smelling, but it was fantastic. Fast forward four months it’s April and I was stepping off a plane in Tokyo with just a backpack. My dream to change my life yet again started in that yard, and it ended there. Last week.

Some people know what they want. I know what I don’t want. The path to perfection for me is a process of elimination, not acquisition. Turns out, I want less of myself and more of others. I want more experiences and less things. I want love. And beauty. And art. And laughter. And dialogue. And play. And I’m an introvert. So quality not quantity.

I’ve spent much of my life alone, in one form or another, often literally alone. I admit that part of this lifestyle is self sustaining for me, if not self serving. But all good things must come to an end. Now that I’m back my gypsy spirit has managed to work out a reasonable circuit: Baltimore, DC, rest at the farm, repeat.

So I’ll see you there (www.sugartheshop.com)

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

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How to Maximize Family Time? 13 Simple Ways You Can Try Immediately

Barbara Bush was wise when she said the following about having a meaningful existence in life:

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent.

The struggle to strike a good balance between family time and work time is real. This struggle can leave many with deep feelings of anguish and guilt. Am I spending enough time with my kids so that they feel secure in our relationship? Is our family time meaningful and considered quality time?

The good news is that there are solutions and tips you can implement today to strike a good balance between work and family time. Below are these tips for you so you can maximize your family time:

1. Make family events a priority

If you are not a life saving surgeon and currently on-call, then your work can likely wait. Most of us aren’t in the business of life saving. That gives us some legitimate flexibility in our off-work time. You don’t need to be tied to work 24-7.

When your kid has a little league game on a week night, then don’t work late that night. Make your family events a priority. Get there so you can be present in your child’s life. In order to be a good parent, it means you need to be there.

If you are working all the time, you are missing out on the family events that you can’t replace. Kids grow up fast and they don’t get to repeat their childhood.

That little league play off game may be the only time they make it to play offs. Their piano recital may be more than just showing their level of skill, it is their time to shine and show their parents how hard they have worked so that their parents can be proud.

Being present at family events shows your spouse or partner and children that you care. Love is shown in actions. Make sure your actions are showing love, by showing up for holidays, birthdays, family nights, and the kid’s games and performances. These things matter.

Even if they act like it doesn’t matter (like most teens will act), know that it does in the long run. They will remember that you showed up time and time again, that you put family in front of work and you make family your top life priority by being present.

Quality time is a wonderful thing but it is difficult to achieve without having quantity time. Make sure that you are spending time with your family so that you can develop deep relationships that are meant to last a lifetime.

Those relationships will be even more important when life hits rough patches for any of your family. Death, job loss, moves, etc…they all have a huge impact on your lives and you want your family to be the ones you can count on. Developing relationships, as the kids grow up, is what will help each of you when your lives hit rough times.

2. Schedule it on the calendar

We put our work stuff on the calendar because it is important. But what about family time, family events and kid’s activities? If you aren’t putting those things on your calendar, you may want to ask yourself why not?

If you value your family, then the activities that involve your family should be on your weekly schedule. Put in those ball games, ballet recitals, family date nights, holiday parties, and more.

You need to make sure you have time for your family. If your calendar is getting filled up with work stuff every week, then plan ahead. Find out your kid’s activities’ schedules when they start, as most of us get a schedule for the semester or year when they begin practice. Then take that schedule and put the important games or performances on your calendar so that time slot can’t be taken in the future because of a work obligation.

Making time for your family means making things a priority before they come up. Scheduling can be one of the biggest obstacles, so having things on the calendar well in advance should help you immensely.

3. Establish work boundaries

You need to be a team player at work, but you also need to be a team player for your family. Don’t allow your work to over-run your family time.

When you have family activities on the calendar, then be willing to speak up when you are asked to stay late for the third night in a row. Know your boundaries with your boss, so that you aren’t jeopardizing your job, but you also don’t want to minimize the value of your family and your time that you have scheduled.

This is why it becomes important to place the important activities on the calendar, so you know which nights are more important than others at a glance. If it’s not on the calendar, it becomes easy to forget until that date pops up.

Don’t allow your family to be trumped by your job when it doesn’t need to be that way.

4. Have a weekly scheduled no phone time

One of our good family friends is a CFO of the world’s largest property management companies. He is obviously a very busy guy. Yet he is purposeful about making family time on the weekends.

Every Saturday evening, he disconnects from his phone and does not reply to texts, emails, or phone calls (unless it is a true emergency). He does not reconnect with his phone and communications until Sunday evening, long after the kids have been tucked into bed. This allows for his focus to be devoted to his wife and children during those 24 hours.

He is present during the week as well, but he disconnects from his phone and other electronics for a full 24 hours once a week to dedicate his entire focus to his family.

What he does is a great example to all of us. What if we could dedicate 24 hours of the week to disconnect from our devices in order to reconnect with our families?

There are 52 weeks in the year. That would give us 52 days of true, 100% focus of what is most important to us, which is family.

We can work hard to provide for our families, but if we never connect, nor do we develop strong interpersonal connections, what is the point? Then our work and efforts are in vain.

Work hard for your family, but also play hard with them to make the time count.

5. Have purposeful family time

Make your time with family have purpose. If you are all at home, yet you are all in different rooms doing different activities, it doesn’t count as family time. The best kind of family time is when you are engaged with one another in an activity. This way meaningful discussions can take place.

Other options include side-by-side activities. Either help to create bonds and relationships within the family unit. The goal is time together, doing things together.

Being at the same place, but not together is not helpful to creating relationships. Therefore, if you go someplace outside the home, such as a museum or art gallery, make it a priority to stick together to experience things as a family.

Below are suggested activities for you and your family to do together. Create variety to make things interesting and fresh for everyone. Schedule these activities on your calendar, so that work doesn’t come up and take you away from your family time together:

Play board games

Go hiking

Do family yoga

Go indoor rock climbing

Pick a family movie to watch together

Visit a state park

Visit a national park

Go to a museum

Go to an outdoor concert

Go to a play

Take an art class

Go to a make-your-own pottery studio

Get manicures or pedicures

Check out local events in your community

Go fishing

Play a backyard sport like softball or soccer

Attend church

Go swimming

Rent a boat

Go camping even if it’s in your own backyard

Go biking

Go to a beach

Take a scenic drive

Go to a park

Go on a picnic

Play lawn games like croquet or badminton

Go to an art gallery

Plan and cook a meal together

Make holidays and birthdays a celebration

Read books aloud (especially great for families with smaller children)

Complete craft and art projects (there are at least a million ideas on Pinterest)

Go to a fair or theme park

Attend a craft fair

6. Don’t sweat the small stuff

Many times in life, we allow the small stuff to get the best of us. We get upset about things that won’t matter a year from now, or for that matter, even a week from now.

If it doesn’t matter in the long run, then let it go. Some things are not worth getting upset about which in turn get the rest of the family upset. Usually if one parent is upset, it creates an upset in the entire family. Don’t let your time together as a family get upset by things that shouldn’t.

A bad day at work? Leave it at work, don’t bring it home. A fight with a friend? Forget about it for now, and commit to have a conversation with the friend after your family time. Your teen is not completing their chores? Let them know they will do it after family time, but don’t guilt them so that it ruins your family time.

If it isn’t something that must be dealt with immediately, then don’t allow it to interrupt your family time. Chances are the problem will still be there and in the same condition when you get back to it later. Deal with emergencies, but let other stuff slide and get to it later.

Make your time and focus intentional on the family, rather than extraneous junk that can be dealt with later.

7. Make kindness and forgiveness a policy

It becomes difficult to have quality family time if there is arguing, anger, hostility, and other negative emotions going on between family members.

If you have serious issues that impede on family time habitually, then it’s time to get some family counseling. If it’s bickering, lack of forgiveness, and/or general lack of kindness, then a policy needs to be established so that family time is a time for everyone to get along.

Meanness or lack or kindness will not be tolerated. The example begins with the parents. Teach your kids by talking about kindness, but also by being an example of kindness to your fellow family members.

If things start getting unkind, then have a key word that helps family members remember that they are supposed to be kind to one another and not to bicker, argue, name call, or be unkind. Our family’s key word is muskrat. You can think of your own word and perhaps make it funny to lighten the mood when undesirable behavior does arise.

8. Make sure time away from work is time off

Are you taking your work home with you every night? Are you playing catch up after hours? Are you still returning work calls and emails after work? If this is your daily habit, then you may need to access your situation.

Can you begin to wean yourself from bringing home work and doing work activities after work hours? If you can’t stop cold turkey because the panic that rises inside you is too overwhelming, you can begin to wean yourself from afterhours work. This means you find ways to cut these things more slowly from your evening routine, so that you are giving more time and priority to your family in the evening.

If you are working tirelessly in your job and it is not humanly possible to get it all done during a normal working day, maybe it’s time to talk to your boss. Make sure you have legitimate examples and a breakdown of how your time at work is spent, so that they can see your point of view. Present it in a way that they can step into your shoes and see things from your perspective.

Not all bosses will understand, but there are also laws surrounding work hours and wage. If you aren’t certain if your employer is violating wage and hour laws, but you think there is likely a problem, then you can contact the US Department of Labor, Division of Wage and Hour via their free hotline at 1-888-487-9243.

9. Use family meetings for deep discussions

When tough topics come up, like setting rules and dates for family time together, make it a family meeting at the dinner table. Sit together and discuss things, free of electronic distractions, so that you can all understand one another and the goals.

When you say “family meeting time”, everyone should know that it’s time to gather around the dinner table for an important discussion. If you have never done this before, then you can call your first family meeting to discuss your plans to have weekly family time and come up with ideas together.

Our twins are only four years old and they are always included in the family meetings. These meetings can start at a young age, that way each family member knows that they are valued from a young age. Their opinion and inclusion in discussions is important, because they are part of the family, regardless of age.

10. Make the time enjoyable and not a punishment

Don’t ever use family time as a threat. Time together as a family should never be perceived as a punishment. If it is, your approach or the activities together are not right.

Find activities that everyone can enjoy to some extent. You will never find something everyone loves to do, but you can find activities that all will like to do. The goal is an enjoyable time together where you are bonding together through activities and interactions. The more face to face interactions the better. Games can be of great value because they require more immediate interaction.

Make your goal of family time to be enjoyable and fun, so that everyone looks forward to that time together. Include your children (especially the teens) in your discussion of how family time should be spent, so that you have an idea of what everyone finds enjoyable.

You will end up with great family memories because your family activities were a positive experience. You will also be forming bonds that will help strengthen family unity.

11. Be committed to regular family time

Making time for family shouldn’t just be reserved for birthdays and holidays. If those are your guidelines for defining family time, then you are missing out on the rest of the year.

Time with family should be a regular weekly commitment. If you want family ties and true family relationships, you need quantity time and not just quality time on the rare occasions.

Showing up for birthdays and holidays is simply not enough to make meaningful connections and deep relationships (ask any kid who has been in a divorced situation and only sees one parent on those special occasions). The relationships lack depth if everything is always on the surface level.

In order to develop relationships below the surface, time must be invested. Making a commitment to things like dinner as a family several nights a week can make a huge impact on family relationships in the long run. If you can’t all be home for dinner, think about other options that don’t take long periods of time, such as half hour family walks in the evening several days a week.

The time commitment isn’t huge, but doing it consistently is what makes an impact. You get to talk about what is happening to your kids throughout their week and not just highlights on the weekend when they may have forgotten about what happened during their week.

12. Family dinners are a wise investment of your time

If you can make one thing a priority in family time, it should be doing family dinners at least several times a week.

Michigan State University examined research studies about family dinners and found that kids from homes that did family dinners at least three times a week had better grades, were less likely to develop eating disorders, had better language development skills, and better health.[1] They also stated the following of importance:

Frequent family meals are associated with a lower risk of smoking, drinking and using drugs. Additional associations include lower incidence of depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts and better grades in 11 to 18 year olds.

Dinner time not only helps form relationships and meaningful conversations during the week, but also has overall benefits that affect the development of children and teens.

You have to eat meals anyway, so its something that won’t cost your family anything extra to do together. Don’t allow electronics to be a distraction at dinner time, keep them away from the dinner table to keep the attention on family conversations and interactions.

12. Put distractions aside

The biggest distractor from family time is the phone. If you have teens with smart phones, it becomes an easy distraction from family time, which means family relationships are being disrupted. The quality time needed to form meaningful relationships is non existent.

Make rules, for adults and minors to abide by when it comes to phones and other electronics. Make family time as distraction free as possible. They can check their email and texts after family time. If an emergency comes up, you will know it because the person will likely call repeatedly.

Everything else can wait until after family time. It likely will not affect your life, work, or social life if you have to pause your phone activities for a few hours. If you can have a basket in the house for everyone to place their phones during family time so that you all are completely distraction free, then you are truly winning!

Keep the devices away and you are likely keeping the distractions away, so that everyone can be present in mind and body during your family time together.

13. Make family time a judgement free zone

Life is hard enough. We get judgement from the rest of the world all day long. Time with family should be a safe haven from judgement.

Make a rule about passing judgement on one another when you are having family time. If there is a serious issue that needs addressing, call a family meeting to discuss the issue. Otherwise, let it be.

Let your family be themselves, warts and all, and let them know they are accepted and loved for just the way they are. Because isn’t that what family is supposed to be about?

At the end of your life

Friends tend to come and go, but the people who tend to stick the closest from birth to death are family. We don’t get to chose them, but we can make relationships stronger, closer, and more positive by implementing these above tips on creating positive family time together.

The bonds created when your children are small can last a lifetime. The key is making meaningful bonds and loving relationships that are built on positive experiences and quality time interacting together.

Time in the same home, yet never interacting makes you roommates. Doing activities together, having meaningful conversations, having quality weekly family times and doing life intertwined together makes you a family with bonds connecting you for a lifetime.

Kids go from zero to 18 quickly. If you are buried in your work, you may just miss out. Make family a priority today by choosing family time and getting it on everyone’s calendar right away.

Calling a family meeting is the best way to get the ball rolling. Don’t forget to ask your children what they would like to do for family time to get started on the right foot.

Featured photo credit: Unsplash via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]^Michigan State University: The value of family meal time

The post How to Maximize Family Time? 13 Simple Ways You Can Try Immediately appeared first on Lifehack.

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artlang-gr · 7 years ago

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Η Ελληνική “Proficiency Mania”

The Greek Proficiency Mania

When people come to Fullspate and confess that they are thinking of doing a proficiency exam in English we often tell them to sit down, take a deep breath and think again. In Greece, where we are based, hundreds of thousands of families are absolutely sure that their kids MUST get the proficiency. Little Nick and Maria down the road got the proficiency, so it becomes a matter of family pride to prove that their kids are just as good. Unfortunately, the chances are that these parents know almost nothing about either the content or the aims of the proficiency exam. Perhaps if they understood a bit more about the proficiency exam, and a bit more about how kids can improve their English, there wouldn't be this nationwide panic. (Hey! Shouldn't schools be doing more to inform parents?)

Let's not forget the aims of the proficiency exams. The new European framework for these exams states that language learners at this level (the top level - level 5) should be "approaching the linguistic competence of an educated native speaker." Let's put that in block capitals: APPROACHING THE LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE OF AN EDUCATED NATIVE SPEAKER. And by the way, we're not talking here about hip-hop, break dance, emo, iPod English. We're talking about the sophisticated English used in seminars and tutorials at university.

Similarly, the handbook for the Cambridge proficiency tells us that candidates should be able to handle abstract ideas and concepts in a mature way, and they should be able to "advise and talk about complex, sensitive or contentious issues, understanding colloquial references." Does that sound like you, or do you think you need to carry on with your general education a bit more before you attain that level of intellectual maturity?

In a nutshell:

1. If you want to teach English, your priority should be to do a degree in English at university. One of the proficiency-level (C2) certificates would be a useful addition to your portfolio, but still there is no need to rush things.

2. The certificate might be an essential qualification for a job, but if it is really necessary, you don't want to take the exam more than one or two years before you apply for the job. An employer that really wants you to be a fluent English speaker will not be satisfied with a ten-year-old certificate.

3. Should you try to run before you can walk? What's the big rush? Enjoy walking first, and when you feel confident you can start a gentle jog.

4. Use it or lose it. Unless you are going to do a degree in English or get a humble job in the office of an English firm at the age of 18 you are probably not going to use the language much until you finish university in your early 20's and then get your military service out of the way. By that time you will have forgotten so many of those lovely proficiency words and phrases that you spent so many long hours back in your teens trying to remember (words like "exacerbate", "ameliorate", "procrastinate", and "obfuscate"). Isn't it a shame to sacrifice so much of your youth learning stuff that you are going to forget before you really need it?

5. High school students in Greece are unbelievably overburdened with extra lessons in the evenings at what we call cramming schools (where they try to quickly cram as much information as possible into the very limited space between your ears). University students have much more free time, and because they should have a clearer idea of what they are actually going to do with their English they should be more motivated to sit down and learn the 50 or 60,000 words and phrases which top-notch proficiency candidates ought to know.

6. Where are the poets and the painters of modern Greece? If teenagers had more free time, it might be possible for a few more of them to discover that they have a talent for things like poetry and painting.

Does that mean I should just drop out of the cramming school and play more footy in the street with those guys my mum calls 'losers'? Definitely not. The point is not to turn your back on your education, but to find enjoyable things to do to maintain and improve your English language skills without worrying (before there is any real need) about exams that almost half the candidates will fail.

Fun stuff to do out of school

Instead of panicking to get the proficiency when you don't need it, our advice is: chill out. The overwhelming majority of kids in their mid-teens don't need anything more than the FCE with an A or a B or a clear pass in some other B2 exam like the ECCE. If you have a good B2 certificate in English at that age, you have all you need to start to understand and appreciate movies, lyrics, websites and books in English ON YOUR OWN. Find a subject you are interested in, like wargames, lovemetal, body art, bikes, web design or whatever, and start reading lots of stuff in English and finding places on the internet where people chat about that kind of stuff in English. Without doing a single multiple choice question your English will improve, and if you really do have to do another exam in the future it will be a piece of cake.

IELTS: the way forward

If you are really stubborn and insist on doing another exam now, we advise you to do the IELTS. This is the grooviest exam on the market at the moment. And what's one of the best things about it? Check this out: EVERYBODY GETS A CERTIFICATE. Each section begins with slightly easier questions and they become progressively harder. When you get your certificate it will give you a mark from 1 to 9. If you get a 7.5 or 8 you are on the same level as someone with the ECPE (or Cambridge CPE). And guess what: no grammar or vocabulary questions!!! They just check how good you are at doing the things you will actually have to do in real-life English-speaking situations: reading, writing, listening and speaking - which is exactly what you ought to have to do in a good test of English.

It is also worth noting that if you want to go to a British university they would prefer you to do the IELTS exam. Different departments will demand different scores depending on how good they think your English needs to be to do those particular courses. To do an engineering course you might only need a score of 6.5. To do psychology or philosophy, where you need to be more articulate, they would demand at least 7.5.

Bad proficiency results in Greece

Given its glorious past, the education results in Greece ought to be among the best in the world. However, in the EFL business at C2/proficiency level they definitely aren't. In 2009 while countries like Holland, South Africa, Italy, Poland, Ukrane, Sri Lanka and Latvia had 75% or more of their candidates pass the ECPE exam, in Greece only 56% passed (although Greeks can console themselves that they are better than the Vietnamese, of which only 53% passed, and the Turks, who got only 43% of their candidates through the ECPE). The results for the Cambridge CPE are slightly worse. In 2010 one in two candidates came away from that exam empty-handed.

Why the system in Greece has been failing

Costas Gabrielatos has written some very insightful articles about the poor performance of EFL candidates in Greece. Here we pick out a number of points he makes which we think are absolutely spot on.

Although it might be tempting to blame the results on the age of the candidates - saying they are too young - Costas reminds us that the fault lies elsewhere. The surprising fact is that 14- to 15-year-olds have a better success rate than older candidates. If age is not a factor, what is responsible for the failure rate?

A lack of preparation

One problem is that students simply haven't done enough preparatory work to bring them up to the required level. "In other words, most Greek learners sit for the CPE when they should be sitting for the CAE" (the advanced exam).

The exam-obsession syndrome

However, Costas gives less emphasis to the quantity of preparation than to its quality. There are some approaches to English language teaching in Greece which are misguided and which directly contribute to the failure of students. A major problem is the obsession with exam practice. Instead of concentrating first and foremost on improving the students' level of English, too many teachers waste far too much classroom time ploughing through countless practice tests. These teachers seem to believe that the more practice tests a student does, the more likely she is to succeed.

Costas advocates an alternative approach: a student's command of the language should be brought up to the required level before she begins intensive preparation for the exam. If a student is already a proficient user of the language, exam preparation will simply be a matter of becoming familiar with the tasks required, practising different approaches to tackling the exercises, identifying pitfalls and managing their time effectively.

The vocabulary list syndrome

Another dubious practice is the fixation with vocabulary lists. Words are readily taken out of context, put in lists with the translations to the right and set for homework. Insufficient attention is paid to collocations, fixed phrases and the kinds of examples of good usage that are the benchmark for more successful language-learners. We would add that the craze for companions in Greece is another symptom of this malaise - they divert the student's attention away from the way new items of vocabulary were used in the texts and dialogues that they have studied, and they discourage students from developing useful note taking skills.

The coursebook-as-Bible syndrome

The way coursebooks are used is another problem. Students are taken through books from cover to cover without much thought being given to the limitations of the books, their omissions or relevance to the students. As Costas points out, as a consequence "learners don't usually deal with topics or do tasks that are within their interests and needs; instead they are taken through a series of loosely related or even unrelated exercises."

The compartmentalisation syndrome

Costas also highlights what he calls the "compartmentalisation syndrome." "Learners do 'vocabulary' or 'listening' or 'speaking' as if those areas of language were unrelated. There seems to be little integration of the different aspects of the understanding and use of language."

Costas' conclusion is sobering. Assuming that the fault does not lie with an innate inability of Greek students to learn foreign languages well, there must be something wrong with what teachers and schools are doing. "Perhaps we would be wise to reassess our perception of exam preparation and language teaching/learning."

Πηγή: fullspate

#proficiency #english language #english #articles #άρθρα #news #νέα

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gpamoments · 7 years ago

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NGen NSFW Survey

When is the last time you’ve masturbated? Kylee: A couple of nights ago. I was texting Shane and things got a bit... interesting. The things he was saying along with the knowledge that he was probably doing the exact same thing as I was then and there was hotter than I would have expected. Brant: If you'd asked me this summer, the answer would have been surprising, but with Emma back at her sorority house, it was this morning. Just some plain old morning wood that I decided to take care of. Mia: Must have been a week ago or so. This week's been kinda crazy, I've been running around all day with school and work, and then falling asleep pretty much the moment my head hits the pillow. I'm not gonna lie, I could definitely use some action, but I'm not sure my fingers would do the trick when I'm really craving Matthew inside of me. Alexander: Like... ten minutes ago? I had a couple of close calls with boners at school today, so when I got home I was just like, might as well give it what it wants. Andrea: Well, I tried to last night, but then Heather came home drunk and kinda just barged into my room. Drunk Heather is not very perceptive. She climbed on top of the covers and talked for a solid ten minutes straight before she fell asleep in the middle of a sentence. The mood was kinda ruined after that. Sophia: It's actually been a little while. Seeing as I'm living with Scarlet now, whenever I start getting a little horny and she's not around, I still figure it's best to just wait until she gets home. She can get me off better than I can. Last time I could literally not wait though was probably something like three weeks ago. Gabrielle: Yesterday, after I got back from work. Mila was out so I figured I might as well make use of the empty room. I may have sent Sebastien a picture of two along the way. He seemed pretty appreciative. Eric: Last night. Ivy was out, and I was looking through some old pictures on my phone. Came across a few that just got me right up, so I took care of it. And when she got home later on, I took care of her.

If you could only have one type of sex for the rest of your life, what would you choose: oral, anal or vaginal? Kylee: Before I started having sex, I wouldn't have thought I would enjoy oral so much. Giving as much as receiving, too. But being with Shane... I've got to pick oral. Not because I know that's what he would pick, but I do know it is his favorite, and that just shows when he's going down on me. Like, obviously, any kind of sex we have tends to be amazing, but... they do say that people tend to be best at doing what they love. Besides, even when I try to take the lead, there's really no way to have control over him quite as easily as when I start blowing him. And that's always really fucking hot. Brant: Listen, I enjoy a good blow job just like the next guy, and Emma gives a mean one. But giving up just being able to fuck her hard in the pussy and pounding against her until she's screaming out? No. Can't do it. Mia: Vaginal seems like the most reasonable answer here. It's the most common. I don't really have any interest in anal, and oral only happens once in a while, a lot of times as foreplay, so picking either of those would probably result in a pretty sporadic sex life. Vaginal wins by default. Although I really do enjoy it a lot. Alexander: Okay, so, if we're talking the rest of my life here, obviously I've got to pick vaginal. I haven't met a single girl yet who's had any interest in trying anal, so that's way too risky a route to go. Oral's fucking good, and it would really suck to give it up, but that's also not something everyone in into a lot. I've got to keep my bases covered. Vaginal sex's the easiest guarantee that I'll hopefully be getting laid frequently. Andrea: I actually have a really hard time coming if I don't have something - fingers, a dick, a vibrator, whatever - inside of me. The orgasms I get from just clit stimulation are usually pretty weak and nothing compared to what it's like to be getting fucked. So vaginal really would be the best way to go for me. Sophia: I think I have to pick oral. Though I guess I come hardest when Scarlet has her fingers inside of her me, but still, I've got to have the feel of her tongue on me. I couldn't give that up, and I couldn't give up being able to get her off so good by eating her out, either. Gabrielle: There's something to be said for all three, but honestly, I couldn't give up a good fuck in favor of someone eating me out or taking me in the ass. Like, neither of those are things that you can just do with anyone and trust that they'll know what they're doing, but even if the guy is a total asshat who doesn't know what to do with his dick, I know what to do with it, so I can get myself off by taking over and just making sure he stays inside of me. Eric: Okay, if you knew how good Ivy is at anything she does, you would understand how fucking hard this question is. I'd probably have an easier time if you asked me to pick between my mom and my dad. But if there was actually a scenario where I had to pick, like, probably being held at gunpoint or something, I'd probably go with vaginal, because as much as I love going down on her or her going down on me, we do vaginal sex the most often. And although they say quality matters more than quantity, there's nothing lacking in the quality of vaginal sex with Ivy, so in this case I'm getting both.

Do you like it when your partner is the dominant one in bed or do you prefer leading things? Kylee: I do have a preference with Shane being more in control. Although, I don't know that I would call it dominant necessarily, as much as taking the lead. Like, just because he's the one starting things up, or the one on top, I don't really see that as him being dominant because it doesn't necessarily equal me being submissive, you know? But even in that vein of thought... definitely him being dominant. Brant: I like to think Emma and I have a pretty good balance of taking the lead, and she is fucking hot when she takes control. But at the same time, she is also really fucking hot when I'm in charge and pounding away at her. There's nothing quite like knowing she needs a few minutes before she can actually move again once I'm done with her. Mia: I usually take the lead, although that's not necessarily a personal preference as much as just... how it is. It's kinda hard to imagine Matthew as being dominant, if I'm entirely honest. He's always so caring and cautious, which is obviously a good thing, but it just doesn't really mesh well with the idea of him taking charge. Alexander: Depends on who the partner is. Some girls are hotter when they're being taken care of, and some girls are hotter when they're in charge. It really depends on what they prefer, honestly, because if they're having a great time, then I'm having a great time, and everyone wins. That being said, when I'm daydreaming about having sex with Kalena, she is definitely in charge. Andrea: I do enjoy leading things sometimes, just to kinda get it all moving along if it's not going as fast as I want it to me. But I much prefer when Zane's the one in charge. Sometimes I actually wouldn't mind if he took the whole dominating thing a bit more to heart, if you know what I mean. Sophia: I've always preferred leading things in general, but with Scarlet... she's definitely got the upper hand on me. And I can't say that I mind. There's something so incredibly hot to the way she gets when she wants to get down to business, and she does what needs to be done to get us to that point. Gabrielle: In general, I prefer leading, because a lot of my sexual encounters are with new partners, and the only way of knowing for sure that I can get what I want out of him is to take control. That being said, if a guy has this kinda powerful, dominant vibe to him and he's been doing good with the foreplay, I'm more than happy to let him take charge. Eric: During foreplay, I much prefer Ivy being in charge, because she is always so fucking hot when she's trying to get me painfully hard, taking things slow, touching herself, touching me. She's got the whole temptress routine down to an art. When we start fucking though? I prefer being in control, because then it's my turn to make her beg for more.

Who did you lose your virginity to? What was the experience like? Kylee: Shane was the first person I had sex with. Well, he was the first person I did a lot of things with. Anyway, it was pretty much everything I could have wanted it to be. He was amazing, he made sure I was as ready as I could be, he took things slow when he needed to and then it was like he could read my mind once I started needing more. Must be all those years of practice with twin telepathy. Brant: I had sex for the first time in my sophomore year of high school. The girl, Mona, was a year older than me, and it was after homecoming. She lead me behind the bleachers after the football game, and we made out for a while. Once it was dark and everyone had left, she started taking her clothes off, which after all the kissing that'd been going on, got me hard pretty instantly. She laid me back on the ground and just started riding me. It was kinda weird, because every once in a while, she'd stop and start talking about the most random, boring stuff. I figure she was probably trying to get me to last longer, but at some point she literally made me lose my boner. We still somehow managed to finish, but yeah, there was no repeat. Mia: I lost my virginity to Matthew. It wasn't our best time, obviously, because we were both new at it, and he did finish before I did. He did make sure I got an orgasm out of it, so I really have nothing to complain about. It was nice to just get to explore another way to be close to one another. Alexander: So, this one girl, Nadine, right, she just walks up to me while we're at a gathering. And you know, we're made out a couple of times before, we've been kinda flirting on and off. And she tells me she wants to ask me something, so she pulls me over to the nearest bathroom, and there's nobody around so she just pushes me inside and locks the door. And then she gets down on her knees and starts blowing me, and I'm like, this is fucking great, right? And once I'm good and hard she just hops up on the counter and pulls a condom out of her bra and tells me she wants me to be her first. And who am I to say no, so I push her dress up and I go down on her for a bit cause I'm a gentleman, and then whe she's like, dripping all over my chin, I get the condom on and I try to take it slow cause she's literally just told me I'm her first. And then she starts throwing up. Turns out she was high on some sort of shit pills, but like, having messed around with her before, it affected zero of her behavior, til she started puking anyhow. So that cut that short, and I felt like a dick for not realizing. Gatherings are fucking messed up, man. Andrea: I had sex for the first time when I was a junior in high school, toward the end of the year. I'd been dating the guy, Tony, for a few months, and he'd been asking me to have sex for several weeks by then. One night I was hanging out at his place and he told me his parents weren't gonna be home til late, and he started running his hand up between my legs, and I just kinda went along with it. It was... I mean, it wasn't terrible. I didn't cry or anything, but it did hurt. I didn't come, and to give him credit he did sorta try to get me off after he was done, but it was pretty easy to tell he wasn't into it so I just told him not to worry about it. Sophia: I had sex for the first time with a girl at military school when I was a junior. Her name was Katie, and I guess we were sort of dating, though she didn't want people to know. We were making out and she said she wanted to touch me, so I let her. She got me off with her fingers, and it was okay. Then she asked me if I wanted to go down on her, and I figured I might as well. It honestly wouldn't have been a very memorable encounter if it hadn't been the first. Gabrielle: I was a sophomore in high school, and I lost my virginity to a guy named Warren. He was a senior, but he was also an actor, and at some point he came into the theater while I was using the stage to practice. He was really hot, and he started flirting with me, so obviously I flirted back. He asked if I wanted to help him run some lines, because his scene partner was sick, and he'd been looking for a fellow actor to help him out. I said yes and he took me back to his dorm room. We ran lines for all of fives minutes before he started kissing me, and then he put his hand under my shirt and pushed his erection into me and I felt a little light headed because I didn't really know what to do. I just kept kissing him though because... I don't know, I figured it wasn't that big a deal that his hand was on my chest and his dick was hard against my thigh. He was still hot and a great kisser. Then his hand moved away from my chest and down under my skirt, and I wasn't too sure about that one but it felt kinda nice when he put his fingers on me. And then after a couple of minutes of that, he started undoing his pants and grabbed my hand so he could put it on his dick, and I didn't really know what to do, but I started touching him too, and I figured he'd go back to touching me, but instead he reached over to his bedside table for something, and then he moved my hand off of him and I was a bit confused cause I didn't know if it was because I'd been doing it wrong. I really don't know why I didn't know then what he was doing, because now it seems so obvious, but even when he reached to pull my underwear down and push my skirt up, I had no idea he was going to push his dick inside of me next. And then I just didn't know what I was supposed to do, because he was still kissing me but it was more... forceful then, and he was just really heavy on top of me, and it was kinda painful, so I just laid there and he was done in about five minutes. He moved off of me and I pulled my underwear back up and left. Eric: I lost my virginity to Ivy, and like, it obviously doesn't figure in our top best performances, but I still wouldn't change a single thing about it. It was incredible to be that close to her for the first time, and I don't think I'll ever forget what it felt like, seeing for the first time the look on her face as she orgasmed, and feeling her clench around me. Like, I was done pretty quickly, but so was she, so it all worked out.

Describe a sexual fantasy you would like to fulfill someday. Kylee: I'd like to get Shane off while he's like... talking to someone on the phone, or filming a vlog live. Like, go down on him after I make sure the framing is high enough that people wouldn't see me, and he just has to act like this isn't happening and all the while he just wants to swear or push me up against a wall and take me. And then just try to see how far I can push him until he just can't handle it anymore. Brant: I'd be into the idea of having sex somewhere you're not supposed to be. Like, not just public sex entirely, but like... at school, for example. Just pull her into the first empty classroom with an unlocked door. A janitor's closet at a mall, an empty office in any building. Just somewhere that's off limits and then you just go at it and you have no idea how long you have, cause someone could be coming in at any time, but you want the other person so bad you don't give a fuck. Mia: I guess it's a bit more mellow, but I'd just like to get Matthew to the point where he has no more control over his actions and he just has to take charge. Like, he doesn't have to be rough at it, I don't particularly care about roughness and I'm sure he'd probably feel badly about it afterward anyway. But maybe just... going into the garage while he's working on a car, and his clothes are kinda dirty and his hands have oil on them, and then I just start pressing my body against his, and I tell him things to get him thinking about taking me, but I never make a move to actually do anything. I just keep talking and I tease him a bit until he can't help himself anymore and he has to pin me against the hood of the car and take me then and there. Alexander: I'd actually really be into the idea of doing something at a gathering, minus the whole fuck up that happened last time. Like, you're just flirting it up with a girl, and then she makes some kind of comment you just can't ignore, so you go in search of a private spot. And obviously you're not supposed to be there, and you can't be gone too long because people would start noticing and wondering where you've gone, so you have to make it fast. Andrea: So, I wouldn't mind if at some point Zane decided to be a bit more forceful with me. Like, I'm not really into the idea of a lot of pain exactly, but just a bit of rough handling, just seeing him with no restraint at all as he just has his way with me, it would be a huge turn on, and if it makes me a bit sore in the morning, then so be it. Maybe a bit of bossing around, too. I guess I'd just like to see him in a more dominating position. Sophia: Nothing really groundbreaking I'm sure, but I'd like to get Scarlet tied up and blindfolded, and then just tease and taunt her for however long I feel like, even if she's dripping and begging, just keep getting her more and more riled up, until I decide I'm good and ready to fuck her. Gabrielle: I'd like to have sex on a stage. Not like... with an audience, but just be on the stage and start kissing and then the clothes come off, and then we start fucking, and when we started off it was just us, but we know the door's unlocked and if someone wants to come in, they could. And if they do, we don't know that they're there, but at the same time we don't know that they're not there, cause we're not paying attention, and either way is just as likely. Eric: I mean, we already kinda did the sex in public thing, but it was in a place that being caught was mostly unlikely, or if we were heard we weren't seen. I wouldn't mind being even more... public. Like, not necessarily in the middle of a park in daylight, where everyone and anyone can walk by and see, cause that's kinda rude since not everyone wants to see that. But just be somewhere that people who want to watch could. That'd be kinda hot.

Your last sexual encounter: Good or bad, and why? Kylee: It was... really good. Like... we had sex twice that day, and both times were so different. We went out for my birthday and then things just got kind of heated, and we ended up having sex in the car on a side road in the middle of nowhere, and it was exciting and really hot. And then, a little bit later, he took me home, and then I found the birthday card he left in my bag, and I just... had to go back to him. Not even for sex, just because I couldn't not be with him at that point, but we did end up having sex. And it was actually kinda different than usual, it was slower and quieter, mostly because his parents were home, but also it was just like... a lot more emotionally charged. Brant: So, it started off good, and we were going at it pretty intensely, because that's usually where we get to, and Emma was on top of me this time. She was riding me like nobody's business which was great, and we were perfectly in sync, and then somehow, I'm not really sure how, the combination of my thrusting up and her hips rolling and just how quickly we were moving and all kinda made me shoot up the bed and I hit my head against the headboard pretty hard. I didn't black out or anything, but we had to stop for a bit, and even when we started things back up we took it a bit slower. Mia: It was good. Like, your average kind of good. Nothing particularly special to it, but having sex with Matthew is always enjoyable. Just getting to be close to him in that way makes me feel like anything bad that might have happened earlier that day doesn't matter, so I was just happy to get to be with him, feel him everywhere. Alexander: Not so great. Like... nothing bad or weird happened or anything, we just weren't into it for some reason. We couldn't really fall into rhythm together, and after about thirty minutes of it neither of us had come and she said maybe we should stop. And I was actually more than okay with that. So we just ended up getting our clothes back on and that was it. Andrea: I'm pretty sure I've yet to have bad sex with Zane. Like, no, not every time is mind blowing, but it's always at least good. And last time was actually pretty mind blowing. With both of us having school and work, plus his doing clinicals and my volunteer work at the clinic, it was the first time we had sex in a little over a week. Which, is actually pretty rare. It took us all of five minutes after he'd walked through the door to be naked and touching each other in my bedroom. Sophia: Well, the last time Scarlet and I had sex was actually really lazy sex. We were both kinda tired but we still started kissing in bed, and then we just sort of started touching each other, but the energy was a bit more of the low side. So we just got a vibrator out and took turns getting each other off, and it was over pretty quickly. So, nothing super amazing, but it was still nice. Gabrielle: It was really good. Like, it's not really common for me to have sex with the same person more than a couple of times. Mind you, it's not exactly common for me to actually hang out with the people I have sex with either, but that's beside the point. Anyway, I went over to Sebastien's place and we just started messing around in his bedroom, and we both got good and horny, and he took the lead this time, and man does he know what he's doing. Eric: It was great, which really it generally is. I was already really turned on, then Ivy came home and it didn't take her long to catch up with me. I had her pinned to the wall in .5 seconds, my hand up her skirt and my lips on her neck, and at some point we somehow ended up on the floor, and fuck if I cared.

What is the fastest way to make you horny? Kylee: When Shane starts kissing my neck and his fingers are just barely slipping past the waistband of my pants, and then he's just telling me in that low, taunting voice what he wants to do to me... honestly, at that point I'd just let him do anything he wanted to me. Brant: When a girl starts rubbing herself against my groin. Like, either we're spooning and she moves her ass to rub it against my dick, or when she's grinding herself against me. Gets me hard in the blink of an eye, pretty much. Mia: Actually, seeing Matthew get turned on is probably what turns me on the most. When his eyes get kinda dark and clouded and he starts absentmindedly clenching his fingers and I can tell he wants me, that gets me going really fast. Alexander: Girls who are powerful and comfortable in their sexuality get me really hard. Like, when a girl knows what she wants and does what she needs to to get it? Man, that's hot. Andrea: Anything that's like... passion driven. Being pushed against something, getting picked up, getting pushed back on a bed or sat on a table or whatever. Just whatever action that makes it obvious that the guy wants me and is in a hurry to get close to me, that gets me really horny. Sophia: When Scarlet's hands are running along my body and then she pushes her knee up between my legs while she's kissing my neck, it usually does the trick pretty well. Gabrielle: When someone tangles their hand in my hair and pulls at it a bit, it makes my knees go weak. My head and hair's always been a bit of a weak spot. But now it's so long that I usually keep it up or in a braid, so it's not quite as easy for someone to actually properly tangle their fingers into it. Eric: So, when Ivy starts talking in a whispery, purry kind of voice, and then she starts running her hands along her body to make me want her, I get rock hard pretty instantly.

Have you ever seen someone masturbate or have sex with their permission? Kylee: I haven't. I don't know that I'd want to watch other people have sex, like... okay, porn is one thing, but people you might know? Not really. I wouldn't be against Shane getting himself off in front of me though, but somehow I don't think it would happen. At least not to completion - I would definitely take over before it got to that point. Brant: One of my exes was really into the whole... you can watch but you can't touch, type of foreplay. It was pretty hot, although sometimes she would get herself off and then not be in the mood anymore, which you know, is completely fine if getting yourself off for someone else is all you want to be doing, but doesn't work quite so great as foreplay. Mia: No. I can see where the interest comes from though, but at the same time... if Matthew is there and he's turned on, I'd rather take care of it for him than have him take care of himself, you know? Even if it would be kinda hot to see how he gets himself off. Alexander: I have unfortunately not. I've pictured it, a lot. And like a lot of teenagers, a lot of my data goes to looking up porn on Tumblr. But like, someone actually having sex right in front of me, or getting themselves off for me? Has not happened. I'm so open to the idea though. Andrea: Once, a guy I was starting to see started masturbating in front of me. Well, he actually asked me to do it for him, and I told him he'd have to get me turned on if he wanted that to happen. It was... not exactly what you could call hot. So I decided to just cut the chase and tell him I'd rather just have sex instead. Sophia: Well, not directly in front of me, but Scarlet has sent me videos several times of her touching herself, and it is beyond hot. I wouldn't mind her doing the same while I'm actually in the room to watch her, but realistically I know I wouldn't let her finish. Gabrielle: I mean, I've been involved in a threesome, so I guess in a way that would count? Since the other two people were technically having sex with each other as well as with me. I'm not gonna lie, I don't remember much of it though. I've also had a couple of hook ups send me videos of themselves while masturbating. It requires a lot more technical skills than you would think, because for the most part the camera was kinda pointing right above their groin, so there wasn't much to be seen. Eric: Well, Ivy often touches herself in front of me to get me going, especially when I'm in a position where I can't touch her. Generally it's just foreplay though, so she doesn't make herself orgasm from it. But I did once watch her get herself off the whole way through. It was fucking hot, and thankfully, she wasn't too sensitive that I couldn't take her after she was done.

Do you like rough sex or intimate sex better? Kylee: I think there's a good time for either kind, and so it really depends on the moment as to figuring out which I prefer. But if I go by which happens most often... I'd have to say rough. Not to the point of being painful or leaving marks, exactly, but I do enjoy when Shane gets so turned on that he starts fumbling with my clothes a little because he's in such a hurry to get them off, and then he just takes me and makes everything feel so incredible. Brant: Rough, for sure. And man am I lucky that Emma is on board with it, because having sex with her is really something else. Sometimes I'll be pounding into her and all you can hear is the sound of skin smacking against skin, and she'll still be asking for more, and at that point it's almost like I have no more control over my body. Mia: I do enjoy intimate sex, but I wouldn't mind if things got a bit more rough once in a while. I guess it's hard to really answer properly because I don't think I could describe any time Matthew and I have had sex together as rough, and you can't really know how much you'd enjoy something if you haven't tried it. The idea seems really good to me, but there's no saying it'd actually be as good as I think it might be if we actually gave it a try. Alexander: Okay, so, rough is amazing, because it's just that point where two people are so goddamn needy of each other that they just can't take it slow. That being said, I get much, much better reactions out of girls when I take it more on the slow side, and get them to the point of begging because they can't handle it anymore and they just want me to fuck them. Andrea: It honestly depends on the mood. There's something to be gained from both, because I really do enjoy when things get a bit more on the rough side, and I wouldn't mind it happening more often, for Zane to just be so needy of me that he has to push me against whatever's the closest surface he can find and have his way with me. At the same time, there's something so incredible to intimate sex, to someone just taking in every inch of you, making sure they memorize all of your body, and press as close as they possibly can. It makes me feel loved a lot more than rough sex does. Sophia: I enjoy both, but if I had to pick... I'd probably go with intimate. I just like being able to take my time exploring all of Scarlet's body, running my fingers along her thighs and my tongue down her belly. Kissing her neck and licking her collarbone and eating her out nice and slow, and getting her close to coming a couple of times and then moving away to let the tension drop back down a little bit before starting all over again. Basically getting her so desperate and needy and dripping, that she's practically wailing by the time she finally does orgasms. Gabrielle: I don't really do intimate sex. I'd rather go fast and hard any day. Like, rough doesn't have to be too rough, it can just be heated and lustful, and you're just moving against each other so hard and good and you kinda can't figure out if your chest feels tight because it's so damn great or because you just forgot to take a breath. I don't really think I could get those sensations from taking it slow. Eric: When the mood is proper for it, I really do love taking things slow with Ivy, because just taking the time to kiss every single bit of her is amazing. But then, so is getting her so fucking wet that she throws me down on the bed and rides me until she's coming so hard that her head falls back and her nails dig into my chest, and then I flip us over and pound into her until she's crying out and practically passes out from the pleasure.

Have you ever sent someone a picture or video of you in the nude? Did it include sexual actions? Kylee: Not yet, but I'm not entirely opposed to the idea. To be fair, I wouldn't have had anyone to send it to before Shane. For now I've mostly just sent suggestive pictures though. He still seems pretty appreciative. But I figure if he wants to see me naked, it's a quick drive over. Brant: I have, usually in response to either being asked for it, or to receiving something first. Like, when Emma sends me stuff, it just seems like the polite thing to let her know just how turned on she makes me. Mia: I've sent a couple of topless shots to Matthew, but that's about it. I'm not really interested in sending an actual video, and trying to get my entire naked body in one picture seems like it would require a slightly odd angle. Alexander: I've gotten more than I've sent, if I'm entirely honest, but then, it's not like guys' naked bodies photograph as well as girls' naked bodies. Usually if I send something, it's more of a bulge pic than anything else. Andrea: I have, a couple of times. Though I usually use my better judgement as to how much nudity is involved. Like, when my highschool boyfriend asked for a naked picture, I sent him something that didn't actually show off anything because I was naked but covering myself up. Turned out to be a good thing because I know for a fact he showed it to some of his friends. I would be up to sending Zane some stuff, but it just hasn't happened yet. Sophia: I have, mostly because Scarlet sends me a very generous amount and it would seem unfair not to reciprocate once in a while. I'm nowhere near as good at it, or as creative, as she is though. Not that she complains. Gabrielle: Many times, but I've been a lot more careful about it since I accidentally sent one to my dad. That'll make you think twice before hitting send for the rest of your life, let me tell you. Usually it's just pictures though, but I've sent videos a couple of times. Eric: I admittedly rarely volunteer a nude shot, but if Ivy asks for something, I don't usually tell her no. Like when she was visiting her family in Spain last summer, and she asked me to show her how much I missed her, so I took a video of me jerking off and I sent it to her.

Do you like dirty talk? Kylee: I mean, we haven't done a whole lot of it so it's hard to tell. I love it when Shane tells me what he wants to do to me, or asks me to tell him what I want him to do to me, but I don't know if that's really dirty talk exactly. I feel like dirty talk also refers to a certain way of language, even if it doesn't go as far as insulting someone else, and that hasn't really happened yet. I can't say I'm entirely against the idea, but who knows how I'd really feel about it if we did try it. And even if I did turn out enjoying it, I'm pretty sure it would be more of a once in a while kind of thing. Brant: I'm not that great at it, if I'm entirely honest. Listen, I put a lot of my focus on making sure I'm fucking a girl hard and good - if that's how she likes it, obviously, which Emma does - and sometimes that takes a certain amount of concentration in itself to make sure it doesn't cross the line between just the right amount and too much. Sometimes I'll tell Emma how amazing she is and how much she turns me on, but that's about it. Mia: I mean, it depends on what aspects of it. I have no interest in being called a slut in the middle of sex, regardless of what the mood is. Now, talking about what you want to do to someone, asking them how badly they want you to touch them and not giving them anything until they give an answer... that I can go with. Alexander: I'm a pretty big fan of dirty talk, but it's one of those things you have to know how to use, and usually you have to use it with moderation. Like, you can't just be throwing words out the whole time you're having sex with someone. It has to be timed well. And it's not for everybody either so it's like, you have to be able to read a person well enough to use it. Andrea: More or less. I like being told that I'm hot as much as the next person, but I'm more into actions than words. I'd rather Zane show me how much he wants to take me than tell me, and I'd much rather be able to feel the urgency in the way he's touching and fucking me than it the way he talks about it. Sophia: I do sometimes. Usually only as foreplay though, because it's hard to talk dirty and eat someone out at the same time. I mean, it's doable, but you have to be in a certain mood for it. I know it's a big turn on for Scarlet though, so I try to take advantage of that when I can. Gabrielle: Only if the person doing it is really, really good at it. Like, sometimes someone says they want to dirty talk when really what they're saying is, they want you to tell them how big their dick is and how great they are at fucking you. And sometimes you can really tell that someone learned their dirty talk from bad porn. Kills the mood pretty fast. If someone does it right though, it can be really good. Eric: I love dirty talk, and I love it on either ends of the spectrum. Like, it's a little less common to get into the more raunchy end of it, because the mood has to be a certain way for Ivy to enjoy that, but usually I'm pretty good at reading the situation and knowing what she wants to hear and when she wants to hear it. Also, knowing if she'll be up to responding in sorts, since that's a big part of it.

What kind of underwear do you usually wear? Kylee: I have a pretty wide variety. I've got the not very flattering period underwear, I have some sensible and comfortable cotton blend underwear for days when I know I'll be more active. I have your typical kinda girly but still comfy boyshorts and bikini cuts, which are more for every day wear. And then when I know I'm gonna get laid, or want to get laid that day, I've got some more lacy or satiny underwear and a few thongs as well. Though sometimes on those days I don't wear anything at all. Brant: I usually go for boxer briefs. I think it's mostly because that's what I've grown up wearing. I've never given much thought to why. Mia: Most of the time, I just wear cotton blend bikini cut underwear, because that's what's most comfortable for me. I also have a few pairs of boyshorts, and a couple of nicer looking underwear. Alexander: I've got some boxers and some boxer briefs, but most of the time I wear boxer briefs cause boxers can look a bit too bulky under dress pants and since that's what I gotta wear to school... Andrea: I have my work out underwear, which is very breathable and fits perfectly, and I have some pairs that are mostly for comfort that I usually wear during clinicals and the likes. But I do also have some nicer looking underwear that I wear on a day to day business, because I do like knowing that I look nice under my clothes. Sophia: I mostly have comfortable and sensible underwear. I've tried to incorporate some more... sexy options since I started dating Scarlet, but I just don't find it comfortable. Usually I only put it on if I know she'll be taking it off soon. Gabrielle: I like cute or sexy underwear, most of the time. I've got some that's a bit more based on comfort, but most of what I own usually has some lace on it. I've got some thongs and some crotchless, though most of them are bikini cut. Usually solid colors, too, I'm not too big on patterns on my underwear. Eric: Boxer briefs. They're what's most comfortable, support wise, and also, I just find that they look better than both boxers and briefs.

What does your favorite foreplay include? Kylee: I mean, the best foreplay for me involves getting Shane turned on to the point where he just has to have me or he'll go crazy. So usually, it includes going down on him because nothing turns him on like oral, although sometimes it's tricky because I just love having that kind of power over him so much that I don't always stop in time... and then we just have to start over. Which, I mean, isn't a bad thing. Brant: Foreplay tends to be over fairly quick between me and Emma, though I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, because by the time we start having sex we're obviously both more than ready to go. But the best part is always when I get her naked and I push a couple of fingers inside of her and she's already so wet, and then she's rubbing at me and I just gotta have her. Mia: The usual, I guess? Like, we'll be kissing, most of the time I'm sitting on him so I'll grind against him, and then I feel him getting hard and that's probably the best part of it. Just knowing how everything I do gets him harder and harder is a big turn on. Alexander: I like hitting all my targets, get the girl squirming on my lap - which usually helps in itself, cause it's a bit of a sensitive area. But you know, kiss her neck, lick her earlobe, suck on her nipples, finger her for a bit. Getting a girl soaking is what gets me the hardest. Well, that and a blowjob. Andrea: My favorite foreplay usually involves a lot of exploration. Just getting to kiss and touch every single sensitive spot on Zane's body, and have him do the same. Make out while taking his clothes off, then start kissing down his chest, slow down as I get to his stomach, just take my sweet time before I actually take him into my mouth, and by then he's usually already pretty hard. And then have him do the same to me until we both just gotta have each other. Sophia: Usually a lot of making out, neck kissing, talking a little bit too. Mostly I try to get Scarlet as soaking wet as I possibly can just by not touching her where she wants me to, and it usually works pretty well just by sucking at her neck and rolling her nipples between my fingers, and bringing her body flush against my own so that our legs are all tangled together and she's kinda trying to grind herself against my thigh. Gabrielle: I admittedly don't usually do a lot of foreplay. I mean, most of the time it's not really needed, because if I'm going home with someone, it's because I'm already pretty horny, especially if it's been a while since the last time I got laid. So usually it's over pretty quick. Making out for a bit, take the clothes off, do a bit of fondling, and then you're good to go. Eric: My favorite foreplay includes spending a lot of time on Ivy's boobs. I figure I gotta show her just how appreciative I am of them. Also, when she starts grinding herself against me... and you know she's doing it to get me hard, but I can tell it's getting her wet too. That's just the hottest.

What part of the body is the sexiest? Kylee: I do like a nice set of strong shoulders. Like, some that you can grip on while he's taking you and you're kinda starting to lose it. Brant: I'm an ass guy, one hundred percent. Like, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of very nice parts to a girl's body, but the moment a girl's wearing a nice tight pair of pants or skirt or whatever that shows off her ass, I'm into it. And if she's bending over and sticking it up in the air, I want it. Mia: There's something about hands that's really sexy to me. Like, working hands, hands that aren't afraid to get dirty. Hands that just know how to run all over your body to get you shaking with need. Alexander: I'm a pretty big fan of breasts, I've gotta say. There's just so many ways to make boobs look good. Like, wearing a tight top, or having some nice cleavage, or a sexy bra, or nothing at all. Boobs just look good pretty much all the time, and kissing them and fondling them is the best. Andrea: I think arms are really sexy. Like, a nice pair of arms that's got just enough muscle mass, not too much, but that can still pick you up to press you against a wall or set you on the counter. Arms that feel nice when you're gripping at them. Sophia: I do like nice legs. They don't necessarily have to be very long, just well defined usually does the trick. Like, Scarlet's pretty short, but whenever she wears heels - which is pretty much all the time - her legs just look amazing. And between her legs is my favorite place to be, so it kinda goes hand in hand for that. Gabrielle: I mean, there's something pretty sexy about a nicely defined set of abs. Just being able to run your fingers along it and feel every single muscle line. And they're not bad on the eyes, either. Eric: I like every single part of Ivy's body, but have you seen her boobs? They are amazing. They're nice and round and firm and the best part about them is how sensitive they are. And man does she know how to show them off, too.

#survey #Kylee Emerson #Brant Sadler #Mia Chase #Alexander Mitts #Andrea Parker #Sophia Emerson #Gabrielle Russo #Eric Clarke

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