#when I would teach them dante over google meet

[keyboardthenerd]

DMC OC Week 2022: Day 2 - Cast Connections (and more!) Part 1

So! Uh... I said "so" four times on the last post.

I can't think of a better way to start this post without saying "so" more. Please help.

Roman Eques Laurel: Son of the Legendary Devil Hunter

Roman is Dante’s son. Born from a one-night-stand. Edora is their biological mother. She and Dante met only once, and it was on that day, and never again.

Roman’s relationship with their father starts out with complete ignorance. Roman was never made aware of who exactly their father was or from whom their demonic heritage originated, so when they’re accidentally spotted trespassing and lurking among the Order of The Sword ruins around the edges of Fortuna, their initial interactions are full of hostility. Roman has never even heard of this “Legendary Devil Hunter”, so why should they care what he thinks of them?

Upon meeting Roman, evening just after their first encounter, Dante begins to feel a deep guilt wash over him. He imagines that it’s quite similar to how Vergil must have felt when it finally sank in that Nero was his son. A child that he had no idea about, left behind to suffer while he was off doing whatever. Sure, he hasn’t ripped off Roman’s arm, but the bar is not that high. 

Although Roman’s aversion to parentage puts a large wall in the way of theirs and Dante’s relationship, and Dante’s lack of confidence puts another large wall in the way, the two eventually establish a relationship. Both filling the void that the other not being there had accidentally left behind.

One of the ways that Dante attempts to bond with this son is through cooking. Dante doesn't cook, like at all. The man subsists on Pizza and Strawberry Sundaes alone. But, upon meeting Roman and learning that, 1. That's his son and 2. They also subsist on very little nutrients and 3. They haven't really tasted proper food before, Dante makes an effort to learn how to cook. At first, it's just pizza and burgers and simple things so that Roman can have a warm meal when everyone comes home after a hunt. But then he branches out, perhaps buys a cook book or just starts to purposely google new recipes to learn. He also tries to teach Roman how to cook, his confidence masking the fact that he only just learnt how to cook the dishes he's now teaching Roman. Through wanting his son to live a better life than his, he finds a way to bond with his son and a useful skill that isn't killing demons to pass onto them, and also improves his own life in the process. 

Paternal Family

Vergil

It takes quite a while for Roman and Vergil to actually interact. For a while, their reserved personalities kept their interactions to just when Vergil confronts Roman about stealing his poetry books when they’re under too much observation to dig for books long since covered in rubble and stained with blood. Eventually, Vergil starts to dedicate a small area to books he has completely finished, and were thus, up for being borrowed. This pushes Roman to actually recommend books which they have completely finished, that they think Vergil would like. Which, in turn, allows Vergil to observe what Roman’s preferred variety of books are, and allows him to recommend some books in turn.

Of course, Dante and Nero only notice how much they interact when Roman’s casual fashion sense starts to mimic Vergil’s.

Vergil worries much for Roman's safety, and not just because their wellbeing affects Dante's wellbeing. Perhaps it's the shared guilt with his brother over both of them now having been missing parents, perhaps its how hellbent on their path they seem and familiar that is to him. Vergil makes sure to keep an eye out for the young knight, at least when Dante isn't looking.

Nero

Nero is the third paternal relative that Roman interacts with, and similarly to Dante, it doesn’t start off great. Roman sneaking around the Order ruins sets off plenty of alarm bells for Nero, and Roman is only mildly annoyed by having their book-collecting interrupted by someone with the same hair colour as them. Nero sees Roman as a loose ember on a pit of kindling, ready to spark the Order’s hold on Fortuna all over again; human curiosity always finds a way. Roman sees Nero not as a potential relative, but as a potential answer. He was apparently here, when this entire building was at its prime. What could have possibly happened to bring this great monument down?

It’s actually Nero who is the first, after multiple fights and defeats on both sides, to actually bring up that Roman’s only the 3rd person Nero has ever met with white hair, and the last two turned out to be related to him.

Nero and Roman grow rather close in the end, each filling the void of the sibling they never knew they needed.

Miscellaneous

Nico

Nico and Roman get along... surprisingly well. Worryingly well. Two engineers of dubious intent with interest in the research conducted by the Order. Nico is wildly concerned with how Roman, with no gun experience, managed to build the most fragile and powerful gun she's ever seen, and Roman is a reasonable amount of impressed with how quickly and professionally she's able to build intricate pieces of machinery using raw demon parts.

Perhaps, in some timeline, Nico and Roman could be partners of the queer platonic variety. Roman might be able to learn to code just so that Nico's able to create more weapons of mass demonic destruction!

This post... was longer than I expected. There will be a part #2 shortly. I prommy.

It's friends time.

[firstdraftpod]

Courtenay Hameister Asks: What is Objective Truth, Anyway?

First Draft Episode #227: Courtenay Hameister

Courtenay Hameister, debut author of memoir Okay Fine Whatever: The Year I Went From Being Afraid of Everything to Only Being Afraid of Most Things, and former host, co-producer and head writer of Live Wire Radio.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Books by Beverly Cleary (author of Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Beezus and Ramona, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle) and and Judy Blume (author of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Forever, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing) and The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart were some of Courtenay’s favorites growing up

Create More, Fear Less is an organization in Portland Courtenay volunteers with that works with anxious kids

While Courtenay went to New York University, she had the chance to work with legendary comedy group The State. The State — made up of Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Robert Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter, and David Wain — was formed in 1998 and had a self-titled comedy sketch show on MTV from 1992-1995. You can learn more about the history of the group in The Union of the State by Corey Stulce.

Members of The State went on to create Reno 911, which is coming back!

“The 7,000 Dollar Pyramid,” is one of The State’s sketches that Courtenay remembers Robert Ben Garant writing

Writing Movies For Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office, and You Can, Too! by former State members and co-writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant

The Joan Didion quote Courtenay paraphrases is, “I don't know what I think until I write it down.”

Some of Courtenay’s favorite guests from her many years of hosting Live Wire include: comedian, storyteller, director and actor Mike Birbiglia, who is best known for Sleepwalk With Me, which was also a comedy special and a New York Times bestselling book, Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories, and his new comedy special, The New One is also going to be a book, coming out in May 20202, The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad; Carrie Brownstein, guitarist with Sleater-Kinney (who have a new CD in 2019, The Center Won’t Hold), co-creator and writer of TV show Portlandia, and author of memoir Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl; director Todd Haynes (who has directed Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, and this year’s Dark Waters; Cheryl Strayed, author of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar and memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail; and David Rakoff, humorist and author of Fraud: Essays, Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems

Courtenay’s friend Daniel H. Wilson wrote Robopocalypse: A Novel (which was optioned by Steven Spielberg, but after some delays has now been thrown over to Michael Bay) was the one who introduced Courtenay to his agent, Laurie Fox, who is an author in her own right, of The Lost Girls: A Novel and My Sister From the Black Lagoon: A Novel of My Life.

Jean Garnett at Little, Brown was Courtenay’s editor

Courtenay super recommends Sleepwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer (and, oh my god, would you look at that, he also has a TED talk!)

The Oprah and James Frey controversy which exploded over his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, is an inevitable reference point for a conversation about what “truth” means in the memoir category

Courtenay’s recommendation for David Carr’s memoir, Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own, was so persuasive that I bought the audiobook that night!

I admit to being a complete comedy nerd, and having recently mightily enjoyed John Hodgman’s collection of personal essays, Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms.

Jennifer Pastiloff (author of On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard) and Lidia Yuknavitch (author of memoir The Chronology of Water and Verge: Stories, out Feb. 4, 2020!) teach a class called “Writing and the Body” that incorporates yoga and writing to enrich personal stories.

Humor writer Steve Almond, author of Bad Stories: What Just Happened to Our Country? and William Stoner and the Battle For the Inner Life: Bookmarked.

Writers Samantha Irby (author of We Are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays, Meaty: Essays and omg she has a new one coming out this year, Wow, No Thank You!) and Jenny Lawson, aka The Blogess (author of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir and Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things), were bloggers before they had books, and they indicate the kind of conversational writing style that Courtenay tends to naturally align with in her writing

Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2009 TED Talk, “Your Elusive Creative Genius”

Dan Harris, author of 10% Happier Revised Edition: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story, and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book

Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and her TED talk on the subject of introverts

Courtenay admires Michael Ian Black’s evolution as a writer. Especially significant to her was his honesty in the memoir Navel Gazing: True Stories of Bodies, Mostly Mine (But Also My Mom’s, Which I Know Sounds Weird). His newest book, A Better Man, tackles toxic masculinity in the form of letters to his son as he goes off to college.

I have always dreamt of being able to link to an article about Jeff Bezos’s dick pics (just kidding but here we go): this incident was wild - The National Enquirer allegedly tried to blackmail Jeff Bezos, threatening to release intimate pictures of him unless he paid up. Instead, Bezos released the pics himself and told them to screw off. It was wild. It was great.

That incident calls to mind So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

“To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This,” the Modern Love essay by Mandy Len Catron, references Dr. Arthur Aron’s study, which included 36 questions to generate intimacy. (And hey, look at that, Mandy has TED talks about love stories, too!)

I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998.

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